4 mo - Something New

So, I have seen a couple people do this lately, and thought it was a great idea. I am going to start writing a letter to Mia on her 'month' birthdays to let her know what she's like and how she's growing. I'll still update every week or so with the other Jones news, but would like to have something for Mia to look at later :)

Dear Mia,
You just turned 4 months old! I'm still amazed from month to month, week to week, day to day, and even hour to hour just how much you are changing! These days, to my delight, you wake up around 7-7:30 and eat about 4-6 oz every three hours until you turn in at night around 7:30. You take a long 2 hour nap in the morning then nap off and on for incredibly inconvenient amounts of time throughout the rest of the day. Someone asked me the other day how long you normally slept, I didn't have an exact answer, all I could tell them is that you generally wake up 5 minutes before I finish ANYthing! Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled you are napping again, and I am working on being ok not completing tasks ;-)
We had your 4 month check up last week and you are growing like a weed! You weighed 14.13lb (75%) and were 25.75" long (90%!!). You had gotten so long that they actually measured you twice because the nurse was in shock! I'd like to think that means you have a chance at surpassing your short momma, but I don't think it really means anything at this stage in the game....don't worry though, in a couple years I'll start teaching you how to walk in heels ;-) At your appointment the doctor also told us that you could start eating rice cereal! I was thrilled....you, however, not so much. I'm still attempting it at least once a day, but at this point you have NO interest in what smells like a mashed up rice cake...I can't say I blame your distaste for the stuff.
When you are on your tummy now, you can hold your head all the way up and even pull your legs off the ground so it looks like you're a mini-super man. That is no easy feat either since you carry your weight in your cheekies :) You have started to really enjoy your little exersaucer. I think it's a little overwhelming for you right now, but you sit and stare (and try to eat everything) for about 15 minutes at a time. I have to say, this is huge for me! Just before this, you were pretty content being held ALL THE TIME! While I love being that close to you, ther are just some things, that try as I may, I need 2 hands for. You really enjoy "standing" on our laps when we hold you, and whenever you are in anyone's arms, you INSIST on being held facing out....already a control freak like your father ;-) You are still rolling from side to side, but you seem to be showing some interest in making it the rest of the way over....I feel like you're gonna make it any day now. That is going to put a damper on your nap situation though, as right now, you tend to take most of them on the couch. That isn't so much because you just LOVE our couch as much as it is that I don't LOVE stairs 90 times a day. When you do nap, no matter where it is, you like to sleep with your hands over your face. That's also how we know you're tired...it's one of the cutest things ever!
Finally....best for last....you've found your toes! Yep, life just got awesome! Who would have known that those things dangling off the bottom of your body would be such a hit! The big thing now is that I finally found socks that stay on your feet and now you've figured out a way to remove them....awesome. Speaking of removing things...you also are very good at taking your paci out of your mouth. You can, occasionally put it back in, but never in the middle of the night. You don't seem to have any problems putting anything else in your mouth though. It's kind of what you do now....it's kind of a big deal ;-) I'm understanding more and more the importance of having disinfectant wipes on hand at all times.
Just the other day I boxed up all of your 0-3 month clothes and most of your 3 month ones as well. There are still a few onesies that you can squeeze into, and even if you can't, I'm pretty dead set that we're gonna get one more wear out of them. I am having to buy you 6 mo sizes now, because apparently babies jump in 3 month growth incraments....I still can't figure that out.
In true 'Margaret' fashion, I have given you a nickname....or several. The most used is 'Mimi'. I didn't think you could shorten a 3 letter name, but I have done it. Daddy was dead set against it at first, but I catch him calling you by that name on a pretty regular basis now. We also call you 'Little Big Cheeks' and daddy calls you his 'Little tooshie Monster'. Luci doesn't call you anything....but she sure stares at you a lot.

There is so much more I could write about how awesome you are...but I have to end this post at some point and actually hang out with you, so we'll just leave it at that. You still are the highlight of my day...even when you scream for absolutely no reason and even when you scratch my face off with your ridiculous eagle-like talons. You are the prettiest baby and you just keep getting prettier, and not sure if it's possible, but your little cheeks keep getting bigger :) We love you baby girl!

here are some pics of you from this month :)

First Valentine's Day!

Putting your paci in on your own

you got to meet your aunt Margaret for the first time this month! (we call her auntie M)

our first attempt at solid foods, this time you did pretty good, it was downhill after that though

yep, i dressed you like a strawberry, then laughed....WITH you, not at you ;-) you can hate me later...

Love,
Mommy

BOOBS BOOBS BOOBS - there, got it out of my system....

Hello all! Mia is 16 weeks and 4 days old today. I realized when I logged on that I had started a blog a week ago that never was completed. It was funny to read it too....apparently I was having a BAD week! It's a good thing my memory is shot, so I don't tend to dwell on those for longer than a day or so.

I must say, this week has been pretty good. I guess it's God's way of reminding me that "this too shall pass" (meaning the bad days/weeks). From what I read of my half written blog a week ago, Mia didn't sleep. AT. ALL. during the day. Now, it's hard to get things done in short 1 hour spurts of time, but getting things done with 0 free time is damn near impossible. Unfortunately, my to-do lists don't go away just because my child has a fear that sleep hurts one week. Nope, sadly the list gets longer and the number of showers I take during said week gets lower. BUT, this week definitely confirmed that it DOES get better. And I for sure needed it. So, this past week, Mia not only re-adopted her daytime naps, she also is now attempting to sit up on her own, and has started the inevitable hand to mouth routine with anything in her reach. She has just about grown out of all of her 3 month one piece outfits, get this....because she's TOO LONG! God love her, she didn't get her mom's height afterall ;-)

Another huge milestone this week was that I stopped nursing. I have mixed emotions about this for many reasons. On the plus side, I now know exactly how much she's going to eat, I don't have to worry about pumping my boobs before they explode after a given amount of time, and my nipples will no longer be mutilated by my little baracuda. On the down side, I was really hoping to last 6 months and there is just a sweet sweet connection you have with your baby when they are nursing....it's something that is totally irreplaceable in  my mind, but I am so grateful to have had the time that I did. Also, not sure if you're aware, but formula is CRAZY expensive! Screw saving for college, we're gonna need that savings to feed this kid the first year. I sometimes wish I had been more dilligent with the pumping, but it was never really my thing. I never could manage to get any milk "stashed" away, so to me it just seemed pointless (however, I feel like I am the minority, so those who are about to be new mommys and are concerned, don't be...I'm just weird!)Lastly, for the first time in over a year I will have no good reason to mention my boobs in a blog post. I mean, I probably still will, but not for a "good" reason ;-) I could make it a point to tell you exactly where on my torso they end up, as they seem to be sinking by the day.....I remember thinking at some point that I would never have to worry about sagging boobs seeing as how they never protruded off my chest any distance. Once those suckers stretched out to D's, it was all over. I'm sad to see my milk and my boobs go, but I am happy to have the freedom that bottle and formula feeding allows. I am also thrilled that Mia didn't really seem to mind much that she's not getting the milk 'from the cow', so I didn't have to deal with the whole weening process.

In other Mia news, we took her 4 month pics today...and I've gotta say, she's a natural! ;-) I've attached some of the unedited pics below. We should get the edits back in about a month and I'll make sure to post those as well. I realize I'm her mom and probably the most partial person on the planet (aside from her dad) but this is the cutest kid I've ever seen, I'm pretty sure she gets that from me ;-) haha...kidding!

Well now that I'm not breastfeeding, I can stop eating, right? ;-) Totally joking! But I have wanted to do a cleanse to kind of kick this weight loss into high gear, and I was waiting until I stopped nursing to do that. So, tomorrow I am going to do a 2 week Jillian Michaels (i heart her) cleanse and like FOR REAL start working out. Even though I can now fit into almost all of my pre pregnancy clothes, I still have about 9 (or 10) lbs and a whole lotta jiggle that I'd like to rid myself of.

I totally forgot too that I was going to make this blog a "what I learned" kind of a forum....I've learned a very important lesson this week:
Always look in the mirror before you leave your house! A couple weeks ago, I went half a day without noticing that I had my shirt on backwards, and just yesterday I caught a glimpse of myself while shopping and realized I had baby puke covering my shoulder.....good times. ;-)

And one more thing before I go.....if you could say a prayer for my mom's best friend, Patti Bedford, who was just diagnosed with lung cancer and sent home from the hospital because the chemo does not seem to be working, I would appreciate it. This woman has been a part of our family, and us hers for as long as I can remember. It's a horrible situation to find someone you love in. Thank you.

Enjoying life on a new level :)

Today Mia is 15 weeks and 1 day awesome...I mean old. She will be 4 months on the 19th....4 months!!! Holy crap! In all the books I have looked at (not much time for cover to cover reading these days) she will start eating solid foods this month! Wasn't I just blogging yesterday about the newness of breastfeeding?? Now, she's not only moving past the breast, she's going to start chewing....crazy. Now that we are settled and have what resembles a routine (even if in the slightest way, when you're squinting) she has started sleeping through the night again. In fact, the other night, Dan and I both sit straight up in bed at 4:45 and had a small panic attack thinking the monitor wasn't working. Turns out, it was working, and Mia was still breathing....I ended up going upstairs to check on her just to make sure. Go figure, the first night she sleeps all the way through, I'm still up at 4:45AM. I guess it comes with the territory. Although sometimes I'm pretty sure that monitor goes both ways, it's like she can hear me roll over and check the time on my phone in the morning because when I do, I almost always hear her do something whether it be roll over or coo or fart....you know, just something ;-) It's at that time, I get very still and hope she goes back to sleep, and most of the time, she does. We have entered a new phase as of late, one where Mia expresses her distaste for my absence from her sight by SCREAMING bloody murder. It's a fun game....I thoroughly enjoy the drama. Since this phase I have literally accomplished NOTHING. She is in the bathroom when I shower, sitting on the counter in her bumbo if I have to go to the kitchen or literally on my lap or hip if I go anywhere else. On the plus side, I am getting my arms in shape and learning to do things that I never thought to be one-handed tasks with only one hand! Ever tried to type with only your non-dominant hand? It's no easy task! This afternoon, she decided that naptime was going to be moved to the living room, just in case she opened her eyes, she could still keep track of where I was. Good times. With the way she fights sleep though, I don't really care where she is when a nap finally enters the picture, she could literally hang from the balcony if that's the way I got a few minutes of free time. Let me be clear: I DO NOT LET MY CHILD DANGLE FROM THE BALCONY, just in case that was a question ;-) Aside from her sleep patterns, she is still eating about every three hours during the day (sometimes 2) and my body has about decided that we will no longer be breastfeeding. I still try to nurse, pump several times a day, I'm just not producing nearly as much as I think I should be :-/ It's bitter sweet. I'm coping. I must say, a bottle is pretty darn easy to come by....and the way my kid unlatches still, my nipples are breathing a sigh of relief.

I am finding every day that Mia is "playing" for longer and branching out, toy wise, as far as what makes her giggle, and let's be real here, that IS the ultimate goal ;-) She has now mastered her neck, we're super proud. And she is rolling from side to side. Also, she is learning to scoot. When I go get her in the mornings, she has always made at least a quarter of a turn. That probably explains why she still has no hair on the back of her head, well, aside from the dark baby mullet just abover her neck ;-) Her hair is filling in on the top of her head though...and its LIGHT! in the sun light, I would swear it's red, but in regular light it looks kind of brown. Her eyes are still blue and seem to be getting bluer :) They are the prettiest eyes I've ever seen....I may be partial though ;-)

I am finally learning why it is necessary to have 800 bibs. I was convinced for the first couple of months that they would completely go to waste. Not anymore. My kid is a drooler! I swore she was getting teeth with how much she is drooling and gnawing on her hands (not that she hasn't always done that though - the gnawing, not the drooling). It only took me a couple of days of changing her clothes every hour because of her spit stained neck area before I remembered that there was an invention intended just for the purpose of keeping spit off of that area. I was also convinced at least for the first month that Mia would not ever take a pacifier, however that is not the case. And for that, I am grateful (something I never thoguht I would say!). I realize that the theory is that if you give them one, you will have to ween them off it, but I could really care less about that at the moment. It is, at points, my only sanity. If it weren't for that paci, she may NEVER sleep. She is pretty good about spitting it out before she actually falls to sleep too, so at least she's not sucking on it all night. Even if she did, I'm pretty sure I wouldnt care.

Well, I think that pretty much covers the Mia news. As far as I'm concerned, I'm good! I finally feel settled at the house (I realize we've only been here for a week, but we generally settle faster than that ;-)). I am sleeping better and feeling more refreshed when I wake up in the morning. I really enjoy just being at home now. I think it most likely has something to do with the feeling of ownership and the ample space to spread out in! I haven't lost any weight this week, so I'm still 9lbs from my goal, but with the weather being as nice as it's been, I have started walking, so hopefully that will be a kick start to the last little bit!

I dont have any pics of the house yet, but I swear by the next post I will have some. What I do have, is a pic of what my child looks like at the end of the fighting sleep battle ;-)