solofallop

no.196: a place to play

31 days of Mia, Day 19.

We have a playroom downstairs off of our living room for the girls. Up until now, it's been Molly's playroom. Now she gets to share it with her little sister!

While Mia isn't quite mobile just yet, it's a matter of weeks before she's crawling. We decided we needed to get ahead of the game and go ahead and baby proof the playroom, i.e., all Squinkies, tiny Legos and hexbugs needed to go upstairs to Molly's room. We also thought that adding another IKEA shelf to the playroom for Mia's toys would work out well. Molly helped her daddy build the new shelf.

Once Doug and Molly finished the shelf, we sent them off to play at a local nature preserve to hike and look for turtles in the pond, while my mom and I cleaned and organized the playroom. We've been pretty selective with the toys we buy, but there were still a few things that we could pass on to Goodwill.

Our goal was to divide the playroom into a Mia zone and a Molly zone, although pretty soon, Mia's going to be all over the place and into Molly's things. (And whoa boy, is Molly going to be mad!) Here's Mia's new corner of the playroom, complete with bins of baby-friendly books, puzzles, blocks, balls and toys.

And here's the rest of the playroom, with non-baby-friendly things up on the higher shelves.

    

I love a clean and organized playroom. Too bad it doesn't stay like this for very long!

no.195: mia's room

31 days of Mia, Day 18.

While we were excited about the possibility of having a little boy, I think we were all a little relieved that Mia turned out to be a girl. It just made everything much easier, from all the pink clothes to the pink and green nursery.

For Molly's 3rd birthday, we turned the guest room into her bedroom and made a room for my mom in the upstairs hall. (No, it isn't as bad as it seems. My mom actually really likes being right outside of both the girls' rooms.) Molly was nice and settled into her new room by the time Mia came. And even more so since Mia didn't move upstairs until she was 5 months old.

We only had to make a few changes to the nursery to get it ready for Miss Mia. The main thing was a new crib. We bought Molly's drop-side crib used from a friend for $85. It was pretty much brand new, as their baby ended up not sleeping in a crib. By the time Mia came along, they had banned all drop-side cribs. I'm 90% sure that Molly's old crib would have been fine, but for peace of mind, we decided to go ahead and get a new one for Mia. It converts into a toddler bed and then a full-size bed, so hopefully it will get many years of use. The bedding and curtains are from Molly.

Next up is the shelf with toys and books, almost completely hand-me-downs from Molly. We did get an awesome birth stats canvas as a gift, which I adore. The glider/ottoman was a $95 consignment shop find, although I did spend about $60 in fabric to recover it (also from Molly). The wooden activity block is a hand-me-down from our friend Henry.

When we looked at this house, I knew this would be the perfect nursery because of the sink and shelves. (It was originally a dark room.) When Molly came along, we transformed a dark, ugly room with a dingy sink into this! Everything here is the same except for a new minky dot changing pad cover.

This canvas is of Molly's toes, taken by Hanna. The dresser is full of clothes, again, mostly hand-me-downs from her big sister. Molly picked out the starfish projector for Mia, because her cousin Brandon has one that she's been coveting for years. She calls it his "night night toy" and told me Mia just had to have one too. I painted the piggy bank for her during a girl's night out with Erika and Haley. I don't think we had 100% decided to name her Mia until I wrote on the bottom, "To Mia, Love, your Mama."

We are all book lovers. Here are just a few of the many, many books you can find in our home.

Mia loves her room, as do we! The girls' rooms are definitely the best place in the house.

Want to see more nursery pictures? Here's the room when it was Molly's. And here's Mia's.

no.194: mia's first swim

31 days of Mia, Day 17.

At the beginning of May, Evan & Stacey invited us over for a cookout and a swim. Mia's first time swimming! It took me forever to get us all packed up for swimming and out of the house, but we finally made it over to their condo. (Side note: why in the world does it take so long to get out of the house with everyone? It boggles my mind!)

Anyway, back to swimming. Mia certainly didn't mind the water. But she also didn't seem super excited about getting into a large body of cold water.

And then? She fell asleep. In the pool. One minute she was looking around and putting her hands in the water. And the next minute, she was sucking on her fingers and the brim of her hat and snoozing. Silly baby.

While Mia finished her nap in the stroller, Molly and I had lots of fun playing in the water with Uncle Trey Trey.

I'm sure Mia will learn to love the water just as much as her big sister!

no.193: mia's first easter

31 days of Mia, Day 16.

Last Easter, Molly helped us announce that we were having a baby:

This Easter, we got to share all of our Easter traditions with a 5-month-old Mia!

It was pretty low key, just how we like it. We all woke up to find that the Easter Bunny had hopped along and left goodies for everyone. Molly finally got the caterpillar/butterfly kit that she had been waiting on since the previous September. And they both got Easter baskets with special treats.

Molly & Mia's Easter baskets:

  

My brother and sister-in-law came over for the afternoon festivities of making and decorating the bunny cake, dying Easter eggs, an egg hunt and eating lots of good food.

Mia slept through a lot of the day and enjoyed being held the rest of the time. She did really like pulling her new bath toys out of her Easter basket!

Want to see more Easter pictures? Here ya go!

no.192: sitting up

31 days of Mia, Day 15.

Mia has been sitting up unassisted since before Easter (about 4 months, 3 weeks). I think cloth diapers give her a wider base for easier sitting.

Just this week, at 6 months, 12 days, she has figured out how to go from laying down to sitting up all on her own. Molly did this at 8 months, 5 days. It's really early for Mia to be sitting up on her own, right?! Somebody tell that baby to slow down! At this rate, she's going to be walking by next month!

First, she flips over on her belly, pushes back and gets on her knees, tucks one leg under her, and pushes back on her bottom! What a smart baby! Although I haven't seen it in person, my mom got a video of her halfway through her struggle to get to a sitting position. Being a baby is hard work.

no.191: mia's first work trip

31 days of Mia, Day 14.

I travel for work about five times a year. Most of the time, my mom and Molly go with me, while Doug stays home, takes care of the dogs and enjoys a quiet house for a few days. (Lucky him!)

Now that we have Mia, she gets to go too. Mia's first work trip happened to be the Ritz at Lake Oconee back in March. Oh fancy! We were only there for one night, but since Mia's meals come from me, I pretty much had to pack them up and take them with me. (And my mom is always looking for an opportunity to get out of the house and teach Molly and Mia "traveling manners.")

Here's Miss Fancy Pants at the Ritz:

Our room was in a great location, right along a path that led down to the park and pool. If you look close, you can see Molly, Memers and the stroller containing Mia:

It's always a big production to get everyone packed. Kids require a lot of stuff! The logistics of staying in a hotel with the girls is always a challenge. The biggest issue is typically meals, especially when we stay at places where the room service is way beyond our budget. Sometimes we luck out and get a suite with a kitchen. Those are the much easier trips.

Next week, we are heading to Savannah for 4 nights, in a not so family-friendly resort. We'll make it work out though; we're always up for an adventure!

no.190: video monitor

31 days of Mia, Day 13.

With Molly, we had just a plain old Sony monitor (this one), and we loved it. We still do, and we still use it downstairs. I always said that when we had another baby, the one thing I wanted was a video monitor. Thanks to a group of awesome friends that pooled together and gave us a gift certificate, we were able to get this one.

And wow, do I love it!

Well, I love it and I hate it.

I love it because it's great to be able to see the girls upstairs in their rooms without having to go up there. With Mia, I can make sure she's okay in her crib without having to go in and possibly disturb her. With Molly, I can boss her around using the intercom. It's great!

What I hate? Mia gets into what looks like an uncomfortable position, and I can see it! And I want to go move her! But I try to refrain, deciding if she got herself into the position, she can get herself out. I get so anxious when she starts moving around and I'm afraid she's going to wake up. I used to be able to hear that going on, but to actually see it is totally different.

We started using the video monitor in Molly's room about a month before Mia came. It was so nice to be able to see where she was in her room. At 3 years old, she's so independent and likes to pick out her own clothes, play in her room, go put coins in her piggy bank, etc. The video monitor allows us to let her play upstairs in her room, but keep an eye on her at the same time. My mom, who keeps the girls, is especially fond of this feature.

Once we put Mia upstairs in her room, we decided instead of taking the camera out of Molly's room, we would add a second one in Mia's room. Now, with the press of a button, we can switch between the two rooms. Or, we can set it to scan, and every 30 seconds, it flips back and forth between the rooms.

Another feature that we like is the intercom. We often use it to talk to Molly, i.e., tell her to get back in bed, stop jumping off the bed, don't throw stuffed animals in the ceiling fan, etc. We don't use it with Mia yet, because I think it just confuses her. I tried to "shhh, shhh, shhh" her once, and she just started to cry louder.

The sound and picture quality is pretty good for what it is. The night vision camera is a little creepy, especially when the kids' eyes are open and they are glowing like animals' eyes in the dark.

So far, there's only one thing I don't like. You can't turn the sound all the way off. Because really? Sometimes you don't want to hear the screaming and crying. Other than that, I think it's great!

no.189: mia's first meal

31 days of Mia, Day 12.

According to the CDC's 2011 Breastfeeding Report Card, only 14.8% of babies were exclusively breastfed at 6 months, with Georgia's stats even lower at 10.1%. Since we fall into this very small percentage, I am a bit surprised. There are two categories listed, babies that are breastfed, and babies that are exclusively breastfed, so I assume this means that babies who were given any formula or solids prior to 6 months would be excluded from this stat.

While I feel a sense of accomplishment being 1 out of 10, this also makes me sad to know that more mothers and babies don't have the support system, knowledge, ability, whatever the case may be, to enable them to do the same. I am very aware that there are a million reasons why breastfeeding doesn't work out. I'm not here to make anyone feel bad or judge! Even with a healthy, willing mother and baby, it's still extremely hard.

Thankfully, at least for the first 6 months with both Molly and Mia, exclusive breastfeeding worked out for us. When it comes to my kiddos, they only get mama's milk for the first 6 months, and then start out with a root veggie. I don't even mess around with rice cereal, as our pediatrician agrees with me that it doesn't matter either way. Molly's first food was butternut squash. For Mia, it was carrots! As with Molly, we are going to try to make all of Mia's food.

Mia felt pretty "meh" about it. I would give her a small bite, she would make a face and then push it out. I don't think much actually got to her tummy, but since it's just for practice now, she did a great job!

While she was "meh" about the carrots, she attacked her sippy cup of water. I would have given her a sippy of water before now if I had known she liked it so much!

Next up, we will introduce prunes, sweet potatoes, avocados and bananas (in that order). While it's just one more thing that we have to do, it's pretty exciting that we have a baby eating solids now!

Here's the video of her first few bites, and in the background? You guessed it! A very encouraging big sister. (And a daddy taking lots of pictures.) My favorite thing that Molly says is, "Mia likes it without her teeth!" Hee.

Want to see more pictures? Here ya go!

no.188: mia's first christmas

31 days of Mia, Day 11.

One of the first things I thought about when I found out I was pregnant with Mia was that she would be born in November, and I would be on maternity leave over the holidays. It was such a special time to be home, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, it was all so nice. Nice, but blurred.

I'm going to try my best to write about Mia's first Christmas, but honestly, I don't really remember very many specifics. I was so entirely sleep deprived at the time, that I didn't even know which way was up.

Thank goodness a picture is worth a thousand words!

While Mia slept in the sleepy wrap, Molly ran around looking for the perfect tree:

Ganmommy made Mia an amazing stocking, and we stuck her in it for pictures, mostly against her will:

 

I took some pictures of the girls in front of the Christmas tree in their matching zebra jammies and almost died from the cuteness:

On Christmas morning, Molly opened gifts like a pro, while Mia slept through the whole thing (probably because she was up all Christmas Eve night, waiting on Santa or something):

And then we went over to Team Bartleson's for French toast and more presents and snuggle time (and for the last Christmas in their house before moving to their new condo):

And then there's this. One of my very favorite pictures to date of sweet Mia:

What Christmas season is complete without a picture with Santa?

Through the sleep deprivation and nursing and reflux and dirty diapers, Christmas 2011 was so very special. Even if the details are just a little bit fuzzy!

no.187: a visit with poppy-g

31 days of Mia, Day 10

Back in February, when I went back to work after maternity leave, Poppy-G came to visit for a few weeks to help my mom with the adjustment of two girls. Living apart from his wife must be terribly hard, and I am so thankful that he puts up with our shenanigans.

While he was helpful with Mia, he was even more helpful with Molly. Molly loves her Poppy-G! He pretty much does anything she wants to do, so what's not to love? Puzzles? Ok! Coloring? Ok! Play music? Ok!!

The few weeks he was here were filled with music (even more so than a typical day in our house). He's a true musician, always drumming out a beat or humming a few lines of a song. Molly was right alongside him drumming and humming and singing. This video brings tears to my eyes every.single.time I watch it.

I wish he could stay with us always. My mom teases that she "married the only Jamaican that doesn't want to leave Jamaica." Thankfully, the miles of ocean between us and the months between visits don't keep us from loving each other one little bit.