Baby Bumpers @ the Y

Mia had a blast at her Baby Bumper class today!

We were in the gymnasium, and Mark had all sorts of fun stations set up. Mia finger walked at kicked soccer balls, bowled and bounced in the inflatable bouncer! She crashed in her crib as soon as we got home :)

Soccer Girl

Mia bowls

Inflatable bouncer fun!

Craziness!

The last couple of days have been CRAZY, but a good kind of crazy.

Yesterday, Mia & I went to the Cedar Park library lapsit, and had a good ole time with other tots & their Mamas. I hadn't seen Lauren & Kaylee since Mia's birthday playdate about a month ago. All is well with them, and Kaylee is still so precious. I LOVE the little looks she gives. I also got to chat with Candace & her Cordelia a little. That Cordelia is the cutest little girl, but is having a very hard time with allergies (cedar, I think). She was so bubbley and her little squeals sure do get everyone's attention! Mia really enjoys our time there. Exploring, playing, climbing.... she turns the pages of the books we read, claps and actually tips over when we do I'm a Little Tea Pot :)

Off to the Y for her Baby Bumper class. It was our first day, so I was a little nervous. There were a bunch of kids, but their mamas were always within an arms reach and very present with their kids. They told their kids to watch out for the little baby, and Mia kept turning around looking for this little baby they all spoke of. On Mondays we meet in the gymnastics room. We jumped down the long trampoline together, and Mia explored many large blocks and wedges...the soft climby kind. She also hung from a bar and touched her toes to the outside of her hands. She learned that at the Little Gym ...oh, I helped a little ;) Tomorrow, we go again, but will be meeting in the gymnasium where there'll be soccer, basketball, bowling.....

TODAY.....we started off at our Little Gym class. Mia was all over it. She's getting very comfortable and even participated in the groups stuff like walking practice, running and jumping (the mamas help a LOT. It's a mini workout!). She usually just does her own thing...exploring while everyone else (well, there are a couple other lone wolves out there) does the group stuff. She practices her forward, backward & log rolls. She hangs from the bars and walks on the beams. It's all very cool. We LOVE the Little Gym!

After class, we hopped over to Los Reyes for breakfast. Mia had her usual (scrambled egg, 1/2 avocado, and some of my beans & potatoes). She's a great breakfast companion. We had our regular server, Sulema, who knows what we get & how we like it. Life is good! There's a cute little gift store in the same shopping center where we got Ryleigh's birthday gift.

On to Ryleigh's birthday party! (yes, all of this before her nap) Heather was so sweet and really went all out! It was nice and cozy. The mamas were great and so were the kids. It was nice to see our friends. Mia played very well with everyone and had a great time. Heather got the cutest little birthday outfit. Mia and I shared a cupcake, and after two hours of fun, we had to go home. Naptime would wait no longer!

She slept for about 1 1/2 hours then we snuggled a lot, read books and played till Daddy got home. Then we all headed over to the park! Today was beautiful!

Happy Birthday Ryleigh!

Liam, Mia & Ethan

Oh, we hit HEB yesterday & Mia was driving the cart like a pro! I HAD to get a snap of it.

NASCAR here I come!

Target practice

Pelting Mia with some stuffed animals, especially the hippo, gets her out of a funky mood. We enjoyed it quite a bit, too! *Warning: Graphic Violence*

Entirely too much fun!

Little snippets of Mia

Mia is Ferocious! (you have to have the sound turned up a bit)

Beautiful Saturday with Family & Friends

We had such a full day yesterday, that we're taking it very easy today. First we had a pleasant ride out to Tom & Dee's. Memaw (Tom's mom, Laura) moved in this week and was getting acclimated pretty well. Dee thought that seeing her great-granddaughters would brighten up her day. What a wonderful idea. Memaw was all smiles the whole time. The girls impressed everyone with their swinging skills, and we had a fabulous lunch. Tom would NOT give me the recipe and only let me help when his secrets wouldn't be divulged. It was so yummy! Grandma Dee was supposed to fly out to Krakow, Poland yesterday, but we got lucky because all flights to/from Dallas were postponed till today due to twisters! So we all got more Grandma time until we left for our Quesadilla/Poker party.

After a fabulous visit, we hopped over to the home of Josh, Lori and Olivia (Livie) for some dinner and fun. Erik, Sarah and Isabel (The Bell) came over, too. It's so neat to see all the girls playing together. Livie & The Bell are accomplished walkers...The Bell can even spin now :) ...and Mia is trying to follow suit. Sarah, Lori and I got a lot of girl talk outside while the Daddies did their thing with the girls. So nice to sit back, relax and chat with my girls.

Mia and Livie settled down for night night pretty quickly, but The Bell had other plans. She was up and happy all night! Dinner was sooooo yummy. Lori and Josh collaborated so well on the quesadillas. Veggie for the vegetarians..... and some with meat for the carnivores. Well done!

Poker was a blast. Sarah spent quite a bit of the time trying to get The Bell to sleep, but don't feel sorry for her! Sarah took 1/2 the money at the table the first two hands!! Daryl and I did pretty well ourselves. We went out to breakfast this morning courtesy of Josh & Erik :)

Mia enjoying her new bunny from Gwen

Gwen at the end of the rainbow

Climbing & Dancing Machine!

Mia loves climbing onto the ottoman to strut her stuff!

The Laundry Lady

Mia really enjoys 'helping' with the laundry.

Gotta keep 'em separated (remember Offspring?)

We went over to Suzy's for a little visit yesterday, and Livie very graciously handed down her musical chair (and some super cute clothes) to Mia. Well, Mia LOVES it. When Mia grows out of her clothes, we pass them on to a friend who has twin girls about 2 sizes smaller than Mia. Isn't friendship & recycling wonderful?

Here's a pic of Mia enjoying some milk on her new throne. In the background, is Niles enjoying a stretch in his new digs. Since the mishap last week, Mia and Niles don't have access to each other any more. Ever. They take turns enjoying each area, and Niles gets the run of the house when Mia is sleeping. It's a great solution to a rough problem.

Speaking of canines, Mia's had a rough couple of days due to a pesky canine (tooth) that's trying to bore it's way out of her oh so swollen gums. This is a whole new kinda teething. Tylenol & Motrin have given her some relief, but we sure do miss our little miss sunshine :)

We're going to visit Mia's Grandma, Grandpa & Memaw tomorrow...come back to hear all about the fun!

Oh, those girls!

Livie came over to play with Mia today...

I LOVE Lori! I love our chats and just everything about her...Have you seen her smile? That's where Livie gets hers. She's such a wonderful friend and I get such a boost when we get together. My mama friends are the BEST! Sarah and the Bell couldn't make it...shopping is always a wonderful reason :)

Niles was quarantined in the master bath while the girls had the run of the house. Livie is such a walker! I think she pretty much walked 98% of the time here! She's such a wonderful influence on Mia. Here's what happened at this playdate:

1. Mia now drinks from a sippy cup! (after testing Livie's out)
2. Mia now drinks 'cold' milk. None of that baby warming up anymore. She's a big girl!
3. Even though Mia's a little tilted to the left, she stood up a lot and took 2 steps.
4. Livie digs prune juice
5. I like wine spritzers
6. Lori brings the sweetest snacks...chewy oatmeal raisin cookies and brownie bites...yummy!
7. Mia zerberted me a bazillion times
8. Both girls bumped things with their heads (pretty hard), but weren't really fazed. Distraction at its best!

Mia passed out for her afternoon nap before Livie was buckled in ther car seat :)

Truly a beautiful day :)

Drinks with the girls

The Sipster

Livie rockin' the house

Mia's Abuelita visited for a wonderful 5 days!

My wonderful mom came in last Thursday so Daryl and I could go to dinner and see The Lion King. That's what thought, but no, it was all a ruse to hang out with Mia!

Daryl and I had a fabulous time out on the town, and Mia and her Abuelita had a ball.

There was an accident involving Mia's face and Niles' teeth. We were thinking that we'd send him home with mom, but we're just going to vigilantly keep them seperated...and we're going to get a puppy for Mia! A basset hound. How perfect is that?

Here are some picks of Mia sliding down head first through a big kid tube slide...her Daddy helped her down..just a little, she was really ready to go..and her Abuelita was a the bottom to catch our little blur!

Valentine's Day continued...

Thanks for all the sweet words about our little cupid. For the record...I did take the picture myself (tweaked the color a smidge on the puter). Here's some proof:


(hint: you can see the knob to our back door and the wrapping paper I taped up as a backdrop, is falling down)

One of Mia's birthday gifts I ordered was sent to Daryl's old address...the Split Rail address! That was from 5 years ago, but still his main one on Paypal (it's now been updated). Once I figured out it had been mailed there, I drove over and left a sweet ' one of our baby (to add more of a sympathy plea) girl's birthday gifts has been sent her by mistake..here's our #....a million thanks...) Well, we never heard anything and the lady who made it said she hadn't either. We thought we'd never see it.

But wait, last week we received a call from a lady that said she'd had it but couldn't find my note until now!!! Yay!! Mia received her Toothy Snake Bone (a softie) on Valentine's Day!!!

Happy Valentine's Day

Just a Swingin'

We all had the best time last weekend with Grandma & Grandpa. Mia loved testing out the new swing!

Mia playing with her Daddy

Evenings with Daddy are so much fun! This time, after her bath, I caught Daddy & Mia playing...maybe she'll grow up to be a stunwoman :)

busy morning

Mia and I had a fabulous morning..except that I don't feel well at all. It's like I took way too much day cold medicine...weird out of body feel and balloon head...but I haven't taken a single thing. Mia just went down for her morning nap, so after I finish this post, I'll crawl into bed myself.

Little Gym rocks! Mia LOVES exploring and climbing and log rolling and forward rolling and pizza hanging (holding onto a bar with her hands, she pulls her feet up to where they are touching the bar on the outside of her hands..looking like a slice 'o pizza). I like that it's all gymnastic stuff. Mia didn't want to leave, but we did and went to breakfast at Tres Reyes. Mia scarfed down some eggs, avocado slices and beans. She had the best time playing with my keys. Our server was the same one we had last week, Sulema. She has a daughter just a smidge younger than Mia named Dina. I use this opportunity to speak Spanish. Besides the Spanish video & books, Mia's Abuelita and I are the only one's she hears Spanish from. It's hard to practice at home. I try, but then revert back to English at some point that I'm never aware of.

Ok. Taking my butt to bed. I hope I feel better when I wake up...we have afternoon plans with Lori & Sarah & their girls.

Mia from way back

Here's a little snippet of Mia doing some tricks...she was almost 2 weeks old.

Mia's First Video

We're trying to get our videos up...um, we're a little over a year behind. We were very busy last year, so there really aren't very many.