Mia: 3 years old

Um, yeah, so I'm a bit late on this but better late than never and to be honest, blogging is pretty much the last thing on my priority list these days....that, and dusting.  Our family has been having so much fun lately that I just don't have the time to document; but I know I should.  I almost feel like it's pointless to do a blog about Mia turning 3 since it is has a half a month since she did....but I will :)

I can hardly believe that three years have gone by since our baby girl was born....she turned in to a 3 year old before I knew it.  Here is the 3 year birthday video Nate created for Mia's party...it's a good recap of the past three years and what she's been up to lately.

I think I tend to do better blogging when I can simply let the pics (whatever quality they may be) do the majority of the storytelling.  Here are some pictures of Mia over the last year...she certainly has come a long way in development, personality, looks and intelligence.

Oh this hair cut still kills me...remember when Nate cut her hair by himself RIGHT before her 2 year birthday party?...she continued to "suffer" for a few weeks...good thing she didn't mind :)

Although it may not look like it form the above two pictures, we DO try to feed Mia a healthy balanced diet.  What is interesting about Mia's preference in food is that she is VERY much excited about candy and sweets but she takes FOREVER to eat them, and almost never finishes things like cupcakes.  She is very similar to me in this way where I will suck on a lollipop or hard candy forever and rarely bite or chew it...savoring each moment :)

This was a typical hairstyle for Mia in her 2's....before we bit the bullet and got her a cute little Bob.

Mia continues to LOVE animals, trips to the zoo and has not once passed up an opportunity to ride a pony.  To date, I think she has had close to 10 pony rides on various occasions. 

Pimped out in her gear last winter when helping dad shovel the snow.  

It is no longer a battle to get her to wear a coat, jacket, hat, mittens or boots.  Mia used to freak out with any shoe on her feet other than her Stride Rites; but nowadays she has become much more tolerant of her footwear and understands we need boots on when it snows.

Before our son Jack was born, we really tried to "load up" on quality Mia time as we knew that soon would be substantially limited.  These little outings included trips to the children's museum, the zoo, a couple of hair cuts, movies at the theater and a VERY special day to watch Elmo LIVE (aka crack for kids!)  She loved it, sang along, and was in a daze...it brought tears to my eyes....AND there is no reason we should ever do this again: one time is enough I think :)

On dad's shoulders for Elmo Live...in a true state of wonder

Then....Mia's world instantly became different with the birth of her little brother, Jack.  Parental attention had to be divided and amazingly enough, Mia did and has done WONDERFULLY well as a big sister.  From the get go, she was curious, cautious and protective of her brother...this generally remains the case 8 months later.

Mia got to take her "doll" bathtub home from the hospital and always wanted to help out with Jack's baths.  On this day, she was insistent that Jack should sit in this tub and take his turn to get washed.  I think this pic looks particularly freaky.

Awww, the pic and video that captured the hearts of our family and friends.  When Jack was "teeny tiny", Mia was so gentle, protected his head and sang him songs. 

The older Jack gets, the more she is encouraged to read to him and show him picture books he might like...she takes this seriously.

Similar to her "Papa", Mia sticks her tongue out when she is concentrating...in this case, the pages were stuck and she was in the middle of reading to Jack

Mia: big sister to twins
This pic also freaks me out but makes me laugh out loud because she was SOOOOO proud that she was sharing her toys and dolls with Jack...she kept bringing toy after toy over to him

As expected, Mia got SUPER in to playing house when Jack was born.  She chooses to be the baby most days, but also enjoys taking on the role of the mommy once in a while.  She is very much in her "baby" stage and loves to sneak on Jacks hats, mittens, sit in his bumbo or car seat or steal his Nuks and suck on them.  Oh Mia...if only I could rewind time a bit and hold you as my baby again.

Pics like this remind me how much she's still my little baby girl.  I wish I could sleep like this.

Mia enjoying the Highland Pool with me on a "mommy daughter date" after Jack was born....this moments are so much fun

This year in particular, Mia has had a very busy social life.  Different from when she was a baby and last year, Mia actually LIKES hanging out with friends.  Mia asks about friends, wants to know where they are, when we'll see them again, if they can eat with us, etc. She is quite the social butterfly and I am happy she is generally a nice and caring friend to others.

At the cabin after claiming she had a boo-boo and needing a boo-boo pillow.
I just love this pic...the posture...everything.

Same with this one....so much could be said about this pic.  "Ummm, I've been waiting guys....where is my wine?"

Mia still enjoys her buddy, Soprano...and actually has started to call him by his name as opposed to "yeowie" (a nickname within a nickname)

One of Mia's favorite things is face paint...we allow it in small doses so it remains "cool and special".  She wanted to be a puppy dog this day.

Coffee and playtime with friends...I LOVE places that accommodate and entertain toddlers while us parents can have a beverage

Okay....this last portion of the blog is basically the coolest thing in Mia's life this past year: a trip to Disney World!  We specifically chose this time of year as it is the "slow season" for basically anything in the USA.  Kids are back to school and almost no one with school aged kids are traveling in September....so hellz yeah...sign us up! PLUS.....as Mia was not yet 3 years old, she was free to all of the theme parks, etc.  AND....we had extra seats in the airplane on the way there and back....life was glorious.  Needless to say, Mia has a blast and it brought us to tears on a few occasions :)

Mia is SUPER in to "travel" safety lately and wants everyone to make sure they have their seat belts on and basically memorized her airplane book before months before we took this trip.  She was very excited to see the safety book and watch the flight attendants do their thang.

These three were hard to separate during the trip...

Nana and Papa LOVED their time with Mia....as did Mia.

Also, Mia was stylin' with her tiger headphones and ipad complete with Dora and Disney clips for the flight :)

1 of 3 kiddie pools at our resort...notice the LACK of people ANYWHERE....
this was basically Mia's own personal pool complete with a blue sea lion

rubbing in the sun screen on her face....a daily chore for Mia during our trip

Ready for our safari ride at the Animal Kingdom

One of Mia's favorites...Rafiki

Donald and Daisy were just sculptures...but she had a blast with them anyway.
Also...Donald looks like he's droppin mad gang signs while Daisy's all like "back up B...we's takin' a photo with Mia so walk away"

Campfire S'mores one night...Mia was loving the gooey-ness

Hug with Goofy

She was SOOOO excited to see Pooh and Tiger...
I would reinvent this moment 1000 times over if I could

Bouncing with Tiger

Returning home from Disney, we were greeted with continued warm/hot weather and fun events for the remainder of her last days as a 2 year old including "music in the park", birthday parties, walks to the park and her own birthday party with a bunch of her friends :)

Snuggles with my girl while listening to music at Lake Harriet

She insists on "walking the wall" on the way to the park

Bobbing for apples at a friend's birthday party...this was so funny to watch

Success for all!

Waving her birthday cash around

Snuggling with her new Dora sleep mat and pillow...she's even slept on the floor in her own bedroom with this :)

Well, there you have it.  Sorry this took me so long.  Mia has been such a blessing in our lives and the lives of others.  Her personality is hilarious, her comments are to die for and she absolutely keeps us on our toes on a daily basis.  She continues to make us laugh and love her more and more each day.  We are so lucky.

Jack: 8 Months



 I can NOT get enough of this sweater...we now have three of them for the kids (dark brown, green and peach)

 I am going to sound like I am copying my my neighbor's blog touching on how much she loves her son...but I swear, I also had the same feeling this month and absolutely wanted to document it...she just beat me to it :)  With that, I feel SO much love for Jack this past month and can absolutely say with confidence that I LOVE being a mom of a son.  I have this increased urge to be around him, teach him, suck on his cheeks and just generally engage with him lately and Im not sure what it is about or where it came from...but I love it.   

One second happy and carefree...

 the next second: cautious, hesitant and suspicious of puppet frog :)

There may be lots of pictures of Jack sitting up lately since that is pretty much all he does.  I know he is "just" 8 months old, but he shows NO interest in standing up or crawling at this point and I have to say, it has made me start to worry.  BUT....after a bit of research, thanks to the intergoogles, I am feeling a bit more at ease as it appears he is still within the average range of developmental milestones.  Moreover, there are lots of fun tips and pointers to encourage babies to stand and crawl.  That may also be because that is the only stuff I am reading so I stay sane and not start freaking out that my kid will have to have PT or OT or DAPE (all great resources and helpful support dont get me wrong) :)  From the get-go, Jack has just been so chill, in no rush to do anything and quite happy just chillin...I guess it is ME that needs to slow down and just relax...he's just fine, Molly (you crazy woman).

I SHOULD do a whole separate post regarding our first family flight and trip to Disney World with my parents, but I just don't have the time or energy at this point so I will include some pics and stories in this post and in Mia's 3 year post...but that's all I can do right now.  The stars and moons aligned, the travel fairies were with us the whole way and things literally could NOT have been better for our trip.  BUT....I now know I will NEVER EVER go to Disney World in any other circumstance than what played out for us.  First off....traveling to Disney needs to be done during the off season.  Both flights there and back we had extra seats and were able to spread out and enjoy our DIRECT flight :) 

 His very first flight...living large in his free extra seat :)

This fuzzy book kept him occupied for a long time on the flight, whew!  Overall, a HUGE success.

SPACE is also crucial when traveling above and beyond the airplane.  Having a place with two large bedrooms, 2 large bathrooms, a kitchen area, living space and a deck was awesome.  With that, everyone had their own space....Jack had his own "bedroom" in our bathroom and the kids had their own fort (aka closet).

Mia was so nice to share her closet-fort with Jack...he was so happy!

Check out Jack's pimp set up at our resort...he got his own shower, two sinks, private toilet room and jacuzzi tub...we made him share

We also got a lot of SPACE in pools, at restaurants and at the theme parks traveling in the off season.  Having this extra space was awesome and appreciated by all of us and very conducive for the kids.

 First swim of the trip...he was annoyed at first but adjusted well and ended up loving it

Here are a couple more pics from our Florida trip during Jack's 8th month....more will be included in Mia's 3 year post coming soon :)

Awwww, shmoopie...look at the baby sitting on the elephant

The family at Hundred Acre Wood.....aka outside of Rainforest Cafe in Buena Vista

His new obsession we discovered at the various theme parks in hot weather...

empty plastic bottles...must.get.in.my.mouth!

 He SOOOO knows he's the cutest thing ever



In front of the castle 

If you look close enough, Jack is waving at the camera...not really, but I tell myself he was

Ha!!!! Nate took this pic in a men's bathroom that had no changing table....Jack thought this shit was hilarious!

So...back to Jack...I get off topic and am easily distracted these days when I come home late from work.  In addition to him improving his "sitting up" skills, Jack has developed a LOT lately in the areas of verbal expressions/communication, eating and sleeping.  Jack is such a blabber-mouth lately and makes so many silly squeals, nosies and outbursts...it is amazing to watch and witness and I love just letting him go nuts and make noise.  Of COURSE when I want to document and video him doing this...it just doesn't happen. So, you'll just have to take my word for it I guess :)  He also is starting to shake his head "no" when he is done eating...where the eff did he learn that?  I might have to start paying attention to things more and try to teach him all of that sign language stuff I did with Mia...all done, please, more, thank you...better sharpen up on those skills I guess.

He was making squeals in this pic, I swear.  

I love this pic...I love my son

"Ummm, mom, I'm busy watching the game...take my picture later."

  Unfortunately, Jack was only able to wear this outfit once...due to his belly fat.

Speaking of belly fat...Jack has some...and leg fat and chin fat and just rolls all around.  He definitely isn't "fat" per se.....but he is sure a lot "bigger" than Mia was at this age....and he loves eating.  Let's see...his foods so far have included: squash, sweet potatoes, avocado, peas, pears, bananas, blueberries, peaches, green beans, carrots, rice, oatmeal, and I basically just lost track at this point.  Apparently at 8 months the day care licensing people are "required" to give the babies meats...so Jack has now had chicken as well.  I haven't done too much of the finger food stuff due to laziness and I suppose a fear of him choking.  Plus...he just drags the food to the edge of the table and it falls in the floor...so why waste it?  He has had a few of those puff things and makes the funniest faces ever like I gave him cat litter or something. 

Might as well make use of these football outfits while I can :)  As seen here, he likes the Gophers.

Take my picture foooooo

Awww, smiling at Koko at a Sunday dinner get-together

So Jack is on his 3rd straight week of sleeping ALL the way through the night and not waking up before 6:45am....sometimes needing to be woken up at 7:30am.  When I say "all" the way through...I mean nothing that required any attention from us at all or nothing that lasted longer than a 1-2 minute whine, whimper or self adjustment on his end.  I would guess that this is a contributing factor in why I love him so much lately :)  He's just plain easy (for now).   Nate and I have this deal that one of us is "on call" over night for one week and then we switch.  I used to get so mad when it was "his week" and Jack would sleep all the way through.  Im not as annoyed anymore because he now does it for me too and I get to get a full night of uninterrupted sleep.  I know this won't last and I know tonight will surely be the night that he sticks it to me by waking up 5 times or something...but it has been glorious nonetheless.  It reminds me of Mia where we now are able to change his diaper, put on his jammies and give him a bottle and plop him down with little to no fussing (not including nights with constipation, sniffles, etc of course).  The other thing that is so weird is that there have been two night this past week when we stayed out WAY too late with the kids and did not get home until after 9-10pm...with both kids still awake!  Yikes!!!  BUT......both of those next mornings, they slept in.  What?!!!! That NEVER happens and almost always bites you in the ass with the kids wake up at like 5am or some god awful hour.  I am not going to push my luck with this one and take it as a two time "you were lucky" freebie...I need more evidence and data to actually put this in to consistent practice :)

Recap: Jack sits up and rolls and doesn't really progressively move other than that (unless you count backward movement sliding across the floor or pivots in a circle ),  Jack eats a lot and has gorgeous smooth cheeks, Jack sleeps through the night as the norm instead of the exception, he babbles more now, he interacts more, he went to Disney World, he loves life and has a mom that brags about him on her blog (sorry).

Hog pile on Daddy!!!

Forget Halloween costumes...he could be a Hershey Kiss.
I seriously can't get enough of this sweater....you haven't seen the last of it yet :)