Video of Myah

My First Christmas

Myah had a great first Christmas. She received a pink puppy dog that said "My First Christmas" on its belly, a set of play keys, a toy cell phone with buttons that was actually supposed to be her sister's but Myah liked it so much we deemed it hers, and some soft dolls - which are good, because when she holds anything solid/hard, it usually ends up bonking her in the head at some point and then she cries.

For about two weeks now, her favorite activity has been standing (with help). You try and sit her down, she locks her knees to stand. She makes that "rolling your Rs - Spanish language" sound when you hold her by her little hands so that she can practice standing. That sound is her way of saying she's happy - kind of like a purr on a cat. :-) Her other prominent sound is what WE call "clucking." It's a little clicking/clucking sound that we all learned to make early on by moving our tongue against the roof of your mouth (go ahead try it - you know you want to). Between the clucking and the purring you definately know that The Papaya is around and happy.

Right around the time she started standing (with help) she also became mobile by "crawling". She doesn't do a conventional crawl - it's more of an army crawl / roll / drag my body forward with both arms kind of mish-mosh movement. She is very proud of herself. Usually when she moves, it's to get next to Mommy's feet so that Mommy will pick her up. She's also in that stage right now where if you leave the room she thinks it's forever and cries. And she likes to be held a lot. I may be able to blame that on her teeth hurting. We've used a lot of teething gel over the last weeks on one tooth in particular.

She's got her two bottom teeth (see blog entry about no more nursing) and her third tooth? You think it would be one of her top middle teeth - right? Oh, no. Not my baby. She's getting her top left CANINE tooth in (also called a vampire tooth in 'darker' circles). It looks so cute/funny.

I haven't made an entry here in the last month, so now I will included pictures and video of her in the last month.

Sister Loving On Myah

Crawling

Mommy and Me

Seeing Santa Claus

Red Christmas Pajamas from AmyHu

Sitting Up

Laying Down

Standing Up and Proud of It

(she holds on to the bed rail a few minutes by herself before she falls...boom!)

Christmas Morning

Done With Nursing

Well, today is the first day that I'm not nursing Myah. She is officially 'weened.' The decision was made YESTERDAY morning when mommy got bit really, really hard with Myah's two new sharp teeth -- that was just one time to many. It is what it is and that is that.

Two Teeth!

My little Myah has two teeth as of yesterday! Her first one came through when she stayed with our friend Aramelle overnight the night of November 6th. Then, yesterday when I picked her up from Noelia's, Noelia told me that ANOTHER tooth had come in. This was such a cool thing to share with these friends of mine. And I'm so proud of my little girl who's growing so fast right before my eyes.
Also, a few days ago, I started feeding her rice cereal usually mixed with some baby food at every meal.

Avacados

Myah likes mashed avacados. She tried them for the first time at Noelia's house two days ago. Right now, she nurses once a day, eats one solid meal a day (e.g., rice cereal, mashed avacados) and drinks formula bottles the rest of the time. She takes two naps per day and is the sweetest thing this side of the Mississippi. She is getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth, but has not yet figured out how to take it a "step" further. Myah still rolls from front to back but not the other way. She loves watching her big sister and laughs hysterically when they play. Myah is a sweet, sweet, good, good baby and I'm so lucky to be her mommy.

One Early October Morning

So, it's been three whole months since I've made an update to this blog. Myah has grown a bunch since then. About four weeks ago, she learned to roll from her front to her back. Still, that's the only way she rolls. She scoots 2-3 feet from the place you leave her, although it's a slow process, so mostly, you look away because it seems like she'll never move anywhere, then you look back and voila, she's 3 feet from where you put her. My nickname for her has become, "Sweetness" because that's what she is - a bundle of sweetness. She loves to squeel a high-pitched squeel when you tickle her rib cage. A few belly laughs come out here and there, but we get a lot more of the high-pitched squeel. About six days ago, she started playing with her feet, so I started putting entertaining booties on her feet - you know - the ones that look like bunnies or that have pom-poms on the end of them - just to give her a little added fun. We are doing 1-2 nursing sessions a day and then the rest formula bottles. I always nurse her first thing in the morning and then she falls back t0 sleep for an hour or two on my bed--hence my time to write in her blog now. I have been mixing some rice cereal in her bottles for the last 3 weeks or so and that helps to fill her up. On October 2, I gave her some rice cereal from a spoon for the first time and she gobbled it up like a pro. Since then, I've fed her about one rice cereal bowl every other day and she just loves it. She also loves watching her big sister play and walk around the room - no doubt learning her next moves. She is good at grabbing onto things with her fingers - and what a grip! She loves to feel people's faces with her hands and her favorite toy seems to be this 'zebra-in-a-hula-skirt' teething toy that someone bought for Myah's sister a couple years ago (if that was you, way to go!!).

In the Wee Morning Hours

Here are some cute videos of Myah doing what she does best--being a little baby. Hopefully these uneventful videos will help you feel like you spent a couple of minutes with her even though you are watching it from miles away. These videos were taken back on June 22, so it was 2 1/2 weeks ago already. I think they are still worth posting, though...

Water and Rails

Our family went on the Water and Rails tour this year, which is a tour of area backyards with water features and/or train layouts. Here is Myah with GREAT Grandpa Don and me.

Great Papa held Myah while I climbed some stairs in one of the backyards.

In the Last Month

In the last month, Myah has changed a lot. Changes include the development of those cute little baby thigh rolls, the emergence of a personality and, yes, my glorious reward of her first smile.

1. First, the kid eats a LOT. She loves to eat and is not fooled by the presence of a pacifier which almost never does as its name implies.

2. Second, this girl speaks her mind--she has to--or else be left in the dark since I spend so much time chasing after "No-No"--a.k.a big sister Sonia. Myah is what we call a very "vocal" baby. Friends comment that she'll be my little singer someday. Day and night the kid is making sounds whether they be grunting (there's lots of that) or crying (there's more of that than I'm accustomed to) or rumbling (top end AND bottom). The spit up is frequent, the diaper changes are often and my clothes are stained.

3. But...lastly...that glorious smile I mentioned. It's a beautiful smile that lights up the whole room and my heart. The work of getting up at night and the results of the aforementioned rumblings all melt away when I get an occasional smile. Her first real smile was on June 8th. I was lucky enough to be able to share that day with my mom who was here then helping me with the kids for a week. Since then, Myah smiles occasionally, that is, it's not a regular occurrence and usually doesn't happen without some prodding, however, I believe that such occurences will increase in the weeks ahead as her and I continue our journey of learning to understand one another as best we can.

This "understanding" has begun to pick up speed only in this last week. Until then, I was having a hard time knowing what she wanted or needed at a given time--hence the "more crying than I'm accustomed to." The biggest light bulb in this dark closest has been the realization that Myah cries when she needs to sleep, that is, she "announces" the fact that she's tired rather than just dozing off quietly. After someone turned on this lightswitch for me, I haven't been trying to keep a crying baby awake and happy by holding her and constantly attending to her. Rather, I lay her down and she cries for a few minutes and, before you know it, she glides into baby dream land. It sounds crazy, but it actually took me all of six weeks to figure that out.

Speaking of "weeks," Myah is seven weeks old...today.

11 Days Later

Some of you are wondering what in the world I've been doing for the last 11 days - no new blog postings during that time, while Myah's fan club patiently awaits more pictures.... I have no good excuse except to say that every moment is filled with kids - except for when it's not - and then it's filled with my husband or housework or sleep. The cool part is, I LOVE it. I love where I'm at, what I'm doing and who I'm doing it with. Don is an incredible partner - taking care of my endless demands. Sonia is cultivating a relationship with Myah by showering her with kisses. And Myah only got up once to eat during the night last night. I couldn't ask for more or be happier with what I've got.

Here's a new set of much overdue pictures. The first three pictures were taken on May 8th and the last two were taken at a park on Mother's Day. Enjoy!

Family Portrait

Well, here's to the end of another great day as a four-person family. Myah is a joy to have - cute as a button and she only cries when she's hungry. Today, Don and I ventured out for breakfast with Kid 1 and Kid 2 to a restaurant about two miles from our home. It was very nice for me to get out of the house for the first time since we came home from the hospital. Overall, I'm very happy with how my recovery has gone. I am feeling some discomfort, but it's not as bad as last time and with the pain meds, it's manageable although I'm still moving around slower than normal. It's all worth it to see Myah's cute little eyes look up at me.

Coming Home with Myah

I got a lot of rest today. I think my body, for some reason, was demanding it. We set up a changing station for Myah today and changed the placement of her crib in our room. As we go along, we are learning what works. Not much else to say about today other than I was in bed most of the day and that my feet are really, really swollen. I'm going to try and elevate them on a pillow while I sleep tonight and see if that helps. Here are some pictures from Monday, May 4th--the day that we brought Myah home from the hospital.

Two Days Old

Today is May 5th and the pictures below are from May 3rd - when our baby turned two days old. We came home from the hospital yesterday around noon (after staying 3 days). Last night (our first night home with Myah) went very well. I woke her up once in the middle of the night to eat. Other than that, she slept straight through. Today, Grandma/Grandpa brought Sonia home and we spent the day relaxing with friends and getting Sonia used to the baby being here. She seems to be adjusting well.

Myah Michelle is here !!

Myah Michelle is here !! 7 pounds 5 ounces

19 inches

Came into our world at 12:44 pm on May 1st.

Mom and Myah are doing Great !
Michelle is recovering much faster than last time.

Myah has gotten to see Sonia (Big sister) twice now.

Sonia made the sign for Baby and wanted to hold her just after checking in with Mom.

So far she is taking really well to Myah.

When it was time for Sonia to leave she pointed to Myah and wanted to see her one more time.

And now for some video.

One More Day to Go

Today is the day before our baby arrives. I am doing last minute housework and organizing. I can't wait to see her!!!