Haircut.

This post has nothing to do with Mira.  ZOMG.

On Saturday I got my hair cut.  But I wanted something different.  And a little bit crazy.  I figured that I don't have to look professional to be a full time mommie, so if I ever wanted to just go crazy with my hair, now was the perfect time.  I told my hairdresser "classy punk".  Here is the result:

Yes, that is blue in there.  Yes, that is permanent.  I think this is my favorite hair of all time.

Mira bounces herself.

So whenever we sit down to eat, we set Mira in this bouncy chair at the table with us.  (Once we get a highchair she'll sit in that, but we haven't bought one yet.)  So she sits in this chair a couple of times a day.  Recently, she's figured out that if she wiggles her leg just right, she can bounce the chair herself.  It's really kinda cute.  

Poor girl.  No one will bounce the chair for her.  She has to do it all herself.  ;-)

Quick trip to Eastland

On Sunday, my aunt was celebrating her 50^th birthday out in Eastland, so Mira and I went with my parents for a quick visit.  This gave us the chance  to meet my cousin’s new baby boy.  He’s only 2 months old, but already weighs 12 pounds (only one pound less than Mira)!  So he and Mira were about the same size.  Though Mira is further along, developmentally.  Mira had never met anyone younger than her before.  But she seemed just as interested in the baby as she is in older children.

I love Mira's face in that last one.  She makes me laugh.

We stayed overnight at my grandmother's house.  They have a little playscape in the yard there.  The baby swing on the playscape is shaped like a little car.  Mira got to give it a try.  I love the way her feet hang out the bottom.  Very Flintstone-esque. 

Everything happens on Memorial Day weekend.

We've been so busy the last few days that I haven't had time to post here.  One of Brian's friends was hosting a LAN party which lasted all weekend, so we were in and out of his place.  Two friends came down to visit us from New York, so we were trying to hang out with them as much as possible while they were here.  And my aunt turned 50, so we were also celebrating her birthday at a location 3 hours away.  I've got some cute video and pics from over the weekend, which I will post probably later this week.  

Mira took all the activity pretty well until Monday night.  Then close to bedtime, she had a little fit.  Not too bad, though.  On Tuesday, I figured a quiet day at home with all the normal routine would do her some good.  So I am finally starting to catch my breath.  

Everyone else seems to have been busy blogging, though.  Cuz I have 41 unread items in my Google Reader.  It's gonna take me a while to catch up!

Doctor's appointment

So this morning Mira had a doctor's appointment.  She's had a little cough, and so I asked the doctor if he thought it was ok to go ahead with the vaccines.  He said that it would be fine, especially since she hadn't been running a fever and she was still acting happy and alert.  So she had her next round of vaccines.  It bothered me a lot less this time to see her getting stuck.  Does that mean that I'm becoming desensitized?  Whatever.  It also seemed to bother Mira a lot less, so maybe that's why.  She only cried for a few seconds, and was comforted simply by me holding her and patting her back.  (Last time we got shots, she cried terribly and took a long time to settle, even through nursing.)  What a tough kiddo!  She even smiled goodbye at the nurse that gave her the shots.  I bet she doesn't get that too often.  

While we were there, all the staff was gushing over Mira.  The nurse that came in to weigh her said, "I usually have the parents carry them to the scale, but could I do it please?  She's just so irresistable."  I said that of course she could and we went to the scale.  At the scale, she called all the other staff over to see how cute Mira was being.  Before I knew it there was a solid wall of people surrounding the scale, with Mira in the middle just smiling up at everyone.  And these folks see babies all the time, so you know Mira must be something special to merit all that attention.  

Not sure if anyone cares about this, but here's what the doctor said about my questions.  Some wax earplugs (like the kind that they make for swimmer's ear) are the way to go whenever I'm in loud situations.  I shouldn't worry too much about the bottle situation because soon she'll be on solids anyway, but that I could try feeding her from a sippy cup, if needed.  When she gets gassy I can give her infant's Mylicon.  

Mira's got good normal physical progression: reaching for things, responding to noise, tracking moving objects, rolling over, holding up her head, pushing up onto her elbows when laid on her tummy, etc.  She is now 24 inches long (60th percentile), weighs 13 pounds (60th percentile), and is 70th percentile for head size.  Guess all Momma's milk does a body good.  

After the doctor's appointment, Mira and I met my mom for lunch.  We ate at Texas French Bread and sat out on the patio under the giant oak tree.  They just added a little playscape and Grandma introduced Mira to the wonderful world of slides (of course, holding her the entire time, but I think Mira got the idea).  The weather was still really nice today, so that was fun.

So now Mira is taking a super long nap.  That's actually been the nice thing about her being a little bit sick: she's sleeping a lot, even during the day.  I'm enjoying all the "me" time.  Is that selfish of me?  Oh well.  

I leave you with the following random cute photo.  Enjoy.

Cough

Today the weather was beautiful, so Mira and I met Brian at his work for a picnic lunch.  Brian's office building has a nice big shaded courtyard and we sat under a tree and ate sandwiches and watched the squirrels.  Mira really enjoyed it.  I think she likes to see her daddy in the middle of the day.  Gives her a break from her boring ol' mom.  

Mira's been sounding congested today.  She doesn't have a fever and she still seems to be in relatively good spirits, but when I lay her down to feed her she makes this kind of mucus-y sound in the back of her throat.  And her nose is a little runny.  And she's got this little cough.  And when I say "little cough", I mean the tiniest cutest little cough I've ever heard.  Does it make me a bad mother if I think that my child's illness is adorable?

Tomorrow, we have a doctor's appointment for her next round of vaccines.  I wonder if they'll want to go ahead with the vaccinations if her immune system is already compromised with an illness.  I guess we'll see...

Cold toes? Not my fault.

Mira finds our attempts at keeping socks on her toes to be feeble at best.  

I wonder...

Mira used to have no problems taking a bottle.  But recently, it's been more and more difficult to get her to eat from a bottle.  She will just lay there and cry with milk dripping out the side of her mouth, but then if I put her to breast, she eats eagerly.  Anyone know what's going on or have any suggestions?  I think I'm going to bring this up with the pediatrician, since we have an appointment this week.  

Also, we've been taking Mira to some of my sister's dance performances.  She seems to love them.  She'll just sit and stare at the stage the whole time.  But sometimes the music seems really loud.  Loud enough to hurt my ears.  And I worry that it's damaging her hearing.  Should I use baby ear plugs or something?  

And another thing, Mira's always slept well at home, but she resists falling asleep elsewhere.  I'd like to be able to leave her at the grandparents' house and know that they'll be able to put her to bed there so that I can stay out.  But she's never been able to do that.  Should I try and force the issue?  Or just let her rely on routine the way she seems to be doing now?  

Mira rolls over. Alot.

Mira has really gotten the hang of rolling over now.  From her belly to her back.  There shall be no more tummy time ever again because every time I set her on her tummy now she just rolls right onto her back.  Sometimes when I first set her down on her tummy, she'll forget that she knows how to roll over and she'll stay there and fuss for a couple seconds.  Then she goes, "Oh yeah.  I can do this thing."  And then there's no keeping her on her belly.  As I was trying to take video of it, I kept setting her on her tummy and then by the time I got the camera up she was already on her back.  So alot of the videos were like this: shaky camera, shaky camera, baby comes into focus just as she flops onto her back, me in the background "dammit", end video.  But I did manage to get a couple of her in action.  Here they are.  

By the way, these were taken with my new video camera.  I hope everyone can view them ok.

Cute pics of Mira with her daddy

Brian playing with Mira in her floor gym over the weekend:

Brian showing Mira pictures out of the Popular Science magazine.  She doesn't have the patience to listen to the full stories, so Brian just explains the pictures to her.  Doing our part for the future geeks of America.  It's funny cuz every time he would flip the page she would thrash her arms about as if she was surprised.

The last few days

So today Mira rolled over THREE times. From her belly to her back. I think I can safely say that she has that one down. I'll try and get a video of it soon. With my NEW VIDEO CAMERA. For Mother's Day, Brian (and Mira) got me a very nice new video recorder. It's so tiny, not much larger than a cell phone. And the quality is much better than the camera that I had been using. So once Brian gets my computer back to functioning, I'll be uploading some much better videos. Brian's been really busy doing the end-of-semester cramming, which will thankfully be over tomorrow. I appreciate and respect Brian's desire to go back to school, but now that there's a baby involved... boy do I like having him home right after work. (He's taking evening classes for now. So on the nights that he has class I don't see him till late. Those days can get long.)

Tonight Mira was really fussy due to gas. I get so frustrated when that happens because I feel helpless. When it's really bad (like tonight), she won't nurse; bouncing, rocking, sitting, standing none of that helps; distractions like toys, lights, music, paci doesn't work for more than a second. So eventually we went on a car ride. That worked well, but I was really tired while driving so maybe not the safest solution. Oh well. Sometimes a mommie's gotta do what a mommie's gotta do.

Friday, Brian's boss let his team leave work early for a group trip to see Star Trek. Janice (Brian's mom) was available to babysit so that I could go, too. So that was nice. Plus the movie was awesome. Then on Saturday, my mom offered to babysit so that Brian and I could go on a date for Brian's birthday. So we went to dinner and another movie (we saw Wolverine, which was good, but not as good as Star Trek). Then Sunday, Mother's Day, Janice and Kevan (Brian's sister) and Javi (Kevan's S.O. and professional chef) came over to our house and Javi cooked for everyone, which was scrumptious as usual. Then Janice watched Mira while Brian and I went and did some shopping. Brian got a new set of golf irons with his birthday money.

So in one weekend Mira was babysat 3 times. It was nice to have time to just be a wife and have a date with my man, but at the same time... I actually felt like I didn't get enough time with Mira. I think mostly what I missed was breastfeeding her. She took more bottles this weekend alone than she had in the entire month prior. I was a little surprised at how I missed those feedings. Holding her so close, nourishing her, quiet and peaceful... I guess I really LIKE it. Huh.

Anyway, so I promise my next post will be less wordy and more pictury (is that a word?). I know how everyone loves to see the cuteness. (And I have no illusions about anyone hanging on my every word.) ;-P

Excuses.

I haven't forgotten about my blog. It's just that Brian has been troubleshooting my computer. So it is in pieces on the floor. Not really an improvement, I said. But Brian insists that patience will be rewarded. So yeah. I don't like blogging from my laptop. So there's my excuse.

Yay, new toys!

Mira's aunt Marcy sent us a box of hand-me-down toys. The coolest thing was this little floor mat. Mira spent 15 minutes playing with it. (For those of you who wouldn't know, 15 minutes for a baby to play with one thing is a long time.)

This last picture is Mira's "Thank you, aunt Marcy!" face.

Grabby. And ZOMG peek-a-boo.

So over the past few days (maybe a week), Mira's been waving her arms with more purpose. She's actually reaching for things now. When she manages to grab something, she'll usually pull it to her chest or mouth. So I set up some of her mobiles to have things hanging from them so that she can practice grabbing.

I am absolutely shocked how quickly she made progress in this department. I can see improvement over a matter of hours! Her movements are still jerky, but more and more, the obvious purpose behind the movements is coming out. Like the way she grabs her blanket to play peek-a-boo. I posted on this earlier today, but wasn't able to get video this morning because all I could do was stand there in stunned silence and gape. But I put the blanket in her hands again this afternoon, just sort-of hoping not really knowing if she would repeat the action. But when I got the blanket into her hands she did this little huh-huh kind of laugh and then started in with the peek-a-boo. By the time I got the camera running, she was already beginning to tire of the game, so she looks sort-of ho-hum about the whole thing. She even yawns toward the end. Like, "Yeah, I can peek-a-boo, Mom. Get over it." But anyway here it is: proof that our baby is able to initiate the game of peek-a-boo at the mere age of 3 months.

ZOMG peek-a-boo!

This morning Mira and I were up early; she only slept 7 hours last night. But since we were up early we got to have a quick breakfast with Brian before he left for work. We sat Mira in her chair to sit at the table with us while we ate. (We always eat this way. I'm a big proponent of family meals, especially dinner. So we're teaching her from an early age that families eat together. Anyway...) She still had her blanket draped over her in the chair. She picked up the blanket and VERY DELIBERATELY brought it up over her eyes and then dropped it back down to her lap. She did this over and over until Brian caught on that she was initiating peek-a-boo with us. Wow. And when we started saying "peek-a-boo" to her, her face lit up with a huge smile. It was incredible; I would not have thought her to be capable of that at only 3 months old. I think I need to start giving her more credit; she constantly surprises me with her accomplishments.

So but here's the bad news: I didn't catch a single second of it on video! GAH! Hopefully she'll do it again soon...

Baby activity web site

Just found this site and wanted to post it for future reference. And for anyone else interested.
http://www.babycenter.com/0_lets-play-weekly-activities-for-your-babys-first-year_1501475.bc

Tummy time progress

Yesterday Mira had great progress in her tummy time. She was pushing up a lot on her arms. Several times she got her knees up under her butt. I was surprised by her progress because just earlier that same day, we did tummy time and had no significant improvement. Maybe she just had less energy before or maybe she finally decided this tummy time business was something worth doing. Either way, it made me happy to see her trying.

I really hope she learns to crawl. I've known several kids that never learned to crawl: they either find a different mode of locomotion like scooting or rolling or they just go straight to walking. But the funny thing is the *reason* that I want her to learn to crawl. You see, she has all these little outfits with cute things on the butt. Like ruffles or an embroidered flower or insect. And really, how can you truly showcase those outfits without a crawling baby??? How petty is that?

And I leave you with this: just a cute video that I took last night.

Eek! My baby!

I was going through the photos on my camera and came across this one that I didn't recognize. I'm sure Brian took it because I know I didn't. My thoughts as I saw the picture: "Oh that's kinda cute-- wait, is she just sitting there in that window sill with no one holding her??? That window's right over the tile! SHE COULD HAVE DIED!!!* .... Whoa. Overreaction much?"

*True, the window is over tile, but it's like 6 inches off the ground. Paranoid? Yes.

Mira smiles with her... nose?

Mira's been doing this funny thing where she smiles by squinching up her nose. Observe.

Normal smile:

Squinchy-nose smile:
And then there's this. Not sure what that is...

Doorway bouncer

Yesterday was another long day of Mira not feeling good and needing lots of reassurance. When Brian got home he could tell that I was feeling depleted. And really the problem was that my patience was all used up. Which is actually a hard place for me to get to; I normally have an abundance of patience especially with children. Anyway, Brian told me to get out of the house for a bit to rejuvenate. So I went and sat at a coffee shop and read for 2 hrs. When I got home, he had folded some laundry, done the dishes, fed the dogs, and given the baby a bath. What a man! And I felt totally refreshed, so that was nice.

Today Mira is feeling a little better (thank goodness), and so I thought we could do something new and try out her doorway bouncer. She liked it for about 10 minutes. Just long enough for me to snap some super cute photos. Getting her in and out was kind of a trick, though... guess that takes practice. The little feet never seem to go where you want them to. And just when you think you have it all lined up perfect, she kicks or squirms and then it's back to page 1. Silly girl. Anyway, I finally got her in it and bounced her up and down a few times to show her what it was all about. Her eyes got really big (if you've met her you know just the way they do), and then she smiled up at me. So I let her go at it while I grabbed the camera. She didn't really do much bouncing on her own; I think that will come with practice. But as she kicked her feet against the floor she turned herself around and swung back and forth a little. I don't think that she recognises that she can control her movements in it just yet though. But yeah, definitely something that we'll have to do again.