mia | seven months

The last month has been a big one for our little girl. She learned to sit up on her own, roll and scoot around any which way she pleases, and is trying her best to crawl forward. If only those silly little arms wouldn't get in the way. I watch her sometimes and think she's just crazy with every part of her body wiggling, trying her hardest to will her body forward, only to scoot a few more inches backward. This most often leads to getting stuck under furniture and effectively moving away from the very item she was trying to reach. And even though this is our second time around with a little one, I'm continually amazed at what persistent little learners babies are and, because of their almost constant practice, how quickly they learn new things.

It feels like time is passing so much quicker with Mia than it did with Laci. After an agonizingly slow first month, where it felt like time was standing still, the past six months have just flown. How is it possible she's over halfway to her first birthday?

She still doesn't have any teeth, still doesn't sleep more than four continuous hours at night, and is still just eating baby cereal. But I have a feeling all these things will change in the next month.

 

We will head down to Sacramento next week for a follow up with her surgeon and a chest x-ray. I'm sure our visit will confirm what we so clearly see of her everyday - that she is a nearly perfectly healthy baby. I'm hoping to stop by the UC Davis NICU to drop off some goodies and share Mia's pretty little face. The people who worked so hard to save her deserve to see how fat and healthy she is. I imagine that seeing healthy babies is one of the more rewarding parts of their very difficult jobs.

She also has an appointment with the pediatrician the following week, so we will get an official weigh in and length measurement, and sadly, another set of shots. We got sort of off-schedule with her shots because she had a cough and I canceled her last appointment, and then never rescheduled, and then life happened, so you know, we got behind. The awesome part is that our insurance has decided to start covering well baby check ups and vaccinations, so we don't have to go to the county public health clinic for shots. I have never vented here about going to public health because I didn't want to seem ungrateful for the services they provide (at a much more affordable price than the doctor's office), but I am so glad we don't have to go back there anymore.

Seven things I love about my baby:

1. Her blue eyes.

2. Her squishy cheeks, legs, arms, neck, body.

3. The way her eyes squish shut and her nose wrinkles when she smiles.

4. How she laughs deep in her belly when I tickle her.

5. How she loves to touch everything - my nose, Laci's ponytails, the toys up on the shelf.

6. How she likes to play quietly in her bed when she wakes up in the morning.

7. That she reminds me daily to appreciate life, even without knowing it. Even though, most of the time I feel like I'm barely hanging on, barely doing my job as a mother, not loving my children enough, there is always at least a single moment where I snuggle her little body or look in her eyes and feel so very happy and thankful for everything.