3/4 Year Photos (A Whole Lotta Mills)

NINER (and a half...)

(family photos by Tara Vorhes)

So, yeah. I'm a little late on this monthly post. It's been a busy December! For some reason I decided it would be a good idea to make all of our Christmas gifts this year. Genius with an almost-toddler for a daughter. Especially since she likes me to be paying attention to her. At ALL times. (Except for when she wants to chew on her favorite toys: cords.)

ANYWAY. Miss Mills is now 9+months and is growing and changing and learning and discovering and interacting and talking and moving (and getting frustrated) and being delighted by the world around her. She has alllllll sorts of fun tricks these days and we are so enjoying her.

• Words: She doesn't "talk" so much as she jibber jabbers. A lot. But some sounds she makes include: mumma, daaaaaaa, baaaaaah, hi, yaaaaaaaaa, lkdakojoidhifaaaaa, etc.
• Likes: bath time, cords, her red balloon, blocks, pulling herself up on anything possible, when we make animal sounds, looking at pictures of herself, remotes, making noise, dancing!, crawling on everything--she's FAST, being held , banging on the computer, chewing on things, playing with anything she's not supposed to, banging on things, the dustbuster, plants (eating dirt), and um, a bunch of other stuff. She's pretty awesome like that.
• Dislikes: being strapped into the car seat (but once we start moving she's usually fine), getting her diaper changed, getting dressed, waking up from naps, having something taken away from her (she laughs if/when I say "no"...HILAR), not being fed immediately after getting out of the bath/not being fed immediately when she wants to eat, and some other things I'm sure.
• Sleep: She sleeps! She usually naps about an 1hr15min-1hr30min in the morning and again in the afternoon. I appreciate the consistency. She's still sleeping through the night, but was waking up pret-ty early for a while. She now sleeps anywhere between 6:30-7pm to 6-6:30am. We sometimes hear her cry out around 5ish but she goes back to sleep, thankfully! Of course there are variations to this, but Brad continues to remind me that she's not a robot. I guess he's right. She's a munchkin!
• Eating: She's been eating "human" food for the past couple of months and she keeps me guessing. She very much prefers to feed herself (shocker!) so I am trying to figure out different things for her to try. She is still a big snacker and would eat puffs and baby mum-mums all day if I let her. She still loves her oatmeal and banana and adores being able to feed herself banana. She likes to chew on apples in the mesh feeder. She drinks water out of her sippy cup. She loves to share my smoothie in the morning. I've given her little chunks of all sorts of other stuff (i.e. cheese, turkey, pasta, frozen veggies, cooked veggies, clementines, etc.) but she usually ends up spitting it back out. But she does a great job at getting it in there! I keep reminding myself it's just practice. She still nurses 5 times a day, which is fine by me. Sometimes she even lets me listen to music or talk to Brad while she eats--big development for us.
  
• Playing: Millie loves to play. We have an ottoman in our living room that holds all of her toys. She likes to stand at the edge and pull random things out (and fling them around the room). She lets me get through a whole book without ripping it out of my hands and sometimes more than one book at a time. She is starting to dance (or, rather bounce) whenever she hears music. Adorableness. She loves to play peek-a-boo. A lot. She even plays it by herself. She's starting to clap and also wave--exciting!
  
• Moving: She is always on the move. For sure. She crawls everywhere she can and loves to explore our condo and will undoubtedly find something to play with that she shouldn't. Typical. When I don't hear her, I'll call out her name and she will crawl back in view and flash me a toothy (albeit mischievous) grin. She's just so flipping curious! She has stood unassisted a few times, but just for a few seconds.
  
• Social: Amelia's got quite the social life. We go to a music class once a week and Mom's group another day. She crawls all over the other babes and usually steals their toys. She's got a few other best baby friends and gets so excited when we see them. She's also got some buddies at the gym daycare and some days doesn't even seem like she cares when I return to pick her up! She is still pretty reserved when we're out and about and doesn't just hand out cute smiles to anyone--but when she does it's so special.
  

We are all looking forward to sharing her very first Christmas with her! Joyful holidays!!

A Weekend Away

Last weekend was a momentous occasion (why can I never correctly spell occasion on the first try?) for me. It was the first time I was away from the baby over night. And it turned into TWO whole nights away. It was marvelous but I missed her sweet face every minute. Or almost every minute (ahem).

We dropped her off with my parents with her schedule (they asked!) and a list of some "helpful hints." Oh, and a shitload of milk. And a bunch of other stuff. Those babies sure don't pack light. (Oh, and she slept through the entire night both nights like the good grandbaby she is!)

We stayed at the B&B where we stayed the weekend of our wedding. Back then we had filled it to the brim with our favorite peeps and partied our asses off. While we had the same room, it was quite different this time around.


The skies were sunny and the air crisp--just like our wedding day. We drank cocktails saddled up at the bar and stayed up past our bedtime. We took pictures of the sunrise and then lazed around all morning, drinking coffee in bed. We ate lunch at the bar, drank bloodies, and watched football. (And Michigan won, finally!) We walked the streets and dipped into cute shops and galleries. We made a list of our goals on a cocktail napkin. We had dinner at Everyday People where our rehearsal dinner was held. Just the two of us.



To be honest, we talked about our little miss a lot. But we also talked about other stuff. Important stuff. Where's-our-life-headed type of stuff. And it felt great. And strange. And wonderful. And we reminisced. And we made plans for our future on a cocktail napkin.



We walked to brunch early the next morning, but all I really wanted to do was to go snuggle our girl. She is the biggest part of my life right now. And that's okay. And that's grand. And I love my little family more than I ever imagined.



p.s. A HUGE thank you to my wonderfully supportive and generous parents who watched Amelia for us. You're the coolest. ily


p.p.s. When we met them at our favorite coffee shop to drop off the carrier and some more milk, little miss thing acted as if she didn't even know me! I was surprisingly sad about it. But it showed me just how much she loves and trusts Bebe & Pop, so I really can't be too upset about that!

Crazy Eights

Today is Amelia's 8-month birthday. If we were to throw her a special party for the occasion, we'd give her 8 of her current favorite things:

1. Keys: The real metal ones. No plastic "baby" keys for this lady. She wants the real deal. And will throw a bit of a fit when I take them away in order to, you know, do something crazy like start the car or something.

2. Remote controls: If it has little buttons and she's not supposed to play with it, then she wants it. And she isn't as easily thrown off with a little hiding behind the pillow maneuver.

3. Buttons/Snaps/Zippers: She wants to eat them all right up.

4. Cords: Obsessed.

5. Straps: Luckily this comes in rather handy as she likes the strap on her carrier as well as the strap on her car seat. This gives me an additional 5-10 minutes of go-time.

6. Puffs/Rice crackers: My saving grace in the car when she's overtired (or just plain sick of being in the car) and I've (once again) pushed her past her limits. Bad mama. But these little snacks melt in her mouth and therefore delay the meltdown on the way home.

7. Mirrors: She is the only person that can undoubtedly make herself laugh and giggle and smile no matter what. She loves herself, what can I say.

8. Anything about 2 feet tall: She is pulling herself up on anything she possibly can these days (fireplace, ottoman, tv stand, chairs, bathtub, etc.). And sometimes nothing at all...which results in a funny downward dog action. It's actually quite impressive. (Also, dangerous. She had her first mobility-related-injury last week as she came crashing down on the corner of our molding. Scary.)

Sunset on the roof:

Proper crawling:

First attempt at Cheerios:

One favorite toy: lens cap

Just a cool little lady:

Nightly tubbies (her other favorite bath toy is a plastic cap) :

Pulling herself up for the first time:


Chewing up her crib (she's got 5 teeth!):

First time on Mullett Lake:

Hanging with Uncle Matthew:


Big swinger:

Happy 8 months to my sweetness, my bunny mcgee, my monkey, my millie bean, my amelia lee, my munchkin, my babe, my little, my lovie.

p.s. She's a chatty bean these days. Sometimes it sounds like she's saying Brad, but comes out more like "Bwad." Also, she can say "MA-MA-MA" (but I'm not sure she relates it to me yet) and "BAH-BAH" and "WA-WA." Among other incomprehensible sounds. It's the cutest.
p.p.s. I almost don't want to type this for fear of jinxing it, but she's been sleeping solidly for the past week and I haven't gone into her room once before 6am for the past almost 2 weeks. (Brad's gone, but not recently.) She will wake up and fuss a bit in the night and maybe cry out, but she settles herself back to sleep within 5-10 minutes. Usually. She's napping twice a day pretty consistently for about 75-90+ minutes. LOVE. Sometimes she needs the 3rd nap, but not usually.
p.p.p.s. She throws her arms up when she wants to picked up. I die.
p.p.p.p.s. She laughs and smiles and loves to be tickled.
p.p.p.p.p.s. She is starting to really get the hang of this eating thing. She adores her puffs and MUM-MUMS, just like her carb-loving mama. So far she's had: avocado, banana, oatmeal, butternut squash, carrots, pears, sweet potato and cinnamon, and a bit of my apple. So fun!

Halloweenie!

Amelia's first Halloween.


She was a Busy Busy Bumble Bee. She is a very busy girl--always getting into something.

She love love loves to stand. (She also love love loves her daddy.)


She's a curious little rascal that Millie Bean. ("Um, what is this?")



She puts anything and everything into her mouth these days. (Well, except for some of the purees I've made her. She'd prefer to just eat dust bunnies or rug lint or hay or grass.)



On Sunday we went to a Halloween Brunch with our Moms group. There is something so incredibly funny about little people dressed up. They're just so cute! And little! Almost every baby was an animal of some sort.




After that we went to Millie's best friend's house for an early (baby-bedtime-appropriate) dinner. YUM.

Happy Halloween!


BOO!

Happy Two Years

ilytm

Seven Months

Happy 7 to my darling (not-so-babyish) baby girl. She's a mover and a shaker and a funny-noise-maker. She's got a basket of toys she plays with, but she'd much prefer to chew on a cord, my phone, or your shoe. She burps loudly and toots often. She's ceased with the growling and started with the screeching and squealing. She's outgrowing clothes before she even wears them. Oh yeah, and she sits up and crawls (mostly army-style) like a champ. Baby-proofing, anyone? We need to get on that. She eats oatmeal once a day but still much prefers the boob. She pulls hair and noses and earrings and laughs when I plead with her to be gentle. She licks the floor. She loves long walks until she gets hungry then we best be close to home. She's learning to drum the wooden spoon on mixing bowls. Her hair is growing. Slowly. Her new nickname is monkey. But bunny is still a top-contender. She has FOUR teeth and more seem to be on the way. Her sleeping is still pretty unpredictable, but I'm getting better at rolling with it. She loves the beach, especially the gulf. Well, mostly she wants to eat the sand. FINE. She smiles and laughs when we see a dog. I know that she'll have a doggie of her own in the future. She loves to be held upside down. LOVES. She laughs her head off at peak-a-boo. She loves to ride around on Daddy's shoulders (even though mama doesn't always love it). She's a sweetheart. Our sweetheart. And man is she growing up fast.

Halfsies

So Miss Amelia Lee is officially six months old. I can barely believe it. She's a wild little lady, that's for sure.

She is--by far-- the most active baby I've ever met. She literally never stops moving and even tosses and turns (and practices crawling!) in her sleep. She's in constant motion. She loves to stand and bounce and turn around and around. She's sitting up like a champ and has started lunging forward onto her knees and then pulls herself to where she wants to go/what she wants to get. I honestly have no idea what's going to happen when she can officially crawl. She grabs at anything and everything within reach and most likely puts it into her mouth. I imagine her inner monologue goes something like this, "Oooooh! What's that?! Give it to me! Oooh shiny! Put it in my mouth! Hmm, something over there moved--give it! Oh! Oh! What's that over there?! I can do it MYSELF! What's that noise? Is that mine? Yes it is!" You get the gist.


She's a smiler--but only on her terms (but thankfully she likes to smile almost as much as we like to see it). She is definitely starting to recognize people (other than mama and daddy) which is super fun. She loves to be outside and has from the very beginning--it's a foolproof way to calm her. She likes to have her head stroked and her back rubbed when she's tired. When I'm nursing her she insists on holding onto one of my fingers in each hand (which limits my iPhone usage). When she stares up at me and smiles (with my nipple between her gums and teeth--ouch) my heart practically bursts. Speaking of teeth, she's got two. And they are big! I think the top ones have started their descent as she seems to be bothered by them on occasion. Oh, and she's bitten me more than once and it is NOT cool. It seems to have happened when her teeth are bothering her, so I can only hope that she learns not to bite before her top teeth actually come in. (OH I HOPE.)


To celebrate the beginning of her 6th month of life, we fed her avocado. I would say she tolerated it, at best. Since then she's also tried banana. It's a work in progress. She also started using a sippy cup which makes her seem like such a big girl! She mostly just chews on it though. She loves to drink out of my water glass, but I'm trying to resist the temptation to let her do that or I'll never have my own drink again. Actually, her absolute most favorite toy is my water bottle. So, yeah. So much for that.


Sleeping continues to be our biggest struggle. Mostly because I often have a difficult time getting back to sleep once she's awoken me, so basically it's something I need to work on. For the last couple of months she typically wakes up 1-3 times a night. Those 3'ers are BRUTAL but luckily they are few and far between. She burrows into my neck when she's tired and clutches onto my shirt like a little monkey. Naps are also all over the place. She usually takes three naps (~9am, ~12pm, and ~4pm) but how long they will last are anybody's guess. However, if I make plans that you can pretty much guarantee that she will be out for 2+hours. I wish I could somehow trick her into doing this on "regular" days. She likes to keep me on my toes, that little one. She's been taking a bottle like a pro for months now, which I appreciate greatly since it gives me some needed freedom. Mostly she goes to sleep without much of a fuss. I have found that she'll eat the most when she's tired, so I feed her right before bed. Sometimes she'll fall asleep in my arms and sometimes she falls asleep on her own in the crib after rolling around and complaining a bit.


She's growing more and more interested in toys and her favorites are Sophie, wooden blocks, jingle ball, her wooden rings, and Clementine. She also loves her bunnies who sleep in her crib with her. She wakes up and plays with them for 30-45 minutes until she lets me know she wants me to come and get her. She usually plays in her crib after each nap as well, so I know she likes her alone time (don't we all). My favorite thing is to go get her from naps (when it's been a sufficient amount of time, that is). She is SO thrilled to see me and kicks her legs and flails her arms about with a huge grin on her face. Sometimes I just want to squeeze her pants off.


She LOVES to roughhouse and giggles up a storm when we toss her around and hang her upside down or let her ride on our shoulders. Her daddy can make her laugh like no other (sometimes to the point of spitting up) . I keep trying to catch it on video but she's camera-shy.

She's a curious little creature and really wants to know everything about this big world of ours. I can leave her to play on the floor by herself for a while in her room but sometimes she calls out for me to come and play too. She mostly likes to chew on books, but sometimes she'll let me read the whole way through. She loves to look at herself in the mirror--oh so vain.

She's the most incredible person I've ever known and I'm so happy she's ours.

tiny piles

I took some pictures after folding Miss Millie's laundry yesterday. I actually LIKE folding her laundry. And putting it into little piles. And marveling at the fact that her little body fits into those little clothes. I'm in love with my baby. There. I said it. KTHXBAI.

FIVER

Bunny McGee turned 5 months old today. Five whole months. She celebrated by taking two long naps and letting me get some work done. She's a real doll, that Amelia Lee. For some reason when I talk to/about her I must use two names. It's just the way it is and has to be. Deal with it Millie Bean!

I think this past month has been my most favorite thus far. She's SO fun! She's a mover and a shaker but she also seems to be able to just sit back and chill sometimes, which is pretty much our lifestyle so that's nice. She's silly and serious and curious and observant and oh so much more. While she seems overly interested in what we put in our mouths (grabby mcgrabberson), we're holding off to start solids until the six month mark (although I have to admit, I'm getting anxious to begin--I'm excited!).


She's a squirmy wormy and much prefers standing to sitting. She's barrel-rolling and prefers to lie under the coffee table and gnaw on its legs. She chirps and sings and screeches and squawks and squeaks and it's honestly music to my ears. She's a starer too, which I'll eventually have to inform her isn't too polite. But for now, she's learning. She's taking it all in. She's smart. She knows what she wants and she tells us. But she's shy. And she's coy. And she's the cutest thing I've ever seen.


She's sleeping SO much better and it makes my life so much easier. She still wakes up once a night, usually around 4am and then goes back down for another 2-3 hours. I can deal with that. I mean, don't get me wrong, it will be a delight when she starts the 7-7 stretches, but for now I'm content and pleased with her sleep routine and just want what is best for her. If she wants to eat, I want to feed her. She usually takes 3 naps a day (one morning, one early afternoon, and a short blip nappy to make it to bedtime) that range from 45min-2hours. So that's that for now.

We got a surprise a couple weeks ago when a small white line popped through her bottom gum line--a TOOTH! And let me tell you, her favorite teething toys (our fingers) are no longer a good option--that thing is sharp! She seems to be managing the pain fairly well, but I've been using some homeopathic remedies when she seems particularly bothered and fussy and they seem to be effective and help soothe those gums.


Oh! Another big change...we had to drop the swaddle cold turkey one day because she was rolling around her crib like a maniac. It did affect her sleep for a couple of nights but now we're back. I was pretty worried about the whole thing...for no reason apparently (shocker). Now it's the cutest thing to watch her sleep with her arms outstretched. Speaking of watching her sleep, we basically stalk her via video monitor. I mean, I'm obsessed with that thing. It's so fun to see her wiggle and flip and turn and settle herself back to sleep. I also realized how often she'll wake up and play around in her crib without making a sound when I previously assumed she was sleeping. It's so nice that she likes it in there so I can just let her play and entertain herself for a while until she lets me know she wants out. Getting her up from a nap or in the morning is probably one of my favorite times. She gets SO excited and grins the biggest grin and kicks her feet and her whole body bounces. I pretty much feel that same way.

She's growing up right before our eyes and we couldn't be more proud. She's our lovey love and our munch (munchkin) and our baby girl babe and we love her so. Happy fiver monkey buns!