Mila Rose - Four Months

Mila Rose, you are 4 months old!

You weigh 15lbs 6ozs (75-90%) and are 24 3/4" (75%) long.  You are wearing 3-6M from Gap and 3M and some 6M from Carters (apparently those are the only places we shop).  You wear size 2 diapers.

You are learning to reach and grab for things.  It is incredible seeing your daily progress in learning more and more about the world around you.

You went on your first plane ride to Minnesota and did a great job flying.  It almost seemed like you were already a frequent flyer.  You had a snack (breast milk), played a little and then took a nice snooze!  I wish I could fly your style, especially on long flights!

It is interesting, flying with you.  We meet many more people, since you have such a cute smile, they stop us and visit about you.  Also, since we have you (a baby) we get to go to the front of many lines.

Flying was the first time I noticed how much you love being in public.  You seem to be very social and love to look around and take it all in.  You are fussy at home sometimes, but almost never out of the house. 

You were baptized on Sunday, June 14th, 2015 at Faith Point Lutheran Church in New Prague, MN by Pastor Steve Trewartha.  Your Godparents are your Auntie Leah and Uncle Alex.  You met a lot of your family at your baptism party at Grandma Menden's house.  Your mom, Auntie Leah, Grandma Menden and family did a great job throwing a wonderful celebration for you.  It was a nice sunny day and a lot of the family went swimming.

During the Church service at your baptism you were a perfect little girl and listened to the message and took a quick nap before your time at the alter.  You were a sweet angle as Pastor Steve baptized you, no crying just smiling :-) 

Mommy and daddy left you for the first time.  You got to stay at your Grandma Menden's house for a couple days without mommy and daddy.  Auntie Leah and Grandma Menden each spent time watching you as your parents went to a special Brooks & Dunn (& Reba) comeback concert in Las Vegas.  We had fun, but really missed you.  Actually, our first night away from you, we spent on the floor in the MSP airport since Spirit Airlines canceled our flight to Las Vegas.  That was a bummer, but we were able to find a lactation room for your mom to pump breast milk at about 3am.  So you can say the first night away from you was NOT a restful night, but made for a memorable moment.

Happy 4 months!
Daddy

Mila Rose - Three Months

Mila Rose, you are 3 months old!  You are learning and growing more and more each day.

You started swimming lessons this month and you LOVE the water.  At your first swimming lesson you floated on your back!  You love your bath too and you are starting to splash all over the kitchen.  You still cry when you get out of the tub, but it seems to be getting better...maybe.  You used to scream bloody murder and now you just scream. 

You are wearing size 1 diapers (probably not for long though) and 0-3 and 3 month clothes.  I'm not sure what you weigh, but are are getting super chubby.  Your rolly thighs are SO cute!  Your nickname when your checks and neck look really chubby is Mila Chin.  

Sleep is great!  You sleep 10-12 hours at night.  You are still sleeping in mom and dad's room because you do wake up and want your paci sometimes.  Sometimes you wake up early for a little snack too, but you go right back to sleep after.  You are swaddled really tight still.  Your new trick is to start turning in circles while you sleep.  The first time it happened I was so confused!  I woke up and you had done a perfect 180 degree turn.  I thought maybe daddy moved you.  I'm still not exactly sure how you do it, but you start to move almost immediately after you go to sleep. 

Napping during the day is a different story...you won't take a nap!!!  You will only nap if someone is holding or wearing you.  It is very hard for us to get work done during the day. 

Mom and dad left you for the very first time.  Grandma Tyler came over to watch you while we went to the Mat Kearney concert.  You were a perfect little angel.  The concert tickets were your Mother's Day gift to me.  You are so thoughtful!

We took you to church for the first time.  You loved the music and then slept on mom the entire time.  When you were in Mommy's tummy you would dance when the music was playing all the time, so we are not surprised that you love the music. 

We bought you the Baby Einstein Fish tank and that thing is magical.  We put it on your play mat and you always give it the biggest smile as soon as we turn it on.  You are getting better about entertaining yourself for a little bit.  You are starting to really like your play mat as well as Elmo.  We've tried the Bumbo a few times.  You do ok, but I think you will like it more and more as you get older.  

You are quite the talker.  It is so sweet when you talk and coo.  You also smile all the time.  Melts our hearts!

You like to make funny fart noises with your mouth and sometimes make the motor boat fart noises when you are angry or hangry.

Grandma Menden and Auntie Leah came to visit for mom's birthday.  You loved all the snuggles.  We took you to Top Golf, the brewery, and the wine bar. 

It has been super rainy in Texas (like record breaking rain), but we get outside and go for walks as much as possible.  You love being outside. 

May is the time of the year when there are a lot of sports happening at once.  Sports like golf, tennis, baseball, basketball and hockey.  You LOVE watching any sport, especially with your dad.  You can go from angry and tired to content and happy watching sports.  Sometimes when you are on the play mat you will completely turn yourself around to get a better view of the TV.  Your favorite sport to watch is definitely hockey.  The Minnesota Wild lost in the second round of the playoffs but you didn't miss much of the action.

We love to see you grow and it is incredible to see the growth in your motor skills every day.  The only thing sad about seeing you progress and grow is how sad your mom gets that her little tiny sweet baby is growing up so fast.

We love you...cheers to another healthy month!

Mila Rose - Two Months

Mila Rose, you are TWO months old!

You are such a sweet little baby!  You are awake more and more these days and we can really see the lights turning on in that big little head of yours.  You started holding mom and dad's fingers and sometimes even squeeze them.  It melts our hearts!

Sleep has been great!  You are sleeping 6-8 hours at night, and sometimes even longer!!!  When you wake up I lay you on the bed to change you, but most of the time you fall right back to sleep.  You prefer sleeping in mom and dad's bed than your bassinet.  I can't really blame you, our bed is pretty much a fluffy cloud.  Mama doesn't get any sleep when you pull this stunt so I only allow it when you wake up in the morning from a really long sleep.  You definitely prefer to sleep on your side, which of course is also not safe.  You have even figured out how to roll to your side when you are on our bed.  I only allow this when you are supervised.  You also like to nap on your tummy sometimes.  Why do you like to sleep in unsafe places and positions?!?!

You smiled for the first time on April Fool's Day for both mommy and daddy:)  You may have cracked a few smiles before then, but you smiled BIG smiles on that day.  You started cooing and talking.  We love to have little conversations with you.

You weigh 12lbs 3oz and are 22 1/4" long.  Your weight and head are 75-90th percentile and your height is 50th.  Your cheeks are getting chubby and we love to kiss them.  Your 2 month checkup (at 9 weeks) was perfect!  You had your first round of shots.  It was heartbreaking to watch you cry, but you were a trooper.  You really only cried for a few seconds.  You were cranky for the rest of the day, but you didn't have any bad reactions.  Halleluiah!

You graduated to size 1 diapers.  You are wearing mostly 0-3 and 3 months clothes.  There are still a few newborn gowns and pants that fit, but probably not for long.  You don't really like when we change your clothes, but even that is getting better.  Diaper changes are getting better.  You really don't cry anymore, but you still like to potty sometimes the second your diaper comes off.  One night, in the middle of the night, you projectile peed across the bed right on mommy's side.  It was actually quite impressive for a baby girl.  I won't go into detail about poop and toots, but let me just say that you are an impressive tooter. 

You love bath time!  You are the easiest baby to wash.  You just chill in the tub while we wash your hair and body.  You are learning to kick and splash and are starting to create big puddles in the kitchen during your baths.  You still HATE getting out of the tub.  We snuggle with you right when you get out but it doesn't seem to help.  You scream while we put your diaper and jammies on and usually won't stop until we give you food.

We celebrated your first Easter!  You had not had your shots yet so we decided not to risk the crowds at church and watched service online.  You had a lot of family in town for Easter.  Both Grandmas visited from Minnesota, as well as Auntie Leah, Uncle Adam, and Aunt Jackie.  The Easter Bunny brought you an awesome basket with some books, a new swaddle, a lamb paci, and a duck swimsuit.  We had a relaxing Easter morning at home and then went to Great-Uncle Greg and Great-Aunt Trilby's house for dinner.

Mom and Dad celebrated their 3 year anniversary and we thought it was fitting that we bring you along to dinner as our third wheel.  You were a little angel the entire time!  You ate between courses and sat in your car seat while mom and dad ate.  You were a pretty cute date, but I think we will go out alone next year.  

The weather has been beautiful and we have been taking advantage of it by going on walks almost everyday, sometimes 2-3 times a day.  Sometimes we walk with your buddy Max and his mom Elizabeth.  You usually sleep the entire walk.  We have also been enjoying the beautiful weather by going to daddy's softball games.  You must be a good luck charm because they haven't lost with you as their cheerleader yet!

Happy 2 months sweet baby girl!!!

Mila Rose - One Month

Mila Rose, you are ONE month old!

Where has time gone?  I feel like we just brought you home from the hospital!  You have been such a blessing to us.  You love to snuggle and hate to be put down, especially during the day.  You make it very hard for mommy to get any work done.  

You are a very loud roommate!  When you sleep at night you sound like a dinosaur.  Sleep has been pretty good.  The last few nights you have been sleeping for 3-ish hours at a time.  You are a lucky lady and get to stay up late with daddy, while mommy tries to get a little bit of sleep before you are ready to nurse.  Late night feedings are pretty easy. I will get up and change you, feed you, and rock you for a little bit before putting you back in your bassinet.  They are probably longer than they need to be because I like to rock you long after you are fast asleep.  

You have never had a meltdown.  The only time you cry is when you are hungry or when we change you (because it is very hard to get tiny clothes on a tiny body).  Various other things will make you fussy, but not for very long.  Usually food or a good burp will calm you down.

You weigh 9lbs 8oz and are 20 3/4" long.  You had a perfect 1 month checkup!  You are still wearing newborn diapers, but they are getting small.  Once we finish the current box you will move on to 1's.  You wear mostly newborn clothes and are starting to fit into 0-3 months.  Sometimes you wear 3 months jammies, because we barely bought any NB sizes, but you are still swimming in them.  You hate having your diaper changed and sometimes take the opportunity to potty or poop on whoever is changing your diaper.  You pulled this stunt at your checkup today, but thankfully it was only potty and your clothes were already off!  You also hate having your clothes changed, but after you are all clean and dressed you love to hang out on our bed.  You are so content just looking around.

You love bath time!  Your bellybutton stump fell off at 2 1/2 weeks so you are finally able to take real baths.  You cry for a split second when you get undressed and into the tub, but as soon as you are in the water you are super happy.  You don't like getting out, but I can't blame you.  Who likes being cold and wet?

 You love to mimic faces and have been doing this since you were 2 weeks old.  You will make O faces and stick your tongue out.  It is adorable!  

You also love car rides.  You usually fall asleep right away and have never had a meltdown.  We have taken you to a few places, even though you haven't had your shots yet.  Your first big outing was to Hadley's 2nd birthday party when you were 10 days old!  You pretty much slept the entire time.  You have been to daddy's work a few times and you go to work with mommy everyday (all the way upstairs).  You will probably have one heck of a work ethic when you grow up with all the work you will see us doing.  We have taken you out to eat twice and you were a little angel!  Last weekend we took you to Pizzeria Testa on 3.14.15 (Pi Day).  It is pretty much the most authentic Italian pizza around, and since you have already been to Italy (in mommy's belly) you understood the importance of a good pizza and napped while we had a peaceful lunch.

The weather had been nice the past few days so we have finally been able to get out for walks and you love it.  We went for a long walk this week with some new friends and you slept the entire time.  We are definitely going to take advantage of the nice weather before it gets too hot and go on as many walks as possible. 

Happy One Month Sweet Baby Girl!

St. Patrick's Day 2015

Happy St. Patrick's Day from my little family!  Today is Mila's first holiday!!!  It is fitting because her Great-Grandma Kay (John's Grandma) was very proud of her Irish heritage.  We had a pretty low key day since little miss is less than 4 weeks old, but we still kept it festive.  Before Mila was born I bought her a cute little St. Patrick's Day outfit...except it wasn't so little.  It was supposed to be a tunic and jeggings but is was way too big so we ditched the jeggings, added bloomers, and called it a dress.  Thank goodness it was 80 degrees!  Mommy fail turned into a mommy success!!!

Just for fun, John put Mila in front of the Mirror.  Her facial expressions are funny!

Gender-Predicting Old Wives' Tales

We are pretty confident that this baby is a girl, especially since I ask the doctor to check during almost every sonogram.  I still thought it would be fun to look at all the old wives tales regarding gender, so here goes...

• If you carry high, it's a BOY; if you carry low, it's a GIRL - I think I have been carrying low this entire time, so this one is WRONG
• If baby's heartbeat is under 140, it's a BOY; heartbeat over 140, it's a GIRL - Baby's heartbeat was almost always over 140, so this one is RIGHT
• If you crave salt and sour, it's a BOY; if you crave sweet, it's a GIRL - I craved both sweet and sour, so this one is no help at all
• If you suffer from morning sickness you're having a GIRL - Considering I had hyperemesis and couldn't get out of bed for 2 months, I'd say this one is spot on!
• If you sleep on your left side, it's a BOY; if you sleep on your right side, it's a GIRL - They tell you to sleep on your left side while pregnant, so this is what I tried to do.  Usually I ended up sleeping on my back or stomach (bad, I know) so I don't think this one works for me either.  
• If you are clumsy, it's a BOY; if you are graceful, it's a GIRL - I run into walls, make noises when I get off the couch or floor, and drop things all the time (today I kept dropping things in to the trash while I was working, UGH).  This one is wrong, but I would like to know what pregnant woman is more graceful.  
• If your partner pack on the sympathy pounds you're having a GIRL - John definitely did not gain any weight, so this one is WRONG 
• Finally, according to the Chinese Gender Predictor we are having a GIRL...I think.  I am not really sure exactly what month she was conceived because it was on the cusp of 2 months, so according to my best guess (and math) it's a GIRL 

According to the Old Wives' Tales, we're having a half boy, half girl baby!