Overdue Update

First off - SORRY for the long gap in between posts, but I hope the photo and video album is keeping everyone updated visually. We hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season and that thew new year if off to a great start. We had an exciting trip with the Vernon family to our favorite place in the world, St. John in the USVI. Mia absolutely loved the warm weather, playing in the water, and crawling in the sand. It was a perfect time for us to get away and allow Mia to kick the cold and ear infection she had for the majority of December. While on the trip she started to stand for a few seconds at a time and towards the end of the trip and you could tell she wanted to just start running.

While on the trip, Josh accidently walked into the ocean with Mia and forgot to take his cell phone out of his pocket...and that leads us to the AT&T store on January 7th. We decided to put Mia down (standing) while paying for the new phone and for some reason she just kept standing, for almost a minute! Up until that point she was only up for a few seconds at a time so this was such a big surprise and great moment for the two of us. The following morning we dropped Mia off for daycare together and told them she was standing more and off we went to work. Daycare was having a parents night the same night so both of us were there to see Mia before the meeting, usually it is just Josh on his way home from work before getting mom at the bus stop. Well, apparently Mia wasn't satisfied with just standing and as soon as we walked in to see her the teachers asked her to go see mommy and daddy...and on cue here comes Mia WALKING across the room to see us. What a blessing we were both there to witness this great moment.

She really seems to be striving at daycare, playing with her friends 3 days a week and learning her abcs, colors, and numbers. Most mornings she doesn't even look at us to say goodbye because she is already busy playing with her friends. She is eating pretty much everything we are eating, and learning to chew more and more with her 4 teeth. Her favorite foods so far are watermelon, strawberries (actually most fruit), pancakes, yogurt, mac n' cheese, chicken, meatballs, and ice cream. We haven't found too many things she hasn't liked yet and are crossing our fingers it stays that way.

We are also starting to learn "toddler talk" as Mia continues to say more and more, like thank you (tank a), or tickle tickle (ti'l ti'l). She loves to dance to music and with one of her dancing toys we bought for her birthday while clapping, stomping her feet, shaking, and raising her hands in the air (touchdown). We have Mia's 15 month appointment in early March and can't wait to share all her new feats with Dr. Gonzales and get her feedback on her development. We keep reminding ourselves she was almost 6 weeks early, because most of the time you wouldn't know and we are so lucky to have such a smart and happy little girl. We will try to keep blogging, but if you are ever in need of a Mia update please feel free to call either of us, or check out the pictures and videos we are always posting in the Phanfare albums.

What a 1st Birthday for our Little Mia

We have a lot to update everyone on but first we hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving and wanted to say Happy Birthday one more time to Mia, who turned one last Friday. Meg, Mia, and I drove down to New York on Thursday morning to spend Thanksgiving at the Bruckmann's with a lot of Megan's family members. It was so nice to see everyone and for them to get to spend some quality time with Mia, little did we know she was beginning to show signs of a virus that would catch up with her the following day. Mia was a little cranky in NY and we did give her some tylenol for what we thought was a fever caused by her teething, and on the ride back on Friday she was just not accepting the fact that she was exhausted and tried to stay awake for the ride home.

When we got back to Watertown Friday afternoon it was clear Mia was not herself as she fell asleep on my chest for the first time in months and just didn't want to eat or drink as much as usual. Aunt Eli gave Mia a bath before bed and got scared when it seemed like Mia just forgot where she was and started to fall backwards in her tub, thankfully Liz caught her and she seemed ok after, just cold when she took her out to dry her off and get her dressed for bed. We gave her some tylenol and checked her temp which went from 100.6 down to 100.0 over 3 checks while we ate dinner so we thought the Tylenol was doing its job.

After dinner Meg's parents headed to their hotel and Liz & Nicolai went downstairs for bed as Meg and I relaxed in the living room before heading to bed ourselves. Minutes after we sat down and I said to Meg how great it was that we made it a year, and Meg said how proud she was, we heard a ruffling on the monitor that was not the normal Mia movement or rolling around we had heard before. We ran upstairs and when we turned on the light we could see Mia shaking in all 4 limbs and when Meg picked her up we noticed she had some spit drooling out of her mouth and was very limp. Meg handed her to me and she would not respond (although she was clearly breathing) to me patting her on the back or calling her name. Meg called 911 while I continued to talk to Mia on our bed now where she started to get some control back and was not as limp. I went to change her diaper and check her temp and before I could finish the paramedics were in her room asking us to explain what happened. We were not positive, but most agreed she had indeed suffered a febrile seizure (I had 3 when I was young too) and that we should get her to the hospital to be examined. Meg hopped in the ambulance with Mia and I drove with Liz & Nicolai to Children's Hospital once Meg called to tell us they were no longer going to take her to Mt. Auburn Hospital.

Mia was in the hospital from just before 11pm until 3am and was not too happy at all as she was constantly being woken up by the nurses and doctors to check her lungs, pulse and to monitor her temperature. It was confirmed that she had a febrile seizure, caused by her fever spiking over a short period of time, and that this is a common occurrence (something the doctor said he sees twice a night). They put Mia on Tylenol and staggered that with Motrin and after 4 hours her temperature had broken and she was released. We continued to monitor her temperature that night and the last couple days and it looks like we finally have everything under control and she is in the final stages of this virus we believe is called Roseola.

The doctors said we should go ahead with Mia's 1st birthday party the following day so long as she continues to improve, which she did, and although we were all pretty exhausted it turned out to be a wonderful day and we now know how much our daughter loves Birthday Cake. Thank you to Aunt Eli and Nola for two great cakes. Mia was definitely showing signs of getting back to normal and enjoyed opening her new gifts, actually she enjoyed playing with the tissue paper the most. We had a lot of help from our family and friends setting up, during, and cleaning after the party and don't know how we could have done it with each and everyone of you, so thank you all.

We had a relaxing Sunday with Mia and today she had her 1 year checkup with Dr. Shirley which worked out well since we were going to update her today anyway. She reconfirmed everything we learned at the Hospital and that we will need to keep a close eye on her and give her Tylenol and Motrin anytime her temperature starts to go up at all. Other than that, Mia was given a gold star for her development and she is now 29 3/4" tall and weighs 20lbs. 4oz. (which we imagine was higher before she got sick). We are now off the bottle and only using a sippy cup as we transition from formula to Whole Milk by adding more and more milk to each serving of formula she gets over the next week or two. Other milestones we have seen or heard from Mia recently include her saying Mama and Dada when she actually should and starting to say doggie when she sees Docket too. She tries to tell us she is One by holding her finger up, but it is usually 2 or 3 at this point. She generally loves taking baths, walking around the house holding on to the walls and furniture or in her walker, and we have yet to find a food she really didn't like so we are lucky there as well, fingers crossed.

Sorry for the long and winded update or if I left anything out, but I wanted to get everyone updated and if anyone has any questions about febrile seizures and warning signs feel free to call or email Meg or me. Happy Holidays to everyone and we hope to see everyone in December or early in the New Year.

On the Move

Well it seems like the only way we can keep Mia from being on the move these days is when we put her in the jumper you see above. Perfect example being after I just typed the first line I look up to see Mia tipping over Docket's water bowl. She is a scooting and shuffling machine these days and it is the only thing she wants to do, besides eat. She even started to crawl for the first time today instead of just scooting and pulling herself on her bum. I think the solid surface at the playground helped bring the crawling out since she couldn't pull herself along like she can on our hardwood floor. There are plenty of pictures and videos on the Album website to see our little girl on the move.

It is hard to believe Mia is almost 11 months old. Even though she joined us early, it seems as if she is developing right on schedule with most of her milestones, if not ahead. Each morning we now have the pleasure of waking up to Mia singing to herself in her crib. After listening to her for a few minutes we'll usually walk in to her room to find her standing in the crib, and this morning she was doing that without her pajama pants on anymore. Somehow she had wiggled out of them or pulled them off, and we hope the diaper is not the next thing she starts to take off every morning. She is still a great sleeper, most nights she is in bed at 7pm and first peep in the morning is around 7am.

I estimate (dad's measurements) that Mia is between 20-21 pounds now and somewhere around 29 inches tall. It is truly remarkable how much babies grow in their first year plus. We have our next doctor's appointment right after her first birthday and as usual we are looking forward to hearing the progress report from Dr. Gonzalez. We must thank everyone that has helped us taking care of Mia when we have a wedding or just needed a night out, it has been great for both Meg & I, as well as Mia as she really enjoys spending time with her grandparents, her aunts and uncles, and our great friends that have spent time watching her now too.

Well we will continue to try and blog when we get a chance or have anu update. This weekend we are headed to the BC-Virginia Tech football game and hope to get plenty of updates on the Sox game while we watch the Hokies win another ACC battle at the Heights.

Til next time, Go SOX!

NATE KELLY!!!!

Allie and I had the great pleasure of meeting Mr. Nathanial Francis Kelly tonight. What a bundle!!!! What astounded me was that Nate is larger than Mia was when she was born. I forgot (in almost 10 months) what it was like to hold a newborn. Danielle is a trooper, as always, and is beginning to join the "mommyhood" club. I couldn't believe how wonderful she looked after having a c-section yesterday.

Josh and I are heading to his college roommate's wedding this weekend. It is going to be a strange experience for me as I have only attended 812 weddings for Josh's friends. We are looking forward to sleeping in, but let's be honest, not gonna' happen. More details to come.

More updates to come.

What A Big Girl!

Well, a month has come and gone since we have last posted. I am not sure where the time goes, but it definitely does fly. The summer seemed to barely exist before it was over. I am not sure whether that was due to the terrible weather we had or if time just passes more quickly when you have children. I always am told "Enjoy it now because they grow up so quickly" and I am truly beginning to believe it. It seems like just yesterday it was cold enough for Mia to be wearing a hat in the house (thanks to Nola!) and now we are dragging out sweaters again for the chilly mornings heading to daycare.

Mia has grown leaps and bounds over the last few months. She is enjoying all the new foods we have been introducing. I say all, but that really isn't the case. She definitely lets you know if she does not like what you are feeding her. She looks at you with her evil eye and gives you a look that screams "Are you serious?". I guess I would react the very same way if someone tried to force feed me pureed green beans. We have been trying to supplement her formula, which she is less and less interested in each day, with fruits such as apricots, bananas, plums, peaches and pears. She loves her standard veggies like sweet potatoes, squash, corn etc. Recently I had quite a funny parent mishap. I knew that Cousin Pete liked prunes when he was little - so I purchased a few containers of those for Mia. Mistake being that Peter liked PLUMS when he was a baby and I was stuck with numerous messy diapers after ONE feeding of the purchased prunes. This is a mistake every single parent should be warned about. I haven't read anything about this in baby books, but I am currently drafting a strongly worded letter to them all to include such a warning in bold print.

The end of summer weather has allowed us to enjoy some outside time, which Mia really enjoys. She loves going to the park for the swings and spending time just soaking everything up. It is truly amazing to see how much she learns each and every day. She started clapping a few weeks ago and now it is one of her favorite activities. She loves playing with her stuffed animals and some of the noisier toys around the house. But her favorite toys are those that aren't toys at all. Cellphones, purses, keys etc. I am sure this is very normal, but can be a bit frustrating when almost every phone call you have is interrupted because she grabs the phone and hangs up by mistake. Another recent funny moment was a few mornings ago, Mia was sitting on the couch. Josh and I were attempting to get everything ready to head out of the house for work and daycare and were not paying as much attention to her as we should have been. Josh turned around to find Mia chomping on Docket's bone!!!!! The worst part was how much she enjoyed it and how upset she was when we took it away from her. Docket seems to understand which are his toys, but Mia seems a bit confused on the matter.

Another major development recently is that Mia loves to stand and practice walking. She still enjoys sitting and playing, but it seems to entertain her less and less. She would prefer to be up and about around the house. As she is not mobile yet on her own, this requires endless trips for Josh and I around the dining room table, into the kitchen, back to the living room etc. I love the fact that she seems so inclined to be mobile, but I am waiting for the day when she can do a bit of it on her own. (I know, I will regret those words.) The constant activity she requires does tire her out, so sleeping has not been a problem. We are still on a 7pm - 7am sleeping schedule for most nights.

Recently Mia has become a bit clingy to Josh and I. We have read that this is completely normal, but it does hurt people's feelings. Mia wants to be held by people that come to visit, but when it registers that it is not actually Mom or Dad, she gets upset. She also has exibited some separation anxiety from Melissa, her caretaker, at daycare. When Melissa puts her down and leaves the room, Mia tends to get upset. I am hoping that this is just a phase and we are not the parents of an extremely shy little girl. BUT, knowing Mom and Dad, I can't imagine that would be the case.

Some new pics are up and I will stop promising to blog more often. Maybe if I don't promise, I will do it more frequently. I hope everyone has a wonderful Fall, and cross your fingers that Winter is not even close.

What a surprise!

Another fun Monday in our household has come to an end. We got a really great surprise yesterday when Carianne (Josh's former roommates wife) decided to come and visit Mia and I with her son Patrick. It was so great to see Carianne and spend some time chatting all about new mom stuff. I don't have a ton of friends with kids, so it was really refreshing to chat about everything I have been doing recently and bounce ideas off of each other. Patrick is almost exactly one month older than Mia - so I think Carianne and I are really in the same place in our lives. It makes me want to get out in the neighborhood more and meet some other Moms that may be out there and looking for friends for their kids.

Mia, Patrick, Carianne and I went to the park while they were here. Both the kids loved the swings and seemed to be content while we caught up on gossip and what each of our families have been up to. Despite being in the middle of what we thought may turn into a Watertown Tween Brawl, we had a nice time.

Josh and I have met a new neighborhood kid who seems to endlessly ride his bike around our area. He is intensely interested in Docket as well as Mia. This morning he came to the yard and spent a good 20 minutes playing with Docket and asking questions about babies. I was afraid I was going to get the "where do babies come from" question, but thankfully we avoided that topic. But, he wanted to know how old she is, what she eats, does she talk etc. etc. etc.

We are gearing up for our adventure to Richmond on Friday. I am really looking forward to spending the weekend with my family - but the trip on Friday is looming in the future. I am a bit nervous to take Mia on her first plane ride. Mostly b/c I don't want her to act up the entire time (which is a REAL possibility) but also b/c I am intensely afraid to fly. I guess this is a good trial run for our trip to St. John in December. We can figure out how to navigate security etc. I am sure I will have a ton to blog about come next week.

Hope all is well with everyone out there. We continue to try and be better about updates.

We got a socca playa

For all those that have stuck with us and our lack of blogging - THANK YOU! We are finally feeling a bit settled and are actually coming across some free time. Hopefully we will make good use of that time to update you on our lives with Mia. Continue to check back here for more updates on a regular schedule.

Josh got a break this weekend and flew to Baltimore to attend Craig's bachelor party and I got to spend three days/nights with Ms. Mia by myself. I LOVED having her all to myself and getting to spend so much time with her. She really amazes me all the time. I can't express how loving, caring and tender she is. I think I have decided that my favorite Mia moment is when she is tired and wants to play with my hair. She just strokes it and puts her hand in the hair on the back of my neck. It must be soothing to her because she tends to do this when she is exhausted.

Our weekend was full of ups and downs. Mia has progressed in her teething and now has become uncomfortable most of the time. She has found the power of her own voice and doesn't hold back when using it (wonder who she picked this up from!). She had some trouble sleeping through the night this weekend, which is the first time since she was an infant. Being a single parent for three days, I found this frustrating but understandable. I think I can finally feel a tooth or two coming in on her lower right side, and we are crossing our fingers that it happens soon. When naps only last 15 minutes, you know that she must be in some discomfort. Mia also graced me with a present of the liquid variety while I was changing her. Mom was trying to multi-task and didn't realize what was happening before it was too late. I had to laugh b/c once I realized she had peed all over me - I looked at her and she was giggling away. She knew.

We went to the Atrium Mall on Saturday in attempt to avoid the rain/thunderstorms and had a great time. All the store owners got a kick out of Mia and her attempts at babbling on the highest volume possible for a baby. She finally settled when Shannon and I stopped for a bit to eat at the Cheesecake Factory. I forgot how much I love this restaurant and I thank Mia for allowing me to actually eat a full meal out. :)

Sunday was not our happiest day. Cranky, no napping and then Josh called with the bad news that his flight had been cancelled. I almost had a breakdown, but gathered myself together and just pushed through. I think both Mia and I slept like rocks last night and both woke up re-freshed this morning.

Today we took our first trip to the park on our street. I always thought that maybe Mia was too little for the park, but to my surprise, she loved it. Baby swings were available - and she had a blast sitting in it and just barely swinging back and forth. Then Josh spent some time aquainting Mia with a soccer ball. I can see she has a future in this sport. She didn't want to touch it with her hands, only her feet.

I have posted some new park pics for everyone to see. Next weekend we have a house BBQ and then are heading to Richmond, VA the weekend after that to spend time with NOLA and Papa Doc. From what I hear, Eli and Oli will be there as well and I am very curious to hear all about their jaunt out West.

Hope this post finds everyone well. We will post again soon.