Christmas Miracles, indeed!

HUGE congratulations to Mike and Liz! After almost 18 months of waiting, they became the proud parents to Mark Garrett, born and adopted on Christmas Day!

We are thrilled for you guys. Prayers are answered... you are living proof!

Our Christmas was awesome... more on that later. :)

Its my party...

So if a picture is worth 1,000 words... this blog post is worth 11,000. I'll let them speak for themselves. Enjoy!

All this is for me?

No way!

A little playtime with Madalyn

The cake -- Thanks Laura!

The cake we actually let Mia eat

Butterfly Cookies (sense a theme here?)

Mmm, squishy!

Dude! There's sugar in the frosting! Frosting is the best!

Cake is awesome!

Chowing down on some cake (notice the frosting, the only part with actual sugar, is gone!)

Washing it down with some milk

One Year

At 2:43pm today, Mia was officially 1 year. Its amazing, how much they grow and change in a year. She's now walking, starting to talk, understanding what you say to her, answering questions, and asserting her own personality and likes and dislikes. She's a little person now!

She's gone from this:

To This:

She looks like she's up to something...

In her spunky new hat

I'm a big girl now!

Of course, right after that picture... the hat was off. :)

Happy Birthday, Mia Joy. Your name is fitting. You have brought so much joy to our lives this year. We pray your next year be even more fun. We can't wait to watch you grow and change.

End of an Era

And, just like that, we are done nursing.

Technically, we've been done for a week. I nursed Mia for the last time on Monday, November 19th. It was a sweet time... we turned off the TV and just cuddled and talked. Mia seemed to sense something was up because she nursed for longer and didn't claw, pull my hair, or try to poke my eyes out. It's a lovely memory.

The plan was to continue nursing Mia until her 1st birthday on the 29th... but she wasn't asking for milk anymore. She wasn't even coming to me or excited when I asked her if she wanted to nurse. Once she shook her head "No" and continued playing with her books. So I figured she was ready.

She hasn't had any trouble adjusting. She drinks her cows milk out of her cup. There have been no tears, no fights. Its really been a lot easier than I ever expected.

My baby girl is growing up.

Puny Pony (and other things)

Hi! Still here. Between weaning and Mia's changing nap schedule, I haven't really had much blog time. She's decided that napping for more than an hour in the morning is for the birds. Plus, she's had a cold for a couple weeks. Thank God she's feeling better now. Mark is sick, now, though, so I'm hoping its not going to come back around to us!



Weaning is going waaaay better than anyone ever expected around here. For a girl that hated all things cup and bottle-like, she sure has taken the switch pretty well. This week, we're only nursing one time a day. We dropped the night-time feeding first, since she's able to go to bed easily when I'm at dance without nursing (has for months, since she wouldn't take a bottle). We'll see how it goes tonight. But this morning, if I hadn't offered it, I'm pretty sure she would have been fine without nursing. huh.



Here's some pictures of her first ponytail. Its pretty puny... but it gets the job done! And her hair out of her eyes.

Not so sure of the pony...

Oh I look cute? Okay, pony it is!

She's realized she can take her pants off if she steps out of them... uh oh!

Happy Halloween!

Mia had a fantastic first Halloween. We don't really do a lot of celebrating, cause we don't like some of the evil aspects of the night. But who doesn't like some good clean fun with some awesome dressing up time?

She started the day in a shirt from her Aunt Nora that said "Who needs a costume when you're already a princess?" Then she changed into her ladybug costume for the Community Baptist Church's Fall Festival. We had a FUN time! She played some games and laughed at all the crazy costumes. Mark and I had fun too. You can't beat their food!

This shirt has a point....

Waving to her subjects

Mia and Mommy... does that make her the queen? lol :)

Aaaahhhh! Attack of the giant ladybugs!

Cutest. Ladybug. Ever.

Trying to snap? Summoning her servants?

Nursing Musings

Um... where has this year gone? Can it be that Mia will be 11 months soon? Was it just last year that I was heavily pregnant and thinking I couldn't get bigger (but did)? Yeah, apparently when you have a baby the world goes into warp speed. I was warned... but I didn't really listen, I must admit.

Its been on my mind lately because the time is coming... weaning. I'm going to start weaning Mia when she turns 11 months... a mere 8 days away. I'm torn. A part of me is relieved -- finally, a break! Some time away! Not having to plan every single day around when Mia will want to nurse. Since she decided that bottles were the worst thing ever to happen to breastmilk, I haven't been away from her for more than 5 hours when she was awake. I need some time to myself. I need a night away with my husband. I need my body to belong to me again.

But the other half? The other half of me just aches at the thought of it. I'm going to miss our special time. I'm going to miss being able to provide both nutrition and comfort. It's one of the only times that she cuddles, my little Miss Move-and-groove. And it's one of the last things tying her to being a baby. My baby. She's already taking steps. Trying to talk. Giving attitude (okay, so maybe she's been doing this for awhile...).

I had such a hard time learning to nurse. I joke that I've had every problem in the book except one (knock on wood)... but it's not really a joke. It was rough. There was blood, sweat, and tears. In those rough beginning months, I would count down the days and months until I was finished with nursing. "Only 11 months 2 weeks left." "Just 9 months, you can do this!" I'd tell myself. Now its just around the corner, and I'm in shock. I didn't enjoy the first 2-3 months of breastfeeding, I must admit. I only did it because I'm incredibly stubborn. But now?

Now, I'm glad. It's honestly one of the things I'm most proud of in my life. That may sound corny... and if it does you probably weren't around in the beginning. You didn't see how hard it was. You didn't feel the pain. See the trauma. Sit up late at night while she ate for hours. Fed her every two hours. Got infections. And blisters. Bitten. Rejected. Clung to.

And in the end? It was worth every second.

Fall is in the air

Its fall! Well, relatively speaking. The calendar says so, but in true Texas fashion the temperatures haven't quite caught up.

Anyway, Mia and I caught up with some friends at the local pumpkin patch recently. We took some of our own pictures and had an amateur photographer take some as well. Mia had a wonderful time! Pumpkins are so much fun, apparently. Here are the pictures that I took.

What is this thing?

Oh! Pumpkins! Pumpkins are funny.

Ya know, seeing all these pumpkins really makes you think about life...

Brings a whole new meaning to putting your foot in your mouth.

Tyra said to look "fierce."

Yum, pumpkin stem. Better than pumpkin pie.

Let's see... nope, this one isn't quite round enough...

This one is too big....

Let's get this one, mommy!

This pumpkin makes a great drum! Tap, tap, tap.

Being outside? And pumpkins? This is the best day ever.

A Round of Applause

So Mia has finally learned to clap. She learned about a week ago -- at 9 months 3 weeks and some days. Crazy, as most babies have been clapping away for months now... many before they learned to crawl. And Mia's working on walking. But she's got clapping down... and now that's all she wants to do! It's so cute.

So now, when she wakes up and you pick her up, she claps. When I'm finished nursing her, she claps. She claps for Zee when she brings back the ball. She claps when you enter the room. She's stopped waving and giving high-fives because she's so interested in clapping.

But hey, who can complain, really? It's nice getting applause during the day.

She's very close to walking. She took a couple little shuffling steps today from Mark to me. Only because I was holding Mark's bluetooth. Forbidden items are a perfect motivator, apparently. She has tried to walk several other times and has managed to move a foot here and there. And she can stand for minutes at a time. It's so cute! She loves to walk holding on to our fingers. The other day, she even went from a standing position to a crouching position and back. It's like she couldn't figure out how to move her feet. It looks like it's only a matter of time before she puts it all together and is off and running!

No pictures... I've hijacked Mark's computer. Will try to post new ones soon. :)

Oh so girly!

When did Mia turn into such a girl? I mean... she's a baby one day, then she's a girl, who loves dolls, brushes, jewelry, and chatting with girlfriends.

Brushes are fun to fix your hair and eat.

Beads! Its all the rage.

Girlfriend, let me tell you...

Getting there...

So I feel like we're finally getting somewhere on the sleeping issue. Several times in the last week, Mia has slept all night (7:30pm-6-6:30am). It hasn't been consecutive, unfortunately, and she'll probably wake up several times tonight, just for this post, but hey, its progress, right?

Napping has been a bit weird. She had dropped her evening nap, but has now had to take a 30 minute or so nap around 5... she just can't make it. So odd, as most kids her age are taking 2 naps. But she's happy, and I'm happy.

She drinks out of a sippy cup now. Straw cups are her favorites, which is awesome since her pedi recommends them. But she won't drink breast milk out of the cup (or bottle, or anything). As soon as she tastes it, she's all... this is not where milk comes from. BUT, she's been able to go to bed without the milk on Monday nights when I'm at dance. Of course, she doesn't sleep all night those nights...

So things are getting easier, on some fronts anyway. At 11 months (October 29) we start weaning her. I can't believe that's only 1 1/2 months away. I'm sad, but also looking forward to a night away... ahhhh!

Here's some fish faces for those only wanting pictures. ;)

The flash! My eyes!

Fish lips in progress...

Multitasking

Peek-a-boo Mia

Mia has become fascinated with Peek-a-boo! She especially loves when she can hold the blanket (burp rag, towel, placemat, whatever) and drop it down to surprise you! That's what she was doing this day when she decided to crawl off with the blanket. :)

Where's Mia?

PEEK-A-BOO!

Aaagh! The blanket monster!

Mia says: Gotcha!

Eh, I'm done with this peek-a-boo stuff. I have more important things to do. Like attack this seahorse!

Long time, no post

Ahhhh, yes. Hello. Its been awhile. Sorry about that. I can explain.

First, our computer went into the shop to get a new hard drive installed. See, all the fab pictures of Mia were taking up too much room.

Then, the computer came back... and lets just say it decided to go crazy on me. Maybe it didn't like it's tune up? The backspace key doesn't work. So I arrow over and delete. Do you know how ridiculously annoying that is? (and it seems that when you are trying hard And, not to make a mistake is when you make the most.) And for added bang-your-head-on-the-desk-fun the delete key has decided to stick at times. Wee!

We're buying a new keyboard. In the meantime, here are some new things Mia is doing:

* Has two top teeth!

* Making fish lips

* Making kiss sounds

* Reliably standing on her knees unassisted

* Working her way to standing longer unassisted

* Eating WATERMELON! Oh so fun!

Here are her pictures from her 8-month "photo shoot." Which was about a month ago! I'm such a blogger slacker.

The other people in this house...

So... yeah. This blog gets a lot of Mia time. And with good reason -- she's incredibly cute. (if I do say so myself... wait, I just did...)

But I thought you'd like to know what's going on with the other people that happen to live in this house -- The parentals and Zee.

Mark: Mark just got finished with a huge work project that he's been working on for almost a year. More than a year? I don't know, I lost count. It was great for his company and he got a lot of new experiences. Plus, he got to see the countryside of Canada from a caboose. Does it get better? This year he's been the Lay Director of the Chrysalis community which has kept us busy as you can imagine. We had four fabulously successful weekends this summer -- Praise God! We didn't have to cancel due to low numbers or lack of leadership. Lives were changed and kids grew closer to God this summer. We're extremely grateful. Please be praying. There are changes that are happening within the Chrysalis movement. None that I really want (or possibly can) talk about right now. But we need prayer. We need God's guidance... and a lot of this decision making will fall on Mark's (and the board's) shoulders.

Melissa: I've been enjoying my time as a stay-at-home-mom. Its amazing. Its completely, 100% different than I had pictured my life... but I wouldn't change a second. Mia has become so fun lately. She's into everything, and exhausting, but this is the best job I've ever had. I'm fulfilled. I'm happy. I look forward to watching her change and grow each day. As for my other job... dance is amazing. My classes are going well and I'm gaining back most of the skills that I'd lost after having Mia... and even perfecting some. I'm back to hitting triple pirouettes pretty consistently, and my splits are back. Yeah, that probably meant nothing to a lot of people, but its pretty exciting for me. :) My class is great. They are ready to tackle anything I throw at them and are so upbeat and excited. My friend, Leah, is back at the studio as an intern. She's choreographing some dances for her internship and I'm lucky enough to get to be in one and have my class do another. The dances are amazing. Filled with passion and desire for God. I'm eternally grateful for a place like A Time to Dance. Who know I'd get to combine the two things I'm most passionate about -- serving God and dance.

Zee: Zee is crazy, as usual. It'd be weird if she was anything but! lol. She had a run-in with Dennis' truck (long story) that resulted in an injury to her toe, but it only slowed her down for about 1 day. She's back to running full speed. She still loves to hunt squirrels. So much so, that we never have them in our yard! Oh, and apparently she's a skunk magnet (or a slow learner). She's been sprayed twice now. She's just way too curious for her own good! She loves to swim in the pond with Jack. But she also loves to hang out with us and Mia. She's still not so sure about the littlest Davenport. But she's very sweet with her.

So that's the update. We're all alive and well. Now back to your regularly scheduled Mia-viewing.

Don't mind me... I'll be reading this book while you talk amongst yourselves.