Mila and company

Mila is lucky enough to have many, many super cute friends. First up is Miss Olivia who is 2 years older than her, but her mom is my friend from preschool. In September (I think?) we went out for yummy vegan brunch and Mila shared her backseat with Olivia.

Then there's Eva. Her mom is a former Descanso coworker of mine. She'll have a new little sister in February. Eva invited Mila to a private swim club in Altadena in August. Mila's first time in a pool-it was SO much fun!

Next are Elliot and Lucian, two of Mila's boyfriends who we see at least once a month. I met their moms at prenatal yoga. We then found each other again at a breastfeeding support group during those first months. The boys were also born in February. I love the photo of Mila 'flashing' them.

The stroller photo is Mila and Beau at my fave spot, Lemonade, on Lake Ave in Pasadena. Mila and Beau will probably get married, unless she marries his younger brother Dreu who is in his mommy's tummy until February.

The birthday boy photo is Vincent. I think I've tried explaining this on the blog before. Vincent's mom is Mila's cousin. Yeah. I want to make a family tree of Greg's side, with photos, to help everyone wrap their head around it all. Vincent came over to play the other night and enjoyed putting Mila's stuffed animals in her hamper.

Lastly there's Grant who was born in April. His grandma is my mom's bff from elementary school! Two months younger and much bigger! :)

So many cute little ones!

Solids

We're having really good luck with solids. Mila hasn't refused anything that we've given her, and like I said she loves herself a big bowl of food. By the way before I forget, yes, I know bumbos were recalled because babies can flip out of them and get seriously hurt. We've never had an accident with Mila, and never left her side when she was in it-despite her efforts to flip out as displayed in a photo above. As of last week, she has graduated to her highchair at home, and a clip-on chair at my parent's house.

Next week is Mila's 9 month check up. Before that my goal is to give her black beans. To avoid the sodium of canned beans, I'm going to attempt to make them myself. I've never bought fresh beans. I believe they need to be soaked overnight or something crazy like that. We'll see how it goes.

Her last check-up was a few weeks ago, to check on her weight. I am VERY happy to report that she's gained. In one month she gained one pound. The doctor was very pleased and said to just keep doing what we're doing. We saw a new doctor, as we had to reschedule our appointment at the last minute. He was really great because he showed enthusiasm for her progress, and explained things in a different light. (For example, more specific reasons for concern if she hadn't gained weight; such as ulcers, or an inability to process nutrients). Maybe I should try avocado again, since it's nice and fatty. There's really no rest for the weary. I admit, the first 6 months were so easy, all I had to worry about in terms of feeding her was having her with me, to nurse. Now it's all about making sure there's produce in the house, cereal, formula, and packing the bag if we'll be out and about. I assume that once she starts eating the food that we eat, I'll have less to 'worry about' in that sense.

Then I'll have the fun of worrying about choking!

Anyway, it's true what they say, introducing new foods is fun.

Long Beach

Back around Labor Day, the three of us went down to Long Beach. I think it was the day after Labor Day, which was nice because the town was pretty quiet. We ate at a really neat restaurant in the Belmont Shore area, and then found a beach without waves (well, I think that's the case along the entire shore of Long Beach b/c of the breakers). It wasn't the cleanest beach but we had a really nice time and I loved having shallow quiet water for us to sit in. Mila didn't care so much about where we were and what we were doing. She didn't mind the water if it was below her waist. I was thankful for the shade of my parent's umbrella, obviously. Good thing my parents own all that stuff. I can't wait to take advantage of their camping equipment. Anyway, we had a nice time and look forward to beach trips next summer when she's running around all over the place.

7 Months

Hi.

Hi there. We've been quite absent, obviously. Life is good. Life seems busy and quiet all at the same time. Absence from blogging stems largely from our broken keyboard at home. I swear I'll get better-and I do know I've promised that before. But really I will. This is important to me and I should love doing it as much as I love reading other mama blogs.

Speaking of, another obvious fact is that this has completely become a blog about Mila, and so I'm ansty to change the name and the look of it all. So that's something to look forward to.

Today is Wednesday 10/24/12. Mila is 8.5 months old. Record scratch! What! 8.5?? How is it that I am both so aware of this fact, and also so in disbelief? When will I ever get a grip on time? I know, I won't. We wake up and her hair is longer. We wake up and she's making a new sound. Or bigger things: we wake up and she's got two bottom teeth. She can 'army crawl.' She can pull herself up to her feet. When she gets upset she arches backward. When we leave her sight she cries. When you wave to her she waves back. She eats crazy things like kale mixed with berries, and plain Greek yogurt. Plain. Her poop stinks a lot. She chewed on my cheek the other day-and then spit up on it. Followed it with laughter. We face her forward in her stroller. She can go from belly to sitting to belly in a f-l-a-s-h. She rips her bibs off. I make her a bowl of cereal and each time say to myself 'whoa, why did I make so much, she'll never eat it all' and then what do you know, she does. She grabs my cheeks and 'kisses' my chin. She sits atop a pile of clothes in our hamper while I carry it to the garage to do laundry. She squeals in excitement when we play peek-a-boo. She cuddles. She smiles with a scrunched up nose 5 million times a day.

So how could the days ever feel quiet with a being like Mila? With an 8.5 month old baby? How am I so surprised that she's no longer just two weeks old? How is it so easy to forget what it felt like to be pregnant? To check into the hospital for our induction and have absolutely no idea what to except nor hardly even believe that I'd give birth? How do I miss her so much when it's only been 2 hours, or 2 minutes, or 30 seconds?

What an amazingly wonderful thing it is to be a mom.

More posts to follow ;)

It's been awhile...