3 months old...

...and cuter all the time

Happy Easter!

Cute kids

Grandma and Papa with their grandchild and great-grandchildren:

Four generations:

Daddy and his girl:


Mommy with her little girl:

Happy 1st Easter, sweet Mia!

Easter morning 2010

Here is our morning in photos ...

The Bunny came overnight ... here is what he brought before he hid these goodies around the house:


Mia is the first up and enjoys some quiet time with her balloon from the Easter Bunny


Satya and Luke wake up and start hunting for baskets and treats from the Bunny ... Luke finds a basket full of goodies and a t-ball set!



Mia gets her first pair of sunglasses in her Easter basket


Brunch and the rest of the family arrive - Mia and Grandma hang out inside during the (cold) outdoor egg hunt


The egg hunt is on ... Luke loves looking for eggs, and eventually employs Paw to carry around his basket because it gets too heavy!

Satya picks up the most cleverly hidden egg by scaling the swing set! She is so sweet to Luke and even adds some of her findings to his basket.

Back inside after the hunt, Satya swings Mia to sleep...

...and the dogs are released out back - Luke wishes he could jump in and roll around with them!


Thankfully, Uncle Todd joins in the fun out back and quenches Luke's desire for chaos as everyone, dogs included, have a wild party in Luke's fort

By the time everyone leaves, Mia is asleep, Luke is asleep, and Mommy and Daddy wish they were alseep!

Egg Dying 2010

All the girls came to dye eggs with Luke this year. Day, Great Grandma, Bianca, Mommy, and Satya all took part in the fun!

Tubby Time!

Goodbye old friend

We said goodbye to our Jeep over the weekend. We had been thinking for a while about getting a new car at some point this year - we just felt that eventually (or now) we needed something bigger and that driving a car around that was no longer under warranty was taking some risk. When all of the car companies started offering 0% financing for the month of March, we started to get a bit more serious.

To make a long story shorter, we decided that we would like a GMC Acadia and started looking around for one. The only one that met all of our requirements was in Carson City, which just so happens to be not far from Tahoe. We had plans to be in Tahoe for the last weekend of the month, so we made arrangements to go see it ... and ended up coming home with it.

We traded in the Jeep, but leaving the car dealership when I should have felt overwhelmingly excited and grateful about getting a new car (which I am...), I ended up feeling a bit teary. This is sort of ironic for a few reasons, 1) the Jeep really was Michael's car, 2) I was the one who complained the most about it - the gas mileage, the rough ride in the backseat, and 3) I took charge and really put in the time and research to find the new car. I never knew or realized that I could be attached to a car, but this one I suppose I was.

When I ask myself why I was so sad to see the Jeep go I realize that, in so many ways, it saw us through some very important times in our lives. After we moved to California we only had one car (the Volvo), and my grandparents were overwhelmingly generous enough to gift us their Oldsmobile for Michael to use until we got on our feet. He drove that car for a good while, but always said that wanted a Jeep. In fact, he went so far to tell me after we were married that there was no way that we would be starting a family until he owned a Jeep. We bought the Jeep, the first car that either of us had ever purchased on our own, on October 23, 2006 ... Luke was conceived later that week. I rode to the hospital in labor in the front seat (covered in trash bags and bath towels ... Michael's precautions!) of that Jeep twice ... and we brought both of our precious babies (the most precious cargo a car can ever carry) home in that same car.

So, thank you black Jeep. Thenk you for protecting and safely delivering my family to destinations near and far, through numerous snow storms, countless times. We have so many wonderful memories attached to you.

All about Mia

I have gone far too long since posting about all Mia is doing. As with all newborns/infants, she seriously changes DAILY. Here are some of her recent news:

Sleeping

Mia has been sleeping in her own crib in her own bedroom since she was 8 weeks old (the same time that we moved Luke to his own room). It was an easy transition from the portable swing in our room - we just did it one night, and it worked. No problems. I was a bit worried just because she slept so terribly in the cradle in our room - guess she just didn't care for that bed!

Not too much had changed in terms of how long she would sleep at night and how many times she would wake up until just really recently. For the most part Mia had been waking up about every 4 hours to eat (usually around 4am). However, last week we did have a few good nights of 6 hour stretches, which is wonderful! :) Then there are those (very early) morning when Mia has woken for a 5 or 6am feeding and decided that she would like to start her morning ... ugh! I can say that at least she is really very pleasant first thing in the morning.

Talking

We've been hearing coos and gurgles for several weeks now, but really in the past few days Mia has found her voice. She can squeal and "talk," and just loves doing so. It's really so cute!

Eating

The girl loves her food, and can at times be very impatient about waiting for it! She is a good eater and is happy to nurse or take a bottle. She doesn't often get a bottle, but when she does, she usually drinks about 3.5 oz. at a time.

Mia still spits up all the time. Nothing to worry about since she continues to gain weight - it's just means lots more laundry around here!

Growth

At 11 weeks when I took her in for a check of her eyes, they did a "rough" weight check. With a wet diaper and all her clothes on, she weighed 11lbs, 7oz.

She is just now starting to fit well into certain brands of 0-3 month clothing. She grew out of most of her Carter's newborn clothing around 7 weeks, and has been wearing their 3 month size since. Her feet right now are between a size 0 and size 1.

Other news

In the past two weeks Mia has started to really reach and grab for things. She seems to really like the bird and monkey on the vibrating seat. She is also interested in looking at her hands now. Speaking of hands, she loves to put them in her mouth and will often find her thumb to stick in there!

Mia tried the Bumbo for the first time yesterday and did so well. I never would have thought to put her in it this early (I think Luke was at least a whole month older before we tried - and even then, he didn't love it right away), but she seems so strong and often tries to pull herself into an upright seated position when she is reclined.

She loves bathing. I got her a little mesh seat that goes in the tub so that she and Luke can tubby together, and she loves this even more than bathing in her own little tub. Luke happens to like it too, and it kills two birds with one stone for us ... so, it's a good thing!

She has had some trouble with her eyes - the right one seemed infected and after a round of antibiotic eyedrops, they both seemed infected and worse. I took her back to the Dr. and got a new type of eyedrop that seems to be working now. I think that she was actually allergic to the first round, which explains why as soon as we stopped it, her eyes looked better. Poor girl :(!

Her favorite piece of baby gear continues to be the Ergo carrier. She LOVES being in it.

She loves watching her big brother :)

Dad's Day

Mandala had their "Dads Day" at school this week. They honored the Mommies back in February and I completely forgot the camera, so I made sure to ask Michael to take it this time around.


The kids made pizzas for their dads first thing in the morning, and I went in to help with that (boy, was THAT a mess!). So, they shared snack time with their dads, read a story, sang some songs (and did some dancing), and then enjoyed the playground together.

Love and boosters

I love watching them together ... just too sweet!

And this cracked me up - when I pulled out the Bumbo seat for Mia, Luke insisted upon getting his booster chair out and sitting next to her!

o