It's Fall!

With school having started last month, things have been pretty busy and we haven't had much of a chance to update the blog. Ray, Mia, and I have settled somewhat into a routine. I get up every morning at 4:45 to feed Mia (poor thing would still like to sleep more!) and then hand her off to Ray while I get in the shower. Ray takes her to his mom's house on his way to polo practice, so I get the rest of the morning to get ready for school. Ray's mom is watching Mia Wednesdays through Fridays. My sister and dad are watching her on Mondays and the mom of one of Ray's old water polo players is watching her on Tuesdays. She usally comes with me to Ray's water polo games during the week too. Ray and I really look forward to coming home and getting to spend time with her. She has been sleeping wonderfully - usually until 7 or 8 on the weekends (sometimes she'll even make it to 9!). She is just the happiest baby and has so much personality. We love seeing what she'll do next. She's already reaching and grabbing for things and is getting so close to turning herself over. She loves sitting up and babbles a lot. Earlier this month, we took her on her first trip to Oak Glen. My family has been going there for apples and cider for years and I was so excited to take Mia. We got her her first pumpkin and will hopefully carve it before Halloween. She is also now sleeping in her crib in her nursery downstairs. She's such a big girl (she turned 3 months old on October 7th)! She is an expert at tummytime now and loves to listen to music. We actually tried on a Halloween costume today (a pumpkin), but it was too small. We need to find a bigger size - either in the pumpkin or a peapod. Now that things have settled down a little, we'll hopefully get to update this a little more frequently. Here are some recent pictures...

Mia's First Swim Lesson

Ray and I took Mia swimming for the first time on Friday at my parents' pool. She was a little fussy at first, but then seemed to enjoy it (or as my mom said, "She didn't hate it"). She actually cried a LOT when we took her out of the pool. It was really special to be able to have my parents (Mia's Oma and Opa) there to witness her first swim lesson. We didn't have a newborn swimsuit for her, so she wore a 12 month one! I forgot that I did have a 6 month suit in the closet. Oh well! We can't wait to get her back in the water soon. Here are some pictures from the historic event.

Mia Moments

Here are some fun pics of Mia.

Back to Practice!!!

(Ray) Cat and I have been getting ready to go back to school. Cat's not at all excited, but I've been coaching already and it's back to normal for me. Mia though has been really active. She smiles and talks to be us all the time. She even tells my polo players not to be pansies during morning practices. Yes, she has been to several morning practices with dad and she loves the sound of the water as they swim. She also doesn't mind my yelling and whistle blowing. I've started her polo training with squats, neck lifts, thumb grips, bubble blowing, kicking, and side breathing. Well the side breathing is usually on my chest as she tries to find a sweet spot to sleep (so cute). She will also be getting her first water lesson today in a pool with mommy and daddy. Can't wait. Here is her first water polo uniform.

6 Weeks

Mia turned 6 weeks this past Tuesday and had her well-check at the doctor's on Wednesday. She is doing very well and is now up to 9 pounds, 14 ounces (in the 50th percentile). The doctor also gave her a round of vaccines (3 shots and one liquid). Mia did pretty well - better than I did....but it really hit her later in the day. She was not a happy camper at all! Poor thing. We gave her some infants' Tylenol and she slept from 10:30pm until 6:30 the next morning. So nice! We thought it might be the medicine, but last night she slept from 10:30 until 5:30. We're hoping she keeps this trend up! Mom and Dad sure are enjoying the sleep. Wednesday morning was also the day that we discovered a water pipe had burst in the wall next to the nursery and was soaking into the carpet padding. I walked into the nursery with Mia and felt wet spots. Thinking maybe Ray had been in there earlier and spilled some water or something, I went to ask him. He hadn't been in there since the day before. When we both went back down, the water spots were getting worse and we could hear what sounded like spinklers coming from in the wall. We called the insurance and they had a plumber come out who had to cut a hole in the wall abd take off part of the chair-rail. Luckily he got things fixed and didn't have to do much damage to the wall or the wainscotting. People also came out with dehumidifiers to dry out the carpet. It was soaked! An inspector is coming out on Monday to survey the damage and let us know what needs to be fixed. We know we'll have to have the carpet cleaned out, the wall repaired (along with part of the baseboard in the adjacent bathroom), and Ray will have to repaint some of the walls along with fixing the chair rail. So much fun! I guess Mia won't be moving into her crib for a while longer now. Here are some newer pictures along with a video of Mia putting on her dancing shoes to some fun music.

Mia in Action!

(Ray) We have been getting great smiles from Mia lately. Her personality is starting to come out and we are loving it. It was fun having Mia meet the Au family yesterday at Uncle Jimmy's house. I was glad that we could join the cousins with babies group. It seems that we were the last ones. Oh well, got to save the best for last. Anyways , here are some modeling pictures of Mia and a blast of happiness.

Mia with Personality!

Mia is now 5 weeks old and has been showing so much personality lately. She smiles a lot and has been enjoying toys and things around her. Ray's mom and my parents have really enjoyed watching her while Ray and I try to get out a little bit. We're so happy she's eating well and sleeping pretty well. It'll be so hard to go back to school and not see her for a big chunk of the day. We're so grateful we have this summer to spend quality time together and watch her grow.



Mis got to meet her great-grandparents (Ray's paternal grandparents) this past weekend. She couldn't stop staring at her Tie(sp?) MaMa!