How One Month Can Make Such a Difference

It was one month ago today that we were in Ethiopia, standing in anxious anticipation, waiting for the moment they would bring out our daughter to us. One by one, the other families in our travel group met their long-awaited children. And finally, it was our turn. It honestly seems like just a moment ago and at the same time a lifetime ago. I feel like Mia has always been part of lives; I simply cannot imagine life without her. She is our daughter. Adoption is truly a miracle ordained by God.

Here are some new pictures Travis took of Mia yesterday at the park. He had the honor of taking our goddaughter Gabby's 3 year pictures, so Mia and I met them after her nap. The girls were so cute together. It's neat to see how much Gabby has grown; it seems like yesterday she was Mia's size! Happy 3rd birthday Gabby!

Labor Day Weekend & Catch Up

I've been intending to get these pics up all week, but time seems to have escaped me, along with my camera that was forgotten in Travis' Jeep! We actually had a great weekend. Mia was a rock star with her naps. Saturday was pretty low key with a first time visit to Papa and Grandma Paschall's, which was good because Sunday Mia and I went to the Bowen family reunion (my mother's side) and she was introduced to almost her entire extended family! She took an hour and a half nap in the morning at home, and then slept for 2 hours in my Grandma's guest room! I couldn't believe it! I kept telling my family she was a horrible napper, and then she goes and makes a liar out of me. Oh well. My favorite part of the day was introducing Mia to her cousin Brady...they're only 26 days apart. Check out the photos my cousin Samantha (Brady's mama) took of them both...so cute!

Brady and Mia

Mommy and Mia at Grandma and Grandpa Bowen's house

Monday was a holiday for Travis (yeah family time!) so we all three ventured out to Target for, what else, but more formula. Afterwards we made a brief appearance at Alex and Amie's cookout and (bonus!) also got to play with Kenton, Emily, and Gabby. Gabby was a bit camera shy, so no pics of the two girls yet.

Mia was fascinated in trying to pull Alex's facial hair!

And she loves looking at ceiling fans and lights with Amie

Wednesday was the big visit to Riley's International Adoption Clinic. I just have to express how much I *loved* the clinic and Dr. Keck. She.is.amazing. Really. I will be writing a thank you card to them...that's how much I loved it. She checked Mia out very thoroughly and spent almost 40 minutes with us, answering any questions we had and going over everything. Thankfully, she proclaimed Mia to be pretty perfect (not like we didn't already know that ;) She weighed in at 15 lbs 8 oz., up over a pound in 2 weeks. Her weight is in the 50-70 percentile, but she's not grown any longer yet. Dr. Keck said she was amazingly healthy and developed; her muscle tone is great, but she told us Mia will probably walk before she crawls because she hates tummy time.

Also, Mia started babbling more this week and has added "blah, blah, blah" and "da da da" to her vocabulary. It's so funny to listen to her in her crib in the mornings; she just jabbers away! Unfortunately every time I break out the video camera she clams up. Maybe I can capture her unaware soon. It's totally cute. We're also back to catnapping (so much for rock star status). But she's also getting a front tooth in (I feel it!), which I think is contributing to her recent fussiness the last couple of days. She pretty much just wants to be held all afternoon.

This one's just because I think she's so darn cute! (It's a little out of focus, but who cares?)

Meeting Mia

Well, it took me a little longer than I had planned, but I guess that's all part of being a mom now. Here is the video of us on Meetcha Day, August 17, 2009, the day we had been anticipating and anxiously expecting these 2+ years.

Another Week, Another Post

Another week has gone by, and I'd be lying if I said this was the best in my life. Don't get me wrong - I love this kid more than life itself, but I'd also be lying if I didn't tell you this is hard. We're still not napping well, probably a result of 6 months of habit (short naps after every bottle) and also from Mia's very strong will. No naps = one cranky baby. I've been doing as much research as I can on whether or not to let her cry it out (and please, if you have an opinion, I'd rather not hear it right now...no offense, I already feel inadequate as it is), and the jury is still out. Today, though, she only slept for 30 minutes for her morning nap and woke up happy as could be. So after a few minutes of trying to get her to go back down, I gave up and took a drive thinking maybe I could ride her to sleep. No dice. Ah well, who needs a shower or to pay bills anyway? We had our late-morning bottle and cereal, played for a good while, and then started to get crabby again. This time when I started our nap routine, she would have none of it. And the screaming began. When not even picking her up could console her, I just had to lay her down, shut the door, and set the timer on the microwave for 10 minutes (oh, and call my husband in tears). Miraculously, 4 minutes into her fit, she actually fell asleep. I still feel like crap and I'm sure my face mirrors it, but I'm guiltily relieved to have a few moments alone. And hopefully, she'll take a good, solid nap and wake up with that smile that just melts our hearts...

Sweet Potatoes!

She seems to like the sweet potatoes I started a couple of days ago. She wasn't too sure what to do with the spoon at first; she kept trying to suckle it. Tears followed, complete with screaming, until I got some in her mouth and she stopped abruptly with wonderment at the new found sweetness. Today she finally figured out the spoon and actually opened for bites. Although it seemed like just as much came out that went in, I think we're on the right path.

Our Life in Pictures

Since my little one is still not napping well (think 30 minutes spells), I don't have much time for words, but I wanted to share a few pics from our life since we brought Mia home. I promise to blog more about our trip, but for now, enjoy our beautiful little girl!

At the Airport in Ethiopia, waiting to board our 16 hour flight

First Bath at Home! She loves splashing her feet in the water.

Our first cereal. She's not too sure about it...

Look at those tears! Such a drama queen already.

So we had to finish our cereal on Mommy's lap, and after our bottle of course.

Just swingin' in the morning with my Daddy!

2 Days Home & 6 Month Checkup

Well, we've been home for almost 48 hours, and it has never felt so good to be a mom. I think we're all falling into the swing of things pretty well. We still don't have a good routine down, but it will come in time. Mia is wonderful. Did I mention how darn cute this kid is? She has the brightest smile in the world, and I love making her laugh. It's infectious. She does have quite the temper, though, and can go from happy to mad in approximately 3 seconds flat. We're still not sure if her fussiness is temporary from all the changes she's been through, or just part of her strong-willed personality. We'll see.


We had our first outing (in America, that is) today to see the pediatrician. We were concerned about her very runny nose, but thankfully she is pretty healthy. She seemed to like Dr. Fox, and we found out she's gained almost a pound and a half since we got her! She's up to 14.5 pounds and 24.25 inches long. We were also encouraged to start cereal and then some vegetables; I'm pretty sure I'm more excited about this experiment than she will be. I'll try to post some pics of the first cereal tomorrow.
After the doctor, I was feeling pretty adventurous and she and I made our first trip to Target. I was a little nervous out by myself, but she was a champ. She's not so crazy about her carseat (they don't use them in Ethiopia), but does like to ride in the car so she usually calms down once we get going.
Hank (our boxer dog) is also adjusting well to Mia's arrival. We were both a little worried as he's never really been around a lot of children and is also very excitable. But he seems to like her and often lays down in front of where ever she is. Mia's not freaked out by him at all and giggles when he licks her hands or feet.
Well, I can see my little one is about to wake from her nap and is sure to be hungry. I'll leave you with a another pic from our trip.