Mia's Magical Adventures

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Friday, September 25, 2009

Love, at a New Level

People (mostly my mom and dad) have told me all along that I could plan to experience love at a level never before felt. Most of the time, I would roll my eyes and nod my head and think, "Uh-huh. Yeah. Okay. Whatever," much as I would when they would tell me how important it was to save money or floss my teeth every night. Lo and behold, they were right (about the saving and flossing too). Josh and I were never prepared for this bursting feeling of love we have for Sweet Baby Mia. It overwhelms us on a daily basis and we frequently look at each other in disbelief and say, "Can you believe how AMAZING she is?" And, honestly, it isn't just us. Everyone who meets little Mia is taken aback by her sweetness, her strength (physical and mental), and her beauty. They say things, like, "No really, she is the most beautiful baby I've ever seen," and they aren't even Grandparents, who are basically required to say stuff like that. Her doctor picked her up and said, "Wow, she's so strong and alert for her age!" We knew all that time at the gym would pay off!

September was a month of celebrating the harvest at Mia's house. Yes, Mia's adventures continued, but many of them occurred at home. It seems that each day, Mia was overseeing a new project from the vantage of her pink bouncy chair which sits upon the kitchen counter (it will likely be any day that she'll be too big to enjoy that particular perch). She observed mindfully as Gramma and Mom tore up the kitchen with pounds and pounds of fruits and vegetables (many of which came from Lark and Mark's farm), canning equipment, the dehydrator, and the mixer. We'll end the month with cupboards full of plum jam, canned peaches, spicy spaghetti sauce, dried pears, dried Italian plums and a freezer full of blackberry jam and Sauvie Island corn. We also have one jar of home-grown pesto thanks to Uncle Ryan and Auntie Kat which we will surely savor on a cold winter night in December. Josh will be relieved when the colder weather sets in and we can bid adieu to our friends the fruit-flies who have dutifully tended to the piles of produce we've had in the kitchen. Of course, he's forgotten about apple season!

Mia has also been overseeing my bread-baking. I committed to baking all our bread while I'm home from school and, so far, it's been quite a success. My three seed whole-wheat flax bread has been the favorite so far, although that one loaf of fluffy white sandwich bread was certainly a guilty pleasure.

Mia's new favorite past-time is laughing. That's right. She laughs. A lot. In fact, Uncle Ryan recently made her laugh so hard that she nearly burst and walked away from the whole ordeal with a wicked case of the hiccups. She later said it was totally worth it.

Mia has been described as a "muscle body." She is long and lean. She holds her head up with the strength of a giraffe, enjoys Tummy Time and loves to stand and bounce. Her new favorite toy is one that fits right into our current budget...her feet. She loves to grab them, roll around while holding them, and stare at them. She's working on putting them in her mouth, but she's not quite there yet. Frankly, it's become quite a problem because, it's not like I can say, "Ok, Mia. It's time to put your feet away and take a nap," right? She's no dummy.

With the change of the season, Mia will get to learn what it's like to be a true Oregonian. Fall, in our family is not a time to hunker down and begin hibernating early. We have big plans to attend Cyclocross races to cheer on our bike team, take walks in the fall leaves, make soup, prepare the garden for winter, and take our first trip to the Pumpkin Patch. Something tells me Mia is going to LOVE hunting for the perfect pumpkin.

At nearly 4 months, Mia is an absolute joy to have around. She is on a wonderful routine that allows us to meet her needs without too much guesswork. She lets us know when she's tired or hungry with little fussing. While she struggles occasionally to go down for a nap or sleep through the night, she is, as all the Grandmas say, a really good baby. And they should know. We just feel like we got lucky.