Mia at Nine Months

At last, a moment to write about Mia. Life has bee so busy, I haven't documented her recent developments but I've noticed them with excitement every day. Mia has gone from scooting around on her stomach to crawling and now she's doing so with speed and efficiency. She's gone from pulling herself up to walking along the furniture. She's after everything in sight. I've given up on wearing jewelry for the moment.

Also, Mia can finally sit! She was crawling and standing long before she could hold herself in a sitting position (it was very puzzling). At first I thought it was the Bumbo seat that delayed her ablility to sit. Honestly, I think it was her constant need to be on the move that was responsible. She was seldom still enough to learn to sit. Now that she can do so, I love being able to sit her down on the floor.

Mia's single solitary word at nine months is "uh oh!" She repeats it many, many times each day. When she wants to show off she says it. She says it when she plays her favorite game (I drop it and you pick it up). She does a lot of babbling and repeats sing-songy noises. A few days ago I called "Jo....lie!" from upstairs and Mia immediately repeated a similar-sounding noise.

I'm afraid that Mia is also venturing into the first phase of seperation anxiety. She doesn't like me walking past her or (heaven forbid) out of the room. Last weekend Dan built a contraption that serves as our baby gate for the top of the stairs. I've been less able to carry her from room to room due to my incisions on the left side. She just falls apart when I walk past her. She takes it very personally, as though I'm intentionally rejecting her. I've also noticed that she looks at less-familiar faces with uncertainty. Dr. Kramer was examining her last week and she watched him very carefully and with a bit of suspicion.

Mia loves her family! Upon seeing Dan or one of the kids, she pounds her hand, kicks, throws her head back and forward... She also yells. I think she's trying to say "hi" (comes out as "ahhh!") She has to have a looky-look whenever she's nursing. She gulps it down and then twists and turns until she can see what it is that's going on around her.

A few days ago I was out with Mia, running from here to there. Mia had been dragged from one obligation to the next. She managed to get a 20-minute cat nap in the car and some finger snacks along the way. She was still pleasant and happy to be along for the ride. I gave her a kiss and said a prayer of thanks that our Mia is such a happy easy-going soul. A delight.

Happy First Day of Autumn

Did you know that today is the first day of autumn? It's also my very favorite time of year and (at least where I live) the shortest season of the year. If you're not careful you can blink your eyes and the beautiful reds and golds, the warm afternoons and cool nights have turned to snow and gray skies everywhere.

So here's to all of us enjoying autumn as much as we possibly can. My goal is to get my autumn decorations up and spend more time outdoors, even if it means letting the laundry pile up for another day. Something tells me there will be plenty of frigid winter days to stay indoors and do laundry.

Before I charge forward into the new season, though, allow me to take one last look back at summer. This morning I asked the kids to tell me about their three favorite memories of our summer together. This is what they said:

Gavin:
1. Cherry Hill: Jolie collected all of her wrist bands and by the day the water park closed we discovered we'd been 12 or 13 times (If I've ever done anything to qualify for Mother of the Year, this would be it).
2. Picking cherries. (see below)
3. Our trip to the cabin with Grandma and Grandpa.

Jolie:
1. Swimming. (Cherry Hill)
2. Being home and playing with Mia and I (I didn't expect her to say that but it sure put a smile on my face).
3. The cabin.

Tristan:
1. Our cherry business: the kids and I spent a morning in a Farmington orchard picking cherries and then came home and washed, sorted and weighed them and divided them into one pound bags. Then Dan helped Tristan set up a little roadside stand and he sold them to afternoon commuters. He did so well the first day that we went back and did it again. The kids made enough money after paying their tithing to buy Rock Band for the Wii (close to $200). It also turned out to be a great learning experience for all of them.

2. Arts in the Park: this was our fourth year participating in this recreation program. We did a session in June and another in July.

3. Going to yard sales: another one of my attempts to encourage industriousness. The kids worked for allowance money and if they had any to spend on Saturday morning, they got to come with me.

As much fun as we had, I'm still glad it's autumn...

Cruel and Unusual

Well, I think I'm on my way back into the life of the living. Tonight my parents and sister were here and with them they brought food and hair styling equipment.

I was finally able to take a shower this morning and I asked Lisa to work her magic with the blow dryer and flat iron while she was here. I'm not allowed to raise my left arm for three weeks. No ofense to my sweet Dan but the flat top hasn't allowed him much experience with round brushes and flat irons. I'm sure he would have obliged it I asked, though. He's willingly done everything else for me.

So, it's official: I'm a human being again!

I came home from the hospital on Thursday and it's been a rough couple of days. I was in surgery for four hours and I swear, they put me through the torture chamber. Friday morning I woke up feeling like I'd been hit by a truck. Every muscle from the tip of my scalp to my waist hurt like you-know-what. My throat has been swollen and sore, probably because they put an echocardiogram device of some kind down my esophogus along with the breathing tube. I also have a pretty large burn on my chest and I was told that was from their use of the external de-fib pads (ever seen E.R.?) which they had to use when testing my ICD and getting the paramaters set correctly. I'm still trying to figure out why my tail bone is bruised???

So, the deed is done. Let's hope that I don't have to set foot in h-e-double-toothpick again for a long time.

Back under the Knife

For those who haven't heard: I'm headed back in for surgery this Wednesday because my routine cardiology appointment revealed that the lead going from my ICD into my heart has pulled loose.

Is it just me or has this all been a long string of bad luck? I still have a lot of sciatic nerve pain from my back surgery (six months ago). My recovery has been ten times harder than the first one, probably because I'd just had a baby and the nerve was re-injured. I've just recently been feeling like I was becoming a functioning person again. This was the last thing I was planning for.

Everyone keeps reminding me that I can't do anything about this so I may as well accept that it has to be done and think of the positive side. I've been dreading going back into the cath lab since I got my ICD. To be honest, it's my idea of what hell must be like. But I'm trying really hard to think of the positive!

Une Rite de Passage

My little buddy started preschool today! Another rite of passage. A friend asked me if I cried, I didn't because he was so ready and so excited!

Ofcourse he's been waiting for his big day since the other kids went back to school. Yesterday a package was delivered from Old Navy with some jeans that I'd bought for all the kids. When Gavin found out it contained his new "preschool jeans" he ripped the box open and tried them on. He modelled them for me and jumped around in them. I gave him a bath last night and we talked about preschool. At bedtime he even listened to some preschool songs on his CD player, a CD that I normally can't get him to listen to (he prefers the "Cars" soundtrack and "Inside Out Primary Music").

This morning I awoke to Jolie and Gavin at the top of the stairs whispering. Gavin was wearing his new jeans and getting ready for school (even though preschool didn't start until 1:00).

His day seemed to go well. He had no problem separating from me and when Mia and I returned to pick him up, we watched through the two-way mirror and he was sitting in the circle with a big smile on his face. As we were getting in the car Gavin looked at Mia and asked whether she had cried for him while he was gone. (She hadn't but I told him that she missed him very much =).