Santa says YES!

Well, Mia browbeat us until we put her in what might be the cutest Christmas outfit ever. Here's how it went down:

Mia: "Put me in some holiday clothes. Enough of this pink nonsense."
Us: "But it's still technically November."
Mia: "I don't care. I've got the holiday spirit! Put me in some candy cane pants!"
Us: "But Thanksgiving was just the other day."
Mia: "Shut up and put me in a Santa hat, people!"

We relented.

Flexing the guns

Mia was hanging out with me on the couch, having some good ol' tummy time, when she started lifting her head up. Then she started pushing herself up by her arms! It was pretty exciting. I think half of this video is of me shouting, "Leigh, omigod, get the camera, omigod!" ha

Vilakazi

After two years of talking about it, we've finally started our own charity: http://www.vilakazi.org/. We got some great advice from a friend, Edwin Amaya, who started his own foundation - Smile Colombia.

We aren't a nonprofit yet - that costs a whole lot of money - but we have plans to help children in need in rural South Africa. Our first fundraiser is a holiday dinner Dec. 15, and we are having a wine tasting in the spring. We're really excited about this project!

Our goal is to improve the lives of South African children by giving them better access to education, health and athletics. We plan to collect money before we go to South Africa in June, when we will distribute school supplies, health care items and sports equipment to the children of Coffee Bay.

So please go check out our site: http://www.vilakazi.org/!

Mia's first Thanksgiving

We're thankful today for our family and loved ones. We miss everyone we couldn't see today; you were on our minds.

So excited!

I just want to flash back to this photo from when my dad's family visited a couple days ago. My Aunt Connie is holding Mia, and this child is excited. Seriously. When was the last time in your life that you were this excited? I love this face.

Maternity leave

Today my column was about taking maternity leave and how much of a surprise it's been. You can read it here.

The Jacobs go viral

No, it's not the cool kind of viral, like the Numa Numa kid. It's the illness viral. I went to the doctor today and that's the word on the street. And because that's what families do, we passed it around. Don't worry - we're not contagious unless we sneeze on you, cough on you or make out with you. We aren't sneezing, coughing or smooching people at random, so odds are you're safe.


Mia has been having a rough time with this bug, just like we have. But we toughed it out and went to dinner with Tom Pace, Leigh's mentor from LOYAL. Edwin Amaya, Leigh's other mentor, was also there. We had a nice time and Mia felt OK through the whole supper. She even dressed up for the occasion:

Why is this ridiculously adorable Winnie the Pooh dress so great? Because it was the first time she's been big enough to wear it. Hooray for weight gain!

And aside from that precious jumper dress, did you notice those white patent shoes with little bows? I never in my life though I'd be so excited about something so girlie. It was the second most excited I've ever been about shoes.

A great time with the greats

This weekend a bunch of Mia's greats came to visit - Grandpa Dean, Grandma Sue, Aunt Connie and Uncle Kelly. Here are some pictures of their visit.

Freaking out excited with Aunt Connie ...

Everyone doting on Mia ...

Hanging out with Grandpa Dean at breakfast ...

Meeting Grandpa Dean and Grandma Sue for the first time ...

Merry Christmas!

The Coppernoll Greats - Grandpa Dean, Grandma Sue, Aunt Connie and Uncle Kelly - are visiting us this weekend! They came to the house to hold Mia, and then we all went out to dinner. It's been so fantastic! I'm glad they finally got to meet Mia, who is loving every minute of it. She especially enjoyed when Kelly parted her hair down the middle and Grandma said she looked like Jackie Gleason.

In other exciting news, we drew names for our family Christmas exchange - yes! Here's the list.

Grandpa buys for Leigh
Grandma - Jeffer
Dougie - Ralph
Nancy - Constance
Lee Lee - Zack
Ralph - Carly
Jeffer - Carrie
Susie - Zoe
Constance - Stevie
Jimmy - Grandma
Kelly (needs pants!) - Lee Lee
Jacksonian - Nancy
Carly - Jacksonian
Zack - Kelly (needs pants!)
Carrie - Grandpa
Leigh - Jimmy
Stevie - Dougie
Gomer - Josh
Josh - Gomer
Zoe - Susie

That sucks

Mia figured out how to suck her thumb. Dear God - here's hoping she doesn't suck her thumb as long as her mother, who sucked her thumb into elementary school. Who sucks their thumb long enough to actually have MEMORIES of it? Sad. Here she is doing it for the first time while she's held by her Great-Grandma Sue.

Peggy's Visit in Pictures

Here are some fantastic photos of my mom's visit this week. Napping with grandma ...



After a long hard day at the office ...

Being suspicious of you ...

Almost showing you her smile ...

Playing with one of her mobiles ...

Back to the Mines

Going back to work is hard. I started yesterday and cried. Twice. But at least today was better. No crying. Yet. Why won't anyone pay me to hang out with Mia all day?

Don't Be Scared

I love these pictures! Our pals Kelli Dupuy and Elizabeth Taylor visited Mia back on Nov. 9, and it was great. As you can see, Kelli is a touch scared of children. We had to tell her children are kind of like spiders; they're more afraid of you than you are of them.

They even brought Mia some really cool gifts, as seen below. Kelli made the Oklahoma onesie and Elizabeth found this fantastic leg warmers! We were going to make a Flash Dance video of Mia in this outfit, but she peed all over it before we had a chance. Look for Flash Dance in the future.

Carrie's Birthday

So today I turned 28. I celebrated by cleaning Mia's vomit off myself first thing this morning. But things got better when my mom came. She's staying this week to watch Mia while I go back to work. Of course, my mom was here for all of 10 seconds when Mia started smiling at her nonstop. That baby smiled for probably 30 minutes. She hasn't smiled at me for 3 minutes! What a load of hooey. But it was still really precious. Here's a pictures of one of the smiles, though Mia looks a little drunk. She's not, people!

A Night Away

Mia spent the night away from home for the first time Saturday night. She stayed with Leigh's mom, Jill, so we could celebrate my birthday with friends. We dropped Mia off a little after 7 p.m. Saturday. I hugged and kissed her goodbye. I cried in the car when we left.

Obviously Jill or any of our parents are wonderful caretakers. They've raised kids before. But I still worried. My biggest fear was that she would be scared of staying in a new place. What if she missed her crib? Or the smell of our house? Or us? What if she was startled and wanted one of us to comfort her and we weren't there?

I'm pretty sure she didn't even notice anything changed. Jill said she did great and didn't even have one of her colicky cries. This was clearly a much bigger deal to us than it was to Mia. Still, I don't think leaving her will get any easier the next time she stays away from home.

Priorities

It's crazy how someone so little can change the way you look at life. Things that used to be important don't seem as important anymore. Your worries and your focus are completely different than before that baby came into the world.

Work went from being something you did during the day to a way to provide for your child. The reliability of your paycheck became more important. If you have to go without, it's a hassle. If your child has to go without, it's a crisis.

Looking at day cares and sitters has really brought this to the forefront for me. Where she stays will come down to money, and that breaks my heart. I wish we could choose based on preference, not budget. But that's the reality for everybody, I'm sure.

We want to give Mia a good life, and we don't have to be rich to do that. But sometimes it's hard not to think about how much more we could give her with a little more money every month. I bet all parents think of that.

I Got One Hand in My Pocket

So Mia has several pairs of pants with pockets. Why, I wondered, would infants need pockets? Then I realized it's to hold their cash monies.

Also, you may notice that Mia likes giraffes. Just look at her shirt. She wants to buy one with the money she's pulling out of her pocket.

Put on Your Walking Shoes

Today was a busy day. First, Mia had some breakfast. She ate too much and got the hiccups.



Then she got in her morning workout - riding an invisible bicycle.

Then the real work started. Mia and I visited my coworkers for the first time, we visited two day cares and we went to a fundraiser for Infant Crisis Services. The highlight of the day: Mia wearing her first pair of shoes. She picked out a cute little denim pair with girly pink laces. She wore them to the fundraiser so she would look fancy.

Hating Bath Time

A Time to Play

Mia played for the first time today. I think. I'm pretty sure. Like, 90 percent sure.

We were sitting on the couch and I was reading her The Sneetches so she could learn all about how we're all the same, regardless of star-bellied status. She had her feet on my thighs and she pushed really hard, straightening out her legs. I cheered for her. She let her legs slack out. And then she straightened her legs again. I cheered again. "Can you kick again?" I asked her. And she did! It was so exciting! Then I was really cheering! She did this over and over for probably five minutes, which I thought was a long time for a baby. She eventually smiled at me. It was so great!

I think she knew it was a game. If she kicked her legs out, I would cheer for her and give her smooches on her little hairy head. Eventually I think she wore herself out, so I hugged her and hugged her. I was so proud.

I'm pretty sure that was all play. Or else she was trying to karate kick me and is just too little for it to hurt yet.

In Da Hood

A family that hoodies together, stays together.

Simple Math

Something occurred to me today as I pulled the cloth from Mia's swing out of the washing machine. The lesson I learned yesterday could be boiled down to this equation:

Full baby belly + baby swing = empty baby belly.

I caused Mia's first vomit. Good job, mom.

As a side note, here is a picture of Mia enjoying some quality father-daughter time with Leigh. Leigh's playing PlayStation and Mia is enjoying her time sitting sideways and looking around at the living room. When you're little, I guess everything is interesting.

Grandpa Doug and Nancy

My dad and stepmom came to meet Mia this weekend and we had such a great time! The highlights include Mia's first trip to a restaurant, watching the Hog game and Mia's first trip to the zoo.

Friday night we went to Iguana for dinner. Mia's first trip to a restaurant was great. She hung out in her car seat and never woke up. No need to worry about a dirty diaper or hunger pangs.

On Saturday, Mia watched Arkansas take down South Carolina from the comfort of a Hog hat. That was Leigh's idea, of course. It was hilarious. She actually liked it and eventually fell asleep in there.

After the game we headed to the Oklahoma City Zoo! And just like the restaurant, she slept through it all - the baby chimp, Oklahoma trails, the zebras, the rhinos, the lions, everything. As you can see in that first picture, she is extremely interested in the gorilla in the background.

Springbok Bodyguard

Leigh's springbok makes sure Mia sleeps safe at night. Watch out; the springbok bodyguard means business.

Dear Sir ...

Mia types a letter ... with Leigh's help.

G47 ...

I love this hat. Doesn't it look like she's going to a bingo hall to take all the old ladies' money? She will blend right in.

Language

At some point we're going to have to censor ourselves and our visitors around Mia so she doesn't repeat bad words. And I'm going to have to stop watch crime shows or at least I should turn her bouncy seat away just in case.

She's No. 1 in Diapers

Today we celebrated a milestone that you only care about when it's your kid: Mia moved up a size in diapers. I don't think this would matter if she hadn't struggled to gain weight in the first month. But nevertheless, today she was big enough to fit into size 1 diapers instead of the ones for newborns. She's still too little for the cloth diapers, but that will come.

So of course there are pictures to prove she fits in her new big diapers. She just loves that pink bouncy seat from her cousin Madison. Thank you, Sarah and all the Johnsons! And a side note: you can see each of our dogs in these pictures. Deter's the yellow one, and Skye's the black one. They are so nosy.

The Good, The Bad and The Mia

Mia made a visit to her awesome doctor today.

Good news: She's up to 8 pounds, 12 ounces. That puts her in the 10th percentile for her age, up from the bottom 5th percentile. Wahoo for weight gain!

Bad news: She has colic. The inconsolable crying is explained. Turns out, those gas drops don't do any good, our doctor said. I bought some the other day and thought maybe they weren't helping, so it was good to have confirmation. No more yucky stuff or Mia. I'm dropping dairy to see if that helps.

Other news: Our doctor's office got 500 doses of swine flu shots. We can make an appointment to get the shot at the beginning of next week. Health officials in Oklahoma are just now allowing parents of infants to get the shot, too. We were going to have to wait in those big long lines for the health department shots, but now we can just get it at our doctor's office.

Did This Use to Be Interesting?

Just a note about being a parent ...

Before you have a kid, you can't imagine spending so much of your time each day concerned with poop.

Boo

Mia enjoyed her first Halloween with several costume changes throughout the day. First was her little Halloween-colored scarf. Then the pumpkin onesie. Then an orange onesie that say "Baby's First Halloween." She wore that get-up with a hat that looks like a carrot. The carrot hat is staying out for the rest of winter. It's hilarious.

But seriously, this kid has more clothes than Leigh and I do put together.

We had lots of trick-or-treaters, which we weren't prepared for. We normally see fewer than 10. We ran out of candy and Leigh had to go to the store. Crazy.