Welcoming committee

I got home from the grocery store to find my very own welcoming committee. I laughed so hard I had to put my bags down. Mia is happy all the time, especially when she sees you've bought yogurt on sale. Welcome home!

Momentum

Leigh and I volunteered at Momentum tonight. We volunteered last year, and once again, it was so much fun. We spent two hours in the interactive art section, which means we basically got to draw, create and mess around for two hours. It was so much fun! We had our picture taken in the photo booth again by photographer Romy Owens. (Click here to see our photo from last year!) This year she did black light. I heart her!

The first babysitters

Tonight we dropped Mia off with her first non-relative sitters: Clay Barrett and Marc Bell. They're good friends of ours and they are so good with Mia. We dropped her off and went to Chef's Feast, where we saw a bunch of friends and ate about 600 pounds of food. I was nervous as we shut the door and headed out, but of course she was fine. While we were gone, she even impressed them with her foot-eating skills:

When we arrived back at Clay's house, she was curled up on his lap, sleeping soundly. It made my heart so happy.

Winnie the Cute

Check out this awesome outfit I got Mia at a garage sale. See? She's Winnie the Pooh! So adorable!

Passports, democracy and snoring

Mia had a fever Monday, so I spent Tuesday home with her while she recovered. We spent some time playing:


Despite still feeling a little under the weather, she managed to participate in her first civic duty. (Civic. Not bathroom.)I went to a church in our neighborhood to vote, Mia in tow. The last election was three months ago; Roy, a retired judge and leader of the gang, and the other volunteers gave me a hard time about not bringing the new baby. I walked in and Judge Roy clapped his hands, saying, “There she is! I knew you’d be here!” He spotted Mia’s car seat with a pink dotted blanket draped over it. “I see little feet!” he said of Mia’s socks sticking out the end. It wouldn’t be long before she needed a bigger car seat. I was the only voter there, so I put her seat up on the sign-in table for them to see. I pulled the blanket back and Mia was just waking up. She blinked slowly, eyed Judge Roy and burst into a joyful, toothless smile. The volunteers adored her.

“She’s so beautiful,” Judge Roy said as I walked with her to one of the three voting booths. “She must get that from her mama.”

“That’s what I’ve been telling her daddy for the past five months,” I said. I voted and slipped my ballot into the electronic counter. I thanked the volunteers, who made me promise to bring her each time I voted from then on. I left the church beaming. I was so proud to show Mia to the world.

I took her to get her passport photo taken. She smiled at the gal at Walgreens forever until the woman lifted the camera to snap Mia's picture. Mia's been putting everything - toys, clothes, feet, our dogs - in her mouth lately. As soon as she spotted that camera she switched from adorable to hungry. She leaned forward, mouth open, reaching for the camera just as the lady clicked the button. So this is Mia's passport photo, documentation of her efforts to eat electronics:

Leigh came home and we ate supper. Once again, Mia was a little miffed that she doesn't have teeth.

So she ate a book instead. Reading is delicious.

But it was a long hard day, and she still had a little congestion:

Our daughter, Chewbacca

Mia isn't feeling well at all and has been crying quite a bit. This isn't her usual m.o., so we know she's feeling really bad. In fact, at one point she actually made this sound:



No lie. It seriously sounded just like that. Ask Leigh or my mom.

Why Babies Have Pockets, 6

If they don't feel so good and need to keep their medicine close by. In an arm pocket.



Read all the other reasons babies have pockets: perfume, phones, pacies, the remote and cash.

Old school, Smurfy style

Leigh found this fantastic original Smurfs onesies. Mia was big enough to wear it for the first time. For some reason, the neck is way too small. I'm not sure if this means Mia has a big neck or if kids from the 80s had tiny necks.

Kickin' it

Mia has figured out how to kick the ball in her play gym. Cute.

Leave

Friday I left work for what will be several weeks of leave. I am nervous about taking this much time off but am hopeful for the future. I am going through lots of changes and hope to come out a better mother, wife, daughter and friend. I need your love and prayers, please.