Almost 5 months old...

That's right! Next Wednesday, Mia will be 5 months old! Where is the time going? My sweet girl is growing up right before my eyes! It seems to Drew and I that everyday she is discovering something new or doing something new.

Mia's new things in the past few weeks include:

- She can now sit in her bumbo seat without any help with her head

- She has mastered head control! No more wobbly head!

- She can also sit in between our legs as well

- She is becoming more verbal everyday. She's quite the susie talks a lot these days! She loves talking to her blue octopus

- She is sleeping longer stretches. (Now that I say this - she will prove me wrong!) She sleeps a good 6-7 hrs a night without waking up for a bottle

- She is drinking 5oz bottles

-  She is slowly starting to reach for things

- She still hates tummy time but now she sways from side to side - we feel rolling over is just around the corner!

- We have graduated into 0-3 and mostly just 3 month clothing and size 2 diapers!

And the big one?! We started baby food this week!! We had originally planned to hold off on baby food until she was 6 months, but since I am no longer able to breast feed, we made the decision to begin to introduce food to her.

This was day one of our test and as you can see, she was clearly interested in what her poppa was doing rather then eating. She did well though! We tried oatmeal cereal with some carrots and formula.

Now we're an eating machine! Carrots were a big hit on day 2 and then last night we introduced a fruit and went with bananas. Needless to say she gulped those bananas down!

We unofficially weighed her this morning on our scale and she came in at 10.2! Wow! We'll find out for real when we go back to the dr on the 6th of February!

Each new day is something new and fun for us with Mia! She's such a happy, good natured baby and we are truly blessed.

A New Year...

Wow - first off let me apologize for not updating this nearly as much as I should have. Secondly, wow! Thank you all SO much for all of your prayers! We would not of known what to do without them. God has been so gracious and loving to our family over these past 4 months. His love certainly knows no bounds.

Thirdly, wow! Time flies right? So here's a little recap of what's been going on with us since Mia has been home.

Mia came home on October 13th. She came home weighing 4.8lbs, on oxygen at 1/22 of a liter, caffeine and an apnea monitor. Looking back now, it's hard to even remember it all, but I do. We were so nervous bringing her home. The NICU had been her home for 49 days and they had done a fantastic job with her but now, she really felt like she was 'ours.' We were now solely responsible for her and her care and boy were our palms sweaty!



I mean, look how little! She didn't even meet the weight requirements for the car seat! We had to roll up receiving blankets under her just to get her to sit in the harness comfortably. Once we got her home though, we slowly fell into a routine. She had to eat every 3 hrs on the dot and so in turn - we became exhausted very, very quickly.

We were at her pediatrician in Harpers Ferry every week for weight checks and reflux checks. It soon felt like we no longer lived at the NICU but now at Harpers Ferry Family Medical. We couldn't ask for a better pediatrician though. She not only has experience with preemies, she worked in the NICU where Mia was for her residency. She is kind, sweet and cuddles and loves on our little girl and genuinely has her best interests at heart.

Time passed and it seemed that little by little, Mia grew. She was slowly starting to develop her own little personality. She loved attention and she loved being talked to and cuddled.


2 months came and went and then 3 months were upon us. Mia was almost 6 1/2lbs. We made the trip to Huntington for Thanksgiving so our family there would finally meet Mia. She was a hit. I'm pretty sure she wasn't set down for hours but she loved every minute of it.She got to meet her cousins and Aunts and Uncles including her Auntie Meghann, Aunt Kate and Auntie Patti.



Before we knew it Christmas was upon us! We were so excited to celebrate our 2nd married Christmas and our first Christmas with Mia! We're pretty sure we over did it on the gifts part but, you have have your 1st Christmas once! :) Mia met Santa too! We struggled a lot with the whole Santa issue, but we have decided to do our own family thing and as Mia gets older teach her that St. Nick was a real person who helped people, etc.


We went to Christmas Eve service at church and Mia did so well. She slept right on through, but she sure looked cute! :)


Christmas was great! Mia turned 4 months on Christmas Day we had a wonderful time with our family in Martinsburg, yet we missed our family in Huntington too. We made a trip back down to Huntington for New Years Eve and had our late Christmas there. We got to ring in the New Year with Charles and Katie and Keeley and little Cailyn! We had such a good time.


And now we're at a new year! Wow! 2012! We're sure things year has a lot of exciting things for us and for Mia! She is growing so much! As of January 4th - she weighs 9lbs and is 21 inches long She hates tummy time, loves to talk to her stuffed octopus, loves her pacifier, loves snuggles with her poppa, is learning to tolerate her bumbo seat and more often then not you'll probably catch her smiling at the shelf behind our couch. (weird, we know!) Is Mia where she should be for a 4 month old? No, however, for her adjusted age (7weeks) she is exactly where she needs to be.

We know it is hard for our family in Huntington to watch her grow via face book. It's hard for us too, but please know that we honestly 100% without a doubt feel that we are exactly where God wants us to be and that is such an amazing feeling. We feel at home in Martinsburg. We belong to an amazing church that has helped us grow and has become our faith family, we have made friends that are like family, and we have family here as well. And as hard as that is for our Huntington friends and family, we do ask that you respect that and try to understand. We love you no less and neither will Mia. She loves you all :)