Zzzzzz's

Why is this blog titled "zzzzzz's" you ask? Because Mia and Mommy are finally getting some. Mia has slept through the night 4 times now (7pm to 6:30/7am). Other nights she is sleeping 7pm to 4am then 4:45ish to 6:30/7am. Mommy is starting to feel human again and Mia is more rested than she has ever been!

It's been a busy few weeks. Two weeks ago Mia had her 2 month appointment. Everything checked out well and she got 4 vaccinations which she was not pleased about in the least. At the time of her appointment she weighed in at 9 pounds 5 ounces and by now she is most definitely in the mid 10 pounds. Her next appointment is not until 4 months. Mia has been holding her head alot more these days and also grasping any fabric or my hair within her reach. You can also tell that she can focus much further away than before.

"Uncle" Danny and "Aunt" Farrah came to visit from Atlanta. We had a great time catching up and received some great moral support as we transitioned Mia's naps to her crib (which came with some crying).

For those who haven't heard me talk about it "Mia" is the American Girl Doll of the year this year. She is only available in the year that she is the girl of the year so we went ahead and purchased her to be a present in probably 7 years! Think how much the American Girl Dolls will cost by then. Anyways, Mia and her purple skates arrived last week and she is already packed away in a closet. I think Sam might cut my maternity leave short so I stop spending money! ;-)

This past week, Sam and I were able to go out to dinner courtesy of Miss Kristen Tietjen who came to babysit. It was great to have a night out just the two of us. We are looking forward to Kristen being back in Charlotte over the summer so hopefully we can get a few more nights out!

Don't forget to check out the the new pictures and video's via the links on the left hand side!

Road Warrior

I think this was by far Mia's biggest week in terms of excitement and different experiences. We started off the week by driving with Sam up to Eastern TN (while he went to a client) and visiting a very good friend of mine who lives right over the border in VA. Mia's first long car trip did not go very well. There was a lot of crying and a lot of pulling over but c'est la vie. She did great staying in the hotel and did great at my friends house taking in her new surroundings everywhere we went.

On Friday, we drove to DC for Mother's Day. By this time Mia had figured out that we were going to be in the car for a while so maybe sleeping was a good idea! We still stopped to eat several times but the car ride went much better than earlier in the week. The Heffernon, Funk, Tatspaugh gang all descended on my great grandmother's house for the weekend. It was truly a treat to have 5 generations of women all in the same house (from 97 1/2 to 2 months!). Sam set up a mini photo shoot to remember the occasion. My dear husband also order 2 dozen roses for each mother in house! So do the math and that is 8 dozen roses. We were all very surprised and enjoyed them greatly.

My cousin Jamie also came down to DC with my parents and hung out for the weekend. She was a natural with Mia and we are telling her either her calling is open a daycare center or have 5 children! Everyone was thrilled to spend the weekend with Miss Mia who is now much more interactive then the last time they saw her. There's nothing better than when she flashes you a real smile!

Finally a Laid Back Week

Not much to report for this last week. Mia's antibiotics kicked in and now she is finally congestion free and feeling better. I think she ended up passing her illness to me which I had at the beginning of last week but now it's all gone. I guess that is how it will be going forward...just passing the colds/etc around between all of us!

Last week Mia started to develop a much earlier bedtime. She now likes to go down for the night around 6:45. As of Saturday she is also sleeping stretches of 8 or 9 hours. Now we just have to work on those 8 hours being when mommy and daddy are asleep instead of 6:45-2:30ish! We'll get there I'm sure.

Sam and I got out for our first "date night" since Mia has been born. Thanks to Lisa and David babysitting, we went to a theater Charlotte show and enjoyed a few hours to ourselves. It was great.

Look for the updated pictures and video's (links on the side).

Lastly as you can see, Mia has really grown an affection for her index fingers. She does not like pacifiers, hasn't really found her thumb yet, but her index finger is always in her mouth!

Auntie Erin Comes to Visit

This week was a big week. Auntie Erin came to stay for the week and hang out with Miss Mia. And Melissa came to visit from Raleigh at the end of the week. We had a ball....except for Tuesday where Mia cried all day. Mia visibly grew up this week. She was more interactive for longer periods of time, had tons of smiles, and most importantly wore pants for the first time. Even though she was over a month old, even the newborn pants would fall right off of her until this week.

You'll notice a running theme in this weeks pictures....."Things on Mia's head". What can I say other than Auntie Erin was in town so you shouldn't expect any less! A good time was had by all. We enjoyed long walks in the neighborhood, a trip to Target, and even a dinner out at a restaurant. Thank to Erin for all of the help this week. We loved having you here.

All for the last 2 weeks Mia has been a bit stuffed up. We finally went to the doctor to get her checked out and ended up with some antibiotics for a supposed sinus infection. Medication aside (this one tastes like bubblegum though...) the bonus was that Mia had an official weight check. As of Friday, she weighed in at 8 pounds, 9 ounces which to us seems so much bigger than what she used to be.

Off to another week of exciting adventures. The picture link and video link to the left are updated so be sure to check them out!

Little Lizard

Mia is becoming more adorable by the day. She has found her index finger and sticks it in her mouth to suck on instead of a pacifier most of the time. Hence Mia now gets Purrel on her hands at couple of times a day! She has also found her tongue and enjoys sticking it out over and over. Sam and I have given her the nickname "little lizard" every time she does it. Sam caught it on video (it's towards the end so watch the whole thing) so you can see what we mean. She also stands up on hard surfaces and takes any opportunity to straighten her legs out as hard as she can.





Mia also has taken to having a morning conversation with daddy before he goes to work. It's very adorable and she is quite the daddy's girl already. You can just tell she is trying to tell a story and wants us to understand. She has become quite vocal in the last week discovering what noises she can utter.

Lastly and totally not Mia related, national geographic visited the Hanna front yard on Sunday so look for the bonus video on Vimeo. For those who religiously check this on Monday's, sorry this is late this week....

A Week of Firsts

Mia had a big week of "firsts" this week. On Saturday she started to sleep in her big girl crib in her room instead of in the travel crib in mom and dad's room so far this has gone very well and we are getting much more sleep because we are not checking on her every second next to us. It was her first week alone with mommy during the day. On a walk in the neighborhood, she met her first doggy. A very kind black lab gave her a sniffing in her carriage. She didn't mind at all and gave him a very curious look.

Ready to go out for a walk:

It was her first month check up with Dr. Richter. She checked out great and had gained 10 ounces in 8 days! She is now 7 pounds 8 ounces and 21.25 inches tall. On the same day as her doctors appointment, we had a our very first real bath (her umbilical cord had taken a full month to fall off). As we put her in the warm water, she looked curiously around as to say "hmmm this feels oddly familiar but I can't place it...". She happily enjoyed the water for a few minutes until she decided she wanted out. We also had our first "cooing" noise this week. She has been acting like she wants to say something for quite a while now but now she is actually able to utter some noises other than crying. Later in the week, we had our first time out alone with mommy to shop. We made it out with the minivan to Michael's and Target. She stayed asleep the entire time so I'm not sure if that counts!

Over the weekend, Mia went to her first wedding. Good friends of ours we getting married in the states before flying off to Mexico this week to get married on the beach. Mia was great. She took her bottle and then sucked on the bottle nipple for the rest of the ceremony and did not make a peep.

Mia with her bottle nipple during the ceremony (her paci was in her car seat):

Family photo after the wedding:

And top off the week, as if she hadn't had enough firsts...Mia met her first little girl. Meredith Lucy (21 months) came to meet Miss Mia. They held hands for a few seconds. It was very cute.

So reading back through this, it looks like she has alot to live up to this coming week! Be sure to check out the video link on the left because Sam has uploaded some new ones. See you next week!

Link to this weeks photos:

http://www.yorkphoto.com/share/p=786131208133027333/l=366848312/g=25039551/cobrandOid=1002/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Little Feet

Today marks not only Mia turning 1 month old but Sam's first day back at work. From now on Mommy and Mia will have to find our routine during the day.

Over the last four weeks, I have spent countless hours looking at Mia's feet as she nurses. They literally are my favorite part of her body. They are just so little and cute! It's hard to imagine that we all started off this small.

So last week, Miss Mia went to the doctor to get some medicine for acid reflux (she is a much happier camper now) and weighed in at 6 pounds 14 ounces. By now she is probably in the low 7 pounds. She is still so tiny that she is just starting to fill out the newborn clothes we bought her.

Speaking of clothes, I have yet another load of Mia's laundry running. Who knew that someone so little could go through so much stuff each week. These days we are lucky to wear only two outfits during the course of the day.

Here is the link to this weeks pictures:
http://www.yorkphoto.com/share/p=65161207520998629/l=366767044/g=25039551/cobrandOid=1002/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

And link videos of Mia:

http://www.vimeo.com/867619