Life as a Bird

Yesterday when I picked up Miley from daycare they told me about the things she did that day. First off, the babies play in a HUGE carpet area that has a 2 foot wooden wall all the way around (so they can't escape). Miley kept pulling herself up holding onto the wall, standing for a few seconds, freaked out about how she's going to get down, then ploped down on her butt. Apparently, she kept doing it over and over. When they told me this, my reaction was "WHAT?! Not my tiny baby, not my Miley, she has to crawl before she walks". Besides trying to skip the baby stage of crawling apparently she is the queen bee of the class. She sat in the center of carpet area and the other babies kept getting toys and putting them down by Miley so she didn't have to scoot anywhere to get anything. Then later while Allen was eating, Miley and Melanie (she'll be a year on June 12) were sitting next to the teacher and Miley began pulling Melanie down by her clothes. When the teacher stopped feeding Allen to get Miley to let go, she grabbed two hands full of Allen's hair. Miley's daycare nickname is "Bulldog" because of her death grip. I wish I could just observe Miley at day care to see these things take place.

Also Miley has started playing with her hair (what little she has) while she eats or sucks her thumb. I noticed this about 2 days ago. The girl loves hair maybe she can do mine for me when she's older.

Brief History

Not much to report today, Miley sort of army man crawled last night but it wasn't more than a few inches so I'm not going to count that as crawling. So for today's post I thought I might list a brief history about things that happened with Miley pre-blog.

1. From the time she was born until she was 3 months, Miley had a clogged tear duct in her right eye. It's very common in infants. Basically, her right eye always had "gunk" in it. When she was 3 months, her eye got infected and when it cleared up her blocked tear duct was gone. She's had no other issues with her eyes since.
2. No paci for our baby. Miley never took a paci and we tried several kinds. Don't know why but she just didn't want it. Her only paci is her right thumb. She LOVES it and if you try sucking it she rolls her eyes and laughs at you then puts in back in her mouth.
3. Never liked being swaddled. She is most definitely not a cuddling kind of girl. She liked being swaddled for about 2 weeks then she wanted freedom.
4. She dislikes laying or even reclining back. She wants to sit or even stand now even when she eats, plays, and gets her diaper changed.
5. Diaper changing with Mommy is amusing. I swear she doesn't do this to anyone other than me. When I change her diaper she gets stiff as a board, locks her legs, and sticks out her chest. It makes it impossible to put them on her and she WILL NOT bend her legs unless I distract her.
6. If anyone mocks her crying, she pouts. She sticks her bottom lip out so far and then really tears start coming. She does not liked to be mocked.
7. Always held her head up. Since Miley was a few days old she could lift her head, mind you she didn't have great control but she could lift it.

Top teeth

Well it looks like Miley's top front teeth are coming in. I saw them last night just under the surface. She has her 2 bottom already. Perhaps this is why she wasn't sleeping well. She, knock on wood, has been sleeping GREAT for the last week or so. She also did fabulously with her new teachers yesterday. They of coarse love her, who wouldn't ;). Just as I suspected, it was harder on me than on her.

From Turtle to Bird

Today is Miley's first day in the Bird classroom at daycare. Every 6 months the kids move to the next room up. She is no longer in the "Baby" room aka The Turtles, she is now pre-toddler/crawler in the Birds. I don't know why but I was a little sad. It's just another milestone that has come. She is no longer a little baby :( The babies in her group all move together but the teachers stay. Miley's been with the new teachers a little bit but not more then a few hours. This morning all the other "Birds" were very fussy and crying and Miley just looked around like "What is going on here, why is everyone so upset?" The poor teacher was running around like a crazy person trying to figure out who takes pacifiers, who eats what, etc. Miley's group also got a new member because her friend Belle is gone. He is about 1 year already and his poor mother looked sooooo concerned about all the craziness. Not a very good day to start daycare. I probably should have talked to her a little to calm her fears but I was dealing with my own emotions. My baby isn't the littlest at daycare anymore. I remember looking at the Birds when Miley first started thinking how big they were. Now new Turtle moms will be thinking that about my Miley.

In other news, Saturday afternoon Miley sat up by herself for the first time. She is now an expert on how to get from laying of her tummy to sitting on her butt :). She is also trying to lift herself up and she can get up on her knees. Still not crawling but she does get around.

1:14 AM

1:14 AM is the exact time Miley woke up this morning. I tried the same techinques that worked the last two nights and they didn't work. I finally caved at 1:42 AM and put her in bed with Stephen and me. I rocked her, put her in her crib, she looked asleep but by the time I got back in bed she was crying again. We repeated this cycle 3 times before I just had to get back to sleep. Dang, I thought we were improving but at least I got my morning petting today.

7 months

Yesterday Little Miley turned 7 months old! I cannot believe how fast time is flying by. I feel like I'm going to wake up tomorrow and she'll be all grown-up. Miley has also slept in her crib for the last 2 nights! She still wakes up at about 2 so I pick her up and rock her for a minute, put her back in the crib and put a light blanket over her. Knock on wood but that works, I have to wake her up at 7:30. Still not crawling but she is so close I can't believe she isn't doing it already. Maybe she can, she's just taunting us.

Mommy's alarm clock

Miley had another first this weekend. We went to the park and Miley swung in the toddler swing for the first time. She's still a bit small for it but she loved it! After a few pushes we walked around the park, it was the first time at the park in her umbrella stroller. She really enjoys being able to look around in her stroller :)

In other news, Miley has not been sleeping very well for the last few weeks. Not really sure what's up with that but she's been waking up anywhere from 3 to 4:30 crying. So like a bad mommy, I've put her in bed with me (Stephen is usually at work when she wakes up). She goes right back to sleep, I think she gets lonely in her crib. I know I don't like sleeping all alone all night. Anyway, have to stop this before she figures out that crying non-stop = no crib and warm comfy bed with Mommy and Daddy. Once in our bed she sleeps until the alarm goes off. I lean over, push sleep, and snooze for awhile longer only to have her petting my face or arm. She just lays in bed without making a sound and gentle pets me until I wake up. I open my eyes and she has a huge grin on her face. Words cannot describe how freakin' cute that is. It is so much nicer to wake up to a little hand grabbing my nose with a huge smile than my poor baby screaming in her crib with tears running down her face. She knows she's cute that's why she keeps getting away with it :)

Moving on

Yet another double post day although the first post was a spur of the moment vent. I'm over it and am moving on. I still love the name Miley even if it is everywhere these days because our baby looks like a Miley. If she can't stand the reference later in life she can go by her middle name, Ann. Today's post was going to be about a new milestone. Chubba is now in size 3 diapers! I put one on her last night then put a size 2 on her this morning. She is definitely ready to move on to the next size. I'll have to use the few 2's we have left this weekend. She also ate the entire container of Stage 2 pears last night and it only left her wanting more. She usually eats about 1/2 to 3/4 of a tub but she was going to town last night. No news on the crawling front, we'll have to keep an eye for it this weekend.

Clarification on her name

So I've been rained out again so here I am at the office. I was listening to the local radio station and they were discussing the fastest rising baby names of 2007. Miley is number one, then Kingston (Gwen Stefani's son), Mylee (unique spelling for Miley Cyrus), Jordan (American Idol), Jaslene (America's Top Model winner). The morning guys went on and on about how sad it is that people name their children after celebrities. I DID NOT NAME MY DAUGHTER AFTER A POP STAR!!!!!!!! I honestly, no bs, never heard of her until I was already 8 months pregnant. If you can't tell, I get asked all the time if Miley was named after her. Or I get this "Oh, Miley, like Miley Cyrus?" No, like Miley my Miley, my baby not someone else. I really hope this whole Miley business is over soon and she is just a distant memory.

So you may ask, where did Miley come from then? I've always liked the name Kylie and one day watching television I heard the name Miley (a character). This was years ago by the way. Anyway I heard it and thought wow, that is really pretty and different. It stuck with me since it was something so different. Well, not anymore I guess. I e-mailed the radio station letting them know I didn't appreciate being bashed on air for something I didn't do. Called Stephen and told him to think of a new name for our baby. I think Bettie is in the led. Does she look like a Bettie?

Nicknames

Well no field work today because of rain. Oh darn, guess I'll just have to sit in my air-conditioned office. I thought for today's post we'll do nicknames. The things we call Miley
Mommy's Nicknames for Miley:
Baby
Boogie
Cutie
Pretty Girl
Miles of Smiles
Cooppy-cake (long story but comes from my brother)
Chub-chub
I know there are more but these are used pretty much on a daily basis.
Daddy's Nicknames for Miley:
Miles
The Miler
The Miler baby
Big fat baby (he doesn't say this mean and it's not meant to be an insult)
Beautiful baby girl
I'm sure I'm missing some but that's what I remember.

And on the crawling front, Miley is very very close, she can taste it. Last night she kept getting into a runners stance. On her tip-toes, she put one leg behind her all the way stretched out and the other underneath her tummy. She would rock like this on all fours then put her butt down. She did this several times before just giving up and spinning in a circle. Won't be long now, she might even do it tonight!

The Golden Pig

Wow, two posts in one day. I'm waiting for the clock so I can get home and tomorrow I'll be in the field all day so no post then. Also, I've decided to make this blog public, hi everybody! Anyway, down to the nitty-gritty. This post is about Lil Miss Miley's personality. She was born in the year of the Golden Pig which only occurs once every 600 years and ensures that a baby born in this year will experience a prosperous and wealthy life (woohoo). According to wikipedia, Golden Pigs are active, outgoing, and extroverted, they breathe new life into everything they do. They are vivid, motivated (Miley's definitely motivated) individuals who cannot be deterred from a goal once they have set it (no wonder she'll climb all over you to get something she wants, namely the remote). They are emotional and passionate about their loved ones. They are bold and vivacious, unafraid to take risks despite the consequences (explains why she LOVES to climb out of her bouncy seat).

Miley is very active, a definite wiggle worm, LOVES new things. She wants to study anything and everything with her mouth of coarse. On Monday, she sat in the shopping cart like a big girl and loved every minute of it. She tried so hard to jump up and down even though her little legs were just dangling and she had nothing to push against. She desperately wanted to eat the shopping list. You'd think, out of sight out of mind, no way she wanted it. She smiled and flirted with pretty much everyone that walked by. She'd stare at Stephen and squeal with delight when he looked down at her. Towards the end she wanted to be held by Mommy but not too long. Yup, the shopping cart was a success and her reactions were Miley to the T.

She loves to explore and flirt, loves to jump and bounce. She loves staring at Daddy until she gets some attention then she either squeals or blows raspberries at him (she doesn't do this with me at all). She also loves climbing on Daddy like he's some sort of mountain. She wants to do things her way until she's had enough then she wants some Mommy and me cuddle time but only for a little while. She doesn't like being held like a baby unless it's time to eat or sleep. She sucks her right thumb (thank the lord for that thumb, the girl won't take a paci), holds onto Mommy's hair when I carry her, and sleeps on her stomach with her legs underneath her (her knees are red every morning because of this). She is very independent, strong-willed (oh boy is she ever), loving, smiley, and demanding. She is her Mother's daughter and her Daddy's little girl. We love our Golden piglet and even though she can be quite challenging, I wouldn't change anything about her.

Regret

So we finally starting filming Miley with the video camera yesterday. We have a few minutes of video from when she was about 4 months and then nothing. I filmed her doing "tricks" like climbing out of her bouncy seat, spinning in a complete circle on her tummy, chewing on her tea set, and lying on the floor. It was about 8 minutes of just Miley being Miley. I watched it later last night and starting tearing up. She is so cute and I know I will really appreciate the video when she's older. However, I now regret BIG time that we didn't film from day one. I know people film stuff and then never look back, but when Miley's older and moved away, I just know I'll want to pop in the tape and see my baby again.

Very first Mother's Day

Yesterday was my very first Mother's Day :). Stephen and Miley got me a new purse and a very nice necklace. We went to my parents' house in Gulfport for the weekend, ate dinner at The Dock (yum), and just chilled Sunday morning. Miley laughed out loud for the first time yesterday. That was the best part of Mother's Day. Up until yesterday, she'd only laugh if you tickled her but she actually had the giggles. I'd swat a newspaper in my hand and she would just lose it. It was soooooooooooo cute, Stephen and I just laughed. So the three of us just laughed and smiled on our front porch. Even now thinking about it makes me smile. I hope this is the beginning of lots of laughter. Miley has also learn to get on all fours and rock back and forth. I'm guessing only about 2 more weeks before she's crawling.

Getting to know me

I guess for my second entry I should introduce myself and my family. Not really sure how in depth to go since this blog is really for me and I doubt anyone else will ever read it. Hi, my name is Melissa.

My husband, Stephen, and I have been married for 2.5 years but have known each other for 11 years this month! I remember when we first met, it sure doesn't seem that far away. We have one beautiful daughter, Miley. This blog is really about her. I want to remember all the little things that go on with her on a day to day basis. I could really kick myself for not starting this sooner. I could put her check-up stats, what the doc. said, when she hit milestones, etc. Anyway, that's the jest of us so I guess I'll dive right in.

Miley's 6 month check-up:
Weight: 17 lbs (what happened to my tiny baby?) She was 7 lbs 9 oz at birth
Height: 26 inches Birth: 20.5 inches
Head size: 17 inches Birth: Don't remember but at least 15 ;)
She is growing well and is in the 75th percentile for everything. She had 4 shots but went through it like a trooper. She cried for 15 seconds and then popped her thumb in her mouth and was good to go. Just for future reference she has a total love affair with her right thumb. Unforunately, I'm not sure when it started but I'll guess around 3.5 or 4 months. She is able to sit up on her own. She's flirted with the idea for 3 weeks or so but has master the art since Saturday, April 26. Oh, another big milestone, she sleeps through the night from 9-9:30 to 7-8. The lord has blessed us with an angel sleeper since she was 8 weeks. She smiles, laughs, and loves to pull hair. She can also roll over and enjoys the thought of feeding herself. Miley is AWESOME!

Better Late Then Never

So after several weeks of thinking about it, I've finally started a blog. I've read several others and regret not starting sooner. I wish I would have started when I first married Stephen. I wish I would have started while TTC (trying to conceive). I wish I would have started while I was pregnant or even right after Miley was born. I didn't start then, but I am starting now so I guess it's better late then never.

Where do I even beginning, I wanted to start this blog to remember all the things that are going on with Miley. As of today she is 6 months, 2 weeks, and 2 days old. She is the absolute best thing in this world and the greatest thing I've ever done. I'm looking forward to writing this blog to remember the funny, cute, and maybe even the frustrating things that happen during our day to day :)