Saturday Morning

And she was still fascinated with her new word.

Yep. That's an exersaucer in the bathroom. How else is a single mom supposed to take a shower and keep the baby outta trouble? LOL!

Mia's First Words

When I'd pick Mia up after work all the other kids and the sitter would stand there waving and saying "bye bye" just hoping for some reciprocation. But all they would get was a blank stare. Until last week.

Finally she decided to wave back. Several of them had been blowing kisses at her, too. And all of a sudden she's picked that up as well. Sort of. It's her own variation. Most of the time, we get the back of the hand instead of the palm. But still... she's blowing kisses. And mommy loves it. It's the little things, right?

I took these videos on my I-Phone while we were at the park on Friday. I guess that's why they're so narrow. The only way I could get them to not be sideways was to upload them to U-tube. So they're not the best quality but I wanted to share this milestone moment.

Mia's first word is officially "bye-bye". But her second word surprised me. It's "duck".

One of our favorite books is about farm animals and the sounds they make. One of the animals in the book is a duck. So she'd heard me say it many times before. As we walked around the lake, I kept pointing out the ducks to her and she started repeating me.

Clear as a bell. She'd say "duck". You can hear it a couple times in the video if you listen hard...but of course, as soon as the camera came out she didn't want to say it anymore.

But Saturday morning it's all I heard. Duck. Duck. Duck. All morning long....

Our Friday

During the week I feel a little like I'm running on a hamster wheel. Just living the same day over and over a la Groundhog Day. 

Get up, shower, get dressed, wake Mia, dress her, get her to the sitter's, go to work, go pick her up from sitter's, play a little, dinner, bath, baby bed time, chores, mommy time. That's my day. Just rinse and repeat.

I live for the weekends. I did before I became a Working Single Mom. But now those 2 glorious days mean so much more. I get to spend them with my favorite girl. 

I've decided Friday evenings are just for mommy and Mia. No chores. No laundry. No have to do anything... other than spend time together. Tonight we went to the park.

It was a beautiful, sunny, not too hot afternoon. Perfect for a walk around the lake where we encountered this... uh, crane? Heron? Big bird? Whatever he was... he was pretty. And apparently not scared of us at all.

Then we stopped to chat with the ducks and the geese for awhile.

Mia enjoyed a little dining al fresco by the water.

We topped off the night with one of Mia's most favorite things ever.

Swinging.

As you can see by the look on her face.

It was a great way to ease into the weekend.

And for me and my girl to relax and reconnect a little after our busy week.

Happy Weekend, y'all!

On a sidenote, anyone know why this blog always cuts off my pics? I changed my blog template thinking maybe that was it. But no. Or why the pics look beautiful and sharp on my computer but get all fuzzy and grainy once I upload them to the blog? But when you click on them to enlarge ...they look fine? I don't get it.

The Real World...

has knocked me on my ass. Last week was spent trying to enjoy as much of my last little bit of maternity leave as possible. Mia and I also did some "practicing" with the sitter. I wanted to ease her into the transition since she hadn't been away from me since the day we met.

So we spent several hours together just hanging out at the sitter's, getting to know her and the other kids, getting Mia used to the house. Then we progressed up to me leaving her for a couple hours, then four hours another day and finally on Thursday and Friday we did full days.

I'm a total overplanner. So I wanted to make sure I could do the morning routine. You know, actually take a shower, get dressed, full hair and make up and get the baby up, dressed and functional, too. And I needed to reassure myself that I could do that at the actual time I was supposed to. So my last 2 weekday mornings of maternity leave my alarm clock went off at 5am. Majorly sucked.

But I'm so glad I did it. I found a few things that needed to be tweaked to make things run more smoothly. And it gave me the confidence I needed to start my first Monday back to work with much less stress. I felt prepared. So now I'm a Working Mom. Today was day three of our new routine. So far it's going okay. Mommy is just really tired. Actually, we both are.

Mia loves the sitter. And the sitter loves her. Which gives me such peace of mind. She runs an in home daycare and has several other kids she cares for. Mia's very social. She really enjoys her new little friends. And as the youngest, she's getting a lot of attention. She's adjusting really well.

The first 3 days she went right to the sitter. I kissed her, told her bye-bye and walked out with no fussing. From her. Mommy may have cried a few times though. But the last 2 days she's fussed a little when I left and leaned back towards me. I think that shows our attachment is going really well. I hope it does anyway.

She's always excited when I come to pick her up. The first or second day... I can't remember now... she was so happy to see me she bulldozed right over top of another kid laying on the floor. That made my heart happy, too.

I miss her so much during the day. I know she's in good hands. I know she's well cared for. I know she'll do well there. I know she's happy. But boy... do I miss her when I'm working.

I'm pretty exhausted. I'm hoping once I get used to this new routine it'll get a little better. I think it will. Although I know as a single mom I'll always feel some level of exhaustion. But right now I'm nodding off at 7pm when I rock my girl to sleep. That's not good. And tonight... I'm planning on a 9pm bedtime for me to catch up a little on sleep.

Oh and the pics have nothing to do with the post. I just knew my far away family is probably itching for new ones. These were taken a week or so ago when we were just playing at home. I thought I'd put legwarmers on her to keep her from tearing up her knees crawling. But uh... well, her thighs were just too big and they kept rolling down to her ankles. LOL!

Proof!

For all the people in my life who I've recently subjected to endless amounts of waving at my kid in the hopes she'll offer a wave and a "bye bye" back... but were met instead by a dumbfounded look on her face.

I told you she could do it!!

Just apparently not when mommy wants her to perform. LOL!

Black & White Wednesday

What do you do

when it's 95 degrees

and you don't have

a swimming pool?

How about filling

a couple big bowls

with water

and grabbing some

kitchen utensils,

my stacking cups,

and getting wet?

And if mommy 

gives me 

a soapy fauxhawk

that counts

as a bath

right?

**Click on any photo to see it larger.**

She's Going Too Fast

Mia has taken off.... quite literally. Last week she figured out the crawl on your knees thing. She'll still drop to a belly crawl when she's in a hurry to get somewhere. It seems that way is faster for her right now.

She's pulling up on everything. She'd much rather stand than sit. Today I walked around the corner from the kitchen and caught her STANDING in the pink chair holding on to the brick of  the fireplace. I have no idea how she accomplished that... and in only about 30 seconds time. I swear she's aging me at about 10 times the speed I should be. LOL!

She's definitely keeping me on my toes. I have to watch her with an eagle eye. Cuz she's fast and very determined. It's like the first 7 months of her life she had no freedom to move...and now she can't stop! The child rarely sits still and she may just give me a heart attack before it's all over. She's learned how to pull herself up on the coffee table. The first few times she did it was pretty funny. She'd dig her nails in like she was hanging off the edge of a cliff and little by little she'd pull off her knees to her feet. Now I'm just terrified waiting for her to bust her face. I've been thinking about maybe even putting the table in the basement for awhile. But how long would that last? Years? 

Usually when we're home just hanging out we play on the floor in the living room or dining room. I don't think I've actually sat on my couch in 2 months. Not while Mia is awake anyway. I noticed in most of our videos she's only wearing a diaper on the bottom. She does own pants. But I take them off so she can move around easier. LOL! I think all the floor time has helped her strengthen her legs, arms and core and given her the opportunity to figure it all out. I think that was what she was lacking in China. Not the ability to accomplish these things...but the opportunity. 

I'm really excited about how far she's come. And I'm so proud of my brave, resilient, strong willed little girl. But part of me is sad, too. It's all happening so fast. I don't want her to grow up. Not just yet. I thought I'd have more time. More time for her to be a baby. But it seems she's done with that and ready to move onto toddlerhood as fast as she possibly can. Mommy isn't so thrilled with the idea however.