Getting in the Spirit

Its amazing how having a little one around during the Christmas season seems to make everything a little more fun. We see things in a whole new way through Myla's eyes - the village, the tree, the presents. Even the wrapping paper. Its all so different for her, new I guess. Sometimes, she crawls under the tree and I don't know how, but she knows which ones are her presents and she'll shake them. I don't think its to try and figure out what it is, but more because she's found something new. I just hope she still likes them when the wrapping paper is off.

Myla is getting more and more table food - she had meatloaf the other night, yummy! - and has figured out how to drink from her sippy cup while holding it herself. She'll drink water from it just fine, but don't try to sneak in some milk, that only comes from bottles. We'll keep working on it. She's taken a couple of steps by herself behind her little stroller while pushing it and has ventured out to walking along walls and cabinets. She'll be upright soon I'm guessing. Until then, she will crawl at supersonic speeds. She discovered underneath the table the other night - like a little fort. That was pretty neat.

I have to tell you the story behind this adorable hat. Last year, Myla got a Christmas dress, preemie size, and if you recall, she still swam in it. Well, the dress came with matching booties and this hat, which this year fits her little head perfectly. The booties do too. Now, I don't know which preemie they measured the hat for, but it is NOT preemie size, its Myla size. And doesn't she make it look good?!

Parade of Lights

The whole way there in the car Myla was laughing at her Auntie Aimee, she must have thought something was pretty funny. She's doing more and more little things as she grows. Feeding herself is a big thing! We can hardly feed her with a spoon at times without little fingers and hands breaking in there and taking over. Anyway, it took a short time to find a good spot on the street for the parade but we just held Myla up so she could see. The people around her were half the entertainment for her, she's always people watching. Her little face was priceless as the big balloons slowly wafted by and the string people making the balloon spin in place. Myla enjoyed the drums too, she would bounce and wave her arms as they go thundering by.

Luckily the weather held out for it too. Even the night before was frigid, but there are still some mild winter days left for us, not a lot, but some. Myla is really crawling lately, picking up some speed. She will push her little stroller and dolly around the living room for as long as we'll let her. She's mostly on her knees and she'll flatten out on her tummy, still holding on, and kick her legs and start all over again. I guess it's fun in her little mind. She's very much a Daddy's girl these days which makes me feel really special. I don't know what it is but I'm glad to have so much love before she's a teenager and thinks I'm a square....

Counting Blessings

What a Thanksgiving weekend! A far cry from last year huh? Myla had a great time charming her great-grandparents that came into town for the festivities. She laughed and played and had fun mocking her mom's cough which also came in time for the long weekend. Plus, her A2 had her golden birthday this past weekend - she turned 29 on the 29th - and had a fun party to mark the occasion. Myla was the belle of the ball in her holiday season dress fresh from Grandma Witulski's sewing room. She had so much fun watching the kids and meeting new faces that she slept almost a full 12 hours!

Sunday it snowed all day and so we spent the day watching the Bronco game and Myla take her birthday car out for a spin. She was so much fun to watch crawl behind it and sometimes flatten out if it went a little to fast. She loves to play games and laugh and doing things all by herself, even eating. She got to try a little mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving, some stuffing, cranberries, rolls and a small piece of turkey. She's decided its much more fun to feed yourself than some old spoon. We're taking it slow, trying new things and learning that sometimes just because its gone, doesn't mean that it made its way into the tummy.

I'm sure you're tired of hearing it, but we've been thinking a lot about where we were last year and just being so thankful that everything is going so well. We have not stopped giving thanks for our nurses and doctors and want to send a virtual thank you to all those out there that are helping babies and families through this season. Thank you for being there and for your love and your shoulders and continued prayers.

Winter is in the air

True, yesterday was 75 degrees (in November!?), but today it was only 35 and so we finally got to pull out some warm clothes! And very cute clothes in Myla's case. She's been looking so big lately - something about growing I think. She's doing it fast too - moving everywhere she can, whether crawling or walking around the furniture. She gets really mad at herself when she falters a little bit while standing too. Its so cute, you can't help but laugh, and she doesn't like that so much either.

Tonight, we tried some little ravioli's for Myla to pick up and feed herself. She seems to have a preference for that lately. She'll take a few spoonfuls of food from us and then the hands will break free and go in her mouth. So, she usually ends with cheerios or puffs. But tonight we thought something more substantial - yeah, right. Some ended up on her shirt, some on the floor (much to the dog's eternal happiness) and some smooshed all over the tray. I think she did get a taste of it, but then got too frustrated that they were so slippery and so she, yet again, finished with cheerios. As long as she's eating, right?

She fell asleep tonight holding tight to my finger as we were rocking. I've been waking up in the middle of the night lately with this weird feeling that I couldn't figure out until her little hand squeezed my finger. Its the feeling I had last year, when she was in the hospital. We had just gotten to hold her not too long before and it was around this time that she moved off the ventilator and onto high flow oxygen. That's what that feeling is, the same feeling of not being near her. That's why I can go back to sleep after I check on her, because there she is, sleeping in the next room with her diaper-butt up in the air, having little baby dreams. And not anywhere else. I hope that all the babies in all the hospital and all their moms can someday too feel that peace that comes with a happy baby in the next room.

Picture Tag

Our framily, the Tessems, tagged us for picture tag. The way I understand it, its the fourth picture from the fourth folder in your picture file. So, I went into our picture files and here is the specified picture -
Kind of ironic that its a picture of their kids from our Christmas celebration in 2006...

In the spirit of the game, I now tag Mindy and Andrea and Stephanie - and hey, anyone else that wants to share random pictures from their computers!

Cute stories to share

Saturday, I put Myla down for a nap before some friends came over. She played most of the time while she was in her crib, and when I was sure that she was obviously not going to go to sleep, I peeked my head in to see what she was doing. And then I had to go get Johnny. Together, as we stood outside her room and opened her door, there was Myla, standing up at the end of her crib, looking at the door - with her pants off! Yep, whether she crawled out of them or stepped on them till they came off while pulling herself up, I don't know, but we all thought it was pretty funny.

Myla has really taken to the crawling part of life and now likes to go after the dog if there is a run-by sniffing. She will crawl up close to Haley's chair and Haley will have to get out of it (for some unknown dog reason) and they will go after each other until Myla is away from the chair and Haley can lay down. I don't know - some kind of game they play. Myla loves to look out the window and Haley does too, so its something they can do together. Unlike the cat, who still tries not to go near Myla if she can help it, which is getting harder to do.

The baby dolls have found a temporary home sitting in our big chair until they can be pulled off. We decided to plop Myla up there too, to take a picture of all the baby dolls. There is one that has a rattle in it and I decided to play peek-a-boo with it for Myla. The baby would come up from the floor and say boo! and Myla would laugh and laugh and laugh! Then the baby would go back down and Myla would look over the edge of the chair to see her and the minute she did would laugh and laugh and laugh! She thought that baby was so funny, and it made us laugh so hard we had tears in our eyes. Thank goodness for video!

Dirty knees

Just as we posted that Myla was only thinking about crawling and trying so hard, she went and did it! She crawled like 10 feet! Now we can't keep her still, not that we want to, but it's a whole new ballgame now that she's mobile. If we move into another room she loves to follow us and pull herself up by our legs. And, we've also found just how dirty our floors really can be.... all on her knees and feet. She is so much fun!

So far so good for Myla and Mommy. Daddy got a really bad cold this past weekend that turned into an ear infection. Really! Are you kidding me?! Anyway, I'm no longer contagious if what we're told about antibiotics is true and I can hopefully go back to work and back to being Myla's Daddy. I tried to not touch her if I could help it and it was no fun but I think we'll all be okay. Poor Mommy had to do the late night duties with baby so Daddy could rest and get better but now that he's fed up with being sick she can sleep.