Sneak Peek!

A few of Mira's photos are posted to Melissa's blog - they are so beautiful!!! Can't wait to get the rest of the proofs - we're going to have such a hard time deciding!!!

First Day of Gymboree Level 2

We had SO much fun today!!

First, we met Casey and Mason at Jason's Deli for a delicious (Happy Birthday to Casey) lunch before walking next door to Gymboree. We had a great time visiting - the kiddos were so good and let us have a conversations!!

Gymboree was a blast! Mira and I both smiled and laughed so much! We sang a bunch of songs to start things off, as usual.

Then she played with some cool musical instruments dangling down on the end of yarn - trying to grab them was great for hand-eye coordination! She really loved that green castanet!

Their next task was to climb through tunnels. :\ We put Mira and Mason halfway in the tunnels, and they just sort of stared at each other... =)

Then she "climbed" all over some gym equipment - searching for more noise makers along the way. This was good cruising and crawling practice!

Next, we had a dance party! This was definitely our favorite part! The song was very upbeat and would freeze every so often. So, we would all dance like crazy - holding our babies - then freeze when the song stopped. All the babies, except for Mira, would crack up when we froze. Mira would stop smiling and laughing and get real serious, looking around as if she were thinking, "Why did everybody stop? We were having such a good time!" Then, when the song and dance would re-start, she would just giggle herself silly!!! It makes me smile again just thinking about it! =)

We closed with some familiar songs and some new ones, plus the parachute (which elicited squeals of delight all around the circle), bubbles, and finally, sang good-bye to Gymbo!

Can't wait for next week!

Suffice to say, she was thoroughly exhausted and fell asleep before we even got out of the parking lot!! Of course, this was only a 30-minute power nap, as usual....

Quick Update - Dr's Visit & Photo Shoot

Monday, we went and saw Dr. Crittell for Mira's 6 month Well-Baby visit. The doc said "she's perfect" to which Kenny and I answered in sync, "well, we already knew that!"

We're such dorks. Dorks in love with our baby girl. Dorks on the same wavelength. So, I guess that's okay.

She got 6 vaccines!! Thankfully, 3 of them are combined and one is an oral drop, but that still left her getting 3 shots. =( I couldn't help but tear up a little this time, even though she was such a trooper, as usual, and barely cried at all!

She weighed in at 16 pounds 3 ounces (gained 2 lbs 1 oz from last well-baby at 4 months) and measured 25 3/4 inches (gaining only 1/2 inch after last time's huge growth spurt). This puts her at exactly the 50th percentile for both.

Of course, she's doing great developmentally as well. She's sitting up very well, making "pre-crawling" motions, tries to cruise a little, babbles away, looks when you call her name, she's working on that pincer grasp, trying to figure out object permanence, laughs and smiles all the time, looks where you point, etc, etc!!

No signs of any teeth yet - although she has been tugging at her ears, sucking her bottom lip, and chewing like a mad woman lately...

Mira's also doing a wonderful job of drinking from a sippy cup and a regular cup! We're practicing both, and she loves it!! We'll be kissing those bottles good-bye by her 1st birthday! =)
Wednesday, we took Mira back to Melissa Stephen's Photography for her 6 month shoot (she did her newborn photos as well). Melissa & Mira were both amazing, and we just can't wait to see the proofs! I think they might be even harder to choose than with the newborn pics! Mirabelle has so much personality already! They are going to be SO good!! I'll keep you all posted, and we'll have a new header photograph for the blog soon!!!

That's about it for now!

Fun Saturday

I started off the morning by cashing in one of the two personal training sessions that I won at the Croquet Classic!

Wow...that was quite a workout. I haven't (really) worked out in so long; I am going to be ridiculously sore tomorrow. I already feel it coming on!

But, it was a lot of fun, and I felt great (except for the 10 minutes in which I thought I was gonna puke/black out). I go back Thursday for my next workout - SO excited!!

This afternoon, we finally got Mira's "tadpole" pool out and let her play in it. At first, she fussed - I think she was scarred by her last experience (just kidding Mason)! But, once she realized the water was warm, and her favorite bath toys were in there, she totally loved it! She got to splashing pretty good at one point, and didn't seem to mind having water in her face. She stayed in until her little toes turned to prunes, and we finally had to just drag her out! What a relief - she likes the water! Destin, here we come!!

Busy week...

Mira and I made a quick trip to Fairfield to cheer cousin Olivia on as she tried out for twirler. Of course, we ate at Gilberto's (twice) and Mira's outfit just happen to go lovely with the Mexican-inspired bench...an impromptu photo shoot ensued. As usual, Mira and Avi enjoyed hanging out, too.

On Tuesday, Mira graduated from Level 1 to Level 2 at Gymboree! The one criteria is that they can sit all by themselves, unsupported. They stay in Level 2 until they can walk which, unbelievably, won't be all that long! Looks like most of the other babies in Level 2 can already crawl, so Mira & Mason will have some catching up to do! We'll miss Ms. Kelly's singing, but we'll see her around.

Since Mira is sitting up so well now, we can leave the infant carrier in the car when we go grocery shopping! It makes it so much easier, because the carrier never fits on there just right, and I always ended up putting it in the basket which left little room from groceries! She also really enjoys sitting up, looking around, chatting with passers-by (i.e. reaping compliments), and investigating everything that I take off the shelves!

Last Wednesday, we went to our second Supper Club, where a group of young families get together for some good eats - everyone is supposed to take a turn hosting. We've already met a lot of really great new people at just two suppers. Matthew stole Mira away for a few minutes and got her to smile this time rather than scaring her with his fake sneezes. =) It was a beautiful evening and a ton of fun - not to mention we had lots of delicioso Mexican food!

Mira and I went up to Kenny's office then had lunch with some of the TCD clan. Mira thought she'd take a peek at the menu to see what she wanted for lunch (she had sweet potatoes). Emily toyed with Mira's crazy curls, so she had to look up and see who was messing with her 'do.

Happy Mother's Day!

I'd already say that my first Mother's Day was a total success (and it's not even over yet)!!

Mira started to rouse around 6:30 - Kenny was no where in sight. I pulled her over into bed, assuming she was ready to nurse. I decided to try and steal a good snuggle first, expecting her to fuss at me to hurry up with the food. But, to my delight, I wrapped my arms around her and snuggled her close, and she immediately went back to sleep! So, we lay cuddling for a few minutes (I sort of nodded off again, too) before Kenny returned...

He brought me a tray full of delicious breakfast and cards and presents!! Kenny and Mira each got me a card - they both brought tears to my eyes. Mira's had a picture of her on the front and an original poem written by Kenny & Mira on the inside - super-sweet!! I also got a very nice gift card to my favorite local spa - enough to get a massage and facial!! I am so excited about this!

Apparently, he took a poll at work and was (correctly) told that he should not get me a juicer for Mother's Day...thanks ladies! ;) Kudos to Kenny for asking opinions and dodging a bullet!

My other gift was the super-secret project that Kenny & Mira have been working on for a couple of weeks. I've been banned from upstairs on many occasions in the past few days while the finishing touches were done. At one point, our computer sort of crashed, and Kenny thought he had lost the whole thing! Fortunately, most was salvaged after reviving the computer - phew!!!

They made me a 15 minute video - complete with snapshots, video, and sappy music - of Mira over the past months. It starts with video of my big, pregnant belly and ends with a photo of her sitting up by herself "reading" one of her books. I cried...again. It was so fun to see the early video of Mira - it just re-iterates how much she's grown and changed! She was so tiny and helpless, and now she is so big and capable!

For lunch, we went to the Mother's Day Brunch at the Petroleum Club with the Montgomery's. The food was fabulous (as usual), and we had a great time chatting with Matthew & Casey. Mira sat up very nicely in the highchair, but soon got bored (when we wouldn't let her play with the silver) and then tired, so she was quite fussy through the majority of the lunch! Kenny tried to put her to sleep at one point, and she kicked and bucked like a wild stallion - I could hear her screaming across the club!! Of course, as soon as we got her back in the car, she was all smiles! What a stinker!!! =)

Tomorrow, Mira and I will make another trip to Fairfield to cheer Olivia on as she tries out for twirler! I can't believe she's going to be in h.s. next year!!!! We'll have to turn right back around and come home, so we can make it to Gymboree on Tuesday - Mira is graduating to Level 2!!! Yay!!

Some exciting stuff that is coming up later on in the month: our 2nd Supper Club (Mexican Fiesta is the theme) is this coming Wednesday (same night as the season finale of LOST!!!!!), Mira turns 6 months old on the 17th, we have our 6 month Well Baby check-up on the 18th, 6 mo. photo shoot with Melissa Stephens on the 20th (so, so excited about this!), and G'ma Sheila arrives on the 31st just in time to drive with us to Destin on June 4th (Mira's first beach trip)!!!

Goodbye to April

This last week of April was a busy, fun-filled one! I'm looking forward to the May flowers that all these April showers promise!

Kenny and I didn't do so well at the Croquet Classic...but, I did win something! There was a silent auction at the luncheon, and I won 2 personal training sessions for $20 (valued at $80)!!! I'm very excited!

We had so much fun at the tournament, though. Thankfully, Katy and April were there to take care of Mira (who was none too happy during the first round). She cheered up after a good nap and a bottle. =)

Kenny was silly with Mira and managed to get her to giggle out loud at the luncheon!

We got to play 3 games and enjoyed visiting with everyone. It was a beautiful day and the all-white rule did make for pretty pictures.

After the tournament and luncheon, we had a "pool party" at the Montgomery's! Mason had a blast in the kiddie pool, but Mira was not having any of it! The water was cold, and Mason was being such a boy - splashing like a wild man!! She was perfectly content as soon as we took her out! She watched Mason continue to splash crazily! It is so funny to see how very different they are in every way!

Kenny and I took Mira to the park and played at the playground. We were dissapointed when we realized our park doesn't have swings! Mira loves to swing, so we'll have to find another nearby park that does have a swingset. We had fun anyways on all the other equipment!