Mia Letter: 8 Months

Man. November was so busy that it feels like a blurry, distant memory! Mia just keeps getting more and more active and social. She continues to be this amazingly sweet, easy, observant, beautiful baby girl. She kills me with that face of hers. Just look at it. Can you even stand it?!

This month started off with a lot of new tricks like sitting up by ourselves, crawling (soldier), rocking on hands and knees, sitting in her new big-girl highchair and eating Puffs! Later in the month she figured out how to play "So Big" (which is soooooo cute) and she started pulling herself up to onto her knees in the crib by using the rails.



Poor Baby caught her first cold. Just a stopped up nose and some congestion. We tilted the crib mattress up a bit and set up her sweet elephant humidifier. She actually lets me aspirate her nose. Brody would go ballistic when the huge green "sucker" would get anywhere near him and become all-out combative if you tried to make a move toward the nose. Mia is so laid back. She doesn't enjoy it and she might even swat at it but for the most part she'll let me give 3-4 good sucks to each side before releasing her trademark squawk. It sounds like a zoo animal. Sometimes like the screaming monkeys and other times like a caged bird. She's so talented. For the most part, she didn't let the cold slow her down.

We experienced the excitement (horror) of the Tea Fires on the 13th. No thank you to ever wanting to do that again. And then Grandmama came back to us on the 22nd! We got to spend a whole week together and had a wonderful time. Mor Mor and Papa joined us on the 26th to celebrate Thanksgiving.It's always such a treat to have grandparents in town. Brody can't hardly
contain himself he's so excited to have a new audience - and one that will play 'talking cars' no less!! Mia doesn't know yet how blessed she is to have these wonderful people in her life. Her grandmothers and grandfathers love her so much. How awesome it is that she has such smart, fun, funny, YOUNG, talented, God-loving, people-loving role models in her life. I'm so excited to watch her relationships develop and grow with each of her grandparents individually. They each have had such full lives already and have so much to share and teach her. She is truly blessed to be surrounded by such amazing people who love her so profoundly.

As for December, Mia experienced her first Santa Barbara Christmas parade! We love going to the parades in town but find it extremely difficult with small children. This parade is great because we always find a good place to just sit and watch. She never fussed once - even tho it was an hour past her usual bedtime. It was a great time together enjoying the fun things our little town has to offer. And a great way to kick of Christmas in Santa Barbara!
December will be super busy and Mia already has a nasty cold :( Stay tuned for all the exciting details....