I Think She Looks More Like Daddy...Don't You?

Katma gave us some of Chris's baby pictures this week and I was able to pull some that I thought looked like Tia...now to me, they are like twins. She is the spitting image of her daddy, but 30+ years later....aren't my babies so cute!!!!


Now for me, I don't have any baby pictures of myself. These are the only three I have in my own possession and they are older than Tia's age, but at least we can give it some comparison. I can definitely see myself in Tia...I'd like to think that she got the best from both of us

Baby Einstein DVDs

I have to say that I love the Baby Einstein DVDs. I know it is not great to let your child watch too much TV at an early age, but there are some days when chores need to get done and it nice to have a distraction like Baby Einstein to keep Tia entertained. She has two DVDs, Animals and Signs. Aunt Amber got her one of these DVDs and I think I got the other. The Signs is awesome. I have learned all the signs from Mommy to milk to sleep to story. It's great! What other ones are good to get for her age group? Have any suggestions?

So Sweet in the Morning

It is so fun to walk into Tia's room in the morning, switch on the light, and say 'good moooorrrrrnnnning!' and look in her crib to see a sleepy eyed baby but she is smiling. I'm telling you that it just melts my heart instantly. After that, while I'm feeding her a bottle, I just love on her and kiss on her and she doesn't see to mind at all. As soon as she is done, we play for a bit and boy does she smile and laugh. She puts her head on my shoulder and she hugs me. Then after I change her and we are almost ready to walk out the door, we go see Daddy. She lunges for him and as soon as she is in Daddy's arms, she turns to see me. I give her a big smile and she laughs out loud. Daddy plays with her a bit while I go and put our stuff in the car. I get back and we just have a great time until we leave. Once we get to daycare, I love giving her kisses until we get to her classroom. I do little jumps with her in my arms and she laughs and smiles so big. I just love it!

Still Loving Her Bottle

It seems like Tia is not crazy about solid foods. She'll eat them, but only if she is really hungry.  She'll take her bottle to empty, but when we try to feed her solids, she refuses or acts uninterested.  I have seen two other babies eat like they were going to get lots of toys for eating as much as they could...but Tia is just not there yet. I put the Gerber finger snacks out like the strawberry gummies, the star cereal, and some cheese puffs and she'll eat them at the beginning and then play with them.  One thing is that if she puts it in her mouth and falls out and is wet, she doesn't want to touch it...are we seeing a little diva in her?  But at least on her sheet from daycare, she is eating solids there. We'll keep trying at home, but we may have to come up with a new tactic...airplane is just not working anymore.  I am just praying that she doesn't pick up on my picky-ness because I don't want any of my children to know that I am even pick until they are old enough to realize it on their own and hopefully by that time, they'll like all the food that I don't.  I hate being picky, but I believe it is something you develop when you are young. I have tried all the foods I don't like and there is just no way I can eat them.  I don't want Tia to ever have to deal with that.  It is very interesting because my aunt and uncle have three boys...they really watched the oldest intake of food and even with the 2nd son.  The two of them will eat pretty much anything. But with their third son, schedules of sports, extra curricular activities, and just life got busy and they less regulated the 3rd son's intake of good foods. They really let him decide what he wanted or not.  He is probably the pickiest eater I have ever met.  He won't even eat the stuff that most kids love.  When talking with my Uncle about it, it really falls in line with my thoughts on why I'm so picky.  My dad was a single father for a while during my development stage of eating and he was a pro at cooking grilled cheese, breakfast, and hamburger helper...as well as a pro at ordering McDonalds, pizza, and fast food.  My honest first memory of seeing a salad for the first time was when I was in high school. I literally thought they were eating grass (and still do).  I've tried it every which way and it is just a texture thing for me.  I've come a long way since I was little, but it takes me picking one thing at a time and really turning it into the right texture over years...but I love food and have never had much of a problem finding something to eat no matter where we are!

All Tuckered Out

This is the cutest picture ever. Tia was jumping away in her Jenny-Jump-A-Roo and she must have just jumped until she got all tuckered out because this is how Chris found her when he noticed she had stopped jumping. She actually slept like that for a long time and when she woke up, she immediately went into jumping again while her face had indentations and imprints of where it was pressed up against the jump-a-roo while she was sleeping. Oh she just cracks me up. So cute.

Making Mommy Late to Work

So I don't have to be at work until 8:30am, BUT I like to arrive between 7:45am and 8:00am. To me, 8:00am is late for me. One reason is because I want the option to take a full hour lunch and I also want the option of leaving at 5:00pm if need be. I generally work more than 40 hours a week but if a Friday comes up and I've banked some time - I occasionally will need to leave early if we have weekend plans that need me to head out at 3:00pm or 4:00pm. Since school is back in session arriving at 7:40am or 7:45am is a little harder, but definitely possible. I do try to leave our house no later than 6:45am and sometimes even by 6:30am so I can beat the buses. I take Tia to daycare and get her all settled in her room then head out to work. However, this past week, she has really not wanted to leave my arms when we arrive. I try to put her on the floor to play with the toys and other kids, but she starts to whimper. OR a teacher will put their arms out and say 'come to me' and she'll tuck back into me and hug me like she doesn't want to go. This is so different than the way it has been thus far. So I tend to carry her with me to put her bottles and stuff away, write in her sheet, and check her in. I'll now sit down with her on the ground and then inch my way towards the door. Every now and then she'll catch me, but I was able to escape most days. Not sure why the change, but I still want her to be comfortable with others holding her, etc. I know all babies go through that age where they want their mommies (which I don't mind), but I wonder if this is just a trend or if this is because she has a bit of an ear infection isn't feeling 100%. Because of the tubes, she did not get sick and was able to stay in school. Her ears have been draining and we've been able to clean up the drainage and clean out her ears (which is not an easy feat). Because of her neediness, I've been a little late to work and arrive right at 8:00am...which is late in my mind but early in the company's mind. I guess we'll see how it goes.

Tia 8-9 Months Video

What a Big Flirt

Tia is a big flirt which just cracks me up.  When there are guys around, she becomes really attentive to them and coy.  She stares at them the whole time until they look at her. Sometimes, she'll make this 'ooh, ooh, ooh' sound until they look at her.  It is her way to getting their attention. Then when they do look, she shy's a way like she is bashful.  She smiles, laughs and just loves when they play with her.  It is like no one else in the room matters.  A week or so ago, Steve and Ashley came over and she just crushed on Steve the entire time.  Then last Friday, we were all at dinner with Jeremy, Beth, and Lisa - she just stared across the table at Jeremy the entire time and kept trying to get his attention. I told Ashley and Beth that they had some competition.  Then the other night, I was playing Thai Poker with my regulars (Joni, Connie, and Sue). We were all at Sue's house and Chris and Tia stopped by to see us.  Tia wasn't in the best mood because she hadn't eaten much due to them taking her formula away from the Similac Recall. Chris went out to get her some other kind, and in the meantime, we just played with her.   I eventually put her in her carseat and let her play a little.  Sean, Sue's husband, came down and she just lit up and became all giggly and shy.  It was super cute.  I think Chris gave her a lecture on how she needs to stay away from boys until she is about 30.  I just have to laugh because she has this reaction with men and even had it with Grandpa Nooner when we went to visit.  She's our little flirt!

Similac Formula Recalled Because of Beetles

Received a call yesterday from Tia's daycare that her Similac Formula may be recalled.  But we didn't know for sure.  Chris went and got her some Enfamil to get her through the rest of the week.  He also looked up the lot number of the containers we had and all 6 plus the one at daycare were contaminated with beetles.  It was last Friday night when I bought the containers from Wal-Mart in Oakville when Lisa and I were getting some things for the weekend. So if you know anyone who purchased orange and pink colored lids on Similac formula from the Oakville/Mehlville Wal-Mart (located at 255 and Telegraph), then you may want to make sure they know.

We did call Katma to see if the container we have at her house was okay and it was just fine.  We bought that a while ago.

Here is the article:

Similac formula, baby formula produced by Abbott Laboratories, has been recalled due to the possible presence of beetles in the powder.
Abbott is initiating a proactive, voluntary recall of certain Similac-brand, powder infant formulas in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Guam and some countries in the Caribbean. Abbott is recalling these products following an internal quality review, which detected the remote possibility of the presence of a small common beetle in the product produced in one production area in a single manufacturing facility.

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has determined that while the formula containing these beetles poses no immediate health risk, there is a possibility that infants who consume formula containing the beetles or their larvae, could experience symptoms of gastrointestinal discomfort and refusal to eat as a result of small insect parts irritating the GI tract. If these symptoms persist for more than a few days, a physician should be consulted.

The recall of these powder infant formulas includes:

Certain Similac powder product lines offered in plastic containers.

Certain Similac powder product lines offered in sizes such as 8-ounce, 12.4-ounce and 12.9-ounce cans.

To immediately find out if the product in your possession is included in this recall, parents and caregivers should visit www.similac.com/recall, and type in their lot number to determine if their product is affected, or call (800) 986-8850.

No Abbott liquid infant formulas are impacted. Products not involved in the recall include all Abbott Nutrition liquid ready-to-feed and concentrated infant formulas and all powder and liquid specialty formulas, such as Similac Expert Care Alimentum, Elecare, Similac Expert Care Neosure, Similac Human Milk Fortifier, and metabolic formulas for inherited disorders.

About the Recall

The company is implementing a plan to address this matter in the affected manufacturing facility, which is expected to be completed shortly. No other facilities or products are involved in this recall.

Abbott has consulted with the U.S. FDA regarding this recall.

Information for Parents and Caregivers

Products with affected lot numbers should be returned to Abbott at no cost to the consumer.

Parents and caregivers can go to www.similac.com/recall or call Abbott's consumer hotline, (800) 986-8850, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Both the website and the consumer hotline have specific details on how to complete the return process.Holger Liepmann, executive vice president, Abbott Nutrition said:

"Abbott understands that parents expect to feed their children only the highest quality product. We are taking this action so that parents know that the infant formula products they provide unquestionably meet the highest quality standards for which they are known. We regret any inconvenience this situation poses to parents and consumers."

Her First Big Boo Boo

Yesterday at daycare, Chris went to visit her at lunch.  He witnessed her attempt to climb up on a teacher and miss her placement of her hand and go tumbling down onto a toy. Her temple was raised and bruised all day and yesterday.  I'm sure that is first of many, but still so sad to hear and know about. Poor Chris had to witness it.

Is Tia Claustrophobic

My whole life I've been a tiny bit claustrophobic. What I mean is I don't like things around my neck or any clothes that feel constricting.  I can be in tight spots, but there is always that threshold where I start feeling hot and dizzy when I know I'm starting to feel a bit claustrophobic.  I know almost all babies hate changing clothes, but Tia acts as if she is almost scared.  When I pull her arms out from the sleeves and the shirt is hanging around her head, she will try to pull it off herself and haste-fully too. She'll grunt until it is off and give me these scared, big eyes like she is almost scared.  When I'm putting on clothes, I will put her shirt over head first and she already starts to throw a fit. I pull one sleeve out and try to put her hand through and she'll almost forcefully push her hand through as fast as she can.  It is almost cute because I know she hates it, but she is actually helping me.  Once I have her shirt on, she is just fine.  But if it is too tight and hard to get on, she really throws a fit and really acts scared until it is fixed. It is the same feeling I get if I wear anything around my neck.  Even scarves have this affect on me.  I could never wear a choker and sometimes even collars give me that hot and almost nauseous feeling.  I just wonder if she has inherited that from me OR maybe it is just a kid thing and she just hates being changed. 

She's Becoming a Mommy's Girl

Since birth, Tia just lights up when she sees Chris and just hungers for his attention.  But the past month or so, she has started to take on a whole new outlook.  Don't get me wrong, she's always loved her mommy, but I have always been the standard in her life with giving her bottles, getting her dressed, taking her to daycare, etc. Lately though, Chris has noticed that she pays attention to my every move.  If he's holding her and I walk out of the room, she literally will turn all the way around in his arms to see where I went.  In the morning if she wakes up earlier than normal, I'll put her in bed with Chris for a quick second while I make her bottle.  She'll whimper as soon as I leave the room.  At daycare, she has started to whimper when I start to leave or I try to put her down by all the toys.  This morning, we had to ease her into letting me leave. She watched me ever intently as I put away her bottles, etc.  I started to walk out of the room and she starts to give me those big puppy dog eyes and whine a little.  So I came over and gave her a hug and kiss.  One of her teachers scooped her up and was trying to distract her while I was trying to sneak out and she caught me. Eventually, I was able to make my escape. She was a bit under the weather over the weekend, so that may have played a part in it.  It is sweet to know she wants her mommy, but I've really enjoyed her going to anyone without even thinking about it. People have said that she always keeps an eye on where mommy and daddy are, even when she was a few months old...and now that she has grown into her own smarts - she's even more perceptive to where we are. The cutest is when she looks at you out of the corner of her eye.  It is like her peripherals, but not quite.  So cute!!  She is already super analytical and I can't imagine how that will be as she grows older.  If she inherited both my and Chris's analytical behaviors, she is going to be a little smartypants for sure. 

Happy 9 Months to Tia

When they say that time flies when babies are young - there were telling the truth. I sometimes take a step back and think 'wow, I have a baby....wow, I gave birth to her...wow, I'm a mom' and I wonder - when did all of this happen. Yes, during the 9 months I carried Tia, it felt like an eternity. However, not only did I receive so much bonding time with Tia, but I also was able to prepare myself for becoming a mother. Now, I look back and it seems like a blur when I was pregnant and even the early days of Tia's life. It is just amazing how quickly they grow. Before I know it, she's going to be 18.

But she's gotten so big and so active. Besides crawling around on all fours and sometimes army crawls, she's pulling herself up, she's throwing balls, she's eating solids, and she's sleeping great on her own among other things. My confession is that I pray all the time for Tia. I pray that she lives a long and happy life. That she will experience as much and so much more that I have in my lifetime and Chris's lifetime. That she will experience love, marriage, kids, and grandkids. That she will experience all good things that life has to offer and grow into a successful, beautiful young women (in time). I just wish nothing but the best for her and hence why I pray all the time for her best wishes. It is crazy how we feel about our own kids and how we can love someone so much and in a different way than your spouse, or siblings, or parents.

All I know is that I've learned so much the past 18 months about myself, about my mothering abilities, about my patience ;), about what my baby girl would look like. So many wonderful experiences and so many reasons to smile. I wish her a wonderful 9 month birthday and many many many more to come!

Tia Standing Video

She Slept Awesome All Week

So last week I had lots of sleepless night and this week, I think I got too much sleep because I wasn't used to not getting up a dozen times throughout the night.  Almost every single night this week, Tia only lost  her pacifier once from the time she went to bed between 7:30pm and 8:30pm until I get her up in the morning or she gets me up in the morning about 6:00am. I really do hope this is a trend that lasts because it has been wonderful.  In the morning before I jump in the shower, I have always made her bottle beforehand.  This way, if she woke up crying, I could quickly get to her and feed her. The week, there were a couple days were she was still sound asleep and I had to wake her up to feed her. Now that was awesome. I got all of our stuff packed, myself ready, and all I had to do was feed and change her and then head out the door. There were also a couple mornings where she was awake but waiting patiently in her crib for me.  Of course, as soon as she sees me she goes crazy and wants her bottle. That is another cute thing she does.  She will spit out and launch her pacifier when there is a bottle in her presence. It is rather funny.  I sit in the rocker, put her on my lap, put her bib on, and then as I'm bringing the bottle up to her mouth, she spits that pacifier so far it usually hits the floor.  All the stuff she does is so darling.

Why Babies Look Like Their Fathers at Birth

I heard an interesting theory on why babies look like their fathers at birth.  A friend told me it is because in the old days, barbarian and otherwise, babies were born to looked this way to identify the fathers.  Before genetic testing and way before doctors, this would be essential especially in cultures where they didn't have one women for one man, etc.  It definitely makes sense, although I don't know for sure. Now that I've had a baby of my own, I do notice this about babies.  Almost all the babies I've seen do look just like their fathers when born, but within a month or so they start to show traits of mommy too.  I dropped Tia off at school today and while she was sitting there with the other babies on the floor playing with toys, I got a glimpse of myself. Round/square head, dark eyes, and a semi-Thai nose. Even though I birthed her, there were a few times where all I saw was Chris and especially since she is lighter than I had expected. But I think as time goes on, she will definitely look like me too. I still see a lot of Chris, but when she is animated - I see me.

Giving Kisses

The past couple weeks if you say 'Can I have a kiss', she'll lean in and press her lips on yours. It is the cutest thing in the world.  I just love it!  Chris got her to do it a couple weeks ago and she would only kiss him back. She'd just stay still and have a partially open mouth with her eyes looking back and forth until he gave her a kiss. Now she'll lean in and everything.  The past week, she's been giving me kisses too.  So cute!

Mommy Has to Let Go

So since Tia was born, I've been running to Tia's aid the moment she makes a peep while sleeping.  I can honestly say that she has never cried when I was listening to her sleep.  I get to her side and get her pacifier in or pick her up to rock her back to sleep.  We have baby monitors where I can hear EVERYTHING...everything so much that I can even hear when her pacifier leaves her mouth and hits the bed. I know, sick that I have super sonic hearing. I have friends who say I have 'cat like' hearing and it is most likely one of my Asian traits. (Right Lisa?) Well, they are right and it is often a curse more than it is for the good.  I get it from my mom because my whole life I've always watched what I mumbled when she was near because no matter what, she could hear it.  Even when we are bowling and she is up to bowl. If I say anything, she returns to the table and talks about it as if she was right there hearing it. Well, I've definitely inherited a few traits from her and one of them is my hearing ability.  Poor husband Chris, as he can't do anything without me hearing.  He can be two rooms away and I'll hear his antics and come over and make fun of him.  He could be singing in the shower and I'm in the kitchen cooking and I hear him. It's true!  For Tia's sake, I've always felt it was a great thing, because I have seriously never let the poor girl cry and I've never believed in the cry it out method...it hurts me more than it hurts her.  But, I need to let go a bit and let her learn to cope on her own from time to time. She knows I'm coming to her aid so much so that when she loses her pacifier and I come in to put it back in, her mouth is wide open...ready...and waiting. I put it back in and she rolls over and dozes off. 

Well, the past few nights have been sleepless ones for me.  I feel like I've been in her room 20 times throughout the night and I know she hasn't slept very good ever since she has had her tubes put it.  The tubes have done wonders, don't get me wrong...but perhaps she also has inherited the super sonic hearing and therefore she now hears everything and wakes up throughout the night.  I certainly have a very hard time sleeping and I need the fan on high to drown out any unwanted sound.  I know I heard the train passing through last night and it is 10 or so miles away.  Perhaps, she hears what I hear now and has been waking up a lot plus we are transitioning her to more of a solid diet and of course that takes time too.

So going to bed last night, Chris talked me into letting him handle putting her to bed.  He walks in and puts her in bed and comes right back to our bedroom to chat with me.  All the while, I can hear her through the monitor whining, whimpering, and rolling over and over.  I gave him the wide open eyes and said 'wow, putting her to bed, eh?' and he said just let her be for a while.  Deep down, I know this is what we need to do, but it is so darn hard to hear her not happy.  I turned off the monitor and let Chris go help her to bed.  He came back a while later and said - she's out.  So he finally got her to bed.  In the middle of the night, she woke up about 3am and she was wide-eyed too.  I wanted so badly to pick her up and calm her down and then rock her back to bed, but I knew I needed to let her learn to cope on her own.  So I crawled over to her crib to see if she had lost her pacifier and she didn't. So I went and laid down in the guest bedroom and waited patiently. I told myself I'd give her 30 minutes to cope and then I'd come be her savior.  She whined and whimpered...rolling over and over. I could tell she was just not getting comfortable. But I let her be.  Then after 30 minutes, I went in and by this time she had lost her pacifier and spotted me in the room. I picked her up...she had a huge smile. Then I rocked her for less than 10 minutes and put her back to bed. She was out for the count. Normally, she wakes me up between 5 and 6 to eat, but this morning I had to wake her up to feed her.

So I'm trying and I know it is what needs to be done to get her to learn how to sleep better and to learn to cope when she wakes up. We'll see how it goes and hopefully it will be what helps her to sleep better along with developing her eating habits.

Standing Up Already!

Tia hasn't quite made the transition from army crawl to crawling, although she does get up on all fours and takes a step or two.  She just hasn't quite perfected crawling with her belly off the ground yet.  BUT, one thing she learned to do over the weekend is pull herself up to a standing position.  We were watching her eyeball my cell phone on top of our ottoman, and she has that determined spirit to her that I see in myself and Chris.  She grabbed the ottoman, pulled herself up onto her knees. She then, puts her hand up on the edge of the ottoman, puts her other higher and starts to pull.  Slowly, she pulls herself up with her eye on the prize and she even used her mouth to leverage stability on the top of the ottoman.  Then low and behold, she is standing all by herself holding onto the ottoman.  So cute! Earlier that day at her modeling gig, they stood her up next to a box so I think she got the idea from that.  Daycare also told me that she's been trying to stand up in her crib for weeks, but she gets frustrated because she can't quite get up all they way.  Last night, she pulled herself up to standing in her crib too.  So she's getting the hang of it for sure. I'm so proud, but I think Daddy is scared Tia is going to get hurt.  She does have two small green dots on her face this morning - I think it was from standing in her crib and her head hitting the railing when she lost her balance.  But I know she is going to be just fine.  I can tell that she is going to be one competitive little girl...definitely a spawn of mommy and daddy!

Our Beautiful Little Model

This morning, I couldn't have been prouder...Tia had her first modeling gig.  I never had any intentions on getting her into modeling because I know that every parent thinks their child is the cutest and submits their kids to the agencies.  I just figured the market was saturated and the modeling agencies already have hundreds of cute babies to choose from.  My boss has her kids through an agency called NOW Talent and every now and they she'll get emails requesting pictures of babies.  Every time she sends this out to the staff, several girls in the office tell me to submit Tia and some of the other cute babies whose mothers work here too.  This time around, I decided 'what the hey' - I might as well.  The downfall is that they want pictures that are a week or two weeks and less old.  That is pretty hard considering sometimes I forget to take pictures. I scrambled the few photos I had of Tia for the previous weeks and sent over my favorite one.  Low and behold, the agency announced that Tia McKenzie Norris was selected.  We found out the client was CPI (Sears Portrait Studio) which is a great one because I've actually done modeling myself (back in the day) with CPI when I was really into modeling.  I was a Mexican bride for a billboard in Mexico - I never saw the final prints of this, but I remember thinking 'do they really wear their hair like this'...  So I knew exactly where to go and I was excited.  They wanted holiday clothing in black, red, and white print.  I went to the store and just grabbed two outfits and took along the winter outfits that Katma got for Tia last Christmas.  I brought her in a red shirt and blue jeans so they went ahead and snapped some photos of her in this outfit because they did want some casual wear too. Then they put a dress on her that was super cute with plaid, white stockings, and patten leather shoes.  She then was put into a 'snow bunny' outfit that Katma got her and they snapped some photos of her in that outfit...then Tia started getting tired and cranky and wasn't as cooperative.  They said that she got through more outfits than most and most babies are ready to be done after only two outfits.  But they said she did an awesome job and that she was super adorable.  They want her to come back as soon as she starts walking which is exciting.  Tia is already making more money than I did by the time I was 15, lol  As part of her payment, she also gets a cd of pictures.  I am so excited to see these pictures and use them for some Christmas cards.  I did snap two short videos that I'll post when I can.

Help! Have Any Recommendations?

Tia has been a great sleeper for the longest time. Even after we stopped swaddling her, once she fell asleep she would stay asleep until I woke her up around 6:00am.  But ever since she had ear tubes put in a week or so ago, she has been getting up at 4:00am every morning.  She has always lost her pacifier a few times during the night and I'd stumble my way through the house and put it back in, but the past week she just wants to be up at 4:00am.  When I got see if she lost her pacifier, it is still in her mouth and she is wide eyed and awake.  If I don't pick her up, she rolls over and peaks over the crib bumper and then tries to pull herself up out of the crib to get to me.  So I've been bringing her into bed with us hoping she'll fall back asleep...but she has her little hungry whimper so I've been forced to make her a bottle. I hate making her a bottle that early because I don't want her to get into a habit of it.  Before she goes to bed, she eats around 7:00pm to 7:30pm-ish which is what we've done for the longest time.  I'm just not quite sure what to do.  So I'm asking for suggestions and whether anyone has had this same experience and what actions you were able to take.  We would also like some advice on putting Tia to bed.  She doesn't want to go to bed at all.  After her bath, she is just awake and wants to play.  If we put her in her crib, she'll try everything to get out and whine that she wants us to pick her up.  She'll also sit up in her swing if we put her in there to try to make her more drowsy. I've been forced to rock her for about 20 minutes which she fights at first and then finally dozes off.  I definitely don't want to get in that habit either mainly because if we travel and stay with someone else and they do not have a rocking chair, then she won't go down.  She has a cute little pink, fuzzy lamb head with a small blanket attached as her sleep prop. She does hold onto it when it is bed time, but she still does not want to go to bed.  Help anyone?!?

Tia Graduated from Infant Class 1

I was surprised when Tia's teacher said she'd be moving classes soon. I guess it is so hard to believe how much she has grown.  When I really stop and look at all of her classmates, they are only a few months old compared to her. She's mobile and on the move now too.  I guess it is just hard for me to realize she is growing up so fast, just as they say.  So this morning, I was dropping her off in Infant Class 1 when they said 'oh Tia is in the other class now'...I asked 'for good?' and she said 'yes, and I'm super sad to see her go'.  I dropped her off in the other classroom and all of her stuff had been moved over already.  It is crazy but I know it is also a milestone for Tia.  She's graduated from one class and is now onto the next. 

Tia's First Boat Ride

We took Tia out on her first boat ride this Labor Day Weekend down on Lake Ann where Chris's dad and step-mom live in Ste Genevieve.  I know Tia loves being outside so I was thinking she'd love the water and cruising around.  Marsha and Mike bought her a cute Dora The Explorer life jacket that was super adorable, but as we all know how tight life vests are for kids, it had her pretty constricted.  It fit her like a glove, but she had so much padding on, she wasn't able to touch her hands together. She did not like being in the jacket and although she looked so cute, she had a gloomy look on her face the entire time.  It was hard not to laugh at how she just stared out at the water and did not even peep a smile at our normal antics.  But I was excited to get her out and about on the boat. She did love being outside and as soon as we took off the life jacket, she was back to her normal self again. I believe she knew she had to wear it and just dealt with it. She didn't cry at all, but her face just said it all.  She had a great time down in Ste Gen!