Boo!

Mya and I headed up to Eau Claire on Thursday and Friday, since I had two days off for teacher's convention.  I'm not a fan of Halloween.  I don't like dressing up and didn't have a costume for Mya this year.  We figured that next year we'd dress her up.  Well, my mom had the perfect plan.  She pulled out a clown costume that my grandma had made for her 50 some years earlier.  My mom wore it and my brother and I wore it.  How could Mya NOT wear it, right?  So, Mya wore a clown costume and my mom just HAPPENED to have an extra clown costume for me. 

My mom and my Auntie Beck always dress up as clowns for Halloween and go to a nursing home to help pass out ice cream.  I sucked it up and Mya and I went to help.  We actually had a really good time and Mya was the hit of the nursing home!  I was worried how she would react to a lot of unknown people, but it didn't even phase her.  She sat on their laps, showed them her tricks and ate some ice cream.  She was the absolute perfect baby and I hope she brought the residents of the nursing home a little joy for the day!

Who can resist Halloween apparel?  Mya went to visit her great grandma Ruth and so did her cousin, Trajan.  Can you tell that both of the kid's mommies must have picked out their outfits?  :)

What is better than a naked baby?  

Mya doesn't stay in one place for very long.  EVER!  If she isn't crawling from room to room, she's pulling herself up on everything.  This weekend she was standing for herself anywhere from 5-7 seconds.  She also scoots along whatever she is holding onto, like the couch.  This kid is definitely on the move!

Last week Mya went to the pumpkin patch with her daycare buddies.  Tina said she had a lot of fun watching the other kids and eating Puffs.  That's my girl!  Each of the kids got their own pumpkin and Tina even painted Mya's name on it!

Monkey Business

Oh, our sweet little Mya.  She is such a funny little thing!  This morning I heard her talking away around 6 a.m.  I found her standing in her crib.  As soon as she saw me she started bouncing.  I'm guessing it won't be too long before she masters the art of jumping in the bed?  Hopefully not!  As a great children's book goes, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"

8 Months Old!!

Mya turned 8 months old on Sunday!  She's as happy as ever!

An Early Halloween!

Mya and I spent a weekend in Eau Claire while Greg worked.  When my brother and I were little kids my grama and grampa used to give us Halloween bags.  In it were notepads of paper and snacks like Chicken in a Biscuit.  When we got too old to get Halloween bags, we were pretty bummed!  Now a new generation gets a Halloween bag!  Mya's was full of snacks like Puffs, yogurt melts, Chicken in a Biscuit, and animal crackers.  She also got a really fun musical book (as seen below), a new toothbrush, and some really stylin' boots!  Thanks Grama and Grampa!!

We got in some good photo opportunities this weekend!  Here's one of Grampa Bruce and Mya in the pumpkins.

She's such a happy stinkin' baby!  Nothing seems to rattle her, unless she takes a digger into the chair and busts her gums (like she did today).

We took a field trip to Menards to help Grama and Grampa pick out a new Christmas tree.  Mya loved the lights and the animated Santa Claus.  Hopefully Santa doesn't freak her out too much, since she'll be needing to get her picture taken with him soon!

Look at that physique!  We received a card in the mail from a friend of the family whom my mom recently visited with and brought pictures of Mya.  The card mentioned that Mya certainly is "well fed."  Yep, that's our girl!!

Mya spent a ton of time just looking out the windows of my parents house.  She was thoroughly entertained by the cars driving down the street!  

Mya was so tuckered out by the time we left Eau Claire!  She was instantly asleep in my mom's arms!

When we got home, Greg's parents were there helping to tile our new downstairs bedroom.  Mya and Grandma Pat got in some good snuggle time!  Thanks for helping us this weekend!!

Bonfire

It's amazing how Mya can go from this...

to this in no time at all.  She is seriously just a bundle of smiles in the morning.  Most mornings I get her when I hear her shrieking.  (She loves hearing her voice!)  Usually she's bouncing in her crib or sitting there just waiting for someone to scoop her up.  Mornings are my favorite time with her!  She's always so happy to see us!

This week Greg gathered up some sticks in the backyard and made up a small fire.  We bundled Mya up and took her back by the fire.  She didn't seem to care too much!  She seemed more interested in playing with the toys.  What can you do?

Into EVERYTHING!

Good grief, Mya is into absolutely everything!!  She obviously doesn't stay put, she'll crawl from one room to the other.  She pulls herself up on anything she can find.  She crawls over things instead of going around them.  She loves her Leap Frog activity table.  We took the legs off so that she could play on the floor.  The following picture, needless to say, shows that we probably could put the legs on that table.  She hoists herself on top of it, bangs on it, and then most of the time tries to crawl over it!

We think that Mya may be getting another tooth soon.  Fever, runny nose, chewing on everything and of course, not letting anyone stick their finger in her mouth!  I love this next picture because it's her old lady with dentures pucker!  She sucks on her teeth all the time and makes the silliest faces!

We headed up to Eau Claire for the weekend.  We managed to visit with a ton of Greg's family!  Nadya was over at his mom and dad's house and she was determined to feed Mya her lunch.  I'm not sure how much actually got in Mya's mouth, but it was a good effort on Nod's part! 

My parents have a cuckoo clock in their house, it's been around forever.  When my brother was little, he always wanted to pull on the chains.  My parents solution to that problem was to attach cups to the wall so the chains could fall in the cups and not hang on the floor.  They may need to consider doing that again.  Mya is mesmerized with the cuckoo clock and gravitates over there all the time.

Just one more example of everything going into her mouth...she sat there for a while just sucking on the strings.  What a crazy!

This week brings 8 months old!  Unreal!

Weekend with Grama

My mom came for a visit this weekend!  It was Greg's weekend to work and my dad went up to the cabin with my aunt and uncle, so it worked out perfectly!

We stayed busy on Saturday by doing some shopping and going out to lunch.  Mya is getting this bean bag for Christmas from Grama and Grampa.  Shhh!  Don't tell her, she doesn't know it yet!

                                     

I've always got that darn camera handy, so we took some Grama and Mya photos!

And then some Mya photos too!  It tends to be a challenge getting her to either sit still or not eat the leaves.  We still managed!

We went for a walk on Sunday morning to a park by our house.  Mya loves the swing!  She and Grama were having a blast!  I think she could have swung all day long!

And we rooted on the Packers, but to no avail.  Boo.  It didn't matter though, we love having visitors!  Thanks for playing with us this weekend Mom/Grama!  We love you lots!

Mya was so tuckered out that when we went in to check on her, this is how she fell asleep.  At one point I peeked in and she was looking all around her room, the next minute, she must have just conked right out!  Silly girl!

Little Blessings

It was one year ago today that we found out that we were having a little girl!  My goodness, it doesn't seem that long ago!  I remember looking at the ultrasound pictures and wondering what Mya would look like as an outside baby.  And here we are, seven and a half months later.  She's as wonderful as can be.

Greg and I marvel every day at how lucky we are for having a healthy and incredibly happy baby girl.  There are no other words to say, other than we've been blessed in many ways.

Vacuums Suck

Greg was vacuuming over the weekend and Mya wanted to get in on the action.  Whenever we vacuum, she intently watches...kind of like she's supervising us.

Greg put the attachment on her pj's and she thought it was hilarious when her clothes got suctioned.  So funny!  She wasn't so keen when he put the attachment on her hand, she didn't quite know what to do.  Oh well, we got some great laughs out of her!

Really, Mya, you can be in charge of vacuuming when you get older...it's alright!

Snot Shots

This is how Mya's face has looked for the past many days!  We have all been battling colds, however, Greg and I know how to blow our noses.  Mya?  Not so much.  Drip, drip, drip goes her nose.

And, as you can tell, she's not exactly a big fan of the Kleenex.  We invested in some Boogie Wipes.  They are soft and moist with saline, so it helps to get rid of some of the gross crusties.  Even still, what kid really likes getting their noses wiped?

Don't you just love sticky food?  We gave her some yogurt melts and it's like she didn't realize or she forgot that one was stuck to her face.  Oh well!

We haven't been to the dentist yet with Mya, but she's been using her baby toothbrush.  Greg helped her practice yesterday, but she was much more interested in biting it.  I'm sure it feels good on those gums of hers!

We took a trip to Target and HyVee yesterday.  Mya loves sitting in the cart rather than in the baby carrier.  As soon as we put her in it, her little legs started kicking.  We propped a blanket in the back of her and she held onto the handle really well!

Well, we've decided that it's time for Mya to be in a convertible car seat.  She was just getting too heavy in the carrier, at least for me!

She's looking so grown up!