Week 1 of Mia is complete. The hand-off went better than expected as has our transition here in Oregon. Mia kept us laughing and loving her for over an hour in the truck on the way home from the Airport as we fully comprehended she was really here, after all the anxious anticipation and preparation...then she slept for the final 2.5 hours home.
Our biggest challenges as a family is remembering that there's a baby in the house. Our boys are the youngest and totally not accustomed to being somewhat quiet and just bust into rooms talking loudly and that usually surprises Mia awake. At first we thought she would never sleep a full stretch of time before getting woke up.
Mia was on marathon awake mode for about four days -never sleeping more than 1 hour during the day and 4 hours at night at a time. At day five, the East/West coast time adjustment hit her and she decided sleep was ok. She has since slept all night -going to sleep at 8:00 and only fussing once around 4:00 am and sleeping until 7:00 - 7:30 each night. She plays for a few hours after morning bath and naps around 10:00 a.m. She sometimes dozes off for 1/2 hour or so in the afternoon and the boys play hard with her in the evenings.
Mia has been to high school basketball games - she prefers the sound of Pep Band to dribbling basketball and immediately finds the mascot to introduce herself to. The wrestling tournament was exciting to watch until a dad in the crowd decided to coach his boy very loudly in the audience behind us and Mia thought he was mad at her. After getting over being offended and upset, she realized that it's totally ok to yell and clap at these events and not to take it personally. She visited Grandmas Seminary class one day to meet the kids, has helped Grandma in the office a few times - mostly to help redecorate and clean off all flat surfaces for us.
We took her to a feedlot to check cattle and when pointing to cows and saying "MOO" over and over for inspiration, we realized she wanted to watch the small Chihuahua dog following us along as security. She did get to help grandpa drive the truck and helped back the trailer into a pen to unload some calves we hauled there.
Her birthday was a bit uneventful because it was on the day of Scott's final basketball game being played 6 hours away at 3:00. We spent that day on the road.
She loves meeting other small people her size and always steals their pacifier, even though she has NO interest in hers. She is about 50/50 on regular milk and cows milk now. We hope to have that change complete in 4 weeks. We hope to have her totally not waking up at night and her to have a larger vocabulary. She never - hardly ever crawls anymore, choosing walking everywhere and running if she thinks I'm chasing her like she's done something bad. Pretty cute!
All the boys adore her and she loves them but she seems to be drawn to Scott the most. Only half of the clothes she has fit her, but that's ok, her closets are full in Mississippi and she will be there before we know it. FaceTime and Google Hangouts are a part of her life and she enjoys them as long as they don't interfere with her games and business.
She's adorable and we all are loving this experience totally. This week is super busy, and we'll see how she does when she meets some new family members and tries now foods.
Elaine
Monday, February 24, 2014
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Happy Birthday Mia
Today is Mia's first birthday. She weighs about 21lbs, has 6 teeth, prefers walking, and loves to smile. She is such a sweet little girl and Zed and I are excited that we're at the halfway point and get our little girl back soon.
Enjoy the pictures!
Monday, February 17, 2014
Halfway There
Not only are we halfway through the separation from Mia! but I am also halfway through pregnancy.
20wks with Mia
20ks with Baby #2
20wks with Mia 20ks with Baby #2The Handoff
A final note from the Maryland grandparents.
---
Well, the handoff has been successfully made from the east Coast to the West Coast grandparents. The day started at 3 AM. We woke up Mia who was silly and smiley and glad to be up in the middle of the night. Mia set out on her journey with her granny and great granny, one last playing of Barney in the Honda DVD player. She stayed wide awake the entire time. She arrived at BWI Baltimore, MD at 5:15 and got checked in for her cross country flight.
Arriving to the gate we found the flight delayed due to an emergency with the flight attendant. As we waited for the new flight attendant to come, the next flight became impossible to connect to. We took an 8 hour day and turned it into 18 for this little girl. Mia was unplussed by the delay. Mia delighted the audience around her by talking, toddling around, and being quite the animated 1 year old. She kept many frustrated people happier with her joy.
Finally at 900 we boarded the plane for Salt Lake City Utah - a 4.5 hour flight with 1 Mia, 1 large diaper bag and 2 book bags and 2 grandmas. The looks on everyones faces said it all....Will this be "that screaming kid?" Mia was so good, until she realized the young man on our row had a laptop. She scrambled over both grandmas to get to the computer. We caught her at the pass, but she continued to eye the computer for the remainder of the trip. She was tired, she cried, fell asleep, woke back up, played patty cake, ate cheerios, dried fruit, drank water...and all along the pile of leftovers fell on the floor. She smiled at the kids on the seat in front of us, smiled at the business men behind us and made many new friends. As we left the plane we apologized profusely for the large pile of leftovers on the floor, smashed into the floor by a 1 year old who held it together for a long flight.
For the afternoon we enjoyed the large empty areas of the airport to watch Mia practice walking. For a child who came to Maryland able to take one step and babbled a little, we traveled west with a little girl who can walk and walk and walk and DOES SHE TALK! She loves to copy sounds, sometimes sings, and babbles babbles babbles. She is great at Patty Cake and loves to lift her arms as we say SOOO BIG! She does itsy bitsy spider and hugs anyone who sings Barney's I LOVE YOU song. For 2 hours she walked, talked to people, would attempt to run to strangers before we caught her, looked for cell phones she could take from unsuspecting people. She brought smiles to everyone she interacted with and had a great afternoon. After all that exercise she fell asleep for about an hour on a blanket on the floor.
Finally at 5:15 MT we got onto the final flight for the day, off to meet Grandma and Grandpa Davies. For the 1 hour flight she was delightful. She hugged and hugged and hugged. Smiled at everyone and loved the trip. We couldn't have asked for a better good bye. For a little girl who had minimal sleep all day, she stayed happy and silly and loved on her grandmas. Thank you Mia, we needed that.
The reunion with her grandparents was wonderful. There were tears all around, but the joy on Mia's grandparents faces said it all... we cannot wait to love on you for the next 5 weeks. So as we handed off diaper bags, clothes, leftover bags of Cheerios and goldfish, bottles, wipes, and more STUFF than any of the adults. Mia smiled and was fascinated with yet another new experience. She got to the truck and didn't look back. She's a forward thinker, loves to learn, and is soon to run circles around her parents.
We are excited to see the new adventures Mia gets to have on a ranch with lots of uncles and a grandma and grandpa who cannot wait to spoil her. Mia, you made out lives special for the past month. Enjoy round two. We love you. Enjoy a wonderful 1st Birthday this week!
PS. This trip would not have been so enjoyable without the love, support and aid of Great Grandma Fiddler, 70 years old, goes to the gym 4 times a week, and lifted Mia, bags, backpacks without a single stop. She walked fast, she rocked Mia, she kept the trip on track. You are my hero and I am glad that Mia got to know how wonderful you are.
Arriving to the gate we found the flight delayed due to an emergency with the flight attendant. As we waited for the new flight attendant to come, the next flight became impossible to connect to. We took an 8 hour day and turned it into 18 for this little girl. Mia was unplussed by the delay. Mia delighted the audience around her by talking, toddling around, and being quite the animated 1 year old. She kept many frustrated people happier with her joy.
Finally at 900 we boarded the plane for Salt Lake City Utah - a 4.5 hour flight with 1 Mia, 1 large diaper bag and 2 book bags and 2 grandmas. The looks on everyones faces said it all....Will this be "that screaming kid?" Mia was so good, until she realized the young man on our row had a laptop. She scrambled over both grandmas to get to the computer. We caught her at the pass, but she continued to eye the computer for the remainder of the trip. She was tired, she cried, fell asleep, woke back up, played patty cake, ate cheerios, dried fruit, drank water...and all along the pile of leftovers fell on the floor. She smiled at the kids on the seat in front of us, smiled at the business men behind us and made many new friends. As we left the plane we apologized profusely for the large pile of leftovers on the floor, smashed into the floor by a 1 year old who held it together for a long flight.
For the afternoon we enjoyed the large empty areas of the airport to watch Mia practice walking. For a child who came to Maryland able to take one step and babbled a little, we traveled west with a little girl who can walk and walk and walk and DOES SHE TALK! She loves to copy sounds, sometimes sings, and babbles babbles babbles. She is great at Patty Cake and loves to lift her arms as we say SOOO BIG! She does itsy bitsy spider and hugs anyone who sings Barney's I LOVE YOU song. For 2 hours she walked, talked to people, would attempt to run to strangers before we caught her, looked for cell phones she could take from unsuspecting people. She brought smiles to everyone she interacted with and had a great afternoon. After all that exercise she fell asleep for about an hour on a blanket on the floor.
Finally at 5:15 MT we got onto the final flight for the day, off to meet Grandma and Grandpa Davies. For the 1 hour flight she was delightful. She hugged and hugged and hugged. Smiled at everyone and loved the trip. We couldn't have asked for a better good bye. For a little girl who had minimal sleep all day, she stayed happy and silly and loved on her grandmas. Thank you Mia, we needed that.
The reunion with her grandparents was wonderful. There were tears all around, but the joy on Mia's grandparents faces said it all... we cannot wait to love on you for the next 5 weeks. So as we handed off diaper bags, clothes, leftover bags of Cheerios and goldfish, bottles, wipes, and more STUFF than any of the adults. Mia smiled and was fascinated with yet another new experience. She got to the truck and didn't look back. She's a forward thinker, loves to learn, and is soon to run circles around her parents.
We are excited to see the new adventures Mia gets to have on a ranch with lots of uncles and a grandma and grandpa who cannot wait to spoil her. Mia, you made out lives special for the past month. Enjoy round two. We love you. Enjoy a wonderful 1st Birthday this week!
PS. This trip would not have been so enjoyable without the love, support and aid of Great Grandma Fiddler, 70 years old, goes to the gym 4 times a week, and lifted Mia, bags, backpacks without a single stop. She walked fast, she rocked Mia, she kept the trip on track. You are my hero and I am glad that Mia got to know how wonderful you are.
-Kathy
Monday, February 10, 2014
Zed's. New Plane
6 months to go! Tonight Zed found out that he will be moving on to the T-1. This will put him into the cargo and refueling aircraft once training is complete. For the next 6 months he will be learning about the T-1 and the crew concept. In mid to late July he will find out what his official AF aircraft will be. In August he will graduate and he'll start specialized training anytime from September to November.
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Mia Update
Mia - Week 3
Week three brought an entirely new Mia to Allen, MD. Without the itch of eczema Mia slept well, ate well and played even better. She learned Patty Cake and can often be found sitting amongst the toys in the room clapping her hands. She talks incessantly, sounds very smart in what she is saying, if only we knew her language. She is also “toddling” everywhere. No longer is crawling her first choice - With a cool new pair of sneakers she has some traction to get anywhere she wants. Granny was thinking she was not getting enough exercise, but running after a mobile toddler is enough exercise for even the most active athlete!
Her BFF continues to be Libby. Libby sits beside Mia at all times awaiting the morsels lovingly thrown at her from all angles. Its a match made in heaven for a dirty house. Libby is partial to Cheerios (as is Mia) but willingly eats green beans, peas, and peaches if tossed aside.
Mia has had multiple field trips. We walked up to the Allen Post office yesterday and saw Miss Dorothy and the other folks at the post office. Mia played cute and chatted it up with the post office folks. She got to pick up her birthday package from Michigan and we brought it home to open. A really cool JACK IN THE BOX! We also went to Target, Walmart, Marshalls and the grocery store. I forgot how prepared one must be to go to the store…. yesterday I forgot a snack in my purse so we got some Raisins! She loves them. I do apologize to the folks at Target, she threw many on the floor so I just kicked them under the aisle shelves. You may find them
It does take a village to raise a child - I had to go to Baltimore Monday and Wednesday, Great Pop Pop came over early in the morning (0530) for coffee and Mia time so I cold get dressed! Great Grandma made dinner every night and watched Mia in the daytime those two days. Great Grandma is an amazing energetic woman who has run circles around all of us.
Jeff came home late last night from Jordan and the joy on Mia’s face this morning when she woke up was awesome! The joy she has when she sees her family is awesome! The squeals of delight make it such a great day!
So this week Pappy (Jeff) is home all week to play. I cannot wait to hear the stories. Mia loves to watch herself on videos and we have had a lot of fun watching her watch them. She is growing by leaps and bounds and this has truly been a great week with her.
Week three brought an entirely new Mia to Allen, MD. Without the itch of eczema Mia slept well, ate well and played even better. She learned Patty Cake and can often be found sitting amongst the toys in the room clapping her hands. She talks incessantly, sounds very smart in what she is saying, if only we knew her language. She is also “toddling” everywhere. No longer is crawling her first choice - With a cool new pair of sneakers she has some traction to get anywhere she wants. Granny was thinking she was not getting enough exercise, but running after a mobile toddler is enough exercise for even the most active athlete!
Her BFF continues to be Libby. Libby sits beside Mia at all times awaiting the morsels lovingly thrown at her from all angles. Its a match made in heaven for a dirty house. Libby is partial to Cheerios (as is Mia) but willingly eats green beans, peas, and peaches if tossed aside.
Mia has had multiple field trips. We walked up to the Allen Post office yesterday and saw Miss Dorothy and the other folks at the post office. Mia played cute and chatted it up with the post office folks. She got to pick up her birthday package from Michigan and we brought it home to open. A really cool JACK IN THE BOX! We also went to Target, Walmart, Marshalls and the grocery store. I forgot how prepared one must be to go to the store…. yesterday I forgot a snack in my purse so we got some Raisins! She loves them. I do apologize to the folks at Target, she threw many on the floor so I just kicked them under the aisle shelves. You may find them
It does take a village to raise a child - I had to go to Baltimore Monday and Wednesday, Great Pop Pop came over early in the morning (0530) for coffee and Mia time so I cold get dressed! Great Grandma made dinner every night and watched Mia in the daytime those two days. Great Grandma is an amazing energetic woman who has run circles around all of us.
Jeff came home late last night from Jordan and the joy on Mia’s face this morning when she woke up was awesome! The joy she has when she sees her family is awesome! The squeals of delight make it such a great day!
So this week Pappy (Jeff) is home all week to play. I cannot wait to hear the stories. Mia loves to watch herself on videos and we have had a lot of fun watching her watch them. She is growing by leaps and bounds and this has truly been a great week with her.
Monday, February 3, 2014
What's up with the parents
I'm constantly giving updates on Mia, but Zed and I are keeping busy ourselves.
Zed has his track select on 11 February. It will then that he finds out of he's going helicopters, tankers/transport, or fighters/bombers. Last week he would check in each morning and then come home to either work on his truck, clean the house, or study for the track he thinks he'll receive. This week he will be in Nashville attending a conference for cattle ranchers. He will be going with his dad, but his mom and brother #5 Jeff will be touring the city. Zed loves the ranch life so he's excited to be back in it for a few days.
I have been studying hard and doing my best to network with the people in my class. We had our first test and I missed one question, which I was very proud of. We have another test this week on material I have never seen before, so I'm excited to learn some new things. This week I will be staying in Biloxi and participating in a volunteer event with my class. Next week is another week of class and them a four day weekend for me!
Oh, whoever gave us battleship as a wedding gift...thank you. We're able to play even though we're not together and ther is no way either of us can cheat. This will be a game that whoever is away will have half of.
Zed and I will be going to see Wicked in Memphis and celebrating our anniversary 3 months early. The plan right now is to stay in the Peabody Hotel, go on a carriage ride and explore Beale St. We'll be using this weekend because for our actual anniversary in May I will be 8mo pregnant, we will have Mia back with us!, and Zed will most likely be studying for a check ride. This is the perfect opportunity for us to relax and enjoy each other's company and maybe decide on a name for our little one :)
The distance is hard, but technology has made this separation easier. Unfortunately this will not be the last time we're apart, but it will hopefully be the last time one of us doesn't have the kid(s). We will be letting the kids visit the grandparents alone again, if they'll have them, but we should be able to work it that one of us is with them while the other is deployed. We are extremely lucky to have these amazing surrogate parents if the need ever arises again.
Thank you all for keeping us in your prayers as we go through this trying time.
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