Birthdays!

Today is a very special day. We say Happy (32nd) birthday to Daddy and happy 9 months to Mia! We started the day off with a family trip to Starbucks for breakfast. Daddy and mommy each enjoyed a coffee while Mia entertained the clientele with a straw. Daddy will finish off the day with a massage and a home cooked meal. Yeah, no leftovers. Because we celebrate big around here.

Although it's Mark's birthday, I'll spare him the stats writeup and concentrate that section on little Miss Mia.

Showing off her TWO TEEF!

• Stats: Weight: 18lbs, 5.5oz. Height: 27.75 inches. Head circumference: 44 cm. Mia's in the 50% of all her categories. We can't complain about that!
• Still fits into some of her 9 month old clothing, but some 12 month olds are also starting to fit. Wears about a size 3 shoe... when she wears them (it's HOT here!)
• Now crawling without dragging her belly. She can quickly and smoothly go from a sitting position to a crawling and back to sitting.
• Although she is quite mobile now, she still has a good amount of separation anxiety which means she likes to stick pretty close to us. For the most part, this is a good thing. We can set her down across the room and she'll crawl her way over to us. It's not so great when we set her in the living room so we can get something out of the hot oven and she's over by our feet before we know it!
• She is starting to pull up into a standing position. Unfortunately, she does not always pick the most stable things for support. Frequently, she'll try to pull up on a rolling chair or Stoli. He's not a big fan of that.
• Mia enjoys the pool. Alot. She likes watching the kids splash around in it and she'll even let me hold her with her belly up walking around the pool. She's getting better about not swallowing water when she gets dunked under.
• She says Da-da in a very happy voice. Sometimes even clapping her hands. But when she's sad, she says Maaaaa-maaaa... It's about 4 syllables long and kind of moaning like. She's starting to mimick sounds, but doesn't really "say" much more than that now.
• Yes, Mia has 2 teeth on the bottom now. They just started breaking through at 8 months and are officially in now. She's breaking through the top 2 now, but you can't see much of them yet. She's really taken to smiling and showing off those bottom 2. What a ham.
• Mia has mastered the pincer grasp and can feed herself quite successfully with both hands, though she highly favors her right. She eats practically everything now and chews like a little old man.
• She's never really been all that still, but is SUPER active now. We truly believe that she thinks our bed is a bounce house. When we put her in bed with us on the weekends in the morning or for a Saturday nap, it is totally insane. She uses us as a jungle gym, she blows rasberries on our arms and legs, she pats Stoli and tries to eat his tags. There's not really much sleep going on. But at least she laughs and plays the whole time she's there!

Birthday kids celebrating at Starbucks

The many faces of Mia

Some closeups of her growing body parts!