mia izobel
Mia at Eight Months
Yesterday, Mia turned eight months old! Wow, it’s amazing how time moves so quickly. She’s not crawling yet, but she successfully flopped onto her belly from this sitting position.
We think she’s starting to teethe. There appears to be a little something in her front lower jaw. She seems OK with what is going on, only becoming fussy every once in a while. Also, she’s been amazing in sleeping through the night. This makes mommy and daddy very happy in the morning.
Happy eight months Mia!
This photo was taken on the morning of March 2, 2011.
Rough Night
Lately, Mia has been able to sleep through the night. Unfortunately, she had a rough night sleeping last night. She woke up crying around 1:40am. This alone wouldn’t be so bad. But then she woke up crying twice more, once at 2:40-ish and then at 4:20-ish.
Each time she wakes up you go through the checklist: Is she hungry? Does her diaper need changing? Is she cold? None of these seemed to be the case last night. I think it came down to her not wanting to be alone, perhaps a night terror attack. Mia was only comforted by having her back and head rubbed while we stood next to her crib.
I’m sure she’ll have a few rough nights in the future. I imagine a time when she’s older when she finds the dark corner in her room scary, or an unfamiliar noise outside will startle her awake. She’ll scream or cry, come running into our room and ask if she can sleep in our bed. We’ll say OK, but only for a little while. She’ll fall asleep in between Farrah and I. We’ll pick up her little self and place her back into her own bed. We’ll rub her back and her head, making sure she’s comfortably asleep.
I know there will be a time when she will no longer come running to our room. But I can imagine a time when she still will, and I smile. I smile because she’s our little girl who’s coming to mommy and daddy for reassurance that everything is OK. And it is OK, even in the middle of the night.
I smile because she’s our little girl.
Mia and The Dark Knight
Wow, Mia has already caught The Batman bug. Fighting crime at such a young age. For now, she’ll do as daddy does and be part of The Batman Family. I see her more in the role of The Huntress - Batman’s daughter in older comic books - rather than Batgirl. But she always has a choice. I have a feeling when she grows up she’ll be more of a Wonder Woman fan, like her cousin Kayla was when she was growing up. Did you hear they’re bringing back Wonder Woman to television? If that turns out to be a hit, I can see Mia in front of the TV watching the show.
Mia Reaching for Mommy
This photo of Mia and mommy is from a previous set of pictures. Unfortunately, we’ve been under the weather, off-and-on the last couple of weeks. Taking any good pictures has been difficult. Hopefully, we’ll have some opportunity this week to take some newer photos.
This photo was originally taken on January 23, 2011.
Learning to Fly
Mia is still learning to crawl. She’s comfortable being on her belly on the floor. She can pivot left or right and can move ever so slowly backward. But she hasn’t grasped the skill of forward movement yet. When that time comes, I’m sure she’ll be taking off, crawling to every conceivable corner of the house.
Mia, Mommy, and The Monterey Bay Aquarium
We have wanted to take Mia to the Monterey Bay Aquarium but hadn’t found a good weekend to do it. Fortunately, we had the last weekend of January free of any commitments. We were also very fortunate to obtain two guest passes from my sister’s co-worker who has an aquarium membership.
Asking for directions.
Since it was Mia’s first time there we tried to visit all the exhibits that she might find of interest. The first exhibit we saw was the seahorses. I’m not sure if Mia could actually make out the seahorses with her own eyes, but there were large monitors that gave a close-up view of how they looked. I’m sure she could make them out from those images.
Looking glass.
We later went into the interactive area. Farrah placed Mia on what seemed like a water bed-type pad. She really enjoys it swaying back and forth.
Bounce house like.
After our trip, we headed north to Santa Cruz to have dinner with the Trabers. Luckily, the weather on the way up to Monterey was cooperative. The drive to Santa Cruz was met with light drizzle. Luckily, there were no incidents to speak of. We spent an hour or so at the house, then headed to Riva’s for a nice seafood dinner.
All in all a good day.
Mia and the Jellyfish.
These photos were taken on January 29, 2011.
Mia and Star Wars
It’s a question I believe each dad asks themselves, “When do I introduce Star Wars into my kid’s life?"
Well, it all starts with a t-shirt. Farrah bought this shirt at the Gap for 58 cents! Such a bargain. In this photo, with Mia’s face, all scrunched up, it looks as if she’s tired of having her photo taken.
Now, as far as the films go, I’m talking about the original Star Wars trilogy, not the last three highly disappointing films. And in any event, you’d introduce the original trilogy first. You would not want to spoil the huge revelation in Empire Strikes Back, would you?
I’ve heard that a good age to start might be three years old. At the least, you can lay down the groundwork through storytelling. My friend BossaNova said he started telling his daughter the story of Luke, Leia, and Han around that age as well. Who knows, Mia may be able to retell the story similar to this little girl.
This photo was taken on January 20, 2011.
Mia with Her Hair Up
Mia is as playful as ever. Each day, Farrah tries to think of a way to tame all that hair. It’s difficult, but it needs to be done. Otherwise, it can look a bit scary. I’ve included two photos in this post so you can get a complete picture. I look at this series of photos and I can’t help but think, wow, future sushi chef.
Looking like a sushi chef.
“Can I have an order of the sake? My wife would like a California Roll as well.”
These photos were taken on January 23, 2011.
A Follow Up to Mia and Her Gloves (Video)
This is a short video of Mia in her outfit. You can see how she rubs her gloves - or hands - together.
Mia and Her Gloves
Mia is all dressed up and ready to go out for a morning stroll. It was slightly cold and overcast outside on the morning of this photo, so Farrah had her all bundled up. Granted it’s not snowy weather here in sunny California. But anything below 55℉ makes you reach for a sweater.
This was Mia’s first experience with gloves as well. She was very fascinated by how they felt on her hands and how it felt interacting with other objects. She also started rubbing them together quickly, as if making sure her hands were still underneath the gloves.
This photo was taken on January 17, 2011, using the Canon s95.
Mia in Pigtails
Mia came home from daycare with pigtails! Well, in the photo you can see only one, but she does have another small pigtail on the other side of her head. She has an amazing amount of hair, but it’s in that in-between length where something proper to do is difficult.
This photo was taken on January 11, 2011, using the Canon s95 in low light mode.
Mia at Six Months
Time flies. Time flies very fast. January 1st not only marked the first day of the new year, but it also marked the sixth month Mia has been in our lives. Some of the moments seem like a blur now. Most likely this is due to the lack of sleep. And the lack of sleep still happens on some nights. But other moments are crystal clear, like her first smile, as if they happened yesterday.
As you can see from the short video above Mia is now trying to eat rice cereal, her first steps into the realm of solid foods. She started showing an interest in food three weeks ago. I’m sure we could have tried this earlier, but hey, everything worked out. Next thing you know she’ll be asking for a rib-eye steak. Oh, I can’t wait until she starts throwing food all over the place (note the sarcasm please).
We also notice Mia is more reactive, more interactive, and overall more aware of what is happening around her. She now laughs, well it’s more of a giggle. But it seems only mommy can make her consistently giggle. She’s still as friendly as ever, going to anyone and everyone without much fuss. She has her days where she doesn’t want to leave mommy or daddy’s arms, but those are few and far between. I’m sure this will change some day.
And Mia loves the outdoors, getting out of the house at the least. The other day she seemed to be in a mood. But once we left the house and ran errands, her mood changed from sour to a happy camper in a matter of moments.
She’s a wonder to watch. I can’t imagine what the next months, and years, will bring.
The video was taken on January 2, 2011, in our dining room.
Mia and Mommy on Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve was at the house as usual. But in the early afternoon, we stopped by Grandma and Grandpa’s house to see them, take a few photos, and drop off presents. I’m working on processing the photos to post to the photos site.
This specific photo was taken on December 24, 2010, in San Jose.
Mia and Christmas
A Christmas card type photo, don’t you think?
Ah, Christmastime. It’s a time of joy and wonder and sharing good times with family and friends. And you know what? It’s Mia’s first Christmas!
She had a great Christmas Eve. During the day we were able to see Grandma and Grandpa. At night, she stayed up as long as she could, entertaining everyone with her cuteness and antics. Unfortunately, her eyes grew heavy just a little after 8pm. She finally fell asleep.
What do we have planned for Christmas day? More fun at Grandma and Grandpa’s house, than who knows what. Merry Christmas to everyone!
This photo was taken on November 26, 2010. The photo is part of a session where we tried to capture images to be used for our Christmas cards. You can find the rest of the photos here. If you need the password to the photo gallery, don’t hesitate to email me at feedback [at] janella [dot] com.
Mia and Binky
Mia and Binky
Binky. Waa Waa. Chup Chup. ‘cifer. Well, it’s that green thing in this photo that Mia puts in her mouth to calm herself. We were at Maggiano’s celebrating Farrah’s birthday when I snapped this photo using the Canon S95.
This photo was taken on December 19th, 2010 at Maggiano’s.