Two Month Maia!

Our little girl is two months old today! Congratulations my Maia-bean.

Yesterday she weighed in at 10lbs 15oz, so almost 11 lbs. Still right on track. She is smiling like crazy now, big huge goofy grins, and she talks a lot, especially in the evenings. Some of her sounds have several syllables. They are so awesome to listen to. She is doing pretty well with sleeping now, usually falling asleep around the 11pm timeframe, waking once for a feeding around 3am, and then not again until 8am. I am pretty happy with this, although it really has just been going on for a few days. Before that it was a little more shaky, and Matt and I were doing "shifts" downstairs with her, while the other slept upstairs. Her feedings were falling around the same times/frequencies, but she had trouble actually sleeping during the night. I hope her current trend keeps up. That is, until she drops the 3am feeding...won't complain about that. Heh.

So, here comes the barage of pictures. Some of them are from our trip to Johnson Farm, some are from birthdays, some are from the family Reunion just passed, and so forth. There are a lot of them, but I can't help taking pictures of her and it's hard to choose which ones to leave out. I think I need to be less enthusiastic with the camera, so that it's easier to choose. Heh. And yes, all of these are since I last pasted two weeks ago.











Look at that GRIN! Just LOVE her smiles! They light up my day!



This is the start of the Oliver Reunion pictures. Here is Maia with Pappy, her paternal grandfather (Danny Miller).

And some pictures with Granny, her paternal grandmother (Darlene Miller).


A friend of the family, Candy (I think).


Mommy! (finally, some pix of me. There are a few of me holding here here, but this was the best one and there are already an overload of Maia pix).

Sherry (she is Matt's cousin, so not sure what her relationship to Maia is).


Maia with her Aunt Debbie.

Back at the hotel, poolside, with Granny.

And finally being held by her Aunt Dawn.


And let's end with yet another cute picture. Okay, okay, all of the pictures of her are cute, but I think she looks adorable in her little hoodie. Yes, it's pink. I am over my anti-pink phase, ALTHOUGH I will say that I would not have gone with this fuschia pink if I had a choice. They didn't have the white one in a size even close to fitting her, and I couldn't find any others, not even in the boys section. So...fuscia pink it is. For now.

Six Week Sweetie

Maia is now 6 weeks old (well, she was a few days ago, but close enough). I haven't posted about her in a little while, so figured I would do that, with another round of pictures, as well as updates about her.




She is smiling more, though it's still very random as she is still trying to figure it out. I can see her working her mouth, and she is either trying to get out a smile (and sometimes does), or trying to "talk", which happens sometimes as well. Her talking is so cute...just this little "ahhh" sound, though today she managed a sound with three syllables. And her smiles are adorable, as clumsy as they are. So far Liam, Daddy, a SCAdian named Ian, and myself have gotten smiles. But then, she hasn't been around anyone else enough to smile at them.




There is a cow hanging from her pack-n-play mobile (well, it's a stuffed cow from Chick-fil-A that Matt stuck up there), and she will STARE at it intently and then waggle her near arm at it in an attempt to smack it, which she often does. It's cool to watch her do it, to see her "playing" and learning.



Last time I weighed her (a few days ago) she was 9lbs 10oz. She is starting to have trouble fitting the newborn size clothing, and she has been wearing Size 1 diapers for at least a week or two now, having graduated out of the Newborn size.


Liam is still pretty happy with her, liking to be around her, trying to show her things, and giggling about her hands or feet or nose or whatever amuses him at the time. He tends to get more needy when we are giving her attention and tends to want to talk to or play with the parent that is holding her at the time. It can be trying, but we do our best.


Here I got a picture of Liam's and Maia's feet together. He found it amusing to hold his up to hers in comparison (he initiated this). So much difference in just four years.


Had to get this cute picture of Matt zonked out with Maia.


Here's Maia with her Aunt Jackie (I need to remember to take more of Maia with her other aunties...Jackie seems to have the monopoly on this)

And here is the dress that Jackie bought for her...Maia is expressing her opinion of it's 80's look.

Just kidding, she was just in a fussy mood at that point. She makes the dress look cute, and is quite content to zonk out in it.


Didn't get too many of her at our Memorial Day BBQ for some reason, even though there were lots of cute photo ops. But here is one of her chilling outside.


And here is her after her bath, all covered in towels. So cute.


And of course, since I am the one usually taking pictures, I am rarely in any of them. Here she is lying on my lap...with me taking the picture, so again you can't really see me (just my belly flab...sorry).



And finally, some pictures with Grandmom, who is as addicted to her as she was of Liam. (and Cole)




(Note: I am posting a few updates regarding my post-partum recovery as well, to have something to refer back to. Not that I ever plan to get pregnant again. But others will be pregnant and might want to know.
The night sweats have pretty much stopped. They actually petered off about two weeks ago, and definitely have been scarce the last week. The soreness from the episiotomy itself went away around the 3-week mark but there was still an area that was healing that stung a lot, and that only really started feeling better just before the 5-week mark. Now at the 6-week mark it is definitely a lot better, and I found that on days where I take it easy more, I hardly even notice it bothering me.)

She smiled!

She did, she really did! Up until now I wasn't sure if it was gas or the beginnings of a smile. But today when staring at her face and talking to her, she definitely smiled at me. Three times! It was clumsy in form, but definitely smiling instead of gas! Totally awesome! And she is definitely trying to "talk" as well. Matt or I will make little "ahhh" sounds, and she will repeat it back, only about half the time, but it's obvious she is trying it out. She is also definitely interacting/playing with some things we have hanging over her changing table. She stares at them, but has also started waving her nearest arm at them and bumping them with her hand, to see it move more. Again, more awesomeness!

One Month Old!

Maia is officially one month old now! Yay!

She had her one-month check-up today, so I have some stats and such for everyone. She weighed in at 9 pounds 4.5 ounces, so our scale wasn't too far off. And that means she has jumped from the 25th percentile when she was born, to the 61st percentile now! Her head circumerence also increased from being tiny (not even at the 5th percentile) to being average (50th percentile). I think she just had a lot of shaping when she was born and the measurements showed that. Her height has remained the same at 20.5", so she has gone from the 75th percentile to only the 25th percentile. Not sure they measured that correctly, or maybe they were wrong at the hospital. I am not surprised at her becoming more of a shorty, since I am definitely a short person...and Liam was like that as well. But I expected at least SOME change in four weeks. Hmmm. I guess when we take her back for her two-month check-up, we'll see what numbers they get that time.

She was well-behaved at the appointment, only fussing momentarily at a few of the checks, but otherwise pretty happy...even though the room was FREEZING! Everything about her is good, she is healthy and continuing on a good path. We will deal with her gassy-ness as best we can, but the pediatrician said it was okay to let her wake us up overnight, instead of having to set an alarm. YAY! Might mean another half hour or so of sleep...or a few minutes (she is usually fussing right before the alarm goes off, or when it does, never just sound asleep) more likely.

I think I mentioned in a previous post that she will push back with her legs when you stand her on them. She has been doing that a lot today, pretty much standing. It's awesome. Great leg strength. And she is definitely making attempts at talking, making little "ahhh" cooing sounds. So adorable!

Happy One Month!

Four Weeks...and a visit from Granny

Maia is now four weeks old. Feels like she's been around a lot longer, and though I loved her from the beginning, the love is growing stronger now that I am getting to know her more and more. Her sweet face, the shape of her lips, her little sighs, the smell of her skin, her hair, and her breath, and the feel of her weight in my arms or on my shoulder. Love her. She is starting to make sounds, little cooing sounds that seem to be the beginnings of "talking". She is also far more alert, awake for longer periods of time, watching the world around her, staring at mommy and daddy, and almost even smiling. She holds her head up very well, keeping it upright for tens of seconds. She also tends to push back with her legs when you try to stand her up on her feet, so she actually stands for a few seconds. She seems so much older in just these few weeks, and so ahead of the game. I think she might be doing better in that department than Liam was at this same time.

(post edited to add weight check, done two days later)
Maia now weighs 9lbs 2oz! She is really growing. Nine days after we last weighed her, she has gained 10-12 ounces. Wow. Maybe she is getting TOO much to eat, since she is supposed to be gaining 4-7 ounces each week and she is definitely going over that. Not doubling it, but definitely well more than that. Guess we will have to ask at her appointment on Monday.
(end of edit)

This past week, my mother-in-law visited so that she could finally see her granddaughter. "Granny" loved seeing Maia and holding her, and I made sure to take a lot of pictures of them. Here are a few of them, as well as a few of Maia by herself.
(check out Liam's Journal for pictures of Liam and Granny together)








And some of just Maia (can't get enough of them...hopefully it's the same with anyone reading this)