Airplane ride home for Christmas...

So our first flight was short and great.  We had a happy little girl, smiling and laughing.  Everyone on that flight thought she was just the cutest, happiest little girl ever, especially the couple who sat behind us.  After flirting and laughing with them Mya climbed over the seat and plopped herself down in the woman's lap.  We got off the plane feeling confident and thankful that it had gone way better than anticipated.  Did I mention she even napped for about 40 minutes on that flight?!
On our way to the next flight we found out it had been delayed.  That should have been our first clue that the day was going to take a drastic turn for the worse.  The delay was spent strolling Mya up an down the airport, finding things she could play with such as straws, and trying to feed her. She really needed to get some energy out, however, an airport floor...we just couldn't do it...   After an over two hour delay, we boarded plan number 2.  This is where the fun began.  It actually started out fine and Mya was happy.  After the first hour, however, she was done traveling.  With an hour and a half to go her first meltdown began.  Now I must say here that Paul actually got the short end of the stick in all of this.  Being a Daddy's girl through and through, all she wanted to do, while she was screaming at the top of her lungs was do it on Daddy.  So that's how Paul spent a good half an hour, standing up in the back of the plane with two flight attendants(who were very nice I have to add) while Mya screamed and cried until she finally passed out.  There were a lot of helpful people on the plane who offered us videos, baby drugs(Tylenol) and other "tips."  But what the first crying fit came down to was an overtired little girl who was just ready to be off the plane.  She slept for a while and when she woke up we had just started the descent.  She seemed to be feeling better, however, that lasted for about 5 minutes and then, we believe, the pressure change hit her and the screaming began again.  This time she was in pain and there was nothing we could do.  AGAIN, she only wanted to be on daddy, so AGAIN, Paul was stuck with a very unhappy little girl, but this time he could not get up because we were getting ready to land.  Let me tell you 30 minutes of descending with a screaming child feels like at least 2 hours.  I'm sure those around us will back us up on that one!  Then as we got closer and closer to the ground the plane started swaying from side to side because apparently it was very windy out.  I do not love to fly as it is, however, when the plane started getting blown around, Paul then had both Mya and me to comfort...  I am not kidding you when I say we hit the ground hard, on one side of the landing gear only, slammed back and forth from landing gear to landing gear and with a final thud, finally made it safely to the ground.  Gulp.  And with that final landing Mya stopped crying and was once again happy, that is until we then got into the car for another hour.  But, after all was said and done, we got Mya to Paul's parents house in one piece and put her to bed, which she went to happily and immediately.
And guess what?  We have to do it all again next week...  Merry Christmas to us!

Mya's First Haircut :(

Note to parents:  If your daughter has gorgeous, curly, long hair DON'T cut it.  Not even if the hairdresser swears it will make it grow out fast and even better, not even if it is getting pretty ratty and seems to really need a haircut, not even if family members are commenting on how badly your daughter needs a haircut.  Whatever you do DO NOT cut your daughters hair.  Apparently Mya knew this rule, as you can see from the pictures below, however, mommy and daddy did not.  Although the last picture after the haircut looks cute, we are missing her curls terribly and are hoping every day that they will grow back ASAP!  Of course we did this right before the BIG holiday trip home next week, again, a rookie mistake.  Thankfully, hair grows back and in a few more weeks we will look upon our child with relief, but right now we wish we could go back to that day and maybe ask the hairdresser to only take a teeny, tiny bit off, instead of the amount that she did.  This was only supposed to be a trim...

The final result.  YES, she is still adorable, however, it was not quite what we expected!

Holiday Photo Cards...

SO, I was very excited to send out Holiday cards this year with our cute little daughter's pictures on them.  Below is the evidence of these attempts, need I say more??!!

And after MANY, MANY, MANY more attempts that I will not post, we finally got at least one shot that was "ok", except for the food stains around her mouth.  :)

And for the record I did not use this photo, instead our holiday card includes the first three shots above because I thought it was more humorous.

All I want for Christmas is Teeth...

SO, Mya, at 10 months old, finally got her first tooth.  On November 7th as Paul was changing her he noticed that she had a big white tooth sticking out of her gum.  It was her top left tooth.  I was in MA at the time, so I was both excited and sad about the first tooth(since I technically missed it).  We were both so impressed as she had had no major symptoms besides a little drooling and putting everything in her mouth,  but don't all babies do that anyways?  We bravely thought that this whole "teething" thing might just be a "piece of cake." What have all those people been talking about we wondered?  WELL, a few days later, when 5 other teeth started all coming in all at once, we began to find out.  Our sweet natured, laughing and smiling at all times chid, suddenly became cranky, fussy and what we like to call a velcro baby.  Velcro Baby appears any time Mya doesn't feel well, is tired, or is getting another tooth!  Thankfully, for me, velcro baby usually happens to Paul.  Mya is a Daddy's Girl already through and through, and so most of her velcro baby times are spent velcroed to daddy, which gives mommy some free time. :) This is not to say that I have never been the one she is velcroed to, however, 9 times out of 10, it's all about Daddy.  In fact her first phrase, that she started saying a few weeks ago is "Where's Daddy."  AND, even though I know most kids say Daddy or DaDa first because it is the first and easiest sound for them to make, Mya definitely says Daddy and DaDa in direct relation to Paul, she knows who he is and has for at  least the past two months!  She also says Mama, however, much less frequently and when I say Mama to her she often responds enthusiastically with DaDa DaDa DaDa!...

Our Little Bumblebee

Do I really need to say anything else???  Mya made a darn cute bumblebee and was perfectly happy to hang out in her costume "buzzing" around for over 4 hours.  She even left the hood on!  We went down to the the Munchkin Masquerade, which is where all the stores on Pearl Street give out candy to the kids.  Let me just tell you it was a crazy scene.  There were kids of all ages dressed up in cute costumes, running, crying, laughing, or sleeping.  Parents were trying to keep track of their own children, while also attempting to carry on conversations with each other.  We had a cute little bandit, literally run into our adult circle, reach into a friends pumpkin candy carrier, pull out a piece of candy and run away.  It was endless entertainment everywhere you looked.  We met our friends, Tom, Steph and their 2 month old Owen.  Owen was one of the sleeping kids.  He was dressed as a cowboy, but missed most of the fun.  I guess next year will be more memorable for him.  We also ran into our friends Sheryl, Stephen and their duck, Sebastian.  He is 16 months old and is running around everywhere.  Stephen  spent his time chasing Sebastian around.
Overall, it was a successful first Halloween.  Mya did not come home with any Halloween candy but she did come home a happy Bumblebee. 

          Tom, Steph and Cowboy Owen!

Mya and Daddy.

Sebastian the Duck, he is NOT a chicken!  :)

Mya and Mommy.

Happy Camper

So Mya is officially a camper and what a happy camper she is.  Mommy and Daddy packed up the car and off we went to Fruita, for a camping/mountain biking weekend.  (Ok, Daddy really packed up the car, mommy helped briefly when she got home)  
This was going to be an exciting weekend.  We were going with two other couples, both with kids.  One couple came with a 2 month old, Bree, and an almost 2 year old, Sophia.  Boy was that insightful about life with two kids!  The other couple have a 15 month old little boy, Sebastian.  This would be Mya's first camping trip and mommy's first time back on her mountain bike.  :) 
I admit I was a little nervous, although the weather forecast was in the 80's during the day, it gets coldddddd at night.  Would Mya be too cold?  Would we be up all night?  What if she didn't sleep?  All these questions and concerns drifted through my head during our 3 and 1/2 drive out there.  
Once we got there the "girls" got to ride first, so my friend Sheryl and I suited up and off we went.  Daddy pitched the enormous "family" sized tent we borrowed from a friend, while trying to keep Mya from eating leaves, sticks, and anything else she found on the ground.

 

                                                     Mya's Suite


  Note to parents, camping with a crawler is not easy, they will not stay on the blankets you put down for them, they try and put everything into their mouths, and then because they are held a little too much, they do not expend the energy that they are used to.  When we put her in the tent she zoomed around trying to get out all of her energy at once.  We also brought the pack and play, THANK GOD, it was the best decision we made.  Mya took a short afternoon nap while I rode.  When I returned, it was daddy's turn.  I fed Mya dinner in her booster seat on the ground, another good call.  I was still in my bike shorts and did not change, eat, drink or do anything else until I put Mya to bed.  I know that just comes with the territory of being a parent, it's not about you anymore...  So all this time, my friend Val, the one with two kids, is cooking diner for everyone, getting dinner ready for her 2 year old and making sure her 2 month old is ok.  It was amazing to watch because I could barley get it together with one kid there.  

Our Little camper, stick and all!

 

 

                                  Mya and Mommy playing in the grass.


The other great thing about this trip is that we found a wonderful family friendly camp ground, fully equipped with showers, bathrooms, a lake, lots of trees and grass.  We have been camping in Fruita for the past 5 years on this dirt road that has NO shade, no bathrooms and it literally on the side of a dirt road.  Funny how kids change a lot of things in your life.  This camp ground was filled, and I mean filled with children, running around, biking around, yelling screaming, playing.  The good thing about it is that since everyone is parents there, everyone understands.  This was especially funny right around bed time.  Let me tell you there were a lot of overtired, whiney and crying children.  Some who refused to go to bed, but REALLY needed to go to bed, and others that were just so overtired they could not go to sleep and instead cried and screamed until finally giving in.  
I was lucky.  Mya is a sleeper and once I figured out what to put on her to keep her warm all night, she literally went to sleep without a peep.  I put a down sleeping bag under the pack and play mattress.  I dressed her in a warm, windproof fleece with wool socks underneath and a long sleeve onsie underneath as well.  The feet and hands folded over to keep her feet and hands warm and there was a hood that I put up.  Once in the pack and play asleep, I also laid a think comforter over the top of it, to keep her warm and to also keep out the early morning light.  After all that Mya went to bed and slept from 7:00p.m. until just before 7:00a.m. in the morning, both of us were VERY happy about that.  Of course I woke up off and on all night to check to see if she was warm, was her face covered, could she breath, but SHE got a great nights sleep and was happy as can be in the morning.  

                                      Mya expending some energy in the tent!


It was good to know that not only is Mya a good camper she is also a happy camper!  
Paul and I even got a chance to ride together and although the trail we picked turned out to be more of a "hiking" trail for us, due to deep sand and super steep uphills, we were surrounded by beautiful surroundings, and as Paul kept telling me, it was just great to get out together.  
Another first successfully checked off of our list!

Our first visit to the Pumpkin Patch

You know you're definitely a parent when you find yourselves at a pumkin patch, surrounded by children screaming in delight, parents following closely behing with cameras, and you are right there in the mix of it all..
Mommy: "Should we get pictures of Mya in the pumkins?

"Should we get pictures of Mya in the corn?" 

"Should we get pictures of Mya with the cow?" (the cow didn't cooperate and left Mya standing on her own...)

"Should we get pictures of Mya AND Mads in the pumpkins?"

Should we stick Mya's face through the funny witch thingy?

So we left the pumpkin patch feeling like we had just moved through some parental milestone.  I can see us now every year, watching Mya grow and thinking how little she was the year before.  "Remember when we stuck her in the pumpkin patch with Mads?" We'll say as we watch them run around together....  I know next year will be here before we know it so for now I am content with our first visit to the pumpkin patch.
Thanks Jayme, Mads and David for the company on this new parent adventure we are on.

 

Mya and David

 

 

         Mads, Jayme and David (Sorry David, but this was so cute of them even if you weren't looking!)

Our Daughter, the Veggie Stick Fanatic!

So how much does Mya loves her veggies sticks?  I'm not sure I can put it into words but I AM starting to worry that she might  turn green or orange any day now.  When she will eat nothing else she will always eat her veggie sticks. Morning, Noon, or Night, in the car, in her stroller,  in her pj's, at the store, off the floor, I am starting to sound like Dr. Seuss here, but you get the picture. We found them while looking for fingers foods that she can eat, since she cannot eat anything with dairy or soy in it until she turns one.  For those of you who do not know, there is soy in EVERYTHING. Soy oil, soy lecithin, soybeans, etc, etc.  Most of the specially made baby finger foods contain soy,dairy or BOTH.  When Miss Mya started getting... let's say... a little more independent I was on a desperate search for finger foods.  At first we only found them at Whole Foods and she would go through at least two bags a week, sometimes three... Thankfully, we found them at Costco and we are just about through our 2nd HUGE, family size bag of them.  It's time for another trip to Costco b/c I don't know what happen in the Tagley household if we suddenly ran out.

July 2009 Trip to Kentucky

So this past July we made a visit to Kentucky to visit Mya's Great Grandmother, Ruth Easley.  It was our first trip back to Kentucky since my father died and my first trip to Kentucky ever without him.  It was a really hard trip for me, but also wonderful to introduce Mya to the Easley side of the family. Usually, when we go to Kentucky we eat a lot of yummy food.  Unfortunately due to my dairy and soy free diet, I was very limited in what I could eat.  Paul on the other hand ate his share and my share as well.  :)
Mya did great overall.  The first flight out was a little rough... We ended up being that couple with the screaming baby who everyone is wishing they weren't sitting next to. Before we got on the plane she was happy as can be.  As soon as we took off that all changed. She only screamed for the ascent, about 25 minutes strait, but it seemed like two hours to Paul and I. (The people around us were great, very empathetic.  The guy behind us told us not to worry b/c he just popped some Valium or something like that!) After that first flight she was fine for the second one and for the two we took home, whew.

We visited with my Grandmother every day at least twice, we wanted to spend as much time as we could with her.  Mya and her had a blast and I think this visit made her entire year.  She was so happy to meet Mya and spend time with her.  My dad's cousin, Tommy, had fun taking Mya around to check for beetles in the trees.  We also got to spend time with Peggy(Tommy's wife), Carla Jane and Lynn Kay, my dad's cousins, and Maxine another Easley cousin I think...and Deanna Talley, Mya's 3rd cousin once removed??!! 





                                            Mya and Tommy.

Looking for Beetles.

        Mya, Granny and me!

Mya, Granny and Daddy!

This is my FAVORITE picture.

Generation of hands.

Mya and Martha, who is an amazing woman who always looks out for Granny.

Leaving Kentucky was bittersweet, it was so nice to see everyone and introduce Mya to our family there, but it was also sad to be there without my father.  We brought Mya to his grave and the three of us sat and talked to him.  I know he would have loved to be there with us showing off his amazing grandaughter. 

My Best Friend Mads!

So Mya has a friend, Mads, who is just about a month older than her.  We spent our summer swimming in the little pool, big pool and going for walks and most recently we added hiking to the list of things we like to do together.  Mads loves to pull Mya's curls and Mya loves to give Mads kisses, they are too cute together!  The other big plus is that the mom's have become friends as well.  :)  It's kind of a funny story how we met... I decided to join a bunch of mom's on a walk when Mya was just about 2 months old.  Jayme, Mads' mom was on that walk.  I had just found out that I had to cut all soy and dairy out of my diet due to Mya having an intolerance for it.  (Apparently this is quite common!)  Anyway, Jayme had a similar experience with Mads, but it was due to soy.  During that walk her and I chatted about these experiences.  Jayme's experience was quite severe and Mads ended up back in the hospital due to it shorty after her birth.  Mya had some blood in her poop, very scary for new parents and we ended up going to Children's hospital for a few visits, where they told me to cut out all dairy and soy.  Short story long, a few months later I received a random email from someone named Jayme asking if I was the same Jenn with the soy/dairy issue, and if so how was it going and did I want to get together some time.  I replied, "Yes, that's me," I said and we have been hanging out ever since. Won't it be neat for Mya and Mads to know they have known each other since they were about 4/5 months old??

I am attaching some pictures of them in the little pool, which was so nice to have this summer.  They both seemed to like it even when the water seemed WAY too cold!

 

One more tid bid, Mads is pretty stingy with her smiles for strangers, or I should say used to be, I now get them from her all the time, Paul is still working on it!  She tends to look at him and give him a very serious look, like don't mess with me buddy! Of course her dad, David loves the fact that she tends not to smile at men!  Mya on the other hand loves to smile at everybody, uh oh daddy...

 

Virus AKA Just a Really Bad Cold

So Mya stayed home with Daddy on Friday.  The doctor said she has a virus.  Hopefully in a few days she'll be feeling better.  She did sleep through the night the past two nights and her mood has started to resemble her normal, happy self.  Daddy is now sick because Mya has been "Velcro Mya" to Daddy. This means Daddy has to do everything with a 9 month old attached to his hip.  If he does put her down she starts grunting, crying and reaching out for him, and who can resist that?? (Not Daddy!) So she sneezed in his face several times and he too is now sniffling and sneezing.  I came home on Friday and they were both sick and cuddling on the couch, too cute! 
Daddy made homemade chicken noodle soup today and Mya loved the carrots and potatoes in it, she also loved the broth and drank a whole bunch.  YAY, liquid, plus the healing properties of chicken soup!
So that is all that is going on in Mya's world today, she is on nap # 2 and mommy is heading out for a run in this fabulous fall weather. 

9 Month Stats

Mya had her 9 month well baby check on Monday, September 28th.  The poor thing had to get two shots AND a toe prick...  She did great with the shots, but was not thrilled with the toe prick followed by the excessive squeezing to fill two vials full of her blood.  The good news is everything came back fine.  Sigh. 
Her 9 month stats are as follows:
Height - 28 1/2 inches = 80% (Not bad for having two "shorter" parents.
Weight:  16lbs 0.5 oz = 10% - She eats like a horse, I don't know where it goes, except in her diapers!
Head Circumference: 17 and 1/2 inches = 50%

Go Mya! Of course it is now two days later and we are getting ready to visit the ER b/c Mya has suddenly come down with a cough, stuffy nose, off and on fever... UGH, right after a clean bill of health. ( I bet she picked it up in the hospital!)  Our doctors office is booked solid today, tis the season, and wants us to get seen as she may need a chest x-ray... :(    I will let you know how it all turns out.  Until then, this is one of my favorite pictures of miss Mya! 

Weekend in Vail

SO we went to Dave and Jenna's wedding this weekend.  It was up in Vail, Colorado, and it was a beautiful weekend.  Miss Mya did great and we were able to enjoy two nights of going out while a babysitter watched Mya sleep.  It was great to go out and enjoy the time spent with friends, however, the down side is that Mya still gets up between 6:00 and 6:30, no matter what time mommy and daddy go to bed... This made for a tired mommy and daddy.  Thankfully, Paul let me sleep in an extra hour both mornings, however, even that did not help me feel less tired.  For those of you who don't know me, I need my sleep and a LOT of it. 
So the ceremony was at the top of the mountain and about an hour before it began the clouds started to roll in.  I was busy getting ready, while also trying to feed and dress Mya solo, so I did not notice the change in weather. (Paul was in the wedding so he was with the groom)  When we arrived at the gondola we were greeted by the news that there were lighting strikes  in the area and so the start of the ceremony was delayed while they waited to see if it would clear.  About 40 minutes later the frazzeled wedding planner began shouting at us to hurry up and get on the gondola, we had to get up there quickly, as we had a very short window of what they considered "good" weather.  So as we got off the gondola we were greeted by strong winds and a temperature of about 40 degrees.  Most of the guests were ill prepared for the top of a Mountain in Colorado, and although Mya had her tights, warm dress and sweater on, I, on the other hand had on my short, thin dress and a thin shawl. Since I live in Colorado I have no good excuse for why I wasn't prepared for the top of the mountain wedding except isn't having a baby a good excuse for anything??!   A good friend of ours gave Mya his dress jacket to help ensure that she stayed warm, however, she was a trooper and was happy to sit in the whipping wind and occasional rain drop or two.  I think this might mean she is going to be an outdoor lover like her parents and even more so a cold weather lover like her daddy.  :) Once the ceremony was over we ran back to the gondola as the rain began to pour down.  I will say, getting ready while getting a 9 month old ready, worrying about her being warm enough, and not making any noises during the ceremony really wore me out.  It was then back to the room to feed her and get her ready for bed so that when the babysitter showed up I could join the party.  What I really could have done was gone to bed. 
On Saturday we then went to stay with some friends in Dillion.  Mya slept in the bathroom, yes, I said bathroom.  It was the only dark place for her to nap and it turned out to be a good place for her to sleep through the night as well.  Let's just say I missed the rocking chair when I had to feed her at 5 in the morning.

Overall, it was a fun and tiring weekend, but Mya was a champ and took it all in stride.  I am looking forward to a weekend at home, only 3 more work days to go...