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!