Best Friends...Almost

As I'm sure you know, we are quite fond of our little Puckett. He has, in fact, been with us for most of the time we have been married, and he is now 3 years and 7 months old. His birthday is February 7 in case you want to send him a present. Anyway, we weren't quite sure how Puckett was going to take to little Mia since he has been "it" since he's been with us. Thankfully, he's adjusted rather well. The first days were a little nerve wracking because Puckett wasn't quite sure about this crying business. I'm sure he was also wondering why he wasn't getting our undivided attention anymore. But, as you can tell, things are going just fine. They're not perfect. Puckett enjoys going into Mia's room and taking out stuffed teddy bears, sniffing the diaper trash can, and licking her toes and hair all day long. Overall though, we're quite proud of our little buddy.

Another big step for Puckett, and us, is that I took his crate away today. That's right, for nearly four years he has slept in a crate. He has spent many nights in our room on the floor, but he's so loud when he sleeps. And talk about a dog who snores! So today, is the first day that he will be without the crate. Right now, he is resting peacefully on his pillow...and snoring. What a life! Hopefully tonight will be much of the same. Congratulations on your graduation, Puckett!

By the way, please take note of the quilt they are laying on. The middle square is Minnesota Twins fabric! Our good friends and fellow Twins fans, Jeremy and Katie, had this beautiful quilt made for our family. To say we LOVE it would be an understatement!!!

Mia - 5 weeks

We have officially kept Mia alive and out of harm's way for five weeks! Actually, I like to think I can add 39 weeks to that since I had her in my belly for awhile. This morning, Mia, her Grandma Walker (Brett's mom), and I went to church at school with my students. I was extremely nervous to take her because she has only been to one other mass prior to today. She was amazing! In fact, Mia was awake during the entire mass. While I was pregnant with her, she would always be most active during mass, too. It wasn't until the last song this morning that she dozed off. How nice...

This is the perfect spot for Mia to sit and/or sleep. Brett found that she really likes to lay in it on her side. I think it helps her get comfortable since she's had a bad case of gas. Thanks, Sara L., for the awesome Boppy pillow!

Mia is officially 4 weeks and 4 days old today. We have been struggling to get her gas issue under control for the last couple days, but I think she's feeling better. I weighed her last week and she was at about 7.5 lbs. What a tank! We can definitely tell she's gaining weight, getting taller, and her hair is longer as well.

Mia enjoys sucking on her thumb or other fingers. She's not really particular on which one is in her mouth. Mia is also starting to grab on to our arms or shirts when she is eating. She still enjoys hanging out with her dad as soon as he gets home. Oh yeah, Mia tried to take a ride on Puckett's back a couple of days ago. They both enjoyed it! She also went to mass for the first time last Wednesday, and stayed at school with me for a couple of days. What a trooper!

This week, Grandma Walker comes to visit! Mia's Great Aunt Clarisse and Uncle Don will also be arriving on Saturday. Over Labor Day weekend, Aunt Karmen is coming to visit, along with Mia's Grandma Syl and Papa Ron. We're excited to see everyone!

Produce

Brett's getting some produce from our little garden out back. Here is a small bowl of tomatoes he picked last week. The cucumbers were from a patient, but it looks good, right?


We also have a plum tree out back. Unfortunately, Puckett enjoys eating the plums that have fallen to the ground. Think about it - dog + plums. Not a good combination if you know what I mean. Brett picked a bunch last week and made a fruit rollup. It was delicious! There's another one being dehydrated right now, but it's not quite ready yet.

Green Eggs and Ham

While we were in Wenatchee, we met a dear friend, Sam. She is awesome! Unfortunately, we moved to Boise and Sam currently lives in Salt Lake City. When Sam got news that we were expecting a baby, she sent the most amazing and practical gifts (i.e., burp clothes, dishwasher basket, formula holder, nail clippers, etc.). She even bought Mia a book - Green Eggs and Ham. For those of you who do not remember the book all that well, a common line in it is, "Sam I am." How fitting! We definitely want Mia to remember her name. Today, I read the book to Mia. It was our first go 'round with a book. Clearly, she is excited about it.

Fly Fishing

Last weekend, we took a trip over to Idaho Falls to visit the Adams Family (Greg's side). Greg and Brett got to go fishing on the Snake River while we were there. While they didn't catch anything, it sounded like they had a good time. They even came back soaking wet with a broken rod. You'll have to ask Brett for that story.

Two More Feet

Mia is officially 17 days old. How are things going around the Walker household? I'd say we're slowly making progress. While we've got a hand on the diaper changing and feeding aspect of things, we continue to work on sleeping...all of us. Last night though, Mia was awesome (and Brett, too)! She ate at 11:30pm, 3am, and 6am. Never in a million years did I think I would long for the nights of getting three hours of sleep at a time. I feel so refreshed today!

We have seen a few smiles out of Mia, though I'm sure it wasn't on purpose. She also loves to lay in her dad's arms and listen to him, and she recently discovered my hair. She is fussy and cries like a normal baby would, but she partiulary hates it when you take her diaper off. You can just see the wrinkles in her forehead forming as the cry begins. What does she like? Food is at the top of the list of things she likes, and surprisingly, she seems to like having her hair washed, too. What a girl!

Mia & Puckett

Don't worry - we have not forgotten about Puckett since the arrival of Mia. I knew you were concerned. In fact, he is such a good baby sitter that he was rewarded with his favorite treat...peanut butter out of the jar!

Chirp, chirp

Monday night, I heard a chirping noise around 11:30pm. I got up to look out our bedroom window. It sounded more like it was coming from the east side of our house. As I went downstairs, I realized it was in the kitchen. Is there a bird in our kitchen? Instead of taking the plunge, I asked Brett to check it out. Sure enough, it was our freezer and it was dying. Are you kidding me? This is just what we did not need.

Thankfully, our realtor had included a home warranty with the purchase of our house. Unfortunately though, it took until today for the freezer to get fixed. At least we were lucky enough to have it continue running until today. On the same note, it chirped the ENTIRE time.

Brett's Baby Blanket

It's a little difficult to see, but this is a picture of Mia sleeping under Brett's baby quilt. So precious!

Summer BBQing

These looked so delicious! Good job, Brett!

Cutie Pie

Mia Ann, Day 4

What is day four like with baby Mia? Hmmm...in one word, I would say tiresome. Last night, Mia was awake more than she was asleep. I'm not quite sure what was going on, but between dirty diapers, hiccups, and being hungry, we got very little sleep.

While we were in the hospital, we were lucky enough to have Mia's pediatrician be the on-call doc. Dr. Schaffer was able to visit Mia three times over the weekend. She was a little concerned about her weight and jaundis so we were to see her today. Good news - Mia is not jaundis at all, and she gained weight. Are you ready? Mia weighs 5 lbs. and 14 ounces right now. Dr. Schaffer also talked to us about feeding and gave us some great tips/advice. I think we're well on our way to plumping up our little peanut.

I have to say that Brett is and has been amazing through it all. He does not hesitate to get up with Mia, change diapers, feed her (we supplement with formula), burp her, etc. His favorite thing? My opinion is that he really enjoys sitting with her on his lap when she is awake. What an amazing dad!

Here they are at the hospital taking a little snoozer.

Check out Mia's little shirt. I caught them at a bad time, but it was too cute to pass up.

Mia's first bout with hiccups

Nichole and I have been blessed to see so many firsts over the first days. We have seen her first breath, first diaper change (By the way, I did it. I have a picture of it, but I didn't want to put any X-rated pictures of my daughter on the internet), yawn, scratches on her face, and sneezes. So, I thought that we could share her first hiccups. She sneezed just before I took this video, but I missed it. Babies are so cute when they sneeze. Turn your volume up and you can hear her.

Pictures of Mia

This is Mia Saturday morning perfectly content laying with Mom

This is Mia's first good cry. It was right after her first bath. She was not a happy camper. I hope this was also her last good cry.

Mia and Mom about 15 minutes after delivery.