Mylie-isms for January

Sunday, January 2 We left Grammie's house today to come back home. We were only going to drive part way today, but Mommy and Daddy were ready to get home. So we drove to Portland and spent a couple hours at Doug & Penny's house to let Mylie exercise a bit, and then we loaded back up and drove the rest of the way. Our car was stuffed to the brim with all of our presents from Christmas so we wouldn't have been able to find our suitcases even if we had wanted to stay the night in Portland! We were even driving the Subaru station wagon! Mommy and Daddy don't know how we'll ever be able to travel anywhere if we have any more kids, since we already have to take so much stuff with us as it is!

Wednesday, January 4 Today was the first day that Mommy watched Lola. Melissa dropped her off at about 8:00, and everything went really well...for about 45 minutes. After that, she started getting aggitated, and slowly progressed to a full on scream. She continued to scream for most of the day, and nothing Mommy would do seemed to help. She did calm down for about 2 hours when Mommy decided to take the two girls to Costco. The girls both loved the outing, and they drew lots of attention. People thought they were twins! The funniest part of the day was that Mommy had brought a pacifier for Lola and a teething ring for Mylie, but Mylie couldn't stay away from Lola's pacifier and all Lola wanted was Mylie's teething ring. Mommy finally got tired of fighting them off, so Mylie spent the whole time with Lola's pacifier in her mouth while it was still attached to Lola's shirt! And Lola spent the whole time bent over chewing on Mylie's teething ring that Mommy was holding. After we left the store, Lola finally fell asleep in the car, so Mommy went through a drive-thru for lunch and then spent a half-hour driving around Renton so that Lola would sleep.

Thursday, January 5 Mommy started going back to classes today so that she can finish up her Master's degree. She and Mylie meet Daddy about 1/2 way to Seattle at about 5:00, and Mylie comes home with Daddy while Mommy goes to class. Tonight Daddy tried to teach Mylie how to play guitar. She's going to be great!

Friday, January 6 Madilyn came over tonight while Stacey & Jeremy went out skiing. She was a little scared of Daddy at first, but she soon got over it. We all went to a ward potluck, and Madilyn had fun playing with the other kids in the ward. When we came home, Madilyn played with Daddy while Mommy got Mylie ready for bed. Then we put both girls to bed. It was a fun night, and made both Mommy and Daddy excited for when Mylie gets older.

Saturday, January 7 Mylie had a very busy day today! Daddy headed off to a Primary Activity while Mommy and Mylie went with Jason & Nora to the Wedding Show, so that they could get ideas for their wedding in June. Mylie was great at the Wedding Show and munched on toast in her stroller. She got tired of her stroller after a while, so we took turns holding her, and put our heavy bags in the stroller. She ended up falling asleep and taking a nice nap in Cheri's arms. Later, we all went to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch, and Mylie had a great time eating her toast and the bananas that the waitress brought for her. We left to come home so that Mommy could drop Mylie of with Daddy and then head out for a "Mom's Night Out" with all the moms from the New Mom's Group. We went to a very cool restaurant in downtown Seattle called "Lola" in honor of baby Lola.

Wednesday, January 11 Lola came over again today, and quickly became upset again. By about 11:00, she was crying out of control and starting to hyperventilate, so Mommy called Melissa and she came over during her break to feed Lola. That helped a lot, and then we put Orajel on her gums and she seemed to do much better after that. In the afternoon, to keep everyone happy, we went on an outing to Babies'R'Us. This seemed to keep everyone distracted for awhile, and Mommy was able to get some safety proofing products for the house.

Thursday, January 12 We went to Gymboree today, for our first class in the next level for babies ages 6-10 months. It was soooo much fun! None of that silly baby stuff anymore, no siree! We got to do a lot of fun games and songs, and we got to play on all the gym equipment for the first time. Then at the end of class, we got to play with the big parachute. All the babies got to ride on it while we walked around in a circle, and then they got to go under it while we lifted it up and down over them. Mylie loved it, and she loved all the other babies who are much more social than the younger group.

Friday, January 13 The most unluckiest part about today was the Seattle traffic. Mommy had to go to school for an Internship Meeting, so Mylie went to stay with Tiffani Larson and her baby, Aidan, and Daddy picked her up after work. We were all supposed to meet at Bishop Perkin's house for dinner at 6:00, but both Daddy and Mommy were late getting there because of the horrible traffic. We had a great time at dinner though, and Mylie went to sleep after awhile so we got to stay and enjoy ourselves.

Saturday, January 14 We drove down to Portland today to go to Joey Lent's wedding reception. We went in the morning, and spent the day doing some tax-free shopping. Mylie loved riding in the cart at Costco and smiled and giggled the whole time at everyone. We went out for dinner at Sweet Tomatoes and Mylie charmed the socks off everyone in the restaurant. By the end of the meal, two different older couples had become our closest friends, and were sharing family stories with us while they watched Mylie make funny faces while she ate bites of lemon, croutons and macaroni and cheese. After dinner we went to buy a ladder at Home Depot and had to spend a significant amount of time figuring out how we were going to fit it in our car to take it home. Finally, it was time to go to the reception. Within minutes of arriving, Mommy and Daddy had lost track of Mylie because everyone was so excited to see her and whisked her off. Suzanne Stewart was there with Ben and his wife Sharon, as well as the whole Lents family. Ben and Sharon will be having a baby in June, very close to Mylie's first birthday! It was fun to get to see everyone and Mylie had a great time being social! We left at about 8:30 and drove back up to Seattle. It works well to travel at night with Mylie because then she just sleeps the whole time.

Tuesday, January 17 Today was our first time to go to a Mom's Group meeting in a long time, since we weren't able to go at all during December. We went to Zlata & Alen's house, and spent most of the afternoon there. It is so fun to get to see all the babies growing up, and watch all the milestones they are reaching - some at the same time, and some at very different times.

Wednesday, January 18 We bought Mylie a new car seat today. Mommy had been frustrated with her other car seats, so after doing some research, she decided on a car seat that was at the top of the charts for both safety and consumer ratings. Both Mylie and Mommy love it - it is the hot rod of car seats!

In the afternoon, we went to the University of Washington where Mylie was participating in a research study at the Institute for Learning and Brain Science (I-LABS). They are testing 7-month olds to see if they still have the ability to hear tiny nuances in the differences between languages. Today they taught Mylie the game, and tomorrow they will test her on it.

Thursday, January 19 What a busy day today! We went in the morning for Mommy's doctor appointment. We came home so that Mylie could take a short nap before we headed over to Gymboree. Then we went directly to I-LABS for the study. Mylie sat on Mommy's lap while the researcher played with toys in front of Mylie to keep her attention. In the room they were playing recordings of a repeating syllable. Every once in a while, the syllable would change slightly, and if Mylie looked in that direction when it did, she was rewarded by getting to see a really cool toy light up. Sometimes the difference in the syllable would be obvious, and sometimes it would be very subtle. They were testing to see if she could tell the differences in an English and Spanish syllables that were very similar. Mommy wore headphones the whole time and couldn't hear what was going on, so that she wouldn't influence Mylie's reaction. The researchers said Mylie did very well, and after the test they let Mommy try the game. Mommy didn't do as well as Mylie, because it is easier for babies Mylie's age to hear the subtle differences. By the time she is 10 months old, she won't be as good at it anymore.

After the study, Mommy drove to Daddy's work to drop off Mylie. They went home together and Mommy headed to class.

Saturday, January 21 Daddy was helping someone move today, so Mommy and Mylie went to Mommy's SAI (Music Fraternity) Alumni meeting. We got to see Nora and Tessa there, and meet a lot of new friends. Mylie did not want to take a nap when we got home, and she fought it and fought it, which is very strange for her. We may be reaching that stage where she wants to play more, and can remember what she wants even when it's not in front of her.

In the evening, the Grays invited us to go to the Remodeling Expo in Seattle with them. We went there for about an hour, and then headed back to Renton and went to dessert with them. The people in the restaurant got a kick out of the two girls being "out on the town" on a Saturday night. They are both such great girls and draw quite a crowd.

Monday, January 23 Daddy stayed home from work today because he had a cold and didn't want to get anyone else at work sick. We all slept in, including Mylie. Mylie also got to have her first taste of formula for breakfast. We're starting her on one bottle a day to give Mommy a little break and to make sure she has enough to eat on the days she goes with a sitter. Daddy worked from home all day, so Mylie and Mommy tried to stay out of his way. We went with Shannon and Anna on a walk, and Mommy wore shoes she hasn't worn since Mylie was born. Apparently her feet changed shape or size or something, because the shoes did not fit right, and gave her horrible blisters!

Mylie is getting really good at pulling herself up, and does it on just about whatever she can. Mommy thinks it won't be long till she's cruising and then walking. We are planning on getting some sort of pushing toy for her to walk around with.

Tuesday, January 24 We spent the morning at Robin & Maddie's house with the rest of the Moms & Babies. A few of the babies are crawling now, and Mylie and Maddie are great at pulling themselves up on all the furniture. Mylie grabs all the paper within reach and loves to eat it. Mommy has to keep a close eye on her to make sure she doesn't tear of chunks in her mouth! It's fun to watch all the babies together because they love watching each other, and they're all so loud and talkative! We left from Maddie's to go to work, and Mylie got to hang out with Cheri at the store. Cheri always looks forward to getting to hang out with Mylie!

Wednesday, January 25 Mylie spent the whole day today with Melissa and Lola while Mommy went to Seattle University for her internship. Mylie did very well and Melissa was very thankful!

Thursday, January 26 Mylie can clap now! She likes to clap to get us to say "Yeah Mylie!" She'll do it in the car when she is bored because she knows I will always say "Yeah!" (I have a mirror that I can see her in). She also just does it when she's excited about anything. It's so cute!

Saturday, January 28 Daddy & Mommy bought Mylie a walking toy today for her to push around. It's a little car with a steering wheel and blinkers and it sings and talks. It will convert to a little car she can ride on when she's older. Right now it moves a little fast for her, but it won't be long until she's running all over the house with it. She loves to dance when the music plays. She shakes her little head back and forth, which causes her bottom to wiggle too. It's so funny!

Mommy has started calling Mylie her "Circus Baby" because Mylie loves to be tossed around and hung upside down. She's quite a little acrobat, and just smiles and giggles while she hangs upside down.

Tuesday, January 31 Mylie has gone on a food strike. For a couple days she has refused to eat any food that comes to her on a spoon. She does eat any finger foods, including Veggie Puffs and Zweiback Toast, but pureed food is out of the question. Today, Mommy finally tried giving her some small pieces of canned fruit which she seemed to like, as long as she was feeding herself. Mommy always expected to have an independent child, but she didn't expect it would happen this early!!

Mylie went to Melissa and Lola's tonight while Mommy & Daddy went to a special "Steak-of-the-Union Dinner" at Ruth's Chris Steak House. We watched the State of the Union Address while we ate, and then participated in a live radio broadcast commentary afterward. Daddy even got up the courage to make a comment and was on the radio! Afterward we talked to the host, John Carlson, and he told Daddy that he had sounded very articulate. Mommy & Daddy really enjoyed their night out, and the food was excellent!


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