First Steps for Mia

Mia took her first steps! Yey! She took 2-3 steps between Mike and me. We have a video of it which I will post soon. She's still pretty cautious, but I'm hoping she'll be walking like her brother in a couple of weeks!

OB Appointment

I'm almost 34 1/2 weeks along! I had my OB appointment today and everything is going well! My blood pressure was good and I'm measuring 35 weeks. I had to bring Ethan and Mia with me, so it was rather interesting. Ethan was really good. He walked around the room and got into things. He found a plastic ear piece to an otoscope behind the exam table and sat and played with it for awhile. Mia wasn't the best behaved. She threw a huge fit when I had to put her down to get measured and listen to the baby's heart tones. One of the nurses heard her screaming and came in to try and entertain her! My next appointment is at 36 weeks and from then, I'll go weekly! It's going so fast!

Weaning Bottles

We are done with the morning bottles! I don't think Ethan and Mia will care that much. They only took about 3-4 ounces in the morning anyhow. Now, we're down to the bedtime bottle. I have a feeling that's going to be impossible to get rid of! We are trying to get them totally weaned from their bottles by their 15 month well-baby check-up. Wish us luck!

Dancing Babies

This is a video of Ethan and Mia dancing. They love music and will dance to anything--songs in commercials, musical toys, me singing. You name it, they'll dance to it! Ethan has started headbanging. I think he learned that from Mike! Mia will usually put both of her hands out and wiggle her body.

Here is a short video of Ethan headbanging! Notice the huge smile on his face!

We've Got a Tooth!

FINALLY! Yey! Mia's first tooth came in today (her bottom right.) It was the longest process ever. I thought she was going to get this tooth a week ago. It looks like we'll be having a toofer party for her! I think her bottom left will also be coming in soon.

A Nice Relaxing Breakfast

I had a nice breakfast this morning. As soon as our little vultures see you have food, they come running. I had a banana and my coffee. I had my coffee on the floor next to me. I could tell that Mia was eyeing my banana and Ethan was eyeing my coffee. I decided to rescue my coffee. Before I could grab it, Ethan threw a sock in it. Nice! As I was trying to scoop out the sock, Mia grabbed my banana and started sucking on it. Who wants to eat a mushy sucked on banana? Yuck! Then I decided to make peanut butter and jelly toast. They came running again. Mia decided to slap my PB & J toast and had a nice sticky mess all over her hands and sleeve. While she was doing this, Ethan saw my milk I had hidden behind me. He went to grab for it as I was trying to clean Mia's hand off. It only ended up spilling a little bit. Each one wanted a drink. The problem with that is they backwash really bad. There's nothing like having little chunks floating in your milk!

14 Months Old!!

Ethan and Mia turned 14 months old today! It's hard for me to believe! They continue to do new things almost every day. They make us laugh on a daily basis. We've cut out their afternoon bottles. They still aren't impressed with milk in their sippee cup but are warming up to it. They haven't cried for their bottles, so it's actually been quite easy. We now are able to lie them down for their naps without having to rock and bounce them. I have a limit of a couple of minutes as far as letting them cry. Ethan does really well and usually falls asleep without crying. Mia still tends to put up a fight, but she's getting better about falling asleep on her own. Both kids are sleeping through the night for the most part. Mia has been teething and will occasionally wake up. Ethan will also occasionally wake up but it's becoming less common. It's so nice to get a full night's sleep.

The big thing with Ethan is that he started walking a couple of weeks ago. He has gotten so good at it! He now walks all over the house. He hardly ever crawls. It's still so weird seeing him walk. He's still so little but is all over the place. His new thing is climbing on EVERYTHING. If he can get up on it, he will. The funny thing about that is he doesn't know how to get down. When he's stuck up on something, he now says, "mom, mom, mom" over and over until I come and get him down. I really have no idea where he learned that. He'll also say that if I'm in a different room of the house as if he's looking for me. It's pretty cute. He continues to be very adventurous. He isn't afraid of anything which is both good and bad. I thought we were going to have to take him to the ER a couple of nights ago. He grabbed my razor when they were in the tub. In a split second, he cut open his lip and his thumb. We couldn't get the bleeding to stop on his lip. He wouldn't let us hold pressure. It was nerve-wracking but it did eventually stop. He didn't cry at all. He's one tough little boy! He's said a couple new words in the last month. He can say, "tickle, tickle, tickle" and "hello" (when he's holding a cell phone to his ear.)

Mia crawls all over the place. She hasn't quite taken her first steps yet. We've been working with her on walking and she gets better every day. She'll do it when she's ready! She does cruise the furniture so that gives her even more practice. She is our little chicken. Their great-grandma gave them a rocking horse. If we try to sit Mia on it, she cries and holds her arms out to pick her up. It's a cute little horse and I'm not sure why she's so scared of it. She still continues to be very affectionate. I get at least a dozen kisses and hugs each day. It's nice being so loved! Mia loves to sit on your lap and would stay there the majority of the day if she could. She never is very far away from me. Mia absolutely loves the dog. I wish the dog loved her back! She is constantly trying to hug and kiss her and Elsa isn't impressed. I've caught Elsa growling at Mia quite a few times and Elsa has nipped Mia a couple of times. I keep telling the kids to "be nice" to Elsa. Sometimes they are and sometimes they aren't. I don't know why Elsa doesn't go somewhere where the kids can't get at her! Mia also has learned some new words. She can say, "ball" and "ouch." I also think she tries to say, "hi, Elsa" but I can't quite make it out.

Playing with Grandpa's tools. Ethan has to empty everything out of a container so that's why they're all over the floor!

The kids are OBSESSED with the dishwasher. We have to be sneaky when we load and unload it. They seem to hear it open from a mile away though! They love throwing all the dishes onto the floor.

Sitting on Grandpa Schmidt's lap.

In my dishwasher again! Both kids like to sit on the door. I really want a new dishwasher and secretly hope they break the door off! :)

Mia after Mommy cut her bangs. Yeah, they're a little crooked but she didn't exactly hold still!

This was my "holy sh@t" moment of the day. Ethan was playing in his room. I didn't think there was anything he could possibly get into. I heard him walking in the hallway and looked up. We made eye contact and he flashed me a huge black toothy smile. He had gotten into an ink pad. He had it all over his mouth and hands. I was absolutely dreading going into their room to see what he had wiped his hands on.

My carpet after the ink pad incident. The stains came out pretty easily, thank God!

Ethan got stuck in his chair. It actually took me a little while to get him out. He was wedged in there pretty good!

Ethan likes to climb on the fireplace hearth except that he can't get down. It's nice to know where he's at until he starts saying, "mom, mom, mom" non-stop!!

Standing on the chair. He's not afraid of anything!

I happened to glance over at him and saw him sitting on their table.

Cutting out bottles

We've decided it's time to start weaning Ethan and Mia from their bottles. We have several friends with babies their age and their kids are all ready weaned or are in the process. We were kind of dragging our feet, but I guess it's time! I'm going to cut out their afternoon bottle(s). They only took an ounce each from the sippy cup before their afternoon nap today. They weren't entirely impressed with the idea! I hope it goes smoothly!

We've Got Our First Walker

Ethan really started walking on February 9th when this video was taken. He gets better and better each day. It's fun to watch him wobble around! He can walk across the living room and he either trips on something or gets really excited and falls down.

Baby #3

I am 32 weeks and 4 days pregnant today! I had Ethan and Mia at this gestational age, so I'm a little nervous. My doctor assures me that I will carry this baby full-term, so I'm trying not to worry. So far, things are going great with this pregnancy. I've had no complications and my only complaints are being tired and my back hurting. I thought I'd include some pictures of when I was pregnant with Ethan and Mia.

I was 31 1/2 weeks pregnant with Ethan and Mia.

This was the night before I delivered Ethan and Mia. It's not the most flattering picture!

Ethan and Mia trying to walk

Here's a video of Ethan and Mia trying to walk. Ethan has gotten a lot better since this video a couple of days ago. He can almost walk across the room without falling down! Mia has been trying to take a couple of steps but she usually falls down after the first step. You'll also see Mia doing her high-five!

New discovery

Mia discovered Ethan's "boy parts" in the bath last night! It was actually kind of funny but at the same time, I didn't know what to do about it. He hasn't noticed her "girl parts" yet. But I'm sure it'll be coming.