Catching up & Merry Christmas (this is really long)

I love this sweet picture of little Mia Lee

So, Mia has visited the dr. at least once a week since she was born.  Hopefully we can skip next week and wait until her 2 month appt the following week.  We had several really good days with her meds and I thought we were finally on to something.  But during the middle of the night feeding on Saturday she started crying again and refused to eat.  This continued through the day on Sunday.  By Sunday night she was back to arching her back, screaming, crying that terrible high pitched cry and refusing to breast feed and bottle feed.  I called and made an appt for the next morning.  We are so thankful to have found such an amazing pediatrician who cares so much about Mia.  She took her off 2 meds with the thinking that maybe the Prevacid can't absorb properly with both of the other meds.  I stopped eating dairy to see if maybe she has a milk protein intolerance.  Funny thing though, ever since we left the drs. office she has been eating great and acting just perfect.  So, who knows what is working.  Dr. Paradis (the ped.) called the following day to see how we were doing and how Mia ate the previous night.  I explained that she is doing great so we decided that I will go ahead and eat minimal dairy and see how it affects Mia.  We are also going to continue giving her only the Prevacid- thank goodness!  I was having a really hard time keeping my head on straight with all of the meds and the sleep deprivation! 

Little Mia is getting so big!  She started smiling on Saturday- those smiles make all the screaming and stressful days seem not so bad.  She is awake most of the day now.  She likes to just lay on her back (strange for a baby with reflux) and stretch and kick and look around.  I just love how she follows me around the room with her eyes.

Oh my goodness- I just love that little smile...

This sad face is awfully stinkin' cute too!

Here is a video of Mia today (7 weeks) smiling and talking:

She has also learned to really enjoy her baths.  It's so much fun to bathe her now.  

In fact, the other day she actually fell asleep while I was bathing her.  Of course, my phone and the camera were dead so we don't have any pictures, but it was so cute!  Watch this video of her bath last night- it's so much better without the screaming...

Here are some other random cute pictures from the last 2 weeks:

Every year since Craig and I got married we have gone to Bennington Pines and cut down our own Christmas tree.  I have been looking forward to the day we took our children since the first time we went.  It is this neat family run tree farm.  We ride a sleigh out to the farm and choose the perfect tree.  Then Craig saws it down and theycome back and pick us up.  We bundled Mia up in her cute little snow suit and put her in the baby bjorn and she slept through the whole thing but  

it was just as wonderful as I thought it would be!

Craig, Mia and I were Joesph, Jesus and Mary at our church's Walk Through Bethlehem this year.  Mia did great!  Luckily we found this binky the day before, so this year, Jesus had a big green binky, but at least 'he' was quiet and sleeping!

We took Mia to visit Santa last weekend.  The Santa was kind of a bum.  He just stuck out his arm and I laid Mia in it.  He didn't even look at her.  I tried to set her head up, but he was of NO help.  He never even talked or smiled.  

Yea, Merry Christmas to you too, huh?!

The other day I got out of the shower and this is what I found...

Craig, Doogle and Mia having tummy time.  Craig loves to do tummy time with Mia and of course, Doogle is usually right there in the middle of everything.

One last random picture- Craig falling face first into the lake during the Polar Bear Plunge.  :)  You can see his whole team running into the lake and if you look REALLY closely, you can see Craig's little head coming out of the water right in front of the EMT in the orange outfit on the left.  Poor Craig!  

His foot is doing much better now though, so now we can laugh about it!

Craig and I are so excited to share Christmas with Mia this year.  We asked God to bless us with a child for a long time and spending the holidays as a family seemed so far away, but here we are.  We are really trying to enjoy each memory we make and slow down during this Christmas season to not take Mia for granted.  I know I say this a lot, but I still can't even believe she is here.  You would think after 7 weeks of sleepless nights, it would be pretty real, but it still seems like a dream.  I love spending my days with Mia and am having a difficult time preparing to go back to school.  Craig and I both pray that God will provide the opportunity for me to stay home and be a mom.

This year Christmas has been especially meaningful for me.  First of all, while I was sitting in the 'stable' being Mary at church, I was thinking of myself in labor in the nice hospital with the helpful nurses and doctors and the much needed epidural.  I can't even imagine how sore Mary was from riding a donkey, how scared she was having Joseph deliver her baby with no medical help, how annoyed she must have been with animals running around her new baby and how lonely she must have felt without her family around to welcome baby Jesus.  Just the thought of that chaos makes me so thankful for hospitals!  I also feel that after having Mia I have a small understanding of the sacrifice the Lord made when He sent his son to die for us as sinners.  I can't imagine losing Mia.  And even more, I can't fathom offering her up for people who don't even deserve to be forgiven.  Thank God for the sacrifice he made for us by sending His son to die on the cross.

 Merry Christmas from our family to yours. 

And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. (10) And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. (11) For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. (12) And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” (13) And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, (14) “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”