Amelia is two months old!

It's hard to believe but our little Munchkin is two months old! She continues to amaze us everyday and she is a joy to be around. It's been a big month, with lots of changes. She is growing and changing so much every day. She had her two-month well baby check-up yesterday and she weighed in at TEN pounds! She hit a little growth spurt around week seven and she gained 20 ounces in just 21 days. As you can imagine, she is eating all the time to achieve a weight gain like that!

With her two-month "birthday", our little one decided she was a big girl and started sleeping in her crib, in her own room. If you've talked to me in the last few weeks, you know this is a HUGE accomplishment, as she was still sleeping in our bed just last week! We had been putting her down for naps in her crib to make the eventual transition easier for her and then, last weekend, she just decided she was done sleeping with us. She wouldn't fall asleep in our room no matter how hard we tried, so we eventually decided to give the crib a try. Sure enough, she fell right asleep and slept for five hours! Since then, she has slept in her crib every night and has only woken up once to feed each night. I was really sad the first night, as I wasn't quite ready for Mia to move out of our room yet, but since then I'm just enjoying the extra sleep (we also have a video monitor so I can check on her anytime I need to)!

As her body grows, so does her personality! Mia is a happy baby (when she gets her naps!) and loves to chat and smile with us. She loves when we sing to her and dance with her - her favorite songs are currently "So Long, Farewell" from the Sound of Music and "Tik Tok" by Ke$ha (yes, I know, it's not a very age-appropriate song for her, but she loves to dance to it!!). She's very active and loves to look around and see what everyone is up to. She's trying very hard to crawl (poor thing, she has no idea that milestone is still months away) and roll over. She has actually rolled over twice, but both times she was on a couch, so it was slightly slanted and gave her a little help. Given that, we're not ready to call her a baby genius quite yet. :)

As for B and I, we're quickly settling into life as a threesome. Now that the holidays are over and the visitors are gone, we're getting into a routine and figuring out how to make it all work. I'm still on maternity leave, until March 1, so that's helped ease the transition for us. We're starting to look for childcare for when I go back to work and that has us pretty stressed. It's going to be so hard to leave our sweet girl each day! Beyond that, we're just waiting on B's next set of orders so we can begin to make plans for our move. He should be taking a new job in the next six months or so, and most likely that job won't be here in San Diego. There's also a possibility he may deploy again, so we're trying not to worry too much about the future and just enjoy each day - of course, that's always easier said than done.

I can hear Miss Mia waking from her nap, so I'll leave you with some highlights from her second month...

A visit from Aunt Kayla

A visit from Aunt Christina and Uncle Daniel

Getting better at (and starting to enjoy) tummy time
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Melting us with her smiles!

Enjoying the boat parade with Summer, Gregg and Baby Tay

Mia's first Christmas! She was spoiled, of course!

Morning chats with Daddy

First trip to the Birch Aquarium

First plane ride! I flew back to Michigan while Branden was on a business trip. Mia was a champ, both coming and going. She slept through take off and landing and woke up once to eat and play. She cried for about five minutes on each flight. It's such a relief to know she is a good little passenger (at least until she gets mobile!).

Happy New Year!

Happy 2010! I hope that you all had a happy and healthy end to 2009. While 2009 was a wonderful year for us a family, we are looking forward to another great year in 2010. It will be hard to top '09, but we think little Mia will help us try. Before I update you on life with the little one, a quick look back...

My parents celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary by renewing their vows (and my dad finally proposed!!).

Branden and I joined my family on a trip to Italy to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday.

Branden and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary with a quiet dinner out.

Grandpa Rowe turned 85 years old! We celebrated with a family party at the lake.

Branden's youngest brother, Ryan, deployed to Afghanistan (and returned home safely in December).

My little seestor got married! Congrats to the new Mr. & Mrs. McIlhenney!

I won an incentive trip to Spain for Branden and I (Mia went too - I was 32 weeks pregnant!).

We welcomed a sweet baby GIRL on November 15!

When I look back, it is hard to believe that we were lucky enough to celebrate so much in one year. During a difficult time for so many people, we are humbled by the blessings of 2009.

While every one of these events brought us great joy, it was the birth of our daughter that truly made this a year to remember. She is seven weeks old today - I thought time flew before, but having a baby changes everything! When I look back at the photos from the last few weeks, it is hard to believe that she is almost two months old. Where does the time go??

If you want to see a collage up close, simply click on it and it will open up, bigger, in another window.

Little Mia is truly amazing. I'm sure all parents say that but, of course, we're biased! Branden and I feel so lucky to be her parents. She is a happy, sweet and curious baby who loves to snuggle. When she's not cuddling with us, she's cracking us up with her expressions!

If you want to see a collage up close, simply click on it and it will open up, bigger, in another window.

I know I always write this, but I really promise to try and be better about posting in the future! I know you all want to see pictures of Mia, so I will do my best. Perhaps that can be my New Year's resolution...