Four Months Old!

I can't believe it's already time for me to post about Millie's four month milestone.  It feels like yesterday she was just an infant.  Seriously, time needs to stand still just for a while. 

I can't express into word how much my heart leaps for joy when I see my baby girl's eyes light up when she sees me from across the room.  She knows I'm her mommy and it gives her peace.  Her peace is my peace.  My favorite part of the day is first thing in the morning when she's lying in her crib and I walk in to greet her.  As soon as I peer over the side, I get this precious look...


Melt my heart!

Now at four months, Millie weighs 15 pounds and 8 ounces (86%), is 25 1/4 inches (84%), and her head circumference is 16.1 inches (47%).  She is still a healthy girl!  She is starting to really giggle and laugh a lot now and is so incredibly interested in her surroundings.  She stares at everything and really studies it.  she loves for me to read books to her.  She hasn't rolled over yet but we're working on it!  She's got some weight to carry so I'm sure that makes it a little harder.  She's able to put herself to sleep for naps and bedtime which is AWESOME!  She isn't sleeping that well but I can tell the sleep training is working.  She is officially wearing six month clothing.  Her head control is excellent and she loves to stand up.  I'm going to try to start weaning her off of her swaddle soon.  I'm not excited about that.  We also started rice cereal on Wednesday.  Day one didn't go so well... 

...she fussed most of the time but by the third day she was loving it and begging for more.  The cereal hasn't affected her sleeping though (unfortunately).  I was hoping it would help her sleep better but no such luck.

Rachel and Griffin came by last week to visit.  We had another great day together and another great photo opp with the babies.  I love these two!

2011 is here. Happy New Year!!

I realize that we are already six days into the new year and that means I'm six days late in writing this post.  But hey, at least I'm finally writing it!  We kicked off the new year with an amazing weekend that I must share with you.  Since New Year's Eve landed on a Friday this year, we were able to celebrate the whole weekend!  My mom and Mike drove up from Houston to babysit Millie Friday night so Trevor and I could be grown-ups.  We met my cousins Jason and Berenice at Myron's steakhouse in New Braunfels for a delicious New Year's eve dinner.  We had scrumptious steak, jalapeno mac and cheese, mushrooms, and asparagus for dinner and I cannot forget to tell you that we had some amazing wine as well!  Dinner lasted about three hours and then all four of us headed back to our casa to ring in the New Year with champagne.  When we arrived home, mom and Mike were already in bed but we were able to get mom up to ring in 2011 with us.  I have a picture of her but she would shoot me if I posted it.  Don't worry mom!  She did, however, snap some great photos of the four of us just after the ball dropped.

We had such a great time!  It was the perfect way to welcome 2011. The next day, Trevor and I packed our bags and left the house at 11:00 for our very first 24 hours without our little princess.  Trevor's parents gave us a gift card for a night away for Christmas and my mom and Mike gave us the gift of staying with Millie for 24 hours sans mom and dad.  I can't tell you how awesome it was to have some quality time with my husband.  Especially in the atmosphere we were in!  We headed over to the new JW Marriott Hill Country resort in San Antonio.  It's only one year old and it's the most beautiful place I've been to in a long time.  The resort also has a PGA golf course which is very nice.  When Trevor and I checked in, we had no idea at the time but his friend who works for Marriott, set us up in the PRESIDENTIAL SUITE!!!  Holy moly this room was huge!  It had two fireplaces (one in the living room and one in the master bedroom), four flat screens, two living rooms, a huge dining room table, kitchen, and a study.  It was magical.  The view was something out of a painting.  Very romantic.  I have pictures but they're on my iPhone and I haven't uploaded them yet.  Anyway, I was more excited about getting a full night's sleep without waking up for feedings every few hours more than anything.  I also got an amazing 80 minute deep tissue massage at the Hotel Spa which was, well...AMAZING!

So far 2011 has been a blessed year.  I hope and pray that only more joy and blessings come to our family and yours in this new year.  God bless!

Christmas

Christmas this year was purely magical. We are so blessed to have so much family to share the Holidays with and though it can be exhausting traveling here and there, we wouldn't change it for the world!

The weekend before Christmas was Goliad Christmas.  That includes everyone on my father's side of the family.  We all met at my Mimi and Papa's house and shared a great weekend together.  It was special this year because my cousin, Jaqui, and I both have new babies and this was their first Christmas so it was so much fun with both Ryan and Millie.  Here's a picture of the new baby cousins hanging out....

Ryan Paul Rubio (6 mths.) and Millie Grace Bird (3 mths.)



Millie and Ryan with their great-grandparents.

After a great weekend with the Pillow's in Goliad, we went home and began preparing for Craig family Christmas (my mom's side).  It's been tradition in our family since before I was born to all gather at my grandparents' house on Christmas eve and enjoy fellowship with the WHOLE family.  I'm talking aunts, uncles, cousins, great-aunts and uncles, third cousins once removed, etc.  I mean ALL the family comes together.  It's so awesome.  We all play chinese Christmas and exchange gifts.  Here's a couple pics from Christmas Eve:

When Christmas morning came, we dressed all the babies in matching Christmas pajamas and took pictures.  These girls are so close in age and we are all just giddy thinking about them growing up together.  I'm sure they will all be very close.  Not only family, friends!



From left: Millie, Colbie, Reghan and Rylee

 It was so wonderful to FINALLY meet my baby twin cousins Reghan and Rylee.  If you remember, my aunt and uncle have been living in Singapore the past year and they had the babies over there.  Christmas was our first time meeting them and they are oh so precious!  They are six months old now (two months older than Millie).  I had so much fun watching all three of them interacting and playing.  It makes me so happy to know that these girls will grow up together.  Also, my sister-in-law Paige just gave birth to identical twin girls right before Christmas!  Isabelle Cecilia and Sophia Elizabeth.  They are so beautiful and precious and It's exciting to think that Millie has TWO sets of identical twin girl cousins to grow up with all her age.  I just hope Millie doesn't get confused and start asking us where her other half is.  Ha!

I hope you all had a magical Christmas!

Sleep Training + New Year

WOW!  What a crazy month!  December was full of great memories with my little family of three.  Millie had an awesome first Christmas and I can't wait to tell you about it however, it's going to take some time that I don't have at the moment but I promise to fill you in later.

Millie will be four months old on the third and by now, her sleeping habits should be pretty good.  But, they're not.  She went from getting anywhere between six to eight hours of sleep at a time to waking up every THREE HOURS!  I have no idea what happened, but she's been consistent for her whole third month.  Needless to say, it's time to start sleep training.  She needs to learn to soothe herself to sleep and be able to get herself to fall back asleep.  Soooo...last night was the first night we let her "cry it out" in her crib.  She cried for 25 minutes straight and it was the longest 25 minutes of my life!  It was so hard not to walk in there and pick her up and soothe her.  But I know in the long run she will thank me for it.  Thank God for Trevor becuase he kept me sane.  He took the monitor and wouldn't let me go in there.  Thankfully I was preparing dinner so I had something to do to occupy my mind.  I was afraid she would cry for over an hour but after she stopped at 25 minutes, I was relieved.  She woke up again at 11 and I fed her and then again at 2:00.  I let her cry again because I knew she wasn't hungry.  After eight minutes she was out again.  Phew!  I nursed again at 3:00 and then let her cry at 5:30.  Then we were up for the day at 7:30.  I am confident that after a few more days of this, she will be able to fall asleep on her own and keep herself asleep and then all three of us will feel more rested.  Pray that this works!  It's so hard!

I'm super excited that my mom and Mike are coming into town tomorrow to babysit while Trevor and I spend New Years Eve out.  We plan to take it easy and just go out to dinner and maybe have a drink or two after dinner then ring in the New Year at home.  But, Saturday night Trevor and I are going to the JW Marriott Hill Country to spend our first night away from the baby.  We need it so bad.  It's going to be hard to be away from Millie but I know that Trevor and I will be able to enjoy ourselves and have fun.  Hopefully I will get a full night's sleep!

I wish you all a Happy New Year!  I'll be back next year!



Happy Thursday!



Bird family Christmas

Last night we went over to Oma and Opa's house for Bird family Christmas.  We were all together...Oma, Opa, Nana, Trevor, me, Millie, Derek, Paige + 2, and Hudson.  We enjoyed a great dinner and then opened presents.  It's so fun watching Hudson open his presents.  He's at that sweet age where he gets excited about unwrapping each gift one at a time.  Millie got some sweet gifts as well including a college fund from Oma and Opa!  Get ready Harvard, Millie will see you in 18 years!  Trevor and I will work hard to build that fund so Millie can choose any college she wants (as long as it is in Texas). 

Millie's first Bird family Christmas!

Millie and her Aunt Paige who is expecting twin girls in six days!!!  Yay for cousins!

Millie Grace is 3 Months old!

I'm alive!  I'm so sorry I haven't blogged in over a month.  I feel terrible about it.  I've thought about blogging everyday but time gets ahead of me and it just hasn't happened.  But I'm turning over a new leaf and making it a priority to blog more often!

More importantly, Millie is three months old!!!  I can't believe how much time flies.  She is so active now and very attentive.  She just looks around and takes in every single thing she sees.  She loves to watch TV (not great) and is mesmerized by the lights.  I'm not letting this turn into a habit however her father loves that he can watch TV with his baby (also not great).  Millie is talking up a storm now!  She has the sweetest voice and I spend most of my days talking to her about all the latest baby gossip.  She also is beginning to reach for her toys which is HUGE!  She loves to put any and everything into her mouth (beginning stages of teething?).  I'm not certan how much she weighs although I assume it's somewhere around 13 or 14 pounds.  She is officially in a size two diaper but yet we still seem to have many blow outs...

We are getting so excited that Christmas is right around the corner!  Our house is always a comforting and warming atmosphere around Christmas time.  Here is a glance at our beautiful leopard Christmas tree and our family stockings...

In just six days my Aunt Viki, Uncle Joe, and their two most precious twin girls, Reghan and Rylee will be home from Singapore for Christmas!  I cannot wait to meet my beautiful baby cousins and introduce Millie to her great Aunt and Uncle and future best friends/cousins!

Yesterday Rachel came down from Austin with her precious son, Griffin.  He is almost exactly one month younger than Millie and SOO cute!! We had a great day and  got some cute pictures of the future Mr. and Mrs. Griffin Kingsbury!

I finished ALL my Christmas shopping today!!!  The End.

2 Months

I can't believe my little girl is two months old!  I just can't believe it.  We went today for her two month check up and her first round of immunizations.  Millie is now 12 pounds 8 ounces (88th percentile), 23.75 inches (80th percentile) and 50th percentile in head circumference.  BIG GIRL!  I'm so proud of her!  She likes her food.  When it came time for the shots, she started bawling before they even poped the cap off the needle.  It's like she knew what was coming.  Thankfully the nurse was great and gave her the shots quickly so mommy could soothe her baby.  It was MUCH harder for me than her.  Bless her heart she is napping now.  She has to be exhausted after all that trauma this morning!

On another note, Trevor and I started putting her in her room on Monday, November 1.  The first night she slept eight hours straight!  I thought, "why didn't we do this sooner?".  The next night, however, was awful.  She didn't go down until about midnight and then she was up every two hours.  Last night was a little better but we're still having issues.  Hopefully she gets back on her good sleeping schedule for my selfish sake.

Millie is smiling up a storm now!!  Every morning after we eat and change her diaper, she lies on her changing pad and we have our happy time.  I talk to her and smile at her and she will just stare at me and smile back and coo.  It's the most precious time that I will always cherish.  She is the light of my life, no doubt.  She loves her mirror too.  I stand her up on her feet and she will stare in the mirror at herself as if she's trying to figure out if that's a reflection or just a picture.  She's extremely observant.  Her head is getting much stronger and she loves her tummy time. 

Being a mother is the most incredible gift that I thank God for everyday.  I couldn't ask for anything more.  I have a loving husband, a healthy daughter, and the most amazing family and friends anyone could ask for.  I am truly blessed.