Gasparilla Children's Parade

Last weekend I took Melia to her first Gasparilla Children's Parade. Gasparilla is a Tampa tradition that celebrates pirates. Unless you actually experience the Gasparilla "season", it is hard to really grasp. It is so much fun!

Chris and I have been members of the Krewe of Agustina for years. For years we have taken Jennifer and Michael, then Faith, Hailee and Junior. FINALLY it was Melia's turn! I took Faith and Hailee this year as well. They love to dress up and throw beads.

Here are a few pictures of the celebration!

Packing up the Pump

A friend of mine told me months ago that putting her pump in storage was really hard for her. At the time, I thought she was crazy. I have been glued to that pump multiple times a day , every day, for a year. After going through the first month of nursing and pumping every 2 hours, 24 hours a day, I was done!

But now the time has come to pack up the pump and I have to admit I am a little sad. Don't get me wrong, I am not going to miss being tied to the clock and the machine at work. Or lugging it on planes, in cars, to the movies, etc... But it means we have reached another milestone in Melia's life.

We have weaned our daytime nursings, and the pumping at work that went along with them. So I have cleaned all the parts and packed them away to store for the next baby. Bye bye pump, for now.

Development Screening

At the recommendation of the lactation consultant at the hospital we took Melia to participate in a Development Screening at All Children's Hospital. We don't have any major concerns, but because of Melia being premature she said it couldn't hurt to make sure everything is progressing as it should. The screening is put on by the Early Learning Coalition of Pinellas.


Chris took Melia to the screening this week, so I am reporting on his report back to me. The screening looked at a variety of different things. The results are based on answers that we provided on a questionnaire and the observations of the people running the screening. They evaluated General Development, Hearing/Vision, Speech and Language, Fine Motor Development, Gross Motor Development and Sensory Integration.

She did well with all screenings, but they recommended she be rescreened in 6 months for Speech and Language. They said that most babies start talking between 9 and 15 months. Melia is very vocal, but doesn't really say any words. I wasn't surprised by this after answering the questionnaire.

I have to admit I was a little upset because I feel like we have worked really hard to make sure she is a good communicator. We have read to her every day since she was born. She loves books and is very interactive with them. I go out of my way to explain things to her and teach her words. I am sure once she does start speaking she will have a large vocabulary.

Her pediatrician hasn't had any concerns about her speech, and like I said early, we don't have any major concerns. This is just something to keep an eye on as she continues to grow.

Weaning

**Disclaimer - this post is about nursing, and I am not talking about the profession!

When Melia turned one we started weaning her from bottles. We actually started a few weeks before by putting expressed milk in sippy cups instead of bottles. Then once she turned one, I went cold turkey and threw out the nippes in the house. I think the process went smoothly (but I never fed her with bottles, so I really wouldn't have noticed if it was a problem!).

My next goal is to wean her from daytime nursings. Really, I am just VERY tired of pumping at work. I have cut back to one pumping session a day at work. So far so good. She still nurses when I am home with her during the day, but not as often.

I have no immediate plans to wean Melia from nighttime nursings. She doesn't seem ready to wean and I don't know if I am ready. I really value that private cuddle time I get with her at bedtime. Especially with the late hours I have been working lately. And there is a small part of me that continues to worry that she doesn't get enough to eat. At least that's the excuse I will use for now. :)

Daycare Update

Melia started daycare 6 months ago. It was a difficult day for me leaving her for the first time with strangers. Actually, it was hard for the first couple weeks.

Since then, I have been quite happy with our decision to place Melia in a "center". There has never been more than 4 kids in the infant room. Typically there is only two. Melia has been the consistent (and favorite) baby since she has been there. We love the ladies in her class and Melia seems very happy with them.

On February 1st Melia will be moving to the 1 year old room. There is still a small ratio (1 to 5), but there are currently 6 kids in the 1 year old room. I don't really know the teacher for that class, so I feel like we are starting daycare all over. The morning teacher in the infant class helps with the 1 year old class until 9:30A, so hopefully that will make the transition a little easier.

This week, however, Zhaneta (Melia's teacher) told me she has just been licensed for in home daycare. We love Zhaneta and have actually started the discussion about moving Melia out of the center and into Zhaneta's in home daycare. This has given us some things to think about over the next few weeks.

Changes in Latitude

When we found out we were expecting we received lots of advice and comments from people. From those that know us well, we heard a lot of "good thing you have already done so much traveling" and "there go your vacations". I have to say, thankfully, that their comments are not all true.

Melia is only 12 months old and has been to 5 states outside of Florida. She has traveled all over the state of Florida, from Miami to the Panhandle. And she has taken 6 flights (12 if you count connections). She travels great in the car.

This year, circumstances have not allowed us to leave the US. Babies have to be 6 months old to cruise, and that's when Chris and I were both back to work after leave. We had to get her passport (getting the picture was a pain!). And our schedules when we returned to work didn't allow us to both get the same weeks off. But we have been able to take some "mini vacations".

Having Melia has changed the way we travel. We used to stay in cheap hotels (we would rather spend the money enjoying the location we were visiting). We don't stay in expensive hotels now, but we look for amenities that make travel with a baby easier. We LOVE Staybridge Suites. We used public transportation, but that is a little more difficult with a diaper bag and stroller, so we have rented a car on our past few trips. We have even taken different flights in order to cash in on Frequent Flyer miles. Now we need two people to travel with Melia and all of her stuff! Having Melia has also changed our activities when we travel. We have done some crazy excursions on vacations in the past. Now we choose the tamer activities. It has actually been a nice change of pace. Plus, we get to go in the kids sections now, which gives us a whole new perspective!

We have booked Melia's first cruise! In April we are traveling to Bermuda. Again, we picked the itinerary to accomodate her. We stay overnight in port for 4 days. This way if she is having an off day it is easy for us to head back to the ship and not worry about missing a port that we are only in for a couple hours. I hope she loves cruising as much as we do. There are so many more places to visit on our bucket list!

12 Month Check Up

This morning was Melia's 12 month check up. She weighs 18lb 13.2oz and is 27 inches tall. That puts her in the 25th percentile for weight and 10th percentile for height (her parents are not giants!).

Developmentally she is doing well. She is very vocal, but only says a few "words". The doctor thinks she sleeps well and that she is just waking up at night to nurse because I have conditioned her to do so. So for my well being, I am going to try to resist getting up everytime she cries in the middle of the night. Let's see how that goes.

Melia received 3 shots today. One as the first dose of H1N1, so we will be back next month for the booster.

Otherwise, all is well and we won't be back (hopefully) until her 15 month check up.

Time to Party!

Melia had the BEST first birthday party. We are so blessed! My sister, nieces and Mom helped Chris and I clean, decorate and cook for the party (and clean up!). Chris' mom watched Melia all day so I could actually get everything done for the party. And Nicole (Melia's godmother) got the most amazing Winnie The Pooh cake EVER!

We had a great turnout of friends and family to share in Melia's special day. We served a taco bar complete with all the fixings. It was yummy! There were things to keep kids of all ages entertained, which was great because we had kids from 11 months to 14 years old at the party. Lisa was my "professional" photographer and managed to snap away with 3 different cameras.

Nicole got a smash cake that looked like a Honey Pot for Melia. Third attempt - I am beginning to think she does not like cake. But she loved everyone singing Happy Birthday to her. She even clapped when they were done!

Melia was one tired little girl by the time we got home and went to bed early last night. It was a memorable day for all of us. Now its time to start planning for next year!

A Year Ago Today...

A year ago today, we woke up and expected a typical day. We had an appointment with the perinatologist that afternoon and the rest is history.

Our baby girl is ONE today!

It is amazing to see the difference a year makes. Melia's 12 month check up is next week. She is walking (and trying to run!) all over the place. She loves to climb. She doesn't really say words, but she talks alot! Melia continues to amaze us daily.

We are still nursing, but phasing out the bottles. She does great with sippy cups most of the time. We have a couple Stage 3 jars left, but she is really good at eating "normal" food. Melia really hasn't shown a dislike of any foods yet (exception below!).

Tonight we are having cupcakes and ice cream at Grammy's house with family. Birthday party is scheduled for Sunday. I am hoping todays cake experience goes better than our picture cake experience!