Dia de Mia Vol. 2 No. 4-5: Easter in Arizona

Hello again from our new internet local,

Last week, Mia completed her 6th near cross country round trip in a little more than her first year of life. That means three things: 1.) For a year where I vowed to cut back on travel, we've traveled waaaay too much, 2.) we didn't post last week, so this is a combined issue, and 3.) many of you will recognize these pictures as you saw them taken.

So Mia got to see her Abuelita and is happy to report that Abi is leaving the hospital (after a 3 week tour) and will be home on Tuesday. That was one heckuva errand running session Margie and Frank! Next time use the internet. Besides reminding us of life's fragility and the importance of family, this ordeal gave us a new inside joke that we're sure will be around and still funny for years to come. Let's just say that if Margie is "Buttercup", the role of "Farmboy" is to be played by Frank, not Margie's male nurse.

In passing the one year threshhold of her life, Mia has seemingly opened the floodgates on her development. The new things that have happened and been discovered over the past two weeks are probably too numerous to mention here and definitely too numerous to remember in one sitting. But.... (deep breath)... as we report every week she is moving faster than ever and climbing much more proficiently. Her signing has become a truly efficient means of communication. She tells us with gusto and accuracy that she is hungry, wants milk, wants more, is tired. She has even developed a little head nod that we think means "thank you". And her verbal skills are coming along as well. She can call a banana by its name (minus the "b"). In fact she made Mommy buy some in the store yesterday by pointing them out. She calls to the "dog"s and even knows Ulla's name, and says "woof" when she's a dog or even hears the word. And... a great moment for Mommy, she now calls out to her as "Mama". It's hard to explain here, but the difference in accuracy and frequency of her words and signs since say, two weeks ago, is pretty incredible. Oh yeah, and she makes herself laugh all the time now.

Happenings: As you can see, before we hopped on a plane, Mia fully enjoyed ripping into her first Easter Basket!

We already mentioned we took a plane ride -- it was to Arizona. We saw a bunch of family and friends and Mia even took in her first Spring training game. Besides the view from some primo seats under a beautiful cloudless sky, thanks to Uncle Bob and his Brewer's connection, Mia got to tour the locker room and actually shook hands with Craig Counsell (of the 2001 World Champion Diamondbacks) and Prince Fielder (potential future Hall of Famer).

Mia's choppers are coming in nicely and her love of food has only grown. Just don't let it be bland and she'll eat it. She especially like biting into full sized sandwiches.

Discoveries in dirt and volume: Thanks to some nice weather and her new skills in locomotion, Mia found that dirt is incredibly interesting and fun. She also figured out how to work a volume knob and agrees with Daddy that music sounds better when the knob is turned clockwise.

Enjoy the pics this week. To see outtakes and bloopers, click here (and here).

Love, Mia, Marlo, Brad, Ulla, and Cleo

PS: For those of you without much experience, the underlined words are links to more info. Click on them and see where it takes you! And there's a video up there in case you missed it -- check it out.

PPS: Obviously we're still working on formatting issues and updating older stuff. Thanks for your patience and we hope you enjoy what we have so far.

Walking around in my Easter Dress




















Taking a ride with Abi



















Easter in AZ














Photo shoot with Cousins Emma and Anna































Spring Training game pics with Grandma and Daddy



















Playing with friend Morgaine (daughter of friends Chip and Kathy)















Cuddling w/ my toys



















Back home with Ulla

Dia de Mia Vol. 2 No. 3

We are extremely happy to report that Abi is out of the ICU, in a rehab center, and has made quite a recovery. She has a long, difficult, road ahead of her, but we know she has the strength and will to make a full recovery. we couldn't be more relieved and happy. Thanks again for all the thoughts and prayers!


So this week Daddy took care of Mia, Sunday through Wednesday. It was not easy, but incredibly rewarding. Mia was beginning to show a preference for mommy-time that Daddy understood, but wasn't all together satisfied with. This bonding time has helped balance the universe a bit. Seriously though, Mia was incredibly good to her Daddy all week long and it was nothing but a pleasure having sole custody for couple of days. What did we do? As you see from pictures to the left, we ate a lot of blackberries (the new grape), carried around empty two liter bottles and wore clothes that were too small for us (turns out Daddy didn't know that all the "new" clothes were in the laundry).




Having Mommy home sure was relief. Mia was a bit stand-offish at first, having been left alone by her for the longest period in her life but things quickly righted themselves. The weather was beautiful and "springy" this weekend and we made it to the dog park. Mia had her first chance to ride face-forward, and man, did she love it! And riding with the whole family in the car was quite an adventure. We're just happy we all fit in the Subaru! Should make day hikes to fun places possible this summer.

New stuff this week: Mia is "talking" more and more and really getting a handle on her signs. As before she can tell us she wants milk, but now she can tell us she wants solid food too. And she can signal when she's ready for bed or has a dirty diaper. She can show us her belly and head and knows how to find Daddy's ears (probably because it hurts when she tugs on her own ears). Mia is also wanting to help these days. She wants to brush her own hair and likes to put her own toys away. And she loves bring books to Mommy and Daddy to read to her (her attention span is still a little short though). And boy is she moving! Starting to jog, but this still results in face plants most of the time. And she is climbing on everything. She loves the game where she climbs onto something that she has no idea how to get down from and having Mommy or Daddy save her. We have to admit, it is a pretty fun game.

Ok, enjoy the rest of this weeks photos here. Videos coming soon (actually if you're looking at this for the first time now, check out week 47, Jan. 20th, to see some of Mia's first steps!)! And keep checking the "archive" on the right side of this page. Eventually we'll have all the Dia de Mia Vol.1 up there with previously unreleased photos.

Keep up the great work Margie! We love you!

Love, Brad, Marlo, Mia, Cleo, and Ulla

Dia de Mia Vol. 2 No.2

Mia had her first year check up this week. She is coming along nicely, in both size and cognitive development. The doctor gave us the go-ahead for her to eat just about anything now. And she is soooo close to being able to face forward in the car seat. Also, we have had some success in her drinking whole milk. She has decided that grapes are the new bananas. She simply can't get enough of them!

The week ended with an event we hope we can get behind us a quickly as possible. Margie and Frank (aka Abi and Tata) were in a terrible car accident. Mommy went out to take care of her Mommy while she recovers in the ICU. This leaves Daddy and Mia on their own for the first time over multiple days. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Margie and Frank and all the Perrys and Camachos.

To take a look (and order prints too if you want) at the rest of the pictures from this week, click on this link. Enoy!

Love, Marlo, Brad, Mia, Cleo, and Ulla

Dia de Mia Vol. 2 No. 1: Mia turns 1!!!

Mia was not feeling well all week but we had a great party. She had fun playing with her new toys, playing in her new playroom (aka: basement) and enjoyed time with all her little buddies: Owen, Tom, Isabel, Genevieve, Lydia, and Bridget. She really enjoyed her first taste of cake. Jess made her a monkey cake. Mia's portion was a perfectly shaped banana. To her surprise, the cake even tasted like banana too! It's nice to see Mia back in action and to see her healthy appetite again.

We hope you tune in for each new post as this blog evolves. We also hope to archive the first year of Dia de Mia soon.

Check out a slide show of Mia's birthday week by clicking on this link.

Dia de Mia Vol. 1 No. 47

Hello again....

Mia turns one month short of 1 year this week. After a few quiet weeks, another big one folks. But the big news that trumps all: she's officially walking. Not well yet, so it is still fun, and not so much extra work. Mommy and Daddy still, for the moment (and we really mean moment because two days ago she wouldn't even take a step), choose the time and place of the walking. When we set her up, she'll walk the length of room (about 14 feet in this house) and then stage dive onto Mommy or Daddy or even doggy. And she laughs the whole way -- she really knows she's doing something extraordinary.

Other news: Hung out a lot this week with our friends Allen and Elaine and their son and Mia's best friend outside of daycare, Owen. We went to a nice brunch at their place where Mia had her first french toast (the best french toast Daddy has ever tasted - he will distribute the recipe as it becomes available.... Elaine?). We the went to a DC city park where Mia and Owen had a great time. Interesting fact -- we can't find any parks with swings inside the DC border -- some insurance thing? We don't know.

We ended the week at the Baltimore aquarium again with Allen, Elaine, and Owen and friends Stephanie and Jess (two of Mia's --and Mommy and Daddy's -- favorite babysitters). This place is awesome, even having been to all the aquariums on the West Coast.

Mia continues to become more aware of everything that goes on around her. We think she really enjoyed the aquarium. She really liked bellying up to each and every aquarium to look at what was inside. She learning her signs a little better and is learning (maybe unfortunately) to point. She is looking at her books page by page now, and not always tearing the pages out. She has developed a bit of a devious sense of humor (something that runs deep on both sides of the family). Upon hearing "no" she usually turns around to the one saying it with a little smirk (thats' right, smirk). She still ultimately listens to Mommy and Daddy, but it is just a matter of time.

All in all, it gets better every week....

Enjoy the pics...

Love,
Cleo, Ulla, Brad, Marlo, and Mia

1.) Criusin' with Owen
2., 3.) DC park
4.) Walking!
5.) Checking out the view of the sub
6.) Hey pal, you here to see the dolphins?
7.) Big fish!
8.) Turtles
9., 10., 11.) A walk through the rain forest
12. Dolphins
13.) Reading

Dia de Mia Vol. 1 No. 46

Hola everyone!

Due to a(nother) couple of colds in the house (not Mia though - yay!) it's been another fairly tame recovery week around these here parts. Mia is really enjoying her new room and teacher at daycare. Apparently she loves water and eating and playing with bubbles and taking walks.

Mia took two more solo steps this week and continues to get faster on all fours and anything she can grip to climb. She's had a great time this week playing with her new toys and has even started to like playtime in her very own room. She's starting to learn the names of things and can sometimes pick out "dog", and "monkey", "book", and "ball" out of her toys. And she has started to be able to answer "What sound does a monkey make?". She doesn't quite have it mastered yet but it is loads of fun when she gets it. Oh yeah, and she's really finding her laugh these days - enough that she actually cracks herself up every now and then.

Enjoy the pics!
Love, Marlo, Brad, Mia, Ulla, and Cleo

PS: No teeth yet, but the bumps are getting more prominent.

1.) Playing in my room
2. & 3.) Playing w/ stuff in the kitchen
4.) Driving my new custom hippo ride w/ my personalized AZ plate
5. & 6.) Jamming on the Ukulele
7. & 8.) Matching fauxhawks
9.) Riding Daddy's shoulders and gouging his eyes out (unfortunately this has started to be really funny for Mia)