BIG sister Lila Grace

I am so proud of Lila!  She has truly amazed me. I never thought having a sister would bring out so much love in her.  I knew she'd be loving but I wasn't expecting her to be helpful at such a young age. 

Whenever Mia cries she lets me know and goes to her immediately.  ("Mamae, Mia choando." ou "Mamae, Mia ardou."... the first one means Mia is crying and the second means Mia woke up.)
She leans over and says "oh Mia, it's okay".  Sometimes she'll get a book and read to her while she's crying.  One time she took her Bible and "read" the story of Noah and sang the Noah song she knows.  It was the sweetest thing!  Other times Lila has taken her dolls and showed them to her..."Look Mia, balleina (ballerina...)" .  Whenever she draws pictures or colors a page she runs to Mia and shows it to her.  She says: "Look Mia, I did it!"  Smart!  It helps a lot that Lila isn't the type to want to touch Mia all the time.  She doesn't try to change her diaper or feed her or even hold her.  It has been easy to trust her around Mia without fear of Mia accidentally getting hurt.

We told her that Mia has a tummy boo-boo and if she cries Lila runs and gets the pacifier and Gripe Water so we can help the "boo-boo" and she'll actually say "Mia dodoi barriga" (Mia has boo-boo belly)...then she prays so Jesus will kiss her baby sister's boo-boo away. ("Papai Ceu, bejinhu dodoi barriga Mia, ome Jesus, Amen!") So sweet!

Lila hasn't been giving me an ounce of trouble...really.  The only thing she requests is to be held which is so okay with me.  She is sweet, and loves helping me out.  It has been a very pleasant surprise to say the least!

I am so blessed.  I can't thank God enough for these wonderful presents He is trusting me to care for.  To close, here's a picture that shows a ton of sisterly love.  Notice Lila's pout? :)

Mia Faith - 0 to 1 month

7/10/2010  -  8/10/2010

Time flew by... 

Mia is such a good baby.... very alert and likes to smile all the time!  She nurses a lot... on average, she'll nurse every 2 hours if not every hour and a half.  She's so chubby now!  At 3 weeks she weighed near 9 pounds!  Yes, it's exhausting feeding her so often, but so worth it and I'm really enjoying it.  It's amazing how much more confidence a mother has with the second child compared with the first.  Of course, with Lila it was hectic since the very beginning and the experience we had with her gave me a certain sense of insecurity which took a while for me to let go of.  However, I wouldn't change a thing about it because I learned a lot from it and how to relinquish control of some things.

Sadly, Mia also has a lot of colic and cries a lot.  I feel helpless because there's really NOTHING a mom can do to help alleviate the pain except wait until she's about 3 months old when it naturally stops. I've done my share of researching and changed my diet but I guess waiting is the best medicine right now.  I never wished for time to go by fast until now.

Her umbilical cord stump hasn't fallen off yet... yes...that's right.  I was worried at first but, since there's no infection, I guess there's really nothing to worry about.  It's actually weird that I think it's sort of neat that her umbilical cord stump is still intact because I feel it's the little symbol of both of us being connected and when I look at it I smile...  :)

So, not much to report this month.  We'll be back next month!

STATS:
weight:  8.6 lbs
height:  21 inches

MILESTONES:
First smile: 7/31/2010