Happy Halloween! This year marks our first Halloween together as a family of three! Halloween is one of my favorite festivities of the year, and I love thinking of creative costumes every time. I especially like costumes that go together in some sort of a theme and last Halloween, I was just at the beginning of my second trimester so I was pregnant Quinn and Dan was Finn from the TV show Glee. This year, Dan was Mario from Super Mario Brothers, I was Princess Peach, and Mio was… ::drumroll please:: Toad (the toadstool mushroom)! Dan and I had actually thought of the idea of being Mario and Peach for Halloween and had prepared our costumes two years ago, but I got deathly sick that Halloween and so we hadn’t been able to use them! But I suppose it was for the better, because our costume idea was made exponentially better with the addition of Toad Mio!
We had a busy Halloween weekend — on Saturday, Dan and his coworker friend co-hosted a baby-friendly Halloween party in the neighborhood, and on Sunday we drove into the city for an evening of Halloween bowling in the Presidio with our friends from Nakayoshi! Check out all the photos of the Halloween fun from this past weekend…
Mio and I as Toad and Princess Peach.
Cedar was an alligator, and Cristina was the alligator tamer.
Mio looking up to Cedar.
Toad Mio with Mario Daddy.
Standing with some help from Daddy.
She was a little overwhelmed by all the people...
Jasmine and Emme, the older girls at the party.
Pocahontas Sofia pointing... adorable!
Going after Mario's fireball.
Kayo and Jinwoo.
S & S!
Gorgeous view of the skyline and San Francisco city lights, taken from the balcony.
A family picture at the end of the night.
Bowling at the Presidio Bowling Center with Nakayoshi. (I believe this is the first time we’ve taken Mio into the city!)
The Toad mushroom hat we had originally bought for Mio.
The hat was ginormous and way too big on her, so we opted for a different one that was a little more manageable...
...much better!
Jamie lives in San Francisco now! She's my dear friend from Virginia Tech. I'm so thrilled that she's in the area now!
Mio got lots of lovin' from her Nakayoshi aunties and uncles.
Mio's first time meeting Graig... and she loves him already!
Wow, look at that chin. Fat angle much? hahaha*
My happy mushroom, aglow under the black lights.
Graig was so good with her!
The masked men: army man, wolf, and storm trooper.
Basketball star Graig and Little Red Riding Hood Aileen (with mushroom hat)
My new friend Hisae-san! Loved her hat!
With lovely Sam... so glad we got to see her!
With Haruka and Aileen! Mio has known them since she was one month old! 😀
Standing around.
"There's a smile!"
She looks like she's about to break into a dance.
Mio's first encounter with a bowling ball.
Jason took this cool picture of Mio in front of the bowling lanes!
She's loving it! She is as round as a bowling ball.
There she goes, scrunching her face again in an all-out smile...
Mio loves Auntie Jamie!
Couldn't resist putting the giant mushroom hat on her one last time...
Hope everyone has a fun Halloween! Perhaps next year Mio can go trick-or-treating!!! I’m already thinking of more family costume ideas….
A happy Mio yesterday, after a playdate with her friend Sofia. Thanks Sonya & Sofia for the hats! ♥ Yay for new friendships for both baby and mama! 🙂
…they do! Every parent tells me this, but it’s really true! Mio turned 29 weeks yesterday, and her smiles have changed. Before, they’d creep across her face and were given with a bit of reservation, oftentimes disappearing after a few seconds. In the last few days, her smiles seem to have keyed up a notch and are a lot more enthusiastic and wholehearted… I’m not sure how else to describe it except that they’re so animated that they take up her entire face! Her nose scrunches up, her eyes disappear into crescents, and her mouth opens wide to reveal her toothy grin (well, as toothy as you can get with just two bottom teeth). They are the most adorable smiles I’ve ever seen, and are truly infectious!
Some more photos and videos from yesterday…
Focused on eating the hippo.
Thanks Auntie Hanna for the outfit! So adorable!
Reading a book with Daddy.
Always getting distracted by Mama, even when she's with Daddy... love how her eyes always follow me around the room. (I win!)
Mio showing off her crawling skills for Daddy:
Having fun playing with her blanket and Mama:
…and I shall end with yet another photo of that smile of hers. Just can’t get enough of them! 😛
We went to the doctor today for Mio’s 6-month checkup. Her pediatrician, upon examining her, said that she is “the picture of health, and just perfect.” Just the words a mama likes to hear! 🙂 I had been a little concerned about a dry cough Mio has exhibited occasionally over the past week… but she only coughs once or twice a day, has no fever, and is her regular happy self…. Her doctor said that it’s nothing to worry about, so that’s a relief!
As for the latest growth stats for Mio, today she weighed 19lbs 5oz, which is in the 92nd growth percentile based on weight-for-age. Our chubster is getting quite heavy! No wonder our arms are sore these days….
For her height, she measured 26.75 inches long, in the 76th growth percentile based on length-for-age. (The pediatrician said, “She’s going to take after her dad, and will beat you in height. You’ll be the shrimp in the family!” Thanks…? hahaha*)
Mio’s head circumference was 17.52 inches, which is in the 90th growth percentile based on head circumference-for-age. I’m tellin’ ya, the girl’s got a huge head!
Mio got her third round of vaccination shots administered today, along with the flu shot. (That’s a lot of needles! 🙁 It still pains me to watch her getting shots, and as they say, it’s probably rougher on the parents than on the baby.) She cried bloody murder, but calmed as soon as I picked her up afterwards. It still amazes me how much comfort she finds in my arms… I’m still so clueless and new at this whole mothering business, but it’s sweet reassurance that I must be doing something right! Mio will have to go in for her second dose of the flu shot in about a month, but after that, she won’t have to worry about needles for a while! Good news for both Mio and for Mama!
(Photos above are from last Sunday at the grandparents’ house.)
Something cute Mio has been doing lately: when I hold out my hand towards her, she’ll army crawl towards it to reach for it and put her little hand in mine. Here it is on video!
If I make her do it too many times without picking her up, though, she starts to get cranky, as is the case below:
Alright, alright… for all that hard work, I will smother you in huggles! 🙂
This is what I wake up to in the mornings these days… Mio on all fours, with her head up, peering up from the crib with a smile brighter than the sun.
She’s definitely in her best mood in the morning, and then her temperament gradually goes downhill throughout the day, becoming extremely cranky in the evening and at night. ::sigh:: If only she could be in this great of a mood all day!
She always wakes up on her tummy...
She'll occasionally stick her tongue out.
Quite a sweet sight for sleepy eyes...
Love the way her eyes follow me, even through the crib slats… and how she breaks into a smile when recognition sets in.
And then, the other morning, we found her doing this:
Sitting up in her crib, peering through the slats.
Smiling to herself, as if the magnitude of what she had done has just dawned on her.
Laughing. While it was cute at the time, this photo looks a little scary... Crazy psycho baby!
Sitting up unsupported in her crib.
Hmm… thinking that it may be time to lower the crib.
