Valentine’s Day is this week, and Mio’s preschool class celebrated today by having a Valentine’s party and card exchange. All of the students’ mommies were invited to come to have snacks and treats with the kids, and it was a fun chance to see them in the classroom setting and look at what artwork they’ve been creating.
Mio’s artwork at school: “Love Grows” tree
Mio’s “Love Bug.” Love her butterfly’s goofy face!
Enjoying Valentine’s treats in class.
She thoroughly enjoyed everything, especially the cake pop!
Mio likes to do “big eyes” for the camera lately. Love my sweetheart!
My funny girl.
I remember my favorite part about celebrating Valentine’s Day at school was making mailboxes and exchanging Valentine’s cards with my friends and classmates! Seeing all the Valentine’s cards that Mio received from her preschool classmates brought back fond childhood memories. Some moms are really creative these days with their Valentine’s!
Mio’s Valentine’s cards from classmates
She can’t contain her excitement over her loot! Now if I could only figure out how to sneak all the sweets away for myself… 😛
It was really sweet to get to celebrate Valentine’s Day with Mio this year, as she’s really starting to understand and appreciate seasonal celebrations these days. (She still hasn’t completely gotten over the excitement of Halloween and Christmas… lol.) I have a feeling that with Mio’s sweet tooth, Valentine’s is going to be right up there among her favorite holidays!
Mirei is now over two weeks old! I’m feeling a lot more able-bodied these days, and while life with both a toddler and newborn can be quite challenging at times, it’s starting to feel a little more manageable now that a couple weeks have passed. Here are some photos of Mirei at two weeks old (along with some of Mio).
With my two sweet girls!
Mirei is starting to fill out now that she’s two weeks old. Definitely getting chubbier!
Goofy big sister Mio
Mio and Mirei have bathtime together for the first time. It did not go very well… Mirei still cries a lot during her baths.
Donut halo! Special thanks to Aileen for the Yummy Breakfast plush — Mirei was temporarily borrowing it from Mio. 😉
Mirei asleep against me. I wish I could bottle and preserve these moments forever…
Milk coma.
Wide awake and very alert!
Mirei sleeping, at 2 weeks old.
Love these funny poses newborn babies sleep in, with curled arms and legs.
Wide-eyed baby girl. Hello sweetheart!
All bundled up!
Drinking away… Daddy feeding Mirei to give Mama a break.
Mirei in her new Paddington Bear digs from Auntie Debbie! Thanks bestest ♥
Our family of four
16 day old Mirei
This newborn stage is so precious and sweet, and we are just soaking it all up because we know it’ll be over before we know it! Don’t grow up too fast, dear Mirei….
When we brought Mirei home from the hospital, we had a gift “from the baby” prepared for Mio, to help warm her up to Mirei and all the big changes she’d bring with her. We picked out this adorable ice cream toy set, knowing her love for ice cream and play food!
Sure enough, it was a huge hit and she has been playing with her ice cream shoppe every day since!
Mio playing with her new ice cream toy
Looking sheepishly through the “shop window”
Love how the box functions as part of the toy!
“Cheers!” with ice cream cones.
Doing a little dance with her ice cream.
Mio said “Thank you Mirei” and made an ice cream cone for her, too!
The real treat came this past weekend, though, when we rewarded for a great first week as a big sister! While she’s had her bouts of jealousy, as well as tantrums and meltdowns as a result, I can tell Mio’s trying her best to be a good sister and I wanted to make sure she knew that she was still our special first baby.
It’s been pretty cold and snowy here, and Mio’s been experiencing some major cabin fever! Snow days can be fun, but between winter break, MLK Day, and snow days, Mio’s only gotten to go to preschool 3 days so far this month and she’s been bored to death at home. She keeps saying she wants to go to school! (I wish she could go to school or have makeup days, too, since it pains us parents too to pay full tuition when over half her school days are off/cancelled…)
I’ve also been stressed out because since Friday night, I’ve been experiencing what is called prodromal labor… Also called pre-labor and misnamed as “false labor,” it begins like traditional labor but does not progress to the birth of the baby. I started having strong contractions (clearly different from Braxton Hicks) at around midnight on Friday night, which grew to be 3-5 minutes apart for 3 hours. I called my OB and just as we were about to leave for the hospital, they slowed down and got weaker, and completely fizzled out around 5am, so we stayed home and I was eventually able to fall asleep. Since then, I’ve been having irregular contractions on and off almost every day — usually in the evening or at night, though none have been as consistent or as strong as they felt that first night. It can be quite stressful because I never know when it might escalate to true labor, and is exhausting because it’s depriving me of sleep (the baby gets really active each time and moves a lot, so even when the contractions stop, her movement prevents me from falling asleep). According to what I’ve read online from women who’ve experienced prodromal labor, this can continue for days or even weeks before baby actually arrives. It’s apparently not all in vain, though — these annoying contractions supposedly condition the uterus, and prepare the cervix for dilation and effacement, and oftentimes active labor will be shorter (and hopefully easier?) as a result. I didn’t experience this at all when I was pregnant with Mio, so it’s totally new and unfamiliar. It’s just frustrating to wonder “Could this be it?!” every time the contractions start… we made sure to have the hospital bag packed and ready to go at any time, and Dan’s shoveled the driveway to be clear of snow and ice in case we do have to run over to the hospital.
Here are some photos and video of Mio recently… not very exciting, since we’ve been stuck indoors, but cute all the same. 🙂
Mio helping me top homemade pizza for dinner.
Mama’s little helper.
Here’s a video of her topping the pizza: “Okay ~ Put it ON! Bounce! Bounce!” She cracks me up.
Family lunch out over the weekend… probably one of our last before baby comes!
Mio lunging for the desserts. She couldn’t wait to dig in!
Playing dressup with auntie’s accessories.
“Ready for my close-up.”
Hope everyone is staying warm in the snowy weather!
Last Friday, Dan’s team at his company invited Mio and I over to their office for a lunch. Dan had just been told that it was a lunch to treat us in honor of the upcoming arrival — we were surprised to find upon arrival that they had decorated the conference room and prepared many thoughtful and generous gifts for the baby. His fellow team members had planned a beautiful baby shower for us!
Mio was so excited to visit Daddy at work!
They catered a delicious Italian lunch from Merone’s.
Mio was of course chowing down!
She also loved helping opening the gifts and cards.
Dan’s team members had even prepared gifts for Mio, including “Big Sister” scrubs she could wear to visit baby in the hospital!
A “Big Sister” book to prepare Mio to be a helpful older sibling.
They also presented us with a diaper/wipe caddy for the car embroidered with our last name, as well as a photo album full of generous gift cards from Target, Babies R Us, Baby Gap, B&H Photo, grocery stores… we were floored!
Mio especially loved this stuffed giraffe. She loved being a part of the celebration!
The baby shower lunch was such a warm and thoughtful gesture from Dan’s team, and we were reminded of how blessed we are to have so much support in both our personal and professional lives. With only a couple weeks to go until the due date, we’re finally feeling ready (or as ready as we’ll ever be) to welcome our much-anticipated addition to our family. (Even Mio has been pointing to herself and saying “Big Eester” — because she can’t quite say “sister” — non-stop, both at home and to her teachers and classmates at preschool. The other day, she came up to my belly and said, “Baby, hurry up!!!” lol.) We can’t wait to meet her!
(Special thanks to Dan’s coworker Melissa for taking these photos and sending them to us!)
