shomik likes to spend a few minutes outside on the deck in the mornings, and so he usually takes jia out there with him and lets her enjoy the warm day...before it gets crazy texas hot out.

so here's a little video shomik took of their hang out time last week.



it's sweet how jia has become so expressive lately...i love all her smiles and giggles!

today is 4 years since losing my dad.
it's always tough missing him, but this year i especially wish he could be around to meet his sweet little grand daughter.

i took her out to his grave today for the first time.



i just hope maybe he got to meet her in heaven before God sent her down to us.

the world can change so fast.
i can't believe jia is a month old today! time is seriously flying too quickly already.

i'm going to try to take pics of her every month in the same basic set up for her first year. we'll see how i do...i also meant to take daily pics of my prego belly, but that didn't happen. :P

anyways, here's a pic of jia about a month ago when she first came home...



and now one month later...



at one month she's very curious about the world! she looks around a lot, and the pediatrician said she holds her head up like a 2 month old!

she's in the 75 percentile for height and weight. at the moment she's sleeping 3-5 hour stretches at night, though she likes to eat constantly during the day.

she loves being held at all times, and has started to coo and smile. she loves her bath time...she just hates before and after when she's all naked and out of the water. she likes to sit in her bouncer on the back porch with her papa first thing in the morning, and she enjoys our little family strolls in the evening.

our lives have totally changed in this one month, and we're feeling so blessed by this little girl!

so i can't wait for my announcements to arrive from the printers, so i thought i'd share a bit online to hold me over! ;)



designed by yours truly. ;) coming soon to a mail box near you!

well i'm already letting my resolution to blog more slide!

not without good reason though. despite the fact that i'm mostly at home these days, little jia has kept me busy! i swear, it feels like i'm nursing about 90% of my waking moments! i'm hoping she's just in a growth spurt or something, because it's turning into a huge time suck! (no pun intended! hehe.)

all well worth it though for a happy and healthy baby. :)

my friend came over the other day and took some pics...and i can't help myself but to share some!


baby bliss!


pensive...


here she's laying on my childhood blanket!


first family photo!

oh, and just for fun, here's our little one on her first 4th of July...it was fun to celebrate our new American! looks like the celebrations wore her out...



actually...our family had two new Americans this year. :) *hint-not me!*



we're still in the learning curve, but definitely having fun and loving our little girl. i wasn't sure how i'd be at this whole motherhood gig, but the instincts seem to be kicking in, and i'm loving it more than i could have imagined!

so a lot of people have been asking...what about the doggies?

i'm glad to say that they're adjusting very well to the new person in our lives. better than i'd expected actually.



before we brought jia home from the hospital, my husband brought a little blanket and hat home that she'd been using for them to smell.

our little dog numa looked slightly horrified when she first met jia...like she knew that she had been dethroned. numa has kind of been the queen of our house.

our bigger dog, bindi, became jia's personal body guard from the start. i think she might have known something was going on even when i was pregnant. we'd go on lots of walks together, and she started becoming extra protective of me.

now she treats jia like she's her own baby...she's constantly checking on her to make sure she's ok, and she cries if she's separated from her! if jia cries, then bindi comes running!

so all in all i'd say the transition is going well...actually much better than i'd imagined. i'd heard the first six weeks with dog and baby can be tough...so i'm very thankful!



and jia doesn't even flinch at the sound of barking now...i guess it's true that babies get accustomed to sounds they're used to hearing in the womb...thank God! :)



jia is two weeks old today...so hard to believe!!
it's been so fun these past couple weeks getting to know her.