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.

i'm glad to say that i am loving being a mom to jia.

once we got through the first few challenging days of exhaustion and figuring out feedings, etc... we've really started to see her true personality bloom. she's such a cheery peaceful baby, and the perfect addition to our little family.



it may sound crazy, but i was really nervous about motherhood. not so much in regards to whether or not i could do it, but more as to rather or not i'd enjoy it. i guess i never felt like i had the "mother gene" as strong as some other people. in general i don't always enjoy being around kids. and of course there are kids i like, it's not that i don't like kids...but i'm usually not sad to see them go home to their own parents at the end of the day. :)

but i do feel differently about this little one. i guess what everyone says is true...it's different with your own. even if she's been asleep awhile i kind of start to miss her.



i can't believe that today she is already a week old. time has flown, and yet it's also hard to imagine now the time before she was a part of our family.

this has been a fun week of firsts. first kiss. first bath. first poo. i guess this list could go on awhile.


(btw, she LOVES this blooming bath tub...now she cries when we take her out of the bath!)

her first walk around the neighborhood was fun. we're enjoying strolling her around with the doggies by our side as well.



her first real outing (besides the pediatrician) i guess was us strolling over to our neighborhood ice cream shop for a couple scoops.

i can't wait for all the other "firsts" we have in store, and i'm going to do my best to savor all these memories, and try to make as many new happy memories for her that we can.

thanks to God who knew exactly who we needed.