It's Happy Halloween week! This has been a busy week... Sean left for a trip to Baltimore on Monday, and my mom was here until Tuesday. We had a great time, just us girls. We went out to lunch, did a little shopping and played with Gia. It was so great to have my mom here... I was sad to see her go. But, we will get to see her and my dad again in November! Yay! It was just me and Gia most of the week and we did pretty ok. But we were so glad when Sean got home on Thursday! I tried giving Gia sweet potatoes, but she didn't like them very much. In fact, she wasn't liking the rice cereal much either so we've stopped those for a week or so in hopes that when we pick it up again, she'll be more interested.

Gia is in full-fledged teething mode these days, and Sophie the Giraffe is the perfect thing for her tender, swollen gums. We take this little guy everywhere and as you can see from the top picture, she really goes to town gnawing on it! Its made of one piece of rubber and is super soft and flexible. You can find these trendy toys almost everywhere... Babies R Us, Buy Buy Baby and other boutique baby stores. It makes a great shower gift, as I probably would not have bought one myself for Gia but now that we have it, I am so thankful!

Below is a link to a petition for grieving parents to receive leave for bereavement under the Family Leave Act.

Thankfully, I was able to take my full maternity leave after Whitney died. I remember the days and weeks of walking around in a fog, wondering if this was really my life. I had to relearn how to live my life in this new sense of normal. Everything from sleeping to eating to driving and shopping was completely foreign and had to be relearned. I am thankful for the time I had on maternity leave to get used to just living life before I had to face what all of that meant for my job.

I know that many women receive maternity leave, but if your pregnancy loss was early, you were not able to take maternity leave. Or, if you had a c-section you barely get your feet back on the ground then have to return to work and face the public.

There are also mommas that lose their babies several weeks after birth due to the poor/fatal diagnosis. Their maternity leave runs out and have to return to work shortly after burying their child.

This Parental Bereavement Act is an amendment to the FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) that will extend benefits to employees who have experienced the death of a child. There are so many ways that our little ones are not acknowledged when they pass away, especially if the baby is stillborn (as was our case). We did not receive a birth certificate, she was not acknowledged on our taxes, and if she had been born much earlier, I would not have been eligible for maternity leave. This is a great way to allow families time to heal without having the extra stress of missing so much work to grieve.

Its super simple to sign the petition online... only took a couple of minutes. Click the link below to sign! You don't have to be a baby loss momma to care!

My sister sent Gia this Baltic Amber teething necklace with a warning: "It may be a little kooky, but a friend of mine swears by it!" I'd never heard of using an amber necklace to help with teething pain, but I thought it was worth a shot. In fact, I'm finding more and more that I am leaning towards natural and homeopathic remedies for Gia and becoming more and more "accidentally crunchy."

The day we got the package in the mail, Gia was really cranky with teething pain. I opened it up, read the pamphlet inside, and put the necklace on her. Within a half hour, she was a completely different baby! I was shocked! She's worn it almost every day since then. She has two bottom teeth that have yet to cut through, but I am convinced this necklace is helping to keep the pain away. At night, if I think its going to be a bad teething night, I will wrap the necklace around her ankle and put a sock over her foot and the necklace to keep it in place. (Don't want baby to sleep in a necklace, of course!)

Here's a good blog with some more info on Baltic Amber Necklaces. There are many shades of amber, but from what I've read, the lighter the color, the better. The way they work is when the amber is warmed by the skin, healing oils are released into the skin and absorbed into the bloodstream. You are supposed to wear the amber as close to the afflicted site as possible. So, like for teething, she wears it around her neck. If you had a headache, you'd wear it around your neck, too. For knee pain you might wear it as an anklet. It is made to wear but NOT to chew.

Here is the online site where my sister got our necklace gift. We have one of the raw amber teething necklaces... and I do LOVE the look of the raw amber. Its so beautiful! So, what about you guys... do you have any experience with Baltic Amber?

EDITED TO ADD: I have a discount code for 15% off the store "Inspired By Finn" (where my necklace came from). Email me if you want it!

With NaNa here this week, we went to a local apple orchard. Ever since my friend gave us this apple sweater, I knew the orchard was on our must-do list for Fall. I wanted to go to this one specifically because they have u-pick apples... so you can imagine my disappointment when we learned that all the apples had been picked off already! We still had a great time wandering the orchards and pumpkin patches. They also had lots of apples already picked, so we bought a bag of those and mom made an AMAZING apple pie. SO GOOD... I can still smell the Apple Orchard when I eat the pie! We also got some yummy treats at the concession stand (apple cider slush, hot apple cider and apple turnover) and brought home some apple butter and yummy smelling candles. All in all, it was a great trip and a beautiful day!

The theme this week at I Heart Faces is "Let them be little." I love this picture of Gia that we took when we were at the cabin a few weeks ago! See more entries over at I Heart Faces!

I have so many posts in draft, I completely forgot to finish this one! It seems like a lot has taken place this week... On Saturday, I went to a garage sale and found the EXACT exersaucer that I have been wanting to buy for Gia. Online it is $90- no way am I paying that! I stole bought it for $22 (along with a dress, GAP hoodie and red shoes for Gia). Woo hoo! She loves to play in it, but is still just a little too short... so I put a pillow under her feet and it works great. Also on Saturday, my mom came to visit!! (She bought Gia's fabric this week, too! Thanks, Nana!) We've had such a great time with her here! I am sad to see her leave tomorrow... but we will get to see her again over Thanksgiving!

Also this week, in major milestones of note, Gia tried rice cereal for the first time!! She has been eyeing our food and grabbing for our yogurt cups for a couple of weeks now. She's very aware of when we are eating. I wanted to wait until she was really ready for solids, and this was the week! From the very first bite, she was a pro!! What an awesome babe! She is still waking up a lot at night-- almost every two hours! At almost 6 months old, that's too much! So I'm hoping this extra food will help her sleep longer. She didn't even wake that much as a newborn! I don't mind getting up at night, but I am noticing that I'm really sleepy during the day. Here are some of this week's fun outtakes. Hope you enjoy!

This week has been so much fun with Gia! The weeks truly do fly by. This week she has been all about talking to us, making adorable goo-ing noises and of course, chomping on her fingers. The weather has been beautiful and Fall is GORGEOUS. After being away from the mid-west for so many years, I've forgotten how amazing it is to see the changing of the seasons. Fall out here does not disappoint! Yesterday, Gia and I went on a great walk down a sidewalk that was completely covered overhead with trees. Leaves were falling down on us and crunching underneath my feet and the stroller wheels... it was amazing and Gia was loving it! She's completely enthralled with being outside. So cute. My mom is coming to visit in just two days! We are so looking forward to seeing her so soon!

Here are some outtakes... this week was nearly impossible to choose:

22 weeks! This beautiful fabric is from my friend, Katy in Fresno. She sent me an awesome stash of fabric this week, and I can't wait to use them for our weekly photos! Thank you Katy! Gia has been awesome this week... she is talking so much and so happy most of the time. She's not taking stellar naps during the day, but she is sleeping pretty good at night, waking usually just once or twice to sleepily eat. Today we drove 45 minutes one way for lunch at Skyline... it is their 62nd Birthday, so they had 62-cent cheese coneys! Yum!!! Gia was great the whole time... a guy in the restaurant even commented to me on how great she was being!

Oh, and just because it was so much fun to share last week, here is an outtake from this week:
This is the face she makes when I tickle her on her cheeks! She loves it and squeals with glee!

Length: 25 inches, maybe 26
Weight: 12 pounds 13 ounces at the doctor's office last monday... so we may be tipping the scale at 13 pounds this week!
Clothing Size: she can wear a mix of 0-3 and 3-6 month clothing, though most of her oneseis that she's wearing are 3-6. And all of her sleepers are now 3-6. I cleaned out her closet of the summery clothes and changed them out for some warmer wear. So fun!
Fave Toy: She is all about her Sophie giraffe these days... it probably feels super good on her poor teething gums.
Fave Outfit: I've been putting her in dresses for Sunday, and they are so cute! Last week she wore an adorable flowered fleece dress from Old Navy with cute little baby tights. SO CUTE! I love having a girl!
New Moves: We're trying to work on sitting up, but she still topples over. For now she seems to be content using her inchworm moves to get around. Its so cute!
Teething: None have popped through but I'm hoping we're close.
Eating: She is still exclusively breastfeeding. But I think she is getting more interested in eating people food. We were at Orange Leaf a few nights ago, and she kept screaming and grabbing for my yogurt cup!
Sleeping: As I type, she is babbling and squealing in her crib when she should be napping. Nights are kind of hit and miss... I never know what to expect. She's started waking up about an hour after I put her to bed... not sure what that's about.
Talking: Her voice is back!! While we were at the cabin a few weeks ago, she just started babbling again. I love it! She squeals with delight and is generally happy all the time! I read somewhere that 6 months is the start of the "happy period" for babies... I can't wait!
Fave Pic: Of course its hard to pick just one, but here's a cutie!

Just wanted to give a quick update on Gia's doctor appointment yesterday... all is well! The doctor(s) didn't think that the different sizes of her pupils are anything to worry about. They said its most likely a side-effect of the forceps delivery when she was born. (I hadn't even thought about that!) Gia was just awesome while the doctors looked at her, flashed lights in her eyes and put drops in them. She was seriously amazing! There is something called Horner's Syndrome that can cause different pupil sizes, but that usually has a droopy eyelid associated with it, which Gia does not have. So for now, they're thinking it was just a little nerve damage from her delivery. 20% of the population has uneven pupil sizes, apparently. We were very relieved that its nothing to worry about. The staff and doctors at Riley Children's were so nice! Thank you all for your prayers. And now for some cuteness:

I can't believe Gia is already into the "20's" as far as weeks go. Creezy. She is moving around so much these days; our weekly pictures are definitely becoming a challenge... my choices of pictures where something isn't blurred with movement is dwindling. Its amazing how much I look forward to Thursdays, though! I forgot that it was Thursday this morning, and got almost giddy when I remembered. I took Gia in to the doctor's office for a weight check today... 12 pounds, 10 ounces. So she is back to gaining weight again! I'm glad to know all the late night/early morning feedings are doing something besides creating bags under my eyes. :) Gia is still all about her feet. They seem to be her chew toy of choice. This picture below was a close runner up for this picture of the week:

This weekend, Gia's Pop Pop & Grammy are coming to visit us this weekend, then my mom is coming in 2 weeks! We can't wait! One quick prayer request... We are going to the pediactric optometrist (or is it opthamologist?) this next week (Monday) because there is something unusual about one of Gia's eyes. Since she was just a few weeks old, I've noticed that her left eye doesn't dilate in unison with the other one. It only happens sometimes, and usually only in low light. Most of the time it is ok, but her pediatrician thought it was worth getting checked out. So we'd love your prayers for us on Monday... that all will be ok, nothing to worry about. Thanks!