It's A...

....another GIRL!

We think Mia will be glad to have a sister so close in age. I'm sure they will play & fight well together, but when they are older they will always be the best of friends.

Here are a few of this child's early glamour shots. It's always a little tough to know what you are looking at, so I will provide captions.

This is a lovely between-the-legs view from underneath, providing the evidence that Mia will indeed have a little sister come January 6th or so.

Here is a foot.

Here is the scary-looking skeletal face shot.

Baby Girl's profile, face down

Profile, face up

And a thumbs up from #2. All looks good and everything checks out so far for a healthy baby girl!

The Indiana State Fair

All we have been hearing about for the last month is the Indiana State Fair. It's kind of a big deal here. Mia and I have never been to a state fair & Nick couldn't remember the last time he had gone. We decided that we needed to go check out what everyone was talking about & give Mia a little first-hand exposure to some of her favorite farm animals. Even so, we entered the fair grounds a little tentatively.

Mia lit up immediately, however, once we were in sight of the piggies.

Ok, these ones are kind of cute, but...

...this little piggy isn't going anywhere. I don't think it can even stand up on its own. Welcome to the World's Largest Boar.

Here is a nice rear view of the pig named "Tickle Me Elmo III", weighing in at a whopping 1,277 pounds. It honestly looked like a baby hippo.

So although nothing else could really compare with the World's Largest Boar, we moved on to the cows...

...the sheep...

...and then the horses.

These horses were probably the biggest and most beautiful horses I've ever seen & they were easily Mia's favorite animal.

She spotted these beauties as they waited for their turn at the horse show & was instantly enamored.

The nicest grandfatherly type saw how excited she was & let us back behind the rope to have a closer look. At first Mia was a little nervous, but soon was reaching up to pet the horse too.

Besides the awesome people-watching, there were a few other things to watch too. This is a sheep shearing contest where they had to wrestle & shear 3 sheep for time.

And here is the horse show.

Probably the best spectacle for me, however, was the crazy food. If there was ever a time to have weird pregnant lady cravings, it was at the state fair. Here are a couple of my favorite options:

Deep fried butter, brownies... and Pepsi. It's not just a beverage option at this stand. How they do it, I still don't know. I was also really tempted by the chocolate covered bacon. Anyone who has had bacon in chocolate fondue knows what I'm talking about. Mmmm.

And my personal favorite, the doughnut burger. You can get a regular bacon cheeseburger here, except the bun is actually two Krispy Kreme glazed doughnuts.

Sadly, I can't say that I could justify any of the really horrifyingly good stuff. The lines were too long & I knew Nick would never look at me the same way again. I couldn't walk away without getting something though. I ended up with a classic corndog. It was still a good thing I went to spin class the next morning.

Loved the state fair...

Erin Inzerello becomes Erin Poyner!

On July 16th, Nick's only sister became Mrs. Poyner. We had so much fun heading back to Omaha for a long weekend to officially welcome Stuart into the family with a beautiful wedding and lots of fun parties & gatherings!

Mia had a great time at the rehearsal with her partner heading down the aisle, Stuart's nephew, who is just 5 days older.

At dinner afterward she loved dancing to the sweet sounds of the background music (and she really wanted to pull on some of those cords she was eyeing, but she restrained herself).

The happy couple with Al and Linda

Keeping Mia occupied before her big roll down the aisle

Erin and all her flower girls

Al moving in for his turn to dance with the bride

It didn't take long for Mia to find the mirrored doors at the reception.

She was obviously pleased with what she saw.

Then Mia danced the night away...

Song, after song...

...after song.

She was up pretty late and was such a trooper through it all. She absolutely loved wearing her poofy dress and new shoes, but near the end she was hot and a little tired of all the formality.

She was much happier with a little freedom from the day's dress standard.

The next day was filled with more fun times with family as Nick's parents hosted a party at their house for all the relatives. That's a pretty big crew, so it was action-packed and a lot of fun!

The last day we were in town we took the opportunity to just wind down a little bit.

Grandma & Grandpa spent as much time doting on Mia as they could. The goodbye was softened by the fact that they were coming to visit us at our new house in Indiana the following week.

We are so happy for you, Erin & Stuart! It was such a nice weekend.

Mia being... Mia

A phone on each ear... She already thinks she's super important.

Mia loves climbing into her toy bin these days... sometimes to play...

...and sometimes just to chill.

She can't get enough of her books. She thinks she is quite the reader.

Mia has a slight obsession with hats, but they have to be daddy's hats. Mine don't cut it.

She loves her blankie and has a hard time sleeping without it.

Sometimes she gets a little creative during nap time.

Daddy's idea, of course. And don't think she could just sit there and think she was playing the game either. Nick insisted we put a couple of quarters in. He ended up driving while Mia "helped".

I have come to dread mealtimes, which is too bad, since they come around so often & can't really be avoided. Mia loves avacados...

And getting creative with her food...

Here is a new hair product she invented that is the perfect mixture of avacado oil and peach essence. (Also note the obsession with my iphone - that's a whole separate battle.)

Baths are very frequent in our home.

She loves helping Grandpa Inzerello with anything, but if it involves ladders and adhesive, so much the better!

Great job prepping our new family room for paint, Mia.

Trying to follow daddy to work and the neighborhood kids to school... yep, school has already started here.

Mia's own personal heaven... older kids to play with...

...and a large body of water to swim in.