Current mood: exhausted
Well we pulled it off... Mia officially had her first Christmas'. What a whirlwind couple of days. I am separating this blog from her usual weekly blog because, one: its be a very special event and two: if I include this blog with the weekly Friday one.. it will truly be epically long!
So to sum it up, it went great! We had so much fun and everything went perfect! First, since it is the "Cardoso" side Christmas we were to spend X-mas eve with Adrian's family. At first I wasn't too sure how I would take it emotionally, you know, being away from my own extended family for xmas eve (The Pizano side get together on Xmas Eve ie. aunts, cousins, uncles etc) but to my amazement, I didn't feel that bad at all. I mean, yea I did miss them a lot but I feel so welcomed and apart of the Cardoso clan, that it still felt very special to me. Plus we got to show Mia off to a lot of family members who haven't had a chance to meet her yet. That was fun, she was the star!
We spent the first half of Xmas Eve at his Moms house. It was storming and raining but that didn't stop us from heading off to San Diego. His sister and her little daughters where there, his mom, and his younger brother. Unfortunately, his step dad had to work and couldn't make it. But it was a nice cozy little get together. His mom always has the house all decorated and feeling homey. His neices were so overly excited about xmas and seeing Mia again. They are so in love with her, especially the youngest one, Brianna (3). Mia had her little baby santa dress on and looked cute as a button. After his Mom stuffed us with homemade beans, potato salad and of course tamales, it was present time. It was so cute watching the girls tear through their presents and get excited but the main highlight was watching little Mia get gifts and see all the cute stuff she got. She got some really cute outfits from her Tia Rebecca and Grandma and a cute little light up turtle toy that will help her learn shapes and numbers. She seemed to really like that the best... she kept hitting the buttons to turn on the music and lights and eventually tried to munch on the plastic turtle head! Her Tio gave her this really nice looking frame that we can put her pictures in for each one of her months. We have a similar frame like that already, however, this one was really nice and way outshined our current one. I can't wait to fill that up with pictures! After visiting while we headed over to his Tia Gloria's house where the rest of the family was gathering.
We couldn't wait to show off little Mia at his Tia Gloria's house. Once we walked in and everyone found out we were there, we were crowded at the doorway. We didn't get far into the house before we had to bust Mia out of her car seat and into the waiting arms of all his Tia's and cousins. Yep she was definitely a highlight. She even got to finally meet her big cousin Baby Daniel (who is only 4.5 months older than her!) She was passed around like a great holiday dish and everyone had a turn. The whole house was buzzing around Mia and she was on very good behavior. She didn't mind being passed around, however she refused to smile. She does that when she’s uncomfortable with her environment. But she did great! Everyone really got to enjoy her. Especially Adrian's cousin Carina (one of my bridesmaids in our wedding). She never wanted to put Mia down. She even bought her a cute little audio/book set so we can sit down with her with different books and listen to someone read them to her. It was really nice! Everyone fell in love with her, especially her little cousin Adan (almost 2) he wouldn't leave her side. He always wanted to hold her little hand and give her kissies on her cheeks. After a wonderful visit it was time to go home. She slept most of the way which was awesome! (Both times to be exact) so the trip went as smooth as glass. What a good baby!
The next morning we had our own little Christmas. Just the three of us. We set up the movie camera and filmed the whole event. We sang our traditional holiday song and opened the presents. Adrian and I took turns holding Mia while we got to watch her attempt to open her presents. It was so much fun watching her enjoy a new toy Santa or Mama and Daddy bought her! We also took a lot of pictures while I will post when I can. After all present were opened, she got tired and went down for a nap... so did her Mama and Daddy. We were planning on leaving the house at 2pm so we could drive out to Oxnard to be with my family but we overslept!!! So we got up in a rush and ran around the house like headless chickens trying to get things together so we could leave. We left a good few hours behind schedule, but it was ok, especially for the fact that it was storming so bad.
She did great on the trip to Oxnard. She slept 90% of the way and didn't fuss once! that was a first! I was so proud of her. We finally got to my parents house about 7pm and were quickly greeted by her Grandma and Grandpa, Auntie Lauren, Uncle Jay and cousins Tracy, Sarah and April. Everyone was excited to see Mia and she was all dolled up as usual.. in her little Santa Baby outfit (yes I washed it when we were home so it was clean! haha) We sat down for dinner and opened presents soon after. Mia was literally showed with presents from everyone. She sure made out like a bandit! She got tons of new clothes including warm jammies, dresses, and a cute little outfit with jeans! She even got new bows of her hair, teething ring shaped like a cow, warm mist humidifier, play mat surf board and a HUGE toy that she can play with when she learns to sit up and stand. It kind of hard to describe and I am really tired... but trust me it was cute! She always got a toy that makes sounds when you roll it so she can learn to crawl after it. She did great, we all had a great time and got some really nice gifts. Especially the one from my parents, which was a big digital photo frame that holds 4,000 pictures!!!!! I already know how I will be filling that up! We got some really nice sets of glasses so we are set again.. no more drinking out of coffee cups and jars! haha Anyways, the festivities lasted to the wee hours of the night and little Mia hung in there like a champ. She was giggly and though extremely tired she never fussed. Eventually she got hungry and after drinking her bottle she knocked out and wouldn't wake up! Even with all the noise and screaming of my excited nieces.. she didn't budge. (this was around 10:30pm.. she has never EVER stayed up that late before. She is always in bed no later than 8) So we set her playpen up in the spare room, got her music going and night light, toys and blankets and we put her down. She knocked out and didn’t budge again till 7am!
When she woke up, she was in a great mood. I played with her a bit till she got tired and went back down for another nap 2 hours later. She ended up sleeping for a little over 3 hours! and was so tired she was sleeping with her tiny mouth open! A rare sight! especially for a midday nap. After she woke up, she ate her lunch and her Grandpa Pizano got to really play and spend some quality time with her on her blankey on the floor. Unfortunately her Grandma had to work so she couldn't be there. After visiting for awhile we took off to her Auntie Lauren and Uncle Jay's house so Adrian could fix their computer and install the new parts we got them for xmas. We spend most of the day there and had a really nice time catching up, and having fun. We had a blast watching my nieces (Tracy and Sarah) play with their new Wii. Even Mia was laughing and screaming while watching her big cousin Sarah going nuts while playing the boxing game. She’s not even 6 months and already a cheerleader... she a natural! haha We had a great visit and left a little later than we planned. Due to her last visit on Thanksgiving and how she really didn't like traveling in the dark we didn't want to leave to late, however, we were having such a good time... time just flew by anyways. So it was already dark by the time we left..uh-oh. But she did awesome. She knocked out before we even reached the end of their block!!! She didn't wake up till we were about 30 mins from the house! A new record! She did get a little fussy but it was mainly cuz she was tired.
When we finally made it home, it was pretty cold in the house so I treated her to a warm bottle (I usually give her room temp. ones but I made an exception tonight since she was such a good baby). After that she went right down for the night.
Wow what a crazy couple of days! But it was great. Watching her enjoy her family and Christmas was the best present I could have ever received! I can't wait for the many holidays in her future. They will just get better and better.
