Week 29 and feelin' fine!

Current mood: accomplished

Well this is Mia's last "twenties" week. Wow, she just keeps growing and growing. The weeks seem to be flying by faster and faster. I am so proud of my little munchkin this week. She not only did a couple of new things but accomplished a milestone too!!!

The week started off great. We took her to our favorite little resturant (Red Robin) for the first time. This was her first real sit down service resturant. She did awesome. At first she was alittle scared and wasn't sure to make of all the people and noise but she soon became comfortable and even joined in the noise by making noises of her own. She did her famous new found "Mia Scream of Joy" and kicked around. Daddy even gave her a balloon which she went crazy for, just pulling the string and watching the balloon bounce overhead. It was so much fun for all three of us. Eventually she pooped out and fell asleep despite all the noise, and we went home soon after. I really do enjoy bringing her out to places, shes always so well behaved and never fusses. I think she enjoys getting out of the house too.

As I wrote about in a previous blog she is also getting good at giving kisses. She always seems to give me a big wet drooly one when I get her up in the morning. It always melts my heart and she gets a kick out of it too. When I wipe my cheek clean she always has to lean over and give me another big wet one! haha Silly girl! Shes been doing this to Daddy too. He really gets a kick out of it because he was the one who taught her that!

We did have a diaper malfunction earlier this week too. It was due to her prune juice and the weird thing is, after that happened she is started to refuse to drink it anymore. Maybe she was embarassed by her blow out! haha Now its begining to become a struggle to get her to drink her prune juice. Normally I would never force her to do anything she really didn't like but whenever we stop giving it to her, her constipation comes back. So basically it comes down to which is the lesser evil. Forcing her to drink that stuff or watching in pain trying to "go". Of course I rather have her be forced to drink the juice, but it becoming increasenly difficult to persuade her to drink it. One thing she inherited from me for sure, is her stubborness. If she sets her mind to something, including refusing something she doesn't want, its nearly impossible to get her to do it. That is also why it is official I have officially stopped breastfeeding her this week. She finally said no! (hehe by doing her new "no" thing, shakin her head no and turning away) Ah well, at least we did it for 6 months, that better than I thought we'd do.

The HUGE milestone that she did this week was drinking from a sippy cup! And she did it all on her own. I would try to show her but she would want no part of it, however, when I gave it to her for her to try to figure it out, she got it right away and started drinking from it. What a big girl! Though I have no intention on breaking her from the bottle anytime soon (probably not till her 1st bday) I wanted to introduce the sippy cup to her so it wouldnt be so foregin to her when its time to use it. One thing I noticed was that she was making tons of faces with it, at first I thought because she didn't like it then I realized it wasn't that at all. Another thing she inherited from me is her sensitive "Gag" reflex. I have a hard time at the dentist because of this and whenever a doctor examins my throat with that popsical stick. I always gag and nearly throw up. When Mia went for her check up and the doctor went to check the inside of her mouth she too gagged really bad and started crying. Poor baby. So I watched her closely with the sippy cup. The spout is soft but still harder than she is used to, especially when compared to her soft nipples from her bottles. When she tries to drink from it, I notice she does gag alittle. I am wondering if her mouth is still too tiny for it... it doesn't happen all the time and once she gets to really drinking it, it stops. Its just mainly when she starts she has a hard time. Hmm.... I will have to look into that more. As for now she gets her sippy cup after he breakfast and thats it. Whenever she needs to get supplimented with formula its her bottle for the rest of the day. I also noticed she does gag a bit on her little rice puff graduate snacks. I have stopped giving this to her since I believe she is too young especially since she doesn't have teeth yet but Adrian really wanted to try again. I let him and she gagged on it again, so we both decided to hold off on that for awhile too. Poor little one.

As for food she is really doing good! She graduated to stage "2" because she was polishing off her stage 1 like nothing and still wanted tons of milk afterwards. Now that I graduated her to stage two she just eats that and doesn't need to be supplimented. I only feed her, her veggies for lunch and she gets a the bottle the rest of the day so she still gets what she needs from her formula. For breakfast shes on her banana cereal. She eats 3 scoops of it! (Avg. 3 ounces) and 4 oz of formula afterwards. I think she is really started to like eating now, hopefully this will contiune and she can start packing on that baby fat we have been waiting for. Yesterday she even had two servings of veggies!!! She ate her sweat potatos and carrots! Granted she didn't finish her carrots but she ate half of them! YAY! (and no it wasn't stage 2, both were stage 1, we need to get rid of those some how haha).

Thats about it for the week. Wow what an awesome week, I am so proud of my little one. She really brightens up everyones day.

Mia used her Sippy Cup!!!!!! ate her first real Solid!! and gives kissies now!

Current mood: excited

I am still in shock and filled with excitment, Mia officially has used her Sippy Cup for the first time today!!! YAY!!!

I bought her a sippy cup awhile back but she didn't know what to do with it or how to use it. I tried to show her but she had no interest in it and didn't know how to suck from it. I figured it may be due to the type of spout it had, it was hard even though it said it was stage 1. So after some research I found another sippy cup that was stage 1 that came with a softer, nipple like spout. (Gerber Graduate). She needed some more formula and other baby supplies so we went to Babies R Us today and I picked up that new cup. I went home and it was to early for her to eat but I was all anxious about using the new cup that I decided just to put alittle water in it to see if she would even know how to suck it out. She took it, examined it awhile then I showed her how to put it in her mouth. She took a few sips from it but didn't care for it much. (I figured because we never give her just plain water). So I decided it was time for her daily prune juice anyways so I put some prune juice in the cup instead. I sat down with her on the couch and tried to give it to her again. She didn't like it much when I was trying to show her how to use it. I figured she wouldn't take to it so I didn't bust out the camera to take pictures or videos. I let her examin it on her own and once she got it by the handles and looked it over, she brought it to her mouth and started drinking!!!! I was in shock! Then she would take it back out, look at it alittle, then drink from it again. She did this till all her prune juice was mostly gone! (Granted there was only about half an ounce in the cup) but she drank it! Then she didn't want it anymore, mainly for the fact she HATES prune juice. So I think I will give it to her again after her lunch today. She usually gets about 4oz of formula after her veggies to top her off. So I think I will put her formula in the cup to see what happens! I am sooo happy! My little one is growing up!!!

Yesterday we went to the store to stock up on her baby food and came across some Gerber Graduates little rice puffs! We got to talking to this lady in the store (she had a cute little 7 month old) and she mentioned how she gave her son that at an early age and same with her baby daughter. I didn't think Mia was quite big enough for it especially not having teeth yet but we thought we would try it out anyways. Mostly Daddy's idea! haha So when we went home we decided to give it a try. After some time she finally took one in her mouth! She gave the hugest "Yuk" face ever! Like as if to say, what the heck is that!! but she gummed it and eventually swallowed it! Then Adrian put one in her little hand, she took it and licked it a few times then popped it in her mouth. Again came the "Yuk" face but she ate it! We were so proud of her, though I still think she may be on the young side for those rice puffs... we might give her one to try every now and then.

As for kisses! Well Adrian has been teaching her for a few months now how to give kisses. He would usually say "give me kissy give me kissy" and puts his cheek to her mouth and she leans over and puts her mouth on his cheek. This has been going on for awhile but now she is doing it on her own!!! Without being asked!!! I thought it was a fluke thing at first, I got her up one morning and she leaned over and gave me a kissy!! I was so happy I gave her one back and was walking her to the window to open it and she leaned over and did it again with a big smile!!!! I melted! It was sooo cute! Now she does it almost every morning and just yesterday Adrian was playing with he on the couch and she started doing it to him too!! I am not sure if she knows what it means yet, but its really cute to see her do that. Awww.....

Well its almost lunch time and I am off to give Mia her new favorite veggie.. SWEET POTATOS!!!!

********* UPDATE********

After eating her stage "2" veggies (yep she graudated to stage two today!) she snacked on some formula afterwards using her sippy cup!

Mia's diaper malfunction

Current mood: exhausted

***** WARNING THIS BLOG IS GRAPHIC***** not for the weak stomached person! Haha

We have been very fortunate with Mia and her diapers... she has only had 1 major blow out when she was only a few weeks old. Since then we have come close a few times... but pampers ftw! It never happened again.. till today....

I wasn't able to give her, her daily prune juice yesterday and she didn't "go" so I made it a point to give it to her today. So before lunch she had her usual 2oz. of prune juice. We are lucky and it usually doesn't "kick in" till the next day so I figured I had plenty of time to prepare for that "Event". I fed her lunch about an hour later (sweet potatos for the first time! and Yes she liked them!) and formula to top her off. She seemed fine.. alittle on the gasy side but she was her normal self. Adrian and I wanted to go to Red Robin to treat ourselves so I put her in her little blue chair with her toys while I ran upstairs and got ready. When I came down she was still there just hanging out and playing. Then Adrian wanted to spend some time with her before we left so he grabed her out of the chair and I noticed he sniffed her.. "PE-U" "She stinks!" he said. I looked up and noticed a HUGE brown spot on the back of her jammies! OH NO!!!! We quickly took her to her changing table. Neither of us knew what to do.. it looked like we were about to have a huge battle on our hands. Adrian layed her down on her changing table and when I attempted to get her jammies off I noticed it went through and stained her changing table cover!!! OH NO! I then had Adrian pick her up and I got her jammies off. Poor thing it was EVERYWHERE! "What do we do now? how do you want to do this?" Adrian asked. I suggested we just rinse her off in the tub, I was so scared of what I would see once I got the actual diaper off. We took her to the bathroom and I got the water ready. I carefully took off her diaper and luckily it really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. PHEW! So we opted not to rinse her off and ran back to the changing table. (Adrian holding her by her armpits as she dangled there nakey! haha) Adrian held her up and I wiped her down. She thought it was a game and just started jumping up and down and bouncing around. She wouldn't stay still but I managed to clean her up. Adrian put a new diaper on her as I rushed with the bio-hazardous jammies and changing table cover to the bathroom to attempt to clean them before throwing them in the washing machine.

I came back into the living room once everything was taken care of and I found Mia sitting there in nothing but a diaper with Adrian on the couch. Both sharing the couch blanket! Haha I quickly got her up and put some new clothes on her and she was as happy as alittle clam again.

Phew... joys of parenthood x10! That is the story of Mia and her diaper malfunction, I am NOT looking forward to the future ones haha but I am alittle more prepared now... I think!

Red Robin... Yummmm.....

Current mood: adventurous

Today was a special day for the three of us! Today Lil' Miss Mia got to go to one of her Mama and Daddy's favorite restaurants, Red Robin! They opened a Red Robin about 5miles from the house, back in October, and we have been waiting for Mia to get big enough so we can take her there. Adrian and I have been there once before soon after it's grand opening but Mia was at home being babysat by her Grandpa and Grandma Pizano while they were down visiting. We figured since she did so good at Pat & Oscars, that she might do well in a real restaurant. So it was off to Red Robin for us!

It was pretty busy and noisey but that didn't detour Mia from expressing herself once she got comfortable with her environment. She let out her new found, high pitched scream and started making all sorts of noises. They had free balloons everywhere so Daddy gave her a pink one to play with. She went NUTS with it, shaking it all around and watching it bob up and down. Everyone who saw her said "awwww" and we just beamed with pride. We had a booth and it was set up in a way that you could put the car seat right into the space between the table and the booth. The car seat sat there perfectly so she was at table level and was able to still look around and more importantly, she could still see us. It was also funny to watch ....Adrian.... jump up every time she moved, because he was convinced she was falling haha what a protective Daddy!

After playing for awhile she finally decided to take a nap. With her classic "two fingers in her mouth" and "rubbing her blankey softly on her face" she knocked out even with all the noise and people. She stayed asleep until we had to leave and even then it took awhile before she woke up.

We then went next door to the AT&T store to check out a new phone plan for ....Adrian..... She just sat there in her seat and looked around. Then we went out to the car. It was really windy and then it happened..... her little pink balloon flew away before ....Adrian.... or I could grab it! I felt bad...I remembered how sad I would get when my balloon would fly away when I was a kid. So I went back to Red Robin and got her a new pink balloon so she could play with it at home.

We buckled her in and off to home we went. Now she is playing on her play rug with her Daddy. She is laughing, singing and talking to her toys, its really cute to listen to. What a joy she is, we have so much fun with her. I can't wait to take her on more adventures!

Week 28 and feeling Great!

Little Mia-Girl is 28 weeks old! I can hardly believe it! She is 28 weeks old and I am 28 years old! Just had to throw that in there.

Well the week has been pretty fun... well except for the fact she had to get her shots on Tuesday. That was not very fun for any of us, but she took them like a Champ and fortunate for us she has never had an adverse reaction to them. She never gets fevers or fussiness so that’s a good thing. She is her normal bouncy self.

The overall doctor's visit went good and I am following his orders to a "T" now with regards to giving her at least 2oz of prune juice a day. This sure did the trick and cleared up her constipation problem.. YAY for Mia! ... not so "yay" for Mama who has to change her afterwards haha. But I don't mind, as long as she’s feeling good and is happy. An odd thing has started happening recently though... even though we give her the prune juice mid-day she always decides to "go" right before she gets up in the morning. Since it is no longer a challenge for her to go she doesn't cry and scream out anymore so I don't know it’s happened. I am not even sure if she knows.. I am convinced she does it in her sleep! haha. So when I get her up in the morning and walk into the room... it isn't the most pleasant smelling experience to go through to say the least not to mention since the introduction of baby food it’s really not the most refreshing smell to walk into haha. But again I am just happy she is going at all. I know she does it right before she wakes up because after I change her, I notice her little bootie buns are never irritated or red from sitting in it too long. I am so paranoid of her getting diaper rash (something she has never experienced before and as long as I can help it she never will) so I was a bit worried finding her like that in the morning but so far so good... no irritations.

As for eating.. she has gotten eating carrots down pad. So we decided to move her onto a new veggie. What was on the menu next?! Well I chose green beans! I have always liked green beans ever since I was a little kid so I thought maybe Mia would too. I test tasted them before giving them to her and they tasted pretty good. Mia on the other hand thought differently. She quickly made that classic "yuk" face and after a few more failed attempts at trying to get her to like them she just started crying. Sigh.. Guess Mia isn't a green bean baby! So back to carrots we went. Then yesterday we decided to try "Peas". I have never been a huge fan of peas, however, I do like those "sugar snap" peas that come in those pre-made veggie platters. I test tasted it and to my surprise they tasted pretty good. Granted I would not want to make a meal out of them, they weren't repulsive. I gave them to Mia who though didn't enjoy them like her carrots she didn't reject them like the green beans. So after some help from Daddy she ate all her Peas. I am not sure if I will be adding Peas to Mia's menu but at least I know she will eat them. Also I finally figured out how to make her Banana cereal more enjoyable for her. Before she would eat it but not finish her bowl and didn't seem to really care for it much. Turns out I discovered that I was making it to thick for her, once I thinned it out more and started using water instead of her formula she began to like her "Nanas" again. Now she finishes her serving and enjoys them. YAY! score a point for Mama!

Also on the note of feeding. Since I rarely breast feed her anymore I finally decided to graduate her to the "medium flow" nipples. I always kept her on the "slow flow" due to the advice of the lactation nurses. Even though she has never been a big eater, she is finally starting to increase her ounce intake. Mostly at night though because during the day she eats baby food and is only supplemented with milk afterwards to top her off. Before it would take anywhere from 45-60mins for her to finish her bottle and poor thing would work at it so much that she would start falling asleep mid feeding. This wasn't helpful for either of us since she was tired and I was tired since usually its early morning and I just want to get those next couple hours of rest in before she starts her day. But once I started giving her the med. flow nipples she chugs it down in 15-20mins YAY! I didn't want to drown her and give her the "fast flow" yet, the med. seems to be working just find for now. She still uses the slow flow during the day since she drinks a lot less milk but for those big bottles at night (one before bed and one early morning) she uses the med. flow.

As for sleeping all night. She has been able to do this for some time, however, I still got her up between 3-4am to eat anyways. I never felt comfortable with her sitting in her wet diaper all night and I figured she was hungry anyways since she usually goes to bed around 6-7. Most of the time she would be awake and I rarely had to wake her up so it was a nice little routine, however, it started to wear on me. After awhile of getting broken sleep and being so worn down I decided to let her sleep all night. For the times she did wake up in the middle of the night I would just let her fall back asleep on her own which she would. She never cries really just plays with her toys and coos quietly. This only lasted a couple of days because once she slept all night she started waking up to start her day at 6!!! sometimes a quarter to 6! That was worse than when I had to wake up early to feed her. At least if I did that she would go back down for a few more hours and get up at 8-9. So back to the old routine, with one minor change. I now only feed her at 5am (right before the sun comes up) so she will go back down easier for another few hours. I seem to get more rest that way and she doesn't seem to mind.

Another big event that happened this week was the inauguration of Pres. Obama. It was fun taking pictures of little Mia watching this historical event on TV and to know she was a part of it in her own small baby sort of way. However, when it came to the big moment of Pres. Obama actually getting sworn in, she was snoozing away upstairs in her crib. Guess it didn't excite her as much as watching cartoons on TV haha.

She is getting around more and more everyday and making new sounds and noises. She is starting to learn to say the "da" sound though she only seems to do it in a small whisper over and over haha. She also says "ma-ma" and "wow-wow" on command but only when SHE wants to do it. Its really cute. My little baby girl.. she is growing up so fast.

More shots for Mia! OUCH!

Current mood: anxious

My poor little baby got her 6 months shots today Poor little one... it broke our hearts to see her cry out all tomato faced in pain... but its part of growing up. Overall, the check up went very well.

The day started off ok, even though, for some odd reason Mia has been really fussy today. I think she knew something was up.. maybe she was feeding off my feelings. Though I put on a happy face.. deep down I was all worried and concerned about her upcoming shots. She normally plays happily in her jump-a-roo and/or floor with her toys but today she didn't want to be left alone and wanted to be held. Whenever I would walk away she would scream and cry. I would put her on the ground and she would squirm her way back to me so I could pick her up and console her. I didn't mind giving her some extra love and attention but I did find it kind of odd. It didn't stop here at home... she continued to do this at the doctor's office even! Oh and before that, I made a quick phone call to my sis-in law to see how things were and this made Mia MAD!!! I think it was because I didn't have my full attention on her but she kept whining and fussing until eventually she just blew up! As soon as hung up the phone, literally just closing my cell phone, she instantly stopped and started playing haha.

Anyways, at the doctor's office she refused to play with the paper. She usually enjoys kicking and tearing it up, but today she just laid there. Then she started turning BEAT red again and whining so I had to pick her up again and console her. (Basically holding her close to me, talking softly to her, and rubbing her back) until the doctor came in. They weighed her and she’s 15 lbs 10oz. She's not gaining to much weight but the doc says its ok, she’s still gaining a little and looks very healthy. He said she is slightly below average in her weight (40% percentile) but she is above average in her height (95% percentile) (2 feet 3.5 inches) and her head is also a little above average. He says due to those two things it makes her over all body look slimmer. But he didn't think she was "under weight" and looked just fine to him. I love her doc, no matter how many questions I have (and you better believe I have a TON of them saved up) he always takes the time to answer them all and never makes us feel like we are being over paranoid or dumb. So I asked my huge list of questions and got pretty good answers for all of them. I asked about her eczema but he said that she will never be rid of it completely and he has yet ever see a kid "grow" out of it as a kid He also said we are doing good with keeping it in check as best as we can and that’s pretty much all we can do. She still has some break outs but I have most of it under control with her lotions and creams. I also told him about her continuing battle with constipation. He said I needed to up her dosage of prune juice and to really stay on top of giving it to her every day. (I haven't been doing that but now I am committed to start giving it to her more regularly now). He also let us know it is ok to give her multiple (up to 5) semi-solids a day and if she is still hungry after one serving we can give her two! There were a few little questions here and there but that was basically it. He checked her all over and her reflexes and gave her and us a thumbs up! We are doing an awesome job with her and he won't need to see her for another 6 months! YAY! Then the nurse came in armed with those darn needles! They gave her the oral vaccine first and she took it like a champ. She didn't spit it out this time and drank it all like a good girl. Then came the shots.... I couldn't look. Luckily Adrian was there to hold her and caress her head while she got the shots. I heard that horrible cry, the type of cry that she cries so hard no sound is coming out. Adrian said she turned beat red and had tears! It was all over soon and Adrian quickly picked her up and cuddled her. She calmed down in about a min. and was fine. We got her clothes back on and we got the heck out of there! Haha

After the doctor's we stopped off at the store to pick up more prune juice, baby food carrots, and formula. We didn't want to hassle with the stroller so we just put her car seat in the basket. She soon fell asleep and stayed that way all the way home. We got her off the car and I prepared her room for a nap, I put her down but she had other plans... no she didn't want to cry she wanted to play!!! She was talking to herself and playing with her toys and kicking like crazy. So I got her up and right now she’s with Daddy, I can hear her laughing. Adrian said he is tickling her arm. I think she will be ok.. hopefully she won't have any bad reactions to the shots the next few days.

Thank goodness that’s over with... now we get that 6 month break YAY!

Mia's Kaiser Visit Tuesday, Jan 20 2009

What:
Office Visit with DANIEL LEE BRUCH DO

When:
Tuesday, Jan 20 2009 1:45 PM

Where:
PEDIATRICS 2393 (MORENO VALLEY MEDICAL OFFICES U-MORU)

Temperature:
97.7

Temp Source:
Tympanic

Height:
2' 3.5" (0.699 m)

Weight:
15 lb 10.4 oz (7.099 kg)

Return in about 6 months (around 7/20/2009) for 12 month check-up.

Routine Orders
Name Type
IMMUNIZATION ADMINISTRATION; 1 SINGLE/COMBINATION Immunization/Injection
IMMUNIZATION ADMINISTRATION; EACH ADD'L SINGLE/COM Immunization/Injection
DTAP/HIB & POLIO VIRUS, INACTIVATED (DTAP-HEPB-IPV Immunization/Injection
PNEUMOCOCCAL CONJUGATE VACCINE, POLYVALENT, CHILDR Immunization/Injection
VACC ROTAVIRUS LIVE, PENTAVALENT, ORAL Immunization/Injection
IMMUNIZATION ADMINISTRATION, INTRANASAL/ORAL; 1 SI Immunization/Injection
VACC HIB, PRP-T CONJUGATE, 4 DOSE SCHEDULE Immunization/Injection

and now.. Week 27!!!!

Current mood: blissful

Yep yep yep, Mia is 27 weeks old! She pushing the big 3-0! haha So much has happened this week. I wrote about most of it in previous blogs so with some things I won't get into it too much to avoid redundancy, since there are some brand new things to write about!

The week started off with a bang. She hit the big 6 month mark on Sunday! With that she ate her first baby food "Carrots" (Which she loves.. and I do too! yes, I just HAD to taste it since I am a huge carrot fan!). She also got to go to the duck pond and her first restaurant. I have written about both events a TON already so I will move right along....

She just started eating baby food this week and already has been inching towards a daily routine. Not only does she get her veggies once a day but now she gets her cereal AND veggies! That’s right, she eats two semi-solid meals a day now! Oh and not to mention, she finishes her whole serving of veggies too!! Good Mia Girl!! Anyways, here’s how her day goes..

She wakes up in the middle of the night (around 3-4) for her nightly bottle. Then she wakes up for the day at 8. Breakfast is at 9 and she gets her "Mommy Milk" first (which is not very much since I am weaning both of us) then she gets her Banana Cereal and a small bottle afterwards. Around 12 she gets her Veggies (so far just carrots) and another small bottle. She gets her "snack" of prune juice late afternoon, and dinner bottle at 7. Then it’s off to bed! Phew.. what a menu! haha

She’s saying "Mama" a lot more now and it’s just the cutest thing ever. Granted she hasn't associated me with Mama yet, but its still cool to hear her say that. However, one sad thing did happen yesterday that just broke my heart. Yes, she’s still constipated =( and while she was playing happily on the floor with her toys on her tummy another episode hit. She started screaming and crying. I ran over to where she was (by now I am an expert in knowing that sort of cry) I went down to pick her up and with little tears in her eyes she looked up at me and said "Mama" while crying!!!!! OMG it broke my heart.. poor baby! I quickly picked her up and comforted her as best as I could through her little ordeal. Soon it was over and she was as happy as a little clam again. I can only imagine what it will be like when she gets hurt or sick in the future and actually does call out for me!

She is getting around more and more every week. This week she is determined to learn how to crawl correctly. She even brings her knees under her tummy and rocks back and forth. She doesn't quit get the concept of needing to reach out with one hand at a time in front of her to crawl forward. She still uses both hands at the same time and flops back on her tummy. She will get it though, Adrian thinks in about a week or so she will be officially crawling. She does go backwards a lot which is funny.

She is learning to hold her own while sitting up. She loves it. When she sits with Adrian she always needs to sit up then she will play with her toys. I have propped her up on the floor with her toys and she can stay put for awhile before falling over. Also in the bath, she now uses the side that makes you sit straight up and she loves it. I wonder how long it will be before she can sit up on her own?!

With her graduating to foods, I was so excited and decided to try her out on a sippy cup. I read in the book "what to expect the first year" that you can introduce a sippy cup as early as 4 months! They even recommended it since most people who wait till their babies are at least a year have more trouble introducing the cup because the babies are too used to their bottles. They said with younger babies if you introduce the sippy cup early then the transition to a cup later will be easier. Unfortunately, I am not sure if its the sippy cup itself or what, but Mia just doesn't get the whole concept. She just holds the cup, she will put it in her mouth but doesn't know what to do with it from there. Your supposed to suck it to get the liquid out but she doesn't know.. hmm... I'll have to read how other Mommy's with this issue get around that.

Oh and another first for little Mia! She actually never spit up once yesterday! For us that’s HUGE since she always managed to blow curdles some time during the day. Usually it’s when she moves around on her tummy. No matter how long we wait after she eats before we let her "crawl" around or jump she always manages to spit up a little. It’s not usually very much, but it’s still there and boy it’s not the best smelling stuff either. Anyways, to my shock! she never spit up once yesterday! YAY for us! However, she is making up for lost time today.. she already did it 3 times and its not even 11 yet! haha Ah well. But we had a good day yesterday.

That’s about it, wow what a week! Can't wait to see what’s in store for us next!

Meeeh.. Whats up Doc?!

Current mood: happy

Mia loves her Carrots! I just had to write a quick blog about this. Yesterday she ate a whole serving in one sitting! Whenever I would give her a little second to sit there and digest she would get mad and want more carrots! I am so proud that my little one is eating her veggies!!!

Also, yesterday, during her bath she used the "toddler" side for the first time. The toddler side makes the baby sit up rather than lay back in an incline. She loved it! Lately I have been finding it hard to keep her still in the tub because she always wants to sit up and splash or grab her little toys floating around her. So I finally realized that if I sat her on the opposite site of the tub.. she could sit up! As soon as I did that, she LOVED IT! She splashed more and reached for more toys! What a big girl!

She’s SIX months old Today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Current mood: tired

Little Mia is no longer a baby newborn but a full fledge baby! She hit her 6 month mark and I couldn't be prouder of my little butterfly princess! She has done so many new things this month, that I am having a hard time keeping up with everything!

First off, this past month as filled with Holidays! Not only did she celebrate Christmas Eve and met her Cardoso Family for the first time, but she spent Christmas with Pizano family in Oxnard! We also rang in the new year together as a family, Adrian, Mia and myself. (Though Mia slept through it!) haha It was awesome to watch her enjoy herself through the holidays. Everywhere from picking out our xmas tree to meeting Santa for the first time! It was really great.

This month also consisted of some milestones! She not only ate her first semi-solids, rice cereal (banana flavored is her favorite), she even ate her first Veggie today!!! That’s right... she is officially broken in to baby food! On today's menu was Carrots! She loved them! It didn't surprise me.. since I was obsessed with carrots and veggies while I was pregnant! She also drank her first juice this month.. though no really by choice. It was prune because per doc's orders... she needed it to help her constipation. (It hasn't really) We also changed her formula from Similac for the first time. She is now on Good Start and doing great. We all like it, she likes the taste.. and we can tolerate the smell.. it doesn’t stink so bad when she burps in your face! Haha

According to Adrian, she also gives kissies! Though its only a Mia and Daddy thing, it is still really cute to watch. He says "gimme a kissie gimmie a kissie!" and gives her, his cheek. She makes a little mwah! noise and sticks out her tongue! haha I guess it really is more like a lick than a kiss.

She is really on the move now! She rolls around but not as much as she likes to pull herself around the ground. Just a few days ago she started going backwards. She is so close to crawling now, she just needs to learn to get on her knees. Instead she just goes flat on her tummy, stretches out her arms like if she she’s flying, then grabs the ground in front of her, pulling herself along. Its really cute to watch, but now she’s all over the place. I am constantly running over to her and readjusting her. She is also learning how to stay in the sitting up position. I can place her on her bootie buns and she just sits there and braces herself up with her hands. Of course it doesn't last too long but, she does it long enough to play with a toy in front of her. Then she usually starts to lean over and eventually falls over. She will get it soon enough. Oh, and she likes to sit up in the bathtub too. She grabs one side of the tub and just loves to sit there.

She is also learning how to hold two toys at once using both her hands! She does this more when she’s playing with her little Maracas she got from Santa. While she’s in her little papsan chair, she loves to play the "bee game". She tears off the little bee toy, looks at me for a reaction, and laughs when I act all shocked and try to get the bee back. I usually try to play this game with her once a day before her bath time. She loves it. She is also learning how to reach out for us. Just recently she started opening and closing her hands mimicking me when I do it. I do this right before I pick her up and she gets all excited.

She is making new noises and now really jibber jabbers! Before she would scream, gurgle and make raspberry noises but now she says "ma ma ma ma" and "wow wow wow wow" Its soooo adorable. Though I don't really count it as a first word... it almost sounds like it! She also makes the "no no no no" jester with her head. She doesn't quite know what it means, but she does it all the time now. She moves her head quickly back and forth while she moves her hands the opposite way. I really need to try to get that on video!

She is still as active as ever! She discovered how to kick her fishy tank in her crib on. She is constantly kicking it and screaming with excitement when she can get it to turn on. I am constantly woken up by "blam blam BLAM" as she kicks the tank on every morning. I even have to turn it off just so she can get some rest because it keeps her awake during bedtime and naps! It doesn't stop her from kicking it though... eventually when it won't come back on she gives up and goes to sleep.

She went to the duck pond for the first time yesterday! She really was intrigued by all the little ducks quacking around her and all the new sights and smells. I can't wait to take her back. She also went to her first restaurant, which she did great. Granted she was asleep most of the time.. she still did good while she was awake. Just sat there and played quietly with her toys. Every now and then she would start singing and it was a lot of fun.

Well now on to the not so fun stuff. She is teething more again. Last night she had another really bad night. I think it could be her top front teeth. I went to put some orajel on her gums and when I got to that spot she screamed out like if in pain. Poor baby. I gave her some Tylenol afterwards and she went right to sleep. I am sure those little teeth will be coming in real soon. Her constipation hasn't cleared up either. There are some good days and some bad. I really don't know what else to do, but attempt to keep up on her daily prune juice. She is due for her next doc appointment in a little over a week. I am sure her doc will have some new suggestions for us. Her eczema is still there, however, we finally have it under control somewhat!!! It took awhile but we finally found a good combo for her. I use aveeno soap for her bath and aveeno lotions afterwards. I used to use the eczema formulated aveeno but it didn't seem to help much, she didn't like it either since it was really thick. Since I went back to just regular aveeno her eczema has gotten better and she seems happier. (I still use aquafour on her face.) They even make aveeno bedtime lotion so she gets her little bedtime lotion treat again! Yay! I still have to keep her well moisturized though because that pesky eczema creeps by anytime it can especially now since it is extra dry right now and the heaters don't help either!

Lets see what else... well as for breastfeeding I finally decided to stop when she hit 6 months. Its really heart breaking for me because though it may not go smoothly (she often times fights it and fusses) it still makes me feel like a real Mommy and that I can do something only I can do for her. It will be nice to go back to caffeine, real medicine and other things.. but I am really having a hard time letting go. We will see what happens with that.. if I really do stick with it or not.

Summary:

Feedings: She is still breastfeeding... but very little now. Maybe once or twice a day. She is still between 5-6oz but more like 5. Then she doesn't want it anymore. She ate her first rice cereals this month but doesn't care for them much unless they are banana flavored! haha And the big one! Today she ate her first Veggies! She ate through over half the little baby food cup! and 1 oz of prune juice daily

New Things: First big holidays (xmas and new years), staying sitting up unassisted, reaching out, jibber jabbering (mamama..wowowo..), first juice, moving backwards and really getting around the floor, gives kissies to Daddy, playing with two toys in each hand, going to the duck pond, first restaurant, kicking her fishy tank on and off with her foot in her crib, holding her bottle with one hand

Weight: 15.10 lbs as 1-20-09 doctor's visit

Goals met from last month?! Yes we hit some goals!! She does hold her own bottle for a full feeding now, though I have to help her if she’s really tired. Now she even holds it with one hand while playing with her other! She did eat her first rice cereal and baby food! and she did go to San Diego and Oxnard! The only one she hasn't really full hit is rolling back on her back consistently. She still has trouble with that. She can do it, but rather have you run over there and do it for her. When she thinks your not a around she usually can do it on her own! Haha

Goals for next month: Getting her on a more baby food diet consisting of veggies, fruits, and rice cereal!, getting her to roll back onto her back more consistently, taking her out to restaurants more, and finding a way to get her constipation under control. Also, getting her to sit up on her own longer!

Mia's first trip to the Duck Pond!

Current mood: blissful

We ended her 5 month old age with a bang! We decided to treat her to a little trip to the place Adrian and I spent so much time at prior and during our time living here in Riverside. Its a little duck pond here in Temecula next to Pat and Oscars eatery. Adrian and I would go there every trip we made up from San Diego while we looked for homes and while our own house was being built. We loved to just hang out and feed the ducks. It soon became our special little place. We even went there once while I was still pregnant. Ok well anyways, you get the picture.. it’s a special place for us. So today we took Mia there for the first time!

It was so much fun watching her amazement looking at all those little quacking ducks! It was so cute! Today was unusually warm for the winter so it was a perfect clear day to take her out. We even laid her down in the grass (on her little green Kaiser blankey of course) and Adrian got some ducks to walk up near her so she could see them better. She did so good. She never got scared or cried or anything. In fact she smiled and kicked a lot! I think she had a good time.

Afterwards we went next door and ate at Pat and Oscars! This was the first time Adrian and I took Mia out, just the three of us, to eat. In fact it was her first time at a restaurant period! She did awesome, just sat and played quietly in her car seat till she decided to take a cat nap. She slept through most of the meal and when it was time to go and time to buckle up she didn't even fuss when we woke her up! It was a great experience. She jibber jabbered and sang all the way home!

What a awesome and memorable day! Can't wait to take her out more! I love watching her experience the world around her for the first time. And taking her to our special place was truly a treat.. my little Mia girl.. or shall I say my little "Patita!" (duckling in Spanish, my nickname for her since I always wrap her up in her ducky towel after her baths at night) =)

Week number 26!!!!!

Current mood: awake

Happy Friday!!!!! Yep, its week 26! In a couple of days, little Mia will be 6 Months Old!!!!! ACK!!!!! I am sure I will have lots to write about on that blog so I will just stick to the usual weekly update here!

The week and year started off great! I finally got her to eat her rice cereal, but it had to be the banana flavored one! She was doing ok with it, till I read in my "What to expect the 1st year!" book that I really shouldn't be introducing "sweet" foods just yet. This is because she may reject all other blan cereals and possibly veggies too!!! So I have backed off for a little bit. We planned on giving her, her first veggies on her monthly birthday this weekend. We have put this off so much mainly per her doc's orders. He wanted her on cereal at 5months and foods at 6. I can't wait, I have already stock piled her little cupboard with all kinds of first food baby food for her! I can't wait! Another reason I have backed off on her favorite little Nana cereal is that she is still suffering from severe constipation. She had a couple of really horribly bad days. Poor little one had such a hard time.. literally. It breaks my heart seeing her go through that and not being able to do anything but rub her little head and attempt to console her. So back to prune juice we went. It really doesn't see to be doing much though.... she will be going back to the doc in a couple of weeks I am sure he will know what to do. The two days that I gave her little body a break from the cereal she went with no problems. Hmmm.... I wonder if its connected somehow. We will see I guess.

Mia also knows how to reach out with her little hands when you go to pick her up. Granted you have to show her by doing it first but she does it back! Its really cute watching her learn how to work her tiny little hands like that.

Speaking of hands, she is getting really good at holding her bottle. She now holds it with one hand while she plays with her other. Playing usually involves reaching out to Mama or Daddy and scratching/pinching our faces! Before we could get her to stop this by making her hold her bottle and it usually occupied both her hands, but now that she learned to hold the bottle with one it frees the other to go nuts!!! Sigh.. little Mia! haha

She isn't crawling yet perse, however, she is getting around a lot better now. She knows how to pull herself around the ground and inch her way around. Just yesterday she learned how to go backwards!!!! She just pushes with her arms and legs and scoots backwards! Its funny. Now we are finding her on the other side of her crib! haha She is all over the place now!

She is also learning to sit up a little bit. I can place her on her bootie buns in the sitting position and she can stay put if she supports herself with her hands. Sometimes she can play with a toy in front of her if she can lean on it a bit. Also, in the tub she loves to sit up, she holds one side of the tub with both her hands and just loves sitting there and splashing with one hand if she can!

She is getting so big so fast!She is starting to make new sounds and noises now. I am certain I heard "Mama" once or twice! I told Adrian who didn't believe me till she did it again in front of him! I still don't count this as her first word since I don't think it was deliberate yet. I asked her to repeat it but she still can't, when she can mimics me then I will count it. Still it really does sound like she goes "Ma-ma!" haha

We had a couple of rough nights this week. For some reason she started waking up at 1:45am on the dot! For 4 nights straight! I don't know why she was doing this. It didn't matter how early or how late we put her to bed, or what her naps were like during the day. One day I had to just let her cry it out. I haven't needed to do this since she was a baby newborn so it was heartbreaking to me, but it was all I could do for her to go back to sleep. I changed her diaper, fed her, gave her teething medicine, gave her, her favorite toy and made sure she stayed on her back... I did everything but she was still fussy and would only stop if I picked her up. Luckily for us all, this didn't last and she is back on her usual routine for now.. phew!

This week has been fun, full of new stuff and curve balls! Right now she is calling me and I need to go tend to her! She has learned to rip off her favorite little beach ball toy off her chair and throw it. This doesn't make her too happy... Sigh.. baby Mia girl always having your Mama on the run!

Mia reaches out....

Current mood: shocked

Mia did another new thing starting yesterday! Right before her bedtime bath, Adrian was holding her. After I was done getting stuff ready for her bath and bedtime I went over to get Mia. I went up to her, arms stretched out, and opening and closing my hands and saying "Come on Mama up up up time for your bath!" She got all excited and for the first time, mimicked what I was doing! She opened her arms wide as if to reach for me AND started opening and closing her little hands the way I was doing it! She did it for awhile while Adrian and I watched her in shock. "Did she just copy what I was doing?!?" I asked Adrian, he said "Yea looks like it!" I picked her up and encouraged her and rewarded her with a nursery rhyme song as I took her away for bath time.

As I laid her on my bed to prep her for her bath, I tried it again. Sure enough she reached out and opened and closed her hands mimicking what I was doing! I was so proud.

The next morning I tried it yet again, I was seeing if she had forgotten, but nope! She did it again!

Mia loves her Nanas!!!

Current mood: accomplished

Well after many failed attempts at getting little Mia to like her new rice cereal, I finally decided to try something new. Adrian had bought her some rice cereal with bananas a while back. I told him that I wanted to start her on plain ordinary rice cereal first so I put it away in the cupboard. There it sat for about a month. So after she refused the plain ordinary cereal for a few days straight, I gave in and gave her the banana flavored cereal to see what would happen. To my shock.. she liked it!!!! She actually would swallow it, unlike the plain flavored one, and she got most of it in her mouth! Another big surprise was, she actually let the spoon go in her mouth! Which again, she wouldn't do with the plain cereal. Also, she wouldn't spit it out and got excited every time I would show her the spoon. I didn't give her a whole lot since I am not sure how her tiny body will react to it, but she did have way more than the plain one. I then gave her, her bottle afterwards and now she’s playing in her play chair singing and laughing. YAY!

Week 25!

Current mood: excited

Happy New Year! Yep its 2009 and Mia's first weekly blog entry! She had a couple of firsts happen this week!

The week started great, as usual. It was the last few days of the year and still wheeling from the holidays, we just bummed around the house mostly. Unfortunately, my car (the only car we have now) decided to break down! Nothing to horribly bad, just turned out to be the battery. So since we didn't have another car to jump it with and with the car still under warranty we had the dealership tow it to them and fix it. However, since it was the holiday week (with new years and all) they said they wouldn't get to it till Friday. (Which is today!) They gave us a loaner car but there is no baby seat hooked up so Mia and I have pretty much been hermits! haha
We did have a at home photo session, and I dressed her up in all the pretty clothes she got for Christmas. I decided to send thank you note to everyone who got her clothes by sending them a pic of Mia wearing them. That was a lot of fun and everyone enjoyed that. Mia didn't mind pretending to be a Baby Model. She did real good and smiled in every picture!
A huge event happened this week too. She ate her first semi-solid food! Granted it was rice cereal and mostly liquid it was still food! I set up her baby seat that connects to a chair (a high chair equivalent), put on a new bib, and used her new bowl she got for Xmas from Santa. Things didn't go as well as I hoped. She just tasted the food and spit it out. I never did see her swallow. Eventually she just made a big mess and I ended up giving her, her bottle. I have been practicing with her everyday, but everyday is a challenge. She still refuses to swallow and once she does she screams and cries!!! Hmm... But I have her opening her mouth to receive the food, but soon after she pushes it out with her tongue. Sigh.... guess we need more practice! I have tried all sorts of things to make it easier for her. I stopped using her baby highchair like seat and started using her foamy soft bumbo seat. She seems to like that more but she still won’t eat. I have also mixed the food with her formula but that still doesn't seem to help. Well, we will see how the future feeding go, hopefully they will get better.

She really likes her papsan seat again. Though she is pretty much to big for it now, she still loves to play with the little bee attached. So I make it point to put her in it right before her bath so the vibrations of the little seat can give her a massage. How spoiled is that! haha she likes it though, and I enjoy playing the "bee game" with her.

I also noticed this week that she is starting to use both hands independently. Sometimes she will hold two different toys, one in each hand. I have also seen her bash them together! Its really cute. Her hand-eye coordination is really good! I am so proud of her.

She rediscovered her fishy aquarium tank in her crib. She has learned to kick it on but it was quickly turning off due to a low battery. I decided to give her a treat and replaced the batteries... big mistake! now she’s always kicking it on and screaming with joy and excitement and laughing. Normally this would be good but not when I lay her down for a nap or for bed. Now she stays awake longer just playing with her fishy tank and when she wakes up she starts kicking it hard and going nuts. It causes a big bang too! Just now I finally had to turn it off because she wasn't taking her nap. She would play with it, doze off, wake up and kick it some more. She wasn't getting any rest!! haha I will see how I will incorporate play time with her fishy tank in the future!

Well another big event happened this week too. She celebrated her first New Years!!! Granted she slepted thru midnight, we still had some time to play before bed. Daddy bought some new years stuff, ie. party hats, leys, horns, etc. So I didn't hesitate in taking the opportunity to dress her up and take tons of pictures. She seemed to know what to do with the horn right away. She wouldn't blow in it but she would put it to her mouth like she wanted to! Haha It was a lot of fun. After Mia went to bed, Adrian and I brought in the new year quietly with some sparkling cider and my favorite fudge cake!!! It was nice!

Her eczema is still here and we are still constantly battling it, though some days are better than others. I still find her all scratched up in the face in the mornings from itching. Poor baby. I use her medicine everyday but that stubborn rash always comes back! Grrr! Also, we thought we had the constipation situation taken care of but it too has returned! Poor baby had a rough past two days so it looks like its back to prune juice for her!

That’s about it. What a week. Its been really fun though, with every holiday she experiences brings new things and stories. I love it!