Homemade Food & Big Girl Bath!!!!!

Current mood: accomplished

Two big things happened today. One bigger than the other so I will start off with the smaller event first.

Providing for a Baby definately isn't easy on the wallet. Especially now with the economy being the way it is, we need to skimp and save as much as we can. One of things that has been slowly adding up is the cost of baby food. Since Mia graduated to stage 3 she has been eating ALOT! Each Gerber Baby Stage 3 usually averages about 70-80+ cents a jar depending on where we go to buy it. That might not seem much but consider she eats 1-2 stage 3 a day, 7 days a week, it adds up. So I have been meaning to try to experiment with making my own baby food for a while now. My Sis-in-law Lauren lent me her baby food processor awhile back and it has been sitting there mocking me as I drag in grocery bags full of baby food jars every other week. So once Mia ran out of food again and we ended up spending alot on restocking her shelves I decided I had enough! I was going to make baby food!!! So after some researched online I found some easy recipes. I decided to start small and with her two favorite foods, squash and sweet potatos.

I bought a few sweet potatoes (about 25 cents each) and a few giant butternut squashes (about 1.5 bucks a lb which I thought was pretty pricey, but they are seasonal and can be stored for at least 3 months). So I was ready to experiment. I have heard from lots of sources that steaming your foods is the best since they retain the most vitamins without losing them to boiling or cooking. So I busted out my brand new steamer (a wedding gift that ended up in the back cupboard unused) and made some sweet potatoes and squash. To my surprise I got two full stage 3 baby jars (I always keep them after we use them) of sweet potato from just one potato!!! Thats like a quarter for two jars! I was stoked! When I did the squash I got a whoppin 4 jars with some left over, from one squash!

Now the real test... will Mia like them? I am a strong believer in keeping Mia's food's as healthy, oraganic if possible, and processed-free as possible (at least for now, while shes young) I wasn't sure how she would react to fresh food but to my surprise after alittle getting used to the texture she liked them and ate them! YAY! I am all excited now. I want to make all her baby food... well most of it. It is alittle bit of work but I have fun doing it, its almost like I am already cooking for Mia... it really makes me feel like a real Mama! (I know I know, I am a real Mama, but you know what I mean) We will see how long this new trend lasts.

Ok onto the BIG new of the day! Today Mia graduated to the Big People's Tub!!! Thats right, I have retired her little blue baby bathtub and today she took her first big girl bath in Daddy's bathroom. (His tub is smaller than my master bathroom one, and since I was so nervous I wanted to use the smaller one first haha). She has been outgrowing her little baby bath for awhile now... she is just so long (she wears 18-24 month clothes) that she outgrew it sometime ago I just didn't feel she was quiet ready for the big splash into the grown up tub yet. Till today... actually I felt ready yesterday but decided to wait for a night when Daddy was working from home incase I needed help. So tonight I got all her bath stuff ready, busted out the camera and into the tub she went. I wasn't sure how she would react to it... being all spacious and roomy, but she LOVED IT! My little brave girl had no problem crawling around and splashing about. She even kept standing up on the side of the tub and I had to keep sitting her back down. Then she would stand up on the opposite side of where I was... that sneaky girl! haha She had a blast though. She even tried licking the water in which I had to stop her. Adrian kept reminding me to let her do her own thing and experience the bath without intervening so much. Ya, I was doing the typical overprotective Mama thing and was always there with a hand for support incase she fell or just holding on to her. Once I let go (which was harder for me to do that I can describe) she was just fine. She slipped once and a part of her face hit the water but she just brushed it off like nothing and kept playing. Another time she went to cough and she ended up putting her face in the water. It startled her a bit but again she brushed it off and kept exploring. It was fun to finally relax alittle and watch her explore and experience the bath for the first time. It was cute to watch her try to crawl on top of the water and not understanding why her hand would sink haha. She played with her toys, tried to pull down the shower curtain a few times, and was climbing on everything. It was a really fun experience. I finally had to cut the bath short when she started getting all pruney and red cheeked. Overall she did good, no fussing, no crying, she wasn't scared at all.. infact she had a ton of fun. I can't wait to do it again!!

My little Mia girl is growing up so fast!!!

The Eruption of Mt. St. Mia!

Current mood: drained

We have been very fortunate in that Mia has only had two diaper blow outs in her tiny little life. Once when she was a few weeks old and another when she was a few months. Usually the diapers can hold whatever she can dish out and things are ok.... until today.....

She is starting to finally become somewhat regular now. She still gets bouts of constipation but since we backed off on her banana intake it has gotten much better. Especially since she is drinking more water and eating Barley Oatmeal now and then. Well yesterday she didn't go. It sort of concerned me but I didn't think much of it. I fed her Approcots and Peaches to help things along but nothing happened. So this morning I decided to give her some Barley Oatmeal for breakfast which usually helps. Sure enough about 5mins after breakfast she started turning beat red and was pushing. I quickly changed her and she went... not a whole lot like I was expecting but it was something. I didn't think much of it, I figured the barley did the trick and we contiued with our day.

We needed some groceries BAD so Adrian and I packed up the baby and off to Perris we went to go to Cardenas. (Perris is about a 10-15min drive north of us). We go to this store because they sell all their produce so cheap and its so fresh and good. Anyways by the time we hit the parking lot Mia was turning red face again. Uh-oh. So before we went into the store I decided to check her diaper.. sure enough there was a nugget in there waiting for me. So I changed her in the back seat of my car like I usually do (Cardenas is not the most cleanliness place around so changing her in their bathroom was totally out of the question). So once I got her all set up we went off shopping. Usually she LOVES to sit in the cart. She loves to play and watch people. So she was playing a bit with her rattle and checking out the people. A few kids past by and were all excieted to "see the baby in the cart!" haha. Things were going good until about mid-way through our shopping trip. Then we noticed she was acting funny. She kept trying to climb out of the cart (which she never does) and was becoming whiny like she wanted to be picked up. This was also weird. However, what really caught my attention was the fact I turned around and noticed she was all red faced! She wasn't pushing but her face was flushed. I told Adrian "Look the baby is red faced!" he said it was probably because she wanted out of the cart and was getting bored and mad. So I didn't think much of it and we contiuned to shop only quicker now. Then we made it to the last isle and was deciding on what would be for dinner. I went up to the cart to chat with Mia, but she was extreemly fussy and quickly reached up to me for me to take her out of the cart. I figured we were almost done shopping and pretty much only needed to pay for the stuff so I took her out. As soon as I lifted her up I noticed the smell. PEEEEE-UUUUU!!!! Mia stunk BAD! and not just a normal poopie stink it was HORRIBLE! ACK! I told Adrian "She stinks soooo bad!" He asked me what I wanted to do. Since I accidentally left her diaper bag in the car we decided that I would take her to the car to change her while he paid for the food.

I walked her to the cart and I could smell that horrible smell all around me. I am sure if anyone passed by us and got a wiff of it they would definately crinkle their nose! Finally we made it to the car. I got her black diaper liner thing I use to lay her on while I change her diapers, a clean diaper and some wipees. I wasn't sure what was waiting for me in the diaper but I figured it couldn't be to bad since this would be her third poopie of the day.. how bad could it really be right??! So I got her ready, laid her down in the back seat and opened her diaper... O-M-G!!!!!! It was the biggest mess I have ever seen her do!!!! It was the grossest more horrible sight ever!! The smell alone could knock someone down a mile away!!! I almost started to panic, how in the heck am I going to contain this disaster! Esepcially in my backseat since there isn't much room to work with! So I attempted to clean her off and when I lifted her tiny bootie in the air I saw TONS of poopies all smeared on that black diaper changing liner pad.. OMG! How did that happened? I lifted her up higher and sure enough there was poop all smeared up her back and her shirt was covered in it! ACK!!! How am I going to get this shirt off of her without getting it all over her worse or in her hair or face?!? I still attempted to clean her up as best as I could but it seemed to be getting worse and worse.. then I looked down and noticed my hands were covered in poop too!!! YUCK!!!! I tried to clean my hands, tried to clean her without getting any poop on my seats and she was squirming everywhere. Finally I stood her up so she held on the headrest on the backseat (competely bottomless with her bootie buns in the sun) and unbuttoned her shirt from the top and just pulled it down instead of up. I managed to get it off without making the situation worse. Now she was standing there, completely naked in the parking lot of the grocery store! I wonder what the people were thinking as they walked by seeing a naked baby wearing nothing but a pink bow in her hair, holding on the headrest of the car as her Mama kept saying "Oh my God, Oh my God" over and over trying to wipe her down. I eventually was able to get all the poop off of her and myself, but now what!?!? her shirt was covered in poop so I couldn't put it back on. Then I realized I have spare clothes in her diaper bag. I quickly got the bag out and found only pants! I forgot that I took out her spare shirt the other day for her to use and I didn't replace it! Noooooooooo! So now what?!?! I couldn't leave her top-less it wasn't warm enough. Luckily I then found one of her jackets in the backseat and just dressed her in that and those new pants I found. I cleaned up the backseat as much as I could and threw that biohazardous diaper in a plastic bag and wrapped it up. Mia by then started to fuss because the sun kept getting in her eyes. There was no way I was going back into the store for Adrian, plus the car was REAKING! by this point. So I opened all the windows, grabbed her blankey and cuddled her in the back seat while we waited for Daddy to come. He soon came and I explained the horror Mia and I just went though. It looked like I went to war! and I smelled bad myself from getting it on my hands. So we quickly buckled in Mia and off to home we zoomed. We didn't even make it to the bank like we wanted to we just went straight home. The car smelled so bad!

Once we made it home I changed her again and Adrian fed her. I soon got a hot bath ready for her and scrubbed her good. I noticed she was getting aittle rashy on her back! I think it was from the poop being smeared on it so I put some extra cream on her before she went to bed. She got her bedtime bottle and off to bed she went.. early too I might add. Phew what a day...

Who ever said Motherhood was easy?!?! Well I am off to take my own shower, I swear I still smell that poop on me even though I washed my hands 3 times already!

Daddy/Daughter Time at BestBuy

Current mood: content

I haven't been feeling to well since the weekend. I have little energy and want to sleep alot. I have chaulked it up to over doing it this past week and my super spring cleaning. So when Adrian offered to watch the baby extra today I jumped at the opprounity to rest a bit.

Mia got up bright and early today. I was kind of afraid to see what type of day it would be since she was Ms. Fuss Fuss ALL day yesterday but she was the comlete opposite! She was such a happy little girl today full of engery and smiles. I played with her a bit after giving her breakfast but soon pooped out. I cuddled alittle on the couch with her until she got to squirmy and I put her down for her mid-morning nap. I crawled back into bed thinking I could catch up on some needed rest but nope, Mia had other plans. She only rested for about an hour before she was up again, playing and ready to go. Luckily Daddy was up and took her over for me and let me sleep alittle longer. Of course the Mama instict kicked in and I couldn't relax knowing she was up. I had to go downstairs to make sure Adrian knew it was her lunch time and what to give her and check on her mood. He shooed me back to bed but I ended up staying up anyways. He played with her and they both had some much needed time together. I did some chores around the house but nothing to big.

Then Adrian wanted to go to Bestbuy to buy some stuff for his new project, converting our downstairs computer into a MediaCenter so we can cancel our cable but still be able to stream stuff to our TV via the internet. He has also been burning all our DVDs (over 300 of them!) so we can pack them away and make more room in the living room, plus we will be able to watch them on the TV via the computer without having to go switching disks. Pretty cool huh!? Anyways, he really wanted to take the baby out. I had no energy to go and had no problem with him taking her. I dressed her all cute (as always) put a pink bow in her hair as a finishing touch and off to the store they went. At first it was a nice breather.. I just vegged on the couch while they were gone. I had cooked a big pot of Soup so I was full and happy. Then 20 mins past... then 30.. then 40! Then all of a sudden it wasn't so fun anymore and I started missing my baby. 50 mins... 1hr... I started getting figity and antsy. I waited to hear the garage door to open but it didn't. 1.5hrs.. then finally the noise I had been waiting for. The garage door opened and I quickly greated them at the door. I was so happy to see Mia again and I just smothered her with hugs and kisses.

I asked if she got any compliments at the store and Adrian said yes one. The cashier fell in love with her and commented on how cute her outfit was and how Mia reminded her of a baby in one of those baby modeling magazines haha. Thats my Mia girl! Daddy was all proud. She did good at the store, and when she came home she was a ball of energy!

It was already past her bedtime by the time they got home so no bath time for tonight. Instead I let her crawl around on the floor and go nuts to burn off that excess engery. Eventually she calmed down and cuddled Daddy while watching "Yo, Gabba Gabba" on TV while I got her things ready for bed. When she started acting really tired I dressed her in her jammies, fed her a BIG bottle and off to bed she went.

It was a good day. SOOOOO much better than yesterday. I guess we will get those days from time to time... I just hope there are more good than bad.

Ms Fuss Fuss Strikes Again!!!!

Current mood: contemplative

Today wasn't as happy-go-lucky as it normally is. Mia was not in a very good mood and no matter how many naps she had, she wouldn't snap out of it. It is very unusual for her to act like this. She usually always comes around after a nap or big meal but today was different.

I have been noticing for the last few days (even while my Dad was down visiting) she was getting alittle more whiny than usual. She would constantly fuss when he tried to feed her and out of no where she would fuss while playing. Also she started getting clingy to me. My Dad even noticed this because no matter where I was in the house she was always looking for me and sometimes cry out "Mama" until I came into the room. If I walked away from her, she would get upset. Granted this didn't happened ALL the time, but the fact it was happening was unusual... for her. Today took the cake though BIG TIME!

The day started off fine. Though she really didn't want to be put down to play with her toys alone. Infact at one point before her mid-morning nap she became real fussy so I grabbed her favorite blankey and we actually cuddled on the couch while watching TV. She NEVER let me cuddle her for long but this time we cuddled for almost an hour before she got real sleepy and I put her to bed. When she got up from her nap Adrian wanted to watch her for a bit since he hardly got to interact with her all week. She was ok but really whiny.. then became fussy. She didn't want to play, or be held or anything. And she kept wanting to get things she shouldn't be getting and when we would raise our voice to her she would just cry. She was getting clingy to me again, even with Adrian!!! (which is always the other way around!) Then she kept falling and would SCREAM and cry, more so than normal. Infact once she fell on her butt like she always does to get down and instead of crawling away she just blew up and cried. Adrian tried to cuddle with her but she was not having it. Even my sis-in-law Lauren (her future Nina) called and heard her in the background screaming and she thought it was unusual for Mia as well. Adrian even gave her a popsical (her favorite) and some snackies but it still didn't cheer her up. After another big fall and scream fest I grabbed her to comfort her. I let her play with a Pair that was on the table that Grandpa Pizano left, to get her mind off her fall. She liked it and even tried to bite it. When I gave her back to Daddy she wouldn't let go of that pair so we just let her have it. Then she started eating it!! When Adrian tried to feed it to her she got mad, but eventually stopped feeding herself the pair and insisted HE do it. She wouldn't even hold it anymore and just cried. Eventually Adrian put her down for a nap and she slept for over 2 hours. When she got up she was still whiny and fussy. We waited her out another hour before I drew a hot bath for her. She loves her baths and never fusses with them. Infact she has only cried once during bathtime in her whole little life. Now I have to say twice because she cried towards the end and even tried to climb out! So I got her ready for bed, fed her a bottle and laid her down. She went down ok, I haven't heard from her yet. Hopefully she will sleep the night.

I am not sure whats up with her. I don't know if shes just not feeling well or if its a phase or what. I checked her teeth and she doesn't have any new ones comig in, shes not feverish I dunno. Its just weird. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Fun at the Temecula Mall and compliments left and right!

Current mood: pleased

Today we decided to have a little family outting to the mall. They have been upgrading this whole new section all year and it was finally opened to the public. We wanted to check it out, plus I needed to buy a new top for Mia's baptism.

So I got Mia ready and off to the mall we went. She was acting her normal spunky self in the backseat of the car and was always trying to get my attention by making noises. Once I would look at her she would flash her cute little smile. I would look away again and she would make this noise to get my attention. Again when I looked at her she smiled. She did this most of the trip down to Temecula. It was a fun little Mama/Daughter game.

When we got to the mall and parked in the structure. Boy it was cooooold! We bundled Mia the best we could with her blankey and her carebear (she LOVES carebears). We checked out the new section but it really wasn't all that great. It was more food places than shops so we went inside and shopped for my top.

First stop, JC Penny. I found a shirt but it wasn't all that great but not bad. I went to try it on in the dressing room while Adrian pushed Mia around in her stroller. Right away she got the attention of an older lady who just fell in love with her. Mia smiled shyly at the older woman and she got nothing but compliments from her on how cute she was. I pretended to be shopping and not paying attention but I heard everything and was beaming with pride. So was Adrian who was talking to the lady with Mia. I later tried on the shirt but wasn't completely convienced I wanted to buy it. So we headed off to another store. One of my ol' favorites, New York and Co. Once we got there I tried on another shirt while Adrian played with Mia. This time he took her out of her stroller and she perked right up. Again another stranger lady came up and said "Awww how cute!!!" Adrian then took Mia to a full length mirror so she could see herself (She LOVES babies) and she played with her reflection while I tried on the shirt. I didn't like the shirt afterall so we left.

We then passed by Annie's pretzels and decided we needed a treat. Adrian and I both got a pretzel and BOY It was sooooo good. We found a bench and sat Mia between us while we munched. Of course we didn't forget about little Mia, she ate some snackies too! So all three of us shared a bench as a family and ate our snackies. It was a cute moment.

After our brief snack we went back to JC Penny to buy the shirt. Again I wasn't completely convienced I wanted it so I decided to try it on AGAIN! When I came out of the changing room I could hear all these woman compliementing Mia!!! haha Two women sitting outside of the dressing room kept saying how cute she was and how she looked like "Pebbles" with her bow in her hair. Then a store clerk stopped by and also made it a point to see her and compliment her. Then it was time to go and pay for the shirt and as we left the ladies all waved bye and Mia waved back!!!! She finally started to wave (Something I have been practicing with her ALOT) I was so proud. Once we found a checkout counter we ran into that one store clerk lady from ealier, not only did she compliement Mia again she went to grab another co-worker to show her how cute she was. Adrian and I were all proud of little Mia, all this attention made our day. As for Mia she was doing her normal cute thing like nothing was happening haha.

Then it was time to go home. After a chilly walk back to the car we buckled Mia up and off to home we went. She had some play time with Daddy once we made it back home, then I bathed her and off to bed she went. What a fun little family adventure.

41 weeks!

Current mood: chipper

Well its official! Mia has offically hit the age where she is exactly as old as she was while in my tummy. Some may not think of that as a milestone type of event but to me its something special. She has grown and changed sooooo much during these past 41 weeks its amazing. Now she is on the brink of walking! I can't believe how much time flys!

This week started off with a BANG! she finally decided to start practicing how to walk! Usually if you tried to practice with her she would either jump or force herself to the ground so she could walk away. However, this week she finally took a huge intrest in walking. Now when you hold her hands she wants to walk EVERYWHERE and she laughs and giggles while doing it. She gets so excited now she takes off FAST! Now she is trying to learn to stand on her own from the floor without any help. She does this tiny little hop trying to get up to the standing position. She can't quite get it yet, but she is close. She also started doing this new crawl where she sticks her butt in the air, keeps her legs stiff (she doesn't bend her knees) and she crawls with her hands and feet. At first I just thought she was doing this to stop from hurting her knees on the tile floor in the kitchen but now she does it all the time. Even on the carpet. She really wants to walk. She is crusing like crazy now and can go from one side of the couch to the other. She is definately on the move now!

We also went down to San Diego and bought her Baptism dress. She lookes so precious in it. Its long white and has tiny flowers embrodered on the bottom. It even came with a bonnet .She did so good in the dress shop and never fussed even when we forced her to try on the dress before we bought it. After dress shopping we stopped by Grandma and Grandpa Santos' house for a visit. It was extreemly HOT that day so we had to cut our visit alittle short... she was getting overheated and tired.

This week was a very special week! Her Grandpa Pizano came down for the whole week just to spend time with her and play with her. I had to do much needed house cleaning so he babysat her while I cleaned and cleaned. They did all kinds of fun things all week and really got some much needed bonding time. Grandpa got to see Mia walk, cruise, and play. We even went to all kinds of stores looking for a new walker for her and Grandpa pushed her around all proud in the shopping carts. Pride was always beaming from him. Unfortunately the only walker Mia and we loved was a bit out of our budget to buy, but at least she got to play in it for a while. She was going nuts in the walker and walking everywhere in it, more than the one she has here at home! Anyways, the week was fun. We even took a walk to the park to play, she rode her first slide, and she showed her Grandpa the Emu farm. The visit was really fun and special and I wrote more detail about it in the previous blog.

She is really starting to learn how to use her teeth now. Daddy used to share popsicals with her but instead of licking and tasting them she BITES them and ends up biting huge chunks off! haha Now Daddy said hes no longer sharing with her anymore haha.

She also got her first semi-tan! If you have ever seen Mia in person she is so light. Its hard to believe shes Adrian's daughter since he is so tanned. While this week she proved that she has some "tanning ability" in her and after our walk to the park and Emu she came home a whole shade darker!!! I am so glad she didn't take after me, I burn so easily! infact after that walk I came home with rosey cheeks and nose! Argh! I don't like Mr. Sun!!!!

She also started letting go the furniture to stand up alone this week! Infact she started doing this today! She gets all excited, throws her hands in the air and attempts to stay standing. She does for a short bit before plopping her butt on the floor. She wants to walk so bad now but doesn't like to be assisted. She wants to only do it on her own so shes been practicing and practicing... walking will definately be in ther near future with the rate she is going. I predict by the end of next month she will be.

Oh ya, I wrote about her first mole a few entries back.. well turns out it was just a broken blood vessle because its gone now. It slowly faded over the last few days and now its gone. Ah well.. I am sure she will get her fare share of them soon enough, just like her Mama and Daddy.

Overall the week has been GREAT! so much fun, especially to have my Dad in town. That was an enormous treat for us all. Mia is growing and changing so much, I love sharing that experience with others.

Grandpa Pizano to the Rescue!!!

Current mood: thankful

For anyone who has little ones running around espescially Mia's age, knows that priorities really shift in your life once they are here. One that was first to go for us was definately the house! No, no I am not talking about foreclosure... I am talking about house cleaning! I can't believe how little time there is during the day. Especially raising little Mia and though Daddy helps out as much as he can, he works over nights so he can't always be there to watch Mia so I can get stuff done. And when he is able to, washing dishes, scrubbing and cleaning are the LAST things I think about. Its more like, what am I going to fix for Mia's lunch? are her bottles clean? what am I going to fix for dinner? are her clothes washed? do I need a much needed nap? Do I need to go to babies r us for supplies? etc etc. So yes our house has suffered from it and I have been DYING to do some much needed emergency spring cleaning! (Especially since I recently found a black widow spider in the kitchen YIKES!) But how am I supposed to find time?!?!.... well thats when Grandpa Pizano comes in for the rescue.

My Dad is semi retired at the moment so he has a lot of free time available. Thank goodness he has offered to help with my battle against the messy house. He has offered to babysit Mia here at our house for the whole week, while I knock out all my spring cleaning! YAY!! So this week is going to be interesting! Hopefully I won't be stuck behind the mop and broom all week and will have a chance to visit. I am so excited about how I am FINALLY going to get the house back into shape. Its been on a downward spiral since I was PREGNANT! YIKES! I know! So he is on his way. I am sure I will write blogs about his adventures here with Mia. I think I will just add on to this one as the week progresses. As for now I am off to get things ready for him!

DAY 1:

Grandpa finally got into town late afternoon (not by choice.. but mostly due to traffic). He was so excited to see little Mia. Of course Mia did her famous "stare" at her Grandpa, but after some time she finally started to warm up alittle. She showed off her new found walking ability and stunned her Grandpa at her standing alone ability as well. You can stand her up and she can stay stood up by herself without holding on to anything for a short while now! This is something new. As I started my battle of cleaning, the two of them played in the living room. Mia was everywhere, and there was Grandpa chasing her. She even showed Grandpa how much she loves "Yo, Gabba Gabba" and went nuts while it was on.

DAY 2:

It was HOT!! and I mean HOT! So we all stayed indoors most of the day. I tackled the kitchen while Mia and Grandpa played with her toys in the living room. He got to feed her all her meals which was a nice break for me, but I still rather feed her than clean. She was on very good behavior despite all the heat. Then my dad and I decided to take a quick trip to our favorite little Mexican Market place "Cardenas" a little ways up the freeway in Perris, while Adrian watched Mia. We picked up all kinds of goodies for the house and much needed food! Its was so much fun to shop around with my Dad, it reminded me of the times when we would go grocery shopping together when I was a little kid. Once we got home I went back to cleaning while Grandpa went back to playing with Mia. Once Mia learned she can use her legs to walk (while assisted) she ALWAYS wants to do this now. She is getting pretty good at it and takes off fast now! (which is surprising to us since she barely started taking assisted steps in the first place). She gets all giggly and happy when Grandpa holds her hands and helps her walk and she walks as fast as she can, laughing all the way. It is really cute. Later in the night I bathed Mia and showed Grandpa how poofy and curly Mia's hair gets when its wet. He got a HUGE kick out of that, but really made him laugh is how I can really get her hair all poofed out when I towel dry it. He quickly ran to grab the camera after I did that. It was funny. He fed her, her bedtime bottle and after some cuddle time on the couch while watching TV she eventually went to bed. (Almost two hours late! haha)

DAY 3:

The day started off pretty warm but not nearly as HOT as it was yesterday. Grandpa wanted to take her for a walk to the nearby park but it warmed up to fast, so instead after playing, TONS of picture taking, chasing and hair pulling (Mia pulling his hair that is) we took off to Babies R Us for some supply shopping. After piling in diapers, formula, wipees, food, etc into the cart my Dad actually realized how EXPENSIVE having a little baby is (granted I am the baby of the family (29yrs) things have changed a bit since the 80s haha) After we got what we came for we decided to check out their walkers. Mia has a nice big walker but thats just it, its too big and doesn't really manuver to well. Grandpa noticed that the day before when she was trying to use it. So we wanted to see what kind of walkers they carried in store. There we found the CUTEST! little red convertible walker. I took it off the shelf and Grandpa put Mia in it to go for a test drive. After familiarizing herself alittle with horn and movement she started going all over the place. At one point she almost went into the other isle! She loved it! Then we looked at the price $100!!!! YIKES!!! what a bummer. Money is EXTREEMLY tight right now so we had to put the little car back. AWwwww.... yea I know, but at least she had some fun in it. After alittle more shopping I paid for the things we got, all $112 worth! (thats including the two coupons for a savings of $12) which is pretty average. My dad was shocked! and really understood why we just couldn't afford the car right now. However, we decided to check Walmart's supply of walkers since it was nearby to see what kind of walkers they carried. They didn't carry many and the ones they carried just didn't have the appeal the little red corvette had. Then we hit up Super Target by my house. To our shock they only carried 1 walker!! and it was just like the one she currently has...bummer. By then it was getting late and little Mia was getting sleepy and hungry (and so was I!) So we went home. I fixed some dinner while Grandpa and Mia had some more bonding/play time. She is really warming up to him now. She crawls all over him, pulls his hair, and plays with toys with him. Oh ya earlier in the day he fed her breakfast (oatmeal + bottle) and fed her lunch (sweet potatoes) and both times he really got a taste of the large amount of patiences and wipees it takes when feeding her. She loves to grab at the bowl and food and once she gets it in her tiny hands she always rubs it on her face. Yesterday I found traces of dried squash on her eye brown and eye lids haha Today all I could hear is "No meja! No no .... oh no why did you do that?!" I would ask what happened and my Dad would tell me either she grabbed the food and smeared it, blew her food out of her mouth so it went everywhere, or stuck her hand in her mouth while food was still in it and made a mess! Yea.. it was definately nice to see someone else battle with feeding Mia! haha Anyways later she went to bed and we even snuck in her room a few times to see all the crazy sleeping positions she gets in.

DAY 4:

Clean, Clean, Clean! Yep did more scrubbing, wiping, dusting and cleaning today. Let me remind you, this cleaning isn't your ordinary, put things where people can't see them- "looks good enough" type of spring cleaning. This is the type we all DREAD! the scrubbing until your hands are raw, dusting till your sneezing white powder, and floating on the clouds from all the chemicals you inhale haha but the house is finally starting to shape up and I am so happy. My Dad had another fun day with Mia, though against my will he did pitch in and help a bit with some cleaning while Mia was napping or with Adrian. But he spent most of the time with the little one. She was great and the weather was finally cooling down so we could even open the windows again. YAY! I finally knocked out the kitchen completely and after scrubbing the floor on my hands and knees I put little Mia on it to see her reaction to tile. She went NUTS! She crawled all over the place and whe her tiny knees got hurt from the hard floor she started doing this weird crawl where she was crawling with her hands and feet and had her knees straight in the air! It was too funny. She loved it till she bonked herself on the head when she tried to roll on the floor... that was no fun. Anyways, she experienced her first real black out but it didn'lt last to long, thank goodness. She did get alittle fussy towards the end of the afternoon and Grandpa finally got a taste of the dark Mia side. The whinny Mama calling Mia! haha She perked up though after we fed her some cherry applesauce, pear sauce and yogart melts. After playing around more she finally got cranky again and it was time for bed. After she went down my Dad and I both tackled her play area and now it looks so roomy and HUGE! I can't wait to see her reaction tomorrow morning when she comes into the living room and sees all the room. She will go nuts!!!

DAY 5:

Wow what a day! It was filled with more fun than cleaning haha. Due to going to bed later than usual (8:30pm) for Mia, she woke up LATE this morning. She didn't wake up till 9:45! Once she got up, Grandpa was already set and waiting for her. He fed her oatmeal (which of course she made a small mess of), and I got her dressed for the day. We started the day with a walk to the park across the street. She got to ride her first slide (with us holding her of course) and she seemed to like it. We took tons of videos and pictures. Then we walked to the Emu so Mia could show Grandpa. The Emu walked right up to her and this time so did the goats! She seemed more amused with them than before and even laughed and smiled at them. A lady feeding the Emu came over and commented on how pretty Mia was and both Grandpa and I were beaming with pride! After visiting the Emu it was time to go home. Once we got home Daddy was awake and he BBQ'ed tons of good food for us while Grandpa played with Mia in the new clean living room. I was still straightening up a bit but was pretty tired from the long walk in the sun. Mia really tries so stand up on her own now without any support from furniture or anything. She kind of does this hop on her legs trying to get the momentum so she can stand up. She can't quite get it yet but shes getting there. She is also doing that "spider" crawl more. Where she crawls on her hands and feet and doesn't let her knees touch the ground. Anyways, after a short nap she was up again and ready to play. She watched "Yo Gabba Gabba" with Grandpa then showed off her Easter dress to him. After modeling her dress she tried on her new baptism dress. She looked so adorable in it. We took some pictures then it was back to her ol' clothes again. She eventually got alittle sleepy and sat on Grandpa's lap and both watched some TV. It was a fun day. Oh, and Mia got her first "tan"! ok ok ok it wasn't a golden brown but shes not as bright white anymore. After her walk with Grandpa and I in the sun she did gain some color. She almost looks like a brand new baby! haha Another thing she started today was letting go of the furniture to stand by herself! She is getting braver and braver and is finally letting go. She falls on her butt afterwards but she really wants to stand up by herself. She is doing more of the butt bouncing too trying to get into the standing position from the floor, its really cute to watch but I can't seem to be able to capture it on video yet. Hopefully I will before she stops doing it.

DAY 6:

The day has come.. the one we all dreaded. The day Grandpa has to go back home. Noooooooo! We were all sad to see him go, and so very thankful for his visit. Of course he didn't leave without having one more big play time with Mia. He chased her, did "super baby" with her, tickled her and made her laugh. He even showed her something new.. how to put her binky in backwards!!!! Adrian and I have been trying very hard to re-introduce the binky to her so she can stop sucking her fingers. She doesn't mind it for a little while but its more of a toy to her than anything. Then Grandpa was playing with her and her binky and was biting the handle side while she tried to grab it. Soon Mia was putting the handle side in her mouth and wouldn't put it back in her mouth the right way!! Sigh... Oh Grandpa!!! haha hopefully she will use it the right way again soon haha. Then it was time to go, Mia and I walked Grandpa out to the car and waved goodbye. It was so sad, but we know he will be back for more fun again soon! We can't wait!

Overall this week has been so much fun. Granted there was TONS of unfun cleaning and straightening up to do but it was still fun. We now have more treasured memories that we will never forget. It was a wonderful week and I am glad my Dad was able to come down and spend some time with his little "bumble bee princess"

A trip to San Diego to look for a dress

Current mood: accomplished

YAY! We found her baptism dress!!!! I was so scared we wouldn't find a nice dress for her since I am soooo picky when it comes to that sort of thing. I knew what I wanted in my head but I didn't think I could find something like that in person. I shopped all over the internet with no success. Then luckily Mia's Tia Rebeca came to Mia's rescue. She suggested we try this one dress store across the street from Chula Vista Mall in San Diego. So off to San Diego we went.

It was unusally HOT this weekend so I dressed her in shorts. She seemed ok with the heat but wasn't her normal perky self. She sang and jibber jabbered in the car ride down there but refused to sleep. We found the store and there had to be like 100000000 dresses in there! not to mention kids were running around and screaming all over the place! They were jumping in and out of the dresses it was insane. The whole place was cramped and I didn't think we would have any luck there. Then we found the baptism dress side and just like that BOOM! I found the ultimate dress! It was EXACTLY like I wanted. It was long, white, had tiny embrodery at the bottom (similar to my wedding dress) big poofy sleeves and a cute little bonnet. We had Mia try on the dress over her clothes and she looked ADORABLE!!! I just melted. I knew right then it was the dress. So to treat Mia for being such a good girl in the store, Daddy put her on a little toy horsey to ride in the store. It was the kind that bounces up and down. She kind of liked it but we got the most kick out of it. After that little fun we bought the dress. The cashier fell in love with her too. Everyone seems to haha. Then it was off to Grandma and Grandpa Santos' house for a quick visit.

By then it was slowly cooling down but it was still really HOT! Mia played alittle, and showed off her walking skills (while assisted that is), but we could tell she was really uncomfortable, she didn't even want to eat her snackies and was downing water like crazy!, so we cut the visit short. Plus she was getting really tired too. Once we hit the road she only made it to the third signal light before she was knocked out and she slept most of the way.

When we got home I got her ready for bed but not before opening a package we got in the mail from her Grandpa and Grandma Pizano. It was her Easter basket!!! It had lots of baby treats in there including a bunny duck, bubbles, and all kinds of treats. Daddy blew some bubbles for her but she was so tired she really didn't care much. So we fed her her dinner bottle and off to bed she went.

Overall it was a fun day! I am so excited about the dress. I can't wait till May 17th her big day!!

Finally, shes taking her first assisted steps!!!!

Current mood: shocked

Mia never ceases to amaze me! Today not only did she decide to finally start taking steps while being held by the hands but she took off!!!

I blame it on Daddy, he shared a fruit popsical with her and then gave her Mango baby food as a snack. She HAD to be wired because she was going nuts. Then he took her by the hands and tried to practice walking with her. Usually she falls forward so she can take off crawling, or just jumps. Its so rare for her to take 1-2 steps forward, however, today she decided "hey I am going to shock Mama and Daddy and walk like a pro!" Sure enough, as soon as Daddy grabbed her tiny hands she started stepping and walking. Not only did she walk forward but she turned back around and went the other way! She can change directions!!! (Can you tell I am excited! haha) I was in such shock I ran and grabbed the camera and captured some of it on video. I was so proud, we all were. She was doing so good.

Then she walked to her changing table, grabbed on to it and Daddy let go. She found a lotion bottle and was playing with it, then found a hair tie and picked it up and leaned back. Just like that she was standing alone! unassisted! with the lotion in one hand and the hair tie in the other just standing there!! I was again shocked and turned on the video again to capture it. Then she fell on her butt haha

I am soooooo happy, excited and proud of my little one!!! She is finally showing interest in walking!!! I guess all the cruising on furniture paid off!

Wow 40 weeks old!

Current mood: busy

Mia hit another bench mark in age... she is 40 weeks old today!!!! Wow! This week was pretty fun.

She celebrated her first Easter holiday! With that she got to color eggs, hunt for them later in her octagan, tasted her first chocolate candy, and was given lots of baby treats! Mostly yogart melts but hey they are her favorite. I dressed her up in her big poofy pink dress and we all went out for dinner at Red Robin. She sat in the high chair like a big girl and got tons of compliments from our waitress. It was a very fun day!

She also went on an adventure with her Mama to the Emu farm down the road! Granted she wasn't very interested in the giant monstrous birds, but it was still fun to take a stroll with her. She got to see goats, emu, llamas, turkeys, and even squirrels! She eventually knocked out in her stroller on the walk home... maybe it really was boring for her.

Due to her reoccurant constipation problem we decided to switch oatmeals and now she eats plain oatmeal or barely. She really doesn't care for barely much.. she will eat it but then blow it out of her mouth ever other spoonful! (Yes she can blow air out of her mouth, but it usually only happens when shes eating! haha) I tasted it myself, it isn't horrible but it isn't very good either. Since we switched oatmeals, she has been going normally again!!! YAY! no more hard poopies or balls haha. We also finally found a "dinner" baby food she likes. Spaghetti and Meat Sauce. She first tried it on my birthday and though it wasn't that great tasting she ate it! (If she doesn't like something she will refuse to eat it, cry, gag, or just spit it out). So finally we can add another item to Ms. Fussy Eater's menu!

She learned how to pull herself up and sit on her feet now. She also bounces on her butt when she does this and for some reason really prefers to sit like this instead of flat on her butt. Its really cute, but what really surprises me is when she is sitting like that she tries to bounce and balance herself up to a standing position! (This is without holding on to anything!) Of course she falls over but she keeps practicing. I think she really wants to learn to stand up by herself without the help of someone or something to pull up on. Wow she is getting so big so fast.

Another big event that happened this week is she helped me celebrate my 29th birthday! The highlight of the day was definately opening the birthday card from her and reading "Mom" on it. It was then that it really hit me, WOW I AM a Mom! of course after some tears of happiness I got to open her gift to me. A coffee cup with my favorite picture on it, her in her butterfly wings! (Awww my little butterfly princess). The day was filled with fun. We all went out to eat at one of my favorite restaurants and she was a good girl the whole time. She only threw 2 toys on the ground and played with her table top toy to keep herself entertained. Her and Daddy spoiled me all day and I was happy... it was an awesome birthday. Oh and I almost forgot! As a birthday gift to me, Daddy gave Mia a bath for the first time and gave me a break! It was so cute to watch Daddy get splashed for once, get kicked, and struggle with getting her creams and jammies on.(something I deal with every night) haha. It was a great start to a new age for me!

Yesterday she did something that really melted my heart. She sitting on the couch with her Daddy. I came up to her and talked to her a bit, and she started getting all excited and happy. Then I went to start dinner and walked away and right away she started to whine. I came back and said "no no no I need to make Daddy some food, I will be right back you be a good girl with your Daddy" and walked away again. As soon as I got into the kitchen (only about 10 feet away) I heard her start hyper ventaliating and crying, she was peeking over the couch to see me, and then said "Ma-Ma!!!" I just melted! (She rarely says Mama anymore and its always about DaDa, even when I said "Say MaMa!" she right away says "DaDa!") Adrian even said "Did you hear that?! she really wants you to come back" So I quickly came back, picked her up, showered her with hugs and kisses and rocked her in my arms a bit. She was so content and happy. This rarely happens especially when Daddy is around, her favorite person. I then gave her back to Adrian and she was all happy again and I was able to make dinner. What a sweetheart. I felt so loved and happy.

Well this blog unfortnately has to be cut short, which is also why its not so wordy like my normal ones. I have a job interview in a couple of hours and I really need to prepare for that and get ready. Overall, the week has been fun as always. Oh and with regards to her cold, she is finally 100% well YAY!!! Well I gotta go! Can't wait to see what this week brings!

Mia helps Mama celebrate her birthday!

Current mood: blissful

Happy belated birthday to me!!! I would have written this blog yesterday while it was still my birthday but I was having too much fun with my baby girl and husband! haha The day was filled with surprises, joy and laughter and heres how it went...

Adrian wanted to give me a break from the baby and some extra rest as a present but Mia had other plans. She wanted to be with her Mama for her birthday so she woke up extra early (7:30am!) just to wish me a happy birthday. Daddy woke her up around 5am to give her an early breakfast with hopes she would sleep in and give me some extra rest but that didn't happen, obviously. So at 730am I was greeted by a bouncing happy baby in my bed! Adrian had laid her down next to me to wake me up and they both wished me a happy birthday!

I then got up and went downstairs with the baby while Daddy got some rest before our big day. Mia was extra good and I think its because she knew it was her Mama's 29th birthday! So we played a bit, I fed her breakfast and we cuddled on the couch. Something she RARELY does with me, its more of a Daddy/Mia thing. Eventually she got sleepy so I put her down for a nap and I climbed into bed myself for some rest. Then the phone calls started pouring in from all my family to wish me a happy birthday. It made me so happy to know they remembered and thought of me. I had fun talking to everyone on the phone and I forgot to get some rest. Mia then woke up from her nap and it was more fun time.

Then Daddy woke up and sent me off to bed for some rest. I didn't argue and ran upstairs and jumped into bed. As I was napping he snuck Mia out of the house with him and went shopping. When I woke up and went downstairs they had TONS of surprises for me! Daddy had bought me all my favorite snacks and goodies! My birthday present from my parents also came in the mail and was waiting for me on the kitchen table. Then they surprised me by taking me to my one of my favorite restaurant's to eat, Don Jose's. Of course we left AFTER Mia took a quick cat nap and ate a small meal herself. Oh, to change the subject for a second, she ate her first Spaghetti and meat sauce baby food and she liked it!!! Ms. Picky Eater actually liked it! Wow! so now we finally have a "dinner" we can feed her YAY! ok back to the blog...

At Don Jose's (the same place we took her a couple of weeks ago and sat her in the high chair for the first time which turned out to be a toy flying disaster!) we decided to give the high chair another go but only because this time we were prepared! I packed EXTRA toys and made sure to bring this special toy she got from the Easter Bunny. Its alitlte spinning thing that has a suction cup on it so you can stick it to the table and she can play, spin, and yank on it all she wants. She sat in the high chair like a big girl and got a kick out of her spinning toy along with her other toys I brought (all attached to the chair so she couldn't throw them on the ground haha). We ate our meal and Mia ate some yogart melts. It was tons of fun. Again the waitresses and bus boys all stopped by to say hi to Mia because she is so cute. She tried to get everyones attention by making noises and playing. We had a great time, a big improvment from the last time we ate there. After dinner it was time to go home but before we made it home we stopped by Long's because Daddy forgot candles for my cake.

She sat in the basket at Longs and we did our shopping. We ended up buying her a new pack of 6+ mo. pacificers. She has given up using these since she was about 2-3 months old, however, just recently she found them in her play area (the new born ones) and shes been kind of using them. So we bought her 6+ month pacificers (the only other larger ones were for 18+ months are were too big) in hopes she might migrate back to them instead of using her fingers. So while we shopped for Easter clearance items I gave her the package of binky's to play with. Before I knew it she chewed off a big chunk of cardboard from the packaging!!!! Both Adrian and I tried to examin her mouth to see where the chunk went but we couldn't see it. We figured she ate it and I of course started to worry. Then we saw her chewing something in her mouth so I instictivly stuck my fingers in her mouth and sure enough found the wad of cardboard all chewed. I got it out of her mouth and took away the packaging. We paid for our stuff and off to home we went. It was getting late and close to Mia's bedtime by then...

Once we got home, I went to play with Mia in the living room while Daddy set up my birthday cake. Mia and I watched some "Yo Gabba Gabba" and then Daddy came to get us. He took me to the kitchen and there I found my favorite fudge cake with 29 candles on it saying "Happy Birthday Angie". Along side of the cake were two cards, one from him and one from Mia, a small present and the present my parents send me in the mail. After lighting the TONS of candles, I held Mia while they sang Happy Birthday to me. I made my wish and blew out the candles in one shot! (I hope my wish comes true now!). Then we decided to give Mia a chance to blow out a candle so we lit one again and tried to coax her to blow (which she does but only when SHE wants to... its mostly when she has a mouth full of food!) she blew alittle bit but was pretty much only interested in the flame haha. Then it was card opening time. I opened the one from Adrian first, and of course I got all choked up. He always picks out the sweetest cards that make me cry. I almost cried but I didn't quite get to the point tears.. that is until I opened Mia's card next. As soon as I read "Mom" on the top of the card I cried! It really hit me, Wow I am a Mom! I looked at little Mia and just couldn't help but cry. I do somewhat feel like a Mom, I mean I do all the "Mom" things... but its still new to me and still hasn't really sank in yet. I don't know why its taking so long but once I read that little line on the card it really hit me! Adrian couldn't understand how his mushy card couldn't bring me to tears this year and how Mia's little silly card made me cry! haha both were sweet and I love both my cards! After card time it was present time. Adrian bought me my new camera a couple of months ago as an early birthday present so this present was just from Mia. I opened it up and was so delighted to see it was a coffee mug, but it wasn't just any coffee mug it had one of my most favorite pictures of Mia on it. It was her butterfly wand picture I took in her room. I was so happy and thanked both my babies for their presents! I then called up my parents so I could open their gift while I was on the phone with them. My parents always go all out for me and I feel so special when they do. I opened their present and got TONS of things! Inside were tons of my favorite candies, a beautiful card, a new camera case for my new camera, an 8 gig memory stick for my camera (I am always running out of space with my current 2 gig one), a back up battery for my camera (I am always always running out of battery life with all the pictures I take so a back up one is perfect!) and a $50 gift card to a salon to get a pedicure!!! WOW! talk about spoiled! haha I thanked them and really enjoyed my gifts. I later cut the cake and boy it was good!

Then it was getting late and it was time for Mia's bath. Adrian gave me one last gift, a gave me a break while HE took the baby a bath!!! He has NEVER done this before. So with my supervision, (I wouldn't miss that for the world!) I watched him bathe her and for once watched him get all splashed with water as she played. He even got her ready for bed. It is not an easy task at all, she HATES to have her jammies put on and not to mention the TONS of different lotions and creams I have to put on her due to her excema. I got a kick out of watching him struggle with her as she cried and she kicked the heck out of him. My chest and stomach sure enjoyed the break of not getting kicked like I do every night. He then fed her a bedtime bottle while I got to play on the computer. (A nice change in pace) I kissed her goodnight, thanked her for all she did for my birthday and off to bed she went.

Adrian and I spent some time watching TV and just cuddling on the couch. I then got pretty tired so I went to bed. He took care of the baby at night and fed her so she wouldn't wake me up in the morning. So I got some extra rest and feel pretty good right now which is refreshing!

That is how my birthday went. It was wonderful and I wouldn't change anything about it... other than wish it would stretch longer than 24hrs! haha Well my 29th year has started off GREAT! I can't wait to see what this new year will bring! as long as I can spend it all with the love of my life and my sweet baby angel I will be happy......

Mia meets some Emu

Current mood: adventurous

Today started alittle different than usual. Its only noon and so much has already happened.

Mia was very cranky last night so she actually went to bed extra early. She was out by 6:30. I thought for sure she would either wake up really early or at least wake up to eat again during the night. To my surprise she didn't even make a sound until 6:30am! Daddy came home from work around that time and I thought maybe... just maybe.. if I give her a bottle she just MIGHT go back to sleep for at least another hour to two hours. So Daddy got her up from bed (he loves greating her after work) and she was in the happiest mood. She even got a treat from Tia Rebeca and cousins Brianna and Natalia. Daddy brought in this tiny little bunny Easter basket filled with treats! She got new hair ribbons and a cute little kitty outfit! a butterfly pig toy and two little Easter eggs one from each other of little cousins. Adrian had stopped by his sisters house before work yesterday to pick up Mia's Easter basket and a dual runner stroller his sister handed down to us. The stroller is really cool, you can sit two little ones in it side by side and its made for running. Its perfect for when we have our second baby.

Anyways back to Mia... so she was all bright eyed and bushy tailed. After opening her Easter basket I took her to the couch and fed her a bottle. Afterwards I put her back to bed, it was about 7am now. She perked right up and started playing and jibber jabbering. I went back to bed hoping she would eventually tire out and go back to sleep. WRONG!!!.... she soon got bored and wanted to get out of her crib so up I went. I took her out and brought her downstairs to start our usually early day. (She usually gets up at 9)

We watched some TV and played with her toys but eventually we BOTH got bored. There wasn't anything on TV, Daddy was asleep upstairs, and there was still tons of time to kill before her next nap. The morning was bright and clear so I decided to take her on an adventure. I have been wanting to take her to see the Emu farm down the road from us for awhile now. Yes, I know we live near an Emu farm.. actually its more like animal farm. They have sheep, goats, llamas, turkeys, and Emu! I discovered it about a year ago when I took a wrong turn going home from work one day. So I packed up Mia, bundled her up since it was still alittle chilly and off we went to walk to the Emu farm.

She sorta enjoyed being out but was tired from being up so early so she wasn't her perk peppy self. It took us about 15mins to finally get to the farm. (I walk slow and was enjoying the fact of being outside). Right away an Emu walked up to us on the fence to check us out. I was all excited for Mia to see her first Emu! We don't have alot of money so we can't afford to take her to the Zoo like I always wanted so this is as best as we could do. Mia just sat in her stroller, casually looked at the enormous monsterous birds, sucked her two fingers as if to say "meh... whats to great about this smelly place?!?!" Sigh... little Mia. I think Mama had more fun looking at the animals than she did. She rather sleep. The only reaction I got from her and the Emu was the time one was taking a drink from a pool of water. Then she chuckled... but then coughed afterwards so it may have just been a cough I don't know. I am hoping she was amused alittle bit. So after a couple of more Emu came to visit and Mia sat there unimpressed I figured it was time to head back home.

On the way back we came across two little baby ground squirrels. They would pop in and out of their holes. Mia didn't care about these cute little creatures either! so we kept on our way home. Alittle past half way home she knocked out in her stroller. Poor little one was beat from being up so early and the walk. Eventually we made it back home and she didn't want to wake up! Once I got her in the house though she came back to life and starting being her perky self. I gave her some breakfast and played with her more. She finally got tired enough for a real nap and I just laid her down.

That is the story of Mia meeting the Emu... I still think I had more fun than she did... ah well maybe we will go again when shes more rested.

Mia's First Easter!!

Current mood: happy

Happy Easter Everyone! Today we celebrated Mia's first Easter Holiday and it was TONS of fun!

We started off the day painting Easter Eggs. I dressed her up in one of Daddy's old black shirts (it looked like a dress on her!) so she wouldn't get any Easter dye on her jammies. I wasn't sure what we were in for, so I prepared for the worst! haha I got her high chair set up at the kitchen table, and laid old newpaper all around. I gave her an egg to hold, I got the dye ready all while Daddy was there taking pictures and videos. She liked holding the white egg and dispite all the prior practice Daddy was doing with her to get her to put eggs in a bucket, she didn't want to let go of that egg! Eventually she blopped the egg into the pink dye and it splashed EVERYWHERE! I quickly cleaned up everything and realized that was the first and last egg she will be plopping into dye haha I let her play with the other eggs while Daddy and I colored the rest. Oh wait I just remembered I did let her color one last egg. This time I put the dye into a big bowl in hopes it would be easier and cleaner for Mia to dump the egg in the dye.. WRONG! once she put it in the bowl it splashed and again there was a big mess! Sigh...haha it was still fun anyways. Eventually she got bored and wanted down. She was tired and wanted a nap which was good because the Easter Bunny had not hit out house yet.

We had her Easter basket all ready with all kinds of goodies for her ranging from a little brown bunny, googlie eye'd chick filled with jelly beans, a table top spinning toy, a stage 3 baby food jar "fruit medley", chocolates to share with Mama and Daddy, and much more. We waited for her to wake up from her nap and we went into her room and placed the basket in the middle of her floor for her to crawl to and find. We put her on the opposite side of the room so she could crawl to her goodie basket but she just sat there. I think she knew something was going on since Mama and Daddy were both in the room encouraging her to crawl around. After TONS of coaxing she finally crawled to her basket but only after we dumped it on the floor for her. As soon as she got to her basket she got a huge kick out of taking out the toys, looking at them and munching on the candy wrappers. We even treated her to her first taste of chocolate! Only a couple of licks but she liked it. It was a kitkat. After playing with her goodies it was time to hunt Easter Eggs!

I took all of her toys out of her octogan and placed tiny plastic eggs, filled with baby snacks, around the ground for her to crawl to and find. Daddy brought her down and I put on her pretty pink puffy Easter dress. I put her in the octogan and right away she went for her first egg. A little pink one. I put the basket next to her and Daddy told to her "put the egg in the basket" and she leaned over and went to put the egg in the basket but tipped over the basket before she could put it in. Awww.. then she contiuned to crawl around after eggs and then found the BIG GOLDEN EGG! YAY! In it was filled with her favorite little snacks, yogart melts. She munched on them and played with her eggs. We got a kick out of watching her and taking tons of pictures and videos. She then found one of the eggs that was dyed. I went to take some pictures of her holding it and she put it in her mouth to munch on it. When she pulled it away we realized the dye had come off and was all over her hands, mouth and lips!!! I quickly sprang up and grabbed her and ran her to the changing table. I whipped out some wippes and cleaned her hands before she could stain her dress. Then I cleaned her mouth but her lips were still green!!! I couldn't get the dye off for nothing! So she played around with Daddy in her pretty pink dress with green lips! It was then time for lunch so she got to eat her Fruit Medley she got in her Easter basket and eventually the dye came off her lips. Phew.... after playing a bit more we decided to go to a restaurant to show off her dress and of course her!

We packed up her bag and off to Red Robin we went for dinner. She sat in the highchair again like a big girl. They had balloons there so she got a pink balloon to play with. She had a ball shaking that all around and squeezing it. The waitress fell in love with her and commented how pretty she was and always made sure to talk to her whenever she came around. Mia liked the attention and would make sounds back to her, she even smiled at her!!! This was huge since she never smiles at strangers! She did good in her high chair and Daddy gave her snackies while we ate as a family. She did a whole lot better than the first time we let her sit in one of those chairs! Eventually it was time to go, and after the waitress made it a point to see her pretty little dress, we headed home.

I changed her clothes and put her in some comfy ones, and now she is taking a nap. Which sounds pretty good, I am sleepy to. This Easter has been tons of fun! I love having a little daughter, it brings so much more happiness to our holidays! I can't wait for the next one! better yet, I can't wait for her 1st birthday!!!!!

Shes 9 Months old Today!

Current mood: amused

Wow nine months old!!! I still can't believe it myself. 9 months ago today I was in the hospital giving birth to her... man time flys by so fast! This is her last single digit month! YIKES! That big 01 is creeping ever so closer!

I think this blog will be epically long. There is so much to cover, I am just hoping I can get it all in by the time she wakes up from her nap! I doubt it, but hey I'll try.

Mia never seems to slow down, she is always doing new things almost everyday. This month even started with me catching her standing in her crib for the first time! At that time she had been trying to pull herself up on things but was unable... so to find her standing in her crib was a huge shock! Since then she has nailed the art of pulling herself up. She pulls herself up on EVERYTHING and ANYTHING she can. The crib, the couch, tv stand, end tables, chairs, you name it. Once she gets up she lets go with one hand and just stands there all proud of herself. She even tried to let go with both hands once and just stood there for a good 2-3 seconds before she blopped on to her butt. I even started a new game with her where I stand her up and let go and see how long she can balance there standing. Her previous record was 12 secs until last night where she beat that record and stood for 17 secs! GO MIA! She is also starting to climb on EVERYTHING! She learned to climb into her papasan chair so she can get closer to the TV stand and attempted to climb on it! Yep we sure have our hands full with Mia these days! We even had to lower her crib to the lowest setting and already she is busting up her crib. A screw came loose and was stripped out from all the abuse Mia does to the side rail... we need to hit Home Depot to buy another bigger screw to fix the crib before the whole side comes down! She is constantly grabbing and shaking the rail and kicking it! She wants to bust free!

She went to a couple of birthday parties and her first babyshower this month. At her cousin "Baby Daniel"'s first birthday she got to hit her first pinata and lick her first candies (curtosy of Daddy!). At cousin Emily's 4th birthday party she got to jump in her first jump for joy and take another wack at a pinata. We also took a trip to Oxnard for my cousin Robert and Tiffany's babyshower for little Delilah (due in a couple of weeks now!) She got to meet some more Pizano family members who have never had a chance to meet her yet. She melted everyone's heart and she showed what a big girl she was by standing while holding on to a chair, eating baby food, snackies and drinking from her sippy cup. She even got to see Baby Cousin Gia again! and Gia had her revenge on Mia for that kick Mia delt her in Feb. Gia started getting rough with Mia, but Mia was a good girl and just backed away. Now the score reads, Mia 1 Gia 1... I think there will be a rematch soon... maybe on Mia's birthday? It will be the biggest rematch since Ali fought Frazier! haha At the babyshower I caught Daddy giving Mia a taste of her first lime!! She would make the biggest sour face but would demand more! it was really cute and funny. Later the next day while at Grandpa and Grandma Pizano's house, Daddy fed her, her first cherry popsical! She LOVED it and her lips and tounge for all red from licking it. Eventually she bit a chunk off and ate it! Haha

She is crawling like a pro now and literally zooms everywhere. Especially to places she isn't supposed to go. When you tell her no and try to go get her she takes off crawling even faster towards it. She can also sit up by herself which is nice because she no longer needs you to do it for her. She has also learned to take tiny steps while towards something while holding on to something. Cruising is the term I think since she can walk sideways while holding on to the edge of something. Maybe walking will happen before she hits 1? She uses her walker alittle bit, but since most of the house is carpeted she can only really use it in the kitchen or outside. So she still needs some practice with that but she can go backwards pretty good! Haha

She is saying "Da-Da" a lot more and has pretty much retired "ma-ma" though she will say it every now and then. I am not quite sure if she knows what those words mean but she makes me wonder when she calls the scruffy ol' sesame street puppet Da-Da! haha

She got to visit her Grandparent's Santos and Pizano this month too. It is always a treat for them to see her and always go nuts when she comes to visit.

She started sitting in the front of the grocery basket this month too! She LOVES it. She can look all around and watch the different people. When she sees other babies she goes NUTS! She tries to talk to them and she gets all excited. We bought her a shopping cart cover so she wouldn't have to touch those nasty dirty baskets. What really made me buy one right away is after taking her to Ross she kept trying to put her mouth on the cart handle YUCK! So we got a nice soft one for her. Its so much easier to put her in the cart instead of lugging that huge HEAVY carseat everywhere which also takes up so much basket space.

She celebrated her first St. Patty's day! I dressed her up in green so she wouldn't get pinched, but that didn't stop her from pinching Mama and Daddy! Sigh... little Mia always pinching!

She is finally getting used to drinking water now. Something she used to refuse to drink. The odd thing about it though, she refuses to drink it from a bottle and only wants it in her sippy cup! I don't mind, since this may help her transition to full sippy cup. I always leave a sippy cup of water (though she only prefers her pink one as opposed to her green one) nearby where she plays so she can crawl to it and drink it whenever she gets thirsty. I also give it to her if we are out and about or after eating some snacks. Speaking of snacks she finally adjusted to eating those too! The yogart melts are her favorite! though she does like the apple wheel and banana rice puffs. She took her to snacks really well and it helps when there will be a large lapse of time between feedings. So now along with diapers we pack snacks and her water where ever we go. Also, she graduated to stage 3 foods! We tried to give her a "meal/dinner" type food "Chicken and veggies" but she HATED it and just gagged. After tasting it myself I knew why and just gave the left overs to the cat who hated it too and tried to bury it. So we are back to regular ol' veggies and fruit. We tried giving her juice too but she doesn't like that either. What a picky eater... I wonder who she gets that from! ME! Hehe

She also started learning how to throw tantrums. Thank goodness she hasn't done this in a couple of weeks, but for a stretch there she was definately throwing them. Especially when we would lay her down to change her diaper or just to lay her on her back (she HATES this). She would instantly scream and cry as soon as her head hit the mat, she would clinch her tiny fists and give you the meanist dirties look ever! Her eyes seem to burn holes right into your soul! It was pretty crazy, and on top of that she would yell "ARRGH!" not even a cry it was a yell, all while being all stiff! I would have to give her that "Mad Mama" look and she would calm down and play. She hasn't really done that in a couple of weeks but I am sure its not the last we will experience the Mia tantrum. Due to her hating to be laid on her back now, when I put her to bed I just sit her down, put her blankey around her head and cover her body and leave. She finds her own comfy place to lay down and go to sleep. This seems to work wonders and bedtime is not a battle anymore.

Some HUGE news happened this month as well. We found out that Mia will soon no longer be the baby of the Pizano family anymore... thats right she will be getting a new baby cousin the end of Novemeber! Her soon to be Nina and Nino are expecting their 4th baby! There is hopes it will be that boy they've been after but Mia says she would be happy either way. If its a boy she will be happy to still be the youngest girl of the family, and if its a girl she will be happy with another playmate. As for us, Adrian has been pushing the idea of adding another to the Cardoso clan but I've been the roadblock! however, recently I am starting to feel that ol' baby itch aka "baby fever" so if things go right we plan on maybe trying starting this Decemeber. So who knows maybe by this time next year Mia will have a sibling on the way! YIKES! Haha

She is begining to become so interactive now and tons of fun. You can play all kinds of little games with her and she laughs like crazy. FINALLY! haha you can roll a ball to her and she will roll it back, you can chase her, and when you grab her legs she screams and laughs so loud. What a cutie pie. She also likes the peek-a-boo game. Her favorite thing of all, however, is her show "Yo, Gabba Gabba" She goes NUTS whenever it comes on. She loves all the puppets but DJ Lance Rock is her favorite. (Actually that guy is alittle scary looking) Whenever he comes on she smiles so big and laughs. So Daddy downloaded the whole first season and she gets her daily dose of "Yo Gabba Gabba" after lunch. Its a big treat for her.

A HUGE milestone happened this month as well. She got her first tooth..err TEETH! One morning she woke up and SURPRISE there was a tiny chomper sitting there right in the lower middle part of her gums. Then to our amazment, she woke up from her mid-morning nap sporting another tooth! right next to it! We were all shocked and that was the day her Grandpa Pizano decided to change her name from "Baby Mia" to "Amazin' Mia" because she never ceases to Amaze us! She has since put those new chomper to good use, biting Daddy, and eating food! Haha

She also got to meet her Pastor (Pastor Scott) this month. We all went down to The Good Shepard Lutheran Church, to meet up with him to set up her Baptism. He and the receptionist both fell in love with Mia who was on her good behavior. She just sat in her car seat and played quietly while we had our meeting. Afterwards she started showing off to him how she can stand while being helped, jibber jabbering, and eating snackies. He was amazed by her actions and awareness of her surroundings and commented on how "Smart" she was. That made Mama and Daddy proud! We love showing her off when we can. Her baptism day is set for May 17th. I am still shopping around trying to find the perfect white puffy dress for the big event!

Another thing we tried this month was to have her sit in a highchair at a restaurant. BAD IDEA! Though she could sit there just fine, she got bored so quick and began to throw all her toys everywhere! And once they hit the floor we couldn't use them again. Pretty soon I was trying to appease her by giving her everything in her diaper bag, ranging from baby lotions, to diaper cream, to wipee boxes. It didn't go to well so we decided to keep her in the carseat until she really grows out of it.

She also got to meet the Easter bunny this month too! She did great with him, though she refused to smile for the camera. She would laugh and smile when she would look at him but would instantly stop if we took her attention away from him. She was having so much fun with the bunny she even started pulling at his pink whiskers and bouncing! Everyone enjoyed watching her interact with him and at the end she even gave him a big kiss on the cheek...awww

RAWR!.. thats the new sound of Mia. She loves going around "Rawr'ing" all over the place!Now on to the not to fun stuff. She caught her first cold this month. Oh-no! she is FINALLY getting somewhat better (After over a week of dealing with it). She is congested in her sinus's and sneezes. Her runny nose has stopped but I still need to keep her room extra warm at night, her humidifer on, and I still rub baby vicks on her. At the begining it was bad, she would wake up every other hour screaming and crying because she would get to congested to breathe.. poor baby. Thank goodness its gotten better to where she can sleep normally again. Now we finally have it under control but we did have one casuality... Daddy caught her cold and was very sick all week. He too is finally on the mend... wow what a rough couple of weeks, I am just happy they both are doing better. I just hope I don't end up sick now!

That's pretty much how the month went. Told ya it would be a looooong blog! Its fun though, I don't mind typing this all out. I know one day I will really appreciate all the work I put in keeping these blogs updated. Not to mention tons of friends and family read these and get a kick out of them. I always get comments from people that they feel they already know Mia and watch her grow up just from all the updates which is awesome. I know we live so far from both sides of the family so it helps that they can still have some way of keeping track of Mia and her progress. Well tomorrow is her First Easter so I am sure I will write again. Till then I will sum up the month, post this and off to bed I go.. that is unless Mia wakes from her nap!

Summary:

Feedings: Due to still having constipation issues we learned to cut back on her banana intake so she now has moved from Banana oatmeal in the morning to plain ol' oatmeal. She doesn't like it as much but still eats a big bowl of it. She now drinks 6-8oz of formula after her oatmeal which is a huge increase from her previous 4oz. For lunch she eats a stage 3 veggie with a stage 2 dessert or fruit and sometimes even a snack or two after! Mid-day she eats either a stage 2 fruit or some more snacks and some water, then for bed she scarfs down a whoppin 10oz bottle! and if she wakes up during the night another 8oz to top her off. Her appetitie has finally increased after all this time and she is putting some weight on herself now yay!!

New things: 1st teeth, going backwards in the walker, moved crib down, eats snackies, likes water, met with Pastor Scott, got the "Amazin' Mia" title, went to first baby shower, hit her first pinata, tasted her first candy, lime and popsical, plays ball, chase, stood unassisted for 17 seconds, pulls herself up on stuff, climbs on stuff, used a high chair at a restaurant, got her first cold, sit in front of cart while shopping, graduated to stage 3 foods, obessed with "Yo Gabba Gabba" and DJ Lance Rock, met Easter Bunny, First St. Patty's day, Rawr.. rawr.. rawr.., her first mole on cheek, stood up in crib, learned to sit up by herself, learn to take steps with feet, throws tantrums, news about her first younger baby cousin, and jumped in her first jump for joy

Weight: 18 lbs per the bathroom scale

Goals met from last month? She has some what met some of the goals this month. She has learned to balance a lot better and can remain standing when you let go of her or when she lets go of something but its not very long. So she can't stand alone yet but she is getting there. Practice ... practice... practice. She did meet the goal of drinking more water. She likes it now and is always using her sippy cup to quench her thirst. She does take more steps now but when you try to get her to walk she will only do it alittle bit and then start to jump or wants you to put her down so she can crawl away. She is cruising more though so thats pretty cool. She can also finally move in her walker, granted it is only backwards right now haha. I need to make more time for her to use it and practice more.

Goals for next month: use her walker more and learn to go forward, find a baby "meal" she will like (not just veggies or fruit), teach her to wave bye bye

Her last 30's week! Week 39!

Current mood: sick

Wow Mia's last #30's week! In a couple of weeks she will be as old as she was in my tummy! haha This week was fun, though she was sick most of it.

She started off playing a new game with Mama. I would stand her up and let go and count outloud how long she could stay standing on her own. She would laugh and smile so big when we would do this together. She made it all the way to 12 seconds! Go Mia! However, since then she doesn't really want to play that game anymore, she rather jump or crawl away. Haha

She also got to meet the Easter Bunny this week too! Though she didn't want to smile for the camera, she got a huge kick out of the bunny himself. Everytime she looked at him or he looked at her she would laugh and smile real big. She got so comfortable with him she even started pulling his whiskers! haha She did better than we thought, but after seeing how she reacted to the Bunny we are now nervous about her meeting Santa again. She might pull off his beard!!!

She also did a couple of cute things this week as well. Daddy came down with Mia's cold and has been real sick all week. Hes been working from home most of the week so he hasn't shaved. Granted he was looking alittle scruffy we didn't think much of it but Mia did!!! Sesame street happened to be on the tv and this big orange scruffy looking puppet came on and right away she said "Da-da!" and started smiling and laughing at the puppet! It was really funny.. of course Daddy shaved soon after that haha.

She also started "rawr'ing" this week. She crawls around going "rawr..rawr..rawr!" in a real deep voice. Its really funny, I don't know why she started doing this but now its pretty much all she does!

She also got her first mole this week too! (I think its a mole) It just popped up out of no where and has been there all week. I've looked at it closely and its under the skin. Its tiny but noticable. Its right on her Right cheek and almost identical to the spot where mine is on my right cheek. I wonder if it is a mole, I thought those things come in later.. but who knows maybe shes taking after Mama.

She is also starting to climb on EVERYTHING! she even climbed into her papasan by herself. When she climbed into it, she climbed to the top and it looked like she was riding a boogie board haha. Then she tried to climb on the TV stand that was next to it! I had to run over there and get her before she fell. Now she thinks it a game, always trying to get into trouble because she loves to watch one of us run over to her to stop her haha.

Well this week has not been all fun and games though. She actually still has her cold that she caught last Wednesday. She started to get better but the one night I didn't bundle her as warm (it was a warm night) she started relapsing. Oh-no! Well now she is getting better. She is still congested in her sinus's and alittle in her chest but overall her nights have been getting better. We make sure to keep her room warm all night (either by the house heater or her portable room heater) and her cool mist humidifer is on periodically to keep moisture in the air so her nose won't dry out. Of course I am still rubbing baby vick on her chest and feet at night and it seems to help. Hopefully she will be over it soon. She did however give her little cold to her Daddy and he's been real sick all week. So I have been mothering him as well, cooking him homemade soup from scratch every day and big power breakfasts in the morning. It seems to be helping his cold but boy... mothering two sickies on the house is WORK! now that they are starting to get better I am starting to feel under the weather now! Oh-no! If I come down with a cold I don't know what will happen, I pretty much hold his house together and keep things in order, if I get sick choas will break out! haha We will see, I've been trying to get some rest and Adrian's been great about giving me a break to rest.

Well Mia isn't to happy in her octagon anymore I think its nap time. So I need to go. Overall this week has been interesting to say the least. I will write more tomorrow because its a big day for her, she turns 9 months old!!! WOW! Then I will write again on Sunday because its her first Easter! so I will get some rest now while I still can.... haha

rawr...Rawr...RAWR!!!!.............

Current mood: amused

RAWR! Thats the new sound of Mia! She just started it up yesterday. She loves to crawl around and in the deepest voice she can make she goes "rawr rawr RAWR!". She does it all the time now, its really cute! I really need to capture it on video before she decides to stop doing it.

The big reason I am writing this blog is not so much to talk about the Rawr'ing but to write about how she pulled herself up on her papasan all by herself! She always crawls to it and attempts to stand up but this time she climbed right into the chair, then tried to climb on the TV once she was in the chair!!! It was really funny. It is kind of hard to describe but I did snap a picture of it!

Mia meets the Easter Bunny!!!!

Current mood: excited

Phew what a day!!!! Adrian's cold has gotten worse and he has all the symptoms Mia had so its official he caught her cold! haha But since he was calling in half day today we decided to make the trip to the mall to have Mia meet the Easter Bunny for the first time. The only place that still had the Bunny at the mall was the Riverside Mall near the hospital where she was born!

So I packed up her pretty pink Easter dress and we headed off to Riverside (30min drive). It was really warm out today so I had her dressed in a onesie and some pants for the trip since I figured wearing that itchy dress can't be comfy in the car. Once we got there we parked in a parking structure and managed to change her into her pink puffy dress in the back seat (not an easy task!) we put her in her stroller and off to the Bunny we go!

It wasn't to packed (another reason why we wanted to do it during the weekday) only about 4 people ahead of us. I fussed with her hair, and tried to get her bow just right. There was alittle girl probably around the age of 4-5yrs in front of us. She instantly fell in love with Mia. She kept telling her Mom "Look Mommy a baby!!" "Shes pretty! look at her bow!" she reached out and tried to touch Mia's arm and hand. The whole time we were in line the little girl kept trying to make friends with Mia haha. We watched each baby one by one be brought up to the Easter Bunny almost like a sacrifical offering. Once they were placed on his knee they screamed out in horror!!! Two Moms literally said "forget it!" resuced their little ones and took off without any pictures haha. Then the little girl (Mia's new friend) went up there. Mia was becoming squirmy by this time and wanted to be put down. So Adrian put her down on the ground and right away she made a mad dash (crawling) towards the Bunny! We had to grab her so she wouldn't get in that other girls picture! haha Then it was her turn!!

I brought her over to the Bunny as Adrian stood back with our digital camera. We weren't sure how she would react to the Mosterous Bunny with Pink Cheeks (Yea it was kind of scary looking even to us!) but she instantly took a shine to him! She smiled and laughed as he bounced her. The picture lady finally got ready but as soon as we took her attention away from the bunny she refused to smile. She just stared. All three of us (Me, Adrian and the picture lady) did everything we could to make her laugh or smile but she refused. However, once the bunny looked down at her or she looked at him she would smile BIG and laugh. We did EVERYTHING we could to make her smile for the camera but again once she stopped looking at the bunny she stopped smiling. We literally took about 21 pictures.. only to finally choose one semi-decent picture. She was standing up on his knee just staring. Oh well.... at least she didn't cry. Then she started grabbed his face!!!! She started pulling on his pink whiskers and got a huge kick out of this. We all were laughing then it was time to say byebye to the Easter Bunny. Adrian grabbed her and told her to give him a kissy and she leaned over, took her fingers out of her mouth and gave the bunny a BIG kissy! PRICE-LESS!!!! Unfortunately, both Daddy and Mama were so caught up in the whole moment we didn't take any pictures of videos of this. BUMMER!!! I know! but it was really cute. After saying bye we bought a picture and that was that. I am going to have Adrian scan it tonight so I can post it. Its cute!

After the Easter Bunny picture we decided to take a small look around the mall to see if we could find any baptism dresses for her. However, before we could go shopping I wanted to get Mia out of that hot itchy dress. So we went to JC Penny (the closest store) I didn't want to take her in the nasty bathroom to change her so I took her to a changing room instead. She got a HUGE kick out of watching herself in the full lenghth mirror and talked and laughed at herself while I changed her. I got her dressed back in her onesie and pants and we were good to go. We shopped at a few stores but didn't buy or find anything good. Eventually Daddy started really feeling worse so we decided to go home.

I drove us home but dropped Mia and Daddy off while I did some shopping at Super Target for some stuff for dinner (cooking chicken soup for Adrian) and some cold meds as well. Once I got home Mia chugged down 10oz!!!!! of formula and went off to bed. Wow.. poor thing was so beat from the busy day and not taking a nap since noon the she went right to sleep. No bath nothing!

Well we definately had fun. I am kind of bummed we didn't take many pics or videos to share but at least we have some golden memories! The day Mia met the Easter Bunny!!