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
