My little Leaf Collector

Current mood: adventurous

After a long hard day at the doctor's office yesterday, regarding my miscarriage, I needed some Mia time BAD! So after we got home I took her to the park. The weather was great! She even needed a sweater for once!

As usual she did what she always does; run around and hunt for leaves. She picks up all sorts of leaves off the ground and examens them. She walked all over the grass area of the park and the sidewalks as well on the look out for more leaves. She got huge leaves, little leaves and ones that she tried to eat! Of course I had to take them out of her mouth.

After a long walk and exploration it was time to go home. We both had a great time.. I really needed that.

Finally.... I discovered a way to get Mia to eat her Pancakes

Current mood: amused

As time is going by, and Mia is getting older... she is slowly becoming more like her Mama in the eating department. The one thing I didn't want her to inherit it seems like she is... my pickyness for food. Meal time used to be a breeze with Mia, but lately its been horrible! Such a huge battle... and I am the one who usually loses.

Anyways, Mia used to be a great little pancake eater. I always cook her fresh pancakes for lunch but over time she just started throwing them or just ripping them to tiny pieces and throwing crumbs everywhere. I tried everything... even switching to a off brand mix just because it had Apples and Spice already in it. She threw those too. Then I tried buttering them and she would only eat the top buttered part and throw the rest. Then I tried buttering both sides and she ate the buttered parts and again threw the rest. I didn't want to get into the habbit of her eating butter so I had to find another route... then it hit me. She LOVES blueberries! Unfortunately, they are out of season so I had to resort to the frozen types. So I defrosted some, threw them in the pancake batter and cooked them up. When they finally cooled off (which took longer than usual since the berries were extra hot) I fed the to Mia.

At first she looked at the blue pancakes strangely but after a couple of test bites she LOVED them! She not only ate her whole pancake but she ate TWO!! and she didn't throw any pieces! However, towards the end when she was getting full she started to just fishing out the blueberries to eat them first haha. Silly girl! By the end of lunchtime she was BLUE!!! Hahaha Her fingers, face, lips, teeth! It was too cute! I took some pics I will have to upload soon.

Little Mia, my little blueberrie Monster!

Mia goes Pop from Pop Rocks and meets a new fury friend

Current mood: happy

Today was another fun filled day with the family. First we went out to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant (Rosa's Cafe). We haven't eaten there since Mia was born so it was a nice treat for us! Mia did good, she even ate some beans and rice.. which is rare since she usually doesn't like take out food. She behaved really well and it was a nice meal.

After that we decided to go to Target. We wanted to walk off our meal a bit and just check out their Halloween stuff and maybe find a new Elmo for Mia. We shopped a bit then went to the Halloween section. We found her the cutest little pumpkin flashlight type thing that when you push the button it spins around and shines a bunch of lights. Adrian showed her how to push the button to make it spin with lights and thats all she would do. She LOVED it and wouldn't put it down for anything. We looked at all the new decorations and costumes. We couldn't resist but scare her alittle bit with some spooky things, like the candy dish that has a hand on it that grabs you when you move towards that. She kept jumping at that. Then we went over to the toy section. We found some Seasme Street puppets (like Cookie Monster) but she was only interested in Elmo. Then I found this little plush fury Elmo and she fell in love with it. She threw her pumpkin light on the ground and refused to touch it again and just held her Elmo tight. When I tried to take it from she just blew up so I quickly gave it back. I knew right then we were going to have to buy it! haha She never did let go of that Elmo. Not even on the ride home and carried it around the house refusing to let it go. Even when I gave her, her milk sippe at home to she found any way she could to juggle both the Elmo and the Milk without putting one or the other down. So yes, Mia has a new furry friend.

Another thing we did today... well it was more Daddy's idea ( I was till unsure about it) was to introduce PopRocks to Mia. We don't normally eat candy or have it in the house but we came across these and just had to buy them. We weren't sure how she would react to them, but surprisenly she loved them!! She would keep her mouth open and listen to them pop and crackle and then ask Daddy for more! I got it on video I will have to upload that soon.

Overall the day was great, I am really tired and ready for bed. =)

Mia put Pee Pees in the Potty!!!!

Current mood: amused

Hahaha no no no don't be fooled by the title of this blog, she is not potty trained nor did she pee into the toliet. I let her to run wild and loose around the house (of course supervising her) I took my eyes off of her for a second as she went into the back room area. She emerged after I called to her to come back. I didn't think much of it until Adrian woke up and went to use the restroom. He came back out and called me over to see what our daughter did.

On Mia's adventure of roaming downstairs, she managed to find a dirty diaper (pee pee thank goodness) and put it in the toilet! It was just sitting there floating. Mia came into the bathroom looking all proud and happy. Of course I had to fish it out and shoo her out of the bathroom but it was still pretty cute and funny.

I guess she is slowly getting the concept of "Pee Pees in the toilet" since I take her to the bathroom with me alot to expose her to the potty. I always let her know I am going pee pees and its in the potty. When we take off her diaper we call it pee pees too. Maybe she put two and two together!! haha All I know for sure is I need to bring down her Diaper Geni from her bedroom so I can lock away her dirty diapers!!!

Week 63!

Current mood: accomplished

Happy Friday! Its that time again... time for "A week in review of little Mia!!" haha Can you tell I am in a good mood this morning? Well I should be, I got up at 5:30 this morning to hit the gym early for once but instead I just ended up walking around the track at the park across the street for 2 miles!! I am so happy and proud of myself. So I decided to use that positive energy and write about Mia, my little ray of sunshine!

This week has been fun, and I am glad because I really needed that. It started off with her little friend Abby's first birthday party in San Diego. It was great seeing the little ones together again and they even played nice! Abby shared some of her toys with Mia and Mia tried to gives Kisses to Abby. The only bad thing Mia did was run away from Abby when she tired to hug her... sigh... Mia needs to get used to hugs!!! She doesn't like them but we are working with her on that. Mia got to play at the playground but she didn't like it much. I don't know if it was because there were alot of screaming kids around or if she was just tired but she panicked and almost cried on everything we put her on except for this bouncy spring horse. She loved that and had lots of fun. At the party she got to eat alot of good food and of course Daddy gave her iceceam, cake and candy. She did throw up alittle but I think it was because she was running around so much after eating. Overall the party was great!

Mia also tried to tickle Daddy for the first time this week. She not only reached out with her hands to tickle him but also attempted to say "Ticke tickle tickle" like we do to her. I wish I could have seen it but Adrian said it was the cutest thing ever!!!

She also learned to say "No" and says it ALOT. Granted it sounds more like "Na" than actually No, but she says it all the time when she doesn't want something to happen. Usually she says it while running away from you, or when you try to feed her something she doesn't like.

Speaking of feeding, that has turned into a HUGE battle with her now. Its driving me completely INSANE!!!! She is getting so picky now and always throws her food off the side of her high chair onto the floor. I can't walk away or she will end up dumping all her food on the floor one piece at a time. And she doesn't stop it even if you are right there. Sometimes I have to force her to eat by placing a piece of food in her mouth but she will just keep her mouth open, squirm, take the food out with her hand and dump it on the ground! Talk about frusterating! I have been trying all kinds of tactics to minimize this, even Adrian gets the same results. I don't understand, she used to eat what I fed her really good. Then it hit me, she doesn't do that when its something new. For instance at the birthday party this past weekend we gave her some new food and she ate it like nothing. It even got to the point where she was stealing food off of Adrian's plate. Then last night I fed her some zuchinni/corn soup type dish (a recipe I got from my Mother-in-law) and she LOVED it! Infact she was grabbing my hand to give her more because I wasn't feeding her fast enough! So I think the solution is to start giving her a variety. This sort of stinks because it was easier just making her the same thing everyday and now I will have to cook more and prepare different dishes which isn't always easy due to the lack of time during the day. I also noticed she doesn't like processed food and only likes fresh home cooked food. She won't eat at restaurants but she will eat it if you cook it fresh. I only cook fresh, nothing from cans or frozen so I guess she is getting spoiled with that. At the party this past weekend it was all home cooked food as well. I also noticed she will only eat my beans and not beans from a fast food joint either. Hmmm... well looks like I will need to fire up the stove more often.

Mia also grew a new tooth this week. Another Molar to add to her collection. Her tooth count is up to 9 now!! I can't believe it! She is growing up so fast. This tooth was on the bottom (a nice change) on the left hand side.

She also killed her favorite Elmo toy yesterday. She got an "Elmo Live" toy from her Great Uncle Anthony and Aunt Ilenna for her birthday. She LOVES her Elmo and goes nuts when hes on. She always carries him to you so you can turn him on and she gets the biggest smile on her face when he talks to her, kisses, her or dances. Anyways, she has been getting really rough with it and she broke his mouth. It now always ticks really loud when he talks or moves. Then yesterday Adrian said she threw him off the couch and broke his arm. I thought maybe his arm wouldn't move right or got stuck but no when I looked at it, the poor little guy's arm was completely broken off from his shoulder!!! Now he only moves a nub!!! There is no way of reattaching his arm unless we take off his skin (which I don't really want to do since I can't sow worth beans!) so looks like we need to buy her a new Elmo buddy, maybe one that is more Mia resiliant! haha

She also has a new show, Elmo's World. She LOVES this show and will completely stay frozen watching it the whole time! Adrian downloaded a couple of episodes and she loves them. I like them only because it will give me some time to clean or do something really fast as she is glued to the TV. She still loves her Gabba! but her Elmo is a close second!

Well thats about it for today, I need to start getting ready to get Mia up from bed to start our day together. All in all this week has been lots of fun!

and then there were 9!!!

Current mood: happy

Mia woke up this morning to another tooth.. actually another molar to be specific! Thats right she is now up to 9! But what makes this one special is that its on the bottom!!! She has not grown a new tooth on the bottom since her very first two teeth (which were on the bottom in the middle and came in on the same day) So YAY! I am happy at least she is adding to the bottom since she already has 6 up top! haha

The mystery of the stinky blankey ... solved!

Current mood: amused

For anyone who knows Mia, knows how attached she is her to special blankets. She has four of them altogether. She sleep only if she has one of these blankets and she goes nuts in the car without them. So we need to take them EVERYWHERE with us. Thank goodness she is attached the type of material rather than the specific blanket itself (we would be in big trouble if that was the case). She carries them everywhere with her and I truly feel shes is Linus incarnet! haha

Anyways, I am pretty up to speed with her laundry since she goes through so much. I always make sure, above everything else, her blankets are always cleaned and washed. I am constantly rotating between the 4 so she always has a clean one with her. However, lately I have been noticing that not long after I wash them they start getting this funky odor to them. Like pure STINK! I have no idea what is going on. Adrian has found the cat on them a couple of times and yes our cat stinks like dust all the time, but that wasn't the reason.. though it probably contributed to it. So I no longer have her blankets where the cat can reach them. Still after washing the blankets, less than a day later they REAK! again! It has been driving me nuts because I can't stand the idea of her cuddling with a stinky blanket!

Finally I think I figured out what is causing the smell. I recently washed her pink blanket and gave it to her. She started carrying it all over the place like always. I then gave her, her milk sipee for the morning and she took off with that too. Thats when I noticed that she was getting milk all over the place including her blanket! When I picked up her blanket it was not only covered in all sorts of crud from being drug along the floor but it had milk on it too!!!

The milk and floors are the culprit!!!! It makes sense now, before when I would clean her blankets she would only cuddle with it but since she started walking she drags them all over the place. Plus spilling milk on it doesn't help! Well now that I solved that mystery I realize there is no way of stopping her so I guess there is just one thing to do...

Load up on laundry soap because I am going to be doing a TON of laundry!!

TICKLE... Tickle....tickle...

Current mood: surprised

I heard the cutest story from Adrian this afternoon and I just had to write about it.

He told me yesterday while Mia was on him she leaned over and actually said "tickle tickle tickle" as she tried to tickle him with her hand!! Of course it wasn't a clear "tickle", but more like a "Thi-Ka thi-ka thi-ka" but she was trying to tickle him like we tickle her. She opened and closed her hand trying to tickle him as best as she could.

Isn't that just too cute!!!! She never ceases to surprise us everyday!

a Mama's Touch

Current mood: accomplished

I have been meaning to write this little story that happened yesterday but things keep coming up and I don't get to it. Now that Mia is down for a nap I finally have time.

Adrian has this thing about trying to get Mia to sleep in bed with us. He really wants to cuddle or hold her as she sleeps. I don't blame him, I want that too but its to hard if not impossible for Mia to do that. Ever since she was a newborn she sleeps alone. We have never been able to have her sleep with us or even in the same room with us. Its that bad! She is such a solitary sleeper that she only gets comfy when she is alone. Also, she can never get comfortable on a real bed and all she wants to do is run around if we put her in bed with one of us. So for the past few months Adrian has been trying to get her to get used to being in a the big persons bed and trying to nap with her. I tell him shes just too young and maybe when she gets older he will be able to reason with her more. He never listens and yesterday was no exception.

About mid afternoon Mia was becoming really moody and whiny. I could tell that she needed a extra nap since her morning nap didn't last too long. So I told Adrian to put her down for a nap and of course he went in the room with her and tried to get her comfy on our guest bed. I stayed out in the living room resting on the couch. Sure enough I could hear her giggling and laughing, playing and screaming and him trying to get her to lay down and go to sleep. Then silence... then playing and laughing again... then crying. I could tell he was trying to control her and make her lay down and she kept popping up and playing. Finally there was no more laughing and playing but more crying on and off.. then a full out screaming session. I heard the door open and close and Adrian came out. Mia was left screaming her little head off in the room. I asked what happened and he said that there was no use, she was not going to take a nap on the bed and when he put her in her playpen she blew up. Sigh... I knew that would happen since it does all the time when he tires to nap with her. I could hear her crying and screaming all the way into the kitchen. I got up to eat a Mango but my Mama radar was going nuts, I just had to get her. So I went into the room and saw her all upset. Tons of tear streaks were on her cheeks and she was crying so hard. I noticed she threw her favorite blankey out of the playpen so I knew that made her even more upset. I couldn't just leave her there so I picked her up and carried her upstairs into her room.

We usually don't have her nap in her room during the late afternoon since its upstairs and it gets so hot up there during the day, however, yesterday wasn't to bad when we went up there. I turned down the AC to make it alittle cooler, turned on her room fan and her music and made sure her blinds were closed tight to make it darker. I closed the door, grabbed her blankey and cuddled with her on the rocking chair. She put her head on my chest and let me rock her. She laid there very content and every now and then she would quick sit up just to look at me with the biggest smile on her face, then lay back down. After about 10 mins or so I got up and rocked her in my arms while I held her in front of her crib. She was really relaxing by then and I knew she could fall asleep soon. So I gentally laid her in her crib and........ WAAAAAAAAH!!!! She blew up!

Sigh... Mia! I didn't pick her back up but instead talked to her calmly and slowly. At first her screams over shadowed my voice but I kept at the same rate same way. Eventually she finally started to calm down and stopped crying. I put some toys in her crib for her to play with and she just threw them back out. I put more in, told her to get some rest, and walked out of the room. She never made another peep and actually slept for alittle over an hour.

I felt proud of myself. I didn't think I would be able to get her calmed down enough for a nap but I did, and I did it in a way that she didn't have to cry herself to sleep (something I HATE doing) Poor Adrian, I guess he just needs a little more practice.. then again there is nothing like a Mama's touch =)

A fun time at Abby's Big Birthday Bash!

Current mood: happy

What a great day today was. It was awesome to get out, see old friend and watch Mia go nuts in the park. Today was her bestfriend, Abby's 1st birthday party in San Diego. We have been looking forward to this party for awhile, especially Mia who loves her friend and parks! Thank goodness the party didn't start until 3 so we didn't have to rush right down first thing in the morning since it takes alittle over an hour to drive down. So we had lots of time to rest and relax before heading out.

The drive went pretty normal with Mia not sleeping and getting cranky about midway down. Once we hit the park, however, she perked right up. We couldn't believe how many people were there the whole park was filled with families and parties and the majority was definately for Abby's party. It wasn't to hard finding the spot since we knew it was the party with multiple pinatas (4 to be exact) and tons of kiddie games. After saying Hi we spotted the Birthday girl! She was dressed in the cutest little Disney princess costume that made her look like a flower since she was surrounded by pink petals. We brought Mia over to say hi but she was acting shy. Not sure why she started this whole shy business up but at least she doesn't cry. It takes her awhile to warm up to new places and faces. She eventually did though.

We got there just in time, the food was ready and boy did we bring our appetites! All the food was great and homemade, you name it, it was there. Beans, rice, chicken, carne asada, potato salad and much MUCH more! So we filled our plates and managed to get two empty seats to sit and eat. Daddy balanced Mia on his leg while we balanced our food and ate. Mia LOVED the rice! She went nuts over it and kept stealing all of Daddy's rice and stuffing her mouth. She isn't a huge potato salad fan since she doesn't like olives and I warned Adrian to be careful and not have her grab that. Of course Mia did anyways and once it hit her mouth she let if fall out all over her clean dress and all over Adrian's pants! Sigh.... haha

We all grubbed out and then let Mia loose. She walked and walked all over the place and we took turns chasing her. Then it was Pinata time. I am not kidding when I say they had 4 pinatas!!! I have never been to a party with more than 2! but it was a great idea, two for the babies and 2 for the big kids. So Mia got to pull on the strings of the first baby pinata and grab some candy. Then Daddy joined us and he helped Mia get more candy once the other 3 pinatas exploded. My favorite one of all was a GIANT Cupcake! It was the cutest one ever and I almost felt bad to see it get bashed apart.

After the Pinatas it was cake time. So we all sang to the smiley Abby and we got to watch her try to blow out her candle. The cake was so cool looking, I don't remember who made it for her, I think one of her Aunties but it was the type you see on those professional cake contests on TV. They also had mini-bite sized cupcakes for the babies and of course Mia got some of that too. Daddy made sure to give her a bite after I happened to leave to throw something away. When I came back, Adrian looked all innocent but Mia had blue icing all over her mouth! haha

Then it was present time and I swear I have never seen a girl get so many clothes and toys for her birthday! Mia just stared in envy and I could tell she wanted to jump out of Daddy's arms to play with the toys!

After present time it was time for the older kids to play some of the games they had set up. Mia took this time to play with Abby who shared some of her new birthday toys like her toy phone. Mia smiled at Abby and they played together like good little friends. They even tried to give hugs and kisses to each other, it was too adorable!!!

Then we let her run around and play a bit more till it was icecream time. Adrian let her eat a little icecream and she ate a sucker too. She was eating all the bad things we never let her eat but hey it was a party what could go wrong? Well something did and it happened to happen right when I was holding her. I was standing up and trying to get her to smile by pretending I was going to spin her around (a favorite game with her) then I went to actually spun her and what did she do but throw up all her icecream and candy!!! YUCK!!! Luckily I already had her at an angle so most of it just went on the ground but some of it got on her dress!!! So I rushed her to Adrian while I ran to get some napkins to clean her up. She didn't even seem to be bothered by it and kept on running around.

We then walked Mia down to the park where there were swings and a jungle gym and all sorts of fun things. There was a massive amount of kids there so unfortunately she didn't get to ride on the swings but she did get to go on the slide. To our surprise she didn't like the slide at all!! The first few trips down it looked like she was enjoying it but then she started getting scared and almost crying so we had to stop. We had her check out a few more little toys things on the jungle gym but she started getting scared again! Finally we tired to have her crawl through a tube and as soon as Adrian put her in it she started crying!!! That girl needs to get out more, poor thing is scared of all the fun things at the park!! Then we found one of those bouncy, rocking horse thingies on a spring and that she actually liked. She had a good ol' time screaming and bouncing and rocking herself. Of course when I was finally getting some good pictures of her my memory card became full!! NOOOOOO!!!! So I had to walk back to the party and get her diaper bag which had an extra card in it. I could hear Mia laughing and screaming across the park! When I got back I got a couple of pictures before she bashed her mouth on the horse! She cut her lip a little but didn't cry and didn't want to be on the horse anymore so we took her off and went back to the party.

After visiting a bit more it was getting late and time to go. Of course we had to eat a little cake before we left and it was very good. Mia got some too! We then said goodbyes and headed back home. Mia knocked out in the car and didn't wake up until we were about 20mins from the house! What a nice treat for us!

Once we got home I fed her alittle dinner, let her play a bit then put her to bed. It took her awhile to fall back asleep but I think she is now. She is no longer kicking the side of her crib like I was hearing earlier... I really think I need to put that bumper back on or she will break the bars from kicking them so hard! haha

Overall we had a GREAT time at the party. Its so cute to see Mia with her little friends and having fun. The Gabel family were so nice and inviting they really made us all feel like family. It was a very fun day for all of us. Well I am sleepy now so off to bed I go, but not before I dive into our massive goodie bags!!!! haha I will try to upload the pictures tomorrow or soon =)

and another week goes by... #62!

Current mood: accomplished

Good Morning and Happy Friday everyone. Its that time of week again for Mia's weekly blog. I have been doing this for so long you would think I would run out of things to say or write about, but leave it to Mia, who is always on a constant adventure, she always creates new stories to tell. This week is no exception.

The week didn't start off to good. I had to take my final blood test to make sure that my pregnancy levels are down if not gone and that kind of put a damper on my mood. I was really bummed out until Mia and Adrian came to rescue! As soon as I came back from the lab they took me out and treated me like a Queen. We went shopping and Mia even let us put all kinds of Halloween Costumes on her at the store. We got to go to Coffee Bean to get one of my favorite drinks of all time, Chai Tea Latte. While there, Mia got to try her very first Pure Chocolate Ice Blended (Daddy's drink of course) and she loved it! Infact she did everything she could to get more after we took it away, even resorting to licking the side of the cup to get anything she could from it. Silly girl. After whipped cream was all over her face and Daddy did she finally calm down. It was a great day and they both sure perked me up.

Adrian and I also celebrated our 11 year anniversary of being together, with Mia!!! I couldn't think of a better way to spend the day than with my little family. We went to the mall and found Mia's Halloween Costume. She is going to be Tinkerbell!!! She also got to walk around the mall holding Daddy's hand and she did really well until she wanted to bust loose and run!!! We went to Macy's and we let her run free and boy she was EVERYWHERE!!! That little girl can go non-stop! Eventually I was the one who pooped out and I had to put her back in her stroller! haha

We made a trip to San Diego this past weekend as well. It was her Grandma Santos' birthday and what better present to give her than a Mia visit!!! She recently had neck surgery so she is currently staying at Adrian's Grandma so we went to her house. It was fun seeing the family again and Mia went nuts exploring their backyard. She even got to meet her very first ferret!!! She thought it was a kitty and smiled at it alot!

The weather actually got cool one day and we took advantage of it real fast. I took Mia across the street to the park to run around and she had a blast. She picked plants, found leaves and just walked.. walked... walked!! ALL over the place. I can't wait to take her back.

Mia also found her nose this week! After showing her for a long time she eventually showed us that she was listening all along and pointed to her nose when we asked her to. It was so cute! Next we started working with her on finding her ear... BAD IDEA! though she seemed to get her nose down pad ever since we incorporated her ear she always points to it now even when we ask her to point to her nose... sigh MIA!! haha

I have been listening more carefully to her baby talk since I am concerns she stopped saying words she knows. I realized something, all that jibberish isn't all jibberish after all. Some of it is actual works just missing a letter or two. I recognized her trying to say "Gabba" whenever I ask her if she wants to see it. She says "aaa-ba" She can't pronounce her G's yet but I know its Gabba since she only says it when we are referring to it or talking about it. Another word is "Ball" she will find one of her balls and say "Bbb-a" its similar to Gabba but you can notice the difference. She is saying "Agua" alot more now but saying "Hat" is a thing of the past. I am sad because I used to love hearing her say Hat Hat Hat all over the house.

Mia has also learned how to do a not so good thing. Gag herself. She is teething pretty bad and her molars are coming in, infact I noticed another one on the brink of breaking through on the bottom. With that I know they bother her and itch her, so she is constantly sticking her fingers... actually her hand down her throat and gagging herself. Its really tiresome to fight her to stop doing that. I am afraid that she will make herself throw up and I HATE that. Whenever she starts getting on a roll with that I pin her down and put some baby orajel in her mouth (not an easy task since she bites HARD) and that usually clears it up for a short while. I can't wait till this phase is over or until her molars finally grow out!

I bought her, her very first Barbie yesterday and she seems alittle interested in it. She will carry it around for abit before throwing it on the ground and finding something better to play with.

I also finally took her bumper padding out of her crib yesterday. I was getting tired of putting it on and off whenever I washed her sheets. It was a HUGE hassle since you had to tie every little tie back on the crib. I kept it in there so long because she is a crazy sleeper and I was afraid she would hit herself or hurt herself on the bare bars. However, yesterday I had enough with messing with the bumper and just left it off. I also added a pillow to her crib. She sleeps with a pillow in her playpen for naps so I thought why not the crib. After putting her to bed last night everything seemed ok. I heard a couple of little bangs but nothing big. When I went to check on her before I went to bed I was surprised to actually see her using the pillow!!! It was so cute!!! The night went great and she never got hurt or cried.. YAY! My little Mia such a big girl!!! The only thing I miss about having the bumper on is, she can now see you sneaking into her room!! Uh-oh!

Thats about it. The week has been good and I can't wait for tomorrow. Her friend Abby is having her 1st birthday party in San Diego at the park and I can't wait to see how Mia will do at the party!! I am sure I will have lots to write about!!!

Her first Barbie and bye bye bumper!

Current mood: mellow

I was never much of a girly girl growing up. Actually to be honest I was pretty much a tomboy and still am to some degree. I owe alot of it to never having sisters and looking up to my big brother my whole life. Instead of barbies I played with He-Man.. instead of dressing up in foo foo dresses, I was always in jeans and a t-shirt.

Anyways, I was always curious how I would raise a girl? Would she be girly girl? Would she be a tomboy? I try not to influence either way and just go with the flow with Mia. I do dress her up in foo foo dresses and other cute clothes but I also have her in jeans and shirts too. Its still too early to tell how she will be. She does LOVE bracelets and hats on her head, but she also likes to play rough and get rowdy and loud. All her toys are pretty much stuffed animals like Gabba or just blocks and puzzles and balls. She never even owned a baby doll until she got one for her first birthday. She played with it a bit but now doesn't even care about it. I didn't think much of buying her dolls and other girly things since I never grew up with them...buying her some just didn't come to my mind at all.

Recently I contacted a good friend of mine to ask what her daughter (two months younger than Mia) likes. I was trying to get an idea of what to get her for her upcoming 1st birthday party. She gave me a huge list of the things she likes and doesn't like. Some very similar to Mia some way off. The one thing that she mentioned is how Abby LOVES Barbies and dolls. I then realized, wow Mia doesn't even own a single doll!! That needs to change! So I went down to Target today to pick up a few things and while there I found a really inexpensive Barbie doll. It was a butterfly princess type doll with purple hair and wings. The clothes I liked the best since they were a part of her and couldn't be taken off. (I can't stand to see naked Barbie dolls!!!). So I showed it to Mia, she seemed to get excited by it and tried to get it out of the box. I kept it in front of the basket with her the rest of our shopping trip. After buying our stuff we went to car. I set up Mia in her car seat and opened up her Barbie box and handed her the doll. She was so happy with it. She smiled so big, studying the doll and softly touching her hair. I shut the door and got in the drivers seat. By the time I got my seat belt on and turned on the car I looked back and found Mia already chewing on her foot. Sigh... everything gets chewed on lately with Mia! haha By the time we got home the doll was tossed aside. Ah well... However after I got her in the house I let her have it again and she walked all over the house with it and wouldn't put it down. She even showed Daddy her new present. She later ate her dinner and went off to bed. Not sure how she will take to the new doll but we will see. Still its cute to know Mia officially owns her very own first Barbie! haha

Ok onto another thing that happened today. Mia has been sleeping in the same bedding set that I got at her baby shower. Its really cute and fits the theme of her room. It even came with a bumper that went around the edge so she wouldn't hit her head on the bars at night. Granted you are supposed to remove it by 3 months she still has it on her crib! Why did I leave it on so long? Because for anyone who has watched Mia sleep shes a wild one!!! She tosses and turns like crazy and is never in a single spot to long. She is always rolling around on her face, back and side and hits the side of the crib alot. Many times when I go and check on her at night before I go to bed myself, she is sleeping on her side or back with her foot hanging through the bars of the crib! Another reason I kept it on was because she also likes to sleep against things and I just couldn't stomach thinking she would roll and hit herself hard against the hard bars. However, changing and washing her sheets was AWFUL!!!!! because every time I go to put on the new clean sheets I would have to move her crib away from the wall, untie every single string that attached the bumper to the crib... all 100000 of them, take the mattress out, put the sheet on, put the mattress back and redue all the ties, then push her crib back. It was a major chore and I was hating it more and more with every laundry day. Finally today was the final straw! I couldn't stand it anymore and just left the bumper off. I put a pillow in her crib (like the one she sleeps with in her pack and play during nap time) and Mia took it for a test run during an unscheduled afternoon nap. She did good I didn't hear any loud bangs so I don't think she hit herself. Later I put her down for bed and everything seems ok. However I did hear a little bang at one point and her make some noises afterwards but she hasn't cried. I will check on her before I go to bed tonight, hopefully she doesn't need that darn bumper anymore.. its horrible!!!! haha

Oh and we found out today that Mia loves pickles!!!! haha

Mia found her nose!

Current mood: shocked

The one thing I have observed from watching Mia grow and change over the past year is her ability to learn. She learns extremely fast for her age and it doesn't take much to show her how to do a new thing, however, the thing about her is... she will make you think she isn't paying attention and only when you aren't looking or away she will do what you showed her. For example, when she was only a few months old I showed her how to spin this little toy on her Jump-a-roo. She watched me a few times but refused to try it, it wasn't until I walked away did she start spinning it on her own. She is the SAME way with everything. She really doesn't like you showing her stuff she wants to figure it out herself or act like shes not interested... then when no one is looking or you least expect it she does it. This is really true with her vocabulary as well. We will try to get her to say a word but she won't repeat it. She will only say it when SHE wants too and its usually way later or when she thinks no one is paying attention.

Anyways, with all that being said, you can really understand the shock Adrian and I both had today. Adrian has been working with her to find/point to her eyes, nose, mouth, ear etc. She usually just plays and doesn't seem to interested.. then out of no where today Adrian asks her "Wheres your nose?" and she pointed to it! He didn't even have to show her. He was shocked and quickly called me over to see. This time I asked her and sure enough with all five fingers pointed out she touched her noise with her thumb! It was the cutest thing ever!!! We did it off and on the rest of the day and she kept pointing to it! I am so proud of her, she knows where her nose is!! haha

Silly girl, always making us think she doesn't know.. then when we least expect it she does it. Makes you wonder what other things she can do that she is just hiding from us at the moment =)

A Fun Morning at the Park

Current mood: adventurous

For anyone who lives in Riverside or has lived in Riverside, especially during the Summer, knows its nearly impossible to go outside to play 3-4 months out of the year since its so extremely HOT! and I am talking 105+ HOT, everyday!

This year was no exception. I have been dying to get Mia out to the park across the street to run around and play but the weather has been relentless. Thank goodness the worse is over and its finally September. Though it still heats up to mid-90s everyday its still pretty tolerable. I still won't go outside to play though, its just to hot for me and Mia.

However, today was unusually cool. I was surprised, I quickly jumped on the internet and checked weather.com to see how hot it would get today. It said the upper 80s as the highest! Whoa!!! The rest of the week was mid to upper 90s so you better believe I jumped at the chance to take Mia out to the park in the morning while it was still cool.

I fed her breakfast, got her dressed up (she actually got to wear pants today, that is a first in about 4-5 months!) and I got ready myself and off we went across the street to the park. It was a beautiful morning out, some clouds a breeze and a tad bit warm. I originally wanted to have her run around in the grass, but after walking through it a bit I realized it was still to wet. So I walked her to the jungle gym area. There is concrete all around it and I thought it would be perfect for her to walk around.

I put her down and she was off in a flash. She was so excited to be outside and walking around freely. She let out some screams of excitement and just chattered away exploring her new land. She found a huge leaf and walked around with it. Any other leaves or twigs she came across she gave to me as a present. She had a blast, and I had fun taking her pictures. Then I realized something, I put her pants on backwards!!! Oh no!!! The draw string was sticking out the back! Sigh... I tried to hide it for most pictures but I am sure some still came out with it hanging out.. another new Mama mistake haha. Anyways she had fun, later I put her on the concrete running track to check out the plants there. She had fun picking plants and looking at the ants running around the crushed snail bodies. Thank goodness she didn't decide to touch those! Everything was going great till it started to warm up more. I think she started to notice because eventually she stopped walking and just sat on the ground. I knew she must have been getting tired since we had already out there almost an hour. So I picked her up and started our way back home. I thought I would take a short cut up the dirt so I could cut across the park instead of walking around it on the trail. BIG MISTAKE!!!! mud + my sandles = disaster! Sure enough I lost my footing and the more I tried to regain control the more it made things worse.. then BLAM! I hit the ground with Mia in my arms. Luckily she wasn't hurt, she didn't even touch the ground... the only thing that happened to her was her hat flew off with the impact. I on the other hand got all the scrapes and cuts on my legs and mud all over me!!! I quickly got up, checked Mia then attempted to put her down so I could grab her hat on top of the muddy hill. However, Mia was upset, not crying but scared from what happened, and refused to let me put her down. Whenever I did, then she would cry. So I picked her up and stepped on some shrubs for footing and managed to reach out for her hat without falling again. I was still so embarassed by the whole thing, I haven't fallen on the ground in years! I really wanted to go back home by then, plus Mia didn't want to walk around anymore. So I headed back home, I passed by a lady walking her dog around the park and I hoped she didn't see the fall happen I was so embarassed, then again I was covered in mud and Mia was upset.. I think if she didn't see it happen she could put two and two together haha Ah well... anyways we made it home and I let her run around a bit inside before putting her down for a nap.

Phew what an adventure... there is never a dull moment with Mia around!

Another fun day in Sunny San Diego

Current mood: tired

We planned on going down to San Diego today to visit Adrian's Mom (who just had neck surgery and is currently staying at his Grandma's house) for her birthday. So after Mia got a good nap in we left on our trip.

The drive went well until we hit about 25 miles from our destination. Its almost notorious, Mia always ends up having "enough car ride for one toddler" moment and blows up. It always happens around the Terrisanta turn off, off the 15 freeway. Today was no exception, but we think it was because the sun was in her face.. poor baby we really need to get my car windows tinted. She didn't scream and cry but more like got whiny and fussy. So we had to deal with that until we got to Grandma's house. Once we got there she perked right up and was her happy self again... until we got inside the house.

Mia is not a very shy baby, infact she loves strangers, stores and the mall however for some reason she freezes up when shes in a new house. She won't walk and just stands there and sometimes gets clingy to Adrian or myself. She did this again in front of everyone. She just stood there shocked. It took awhile before she warmed up but she eventually did like she always does. She said hi to Grandma and Great Grandma, Tia Eva, Tia Terri, Cousin Robert and his soon to be wife (18 weeks pregnant with her upcoming new cousin) Cherilyn.

Mia was actually on her good behavior too, she really didn't get into to much trouble. She left Great Grandma's picture frames and crystal alone which I was happy with. She played in the back yard for a bit, exploring with Daddy, and she ate some dinner. The visit was alot of fun and went really well. The only time there was a problem is when she accidentally smashed her tiny little fingers in the door. She kept opening it and slamming it (her favorite thing to do) and eventually she caught her tiny fingers in the door. She was ok though, after a good cry she snapped right out of it and then got to visit a new addition to the family. A pet ferret! That little guy errr... girl? was too adorable! Robert let the ferret out and it bounced around off the ground it was the cutest thing ever. Mia kept smiling every time we called it a "kitty" haha Later Mia got to meet one of Adrian's long time friends, Ali. I met Ali around the same time I met Adrian so its been YEARS since I've seen him. It was fun catching up and he kept commenting how cute Mia was. Overall the visit was great... later we said our goodbyes and off to home we went. Mia knocked out right away and didn't wake up until we were nearing our freeway exit home.

Once we got home I gave her some milk and she watched a Gabba episode with Daddy then it was off to bed. She went right down and now I am here writing this. I have a huge headache so I am going to end it here. I am really tired. I have TONS of pictures to upload.. I am falling so behind in that, hopefully I will get them up soon.

Mia on the loose!

Current mood: exhausted

Its almost noon today and I am STILL tired from yesterday's big adventure to the mall. Yesterday was Adrian's and myself's 11 year anniversary of being together so we wanted to do something special. We decided to go to the Temecula mall to shop and maybe have Mia ride the little train they have there. So we packed up the car and zoomed off.

It was already mid-day (ya I know another LATE start for us.. as usual) so Mia was already getting alittle sleepy. We first stopped by the Halloween store to check out their costumes. I decided that Mia would either be a fairy princess or a butterfly princess for Halloween but just wasn't sure on what type of costume yet . I wanted to see if they sold any wings there and what type of kids costumes they carried. They didn't carry to many cute things but they had tons of scary things. I LOVE halloween so I went nuts checking everything out while Adrian was holding Mia. Then he took her over to some moving scary dummies. I told him they would probably scare her and give her nitemares but he insisted she would be ok since he was holding her. Sure enough once the dummies started moving around and the music started playing she got all bugged eyed. Her chin got alittle quivery but she never cried, then Adrian went "BOO!" and she jumped! Poor baby! I scolded him for scaring her and made him take her away. We checked out some more things before we left and headed to the mall.

Once we hit the mall and found the train, I busted out my camera ready to take some memorable pictures but then found out you actually have to PAY to ride the kiddie train! WHAT?!?! Sigh.. ah well we decided to wait until Mia would actually enjoy it when she gets alittle older. Besides there was one little kid riding it already and he didn't look like he was having fun at all! haha

So we walked around the mall a bit, pushing Mia around in her stroller. She didn't seem to mind much. First we went to Anchor Blue but didn't find anything, then we went to Gymboree to see what sales they had and if they had any cute costumes. We found the cutest little pink fairy/butterfly costume. It had a giant poofy pink tu-tu and giant wings! It was perfect, however, in order to buy the costume and all the accessories (like the wings) it would come out to over $50! YIKES! We decided to hold off a bit and keep shopping since Halloween is still over a month away. I had taken Mia out of her stroller to put that costume against her (big mistake) because she wouldn't go back inside. So Daddy had to carry her around. We went next door to check out the Disney Store costumes and it was a MAD HOUSE in there. Kids everywhere, clothes and toys all over the floor and it was crowded. We later found out why, they were having a big sale there. So we looked around and I found the PERFECT costume for her, Tinkerbell!!!! They had the cutest little poofy green Tinkerbell costume there and I held it up to her and it was just perfect. Especially since her hair looks like a bob, its perfect Tinkerbell hair! plus it was on sale for 20% off. So I bought it. As I was waiting in line Adrian let Mia loose. She started walking everywhere and getting into everything. After buying the costume I came back and Adrian was attempting to hold Mia's hand as she was busy exploring and smiling at kids. We left the store and Adrian held her hand and walked with her. I pushed the stroller behind them and just savored the cute image I was seeing, Daddy holding his baby girl's hand and walking together in the mall. That image didn't last long because before we knew it she was trying get loose of Adrian's grip so she could run, she would constantly stop to pick up trash, stare at ever single person walking by, touching store windows and falling. So he picked her up and carried her the rest of the way.

Then we hit Macy's. Adrian wanted to buy some new shirts so I told him to take the stroller and shop and I'll watch Mia since she was itching to run around and explore. (Another HUGE mistake) Man, I chased that little girl EVERYWHERE! She went absolutely NUTS in the store. She walked and ran all over the place, had to touch EVERYTHING, tags, shirts, pants, manikins, mirrors, hangers, security tags, you name it. She kept chattering the whole time in this weird voice as she explored and was free. Soon I was exhausted from all the chasing. Every time I picked her up she would try to dive out of my hands onto the floor. She wanted to explore. It was still very cute though, and she kept falling alot but would get right back up and take off again. All the store associates fell in love with her and she even tried to get a hug from a teenage girl that smiled at her. After Mia tried to climb up her bare legs (she was wearing shorts) I had to take her hand and try to find Adrian. I was done chasing her and wanted her back in the stroller BAD! She let go of my hand and just took off to go exploring some more. Eventually we bumped back into Adrian and I put her in the stroller which she didn't like one bit. I gave her some water and snackies and that calmed her down. I was tired and had the worst headache ever and just wanted to leave. So Adrian paid for his stuff and we headed back to the car.

On the way out we passed by Claire's, a little accessories store. I wanted to buy Mia a new bracelet so I went inside while Adrian watched Mia outside. I went to the childrens section and found two cute bracelets. One with butterflies on it and the other a light green one that would go PERFECT with her Tinkerbell costume. I then heard Mia all the way in the store getting fussy so I quickly bought what I had and went outside. Mia was not a happy camper but once I put her bracelet on she was happy again.

We wanted to go out to eat for dinner to celebrate our special day so we went to The Roadhouse Grill, to eat. I was starving and I knew Mia must be too. It was already close to her bedtime so I knew this dinner wasn't going to be easy, and boy was I right about that. Usually shes pretty good in restaurants, she doesn't fuss or make to much noise, well she sure made up for that last night. She was so rowdy it was unreal. She didn't cry but she kept screaming to make noise and it wasn't like a yell it was a full out scream for like 5 seconds straight! She made every turn to look at her to see what was going on. She was playing so loud and kept throwing all her Cheerios on the floor. Luckily in that place its a tradition to throw peanuts on the floor so her Cheerios blended right in. She even threw her new bracelet which I didn't even realize was missing until after we were home. We ordered our food and ordered her some Mac and Cheese. She fought with us to eat and we battled her to the very end. She did manage to eat most of her food but she rather try to throw the plate on the floor or just scream. She even threw her favorite blankey on the floor! Thats a first! She wasn't being fussy or crying just being LOUD! Finally dinner was over, definately not what we expected or planned and we left. She knocked out on the ride home and once we got home I put her jammies on, gave her some milk and off to bed she went. She was so tired.. phew what a day!

I think she is starting to get into that real toddlerhood phase because she just wants to go everywhere and explore EVERYTHING! She never sits or stays put anymore and is always on the go go go... next time I will have to remember to pack MY running shoes!!! haaha

Adrian and Mia to the rescue!

Current mood: loved

Yesterday didn't start off to well. I was feeling kind of down again, especially since I had to go back to the Lab. to draw more blood to make sure my pregnancy levels were going down (in which they are). As the morning grew on I was getting more and more bummed. Didn't feel like talking to anyone and by the early afternoon I was a mess. I couldn't even play with Mia. Once Adrian woke up I told him I needed to be alone and went to the lab by myself. I didn't feel like talking or being around anyone at that time and just kept to myself and cried. After the lab was done I drove back home feeling alittle bit better. Once I got home it was Adrian and Mia to Mama's rescue. They both took me out to have some fun!

Granted it was just errund running but they made it so much fun for me. We first hit Bed Bath and Beyond to buy some new bath towels. While we where there we just started being silly. Adrian would put different things on Mia to have her hold or play with and it was cracking me up. She loves blankeys and we found this HUGE one! It was enormous and we gave it to Mia to see what she would do with it and she got scared of it because it was so big! haha Adrian then put a neck pillow on Mia and she actually left it on. She rode all around the store in the basket with it on and she had the strangest look on her face. We didn't end up buying any towels but we did have a great time.

Then we went next door to the Dollar Tree. I had seen some fake plastic fruit there that I wanted to buy for Mia's little grocery cart toy at home. Unfortunately that store didn't carry the same stuff as the Dollar Tree we normally go to, but we still had fun anyways. They had some Halloween stuff already and we had a blast putting all kinds of different costume hats on Mia. First she was a Roman, then a Gladiator, then a spaceman (I think we were in the boys isle haha) I couldn't stop laughing. We shopped a bit then bought some goodies and back to the car we went.

Next stop... Coffee Bean!!! It was on the other side of the shopping center. I love coffee bean but there isn't any near where we live, infact that is the only one I know of in Riverside! I HAD to have my Chai Tea Latte so we bought that, Adrian had his usual a Ice blended Pure Chocolate and we both split a giant peanutbutter cookie. Mia sat on Daddy's lap the whole time and I fed her some Cheerios and Water. She was on such good behavior until... Daddy did something I told him not to. He let her drink some of his drink! Man that sugar rush hit Mia fast! She was all chatty and quickly stopped drinking her water. She started grabbing for Adrian's drink and when she couldn't get ahold of it she resorted to licking the sides of it!! Eventually she grabbed the straw bent it down and started chugging it again. We couldn't get it away from her. Before we knew it there was whipped cream all over her mouth and then she ripped the straw out of the cup getting the drink all over Adrian and the table. She munched on that straw like crazy and we had a hard time getting it from her. She just went NUTS!!! The ladies working there were getting a kick out of her, and she even waved to them.. then she wouldn't stop waving, she became a waving machine! It was funny.

After Coffee Bean we went to In and Out for dinner. One of my favorite places to eat. It is a rare treat to eat there since Adrian's isn't a huge fan. The whole time we were waiting in the drive through Mia kept chatting and chatting then started going nuts. I know it was from the sugar drink. She kept doing this strange noise over and over I can't even begin to describe it but it was too funny. She did it over and over for like 10 mins straight!! Eventually we made it back home and she went nuts in the living room with her toys while we ate dinner.

Later after Mia went to bed, Adrian and I got to spend some time together watching Movies like we used to and that was alot of fun. Overall what started as a bad day sure got turned around thanks to Adrian and Mia!

Mia hits the big 14!

Current mood: awake

Thats right, Mia is now officially 14 months old today! Today is also Friday so shes 61 weeks old as well! Wow what a special day, too bad its Sept. 11th and the rest of the country isn't so excited. Tomorrow will also be a special day for her Mama and Daddy. We will officially be together for 11 years! Isn't that crazy! I still can't believe it myself, then again time flies when your having fun!

Well I got about an half hour to an hour to bust out this blog before she wakes up demanding her breakfast so I will get right down to it.

As soon as the month started, I should have known I was in for a crazy month since she learned how to take off her diaper. I can no longer let her run around in just a diaper. She learned how to unfasten the sides and pull it off. Of course she hands it to me afterwards haha. So now if it gets really hot in the house I have to make sure she at least wears somce chonies or shorts.

We also noticed she doesn't like when Adrian and I hug. It doesn't matter who hugs who but whoever is on top (usually when the person being hugged is sitting on the couch) she quickly comes over, screams, and has this weird look on her face. She then starts trying to pull that person off the other by grabbing at their shirt, pants or even hair! She can't stand it and not until you stop hugging does she go away. Sometimes she will even climb on the couch next to the person who was hugged. Silly girl!

She got tons of company this month as well, all from her Grandpa and Grandma Pizano. They came down to visit 3 times and a total of 10 days! WOW! She had a blast with them. Grandma always came down with a special treat for her, either some snackies or another Gabba toy to add to her growing collection. The really warmed up to Grandpa who she stuck to like glue. She wouldn't even come to me anymore, and would always run up to her Grandpa with her arms open. I think because she knows she can get away with anything when hes around. I even scolded her once for getting into the blinds and what did she do? She ran to Grandpa for comfort! sigh... ah well haha. We went out to eat a few times while they were down and she actually got to order off the kids menu for the first time. She ate some of her food but I still think she prefers her Mama's cooking since she didn't seem to enthusiastic. Once we went to Don Joses' down the street to eat and I had her all dressed up cute and of course Grandpa had to take her to each and every table around us and introduce her and show her off. What a proud Grandpa! Mia on the other hand just acted her cute self with her dainty hand sticking out and posing! What a big ham, just like her Mama. My parents also learned about Mia's phobia of olives... the hard way. For some reason she HATES olives, I think she thinks you are feeding her a bug or something because she freaks out when she sees one. Anyway, I made some potato salad and my parents tried feeding it to her and she would eat it until she noticed the olives on the plate. Then she refused to eat anymore at all! Not until her Grandpa ate them all off her plate, including the green celery pieces did she finally start eating again. Little Mia so picky! haha

She was getting pretty good at feeding herself with a spoon during mealtime but it slowly stopped and now has been replaced with her feeding me!!! or whoever is feeding her at the time. She now dips her spoon in and sticks it towards you to eat, she won't stop holding it out there till you eat from the spoon and you better eat from the spoon too because she knows when your faking! haha I am not sure how to break her from this since she LOVES to share everything. Its ok though, most of her food are finger foods except for her beans, pasta and cheese and her oatmeal.

She also grew TWO new teeth this month. Only about a week apart from each other. A 2nd molar and a new tooth! The only thing that still puzzles me is the fact her first two teeth she grew came out at the same time and where on the bottom, ever since then she has only grown top teeth. I wonder when the bottom will come in. She has a grand total of 8 now, then again I haven't checked in awhile to see if a new one has come in. She is teething because she is constantly munching on EVERYTHING like a little mouse. Especially cardboard. I unfortunately had to get rid of her box house because she kept gnawing on it. She is also always sticking things down her throat, her fingers, her blankey, her Gabba toy's arms and legs. I don't think she likes gagging herself but I think her incoming molars are itching her. Poor baby... Some nights she has a hard time but then its Mama to the rescue. I will pick her up and rock her to sleep on the rocking chair. I love doing that, its so relaxing and soothing. I feel like a good Mama when I can calm her down after a bad night. Infact I enjoyed that bonding time with her I started incorporating "cuddle" time before bed. Every night before bed I would rock her in the rocking chair until she fell asleep. I did this for about a week straight until she stopped falling asleep and wanted to stay awake. It was nice while it lasted though.

She still LOVES her little butterfly bracelete she got from her big Cousin Brianna. She wears it all the time, until I accidentally misplaced it. Both of us were heart broken over that and I promised her I would take her to get a new one. On the day we were going out to buy a new one I found the missing one. YAY!!! Now I take extra care of it and only let her wear it no special occasions since it is a special bracelete given to her by her cousin. I did however, buy her two new ones from the store to play with. One she already broke by pulling off the pumpkin before we even got home! and the second one is a bit to big for her but she still likes putting it on herself and wearing it. (Its the stretchy kind) Little Mia, my little girly girl

We also learned that she likes to munch on celery sticks. She went nuts at her Nina and Nino's house with them. I think she likes them because they are good to teeth one. They are hard and cold and crunchy. She loves her celery sticks, she didn't even put one down as she hit the Pinata with her Grandpa for her cousin Sarah's 7th birthday! I also learned how to make a new type of soup, I call it the Super Soup since it has TONS of different kinds of veggies in it and its really good for you. I didn't think she would like it but Adrian told me to feed it to her anyways. What do you know she did like it!! She ate all the veggies and even drank the broth! If it wasn't so much work to prepare I would have it in the house all the time!! My super baby likes her Super Soup!

We did go to Oxnard once this month for her big cousin Sarah's 7th birthday party. It was at her Nina and Nino's house. She had a blast. The trip down wasn't so bad but we did have a hard time getting her home. She refused to calm down about a hour before we were home. She just had enough so we ended up stopping off at Jack In The Box for a breather. I think she planned it that way because she ended up getting Three more new Gabba toys whlie there! (it was their promotional thing in their kids meal). She was happy. But anyways the trip was fun. She got to see all her cousins again and had a great time, especially in the jump for joy which her Daddy got in with her. The only time she didn't have a good time was at her Grandpa and Grandma's house. She doesn't like their spare room and refuses to go to bed quietly. At one point she was crying so bad that Daddy actually got her in pack and play with her and stayed with her until she fell asleep! Poor baby, I hope she outgrows that soon.

Shes in love with kitties again and even tries so say the word. Though it does come out kind of garbled, you can tell she is trying. It sounds more like, Keee-ta! she will get there. She LOVES mew mew and chases her all over the house screaming and laughing. Her favorite thing to do is pull the tail, my parents cat Slyvester (a big poofy cat) got the worse of the tailing pulling when Mia was over. Poor Kitty! haha

The weather has been HOT HOT HOT! this month so we rarely had any chances to go outside and play, however, there was one day where it cooled down to at least mid 90s so she could at least get some freshair. I tried to keep her in the shade but of course Mia wanted to run all over the driveway and sidewalk. She had a blast but Mama pooped out from the heat and we went back inside. I can't wait till it cools down enough so we can go back to the park across the street. Its a giant tease! I have been dying to take her there but its always been to hot to go and it doesn't cool down until shes already in bed! GRRR!!! Well we are closing in on Oct. and thats when it usually cools back down... thank goodness!

Mia loves her milk!!! She loves it more than water or anything else we feed her!! She can polish off a whole gallon in 3-4 days all by herself! She loves it! She drinks a good 5-6 cups of it straight and she always gets a cup in her oatmeal. Ya, I think shes getting her milk intake alright. Even when you just say the word "milk" to her she gets all excited and either runs to the refrigerater where she knows its kept or she will run to you to take her there. I just hand her, her sippy and she will take off drinking it all over the house. When she is getting full she will hold it in her arm and keep playing she refuses to put it down because she knows you will take it from her. We also learned the difference between brands too! She does great on "Swiss" but once we bought her "Lucern" she started getting alittle sick from it. She would drink it but then she would get bad poopies the rest of the day all day. I guess there is a difference. I also learned Swiss is better for her since it doesn't contain those cow growth hormones.

We also made a trip out to Sunny San Diego this month for her Tio Ernies birthday party. It was great seeing the family again but it was during a heat wave and was HOT!!! The visit was kind of a blur to me since I was roasting... err... melting on the couch. Adrian played with Mia most of the time if not her big cousin Baby D (4 months older) he would share all his toys with here and she stuck to him like glue. Following him everywhere and exploring with him. It was cute to watch them interact together. We visited Grandma and Grandpa Santos afterwards at their house. She got showered with tons of new clothes from her Grandma (As always) so she is all set for next spring!! (Her Grandma likes to buy clothes in advance so they will fit her then) She also got TWO new puzzles to play with. She LOVES puzzles! She was happy and had a great time. She even got to go outside when it cooled off, and watered the lawns with Grandma. She loves touching the water that was spraying out of the house and even got her feet wet. She came back in the house saying "Agua Agua!" haha

A not so good thing happened this month as well, Mia threw up all her cheerios once! YUK!!! I think she over ate since she just ate breakfast and was walking around with her snackie cup of cheerios. I didn't really monitor how much she was eating since I figured she'd stop when she was full, nope, before I knew it she was overflowing! Luckily it was only once and I got it under control pretty fast. She didn't freak out or get scared she instead kept watching her Gabba like nothing happened. I now keep a close eye on her when it comes to eating, especially cheerios!

She has been learning how to listen to commands better and better. I ask her to find a certain object and she will look for it and give it to me. Sometimes she can follow a whole directive, for example I was sitting on the couch once and she was playing. I then told her "Mia go get your FooFa and put it in your car" (without pointing) She stopped, looked around, found her Foofa, walked to her car, lifted up the hidden compartment and put Foofa in it and closed it. What a big girl! We even bought her a little shopping cart with tons of plastic food to play with. She loves pushing it all over the living room and putting food in and out of the cart. Now I pick up a food piece and ask her to put it in her basket. She will walk over take it from me and put it in her cart. She also loves to play with my little M&M magnets I have on the fridge. Sometimes she will carry them around the house and if I find one on the floor I will call her over to put it back where it belongs and she will take it from me and walk to the kitchen and stick it back on the fridge! Its amazing how much she knows and listens, too bad it only happens when SHE wants to listen haha

Well now on to the not so good thing. I feel I need to mention it since it did happen this month and Mia was a part of it in her own little way. This past month we found out I was pregnant. We were so excited to give Mia a little sibling to play with since she LOVES babies and kids. She even kisses little newborn pictures she finds in her books. It was great news and everyone was happy. We told my parents one visit, told the Pizano family during Sarah's birthday in Oxnard, and told the Cardoso family during the visit to San Diego. Everything seemed on the up and up until Sept. 2 when everything changed for the worse. Unfortunately we did lose the baby to a miscarriage. It was and still is a terrible thing to experience, however, the one thing that has helped me get through this more than anything is Adrian and most of all Mia. I really began to realize what a special blessing she truly is. I always knew that and felt that but going through this it really puts things in perspective. She is My Heavenly Flower (her name translated, Mia Leilani) and I am so very lucky to be her Mama. Everyday I am getting better and better with the help of little Mia. She is my pride and joy, and one day she will still be a big sister!

Overall the month has been good, well all except for the last thing I mentioned. Hopefully this month will be even better. I am sure it will be!

Summary:

New things:

learned to take off diaper, doesn't like us hugging, feeds others with her spoon, grew a new molar and another new tooth in the same month, loves to be rocked to sleep during bedtime, likes super soup and celery sticks, refuses to go down quietly to sleep at Grandpa and Grandma Pizano's house, threw up from over eating, and lost her little sibling =(

Weight:

Height:

Goals met from last month?

She did meet a couple of new goals set for this month. She is running alittle better but its more like spurts. I think its mainly due to the fact we don't have very open space for her run around in, in the house and she constantly has to stop. Thats another reason I have been dying to get her out in the open at the park. She does climb on and off the couch unassisted like a pro now. She rarely ever falls and now can even climb off the guest bed. We have added a few new things to her menu like celery and super soup but she is starting to get picker and picker. She tends to drop things on the side of her highchair onto the floor if she does like a certain food or its not prepared just how she likes it. For example, pancakes, she will eat them but they can't be crispy or dark brown. If they are she throws them on the floor. She knows which pieces she throws off too because if you try to sneak it back on her plate she will throw that same one back on the floor! haha So mean times do tend to be alittle battle at times. Thats the only time I miss the bottle! haha She was getting better at saying words here and there and we really wanted to add another word to her vocabulary that she would say on command like she does "Hat" but unfortunately for whatever reason she has stopped saying words altogether. She doesn't even say hat anymore! Once in a while she will try to say Kitty or she will say Agua but its so rare now. I am hoping she doesn't get to used to the baby jabber and will refuse to talk english!

Goals for next month:

Say words on command again, at least start saying Hat again. Run better, play that park more

A quick update

Ever since we lost Mia's little sibling to a unfortunate miscarriage I haven't really been able to keep up to date on Mia's blogs. Everyday I am healing more and more and today I think I have it in me to be able to catch everyone up just alittle bit. I owe it to my little Mia, the best medicine in the world for me right now.

Her Grandpa came down to help out with things mid-Wednesday. Unfortunately with the event that happened that day he did not get to spend any more than 5 mins with her. However, she did greet him at the door with a big smile and arms raised. She has been the ray of sunshine through all of this for everyone. Just being her typical cute self really helps in so many ways. Anyways her Grandpa really got to make up the lost time the following 2 days when he was here with her before my Mom came into town (they stayed till Monday). He babysat her, fed her her meals, watched cartoons (gabba and bugs bunny marathons) and played with her. He was so surprised how much she likes cartoons and laughs at them. Currently her favorite is the Willie Coyote, she is always cracking up and snickering at him. I think she likes that he sneaks around alot. Also, one morning I had a difficult night sleeping due to the circumstances we are going through so I accidentally over slept and didn't hear Mia wake up. Luckily it was Grandpa to the rescue. He heard Mia over the baby monitor that is in the kitchen and when he realized I wasn't getting up, he went up to her room and got her up. She was not a happy camper. She didn't cry but you could tell she was not happy she was forgotten by her Mama. She refused to smile, my Dad said, and she kept looking at her bed with a mean face. Then he did something he had NEVER done for her, he changed her diaper for the very first time!!! I was shocked! haha but he has alot of experience due to his other 3 granddaughters (#4 on the way!) After she was changed was about the time I woke up and went downstairs to find out why Mia's crib was empty! haha It took Mia alittle time to warm up but she eventually did and forgave her Mama for over sleeping and everything went back to normal. We went out to eat at Red Robin at one point and she did great in the restaurant eventhough she did throw her kid's meal food on the ground. She didn't fuss or cry and Grandpa even got her a balloon to play with (her favorite!)

Later, my Mom rode the bus into town (Saturday). Once she arrived the fun really got started. As I rested and recovered, her Grandpa and Grandma has a blast with Mia. Grandma didn't come empty handed either! She bought Mia a new snackie cup, baby suckers and a new bath toy. Talk about spoiled! She didn't care much for the sucker though she did eat a couple... well most of it got all over her new toy and hair! but it was fun watching her munch on that.

Sunday I thought was the funniest. Though they babysat her, I was still involved with making her meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner. However, on Sunday they finally convinced me to rest and let them handle the meals. Though Mia is a good eater.. she is only a good eater with things she likes! I forgot to let them know the things she absolutely HATES like olives! For some reason she is afraid of them and acts like I am trying to feed her a bug or something. I think its the color. Anyways, I had made some potato salad so they tried to give it to her. Usually she likes it but I make sure not to have the olives showing. They didn't know that and as soon as she saw them on the plate she stopped eating completely. At one point she kicked over the plate of food her Grandma was holding and all the food landed on the floor. When Grandpa came to help feed her she went to eat but noticed that there were olives on his plate too and quickly refused to eat until he got rid of them! haha silly girl. They definately got broken in for feeding Mia! It isn't easy though it may seem like it. She was a good girl overall she ate her food and everyone was happy.

On Sunday Adrian and I left for awhile to spend some time together and to have a little private memorial for the baby. During that time Grandpa and Grandma stayed home with Mia and babysat her. They said she went NUTS! screaming and laughing and playing/running all over the house (downstairs) they both said they never heard her play so loud! She was having a blast! Eventually after we came home she started to poop out a bit and even knocked out in my Moms arms. We later put her to bed.

Overall the visit was great with regards to Mia. I wish it was in better circumstances but having family over was a blessing. They helped Adrian and I so much, and Mia loved seeing her Grandparents again. I can't wait till we can all get together again and visit.

Sorry this blog is alittle short well sort of short. Like I mentioned before I am still in the mental state of recovering from our loss so I don't feel as chatty as I usually am. I did however, want to write about little Mia because she does make me so happy inside and out. I don't know what I would do without my little Butterfly Princess.

week 60, not what I expected

Current mood: depressed

For the first time since I started blogging about Mia, I just don't have the words or desire to really write today. Its nothing she did, I love her to death and I do have a couple of stories to share but I think I am going to need to postpone them for now.

A terrible tragity hit our family the day before yesterday. We lost Mia's baby sibling to a miscarriage. It has been so difficult for us, but mainly me. I have good moments and bad but what helps me so much through this dark time is my only true sunshine, Mia. I don't know what I would do without her. She gives me inner strength I didn't even know I had. She is the best medicine for me right now. I love her so much.

So out of respect to the loss of her baby sister/brother and my emotional state right now, I will have to postpone blogging about Mia's big week 60. Another big reason I just can't talk about this week because most of this week involved the baby, for example this past weekend we went to San Diego to tell the news to the family. I just can't go into all that right now.

Anyways, Mia is doing good. She is my little bundle of pure joy. Whenever I feel terribly sad for our loss, I look at her and really appreciate all she does for us and what a blessing she truly is.

Thank you Mia, I love you!

3 times is NOT a charm

Current mood: sad

Poor Mia, she battled with the couch and the couch won! Mia - 0 Couch - 3.

She is constantly getting on the couch now and she does pretty good with getting on and off of it by herself without falling, however, everyone has an off day and today it was Mia's. She not only fell off the couch but she did it 3 times today!!! Poor baby, I guess it just wasn't her day.

Sometimes when she gets on the couch she gets alittle rambunctious and I think she forgets shes not on the ground. She starts rolling around or hanging out on the edge. I always have to go over there and adjust her. Well today she was playing on the couch with Daddy, but this time on the opposite side and PLOP! she rolled off and landed on her butt then her back. She laid there and cried alittle bit but it wasn't a very bad fall. We hoped she learned her lesson not to roll around but nope... about an hour or so later she was up on the couch again goofing off. I was on the other couch on the other side of the room. Then BLAM! she rolled off the couch again! this time landing head first. She didn't fall straight down it was more like falling on her back but her head hit first then her back. That was when she screamed and cried.. poor baby. I picked her up and comforted her and rubbed her little noggin till she felt better. Then things were going good, then.. yep it happened again. This time it was the other couch. Daddy was laying down and she tried to climb up and she lost her grip and FLOP! she fell backwards and hit her little head on her plastic Winnie the Pooh toy on the ground. That set her off screaming again. This time Daddy comforted her and she was doing good till she sat up looked at me and just started bawling again. I tried to comfort her with words but it just made things worse, she cried more so I just let Adrian take over haha After the third fall she pretty much stayed off the couches for the rest of the night.

Poor baby, the joys of toddlerhood I guess haha.