Current mood: accomplished
We just rolled in about an hour ago from a very fun visit to Oxnard. We finally got to meet the newest addition to the Pizano family... Sweet Baby Sophia!!! It was amazing and lots of fun.
Adrian had taken Friday off from work so he would be well rested for the trip on Saturday. We were planning on getting Mia's picture taken with Santa but unfortunately she was under the weather. Her nose had been running for two days and by Friday it was really running, plus she was sneezing, had watery eyes and just didn't look so good. It had been storming bad for a couple of days so we knew the cold wasn't helping. So once we warmed up the house with the fireplace, heater, room heater, and bundled her up she did much better. We were concerned about taking her to Oxnard on Sat. but we were on a mission! We just HAD to meet her 3 week old cousin before more time passed. So we decided unless Mia was full on sick we would go up anyways and leave her with my parents while Adrian and I saw the baby. We really wanted to have her meet her new cousin too but couldn't chance it that if in fact Mia was sick we didn't want her to pass it on to the new baby.
So Sat. came and we packed up (which took HOURS! as always), Mia was 100% better than the day before, so we decided to brave the storm and head out anyways. Since Mia HATES long drives in the car and cries horribly after about 30-45 mins. we decided to try a new thing before we left. We kept her up and didn't let her take her usual morning nap, I gave her a hot bath before we left and fed her a big lunch. Things looked up, once we hit the road. We just went down the street to the nearest gas station and she already was OUT like a light. I was a bit concerned because we had not even hit the freeway and she was already sleeping! If you know Mia you know she is NOTORIOUS for cat napping and it doesn't take much for her to become rested and wide awake again. I tried to tickle her feet, calling to her and moving her and NOTHING woke that sleepy head up! So I gave up and just let her sleep. After the gas station, we were on the road again and made our way to the freeway.
The weather wasn't to bad in Riverside County but once we hit the county limits it started to POUR and didn't let up until we were in Oxnard. Mia did good at first, she slept all the way until NORCO which is only about 45mins away from our house. Then she woke up. She did fine for awhile then she started to get bored. I forgot to put her snacky pail up front with me and instead it was packed in the trunk!! OH NO!!! I then remembered the banana I had packed earlier in the back seat so I grabbed that and gave it to her. She ate most of it and smashed the rest into Adrian's jacket in the back seat. I then handed her toys one by one to try to distract her but that didn't last long. Soon she was really upset. I ended up splitting a bag of chips with her which is a RARE treat since I don't like giving her chips. Once the bag was empty, I was out of toys and food and ideas!!! We became desperate and busted out the laptop. Adrian had put some of her favorite TV show episodes on it just incase of an emergency like this one. I loaded up some Gabba for her and propped the laptop over my shoulder. Yes, I still had to hold it up and boy did my arm get TIRED!!!! That seemed to do the job. She enjoyed watching her Gabba, Elmo and other shows the rest of the car ride to Oxnard. She was content and happy again, but I on the other hand came into town with a sore shoulder and arm from balancing that laptop up!! haha
Once we drove into town we first stopped by my Mom and Dad's house. They were so excited to see Mia again, they greeted us at the door. Mia became very comfortable very fast. She was happy. A huge part was due to seeing her grandparents again plus she was finally out of the car. We had not made a non-stop Riverside to Oxnard trip in forever!!! I think it has only happened once in her history and it was when she was very little, almost newborn. She played with her Grandpa and Grandma while Adrian and I unloaded the car and set things up for her visit. Once she was all set we took off to my brother's house. Mia waved bye to us as we pulled away.
We made it to my brothers house in about 10 mins. Once we got there we were quickly greeted by my Sis in Law, Lauren. She looked GREAT for just having a baby. I am so envious of her, she bounces back from having kids like nothing!! Lucky girl!!! Then the the big moment came... we finally got to see Baby Sophia!! She was sleeping so peacefully in her little papasan chair. I couldn't wait to hold her. Once her Mommy got her up she put her in my arms and I instantly melted. I was in love!! She was so cute and so tiny!!!!! I couldn't believe how tiny she was and it really made me realize how HUGE Mia is!! I just held her in my arms and just enjoyed being with her. Soon my other nieces, Tracy, Sarah and little April came running around the corner to greet us. We all got to visit and enjoy the new little bundle of joy. Adrian got to hold her to and he loved it. It brought back so many memories of when Mia was a newborn. Wow how time flies. We had lots of fun. At one point Baby Sophia decided to get revenge for her Daddy for what Mia did to him, and yes she pooped on me while I was holding her (the same way Mia did to my brother when he held her as a newborn). Luckily it didn't leave her onesie but it was still pretty gnarly and LOUD! haha We quickly took her to the room and her Mama got her all cleaned up. She is so cute, what a little angel!!! Soon my brother got off of work and we got to visit with him too. It was so neat seeing how proud and happy he was of his newest little girl, actually both him and Lauren were beaming! It was a great visit. I wish we could have stayed longer but it was already two hours past Mia's bedtime and I wanted to get back to the house to check up on her and make sure the house was still standing!! haha
Once we got back we found out she was already in bed. My Mom and Dad said she was great and they all had a good time. She played with tons of their toys and just ran around. However, the night didn't end without her doing one shocking thing.
Whenever we are somewhere other than home and I need to change her diaper, I always use this little fold out black plastic liner thing to change her on. Well she ended up doing poopies and when my Mom asked her "Did you go Poopies" Mia quickly ran over and grabbed her little black changing linger! She has never done that before! She actually knew what "going poopies" meant and knew she needed to be changed!!!! Wow!!! Hmm... I wonder if potty training isn't to far in the future after all?!?!!
The rest of the night went fine. She never woke up once and really didn't even move because she was so worn out from the day. She only had a 30 min nap, played very hard with her grandparents and stayed up 3 hours past her bedtime.... ya she was pooped! She slept in her pack and play in my parent's spare room.
She woke up bright and early (7am) this morning. She was all rested. I got her up and went to change her but she didn't want her diaper to be changed. She started to fuss and cry and thats when my Mom and Dad heard her and got up to greet her. I was beat tired since I didn't end up falling asleep till 4am and got up at 7. So I was a zombie. Luckily my parents were there for the rescue and played and played with Mia while I rested. She did pretty good until she got tired and started acting up. She did her famous "Turtle" tantrum and my parents got to see a whole different side to her. Oh by the way I call it the Turtle tantrum because she reminds me of a turtle on its back when she does it. She will get mad at something, throw herself on all fours on the ground, flatted out on her belly like a belly flop, then slowly (literally in slow motion) roll to her back with her legs and arms up crying. Its really quite funny to watch and my parents got a kick out of it. They got to see it a few times too. Once she started to really act up I knew it was nap time. I had her say goodnight to my Mom, Dad and Adrian and walked her to the spare room. She laid down ok but started crying once I left. I went back inside to try to console her but when that didn't work and I knew she just wanted to get out and play I left the room and let her cry. I knew she needed a nap and the only way she would get it is if she cried herself to sleep. I went back into the livingroom were Adrian and my parents were. We all heart her screams and mad cries and waited for her to tire herself out. After about 15-20mins her cries got louder. I was going to give her another 10 mins before going back in there. Then we heard a HUGE bang. We all looked at each other confused, we couldn't figure out where it came from. We thought maybe it was her but we didn't hear anything again and figured it probably came from outside. She quickly stopped crying and we assumed she went to sleep. About alittle over an hour later we heard her cry again and thats when I got up to get her. I opened the extra room door and to my shock and horror she was standing there right in front of me on the ground!!!!! She had climbed/fallen out of her pack and play and slept on the floor on an old sheet in front of the door!! I quickly grabbed her, made sure she was ok, then checked the room. Luckily my Dad had baby proofed it the night before so she couldn't get into anything. I took her out into the livingroom and we all babied her. I felt HORRIBLE! for not checking on her and letting her sleep on the floor like that, and worse than that, not checking on her after hearing that bang since she ended up falling out of the pack and play. I broke my own golden rule of never assuming anything. Oh well, I made up for it though... we all babied her the rest of the day.
At one point, I took her out in the backyard to explore and play a bit. I did that because her Daddy had said the "byebye" word in front of her and she thought she was leaving and ran to the front door and said "byebye" for the first time!!! I couldn't just leave her hanging so I put her shoes and jacket on and took her outside with my Mom for a bit. She had a great time running around and picking up leaves. Once it got too cold I brought her back inside and she had her lunch. The rest of the afternoon was spent resting and resting up for our drive back home. Her Grandpa and Grandma had a great time catching up with her and us and playing. Mia had a blast and she even got to watch her Gabba show and even said "Gabba" for my mom.
Soon it was time to go so we packed up the car once again. We waited until Mia got sleepy and fussy before we actually left. We hoped she would fall asleep for at least most of the way before I would have to balance that laptop with my hand again. We said our sad long goodbyes and once again we were on the road. Mia knocked out after about 5 mins of driving. We knew for sure she would wake up again and be mad so we prepared for that. I had a big lunch pale of snackies for her and had the laptop ready and waiting. To our SHOCK! she actually slept the WHOLE time!!! Thats right!! for the first time in Mia history she slepted the whole way!!! We were so happy!
Once we got home Adrian woke her up and took her off the car while I prepared her dinner. After eating and watching TV for a bit it was off to bed she went.
Wow what a great weekend! We all had so much fun... the highlight of it all, of course, was finally being able to meet and hold my newest niece Sophia!!! I can't wait until Mia gets to meet her too!! Hopefully all the cousins can get together again and play real soon. Until then it is off to bed I go, my eyes are burning as I write this. Overall, it was a great weekend!! YAY!
