31 weeks!

31 weeks already!!! Suddenly this pregnancy is going really fast. Friday I had my check-up and all looked great. My BP was 120/66 (high for me but still considered normal) and I gained 3 lbs. The baby's heartrate was in the 140's and my Dr. said she is guessing the baby is about 3 lbs now. So all looked good. I do have slight swelling and heartburn has begun! It's terrible! Here I am again in my lovely kindergarten classroom bathroom taking a photo of myself again. I feel huge but hope this baby stays put for another good 9 weeks!

Mia started her music class again this Saturday. She loved it! She enjoyed the gathering drum, bells, shakers, tambourines, and all the other instruments she got to play. I can tell she really enjoys it more now that she is older and can tell me what songs she sang during class. One of her favorite errands to run with me is to do grocery shopping at Walt's. She always has one red apple and a slice of cheese from the deli.

Aunt Christie's wedding

What a great weekend we had! Friday we headed out to Dearborn for Aunt Christie's wedding. The weather was very snowy but we had no troubles and actually made great time. We all arrived at the Hyatt, got settled then headed to the Greenfield Village chapel for the rehearsal. Mia did great and was excited to met her new Uncle Chris and his nephews Wyatt and Oliver and niece Bianca. Afterwards we all headed to greek down in Detroit for a yummy dinner. Mia wasn't fond of the Saganaki (which she has seen before) but I think because there were so many being made. After awhile I calmed her down and soon she was better about them saying "there ya go" when it was over with. We had a late night.

Saturday was a busy day. Mia and I went to Aunt Christie's lingerie shower then Mia and daddy went swimming for a little bit. After we rested a bit we got ready and headed to the chapel. Mia did GREAT walking down the aisle with me and standing up front during the ceremony. At one point she called out to Papa, but otherwise did amazingly well. After the ceremony Mommy, Daddy and Mia were able to walk back down the aisle together as a family which was really sweet. Aunt Christie looked stunning and the ceremony was beautiful. Mia LOVED seeing so many family members and kept smiling at everyone. We then all headed to Adiamo's for a great reception. Ella was there and again Mia had fun with the kids she met and also cousin Christopher, plus other kids that were at the wedding. She colored for the first part of the night then took to the dance floor with her friends. She liked playing with the tamborine and dancing by the disco lights. She did great staying up until about 10:30pm. We headed back to the hotel around then even though the rest of our family stayed up till way later than that. But having a kiddos things are done a little differently and that is ok by me! Sunday morning we had a nice breakfast with everyone and a nice visit at Caporale's with everyone. We headed back home and Mia took a good 2 hour nap on the drive.

We had a great weekend and are so happy for Aunt Christie!

2 years old!!!!

Pinch me, I cannot believe that our little baby Mia is now TWO! She is such a little girl now and so much fun! We had a great birthday weekend celebration.

On Saturday, we decided to not have a typical party but instead celebrate by going to the Shedd Aquarium (to see the Fantasea show too) then for dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. It was great and Mia had a blast. Papa, Aunt Christie, Aunt Kelly and cousin Christopher all came in town to join us as did Grammy, Papo, Uncle Brian and mommy's best friend Mary and her friend Sean. Mia loved looking at the octopus and the huge aquariums and enjoyed the dolphins during the show...then really had a great time at her dinner. She seriously colored the entire time we were at the Rainforest, stopping to watch the gorillas during the rain show and stopping to eat a bit. She loved opening all her gifts and just enjoyed seeing her family around her. She would look at me and say Papa, or Grammy and smiled because they were there with her. The best part was the Chocolate Volcano cake with a sparkler on it. We changed her into her pj's before we headed home which was great because she fell asleep and we put her right to bed.

Sunday, her actual birthday, we had a quiet family celebration. Daddy and I took her for a birthday breakfast (they gave her a strawberry shortcake treat but she was happy eating her oranges, such a good girl) then we did a little shopping then came home and played. For her birthday gift from us, we turned our breakfast nook into her upstairs playroom, we bought her a big girl play table and some new puzzles and floor mats. We had it all set up on Saturday morning...she was so excited she wouldn't stop playing. Anyhow, I made one of her favorite dinners, homemade lasagna and a cherry vanilla cake for dessert. She started to fall asleep around 7pm so we put a very overtired (no nap today) Mia to bed early tonight.

It was a great weekend and can't believe how much Mia has grown over these past 2 years. She knows so much and has such a terrific memory. I was asking her today who was showing her what animals at the aquarium. I said "what did Papa show you yesterday I can't remember". After about a minute she said "octopus!" She was right, he showed her the octopus. She a smart girl.

hair cut and 28 week check up

Mia and I headed downtown this morning for my 28 week check up. Everything looked great, bp was 120/72, baby was measuring on target and heart rate was normal. Now I start my 2 week appointments - I can't believe I am almost there! We have so much preparing to do I am a bit overwhelmed and can't wait until it's all done!

We had a busy day doing a bunch of errands. Mia and I had hair cuts this afternoon. At first I said to myself "what was I thinking booking our appointments together with no one coming with to watch her". But she did GREAT! She sat completely still for Katie and just stared at herself in the mirror while her hair was cut. Then when I got my hair cut she happily sat next to me coloring away and was excited when I was done saying "mommy done mommy done!" She did great and we can't believe she is turning 2 this Sunday!!!

Happy Valentine's Day and 2 year old check - up!

Happy Valentine's Day! Mia had fun at her party at Diane's on Friday. Saturday we did a bunch of errands then Mommy and Daddy went on a date - we had a delicous dinner at Isabella's then saw the movie "Valentine's Day". It was a nice evening out for us. Grammy and Papo babysat Mia for us.

Sunday morning we woke up early and brought Mia into our bed to open our gifts. Daddy bought her a silver bracelet with her name engraved on it (when she saw it she kept saying "Mia Toria, Mia Toria") and mommy got her a bag of goodies like stamps, stickers, etc. After some heart shaped homeade blueberry yogurt pancakes, went to Ikea and bought Mia her birthday gift - a play table and chairs. We also picked up a new area rug for the baby's room and some storage bins for the play area. We had lunch (Mia wouldn't stop eating the swedish meatballs!) at Ikea which actually wasn't too bad.

Today Mia and I were home for president's day. We started the day off with her 2 year old wellness check. She did great! Her heart murmur is almost gone Dr. Townsend said and she was measured right on target for her growth pattern. She weighed in at 26 lbs 4 oz (between the 30th and 40th percentile) and is 32 1/2 inches long. It's crazy how these scales work - kids are all so different and I feel as long as they are growing consistently it doesn't matter what percentile they fall in (Mia's friend Carina is 7 months old and basically weighs the same as Mia!! everyone is just so different). Anyhow everything looked great and Dr. Townsend said Mia is very smart for her age. We then did a little shopping and are having nap time now.

Mia has been doing great however she is still screaming at bedtime and refusing to take baths. Thank goodness it's winter time so we can get away with a few baths every 3-4 days but I just hope this passes again soon. It's hard to give a screaming toddler a bath. We have tried all the tricks in the book and I think we are just going to have to wait this one out. But other than the protests at night/bedtime she is just amazing us how much she is growing. She likes teasing us - her lastest this week is she'll say "mommy don't like Bosc.....I like Bosc" She'll say she doesn't like something then grin and says she likes it. Her coloring is getting so good. I was just telling Corey how she will stay on one picture now and make sure it's all colored in instead of just scribbling a few lines. She loves painting with her watercolors and is really into asking me names of things and trying to remember them. She read her first word to me (haha). She was coloring a Thomas book and there was a water tank with the word "water" on it. I told her what it said, two days later she said pointing to it "mommy, water". Love her!

We are getting her room ready, there is so much to do. Daddy is taking a day off this week to paint, we ordered her carpet and new blinds. Once all that is done we can order her furniture and start decorating. I am already 28 weeks and it's just crazy that soon we will have another little Mia crawling around here

photos: Mia carrying her balloons home from her party, Mia at the grocery store (she ate so many blueberries her poop turned blue,) and Mia waiting for Dr. Townsend to arrive.

Fun weekend

Our laptop is still being repair so that is why my posts are rare lately! We had a fun weekend. Saturday we took Mia to see Disney on Ice at the Allstate Arena. She really enjoyed it and when we got home she kept saying "pig and dinosaur (the characters from Toy Story) and Minnie Mouse were her favorites. She sat through the entire show and really loved the lights and skaters.

Sunday we did some shopping to get her big girls room ready. We picked out her paint, carpet, blinds and shopped around for furniture. We pretty much narrowed down the set we want to get her so hopefully within the next month we should have that all set up. She picked out the paint, we gave her a few options and luckily the paint she picked we agreed with!

We have a busy month ahead of us: This weekend is Valentine's day, next we are celebrating Mia's 2nd birthday downtown at the Shedd Aquarium and Rainforest Cafe for dinner with family then Sunday having a quiet celebration with just us, then the last weekend of February is Aunt Christie's wedding!

Photos: Mia and her bff Charolette with their imaginary "chickies" and me posing again in my classroom bathroom at 26 weeks pregnant.

the bug

Wasn't a very good weekend. Saturday grammy came out for a girls sleep over. We went to the Kids Work museum in Frankfort - I love that we are members and can go to all the children's musuems around! Mia had a blast. Then we had lunch at Choo Choo Johnny's. Then it hit....I got sick first on Saturday then Mia on Sunday. We stayed home on Monday to rest up. Luckily Corey was away on his weekend trip to Milwaukee so he avoided our bug.

Here are two pics of Mia dressed up at the musuem and her eating tomato soup and grilled cheese yesterday for our get better lunch.