Mia Turns 9 Months! Stats are in!

Hello Everyone,

Mia turned 9 months yesterday. We enjoyed the day together. I basically updated you all on her current milestones. I have her current stats! We went to the Dr. today actually for her 9th month check up. She got the final series of her Hepatitis B. Yes, she cried, but I am getting to be a champ at it now. Didn't last long. Ok, she is 27.5 inches long which puts her in the 50th %ile for height and she weighs 20.9 lbs., which puts her in the 70th %ile for weight. Everything is good. We have to go to LabCorps to get some routine bloodwork done. We have until she is a year to get it done. It is for lead levels and hemoglobin levels. Something now the AAP recommends for every baby about 9 months of age. The hemoglobin checks to make sure she is not anemic. The lead to make sure she is not taking in a dangerous amount. We are not in a high risk, however, still a good idea to check. I am dreading going to this test. I know this will be difficult as they must find a vein. It is different than her standard shots. I'm definitely bringing Giacomo along!. Well, that's all for now. I will be sure to update you all with pics from her 9 month birthday and our trip to the Dr's office. Giacomo came with me and we took some pics. They are still in my camera. I download her pics every Saturday. I'll post them shortly. Take care from all of us at the Bellomo household!!
xoxoxo

Computer is back and everything updated!

Mia yawning
Supporting her weight with the help of Grammy
With her great Uncle Mike on Sep. 13th

Trying so hard to stand up. Still not there yet!

Making some "music" with mom.
If I don't strap her in, she inches her way out of her bouncy seat now!

Babies for Obama!!!!

At the princess party!

The fashion show of dresses to see which one was better!
The winner is the pink one!!

Our little munchkin!

With her cousins and their friend.


Mommy take me out of this dress please!!

Our trip to NYC. Danielle, Mia and me in the village :)

Mia's 8 month pic. The sign does not stay intact for too long!

With Michael in NYC.

Hey everyone. My computer is back and fixed and all my pics were left untouched. Thank goodness. I now have about 3 weeks worth of pics to show you and milestones to tell you about.

Mia has her 9 month appt. this coming Tuesday. Her latest accomplishments are: First, she started using her pointer finger to touch things, press buttons, etc. She started doing this last Sunday, Sept. 14. Her fine motor skills are obviously getting more fine! lol. She can support her entire weight as long as you hold her hands. Pretty impressive! :) She also started making that "razz" sound. It's very cute of course. I'm just waiting for her to do it with a mouth full of food. She started this about Sept. 19th. Also, probably the best one in my opinion, she started to clap!! She puts her hands together and now imitates me when I show her how to do it. Her fingers are usually fanned out. I loved seeing her do this for the first time. I will be sure to get a picture of this in my next post. I do not have one yet. She claps quite frequently. She started this on Sept. 20. So as you can all see, there were 3 new things in about a span of a week. That's how it seems to be. There may be nothing new for a month, then you get hit with all these changes at once. :):)

I was at my parents for 2 nights. I went to see them on Tuesday and then it became Wed and Thurs. lol. I always get comfy there and wind up staying longer than planned. Giacomo did not come, so it was Mia and I. My mother does not get the opportunities to see her as much as my mother in law, so I made the trip to Monroe. I had 3 days off in a row. Mia had a good time.

We are having a minor what I would call an "issue" lately. Mia wakes up to be pacified a bunch of times at night. It seems to be getting worse. I am so tired right now actually. She doesn't really wake up, it's just some mild crying until I put a bottle of water in her mouth and she's back to sleep literally in a few seconds. Obviously, she is not hungry but just needs some TLC. Giacomo and I are going to figure out what to do. We usually jump when we here her, but I am starting to think this may not be a good idea. I wasn't ready before but maybe now I'm willing to take some baby steps to resolving the issue. Like not jumping immediately and giving her a few minutes to try to work it out herself. As long as it's not full fledged crying, I think I can handle at least trying it. I'll let nk you know how things go.

Besides this, everything is really status quo. She is just the best. She is still not crawling, but certainly trying. She notices everything up to very minor details such as a crumb on the couch etc. On my way to my mothers house on Tuesday I stopped and went to St. Peter's to visit the girls I work with and show off Mia and also to look for my camera which I brought to work on Monday and left there. I didn't find it then, but I called yesterday and they do have it, thank goodness. It was Mia's first trip back to St. Pete's since she was born! The girls adored her and she loved the lights and the overall grandness of the hospital. She was held by everyone. I told her she was born there. She didn't seem to care too much. :)

I had to play catch up with her pics since it seems like it has been a while since I posted any. I guess it's been about a month or so ago. The pics above include: Mia in her princess dress. We went to a party with a prince/princess theme (a guy Giacomo works with) and my mom went all out and couldn't wait a second when I told her I needed a dress. We had 2 dresses. I tried on both. They were both cute as anything, however, on one, the sleeves were too big. You can see in the pic above. So we went with the all pink one. She had a blast at her first real big kid party! That was Sept. 7th. Also, on Sept. 13th, we took a trip to see my uncle. He lives alone in upstate NY and has only seen Mia for a couple of days back in March. I was so happy we FINALLY took the time and went up there. My parents came too. We spent just the day, went to dinner and came back that night. Mia enjoyed it I believe. She was so good and really loved her great uncle Mike. He is coming in November for Thanksgiving and I'll be so happy when he can see her again. He LOVED her company and adores her. :):)

What else, you can see that I sit Mia at our piano now. She bangs away at the keys knowing that she creates the sounds. Ok, it's not Chopin yet, but I am dead set on teaching her myself. I have taken lessons for 8 years and plan to be her mommy and piano teacher as well.

Also, one thing about myself, if you don't know this about me already. I am very into to presidential election this Nov. I don't really have to tell you my pic, you just need to look at a shirt my daughter wears up above. I am going to the "green" in Morristown, (basically the town square) this Sunday to help people register and basically campaign with other Obama supporters. Hope it's a nice day. I do plan to bring Mia. I think she'll enjoy all the excitement.

There are a couple of pics from our trip to NYC to see friend Danielle and her boyfriend Michael. You can see them about as well. We had a great time and Mia was such a good girl. There is also a pic from a visit I made to my sister in law's house. I forget the date exactly. I guess late Aug.. My nieces adore her. There is a pic of Mia, Alanna, Olivia and their friend Carolina. They had a blast and really know how to make Mia laugh. It's so cute.

Our little girl always changing :):)

Hello everyone! I do not have pictures with this post because my comptuer has failed me. It is being diagnosed at Best Buy because it broke down last week. I was freaking out because you know me and my pictures...I was just praying nothing happened to the most recent pics I downloaded to my hardrive of Mia. Luckily, it looks that all is ok and that they can save my hardrive. I am waiting to get it back. I promise to post some pics as soon as I have my computer back. I am using Giacomo's at the moment. It's so amazing how dependent I have become on my damn computer. It definitely is my lifeline at times!

Anyway, some quick updates on our angel baby. Ok, she now seems to wave "bye-bye"! She just started this yesterday, 9.7.08, when we were at a birthday party for a friend of Giacomo's daughter. I have been showing her this on and off now I guess for about a month and she actually did it on her own. At first I thought it was coincidence, however, we tried again and she did it again!! It is so cute. I will try to get it on video so you can all see!! The other new things she does are she holds the edge of the pack and play as to try to get herself in a standing position. She just started doing this on 9.6.08. Giacomo was watching her while I was food shopping. He took a pic of her doing this. it was the first time she actually grabbed the sides in the hopes of getting the hell out of that contraption! Mind you, she doesn't stand up at all, but will sort of kneel a bit while she is holding the edges with both hands. You can tell she is starting the steps necessary to start pulling herself up. We have the pack and play set up so it is at the highest level. It was good up until now. It seems and we are going to have to remove this level very, very soon so she sits at the bottom and is safe. What else...oh, her personality is even stronger in my opinion. She definitely has started to cry if you take something she is holding and enjoying away from her. She gets very, very frustrated and angry. It makes us laugh..I know this sounds mean, but it is very cute to see her personality develop. She doesn't seem to have a great deal of patience. Giacomo and I tell each other we are in trouble! ha ha. The last thing she has started to do which is a noticeable change is that she will fuss if someone else is holding her and lean with her arms open for me to take her back. I have to admit, I melted when she did this!! She really must love her mama! :):) She did this for the first time last Wednesday, 9.3.08. Those are the main things we noticed and they all seem to have happened very recently. She is just more vocal, more strong, and more coordinated with just about everything. She can manage her toys very well now. She has mastered how to take all the rings off the post of this one toy we have. She constantly says "dah dah" and "nah nah". We haven't gotten "mama" out of her yet. Today I assisted her as she stood on the floor and held onto the couch. She manages to support her weight very well and is really getting the hang of it. She still is not crawling. She goes to her belly from sitting and can get up on her knees and hands, but then she falls forward. Her legs do not want to cooperate. She inches her way backwards generally when she is on her belly. Eventually she gets frustrated and I just sit her up again. I am anxious to see her current stats considering we have not had a pediatrician appt. for her 7th and 8th month birthdays. We go on September 30th for her 9 month check up. We'll see. She sure does hurt my back if I am holding for a long time now. :):):) I'll keep you all posted.
Nothing else really new. I am still working 2 days a week and loving it.
Oh, one more thing. I have 3 costumes for Mia's first Halloween. One is winnie the pooh which I purchased at babies r us, the other is a Rutgers Univ. cheerleader which I got at the Rutgers game last week ( it is too cute!) and the third is a princess outfit. I am leaning towards the Rutgers ensemble. I absolutely couldn't resist when I saw it. If I do go with this one, I am going to make her mini pom poms and try to see if I can find her saddle shoes or something similar. I cannot wait to show all of you...it is so cute. It's a miniature version of the big one. We are convinced Mia will be a Rutgers girl, so we're just prepping her! I'll let you know which one I choose. I am going to go trick or treating with her. Hey, I need some sweets! I just want to see her reaction with the other children, etc.
Ok, I do think this is all for now. Here's to Rutgers football season which started last week. We have season tickets. We're not going to bring Mia just yet.
Talk to you all soon and I promise some great pics with my next post.

Take care everybody!

Love, The Bellomos