Getting Better and Better

Wow, it's amazing. Mia is really doing so much better. She started really doing better the last day of week 7 and the start to week 8. When I say better, I mean she is sleeping more and when she is awake, she is pleasant and smiles and can entertain herself. She can stay in her crib and stare at her mobile, as long as her diaper is changed and her belly is full, and just kick away, content as can be. This is definitely a change and a sign she is getting older and that her tummy is adjusting to the world. At night, she gets a bit fussy, but NOTHING compared to before. She is easy to soothe and pretty much doesn't get crazy at all. She seems to be starting some routine. It started about a week ago, she gets a little fussy around 6ish, and then finally goes to bed for the night about 9-10ish. When I say the night, I do not mean she sleeps through the night, but just that she seems to know it's nighttime because she just wakes enough to feed and goes right back to sleep.

She is just a different baby this past week in a very positive way. She sleeps more during the day and just in general. She seems to be sleeping about 4 hour intervals now. It's amazing! She never did this before. She usually goes to bed about 10 and gets up about 2 and then about 5- 6am.

She is just so much more comfortable and it obvious in her sleep habits and behavior in general. We are so, so happy. I believe those horrible evenings with the gas pains, etc, are behind us, thank god.

She smiles ALL THE TIME. She can soothe herself more now and lasts awake without us constantly interacting with her. She fell asleep next to Giacomo tonight on the couch next to him without a bottle in her mouth OR being held! It's so great! She just stared at the picture frames on the wall and slowly faded away. I can tell she is maturing. It's such a pleasure.

We took her out to eat on Valentines Day. It was her first public excursion and she was so good! We were so proud!

She still is on the Alimentum, which we are not touching!, and takes about 4 ounces, give or take. She does not have an eating schedule yet, but I do notice her falling into a nice sleep at night. This is a start I guess.

I think she is about 12 pounds now! We go in one week for her 2 month visit! She'll be 2 months next week! Cannot believe it. She's exactly 8 weeks tomorrow, but by month, the 29th is next Friday. She gets 4 shots next week and has to take an oral vaccine. I am DREADING seeing her in pain. I must be strong. Just wish there was a way for them to space out the vaccines. I know she will not be a happy camper.

I am getting faster at getting her out of the house, giving her a bath, etc, etc. Being a mommy takes practice! lol.

I guess that's about all for now. Here are some current pics.

Talk to you all very soon!

Love,

The Bellomos :)

More Smiles :):)

Mia is really smiling and stays content longer to listen to us talk and sing to her. She responds back in "Mia language" and it is sooo cute. She really seems to know what she's talking about!

I stayed at my mom's house from Monday to Thursday as Giacomo traveled for business this week! My mom enjoyed her so much of course!

She had another bad night on Tuesday night, crying a lot for about 45 minutes. We hope it was a "fluke" and will not happen again, at least to that level of intensity. The past night she was awesome..seems we just have to soothe her before she gets very crazy. Last night she started to get fussy and my mom got her to fall asleep and I fell asleep with her ALL starting at about 7-8ish! We slept for about 12 hours, besides waking to feed. She definitely knows her days and nights because at night, once she falls asleep, she just wakes up for a bottle and goes right back to sleep. Most of the time she sleeps while she is eating, so this is awesome. She still feeds every 2.5-3 hours, but at least she is calm and sleeping. I can handle this. Hope she starts to go longer soon. We'll see.

Every night we wait for her to go "off". She has become a human time bomb. lol. We step to attention at soothing her before things get crazy! We're getting very good at it! Ha ha.

She definitely is getting bigger and better with every day. We enjoy her smiles so much, it's undescribable.

We took her today to Arthur's Restaurant. Her first real "outing" in a public place on Valentine's Day! Grammy and grandpa Sangiovanni went too. She was very well behaved and another woman at the table next to us even commented on how good she was! I was so proud!

Talk to you all soon,

Love, Amy Giacomo and Mia :):)

Mia Smiles!! She was 6 weeks young yesterday!

We are so happy. Mia really smiles deliberately now, she started at about week 4, but it is much more noticible now! She is so cute and we are eating her up! Here are some pics of her goofy smile!

She is still crabby at night, but the smile makes up for it!

She weighs 11 pounds 2 ounces! Granted, her weight was taken with a poopy diaper, so maybe she's 11 pounds even!

Anyway, all is good with the formula so we are continuing it and the doctor said she looks great! She is in the 50-75 percentile for weight! :):)

Talk to you all soon! Enjoy the pics!

Also, the other day I ventured out with Mia by myself for the first time! We went to town two times already! It was great. Good exercise for me and Mia seems to LOVE the brisk, fresh air and the sounds of Morristown, the cars, people, etc. She slept the entire time!

Love the Bellomos :):)

Giants Smallest Fan!

Go Giants! Well, here is another update on our beautiful Mia Noelle! Let's see, we are doing better on the alimentum formula. She has not had a bad crying in pain spell for about 3 weeks now. She still gets very fussy, mostly at night from about 7-10ish. There is basically nothing we can do to make her happy. After researching "colic in infants", I do believe Mia can be considered colic, unfortunately. This is something she will just have to outgrow and formula does not help this. It is unknown exactly why it happens, maybe from an immature neurological system and gut. One may cause the other to be irritated and vice versa. I feel though at least we have the "gas" issue under control. She does seem like she is processing this formula much better, so this is great. We just have to be creative on ways to soothe her when she goes through these bouts of fussiness and crying.

Besides this, we were at the pediatricians about a week and a half ago and she weighed 9 pounds 7ounces! Little porky! We go again this Friday for a follow up to make sure the alimentum is better for her. I do believe she will be over the 10 pound mark! Don't want to see her get bigger, but at the same time, the bigger she gets, the faster she will get out of this phase because her systems will be more mature obviously. It can last until 2-3 months. Talking to some people, they have told me "you will have a different baby after 2-3 months" We'll see! ha ha

Besides this, she is most enjoyable. She has begun to smile, not too often, but it seems to be deliberate, not just twitching of her facial muscles. This is the best! She has begun to "coo" and talk back, and this, of course, is awesome as well.

She sleeps about 2-3 hours on average. Sometimes she snacks and other times has slept for about 4 hours! We do not have a schedule at all yet, but hopefully in the next few weeks, we will begin some sort of routine! ha ha She is great at night, generally just gets up to feed and then goes right back to sleep again. So we are not complaining here. The sleep deprivation has caught up with me and I slept all day when she slept today. I understand now why they say you need to do this! They sure do run the show!

This past weekend we vistited my parents in Monroe with Mia. It was her first visit there! We had a great time and it was great to see Mia in the house that I grew up in :):)

We know her presence brought the Giants good luck! We will be able to tell her that her first Superbowl was amazing!

I have posted some recent pics! I think this is basically it. Talk to you all again soon!

Love, The Bellomos :):)