Mia slept through the night last night

Last night 06.25.08 Mia went to bed around 7:30 pm and for the first time in 14 weeks she slept for 8 full hours straight. I don't know if she will continue doing this or if it is just a one-time thing for now, but I needed that night of full rest so much! I was thrilled to wake up at 4 am and realize that she slept for so long. I attribute it to following the bed routing that Shaun and I have implemented, we bathe her by 7:30, then I feed her and put her down for the night by about 8:00. Almost immediately after starting this she stopped waking up every 2-3 hours at night and started sleeping until 2:30am! It was wonderful having a pretty predictable schedule at night. She would wake up again around 4:00 am for another feeding and them at 5:30 am and we would start our day. I really think it was because of the feeding schedule and bedtime routine that she was able to establish her own sleeping schedule.
Let’s hope that this will continue.

Mia (First time with formula)

Dear Mia,
Today 06.25.2008 we started giving you formula. For the last couple of weeks I’ve being trying to express as much breast milk as I could, but with the stress of being at work and taking breaks to do it, it was hard to fulfill your demands. Also we were trying to figure out how much milk you were drinking, since we never measured how much milk you needed when I was home with you. You are 3 month and 6 days old and you are now drinking 3.5 oz every two hours. So I called your doctor and he told me to give you Enfamil Lipil, it’s supposed to be the closest formula to breast milk. Daddy said that at first when he tried to give you the formula you rejected it, maybe because we also changed your bottles nipples to stage #2 (3 to 6 month). So he gave you breast milk instead, then for you next feeding he changed the bottle nipple to the old one, he said that it took you a little time but at the end you drank it. Apparently you digested well since you didn’t have any bad reaction to it. If this works it’ll be so much easier for us to take you out and to take you to the day care. I’ll continue pumping everyday as much as I can so you can keep having Mommy’s milk.

3 Months Old

My dear baby,
Today you are 3 months old and finally you have taken your pacifier. Daddy has been working hard on getting you into it. For a few weeks now you have been sleeping at least one 5-6 hour stretch each night with only two middle of the night feedings and then back to sleep for a few more hours. It's not so bad. And I get through the day just fine without feeling a need to take a nap!
Every morning when we wake up, Daddy put cartoons for you while he eats breakfast and you seem to really enjoy them. It's a great routine! You also are very interested in this new little duck toy that we got for you at target, it is blue and makes music when you press it’s belly, legs and arms. You love to stare at it and want to put it in your mouth.

1st day without you.

My little Angel,
Yesterday was my first day not being with you all day and I can’t tell you how much I missed you, I kept looking at your pictures on my desk, your beautiful smile, you beautiful blue eyes and your long eyelashes. We have been so blessed to have you; I can’t believe that you are going to be 3 months!!!
It feels like it was yesterday since I had you for the first time in my arms, so small, so beautiful and now you look so grown up. You have your own attitude, you talk and smile a lot. I love the way you talk to Eddie when you are in daddy’s car, how much you like the seiling fan in our room and the letter A of your name hanging on the wall over the changing table.
I just want you to know that I love you with all my heart and you are always going to be mi muñeca.

Love,
Mommy.

Mia Alana

Ever since Mia was born (19 March 2008, 2:59pm) especially the day she was placed on the delivery table, she was so alert! She was not even crying, and when I began speaking to her she looked in the direction of my voice and began staring in awe. The day Mia came home with Karina and I was a very special. It was so special because we began our new lives together. You get to continue the life you had but tack on a new life with you, and an even more complete family. All the books and magazines that you can read can be very useful, especially for the "what if's" and the "why's". With that said, Mia began doing everything before the scheduled time of when she was supposed to start doing those things. Things like lifting her head, following you when you move in any direction. At about 2.5 months we were up in our room and Mia was sitting on Karina's knees, and she was blowing kisses at Mia. Right after that Mia began to blow kisses right back at Karina. It wasn't exactly the same way, probably due to her mouth muslces not working the same, but she was definitley trying! It was so cute! Other things that we have discovered for things like really bad crying can be remedied by the sound of running water. When she tired and starts fussing, we had no idea what do to, so we just tried rocking and singing to her. It eventually worked, but it took a while. Well one day I stubled across doing slight bounces back and forth to each side to the sound of singing songs...my songs are limited, but anyting works. Songs like "Mary had a little lamb", "This old man", "I've been working on the railroad", and all the christmas songs I know. Karina does the same thing with all the songs she knows (el ratoncito Miguel, Mambru se fue a la guerra, dona semana, la pajara pinta, etc). It calms her down and she eventually falls asleep!!! Oh and OMG, when we began to give her baths in those plastic tubs you can buy from Baby's R Us, are terrible for infants or at least for Mia. It made Mia so cold, because the air made her skin cold, and it would cause her to go balistically crying. So Karina and I did some research and found the perfect bath to keep her warm and comfortable while bathing her. This is the link to the bath...it really is much better, until of course she gets big enough for the plastic one.. http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2574102.