Look Ma, No Hands!

At Maya's 12 month visit I was happy that her Dr. didn't seem it was a big deal that she wasn't walking. In fact, she only recently started standing on her own. She's still pretty wobbly but she knows she's doing something special because she will flash us the biggest smile. The Doctor did tell us that Maya has an umbilical hernia which is common and usually goes away on its own, but even so, we would prefer that she didn't have any issues. Maya is holding steady in the 95th percentile for height but at only 20lbs. 11oz. she has dropped to the 48th percentile. Tall and skinny, I guess she can't complain!

Friends Are Fun

If I had to guess what Maya's favorite part about the weekend was, I would say it was definitely having her cousins around. By the time Monday arrived, Maya worshipped the ground Aubrie walked on. Aubrie was so sweet with Maya, she helped feed her, she played with her and she even wanted to ride in the car with us so she could be closer to Maya. Finally, Maya had someone to pick up her sippy cup no matter how many times she would drop it! I couldn't believe it when Jacob got in on the fun. He would make sure Maya was entertained and was exceptionally attentive when Maya was opening her gifts. He was right there in case she needed someone to help her play with any of her toys!

Comfort has always been a priority.

Maya's brief stint as a local weather girl ended when she was fired for allegedly eating the props.

Birthday Monkey

It only took me two weeks to recoup from Maya's birthday weekend and finally update the site! Everybody was here for such a short time and yet it was so exhausting. I guess that's what happens when you try to cram so many activities into only a couple of days. We had Maya's party at the park where we reserved a covered area with several picnic tables in case of rain. We were told that rain wouldn't be anywhere near us until 3, which was right when the party was supposed to end. Naturally, the rain started shortly after we arrived and stopped as soon as we were packing up to leave. But all was not lost! I got to see Jason and Troy grilling in the rain, more importantly, I got a picture of it.

The burgers and hot dogs were fine, luckily we bought large buns so they soaked up most of the water. Finally we got to the part where Maya gets her first cupcake. I was so excited to see her take those first bites and I couldn't wait to see her smear the cake all over her face, but Maya had to be different. That child didn't play with her cupcake at all. She ate every last bite and then when there was just icing left on her tray, she ate that too! Jason and I kept trying to get her to share some of her cupcake with us but she would just smile and shove a huge piece into her mouth. This is the same child who finds great joy in sharing her cheerios and puffs but wouldn't spare a crumb of her cake.
For our special present to Maya we decided to get her a chair of her own. I had so much fun imagining how cute Maya was going to look just sitting in the living room in her own Maya size chair. I found it online and anticipated its arrival for a week. I was just so excited for Maya to get her special chair! She was happy to see it and immediately squealed and crawled right over to it. Jason sat her in it so she could see what it was like and proceeded to topple head first out of the chair. The wonderful birthday chair is now in Maya's room with Hanukkah Pooh sitting in it.

Rugrat

My little monkey will be turning 1 in a couple of days and she doesn't seem like she's going to hit the walking milestone before then. She pulls up on everything and cruises along the furniture but she doesn't have any interest in walking. I can't really blame her since she is a little speed crawler and you should see her go when she gets close to the kitchen! The kitchen and bathroom are no crawling zones, but you always know when she gets close to making it to the kitchen because she starts panting and laughing and that cutie just has her arms and legs flying! With all of the energy Maya could be using on walking, she instead decides to use it to stalk me.

She Just Bites Me

Maya, now with hugs!

Maya At The Beach

This video is a month old, but I just discovered the video option so I wanted to try it out. This is Maya's first experience with sand!

Playing Games

Maya doesn't seem to be interested in walking anytime soon but that's o.k. because we're having fun with her just crawling. She thinks it is so funny when we crawl around and she actually plays hide and seek with us! I love listening to her squeal as she crawls after us. After she finds us she starts crawling the other way because it's her turn to hide!

Our failed attempt at helping Maya to walk.

Teletubbies, destroying the minds of America one baby at a time.

It Will Grow Back

Maya's hair has been growing like crazy and because she likes to pull out her hair ties and eat them, I've been forced to keep her hair down. Unfortunately, this means that her hair falls into her eyes. I have been waiting until she turned one to cut her hair because of this old wives tale I heard about how you're not supposed to cut a baby's hair before they are a year old. I don't have any idea why you're supposed to wait but I never really had much reason to cut her hair before so I didn't mind waiting. Well.... you see, her hair keeps getting in her beautiful eyes and I just couldn't stand it anymore. One day when she was eating her cheerios and puffs, I grabbed the scissors. I made sure to measure it so that her bangs would still be long in case I made a mistake, but something happened. I expected her to move around but I guess her hair slipped more than I realized and the next thing I know I'm telling myself that it'll grow back in time for her one year pictures. It's not too noticeable, right?
For a while now, Maya has insisted in facing the wrong way in a cart, but this was the first time she succeeded in completely turning around.
Nana and Poppy were nice enough to give Maya a toy that would help her learn her shapes as well as teaching her that certain shapes fit in certain holes. Maya has learned a lot from this toy and has decided to show others what she has learned. For instance, the circle can fit inside the sub woofer but the triangle gets stuck and will require Daddy to retrieve it. Oh, and cheerios will fit perfectly in the VCR.

Just A Note

Daddy, this is your very first Father's Day and I wanted to let you know just how important you are to me. You are my favorite person in the world, it shouldn't be much of a surprise since I applaud you every time you enter the room. I've noticed that you always make sure to give me a full cup of juice even when Mommy tells you to water it down, I love that about you. You always let me hold the car keys and never get upset when I stick them in my mouth, no matter how dirty they are. I'm so happy when you come home because I know that my best friend is here to play! I have so much fun when you chase me around the room and smother me with kisses, I always laugh the hardest when I'm with you, you are the best part of my day. I love it when you stick up for me, like if I wave at someone and they ignore me, you make sure to let them know that your little girl has waved at them and they should be honored. I know you will always be there for me, to throw me high in the air because Mommy's too afraid. I will never be scared when you throw me up into the air because I know you will never let me fall.

I love you Daddy.

Day At The Beach

Maya soon realized the sand was NOT out to get her but instead could be quite enjoyable.
Those aren't socks, Jason's feet are just that white.

This was as far as Maya went into the water and it just happens to also be as far as I could go. As we should all be aware, if you go into the water past your ankles sharks will most certainly eat you. It's a proven fact.
What I thought was a huge spider racing towards me. Dad didn't tell us it was a crab until after I had Jason mash it with my shoe. The fact that it was racing towards me sideways should have been told me something.
We all had a great time on Hilton Head Island, it's a beautiful place and I highly recommend it. Our condo was right on the beach and since we had to share a room with Maya, we were given the big bedroom. It didn't really matter though, since Maya decided she would rather have the room to herself and made me and Jason sleep in the living room.

Maya was still recovering from her cold this past weekend but I wasn't worried because fresh air is always a good thing. One day while preparing to head down to the beach, Mom mentioned that Maya might need a sweater because it's a little breezy by the water. It was 85 degrees outside and Mom thought it was too cold. 85 degrees. On the beach.

Catching Up

For Mother's Day we took a trip to the zoo where Maya got to ride an elephant statue since the real thing was no where to be found. That morning I was surprised with waffles that Maya had helped make, you just haven't lived until you've had lumpy waffles.
I knew I called her monkey for a reason.
Maya can now feed herself rice puffs which keeps her busy and gives me a few precious moments to myself. The bad side of her feeding herself is that now everything is considered food. All day she crawls along the carpet picking up fuzz, crumbs and mystery crust and attempts to eat it. Luckily, she likes to hold up her findings so that I can see the treasure she has discovered in our carpet buffet before sampling the tasty mystery, which leaves me a few seconds to retrieve it from her clutches.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Aunt Bob!!! You're one of the oldest people I know!

Here We Go

Well, Maya is officially crawling and what I can't get over is that as soon as she figured it out she started pulling herself up. I really thought I would have a little time to get used to her crawling before she started anything new. Nothing is safe! Maya had her 9 month Dr. visit a couple of weeks ago. She seems to like her new Doctor but I'm pretty sure she hates the nurse. As soon as the nurse came into the room Maya burst into tears but never seemed to have an issue with the Doctor. I guess she knows who gives her the shots. Maya is still tall, she is in the 97th percentile for height at 30.25 inches and the 75th percentile for weight at 20 pounds. Her Dr. asked me how tall I am and when I told her 5'4" she said that maybe Maya was just doing a lot of growing early on. What, like I can't have tall kids?

When good babies go bad.
Flat Aubrie came to see us for a couple of days. Maya had all kinds of fun showing her around town and I had the honor of taking their picture to send back to Tennessee. Unfortunately, Maya has been teething and tried to take a bite out of Flat Aubrie's head a few times but Flat Aubrie was fine just a bit moist.

Grandparents!

Apparently, if we wanted people to come see us all we had to do was move. We had barely unpacked, when both sets of grandparents came to visit. The visits were a week apart which was enough time for Maya to recoup from all of the hugs, kisses, standard spoiling, etc. Granny and Papaw came in time to celebrate Maya's first Easter, she was intrigued by the basket but has no idea of the fun that is to come with all things Easter. When she spotted it, she just smacked it around a little until we showed her all the fun stuff inside. I really think if Maya is ever in need of clothes all I need to do is invite any of her grandparents for a visit. Sadly, she most likely will not appreciate this for another 13 years or so.


Nana and Popi or Poppy (seriously, I have no idea how I'm supposed to spell it) were unable to go on their anniversary trip thanks to the kennel manager curse so instead they came to see us. I think they definitely had a lot more fun watching golf with us than on a cruise somewhere in the Caribbean.

Moving Day

So our plan to drive halfway on Wednesday so we wouldn't have to drive for very long the next day, did not work out. Because we got a late start and because Maya wouldn't stop screaming, we were only able to drive for a couple of hours before we had to stop. Thursday was a very, very long day, we had to make a lot of stops to entertain, change, and feed Maya. In the end, what should have only taken 7.5 hours took us close to 12 hours. The important thing is that we finally made it to South Carolina with our sanity, or what's left of it. The drive was definitely beautiful.

Next time I think we'll just pack up Maya with the rest of it.