Best Week Ever - the Maya Edition

So, the past week has been incedible. We mentioned the rolling over yesterday, but there's more! Here's the rundown:

• Maya is taking a regularly scheduled nap every day - I thought it would never happen!
• Maya goes to sleep at night - yeah, like a real live bedtime!
• Maya rolls from belly to back - so much for tummy time.
• She slept in her crib last night - first time since she was a month old!
• She sits in a Bumbo Seat - not really an Olympic feat, but so cute.
• Maya now takes a pacifier when she's ready to rest - doesn't sound like much, but it's actually working and calming her down.

We are so proud of her! Maybe this week she'll start walking! Well, maybe not...

"Mommy, you are too funny!"


"You can put me on my belly all you want - I'll just roll over!"


"This Bumbo Seat makes me feel like an adult."

Will Maya be a Doctor Someday?

I got out of the shower yesterday, and when I got to the family room, Kevin was reading to Maya out of an anesthesiology textbook. She looks really interested, eh??

Maya Rolled Over Today!

Maya rolled over for the first time today! She did it 7 times! We decided to tape it, but we didn't think she'd do it again. As you can hear on the video, we were very surprised at how easy it was to get her to do it. Maya, you are so much fun!

Waterbaby.

Kevin and I have mastered the art of showering a baby. Here's how we do it: Kevin gets in the shower and gets clean while I get Maya ready. Then I give her to Kevin and I shampoo/soap her up from outside the shower while he holds her and rinses her. She loves it. Not only does she get the nice warm water, but she gets to be held the entire time. What could be better? She doesn't even seem to mind a little water in the nose, eyes, or mouth! What a good baby! A "try this at home tip" for those who are wondering: It's really hard to shower with the baby if you don't have help. You really need 4 hands - 2 for washing, and 2 for holding. Babies are slippery little monsters, and you don't want them to hit the shower floor - know what I mean?

Babies, Babies, Everywhere!

Animal babies, that is. We went to the zoo this morning. We saw a baby elephant, baby water buffalo, a baby giraffe, and baby Somalian Wild Asses. Yeah, I said "asses"- is that a word? Or is it like saying "mouses" or "deers?" Anyway, we met Brooke, Ray, and Nash by the hippos, and took a nice walk. Oddly, a lot of the animals weren't out today. The masses were out though - it was so crowded! We had fun though. There is a newborn giraffe (see photo below), who was only born in the past month. He wouldn't come close to the camera though, so our pics are sort of far away. Maya was a sweetie throughout the field trip. She napped, laughed, chatted, and just took it all in. We made our usual weekend Costco trip afterward, and I made a fantastic purchase... A sewing machine! I can't wait to learn how to use it. Hmmmm. Maybe I'll even read the manual!
Tonight we took Maya to the last "Anesthesia Happy Hour" of the year. It was at Schlafly, which is right down the street from the school where I worked. It was nice to see people, but it's hard to take Maya to happy hour. She gets sleepy by 7, and then we re-name her "Crabby McFinkel." We're home now, and it's almost 9, but Maya is too wound up to sleep. Oh well. I'm happy if she goes to bed later. It means she'll sleep longer... right? Maybe not. I'll let you know tomorrow!

Maya likes to face out so she can see everything. Or maybe she wants people to look at her. I'll have to ask her...


"I love Daddy-time."


Brooke, Nash, and... hey! who's that guy? That's Ray (a.k.a. Daddy o' Nash)! He's back for good!


See the baby giraffe sitting on the right? So sweet... Nothing beats a baby tiger though. Ask Aunt Debs. She knows.

My phone photos are downloaded!

Hooray! Kevin bought a card that can transfer our phone photos to the computer! The pictures are sort of poor quality, but who cares?!? Here are some highlights from the million pics I've taken with my phone.


This is Maya's "I'm about to fall asleep" face.


I take lots of "Maya on the couch" pictures.


Maya loves Doug.


Maya loves her bow.

Maya loves Doug and her bow.

This is why I'm not in sales...

So this morning, Maya and I went to an Usborne book party with Brooke and Nash. If you don't know what Usborne is, don't worry - I didn't know either. It's a company that makes baby/children's books. They do parties - sort of like Pampered Chef or Tupperware. We were invited by a girl who is very active in the Moms and Babies group through the hospital. I decided to go, assuming that there would be a lot of people there. I was also told that if I brought a friend, we'd both get a free book. Score! So I asked Brooke to come with me, and told her that we wouldn't feel pressured to buy anything. Um, yeah, not so much. In reality, there were only 5 women there, and in order for us to get our free book, Brooke and I both felt we really should buy a couple of books. I got Maya a book called "That's not my Monster," and one called "Panda in the Park." Both are board books that have touchy feely pages. For the free book, I chose one called "Everyday Words," which is basically a vocabulary building type of book. I can't wait until she's old enough to read it with me, because it looks like so much fun. The thing I hated about it, was that the "Usborne Lady" was trying to convince me to have a book party. Here's the thing - I don't want to. I feel like people never want to come, because they know they'll have to spend money, and I don't want to put anyone in the situation. So it's a negative. However, she did bring up the idea that we could have a party for pregnant Brooke, and buy books for her. I like the idea, but at the same time, I think Brooke might want other things - like clothes, and fun baby goodies. Books are great, I know, but there's something nice about getting a variety of fun stuff... What do you think Brooke?? Anyway, I didn't take photos, because I didn't really know anyone there, and I wasn't sure if they would think it was strange. I do have some photos to share though...


Mommy and I love our spot on the couch.


Just lounging around...


What do you think of my outfit?


I love Mommy...

More...

After we left Sonya's, we went to meet Sara at Bread Company. Maya fell asleep in the car (hallelujah) after a brief meltdown. Poor thing. She just hates being alone in the backseat. Good news though - she's taking the pacifier! It's good, because it really seems to calm her down lately. Anyway, it was great to see Sara. She is finishing summer school tomorrow, and then going to Arkansas with her husband for the week. Good deal. It was fun.

Okay. It's tubby time for Maya. She just ate a big meal, so I'd better bathe her before she get's hungry again!

Maya loves a good swing!


Sara meets us for lunch at our old standby (Bread Co., of course!).


Okay, this is tubby time from yesterday, but still adorable, right?!? Look at that belly!

We're Sleepy.

It's been a really long day. Maya had a very congested nose last night, so she slept fitfully and in short patches. Needless to say, we woke up exhausted. Kevin was on call last night, and he got home this morning at around 8:00. Maya and I had a playdate with some other moms and babies, so we didn't have too much daddy time until later in the day. We met at Sonya and Charlie's house, and the kids played for a couple of hours. It was the first time I had met Charlie, and boy is he adorable! Maya tried to nap at Sonya's house, but she was pretty unsuccessful.


Sonya wakes Charlie for photos!


Alex is very interested in Maya's cute socks!


Hailey and Alex have an important chat.


All this playing is too much for Maya.


How many babies can we get in one picture??

We Love the Mall.

The title says it all. Here are some pics of us with some friends this morning. It was too muggy and hot for anything outside today. This is the thing I can't stand about St. Louis. It's impossible to do anything in the summer. I wanted to walk outside this morning, but it's ridiculous in this humidity. Boo. We walked in the mall instead. Speaking of which, there's a store upstairs that give free bottled water to mall walkers! Nice...

Brooke, Nash, and Brooke's baby bump play in the play area, and pose for a JCPenney ad.


Jen and Hailey think it's all so funny!


Girlfriends say good-bye!

I think Maya is starting to realize...

she needs a haircut...

It's a Cooperella Morning...

This morning we took our first trip to Cooperella, a local, kid-friendly coffee shop. We met Brie and Alex, and Brooke and Nash. Actually, the day started with a long walk at the mall, which was great. Maya was fussy this morning though, so it was a little difficult, but that's okay. She's taking a nap now, so hopefully she'll wake up feeling a little better. Anyway, back to Cooperella. If you live in the area, and you have kids, go check it out! They have food, coffee, and 2 rooms - one is a coffee shop area for adults, and one is a play area for little ones. We had a good time, and it was nice and low key. Much nicer than the play area at the mall.

In other news, Kevin says I don't take enough pictures of Maya crying. Apparently I need to capture all of her different moods. I guess we might forget that she did spend some of her infancy crying (as if I could forget)...

March 30, 2008 (Maya's birthday)

June 22, 2008 (Yup, still crying - maybe it's because she needs her hair cut)

One Last Good-Bye

I went to school with Kevin and Maya today. We packed up all of my book and various knick-knacks (a.k.a. garbage)and said good-bye. It feels strange to take my things and go. So sad... Maya was exhausted from the moving, so she took the shortcut home (a.k.a. slept through it).

Maya, the Personal Trainer

Well friends, Maya woke me yesterday morning at 4:15, to let me know that it's time to get back on the exercise wagon. So for the past 2 days we've started with a nice long walk on Grant's Trail. Maya has been a perfect trainer, in that she has slept through both walks. We're going to try and walk every day, but we have to walk early, since it gets incredibly humid and hot by about 9:30. We've tried to walk at the mall, but we tend to get distracted by all the pretty clothes and things. Oh well. Thanks for your help Maya! I'm loving my free training sessions! You can see how serious she is in the photos...

Thanks for sharing, Alex!

Last night was the Anesthesia graduation dinner. Since we couldn't bring Maya, we decided to share a babysitter with Brie and Dave. Alex is 10 months, and he's in part time daycare, so Brie decided to hire one of his daycare providers to sit at night. Her name was Lacey, and she brought her adorable son Dominic with her. He's 3, and he apparently loves babies. Lacey was great with Maya from the moment she met her, so I felt just fine about leaving her there. Alex had a very eventful day yesterday, which ended with a pretty nasty tumble. Fortunately he's feeling much better, but he was wiped out last night. Both babies went to sleep nice and early. When we picked Maya up at 10:30, she ended up staying awake until 12:15, and sleeping until 4:45 this morning. Mmmmmmm.... Mommy is sleepy today...

Maya is a Botanical Gardener!

This morning we took a trip to the Botanical Gardens with Brooke and Nash. We had such a nice time. It was hot and humid though, which always makes for a short visit. The gardens are featuring the "Niki" exhibit, and there are amazing sculptures all throughout the gardens. We didn't go to the actual exhibit (I think there's an indoor section), but we got our fill by seeing what was sprinkled all through the park.

Cutie...

She's trying to make you laugh!

I Love Meeting New Friends!

Thanks for coming to visit me when I was born...

Upper left: Brook, Ben, James, and Keira

Middle: Sara and Ben

Right: Christina, Ed, and Christina's baby bump

Lower Left: Grammy