Tubby Time with a Twist

It's fun to play with Maya's mop in the tub. Tonight I was going for a mohawk, but the photos don't do it justice. I think we need to buy some "No More Tangles." I'm starting to dreadlocks in Maya's future...


"This is my daily hairdo."


"Mommy, what are you doing? Are you making me look like a nerd?"


"You may like this now, but if I wear my hair like this when I'm in high school, you'll probably disown me!"

Harry Potter and Hermione

We had a pretty low key weekend. Yesterday, I spent the afternoon with Brooke, Nash, and Ray. Nash has a wizard costume, which is obviously adorable, He isn't a huge fan of the hat though, so he lent it to Maya. What a good sharer!

"Wow Nashy! Nice costume!"


"Thank you for lending me this hat!"


"I'm hiding."

R.I.P. Kiddapotamous

What is a Kiddapotamous, you ask? The Kiddapotamous is Maya's velcro swaddle. She actually has 3 of them, and we've been using them religiously at bedtime for the past few months. Occasionally, she squirms or kicks out of it, and I happily re-swaddle during her middle-of-the-night-feeding. Well, two nights ago, Maya decided she was done with the swaddle. She was like a flailing, kicking, out of control animal. After I put her to sleep, she squirmed out 11 times, before I said, "Forget it. No more swaddling tonight." I put her in a warm jammies, and we both proceeded to have a very fussy and restless night of sleep. It was awful. We are done with swaddling though, and determined to bear through the long nights. Last night was much better, so tonight will hopefully be great. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

"I'm 4 weeks old here, and loving the old Kiddapotamous. Don't I look like a snowman or a totem pole?"













In other news, Ike is making a cameo in St. Louis today. There is wild wind and a ton of rain. I see a loss of power in our future. Maya and I are staying snuggly and toasty at home.


"Rain is a recipe for bad hair, right Mommy?"


"Mommy took this photo from our front door. You can't really tell but it's raining cats and dogs and the trees are swaying like crazy."

Halloween is fast approaching...

So, we went to the mall today to return some things. You know, I always enjoyed the idea of Halloween, but I never realized how many absolutely adorable things they have for babies. Let's start with Pottery Barn Kids, where they have a 90 dollar hamburger costume. The kicker? It actually might be worth 90 dollars. It's that cute. I wanted to try some costumes on Maya, but I think she'd flip out, so we just tried the doggie ears. At Gymboree, the costumes are very princessy, which is not my style at all (and clearly, it's my style that counts), but Kevin found this adorable cowboy hat. Maya isn't too fond of head wear though. I mean, she enjoys her bows, but give her a hat or headband and she'll bite your head off. Oh well. Her costume has a hood this year. I hope it's cold out so she'll want a warm head...


"Let's go to the mall, Mommy! Daddy, you should come too!"


"What do you think I am? A dog?"


"Yippy yay ay!"

Just for Practice

Lately, we've been practicing sitting. She's almost a pro!

Okay, now for the good stuff.

Christina and Ed served Charlie George with eviction papers this week... 3 weeks early! Maya and I went to visit them at the hospital on Tuesday. Charlie is just yummy, and Christina and Ed are elated.


"Ed, you remind me of my Daddy when I was brand new..."


"Christina, I think you're gonna be the best mommy ever!"










While we're on baby news, Mindy and Rich also had a little boy this week They're still mum on the baby's name though. We're hoping to go visit them soon too.

Hmmmm. What else? I'll think about it and get back to you.


"Hey guys! We'll have a more interesting week next week!"

I'm not naming any names, but...

..."someone" said I seem like I'm having a bummer of a week (you know who you are!). Well, I guess it's true. I am, in fact, having sort of a tough week. Let me explain why. First of all, Maya is going through something. I don't know what, but it's definitely something. Her sleep is off, and her eating is strange and fussy. I can only attribute it to teething, but who knows? Eh. She'll get over it. In addition, there's my back problem, which is sort of making me feel a little bummed out. I'm thinking that it might be slowly mending itself though. The problem is, my house is getting messier and messier, and I'm having a hard time bending over to clean it up. Lastly, we haven't done much this week. It's been very slow and boring, which is never fun. Brooke has cold (loads of fun at 8 months pregnant), Brook is on vacation in Seattle, and I haven't been able to connect with Brie, due to all sort of random circumstances. So we've been particularly anti-social. However, today we did go out with Brooke and Nash. Brooke gave us a lovely array of fruit preserves from The Loveless Cafe in Nashville, where they went last weekend. Yum. You may or may not know that I'm a fan of jams and jellies. Oh, and seeing Brooke and Nash was nice too.

"Hey Nash, don't tell my mom, but I'm planning on having a major meltdown in the car on the way home."


So there you have it... the week wasn't all bad.I think I'll write a separate post about the good stuff though. I wouldn't want to put a damper on good news, you know?

"Care to serve me breakfast in bed, Mommy?"


Oh, but before I go, I should let you know that little Maya is sitting in her exersaucer right now, playing like crazy. She's hilarious - just babbling and laughing and moving around these little wooden things. She sometimes starts to whine, and if I look over at her, she gives me this face that I'm taking to mean, "Hi Mom. Thanks for looking at me." What a sweetie.

"This exersaucer is particularly amusing today."

Maya is feeling out of sorts today.

We had a strange day today. Maya just went down for a nap, and it's already 4:00. Hmmmm. I wonder if she'll sleep tonight. I feel like we are regressing in the sleep category. It's no fun, but I'm sure we'll sort it out. Maya is one feisty little girl. She knows what she wants, and when she wants to be awake, she'll be awake. But hey, who can resist this face?

Daddy Time.

So, yesterday Kevin was post-call - this means he had just finished a 24 hour shift, and was home to play with us. Well, he napped first, and then he was a tremendous helper. My back has been hurting, so Kevin had a lot of Maya time. They practiced sitting, and Kevin gave Maya a bath. Too bad he didn't realize there were snaps on the back of her shirt. He couldn't get it over her head. It was really funny, although Maya didn't think so.

"Daddy? Is it just me, or are you carrying me exceptionally low to the ground?"


"Dad! Oh my gosh! The snaps! Help! Get this thing off my head!"


"See? I'm sitting!"

Maya B. Folds Laundry

Maya enjoys sitting in the bassinet in the basement, while I dump clean laundry on her.

"Do it again! Do it again!"

We didn't do anything today.

Well, that's not exactly true. I agreed to organize a Halloween Party for WUMCHA (the Women's group at WashU), so I met with another woman who is working on it with me. I decided this morning that I wasn't going to do very much today, because I suddenly have a bum lower back. I think I lifted Maya one too many times the other night when she was up half the night. Ever since then, my back is just awful. Grrrr.

Ooo, one more tidbit about today!

We went to get Baby Orajel at WalMart. There was no bar code on the tube, and we were at the self-checkout, so the cashier came over and said, "Do you know how much this was?"
I said, "Yeah, $4.44."
So she said, "What? 50 cents? Okay."
What a nice woman. She liked Maya so she gave us a good deal. Excellent.


"Thanks for the Orajel, WalMart Lady. Maybe I'll pop out a tooth for you soon!"


"Mmmmmm. Cupcakes."


"Mommy is tired, but I'm ready to party."

What's that you say?

Do you hear what I hear? Okay, I know she's just babbling, but I love it!!! I can't wait until she knows what it means!

Maya-lestones

Maya drinks from a bottle at night, just before bed, so she can take her vitamins and medicine. Last night she insisted on holding her own bottle. It was very sweet. She actually held it for her entire meal! She's really getting strong.


"I can't wait to eat at Sweet Tomatoes like my Mommy and Daddy!"


"I'm playing with my toys in my carseat. You like my hood?"


"You see?? I can hold my own bottle!"

So much for being a good sleeper...

Maya was awake from 11:30 p.m. until 4:30 a.m. this morning. We are all tired. Poor little muffin. We couldn't figure out what was wrong, but she sure was fussy!

Hey Maya? Are you alive in there?

Maya woke up at 12:45 and 4:30 last night. Usually this 4:30 time is a final wake up, and I dread it, because it means a looooong morning. Ugh. So this morning I was determined to get her back to sleep - that way neither of us would be cranky. At about 5, I put her in her swing in the family room. She went right to sleep, but I soon realized that Kevin had his alarm set for 5:15, and he'd surely wake her during his morning routine. So, I decided to move the swing while Maya was in it. This used to be an easy feat, when she was 8 pounds or so. Doing it now, without crashing it into walls and doorways is a huge challenge. Anyway, I dropped off the swing in her room, pointed the video monitor at her, and ran for my life. At about 5:30 I heard her whining, and I called out to Kevin, "Throw in the pacifier!" You know what happened???

I didn't hear from her until 7:20!!! Holy cow! What a little princess!


"Brooke, I know you bought this for your baby, but can I have it?"


"Sure Nash! I can share your mommy's lap with you!"


"Hey James! Wanna play with me in the dog bed?"


"Save me, James! I fell!"

Teething Maya?

I suspect Maya might be teething. She's been a drooling, biting, chewing, fussing little monkey. I can't see any teeth sprouting yet, but I'm guessing that they are on the horizon. I'll miss her gummy smiles, but I can't wait to check out her pearly whites.

"Do I look like this panda?"


"This is my pacifier smile."


"Um, is this teething ring supposed to help?"


Someday soon, you might even see my teeth when I smile."

This One's for you, Grammy!

Poor Grammy can't watch the videos at work! Blasted firewall! Here are some photos of hot Maya in the kitchen last night. Oh, and PS - the air is now at 75. We hit an all time high of 81 last night. Awesome.


"I'm hot. Thank goodness for birthday suits."


"Daddy, thank you for taking me away from the fan. I was actually getting chilly. But now I'm hot again. Sheesh."

What?! You want more??

Here is the continuation of the fan video... in case you needed a little more Maya. Oh, and just to update you on the situation - our house is still 80 degrees. It's going to be 76 tomorrow though. Thank goodness.

It's Hot.

Yes, we are in one of those "end-of-summer-in-St.-Louis" heat waves. Ugh. To top it all off, our air conditioner is in desperate need of being replaced, and our house is officially 80 degrees. It's really bad... Anyway, Maya was starting to get very schvitzy (a.k.a. she was sweating like a wrestler), so we put her in the Bumbo Seat in front of the fan. She was having a great time. Sometimes we blow in Maya's face, and she really gets a kick out of it. This time, the fan was blowing on her, so I think she was a little confused... Check it out.

Yum.

Apparently, Maya would eat just about anything...