Christmas 2011

 

We had a wonderful Christmas this year.  It was a blast to celebrate with Maya.  It was also exhausting!  Maya seemed to enjoy helping us unwrap her gifts.  She seemed excited to see each surprise and then looked longingly at it while we then shoved another package her way.  We were so surprised by the number of people who sent her gifts.  She is one lucky and loved girl!  We spent Christmas morning with just us and then we hosted dinner for my (Amy's) side of the family.  We spent Christmas Eve with Dave's side where Maya had a blast playing with her family and opening gifts!

Here are some pictures of her opening, or with, her gifts!

"I'm a little monkey!"

Oh my goodness, this is CrAzy!!!

"I want this out now please!"

"Hehe, I'm going to look so cute in this, you won't be able to stand it!"

"I love books- thanks Aunt Lisa!"

"I look so cute in hats- thanks Susie & Selah!"

"Dexter, you can't have my puffs!"

"I was the best present of all!"

"I wore the hat that Daddy got Mommy for awhile!"

"Check out my very own chair.  It even says my name on it.  Thanks- Gianna, Alex, Uncle Rich & Aunt Eleni."

P.S. How cute is the curly pug tail in that picture!

And here's the family!

Merry Christmas!  We hope that all of our readers had a wonderful Christmas and we wish them all the best in 2012!  May 2012 bring many happy memories everyone's way!

Brunch

We went to brunch on Sunday and Maya sat in the big girl high chair for the first time! She was ready for it before, but it was always rainy or chilly and easier to just keep her in the car seat carrier, which she doesn't mind at all.  Anyway, she loved it!  Every time the waiter came she looked at him and seemed insulted that she wasn't addressed.  She spent most of the time people watching and trying to grab my plate.  We learned quickly that you have to snatch your plate as soon as the waiter puts it down because it's most likely too close to the baby's reach!  Next time, I'll need to bring teething sticks or something for her to eat as she seemed perplexed as to why we were eating and she wasn't (she usually eats meals with me).  

Here she is with "Dada"- as she calls him!

Stocking!

My (Amy's) mom is excellent at needlepoint (she's even won awards for her work).  It's a fine art- it's expensive and very time consuming.  If you know anything about it, you know that it's a lot more than a simple basket-weave stitch.  My mom needlepointed a beautiful stocking cuff for Maya.  I picked it out because I loved the design, but my mom made it really "pop" with fancy stitches! You can't really tell in the photo but Santa's beard is even fuzzy!

I know that it's something she will cherish her whole life.  It's also a great size so Santa can fill it with goodies!

We'll have to make sure that our next house has a fireplace to really show it off :-)

Thanks G.B.!

Photo Contest

We recently entered and were selected as one of the winners of a photo contest!!  We won a free photo session and all of the images from our gallery on a disk ($700 value).    We're super excited and are going to use this to do some 1 year shots of Maya/maybe some family photos with it!

The contest was with Koru Photography.  It's run by a mom of one of my students my first year teaching.  It's based out of beautiful Northern Virginia, so we're going to travel down there and visit some friends as well!  Please check out her site.  She's amazingly talented!

The contest was to submit a picture that had something to do with a take on a "koru" which is a spiral shaped symbol based on the shape of a new unfurling fern frond.  Below is the image that we submitted.

Welcome Alexandros Richard

Yesterday, December 14, 2011, my brother and his wife welcomed a new little addition into the world- Alexandros Richard!  He arrived at 5:28 am weighing 7 lbs 14 oz and measuring 19  3/4 inches.  

Maya and I visited him today.  He's a sweet little munchkin.  It was amazing to see how big Maya seemed compared to him, and she was a whole pound and a half lighter than him at birth!  I got to hold my new little nephew- I just love that newborn sleepiness, smell, and those little noises that they make!

Welcome to the world Alexandros!  We can't wait to watch your little personality develop- we already know that you're a good sharer- thanks for letting Maya play with your teddy bear!  Make sure you stand up for yourself with these older girls.  Don't let your sister and cousin be too hard on you!

Maya- 8 Months Old

Hello everyone, I've taken over my mom's laptop to type up another blog post because I'm 8 months old today!

Let me tell you a bit about my last month.  I have 2 teeth now- yup 2!  They are very cute little teeth.  I am eating a lot of foods.  I eat 3 meals a day.  I'm not the biggest fan of green vegetables.  Sometimes I scream at my mom when she tries to give them to me.  I think she's starting to mix them with other things that I like though, I'm catching onto her tricks.  I love bananas, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, prunes, apples, pears, peaches, and pears.  Some foods that I don't like are- peas, string beans, and zucchini- yup they're all green!  My mom says that I'll get used to them and that I better get used to eating what I'm served- we'll see about that!

I've been visiting A LOT of schools with my mom to pick out a daycare center for next year.  I'm very well behaved on the tours and enjoy watching the kids.  The teachers tell me that I'm cute so I like that!  Now Daddy is going on tours with us so that's even more fun!

I am now sleeping through the night!  I didn't want to but my mom and dad gave me no choice...

I like to talk a lot.  I babble lots of sounds.  Of course, I still practice my shrieking.  I roll all over the place.  Sometimes I roll around in my crib when I should be sleeping- hehe.  I've been experimenting with trying to move when I'm on my belly. Oh, and I've discovered a fun new game to play with my parents- fetch.  I throw or drop a toy and they retrieve it for me!  "Good doggy" I say to them in my head!

Speaking of dogs, I still adore my pugs.  Can you spot the 3rd pug in this picture?

Lastly, I don't like strangers right now... or, anyone besides my parents, especially my mom, for any great length of time.  If I don't know you, I don't want to be held by you at this moment in my development.  It doesn't matter if you're jolly, bring toys to children all around the world, and fly with reindeer in the sky- nope it doesn't matter at all!

Maya visits Santa

Maya visited Santa today and she was not a fan- not a fan of him at all.  It went a little something like this:

• Santa - "She'll be fine."
• Me- "She's going to cry... snap it fast."
• I place Maya on his lap
• Maya turned and looked at him
• Cried
• Looked at me
• Stopped
• Turned and looked at him
• Cried
• Looked at me
• Stopped
• This repeated until I decided to stop torturing the poor girl.
• Santa- "You sure do have a beautiful little girl."

Here's the obligatory first Christmas shot:

Look at that sad little face.  I was tempted to purchase the one in a full out scream... just for laughs  :-).

Of course when we came home she was all smiles in the safe confines of our own home, you know without some stranger in red with a white beard!

Her dress is just beautiful- isn't it?  It was a baptism gift from my Uncle Jeb & Seni.  I'm glad that it fit her!  

Below is a picture of Maya in a shirt that "G.B." bought her!  It says, "Forget Santa, I have Grandma!"  

Thanksgiving 2011

We had a nice Thanksgiving this year and had a great deal to be thankful for.  We celebrated with my (Amy's) brother, sister-in-law, niece, and mom.  My mom hosted and cooked a delicious turkey.  Maya didn't get to partake in the table food, but she did gobble down her sweet potatoes mixed with barley cereal!  Maya seemed to enjoy watching everyone and decided that she would talk (aka make shrill noises) at the dinner table.  She can babble (mama, dada, baba, daba, la, etc) and does so quite frequently but decided that dessert was the perfect time to practice her loud noises.  Maybe she was jealous of the pies that we were eating?!  Anyway, enjoy the pics.

Below is Maya before eating.

 And after eating :-)

Maya's Baptism Part 2

As promised, here are a few images of Maya in her christening gown.  Our neighbor and good friend Heather took them.  Unfortunately, Maya was being fussy so she fussed through a lot of them.  However, Heather still got some really good shots!  Thanks Heather!

Maya's Baptism

Today Maya was baptized.  It was a beautiful ceremony and all things considered, she did very well!  She did fuss a bit during the service but didn't mind when the holy water was poured over her head!  We were surrounded by our wonderful family and Maya's godparents who are as close as family as friends can be.  Maya is truly blessed to be surrounded by so much love.  Here are a few photos.  She was a bit concerned and not too willing to smile!  I'm going to put her in her gown again for some solo shots to show off her beautiful gown so that will come in the next few days.  It was a hectic day and we didn't get any solo shots to really showcase the dress.

Maya and G.B.

Maya is waving hi to her readers!

Maya with her mom and dad!

Maya and Daddy!

Another family shot

Maya with her godparents

Maya with her godfather

Maya with her godmother

The godparents, mom, dad, Maya, & the deacon

Maya 6 Month Professional Photo

We used a Groupon to have Maya's first professional photos taken.  They turned out really well.   It was tempting to not buy all of the photos.  With the Groupon we got one digital photo and here it is!

Maya- 7 Months Old

Maya is 7 months old!  I can't believe how fast the time is going.  This month she learned to sit really well. She got her first tooth (her bottom left), and started laughing more!  Maya also started scootching backwards when she's on her belly- perhaps this is a prelude to crawling??  She tried a lot of new foods.  For awhile she was rejecting all solids, but this past week she's done a nice job.  She really likes apples, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash right now.  She got her first cold this month (although it might be teething related) but has been a trooper about it (except for at nighttime).  She also met her granddad this month.  She was very intrigued by his mustache and loved spending time with him.  Unfortunately I was negligent with the camera and didn't take any pictures.  I guess he and Mimi will have to come back up for some pictures soon! :-)

Maya was put to bed by someone other than myself for the first time this month.  The great G.B. (my mom) came to the rescue.  Unfortunately, she had to listen to a lot of "where is my mommy?" screaming but we all survived.  Dave and I had a wedding to attend.  Here we are all dolled up!

This month we celebrated Dave's birthday.  Here are Dave and Maya posing for a picture during our lunch!  Dave said that he might make it a tradition to go out to lunch with Maya on his birthday.  I think that would be really nice!

Halloween

Maya enjoyed her first Halloween.  She was an adorable little ladybug!  She went to G.B.'s (grandmom's), her Uncle & Aunt's house, and to visit a few neighbors.  She was most intrigued by the Wawa employee that she encountered who was dressed up as a Twinkie!  She had fun messing with her cousin's costume- she dressed up as Minnie Mouse!