Maya's 1 year stats

I realized that I never updated the blog with Maya's 1 year stats from her well visit.

She's still a skinny long thing.  She weighed 19lb 1oz (@20%) and was 29 3/4" tall (@70%).

She checked out a-ok but once again let everyone in the office hear about how unhappy she was regarding her shots!

I, of course, had a slew of questions as always- one was whether I should start to discourage her thumb sucking (which I have to admit makes parenting easier as I never have to remember a pacifier or retrieve one, etc.), which she really only does if she's in the car, putting herself to sleep, upset, or really tired.  He said that there's nothing we can do about so to not worry about it.  He said that they even can't really prove that it messes up teeth and that the biggest determinate for how her teeth will come in will be genetics- and Dave and I both had buck teeth so she's likely doomed anyway :-)  He also said that he's had parents with the biggest thumb and finger suckers with perfectly aligned teeth and kids with the most crooked teeth you've ever seen whose parents are in disbelief because the kid never sucked his/her thumb or took a pacifier.  So moral of the story- as with most things kid related- don't worry about it!

Here are some pics:

Maya has her own CamelBak water bottle now, but of course she still likes to take mine and drink from it!

Enjoying the nice weather by eating dinner outside!

Below is a video (well 2 videos clipped together) of Maya interacting with one of her birthday books and making animal sounds.  You really have to listen to hear the "woof" "woof."  Dave doesn't think it counts, but I do!  You can't view this on an iDevice- sorry- I don't like using YouTube, I started to get too many weird random views.

Maya's 1st Birthday Party

We had a small birthday party for Maya over the weekend.  We just invited immediate family and godparents/spouses to keep it small and manageable.  Maya seemed to have a lot of fun and enjoyed smashing her piece of cake.  We had an owl theme and I had fun making the majority of the decorations.  I have to admit that I borrowed stole the ideas from this blog.    Well they say that imitation is the greatest form of flattery right?!

Here are some pictures!

These were a bit time intensive but I think they turned out really well!

These showed a picture of Maya each month so guests could see her growth!

I loved making those little owls sitting on top of the china cabinet.

Did you know that you can get a free sheet cake from Acme for the first birthday? Yup!  You just have to show them the birth certificate.  I just asked them to do the lettering on the bottom edge and I added the owl craft to liven it up!

As guests arrived we took some pictures outside.  We took a Target basket that I typically hide keep toys in and turned it into a faux hot air balloon ride (idea found on Pinterest- I actually had the basket before I saw the idea on Pinterest)!  Maya loved the balloons.

Of course, she needed an owl shirt to match the theme of her party.  Her hair clip is an owl as well :-)  

"Just poking up to say 'hey!'"

"Wow, check out these balloons Dad!"

She was pretty distracted while opening presents but does enjoy her gifts.  She received clothes, bubbles, a bathing suit (that will match her cousin's at the shore), books, puzzles, a dollhouse with all of the accessories, a pull alligator toy, a barn set with animals that make noise, and a boat bath toy.

"I love puzzles!"

"Woohoo, a dollhouse!"

No, her cousin Alex wasn't a present- his parents might have been willing to leave him with us though :-)

After we sang "Happy Birthday" Maya got to enjoy a piece of her birthday cake!

"I can't believe my mom is letting me eat this! It's not even cut up into little pieces!"

"More please!" 

 To make the day even more special, Maya took her first wobbly step before her party right in front of Dave and I!

Maya's New Words

On Thursday, I went to professional development training for a new writing program that the district adopted for next school year.  So... Maya went to G.B's house, while I attended the training.  It was actually a nice reality check.  We got out of the door ok and made it everywhere on time. The biggest hassle was prepping all of her meals and snacks the night before.  Fortunately, our daycare provides a wonderful and healthy snack and meal menu so I won't have to worry about that next year!  The trial run gave me a good feeling about managing everything next year.

Maya was upset when I left, but she settled down with the help of her lovey- "Dolly."  When I arrived back at my mom's, she was outside blowing bubbles at Maya.  I walked up and Maya was saying "bubbles!'  I couldn't believe it!!!  When I brought her home I took her outside and blew bubbles for her in front of Dave to see if she'd do it again and she again said "bubbles!'  Then I did some weeding and asked Dave to bring out the tulips that I got for Easter so I could plant them.  He brought them out and Maya was drawn to the flowers.  Dave said "flower" and Maya repeated it a couple of times!

She's also been trying to say "Dexter" but it comes out more as "dah-der."  It's super cute!  He licks her hands and she says "dah-der!"

I think we're loosely saying the following

• Dada
• Mama- although seldom said :-(
• doggy
• Dexter
• bubbles
• flower
• no
• more
• hi
• bye
• all done (rarely)
• yea
• book
• ball/doll (sound similar)

In books she's identifying "dogs" and "balls."  Oh and I think she's been trying to imitate the "mooo" sound. It's hilarious!    

She loves looking at cats in her books so I took her to the local pet store to show her the cats this morning!  She loved them and they seemed to love her too.  She's surely an animal lover- especially a dog lover.  Her favorite iPad app is "Sound Touch Lite" and when the different dogs appear and start barking she smiles real big!

Ok- enough bragging (but that's what parents are supposed to do right?).

This picture isn't from Thursday but it's a nice picture of G.B. and Maya!  G.B. made her the tiara headband.

Tomorrow is Maya's birthday party.  We're keeping it very small with just immediate family and her godparents.  It's an owl themed party and I made most of the decorations.  I'll blog about that later!

Happy Easter/Maya's 1st Birthday

Maya had the joy of celebrating her first birthday along with the celebration of Easter!

This month she really started talking more.  She can say the following words:

hi (with a wave), Dada, Mama, doggy, more (with the sign), all done, no, ball/doll (sometimes).

  She seems really interested in walking and I think we'll be there pretty soon.  She's still up on her toes and leading with her belly!  I'll have her 12 month stats on Tuesday after her 1 year well check but she's still slim & tall. 

Here's her 12 month shot!

 

 She had a good and busy day.  She woke up and got to investigate her Easter basket, which was a beautiful gift from G.B.!

 The pugs & Dave helped her investigate!

The Easter Bunny brought her a Karen Katz Easter book, some poseable Little People figurines, and a light up swirly toy.

She also got to open one birthday present from us.

It was a drum/music set.  She loved it, especially the drum.  We were happy with it too as the noises that it makes are not annoying and they are real instruments!

After her nap, we went over to Uncle Rich and Aunt Eleni's for Easter dinner.   Her Aunt and Uncle and Cousin got her a generous Easter basket filled with a book, a birthday outfit, and a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom sorting toy.  Here's Maya hanging out with her cousin Alex.   

 Family picture:

3 Generations:

 After Easter dinner we headed to Dave's grandparents (Maya's great-grandparents), where she met her great-great grand mom- Lilia (I should have grabbed a picture of that).  She didn't want to leave the safe confines of her mom and dad.  Here she is posed with Dave.  

Finally, here she is once we returned home- way past her bedtime :-)  The dress she's wearing was a birthday present from my godmother!  

She still has another present from us to open- a toy where she can hit balls into the top and watch the balls roll down a maze.  She also received a new night time story from us, which we read before bedtime.  

I can't believe that she's 1.  I was actually sad putting her to bed because I didn't want the day to end.  It's been such a fast unbelievable year.  We are certainly very blessed to have such a wonderful little girl.  

Maya's Dollhouse

Maya and I were playing with her dollhouse and I put the baby in the cradle. Maya promptly took the baby out and put her in the big bed and put the dad in the cradle!...



Sorry about the poor iPhone image.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Random Happenings

I realized that I haven't blogged in awhile.   Until this past week we've been enjoying the nice weather.

Maya has been having fun playing with the dogs.  She knows which toys are theirs and will grab them and take them to the dogs in an attempt to get them to play with her.  They're not sure how to react yet but they are very patient (even when she steals bones out of their mouths like in the picture below) and will play tug-a-war with her!

I babysat for my niece and nephew recently.  Dexter seemed concerned that there was another baby in the house.  He then seemed to accept it and decided to help me out.  Here is is watching my nephew.

Maya started to climb the stairs a bit ago so we had to install another baby gate!

Maya will turn 1 in a week!  We can't believe it.  Right now she has a nasty cold complete with a fever so we hope she's feeling much better when her birthday rolls around!