Halloween 2013

Happy Halloween!

This year we were a superhero family!  Maya was Batgirl.  Leo was Superman.  Dave was Batman and I was Wonder Woman.  We had fun trick-or-treating in our new neighborhood and were pleasantly surprised to find out there are more young kids around than we realized.  Maya seemed to have fun, except for when she declared that she wanted to stop trick-or-treating mid neighborhood because she wanted to go home and eat her candy!

You can see last year's Halloween pictures here and Maya's first Halloween pictures here.

Maya is 2 and a half!

The terrible twos really haven't been terrible.  Dave and I are both loving Maya's age.  She's such a little person now.  She's funny, inquisitive and sweet.  She's a fabulous big sister and acts like a little mommy.  She loves to bring Leo his toys and pacifier when he's upset.  She tells him to not cry and to not worry and that "Mommy and Daddy will take care of him."  She asks to hug and hold him all of the time!  She also enjoys helping with his bath time!

Recently at a restaurant the waitress brought her a pancake with a smiley face on it.  I looked at it and said "Look, your pancake is happy!" and Maya said "I want everyone to be happy!" Our waitress seriously had tears in her eyes.  

She loves to ask questions and recently asked me what was sweet.  I started naming sweet foods and then she said, "And Maya, I'M sweet!"   :)

Maya was a trooper at her doctor's appointment.  She got her flu shot without even batting an eye during a sick appointment for Leo.  Then at her check up she asked for a shot.  Her pediatrician said that was a first!  

Right now she loves to play with her Doctor kit, her baby dolls, her dollhouse, and play instruments.  She loves going to her KinderMusik class and makes me so proud as she's such a good little listener there!  She also enjoys attending story time at the local library!

She seems to have a great visual memory and really takes our conversations to heart.  She even knows almost all of her letters now and can tell you things that begin with most letters and can count to 30!  She's also almost fully potty trained!!!  

Leo is 5 Months Old

Little Leo is already 5 months old!

Leo this month you started rolling belly to back and back to belly well.  Interestingly, you seemed to master rolling back to belly first, in your crib, which is backwards.  You'd do this at night and then get annoyed and scream that you were on your belly!

This month you started grabbing things really well. You love to play in your jumperoo and on your jungle gym mat! You tolerate your Bumbo seat for short intervals but try to throw yourself out of it.  You also LOVE to watch your big sister Maya.  You give her your best laughs.  You  became much more smiley this month too!

You had your 4 month check up a bit late to coordinate with Maya's 2.5 year appointment.  You made the Dr. laugh when you tooted and then laughed at yourself.  She also found it entertaining that when she stood you up you tried to move your legs like you could walk.  She said that you're an exceptionally engaged baby and that's probably why you can't stand your car seat! You are a long lean baby.  You are in the 98% for height and 10% for weight!

We're excited to see what new skills you master this month!

Little reader

I love that Maya lays in her crib and reads now.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Fall Fun

New House- outside

So... the last few months have been crazy.  Between February and August we sold our townhouse, endlessly searched for a house for ourselves with little luck, moved in with my mom, had a baby, and finally found and moved into a new house!  We're enjoying it and learning how to deal with maintaining the outside and inside of a house.  We first needed to tackle outside projects.  Here's what the outside of our house looked like before we had a bunch of trees and underbrush removed because it was infested with poison ivy.  I think we probably shouldn't have gone so overboard with the removal, but now we have clean slate to landscape.  Of course, we know have little privacy until we re-landscape.  Our lot is quite beautiful- it's a flag lot with a long long driveway which I think will be a blast for the kids.  We immediately added a fence for the dogs on a portion of the lot and are envisioning a pool in the future in the other area.  After pictures will have to come after grass grows and some trees are planted!  It's going to be a slow process.  The lot is really tucked away but the house is part of a cul-de-sac.  I've been putting on my high rain boots as I've been watering the grass seed and as I walk toward the house in my rain boots I always feel like I should see a horse galloping by.

Branches no longer overhang the house.  Chop-chop- although it looks pretty in this picture doesn't it...

Our very very very long driveway.  We had some branches removed as well as the underbrush so now more grass will border the drive.  I love that I can leave Maya outside and run inside quickly and not have to worry about her!

Maya's favorite spot to play is in the driveway.  The shrubbery in the picture above is gone- replaced with grass.

There is an old barn/farm behind our house.  The deer love to lay within its fence.  Maya loves to watch them.

Our new fence!  We selected it to match our next door neighbors fence since we border their fence.

Side of our back yard where we may put some type of pool one day.  A great spot for sports!

Some woods on our property- there are little paths in the woods that lead up to neighbors' houses- one of these houses has a pool- we MUST meet these neighbors :) 

We had all of plants and trees in this picture ripped out... now I miss it a bit.. it looks nice in the picture but it looked a mess in person and had poison ivy.  The removal has really opened up the front of our house. What we didn't realize what that this was all on a steep slope- but hey now we have a great sledding spot!

Leo is 4 Months Old

Happy 4 months to Leo- our little pod boy.  

Leo -this month you started grabbing things really well.  You enjoyed spending time in your Bumbo seat but now you just try to throw yourself out of it.  In fact, you are really strong and try to throw yourself out of pretty much everything.  Mom has saved you multiple times.  You are rolling belly to back (but not consistently) and back to belly even swaddled which has resulted in night wakening- you roll and wake yourself up I think.  You were sleeping really well and even slept through the night a couple of times, until you got an awful cold.  You're still recovering from it, and still not sleeping well!  We're starting to have you sleep unswaddled but it's not going too great...  You recently started to play in your jumperoo which you seem to enjoy!

You are carted around everywhere with your big sister Maya, who has a pretty busy schedule.  This has made getting on a schedule a bit difficult but hopefully it makes you very flexible!

You currently weight 13.10 lbs but I only have a weight from a sick visit (a mom who heard you cough was convinced you had croup).  I think you're teething because you're drooling constantly and always have your fingers in your mouth.  I'm still curious to see if you're going to be a thumb sucker like your sister.  I'm guessing you're a pacifier baby since you're still very much into it. 

We can't wait to see the new developments you make this month!

Here's Maya at 4 months for a comparison