Look, Daddy!

I discovered your DVD collection and pulled each and every one off the shelf all by myself.

We miss you and hope you are having fun in Colorado!

7 months!!

She is closer to a year old than to the day she was born, craziness!

 

This month has been the biggest as far as development and changes.  She no longer seems like a baby and is becoming more and more independent as each day passes.  We are having so much fun playing with her and watching her learn.

Highlights -

- She has mastered crawling and uses it to get around every where.  She will crawl up and down the hall just to see what is around each corner.  She tries to chase after the kitties, but so far they are still faster! 

- She is still working on pulling herself up.  She is constantly trying to pull up on every thing and has no concept of what is stable and what is not.  She also gets so excited that she forgets to hold on.  We have had lots of bumps and bruises along the way and expect many more to come.  We had to lower the crib mattress as she figured out how to use the bars to stand.

- With all these new skills she is now playing with the 'big kids' in her class at daycare.  There are three boys ranging from 10-12 months and she loves that she can now interact with them.  Her teacher informed us that she is one tough little girl and is sure to let them know if shes had enough by pushing them away.  I'm pretty sure that was music to Dad's ears!

- I say this every month, but I am constantly amazed at how much of a chatterbox she is.  Her vocabulary is continually expanding and she simply does not stop talking.  She woke up from a nap early the other day and since she was happy and chatting I left her in her crib so I could finish up a few things.  She literally talked to herself for 45 minutes straight.  If she is not sleeping in the car, she is talking.  She just learned how to blow raspberries so every couple sentences she will throw in one of them.  We just have to laugh at her.

- Sleep is still all over the place.  I am thankful for the good nights we do have scattered throughout.

- We are working our way through the introduction of solid foods.  We started cereal at about 5 and a half months, but then stopped for a couple weeks while she was sick.  It took her awhile to get into it, and sometimes she still just plays with it, but we keep at it and figure it is all practice right now anyways.  She enjoys the sweet potatoes and pears. She HATES peas (seriously, the look she gave me when I put them in her mouth was complete shock and her entire body physically shuttered).  But her favorite by far is carrots, as you can see from the picture.

Please slow down

Yes:  she is standing
No:  we did not position her there
Yes:  she can officially pull herself up

Seriously, stop growing up so quickly Baby Girl!

A fun day with family

Maya got to partake in her first annual Knowles Christmas tree adventure in the mountains.  Luckily it was relatively uneventful this year... the weather was gorgeous (although cold) and we didn't have to stop to push unprepared cars out of the snow.  After picking out the perfect trees, we headed back to Grandma and Grandpas to warm up and play.

 

Apparently eating her boot is much more fun than wearing it.

 

Hanging out with Grandma.

With Mommy.

And with Bennett.

The family surrounded by the trees.

She was so exhausted on the way down the mountain that she fell asleep with her toy in her mouth!

 Reading the paper with Grandpa and Bennett.

Sitting at the dinner table like a big kid!

Snuggling after a long day.

Its official...

We are mobile.  You can not imagine how happy she is with her new found freedom.  Plus, she seems to have fully recovered from the ear infections and pneumonia and is in the best mood she has been in for a week and a half.  Today is a great day for Maya!

6 Months!!

Hard to believe our baby is growing up so quickly. She's 13lbs 10oz (10%).  The last two weeks have been very eventful for Maya, both good and bad.

The good:

- She started to get herself on her hands and knees, which quickly led to her own version of the army crawl. I think she looks like a little frog when she is moving around the room as she uses both her arms and legs to propel herself forward. She is definitely on the move, imagine my surprise to all of a sudden hear our Charlie Brown Christmas CD come on as I was in the kitchen grabbing a glass of water! She made her way over to the stereo and pushed just the right combination of buttons to make it happen.

- She just figured out how to get herself from her belly to a sitting position. She is so proud of herself when she does it, she sits up tall and starts clapping. This is all she wants to do right now and can entertain herself for a very long time by getting herself up and down. Who needs toys?!?!

- She has developed quite the vocabulary with a whole lot of 'lalalalala' and 'dadadada' and if she has her fingers in her mouth she manages a 'guyguyguy'. It is very fun to have conversations with her as she discovers all the new sounds and noises she can make.

The bad:

- She developed a cough on her six month birthday, which progressed to 104 degree fever the next day, which developed into a double ear infection and pneumonia in her left lung the next day. She's finally starting to do better, but was a miserable little girl for a few days. We spent a lot of time curled up on the couch and spoiling her. She is VERY tired of her mommy and daddy suctioning her nose and constantly giving her some sort of medicine. And was VERY mad at the pediatrician for poking and prodding to figure out what was wrong.

- Due to all of the items above (both good and bad), sleep has been rough. We are a very tired family these days.

For Dylan and Logan:

Thank you for my Elmo shirt, I am finally big enough to wear it!

Love, Baby Maya

Halloween Fun

Just a few pictures of Maya's first Halloween.

She actually liked the costume, we just didn't capture the smiles on camera.

5 Months!!!

Maya turned 5 months last Wednesday, which for some reason seems SO much older than 4 months.  I think she's about 13 lbs now.   She can hold herself up in the sitting position for quite a long time these days and is becoming very mobile.  Not yet crawling (I am not ready for that yet!), but can scoot around and rotate herself to get whatever toy she is after.  We can tell she recognizes Mom and Dad and she gets very excited when she sees us.  She even reached over to give me a hug tonight, which just melted my heart.

We have been so lucky to have been blessed with a good sleeper.  She rarely cries when she wakes up and instead plays and talks to herself until we get her.  Rey and I battle over who gets to be the one to get her out of her crib because we are always met with a huge smile... something like this (although usually even bigger, I just couldn't capture it on camera).

Pumpkins

We took a trip to the pumpkin patch last weekend with the Knowles clan.  Here are a few pictures of the trip.

As soon as we tried for a picture with both babies, this is what they gave us.  Apparently they were done!

We did manage a few at home though.

Poor Maya :-)

Firsts

The last couple weeks have brought about a lot of firsts in Maya's life.

First time in a swing (she LOVED it!)

You can't tell from the picture, but this was her first time in a school bus (we took a shuttle to Issaquah Salmon Days)

First time really sitting on her own, she is getting very strong.

First time facing front in the Bjorn (she also LOVED this!)

And some firsts that we don't have pictures of...

- She spent her first full week at daycare last week (well, 4 days).  I'm now working a couple days a week and she sure was a trooper. 

- Being at daycare has brought all sorts of germs so we've had our first runny nose and stomach virus.  I just keep telling myself this is helping her build up her immunities early!

- She had her first bedtime with someone other than mom or dad and did great.  Grandma babysat while Rey and I enjoyed a night out to see Wicked.

Playtime sure is exhausting!

4 Months!!

Again, it is really hard to believe that our baby girl turned 4 months last Wednesday!  She is now 12lb .5oz (20%) and 24 inches (50%).  Still small but growing just as she should and appears to be in perfect health.  Her 'birthday week' was a bit tough as she had her first cold and runny nose as well as the next round of shots.  We spent a lot of time snuggling, and she seems to have fully recovered now.

- She has finally learned to roll the other direction (tummy to back), but doesn't seem to do it very often.  Now that she likes playing and sleeping on her tummy she just doesn't feel the need.

- I've started taking her to daycare 2 days a week to help with the transition when I finally do find a job.  So far, so good.  Once again, it has been much easier for her than it was for me.  She went right for all the new toys and even managed to nap on day 1.  She did decide that she didn't want to eat the first couple days, but last Thursday she took a full bottle from them so hopefully she is better with that.  The teachers love her and have been impressed with how easily she has adjusted!  Now I have some uninterrupted time to spend on the job search.

- She is still a great sleeper and 6 out of  7 nights she sleeps 10, 11 or even 12 hours straight.  Naps are all over the place and rarely consistent, but that's OK.

- She finds it hilarious when we pretend to eat her fingers and kiss her on the cheeks and loves to listen to music and songs even with my horrible singing voice.

- She is reaching and grabbing for EVERYTHING and it all goes right into her mouth. It is pretty cute to see the look of concentration she gets on her face when she sees something she wants. Her favorite toy is Sophie the giraffe since she can really hold onto and chew on it.

AHHH... sleep!

I am very excited to report that for the last four nights, Maya has slept from 8PM to 7:30AM without waking!!!  I probably just jinxed us, but hopefully not.  She has now completely adjusted to not being swaddled and loves it because she has full access to her fingers.  She is constantly rolling from her back to her stomach. This caused a lot of wake ups for about a week because she did not enjoy being on her tummy and still hasn't figure out how to roll the other way.  But, apparently she has also adjusted to that and now sleeps soundly on either her side or her stomach.  That freaked out Rey and I for the first few nights, but after trying to flip her over just to have her flip herself back two minutes later we finally gave in. 

Maya attended her first wedding for our dear friends Amy and Marty last weekend.  She was the perfect wedding guest and we received lots of compliments on her cuteness and how well behaved she was.  She even managed a nap in the stroller!

We've discovered a new way to play, the Bumbo seat!  I'm actually hoping this will help her learn to sit straight because whenever we try it on the floor she goes right for her feet.  Every thing goes directly into her mouth these days, so she was a little frustrated with the toy which was stuck to the tray, but never fear, she managed to get it there eventually!

Go Huskies!

Maya attended her first Husky tailgate last weekend, luckily the weather cooperated.  We opted out of the game because it didn't start until 7:30, but I'm sure that will be next.  She was all decked out in her Husky gear and had lots of fun playing with Alex and Tyler!

Happy Baby

Finally! These are the smiles that cause Rey and I to melt. 9 times out of 10, this is what we get when she sees us as we are getting her from the crib after she wakes up.

3 Months!!

It is hard to believe our baby girl is now 3 months old. No doctors appointment this month so no official stats, but we think she weighs about 11.5 pounds. She refused to smile for me while I tried to take some good 3 month pictures and I have tried for three days! Hopefully Daddy can coax a smile this weekend so she has a good one to look back on.

Clearly tired of having her picture taken.

Sucking on her bottom lip is a favorite past time.

The biggest news is that we have successfully completed 'operation deswaddle'. And it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. If I have learned any thing about being a parent in these three months, it is that you can't rush them into the next step or milestone and if you pay close enough attention and listen they will let you know when they are ready for it. Her daddy did a great job at listening. After a tough bedtime struggle, he took over and figured out that she was upset because her arms were swaddled. He took them out, snuggled with her, set her down in the crib and she was asleep and perfectly happy. We haven't looked back. Sure, it hasn't been a piece of cake and there have been a few more late night wake ups, but she seems much happier. She sleeps great unswaddled, but we are working on helping her figure out how to fall asleep with her arms free. She gets a little better at it each day. She has also started rolling over from her back to her belly at night, so the timing couldn't be any better!

Step one, arms out... SUCCESS. The rest of the swaddle has since been removed.

Other accomplishments:

- Mommy and Daddy had their first date night and Maya had a great time with Aunt Jenny!

- She has established a bedtime around 7:30 and just gets up once to eat. She loves to sleep on her side and is starting to prefer her fingers to the pacifier.

- We had our first 4AM diaper blow out. It was not fun for me to clean up, but Maya was giggling the whole time I was changing her PJs and blankets. Luckily she fell right back to sleep after every thing was clean.

- As I mentioned above, she now rolls from back to belly. I have not actually witnessed this yet, she seem to only like to do it in her crib in the middle of the night.

- We are no longer using the infant seat for the stroller, she is big enough to sit directly in the seat for our walks. I think she enjoys it more since she can see every thing and doesn't have to stare at me the whole time.

Grandma managed to get a smile!