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