Seven Months 3 Weeks

Maya is changing like crazy... the time seems to be going by way to fast, and I just want to freeze the sweet little person she is right now. I've been trying to keep up with her baby book, and have written several first drafts of "the letter from Mommy and Daddy"... every time I try to do this, I realize she's not going to be a tiny person for all the much longer, and I literally have to sit and cry a little. I thought it would get easier, when she got a bit older, so I keep putting it off... Now, when I hear her going around the house singing "Mama Mama Mama" it's made it even harder to put into words what it felt like to have her grow inside me, what it was like to first lay eyes on her, what it feels like to hear her giggle, how I can spend endless amounts of time watching her sleep, the thrill that rips through me when I watch her smile when she wakes up and sees me in the room, how even though I cherish sleep more than so many things, I'll now gladly sacrifice it just to be able to feel her little body next to me and breathe in her sweet smell each night, how much I love her and all my hopes and dreams for her future. It always sounded so cliche how people would say you never knew how you could love until you had a child, but wow, it really is something you can't explain until you feel those tiny little arms squeeze around your neck...

So, an update... Maya is still not really crawling, and after watching her buddy Pablo's video of him seriously "scaling the house," we started letting Maya hang out alone on the floor a little more. She can definitely do the military crawl and occasionally we find her on all fours, but more often then not, she looks at us like, "just pick me up already!" She loves walking while holding on to our hands and her balance seems to be improving as she's starting to be able to stand on her own a bit now. She's hugely into imitating everyone. She sits with Daddy and brushes her teeth (gums- we're still waiting on the teeth), she also sits on he little potty every morning and has gone pee pee most days. Yesterday she actually when poo poo! Who would ever have though I'd be clapping my hands, all excited yelling "Poo Poo, yeeeee!" at six thirty in the morning! She is also in love with farm animals. She watches her farm animal dvd every morning while mommy and daddy drink their coffee, and she giggles when she sees the pigs, bunnies, dogs, and kittens. She seems to love the dvd even more now after taking her to the fair last week with her cousin Jessie to see all the animals in real life. Since Daddy and Gramps are almost always next door with the dogs, we hung a swing right above the dome site, so Maya can check everything out... She LOVES it. She sat in it watching all the action for 45 minutes the other day without even a peep. She's such a big girl, we can't wait to see what's next.

Six Months 3 Weeks

It's been a while since updating, and it's because we've been SUPER busy. We've shot a few weddings, taken a few short road trips, and Jimmy and Dad have been endlessly working next door on the property to get it livable.

We went to the coast for the fourth of July and hung out with Walt and the fam, and stopped to take a few shots at Stateline Beach in Brookings. Maya loved the sand and got several mouth fulls. She has become quite the little traveler and is getting much better in the car seat, and loves wiggling around the hotel room beds. She's babbling quite a bit, and we've heard MaMa BaBa Dada... music to our ears. She's eating alot more- her favorites are yogurt, avocado, and cantelope. She's mastered her rolling and army crawl, but is too lazy to commit to all fours, and favors walking. All of our backs are killing us. Omi and Gramps bought her a walker to get themselves off the hook, but unfortunately Miss Petite's legs didn't make it to the floor, so we're back to bending over most of the day. She's now trying to pull herself up from sitting to standing, a disaster waiting to happen. She took one swimming lesson, loved the water, and watching all the kids, until they all started screaming and crying. That was the end of our swim lessons, but we're getting tons of swimming in on our own in the pool and river. Maya loves swimming in it, splashing in it, squealing in it, and most of all drinking it, weather it's in the pool, the river, the bath, the shower, the sink and the sprinklers. She is one little water baby. She's also totally ticklish and we get the best deep belly laughs when we kiss her hips and sides. She loves visiting Daddy at work, and wants to pet the waving cat, but mostly our days consists of going on walks, eating, playing, looking at the flowers, and swimming. What a life! We feel more and more blessed each and every day.