Arizona and Utah 2013

Last week we took a trip to see family in Arizona and Utah. We were gone for 10 days. Ryan and I were a bit nervous about the length of driving time we would have to endure with a 6-month old baby. But we figured there's a first time for everything! We left on a Thursday afternoon (my mom came down that day to help watch Maya while I scurried around getting everything ready - thanks Mom!) and drove the 14 hours to Phoenix. Ryan was awesome. He must turn into some sort of machine while he's driving. He made it to 4 AM before he needed me to take over. And Maya. Our dear sweet Maya. She slept just as if she were in her crib. It was nice to realize we had nothing to fear regarding the drive.

Maya took her morning nap on Grandpa Berne one morning so I could take a shower.

Ryan's mom and stepfather own 2 Great Danes named Penny and Sam. They are basically ponies. Maya was very curious about them.

Maya has started sticking out her tongue a lot. I think she likes feeling those little teeth.

Ryan's Grandma was so sweet with Maya. 

Maya got to interact with all sorts of kinds of dogs on our visit!

I love this picture. 

Maya went swimming for the first time! We weren't sure how she would react since she hates baths so much, but she could clearly tell the difference. The water was a great temperature, and she just loved splashing and swimming with us!

She was so happy! I'm sure this was her favorite part of the whole week. I'm glad we were able to swim 3 of the days we were there!

Cute little splashing baby!

I told Ryan we need a pool in our backyard. Surprisingly, he said no.

Maya also got to meet her 101-year-old great-great Grandma. Seeing them interact was precious.

She loves sharing our water.

We had to run to Target to get Ryan something and we saw this suit and sunglasses. How could we resist?? Right before I took the picture Maya stuck her little leg out. This girl knows how to pose already!

Oh that tongue....

She loved the wind chimes! 

We were in Phoenix until Tuesday night. We left after dinner (about 7:30) and headed to Salt Lake City to see my side of the family. Driving through the night again was a little bit more difficult the second time, but we made it in one piece. We arrived at my grandma's home around 7:45 AM. Ryan had done most of the driving again, so we all took a day to recover.

I came back into the room and saw this. Haha!

At Papa and Sessie's house we spent a little time outside. Sessie was surprised that Maya didn't recoil her bare feet from touching the grass.

We had a lovely time at Papa and Sessie's.

Maya liked to spend a little time with Grandpa every morning.

The day before we left we invited all of the family close by to come hang out. Everybody came, minus just a few cousins (who we missed!). I was so glad that people took the time out of their day to come see us. This is Maya and Colton, my cousin's little boy. Maya had her first sharing experience. I think she did all right. :)

We drove home on Sunday. Maya did great driving during the day, too. We are so glad we had the opportunity to take this vacation! We loved seeing everybody and can't wait to do it again!

Maya - 5 Months

My little sweetie is getting so big! She is really coming into her personality, and I can already tell that she is going to have spunk! 

She makes me laugh constantly. She is getting ridiculously curious about everything. If I'm holding something, she wants it. If it makes noise or flashes, she wants it. 

She especially wants whatever I'm eating or drinking. It's getting difficult keeping it from her (partly because I want to share, and partly because she is getting so strong and fast). 

She has also started laughing! And by some miracle, we caught her first laugh on video. I was extremely excited. She is continuously easier to make laugh. 

She can roll both directions going from tummy-to-back, and is getting pretty close to rolling back-to-tummy. 

She has 2 teeth! She obtained them very gracefully. The only indication that I thought she may have been teething was how much drool she was producing. I hope the ease of her teething becomes a trend. 

She is a serious Mama's girl. She is desperate to be with me, always. If I set her down and walk more than 2 feet away, she cries, even if she can still see me. 

Right now I find it somewhat humorous, but I have a feeling it is going to get irritating. It makes me very grateful for my lillebaby COMPLETE carrier. It has helped me many a time get chores and dinner done. 

In other news, this holding and picking up a baby thing is working wonder for my arms. But not my thumb or wrist on my left hand. I hold Maya on that side 90% of the time, and it has started to strain my joints. 

So much, in fact, that nearly every night for the past couple of weeks, my left thumb comes out of the socket while I'm sleeping. The first time it happened was rather startling! 

Last night it did it twice in a row, and I can no longer just move it back into place, I have to actually push it back in. Today Maya and I took a little walk to the Walgreen's down the street and got me a thumb brace. Hopefully that helps.

Spring!!

The weather here in Colorado has a pretty intense reputation of being bipolar. And it never fails to stand up to that reputation.

Just a few short weeks ago our streets and homes were covered in several inches of snow (Ft Collins had a snow day on May 1st!). Now the weather is already pretty warm, and seems to indicate that this summer is destined for 90s-100s like last year. Which is great! I love hot weather. 

But Spring brings some new fun things. Like our trees. They are leafing! It's so exciting to me! I feel like a new mom again.

Yesterday Maya and I went on a walk and there was a meadowlark perched on a lamp post. I love their song.

We can sleep with the window open! If Maya doesn't wake me up first, the tweeting birds do it for her. 

I love Spring!

Rice Cereal Goodness

Last week at Maya's doc appointment we were instructed to start giving her Iron-fortified Rice Cereal. This was very exciting!

About the same time Maya started getting curious about things going in my mouth while I was holding her, especially drinks. The first time she reacted, I was drinking from a small glass and she got really excited and head-butted the glass! I laughed a little and then she was reaching like crazy for the cup (I may or may not have let her have a tiny sip). Since that day she always wants to share with me. I knew she was ready to try eating like a big girl.

Holy heck what is that?!

She ate it like a champ! The only problem was the size of her spoon. A smidgen too big for her tiny baby mouth.

No funny faces to record, but it's nice to know that she is not picky (yet). And yes, I know her bib is on "backwards". I asked her which side she wanted, and she got pretty excited about the one you see.

Little Chef

I already have a very wonderful kitchen helper.

Every morning Maya helps me make Ryan's lunch. I tell her about everything I'm using and what I'm doing. She rests her little head on my cheek and watches.

At dinner time she loves helping me cook. I tell her, "Time to make dinner, Maya!" Any fussing ceases and again she rests her head on my cheek and watches.

It is one of my favorite parts of the day, and I've gotten pretty good at doing things one-handed just so that I keep my little chef in my arms.

4 Months

My little Maya is now 1/3 of a year old! I remember when I was four months pregnant and anxious for the next few weeks to go by so I could find out if baby was a girl or boy. I would have been happy with either, but I was so excited when she typed "GIRL" on the sonogram (and kind of surprised - boys seriously dominate in Ryan's family).

Maya had her 4-month check up and she now weighs 11 lbs 9 oz. She is in the 5 - 10%! She's a little girl, just like her mom. The appointment went really well. She is a healthy baby whose brain development is perfect!

This month has brought several new accomplishments.

(Sitting unassisted is not one of her new talents.)

She started going all night without a feeding. She usually still wakes up a couple of times, but I just give her a binkie now. Hopefully her internal clock will realize soon that it's pointless to wake up until morning because she isn't going to get anything until then anyway.

She is on a more solid schedule, which I love. She goes down at 8 PM and wakes us up at 6:30 - 7 each morning. It's so nice to be able to predict the days now, and there is something kind of fun about seeing the sunrise every morning. Kind of.

We started an official bedtime routine. Ryan feeds Maya from a bottle for her last meal of the day. We take her upstairs and put her in her jammies. Then all three of us lie on the floor, with Maya in the middle, and we read stories. Maya loves her stories. She gets very expressive with her face as she looks at the pictures. It is such a sweet time for us all. Then she gets wrapped up and put in her crib. Most nights she cries a little, but she typically falls asleep within 10 minutes.

I love this photo. She is eyeing the toy ball on the couch like, "Interesting..."

She rolled over!! I was SO excited. Honestly, I was a little upset at myself for not being more diligent with her tummy time and I kind of thought I had ruined her. But suddenly she could lift her head really high (she does a killer Superman pose), and then one day she just rolled over! Still working on mastering the mini push-up though.

She reaches for toys and gives the soft ones loves.

And something new has happened to me, too. My hair... it is starting to shed. Immensely. As in, it is EVERYWHERE. I have been wearing my hair up a lot more lately because I'm getting tired of finding my hair on my arm, in my water jug, in Maya's hands, on the kitchen table, in the laundry, etc. They weren't kidding when they talk about post-pregnancy hair loss! Maya is it worth it though.

Happy Spring everybody!

Aaahhh... sleep

If you are an avid reader of my blog, you may recall that at Maya's 2-month appointment the doc told her, quite plainly, that she was to start sleeping through the night within the next 2 months. Of course, this was more my responsibility than hers, but it was nice to not feel like I was the one he was pressuring.

My instructions were simple: feed her less and less each night until eventually I don't feed her at all. Just give her a binkie and quietly leave, and soon she will not wake at all. My thoughts were something to this effect: Yeah right! She will cry all night! But I guess that's the point?

So I started trying it. And you know what? It was hard not to give her full feedings! Usually I would get distracted because I bring my phone with me so that I will stay awake. So I tried stop taking my phone. Then I would fall asleep. But about a week ago I decided it was time to get tough on myself since her next appointment is rapidly approaching.

I took my phone, but I was much more attentive to the clock. Her feedings were getting shorter and she wasn't crying! After one particular night, I told Ryan that when I went in to get her up to feed, her eyes never opened. That was somewhat intriguing to me, and I told Ryan that I thought she was almost ready to go without eating.

That night she woke up at 12:30 AM (she goes down at 8 PM). I got up and thought, "Let's do this." I gave her a binkie and left. She fell asleep without a peep. She woke up again at 2:45 AM. I was feeling gung-ho about my new game and tried it again. She fell asleep again without a peep! She woke up again at 4:00 AM. By now I knew I was just playing with fire, but I had to keep trying. She did it again! She finally woke up at 7:00 AM, her normal waking time for the day. I was so excited!! The next night we tried it again, and she only woke up once, and promptly fell back to sleep after I gave her the binkie. The next night was the same. And last night she slept all night without waking up until 6:20 AM.

(That last paragraph would drive Ryan nuts - way too many details!! Ha!)

Now I hate to jinx my awesome luck, but I feel confident in saying that Maya can now sleep through the night! And it was SO easy to do! (I just knocked on wood.)

I wish upon a star that all of our babies are that easy to sleep train!