Craft for Halloween

Hi! 

I feel like it has been forever since I posted. So, here I am! 

A couple of weeks ago Holly and I got together for our quarterly-ish craft date. We made BOO signs and made delicious Apple Fritter Cake. It is now one of Ryan's favorites!

We had the letters, raffia, and ribbon. Holly painted her letters black so that they will stand out against her wall. I left mine white because I wanted to hang it on my blue front door. 

Maya helped, of course. 

I am wearing an apron, by the way. Not a super snazzy shirt. 

I had mine on the door for about 5 days. But the wind blows and makes it knock against the door. Very early this morning, at 3:30 AM to be exact, I put on my robe, opened the front door, and took that knocking word down. It now sits very quietly on our foyer wall. 

I am so glad that crisp weather and the holidays are headed my way (first snow was this morning!). 

Happy Halloween!

9 Months Old

Maya has now been living for as long as she was growing in my belly (plus a week)! These past 9 months went by much quicker than the previous 9 months.

She is such a hoot. She keeps Ryan and I laughing all the time. Her facial expressions and noises are pretty awesome.

This little girl now has 4 teeth, weighs 13 lbs 5 oz, and is 25 1/2 inches long. She is below the charts for weight and 3% for length. Doc doesn't have any concern about her size since she is happy and has continued to grow (albeit slowly), but has encouraged us to feed her avocado every day, just to beef her up a bit. I love her tininess!

She can now pull herself up to stand and also sit back down. She loves doing it and gets the biggest grin on her face every time, like she has just conquered the world. She's going to be pretty stoked when she figures out the whole walking thing.

She likes to imitate our sounds. Trying to copy her daddy's "roar" is pretty cute.

Sometimes she will sign "all done" and "milk". Puh-retty sure she has no idea what she's "saying", but it's still fun.

She can wave hello and good-bye. And it isn't just some crazy wave of the arm like she has no control of her extremities. It's borderline queen-like.

She says "Mama" and "Dada" and knows what they mean.

She also gives kisses. If I say, "Can I have a kiss?" She leans in, closes her eyes, and touches her lips to mine. It is very sweet, but sometimes she forgets to keep her tongue on the inside. :)

She LOVES animals! She has encountered several dogs and one cat in her life, and they just thrill her to pieces. She makes really funny squeals and talks to the animals.

This particular dog is not real, but when you tug on the rope in his mouth he growls and barks. She loves it. She also sticks out her tongue when she is overwhelmed with excitement.

We love our super-duper happy baby! Couldn't have asked for a more fun little girl! (Here's hoping all of our kids are this great....)

Ryan's #30!! (30?! Really?)

Ryan had his 30th birthday this last week! I think he is aging pretty well.

Maya and I met up with him for lunch on his birthday. Maya is wearing her "daddy makes me smile" shirt. You can see that it is true!

The celebration that night was a bust that turned into an unbust.

We had planned to go go-cart/race car driving the evening of his birthday, and celebrate it with our friends (one of his friends has the same birthday, so it was kind of a duo thing). The weather was supposed to be fine. And then, at 6:30 PM, as we were arriving at the track, a thunderstorm started. We were so disappointed.

After a lot of deliberating about what to do, we decided that we should go to dinner. We ended up at a pizza joint called Proto's, which I think I can safely say is our favorite "gourmet" pizza. We had a fun group with us, and Maya was absolutely stellar, even though we kept her up almost an hour past her bedtime. It was her birthday present to her daddy. :)

After dinner we came back to our house for cake. I found this recipe in my Gourmet cookbook that I received from Ryan's grandmother. The cake was delicious!

Ryan had a fun evening and we loved spending time with our friends.

Ryan loved legos as a kid, so I got him a lego set. Kind of childish, but he liked it (or at least pretended to...).

Maya just loved the bow on the present.

Happy 30th birthday, my husband!!

Anniversary Weekend

This year I put myself in charge of our anniversary celebration. On our actual anniversary we went out for sushi with Maya. She always makes eating fun. She does great in her high chair at restaurants. Until the food comes, that is. Then she's reaching all over the place wanting to eat everything they just brought to us. Usually we have no problem sharing, but she can't have sushi (yet).

Dinner was delicious and we had a good time.

The following Friday we left for our weekend (or one-night) getaway. I didn't tell Ryan where we were going, and I loved having that element of surprise for him.

My mom came and picked up Maya and took her home for the night. She says she was great and that they had so much fun together! I was so glad!

Ryan and I went to the Lodge at the Garden of the Gods for our night's stay.

The views were awesome!

On Saturday we had breakfast brought to our room and ate on the balcony.

We drove around Garden of the Gods. It was fun to see the places we took our bridal photos.

Then we left and went to explore downtown Colorado Springs. It was so cute! We loved walking around, and we even picked up a couple of things. We had lunch at a really cute French cafe and the food was delicious.

We really enjoyed having the time just to ourselves. We decided that the lodge was a little too fancy for our taste, but we loved the feel of the downtown area.

Love you, Ryan!

8 (months) is great!

So, uh, it's really hard to get a decent picture of an 8 month old. But I tried. I swear she smiles ALL the time! Just not when there is technology in front of her. i.e. a Big Honkin' camera!

She really enjoys the dryer. It lights up and sings when I turn it on. Every time we pass the laundry room she leeeaans toward it to guide me in. She must think I am her horse or something.

She is getting really good at playing with her toys and letting me do things. It is quite convenient when I need to get work done or make dinner or do the dishes. I don't know why, but I love watching her play. I took this video while I was working. 

 

She has started dancing. Well, more like bobbing. When music plays she starts moving her head and sometimes puts her arm up in the air like, "Wave it around like you just don't care!" 

She is a talker! Sometimes she yells, sometimes she just talks, and sometimes she whispers. And I think she's really starting to understand that I am Mama. 

Her 8 onesie has it on her bum, in hopes that she would be crawling by now. She isn't, but she's got a wicked downward dog!

3 Years of Us

Today Ryan and I are celebrating our 3 year anniversary. We have experienced many things together in this short time. Just to name a few....

We went on our first cruise.

We both graduated college.

We went to Mexico.

We bought a house.

We landscaped a yard.

We decided we wanted a baby, and through that experienced 2 miscarriages and then a perfect little girl.

We learned that we aren't always going to have a perfect relationship, but that we can find a way through the harder times.

We are truly discovering the joys of having a best friend around all the time - to laugh with, cry with, have jokes with, to have somebody who knows our thoughts and feelings, even when we don't want them to. I feel eternally (literally) blessed to be with Ryan. My life is so much brighter with him in it. Here's to 3 years of us!