Maya is 10 Months! (11 days ago)

Can't believe how close Maya is to 1 year old! So much changes in the first year!

Maya is trying reeeeaallly hard to stand up by herself. She pulls up to stand and then very carefully lets go and tries to keep her balance. It's so cute to watch her concentrate and get excited about how long it takes before she falls. One of her favorite toys is her little walker thing. I think it makes her feel grown up.

She is getting very fast at scooting across the floor. No official crawling yet. Also, she has a super cute little baby bum.

She plays peek-a-boo with us now. I love it!

Just yesterday she went from laying down to sitting up by herself. We watched her do it on the video camera while she was supposed to be napping. And then she pulled herself up on the crib! Ryan thinks it is cute because it means she is getting older. And while it IS cute, it also means nap time just got harder for mommy.

She signs "more" now.

Watching Baby Signing Time

She spent 4 1/2 days without me. It was harder for me than it was for her. I was in Las Vegas for the ABC Kids Tradeshow for work all last week. It's good to know she can survive without me!

She still sticks out her tongue when she is excited. :)

I am really super excited for the holidays with her. She has so much personality!

Accidents Happen

On Saturday Ryan went to Priesthood session of General Conference, so I decided to take my little girl out shopping. 

We went to The Orchards, which is a large outdoor shopping mall. Our first stop was to a toy store, and I let her pick out a stuffed animal. It is the one in her crib here:  

(This is how she lays when she is falling asleep.)

We walked around for about an hour and a half, just enjoying looking at things to buy. 

When I strapped her in the car seat to go home, I had a feeling to make sure the buckle was in the right spot on her chest and tight enough. Not that I don't usually do that, it was just more of a conscious decision this time. 

Maya fell asleep on the way home and I was enjoying Michael Buble. We stopped at a stop light and then suddenly we got hit from the back. It felt pretty hard and of course I FREAKED because of Maya, who was now wide awake and screaming. I quickly pulled to the side and ran around to make sure my child was safe. Thankfully she was, and I just suffered very mild whip lash. 

The guy who hit me was really flustered. He gave me a hug and kept apologizing. I have never been in an accident like that before, so I really only knew we needed to exchange insurance info. He was driving his girlfriend's car and didn't know where to find it. We exchanged names and numbers and parted ways. 

Now cut to Ryan getting home and my telling him about the accident: "Always call the cops, no matter what." Oh. Whooooops. 

Then we went to assess the damage. The bumper had a couple of marks on it, so Ryan called the number the guy gave me. It was fake. Seriously? But then we noticed something on my car that is my saving grace. The license plate of the car that hit me was imprinted perfectly in the dust of my bumper. Ha! 

I am looking forward to surprising the guy when he realizes he didn't escape. 

First Family Hike

This weekend we went on our first hike as a family! We had tried to go during the summer, but it is easier now that Maya only naps twice a day. So we took the opportunity of the beautiful fall weather and found a place to hike! It was a little difficult since we had major flooding in these parts last month. Ryan found a trail at Chattaqua Park in Boulder. There were lots of people there, which was the only downside. 

We stopped for a moment in this clearing. It was a darling little spot, with the sound of trickling water and sun shining through the trees. 

Ryan wore Maya for most of the time. I was glad because he has more sure footing than I do. 

We hiked for about 45 minutes and then decided to turn around because Maya was getting a little fussy. But overall I think she loved it! 

Afterwards we stopped for a few minutes at the park. 

I look forward to more outings like this!

Fun Times

My days are pretty full, from taking care of Maya to work to exercising to good hygiene to daily housework, I don't usually have much downtime unless I MAKE it. 

But I always try to have fun with Maya. She is so funny and I love spending time with her. It won't be long before she is talking back and being defiant, so I am soaking in as much of this cute baby stage as I can. 

She got herself stuck here. I was sure to take a picture before assisting her. Isn't that what I'm supposed to do?

We did another video shoot for work. Peek a boo!

She loves going to the store and sitting in the cart. I have learned I need to tighten the belt! Just after I took this she turned all the way around and tried to stand on the seat. 

She has a leopard puppet that she just loves. It was the first toy she insisted on keeping when she went to bed. 

She gets very excited about doing laundry. She likes to hold on to the laundry basket as I fold the clothes. Sometimes she helps by putting the clothes back in the basket. =\

She watches Daddy very closely while he's doing out-of-the-ordinary things. 

She also enjoys watching a good football game with him (go Broncos!). 

Our neighbor's cat comes to our door sometimes. Maya likes to watch him. 

She has determined that the whole sock-wearing-business is no good. I keep putting them back on, but she always pulls them off again. 

We went down to the basement to pull out a couple of her sweaters I had packed up last spring (apparently I was silly for thinking my nearly 10-month old baby would no longer fit into 3-6 month clothing when it got cold again). She was intrigued by the bassinet she slept in for her first 3 weeks of her life. 

She likes to stand here while I do silly things on the other side to make her laugh. Also, I love her skinny little legs in these pants!

Notice the socks?

I love this sweet girl. 

Baby Proofing Commenced

Maya is starting to get a little more mobile. She is scootin'!

We have a couple of plants in our family room that sit on stands. Such as this:

One day I left her with her toys while I went to the other room. When I came back she was several feet into the kitchen, crying for me to come back. 

Today I discovered this on the plant stand, which would have been acquired that moment I was gone:

Baby proofing commence! Also, it seems I need to dust. 

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....)