Once a month?

I honestly haven't intentionally been posting only once a month. But it seems like that is the way it's going. I have actually considered hanging it up entirely. But I know that our family and friends would be so very disappointed :( So, bear with me as I figure out what I'm going to do about this blog. And please, give us some feedback on what you all think. But, while I'm deciding what to do here are some pics from the past month.
This little beauty was taken just yesterday. I love this giraffe dress that Maya's grandma bought her at Christmas time. I can't believe how well it fits now. I think it was nearly dragging the ground when she got it. I also love this expression on Maya's face.

We spent a weekend in Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge last month to celebrate the marriage of my niece. Maya was all about riding the merry-go-round until she got on it and then she would have nothing but a ride on our laps. Almost every day she says, "She ride marry-go-round. She ride zebra." There was a zebra and that was what she wanted to ride on but when we sat her on it she didn't want anything to do with it. And yes, she often refers to herself as "she".

A rare decent shot of the three of us. I am usually behind the camera not in front of it. As you can see here, I couldn't even get mine down quick enough for my sister to get this pic.

Our beauty on the porch at the cutest, tiniest wedding chapel I've ever seen.

Maya and her cousin Lilli.

Maya loves her some Aunt (cousin) Sarah. Maya is pretty slow to warm up to people. Even our family that she sees very often. But not Sarah. She will usually go right to Sarah and will seek her out when we are all together. Granted, there are a bunch of us. I have 5 brothers and sisters and their significant others, 9 nieces and nephews and their counterparts, a great niece and a great nephew (and another one on the way). So when we are all together, it's a crowed for sure. And usually when we get together, we are almost all there as most everyone lives close.

The beautiful bride and groom Samantha and Randy.

She takes my breath away.

BFFs

It's not easy to get a 2 year old and a giant dog to both pose for a pic but this one turned out pretty good except for the big smudge on my lens...hmmm, wonder who's tiny fingerprint created that??

One of Maya's favorite things to do is play in her jewelry box. She will put it all on then take it all off and then do it all over again. Usually if she is being too quiet in her room that is what she's doing...usually.

May

Could it really be that May has already come and gone??
Where does the time go these days? I find that a week or more has gone by and I haven't been online at all. Part of the problem is that I have a Wii addiction and the biggest part of the problem is that I have a 2 year old. I can't find a spare minute in the day between tending to a toddler and then playing Mario Galaxy after sweet thing is in bed. The Mario problem is about solved though. I've beat it already but still have a few stars to complete. Now it's not nearly as fun. I am expecting to get Wii Fit soon and hopefully I'll be as interested in fitness (heaven knows I NEED to be interested) as I am in intergalactic battles with Bowser & co.
Let me go back a few weeks. My second mother's day was great! I received this new super sweet, fat daddy-o Canon EOS Rebel XSi. If only I knew how to work it in something other than the idiot setting. I'm learning though so keep looking for some really good pics soon.

Maya loves Fisher and I think the feeling is mutual. He is very tolerant considering he was our one and only for 7 years before our girly came along. He still doesn't understand why we give food to the little person when she asks but when he begs he gets in trouble.

Big changes have come to Maya's bedroom. It's no longer a nursery (sniff, sniff), it's a big girl's room! Maya loves her big girl bed!! I think she sleeps better too, at least at night. Nap time is another story. The first night we got the bed, she got up about 15 minutes after laying her down. I gathered her up and put her back to bed. She hasn't gotten up through the night even one more time...yes, I knock on wood every time I tell this story. Naps have been getting shorter and shorter over the past few months. I don't think that the bed has much to do with it.
Maya has always been a good sleeper as long as she is in her own bed. Which means that, for the most part, I get sleep too. I don't know how mothers function when they don't get any sleep. Thank goodness (for all of us) I haven't had to find out either.
We put the bed on the floor for now so it will be easy for Maya to get in and out of the bed herself. She never tried to climb in or out of her crib. In fact, I could leave the side rail down and she wouldn't even try to escape. I didn't ever do this intentionally but it did happen a time or two accidentally.

I had to take this picture because I was just in awe when Maya brought her Magnadoodle to me and said "It's a monkey face, Mommy!" Then a little while later I asked her if she could draw a monkey's face and sure enough, one big circle with two little circles and a dot for a nose or mouth. She will draw it just about every time you ask. I think that's pretty darn cool!

That catches us up until last week. Last week we were at Sunset Beach, NC with all of the family accounted for this year. It was a great time. We drive most of the way on Friday and spend the night about 2 hours from the beach. Maya is a great traveler. She really is our perfect girl. Here she is with her Dad kicked back eating some "bubba"(butter).

Finally, we made it to the edge of the earth. We have been talking about the beach for about two months now. Maya was so excited when we got there. We were walking across the boardwalk from our house to the beach and I said "Maya can you hear the ocean?" She jumped up and down and said "Hear it. Can't see beach. Momma hold you!" When I picked her up she actually jumped up on my side and squealed "Beach!! Wanna swim it!" Instead, she just enjoyed standing at the edge of the water and looking out at the sea with her daddy.

This was Maya's salute to Memorial day suit. Pretty cute in her red, white and blue, huh?

More cuteness than you can stand. Prepare yourselves.

Maya drug us all up and down this beach. Chloe and Aunt Debby were good sports and walked and swung Maya until they were all ready for a minute in the shade.
We had great tide pools at low tide right in front of our house. The ocean was still rather cool but the pools were shallow and warmed quickly in the hot sun.

The wagon was so handy again this year. It was all Maya could do to keep her eyes open for the ride home.
We have to shoot the family portrait every year. We waited until Friday night this year and the light was terrible. My camera has a setting that will take multiple pics on the timer setting. We didn't know that would happen so we made the best of it.

Good bye Sunset Beach. See you next time.

Our Girl Turns 2

One of the first things that Maya says to me every morning is "Monnie's home?". Monnie is our neighbor that has the beautiful flowers. I have used her flowers for many pictures including some of the pics that follow. Maya loves Monnie and "Monnie's kitties". Monnie is kind and gracious enough to humor my daughter and take her to see the kitties very often. We help take care of the cats when they go out of town so Maya feels right at home at Monnie's.
You can see the sheer excitement with which Maya greets Shadow each and every time she gets to see him and Sir Galahad. It never gets old for Maya. The cats tolerate her which is more than I can say for our own cat, most of the time.
Shadow is sleek and talkative just like you would expect of a black cat. He likes to hide from us when we are taking care of them.


Sir is a big ol' softy. We can find him in two spots. This is the most likely, right up on the bed. The other spot is in a cat seat in the window. But 9 times out of 10 he is piled up in the sack.

Monnie's tulips were so gorgeous this year! I had to get Maya in them for some spring time pics. Pretty grape hyacinths and flox too.

We tried getting on the other side of the fence and it made a big shadow across Maya's face but I love her expression in this pic.

I tried to get some better pics the next day. The sun was shining right in Maya's face but I bribed her with the "kitties". She was actually cooperative after that bargain was made.

Could she possibly be any more beautiful? My goodness she melts my heart!!

And then all of the sudden, this girly is 2!! 2?? How in the world did my sweet, tiny baby girl become a 2 year old? And is she ever!! Rowdy, loud, in constant motion, never - stops - talking!! Her speech has gotten so clear...at least to me. She says big sentences like "Why you do dat, Mommy?" and "Wake up Daddy. It's time to eat noodles". And she fully expects an answer or a response of some kind. She says "I can do dit" and it's feudal to fight about it. She really can "do dit" most of the time. Oh I love this girl!

She loved helping make her birthday cake. And even more so loved licking the batter off of the beaters. I know, I know...she's gonna get worms! LOL! That's a load of crap...everybody loves cake batter...raw eggs and all!!

We had her party on Sunday so it wasn't actually her birthday but we really celebrated all week long. She loves that "bear in a bee suit". It was a present from last years birthday.

"Got Chocolate Icing?"

I would recommend this tricycle to any parent who doesn't want a broken back from pushing. You can even steer it with this handle. Maya has a hard time deciding on a tricycle ride or a wagon ride. So far she has gotten a Radio Flyer of some kind for each of her birthdays. The wagon last year and the trike this year. Wonder what's next?

Today Maya received this cutest little chair but we don't know who sent it. Come on...somebody fess up so we can thank you!!

We do have to send out a big thanks to everyone for all of the great gifts! We love you all!!

When Maya Paints Her Masterpiece

Maya stayed with her Aunt Becky and cousin Lilli just a couple of weeks ago and when we got there Lilli was painting. Maya has been wanting to "paint Mommy!" ever since then. Each time we see paints anywhere while shopping Maya gets very excited. So I decided, what the heck. They are washable right?
I don't know what I was worried about anyway. Maya is very neat with the water colors. So far, it's been pretty much mess free. You see, I haven't busted out the finger paint yet. Here is a (piss poor quality) video so you can see and hear just how excited she is about the painting.




She is so proud of herself and her paintings. I love her little toe pointing in this pic. Wonder if we have a future ballerina as well as artist on our hands?


It was a sad day last week when we took the exersaucer apart and put it away. Maya had to take one last spin. She has loved this thing since day one. But big girl toys are taking over and we really don't have the space for a tiny baby toy. Unless of course, we had a tiny baby to play with it. (Notice, I said put it away, not get rid of it.)


Then it was outside to play in the tent. We had beautiful weather this past week. Shortly after taking this picture, we had to take off Maya's pants and shoes. It ended up being in the 80s with blazing sun. Ahhhh, just what we've been waiting for.


The very next day (yesterday) was even warmer. Actually, it was hot. The car thermometer read 87. I put this little tank onesie on Maya and she rubbed her hands over her chest and belly and said, "Wanna go beach! Go Ocean! Swimmin!" I said "I wanna go to the beach too, babe!" I think she thought the onesie was a bathing suit. But I'm not real sure how she made the beach connection. Must just run in her blood just like her Momma's. She is, after all a coastal girl. Even if it is the South China Sea coast. All day today she has said, "Wanna go beach. Mommy go beach too!" I love this kid!!!

She loves her pony tails. But notice she still has to have a bow. Thank goodness she likes a bow because that hair would drive us both crazy hanging in her face. Her hair is getting really long and she loves to run her hands through it and say, "so wong". She doesn't miss a thing.

This is Maya's best stuffed bud (no pun intended;) Flower, snuggled up close with it's hand on her face. She's also holding on to her lovie. When I checked in on her before going to bed this was the scene. So I had to get the camera. Isn't that the cutest thing? That's Duckie lying at her head. He runs a close second. She has many of these Ty beanie pluffies and she loves them all.
Good night!

What Color are Your Eggs?

Lellow, boo, geen, ohzoh or peek?

Happy Easter!

Or "E-stew-a" according to Maya.
We haven't been to church since last Easter. But, this morning we braved it again. Maya had her Easter frock on so we had to go somewhere. She sure looked beautiful!! She was a very good girl at church.

It was cold but very sunny this morning. Then the day turned cloudy and it was sprinkling by evening. This sweet sugar warmed my heart all day long.

Bock bock...Tanks E-stew-a bunny!

We colored eggs Friday night. I was looking forward to and frightened at the same time about letting Maya near the dye. It all turned out fine. Very little mess because she was more interested in putting the sticker faces on the eggs.

My two favorites!

Bye bye bottle. This is the last bottle for our big girl. Tomorrow will be one week without her nightly bottle. Just as I suspected she could give a rat's @**. I'm sure I miss it more than Maya.

Maya's great aunt and great uncle came in to visit from Louisiana. She was her usual cheesy self for all the pics. L-R great aunt Bessie, Maya, great Grandma, great uncle LuDell.

Dad's best birthday present!!

Playing Catch Up

Holy Cow!! Where does the time go? So sorry to keep all of our faithful viewers/readers waiting when so much has been going on. Hope everyone hasn't given up on us. I haven't been near the computer for more than a week. We have all been sick and out of town for the past two weekends. I'll try to catch you all up quickly.

First and most importantly, we celebrated our 1 year Family Day on 2/25. We met the Lazars in Charlotte, NC for a (too short) weekend of reminiscing and good times. We feel so fortunate to have gained not only our forever family with our beautiful Maya but a forever friendship with the Lazars. Maya and Ella shared a room at the House of Grace and we have every intentions of keeping these girls connected. Shouldn't be too hard since we have such a great time together. We love those guys!
We visited a kid's library called Imaginon and a kid's museum called Discovery Place in Charlotte. We all had a great time and are already looking forward to our next get together.
I can't believe it has already been a year. But in the very next thought I can't believe it has only been a year. So much has changed in the past year. Maya has grown and flourished into such a peaceful soul. We are so blessed with our sweet girl. So, so blessed!!
We didn't do anything out of the ordinary for Family Day except drive back home from Charlotte. Every day is a celebration with Maya.

Our girl is a multi-tasker. She can color and give herself a neb treatment at the same time. Poor girly was so congested. Thank goodness she didn't run the 104 fever that I did. Man, a fever sure makes you feel like crap! She loved the dragon mask on the nebulizer. We would say "let's do a dragon" and she was ready. She really didn't mind the treatments but would rather do it herself than have me or Mike help her. What a big girl. The treatments worked like a charm. So far, she's all better.

We're still enjoying our Clay Center membership. We really have a good time when Klaire and Emma come. Unfortunately, we missed our Family Day celebration day with them. They all went to see Nemo on Ice but we had to skip it because of the crud we all had.

Mike was kinda cat napping on the couch and Maya was playing around behind it where her kitchen is. I had to leave to get my hair cut. So, I woke Mike up and gave kisses all around. Mike says this is the next thing he saw. Yes, that's dirt from the ficus tree all over the floor and Maya and everything else in the general vicinity. I'm still sweeping dirt up off the floor. She doesn't look guilty or anything, huh?

Last week we decided to try playing in the snow again. I don't think Maya hated it as much as she did the first time but still didn't care much for it. The sleigh ride was not fun. Fisher barked and barked and the snow blew up into Maya's face. All she really had to say about it was "DONE!"

Then today it was 75 degrees! We were nothing but happy!! And tomorrow we will probably be sick again.

And lastly, a big ol' THANK YOU for all of the bows we received doing the bow exchange. We love them and Maya can't wait to wear them all.