I met Santa!!!

That's right...Maya met the big guy himself, today!!! She was perfectly happy on his lap....and eventually smiled with some peek-a-boo activity behind the camera! :)
Yay! Another first! :)

I love you, Macy!

Maya and Macy have a very close relationship :) We are lucky to have found a dog that is laid-back enough that I don't worry if the 2 of them are alone together...or if Maya has food that Macy wants...he is very gentle with her (he must know that he will eventually get the food that she has, anyway...). And, please, no comments about the licking of the baby. I know it's gross and we try not to have it happen, it just can't be helped sometimes....and Kevin took this video and he thinks it's funny.

Guess what??!!!

Maya got her ears pierced today!!!!!! Yes, to answer everyone's question...she cried. For about 5 minutes and then was over it. It was, in fact, the worst I've seen her cry in her 11 months of life (she hasn't really been a cry-er...) I mean these were gasping for breath sobs :( But...as the pain subsided she was fine and crawling around Claire's while her cousin screamed her head off getting her ears pierced!! :) Here are some shots of the day:

"See Nana? I'm fine!!!"

Surprise, Nana!!!

This past weekend Maya and mommy took a trip to Columbus to see Nana and Grandpa!! It was a pretty spontaneous trip - I only planned it less than 2 weeks before...since daddy was going to be in Vegas that weekend, I decided, why not fly with a 10-month old by myself!! :) I didn't tell Nana that we were coming, just set things up with Grandpa and Aunt Sheila and the surprise went off perfectly!! When we got to her house, I put Maya on her doorstep and rang the doorbell and hid...leaving Maya to greet her when she answered the door! Boy was she surprised!!!
It was a good weekend to be in Columbus, too! Meyer relatives were there for the making of the apple butter, so we had a very active weekend and completely wore out Maya (and mommy, too!) Here are some pictures of our adventures.....

Nana and Maya on Friday night when we peeled 6 1/2 bushels of apples

Maya wanted to sample everything!!!

Grandpa and Maya in the pumpkin patch...

Nana and Maya in the church nursery (it got pretty cold out on Saturday!)

The Meyer boys stirring the pot of apple butter..

Jarring the finished product...quite the line-up!

Maya and Uncle Arnold...

Last but not least...the cutest little pumpkin kid ever!!! :)

I can stand!!!

The fun is just around the corner....here is Maya's first sign of independence...standing on her own!!! Today was the first she's done it for any length of time...I shudder to think what is waiting for us around the corner :)
More pics coming soon from our exciting weekend in Columbus with Nana!!!

Trying new foods

Maya has been experimenting with new foods these days :) This afternoon we had to be out of our house for a showing between 11:30 and 12:30, so we went to a new pub that opened up down the street. It's a sports bar, which Daddy liked, and, turns out, so does Maya! All the TVs definitely caught her attention! ...as did the pickle that I gave her from my plate - she chewed on that thing for a good 20 minutes! Yum!

I've been busy....

So....I know this hasn't been updated in a while...we've had a busy end of summer/beginning of fall!!! First, as the picture shows, we had a great time on our family cruise to New England/Canada in September! Maya got to be a little princess and spoiled by both sets of grandparents (and all the other grandparents that were passengers on the ship!!)...she perfected her wave and had a smile for every passenger that smiled at her!

Here are some pictures from the beginning of fall...and Maya's first trip to the pumpkin farm! We went to Goebbert's out in Barrington...that I haven't been to since I was probably about 10...and boy has it changed! Maya had so much fun with her cousins, Ali and Madi, and Aunt Jenn and Uncle Dave and Abuelita! Here she is in Ali's wagon...

...and clapping because she just cannot contain her excitement of riding in her first big girl wagon and being amongst all those animals!! :)

...and down here we have some shots of Maya doing what she does best these days...crawling around, pulling herself up on the furniture and just plain getting into stuff!!!! (oh, and waving...because she does that ALL the time :)

...Yes, this is a basket of Macy's toys....probably not that sanitary, but she was having so much fun!! :)