For Beth...

Ask and ye shall receive, Beth! Here is a quick update of what Maya's been up to recently! (in backwards time order, because that's how the pictures upload, and I don't know how to fix it, and I'm not in the mood to move them all....)

First, what we've been doing a lot of....walking! Usually one walk in the stoller, then an evening walk in the Baby Bjorn so she doesn't fall asleep close to her bedtime, which is bound to happen in the stroller!)

Next, Daddy's new football.....

...just hangin' out being cute :)

...at Ali's birthday dinner - we were there past Maya's bedtime, so she slept on Grandpa :)

Maya's new favorite activity - the jumperoo!!! The picture doesn't capture the pure joy on her face as she bounces...and the squeals of laughter that can be heard outside!!

...and finally a mother/daughter shot from Mother's Day (I think we are singing Maya's new favorite song -- "it's...peanut butter jelly time!! ...ask Uncle Keith what the song is, if you have no idea what I'm talking about :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALI!!!

Today is Maya's cousin, Ali's, 2nd birthday!!!! I can't believe she is 2 already!! It seems like just yesterday we were visiting her in the hospital when she was born...and now she's running around talking and playing catch and doing "big girl" things!! Crazy!! She can even say my name now!!! Well...by name, I mean "Ee-ka" but I know that it's me! :) So - Happy Birthday to our first born niece, Maya first cousin, and soon to be leader of the pack of new baby girls!!! :)

Maya has a new cousin!

Madeleine Marie Knudtson was born yesterday, May 8, 2009 at 10:14pm! She weighed in at 7 lbs 11 oz and 20 1/2 inches long. Maya is now the "middle" cousin on Kevin's side of the family! Mom and baby are doing great...even after 25 hours of labor...and Jenn is still recommending the VBAC for our next one - that's how much better the recovery is going! :) We shall see... in the meantime we are enjoying our newest niece -- weekends at the lakehouse are going to be crazy from here on out with 3 little girls running around! I can't wait! Maya has not met her yet, since we couldn't bring her to the hospital, but they are coming home tomorrow, so I'm sure I'll get more pictures then!!

Uncle Keith visits

Uncle Keith came to visit last weekend from Florida!! He's been here 3 times now since Maya was born -- way more than we used to see him, so we're glad that he now has someone to come and visit ;) Mommy and Daddy and the grown-ups went to Beer Fest last Saturday while Maya had her first sleepover at Abuelita and Grandpa's house!! She did great! She even slept an hour longer than she normally does at home...until almost 7:00! :) (I think Abuelita must have worn her out!! :) They say she was very good, so maybe there will be more sleepovers in the near future!! ;)
I don't have much else to report -- Maya has just been busy perfecting her rice cereal eating (she is a pro!), learning to eat her toes and discovering that she has a voice! All day long, she just loves to make noise come out of her mouth...and she really only has one volume - LOUD! :) Here's one more shot of her enjoying her jumperoo -- she has figured out the jumping part and loves to bounce around in it and play with the many toys!!!

Indy weekend

Maya stayed at her first hotel this past weekend! She and I (no Kevin) drove down to Indianapolis for my cousin's baby shower. Nana and Grandpa drove over from Ohio, too, so they got to spend some time with Maya. Maya is such a good traveler - which I'm grateful for since it's a 4 hour trip and I didn't have Kevin as back-up! She slept most of the way down there...it was cute because she'd wake up for about 10 minutes, look around, realize that we were still in the car and nothing was going on, then would go back to sleep :) On the way back, she slept the first 3 hours, then was awake for the final stretch, but just played with her toys and looked around - not a peep! We only made one stop each way - for gas, no feedings - and she was perfectly happy when we made it to our destination! We are so lucky!!! :)
Anyway - she was a little ham at Amber's shower - kickin' around on the floor showing people her belly and smiling at everyone while Amber opened her pile of presents. She got to meet the rest of the cousins in Indy as well as Uncle Jim and Aunt Deb....here are the only 2 pictures I took at the shower (I got completely distracted and forgot to take more!):

Here's cousin Beth and Maya...

...and the Baby Mamma herself - Amber!

All in all, a good weekend was had by all...and I reinforced why Maya does not sleep in our room...loud little sleeper that she is! I didn't get much sleep with her next to my bed in the pack-n-play! She breathes loud, sighs a lot, talks to herself and kicks the side of her bed in her sleep! Silly little monkey!

Success!!

"OK - I'm in the chair....now what are we going to do??"

Maya tried solid food for the first time today!!! I would say it was a success!! :) Abuelita and Grandpa came to be her audience as she took this big step, and we got some good pictures as well as a video to blackmail her with later :) Here she is taking her first bite:

It's like she's been doing this for years!! :) She's got down that she has to open her mouth, but then, once the food is in there, she seemed a little unsure of what to do with it. We think most of it made it down her throat - for a while we thought she was storing it in her chipmunk cheeks, but all in all, I think she's got it! Here are some more shots from the big event:

She even wipes her own mouth!! :)

"YUM!!"


"Oh - this is SOOOO good..."


Boy, this eating this is tiring for a little girl!!!! Night night!!

So close!!!

Maya is super close to rolling over from her back to her tummy!!! She's had the tummy to back thing down for some time now, but today she almost went the other way - the "hard" way. This is a picture of her attempt -- she gets stuck on her side - her back end gets fully around, but she can't seem to get over her monstrous shoulder :) So, she just hangs out like that...eating her fist :) We'll see how long before a true roll comes!!! Exciting stuff in the life of a 4-month old!