This Morning....

Here are a few pictures of Maya this morning. She is always so happy in the morning. She loves riding in the car with her Daddy and especially loves going to Mrs Paula's house! She loves Paula so much, we are so blessed to have Paula and Ron take such good care of our baby. We couldn't ask for more!

Peanut Butter Princess

So last night I needed a little snack before dinner and we didn't have much in the house to choose from so in true Ladd tradition I ate a spoon full of peanut butter. A little later I fed Maya and was kissing her on her neck and loving on her like I do every night. Well I handed her to DJ to say goodnight and he asked "Why does she smell like nuts?", so I told him about my snack. He then turned to Maya and said "Are you my little peanut butter princess?' and she started laughing so hard. This went on for about 5 minutes before I grabbed the camera but you can see the tail end of it. Only her Daddy can get her laughing like she was :( She is the epitome of a Daddy's girl.

Mama's night out

The girls

Britty and Stac
Stac and I
The boys
Britt and Kyle
DJ, Maya and Mom...all cuddled up! Tired Dada

Saturday night Stac and I went out to Benders, a bar in Renton. It was the first night I have been out without DJ and not worried every two seconds about Maya. DJ, Mom and Maya stayed home and us girls went out for a little bit. When we came home I went searching for my baby girl. We found DJ, Maya and Mom all laying together...each one of them sound asleep. It was so cute!!

Summer Nights

Just waking up....
there's the smiles! :)
Tired Daddy, but Mamas faking it pretty well

Maya woke up the other night and just wanted to hang out with Mom and Dad. Even though we were REALLY tired its times like this we will eventually miss.

Romy's 1!

Digging into the cake

Yummy frosting

Puff Party

Shirrae, Maya and Josh
Silly Auntie Cami
Me and Stac
Me, Romy, Maya and Cami
Caroline and Lilly

Lilly checking out Maya


All of Romy's PRESENTS!!!!!
Beautiful Birthday Girl!

Today we went to the park to celebrate that Romy was born almost one year ago. Her and Maya are only 6 months apart and will be the best of friends growing up. Romy is really into Sesame Street right now so that was the theme! Uncle DJ gave her a Sesame Street balloon and I got her a pink and purple talking and singing purse. HA! Every girl needs to know how to accessorize. Just kidding! :) We all had a lot of fun, thanks Jossie and Rob for including us in such an important event! We love you all!

More pics from the reunion courtesy of Carrot...

Me and My BABY!!!!
Papa, Preston, Maya and I...she did not like the cold water on her little buns We all went bowling to escape the heat, I kicked DJ and Joel's butts!
DJ protecting his head from the sun! ha!
All the cousins in order of age...Taya, Jody, Me, Joel, Britt and James

Ladd Reunion '08

Beautiful little girl
So happy!
Check out the rolls
Maya and Joel

"Schwimin in the pool"
Baby girl
Grandpa Ladd and Maya

Maya and Papa
Joel, DJ and Daddy
Nay Nay, Maya and Pres - hanging out
Maya and Grandma

Last weekend we went down to Vancouver for the Ladd Family Reunion. We had an absolute blast with everyone. My Dad and Carol flew up from California and all of us Ladd girls drove down from the north to meet up with all of the Wickwires. We all played in the pool, hung out, caught up, ate great food, etc. We soaked up every moment.

It was Maya's first time meeting Grandma Charlotte (Maya's great grandma). It was love at first sight. :) She never stopped smiling when Grandma was holding her. Grandpa Ladd also came down for the festivities and was able to spend a little time with Maya too.

All and all it was a great weekend, a weekend I will never forget.

Recap on Maya this weekend:

Maya was the happiest baby the entire weekend. She took awesome naps, slept in the car the whole way down to Vancouver, and most of the way back.

This weekend was her first pool experience....didn't like it one bit! Even when we tried dunking her just her feet in she cried.

She was infatuated with my Dad's scruff on his face. She kept grabbing at it when he would hold her. She really likes facial hair!

She is definitely Daddy's little girl right now. No matter where he is if she hears his voice she whips her head around and smiles the second she sees him.

Her favorite people this weekend were.....just about everyone that would smile at her! :)

Thank you to the Wickwires for having us this weekend! I know it was a lot of people to house! Thank you to Daddy and Carol for making the long trip up to see everyone, it wouldn't have been the same without you two there! Good Luck to Joel on your new adventure, we love you and are rooting for you!

Love you all,
Mandy, Maya and DJ

P.S. My Uncle Dan is a wonderful photographer and he took a ton of pictures of the family this weekend. The pics should be up soon...his website address is

http://www.pbase.com/danielwickwire/complete_work

Hot Child in the City

DJ took this picture! What a great angle of the belly.

I know I have said this before but our apartment just BAKES in the summer. It will be a nice 75 degrees with a little breeze outside and be pushing 100 degrees in our hot house! This is how Maya cools down. Don't you wish you were a baby sometimes. :)

5 Months old...another ear infection

Maya turns 5 months old tomorrow! I really cant believe how fast it is going. Right now she loves to grab her feet and stick them in her mouth. She also has what we call her "raptor" call, its when she screeches at the top of her lungs. It is hilarious, but not so funny first thing in the morning. She is also chewing on everything, teething toys, binky's, blankets, my shoulder...ha, really anything she can get in her mouth.

Yesterday at about 1:30 am she woke up screaming. For all of you who know her she is a really happy baby and it takes a lot for her to cry so right away we knew something was wrong. Usually it doesn't take much to calm her down either, but nothing was working. She went from laying on my chest to on DJ's chest all night long. We couldn't put her down or she would just scream. First thing in the morning we took her in to the Doctor's office. Donna Zimburean was nice enough to see us before her schedule started! I love that woman! Anyways, turns out she has ANOTHER ear infection. Bawa said "Ear infections just might be her thing..." Great~

She is feeling much better now that the antibiotics kicked in and she finally got some rest. These pictures that I posted are from a few days ago. Just remember at this time she had an ear infection we just didn't know it. Would you be able to tell? Oh and by the way they weighed her at the doc's office, drum roll please........18lbs 14 oz! Oh YEAH!