A Baby in a Basket

One of the many fun things we do in our house to kill some time is put Maya in the laundry basket and push her around and make car noises. Actually, I do this and DJ just sits there and looks at me like I'm crazy. Well, Maya loves it and loves even when she is stationary but can still be sitting in the laundry basket. Here are a few pictures from the other night,

Side Note: We are heading off to Vancouver this weekend to spend some time with my Dad's side of the family. Love you all and I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! I'll make sure to take lots of pictures and update on Monday.

The Ellen DeGeneres Show

Totally Mesmerized!

Since Maya was born she has never really watched t.v. She doesn't have a favorite show like Sesame Street or Little Einsteins or whatever. Its not that we restrict her from watching it she just has never really been interested on sitting and watching anything. She much rather play, talk and roll. Anyways, the other day we were sitting doing some laundry and I had the Ellen Show on. I love Ellen and since Monday was Presidents Day I was able to see it! It is one of the few daytime talk shows that I really enjoy. Anyways, as soon as I turned it on, Maya was glued to the t.v. She wouldn't even look my way. It cracked me up! So I decided to capture the moment. I think she is as entertained as I am with Ellen's dancing!

A Maya Moment

The Cousins
Sweet picture

The girls (my screen saver)

I think I'm a little blogger happy today! After coming home today, feeding Maya dinner and putting her to bed I felt like making another post. A Maya Moment that I hope I never forget is that time of the night when all is quiet in the house and all I can hear is the sweet sound of her breathing over the monitor. She is just like her Mama (always stuffed up) so its easy to hear her over the monitor. Sometimes when she is really stuffed up she sounds like her Daddy and snores a little. I wish I could record the sound so you all could hear what I am hearing right now, the sweet sound of my little angel fast asleep!

Taya gave me a cd awhile ago with some pictures on it from the day we had the Madagascar Party for Preston. Here is a picture of Nay Nay and Maya after the movie playing the piano. It is my screen saver at home so I thought I would share it with you guys.

Little Miss 'tude (attitude)

Maya has got a mind of her own and the other night she had no problem reminding us of that. Her normal bed time is between 6-7 depending on how she did with naps and her overall demeanour. On Sunday she took horrible naps partly because she has 3 teeth coming in. So we tried to put her down around 6:30 and she wasn't having it. Since Monday was Presidents Day we decided we would keep her up, wear her out, then try again. We sat her down by her toys and she instantly turned her back to us and didn't make a peep for 1 1/2 hours!!! It was hilarious. She sat with her back to us and played and could have cared less if we were in the room or not. This is very unlike her, she loves attention just like her Mama and Daddy. So here is how it went......

"If I just sit over here with my back turned maybe they'll just let me stay up and play all night long.....

...oh hey guys, forgot you were there....

(back to playing)

...seriously why don't they just leave me alone....

....hey, he he, you don't want to put me to bed I'm too cute.....

...ok, now I'm just annoyed! Why does she keep taking my picture?....

(back to playing)

...maybe if i huff, and puff, I'll blow her away....

...man, I'm funny....


....Mom, Dad, I love you so much! Thank you for letting me stay up way past my bedtime and letting me play. I love you! "

~ Maya

The Chicken

So since I was first exposed to the Miller Family there have been some really interesting family traditions I have participated in. Christmas Eve is one of them. All of the family gets together and the kids buy gift for each other and the adults play the infamous "White Elephant" game. I truly hate this game! I hate steeling from someone, I hate buying a gift for it just in case it is one of those gifts that gets that response like "ooo, too bad you got stuck with that one", etc. And most of all I get major anxiety over what DJ brings. Previous years he has brought outrageous items and this year was nothing less. He wrapped some enormous saw that was about 100 pounds and put it in the middle of his poor Aunts living room. It was larger than all of the other gifts combined and weighed as much as a small child. Anyways, of course here I am anxious over who is going to get stuck with this awful gift and DJ by my side snickering. By this time I just want to get my turn over and finish the game. DJ's Aunt Rose is so sweet and sitting next to me this last year. She goes to pick and chooses "The Chicken". This ugly chicken has been making a yearly appearance since I started attending Christmas Eve with the Millers. So what do I do..... I "steel" the chicken from her because I figure someone has got to put an end to this. Plus Maya will get some enjoyment out of it. At this point I am feeling good, my turn is over and Aunt Rose didn't get stuck with the chicken. Oh no, my friends, its far from over. Because I stole the chicken from Aunt Rose it is now her time to choose another gift. What do you think she goes for? Any guesses? That's right, the stupid hideous saw that DJ brought. Now I feel even more awful and wish that I would have just let her hold on to the chicken. We ended up giving her spare gift that was in the car and taking home not only big ole saw but the chicken as well.

Point to the story.....Maya loves the chicken. If you push the wing of the chicken it sings the chicken song and if you squeeze the neck of it the chicken's eyes pop out. Its hours of entertainment let me tell you!

Attempting to crawl

Maya and "the chicken"

trying to make the eyes pop out

I Heart Maya and DJ

I am not a believer in Valentines Day for many reason but the main reason is you should love the people in your life every day not just one day out of the year. In our house we give gifts a lot and for no reason other than because we were thinking of that person and wanted to make their day a little bit better than the day before. With that being said Friday night ( Feb 13th) we decided to exchange some gifts. Ms. Paula had given all of us a some Valentines Day presents so we opened those and then exchanged our own "Love" gifts. Maya had a ton of fun with the wrapping paper of course and DJ and I got her a card with a Hippo on it (fitting) ! Ha! Anyways, the whole weekend was full of family time and it was wonderful and much needed.

Cuddling with Daddy in the morning...nothing better than that!

Opening her card

Who needs presents when you have wrapping paper!

A Maya Moment

So those of you who really know me know that I have a HORRIBLE memory. It’s really something I can’t help. I am usually good with the long term memories but not very good with the short term. Either way, this blog is my attempt to not allow myself to forget any of the amazing, funny, special moments that we have had with Maya.

So every time I can (or remember to) I am going to post “A Maya Moment” so that you can all share and remember with me all of the sweet things she has done along the way and all of the unique, comical moments we have had. I’m sure most of them will be little things that only I as her mother find entertaining, but oh well! J

So here are a few Maya Moments that I never want to forget…..

~She loves to dance. When she dances she does this thing where she raises both of her hands almost like she raising the roof. It is adorable! She does this with any kind of music she hears. Even if you sing a little something to her or if there is a little snippet of music on a commercial on TV….she will raise the roof!

~If you blow in her face she tries to get you back. It’s so cute when she puckers up her lips and tries to blow back at you. So the other day I was bringing her in from the car and it was a little windy and she puckered up her lips and tried blowing back at the wind. She was laughing and trying to blow at the same time, it was one of those moments that was so sweet and I hope I never forget

~She hates sitting in a poopy diaper. It doesn’t matter if it just a little nugget or a big blowout, she hates having anything in her diaper and will let you know when she needs to be changed (she’s such a lady!)

~She is 11 months in a few days and still has not interest in crawling. DJ and I were talking the other night about how it would be if she never learned how to walk. We were joking around saying that he would have to build her a ramp everywhere so that she could roll out of the house, roll to work, etc. We really hope she starts crawling one of these days. J Its just another thing that makes her unique and different, right? Ha!

I’m such a proud Mama and I love her so much so I could probably go on and on and on but I won’t. Those are just a few things that I hope I never forget about her. She is so amazing and makes every day worth living to the fullest.

I hope you all have a happy Wednesday!

The Nay Nay

Coloring project

Up close and personal

Hanging with her Uncle DJ

We had the privilege of picking up Nay Nay from Ms Paula's tonight. Tyler and Taya both had to work late so she got to come home with us. We love having her and its been nice that it has been more consistent so that she gets used to being at our house. I mentioned this before but I think her and her uncle DJ have a special bond. I love it!

Weekend Recap

Miss Maya at Azteca holding her kids menu

Maya exhausted from our Costco trip

After I took the cousins home on Saturday morning I came back to the house to see my babies. DJ and I were starving and it was getting close to lunch time so we went out to Azteca with Maya. Maya ate an ENTIRE quesadilla and most of her rice and bean. WOW!!! DJ and I couldn't believe how much she ate. We then headed home and all of us took naps. After we got up, DJ decided to finish the painting project that we started a few months back so me and Maya got out of the house and went shopping. We went to Target and Old Navy and got her a few new cute outfits. When we got home DJ and I fed Maya and put her down to sleep. I was still exhausted from the night before so I watched TV in bed while DJ finished the painting.

Sunday, I woke up early with Maya and had a nice morning with her. My favorite time of the week is Sunday mornings. I LOVE waking up and having some one and one time with her. We always stay in our pj's, make breakfast, I drink some coffee while I sit on the floor with her and play and we have some Mommy and Maya time. I love it so much! For some reason it doesn't matter how early she wakes up because I look forward to it that much! After Daddy woke up, we ate breakfast and then headed off to Costco for some shopping. We had a blast walking down every isle and taking our time. Then we headed home to unload the car and put Missy down for a nap. The rest of the evening we spent making dinner and watching the Grammys! It was a great family weekend!

1st Cousin Sleepover

Pres, DJ and Maya

The kids eating their McDonalds. We were going to take them to Red Robin but Bratty McFatty aka Maya was too tired and cranky to go :(
Nay Nay playing in the bath

I love this picture! The two of them have so much fun together!

Post bath, watching Land Before Time

The next morning in the car ready to go home

We had the very first cousin sleep over this last friday. Uncle DJ was more than confident that we could handle it and I have to say he was right! We had Pres and Nay Nay come over to our house and we had dinner, watched Land Before Time (one of my favs), made cookies and played in the bath. All of the kids were so good! I do have to share a little story though....

About a year or so back I we took care of Preston for a night. Not much has changed since then because back then all he wanted to do was come over to Mimi's house, hang out and take a bath. Well I was sitting in there with him and playing (he likes to make me imaginary coffee and soup with the bath water) well, then he goes "Mimi I want to be by myself" I apologize if you have already heard this story but you will understand in a minute why I'm telling it. Anyways, he was insistent on having a moment of privacy, so I thought ok, he's old enough..so I'll give him a minute alone. I come back into the the bathroom and Preston had a look on his face like he has really done something wrong. Well as I get closer I see a bunch of floaters in the bathtub. He then says "Mimi I pooped in the baff-tub" It was one of those moment where you really do want to laugh but then you are a slight bit irritated at the task at hand. Its not easy to clean a tub with poo floating in it.....

That brings me to this weekend. Maya went down early so the other two took a bubble bath. All was well until I picked Nay Nay up to get her toweled off and once again....floaters! That is twice now that this has happened! Bawa's explanation is that the kids just feel so relaxed at our house and that is why this happens.....so I guess I should take it as a compliment?

Anyways, we all had a great time together. Everyone slept well except for Uncle DJ who was on the couch. DJ was so great with the kids and him and Nay Nay have quite a special bond. She would always go to him and would cry if he left the room. I think she may like him more than she likes her Auntie Mimi :(. We got up the next morning, Pres and Maya took another bath while Nay Nay and DJ slept in. I then took them back home. I loved having them and even though we were exhausted it was a nice glimpse into how it would be with a big family. We want to get a few more things in line but we hope that the dream of having a ton of little ones running around will soon come true!

Maya, Romy and Auntie Jossie

The girls first (of many) gossip sessions

Romy lovin' on Maya

Maya reading a book, she actually looks like she understands it! :)

They are 6 months apart but close enough in age to really enjoy each other!

Maya listening intently as her "older" bff reads to her....Romy is so wise!

A couple weekends back Auntie Jossie took both girls for the day so I could go and spend Stacie's b-day with her. No joke I almost cried when I left the house because I look forward so much to my weekends with Maya. It is so hard balancing friendships, motherhood, work, and life. But, I had a blast with Stac, we went and got pedicures, hung out at the house and got ready to go out, went to a fun spot for her b-day....all in all it was a good day. Here are a few pics from Maya's night. Apparently I was the only one that was upset about being away from her, it looks like she had a blast without me.

Thank you so much Auntie Jossie and Romy for taking care of our sweet angel!

Finally A TOOTH!!

She is eating a puff but you can sort of see it! :)

"WOO HOO I finally, after 10 long months of waiting, have a tooth!"

Today Maya's first tooth popped through!!! We are more than thrilled and our days of wondering if she would have that gummy smile forever are over. She has been working on getting her two bottom teeth to pop through and finally today one of them made an appearance. I tried to get a good picture of her famous first tooth but it was a little difficult. So anyways, if you open the pictures up so they are bigger you can see that beautiful white speck on her bottom gum. We are such proud parents!

Overnight with Pres

Maya loves playing with DJ's hair, she thinks it is hilarious!

Preston trying to squeeze into one of Maya's toys

Baby in the bath

The cousins playing in the bath together

Preston and DJ making cupcakes

Pres posing for the camera. I said "Pres smile" and this is what he did....and I thought Maya was a ham.

Pres reading the directions...he's so smart! :)

Rockin' out to Guitar Hero (its his favorite thing to do with Uncle DJ)

Preston came and spent the night with us not last weekend but the weekend before last. I came down with a horrible stomach flu last week so I wasnt able to post when I should have. Anyways, we had a blast. I picked him and Maya up from Ms Paulas and we went home and hung out. Preston took two baths (as you may know its one of his favorite things to do!) in a matter of 24 hours and he also helped make cupcakes. We LOVE having him over!!! He is such a good boy and him and Maya love playing with each other.