Changing faster than the leaves

Maya has really sprouted verbally and sleeping..ly this week. She's going to sleep on her own, and telling us..well, telling us everything. "Elmo, Elmo, Elmo" or "Be Bwird, Be Bwird". All of this while running back and forth around the apartment yelling for joy. She yells and yells when she's happy.

I don't mind it, cause she does it when I come home.

"MOMMIIEEE

Almost One!

Maya is six days away from turning one. Where did the year go?? I watch her sleep in my arms and I can't even remember her being a teeny tiny. It goes so fast!
Right now Maya is all about "getting dressed." But her version of getting dressed is wrapping things around her neck. Scarves, belts, playstation controls, she'll even try to get shoes on there. She's accessorizing I guess. In five minutes this morning she had a scarf, a belt, a measuring tape and then an attempt at a shoe- all around the neck.
She's also all about walking!! (five steps and then plop!) And talking!! Her list is growing: "momma, dadda (her favorite word), bye bye, ball (she'll even point to them in books and say "ball"), wheeeee!!, uh oh, whoa, bubble, kids (she'll say "hi kids" ), noooooooo, kitty, and dat?"

Blowing kisses!! "mmmmmmmmoihhh!" And another toothie! And eating with her left hand only??!! A leftie perhaps??

She still loves berries (gobbles them up!), veggies (nummy nummy), Nina and Star on "The Goodnight Show" on Sprout, and carrying around socks. From all the other eleven month olds I've run across she seems to be way taller. And she has huge feet. Where she got this tall/huge feet gene, I do not know.

But, damn. She's cute. And silly. And a firecracker.

This weekend we go to Ames to celebrate her birthday and she'll have another party at Grammy Paula's and Grandpa Jeff's on Tuesday!

Until next week when she is one!!

Doctors

Maya now hates doctors. She's fine in the waiting room with the kids and the Finding Nemo playing on the tv. But once she gets in that examination room she starts crying. And if you've got a white coat, a stethoscope, or a nursing degree you bring the tears and not the smiles.

Tomorrow she has to go in and have some completely unnecessary procedure done to make sure her kidneys are okay and that she has no problems in that area. Why? Because she had a UTI and she's too little to have a UTI. So they want to be sure she's okay. She is. So she has to go in and get sedated and blah, blah, blah, blah, nervous mommy, sad baby blah.

It sucks. I feel bad for her because she has no idea what's going on. And it further reinforces my dislike and distrust of doctors. We'll go in, have this test done, get charged a lot of money, and she'll be fine.

But here are some happy photos of her. And some news.
She loves shoes (thank god),



animals (here she is meeting piggies at Bever Park's little zoo) and she says bye bye, bubble, up, and ah oh.
She loves to eat broccoli, blueberries, mixed veggies,..well, she loves fruits and vegetables. She just loves em.

And tonight she took steps. Real steps!! So cute!! Pretty soon she'll be Walken.

Almost ONE!!!!

Busy Week

Sorry such a long delay between posts. We've been really busy. Actually, I've been busy trying to balance work and home. Maya's just been busy sucking on her hand and trying to reach her feet. So hard!! And yet she wants them so badly!!

She's also been trying to coo and talk more. Oh and her cute baby laughs!! You know when it's not quite a robust laugh but they are trying and noises come out? She especially likes to talk to "Mr. Guy" which is a smiley face I Sharpie'd onto a card. She just sits on her changing table and coos away to her black and white friends. She laughs at mommy and daddy.

Also, she's trying to figure out a routine and so far it goes like this: Up around 6:30AM, nap around 8:30Am...wake up whenever with baby naps in between, back to sleep for a long time around 1PM, Up again around 4....sleep for a few minutes here and there until 8 or 9, then it's bedtime. What we're witnessing is a big girl in the making. A big girl who keeps out growing (in length, not width) all her clothes. Three months old on Monday!!