Mudpie madness

My best friend and her mom gifted Maya with this insanely cute Mudpie outfit.  So she was styling at church on Sunday and we followed up with pictures afterwards.

I love all the ruffles on the bottom!  It's not really a belly shirt but I didn't want to do any rearranging to loosen Collin's grip -

Lying down for safety reasons -

Brother & sister -

The smiles were better in the previous picture, but I liked their arms around each other -

Didn't plan for pigeon attack

 

The weather was nice and my work schedule had eased, so I planned a trip to the zoo on Friday.  Since the last time we went, Maya completely skipped her morning nap, too busy looking around at the animals, I tried to plan a perfectly timed outing this trip. 

We loaded ourselves, our lunch, bread for the ducks and our sleeping Maya into the car and headed off.  And it worked out pretty well that we got to Hermann Park just about the time Maya was waking and ready to eat, and I was quite proud of my plan to bring bread for Collin so he had something to occupy him while I nursed Maya.  I set off to find a bench while Collin fed the ducks. 

But I hadn't anticipated a flock of about 50 pigeons being aggressively interested in Collin's bread for the ducks.  Collin was scared and I was pretty stuck, with Maya obliviously eating away and the birds surrounding us.  Once Collin realized they weren't going to actually attack him, he began one of his favorite activities, bird chasing:

Maya and her full belly contently checking out the pigeons and ducks while we threw out the last of the bread.

Once we made it into the zoo, prompted by Collin (maybe just because he knows the drill now), he posed at statues along the way.

We had a really low-key visit, on our own schedule.  Since my sweet grandma gifted us with a zoo membership, I don't feel the need to get my money's worth out of every visit, so we took a relaxed pace, saw what we wanted to see, but skipped a lot of the animals normally on our path.

We ate lunch at the giraffes and then, as a reward for good behavior, I took both kids on the carousel.  I had to buy a ticket for Maya which seemed a little ridiculous (it was $1.25 so not a big deal), and so she rode on an animal too.  While I hadn't intended to have kids over 3 years apart, at places like the zoo where Collin can be helpful with Maya and can climb onto his carousel animal pretty independently, I'm grateful for their age gap. 

Maya was delighted on the carousel, grinning and giggling throughout the entire ride.

One last picture by the giraffes and we called it a day.

Tumbling and Wrestling and Teething

Cas and I celebrated our tenth anniversary with a dinner out, and Cas viewed it as an opportunity to sport his bow tie.     

The next week, Cas went on his annual work convention to Vegas.  Since he was out of town Wednesday - Monday, the kids and I spent three nights at my parents'.  My dad goes all out for breakfasts - biscuits, eggs, bacon, omelets, blueberry pancakes.  Collin will sometimes request eggs and pancakes or biscuits at our home, and we tell him that only happens at Grammy and Brownie's. 

After breakfast on Friday, we hit a library story hour and park.  Maya happily came along for the ride as long as we bring Sophie la giraffe teething toy wherever we go.

Saturday we spent much of the day outside.  Maya with Sophie or other teething toys in hand, and Batman with bug catching net in hand or on head.

The boys were tumbling and wrestling while the girl was teething nearby -

One of my favorite parts of tickling is the anticipatory giggles!

Maya relaxed on my leg while Collin hunted down and caught a lizard - 

Showing it to Maya - 

She fixed her eyes on it and reached for it, but thankfully for everyone, the lizard was faster than the baby -

We gave the lizard its freedom, but Collin caught it again for one more picture and then a good-bye

Back inside and smiling for Grammy - 

My big six-month old taking a bath and still teething away -

Full concentration for those kicks -

Lots of splashing in this tub -

This was her first time to try yogurt and she was an instant fan -



Happy Half Birthday, Maya

Our wonderful Maya turned 6 months old on November 9th, and we celebrated with leg warmers, tutus, bows and naked booty poses.

Waving at the camera.  While she's not quite advanced enough to wave on cue, she has learned from Collin how fun it is to blow raspberries with a mouth full of food . . . lovely!

Maya is in full teething mode, chomping away on anything she can get her hands on, but her teeth have yet to appear.

She is more active than Collin was at this age.  We'll put her on the ground under her infant gym and she'll roll across the room, moving several feet, and isn't slowed down when she starts rolling off rugs and onto the wood floor.  Although I heard from friends that their boys were the ones climbing on countertops, Collin is pretty cautious and rarely gets himself in dangerous positions.  So I have a feeling this girl will be the one keeping us on our toes.  

She's a great eater of her favorite foods, which so far are yogurt and sweet potatoes, sitting there like a little bird while we try our hardest to have spoonfuls ready.

Maya is a delight in so many ways.  It is delightful to watch her respond to music, lighting up and kicking her feet as soon as she hears a song.  It is a delight to watch her grin and squeal and giggle with Collin.  Her high chair is directly across from his seat at the table, and Collin makes faces and dances and she'll light up and laugh away at him.  She is such a happy, content baby, we cannot believe our luck in getting two easy children.  We are delighted to have her as part of our family and so grateful that six months ago, God blessed us with a daughter and sister!