Lol...

Maya decided to practice her laugh today...funny girl!

Going for a stroll...

10 months...

Pretty stinkin' cute if I do say so myself...

Maya continues to grow and learn so much everyday!  Here are some highlights from the last month...

*Sitting is boring!  Maya loves to stand and pulls up on everything to practice her new trick.  Gone are the days I leave her alone to play for a few minutes.  I have to watch this girl like a hawk!

*She's starting to take some steps as she pushes her toy stroller.  Up until today, this only happened as we helped support her.  Today, however, she did it by herself!!  I think we're going to have a walker sooner than we expected!

*Though army crawling is her preferred mode of transportation, we have seen her actually "crawl" on her knees a few times.

*Maya has expanded her bag of tricks to include pointing, blowing kisses, giving kisses and blowing on her food.

*She's starting to understand words and has specific responses when she hears certain words.  She'll look and point in the sky whenever we ask where is the moon or where are the birds.  During the day, when I ask her where dad is, she looks outside and points to the office!  We think she's pretty smart :)

*Sleep is still great and we might be transitioning to one nap...it's a little early, but she doesn't seem to care about following the rules.

Here's a few pics from the last month...

  

Santa Baby...

Maya met Santa for the first time (minus our Halloween at Gymboree experience).  Unfortunately it didn't go over so well :(  

 And my favorite...

In her defense, this Santa wasn't the friendliest looking guy...I think he's scowling in the picture above.  Plus, the whole event took place behind closed doors in a back room at Tiny Tots...sketchy Santa.

Fortunately, we did get a decent family pic once we rescued her from the scary man's lap.  

Hopefully next year will be better!

Snip snip...

As everyone knows, Maya B has no shortage of hair.  I realized over the last few weeks that her bangs were simply getting out of control!  

They're constantly in her eyes and driving her (me) nuts.

I was also worried she was starting to look a little bit like this kid...

So today we finally did something about it!  Maya had her first haircut!  It was really just a bang trim, but a monumental moment none the less.  The honor went to Papa Frank who quickly and quite efficiently cleaned up her bangs.  Maya did really well and didn't squirm nearly as much as I had anticipated.

Before, Maya Bieber

After, much better!!

Uh oh, here we go!...

Look what little missy figured out today.  She's been working on this in the tub and on us for a few weeks, but hasn't been quite as successful like she was today.  I guess it was only a matter of time...

Strike a pose...

Maya had her first modeling gig...

Isn't she just the cutest little naked babe ever!?!?  My friend Kacey (yes, the talented crafty one who helped me with the quilts) is starting a little business selling adorable hand knit beanies.  They are amazing!  

We happened to be over visiting the day the photographer came by to shoot the product for her website.  Kacey asked to have Maya take a picture in one of the beanies.  I love it!  Be sure to check out the website for a great gift or one for yourself!  www.elizabethraeboutique.com

9 months...

Maya B is 9 months!  Where is the time going!?  

Taking a picture with Bear was again a struggle.  Maya now loves to give Bear hugs, kisses and lots of love these days (it's the first thing she does in the morning), so she wasn't too keen on just sitting right next to him.  She preferred to face him and hang out.  

Maya is becoming quite the big girl!  Her menu of "dining options" is really expanding.  She now "chews" lots of food including diced fruit, chunks of cheese, Gerber yogurt melts, puffs, and other random table food.  She's also loving cottage cheese in addition to her usual purees.  

Not always, but she's starting to feed herself some of these finger foods...particularly her yogurt melts.   Whether or not it makes it to her mouth, she definitely enjoys playing with her food and often looks like this at the end of mealtime...

About a week after her 8 month birthday, she started signing for milk!  I've been doing a few signs with her for months and it seems like she's finally starting to get it!  I think she uses it for milk and solids...it's not fool proof, but it's really exciting that she is actually communicating with us!

Maya has mastered her crawl...aka "drag".  She still isn't up on her knees, but she's sure quick to get where she wants by dragging herself around using her arms and right foot (specifically).  

She's starting to pull up to standing in the bath, so I'm sure it's only a matter of time before she figures it out around the furniture...I'm nervous.  

Her waving and clapping and pretty consistent and she's now also making a "sound like an Indian" for lack of a better PC description.  She'll make the "ahhh" noise while we pat her mouth and then she'll do it herself with the back of her own hand.  We think she's pretty smart ;)

She's also a huge fan of peek-a-boo these days and will now hold things over her face to hide.  She does it most often with her sippy cup at mealtimes...which is really funny because she can still see us through the clear container :)

We're still dealing with some separation anxiety, but she also plays well independently for periods time during the day. There are a few toys that keep her pretty entertained including her V-tech Discovery Nursery Farm.  It plays songs, lights up and is generally annoying, but Maya loves it...

Here's a few pics from the last month...

Sicky :(

Playing in her new sandbox that I got for free!!  Yay for mom networks!

Still loving Gymboree class

In her big girl car seat...much more comfortable!

Modeling one of Kacey's beautiful hand-knit hats...I need to buy one!

Hanging out with Papa

Loved having Grammy come visit!

Love my little 9 month old!

Labor of Love...

They're done!!  I hadn't posted about these quilts and process of creating them for fear that the recipient would see the post and know they were coming!  When I had Maya, my sister-in-law Deanna, made me/Maya two awesome quilts and they were one of my favorite gifts!

Handmade things always seem a little more special since you know a lot of time and hard work went into them.  Receiving the quilts also sparked a little crafty fire in me and I instantly knew I wanted to try to make one myself.  When my friend Janet announced that she was pregnant with twins I was beyond thrilled for her and excited that I now had an opportunity to take on a project!  I could make a quilt...err, two quilts!  

From this...

To this...

And none of it would have been possible if it wasn't for my awesome crafty friend, Kacey, who taught me all I need to know and let me borrow all the supplies I didn't have.  She graciously had me and Maya over to her house on multiple occasions to walk me through every step.  And when Maya became whiny and got in her "I just want you to hold me mode" as she often does these days, Kacey was more than willing to take over and work on it for me (cheating, I know, but it was awfully nice to utilize her speed for some time!)  She was also always available on text for everything from choosing fabric to trouble shooting my mom's sturdy but very old sewing machine, and everything in between.  I probably have more text messages with her than my hubby!  THANK YOU KACEY!  You're the best quilting teach a girl could ask for!

It was such a fun process and I'm really happy with the results.  If anything, I'm kinda sad I have to give them away already...a mere 18 hours from the last stitch!  I hope that Janet and the twins enjoy these quilts as much as Maya and I enjoy ours :)

Girls only...

I got to spend a whole 24 hours with my niece, miss Kiera Michelle :)  Her parents had a wedding down in Carmel, so they dropped her off to spend the night with me.  Brad was out of town, so I was very excited for a girls only night of fun.  We kept with a halloween theme...made halloween cupcakes, carved a pumpkin and watched Eclipse (we're both Twi-hards).

I had a great time hanging out with my beautiful goddaughter and Maya loved seeing her cousin!

Kiera's work of art...Fredlin the pumpkin

Swirl cupcakes :)

Spiderwebs were much easier to make than jack-o-lantern faces...

I won't even show you our other attempts...it was decided that simple dot eyes and nose was best :)

Halloween at Gymboree...

Every year, the Gymboree corporate office goes all out for Halloween.  Each floor pics a theme and decorates and dresses up to match.  There are judges who pick the best floor and winners get a day off and a pizza party.  Everyone brings there kids and it's a super fun day!  

I decided it was a perfect opportunity to visit all my old co-workers with Maya.  I had so much fun catching up with everyone and they loved seeing Maya again.  

The 7th floor (who notoriously takes the prize every year) chose an "under the sea" theme this year...

Another floor did a Christmas theme so Maya had her first official picture with "Santa"...

My old floor did "Where's Waldo?".  Maya loves glasses and always tries to remove them everyone's face, so she was very interested in all the merch girls :)

I definitely miss my friends from work, but wouldn't trade my new gig for anything :)

Back to Gymbo...

For all my years at Gymboree, is it any surprise that I signed us up for play and music classes?!?  Maya and I went to our first class last week.  It was a free preview class and Maya had a great time.  

Based on her age, she's in the Play and Learn 2 class where she can 

"Learn about cause and effect and build strength through play with ramps, slides and climbers. This infant class includes parent discussion time to help learn about your child's development."

I think it'll only get more exciting for her as she grows and can be more interactive with the different gym obstacles.  

With her buddy Gino listening to teacher Rita

I've never been a fan of the clown, but Maya loved Gymbo

Working on her crawling

She loved the bubbles and the parachute!