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!

8 months...

Yep, it's true...I have an 8 month old!  She's pretty much taken over the bear...

This was by far the most difficult month to get a picture.  Maya has learned how to clap and wave (for the most part) and anything we did to get her to smile caused one of these two actions.  Most of the pictures were blurry as she moved her arms around...

 When Brad or I say "yay!" and clap our hands, she'll clap, smile and shout out too (not always, but most of the time).  She's waving periodically, but not quite as consistently as her clapping.  I don't think she's connected it with saying hi or bye to anyone, but I think she's getting close!

I'm the first to tell you that Maya wasn't an "angel" baby, but for all we endured in the beginning, she has more than made up for now.  She's is just awesome beyond words!  

Eating solids has been going well.  Sometimes she eats so much, we can't seem to offer her enough and other times she's completely uninterested.  I'm still making almost all of her food, but we've tried some of the "pouch" food by Plum or HappyBaby and she loves them.  They're great for on the go!

She's officially a great sleeper and hasn't had any night wakings in a few weeks.  She's down to two naps a day, one of which is almost always between an hour and a half to two hours- yes!!

We have yet to see any pearly whites and she's not quite a crawler, though she has been "dragging" her self a few inches her and there to reach what she wants.  I'm sure she'll be on the move before we know it!  I really need to child-proof this house asap!

She's growing and learning so much, so fast!  She has the sweetest little face and I am amazed by her everyday.  No matter what the day brings, it's filled with joy because Maya is by my side.

 Her new favorite face...the "scrunchy nose"

She's been going running with me and friends some mornings during the week.  She's mostly a willing passenger in the jogger.  Isn't she cute in her beanie!

 I've put her in the front seat of the shopping cart a couple of times...she's able to sit up pretty well...such a big girl :)

 And she's learned out to drink out of a straw sippy cup!  I was very proud :)

Love my little monkey and I'm praying the next 4 months don't go by to quickly...I'm really not ready for her to be 1.

Banana Birthday...

We had the first 1st birthday of our playgroup this week!  One of the boys turned one last month and his mom hosted a banana play-date to celebrate.  Our playgroup has had multiple "sensory" play-dates with different foods for the kids to experience including pasta, avocados and watermelon.  Unfortunately, we haven't been able to make past sensory play-dates, so I was very excited for this one :)

Every kid was able to go home with a birthday ballon.  Maya loved the ballon and it was the first thing she played with this morning!

Here's a quick video of Maya playing with the ballon at the party...

And then it was time for BANANAS!

 I brought pureed bananas (with some pear mixed in) in a larger tupperware.  This messy mix was quite a hit with the kiddos!

Maya really loved it so I'll definitely be trying this more with her at home.  Especially as the weather is turning, it's pretty easy to set down some towels on the hardwood and let her have fun making a mess!

Determination...

She's not crawling yet, but she's pretty determined to get what she wants!

Dedication...

Last Sunday was a very special day in the Slynger household.  Maya B was dedicated at our church!  It was a wonderful day for our family as we dedicated Maya to God and committed to raising her in a godly home.  We constantly seek God's guidance to make the best decisions for our baby girl and rely on him as a source of strength and wisdom. We were joined by family and friends (including Grammy and Grampy who flew in from Arizona!) who all play a special role in our life and we know will continue to play a special role in Maya's as well.

All the families being dedicated

She did great during the dedication!

we need to work on those bangs!

Pumpkin Patch...

Maya and I had our first trip to the pumpkin patch!  We went to Uesugi Farms in San Martin with some playgroup friends.  I had never been before, but always heard about it.  It's definitely not like any other pumpkin patch!   It's huge and has different activities for the kids including a hay ride and a train.  We kept it simple and just played with pumpkins, but I'm sure it'll be a place Maya will look forward to as she gets older!

Pyramid of Pumpkins

Our playgroup

She loved the pumpkins!

My lil' pumpkin :)

She also loved the hay!  Once she discovered it, I couldn't get her to look at me for a picture...

Scrunchy nose face...her new favorite

Next time we'll ride the train...