First Flight

Maya survived her first flight!!  We headed to Washington for Easter this year and we anxious about Maya's first flying experience.  Leaving the house on time, dealing with security, the timing of her feedings, the pressure on her ears....just a few of the things that stressed me out.  Fortunately, things couldn't have gone smoother!  Timing was perfect and Maya slept the entire flight there and back!  I'm so thankful for a successful first flight and it gives me more confidence for future traveling adventures :)

Waiting to board

Yay, we made it!

Easter in Washington

At church in her Easter dress

Ever since Brad's sister, Deanna had to go home after coming to California for Maya's birth, we had been plotting the next time we'd all see each other.  It just couldn't happen soon enough!  We decided Easter was the perfect time for Maya's first flight and for the 3 of us to go visit Auntie Deanna, Uncle Paul and cousins Caleb, Weston and Isaac!  We were all so excited to see each other and couldn't wait for the cousins to finally meet!  The boys seem to just love Maya and were all so sweet with her.  She is one lucky girl and I'm sure they will look out for her forever!

We mostly just hung out around the house, playing games and catching up.  The weather was gorgeous on Saturday and the boys were able to dye their eggs outside.  Sunday was a little rainy, but we went to Church in the morning, came home to a yummy brunch and then watched the boys go on the hunt for eggs in the backyard.  Overall it was a great weekend!

Now we are counting the days until August when Deanna, Paul and the boys come to California and we all get to see each other again!  We can't wait!

  

First Play Date

Maya had her first play date yesterday!  Technically, her friends were napping 90% of the time we were there and Maya doesn't exactly 'play' anyways, but mommy had fun and appreciated the outing!

She wore her first bow clip to our play date...pretty cute :)

Before Maya was born, my friends Jess, Lacie and I had gotten into a nice little pattern of getting together every week for lunch.  Their girls would play and we got to catch up!  Today was the first time I was able to get back together with them and it was so fun to bring Maya along.

Lauren, Lillian and Maya

I love this picture of the girls and it makes me excited for all the play dates in our future.  I'm sure we'll look back on this picture one day and laugh at how little they all were.  I hope they find friendship in each other that is as special as the one I've found in their mommies!

Paul and Tina get married!

My little brother is married!!  Crazy...he has a wife and wears a ring on his left hand.  Tina is his perfect match and I couldn't be more excited for them both!

The wedding was two weekends ago at Cinnabar Hills.  It's a beautiful golf course and an amazing venue for a wedding (in fact, it was my suggestion over a year ago that they look into this venue...yes, you're welcome).  The ceremony was beautiful, food was yummy, music was awesome...everything was perfect!  Including my baby girl!

Brad and I were so anxious about the day.  After a total fail at the rehearsal dinner the night before, we had decided that Maya would stay home with dad and a bottle for the morning Vietnamese ceremony (which was awesome and I'm so thankful I was able to be a witness to such a beautiful tradition) and we'd only bring her to the traditional american wedding that afternoon.  Even so, we fully expected that dad would have to take Maya home early.  Much to our surprise and delight, she did awesome and we were able to stay to the very end! 

my hubby picked out his shirt and tie so we could coordinate...pretty cute!

Not the best picture...maybe Heather got a better one!

*I can't believe I don't have a picture with Tina...terrible since she's the bride and the title of this post has her name in it!

Maya Photo-shoot with Heather

I FINALLY had "newborn" pics taken of Maya.  You're supposed to have them taken between 7-14 days so they're nice and "mold-able", but I just didn't set it up in time.  Instead, our pics were taken when little missy was 6 weeks old.  We had such an awesome experience with Heather for our maternity pics, I knew for sure I wanted her to capture this special time with Maya.  As expected, the pictures turned out amazing!  I LOVE them and I'm so excited to share them with all of you!  I've attached a link to the slideshow so you can see them all and a few individual pics of my favorites...
http://smilebox.com/playEmail/4d6a4d344d6a55774f444e384e5455794e6a4d304e7a593d0d0a&sb=1

Grammy's here!

Brad's mom has come to town to visit with us and help with Maya.  I'm so excited to have her here!  It's not only great to have the help, but it's so fun to see Maya bond with her Grammy.

For the last few weeks, we've been dealing with Maya's fussiness, which we've been trying to convince ourselves is "normal".  It's been really difficult not knowing what's causing her to be so upset all the time and emotionally wearing as we go through all the options (hungry?  diaper?  tired?) and still have a crying baby.  For a while we just assumed she had some gas issues and were giving her Mylicon, but it seemed like there was more to the problem.  As new parents it's so hard to know what's "normal" and what to do.
When Grammy got here, she helped confirm that her fussiness was not "normal" and that we should take some further action.  Yesterday, we called and got an appointment with the pediatrician.  We had done some research online and the doctor confirmed our worries...our baby has acid reflux :(  It's good to finally have a cause for the fussiness, but now we're trying to find the right solution.  The doctor prescribed Zantac, which seems to help for the first couple hours after we give it to her, but then she goes back to fussy.  We read some mixed reviews online and I don't love the idea of giving my 5 week old medication, but I think we'll give it some more time to see if it'll help.  We also read out an all natural option called Colic Calm.  People who didn't have success with Zantac, seem to love this product and I love that it's all natural.  Hopefully she'll find some relief with one of the options!

In the meantime, we're loving our time with Grammy :)

Mama's first escape

Last weekend was my future sister-in-law's wedding shower.  Leading up to the day, I struggled to decide what to do with the Maya...take her along or leave her at home.  I knew there would be a lot of people who would love to see her, so part of me definitely wanted to bring her with me, but I decided that it would be better to leave her home.  With so many people there (and the venue was a senior living community), I didn't want her to catch any bugs.  I also knew I'd be very preoccupied and unable to focus on the shower guests and activities.  Finally, I was excited at the thought of getting out of the house for a little "alone" time.
Of course, leaving her home would be impossible if not for one key point- she needed to take a bottle!  Our doctor had advised that we should introduce the bottle between 3 and 6 weeks.  Before 3 weeks could cause nipple confusion and after 6 weeks would be too late and she would have a hard time learning the new skill.  With the shower the day after her 4 week "birthday", we knew we needed to introduce the bottle that week.  The first attempt didn't go very well, but try #2 and 3 were great!  She finally figured it out and I experienced a major mental relief to see her take the bottle from Brad.  I saw some freedom and flexibility in the future and I was ecstatic!  Not that I don't enjoy nursing my baby, but having the option of Brad taking over a feeding every now and then was a very exciting thought!  Not only does it give me some freedom, but we both like the idea that Brad could partake in the bonding by feeding her as well.
Here's my girl taking the bottle for the first time!  She's getting so big (really...she weighed 9lbs 4 oz at her dr appointment yesterday)!

The shower was wonderful and it was great to spend some time with my family.  I'm so excited for my brother, Paul and Tina!  The wedding is around the corner and I cannot wait for them to make it official!