Right now

I have just woken up from a much needed nap. Maya has been under the weather the past couple days and sleep was deprived from both of us last night. I got less than four hours and she didn't come close to her much needed eleven. I don't know if it's teeth or a little viral thing. She's got the bulge of a new tooth showing on her top front left with a slight fever. So I blame that.
Buddy has just put her on the floor for some much needed play time and she's just looking at him like, "why Daddy? Why wouldn't you want to cuddle some more?"
She has been such a cuddlebug since she's been feeling crappy. Which I love. She's such a squirmer normally, it's nice to get this cuddle time in while I can. I hate that she's feeling so icky, but again am still loving the cuddly girl now.
Hayden is getting a good serving of Noggin today. I usually let him watch a couple shows after preschool to wind down and then he does his play time stuff. I slept through most of the annoying shows (not really that many) and now Max and Ruby is on. He's mesmerized by this one. And I do not get why..... A brother and sister bunny where the sister basically becomes Mommy and bosses the brother around.
Toys are scattered all over the living room floor and I am in no mood to have Hayden do clean up. I feel a head pushing up between my legs...
Maya has found me sitting in the chair behind my computer. She's just got a hold of my legs and is doing her puppy face cuddle me look. I believe it's bottle time. She hasn't eaten much today. Yep, there's the pout and a cry.
Gotta jet.

Pool Time!

Mother's Day is really early for me to be in the pool. Our pool isn't heated, we leave that up to the sun. Since it's already been in the 100's, the pool is warm enough to enjoy!

It was Maya's first time in the pool and she LOVED it! Her smile seriously never left her face. She was mostly just floating in her little craft, but she kicked and smiled the entire time!

First "submersion".

Her little craft. It's got a cover on it that we did put on (for you UV ray aversion people! and she is slathered in 50 SPF lotion.) :)


This is Hayden "swimming all by himself". I am going to get him signed up for swimming lessons soon. He mostly loves just hanging out on the big step playing in the water with toys, so we need to get him moving!

I was actually in it a couple days prior to this. Hench the major tan/sunburn lines on me!

So, here in Arizona we've already started our summer. In a couple of months, we will be hermits locked in the house with the safety of air conditioning. So all y'all who complained about the duration of winter, that's exactly what I'll be doing because of the summer here.

Happy Summer!!!

9 months and Growing!

So, I have a nine month old baby girl today! Seriously, where did the time go? Last week she was just, like, born.......

(Okay, so she was three weeks here)

And now, here we are.....

Sitting, crawling, laughing, babbling, two teeth, self-feeding, walking around the furniture.

Augh!! Seriously...SLOW DOWN!!!

Love this scrumptious baby girl though. Everyday is a marvelous treasure!!

San Diego!

We left Wednesday afternoon with a 6 hour drive ahead. I was dreading this drive. A three and a half year old and a 8 1/2 month old in my mind did not make for a great traveling pair. Well, that was shot down! Both kids were great car riders! A little whining from Hayden and a few little cries from Maya and that was all. Only one stop to eat and potty and we made it to San Diego well before our estimated time of arrival!

Thursday morning we headed off to SeaWorld! The weather couldn't have been more perfect. Cool in the morning to get us moving and by the end of the day I don't think it made it to 70. Hayden loved seeing all the fish and sealife. We went on rides in the little Sesame Street area, saw the dolphin show, Hayden went on the Journey to Atlantis ride and freaked out, and of course the Shamu show. Miss Maya was a trouper! She was in the stroller just taking it all in. We carried her when she was fussing to get out, but she just looked around and got excited at everything that moved in front of her. Only a couple short naps for this little girl. Too much to see! There were no meltdowns, never a "I want this", Hayden was so excited to just see everything. At the end of the day, we were all tired, a little suntouched, and ready to eat.

The next day, Friday, brought us to the San Diego Zoo. Hayden has been to the Phoenix Zoo's before, but he was younger and doesn't totally remember them. He had a blast looking and finding all the animals. Maya would lock her eyes on many of the bigger animals and chased the fish in the tanks. Mostly, she just loved being outside!

For pics of these two fabulous days, click the link!

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023597&id=1259767873&l=58864dd4d3

On Saturday, we just went where we wanted. We toured the ships (sorry, names of the ships are not sticking with me!) in the harbor. Walked through Seaport Village, toured the Naval Aircraft Carrier and went down to the beach. Hayden and Daddy loved the Naval ship. Hayden couldn't get enough of the planes and helicopters. He was able to sit in a couple of them and was pretty amazed. He couldn't believe the size of the beds that the crew had to sleep on on the ship. "They're really small!"

The beach was fun. Hayden didn't really like the sand between his toes. He had a hard time walking of course and got his shorts wet, so that was a disappointment to him. But, he seemed to think the ocean was pretty cool. I could tell Maya thought the water was great. The sound of the waves kept her calm and interested. She got her feet in the sand and water. Her feet were found by her hands, where the sand transferred to her fingers, which then transferred to her mouth. Her feet were quickly wiped clean.

All together it came to end a great day and a great trip! The ride home on Sunday morning was the same as the ride there. Both kids were great travelers and I am thanking God for making that happen! We all had a wonderful time in San Diego and I hope this is the beginning to many more family vacations for our little clan!

And for pics of the last day of our adventure, click this link!
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023601&id=1259767873&l=c90a30c79d

Daddy is Jealous!

If you know Buddy at all, you know he is a HUGE car fan. An all-time favorite is any Ferrari ever manufactured. Needless to say, Buddy is sssoooooo jealous of Hayden!!! (Probably a bit of me too, since he has never sat in a Ferrari before!)
A good friend of mine works at a local BMW dealership and we stopped by today to check out the new location and see Buddy's drool factor. Hayden was a little apprehensive about sitting in this 360 Ferrari, but once he put his hands on the black leather stearing wheel, he was in heaven!

If you can see Maya's expression back there, she was excited too!

Hayden pretty much sat in all the BMW's on the showroom floor and we did get pics of each, but this one takes the cake! Once he got in one, he wanted in all of them. His birthday wish list now includes the Ferrari along with a skateboard, a Corvette and a blue balloon. Two out of four isn't bad!

THANKS RENATE!!!

Holy Crap!

Most people, okay everyone, thinks Hayden looks just like me. I know this, but I don't see it. Until now! I was going through some pics that my mom gave me a couple years ago. And HOLY CRAP! Yep, he looks like me! See for yourself:

Hayden on his 1st birthday!

Me on my 1st birthday!

Hayden, age 3

Me around age 3.

I know these aren't quite as close, but you get the gist. Hard to find exact matches!

And then, there's me and Miss Maya. It's crazy that we all started out around the same size. We don't remember it, we only have pictures to show us. But still, it's really hard to comprehend that the babies we have are just like we were. Know what I mean?
Here's the reason I say this:

Maya, 6 months.

Me, Christmas 1976, 7 1/2 months

This is the only dress my mom saved of mine from way back when. Hopefully, it stays a treasure.
All done with my comparisons. It is crazy to look and see myself in these two. Hayden more so of course. I need to get my hands on some baby pics of Buddy to get some comparisons!

I apologize if this post is all over the place. It looks just fine on my posting page, but doesn't always do the right thing on the actual blog page.

We have a crawler!!

It's official, Maya is crawling! She's not breaking any land speed records yet, but she knows what to do to get what she's got her eyes on.



And, later that day, after so much moving and shaking, a hungry Maya could hardly eat her lunch.......

Baby Weight!

No idea why I posted this picture. It just jumped out and said "Post this one!" Yikes!

I am really disliking how long these last pounds are deciding to stay with me after the birth of my Maya 7 and a half months ago. I knew they weren't going to melt away, I knew I would have to work at it.

I am so sick of working at it!

I am at the gym 4-5 times a week. I sweat my butt off, my legs are killing me, my arms are ready to fall off and I am still frigging stuck! I've been doing a no sugar diet for two months. I have dropped 15 pounds because of this and exersize, but I have been saying that for a couple weeks now. I hate this. I am not indulging, not snacking on horrible crap, not drinking pop everyday and I am still staying away from sugar. Not everyday like I had been, but I don't eat it after dinner and I have it in VERY small incriments. AUGH.

And here I am, thinking I don't want to stop at two kids. But, I am going to be selfish and say, I am pretty sure I will because I don't want to go through this crap again! I love both of my little kiddos more than the world, loved being pregnant and will always carry a reminder of them with me, literally, but enough already!!

I enjoy getting to the gym and working at it, pushing myself and I do feel good. So geez, what's with my butt, gut and rutt?!

To the Chair He Went!

Hayden had his first visit to the dentist today!!! Leading up to it, he was excited, curious and very questioning. He was not the least bit scared.
Hayden had gone to the dentist with Buddy a few months back to get an idea of what it was all about. He was very interested and talked to the dental hygenist the entire time. Buddy will say again, they talked the entire time! So, he was so excited when I told him he gets to go to the dentist! He's been asking to go for a long time as his interest was peeked.

And here he is! Welcomed into the office with his name in print.....

He was a little hesitant to get onto the chair, only saying no once. Once he was on, the ride was smooth! The dentist was able to get in there right away, checking to make sure all the teeth that needed to be there were. All accounted for!

The pink teeth check. Hayden thought this was pretty cool. Pretty good brushing for a kid of his age! YEAH! I was a tad bit worried about this prognosis.

Getting the pearlies all polished up and clean! Such a brave guy! The dentist said we may not get this far since it was the first visit, but we made it all through flossing and flouride! Woo Hoo!!!
All cleaned up and sparkling! I am so proud of my little dude. I was so worried that it was going to be a fight made even harder by a squirmy 7 month old, but he was such a great kid today!!

Maya even got a little check. Bottom left front tooth should be popping through any day now!

What the.....?

I turned into our development today and almost hit a naked man.

Yep, a naked Ken doll was just sitting there in the road. I actually drove home, grabbed my camera and went back to take pics. I thought it was friggin hilarious! Someone seems to have "dropped" this in the middle of the road. To me, a naked Ken doll, literally sitting smack in the middle of the road, does not say "Oops!"

Baby Babbles

I enjoy nothing more now than the babbles that come out of Maya's mouth. It's so fun to just sit and listen to this Little Miss babble like she's holding a conversation. She is into dadadadada, bababababababa, and some super cute faces that coordinate with her noises.
Of course, when it comes to the camera in her face, the babbles become a smidge less. So, this is why, there are two!

Hayden's One-Liner

The things that come out of a childs mouth are amazing, crazy, weird, funny and much more. Hayden has been coming up with some doozies lately and I really need to start writing them down. So, with that in mind, this was the quote of the day:
I was putting on my makeup and H was right there with me watching the whole process. I caught him looking at me curiously. He then pointed to my eye and said, "Mommy, you have a crack on your eye!"

Seriously, stop!

It was just me and the kids tonight. Buddy has been working in Tuscon since the new year began and if they work late, he stays over. I had a late afternoon appointment, so my wonderful babysitter and her daughter came over for a couple hours. They left at eight and by then Maya was fast asleep, so it was just me and The Dude. Yes, when he's been a great kid or has done something simply Hayden, we call him, The Dude.

Hayden is not a napper anymore, but because he had gotten up a little earlier than normal and was worn out from fun at daycare, he fell asleep on the couch and slept for about an hour. This told me he was going to be up until at least 9 o'clock tonight. Oh, well, we'd just chill.

He was ready for bed at 8:3o. Teeth brushed, bathroom done, Pj's on. 9:15 or so he's getting tired and just wants to lay down by me. YEAH!!! Snuggle time! Before he does this though, he needs to go potty just one more time because I know he's going to fall asleep on me. Why do I know this? Because I have to put him to bed tonight and I want him to fall asleep on me! We head to the bathroom. He normally doesn't need help, but, when he's tired, things can go, well, not quite where they are supposed to.

As I help him pull his moose and raccoon Carter's pj bottoms on, I tell him, "Dude, you are getting too big, can you stop growing please?" He replies: "No, I want to get bigger. I have to get big like Daddy." A big hug and a big kiss from me and we proceed to the couch.

I place the pillow on my lap and he snuggles his head on top. I stroke his hair and rub his back. I tell him I love him and he says he loves me too. He falls asleep in about 7 minutes. I wait a couple minutes, carry him upstairs and snuggle him down into his bed.

Hayden is a blonde haired, blue eyed, handsome, forty pound 3 year, 5 month old little boy who wants to grow up to be big like his Daddy.

Time needs to stop, just for a little moment.

The Airplane Lady's Hat

I came across this hat today in Maya's "accessory" drawer. I put it on her after her diaper change and could not stop giggling. She just had this look on her face that was so dang cute, I tried to capture it again in a pic.

Anyway, the story on the hat! On the kids and my flight back to Arizona in October, a lady came up to us as we were starting to desend, handed me this hat and said, "this is for your baby." She had knitted this hat on a three hour plane ride for a baby girl she didn't even know. She sat probably 12 rows back from us.

Isn't it amazing how nice some people can be who don't know us, have never even met us and yet feel the need to give us a little something because we are sharing the same space for a short time? Sometimes even the people sitting in same row or right next to you don't even want to give you the time of day.

So, thank you, again, whoever you are, for the great hat for our little Maya. She looks so dang cute in it, I just wish she was able to wear it more than in the house for a photo op.

6 Months Old

My baby girl is 6 months old. I cannot believe I have had six months with this little wonder already. Time is flying simply way to fast. She rolls over, babbles constantly, sits on her own, sort of eats by a spoon, smiles, laughs, reaches, grabs, doesn't nap worth a crap, but sleeps through the night. When I go to get her in the morning, her eyes lock on me and a huge smile forms on that little mouth. She is so yummy, I do not want this babyhood to end.

Her well-baby check-up was today. She is 26 and a half inches tall and 16.15 pounds. Perfect, perfect, perfect.