9 month update

Maya, you have grown so much this month! We haven't gone to your nine month appointment yet, so the official stats are still out, but your milestones have flourished in just 30 days!

You love solid food and refuse baby food at any chance you can get, though you still eat select squeeze pouches of food. Favorite foods are probably corn, Cheerios,  yogurt bites, Skyline chili, eggs and pancakes. I have never met a baby so willing to try new foods and love them all! You are my little adventurer with food.

                                                  

Already the inchworm army crawling days are behind you, as you now get up on all fours and crawl quickly from one part of the room to another (normally toward wires or whatever Elliana is working on). You love to stand, pull yourself up and cruise along furniture or walk with the help of your push toy. You wave bye bye, love to move and bounce along to music and have recently learned to play peek a boo with us by lowering your head and then lifting it up when we ask "where's Maya?". You always have such a big grin on your little face when you lift your head. ;)

A few unofficial stats:  

Teeth : 6

Weight : 20.2 lbs

Smiles : limitless! 

Naps : about 2 per day. 40-120 minutes each 

The past few nights you have begun sleeping through the night again (Thank you LORD!). Hopefully the pattern keeps up as we are all a little happier when we get a good nights sleep. I love you sweet girl, even if you refuse to say Mama and just ask for Dada all day long. :)

Third Annual Gingerbread Party

This week we hosted the third annual gingerbread party for a few of our friends. Just for kicks, I went back to the first year photos. We were a smaller group back then as the babies at the time weren't in the photo and we have since added new babies to our group. 

Gingerbread Party 2010

This week we hosted the third annual gingerbread party for a few of our friends. Just for kicks, I went back to the first year photos. We were a smaller group back then as the babies at the time weren't in the photo and we have since added new babies to our group. 

2 years later, 9 kids, 2 babies

Our annual Gingerbread Party is one of my favorite Christmas traditions. This years party was a huge success with our most amount of kids yet. The children ranged in age from 6 years to 9 months, and each child seemed to enjoy themselves. Despite the additional children, this years party was almost the easiest with the bigger kids running off to play with each other and using their own creativity to decorate their houses, rather than relying on the mommies. 

Lunch Time 

It seems like just yesterday I was shopping with a few friends just after Christmas, snagging those cute gingerbread shirts the girls are wearing below. We bought bigger sizes, knowing the kids had a year of growing before they would use them. Maya was just a growing baby in my belly, kicking with excitement as we shopped. Since then, I've blinked and now have a 9-month old, almost 4 year old and the third annual gingerbread party has come to a close. 

I am incredibly blessed to have such wonderful friends in my life. 

Group Photo

And, of course I want to give a big shout out of thanks to my mom, Nana. Nana started this tradition with her own first grade classroom when I was just a child, always reserving time and energy at the end of the school day to do more houses with my brother and I. Since beginning my own tradition, my mom has been by my side helping make icing, assisting the kids, and playing with all 11 kids to give us mommies a little bit of downtime. Mom, you are awesome! Thanks for helping make this tradition a success!

Nana and some little friends :) 

Elliana's Concert Debut

This past weekend Elliana debuted in her first school performance. For weeks she had been dancing and singing around the house, in the car, at the grocery...practically anywhere she felt the urge. I loved everything about the performance, but perhaps my favorite part was the 3-year old rendition of Away in a Manger.

I couldn't videotape the whole performance, so Elliana sang a solo for me post concert for us to cherish. Enjoy!