TBT: Happy Birthday Auntie Cat!

Today is Auntie Cat's birthday, so of course my first Throwback includes Auntie Cat!

Happy Birthday Auntie Cat!  Have a great day!

The last to throwbacks I have from this month are babies playing and babies making goofy faces.

Weekend Wrap-Up

Hello Friends! It is almost August, but I'm not going to dwell on the fact that I only have 2 more weeks of summer vacation. I'm going to soak it all in and enjoy every last drop of it. We had the perfect summer weekend. Lots of family time...lots of sunshine...not much planned...naps...it was great.

Saturday

*We started out with a morning wagon ride (we love the new wagon- thanks Boom and Bops!).  As you can see from the bottom left picture, Callie refused to look at the camera.  It was because she was "too busy doing princess things."  She mistakes the wagon for a carriage, apparently.  That girl does have an awesome imagination.

*During Maya's first nap, I took Callie to get her first pedicure (speaking of princess things, jeez).  I wasn't sure how she would like it, but she did great.  Her feet were a little ticklish when the guy was buffing the bottoms of them, but she handled it like a champ.  We now have matching neon pink toenails.

*We went out for a family lunch, in which Chris wowed Callie with his "magic"...until she figured out herself that the utensils were magnets and could do it herself.  Maya was her usual goofball self.

*We spent the afternoon at the Wicks' house.  It is fun now that the big girls are old enough to play on their own with minimal supervision.  Dave got to hold the birthday twins- Kylie is exactly one year older than Maya!

Sunday

*We decided it was a perfect day to use the miniature golf groupon I bought awhile back. It was fun, but not the round of golf that Chris typically enjoys.  No score card was needed as Callie's main method of play was to immediately put her ball 6 inches from the hole in order to tap it in, and I had a 1-year-old strapped to my chest.

*There was a park near the golf course, so of course we had to hit that up. 

*We went to G-ma and G-pa's house for playtime and dinner. 

*And finally, I went to my Mom's on the Run group and ran the fastest 3 miles of my life.  Interval training works!  Also, the clouds were amazing.

My training is pretty much done (for this race).  I get to taper this week and the race is on Saturday.  Now it is time to trust my training, have confidence in my body, and hope that I will make it (with a PR)!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Maya Videos!

Poor baby.  I don't post videos of her very often.  At least not as often as I did of Callie when she was this age.  I do take some though, so here I am.  Catching up. 

Here are some Maya videos from July (with a couple Callie cameos as well).

Giggling down the hallway outside Auntie Mari's apartment (she is much faster now):


IMG 4317 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Being a goof at dinner:


IMG 4609 (3) from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

More stair climbing:


IMG 4620 (2) from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Playing and talking (and sticking out her tongue):


IMG 0637 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

And finally, you can see how serious she is about eating...and how she can sign "more":

IMG 0694 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

FTPDF

This has been a wonderful birthday week.

Maya is showing us every day what a big girl she is becoming.  As you'll see below, she has tackled the stairs and is a ridiculously speedy crawler.  She pulls herself up on anything (but doesn't really want to scoot yet).  She has taken a few steps holding on to my fingers, but she only goes a couple of steps at a time before getting mad.  She's not quite ready for that yet.  She also is vocalizing a lot more- we are pretty sure she can say "Kona" (though it sounds like "No-na"), but I haven't caught it on video yet.  It is so much fun to watch her learn and play!

Favorite Thing #1: She does a lot of the "who, me?" look when she is playing.

Callie is learning quickly that Maya is getting more and more capable of stealing her stuff.  We have heard a lot of "MAYA NO!" in a very whiny voice this week.  Ha.  But she can also be unbelievably sweet with her, and loves to go "wake" her up from her naps...which involves crawling in the crib with her.  They both love it.  I love our relaxed time at home.

Favorite Thing #2: Playing at home and outside.



Favorite Thing #3: Fountains at Centennial Lakes...and a selfie fail.

Favorite Thing #4: My last long run before the race!

Favorite Thing #5: Our front yard

The last, BIGGEST favorite thing, is the big 1st birthday that was on Wednesday.  So all of the next picture groups are part of Favorite Thing #6: The BIG BIRTHDAY.

Waiting for the party to start

Party People- G-ma was up at camp this week, so she sent herself "on a stick"

The Cake Smash!

Opening presents

Thanks to everyone for the birthday greetings and messages.  As you can see, we had an awesome day.

My last favorite thing is our slow little turtle climbing up some steps.  She is a cautious learner.  That's okay with me.


IMG 0640 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Have a great weekend!

TBT: 1st Birthday Style! (+ 1 year stats)

I'm sure it is fairly obvious that this week's throwbacks are going to be all 1st birthday madness!

We had an awesome family birthday party last night, so these pictures will give you a little preview to what is to come in the posts later this week.

The babies are 1! *sniff sniff*

Since I birthed them, I get to be in a TBT picture set for their birthdays.

Babies busy with their new birthday toys.

 

And of course, CAKE.  Maya was much less delicate than Callie was though
not over the top crazy.  It was the perfect amount of frosting face.
 

Lastly, Maya had her 1 year well child check-up today.  I didn't take pics at the doctor every time, but enough to see her grow from a little baby to a big baby.  

Here are her stats (and Callie's at the same age because I love doing comparisons).

Weight: 21 pds 1 ounce- 70th%ile (Callie was 21 pounds 11 ounces)
Length: 29.25 inches- 54th %ile (Callie was 29.25 inches too!)
Head Circumference: 46.9 cm- 93rd %ile (Callie was 47.9 centimeters)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAYA LEIGH!!!

Oh. My. Goodness.

It is our baby's birthday!!!!

I think this has been the best and fastest year of my life.

It was definitely more of a roller coaster ride than our baby #1 (i.e. no sleep and lots of screaming for a good number of months), but OHMYGOSH is she worth it.  Every single minute of it.

Seriously.  That face.

And now she is 1 and it is crazy and I am a little bit in denial and a lot excited for what the next year will bring.

Happy Birthday to my Squishy Little Love Bug!

55-Months-Old!

The 22nd has rolled around again, and this colorful character has been in our lives for 55 months.

I just went to check on what she was doing during her quiet time, and found her like this (again):

She is hilarious and stinky and brilliant and exhausting and inquisitive and stubborn and sweet and ridiculous and breathtakingly beautiful all rolled up into one little 38 pound preschooler.

A Picture of Personality

Since it is a real birthday week (and Callie's month birthday tomorrow), I decided to blog every day this week- Sunday to Sunday.

The Weekend Wrap-Up kicked it off yesterday, but today is something a little different.

I took a picture of the girls that (to me) completely sums up unique aspects of their personalities.  I was even able to describe them using alliteration.

Callie the Colorful:
She can be bright. She can be dark. And every color in between. 

Maya the Masterful:
Her smile (or stare or scream) can make anyone do her bidding.  And she knows it.

Weekend Wrap-Up

Oh Sunday night...you are here again.

We had a pretty chill weekend.  Mine began with my second to last long run before my race (in 2 weeks!).  The best way to describe the run was a very long wander.  My running app told me the mileage as I went, so I literally just kind of wandered up and down random streets, hoping that I'd make 10 miles and not too much more.  I did it, and found a couple of pretty sights to take pictures of too.

We decided to go to our old stomping grounds and check out Highland Fest on Saturday afternoon.  We went for the petting zoo and the wiener dog races.  Callie ended up not wanting to do the petting zoo, but Maya liked the goats. And then the wiener dog races started pushing nap time, but we did get to see the wiener dog costume contest, which was probably better than the races anyway.

The highlight for Cal was the rainbow flavored shaved ice, which she told me tasted like "WATERY RAINBOW JUICE!"...whatever that is.  She seemed to know.

Later, we went over to Uncle Dan's new house.  He and Callie played with some lawn darts, and then she pranced around in Hanna's shoes.

This morning the girls and I took Kona for a walk.

The later we went to have lunch with Auntie Mari and Gi-Gi.

We ended the day with an Ikea trip, some rabbit chasing, and a snuggle fest on the bed.  It was pretty awesome.  I don't know why we don't end every day like that.

The big 1-year-old birthday is on WEDNESDAY (what???), so we are in party preparation mode (which at this point just means HOLYCRAPWEHAVEALOTOFCLEANINGTODO mode).  It will all get done and be wonderful. :)

Have a great week!

FTPDF

Happy Friday Everybody!

We had a pretty typical summer week.  Cal did a couple days at preschool, I worked a little, Chris worked a lot, and Maya was a trooper wherever she went.

I'm really glad that we made the decision to keep sending Callie to preschool even though I'm home a lot of the summer.  At first I felt guilty about sending her and spending the extra money, but I honestly think it was the best choice we could have made for all of us.  She loves it there.  She plays with other kids, does fun projects, goes fun places, and keeps the same routine that we had going throughout the school year.  I love having one-on-one time with Maya (and a break from the constant negotiations that come with living with a preschooler).  So I'm going to give myself a big pat on the back for that smart decision.  High fives all around.

Miss Maya is my squishy little love bug who is starting to develop her own opinions.  It is pretty hilarious.  Her personality is emerging more and more every day and I LOVE IT.  She is especially entertaining when she is eating or playing with Callie or Kona.  Her facial expressions are priceless.  She also has developed a really good scream-squeal when she doesn't like something.  So that's fun...but anyway I can't BELIEVE she will be turning 1 on Wednesday and am flabbergasted by how fast this year went.

On to the pictures...

Favorite Thing #1: A Mommy/Maya trip to Southdale.  At one point we had
the whole play area to ourselves, which was kind of awesome.

Favorite Thing #2: Hanging out outside with Auntie Cat.

Favorite Thing #3: The beautiful weather that allowed us to be outside more
this week than any other week this summer.

Favorite Thing #4: Playtime and lunch at the splash pad with my co-worker Allie
and her daughter Makalya.

Favorite Thing #5: Lazy days of summer.  Including catching a moth
and a nap UNDER the bed.

Favorite Thing #6: The fact that we live on a very quiet cul-de-sac
so I can send Callie across the street to scooter on her own.
Yay for building independence!

 

Favorite Thing #7: Lunch downtown with Auntie Yoda and Auntie Cat.

Favorite Thing #8: Maya once again dominated sister playtime.

Favorite Thing #9: Dinner with Chris' cousins Arieanna and Alex (and G-ma and G-pa).

That's about it. Have a great weekend!