TBT

Happy Thursday!  I have a variety of throwbacks today.

My first one is of babies in the mirror at hotels.  Callie was not quite 1-year-old and Maya was 14-months-old.

And then I thought I'd do one of just Maya...because you forget (or at least I do) how quickly babies change in the first couple years.

The squishy cheeks haven't changed, however.

Then, for fairness, I did one for Callie too.

And finally we have...VIDEO!!!

Tonight Maya FINALLY started taking steps using our push walker.  Callie did it on her 1st birthday (it was one of her birthday gifts), but Maya has pretty much refused to try it while walking until tonight (although the past few days she was pushing it around while walking on her knees).  Silly baby.

So here is Callie at 12 months:


Push Toy #1! from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

 

 



And Maya at 14 months (you'll also see what happens when we try to get her to do something (like walk on her own) that she doesn't want to do):


IMG 0247 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

The Pony Evolution

There were some giggles over Maya's ponytail this weekend. 

Some comparisons to Pebbles Flintstone.

Big eyes, squishy cheeks, high pony...ok, I see the resemblance.

So it got me thinking about her signature hair style, and got me curious as to when it actually evolved.  Because, while she did come out with a lot of hair, she didn't always have her adorable pony.

And it is hard for me to picture her now without it.

So I went back into my picture archives to do some research.

Her ponytail began its life in mid-May, with only a sporadic appearance throughout the rest of May and June.

Top left picture: Her first ever pony.

Once July hit and her hair was long enough to get into her eyes if not taken care of, the pony was a regular occurrence.

Of course, there were days that did not include a pony.  There were some sideswept days, some headband days, hat days, and even an occasional tiara day.  There was ONE day that we tried the pigtail ponies, and it has not been attempted again.

I'll give you 5 seconds to find the pigtail day and figure out why
that hasn't happened again.

I think she looks sweet in all the other hairstyles (or bedheadedness), but she just isn't quite MY Maya until she has her pony up high.

PONY PRIDE

I'm waiting for the day when she starts ripping out the binder or refusing to let me put a ponytail in.  But until then, I'll continue to enjoy my little Pebbles Flintstone doppelganger.

Weekend Wrap-Up: The Uncle Joe's Wedding Edition

Hello!  Maya and I are back from a whirlwind weekend trip out to Connecticut for my Uncle Joe's wedding.  We left Friday morning- right around nap time, of course.  The way out was rather challenging, as there was almost an hour delay (after we were already ON the plane), so all in all we spent over 4 hours on the plane for a 2 hour 20 minute flight.  Maya slept about an hour, but was pretty restless for a lot of the flight.  We were glad once we were on the ground (and OFF the dang plane)!

The airport is the only place that this sweet girl doesn't get very many smiles
and loving glances.  Mostly people are probably thinking, "CRAP.  A BABY.
PLEASE DON'T LET THEM SIT BY ME."

At least that is what I always think other people are thinking. 

Anyway, we made it (late) and Uncle John picked us up.  Maya and I skipped the rehearsal so she could nap, and then we met up with everyone for the rehearsal dinner.

Pictures on the left: Baby playing in the hotel and then peek-a-boo at the dinner
Pictures in the middle: My cousin Karl and Auntie Mari; Maya with Auntie Yoda and Craig
Picture on the right: Great Margie and me

I spent a lot of time in our dark hotel room waiting for the little one to fall asleep and then actually sleep.  Her nap schedule was totally thrown off, but it all worked out ok.  She just didn't end up falling asleep until 10pm EST on Friday night because she is a stinker.  Thankfully that translated into her sleeping til 8:30am on Saturday morning.  We spent time napping and playing on Saturday morning before the wedding.

I didn't actually get to see very much of the wedding, because I was out in the hallway with this little stinker.  I was able to go in for a bit because I assisted with communion.  Otherwise I listened to it and tried to peek in the back every once in awhile.

After the wedding I went to Uncle Joe's house, set up the pack-n-play in his kitchen, and Maya napped for awhile in between the wedding and the reception.  It worked out pretty perfectly, actually.  It was a late nap, so she was ready to rock and roll for dinner and a little bit of dancing.

Top left: My dinner date; Bottom left: Chatting with Uncle Joe
Top right: Me and my Godfather; Bottom right: Boom and Auntie Yoda

Everyone was rocking out on the dance floor!

It was a really fun wedding, and we are all so happy for Uncle Joe and Carolyn! This morning we had breakfast with the fam, waited for Maya to nap (once again), and then headed to Joe and Carolyn's house for lunch.  Then Boom and Bops dropped Maya, Mari and me off at the airport for our flight home.  It went MUCH better.  She napped for over an hour and was much more easily entertained than the first flight. 

Picture on the left: Maya and Carolyn
Middle bottom: Aunt Jenny playing with Maya

We were so glad to land and were greeted by Daddy and Callie.

The girls were so happy to see each other, my heart melted.

Callie and Chris kept busy with play dates, going to a movie, dance class, Sunday school, and cleaning!  Our house looked great when we got home. 

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

TBT

Happy Thursday!  Here are my throwbacks for today:

Cincuenta September accomplished

Babies busy playing

Babies busy walking (Callie on her own, Maya with some help)

Sweet girls in their "I Love My Daddy" shirt

I'll see you back here on Sunday (no FTPDF tomorrow) after a quick weekend trip out east (just me and the baby) for my Uncle Joe's wedding!

Mission Cincuenta September: Accomplished, Part II

At the beginning of September, I set a goal for myself: RUN 50 MILES IN SEPTEMBER.

I made a chart.

I'm happy to say, 30 days (and one crappy month) later, I met my goal.

Some of the runs I did were a huge test of mental toughness more than physical ability. 

I had a helper with me today, much like I did with my last few miles of my 2012 Cincuenta September success story.

My last 3.5 miles were done with my littlest cheerleader, and I'm actually very proud of myself for sticking with it and making it to the end to reach my goal.

So now I need to set a goal for October, because I know that I need to have some sort of goal in order to actually do something.  But I'm going to do it a little different and call it...

OCHENTA OCTOBER

 

No, I will not try and run 80 miles in October.  My new goal is to exercise (in some form) for 80 minutes per week.  I'm including this week, so there will be 5 weeks.  Therefore, I'm aiming for 400 minutes of exercise in October.

 

We'll see how that goes...

Weekend Wrap-Up

We seemed to get back to regular life this weekend, which was a nice change from the past couple of weeks.  Can you believe the Midwest weather the past few days?  At the end of September?  It was SO hot today, I almost wished for fall sweatshirt weather.  Almost.  It was pretty rad to be outside in a tank top.

Saturday

We had a pretty low-key Saturday- dance class, and play time.

I don't think I will ever get tired of watching 4-year-old dance class.  It is adorable.
I also never get tired of watching 1-year-olds play.  Also adorable.

Sunday

Laura and I ran a 10K race!  It took place on my all time favorite running route, it was a women only race, and it was a beautiful morning for a run. 

In case you can't see our shirts, they say "Will Run For Wine."  We got
a few compliments on them.

That is the last race I am signed up for at the moment, so we'll have to see what happens with my running.  I may need to set an October goal and make myself a new chart.

Callie spent the day with G-ma and Pa at the apple orchard and Taylor's Falls.  They met Chris' aunt, uncle and cousins there and Callie had a GREAT day!

Miss Maya had a nice day as well.  She had lunch with Mommy and Auntie Yoda, took a good nap, and went with Mommy and Daddy to the outlet mall.

She is currently in what I call the "drunken sailor with assistance" phase of walking.  I think you'll see what I mean when you watch her walk in this video.


IMG 2377 (1) from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

It was actually kind of nice to have just Maya with us today.  Normally, when it is the four of us, Callie is the one that dictates where we go and what we do.  This time we got to focus on the little one without interruption.  But she was definitely excited to see her big sister when she got home.

As for the big sister's behavior, it was marginally better.  She is still very emotional and FREAKS OUT at the drop of a hat.  I don't know if that is her response to feeling our sadness and stress the past couple of weeks, the fact that she is four and doesn't know how to handle her emotions, the fact that she really could still use a nap every day but doesn't take one, or something else.  But I guess I'm just really hoping that it is a short phase, because the nightly meltdowns are getting pretty old.

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend!  And have a great week!

FTPDF

Happy Friday!  It feels good to get to the end of another long, hard week, and even better to be getting to the end of September.  I'm not going to lie, this week has been pretty terrible.  Along with grief and emotional/physical exhaustion, the girls have both had colds and been pretty crabby.  Callie has been especially and ridiculously unpleasant and we have been dealing with some poop issues and meltdowns again.  Pray for our sanity this weekend, because the last few days haven't been pretty.

I'm ready for September to just be over and hope that October is better.

I have already posted a lot of the pictures I took this week in the other posts, so I'm going to use most of this Friday post to share pictures of the memorial services on Tuesday.  Thanks to my Aunt Mary for taking the beautiful pictures.

We started the day at Fort Snelling National Cemetery.  We had an internment of both my Grandma and Grandpa, with military honors for my Grandpa's time in the Navy.

Retired military members

Active military members

Rifle squad

After that service, we headed to Eau Claire for lunch and then the memorial service for my Grandma. It was nice to meet her pastor, who had wonderful stories to share about her.  We got to meet a lot of Grandma's bridge and church friends, and see some family that we hadn't seen for awhile.

Beautiful memorial flowers

 

 

A family prayer before the service

 

We all gathered back at my parents' condo for dinner and took the opportunity to toast Grandma, take some family pictures, and spend time together.

 

Josh, Mari, Bops, Callie, Boom, Chris, Kati, Maya, Craig, Laura

Jim, Coco, Josh, Mari, Bops, Callie, Boom, Chris, Kati, Maya, Craig, Laura, Larry, Mary

 

 

 

I'll leave you with a few pictures of the girls from this week to try and get back to normal.

 

This girl loves to play

Where's Maya?  Peek-a-boo!
(Thanks for the cute pictures, Pa!)

 

Girls getting ready for bed

Girls reading about dinosaurs in the hammock

And a cute Maya video, showcasing her always improving scooting skills. 

 

IMG 2324 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

 

 Hope everyone has a nice weekend.  It looks like the weather is going to be amazing...so enjoy it!