A Girl and Her Teddy Bear--6 Months

Baby girl is 6 months old.  Seriously, where has the time gone?  It is flying by much faster this time around and it's breaking my heart!

Maya has learned SO much this month!

She now says "dada" and will typically do it on command.  

She learned how to sit up a lot better.  I still don't leave her for very long, but I don't feel like she's going to topple over every time I take my hands off her!

And best of all, Maya has learned how to get around a bit more.  She can turn around 360 degrees, and she is really attempting to crawl.  She started about 2 weeks ago (when Samantha learned to crawl) but she isn't too coordinated yet.  Her first attempt started by putting her head face down in the carpet, sticking her butt in the air and then getting on her toes and trying to inch forward.  As you might guess, it didn't work very well.  Since then, she has put her weight on her arms, but she still gets on her toes to try and inch forward.  Also doesn't work very well! :-) She'll occasionally get on her knees and rock, but I'd guess she's still about a month away from actually crawling.  But, you never know.  Once it clicks, it just clicks.  

I keep hoping that she is learning to sleep better.  In the last month, I'd say she's had 2 nights that I could live with on a regular basis.  Nights where she sleeps 5-6 hours at the same time I do!  Usually, she's still waking up about every 3 hours.  Not as bad as the every 1/2 hour-1 hour that she did for about a week, but still not ideal.  But, she'll learn eventually.  

She also started eating solids last week.  She's had cereal and bananas.  She has already gotten pretty good at swallowing without spiting everything out!  She seems to like it too, because she was able to eat a whole bowl of cereal and probably could have eaten more!

And here are some more photos to round it all out!

We started "un-swaddling" her this month, a whole 2 months before her sister. It was a lot easier this time, but man, my kids really like to be swaddled!

My daily nap with Maya while her sister sleeps in the next room.  

Maya and her friend Minnie, who, surprisingly enough, is only 3 months older than Maya!

Next month, on Maya's 7 month birthday, we'll be a week away from moving into a new house in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta.  I likely won't post until after...(got to make sure she gets her pictures on the right couch with the right teddy bear, right?)

A Girl and Her Teddy Bear--5 Months

I have a very legitimate reason for not taking or posting Maya's teddy bear pictures until now...we were in Utah when she turned 5 months and we have since been living at Derek's parents house while our house is on the market which meant I didn't have the teddy bear (or the chair) to take pictures!  I dropped Samantha off at a friends house this morning and ran over to our house with Maya to take the pictures!  So here you go!

She was much more interactive with the bear this month.  It's going to be interesting to continue with these each month!

Maya's biggest accomplishment this month was that she started sitting up!  She was just shy of her 5 month birthday when she did it, so that's fun.  It's still in the very beginning stages of sitting up, but I'm glad she learned to sit up before she learned to crawl, like some older sister I know...

Speaking of crawling, I have a (bad? or is it good?) feeling that she's going to start crawling, or at least moving forward in some way or another, soon.  When she's on her stomach and her toys get pushed too far away, she kicks her legs furiously trying so hard to get.  It's only a matter of time before she figures out how to propel herself forward!!

Maya is the WORST teether.  Poor girl.  And poor me.  And poor Sam too.  Actually, no one is happy when Maya isn't happy!  She sure has learned how to scream!  But, it makes me sad knowing that it's a scream of pain!  No teeth yet, and I don't predict they'll be here anytime soon, although if I had my way, she'd have been born with a full set!  

I'm guessing that the teeth are also the culprit behind Maya's sleep habits as of late.  I told a friend today that she had one of her best nights last night, but when I thought about it, she still woke up every hour, except for one 2 hour stretch.  Apparently, that 2 hour stretch was heaven sent, because I thought that was a good night...I might be losing it a little bit, but this too shall pass, right?

When Maya's not screaming in pain or sleeping, she's still a smiley and happy baby.  She still loves her jolly jumper more than anything, except maybe her sister.  

Speaking of Samantha, I feel like I should jot a few things down that she's been doing.  

We are in the never-ending phase of "why?" I thought I had another 6 months before this started, but alas, it's here and I have a feeling it'll be here for awhile.  Give me patience!

Sam still loves numbers.  Not only can she count to 20, she can know count to 100 by 10's and to 1,000 by 100's.  We started counting to 50 by 5's, but she doesn't have that one down yet.  

Samantha is definitely her father's daughter!  She is very logical and straight-forward.  While we were in Utah, my brother, Tyler, was playing a game with Sam and his daughter, Grace.  He said, "Samantha, quick, come hide.  The witch is over there!" Samantha walked to where he had pointed, looked back and said, very matter-of-factly, "No.  There's no witch there!"  We're still working on her creativity talents...:-)

Okay, back to Maya.  Here are some pictures of her 5th month.  

This was a month of meeting family members for the first time!  She met all of her aunties and uncle and cousins from Derek's side and all her uncles and aunt and cousins from my side this month, plus much of both of our extended families!  Unfortunately, we somehow missed getting a picture with Carolyn, Jeff, Tyler and Chelsea...and apparently, I really like a certain outfit and all the pictures were taken while she was wearing it!  Haha!

Stay tuned for next months Teddy Bear post.  It's sooner than you might think, and then this baby will be 6 months old!  Crazy talk!

A Girl and Her Teddy Bear--4 Months

Baby is 4 months old already.  I can't get over that.  But, as it was with Samantha, it just keeps getting better and better.  Sure, I miss the newborn part-it's over so fast-but nothing beats a baby who continues to gain a little personality and share it with everyone around her!  Here are her teddy pictures!

Maya weighs 13 lbs 6 oz.  She's been gaining about a pound a month.  Definitely slowed down on the chub side, but she's still got the rolls to know she's healthy!

Maya is ALL SMILES.  Seriously, you look at her and she smiles at you.  You make any sort of noise and she giggles like crazy.  She's pure joy!

One of the biggest milestones she reached this month was rolling over from back to front.  I honestly thought and hoped I'd get a baby that wasn't as active as Sam was, but she was only 1 week shy of when Sam started rolling over.  Now I can't put her down on the bed or anywhere that she might roll into things anymore which has definitely made my life a smidge harder.  I do hope she doesn't start crawling before she learns to sit like Sam did.  I just need a kid that I can sit down with a bunch of toys to satisfy her. 

Speaking of toys, she has also started really grabbing things and putting them into her mouth.  The only problem with this is that she's not completely coordinated.  So, if she drops it, she can't always get it back and that gets pretty frustrating for her!  It's hilarious watching her though.  It's right in front of her face and she just doesn't know how to reach out and grab it.  She grunts and groans until one of us comes and fetches it for her.  So funny!

I'd like to claim that she's become a better sleeper (she's not a bad sleeper, but she just hasn't changed much since she was born) because she slept for a glorious 7 hours last night (11-6), but I have a feeling that was just because she had her 4 month shots yesterday, so she's extra sleepy.  We'll see.  

Maya LOVES her sister.  Anytime Samantha looks at her she just giggles and giggles.  Samantha is the only one that can get her that excited.  It's so precious watching them interact. 

That's it for this month (I always feel like I forget a million things when I go to write these!! Oh well.)  We've got cousins, aunties and uncles visiting next week and then we head down to Utah for the last two weeks of the month.  It should make for an exciting July!

A Girl and Her Teddy Bear--3 Months

Baby girl is 3 months old today.  It felt like the first two months went by super fast but this last month has taken forever.  I felt like I was telling people she was 2.5 months the whole month!  I'm not complaining.  If it feels like it's taking forever, that just means she's not growing up too fast, and I'm okay with that!

Maya has really started to get a personality!  She is SUPER smiley.  I wouldn't say she was the smiliest baby I've ever seen, but compared to Samantha, she's a super smiley baby.  It's also not as hard to get her to giggle.  I swear it took everything I had to get Sam to smile or giggle, but Maya does it easily.  It's so rewarding to look down at her and just see her gaze up at you with the biggest smile on her face.  Adorable!

Her "talking" has also gotten a lot more frequent.  I find it funny that just a few weeks/months ago, she barely made a peep except to tell us she needed something.  Now she's making noise just to hear herself speak.  Totally cute. 

Maya found her feet a couple days ago.  She hasn't stuck them in her mouth yet, but she'll grab onto them.  I love that stage!

I swear she'll be rolling over in no time.  When she's lying on her back, she'll arch her back and turn her head searching for the soother.  She just needs to kick a leg over and she'll roll over with ease.  Samantha was about 3.5 months when she rolled from back to front and I was hoping it'd take Maya a little longer.  Not looking like that'll be the case!

Her sleeping habits at night are sporadic.  One night, she'll go until 4 or 5 without eating, and the next it'll be 2.  But she always gives us at least a 3 hour stretch while we're asleep.  

Chubber! 

Mother's Day

See that smile?  Melts my heart

Enough

The sweetest thing just happened.  I ran upstairs because I heard Sam crying.  Her light was still off so I knew before entering that she had indeed fallen asleep when I put her to bed.  When I opened the door, she was sitting cross-legged on her bed with tears running down her face.  Upon seeing me, she immediately stopped crying.  I asked her what was wrong as I was walking towards her and the only thing she did was lie back down on her pillow with a big yawn.  I started rubbing her back as her eyes began to droop.  She was back asleep and snoring within minutes.  As I sat there looking at my little 2 year old, I couldn't help but feel overwhelmingly blessed.  I just
stared at my beautiful girl and knew my life, in this moment, was perfect.  She drives me nuts most days, tests my patience every day, and yet, as I looked at her, I knew how blessed of a life I was living.

As I looked at her, I began thinking about myself as a mother. I began thinking about all the things that I wish I did better because my sweet little Samantha deserves the best.  I thought about regrets.  I thought about what I could do to be all that I could for her.  And then I stopped.  I looked at her and I stopped thinking those things.  I'm not perfect.  I know that.  You know that.  We all know that.  But, I'm enough.  I looked at her and I thought about the fact that all she needed when she woke up upset was to see me.  She saw me and was comforted immediately.  She laid back down and fell asleep immediately, knowing that I was there to watch her and comfort her.  I was enough.  And I am enough.

I think as moms, we are the worst at this.  We constantly think about how imperfect we are, and what we can do to become more perfect as mothers.  We want the best for our kids, right?  So we want to be the best for our kids.  But we need to stop that.  Of course it's okay to strive to be better each day; I'm not saying that.  But, we need to stop giving ourselves such a hard time.  We are enough for our kids.  We are what they need.  We are doing our best and we need to stop beating ourselves up for the things we do wrong.

I love my kids.  I love them more than anything.  They know that.  And that's enough!