The Winter Woods

I wasn't sure if we were going to see snow this Winter.  Like, real snow, not just a dusting here and there.  We had gone all of November, December, and January without any real snow.  But today we got some, and there's even more in the forecast in a few days!

Since it was snowing, we thought it only fitting to watch Tinkerbell's Secret of the Wings movie, since it's all about finding Periwinkle in the Winter Woods, and enjoy the snow day!

Snow outside and snow on TV!  Yes, it's a snow day!

We played inside for a bit and then headed over to Walgreen's to pick up some photos for Kate's and Maya's Grands to include with the little Valentines's were sending.  Ever since the warm day we had at the beginning of the month, Kate has been super excited for Spring and for it to be warmer so she can wear dresses "without pants".  Her words.  As long as she is warm, I'm ok if she dresses herself in Spring dresses, and she looked absolutely adorable in her ensemble today.

Maya is nearly crawling...

She can easily get to where she wants to go.

And she loves Kate's stuff...

What a cutie!

Winter hat, penguin hoodie, spring dress, leggings,
snow boots, and a Tiana doll.  The only way I got her
to look at the camera was with this doll.  She is still
all about the princesses and she wanted to be sure I
remembered which one she DOES NOT yet have.

Part of the Valentine packages that we're sending
to all of the Grandparents.

It's been such a mild winter that it hardly feels like Spring is right around the corner.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, but it's just been a really strange season.  It was wonderful to see some of the white stuff before it is officially Spring!

Pancake Breakfast

Brian's Aunt Judy is an incredible person.  She is so loving and caring.  She loves to laugh and crack jokes, she adores her grandnieces, and she is beautiful inside and out.  She is also deaf.  She was born unable to hear and has accustomed herself extremely well in an otherwise hearing world.  She can lip read like nobody's business, and she can communicate back to you easily.  I know that being deaf isn't easy, but, for the most part, Aunt Judy makes it seem like it is.

Brian's other Aunt, Aunt Kathy, is fluent in sign language and has always had a very big part in communicating with the deaf community.  She also taught at a deaf preschool for many, many years!  This past weekend, Aunt Kathy hosted a pancake breakfast for 15-20 people from the deaf community at her church and we were more than happy to attend.

It truly is incredible to be a part of such a wonderful group of people.  It's not everyday that you, as a hearing person, are the minority.  It's a real eye opener, and I enjoy the opportunity that it gives us to a.) meet wonderful new people, b.) support Aunt Judy and her friends, c.) introduce Kate to the differences that make us all unique, and d.) learn some of a new language.

Kate has been working on signing the 'I love you' sign and has finally got it down.  She was SO EXCITED to show Aunt Judy!

Aunt Judy and Maya!

Kate and Aunt Judy signing 'I love you' to each other!

Aunt Judy being her silly self with Kate.

We love you too, Aunt Judy!

Thank you, Aunt Kathy, for hosting such a wonderful breakfast, and thank you, Aunt Judy, for being the amazing person you are!  We love you both.

The Windows Are Open

Well, they were open, for about 3 hours today!  It's February 3rd...in central Ohio!  It was AMAZING!  The sun was shining, the breeze was blowing, the temperature was around 60 degrees F and I opened all of the windows in the house.  Seriously.  All of them.  The fresh air was amazing and it smelled so good!  The thermostat didn't go below 65, and even though it was a tad brisk, the fresh air smell made it all worth it.

We took this wonderful weather opportunity and enjoyed some time outside snapping some photos, running around, and picking up dog poo from the yard.  Such a glamorous life, right?!  When Kate awoke from her nap, and was playing with her dolls on the couch she said, "Mommy, I'm so chilly in this house.".  In my defense, girlfriend only had a dress on, no leggings, and I even asked if she thought I should close the windows to which she replied, "No.".  Yes!  I get to keep them open just a little bit longer!

This weather isn't going to stick around.  It's going to get a lot closer to average tomorrow but we sure enjoyed it while it was here.  Spring is right around the corner!  We can almost taste it, and I imagine we are going to be spending a lot of time outdoors!

First up on the agenda: opening a little Valentine package that
we received from GG & Grampy!

Maya loved the red paper strips that the Valentine lovies were
packaged in!

So we played with them for a little bit too!

And tasted them!

Outside for some Valentine photos and Maya was
so intrigued with the mulch and Kate was way
more interested in running around.  I took a gazillion
photos and they all look like this.

So I opted for some individual shots!

I love her!

Oooohhh, mulch!  Yum!

This is the saddest face, but for some reason it
makes me smile.  She was all tears because I
wouldn't let her eat the mulch.  #mamassomean

Two seconds later she was back to being her
happy self and was looking for the right moment to
snag another bit of mulch.

But how adorable is she in her navy and red hearts
ensemble?  I mean, seriously.  I can't even with the
cuteness.

Maya cannot take her eyes off of Kate, so this
was the best I got of her beautiful smile!

Maya couldn't take her eyes off of Kate because
she was running wild around the yard.

Windows open and loving it!

My snoozing little love.  That little striped tush
has my heart!

Spoiler Alert

There are no groundhogs at the zoo.

I was hoping that there would be some fuzzy little guys there since it is Groundhog Day, but low and behold there are none.  There were some prairie dogs which I was willing to compromise with but we didn't see any of them so it was a groundhog type of animal fail for me.  Kate and I talked about groundhogs and we sang a little groundhog song, but that was our extent of celebrating this little holiday.

Note that Punxsatawney Phil did NOT see his shadow, indicating an early spring, but Buckeye Chuck (Phil's Ohio counterpart) DID see his shadow indicating six more weeks of winter... Tomorrow is supposed to be beautiful and because I am perpetually cold I'm going to have to side with Phil on this one.  Fingers crossed!

Fortunately, we were able to see a bunch of other animals and explore some other areas of the zoo we had not visited before.  There were hardly any people at the zoo today so we got to get up close and personal to all of the exhibits with animals present.  It was nice.  And, speaking of animals, we got a great glimpse of the lions and the lion cubs!  They were all outside in an area that is "closed" for the winter but a zoo employee told Kate, Maya, and I that the lions might still be out so we decided to check them out.  I was amazed at how many cubs there were!  I thought there were only three but we counted five!  We also got to hear the lions roar which was pretty cool, if I do say so myself!

Maya was just darling throughout our zoo adventure.  We bundled her up in the stroller and shortly after we started walking around she fell asleep and slept for the rest of the time we were there.

It was nice to get outside again and even better to see some animals!

Happy Groundhog Day to you and hopefully we'll see that early Spring weather sooner rather than later!

When I asked Kate what animals she wanted to
see she said, "Lions!".  Thankfully they were out!
#momwin

Three adult lions and five lion cubs!

Our bundled one!

This picture just melts me.

And 10 minutes later, after being snug as a bug in
a rug, she was snoozing!

Checking out the aquarium!

And Manatee Bay!

It was feeding time so we got to see the manatees munching on
lettuce and watch the turtles and fish swimming by!

A Stop at the Park

We went to the park on the way home from running a few errands today and Maya got to enjoy her first real outdoor swing!  We had a blast playing together and got some much needed outdoor time!

It was a wonderful day!

I'd say she liked it!

My girls intrigued at the recess whistle!

Rolling down the street...

Attempting to slide but waiting for Kate!

Kate was saying, "Heellp mmeeeee!", at this point but I
insisted on taking a picture.

She eventually got all the way up and took off
running so I couldn't take her picture.

But I zoomed in on the one below and kind of
got one of her!

She has not been interested in photos recently.

Me and my littlest and her cute, cold, little red nose!

When we got home, we got out the heart craft supplies that Mimi
dropped off and got to work making some Valentine's...since the
others didn't work out so well...

Six Months Old

Maya is six months old.  SIX MONTHS!  Time has flown by and I cannot believe she is already half of a year old.  In addition to this, Kate is six months in to being a big sister, Brian and I are six months in to being parents of two, and we are all six months in to being a family of four.

What a better way to commemorate this half birthday than a little check-in on all of us!

Maya
In honor of our birthday girl, we'll start with her first!

We had Maya's six month appointment today and learned that she weighs 15 lbs. 12 oz. (40th percentile) and is 25 1/4" tall (20th percentile).  She's a petite little one but that doesn't stop her from getting around.  Maya is mobile.  Yes, people, you read that right.  She's not crawling, yet, but she does this combination army crawl/inchworm/roll type of thing that gets her where she needs to go...and quickly.  In the next few weeks, girlfriend is going to have crawling down pat and that is SCARY!  I'm not sure if she's trying to keep up with her big sister or what but Kate started crawling around 9 months, so seeing Maya this mobile at 6 months is really shocking to me.

In addition to being so mobile, Maya has also attempted waving on command.  I think I've seen her do it a handful of times, and as a very proud Mommy of this wonderful little girl, I'm going to consider all of these times successes!  She also totally knows her name.  Every time she hears it, she looks adoringly at whoever called it!

Maya is successfully reaching for me when she wants me and reaches for me when I go to pick her up.  She is very much a Mama's girl right now, like, starts fussing when I get up to leave her sight and don't have her in tow or throws a full on screaming crying out of nowhere if I completely leave her sight for a moment, like, grabbing something from the kitchen.  I know these phases are fleeting, so I continue to soak each and every one of them up.  And, to be honest, it melts my heart a teensy bit every time she wants me.  #mamamakesitbetter  #fornow

Maya is a vocal little one but gets really high pitch loud when she's hungry or tired.  She is SO a creature of habit and loves her a schedule.  As a matter of fact, she kind of made her own schedule.  She wakes around 8-8:30 am most days.  Then takes a morning nap around 10 am for 45 min to an hour.  Then takes a 2-3 hour afternoon nap starting around 1:30 pm.  I typically start baths for Kate and Maya after dinner, shortly after 6 pm these short winter evenings, and after bath Maya wants to be fed and go to bed.  No doddling after bath for this one.  She wants to snuggle with her purple blanket, get nice and cozy, fill her tummy, and enter slumberland.  I mean, I strategically take Maya out of the bath last if Kate does bathe with Maya because once Maya is out she is ready for bed.

Over the last couple of months she has starting waking up more in the night - 2-3 times - but, again, I'm soaking up all the phases, even the middle of the night ones.  I know they won't last.

Maya tried rice cereal for the first time yesterday and sweet potatoes are next on the list.  I'm interested to see how she likes them for it seems she's been pining for food for months!  And she has two teeth now, so it won't be long before we add cheerios and other finger foods into the mix too!

She continues to be the world's easiest, happiest, and sweetest baby.  I am still amazed at how much she smiles, how easy going she is and how adorable she is.  I mean, other than me leaving her line of sight and being ready for bed immediately after bath, I rarely hear Maya cry.  Even when she wakes up, a lot of times she still just lays there in bed and looks around and cuddles with her blanket!

At six months old, Maya continues to amaze me.  She is so smart and down to earth and such a complete and total joy.  She is the perfect addition to our family!

Kate
Kate continues to amaze me as well.  She is the cutest big sis and still gets the biggest and best smiles from Maya without any prompting.  It's almost as if Maya saves those smiles for Kate only and lets them shine when they are together.  Kate continues to snuggle, cuddle, kiss, and wrestle Maya at all times, however, with Maya's recent turn of mobility, we have seen and heard a bit of, "I don't want her to touch my [fill in the blank]..." or, "She can't play with [fill in the blank]...".  We're working on this but it is but a minor bump in the grand scheme of things.

Kate is still so sweet to Maya and will fetch her lovies, toys, teethers from the freezer, etc. and will literally tell you what Maya wants/needs when she wants/needs it.  And most times I believe her.  It's like a sister telepathy these two have and I'm not going to mess with the forces.  I'm just going to go with them!

I am super proud of my big girl for being such an impressive big sister and role model and I look forward to seeing her grow and shine in her new role.

Mommy
I am six months in to being a Mommy of two and it's becoming harder and harder to remember what life was like with just one child.  I've continued to incorporate both girls into our daily activities, unless one or the other is napping, and everything is working out pretty well.  I'm adjusting to life at home with these two lovely ladies (and our crazy dog) and thanking my lucky stars for living such a blessed life.  I mean, these two little girls are all mine and I get to be their Mama.  What did I do to deserve this?  I don't know but I am extremely grateful for it.

Now, don't get me wrong, there are times that I am so curious as to what my blood pressure is, but then I will get one child satisfied with whatever she needs and move on to the next and am able to take a deep breath.  For the most part, my day is full of joy with these two and I absolutely cannot wait for warmer days and more sunshine so we can get outside more!

Daddy
Brian is six months into being a Daddy of two and I think he really enjoys it!  He gets to conversate and play with his oldest daughter (when she lets him) and snuggle and coo at his youngest daughter (when she lets him).  I asked him the other day how he thought he'd handle getting two girls ready in the morning before work and he got this distant, fearful look in his eye and said, "I have no clue...", so I'm thinking he's enjoying me staying at home too!

These girls are his pride and joy and he continues to be amazed at how intelligent, beautiful, and amazing they both are.  I know it because he tells me and I can see they way he looks at them.

So, a very, merry half birthday to you, Maya!  We can hardly believe you are six months old already!  We love you to the moon and back, Little Bear!

Wait, what?  You mean I can't put this booklet in my
mouth?  Annnnndddd why'd you give it to me?

World's happiest baby.  Seriously.

Tearing into the paper just like her big sis did
and sitting like a pro!

Seeing her destruction!

Big sis is fully supportive of said destruction!

My attempts to get both girls to smile in one picture:

First attempt: one smiling; one looking the other way...

Second attempt: one now distracted; one smiling...

Third attempt: both looking; one semi-smiling.
I chalked this one up to a success.