Merry Christmas!

Here are some pictures from Christmas...





Opening her first gift:



Family togetherness:



Random Ajax spot..he helped himself up:



Maya in one of her favorite presents-a hat aunt Tessa knit for her:



With all her loot:

15 Months!

Maya is 15 months today...crazy! She is turning into such a little lady...

Maya's been practicing for Christmas by unwrapping every bar of soap in the house. She's sure to be an expert on Christmas morning!

We've been transitioning to one nap during the day--some days it works better than others. Today was great! She napped for over 2 hours!

Waipo, Tessa and Dziadek are coming down on Saturday for Christmas. We're excited to be celebrating all together..

Here are some pictures from today-a more in depth photo shoot to come :)





Baba always thinks she's hungry...





We capped off our celebration by trying Oreos for the first time...

Healthier...

Last weekend the whole family came down with the stomach flu. It was holy hell. Maya got it first, then me, then Peter, then poor Babcia. Turns out we weren't alone-Maya's friends Owen and Grace got it too, which means their parents got it too. We managed to recover by Monday-ish, but it wasn't pretty.

It's been a busy week of Christmas shopping and decorating and chasing after our little toddler. We also celebrated Babcia's 60th birthday this week, which was nice.

Here are some random pictures from the last week or so:

Purchasing the Christmas tree:





Decorating the tree:



We find another use for the tree skirt:



At the park:





On the phone:



Wearing her wellies:



In the bath:

A few more pictures of the snowbunny...

The cheery looks in these pictures are deceiving..she actually didn't want to play in the snow at all...

And a new favorite indoor picture...

What a difference...

a year makes. This was us last early December for the first snow fall.

This is Maya this year:







There's a little less snow in Arlington than Evanston :)

Who likes chocolate?

Maya!!



Maya decided that she takes after her parents and enjoys a good chocolate covered pretzel-yum!

She's been talking up a storm lately-lots of imitating and real verbalizations. She'll say "Mah" if she wants more and today she said "sah" when I said we had to put her socks on. According to Babcia, she also tells Ajax to sit down..

Anyways, here is a picture of her after the bath:



And a little festive picture of Ajax (otherwise known as Ah-jah):

It's December already!

Christmas season is upon us! It's Peter's favorite time of the year...

We went to NYC last weekend for Dziadek's 60th birthday party. It was fun to be in the city and walk around a lot, even if it was cold! We got to see Amy, Mike and Abby on Saturday afternoon, so that was fun. We even took them to our favorite place...a cupcake bakery one block from the apartment where we were staying. They snapped this picture of us (note the chocolate on Maya's face):



This afternoon we ventured to the Tyson's mall to get Maya's picture with Santa taken (picture to be posted when we can scan it in). I have vowed not to return to the mall, especially on a weekend, until after the Christmas season is over. It was crazy! But Maya did play a little at the playground:





Afterwards, we went to dinner at Cafe Deluxe, where Peter had the best pot pie ever. Maya insisted that he should eat some bread too:



After we got home, Maya pretended to shop on her own:



Maya's new accomplishments:

She dances. The music moves her.

She eats with a fork. Don't get too excited. She can get the fork with food on it into her mouth..she hasn't yet mastered actually spearing the food onto the fork, but we think it's great progress!

She says "no no" when she points to her nose.

She says "he he" when she points to her head.

She'll roar if you roar.

She shakes her head "no" if she doesn't want something.

I'll update soon with the Santa pic and the short story that goes with it...

Gobble, Gobble...

Peter pronounced tonight's turkey "the best ever". And coming from the guy who eats the Thanksgiving meal year round, that's quite the compliment. On some very good advice from friends, we tried a new recipe that included brining and covering the turkey in pancetta. Here was the final product:



Here was our table set for Thanksgiving..looks a bit different with a toddler at the table!:



Turkey, stuffing and potatoes makes Peter very happy:



Maya's favorites were the Butternut Squash soup and the stuffing:



I think even Maya got a food coma:

14 months, 1 day

and another upside down picture ;)



Current Maya updates:

1. Adamantly points to her nose when you ask "Where is your nose?". Also points to her nose when you arbitrarily says nose or knows or even no.

2. Throws her arms up in glee when you ask, "How big is Maya?".

3. Points and says "da da da" when she sees a dog. Or Peter.

4. Loves to hug. Climbs on laps of close friends and strangers. Also likes to ask to be picked up by said strangers and close friends, as well as hold their hands.

5. Recently learned that she loves the 1, 2, 3 & swing game. Now will not walk if both her hands are being held.

6. Loves to talk on the phone. Give her a home or cell phone and she inclined to walk around with it on her ear jabbering away. Also likes to dial random numbers.

7. Loves to carry around shopping bags or purses-even throws them over her shoulder. I wonder where she got that one from?

8. Loves Pad See Ew with chicken.

9. Loves to get into chairs on her own and sit there. Mostly child sized chairs though.

10. Has no fear. This afternoon, she got to the top of the slide and without hesitation, slid head first on her belly down the slide. Laughed with glee at the bottom.

11. Wants what you have. Water? Yes! Caramel Machiato? Yup! Iced Tea? Oh, yeah! We drew the line tonight with beer.



12. Doesn't like the whole "pile of leaves" thing.



13. Loves to swing.



I've been so busy taking pictures of other people's families and kids that I haven't had much chance to do my own! I hope to take a bunch tomorrow and this weekend...

A "Fancy" Portrait...

In the end of September, Peter and I participated in a Photo Marathon done by our wedding photographer, Matt Mendelsohn.. The premise of the Marathon was that Matt had people coming to his studio all day doing quick sessions at a discounted rate, and all the proceeds benefitted the college fund of the children of two fallen soldiers in Iraq.

Anyways, Matt is a genius and this great picture was posted on his blog:

A little goula-goula...

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. We've been without internet for so long..but it looks like it will be just a week before we finally have a permanent connection.

It's been a busy time since I last posted-Babcia has moved to the area and is settling in--well, she's currently away, but has been settling in. Maya loves having her around all the time, and Peter and I do too...lots of babysitting, yummy home cooked meals and motherly affection ;)

Maya's favorite new phrase is "Goula Goula". We're not sure what that means, but it could be some variation of "Look!" or "Give me that!". She's also tried lots of new and interesting foods recently-her favorite is Indian-yummy! Of course, she's still partial to a helping of mac'n'cheese or pizza.

Here are some pictures I took recently in her fuzzy sweater: