First Birthday

A busy weekend it was!! Since Maya's birthday was so close to the Cole Camp fair, we decided to have the first big birthday party in town. Lezlie went gung-ho on the decorations. Can you guess what color she decorated in? Pink, what a surprise. Anyway, everything looked great. And, I actually liked the cake and it was store bought. Anyway, I'm getting off topic.

Maya was blessed to get a good mix of toys and clothes. We sure did need some fall/winter clothes for her and we got plenty. We actually only had a few outfits for the chilly weekend. And, Daddy was very happy to see some saving bonds and cash. That will all go in her college fund. Thank you all for the gifts.

Here are some pictures of the cake incident. She didn't quite know what to think of it at first. But, it didn't take her long to figure it out. Surprisingly, she didn't eat much. She was more interested in squishing the cake.

On Tuesday (her official birthday), Tommy and Julie came over for another small party. As great as Maya's gifts from her big birthday party were, Tommy and Julie's gift was definitely her favorite. It is half push-toy, half car. And, since having it, we have noticed a considerable difference in how much she walks. I think she needed a boost in confidence and pushing this around did the trick.

First Steps

Well, it's official--Maya has taken her first steps. She started on Friday but what we got on video has to be her best effort.

She has also started to point everything and then make a grunt sound. I think that means "what's that?" So, we've been trying to tell her what everything is to increase her one-word (Mama) vocabulary.

My birthday went great. Thank you all for the cards and gifts. One more year and the mid-life crisis will begin:) In preparation for Maya's first birthday, I decided to buy a camcorder for my birthday, if that makes any sense. We've always used our digital camera for the videos. It works great for the online video but the quality isn't that good otherwise.

Lezlie and I are looking forward to the Cole Camp fair. It's been 2 years since we've both had a fair burger. That's 2 years too long. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Last year, everyone asked us if we were coming. And, it's a good thing we did not because Lezlie went into labor early Sunday morning around 1am.

Well, we'll see you all in a couple days. We will be coming into town Thursday night around 7pm. And, don't forget about the birthday party on Sunday. We're praying that it won't rain.

Vinnie Loses His Strength

It seems a lot has happened since our last post. I'll start with last weekend.

Lezlie and I decided it would be a good idea to get away together. Maya is now almost one year old and we had never both left her for more than a day. So, we decided it would be easy to just drop Maya home with the grandparents and then make a quick getaway to the Lake of the Ozarks. Of course, both sets of grandparents were happy to take her off our hands.

We ended up staying at the Resort of Port Arrowhead. I don't have much to compare it to, but we were both satisfied. It was very convenient to everything--the outlets and eateries very close by. The first night we had no idea where we were going but I seemed to remember where one restaurant overlooking the lake was--Dog Days. We ate outside and then settled near their live entertainment.


The second day we actually got to sleep in. A year ago, I wouldn't have called 8am sleeping in but nowadays, it is. We did a little shopping, laid out at the pool, and then went to the movies to see Tropic Thunder. That night, we decided to go to the Horny Toad. It was fairly impressive but we definitely enjoyed Dog Days more. It was just a little more casual.

On Sunday morning, I don't think I have ever seen Lezlie get up so fast. Actually, she was so fast I didn't even hear her get up. All I remember is "Get up, I wanna go get my baby." So, we raced out of town by 9am.

When we got home, Maya was still at church with Grammy and Lezlie and I paced and paced. And of course, she was asleep upon arriving. We let her sleep a little bit but finally Lezlie just woke her up. Let me just say, it didn't take her long to figure out who had her. It was definitely good to see her smile again.

Thanks a lot to the grandparents!! As much as Lezlie and I missed Maya at the end of the weekend, we both agreed we need to get away more often. It was kind of like recharging our batteries.

If you got to see her this past weekend, you probably saw that she now waves. Sometimes it's just random but she does associate bye-bye with it pretty good.

And, we finally got her to stand up on camera. I just had to entice her with a little beer...

You're probably wondering about the title about now, aren't you? Well, Lezlie has been getting sick of vacuuming and finding Vinnie's hair everywhere in the house. So, we decided to give him a full haircut. I know, you may have saw pictures awhile back but that was only a trim. This time, we got the electric clippers out. I bet he lost a couple pounds after we were done.

Daddy got a little out of control. Thinking the the clippers weren't working, stupid me took the guard off and just went to town. Well, they worked. Oops!! His new nickname is "Stripe."

It kinda reminds of high school when I let Nick Vilelle shave my head. In the middle of it, the guard slipped off. Everyone called me "Notch" for a couple weeks. At least it grows back. But now, he looks a little funny. But, he seems to have taken it pretty well--no moping around. Let's just hope he stops shedding as much.

Maya Screams For Ice Cream

It didn't take her long to figure out that she likes ice cream. It just cracks me up how much she was licking her chops. Stupid me fed her from a butterfinger blizzard. I guess we know she doesn't have a peanut allergy.

It seems like things have been so busy since Rockaway. Last weekend, our friend Katie came to visit so Maya got a lot of attention. She seems to love that for some reason.

She has started to stand up by herself for several seconds--but never long enough for me to get it on camera. Maya has also started to transition to stage 3 baby food. Every so often she will gag because it's too thick but she's getting the hang of it. She still insists on climbing on Vinnie every chance she gets. There were a few close calls when Vinnie was tired. But, after a few stern corrections, Vinnie now simply gets up and moves to the other side to the room. Unfortunately, Maya just tries to follow.

Lezlie can't wait for her first birthday party. She spent several hours this afternoon gathering up party supplies. We plan on having it the Sunday after the Cole Camp fair at Ezekial William park around 1-2pm. We'll keep you posted as to the final plans. I asked Maya and she would like Dr. Seuss books, winter clothes, and also a Nintendo Wii. Just kidding about the Wii, but I imagine she wouldn't mind some new toys.