Dancing Maya

We finally caught Maya on camera while she was doing her dance. I'm guessing she got her moves from her Daddy. Truthfully, Lezlie and I often load up the Ipod after work and have a mini dance party while cooking supper after work. Lately, we've been listening to Alabama and Maya loves it!! Maybe that's where she gets the stomping??

Maya and have successfully stayed healthy for the past week. Lezlie, on the other hand, was sick Monday through Wednesday of last week. Can you guess who got flu shots this year? All is well now though. The only thing we've had to worry about lately is the weather. You know it's too cold when your dog pees on the porch.

Catching up

This week, Lezlie and I have been playing catch-up...on sleep that is. On Tuesday, we got to go see AC/DC in concert. I have two words--AWE-SOME!!! I haven't been to too many concerts in my life but I'd have to admit I've never seen a crowd get into the show as much as they were that night. I stood through the entire show, along with many others. They played a great mix of songs--'You Shook Me All Night Long', 'Thunderstruck', 'Dirty Deeds', 'Back in Black', etc. Unfortunately, they couldn't play all their hits--they simply have too many. But, I sure would have liked to request 'Rock 'N Roll Ain't Noise Pollution.' Here are some pics of the show. Unfortunately, they didn't allow cameras into the show.

Angus Young stole the show, running around all over the place playing the guitar and doing his patented hop. Lezlie said she got tired just watching him run around. I don't know how many times he just stood there playing with one hand. I'm guessing he'd be pretty good at 'Guitar Hero.' At one time, he did a solo for about 15 minutes. And, he sure did know how to work the crowd. During one song, he started to take his clothes off. I had read that he's known to moon the crowd. He did pull his pants down but only to show his boxers with the AC/DC logo. I'm guessing he's getting too old for getting arrested.

On another note, Maya has developed a bit of a cold. Last night, she was done for the night at 6:30. I hate to admit it but Lezlie and I were in bed not long after at 7:40. Man, we're getting old. But, I think we are finally caught up on our sleep. This morning, Maya still had a bit of a cough but she's still going like normal.

Today, Maya learned how to walk like a Sumo-wrestler. I don't know why she's doing it but she has been spreading her legs as far as she can and then she tries to walk. It is quite the sight. I think she just tries to entertain us.

Since Christmas, she has gotten 4 more teeth. All she has left to get is her molars and she'll be done for awhile. Lezlie can't wait until the day when she's done teething. She's never been able to stand having Maya soak herself with slobber. So, she pretty much wears a bib the entire day.

There's not much else going on here...just a very low key Saturday night cuddling around the TV.

First Word, First Blood

First, the good news. We can now say with confidence that Maya has said her first word. Now, she's been able to communicate well for a while. For instance, when she pointed and said "ma," this meant that she wanted more of what she was pointing at. But, because she didn't really enunciate the word more, I couldn't constitute this as her first word. And, because neither of us wanted to make the other feel bad, we ruled out "mama" and "dada" long ago. (I say that because she doesn't say "dada" much at all.) Once she said her first word, we knew that that was it because it contained more than one consonant so it wasn't necessarily too hard to say. And, because it wasn't an accident--she was actually trying to get our attention. So, have I kept you in suspense long enough? Her first word was "bite." Now, she says this all of the time when hungry...which seems to be all of the time. I don't understand why she is so skinny, though. As my Grandma Violet would say "the wind is gonna blow you away."

Now, the bad news. On New Years Eve, just as we were heading out the door to go to Tommy and Julie's, Maya ran across the hallway, slipped and hit the door hinge smack on her forehead. Blood was gushing, the screaming ensued, and Daddy's beer drinking was delayed. This is where Lezlie and I are different. She is worried about brain damage and reconstructive surgery and I'm thinking that this will "build character." I guess we complement each other well. All in all, Maya stopped crying in less than a minute and the gash was only about a centimeter wide. So, we ended up just putting a band-aid on it and replaced it at Julie's with a butterfly bandage. I wish I had a picture of the wound now. You would definitely laugh, it is hardly noticeable. Can you tell she's our first child?

Christmas 2008

Well, it's New Year's Eve so I thought I'd finally get out some Christmas pix.

On Christmas Eve Eve, Lezlie made some cookies for Santa. Her recipe is a little different. It includes the usual ingredients--flour, sugar, chocolate. But instead of cooking them for 8-10 minutes, try keeping them in the oven for an hour or so. I hope Santa liked them.Lezlie decided that we would start a new tradition of getting new PJs the night before we open gifts. Since Maya has no concept of time, we were able to trick her into thinking Christmas Eve morning was actually Christmas morning. She was quite interested in all the boxes but I don't think she's got the hang of it yet. She spent most of her time climbing on them.Now, I always told myself that I'd never push things on our kids but I couldn't resist. I saw a small basketball goal at Target and knew that she had to have it. She's already got a goal in the bathtub but I thought she'd enjoy one for the basement too. Maya knows that you put things through the basket but sometimes she tries to put shoes through it.On Christmas Eve, we made the trip down to Cole Camp. Here Maya got to play with all of our cousins. It's amazing how she lights up when she's around other kids. She also got to meet a new cousin--Cody. She was very excited when she saw him, repeatedly doing the "two-handed" wave and saying "eye!!...eye!!". We're guessing that means hi. She never tried to grab at him which is entirely different from how she treats Vinnie--sitting on him, grabbing his tongue, etc.

We were all very nervous how Vinnie would treat Cody. It was David vs. Goliath...1 lb vs. 90 lbs. It was an interesting ticket but it turned out to be a bust. Vinnie was curious but only sniffed at him and quickly retreated when Cody did his hop. He sure is a cute one.
Well, it was a very enjoyable Christmas break but I'm ready to go back to work. Did I say that? Ya, right. I'm dreading the day. It will take a bit to get back into the swing of things, that's for sure. I'll leave you with a couple more pics. Have a happy new year!