The Beach

Saturday we headed to the beach for a picnic lunch, dig dig digging, and playing in the water.

Why you don't want to fly with me

You may have heard of my luck with flying. I have been delayed for bad weather, a medical emergency, a plane leaking fuel, a pilot that didn't show up. Just to name a few. Maya and I flew home-home (where the grandparents are) on May 27. We booked last minute so we went with a different airline than we have flown recently. The two flights were uneventful and on time. Maya was a sweetie on the plane and enjoyed running around during our layover.

We left to come home on June 7. I was joking with my brother on the way to the airport that our trip out went too well so our return trip would probably be eventful. Turns out the jokes on me. We got through security quickly, we boarded early, and got settled in. Shortly after takeoff, the plane started shaking. Then the flight attendants started whispering amongst themselves. Minutes later the pilot announced that he was having hydraulic issues and we would be making an emergency landing in St Louis. Maybe ten minutes later we were landing. We unboarded the airplane and waited. And waited. They announced that a plane was coming from Denver to get us. So we waited. And waited. By this point it was obvious that no one was going to make their connecting flights. I think there were about 80 of us with connections. Then they announced that the plane would be about 2 hours later than the originally thought because they had to wait for mechanics to board in Denver. Then we waited some more. Unfortunately, since the flight was a late one all the restaurants and stores in St Louis were closed and I was hungry. I brought Maya plenty of food and snacks so she was happy. And the airport had a number of rocking chairs sitting around. I hit up a vending machine then rocked her to sleep. After she fell asleep, I stood in line to get a new flight home from Denver and a hotel voucher for the night. Sometime after 11 we finally boarded. We got to Denver just in time for a storm. We circled Denver for an hour waiting for it to pass. The pilot said in 26 years he'd never had a flight like that one. Fortunately, Maya slept the entire time and I watched the complimentary tv.

We finally landed. Maya woke up when we unboarded. As we were waiting for our luggage, someone called the hotel for which the airline had issued our vouchers. Turned out they were already full. We had to wait in line for another voucher. This time we were the 3rd person in line.This position proved important. Since it was so late, all the hotel shuttles were not running. And there was only one cab waiting. The first four of us in line got the cab. I didn't have a carseat for Maya so I just held her in my lap. The drive was around 20 minutes. It was still storming. This was probably the most stressful part of the trip for me.

We get to the hotel, check in, wait for a crib, and get settled in. By this time, it's 3:30 am local time. Remember Maya slept the entire flight. She woke up nice and rested at 6:30. I was not so rested. We had breakfast the hotel. One of us drank some coffee. Then we headed back to the airport for day two.

I will say that the security at Denver wins the least helpful and downright rude award of all the airports I've been in. Picture me, a tired me, dealing with my shoes, luggage, etc. while holding Maya. One employee was rushing me but then didn't offer to help lift the stroller as they have other place. I retorted that I only have two hands among other things.

Everyone survived. Maya was wonderful. We finally made it home. I feel more confident about traveling alone with her after our adventure.

Happy Father's Day

Hope all the father's had a great day.

We had a pretty uneventful day other than Maya being a bit of a crouch. That last molar is a tough one I guess. Maya was up early and helped me make breakfast for Derek. We unearthed the waffle iron since last Father's day, in a moving box under our shoes, so we made overnight waffles. It was a new recipe but they turned out well. You basically mix flour, sugar, yeast, salt, milk and butter and let it sit overnight. In the morning add eggs and cook. Super easy and tasty. We got Derek a serving tray for his breakfast in bed. I plan on personalizing it but I'm a slacker this year and didn't get it done in time. Maya and I also made photos for Derek, just like last year. I couldn't decide which set I liked best so here are both. 

Maya refused to nap at church, preferred to cry instead. She fell asleep on the way home so we picked up drive through burgers and surfed the web sitting in the car until she woke up. Poor Maya had to settle for baby food. Maybe tonight's hummus made up for it. It is apparently the latest spa treatment. It has to be followed by strawberries, yogurt, and whipped cream for maximum effectiveness.

Video Dump

Since I'm a slacker I have a number of videos that I haven't gotten around to posting. (Now that Maya regularly naps in her crib I have more time, not enough time so don't expect multiple posts a week in general, but at least more) Here is a sampling.

We apparently say boom too much around here. Here's video proof. Well the second one is mostly so that you can hear Maya say kick because it's too cute. These two are from last Sunday when we filled up her pool for the first time.

This on is from a month ago (5/15). Showing off her mad skillz in body part locating.

This one is from 4/24. She loves to play in the water, even when it's cool out, the water is cold, and she starts turning purple. It's hard to hold the hose and camera at the same time so not the greatest quality but you get the idea.

Obedience Training

The animals in our house are very poorly behaved. They require constant correction, "hey. no no no" with finger waggle. Watch the sheep (or the baa as it's better known here) over by the tub, he tried to eat clothes all day. The rabbit (hop hop) apparently wanted in on it too. And I won't mention who strew post it notes everywhere and unrolled all the toilet paper. But she later tried to through the sheep into the toilet. I guess he had it coming. Hopefully he will be better behaved tomorrow.

In other news, after teasing us with waking up only once one Tuesday night, Maya was up all night last night. This morning I noticed that the left molar on the bottom popped through. I think I forgot to mention in the last post that her top right one cut through this past weekend. The top left feels like it will be in any day now. Hopefully after that we can all get some sleep. I keep threatening sleep training but between illness and teeth, we haven't had the heart/opportunity to do it. And she seems to really improve when she feels well. Fingers crossed it just magically improves after these molars get through.

In still other news, we found a second black widow on our porch yesterday. First one we found right before Maya and I left town. CREEPS me out. Yuck.
Edited to add: My mom asked me if I killed it. I told her no way, I left it for Derek. We ran inside and locked the door (because everyone knows that keeps spiders out). Maya was mad because I told her she could sit in the chair but then she didn't get to.

15 Months

Maya turned 15 months on the 22nd. I took some photos that day and had planned to post them along with an update. But we have had computer issues in our house. Derek's was down. And someone did "nothing" to mine after which it wouldn't boot. Then Maya and I left on the 27th for a trip to visit the grandparents. But that's a story for another post. Enough of the excuses though. Look at this 15 month cutie. 

She had a well baby check-up on the 23rd. She was in fact well for it for the first time since her six month one or so. She got some of her 12 month vaccines. She had grown an inch and is up to 32 inches (so in the 91st percentile). She didn't gain much weight, less than a pound in three months, and weighed in at 23 lbs 7 oz dropping her to the 61st percentile. Her pediatrician was a little concerned about the drop but attributed it to the fact that she's been sick so much, particularly the month long poopocalypse, and that she NEVER sits still. She said we'd see how she's doing at 18 months. (Someone at church today actually commented that she looked like she'd lost weight and asked if she'd been sick) Of coarse, Maya's eating really seems to have gone downhill recently. Before, she would refuse breakfast but eat and eat in the afternoons and evenings. Now she generally picks at breakfast, lunch, and dinner and may or may not eat her snack. Her pediatrician also wanted us to try to get her up to at least 8 oz of whole milk (or as it's called around here boo milk). Maya drinks about 4 oz on a good day. And by drink I mean sip, wait, sip, wait, sip, open your mouth and let some/most of the milk run out, sip, turn your cup upside down and shake, smash the straw/spout onto the nearest hard surface so that milk sprays out, rub your hands in it to smear it everywhere, lick your hand, sip, and well you get the idea. At least she swallows some of it now so we will call this progress. Also at least she is still a big fan of "this" milk as she calls it while pointing at her chest or mine. Her noggin is still large, in the 96th percentile. After her freak out at the urgent care visit for the nose incident, I thought Maya would have a similar reaction at the pediatricians office. She did really well though. The doc came in and talked to us a while. Then when she started examining Maya, I told Maya what the doc was doing, i.e., she's going to look into your eyes, tickle your ears, etc. The pediatrician then asked is she knew her body parts. We told her she knew a number of them. The pediatrician told Maya she was going to listen to her back. Maya said back and pointed (or at least attempted to point) at her back. Her doc told us she's smart.

Maya has really become more articulate since she hit 15 months. Her favorite/new words are no (usually no no no complete with head shake and finger waggle), yes, this, hi, eye, two, mom, shoe, hat, ball, kick, dad, spoon, fork, bowl, hey, bib, nine, uh-oh, help, napkin, stick, rain, book, bucket, dig dig dig, towel, boom, hot. If something is cold she says ooh (or sometimes calls it hot). She loves to help cook and do laundry. Some days I can't walk into the kitchen without her running over saying/signing help. She is overly concerned about messes sometimes. If she drops a piece of food she says uh-oh, help, napkin (while also signing the last two) until you clean it up or finally distract her. 

I'm sure I'm forgetting something but at least you get pictures.

Dance!

An old video I put together but never posted: