Maya’s Travels

Well these are ridiculous.

Dispite having that first time Parent crazy going on, Mama and Dada had Easter Brunch plans with the Muses and the Shraders. Maya wanted to go all out in her Easter dress. We managed to make her thoughourly angry by taking countless photos of her. In fact as part of her protest she decided to have a little blowout accident activity... all over said dress. That didn't discourage the Mommy though. Dress washed by hand and 20 minutes later we were off for an awesome brunch.  Tons of food, great people. It was awesome. We would have captured photos of the actual event but like I said Mama and Dada were a little crazed. All better now and that story will server better in a future post. Until then, Happy Easter from Maya!

Hangin with Stellie on this Easter Mornin. Aren't they the cutiest girls in the world? Daddy has to get out of the habit of calling Maya his best "puppy."

We are learning that spring time in Seattle is possibly the worst season on the Pacific Northwest. Today however is one of those days that makes you think, wow, there might not be a more strikingly beautiful city in the continental U.S.

What a perfect day for a beach trip with Maya. Question is where to go?

We chose Alki beach to mix it up with all the Seattle folks just waiting for a day like this. Turns out 60 degrees is still a little chilly. Good thing Maya had her pink shield. The sun felt great for all of us.

Mama, being overprotective mama bear made sure Maya was safe in her bubble while withstanding the winds from the sea.

Maybe next time it will be warm enough to play in the sand and dip our toes in the sound. For now we have one tired baby.

Code til you sleep. I've been there many, many times.

Daddy was supposed to be invisible this afternoon while he worked from home. Instead he had 9 lbs and 2 oz of sleepin baby on his lap "helping" him.

So as we join the ranks of the parent club in dealing with a crying baby we are finally starting to figure out what works best for Maya and what doesn't work at all. She's our little princess. See. It says so on her shirt.

I swear the kid is smart and figures us out. If something works for a few times she thinks we are playin her and fights any attempt to be soothed. Sadly I'm reminded of Maiden's "Aces High" / Churchill's speech: "We will never surrender!"

One of the things that seems to work consistently well is music. This little piece of electronic wizardry was the best Christmas present we ever got. To think it was part of a $10 or under gift exchange Mommy's family did last year.

White noise? Covered. Airplane noise? (Maya and Daddy's favorite) Covered. Better yet, I can access my entire rdio collection. Win.

The other day Maya was on a 2+ hour crying fit. She wasn't having anything calm her. Finally, Daddy at his Whit's end, put's her in her crib, put's on some Sigur Ros and turns it up to 11. Stopped crying in under 20 seconds. Fell asleep in under 10 minutes. Calm the entire time. The kid has good taste.

Hvarf-Heim is by far her favorite album. We listen to it in its entirety at least once a night.

 

For awhile there my wireless network was acting up so I had limited music options from that device. Luckily she was ok with the caramel, soothing voice of Jeff Martin and his Tea Party. It kept her satisfied.

I am disappointed to say that I now know someone who gets angry listening to the Indigo Girls. Not cool Maya. Not cool.

Another night we were having even more exaggerated fits and our beloved Sigur Ros wasn't doing the trick. Desperately I put on The Sword, Age Of Winters, more as an attempt to keep my sanity than to calm Maya. As we moshed around the room, Maya barely made it to Freya the third track. I've never seen a baby sleep so sound. \m/ \m/ Metal Rules.

We'll see how long the Sigur Ros wins last. Thank goodness they have a new album coming out this May. We might try introductions to Floyd and Radiohead this week. I wonder what she'll think of those...

Daddy's birthday was yesterday / today. Maya got Daddy a present and it was a great day.

It was touch and go in the beginning and Daddy was kind of a crab in the morning. Daddy has the night shift and his birthday started off a little contentious between Maya and Daddy. We did a little of this.

And some of this

And a lot of this

That is one crabby baby at 2:00 AM.

But the crises was over and Mommy let Daddy sleep in a bit. After a brief walk with the dogs in the morning we Skyped with both Grandma's back in Ohio! Maya was even awake and pleasant for both! She reconginized Grandma Diane's voice right away and pulled off a smile for Grandma Anita.

Feeling lucky we decided to venture out. We were successfully able to pull off our first restaurant visit and get birthday brunch for Daddy

We felt so confident we even went shopping! Maya picked a few new outfits at the consignment store. (She'll have to model them for you later)

(she slept during the entire 2.5 hour outing)

When we got home, Mommy let Daddy take a 2 hour nap. Definitley the best Mommy in the world. Well rested, Daddy was able to pull off his first homeade meal in 2.5 weeks. Grilled Chicken on a bed of Polenta and spicy greens.

To top it off, Aunt Becky came by to drink a few birthday beers with Daddy for the start of is his night shift. She brought us lasagna for us to have tomorrow for dinner and Chimay, one of Daddy's favorite beers. Stellie always likes when Aunt Becky visits.

This is probably one of the most different birthday's I've ever had but it's also probably the best. Life is definitely settling in to a new normal but in the best way imaginable.

Thanks Mommy and Maya. Daddy had a great birthday and loves you more than you can imagine.

(even though it's 3:25 AM and Maya.. the night shift kinda sucks when you're a monster after the 12:30 food time) :-)

♥ Daddy

Ok maybe it is just me but this totally reminds me of Bruce Lee in Game of Death. I would put a Kareem Abdul Jabbar size foot print on it for more effect but I figure that would be in bad taste.

Maya loves her bunny. It helps her get through all her tough times. Like diaper changes.