Boo!

 

Grandma's new puppy

 

Grandma and grandpa came over today with their new puppy, Sam (Sammy). SUPER cute!

I have a tooth

 
Big sister Ella took this pic...

North Carolina Pics

 

 

 

 

We had a great time visiting my grandmother, Ruth (92), in NC this past week. Ella and Maya were super travelers!

Six Months

 

Ella and Maya at 5 months

 
 

 
 
 
 

Has it been a month?!?

I really don't know where the time has gone.. oh wait, yes I do: Maya turned four months and now has entered the cutest, most interactive joyful stage and has taken us over with her baby hypnosis.

She discovered the fine art of copying me -- Case in point, I would stick out my tongue and make a blhhhhh noise, which she quickly learned how to do, copied me and got about 4 quarts of drool on her shirt. She now does this on her own for instant entertainment. Sometimes when she catches my eye she calls our "blllhhhhh!" with her bubbly-drool noise. It's as if to say, "hey there mama, I see ya, we be good together."

People have asked about how it is with two, what we think about the span of four years between Maya and Ella. I have come to the conculsion that it is easier for me (Ella is more independent, can do most everything I need for help) and harder for her (as compared to if she was 1 or 2). She becomes intensely jealous towards Maya at certain times, like in the morning when I am putting Maya in her car seat. She'd ramp up, start whining, and then, for example today, she marches over and stomps her foot on Maya's stomach. Tonight when I was putting her to bed, I asked her about this, why this time in the morning. She said she was jealous that Maya got to have special toys each morning for her carrier and she didn't get any special toys. I was both deeply saddened and hopeful that we had connected. I told her I would make a special effort each morning to get a special toy for her for the car ride to school. Hopefully I can make more of a concerted effort to notice her, the impact Maya has on her, and connect vs. get frustrated and annoyed by her. She's only human, after all and I love her with all my heart.

Random Blatherings

Ella and Jared went for a hike again the other day -- in the woods behind our house. Jared called me on his cell phone, "Go out on the deck and look to your right. I am with Ella going over the creek." Great. I was half afraid to look - wondering if this balancing act with a heavy 4 year old would end us up in the ER. But sure enough, there went Jared, Ella on his shoulders, crossing over the creek without a hitch. Later we reviewed the photos from his cell phone:

Jared:
Here is Ella pulling down dead trees. That girl is really strong.
Here is Ella jumping over a large log. She can broad jump like no other. I bet she's in the top 1% of all 4 year old broad jumpers.
Here is Ella scaling under the barbed wire fence.

Gotta love him. He certainly is more proactive when it comes to getting her out of the house.

Ella Vid

Ella- One year ago

We can always buy more pens

Ella Drawing

Here's what Ella drew when I said, "Draw me a picture of our family"
Notice how Maya isn't represented. Yes, I did talk with Ella about the meaning behind her obvious omission. ;)

WooHOOO!

 
Check out all my funky toys I got from PomPom and Vick! Now let's get this party started...oh...wait, that's right, first I need to develop my grasping skills and then I will be all over this joint.

New print I got from Etsy

I don't know if you're familiar with etsy.com but it is all about handmade things. There are a ton of creative people selling neat things from baby blankets to art. This is a print that I ordered http://sandrinemercier.blogspot.com/-- I love the look of the big eyes and I have decided that I really love anything with birds on it.

I need an intervention

Well, it looks like Maya may now be on some sort of schedule for taking naps. It's 2:10 and she has been asleep since 11. Maybe she has a bit of the sickness that has been lurking around our house. So, what have I done during this time? Work on my studies, you say? Of course...not! Instead I have ordered Ella some shoes from zappos and me some new outfits for my return to work in a few weeks and...I have googled everyone I know. Great fun! I found some pics of my brother on his MBA buddies' blogs. I have discovered that Jared and I have donated to many organizations without actually giving them any money. I found out that you can see my dad's interview with TPT on the internet and that MOM is in wikipedia! Wheew. I need a coffee break.

Happy Easter!

 
 
 
 

Hope your Easter holiday was good! We had a great time hunting for eggs in the house and enjoyed a lovely lunch with Heath and LingHui and our favorite cousins, Claire and Harris.

Ok -- here it is now in the blog

See video of Maya on YouTube

woohoooo!! I have finally joined YouTube and successfully posted my first video of baby MyMy. You can link to my videos by going to:
http://www.youtube.com/seandersson

What are you doing?

http://twitter.com

A classic Lettmann question can now be answered with this cute site that allows you to share what you are doing right now!

You can find me under username "bingles"

From Jared's cell camera

Such a big sister!

Ella and Maya

Spring!

 
Well a little bit of spring arrived today direct from the FedEx person! I opened the box (from an unknown sender) only to find this beautiful branch with blooms and all! It came with a little kid golf set which tipped me off that the package must have been from my parents who were out in Salt Lake for a retirement party for my dad. Ella will get a kick out of the golf set when she gets home... plenty of room to tee off in the basement!

Miss Maya is still doing wonderfully. She is starting to "unfold." Her little body isn't so curled up anymore and this realization was my first connection to the fact that she is going to grow! I love the little culrled bodies of infants, the little hands that you can't pry open, the legs turned inward, tiny toes all in a ball. I am sure it reminds me of feeling her little body in my belly. The other profound realization that I have had is that Ella is a giant. After holding Maya and then right after holding Ella I realize that she is not a toddler anymore but a little girl. She says to me, "Hold me just like you hold Maya, Momma." Which of course I do, but in all the ackwardness in trying to curl her body into mine, it becomes clear that she is quite simply A BIG KID NOW! Recent things she has done that make me proud: 1) Telling Jared that she loves Maya just as much as me and Jared love her, 2) Being able to answer all of Jared's science/ animal questions with ease and then coming up with her own recollections (last night "yeah, that's like snakes who use their tongues to smell"), 3) cutting with scissors to perfection, and 4) coming home each night and the first thing she says is "KITTY!" (her pet name for Maya).

Maya -

 

Some old calendars

I think I have finally unpacked the last of the boxes for the office. It took a while to get through them all because we just recently had our new office desk installed. It looks great and has planty of room to store all my scrapbook items and files - plus it looks like a built in! So I found these old calendars that we have been saving because they have important milestones from Ella's life as an infant and one year old. Instead of saving the calendars (for some reason I am on this kick to purge!), I will list the Ella dates and events here:
2004
MARCH 16 - Ella begins to crawl
20 - Pulling up on furniture
APRIL 18 - First tooth
19 - Crawling
2005
(Jared's entries) August 9 - "Ella drank the milk from her bowl of Scooters - her own idea - she says "Ella big girl."
August 20 "Ella realizes she likes pepper straight and has to be cut off after 1/2 tsp.

I'm A Big Sister!

Make a postcard - it's easy!