Summer in the City

Its been HOT in Chicago.  Of course our air conditioner and furnace both broke a few weeks back (this should not be surprising with all the awesome luck we have had with this house).   There were a few nights in the past weeks where Maelin's room was too hot for her to sleep so I moved her crib in our bedroom - where we had a window unit hooked up.  She is a great sleeper for the most part but every time Begley made a noise or shook, she would stand up, point and start laughing, thank goodness if I ignored her she laid back down and fell asleep.  But the interrupted sleep made us both grumpy.

We were lucky enough to get a new AC unit and furnace last week so our house is now cool and everyone is back in their own rooms, which makes us happy.

Sweaty Night in her crib....she likes sleeping "butts up"

 New shades to look cool while beating the heat

 Wondering how to escape the heat

 New wheels to get to the park

 Staying hydrated

Digging for the water to come out of the spout...it eventually came

Trying to decide if going down a slide soaking wet is a good idea

Photo Shoot

Maelin had her one year photo shoot a couple months ago...we received the photos several weeks ago but are finally getting around to organizing them. This photo shoot went much better than her six month one which she screamed the entire time.  I owe a lot of her calmness to Bob, which is what we call her giraffe blanket she likes to hang out with.  He has gotten us through some tough times and made some of her photos really cute.  Below are our favorites

Working Child

Maelin got a little taste of home ownership and work this weekend.  Let's hope she thinks its just as fun when she is older.  

 Helping Dad with the porch

 Here ya go....let's get it done!

 Flower/plant shopping at the Home Depot

 Too many decisions, walking away

 Well deserved break in her pool

Time for Mom and Dad to work, I just shat my swim suit, ha! 

Downward dog follow up - a new seat in the house

As a follow up to the last post.......this is the result of when Maelin "unstuck" herself from the downward dog position - she fell back into a bowl, yikes!

New Moves

Over the past few weeks Maelin has learned some new moves to get around.  She now has a new butt scoot, knee crawl combination thing.  It looks harder to do than crawling so not sure why she feels the need to make life more complicated, but at least it gets her to where she needs to go.  She also has taken quite a liking to walking, which is great for her developmentally but terrible for mine and Brett's back.  One of us is always holding her hand and walking her around the house, the bending over is starting to add up.  At PT this week, she walked about ten feet independently and seemed to love it as she smiled and laughed and even clapped for herself when she was done.  Of course though, when we practice at home, she automatically sits down and refuses to try again.  I am now convinced Maelin is more stubborn than both Brett and I combined, it is ridiculous!!

Cruising  

 Taking a break to check out the commotion on the sidewalk ahead

 Downward dog

 Totally stuck.....

Wondering how to escape

Fun in the Sun

We recently got back from a trip to Florida to visit my grandparents and see the family.  The vacation was a dose of relaxation that we all needed.  I was a bit nervous about getting kicked off the plane if Maelin acted out of control and we couldn't calm her down, but instead she was a great traveler.  We have never seen her more happy which leads me to believe we need to start taking more vacations.

   Arrival

Swimming pool fun  

 Lovin the sun

 Past out on a boat ride

 Captain's Chair

 Hanging out 

 What's better than Cheerios and a boat ride?

Wedgie!

My amazing Grandparents!!!

We got back in time  for the weekend and ended up finding out we had a broken washer and dryer.  This was not super disappointing or surprising as the washer are dryer are from the late 80's.  Our new set arrives this week and I am pretty excited to try all the new technology out. This won't be long lived though as I think doing laundry is probably the worst chore ever.

Aside from purchasing a washer and dryer Brett also decided to sand down the porch so we can re-paint it again.  It was suppose to be a couple hour project but ended up taking all day (not including priming and painting).  Now its time to decide what color we are painting it.  For those who don't know, we have already painted the porch five different colors (one time three colors in a week because we couldn't decide...ay yi yi).  Can't wait to see how long this decision is going to take and who wins! 

Mr Handyman, ha!  

Work, Work, Work, and NO play

The last few weeks of work have been insane for me and there have been lots of days where I only see Maelin for a very little bit.  The wonderful thing about our daycare is 1) they provide daily updates with your babies progress and 2) we receive picture email updates of what your baby is up to during the day.  So as a parent, you still feel somewhat good about yourself because you at least know what is going on and you even get pictures to prove it and show to others (or blog about).

Aside from all the fun updates, Maelin's teachers help her out with some physical therapy moves.  We have seen a tremendous improvement in her strength and it won't be long before the bug is walking (better late then never).  The funny thing about Maelin is she does things when no one is looking.  After enough 'secret practice' - when she is at a point where she feels she has mastered the skill - she will do it in front of others.  This has happened when she was learning to roll, drink out of a sippy cup, cruise around furniture and now pull to standing.  It is funny because Maelin will be playing and all the sudden she is happily standing....BUT no one has witnessed her actually pull herself up.  They've been trying to prompt her demonstrate this new skill to others, but she must not feel as if she has mastered it yet so we'll continue to wait.

These are some of Maelin's favorite dolls at daycare, they line the dolls up on a toy chest to entice her to move to them and pull up.....if anyone is looking she sits there with her thumb in her mouth, but when people aren't paying attention, she all the sudden will be over there standing and playing with the dolls....

In the toy bin

I'm assuming she didn't crawl in but instead was put in by her teacher

Money day at school...she seems happy about this day

 (Those are tubes of coins in a sanitary glove for the babies)

Pink Nose!

This activity was for self-awareness, to see if she recognized the pink nose was hers.....we aren't there yet, still too young, but she thought it was hilarious

HATING her birthday party -

A combined St. Pats and birthday party for her (an older pic but a good one)

We are off to Florida this weekend so I get to spend several days with Maelin and am looking forward to it! 

One year - Cheers!

Well folks, we made it through the first year!  Brett and I toasted on Maelin's birthday with pride that we made it and kept our baby alive.........thinking back to the day we brought Maelin home, we were not sure it was possible!  The first several weeks we just felt like idiots, not knowing why she was crying or what she needed.  I would like to thank youtube for having many helpful videos (how to install a car seat, how to bath your baby, what to do with a fussy baby, how to dress a baby, what to do with the umbilical cord stump, etc).  Also, many thanks to our friends and family with their great tips and advice (football hold, foods that start with P = poop, vics on feet, eucerin works on everything, etc). We are still no where close to knowing what we are doing but at least feel more comfortable with Maelin.

To celebrate the Bugs first year of life we had a little party at our house....I think Maelin had some fun but was clueless as to why so many people were in her house.  Her favorite guest was her teacher but she was kind of friendly to most others.

Maelin is a very cautious baby and everything in her life first needs to be analyzed before a decision is made to if it is liked or not.  The same process was carried through when she got her birthday cupcake. Unlike most babies, there was no smashing, in fact she didn't want to get her fingers dirty at all.

 Analyzing...

Still thinking....

 Ok it's good....

 MMMM, lovin it

We also were able to get all the cousins together for a quick shot and Maelin had a chance to open a few gifts before her bed time melt down.

 Cousins

 Nasty look as cousin Nathan helps her open a gift

Just to zoom in on how bitchy that face is.......

(we are in troubs when she is a teenager)

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY BUG, we made it......cheers to lots more years to come.

Leaving the hospital

A Year Later