Energy!

Maelin has been a ball of energy lately, she is a ton more adventurous and is thrilled that she discovered she can run and throw.  She claims she is faster than Begley.......we have a bit more training to do before that can actually be true.

This energy seems to be in full effect at nap time.  Maelin will get out of her bed, open the door and come tell me she is "all done".  I now have to stand outside the door and hold the knob, sometimes for 30-45 minutes (thank goodness for the kindle app on my phone).  This is a HUGE waste of my time but we cannot find a safety knob for our type of door handle.  Eventually, she gives up and will take a nap, whether it be in her bed or on her rocking chair.  This is how I found her the other day.......

Passed out

 Other days nap time is super easy

 Fun in the school gym, Maelin throws the ball, runs and picks it up and takes a seat

 She scores - this picture made my day!

 Channeling some energy at home

 Baby got back!

Winter In the City

Looks like this blog went from weekly to seasonal (except we skipped fall).  Needless to say, things have been super busy with us, but I won't bore you with the details.

Maelin has gone from a slow moving baby to a crazy talking toddler over the last seven months. She has moved into a toddler bed, sits in a booster seat (no more highchair which is great space saver), and now has a posse of friends that includes a dog, bear, frog, baby, sheep, Curious George, Emmy the doll and Bob, all of which need to be in her bed at night.  The bug also has lots to say basically every second of the day, which is pretty entertaining.  Her favorite is to tell Brett or me to go "bye bye" when she wants to play alone or if we are taking to long to tuck her in at night - she gets annoyed and simply says "bye bye mama, bye bye dada".  What has not changed is her ability to sleep and eat!

Picture overload below......

 Bob and the Blanket, finding a comfy place to rest

 Found the perfect resting spot

 Laughing with her talking dog - Scout

 Walking Begley

 Wagon Ride

 Shopping for doors at the Home Depot

 Happy in her chair from Santa

 Books and Buddies

 The frog and Bob, her absolute favorite combo

 Big girl bed

 Headed out to school

 Just hanginig

Digging for food

Aside from all her stuffed friends, Begley is still Maelin's favorite friend.  The other night, she thought he was cold and took out every dish towel from the kitchen drawer and piled them on him.  She applauded herself when complete and showed us "begley's blanket".  Poor dog is so starved for attention he didn't even bother to move and ruin her fun.

Working on giving Begley a blanket

The final product

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