Thanksgiving

This week has been AWESOME!  Four-day weekend, Christmas decorations, turkey dinner, family, and lots of time with Maggie!

Boo!

We put up our Christmas decorations on Thursday, both indoor and outdoor.  My dear husband just needed to "run out to Home Depot to get some stuff for work..."  and now I have two Christmas dinosaurs on my lawn.  Sigh.  It doesn't even make sense, dinosaurs weren't around for Jesus' birth!  Oh well, pick your battles, right?

We setup the Christmas tree in our front room, and everyday we walk by the tree with Maggie and pretend we hurt our fingers touching it.  I don't want to jinx anything, but so far she has stayed away from the tree without being told.

Thanksgiving was super yummy at Aunt Jane's house.  There were 5 kids running all over the place and Maggie was a total trooper about everything.  She enjoyed watching all the action.  I've noticed she doesn't get very shy around new people, but she definitely keeps very quiet.  I think the only sounds she made all evening were when she was upset and when Grandma and Grandpa entered the room!  We kept her up past her bedtime, so the poor thing passed out on the way home.  I love carrying her to bed when she's sound asleep on my shoulder.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Investigating cousin Mike and Ethan

We had some of the cousins on Jamie's side of the family over on Friday evening for some beer tasting.  We tried a lot of great stuff, and had a lot of fun catching up and playing games.  Good 'ol Maggie stayed asleep the entire time!

Operation Milk is going well, we are almost ready for full bottles of milk (we're doing mostly milk with a little bit of formula right now).  Now that she has a lot less formula, we need to work on eating larger amounts of fruits, veggies and protein.  She's doing well, but it's taking waaaay longer to eat meals now because she takes so long to chew.  She has also begun throwing her food on the floor when she's ready to be finished, and you can tell that she's totally trying to get a reaction.  My patience is growing everyday with this little one...

Maggie had to go back for yet ANOTHER hair cut this weekend.  I decided to keep the bangs until she's a little older.

Such a big girl!

I usually do housecleaning chores on Saturday morning and attempt to keep Maggie happy while doing so... it's tricky, but I can usually change up the toys or do stupid dances while I clean to keep her occupied.  Out of the blue this week, she started "washing" the floors using bibs, burp cloths, napkins, and today she started washing the cabinets and walls... I've created a monster!  She's so proud of herself when she does it, very sweet.

Maggie lover her "Little People" 

Cha-cha-cha-changes

Maggie is a big pointer now, and sometimes she'll even point at objects when asked... though she's usually only right 50% of the time.  She's good at pointing out lights and noses - so Rudolph is bound to be a best friend this season.

We stopped using a pacifier this week, with pretty good results.  She was a little more restless at night, but I think it only took 3 days to get back to mostly normal.  She usually gets up once a night now and whines/cries for about 20 minutes.  We generally just let her calm herself (unless we're feeling weak), and she settles down eventually.  I know she'd probably sleep a little better with the pacifier, but I'm glad we've broken the habit at this point.  The older she gets, the harder it has been to introduce new changes.

This is Maggie's interpretive performance expressing her feelings about bedtime:

I tried to give Maggie milk for her first time today using a bottle... that was a non-starter.  But she was happy to eat the milk mixed with rice cereal.  I think we just need to introduce it a little slower for her.  I'm excited to stop buying formula soon!

Maggie is starting to get more separation anxiety.  She was really upset when I dropped her at day care this week, which was never a big deal in the past.  She's also more anxious when other people hold her.  It all seems pretty normal, so I'm not too worried.

One of Jamie's co-workers got Maggie a stuffed Snoopy doll this week, and Maggie really seems to like the guy!  She usually only has interest in stuffed animals for a minute or two, but she keeps going back to Snoopy.  We showed her how to kiss Snoopy on the nose, and she of course tried to eat the nose (her way of kissing).  Eventually she figured out how to kiss with her mouth closed!  Every now and then she tries to give us a little smooch, and it melts me.

We're so happy that our friends Mike and Ashley moved back to Ann Arbor this week!  We went to Zingerman's for brunch this morning, and it was wonderful and decadent!  Maggie was a little sweetheart.

Can I get a coffee please?  My life is
exhausting!

Flirting with Uncle Donut

Birthday week!

I turned 30 this week!  I'm putting exclamation points to mask my depression!  Our parents came over Sunday for pizza and cupcakes - Maggie was able to do a practice run for her upcoming birthday... I have no doubt that she will completely own her birthday cake!

Do I have something on my face?

I had an awesome week, mostly thanks to my wonderful hubby.  He made me delicious bread pudding (a Rabine tradition) on my birthday and planned lots of little surprises throughout the day.

Soooo good

We went to see Thor Wednesday night and agreed that it would be okay for me to hook up with him should the opportunity ever present itself.  Friday was my day of pampering - a massage, pedicure and hair-cut, followed by dinner and drinks!  It was awesome!

Ok, you probably aren't reading this to hear about my life... so let's talk Maggie.  We went back to the doctor on Monday and finally got some antibiotics for her.  She's been sick all week long, getting a tiny bit better everyday.  She's doing pretty well today, so I think the worst is over (for now).

Maggie likes to rock/bob when she's hears music now.  She's also big into climbing and opening EVERYTHING!  She's not sleeping as well as she used to, but I think it's because she still congested.  We've been up with her once a night most days this week - it's manageable, but I hope she goes back to her 12-hour cycle soon!

Playing in the bucket at Grandma's

I'll text you the details

I'm ready for some food!

Turn around for one minute...
no more leaving this open

Sick again...

Poor Maggie is sick again, this time with croup.  She looks so exhausted, and can hardly get any noise out.  We're having a hard time getting her to drink fluids - I think her throat hurts and it's hard to breathe while she drinks.  She doesn't seem too bothered during the day, she's just her happy-go-lucky self with a little extra cuddling.  She's much more restless at night... it's scary because it's much harder to hear her little whimper cries.  Uggh this stinks, I just want her to feel better!

Well, Maggie's birthday is right around the corner, which means it's almost time to stop using formula!  Unfortunately, she has very little interest in sippy cups.  She'll take a sip or two and then it just becomes a toy...  so we need to work on that over the next few weeks.

I only took a few photos this week, nothing too interesting around here!

Early birthday gift from Grandma!

I've had better days, Mommy

Here's Maggie crawling with her braces, she's totally mastered it!

11 Months and Halloween!

I can only call my girl a "baby" for one more month - I can't believe we are here already!

  

  

  

  

  

Maggie was a little pumpkin for Halloween, and got her first taste of a Kit-Kat (best candy ever?).  Aunt Amy, Uncle Rex and Grandma came over to see her all dressed up.  We had the door open for trick-or-treaters and she kept crawling over to look outside.  For some reason, she is obsessed with the little entryway to the house - maybe she is devising an escape plan?  We were going to go visit our neighbors, but it was rainy and Maggie was in her bedtime cranky-pants mode.

Don't mess with me, I know Michelangelo

I was told there would be candy!!!

Hello up there!

I just want to sing!

Catch me if you can!

Being a stinker before bedtime

I just need to figure out that door thingy...

Maggie had a rough week - she finally got over her stomach bug by Wednesday.  We had some middle-of-the-night stink bombs and a little more whining than usual - nothing too crazy.  She did let me cuddle with her more than usual, which was nice.

Watching Foley football

I know most babies like music, but Maggie goes into a trance when a new song comes on.  She loves to clap and "sings" (we're still working on pitch... and words... and rhythm... but we'll get there!).  I try to avoid watching TV with her, but we watched the Wiggles for a little while this week and I think her life is forever changed.

Maggie figured out how to climb onto the stair landing today... time to install the baby gates!