Musical Talents

Maya like her Mommy & Daddy, already has such a love for music and singing. She will sing and talk into the microphone. When she was younger and would start to cry, instead of imitating her, I would turn the amp on and put the mic in front of her. As soon as she heard herself crying she would stop and look over toward the amp with a questioning look on her face. Now when she sees the mic out she'll go over and pick it up and want us to turn it on. Then she'll proceed to sing us a song she made up. Great Grandpa (Zander) taught Maya how to sing "la la la la" the last time he was here in the fall. And she hasn't stopped singing since. :)

Maya also likes playing the bongos. Daddy has a real set that she started playing when she was around 5 or 6 months old. This is the toy drum that I bought her for Christmas. It plays a song, counts, and says the alphabet in both English and Spanish. She has just recently started to play with it.

Maya loves to play the guitar. She has already learned how to pluck the strings to make notes. She is always watching and dancing when Daddy plays the guitar for her. Sometimes she even sings.

The other musical talent that Maya has is the keyboard. We have a pretty large keyboard that sits on the floor upstairs in the main room. Anytime we are upstairs cooking or hanging out, Maya wants the keyboard on, and she'll hit the keys and make all sorts of music. Great Great Grandma Zander gave Maya a little lap size keyboard that I use to play at her house when I was little. She hasn't played with that one too much yet, but I'm going to start keeping it downstairs so that maybe she'll play with it a little more.

Anyone for a game of pick-up?

As innocent as she looks, I only wish she was. Lately Maya has discovered that she can throw things. :) Of course this makes a fun game of pick-up for Mommy and Daddy. So this week we are starting to work on learning how to pick things up that we've dropped or thrown. We'll see how this goes. The other thing she is really drawn to is my purse. I tend not to zip it up because there is usually too much stuff in it to be able to close. So Maya will find my purse and then take everything out of it. It drives me crazy! Sometimes she takes my purse and puts it on her shoulder and tries to carry it. Normally its too heavy and she has to put a lot of effort into lugging it to where ever she is trying to go. The purse came with a change purse that is a replica of the actual purse. I gave that to her, but I guess its not as interesting because mine has more in it.

Feeding the ducks

Lucky for us we live close to the water. We took Maya down to the pier to feed bread to the ducks. We tried to get Maya to throw the bread in the water, but every time we'd hand it to her, she tried to eat it. :)

A goose started to flap its wings and honk at us. It scared Maya and she started to cry.

Maya's favorite things!

One of Maya's favorite things is the phone. Though she can only say a few words, it doesn't stop her from calling her family and babbling on and on. And even when there isn't anyone on the phone for her to talk to, she walks all around the house with the phone up to her ear and talking. I only wish that we could understand everything that she said. Just the other day Maya called grandma all by herself and talked to her for at least 5 minutes before I realized that she was actually talking to someone.






This is a picture of Maya sitting in her Dora the Explorer chair. This is the newest addition to her personal property. She really likes the chair, but she hasn't yet figured out how to turn around and sit down in it. Right now she just tries to climb on it. But when you ask her who the character on the back of the chair is, she will try to say something that sounds pretty close to Dora.





Maya loves the fish tank! We got the fish tank in my last few months of my pregnancy. When I was little the fish tank would really calm me down and I would sit in front of it for hours and watch. So I thought that it would be something nice to have for Maya. The other reason was so maybe when Donny and I started to get frustrated, that we could also use the blood pressure reducer. :) We didn't actually fill the tank until a few months after Maya was born. Success! She loves it! Although we've been through lots of fish already, we are still trying to keep up with it. While Maya was just starting to hold on to things to stand up, she would stand in front of the fish tank and talk to the fish. I think that we might have lost a few fish to heart attacks when Maya started to hit on the glass to get their attention.




Maya is very fascinated with Daddy's toothbrush. He always comes out and brushes his teeth in front of her. So when Maya got her first teeth she also got a toothbrush. Now they can brush their teeth together. I think that she still likes daddy's toothbrush a little more than her own. Or maybe she just wants to help him. :) I thought that this was a cute picture of the daily routine & thought I'd share it.

Happy Valentine's Day!

This year was Maya's 1st Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, Maya and I were both sick (along with Mimi). We had a horrible stomach virus and were home sick all week. Grand dad brought Maya a balloon and a teddy bear with a rose in it's front pocket. Although she likes stuffed animals, she REALLY likes balloons. In fact a week later she is still playing with the balloon and the teddy bear is probably some where at the bottom of her toy bin. Mimi got flowers, this is one of her flowers.

She's up and walking

We waited and waited and tried to help Maya along with getting the hang of walking. She had really good balance right from the start. The only problem was that she didn't know it. She would stand up without holding on to anything for a while, only to realize that she was alone and then she'd fall down.

So after a while of practicing and walking the furniture and anything else she could hold onto. She finally got the courage to just let go and walk (and she also learned how to fall).

Donny and I expect that she'll be running around outside playing soccer for her 1st birthday. This is a very exciting time for us and really being amazed at how our little girl is growing and learning at such a fast pace. Just to think that less than a year ago she wasn't even born yet.

This is our family!

Welcome! This is our family: Lauren, Donny, & Maya. We are all new at this and have a lot to learn, but everyday we are learning something new from each other (whether we like it or not).

This picture shows our family about a year ago. Maya is there even though you cannot see her. In this picture I am about 8 1/2 months pregnant. Unfortunately, you will not find too many pictures of my baby bump, as I wasn't too excited to show off the added inches to my waistline.

So this is our life story together. I waited to start a blog until I felt I had a little more free time. And we just got the Internet at home, so that helps too. :) At this point of the year, we are getting ready to celebrate a few birthdays. The most exciting one is Maya's first birthday. She will be turning one on March 26th. Donny and I are both planning on taking the day off and celebrating with her by taking her either to the National

Zoo or the Baltimore Aquarium. Both of which she has not been to yet. I think that she will really enjoy the aquarium, as it is her favorite part of our house and we only have a 10 gallon tank and a few fish.

I can't wait to see her reaction!