That little rascal

So Mazie likes


to throw stuff away, so far we have found a flashlight and Abby's Android phone that would only be like 600 bucks to replace. Apple remote still missing.

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Eliza's quote of the day

"We finally bought something off TV"

I didn't know that was so important


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Grandpa Thomas and me

I love this picture and miss grandpa


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Mazie loves shoes

Really. So much so she wears shoes on her shoes.




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Team Dave in the cloud

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1st solo backyard campout

Look at them snuggling up there


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Eliza's magic show

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She's a monkey now

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All the girls got Pillow Pets

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They all play together now!

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Libby a watercolor by Eliza

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Eliza a watercolor by Abby

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Maize likes her black beans

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Here is the alligator lizard we found in our back yard. Rob told me after I tried to catch it that it can have a painful bite.

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Libby unloads and reloads my toolbox

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Mazie is 1 years old!

BIRTHDAY:
On Mazie's actual birthday, daddy was out of town in Utah and Idaho so we promised Daddy we would have the birthday party when he got back. Due to this we kept it a pretty low key day. But definitely a day all about you. We tried to play with you a lot and paid special attention to you on this special day.
We couldn't help but let you open one present. You couldn't quite figure it out how to open presents, but not to worry, Eliza and Liberty were very willing to help!
We got pizza for dinner and now that you are 1 your doctor said you could have anything so we let you try a piece.

Just kidding, just some really tiny pieces. You really liked it!

BIRTHDAY PARTY DAY:

We got you dressed up for the big event. We were just going to have a small family party but then our friend from church needed his two girls (Sita and Sariah) watched, so we decided to have them come to the party and then our neighbors (Miwa, Aili, and Lina) stopped by to see if we wanted to have a play date and we invited them too. It turned out to be mucho kids, but made it seem more like a party. Mom made you your very own birthday cake (chocolate raspberry filled with amateur frosting skills) and bought another from the store for the rest of the guests.

And look how smart you are, you even held up a number one to tell us how old you are! (Or maybe the photographer just happened to catch you in that pose. I'm not sure.)

You dove into the cake with your face, not willing to get your hands messy and after a few bites decided you didn't like it too much.

Then as we were just about to get you out of the highchair since the cake wasn't doing it for you, we remembered how much you had previously loved your snitches of icecream. At first I tried it on your tray but you didn't like that very much (too cold on the hands) then Daddy geniously suggested a cone. Duh! The birthday girl was finally in full delight! You ate the entire ice cream cone.

Happy Birthday Mazie! We love you.

Abby and her new Mother's day piano!

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Dirk and I Did Breakfast

After the Mav's second win in LA, Dirk and I sat down for breakfast to discuss his game. I took the opportunity to congratulate him on the Mav's 2-0 lead.

Ok, not really but I did catch him coming out of the Ritz Carlton in LA the morning after the game and got this sweet picture.


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She's Big Folks

Eliza pulls her first tooth.

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Mazie at 11 months

She is now crawling. She still prefers the roll around the the room method but can crawl. She definitely does the army crawl and every once and while gets that tummy off the floor. She likes to get in crawling position and just kinda rock there. She now can also stand up while holding onto the couch. She can't quite pull herself up to that position yet, but is sure trying. About a week ago I had her try standing by herself. She stood for a few seconds and then fell and I caught her. She thought that was the funniest thing. We did it again and she just belly laughed. So did Liberty and I because we thought it was funny that she thought it was so funny. Unfortunately because she thinks the falling part is so funny she is standing up for less than a second now because she just wants to do the falling part.
She now eats lots of stuff. She loves crackers and I love that she can eat them since I felt like she was eating more than her share of Cheerios. Sometimes it is hard to get creative on baby food, especially when you are feeding two other rascally kids. ;)
I really feel like in the last week she has just changed so much. She definitely gets that Rob is "Dada" and I am "MaMa". Often when I bring her in bed in the morning to nurse. She will turn over to Rob and start pulling on him and say "DaDaDaDa". I haven't heard yet her saying any other words that really sound like anything. But she is always having some kind of conversation that it seems is really important. It usually goes like this "nananNANANANANA" "NAna" "BAbaBAba" She loves when you speak her language back to her and usually ends with a big smile.
I may have mentioned this before but in her mind Eliza and Liberty's room is a royal palace and her room is the dungeon. If she is in their room she is automatically happy. If she lays in Liberty's bed (to snuggle Liberty before nap time) she giggles in glee. I am wondering if it is the larger toy selection or that it is more colorful but she just loves it. But as soon as we walk into her room she gets that worried look like what are we doing in here. "Are you going to put me to bed? Are you going to change my diaper?" And if you take a few more steps in, it is auto crying. I need to add some positive stimulus to that room apparently.
She is starting to get into stuff but she luckily is not too fast yet and usually stays in a general area. Oh how my delightfully tranquil life is about to change. I got to start baby proofing. I love you Mazie and I am glad you are developing those large motor skills!
Last, she did put her feet in the ocean for the first time this month. Her reaction was the same as the others. Not happy. She kept trying to get her feet out of it and then ended in a frightened scream. Hmmm. Maybe someday the beach will be your thing Mazie.

Mazie 10 months

I am a big slacker for this month. I did not take a picture. This is the closest I could come but is about a week after 10 months.
Mazie had her two bottom teeth finally come through. I kept thinking they were going to push through and finally they did.
She also officially waved good bye. And we think even said "hi". Some word starting with an H when she waves anyways.
She is still rolling around but no official crawling yet. Rob has been doing his best at night when he gets home to do "crawl training". What a good Dad! He is so proactive. I just hope she'll do it some day but I am enjoying it while it lasts.

Mazie at 9 months

(When I started trying to take a picture for every month of Mazie's first year I wanted the pictures to be raw (I think that is some artsy word that I used, but it works). I wanted them to be in a onesie without her hair done. So you could see the change her chubby legs made and hair made. But I just couldn't help to include these few "cutesie" ones on the bottom. She just looks so adorable!)
Mazie sits up great now. It is her favorite way to hang out, with toys surrounding her. She isn't crawling yet but rolls all around to get to the thing she wants.
She loves to clap her hands. She likes to bounce her body when the girls dance to music (Rob swears she is in rhythm with the beat, but I can't quite decide if it is just coincidence.) She loves to eat cheerios and baby food. If you walk away when she is still wanting you to spoon in another bite, she screams loudly! Screaming and yelling seem to be her newest development. I have no idea where she gets it from ;) Liberty and Eliza. Besides screaming, she also says Dadadadada and mamamama, but I am not sure if she knows what it means. Just still babbling, but sometimes I wonder if she is starting to figure it out. She is also starting to get a little bit of attachment issues. If she sees me walk out of the room she usually starts crying, or if I hand her off and walk away she usually cries. But if she doesn't see me leave she usually is OK. It hasn't affected her having babysitters, but it makes me crazy when I am cleaning the house and either I have to hear her cry or carry her every time I move. But I guess she can't be a perfect baby.
I am really enjoying this stage and keep telling myself to get done as much little projects as I can right now, because the horrible stage is about to arrive. I really dislike 12-24 months. It is exhausting as a parent. They get into everything and don't understand any type of discipline. And somehow my children always seem to be tyrants, pulling hair, riding little babies like horses, biting, spitting, you name it! We'll see. I keep hoping that maybe just maybe Mazie will be a delightful little 1 year old. But being such a good baby, I guess it just wouldn't be fare. Anyways, in summary I am loving this age of 9 months when she is so independent but not quite on the move yet. Oh how I love those brown eyes! None of the other girls have ever had brown eyes. I love her light complexion with those dark eyes! I keep wondering if they will change because Rob tells me he had brown eyes when he was young, so we will have to see.I love your smiles Mazie, and when you wiggle in excitement. I love snuggling you to sleep. I love you!

Family Trip to Disneyland

On the weekend of Libby's 3rd Birthday we went to Disneyland. Nate and Des's family was already going and so kindly invited us to join them. It was so much fun! Nate and Des knew all the tricks and it was like having tour guides for Disneyland. I don't think we really ever stood in any lines, at least not for long. I enjoyed myself quite a bit since last time we went I was super pregnant with Mazie. The kids all seemed to have a really good time together as well. Its fun to see how much they like being around each other. I think living together really grew a bond that would be hard to to break.
We got there late Thursday night and then went to Disneyland on Friday. Liberty seemed to enjoy it the most. Driving the cars was such a highlight for her. They gave a fake driver's license and she just thought she was the coolest thing. It was so hilarious to watch. She just ran around so excited the whole time. I think it is the age and the fact that she really didn't get to enjoy it last time since she was so sick. That night, Nate and Des so kindly let us stay at the park to go on rides while they took the kids home. (I don't think I would have ever offered to do this, they are so nice.) We spent the first 20 minutes finding out that the ticket we had bought on craigslist wasn't really a valid ticket, but they finally let us back in. We went on a few rides. Space mountain was definitely my favorite and it was fun when Rob and I joked around and did a funny face when the camara takes your picture.
The next day, Rob went to the store to buy Libby's scooter for her birthday. (To this day she thinks this scooter is just from Daddy, and not from me too.) With a bit of a late start we decided to still go over to California Adventure theme park. We had a lot of fun. With so many adults we were able to split the kids up and go on lots of rides. Liberty went on a lot of kiddie rides and said it was a great birthday. Eliza had a great time too and even tried the "Tower of Terror" I went with her for her first time. She was very nervous and I was so worried about her the whole time it did not seem that enjoyable to me. She did decide to go again with Rob, which I was really surprised she did.
Just before dinner Nate's family had to go. We stayed a few more hours but didn't get too many more rides in. We did go on the Ferris Wheel and thinking it was going to be a low key ride, tried feeding Mazie. Holy Cow it was scary. The cage you sit in starts sliding and swinging when you hit a certain point. It was freaking Mazie and me out. We also revisited this ride that simulates paragliding over California with different smells and stuff. It is awesome, but makes Eliza a little motion sick, but the second time she said it was better.
It was a great time and I loved being with my family!

Mazie at 8 months

Mazie is turning into a little person now instead of a newborn. She sits up by herself now. She is eating solids. She has tried rice cereal, bananas, peas babyfood, peach babyfood, sweet potatoes baby food, Gerbers disolving stars, rice crackers for babies, cheerios from daddy (that she choked on), crackers from daddy (that she choked on), whip cream from daddy, pudding from daddy, and he even let her suck on some fries (he didn't want her to feel left out at McDonalds). I must admit I let her try frozen yoghurt though at about 5 months. She just looked liked she wanted it so bad. She is definitely not our first child; getting a little more 'lax with number 3.

One thing that makes Mazie seem so old is that she is babbling a lot now and it sound like a conversation. She has the tones correctly but no words. Sometimes in the car I'll think Libby is talking to me for a minute and look back and it will just be Mazie. She says dadadada a lot but just making the sound, not connecting it with dad.

She also definitely knows who mom is now and what mom does (pick her up all the time). If she is on the ground or in her saucer, she will see me walk by and start crying. But if she doesn't see me she is totally content. I think she is even starting to have attachment issues. I handed her to a friend today and she started crying, and staring at me. It was pretty cute the other day though when she was on the changing table and crying she even reached her arms out for me. Usually she just cries and gives me that look, but the arms reaching out made it so much sadder.

She continues to be in the move, she rolls all over the place to get where she wants to be. I think there might even be a few sneaky army crawls involved but I have yet to really catch her in the act.
She is quite the smiler still. I love when she laughs. She is very ticklish by her collar bone. Her new favorite thing is to always have that tongue hanging out, just a bit, and especially when she is happy and smiling.
She brings me so much happiness and continues to be a super mellow baby. My friend Michelle and all the mom's at Eliza's school are always saying she is just the best baby they have ever met, never crying, always content, and it is true she really is such a good baby.

(Libby was playing doctor and Mazie was the patient. That is why she has a fake bandaid on her wrist.)

Mazie at 7 months

I am so horrible this is really the only pictures I have of Mazie at this age. She is getting so cute though. Her hair is now starting to come in. Just like the other girls, a bunch of it fell out around I think 4 months and now it is starting to grow in a little thicker. However, her hair has a mind of its own. It always sticks strait up on top. I will comb it down after a bath and it is sticking strait up as soon as it dries. Almost static electricity looking. I'm not sure these pictures are showing it off the best, but trust me. It is pretty funny. Even a lady at airport security said to me, "I can tell she is going to be a stubborn one" and I think I looked at her a little confused and she said, "well it looks like her hair is pretty stubborn and goes where it wants too, I am sure her personality will follow." I laughed and was surprised that someone else had noticed too.

She has been doing the most adorable thing lately. She loves to give kisses. Rob used to hold her and have her facing him and ask for kisses by making kissing sounds. She would usually give a kiss by holding her mouth open and leaning in. But now when she is sitting on your lap facing outward, she will lean back and look up to see who is holding her and then try to give a kiss. It is really adorable.