Crawling and Standing!

Easter Morning!

"Look at what the Easter Bunny brought me!"

"Mmmm... Easter grass is tasty!"

"I LOVE books!"

"Another Easter book from Uncle Andrew & Aunt Mel. Yay!"

"I'll be walking soon!"

Happy Easter (and Brewer Season!)

Maria & her daddy!

Yay - Daddy's home again!

"A belated Happy St. Patrick's to you all! The luck o' the Irish was not on my side this week. My daddy was out of town for a whole week and I missed him sooooo much. (He was doing good work, though... building homes with Habitat for Humanity in Oklahoma City with a great group of CSU students.) While he was gone, I got another ear infection AND a really bad cold! Yuck. I'm starting to get over it, but it was rough for both me and mommy! Sleeping was rough and drinking out of bottles was pretty impossible with my stuffy nose. Thankfully, Aunt Chrissy was here to help out a lot... along with lots of visits from grandparents & Aunt Mel & Uncle Andrew.

On a lighter note, I hear that Spring is finally here. I haven't experienced this season yet, but it's supposedly full of planting flowers, splashing in puddles and making lots of fun summer plans! Bring on Spring!"

Peas on Earth!

"Bring on the peas! Wait... they're what color?"

"I'm not so sure about this."

"Well... I guess this is the only thing on the menu, so I'd better eat up!"

"My mommy & daddy think I'm cute even when I have peas all over my face. Now that's unconditional love!"

Happy 1/2 Birthday To Me!

Well, folks... we've made it to the 6 month mark! On Thursday, we celebrated Maria's first 1/2 birthday and brought her to the doctor on Friday for a run-down on how she's developing. All is well! Not surprising, Maria is in the 90% percentile for her weight, height, head size & cuteness (okay, we made up the last one... but we're pretty sure that if they measured cuteness, she'd be off the chart!) Basically, this means that we have a fat, tall, smart baby. We love it.

She is continuing to make lots of new sounds and movements. As you can see in one of these pictures, she can sit up by herself for a short period of time. Maria has become attached to a few of her favorite toys... especially the Elmo doll that was a gift from her cousin, Kayla. She also cannot go to sleep without her little security blanket - a.k.a. a simple white burp cloth. She rubs it on her face, sticks it in her mouth and wads it up between her cute little fingers. She has many beautiful, decorative and even some hand-made blankets, but she's happiest with her little simple white cloth. :)

Sleeping and eating are going well. Her new favorite food is sweet potatoes mixed with a little oatmeal!! Yummy.

She's been very busy lately with lots of family engagements. All of her cousins had birthdays recently. Alex & Adam turned 1 and Kayla turned 4.

Maria would like to send a special "shout out" to uncle Dan. She hasn't seen him in a while but she hopes that changes soon!!!

Our sweet little Valentine...

"Look at my first two teeth!!!"

"My daddy was my valentine"

"This is me & my new friend, Heather. She's known my mommy for a looooong time. I'm so happy that I finally got to meet her when she visited from Chicago last weekend!"

Heather is so Funny

Thanks, Heather, for entertaining Maria for so long!

Even Newer Pictures!

Maria and Lisa like to look at pictures on the laptop. Look at how well she sits up!

Maria's very favorite activity is listening to Jon play the guitar.

"Mom always wears a white hat like this when she gets out of the shower. I want to be just like her."

Don't worry folks... she didn't drink any!
She is just curious about why dad's bottle looks a little different than hers.
(Little does she know how different it tastes, too!)

Apparently we don't feed her enough (yeah right - check out those cheeks) so she tries to eat everything in the house. Here she is chewing on the phone.

New pictures!

"I love to stand! My legs are very strong... and very squishy!"

Here's Maria in her jumparoo (aka the brightly colored activity center that has taken over our living room!)

She loves to pose for the camera. What a cutie!

Such a big girl - holding her bottle by herself

Here are BFFs Maria & Clare. Lisa was able to listen in on their very first conversation and here's how it went...

Clare: "MARIA!!! YAY!!! I'm so glad you came my house. This is so fun - our very first play date. I like your outfit. Isn't it fun to be out in the world? There are such cool things out here... swings, bouncy chairs, white noise before I fall asleep at night. Did you meet my mom? She's this lady right over here. She's so cool. I like my dad, too. I've heard good things about your parents. Do you ever get hiccups? Aren't they annoying? We are going to be such good friends! I can't wait to grow up with you and spend lots of time with you & grandma Robin. I have more hair than you. What do you want to play with next? I think there are some rattles around here or something. It sure is fun to hang out here on the floor with you. I hear you roll over now... maybe you'll have to show me how to do that when I get a little bigger. ... I'm pretty tiny, ya' know... but I'll grow..."

Maria: "I want to eat you."

Flip!

LOOK WHAT MARIA CAN DO! Ok she was kind of mad at Dad because this is like the 4th time he made her do this... but it is still awesome!

Also Maria likes to help.

Maria loves food!

Look what we brought home from the grocery store!

Just look at those cheeks - she really does love food.

Long time, no post...

Sorry that we haven't updated this blog in a few weeks. Our laptop had to be sent out for repairs (which really inconvenienced us!) But it's back now & we can keep you informed on all of Maria's happenings. As you saw from the last post, Maria has started eating solid food. Fun. She really gets the hang of opening her mouth and chewing. She gets very excited when she sees the spoon and gets very upset when the food is gone.

Rumor has it that she rolled from her tummy to her back a few mornings ago with dad. Mom has yet to see/believe it so we're waiting for her to do it again... We'll keep you posted on that.



Maria wants you all to know that she does, indeed, love rock n roll. This is one of her favorite onsies - made by one of her 4 favorite uncles - UNCLE DAN! She demonstrates her love for music by completely focussing on dad's guitar whenever he plays. She loves it! She just stares at the shiny things at the end of the guitar (can you tell this is the non-guitar player typing this?) and dad's moving fingers. What a special bond they have.










Happy 2009! Here is Maria on New Year's eve.



















Go Packers! (well... maybe not this year.)

BIG WEEK!!!

First Maria got her new best friend when baby Clare Elizabeth Brzeski was born on Friday!!! YAA!
She is super cute, and Maria can't wait to play with baby Clare. Maria is also happy that she is not the smallest person she knows anymore!

and second... because of explosive... digestive issues, the doctor suggested that Maria try some RIC CEREAL! Plus Maria is fascinated with anything and everything Mommy and Daddy eats. SO it is time. Here she is! (This video reminds me of Uncle Sloppy Bowl!)