Maia Kisses

How many pictures of Maia kisses are too many?!?! This girl loves to smother me with kisses (and I am the only one so far - makes me feel like a very special Mama). My face gets covered in slobber and baby goo but I don't even care, they are my favorite.

Ryan snapped about a thousand pictures of us in the pool and captured all the different kisses of my precious baby girl:

Yep, I am obsessed. And just in case anyone is worried that I am leaving JD out, let me explain something. JD is ON THE MOVE. That boy crawls faster than I can run and he is on the verge of walking. To top it off, he is obsessed with all things electronic. If he sees a camera, phone, or remote control he's immediately trying to get it. So most of my pictures of him are of a boy reaching out toward my camera while trying to lunge at me - it's hard to get a good picture of him these days! I actually have a cute 9 month picture of Maia with her standard teddy bear to post in a "9 month update" but have yet to be able to get JD to sit still next to his stuffed bear long enough to get a picture. 9 month old full-of-energy BOY is better than any gym pass on the market.

We've entered a new phase in life...JD is officially mobile. Nikki has often been the beneficiary of this learning process.




Nikki is pretty nice about it. Probably because this is the most attention she's gotten in about 8 months.




And just in case you haven't gotten the clear picture of how much trouble we are in.... he's climbing too! Time for more baby gates and blockades.



No worries, you say, they have sweet little Maia, who would never cause trouble, to balance things out... she doesn't take it to use it either, she already has one in her mouth, apparently she just thinks she should be the only one who gets all the pacifiers.




But look closer. She's a total paci-theif. I end up having to lay her down in the stroller once JD gets tired of his pacifier being stolen right out of his mouth. Look at those eyes - not always so innocent! Ha ha.



We are having a great time with these two. This is a fun age.




They are pretty sweet. They are getting very interactive - laughing at each other, copying each other, babbling back and forth. They are both trying really hard to hold their own bottles but eventually they let me take over. They do feed themselves cereal and have a long list of veges they like at this point- we've added lima beans, olives, pumpkin, potatoes, butternut squash, zucchini. They eat a little bit of bread and tried some gingerbread at Christmas. JD didn't love the butternut squash but everything else has been a hit.

1st Christmas

Chatting it up in front of tree on Christmas Eve

Do I get to eat chocolate on Christmas?

Not until Christmas morning buddy

Mama & Maia

Baby Maia in a Manger

So excited for my present from Grandma!

Love my new book

I think I like this Christmas thing

Who has more fun, the parents or the kids?

Maia makes a play for JD's new book....HEY!

I think my stocking is bigger than me!

DUDE

JD doing his morning push ups

Mom this present is boring

WRAPPING PAPER

winter mornings

There has been some talk in our house of whether or not we are spoiling both babies by letting them sleep with us...on occassion...meaning every morning by about 4 am they find their way into bed with us. We go back and forth, one day I tell Ryan, "You are really spoiling them! We need to stop letting them sleep with us!" because he brought them into bed that morning (with no objections from me in the moment, I love a cuddly baby to curl up with). The next morning I bring one or both in, and that day Ryan tells me "You are really spoiling them! We need to stop letting them sleep with us!" But look how much he hates it in the moment!


Who could resist this warm, fuzzy, cuddly polar bear on a somewhat chilly (downright cold by Southern CA standards!) morning? I figure, 10 years from now, I will wish that I had a baby to nuzzle into me while I sleep. So at least, by then, I will have the memories of many mornings with just that. Times 2 (JD isn't in the picture, but he's often right there with the rest of us).

There is nothing better than a sleeping baby. Not that I'm biased at all but I think they look like the most precious angels while they sleep.

Laughter

Maia really likes animals. Mostly dogs (because that's what we have, and that's what my parents have) but she's also very interested in the ducks & geese when walk by the lake. So I'm guessing it's just animals in general.

This is her laughing at Nikki playing fetch. The video is kind of shoddy because it's just my Iphone, and I'm throwing a toy with my other hand, but it's still a pretty good representation of how much she loves to play with Nikki. She also gave Nikki hugs and kisses today. She hasn't even done that with her daddy yet!

baby it's cold outside

We spent a week with my family for Thanksgiving and now it's almost Christmas! Two best gifts so far: Maia gives me big open mouth kisses on the cheek now (Ryan didn't believe it until he actually saw it) and so far I'm the only one she gives them to. Ryan is bummed, but I'm thrilled. It's our special thing, at least for now. Also we are getting TWELVE HOUR nights without anyone waking up! Last night and tonight they've both been asleep by 6 pm and we haven't seen or heard from them again until 6 am. There's some angels singing Hallelujah about that, let me tell you. At least in this house.

Miss Maia made herself quite at home while visiting Aunt Alli & Uncle Ammon.

7 Months Old! Both JD & Maia have mastered sitting. They sit up and play with toys all afternoon now.

We got pictures taken while we were in Utah. The one I'm sending out in the Christmas card is top secret and not online anywhere. Poor JD was terrified of the flash, I've never seen him so upset, but we managed to get a few good ones.

Maia was quite the doll in front of the camera.

Helping Mama build a fire. I am quite the boy scout, I didnt' actually build this one from scratch but I could if you asked me too....without lighter fluid even. JD was impressed.

Johnson family keeping warm....after this we left the babies inside with family and actually got to go snowshoeing ALONE! It was fun.

This is Maia's Blue Steel pose.

I love this boy.

Watching the snow...

Playing in the snow....(kind of)

7 Months

7 months old today - both babies are within a couple pounds of 20 and are in the 90th percentile for height. JD is going to crawl any day and Maia isn't too far behind him. Their little personalities are really starting to shine through.

JD loves to be outside and hates to be confined (carseat, laps, highchairs...). He doesn't have a whole lot of fear and smiles really big when you toss him a little in the air or pretend like you are going to drop him. Boy, boy, boy!

Maia is recovering well from last month's surgery to correct a lipomyelomeningocele and the subsequent infection of the incision on her lower back. She is a little more cautious than her brother but a lot more cuddly.