Swingin'

Grandma and grandpa got Maya a swing for Christmas. This weekend, Tim got it hung up in the backyard. Maya loves it (and our 70+ degree December weather...)

Family Time

One of the benefits of moving to a warmer clime is finally coming to fruition. We were joined by lots of family (largely coming from the snowy north) for the holidays. Grandma, Ron, and Joann came from Springfield, MO, Aunt Becky came from Oregon, and our cousin Bryan from San Francisco. We spent a lot of time just hanging out and catching up.

Here's a rare shot: Maya with her great Aunt Becky:

Maya made a valiant (I think successful) effort in increasing Aunt Becky's comfort level with babies. Maya even got her first traditional Becky story, with holiday versions of Winnie the Pooh and his buddies.

Maya's been napping a bunch this week, too; here she is catching some z's with her grandpa:

And what would a visit to Texas be without some Rudy's Barbecue. Here's the gang (minus me). Yes, Maya is in this picture, but she's apparently just dropped something on the ground:

Christmas

We got around leisurely on Christmas morning. Audrey stayed the night with us, and Maya slept much later than normal. We started with stockings; the most exciting thing in Maya's stocking was a pirate rubber ducky:

It didn't take many wrapped gifts for Maya to get the hang of things; like most kids, I think she LOVED the wrapping (and unwrapping) almost as much as the gifts. Here are a couple of action shots:


As a thank you to everyone who was thinking of Maya, we're trying to capture her with all of the gifts. Here are some early shots.

An electronic puppy from Grandma Audrey (that doesn't seem to turn off, even when you press the off button):


Some great cloth blocks from Ron and Joann:


A tickle me Elmo from grandma Audrey


Some books from her mom and dad:


An electronic animal train from Aunt Sarah, Uncle Robert, Andy, Nate, Amanda, and Megan (this, I can safely say, is the biggest hit so far; Maya loves the songs the train sings and the articulating joints of the animals...):


A compressed air ball popper from Grandma Shelly and Grandpa Tim:


There were other gifts also; Maya also opened some gifts when we got to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner. Apparently no one was taking photos. My parents crafted a similarly spectacular dinner revolving around a traditionally stuffed turkey. Yum.

Christmas Eve

We started our holiday celebrations with a Christmas Eve feast at our house. Maya prepped the mood for the festivities:

Tim made a fresh ham from the local gourmet grocery store. He paired it with the world's best brussels sprout recipe, some butternut squash risotto, mashed potatoes and gravy, zucchini and squash, and sweet potato flan. It was fantastic. As usual, everyone gathered in the kitchen in anticipation of the meal to enjoy some great wine (some suggested by the wine guy at the grocery store, and a couple of great bottles brought by our cousin Ron).

Here's Ron with Maya:

Dad and grandma:

Joann and Bryan:

Tim with his mother:

Ron and Maya again with my mom:

Maya has also shown some interest in the Christmas tree:

After we'd filled our bellies, we started a new Christmas eve tradition with a reading of the classic "Twas the Night Before Christmas:"

Tim and I are so lucky to have a little one that seems to love books...

Trail of Lights

Even though it meant keeping Maya out past her bedtime, we got together with my parents and my sister to take Maya to an annual Austin tradition: the Trail of Lights. It's a (kind of hokey) set of displays put on by all kinds of local organizations. I think Maya really enjoyed it, though she was sacked out as soon as we hit the car again. Here are some photos:

Listen to Me Breathe, Daddy...

Detroit: Monday and Tuesday

On Monday, we continued our family visits by heading over to Grandma Lain's house. Maya was starting to feel a little under the weather, but she hung out with some new cousins. Here she is with her cousin Aliyah (Tim's aunt Donna's young baby):

Here are Aliyah and Tim's cousin Aisha's daughter, Dynasty:

It was a weekday, so we caught some of Tim's aunts busy working. But we managed to catch up with Carole and her son Anthony for dinner. Anthony was enamored with Tim. He spent all of dinner conniving to get Tim to come back to the house and play with him some more...

Here's Carole with Maya:

When we got back to the hotel, Maya perused the paper (her grandfather will be pleased to see her flipping directly to the Money section...):


Tuesday, Maya was under the weather, running a terrible fever. (It turned out to be an ear infection.) We spent the first part of the day driving all over town in search of a Steak -N- Shake that was open. Then we spent the afternoon in the Henry Ford. It's a pretty good museum (although a bit pricey) that seems to contain a ton of collectibles: among other things, cars, engines, a Dymaxion house, presidential limousines, HUGE steam engines, the Rosa Parks bus, and the weinermobile:

Detroit: Sunday

Today we played in the hotel, went swimming, then went to GG Julien's again. She made a fantastic supper, then we all went to a memorial service for Tim's grandpa. Here are some photos:

Daddy, get up and get me dressed!


Goofing around in the hotel room:


Playing dress up with Aunt Nancy:

Detroit: Saturday

Don't take that post title to imply that you're going to get a post every day that we're gone, but...

Today we flew into Detroit. It's been a while since we've been up here, but we figured it was high time the great grandmas and the rest of the extended family got a change to meet Maya. After getting checked into the hotel and grabbing a bite to eat, we headed over to Maya's great grandma Julien's place. As usual, the entire family gradually descended on the place. Grandma made some great pasta for dinner, and we sat around and chatted while Maya made a bunch of new friends. First, reacquainting with Grandma Shelly:


Then there's Tim's newest cousin, Julien (nice name, eh?). He's 3 months and 18 pounds, they tell us. Maya thought he was great:


Tim's older female cousins were taken with Maya (the male cousins busied themselves in the other room playing video games). Here's Rachel:


And Gracie:


And, of course, great grandma!

Grandpa's Hat

It seems Maya might like baseball caps. Or maytbe she just loves the tigers. (Go Mizzou!) Either way, she had a great time playing with grandpa's hat last night:

High Chair Photos

It seems both Tim and I took some photos of Maya in her high chair today. Here she is mid-cereal this morning (she likes cereal, I swear):

and here she is after peas (which she really doesn't care for):

Go Tigers!

So, when Missouri beat KU last week (what a game!), we decided we just HAD to go to the Big 12 Championship game in San Antonio. So we grabbed a couple of tickets, sheepishly left Maya with an only barely-recovered-from-the-stomach-virus Audrey, and headed south. Here we are eagerly anticipating the game:


Marching Mizzou got us fired up

and kept us spirited for most of the game... until it became obvious that it just wasn't going to happen. Oklahoma was just too good to beat on Saturday, and Missouri couldn't score in the red zone. Oh well. It's hard to be disappointed in a season when a) there's only one team that beats you (even if they do it twice...) and b) you finish 6th in the BCS. What?!? 6th in the BCS, you say? And they don't get a BCS bowl game? But both KU and Illinois do? What on earth? Well, the upshot is that Missouri got picked for the Cotton Bowl. Guess who'll be in Dallas for New Years?