Yes, yes they are...

Aren't all toys for pushing around?!

Since Maayan tried out a walking toy in Chicago she thinks she is supposed to push all toys around the apartment. Its pretty funny to watch. Sorry the video is kinda dark but you get the idea.

Maayan and her boyfriend Dani holding hands as usual

"Hey, who is that cute baby looking at me?"

Look at this innocent face- Does it look like Im getting into trouble?!- Oh wait, dont answer that.

Look how strong I am!!!

Maayan helping Lyat carry her stuff at the airport

So happy to be outside

"Excuse me, I have a question"

Thanks for my birthday present Saltzmans and Balsams!

Maayan showing Savta her park

Maayan preparing to be our tour guide at the Botanical Gardens

First Steps!!!

Yesterday was an eventful day. I left work in the middle of the day to take Maayan to her new doctor for her 1 year check-up. Everything was fine while we were in the waiting room playing with the toys there but from the minute we walked into the examining room she was not pleased. First the nurse tried to measure her head and Maayan showed us how strong she is by ripping it off her head many times. Then she objected to sitting on the scale, I really thought she was going to crawl off of it. She is still pretty small but did gain weight and get taller. She is now 18lbs, 14oz (~10th percentile) and 26 ¾ inches (still under the 5th percentile). The doctor didn’t think that the head measurement made sense and had to do it again and after I held Maayan down she got a more accurate measurement (which was smaller). Maayan wasn’t very happy about the exam which didn’t make things fun for me or the doctor, there was lots of screaming and crying.

The doctor told me that Maayan needs to go to an allergist since we don’t yet know if she’s really allergic to milk, soy and eggs. The egg allergy is important b/c she can’t have the MMR vaccine until we know so we will be going to the allergist on Monday and hopefully it won’t be too miserable. The best part at the doctor was when we got samples of Alimentum which is the really expensive formula Maayan drinks- the amount we got would have cost $75 if we bought it in the store!

Maayan was happy leave the doctor and get back home to eat lunch and play with her new friend Dani (I work with his mom and Cathy is cousins with his babysitter so they play just about everyday). Cathy told me when I got home that Dani gave Maayan a kiss on her cheek but she didn’t seem to notice- cute huh?

When I got home from work I was playing on the floor with Maayan and she was holding onto my shoulder and she let go and took 2 steps all by herself to get to the coffee table! Cathy was still at the apt. and got so excited that I think Maayan got a little scared and sat down. You could tell from her face that she knew she did something good. She had a huge smile! It was very exciting but I’m sure that in a few weeks we will be thinking about how nice it was before she walked. I guess this means that we should get her shoes at some point.

Not much else to report. I’m about to leave work to go pick up my mom from the airport. She will be here until Tuesday and will be our first guest to sleepover in our “new” apartment. Lisa, Nafi and kids will also be here for the weekend so we should have some good pictures next week.

Good Shabbos!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY and many more!!!

playing with Saba and Savta's Anniversary sign

Ok, so its been a while, and for that we apologize, but at least this way, we have lots to say!
So let's jump right into the WMDN (What Maayan does now)...Maayan can identify many parts of her body, and is usually proud to show them off when asked. Cathy seems to teach her something new every day, so if you have any requests send them to her. Maayan is on the brink of walking, she stands on her own with little problem, and a couple times, Maayan has almost taken steps, but either chickened out at the last second, or lost her balance and gotten scared.

Last Shabbos was Maayan's 1st Birthday! Its crazy how time flies. It seems like just yesterday that I started this blog. Maayan didn't seem to really notice her birthday, despite all of the wonderful friends and family who called to wish her well and send their best. But she certainly enjoyed playing the with the cards!

Cathy and Maayan are doing very well, and are making lots of friends in the park. They often have playdates with other little kids, and Maayan usually plays very nicely. Lanie, Maayan and I were in the park on shabbos and figured that there were probably lots of little kids that Maayan knows there that we don't! So we found one that we recognized from the pictures Cathy takes and introduced ourselves to her and her father. It was a scintillating conversation...

Us: So we hear our kids and babysitters are friends
Him: yeah

Maayan and the other little girl then proceeded to touch each others faces (read: "play") and a good time was had by all.

Maayan is certainly growing, Lanie even put away more of her clothing because it was actually getting too small on her. We're both VERY excited to find out how much she's grown when she goes to the Dr. later this week. On shabbos morning, Lanie noticed that Maayan had 2 new teeth! That brings the total to 8! That explains why she's been drooling like crazy recently.

On Shabbos Lanie took Maayan to the playground at 7am for her first of 4 trips on the day! But we didn't mind since the weather was so beautiful, and Maayan certainly loves being outside (when its nice out).
In some non-Maayan notes, Lanie and I had a productive day this past Sunday. We built our bookcases which meant Lanie was able to unpack almost all of the rest of the boxes! We almost look moved in, and its only taken a couple months... not too bad. And of course now that we have bookcases, Maayan has (there I go again talking about the kid) a new place to cause trouble...The only major piece of new furniture that still needs to be built is the wall cabinet in the kitchen and I'm not going to build that until I know I have someone to help me hang it. From what I've heard the building's handyman isn't quite so handy, so I might ask the shul's handyman to help me. We've heard that he's good.

I'm sure there are tons of things that we're missing, but that's what we get for waiting So long to post. We'll try to be better going forward, but no promises!