Just Toodling Along

Well we are settling back into the Edmond life. It has been nice to get a break again at the end of the day with Khalid back home during the week! Little Maya is into everything and now that we are not moving, I am fully baby-proofing. Man....it takes forever! But so worth it. We went to Tulsa last weekend for Mother's Day and Khalid's dad was visiting from overseas. We hadn't seen him since February 2008 so this was his first time meeting our little princess. Khalid is working on base with week to week orders so we are so SO thankful we have that keeping us afloat while he looks for something permanent. Otherwise, I would have had a nervous breakdown or 2 by now. :) I am trying to pick up a little more medical transcription to do from home to help us be a little more comfortable. We are just moving right along though and dealing with the curve ball! Here are some recent pics.


Mimi with 3 of her 5 cherubs on Mother's Day

Mom reading to Eli. You're never too big for Mimi and Papa's laps!!

Khalid, his dad Rafael, and his brothers Samir and Nabih

Aunt Sarah making faces with Maya :)

Isabelle showing off her new dress!

Luke showing Maya his dinosaur

Maya with her Joodoo (grandpa in Arabic)

The frame I made for Mom for Mother's Day

Maya playing in HER cabinet. Finally got the rest of the cabinets baby proofed!

Playing with her sock monkey jack in the box :)

My big girl!

Playing with her Baby Stella from Great Aunt Patti :) She loves giving her kisses!

One Year Pics

Just posting some of my favorites of her one year pics!

This one had me CRACKING up!!!

LOVE this one!!

Pretty punkin!

My little princess :)

Love her to pieces!

Tough Times

Well, our world has turned upside down for the time being. It has been a rough 2010 not just for Khalid and I, but for my entire family. As you know, our house has been on the market since early November and hasn't sold. There was absolutely a reason for that. Khalid lost his job Friday. It is pretty devastating and as much as you feel so bad for the huge numbers of people going through this.....it hits pretty hard when it happens to your family, obviously. We are just trying to enjoy this weekend together before Monday hits. However, it is so hard not to let a little depression sink in each morning when I wake. I know all the cliche stuff is actually true...."things will work out," "God will provide," etc., but that is also hard to really grasp when you are wondering how you are going to make it. Guess that's where faith comes in, right? Yep. And I am working really hard to just let go and have faith. Khalid has several people at Tinker working really hard at getting him on continuous orders at the base through July. Praying that works out. He will also be checking out several other avenues in the meanwhile to try and find something permanent. Obviously we were not meant to be in Tulsa at this time. And there are so many positives about staying.....being near my sister and our kids growing up together, having our next baby at Lakeside, and several more. Unfortunately, there is the dark "what now" cloud hanging over the positives. BUT.....every time we get sad, we see this face and everything just seems.....alright. :)

Letter to my Precious Punkin (a little late but I couldn't get this to post last week!)

To my precious sweet Maya Jayne,

I can hardly process that it has been a full year. To think that on this night, one year ago, I was packing my bags to enter the hospital so they could start the Cervadil. You would be arriving on the 8th and we didn’t even know if you were a boy or girl!! That is also so hard to comprehend now. I was feeling anxious and a little scared but most of all I was feeling pure joy and excitement. Crystal was my favorite nurse of the whole week and she made me feel so comfortable when we checked in. She and the other nurses were so excited that we didn’t know your gender so they all started putting in their guesses. Crystal guessed girl! In the wee hours of the morning I started having some pretty strong contractions before they even started the Pitocin. Your Mimi, Papa, Teta, Papa Dale and Aunt Sharla were all at the hospital most of the day while Mommy labored. Daddy was so sweet and helped me breathe and also gave me foot massages. They broke my water at 10am and you progressed fairly quickly. As the big moment came around 2:30pm, the family was sent out of the room. After 45 minutes they heard your very first big cry and Mommy and Daddy heard “It’s a girl!!!” Words can never ever explain the feelings that washed over me as they handed you to me. My precious baby girl. You looked right in my eyes as I cried and gave you kisses. I thank God every night when I go in your room before I go to bed. I watch you sleep with your little hiney up in the air and I thank Him that He chose me to be your mommy. What an honor, privilege and huge responsibility. It has been amazing to watch you grow over the past year. I remember your very first smile and I am so happy I got it on video. Your little personality has emerged and you are quite funny and independent already! I knew you would be independent pretty early on when I tried to help you along while you were trying to suck your thumb. You would have NO part of it and pulled your tiny hand back! Little did we know you are like that with most things still! When we play “How big is Maya?” and I try to put your hands in the air for you, you will also have no part in that! I imagine if you could talk, you would already be saying “Do it myself!” I can’t wait to see what is in store this next year. How amazing to get to spend every single day watching you grow and learn. I love you Maya Jayne and I am absolutely the luckiest Mommy on earth.

XOXO,
Mommy

Whoa Time, Whoa! (Warning....Long!)

My sweet little punkin is 11 months old today! Each month on the 8th I am just stunned. You would think you would get used to the fact that time flies and they get big so fast....but from talking to all my friends and family....it's quite obvious that it's stunning no matter how big we all get! Imagine how our parents feel that their babies have babies! Maya is such a blast and cracks me up daily. I love when she makes me laugh....and then she starts laughing and then we are both giggling up a storm. It fills my heart with so much love....much more than I ever thought possible. She is the light of my life and I thank God each and every day for making me her mommy!!!

Our house is still on the market (going on 4+ months) but I am still hopeful!! The traffic is picking up since the weather is getting nicer and we are really hoping that it happens sooner than later. Although....I must say that I will bawl my eyes out when leaving here. I can't even think of saying goodbye to my sister even though we won't be that far away!! But my heart is ready for Tulsa. I love Tulsa and I miss Tulsa. And I am so excited to be close by my parents! Plus, we have lots of family and friends there so there are so many positives!

I am planning Maya's first birthday party for Easter weekend. We are just doing a small family get together. I would love to have everyone we know (haha!) but our house just isn't quite big enough for something like that. I'm pretty sure we are going with a cupcake theme and I can't wait to see her try her first bite of cake. I don't want to make a sugar monster out of her but she certainly gets to have some on her birthday! :)

Here are some 11 month stats:
~Sleeping 12 hours at night and taking 2 naps (MOST days...haha!)
~Taking 4 seven to eight ounce bottles per day
~Loving grilled cheese, guacamole, cooked carrots and yogurt
~Says dada all day long but of course momma isn't even on the horizon!
~Has said a small handful of other words....says "hi," "meow," and "hat."
~Adores Sesame Street. Loves Elmo, Murray, Oscar's girlfriend Frenchetta and when Maggie Gyllenhall was the guest star, Maya beamed like crazy....it was the cutest thing! Must be her friendly face!
~Loves music and dancing
~Still loves to read which I am so excited about!
~Makes silly faces just like her Daddy
~Favorite toys: activity table, playhouse, her lion that she walks behind and her penguin who we named "Petunia." :)
~Sleeps with her little star and dolly.
~This week she started letting go of things when she pulls up. Her eyes get wide and then she hangs back on!
~She has taken 4 steps behind her stride and ride lion!
~She loves her toothbrush and will play it/chew it for 20 minutes!
~She has 3 teeth....we are watching for that 4th one!

Can't believe she's almost one. SO fun to watch her grow and learn!!

Here are some favorite recent pics.

Is there anything sweeter??

Hi Mommy!

Her mischievous look! We call this her "Sprockets" outfit if you watched SNL in the 90's!

Loves her tunnel! Is it mean that I sometimes use it as a gait between the living room and kitchen??!

LOVE this pic! My fave :)

FINALLY got her new car seat installed! She loves it and looks so much more comfy in it!

Another fave of mine :)

Lovey Dovey

We had a very fun first Valentine's! The cute outfit I bought for her a couple months before was soooo tight on her legs that we had to improvise and create a new outfit but I ended up liking it even better. Because, you know, that is SOOO important. Teehee! We also went to Khorey's birthday party that weekend. Hard to believe she is SEVEN. They just get bigger in the blink of an eye. I remember people saying that to me when I was little and now I am SO the one saying it all the time!!
Mimi and Papa got her a special valentine card that sang "I Love You a Bushel and a Peck" which is my mom's special song with all the grandkids! She sang it to us growing up too. :) Maya loves it and plays with it constantly!

Future American Girl doll lover!! She loves Khorey's dolls and kept kissing Ivy over and over. :)

Play it again Papa!

Rubber Duckie V-day style! Mimi gets her one for every holiday.

The birthday girl! Khorey and Eli

Reading her bee book!

Texas Time

Well I'm way behind.....but we'll start with our trip to Frisco, TX in early February. We got to stay one night with BJ and one night with Michelle and got to see all our Texas friends and cousins. Had a lot of fun!!

Look at me! This was my very first time pulling up and it was at Aunt Michelle's house! I was showing off for my cousins. :)

Telling Aunt Michelle all kinds of stories.

Loved playing the grunting game with cousin Avery!

We got to see Austin in action at his basketball game! He did great!

Here I am with my bestie Sydney and mommy's bestie BJ! (and little Johnny soon to arrive in June!) We had so much fun!

Well technically this was right before we left for Texas but here I am getting ready to bump foreheads with Aunt Sharla....that's our special game!

Happy 9 Months to My Sweet Maya!

My little punkin is 9 months old today! Her appointment got moved back two weeks so I don't have her stats yet. Feels like I was just pregnant yesterday. I have been putting her baby book together and a photo book on Shutterfly and going through her birth pictures has brought on the water works!! What an amazing miracle that I get to have fun with every day. My cup runneth over Maya!! :)

Right now:
~You just started crawling this week! You haven't quite figured out that you can leave the room yet!
~You love to crawl over to Ariel and then Ariel looks over at me to make sure it's ok :)
~You are eating some solids now. Chunks of banana, avocado, little bits of waffle, pasta. Mommy needs to start branching out a little more because very soon you will be on only solids!
~You are still sleeping great so far! 12-12.5 hours a night and you recently went to two naps during the day.
~You smile at all the sweet elderly men who talk to you in the grocery store! :)
~You just started making the funniest scrunched up face. You are getting quite the silly personality and Mommy LOVES it!!
~You break out in random laughter which cracks everyone up!
~You learned to fake laugh when Mommy's friend was in town because you wanted to be in on the laughter. :)
~You are now sleeping with your little starfish.
~You can display a little temper when you are "done" with something!
~You love your Daddy time.
~You still love books and got LOTS for Christmas!
~You play peekaboo by yourself with your burp rags! You just started doing it last month all on your own!
~You have learned to clap with noise and look so proud when you do it!
~You are having 4 seven ounce bottles a day.
~You got your first cold this month! :(
~You are still a party animal and love to be around lots of people!
~Your favorite song is still Godspeed by the Dixie Chicks and sometimes Mommy singing a verse and snuggling you tight is the only thing that calms you down if you are upset.
~You love to dance and when you are on my lap you even do it on command! :)

I love you Maya Jayne! You are the light of my life and I cherish every moment my little love :)

I'm Dreaming of a White First Christmas!

Disclaimer: This post includes A LOT of pics! :) I had a hard time editing. We had an amazing Christmas and I was so excited that Maya's first one was a white Christmas! Not that she will remember, but I will! We went to my mom and dad's house for Christmas. Since Khalid was already there working, Maya and I drove up with Sharla and the fam. We piled into their Tahoe and seriously looked like the Griswold's!! I could barely see Maya over the sleds! We got there a day before the snow hit. The holiday was filled with hula hooping (teehee!), food, fun, games, tons of laughter, drinks, sledding, and lots more!

Austin and Maya

Avery and Maya

Papa and Maya...love how the light is hitting her in this pic!

Mimi giving Maya some sugars!

The girls found all my old costumes (and Khorey is sporting my old punk rocker halloween wig!) and they tried every single one of them on! It was too cute!

Silly faces! Making reindeer food to sprinkle on Christmas Eve!

Getting ready to sprinkle reindeer food in the blizzard!

Khorey feeding my little monkey. She is going to be the most amazing babysitter some day! She's a natural!

Christmas tradition: unwrapping their Christmas jammies from Mimi and Papa

Mmmmmm.....wrapping paper! (Which was immediately removed after this pic! Teehee!)

Adorable Christmas jammies!

Christmas morning.....Santa's little helper :)

LOVE this pic! Maya with her Mimi and Papa

Beautiful Christmas morning!!

Maya's pretty Christmas day outfit! :)

We didn't get to go to church Christmas Eve, but we decided to dress the kids up anyway so we could get some pics! After all, I have been waiting to see her in this dress for about 2 months!!!

Precious kiddos

Maya and Aunt Michelle

I just want to sugar those cheeks all over!

I think she liked her Christmas dress! :)

Sisters! (Of course they wanted to take this after I changed clothes. Hence the sweatshirt!)

Onto Christmas celebration with the Elneser's! (It was far too short though!) Uncle Nabih and Luke.....such a sweetie!!

Teta reading Maya some of her new books!

Kkhalid with Isabelle......pretty girl!!

Aunt Sarah snuggling with Maya :)