Fun in the sun!

In case you haven't been able to tell from these past blog titles, we definitely have had some fun this July, but sadly the month is almost over.  Our week in Nags Head, NC flew by in a heartbeat, July is about gone, and soon summer will turn to fall.  Sigh.  We've been enjoying the sun while it lasts though (although not so much the heatwave...) and have some beach pictures to prove it.  So I say once gain, brace yourself- there are lots of them!

 

First time taking in the ocean breeze

First time feeling the cool ocean water and the wet sand between her toes

 
First time sitting in the sand



Hamming it up out to eat!









Splashing in her own personal pool!






Those delicate little footsteps...

Warming up to Too-dad who made the trip all the way down from DE just to spend some time with us- so special!  (I say "us," but Maelee's definitely the clincher!)

Loving her new toy from Too-dad and "Nart!"


 
The company was even better than the view :)












Getting sleepy but that can't stop her from grinnin' in her shades!


 





With some of her  favorite people




That is pretty much my entire breakfast on my lap... oops.
(Maelee actually had nothing to do with it.  Sigh.)




Enjoying her little pool out on the deck


Making "the face"  :)



 What's better than waking up to a GREAT Too-dad and an incredible Nana???

Placing the ball in the cup is SO much more fun than hitting it in with a silly club!

 

 

Enjoying a beautiful sunset over the sound with just the two of us

 

Feeling brave enough to let go of our hands the day before we left!

We are so thankful to have had this time at the beach!!!

Enjoying our last evening in Duck

Maelee especially enjoyed getting to try ice cream (well, peach frozen yogurt, but close enough!) for the first time- hard to tell who enjoyed the experience more though, Maelee or her Nana & Pop-Pop!!!

The face says it all...

And the hands say "please!"

Some last-minute beach play before the long car ride home

Even more pics in this slideshow:

It was definitely too short a trip, but we sure did enjoy it and are SO thankful to my Aunt Viv & Uncle Tom for so generously offering up their beautiful beach home for us stay in! We are also SO thankful to have gotten the chance to see Too-dad and Mary Catherine (Nart), and SO, SO thankful to my mom and dad for basically making the vacation possible.  Oh, and so thankful for Pop-Pop's driving skills in getting us there safely and back :)  We're already looking forward to some fun in the sun next summer in the Outer Banks!

Fun on the Farm and the Fourth!

July has been quite a month and if the next few evenings continue to be a little less hectic, I may even get a second post up before the week ends!  I figured I could either have multiple posts or a gazillion pictures in one post (I know, me- a gazillion pics?  Unheard of!), so I decided to at least break up some of the recent happenings into two separate ones. 

But before getting into July, here are a couple shots worth posting from the end of June...

We enjoyed a bittersweet afternoon in Central Park at the end of June as a farewell to the Alosi family (in the middle with sweet baby Ashley) who has moved to Toronto- dear friends who will be missed but we're excited for this new chapter in their lives!

Finally got around to taking some pictures of Maelee with the handmade bunny from her Mee-Maw! She was much more interested in playing and hugging it than posing for a picture, though... :)

Now onto July!

As Steve's sister, Kim, was moving to TN from the farm in New Jersey, we wanted to make sure to all say goodbye from the northeast and give Maelee not only the chance to see some real, live chickens, but also her Mee-Maw, who had come up to help Kim with the move. It was a short but sweet visit and we'll miss having Aunt Kim so close.

 

And just a couple favorite shots at one of our favorite parks...

We had a great 4th of July celebration with some friends at a nearby park and when not sitting with some of her pals, Maelee was happy to walk around and climb up the stairs... but only while holding onto one of our fingers!  Despite being little Miss Speedy in our apartment, and anywhere *inside* that she feels comfortable, she is still hesitant to walk much on her own outside.  We think it's a combo of not being a fan of shoes (which I can certainly relate to, ha!) and just not being as comfortable outside of her safe environments. Ahh, but there's plenty of time...  We'll hold onto these moments where she doesn't want to let go as long as we can!!!

 

Slideshow of more pics from the 15th Month:

One step at a time...

As far as parenthood has gone, the above phrase has been used over and over, and in more than one way during this past month!  It's been a great few weeks since the last post, and as always, life with a now-toddler brings something new every day. 

Maelee's personality is showing more and developing more each minute, yet when Steve and I try to find words to describe it, we find it's actually quite difficult to label!  She's generally pretty laid back, but can be quite determined (or should I say, demanding...)when she wants something; she can be a bit shy and clingy around new faces and situations, but then will wave and smile, excitedly saying "hi" and "yeah!" at any stranger who makes eye contact on the street; she will give us the most precious hugs, kisses, and smiles, standing in her crib while sweetly looking up at us as we pray over her and put her down for the night, and then...  

Well, let's just say this "stage" in baby/toddler development of defiance, testing, and seemingly deliberate disobedience has made us both silently seethe through our teeth and want to crack up laughing at the same time!  Maelee's biggest infractions are throwing her food when she either doesn't like it or is just plain bored, being the opposite of gentle either with the kitty or us, and then yelling at us when we correct her.  We really wish it weren't so darn funny. We're experimenting both with the firmly-correct-it approach and ignore-it approach and the jury's still out on which is most effective with her.  Fun times!

She still has a blast with her animal sounds and pronouncing (or trying to pronounce) different words and there are many now that only we'll be able to understand- for example, "bera bera," as in "strawberries."  Yeah, close, right? :)  

The biggest news from the 14th month was her new-found walking skills!  She got pretty confident with the one-handed cruising soon after turning 13 months old and by the end of that month, was comfortably and quickly (!) pacing back and forth barely holding onto one of our fingers.  Every now and then, she'd venture a step without holding on to get between furniture but pretty unintentionally.  Any time she'd noticed she was standing on her own, she'd reach to hold onto something, so we were definitely expecting to have a very late walker on our hands!

Then, just days before turning 14 months old, on Father's Day in fact, she decided to take her first *intentional* steps on her very own without holding onto anything!  With Nana & Pop-Pop, and mommy & cheering her on, she walked from our ottoman to her daddy- a total of 3 or 4 steps!  It was pretty cute.  For about the entire week after, she was still content to just do a few steps, only to fall into the arms of me or Steve, but this past week, she's started to gain quite a bit of confidence and I think we can definitely call her a walker now!  She still hasn't tried outside, but is all over our apt now- let the fun begin!  I was really hoping she'd be comfortable by the time we went to the beach (in another week and a half) and she may get there just yet! 

Here's a link to a video of her taking one step at a time (just copy and paste into a new window):

http://vimeo.com/25847085

(password: MaeleeWalks)

Ok, enough of the updates, let's get to some pics, backtracking to just after Maelee turned 13 months old up to just over 14 months.

Some sweet pics of Maelee & friends at their "musical playdate"

Did I really once say we had a fairly "neat" eater???

Discovering the piano during a fun, week long visit to Nana & Pop-Pop's back in May

Including a special treat of seeing great Too-dad and "Nana-Nart"

Especially thrilled to see daddy after going a few days without him

Boat ride from Alexandria to the National Harbor

Some of our favorite people

Yummy lunch with 4 generations

Enjoyed another special treat during our time in VA of seeing old friends from San Diego who happened to be visiting VA and staying at a family lake house!

Another perk of our visit was enjoying a special treat of a date!

A more "official" first hair cut!
(not sure Maelee would qualify this as a "special treat" but she tolerated it quite well!)

Yummy breakfast at "Bread & Chocolate"

(Yeah, it's pretty yummy)

So much fun with Nana & Pop-Pop!

More pics from the trip to VA in this slideshow:

In the middle of June, we were also fortunate to get to see Aunt Kim as she had a conference in the city!

Fun playdate with friends (note the coordinating headbands- thanks to Jessica!)

At a very special and very beautiful wedding of friends from our church

Our "date night" included this lovely affair and a free hotel night (crazy deal that actually wasn't "too good to be true" from our credit card company) at a Fairfield Inn in Nyack.  We're so thankful Nana & Pop-Pop could come up to watch our little girl- all of them had a blast...

LOVES to swing!

Two of my all-time favorite shots so far...

And more pics from the 14th Month in this slideshow: