November- a little of this and a lot of that...

In some ways, I feel like not much happened over the past few weeks, and in others, there's been lots of excitement!

This move has taken a lot out of me but our home is slowly coming together and we sure do love it. Maelee has taken it in stride but has really started to show some personality "quirks" lately...

I think she may have (at least, temporarily) a little bit of a split-personality going on! (Or as my mom likes to say, "She's just being a baby"). :) We've noticed that she will either be Miss Happy Face or Miss Fussy Pants with not a whole lot in between. Some days there's not a single whimper with plenty of smiles, giggles, and coos. Other days, try as we might and hardly a grin is cracked, with whining and fussing for no obvious reason! Sometimes it's several good days in a row, followed by several not-so-good days in a row; sometimes it's an every other day thing! I never seem to know what awaits me when I get our little sleeping beauty in the morning... But regardless, she's still our sweetie and we love her just the same. Some days, I'd just really like to know what the deal is, though!

About the 2nd week of November we noticed one of her bottom teeth had cut through and the other followed shortly after, so I like to use teething as the convenient excuse whenever she's just "not herself." I'm really hoping that is the reason, though (and it's not something else that I'm completely missing!!!), but am also hoping that as they say, she'll get somewhat used to the teething sensation and it will get easier on her.

Her little babbling makes us laugh harder than ever with how expressive she is and how seriously she wants to communicate with us. Bananas were added to the "solids" diet which she seemed to like (finally!) and she's also a fan of carrots and is ok with rice cereal, but insists on spitting out peas. She also (finally!) seems to be ok being on her tummy as she flips onto it all the time but we still foresee any crawling to be quite a ways away and wouldn't be too surprised, or disappointed, if she skipped crawling altogether. But who knows! She tends to surprise us :) She definitely loves playing with her toys and has her favorites, and loves her little books.

And she loved her big treats this month of seeing both sets of grandparents and her Aunt Kim!

Early on in the month, her Nana- Lin came up for a quick visit to help with the unpacking and really, to see her little darling. The couple of days went by too fast, but as always, we all enjoyed every minute. We also enjoyed our quick visit from Aunt Kim who made the effort to see us after a meeting she had in the city.

Then, a couple days before Thanksgiving, our family of three took the bus down to quickly see my parents and pick up their car (thanks, Mom & Dad!) for our trip to North Caroline to see Steve's parents. We were there for a delicious Thanksgiving and a couple days, then made the quick stop back up to VA to see my parents and return the car, followed by another bus back to NYC.

Anyhow, on to the fun part! Enjoy some pics from Maelee's 7th month into her 8th month, along with her 7 Month "Photo Shoot," followed by a little holiday cheer to get you in the spirit of Christmas at the bottom... :)

How Maelee feels about avocado...

Chewing on the teething ring container, while the ring lies beside her...

Enjoying a Saturday brunch with friends, giving big smiles to David,

and to daddy!

Fun with Aunt Kim!

Sitting patiently with Nana-Lin while mommy gets ready to trim her hair!

Like daddy like daughter!

Actually started to really bounce in her jump-up, and not just twirl!

"Mmm, bananas! Finally a 'solid' that I like!!!"

And allll over the face!

Go Army!!! (a little shout-out to her Pop-Pop's alma mater!)

And here's a slideshow of more shots from the 7th month:

Happy to be with Nana-Lin & Pop-Pop for a very short but very sweet visit before Thanksgiving

Then enjoying some bouncing on Thanksgiving Day at Grandma & Grandpa Mason's!

A little, impromptu Thanksgiving Day/7th Month Photo-Shoot...

Not sure what that expression is telling us but it sure is darn cute!

And here's a slideshow of more pics from that "shoot:"
Maelee & Mee-Maw

A little snack before the big feast!

Beginning our first Thanksgiving Day tradition of turkey-hand-tracing, along with a bible verse that expresses thankfulness. For the first year, we chose Psalm 69:30

I will praise the name of God with a song;
I will magnify him with thanksgiving.

Well, she didn't quite get the feast that we devoured
but she did enjoy her sweet potatoes and bananas!

Maelee was happy to see both sets of grandparents and really liked the decorated Christmas Tree at Nana-Lin & Pop-Pop's!

Here's a slideshow of pics from the first part of Maelee's 8th Month,
including our Thanksgiving trip:

And finally, even more shots in a slideshow of "Santa Maelee"

Some Quick Pix at Month Six!!!

What happens when two picture-happy parents go through a move? Well, apparently, they don't take so many pictures... Although, as we're really kinda crazy picture-happy parents, "not so many" pictures to us is still quite a few. It more just means that blog posts are fewer and farther between. So after the quick update, enjoy the latest looks of our little lady!

October (and so far November, too) was a whirlwind as we searched and searched for a new apartment, fell in love with one, went through a ridiculous application process, finally got approved, packed up a place that we had just unpacked only a short year ago, moved, and furiously unpacked (and yes, definitely still in the process) again. This was all in addition to Steve beginning his new job, a great visit to VA, and lots of church activities (oh, and taking care of a 6 month old...). Am I really planning to start teaching soon? Guess we'll see on that one!

So what of our new place? It's great! Quite a ways from the subway but close to two great parks and the river, on a tree-lined street; and while it's only technically a one-bedroom, it's a duplex! Who would have thought? It still feels a bit dungeon-esque "downstairs" as it is partially underground, but the possibilities with the space are endless and it easily converts to two separate and very decent-sized bedrooms!!! There's tons of storage space and even a dishwasher! (Took us a while to figure out what that was for...) The upstairs has more room than we ever thought we'd have in this city and we still keep scratching our heads as to what the "catch" must be given its price... But, for now, we are thankful for God's provision and we're just counting our blessings.

To non-NYC folk: don't get me wrong, it's certainly not huge, but we're excited to finally have some space to welcome more people into now! Oh yeah, and it takes just five small steps to get into this apartment, compared to the 37 (yes, I counted) from our old place! We don't even have to take Maelee out of the stroller for these! I hate moving, and I can't wait to have everything done, but we are thrilled over our new home.

But anyhow, enough of that. Much more important things to talk about - just had to give a run down of the other news.

Our sweet Maelee girl is getting bigger and older by the minute (gee, what a concept!). We seriously can't believe how quickly she changes. She started using a sippy cup (well, at least chewing on it), and started getting real food this month! Which, ironically, she doesn't really chew the food at all, or hardly even swallow, but just kinda lets it sit in her mouth and makes a funny face. She started with some soupy avocado and is now onto soupy sweet potato. It cracks me up. She's also rolling both ways so she's maneuvering all around her little mat and the floor. She's sitting up by herself, but once she realizes she's not actually touching anyone, she arches backward to make sure we're still there.:)

She LOVES being twirled around to music, lifted up into the air, and when we lay on the floor next to her. She's attempting to wave which is hysterical and she's added more funny sounds to the vocab- even some mamas and daddas which we love even though it's not at all intentional, hehe. Most days we just say, "she's too much." And she is. We are crazy about this child! Oh she has her moments and still is not a champ with consistent naps (especially when it's not totally dark, which the new room definitely is not, yet!) but it's been a fun ride so far.

Ok, enough updating, onto the pics!!!

In her little "FLUTE PLAYER" onesie with my amazing flute teacher, Carol Wincenc

At Carol's beautiful home with some of my favorite SB fluters

Hamming it up for her "audience"

With some of her BFF's, Blake & Teegan
(in the slideshow, there are pics where each lady is grinning, but not all in the same pic! of course, i had to put the one with Maelee smiling on the blog... :)

With future BF, Wesley

"Wait, Wesley, I'm not done telling you about my shopping spree!!!"

Pretty in Pink

Trying out the sippy cup for the first time!

Enjoying a beautiful Saturday, October morning in Central Park...

Our little "pumpkin" was too sweet to not have a little impromptu photo shoot later that day...

Then later that day, she tried her first "solids!"
Although, we're not sure why they're called solids as it's anything but.
Soupy, milky avocado..

We thought if she saw me nibbling some, she'd be more interested...

Interested? Yes. Liked it? Not so much.

>

Slideshow of more 6th month pics!



And then, could she be ANYTHING ELSE for Halloween...

Our "Little Ladybug" was just precious in her costume.

As Halloween fell on moving weekend, she only was able to dress up at church, but we had to put her six month "photo shoot" in this outfit.

Slideshow of the 6th month Photo Shoot

And we're already half way to 7 months... can't believe it!