I'm thinking of refurbishing this site. As you can see, most of the photos are gone in my previous entries because Mike accidentally deleted the photo folder in the webserver and I don't have them saved somewhere, so I was thinking, maybe, it'd be nice to have a clean break and start anew. I don't have the time to dig through my photo library and update it. I barely have time to blog nowadays. So, hopefully, I get this blog restarted very soon.

xoxo

Where to start?

My Macbook's hard drive recently died along with all of Maya's photos. To say that I'm devastated is an understatement. It wasn't backed up except for the first 15 days I was able to save. I've learned to tune the thought of it out lest I burst into tears and I'm still in denial. I didn't mourn the death of my first Macbook, which I loved dearly, as much as I did Maya's photographs.

Maya is growing really well. She weighs 6.2 kgs and is 60 cms long at three months! Carrying her is a workout on its own - not to mention the rocking, dancing and bending we do to get her to sleep. Yes, I meant bending like you're doing an air squat with her in your arms. It's the only action that gets her to stay still and quiet immediately when she fusses. It's our fault, I know, and there's nothing much we can do about it now unless we do the pick-up/put-down method I read in baby books, which is a real pain to do and can't be done alone. I just hope she'll outgrow this pretty soon.

She can lift her head and shoulders now and is starting to attempt crawling. She does this swimming pose when lying on her belly. She has really strong legs and can stand on her own supported by the arm of a sofa or when held under her arms.

~*~

This blog entry was 2 months delayed. Didn't want to delete it so I'm just posting it as it is. I want to write again as I miss blogging so much! I simply just don't have the time.

This is a little guest blog post written by me, Michael. This is our first Mother's Day and I'm proud of Maya's mom. I couldn't find a proper card here in the Netherlands so I decided to write her a letter instead.



A letter to Mommy Grace

With your nurturing and encouraging approach to motherhood I know next year Maya will be able to great you herself :D

Happy Mother's Day!

"Please go out there and do. Live. Don’t be the same as yesterday. Don’t live vicariously online. Don’t use language that has no meaning or talk ideas you don’t really live. Don’t hide. Don’t copy others or live their ideas or life. Don’t fear doing your thing. Don’t fear doing. Instead of reading a decorating magazine, paint that room. Instead of thinking of baking, do up a cake. Run, walk, bike. Put that self help book down and pick up yourself...

"Strive for your best and not what you think someone elses' best is. Follow through. Don’t let others’ down. Don’t let yourself down. You are better than your circumstances. Ask for what you’re worth. Make magic happen don’t wish for it. Don’t envy others’ lives, envy yours. Live it fully. Teach by example how to live well, how to be treated, how to be kind, how to be alive."

From Living Well Is More Than Organic Fruit by Alex the Girl: Making the Ordinary, Extraordinary

Dearest Maya,

I can't believe that you are now a month old! Where did all the time go? You are growing so fast it never ceases to amaze me.

You are getting stronger everyday, you know. You have quite active limbs. If your arms could only support your body, you'd be crawling by now. Your legs, on the other hand, are a different story. They can definitely move your body up when we let you lie on your tummy. When the Lady Doctor did your physical checkup, she had you walk on the table top while she held you under your arms. We were so proud of you. I was doing an internal cheering of "That's my girl!" I bet your Daddy did, too. But when she pulled you up with your arms without supporting your head, my eyes almost popped out of my head but then calmed down when I saw you were doing OK. Almost gave me a heart attack and I was ready to grab you and run out of the room.



You may feel embarrassed when you get to read this but I have to tell you that I have never been so happy about a fart and poop before in my life until now. For almost a week, you've been having tummy problems, especially with letting out gas. The first two days were a nightmare! You only slept well and straight after a warm bath which we only give in the evenings since my right hand/wrist can't handle doing that task alone just yet. You'd wake up every 5 minutes and cry whenever you feel like you had to fart, and it breaks my heart every time I see you in pain, face all red, trying to get the gas out of your body and nothing comes out! So whenever I hear you fart, it comforts me to know that it brings you relief. I don't even care that it stinks. I only care that you're not suffering so much. You still have tummy troubles but it isn't as worrisome as a couple days ago. At least now, you get to sleep longer and it doesn't bother you as much. You tend to fart a lot in your sleep, too, and when your Daddy is around to hear it, he'd always laugh. He thinks it's one of the coolest things you do.

You are currently in a growth spurt. I used to nurse you every 2.5 to 3 hours, but now you ask for it sometimes after an hour that I worry if I have enough milk. I was relieved to know that you gained the regular weight when we went to your first checkup a few days ago. This was my constant worry because I don't know how much milk you actually get to drink but you don't fit most of your newborn clothes anymore so you've been wearing the next bigger size for almost a week. It's difficult for me sometimes to gauge how much you've grown because I see you everyday and almost every minute. But your cheeks are becoming fuller that I started calling you Chubby Cheeks two weeks ago. It's far cuter than the nickname your Daddy came up with. Do you know he calls you Fatty? Yeah. When you're old enough to understand this, you can then tell him, "Right back at ya!"



I've noticed this past week that you've been seeking our attention an awful lot. You have this certain cry that lets us know you want to be picked up to sleep in our arms or chests instead of your bed. Since you do it while you're sleeping, I wonder if you have bad dreams. I wish I could see into your pretty little head to know what you're dreaming about or if you're dreaming at all. I hope, that once you start talking and understand certain things, you will tell me all about it.

One of the many things we've learned lately is multi-tasking with you in our arms. Since we came home two weeks ago from the hospital and birthing hotel, you're rarely asleep during dinnertime. For some reason, you manage to weasel your way into one of the few Mommy and Daddy moments we have. It's like you're saying, "Hey I want to eat dinner with you, too!" It's either you feel restless and don't want to be put down or you're hungry and want attention. I eat my dinner mostly while nursing you and, at the same time, watch one of our favorite TV series episodes. This has become our routine and it gives us a sense of normalcy. And once you're in bed later in the evening and we're not so tired, we try to spend more time to talk about our day and anything important or just cuddle on the couch, but then sometimes I have the sudden urge to pick you up because I miss you.

Your Daddy and I keep telling each other, "She got it from you," whenever you do something we recognize from the other. Like, you sleep like me with an arm on your face or over your head, the way you stretch and your facial expressions while you sleep. However, you make so much noise and kick in your sleep just like he does. So when you're old enough to want to sleep in our bed with us, I'll have to buy earplugs and hope that you both won't kick me off the bed.



You make me really happy even when I'm tired and all I want to do is sleep. You always seem to "know" how to make me smile and cry happy tears. On my birthday at 5 a.m., right before I was going to feed you, you gave me one big smile followed by your cute little giggle (first time I've heard it). You may not have consciously done it but it doesn't matter. All that matters was you made my day and that was one precious moment I will never forget. I kissed your face all over and told you that you are Mommy's best birthday gift ever.

I love you, Chubby Cheeks. Always and forever more,
Mommy

With a baby in the house, everyday is laundry day.