Hanging Low

Today we stayed close to home.....aka our hotel room since I have not been feeling well. We all slept in until 8:00am which was a luxury since most of our group outings require us to be ready to go by 8:00a. Maya seems to be adjusting more to our new hotel surroundings and enjoys our afternoon strolls. Today we walked around and looked at all the incredible sculptures. There is one particular sculpture that we couldn't resist taking Maya's picture. A school teacher playing the violin with her students in tow. Maya decided she wanted to join in. Look closely or you might miss her.

" I want to join in too!"

Tonight we had a pizza party with some of the other families in the group. We have obviously hung out a lot with Brad and Kristi and the twins Stella and Lola. They are amazing parents of two beautiful, very very active girls. About 5 families with babies and other biological kids joined in on the fun which doubled as a birthday party for Adele (another baby) who turned 1 today. Maya really enjoyed the birthday cake. It is funny how quickly we have bonded with the other members of our group. It is nothing to sit around and discuss bowel movements and boogers....including our own. It is so funny when a smell filled the room and all the parents started individually smelling their children's butts to see if it was their baby responsible for the offending odor.

"Birthday cake is good!"

Maya is learning at lightening speed. Today Maya learned to shake her head yes....although we aren't sure if she knows exactly when to do it. She also seems much more relaxed around us. When we first got her she was constantly grinding her teeth. It was a horrible squeaky sound. I imagine it was stress induced because we have not heard her do this for several days now. She was so passive when we first got her and would not really put up a fight about anything. Now she tests her limits constantly. She is showing her spicy side more and more.

"I'm not spicy! I'm an angel"

I think we are getting pretty comfortable with parenthood. We would get up every 15 minutes to check on her the first few days. One little whimper and we would be at her crib. Now we are starting to learn which cries are sleepy cries and which ones mean business. It will be interesting to see her in our home environment which will seem like a mansion to her. She has been so used to the small little space we all share. The dresser doubles as the diaper changing station and the bathroom doubles as the formula making station. Yesterday I was changing Maya's diaper and before I could get her new one on she was pooping off the side of the dresser. Apparently my frantic attemp to catch it all was pretty funny to her as she giggled out loud watching me.

Hanging with Daddy

There are some things you should know about Maya before we get home. She may seem pretty serious. She is just now giving smiles to the other parents in the group who she has known for almost three weeks. None of them ever believed that she smiled. So if you don't get a smile out of her the first time you meet her don't be surpised. She seems to hold back and observe new people. If you hold her be prepared for her to throw her head back. She will do this when she is mad or even happy and just wanting to see the world from a different perspective. But it can definitely catch you off guard if your not prepared for it. Finally you should know that Maya has mongolian spots. These spots can look different on each baby but are common among asian babies. On Maya they look almost like blue bruising and run from her butt up her back. We did confirm with the doctor in the group that these are in fact Mongolian spots. Usually the children will outgrow them with age.

It seems Maya is growing so quickly. She feels heavier and has a little belly now. In fact when she is full her outy belly button sticks out like one of those turkeys with the ready button that pops out when it's done. We are excited to get her home so that everyone can enjoy her little acclomplishments. We only wish that all of our family and friends lived closer. We show her everyone's pictures so that she becomes familiar with those she might not see as often. Only 4 more days until we are home!!!!