Easter and some new pictures

We've had a fun last few weeks. Fortunately we have not had anymore barrette eating incidents and no other foreign object eating either for that matter. Thank goodness for that. Instead we've occupied our time with playdates, birthday parties, dinner parties, visits with friends and last but certainly not least, shopping for Maya of which I have no control over as the spring clothes out for little girls are just too cute. Recently we bought Maya some dresses and spring jackets and some sturdy (but cute, of course) shoes and sandals for the summer. But one of my favorite purchases has been a little pink cap. She loves to wear it and is one of the only things that she'll keep on her head and fortunately it's too big to eat! It's been a good compromise when I'm trying to keep her fast-growing hair out of her eyes. Hopefully we'll get through this awkward phase soon. It's still a little too short to pull it back with a headband without her bangs sticking up in all directions and too long to let it hang in her eyes. And since we know what she does with barrettes I'm trying to be as creative as possible.

We can't believe that our little girl will be turning 1 in just over a week. She just keeps us smiling with all her crazy antics. She just loves to dance and any kind of music will make her want to groove. We took some videos of her recently dancing to some music. She has perfected the "butt wiggle" and has now moved onto some serious shoulder action. It never ceases to bring laughter to the house.




On April 4th, we went to Maya's little friend, Callianna's, birthday party. She is the daughter of one of my very good friends Jenn Soriano. Calli is only 5 weeks older than Maya and is such a sweetheart. I'm so glad the two girls are so close in age and can play together. As they grow and have started walking, it is so fun to see them together. The party was a blast with lots of little kids running around and once again they all happened to be girls. I'm not sure why, but all of Maya's little playmates are girls. This is certainly fine with me but unfortunately all this estrogen has made Maya a little leery when it comes to men. She does not play strange with woman and will happily go to a female she has never met before but when it comes to a man she has never met before, she will look at him, start to cry and run to me. I'm sure it's just a phase. Here are some pictures from Calli's birthday party. Maya was younger than all the girls but was bigger than them all with the exception of the girl who was 3 years old. We all had to laugh about it. She is so tall for her age.

Auntie Lorrie (my bff) came to visit Maya last weekend and as usual brought a gift for her girl. And now it's Maya's favorite toy. She has taken to hugging everything lately....mommy and daddy, of course, but all her stuffed animals too and sometimes even unlikely things like her books or a scrap piece of paper she found on the floor. Nothing is unlovable in her eyes. However, one of her favorite things to hug right now is her purple Koala bear from Auntie Lorrie. It's so soft and squishy that I don't blame her. Auntie Lorrie knows how to pick them.

In the midst of all this fun, we have also had a few rough nights and days. Maya cut 3 of her first year molars in one week. She has been working on these for months. They would seem to move a little bit down and I'd be sure that I could see and feel her swollen gums but then they would recede again and give us another week of relief before it would start all over again. So we were very relieved to find that those troublesome molars were finally making their appearance. Although it has been hard on her, it is just another sign of her development and we are so thankful that she is healthy. And everything considered, she is doing so well with all the pain. I can't imagine how that would feel...those molars are so big. She is developing quicky in many other ways too. She is such a smart little girl and loves to analyze. She has learned how to unscrew a lotion bottle cap and then put it back on again. She was so serious and diligent in working to figure it out and was quite proud of herself when she did so, holding it up to show us with a big smile on her face. We bought her some puzzles for her birthday and I think she will really enjoy them. She has her daddy's analytical brain.

We celebrated Easter in a very special way this year. My cousin Darcie and her husband Chris drove down from Saskatoon to spend the weekend with us. It was one of the best weekends that we've had in a while. We talked and laughed and watched movies and, of course, played cards which is one of our favorite pasttimes when we are together. We play a game called Kaiser and Darc and I are partners against our husbands. We usually win and this weekend was no exception. We are game people and never miss an opporutunity to have some fun. The weekend was made even more perfect when our friends Jenn & Alan also came over on Saturday evening for Easter dinner. I cooked a turkey with all the fixings including our traditional Ukrainian sidedish of perogies. Alan, being Chinese, had NEVER had perogies before and you could actually hear Darcie and I gasp out loud as if someone had uttered blasphemy. It was out of our realm of thinking that someone had actually lived their entire life without that soft potatoey goodness. But Alan being the good sport he is very graciously tried the perogies and although I don't think they won him over (he was disappointed that they didn't have any meat in them) Jenn took advantage of the fact that his loss was her gain! Thanks Jenn!! To end the meal, Jenn had brought some decadent cupcakes from Crave bakery (the name says it all) and all was right with the world. We spent the rest of the evening playing board games and laughing a lot. And although the guys beat us gals at every game, it was a very fun night and the perfect way to spend the holiday...with family and friends who are like family.

This Easter was especially blessed as we were able to share our first Easter with Maya. We were able to pray with our daugher, as we do every night, and thank God for dying on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins but that he also conquered death and rose from the grave that we would have eternal life with Him. What a gift and we are so thankful to share that gift with Maya. We pray it is only the first of many times we will share in that blessing together.

And no Easter celebration is complete without an Easter dress worn by the cutest little girl in the world. We also took a video of her in the dress. I think she liked the sound that her new shoes made on the hardwood.