A Doctor's Visit

We went to the doctor for Maya's 9 month appointment. She is 18 lbs 6 oz and 28 1/2 inches long. Almost identical to Amelia's 9 month stats. Maya was a champ, just gave the doctor suspicious looks the whole time, and cried for a quick minute with her shot. I had been prepping Amelia all week, letting her know we were going to the doctor for Maya, and yes Maya would get shots, but not Amelia. But then... the doctor asked if I wanted them to get the flu shot and I said, sure why not? Well maybe this is why not:

 Amelia's face when I told her she would indeed be getting a shot. She even hid behind the chair. Might sound terrible, but this cracks me up. 

 This was a few minutes later, while still waiting for the shot. That is her flexing her muscle, deciding she would be strong.

And showing off her shot. She did great! She held very still and gave a good cry for a few seconds. Silly girl, I am new to my kids having anticipation and being aware of what a shot is.

So glad we are healthy over here. 

Things I'm excited about

Maya's increasingly old-balding-man-donut hair.

Maya getting into things.

Fall walks.

Christmas.

New inspirations from Conference.

My baby is 9 months old tomorrow.

Maya woke up with messy hair the other day, for the first time ever! See that little wing of hair on the left? So her hair is continually growing on the sides and back, still nothing right on top. Ha! 

 Do we see the pride in her eyes? Maya has finally gotten her hands on those colorful dvds she's been eyeing for a few months. I love it. I love to watch her move, keeping up with Amelia.

 After a few bang ups from pulling herself up and falling when she wanted to move on, she now just stays put and calls for me to come help her down when she wants to crawl on to the next thing. It's kind of useful when I need her to stay in one place for a bit.

 We had a couple of cooler days.

 So I got to pull out these cute matching hoodies I got on sale for $3 last spring.

 Swing pictures, love them.

 The weather is back up to mid-80s and Amelia is still insisting on her jacket, hood and all.

 These girls are just the cutest together.

 I put up a few Halloween decorations, one of them being this glowing pumpkin. Every evening Amelia moves it down by her toys and they both play by pumpkin light. The negotiations have begun with Juan to let me set up for Christmas on November 1. Our previous agreement is November 15 (Juan already compromising, he thinks I don't honor the pilgrims). But these girls, they are too cute, and I am too excited to celebrate the holidays with them!

We enjoyed General Conference this weekend. I've been really happy lately, just genuinely enjoying my simple, day-to-day life. I love being a mom. I was made to be a mom. I could watch my kids all day, I am just in love with them. And I was reminded during all the talks that all my blessings in life come from God. And I am renewed and determined to show my gratitude and to just be more thankful. I want my girls to be raised with the same truths I knew from a young age. That Jesus is their Savior and friend/confidant. That they are loved unconditionally by Heavenly Father. They have individual worth, they are beautiful and important and it doesn't matter if anyone tells them otherwise because no one can change that they are daughters of God, no one can take away that divine love. I am so happy that my parents raised me to know these truths, and frankly I have a long way to go before I am up to par with my parents, so I better get to work on being a better person, example, and teacher for my children.

This girl is 9 months old tomorrow!

See her in action:

Quick Trip to Utah

Maya and I were lucky enough to go to Utah this last weekend to meet my new nephew Bennett and be there for his baby blessing. It was the best trip! I had to spend 72 hours away from Miss Amelia and Juan, which was really hard, but we video chatted twice a day.

Airport pictures.

I know she looks terrified in this picture, but she really just was mad that I took my phone away from her. She didn't sleep at all the flight there and was squirmy, but good. Then she slept half the time on the way back and played and was happy the rest of the time! 

I met up with Miriam to go walking early in the morning. We showed up in matching outfits! So we had to get a picture.

Maya and Judson. Judson was sad that Amelia wasn't there, but he still played and had a lot of fun with Maya!

The man of the hour! Bennett. Isn't he the cutest little baby?

Maya and Heather. She just loved Heather this trip. She was a little nervous with so many people around, but she always happily went to Heather. And Tyler too!

Crawl-running away from Sami.

Bennett and me. I just loved his soft and fuzzy baby hair.

Bennett lounging with Sami.

Maya and grandma.

I love this picture of Bennett! Bright eyes and he just looks like a little man.

Our attempt at a photo shoot. 

Maya got aggressive sometime and would forget Bennett was there when she was going for a toy.

But he didn't seem to mind. He really loved having her around. Look at his smile!

Barrett tried to scare Maya with his mask. But this girl, she's not afraid of anything.

Barrett took over the camera for a bit and got this pretty good self portrait of he and Ginger.

He took these cute ones too!

Maya was a little weary of my brother Kent and my dad. She let Kent hold her, but made it very clear that she did not like it by giving him the stink eye.

Sadie and Maya.

Maya with Rachelle and Paul.

Just chillin with the cousins: Griff, Caleb, Sami, Maya, Judson.

Grandma and Maya again. My mom said she wanted to take a picture of this outfit of Maya's so my kids could make fun of me later. I don't mind, I do like bold mixed prints on my babies.

BCFF (best cousin friends forever) saying good bye. 

And one last snuggle with Bennett.

Bennett with his mom and dad, yawning. Can't resist a cute yawn picture!

Juan and Amelia had the best time here! A couple birthday celebrations, Chuck-E Cheese, and lots of playing. I'm glad they had that bonding time together. I am so happy to be home and when the girls saw each other for the first time, priceless. They love each other so much. 

As of late

 We're still swimming here in Texas. We're getting the cool weather too in the mornings, but still getting up to the 90s during the afternoon.

 Maya loves to be up on her knees, and of course she chooses our toy from the 80s to climb on, the only toy that still has sharp edges. She's gotten a few scrapes.

 We went camping! 

 Well we didn't stay over night or anything, but we sat by a campfire with friends and had s'mores!

 Check out Amelia's face in this one, it is hilarious. 

 Amelia is so funny, she loves to roast marshmallows but once we make a s'more for her, she will have nothing to do with it. Too sticky I think. She's such a lady.

 On Saturday we went to our town's First annual Kid Fitness Day! There was a bouncy house and tons of booths with free samples.

 And lots of activities for kids. I can't wait to take them each year! 

 Amelia got her face painted. Love this grimace.

 Maya does this new thing where when she's excited or when someone new comes in the room, she straightens her arm and pushes her chin down. I think she thinks she's waving? In this picture it looks like a thumbs down, haha.

Last week Juan and I went on a double date with our friends Ryan and Kendra. We saw the Bats and went to dinner. We've seen the bats 3 times now (once in April which we found out is not Bat season, that's why it was so lame G&S, sorry). This was the best showing yet! There were thousands of bats and they formed black clouds in the sky, so crazy.

I just want to quickly write about Amelia's playgroup. I have been dropping her off once a week with a group of 4 other kids. We rotate who hosts, so I host the group once every 5 weeks. And Amelia has been doing awesome! She is the youngest and has never really been dropped off to do things without me. But she is loving it. We've been doing it for a month and just in this one month, her talking has taken off! I really think it's because she's around these older kids (the oldest is exactly 1 year older than her). They are all such good kids too, so she is only learning great things from them. I'm really excited for her.