Cabin time!

Hi Love,
Life has been busy and I have been not very good about keeping your blog updated. It is definitely not because there isn't a lot to talk about-as there are new things happening every day.

We took you to the cabin last weekend! Grandma and Grandpa were already up there. Our good friend Cara and her boyfriend and his son came up also! This was the first time in a while that we went on a long car ride with you and we quickly realized that the days of you sleeping happily in your carseat during the whole trip were over!!! You did take two naps but were otherwise not that happy about being constrained to your carseat. I kept handing you things (water bottles, my wallet, toys etc) to try to keep you occupied! But then you would just throw them off the side of your carseat!! So I ended up putting a pillow between your carseat and the car door so that even if you through them off the side of your carseat they would still be in reach for you. You had a lot of fun at the cabin. It was pretty hot on Saturday, but the water was still really cold, as it is only May!  We started out by putting you in the sand which you loved playing with. Then I sat you on the edge of the water and you liked it!! You actually scooted yourself deeper into the water and didn't even cry! I think you really liked the water! It was so fun to see you on the beach. I think of all of the generations of Culberts that have sat on the same beach! I actually had a moment where I said to myself  "I am now the mom of the baby on the beach"! One day you will be swimming in the water all day and think that your mom is so old and boring and won't understand why I don't want to swim all day too! I will remind you that when I was little I LIVED in the water while at the cabin. I would even sleep in my swimsuit!

We stopped on the way home to see Great Grandma Bev. She always gets so much joy out of seeing you.

What else is new.....well today you climbed up all of the stairs!!! I wasn't home but your daddy was with you. You can now easily pull yourself up into the standing position! You are crawling more and more but still scooting a lot! You continue to LOVE black beans! You continue to use you outdoor voice (or should I saw your outdoor scream) on a daily basis. Yes, I am now that mom at Target with the screeching child! But thank god you aren't usually crying!

You continue to demonstrate your independence and I reminded that although your dad and I created you and that you grew in my tummy for 9 months that in reality you don't belong to us. You are you own person with you own life ahead of you.  My job is to guide you through the different stages of life and to make sure you always feel loved and secured. I hope to have some influence on you but in reality you will find your own path in life.  This parenting thing is tough work!!! In reality it is selfless work. It really makes me appreciate all that my parents did for me!!  The work is of course worth it Mayabird. I have already learned so much about life and myself since becoming your mom!!!

Thanks for being part of my life!!!

I will do it myself!

Hi Love,
You are continuing to demonstrate your independence and like to remind your dad and I that you we don't have as much control over you as we thought or wanted!

This week you decided to go through a stage where you won't let anyone (me, dad, grandma) feed you! You would take a bottle and breatfeed and of course feed yourself food but you would not let a spoon near you at all. Of course this was right after I had a made you a big batch of this homemade apple oatmeal yumminess and dad had made you an ever bigger batch of this awesome soup. (which contains tons of good veggies along with rice and chicken). You wouldn't even let me feed you yogurt which you usually love. So we were getting frustrated with you! You little stinker. I would try to feed you and you would pretty much swat/push the spoon away in defiance and make a big mess! So I then went on to make you homemade mac and cheese and you initially wouldn't eat that, instead you rubbed it all of the counter with your hands and of course all over yourself (including in your hair!) But now you will feed yourself the mac and cheese in addition to other things. And you let grandma feed you food yesterday and Mary had no problem feeding you today. We will have to try the soup again some other day,  but for now it is all pureed and in the freezer!

In other news you have slept through the night the last two nights-yeah and I have vowed to never feed you during the night again!!! I was getting tired and a little resentful toward you because everyone time you wouldn't eat during the day I would think to myself, "ahh, now she is just going to get up and want to eat at night". I didn't like being frustrated with you and therefore it was time to let you cry it out. The first night was Friday night and it was a little rough. You woke up around 3 am. We let you cry 10 minutes before we went in to soothe you (which we were unsuccessul). We then went 15 minutes. I don't know what I was thinking, but somehow in my sleep deprived state I thought it would be a good idea to crawl in your crib with you to soothe you! It didn't really work because all you wanted to do was eat and your dad was not happy with me and ended up going downstairs to read. I don't how much longer it took but you did eventually fall asleep. I went to check on you and of course then you woke up! Ahh! So then we had to start again, but it didn't take as long and then you slept until after 7!!! We all survived!!! The next night it didn't take nearly along and then the next two nights you didn't wake up at all!!!!

Sunday was mothers day and we celebrated by going to lansboro with Grandma Karimi. We rented a bike for her and a little bike trailer for you! You weren't quite sure what to think about it, but I think you overall enjoyed it. We want to get one of our own now so we can go on family bike rides. We have been going on family runs (including lucy) so you have started to spend a lot of time in your jogging stroller and you love it!!!

The other bigs news is that you are crawling more and you can now pull yourself up into the standing position. And you figured out how to go up a couple of stairs. It is so fun to watch. You crawled up into the landing at the bottom of the stairs. I let you stay there for a while to see if you could figure out how to get back down. You weren't quite sure but you definitely were cautious and didn't just throw yourself down. It is amazing that you already have a "danger" instinct.

Well I think that is enough for now, my little nut nut!!!

Stubborn little thing!!!

Hi Maya
I just put you to bed and you are already fussing. I knew you would even before I put you down as you have been very feisty this evening! A little girl on a mission. You have been scooting around and CRAWLING around and getting into things. Tonight you even pulled yourself up by the cupboard into a standing position! Those are two big milestones. Although you still love to scoot I think you have now realized that you can get somewhere faster if you crawl. You now do a hybrid of crawling and scooting. You like to crawl more on the carpet than the hardwood floors.  Well back to tonight. You were a little hard to please...and you attention span was short...so it was hard to keep you happy so I decided to just put you to bed as I thought you were just tired, even though you napped really well at daycare today.

You continue to eat well. For dinner we usually just give you part of what we are having and cut it up and you go to town with it. Of course you make a HUGE mess, so it hard to know how much goes into your tummy versus onto the floor.

Now time to talk about our "sleep issues". So last week I started giving you some oatmeal with milk before you went to bed. The first night you didn't wake up to eat until 4ish, the next night it wasn't until 4:30 and the following two nights you slept through the night. So your dad and I were feeling pretty good about things and proud of ourselves for figuring out how to get you to sleep through the night. But then of course you decided to prove to us that you run the show and have been waking up again!!! The last two nights it was around 2 even-which is early!! And now you won't eat much of the oatmeal that I try to feed you.  These are all good lessons and make us parents realize that just when we have things figured out you CHANGE!. I even made you this homemade mixture of apples, raisins, cinnamon and oatmeal to eat at night. But it was too sweet for you and you want nothing to do with it.  What are were going to do with you- I guess just love you!!!

In other news you got to meet your possible future husband this past weekend-Charlie Dean! And boy is he a cutie!!! You found him pretty interesting. Although you were a little rough with him. He is only 8 weeks old! Your dad and I had a wedding Saturday night (Susan and Claytons) so you spent the night with Auntie Soni and your dad and I spent the night in a hotel. It was the first time you were away from both of us. But you did great with Auntie Soni and dad and I enjoying sleeping through the night and not having to get up early.

Other tidbits....you love to pull your socks off and according to Mary you like to pull Hudson and Brody's socks off too. You little stinker. Your favorite "toy" right now are socks, shoes and laundry. You are so cute. You will pull everything of a laundry basket if I let you. You also like to scoot around with a shoe in EACH hand!!!  You also love opening cupboard doors and pulling open drawers and exploring whatever you find inside.

Well Maya love, you truly are at a fun and amazing stage. It is so fun to watch you grow and develop each day.  As you grow you become more and more independent!!!  I have a feeling you are going to be a confident and feisty young lady when you get older!!!