Yesterday (and many more times today!) was the first time that Maeve stood up without holding on to something to pull herself up! She is more and more stable each day and loves to dance. She has correctly identified several body parts including her nose and her feet too! Look out…she’s up, she’s going, and she’s gone.
Maeve is walking!
For the past few days, Maeve has attempted a few steps towards us while leaning forward and sort of falling into our arms – close, but we could not count this as officially walking…until yesterday! Maeve took more than 10 steps between us walking towards Daddy. We are so proud of her!!! We are not as thrilled about the climbing up the stairs, but it is another accomplishment none-the-less. Here is the video as proof of these major milestones:
In other exciting news, congratulations are in order as Auntie Beth and Uncle Matt became engaged on Columbus Day!
HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY MAEVE!!!
Well, this is by far Maeve’s biggest milestone yet…today is her very first birthday! We just marvel at all of the things she is learning and we are so proud of all of her accomplishments. She is closer to walking everyday and her vocabulary is quickly expanding. When she focuses on a new skill, she does it thoughtfully and masters it quickly. She has a wonderful sense of humor, but spends most of her day being serious and studying her environment. Maeve loves swimming and to be outdoors, and is asserting her independence by feeding herself and cruising around. At our family wedding last weekend and the kickoff to Maeve’s 1st birthday celebrations, she impressed us with her social skills and seemed to thoroughly enjoy being a part of the action!
This day Chris and I also will be celebrating surviving our first year of parenthood. We have done so only with the tremendous love and support of our families, friends, coworkers and our dear nanny, Zlatka. We cannot tell you enough how much we appreciate you. Maeve is one lucky girl to be surrounded by such amazing people – and we are thankful for that every day!
The advances keep coming
I came home to see Maeve taking her dolly for a stroll on our front walk… and I mean Maeve was holding on to her dolly stroller, walking and pushing it down the sidewalk by herself! I took some pictures and video of her walking up and down the hall this evening – she is quite proud of herself, as we are of course.
We had a fun time hanging out with the Steeves and playing in Maeve’s pool in the backyard last weekend. This weekend we will enjoy my cousin Adam’s wedding in Michigan and begin the birthday celebrations!
Cruising…
Maeve is “cruising” around the furniture now, holding on and walking the length of the couch, around the ottomans and her crib. She also has perfected her skill of climbing up the step in the kitchen and the one to Chris’ office (now blocked to prevent her from snacking on cat food!). She will pull herself up to stand and then say “uh oh” because she can’t get down…she and Zlatka will continue to work on this skill. We celebrated Zlatka being with us for 6 months already this week!
We had fun last weekend – enjoying perfect weather at the pool and having Aunt Katie, Auntie Anne and Cole over for dinner. There are some cute new pictures in the gallery – a couple of new videos too!
A few special “welcome homes” to announce:
– Nanna and Grandad have completed their Great Lakes tour for the season and have returned safely to CIC after covering 1100 miles on their boat!
– Grandma’s cat Nicholas is home from the kitty hospital in East Lansing. He’s still very sick, but doing much better.
Also, Happy Birthdays are in order for Auntie Anne (belated) and Aunt Nancy (this weekend). Love you!!!
FIRST WORD
We are proud to report that Maeve has spoken her first word…repeatedly. It is BALL! For a few days now I have asked her who Bob is, convinced that she was trying to tell me about a new friend. But today she emphatically explained to me that it was in fact her ball that she was referring to. We have video using visual aids…
Maeve is 10 months old tomorrow and we’ve had a busy few weeks… We had a wonderful trip to Grandma’s over the 4th, then Maeve and mommy had some extra quality time last week with Zlatka home sick and daddy traveling. On Friday we had playgroup, Wiggleworms and my friend Alicia came to visit with her boys, Gaby and Ben. The Altmans went to the Justin Roberts concert at Ravinia and our block party on Saturday, then Maeve and I went with Aunt Megan to the Michigan Ave. art fair on Sunday.
Maeve continues to make developmental advances in addition to trying new words and sounds. She is getting faster and more efficient with her unique crawling style, can sit up in her crib, claps constantly, puts her arms up “Sooo Big!” in response to “how big is Maeve?” and prefers to feed herself. We will be doing a developmental assessment for the pediatrician over the weekend, so we’ll no doubt have more successes to report!
We’re counting it…
It’s official as of today – Maeve is crawling! She started out going in circles and then backwards over the past few days, but today she moved significantly forward. She basically is on all fours using her right foot with her one leg out straight. It’s adorable and we’re so proud of her! The photo and video galleries are up-to-date…
Sitting up tall!
It’s official – Maeve is sitting without support these days. She’s been getting stronger and more stable by the day and she falls over less and less often.
First foods in the past week included applesauce, broccoli, pears and carrots. These purees – all homemade so far – were met with interest and very little protest. Maeve’s really getting the hang of eating her solids! Her first foods folder in the photo gallery has been updated with pictures…and that’s not the only folder with new ones. As always, check the dates on the folders to see which ones have had pictures added recently.
Happy Easter – we should have some fun pictures from our Michigan weekend posted early next week!
First Cereal!
Maeve has had a busy few days. We had some fun visits over the weekend, when Christi and Martin came over for dinner on Saturday, and Amy and Mia Claire came over for a play date on Sunday. Maeve got to show off her new ABCs/123s playmat!
The biggest news of the weekend is that Maeve tried cereal for the first time and did really well with it. She wasn’t exactly sure that she liked it, but it was interesting enough to go back for more!
Five Months Old!
Today Maeve is 5 months old. This perfect traveler returned from her big adventure to Florida (complete with first airplane rides, first swim in a pool and even first dip of her toes in the Atlantic Ocean!) and we spent the day regrouping at home. We did document this milestone by taking imprints of her hand and foot for a keepsake frame – thanks Nanna and Grandad!
We will put our photos from the trip up in the gallery this week – stay tuned…