30 years and 6 months (6 months!!)

Maya got sort of cheated out of her 6 month birthday because February is a short month with no '30'. So happy 1/2 birthday Maya, I can't believe half a year has passed since your birth, it feels much much shorter. On the other hand the big 30 is for me, that would be 30 years old tomorrow. So we're sort of sharing my birthday on the last day of the shortest month of the year. We're planning to spend part of the day at a museum, late afternoon drinks with my parents (they really want to see Maya) then dinner out with friends. Perfect day - as long as I can stay awake!

I'm excited because 6 months means she can now try yogurt and a lot more fruit - avocado even. Silly I know - but it's so fun to watch her expression as a totally new taste hits her taste buds. You can almost see what she's thinking by the way she contorts her face, considers the new taste and the slowly accepts it (or not) and looks at you and asks for more. She complains loudly when presented with bananas, thinks the baby cereal is some sort of punishment and attacks the spoon for sweet potatoes.

We're really looking forward to the next months as Maya's coordination starts to catch up to her desire to move. I've seen her in 'crawling' position a couple of times, she's scooting backwards on the floor and rocks on her hands and knees, just hasn't figured out to dig in her feet and go forward. Soon though - and then we'll never sit down again. We have to remember to take lots of pictures because the time goes in a flash. Another year - bring it on.

Pass the pureed carrots...

It's my third week back at the office and things are starting to settle down. I got a new issue area thrown at me which had me running from meeting to meeting and trying to catch up with everything going on in the education world - which in the NYC public school system is always a big deal. It was a hectic couple of weeks and I had a splitting headache when I got home for a while - too much adult talk, home life is a different world. With a full time schedule now in full swing I'm feeling more comfortable at work and with things at home. Maya has done well overall with her nanny, I think being at home as opposed to having to go into daycare helps a lot in that adjustment. Out of nowhere Maya started sleeping through the night - an amazing blessing. She'll get up to nurse anywhere between 4-6am and then go back to sleep for about an hour. Blame it on being old enough or the fact that at 5 months we started solid foods in the evenings - either way it's working.

Feeding Maya has become a lot of fun. She has worked her way through carrots, sweet potato and butternut squash and just started greens - spinach and today peas. We'll see how it goes. The baby cereal did not pass muster and we've tried everything - serving it warm, with formula, with water, with breast milk and even apple sauce. She hates it - purses her lips and turns her head away from the spoon. Spinach on the other hand she eats with gusto. Who would have thought.