Sunday, May 22, 2011

Stinkeus Gluteus Maximus

(or Shake Your Booty)

Maia has a new nickname: Stinkeus Gluteus Maximus. She watched Gladiator with her Daddy last week and we needed a Roman name for her. It seemed fitting.

It also seems appropriate considering she was shaking her little gluteus maximus this morning!!

Before you read on, you'll need to play the following song:

KC and the Sunshine Band sing Shake Your Booty and Romas spent the morning singing it to Maia. The two of them went upstairs to change her diaper and came down without her pants on!!! (Apparently Romas forgot and Maia isn't so great at reminding him!)

So anyway, I looked up and realized she was half-naked. Romas decided this would be a great time to make Maia dance…so he started singing Shake Your Booty.

This is Maia's version:

She loves dancing!! And we love the look on her face!!! Priceless!!

Did you notice the chub on her thighs?? Finally!! Maia has CHUB!!

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Pears

Today we decided to try pears for Maia's dinner. No more carrots!!

The first couple bites she was very cautious. She wasn't too happy about the pears, but she was willing to put up with them if they were mixed with her cereal.

She's ready!! Open wide!!

Turns out, she really liked the pears. Once she was finished with her pear/cereal mix, she polished off the rest of the pears!

She loved her dinner tonight! Guess I'll be making pears again soon!

If you're wondering about her hat, it came with her new feetie pajamas. Daddy got her dressed for bed and decided she'd look sophisticated with her nightcap.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Around We Go!

Maia has a favorite toy - her "Around We Go" Activity Station by Bright Starts. It's a walker that revolves around a stationary pedestal full of fun things to play with. She started out propped up with blankets and a big pillow under her feet because she couldn't touch the floor.

She couldn't sit up straight either. She just looked confused and resorted to sucking on the padding on the chair!

But within a week or so we were able to take away the pillow and blankets. She sat by herself and started reaching to interact with her new toys.

Now she motors around and around - playing with each and every toy. She watches her Baby Signing Time and Sesame Street DVDs from this seat too. She can play the piano, chew on the bugs, and spin the flower. She absolutely loves the freedom!! She bops around from toy to toy all by herself.

You can see how happy she is!! She is so chatty and incredibly active!! She's ALWAYS moving!! At least with her "Around We Go" we can get a rest and let her move around by herself!

Maia {heart} Sweet Potatoes!

So first it was carrots. And they were an epic fail.

Then, we tried pears. Maia's definitely a fan.

Next, it was bananas. Another epic fail!!

So now we're moving on to…

SWEET POTATOES!

Maia was all ready to go in her Fisher-Price Rainforest Deluxe High Chair. I made her dinner with my Beaba Babycook Baby Food Maker. It take only a few minutes to wash a cut the potato, fifteen minutes to steam it in the Beaba, and then another minute to puree it. What a great invention!!

And, as it turns out, Maia LOVES sweet potatoes. She doesn't just like them. She absolutely LOVES them!! She had a delicious, fresh dinner and enjoyed every minute!

Sweet potatoes will definitely be on the menu again soon!!

And, in an interesting turn of events, Maia actually enjoyed munching on my banana this morning!! Apparently she doesn't like them mashed up, but enjoys nibbling on mine instead.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Ciao, Bamberg!

Today we went to one of the cutest towns in Germany. We were in Bamberg to meet up with Francesca and Paola!

The old Town Hall

The mural on the side of the building was beautiful.

Paola and I met while studying in Spain in 2001. She is Italian and was here visiting her sister, Francesca, who now lives in Germany.

She hadn't met Maia yet so it was a really fun day of introductions…

and lots of photos!!

The city has a "Little Venice" - an area with beautiful buildings on the water. The architecture is amazing! And sooooo old!!

They actually have gondolas for passengers through the canals. It's cute…but it's not the real thing. Like Paola said, "Es una copia. No vale." (It's a copy. It doesn't count.)

Here is a picture of the cathedral. It was really remarkable. Romas and I spent the day wondering how we were stationed in boring Schweinfurt when beautiful Bamberg was only a short drive away!

Even more amazing, was that we actually lived halfway to Bamberg for almost three months…and we never went to see it! At least we were finally able to visit after four years of living an hour away!!

Maia definitely stole the show though!

Everyone loves The Bee!!

It was such a great day! It was so nice to see Paola again and introduce her to Maia. We had a wonderful day walking through town with such sweet friends, had a picturesque lunch together on the river next to the Old Town Hall, and then had delicious gelato in the square.

It doesn't get much better than that!

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Carrots

Maia started eating "real food" today for the first time. The doctor suggested we start with carrots, so I bought really yummy-looking carrots and spent an hour cleaning, peeling, cutting and cooking them. I used my Beaba Babycook Baby Food Maker and it was actually relatively easy. It's all one container so once the carrots were cleaned, peeled, and chopped, I just dropped them in. The Babycook will steam them and then puree them with relative ease.

Maia was pretty hungry at dinnertime and you can see from the picture that she was not impressed with the photo session!

She's basically screaming, "FEED ME!"

But doesn't she look cute in her "Honey Bee" bib? Thanks, Nana!! We LOVE those bibs!!

Here is Maia's first taste of carrots:

She ate the first couple bites with no problem.

You can see she even helps me with the spoon!

She's a little cautious…

…but she kept eating!

But then she started to wonder where her yummy cereal was.

And she spit the carrots back out!!

Look at that face!!! So sad!!

She actually hated them so much they made her shudder!! Take a look at the video we shot of the big day!

We gave in and mixed it with (lots!) of cereal!!

Oh well! Maybe next time she'll like it better! I think we'll move onto pears next. Something a little sweeter and more tasty!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Die Biene Maja

"Die Biene Maja" ("The Adventures of Maya the Bee," in English) is a very popular story here in Germany. We didn't know this before we chose the name, but once we learned about the story from our German neighbors, we see die Biene Maja EVERYWHERE!!

We were at a local Mardi Gras parade and a little girl was dressed up as Maya the Bee, games at the carnivals give away Maya the Bee dolls as prizes, there are books and toys all over the German stores about her. We even learned that "L'ape Maia" is the Italian translation of the story.

Remember how I wrote about Frühlingsfest and said that this year we weren't able to spend time in the beer tent like we normally would? Joy and Michael went one night and they sent me a video from the beer tent. You'll never guess who was there that night, dancing on the tables...

Die Biene Maja

Well...it's the middle-aged man version of the little bee, but it's her theme song!

Thanks Joy and Michael for thinking of us!! We're going to miss you guys!!!

Monday, May 9, 2011

Mothers' Day

Today was Mothers' Day and Maia had a wonderful day planned for me...with a little help from her Daddy. After a relaxing morning, we drove to Rothenburg ob der Tauber to spend the day sightseeing. We'd never been there before and decided this would be the perfect opportunity to visit a new city.

It was a gorgeous day and we taken aback by the beauty of the city. We've lived in Germany for four years and we've heard so many great things about Rothenburg. We saw firsthand how incredible the city really is. This picture is of a hotel outside the city wall.

Beautiful, isn't it?

Notice the woman in the window waving?

Seriously, this city is the most amazing place we've seen in Germany. There were even horse-drawn carriages!

(Although if you look closely, the driver looks a lot like M. Thenardier from Les Miserables!)

Maia had a wonderful time. She LOVES sightseeing in her stroller. She can either be found relaxing and people-watching...

or completely passed out!

She did manage to stay awake long enough to see this beautiful cathedral...

and she saw this tower, which was part of the original wall around the city...

We stopped at the cafe when Maia got hungry and had a meltdown...

But once she ate, she was in rare form!! See for yourself...!

Cute, huh?

Sassy girl in her hat!

And here she is hanging out with her Daddy.

We ate lunch at an Italian restaurant that was super cute. Not only that, but halfway through our meal one of the employees ended his shift and took out his bicycle. He parked it in front for a few minutes and absolutely completed the scene.

I can't say enough about this absolutely beautiful city.

We can't wait to go back!!

It was my first Mothers' Day and Maia made it an incredible day!