Maeve's first baby friend

My friend Tara came over last week, with her adorable baby, Hannah. Hannah is about 2-1/2 months older than Maeve and this is the first time they've met. As you can see, I'm sure they will be true friends for life, since they held hands at their first meeting. It was great to hang out with both of them and talk about all things baby. :) Thanks for driving to see us, Tara and Hannah. I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot of each other...

Also, Maeve does have a few good tummy time moments...really, these are the only couple of good ones I've ever captured...:)

Smiling and turning over

Here are some of my favorite recent smiling pictures of Maeve. Also, in 4 parts, I managed to capture Maeve's first turning over-- from her tummy to her back (easier, of course, then from back to tummy)-- I just happened to have my camera out at a good moment. Actually, she hates tt time so much, that could have inspired this first turning over. To be honest, she hasn't done it since. Maybe she thinks, I did it once, now don't bother me with it again.

California Dreaming

Okay, so it's been a long time since I posted and now I'm going to post tons. Maeve had her first plane ride on Feb. 7th-- we went to Palm Springs, CA with my dad and Jim for a week in the sun. We had a great time, even though it was unusually cold and rainy for the CA desert. I'm beginning to wonder if Maeve is a bearer of great joy, AND also rain, cold and snow wherever she goes. Maeve loved wearing her first bathing suit (Juicy Couture from Grandpa Jim-- also the yellow outfit is a JC number from Grandpa Jim!) and also she got to meet her cousins, Bridget and Shea. We love them and wished they lived closer to us.

Long, Chicago Winter

If it were up to me, we'd be having lots of outdoor adventures right about now... going on long walks, venturing out to parks, perhaps a trip to the zoo. We'd be seeing everything we can see. But, alas, winter 2008-2009 has something else planned for many of us. So, we've been inside a lot.

Maeve's been smiling a bit. Can I say how much that thrills us to see? I've tried to capture them, but it's hard, so hopefully you can see a bit of it in these pics. We moved her into her crib (she had been sleeping in a moses basket next to our bed for the past 9 weeks) ...mostly because we had a giant flood in our apartment last Friday night, so now we are all sleeping in Maeve's room. At our last ped. appt, the doctor asked if Maeve favored turning towards one side...and she does. This is a problem since it can cause "positional plagiocephaly"...meaning a flat head on one side. We got an expensive, MD approved pillow-device for her to sleep in, which is supposed to prevent her from turning her head to the favored side. As you can see from these pictures, the girl still finds a way to turn her head to her right, AND to wiggle her way off of the "symmetry sleep system" entirely. We're told that it's not the end of the world if she continues to favor that side of her head...

January pictures

To counter the crying pictures, I figured I'd post a few other ones that don't involve crying. For those of you who don't know, Maeve likes a pacifier, but often refuses to hold one in her mouth herself. Meaning, you have to keep putting it back in her mouth, over and over...and over again. If you neglect your duties, she's fine with it for a minute, but then all hell breaks loose. I think we have to hire a personal assistant...

Cry Me a River

Okay, so for the past few weeks there's been some fussiness. And crying. Sometimes there's a reason, but often there appears not to be a reason. Although I'm sure Maeve has a list of complaints, she's not sharing details. Even though I really hate to see her cry, I still think she's completely adorable when she does...well, for a few seconds at least...:) Don't me wrong, Maeve is a happy girl, overall, but we all have our moments, I guess...

Happy New Year!

We had a great Christmas, with lots of family in town. My mom, my dad and Jim, my sister-in-law Anne, and Mike's Aunt Jude, Uncle Nasir, and cousins Suraiya and Sahar (from Rhode Island) were all in Chicago for Christmas. And, of course, it was Maeve's first Christmas. Not sure if she really got that, though, being just 6 weeks old on Christmas day. Still, I think she enjoyed being held by all of the people who love her, near and far.