ucla baby lab

Today Maya participated in a cognitive study in the baby lab at ucla.
First she was fitted with a pair of special gloves on her hands --which of course went directly in her mouth.
Then a couple of different colored toys were put in front of her (one at a time); they were hoping she would grab at them with these special gloves.
But she was MUCH more interested in eating the said gloves and showed little interest in the toys.
We then went to watch a tv that had pictures of the same toys on it, and they tracked the movement of her eyes on the screen.
Finally she had to chew on a swab so they could get her saliva to test her testosterone levels. This was a perfect activity for Maya since she is drooling ALOT.
She soaked that swab in no time.
Lauren, the grad student who worked with Maya was very happy with how it all went, and invited her back for a different study in the next couple of weeks. She was even gifted a cute baby lab t-shirt to say thanks!

PS all of the students running the lab commented on how cool her hair was.
I call it the baby-hawk.

cutie pie

Maya has discovered her feet!
She is grabbing them and playing with them all the time. She even tries to put them in her mouth along with everything else.
She is also able to grasp things in her hands with purpose now and semi hold onto them.

mommy and me

The moms and babies came over yesterday and it was super. We had a full house this time- 5 mommies and babies!
A few pics
#1 Me and Maya with Ann and Evelyn
#2 (clockwise from the left) Evelyn, Maya and Aya hangin' out. Evelyn's latest trick is rolling on her side and staying there. Its pretty cool.
#3 This is Dawson (he was born January 4 and is the only boy in the group) showing off his "rolling right over when mom puts me on my back and rockin' it on my tummy" skills. His mom Edina was due the day after me January 10. She is completely vegan and had a super healthy baby boy and a great pregnancy. He is already 17 lbs -the biggest of all the babies!
#4 I wish you could see from the other side so you could see Maya's face, but I will try and explain. This was Evelyn talking to Maya (notice Maya practicing tummy time-- the dr would be proud) Whenever Evelyn would talk to her, Maya would give the big pouty lower lip and burst out crying -it was hilarious! Evelyn wasnt yelling or anything i mean look at her shes totally smiling at Maya -- she was just talking-- but for some reason it made Maya cry over and over and I just couldnt stop laughing.

mothers day part 3

Nancy (aka Grandma Horwitz) Maya and I went to the lovely Inn of the Seventh Ray in good ol Topanga Canyon to celebrate Mother's Day the day after. Bonus-- She and my dad gifted me with a facial which I so look forward to.
It was beautiful and relaxing from the sound of water flowing all around us. they have a few small waterfalls and the restaurant is built right over a creek. It totally reminds me of a more rustic Hotel Bel Air where we got married.
They are veg friendly and the plates are decorated all fancy shmancy . I had a beautiful Tofu salad with Bok Choi, Nancy had a Seitan (i like to pronounce it satan as in the man underground) Burger and we shared Almond milk creme brulee for dessert! It was uber yummy and Maya was a super star as usual.

just some cuteness

Here's Maya practicing sitting up by herself on the couch. She usually gives me this precious surprised look that I adore. Notice the 1 hand gently resting on her thigh and the other a little higher nonchalantly on the pillow?
I also love pictures of Maya in this beautiful rocker from Carla and Helen first because it really makes her blue eyes pop and second because it makes me giggle - I think she looks like shes going skydiving --the way its all designed it looks like she is strapped to a parachute pack.

hairy situation

Ok this is so strange but really cute.
It makes absolutely no sense to me.
When Maya's hair is wet and only when its wet its SUPER CURLY.
Then it dries ( in like 2 minutes by the way) and its COMPLETELY STRAIGHT.
Now think about this for a moment. People with curly hair have curly hair when its DRY and when its wet its straight right?
Why is it the opposite with my daughter?

doctor's orders part 2

The pediatrician also suggested we read to Maya as much as possible.
If she saw this I think she would be proud.

doctor's orders part 1

The pediatrician suggested a bit more tummy time for Maya.
Currently she's not a fan really and after about a minute this is the situation.

i love my family!

mothers day part 2

We came home to the YUMMIEST mothers day lunch and the most BEAUTIFUL and AROMATIC bouquets of Lilac's and Peony's from Pedja -and he did it all after a long day at work.
Heres the chef with his creation -Egg and Feta Phyllo Dough,
my radish and lettuce salad-all pulled from the balcony garden once i sat down to eat,
and my flowers (I know the photo's dark but trust me they are spectacular and smell SOOO good!)
I am the luckiest mama around.

mothers day part 1

My first mothers day!
Yay! It was such an enjoyable relaxing yummy day
I feel honored to join the billions of other mamas out there who get to celebrate this amazing journey called motherhood.
My mom and Maya and I went to Bay Cities Deli (one of my top LA eateries and market's) and picked up tons of goodies and took them to the beach for a mothers day picnic. Heres my mom enjoying our veggie sandwich and Maya enjoying the breeze in her hair and scent of the ocean in her super cute nose. She was such a good girl as usual.
The weather was great and so was the company. Pedja was working so he couldnt join us but he was there when we got home.
See mothers day part 2

somebody's teething

She loves sucking on daddy's lower arm/wrist area. The other day she left a hicky!

Rough Times Sometimes

UGH
Maya has such a hard time with the after effects of her vaccinations.
She is super fussy and just cant seem to find a place for herself. You hold her she cries and flails all about. You put her down she cries even more. You take her for a walk she doesnt want to be in her stroller she cries again.
Its so sad to watch her be so uncomfortable.
She goes for round 2 of this series on Monday.

4 month check up

Today Maya had her 4 month check up.
She is 14lbs 14oz and 25 inches long which is in the 75th percentile for both!
The doctor also noted "she has the most perfect head I've seen in a long time! No flat spots!" She was quite impressed.
Of course there was a vaccine as well. This set for 4 month olds has 2 injections and 1 oral. Today we did only 1 injection that has 5 different vaccines in it--We thought that was plenty for 1 day. We will go back in a week for the other injection and oral.
In mommy group friday we were talking about vaccines and how breast milk helps babies cope with pain, and how it has a relaxing effect on them -- we all know how relaxing Maya finds nursing (wink wink). So I decided to put it to the test. I nursed her before we left, when we got into the room (the dr was running 45 minutes late this time) and since she was only getting 1 in her thigh I was able to nurse her during the injection. And guess what? She didn't even flinch!! Nada! Nothing! I was SOOO proud of her!

visit with grandma friedman

my mom came to visit last week and as you can see maya was pretty happy about it.

beach day!

It was such a beautiful day today and Pedja had the day off so we went to the beach for a nice walk.

mommy and me

We had the moms over on friday for our mommy and me time.
As always it was super fun.
This time Anne and her daughter evelyn came (she was born on christmas day the first one from our birthing class to be born!) as well as Jessica and Marlo The other 3 moms couldnt make it this time.
Heres Anne and Evelyn on top and Evelyn and Marlo hangin out on the bottom.
It's always a potluck and this time i made vegan rice pudding with coconut milk - it was delish if i do say so myself.

4 months old

Here is Maya sitting up all by herself on the couch on her 4 month birthday
She is assisted by the back of the couch of course, but she stayed upright for a few seconds --long enough for me to snap a couple of shots.
She was obviously as surprised as I was by her amazing accomplishment!

hold on

One of Maya's latest tricks is to hold on to things
Here she is holding 2 things at once! Jacques the Peacock and Sophie the Giraffe

daddy's garden

Pedja planted an awesome garden all along our porch thats doing so well.
There is lettuce, broccoli, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, mint, and radishes -- all from seed
Today he picked the very first thing -a beautiful perfect french radish!
Here's the farmer and his great assistant showing off the fruit of their labor