Happy 23 Months Maya!

I can't believe in 1 month Maya will be 2!
I'm amazed by her every day, and feel so lucky to be her mom.
Today at lunch she said "Maya's eating cheese"
And yes, she was.

road trip

Yet again 0 photos
Maya and I took a road trip with Grama to Phoenix for Auntie Anda's graduation from Nursing School. Yes she rocks.
Maya did great on the drive out. We stopped a couple of times to stretch and run around and eat awful fast food. Mc Donalds fries are fantastic, Burger King's onion rings not so much. But their soft serve vanilla shake with fudge made up for it. And Taco Bell tostadas are #1 They are messy as heck but win out for best fast food for sure. Maya saw a lot of trucks, and listened to the acoustic Eddie Vedder CD nonstop both ways.

While in Phoenix we stayed with Aunite Anda and Uncle Ben in their beautiful home which they scrubbed from top to bottom for me so I didnt have an allergy attack from their 2 sweet dogs Cody and Charlie. Maya was scared of them at first but by the time we left, she was petting Cody, and still talks about them now.

The graduation was supposed to be from 10am-2pm, but it ended a bit early and there was an hour break between the ceremony and pinning.

Maya did as well as a 21 month old could, and passed out the second we left.

We ate SO well every day it was fantastic. Highlights include dinner at True Foods, graduation celebration dinner at Sapporo which was a Teppanyaki restaurant. Maya LOVED watching the chef cook right in front of her, but cried when he did something that released a TON of steam right in her face. It didnt burn her, it was just smokey and kinda scary for her. Thats where I discovered my love of Dark and Stormy cocktails thanks to Uncle Ben. And finally farewell brunch at The Wrigley Mansion. As in Wrigley Gum. Uncle Ben basically runs the place and totally hooked us up. It was SO delicious. After we ate he took us on a tour of the amazing and unique property. I cant believe that mansion was someones home. The Wrigley's built the luxurious Biltmore hotel right next door so their friends had somewhere to stay when they were in town. The Hormel family (as in Hormel chili and Dinty Moore beef stew) now owns the Mansion. See I was paying attention on Uncle Ben's tour!

After brunch it was time to drive home. Surprisingly Maya didnt fall asleep until we were 10 minutes from my moms house at 6pm. I tried to wake her up, but it didnt work, and she slept until 7am the next morning.
She talked our ears off the entire ride home about Cody and Charlie, and the garbage trucks which are her most favorite thing ever. And just so you know, Green bins are for compost, Black are for trash and Blue is for recycling. She said this over and over and over. She also asked me to play the Eddie CD over and over. And asked for a snack every 10 minutes.

We were sad to leave and miss everyone already but were THRILLED to share in Anda's special day.

Thanksgiving weekend

So much to be thankful for this year.

Im sad to say I don't have 1 picture, but I will give you the lowdown. Grampa Tu, Nana, and Uncle Dan joined us and I made:

Save the chicken pot pie
Brussel sprouts with Pomegranates and Hazelnuts
Stuffing with Roasted Acorn Squash and Chestnuts
Arugula Salad with Persimmons, Toasted Nuts, and Goat Cheese with a Mustard Vinaigrette
Pecan Pie
Vegan Pumpkin Pie
Coconut whipped cream
The cocktail was a Dark and Stormy which is dark rum, ginger beer, and fresh lime juice.

Nana brought Artichoke nibblers for an appetizer, and Sweet Potatoe Latkes for lunch.
Oh and Luka would like me to let everyone know that he ate 4 brussel sprouts without complaining.


Then on Friday we had the Russian's over for leftovers. That's what we call it, but I made a whole other dinner without too many leftovers:

Grilled Tofu with Mushroom Gravy
Stuffing (leftover)
Vegan Ceasar Salad with Lemon Garlic Croutons
Chinese 5 Spice Cranberries
Dark and Stormies
Pumpkin and Pecan Pie (leftover)

All in all it was a delicious 2 days, and today we finally finished everything.

Lots of THANKS and lots of GIVING

Thanksgiving weekend

YO GABBA GABBA!

Yesterday was Maya's second YGG concert! This time Mia and her parents came too so it was even better than last year.
She was very overwhelmed for the first half, and sat in my lap crying for a lot of it. She didn't even want to dance for her favorite "get the sillies out" song.
But after a brief intermission, she was ready and acclimated, and enjoyed the second half. She watched the big screen, not the stage. I don't think she understood the live part. When the concert was over she cried and said "bye gabba gabba" for almost 30 minutes. No joke.
My favorite part was Biz's Beat of the Day, he really got the party started.
Vlad gifted the girls with this adorable Brobee backpack, and I got her the YGG clips, there is 1 of each character. Here she is in all her new Brobee gear this morning.

peek a boo!

Maya discovered that the cabinet under the kitchen sink is the BEST hiding place now!

MJ

This is a super fashionable and cool Marc Jacobs hat that Maya got for her 1st birthday.
Not bad, since it took me 35 years to score some Marc. Yes Im SO jealous.

Ba ka la

Maya made up this word for Luka
Bata is brother in Serbian, and we think she sort of combined Luka and Bata and came up with
Ba ka la!

Riding high

Ok so I REALLY need to get Maya a skateboard.
Anything she sees with 4 wheels is now ride-able to her.
Here she is with her fisher price phone (probably older than I am), using it as a skateboard.

It's not safe at all, but I do give her props for creativity.

sisterly love

Im so glad that despite their huge age difference, my kids love eachother so much.
It is however, REALLY hard to get a picture of them both
A)looking at the camera
B)holding still
C)smiling

coolest nails ever

Ok, so I am TOTALLY obsessed with Sally Hansen's nail stickers. I mean, when I first discovered them, I went to like 20 drug stores to get all the varieties. Literally. And when I went different places (the valley, my moms house) I went to drugstores in those neighborhoods too. I always get a ton of compliments on them, and carry around a box so I can show other ladies what they are. Sally, if youre out there hook a sister up!
I had no idea they made halloween ones, but thankfully I have the coolest, best, most thoughtful sister in the world, and she sent them to me.
I tried so hard to get a good picture, and this was the best I could do. Pedja thought I was nuts. I was trying different rooms, different lighting, different backgrounds. It was kinda funny now that I think about it . In the end we have just a crappy camera.
They are silver with different black spider webs on each one. Seriously people, they are so cool.

halloween 2011

Here are the twins, as well as the coach.
We asked them if they wanted to give eachother a hug, and Maya always goes in head first.
After the photos with the coach (who blew his whistle all night and said "drop and give me 20") Maya's costume was off.

Princess Leia

And for act 3, Princess Leia.
Mia and Maya were twins.
The costume was VERY warm and bulky and long, and Maya was not a fan.
Half way through pictures she had the top half of the dress down. By the time we got outside to start trick or treating, she took the whole thing off.

spooky

Here is the only shot we were able to get of the 4 of us. This was our first halloween together as a family.
I was a witch. Pedja was a pirate, Luka was a basketball coach, and Mays was Princess Leia.
We went trick or treating in Mia's neighborhood along with 1000 other people.
They live in Hancock Park which is a really ice neighborhood, so there were a ton of people that came from all ends of the world it seemed, hoping for some good candy.
Too bad for Luka who was SO excited to go trick or treating for his first time, the neighborhood was not prepared for the masses, and everyone was out of candy by 830pm

Cowgirl

Cowgirl

I had a car issue on halloween, and my car ended up at the mechanic for almost 5 hours. This was totally unexpected, so I was not prepared with a stroller or many diapers and it was 90 degrees in the valley.
Fortunately, my mechanic dropped us off and picked us up from my dad's house so we had some shelter from that heat.
Nana busted out her bag of random halloween costumes and costume parts, and Maya liked this small cowboy hat and sequins belt that she decided was much better suited as a necklace. My dad carved this pumpkin for her.

FOOFA!

Maya had 3 costume changes for hallowen this year believe it or not.
Act 1 was Foofa from Yo Gabba Gabba!
My super mom/friend Elizabeth made her this rad Foofa hat, and she wore a pink top with a flower on it and pink pants.
Last week Pedja got her a Foofa doll and that is now her favorite thing.
Foofa! She's pink and happy!

I love you

Today Maya said "I love you " to Pedja when she spoke to him on the phone.
It was the first time ever that it actually sounded like I love you
It's usually "aloe you" or "olive"
Of course I had a tear in my eye.

check up

Maya had a check up last week. She is 29.6 pounds and 36.5 inches. The doctor is pleased and said she is "doing awesome!" No shots this visit, but Maya did score points by putting her shoes on (the right feet) in front of the doctor. She said she was going to note that in her chart :)

She counts now "1,2, 9, 11"
Knows her colors pretty well, though everything is green at first look, then the correct color comes.
She knows all of the animals in the brown bear book, and is starting to put 2-3 words together when she speaks.
She also says "Maya" when talking about herself or asking for something as in "running Maya" or "Maya eat"
She buckles herself in her car seat, stroller, and booster seat too.

Who wears the pants in this family?

Well today was another big day for Maya.
When I was making breakfast, she went into her room and grabbed a pair of shorts. She then joined me in the kitchen and put them on all by herself. The right way. The first try. Yes I had a tear in my eye.

pumpkin patch

We went to visit grama this weekend, and decided to take the kids to a pumpkin patch I heard about as being one of the best in so-cal that was right by her house. It was both Luka and Maya's first time, and it had been a while for me and my mom as well.
It was 90 degrees (literally), so we didn't stay long or participate in all the cool stuff like the corn maze, tractor rides or indulge in any of the "white trash carnival food" as I like to call it.
We let the kids pick out pumpkins, and hightailed it out of there. My mom grabbed a small one for her kitchen counter, Luka chose a BIG one to carve, and Maya picked out a green striped one. We didn't even stop to take a picture it was so hot. There was no shade anywhere and ALOT of people.
We did take 5 minutes to take some pics in the parking lot though.

pre halloween

I am going to be a witch for Halloween, and Maya just loves my hat!
She puts it on every time she walks by it, and says "ween! ween!"

breakfast of champions

I usually make belgian waffles for breakfast on Saturday mornings when everyone is home and we all eat together.
I saw piecrust and a ton of eggs in the fridge, so I decided to try and make quiche instead. I added some cheese and sauteed mushrooms and onions.
It was AWESOME!!!

daddy's little girl part VI

LUKA

Maya has always called Luka "bata" which is brother in Serbian. And he is pretty much her favorite person in the world. She follows him around, jumps on his bed, plays soccer with him. Its adorable.
Last week she discovered his name is Luka, and that is pretty much all she says all day every day now.
Here they are reading books together after dinner.

Sunglasses

In the bathroom, I have a drawer of safe stuff for Maya to get into at her level.
In it are some cheap big sunglasses, and she loves wearing them.
Sometimes she hands me a pair to wear too, and I realize quite a while later that I have been going through my day (mostly in the house) with glasses on my face.

Shoes

I am so proud to say Maya is now putting on her shoes all by herself.
The first attempt were the black ones, and you can see they are on the wrong feet.
The next day, she got them on the right feet, as you can see with the pink ones.
I asked her if she was proud of herself, and that big smile says it all.
Now I'd say 9 out of 10 times, she gets it right. She puts them on by herself now every time.

First braid

Maya doesn't sit still for long, and getting anything in her hair is a challenge. Whether its a clip to get the hair out of her eyes, or a full on pony tail, it usually involves some squirming, and sadly a little hair pulling.
For some reason she sat still long enough for me to bust out a quick french braid the other day.
I asked her if she liked it and she smiled as I snapped this pic.

reunion!

We had a birthing class reunion potluck last week which was awesome!
Janine, Zak, and baby Aya were in town for a quick visit from Beirut where Zak has been studying for the past year. Janine showed up with a beautiful baby bump, and Aya's baby brother is due on her birthday- December 30!
Edina and Dawson came, and Xander and his dad Phillip came too.
The kids played, and we all got to catch up and eat, just like old times.
It was such a great day!
That's Dawson being the super model that he is posing for a solo shot, Maya rocking Aya in the blue chair, Xander washing dishes in the sink, and a group shot.

Box head

I have no idea why but I can't turn it around.

Maya's first wallet

Maya received the greatest gift possibly EVER from her great grama Nina a couple of weeks ago.
A Melissa and Doug rainbow wallet.
She has not put it down since.
She takes the money, coins, and cards out. She puts the money, cards, and coins back.
Over and over. Its great.

Ready for the paparazzi in her glasses.
Oh, what's in her yo gabba gabba purse you ask?
A book (panda bear, panda bear what do you see?) and her wallet.