Zoo!

We took Maisie for her first trip to the zoo today, and she LOVED it! Here are some of the best pics. Happy New Year everyone!

Absolutely beautiful Cloud Leopard. As you can tell, Maisie wasn't that impressed.


In front of the lion gnawing on a carcas. Maisie kept saying, "RAAWR!!"


All bundled up.


The most exciting animal of the day according to Maisie - the rare and exotic goat.


Elephants!

Happy Holidays

Maisie is a lucky little girl, who gets to enjoy both major winter holidays - Chanukah and Christmas. I mean what 1 1/2 year old doesn't like opening presents:

Her parents finally got their act together this past weekend and put together the presents she has received so far. Votes are still out on exactly which project was most painful to put together. But, you can rest assured that Maisie LOVES her gifts and is keeping herself busy playing with them....

Her new "Cozy Coupe" in which she squeals with glee as she goes flying down the driveway:

Her new vanity, a beautiful addition to her bedroom (Maisie says "neigh" to the horses whenever she climbs up on the stool):

The kitchen and accessories - Maisie keeps busy for hours taking everything out of the pantry (and bringing it to mom or dad 1 by 1) and then putting it all back in again:

Thank you to all her family for these wonderful gifts. More to come with Christmas morning right around the corner.

November pics

November was a busy month...
-- Maisie helped celebrate her great-grandfather's 80th birthday with a surprise birthday dinner in Houston (and visits from her Nana, aunt, and cousins)
-- We had a pre-Thanksgiving feast - tortilla soup - with her Grammy and Papa
-- We road-tripped Shreveport for Thanksgiving. And Maisie did pretty-darn well on the 4+ hour trip and enjoyed BBQ shrimp with Nanna, plus the traditional Thanksgiving meal at Pop and Anne's
-- Maisie had her 2nd Thanksgiving meal in Houston with Mama and Barry....
-- Not to mention playing with her neighborhood friends

And we have the pictures to prove it!

11 2009

Santa!

For those of you who've been following the blog since last year, does this guy look familiar??




We took Maisie back to see Santa at the McKinsey Children's Holiday party. This year we were a little worried that Maisie would be afraid of him...but she was FASCINATED by him. Happy Holidays!

Uh oh

First things first - no one panic...it looks worse in this pic than it really is.

Maisie got her first black eye yesterday, caused by a fall into the coffee table while romping around the living room. Here she is this morning, after it had some time to swell up over night.

Nice shiner, kiddo.

The good news is that she doesn't seem to mind at all. After about a 2 minute cry, you'd never know it happened by watching her play since.

October pics

We are headed to Shreveport shortly to begin Thanksgiving celebrations, but to keep you occupied until we get back - here are October's best shots:

October

The latest in dinnertime fashion.

Yep, that's my daughter.

Halloween, elephant-style

Halloween 2009 was quite eventful. Keeping in line with her full set of elephant stuffed animals, we decided that Maisie need to don an elephant costume for this years' festivities. And what festivities they were:
-- Dress up storytime on Wednesday at the library with Rina and her neighborhood friends
-- Halloween party Friday with her friends from playgroup (the babies you used to see posted here when Maisie was 3-9 months old, who are now all running around)
-- Neighorhood block party on Halloween eve with all of our new neighbors

Maisie loved her costume. Well - she loved hugging it and carrying it around - not so much wearing it. But we got some good pictures anyway:

Dancing and clapping at the library:

Posing and not too sure about it:

I can hear it now...MMOOOMMM get me out of this costume:

The whole family back from the block party, and FINALLY, a smile:

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

18 months!

We took Maisie in for her 18 month check up today. I know these stats are boring, but dammit, I'm a proud poppa, so I'm going to post them anyway.

As an aside - since Maisie can't read, I think I'm ok typing bad words like the one above on this blog. Saying them around her is another story altogether, and I've had to learn the hard way that watching Aggie football this year with Maisie is not a good idea.....

Ok, back to the stats:

• Noggin size: 47.5 (no idea what the unit of measure is here - centimeters??) - 75th percentile
• Weight: 25 lbs 14 oz - 60th percentile
• Height: 33 1/4 in - 95th percentile

Shocking, she's tall and skinny. :)

And since I know these stats are only interesting to us, here's something that's hopefully a little more entertaining - Maisie learning some key life lessons earlier tonight:

A mental image

We had wonderful weekend - the weather in Houston finally turned nice and we spent most of our time outdoors.

Everyone tells you that children are wonderful because of their joy in the world around them and the fact that you get to be a kid again. Well, Maisie showed us this first hand this weekend.

Sunday was a beautiful fall day - clear skies and 70 degrees. Maisie, Mandy and I were playing the empty lot beside our house. I was showing Maisie how to lean down and feel how soft the grass is. Maisie (in her infinite wisdom) decided that the grass looked so nice, she should just lie down. Our rambunctious, can't-sit-still toddler flopped on her back, stretched out and smiled.

I couldn't help but laughing and then decided to join her. Brian saw us from afar (I think he thought Maisie was hurt at first) and came out to join us. The three of us spent 15 minutes just lying in the grass together. Every time Brian or I tried to sit up, Maisie got up, walked around to our side and pushed us back down (by our head or shoulders) and then came and laid back down on her back between us. Rolling around in the grass - talk about a picture perfect Sunday afternoon!

No pictures from yesterday (just memories), but here is the album from September.

September

Our daughter doesn't listen to me very well.

Should I be concerned??

Daddy's girl

We all knew that Maisie was going to turn out to be a Daddy's girl and have Brian wrapped around her little finger. In case there was any doubt:

Swimming in the water that's already getting a little too cold:

Posing in daddy's baseball cap:

Showing dad how to use a fork
Don't be confused by the fact that Brian is not in this picture....you'll notice his favorite condiment makes an appearance:

Making her opinion known

Maisie is getting more and more opinionated each day. Some examples

• She'll grab your hand and pull you where she wants to go (e.g. to the refrigerator for some milk, to the study for dad to show her Sesame Street clips on YouTube)
• One of her few words is a very clear "NO"
  
• If you don't want to go where she wants - she's been known to throw herself down on the floor and cry and scream. She has quite the temper and unfortunately sometimes we don't know what it is she wants. We are trying to learn Maisie's language and hoping that one day soon, she'll know ours too!!
  

We took a few videos last weekend. Luckily in these she was in a good mood and saying "Yay!" instead of "No!"

Maisie and Daddy in the pool. We have gotten good use out of the pool since we moved and are lamenting the fact that the water is already starting to get pretty chilly.



Maisie is getting pretty talented too - she getting pretty good at using a spoon. Amazing that in the course of year she's gone from eating running rice cereal to feeding herself - using utensils (occasionally anyway!)



Finally, here are the pictures from August - there are so many good ones its hard to pick out the best to send around....enjoy.

August 2009

Lots of firsts - a trip to Shreveport

About a month ago we took a family trip to visit our Lousiana relatives. Maisie is a seeasoned traveler (this was her third plane flight), but it was still a trip of firsts for Maisie...

First ride on a tractor...(she wasn't too sure about the loud machine to start, but once she got the hang of it - she wanted to drive!)

First introdcution to a kitty cat (Maisie's response - saying HHHIIII! HHHIIIIIIIII! over and over to the cat)

First horseback ride with Nanna (I'm sure this will be the first of many)

In addition, we had some good ole fashioned family fun - Maisie got to see Pop and Anne, Nanna, and Aunt Julie/Uncle Ken

Hanging in my PJs

We all know that Maisie has quite the adorable waredrobe. But sometimes she's at her cutest when she's lounging around and being silly in her PJs first thing in the morning.

All smiles on a Saturday morning:

Being silly/hiding under the towel:


Aren't I cute:


Strolling down the street:


Enjoying a beautiful morning outdoors;

On the move

Maisie sure can get around. She is on the go constantly these days....Here she is naked and on the run:


Maisie's GGs also visited this month. She was so excited to see them and to play with the new toys they brought (napkin rings on a piece of string - patent it and put it in a box!)


Here are all the July pictures as well...we are a little bit behind.

07 2009

We're off to Shreveport this weekend, so many more pictures to come!!

June pictures

More Maisie pictures from the last month - enjoy!

Maisie June

Hide and seek

As many of you know - the last few weeks have been consumed with one thing - our move. Maisie has made the best of this situation - there is so much to explore in her new house. Her favorite so far is the cabinets. The empty cabinents (in the old house and the new) have given her ample places to play, as evidenced below: she likes putting her toys in them, playing hide-n-seek in them, you name it.


As you saw in the previous post - Maisie has been copying what she sees in the world around her - sweeping the floors etc. I let you guess from the picture below what her parents must do quite frequently. (That is a computer mouse she is holding to her ear - but anything will work, a remote control, a toy, whatever. ) I'll have you know she was conducting some serious business while this picture was being taken.

Whistle while you work....

I know this probably violates a dozen child labor laws, but I promise it wasn't my idea. Maisie went into the closet all by herself, and pulled out one of her new favorite toys - THE BROOM.

The way I figure it, she sees Miriam sweep almost every day (thanks to Mandy) and has decided that it looks like fun. I'm not complaining!!!

Summertime, and the living's easy....

For those of you wondering what's kept us busy for the past month or so, we've been remodeling our new (to us) house, and trying feverishly to sell our current house.

On the remodel front, I've attached a couple of albums below, for those of you who might be interested in all of the construction activities.

On the sales front - we have a contract on our house! Took about 4 (very tense, at times) weeks, but we're past inspections and expect to close on July 8th.

For those of you who tune in for Maisie updates only - she'll be back in a starring role very soon... :)

--Brian

Florence House - Before

Florence House - During

More pictures

Here are the rest of the pictures from April and May for your viewing pleasure

April 2009

May 2009

At last....the Birthday Blog.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAISIE!!!

So, we've gotten a bit of a hard time for failing to get Maisie's first birthday posted on the blog. I know there is no excuse, but lets just say we've had computer issues and been just little bit busy the last two months.

Maisie's 1st birthday weekend was great. She had so many people in town to see her...Nanna Sandy, Pop and Anne, her GGs, Aunt Julie and Uncle Ken. And of course her Houston family Grandma Lois and Barry, and Papa and Grammy joined in the celebration.

Here are some of the highlights. The full set of pictures is available though the link at the bottom:

Why are we clapping? Well....let's just say, you do what you gotta do to get a smile. In an effort to get Maisie to smile for the camera, Brian was throwing the ball for Mandy (because Maisie LOVES watching her chase it)...and managed to throw the ball over the fence instead. We're all saying "YAY"!!

The FIRST picture of the birthday girl on her big day. Still in her jammies!

MMM.. the first bite of birthday cake. In fact the first bite of any kind of cake, ever. If she's anything like mom, it wont' be the last:

Maisie got a bunch of bows with all the cute outfits she received for her birthday. We decided she needed to wear them all at once!

Maisie got some many gifts from all her family and had a great time opening them all:

And here are the rest - Enjoy!!

Birthday Weekend