One hundredth post!

Wow, I can't believe this is the hundredth post to this blog already!

I am really glad that I put up clear plastic bannister guards above our stairs. Not only do they protect Vanessa from fairly certain injury, but she also really likes them! Here are Vanessa and daddy playing with the bannister guard.

How sweet!

Daddy says he wants a kiss!Vanessa wants to grab daddy's nose instead!

Last swim lesson (for a while)

Vanessa just finished the last session of her swim class last Friday. It's amazing how much Vanessa enjoyed the class, considering how very little she liked her classes at the beginning!



She had a blast this time. I can't wait for our community pool to open so that we can use it this summer. My mom will watch Vanessa while I teach in the mornings in July. Since my mom has taught swimming for years, maybe she could give Vanessa some private swim lessons! Who knows, maybe Vanessa will learn to blow bubbles underwater!

Vanessa loved this floating barbell toy. She liked to use it to push herself up out of the water a little. Sometimes she bicycled her legs! Too cute.

Mommy gives Vanessa a big kiss for doing such a great job!

This picture was from Vanessa's first swim class for comparison. Not happy at all. Poor Vanessa! It's amazing how much can change in just a month or so -- I'm so glad that Vanessa liked her swim class in the end.

A little golf

Vanessa has learned how to use one toy to make another one move. I was amazed to see Vanessa using a cardboard tube to try to hit a ball! I later found out that Vanessa's Nana had tried to teach her a little bit of golf earlier that week! OK, Vanessa's friends and family, the race to influence Vanessa's favorite sport is apparently already begun. If you guys want her to like soccer, now is the time to intervene!

Click on the picture below to see a video of Vanessa's early golfing attempts.

Grandparents and spiders and meerkats, oh my!

Vanessa's Grandma and Grampa Kaylor and her Aunt Hannah visited last weekend. We celebrated Aunt Heather's birthday (a little late) in Fredericksburg.

Vanessa was a real trooper this weekend, as her parents wanted to see Spiderman 3 on Saturday, AND see my cousin Danielle in a high school production of Les Miz on Sunday. We wanted to go to Spiderman 3 with the Kaylors and Heather and Terry. Luckily Uncle Terry had already seen Spiderman 3, but didn't mind coming again to help watch Vanessa. So James, Terry, and I took turns taking Vanessa out of the theater. She spent some time in the theater, actually, but it was too loud for her, and she kept babbling loudly to compete!

Vanessa's Nana watched her for the 5 hours that James and I were away for the matinee of Les Miz on Sunday. It was our first date as just a couple since Vanessa was born! Nana did a great job keeping Vanessa happy, as always, and it was a wonderful break for us!

Grampa Kaylor carried Vanessa across most of Potomac Mills mall. It's a long mall and Vanessa is about 20 pounds, but he didn't complain.Aunt Hannah holds Vanessa while she chews on a Spiderman toy (don't worry, no small parts!).
Vanessa went to the zoo today for the first time. We went with 4 other moms and their little daughters. Maritza and Tess and Jessica and Revie are in the foreground. You can see Vanessa on the left. In the background are Kim and Grace and Nickie and Abigail.

In this picture, we were in the small mammal house. Vanessa might not have noticed the elephant, panda, and hippopotamus that we saw outside, because they were more than just a few feet away. But Vanessa definitely did notice the meerkats and the tamarins in the small mammal house! Both species were very active and visible close up.

Mommy and Vanessa pose in front of the orangutan. Can you find him? He is just above Vanessa's head in this picture.

Wir fliegen nach Stuttgart (We're flying to Stuttgart)

I've got to go to Stuttgart, Germany for 5 weeks for work starting at the end of May and Vanessa and Mommy are going to come along with me. We'll get back at the end of June. Hopefully Vanessa's first words won't be ein Bier bitte. :) There's a good chance that Vanessa's Grandma and Nana will visit us for one week apiece over there as well. That'll give Sarah and Vanessa some company while I'm at work during the day. If any of you have been over to Germany and have some travel suggestions, drop us a line!

Cousin Phil's Wedding

I have lots of pictures to share with you from our trip to Michigan to see James's cousin Phil's wedding.


It was Vanessa's first time on an airplane. Grampa helped make waiting around at the airport much more fun.
Nana helped ease Vanessa's apprehension about flying. Vanessa didn't cry on the flight, but she was a little squirmy when the air pressure changed on the way up and on the way down. A little water and some bread seemed to help her handle those changes in pressure better.

The happy couple, Phil and Robin, at the reception.

Vanessa liked to walk around and see all the people at the reception.

Melanie gets to hold Vanessa. Vanessa was VERY interested in Melanie's necklace. I'm surprised Vanessa let Melanie keep it, honestly.

Cousins Melanie and Kalena try to prove that they don't look like identical twins. They do look like cousins, though, don't they?

Speaking of twins, these two (Vanessa and Grandma Webb) could almost be twins, aside from the age difference! Haha! They have the same birthday (we won't tell how many years apart!)

Let's look at those "twins" from a different angle. See the resemblence?

Grampa Webb was excited to see Vanessa again!

Cousin Matthew fed Vanessa a little whole wheat bread. Vanessa really does like bread.

The three of us Maxteds all dressed up!

Before the wedding, Vanessa was very energetic, and ready to play! She really liked the rocking horse in the church nursery.

After the reception, Vanessa was all worn out! Daddy carried her while she slept.

James and three of his favorite ladies.

Before the wedding, Vanessa was playing with her reflection, when she almost pulled the mirror off the wall. You'd think hotel's would use more than one nail to hold on a heavy mirror like that! Well, leave it to Vanessa to find a way to make something move or make noise.

Mommy loves you, Vanessa! Oh, you don't find kisses embarrassing already, do you?

The day after the wedding, we spent some time walking around the campus of the University of Michigan, James's dad's alma mater. Here's Vanessa wearing a new hat with an M on it, in her grampa's arms.

We had lunch at the Brown Jug, the little eatery near campus where Vanessa's grandparents had their first date oh so many years ago!

Vanessa looks pretty hip in her baby carrier with her hat on backwards!

Walking with Terry and Heather

It was a beautiful day outside today. Heather and Terry came to visit! So, Vanessa spent a lot of time practicing her walking outside.

Vanessa looks to her aunt for a little guidance in walking.

Walking so fast!

Aunt Heather and Uncle Terry read "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?" to Vanessa together. If Heather read the words on the page, and Terry made the sounds for the animals, they could almost get through the page before Vanessa turned it!

Vanessa has her Uncle Terry all tangled up! Or shall we say, wrapped around her little finger?

Oh so mobile!

Thank goodness we just got some child safety gates for the stairs, because Vanessa's mobility has dramatically increased this week! Her crawling no longer has a belly-flop component. I kind of miss the cuteness of the belly-flop, but I'm glad she doesn't practically knock the wind out of herself anymore!

I was talking with another mommy today about a particular crawling phenomenon. And that is, when you tell a baby to stay away from something, she'll turn around at you and grin, start breathing fast, and crawl off in the direction of the forbidden item just as fast as she can go! Vanessa demonstrated this for the first time today. Boy, I'm in for it now.

Vanessa's crawl is a pretty typical knees-and-hands kind of crawl now.
Vanessa is proud of her new crawling technique!
It was a beautiful day outside, and Vanessa and I went on a new kind of walk: I held her hand while she did the walking (no stroller involved!). After our rather short walk, we explored the back yard and Vanessa met the turtles made by her late great-great-grandma Edna.
And what are you supposed to be doing in your crib, my dear?

Vanessa likes to stand in her crib now instead of taking her naps. It helps to project her cries better so that she can make me more aware of the fact that she'd rather be playing, despite the fact that she's really tired. :)

Every time I figure out how to help Vanessa take her naps, she gets a little smarter and a little sneakier, and I have to develop a new strategy.
This week, I've determined that Vanessa likes to be put down twice for every nap. The first time, she wants to make sure one of her parents is still around, so she needs another hug and another song before going to sleep. Well, I think Daddy and I will always be happy to give you an extra hug, Vanessa!

Sleeping like her mommy

Aww, isn't this cute? Vanessa often sleeps with her bottom up in the air just like me when I was little! (James will tell you that I still sometimes curl up like this when I'm sleepy.)

Vanessa and Revie played again earlier this week. I was glad to see that Vanessa was much nicer to Revie this time!

Vanessa likes to cruise around on her safety gate by grabbing onto her toys as she goes. I like to think of it as bouldering. Maybe she'll like rock-climbing one day!

First step?

So, if a baby is standing by herself for about 5 seconds, then takes a step forward to grab onto something, and doesn't fall over, does that count as a first step?

If so, our baby took her first step today! If not, I'm sure I'll be just as proud later when she wows me with some real walking!

Big bully

Revie was trying to kiss Vanessa the other day, and Vanessa wasn't so nice! Hopefully one day when Vanessa is older, she'll find this picture as funny as I do!

We've been working on teaching Vanessa the word "gentle." I hope she learns fast!

Some Easter Fun

So I realized it had been awhile since I posted to the blog. I have some fun pictures, but I really want to tell all of you how silly our wonderful daughter is. Often when she's lying on her back, she'll start flapping both arms like she's trying to take off. If I pretend to eat her fingers or her toes, she just starts giggling hysterically. Very contagious.

It's also really cool to see how quickly she's growing up. Every day when I come home from work, I'm half expecting Vanessa to say Daddy, run up to the door, and give me a big hug on my leg. ;) She's really mobile now. She can crawl slowly all around the room, can walk with support from Mommy or Daddy, and can pull herself to standing. Must babyproof house faster....

She's also really interested in what you're saying. Story time has become very exciting for her, especially if silly sound effects are involved. She loves it when we sing to her which means she must not have developed her sense of pitch yet. I'm pretty sure she knows her name is Vanessa and that we're Mommy and Daddy. Grandma, Grandpa, and Nana are close. Oh, and she definitely knows banana (her favorite real food).

We went over to my parent's house for Easter.

We actually managed to get one picture of the three of us.

Here Vanessa shows off to Nana how she can walk with a little bit of help from Mommy.

Poor sleepy Vanessa is about to get attacked by...

The incredible hugging Nana, aka Nana Banana!

Vanessa wasn't so happy with Lily barking to say hi. Poor Vanessa!

Vanessa is thinking very hard about making a silly face for the camera...

But she settles for a smile instead.