The next Cuties model

A couple Sundays ago we went on a family walk to enjoy the weather and stopped in a grassy area along the way to let Maeve sit and play outside for the first time. After we laid out a blanket, Adam said "man if only we had some Cuties (mandarin oranges)" and then like the uber romantic that he is he pulled out none other than Cuties themselves. It was clearly love at first sight for Maeve as she grabbed one of them and eventually another one and wouldn't let go of either of them until we got home. It was so cute how perfectly they fit into her little hands. See for yourself.

She even managed to slightly peel away some of the peel with her mouth. Bravo little lady, bravo. That last photo especially kills me. I think you're looking at the next Cuties model. Who wouldn't want to start buying Cuties after seeing pictures like these? I can see it now, the slogan "just a cutie with her Cuties!" running under her picture. It's just perfect.

Megan She'll make millions, mark my words.

Maeve in a nutshell

It's either big blue eyes or cheesing it. Like, seriously cheesing it. Maevie baby in a nutshell! I could get these pics all day every day.

Here she is asking me to lay a big juicy one on her. Anytime sweet baby, anytime.

When your baby becomes smarter than you

Maeve is all over the place these days. I mean, she isn't even walking yet and I can hardly keep up. This is what I'm up against on a daily basis.

For the record, she unrolled that toilet paper. She spilled those cheerios in a matter of 0.0003748 of a second. And she knocked what was sitting on the tub that she walked herself over to into the tub. Oh, and she's done this many times since then.

So this is my life now. Stopping her from causing all sorts of damage on minute by minute basis. Okay so it's really not THAT bad yet, but the kitchen is definitely the worst place for her to be. Cause let's be real, with how good she is at pulling herself to standing near anything and everything now, it just means that when I'm loading the dishwasher she is immediately right there on the other side unloading it. So helpful, that girl. High five. Early last week she pulled herself up next to the trashcan and started to reach for the trash. Oh, no no no. I wasn't going to have garbage thrown all over the kitchen floor to pick up later.  That's when I said to myself, enough is enough. I put on my mom hat and thought, without a gate at my disposal right now to keep her out of here, how can I keep her out of here?? I grabbed the dining room chairs and spent about 10 minutes trying a few different configurations and had to laugh when after each configuration she still managed to crawl right through. Nothing was going to stop her! And that's when it hit me, that in that moment, my 9.5 month old BABY was smarter than me. What??? When I signed up for motherhood, I did not think I was signing up to learn that. These babies are smarter than we think, people.

Truth be told, though I don't really want to admit this, moments later I had the idea to just put the trashcan in the bathroom with the door closed for the time being. Why I didn't think of that initially, I'm not sure. Mom brain is a real thing I guess.

I wish you better luck than me in outsmarting your small humans!

Mr. Lamby

Gotta record this one in the books, because let's be honest, he's pretty important.

Meet Mr. Lamby.

Maeve girlfriend got him from her Gram (my mom) and she has quite the infatuation with this little fellow. Like, lives and breathes him. She sleeps with him every single nap and night and the minute I give him to her she grabs on with quite the force I must say and his ears go straight in her mouth. Every time. It turns out that she has not been very gentle with his ears, as poor Mr. Lamby lost one of his ears a couple weeks ago. How she was really able to get his ear loose enough to actually come off, I will never know. Talented girl, that Maeve. Anyway, not to worry, Mr. Lamby is in perfect condition again as he underwent some surgery and got his ear put back on. Thank goodness, because little lady was pretty heartbroken the one night she had to go sleep without him while he was getting fixed. 

Proof that she loves Mr. Lamby with all she's got. She usually keeps him close.  

I have probably a dozen other pictures of her holding him close that aren't on my phone anymore. We will see how strong their relationship stays as time goes on. Her cousin Bennett has the same lamb and he literally could not sleep without that thing for the longest time. In fact, although he's 8 now, last I heard he still likes him to be in bed with him. That's love right there! 

Long live Mr. Lamby! 

Sunday best

Pretty Maevie lady wore this stunning number to church on Sunday. You know it's that stunning when even a guy comments on it. Let's be real, it's usually the ladies that are actually observant enough to notice fashion choices. Of course we had a little photo shoot, and of course my favorite one of her is the first shot where her toys are distracting in the background. That's just how the cookie crumbles. And for the record, the smiles in these pictures are for her daddy.

A whole lotta love

My favorite moments are always when both Adam and I can be with Maeve together. Sometimes when he gets home, they have their own time together, but it's the best when we both take the time the interact with her at the same time. This last weekend on Saturday we kept her up a little later than normal, because her crib sheet was still drying in the dryer. So we got her in her jammies and she was just hanging out with us on the couch. 

It takes incredible concentration and even a little courage, by the way, to venture from the table to the couch. But she did it. High five Maeve, high five. Also, that little booty in those jammies. Mmmm. 

Anyway, as you can see, she was being her funny normal busy little self, but also giving us sweet kisses inbetween. We were just looking at each other and laughing, her safe right between us. I was soaking it all in and time stopped for a minute. It hit me that I live for moments like those! It's what this life is all about. I'm so grateful every single day that we get to be the little family that we are, because Heavenly Father trusted us to take care of his sweet Maeve. I wouldn't have it any other way and I love this little cutie and her dad with everything in me.

Who needs teeth when you've still got love?

Confession of the century: my teeth suck. When I tell people this, they respond "Oh man, so do you just get tons of cavities all the time?" and to be honest, I just want to laugh (and admittedly cry, simultaneously) when I hear that question. If my problems were as small as just cavities, even if they were on all surfaces of my teeth, I would probably jump for joy. Sadly cavities are only the start of it. Ya see, cause a bad cavity becomes a crown becomes a root canal becomes an implant if everything really goes south. And when you're me, that's what happens. After Adam and I got married and he soon realized the nature of my teeth, we've sort of had a running joke that by the time I'm 35 I will have no teeth left. After the events that took place last Wednesday, I am now on my way to that and have said goodbye to one of my teeth. Luckily for me, instead of completely compromising my looks, they have these things called implants that you can pay large sums of money for, which when all is said and done, make it still look like you have teeth. It's a win for everyone, including the son or daughter of the periodontist who received payment for their college tuition from me. You're welcome.

Now that that's all on the table, here are a couple pictures that prove that I survived the surgery. I had just come out of our room after sleeping for about 4.5 hours after we got home from it when these were taken. They knocked me out so I was incredibly drowsy, even still at this point in time, and looking fantastic.

I was so out of it and just sat on the ground and this girl came right over and pulled up on me so she could throw her little baby arms around my neck. It's funny to me that you can try so hard all day long to get this kind of love from your baby, but they choose to do it when it's not even on your radar and really, you need it the most. Love my sweet girl.

Here's to real teeth, fake teeth, and baby hugs!