Happy 1st Birthday, Maya!!

Happy Birthday to you, our little Mayasuarus (aka: "Smalls")!!! I can't believe that it was just one year ago today that you came into this world to join us (eight days early). I remember that morning like it was yesterday... My water broke while we were still sleeping, at around 6:00 a.m. and when I told your daddy he flew out of bed like the house was on fire. This didn't happen when your big sister was born. She was born on her due date, and I had to be induced because she had no plans of joining us in this big wide world unless she was forced to. So daddy's only "experience" with the whole labor process was via t.v. He thought for sure that you were coming at any second, and that we needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible. I laughed, and told him that was only in the movies, and that we could at least get Layla up and ready for school, feed her some breakfast, and for God's sake, I wanted to take a shower! You were born at around 12:30 p.m. on April 16, 2012, by C-section (little bugger, you were upside down in my belly, to our surprise)!

Our family is now complete with you here, Maya. You bring sunshine to our lives every single day. Your smile is the brightest, most vibrate smile I've ever seen. And your passion for this family is amazing, even at the young age of one. When you see your sister you light up, and same goes for your daddy. You also love, love, love your "brother" Hudson. You always reach for him and talk to him, but when I bring you near him to pet him, you're either reluctant, or in the mood to smack him (I think you think that you're giving him love pats). Your favorite time to pet him is when he's sleeping, and for some reason you love lifting up his lips and digging around in his mouth. I'm sure he really appreciates it.

You're not walking yet, but I think you will be soon. You're standing and scaling anything you can get your hands on, and sometimes will walk with us if we hold your hands. You've definitely got a lot less weight on you than your big sis did at this same age, so I'm surprised you're not running around like a maniac yet.

You're favorite thing in this world is your polka-dot blanky. Daddy was teasing you the other night with it, pretending he was going to take it and you did NOT like it. You took hit away from him and took off like you had just robbed a bank. You've also fallen in love with your new "Maya" ball from Auntie Meg. In fact, you about jumped out of my arms this a.m. when you saw it sitting in the living room!!

We had your birthday party this weekend and it went great. Gma D, Gpa Ice, Autie Meg, Uncle Jeremy and Nonnie all came to shower you with gifts. You were a bit overwhelmed at first though, because you woke up from your nap to a house full of people and presents and we sat you down and expected you to be as excited as we were right away. You warmed up pretty quick though, after you got your new ball! And you were a big fan of all the rubber duckies mommy got you too!

Happiest of Birthdays to you, our love.

 Ripping paper. Cheap entertainment.

 Did you want me in this pic? I can lean in!

 Ohhhh, I'm so excited! My first tankini!!

 Wait, can I eat this? Will it taste better than the vegan shit you're gonna give me in a few minutes?

 Introducing her to her brand new duckie puppet!! Love!

 Balloons and balls - who needs more??

 Vegan cupcakes. Thanks so much Nonnie for bringing these!!

 Duckie cake that our poor smalls couldn't eat. :(

 See? She loves it!

Don't even think about taking my ball!!

Better pull up my Big Girl Skivvies

Well, I recently took the plunge and committed myself as a writer / strategist for a fitness / wellness / nutrition Facebook page called Big Girl Skivvies, partnering with my bestie, Theresa. It's going to be one fun adventure that I'm looking so forward to since I'll have the opportunity to write about something that actually interests me (nope, believe it or not, my day job writing topics aren't really that riveting to me).

We'll be launching our Big Girl Skivvies blog soon. And as I thought about that, I realized that if I'm going to commit time to writing for a fitness / mommy blog, I better get to it with our family blog, for God's sake. So here goes, another commitment to myself and you (whoever you are), to provide random thoughts and happenings on all things Sherman.

The latest with the kids: Layla is growing into one shining star of a little girl. We're on a big kick right now with the whole, "What do you want to be when you grow up." Her latest dreams: choreographer, Culver's worker, and teacher. She cracks me up. The other day, while trying on a dress that a friend of mine gave to us, she said, "Mommy, look! I can wear this dress in the summer when someone dies!" Good grief - I'm guessing that's a sign that I don't really dress her up enough unless there are unfortunate circumstances.

She's also growing into quite the loving big sister. Don't get me wrong - she has her moments where I see a glimmer of, "I'm going to shove that baby right off this couch if she doesn't stop touching my shit" in her eyes. But for the most part, Layla is a loving, protective, adorable big sis. Since Maya is starting to move around pretty freely, and is getting close to walking, Layla is loving helping her get around and helping her 'practice' walking. I've even found them playing together a few times and am loving it!

Maya is a hitch. She'll be one year old next week and is developing quite the sense of humor. She loves to make us laugh and has discovered that funny facial expressions also make us laugh. She's got the deep frown down pat at this point. She also loves telling her daddy, "I love you!" It is the cutest thing ever. When we ask her for a kiss, she dips her head down and leans forward at an alarmingly fast rate. You pretty much have to be on guard or else you're going to get a fat lip from her big dome coming in hot for a kiss.

We still haven't gotten to the bottom of her eczema. We have an allergist appointment tomorrow that I'm a bit nervous about because of the skin test. Hoping it isn't too traumatic for her and hoping that we find some answers (although really praying that we're not told she's allergic to ever food under the sun).

Maya's 1st Birthday party is this Saturday! Just a tiny little gathering at the house. I'm sure she'll have a blast being spoiled and eating cake - I ordered a cute cake with rubber duckies on it (her favorite). And hell no I didn't even contemplate actually making the cake. Let's not get ahead of ourselves here folks.

More to come from the Sherman fam. For now, bring on Spring!!