Smiles...

A few hours after my last post, we captured some sweet Maya smiles. I have a feeling that in the years to come, this will be priceless to us!

Enjoy!

Maya's First Month

What a wonderful month it has been! Maya is still doing great. We were blessed with her first smile a week ago and we can get a few out of her every day (usually after she's been fed). It is a crooked little smile and so cute -- melts my heart every time! She has even smiled at Gabi, even though most of the time she is confused by the strange sounds coming from her sister and the pats, kisses, and pulling of socks Gabi is known for. Here are a few pictures from today. It is sure hard to capture their smiles on camera!




We had some special visitors last weekend. Joe's mom brought all of Joe's grandparents to Golden for the weekend. We visited lots and Joe and his Grandpa took in a Rockies game on Father's Day! Gabi enjoyed all of the attention, of course! Maya had some smiles to share with her grandparents.

Great-Grandpa Don and Great-Grandma Phyllis

Great-Grandma Fern

Grammy Joyce gets a Maya smile!

We don't go back to the doctor until Maya is 2 months old, so we don't know exactly how much she weighs, but she has outgrown most of her newborn clothes. She is holding her head up very well, making some "ahh" sounds, and is very alert and interactive while awake.

Happy Father's Day!

We surprised Gabi with a new slide and play set. She loves it! We spend lots of time outside in the backyard having "tea," playing in the sandbox, chasing Jackson, swinging, and now climbing and sliding.

Have a great weekend! Thanks for checking in on us!

Joe, Tara, Gabi, & Maya

3 Weeks Old Already...

Hello!

Here are some pictures of Maya & Gabi from the past week. Both are doing well. Maya is definitely becoming more alert and interactive, which is fun. She is still sleeping 5-6 hours straight at night and eating lots. We're hoping she continues to be as laid back as she is now. She makes lots of grunting noises and squeals (I think she sounds like a little piglet) and kicks and moves her arms a lot.


Here are Maya and Gabi in their stroller on one of our recent walks. Gabi likes sitting next to Maya and peeking in at her.

Below is a video of Gabi doing Itsy Bitsy Spider and saying her new favorite word, "HOLA!" It sounds better when her mouth isn't stuffed with cheese, but her high chair is the only place she'll sit still long enough for me to get her on video! :-) Sorry in advance for my poor singing skills.

Not much else is new, we're just hanging out and enjoying each day. I ran for the first time yesterday and that was interesting (it was more like a slow shuffle!) It felt fine, just slow. My tailbone has been hurting and the doctor told me today that I probably broke it during delivery. Let's hope it heals and isn't too bad, so I don't have to have surgery. Yuck.

We're looking forward to Grammy Joyce, Great-Grandma Fern, and Great-Grandparents Don & Phyllis to visit this weekend!! Have a great rest of your week.

Love,

Joe, Tara, Gabi & Maya

Life is Good!

I hope this all finds you all doing well! Things at the Hall Household have been pretty laid back this past week. It is safe to say that we have somewhat of a schedule figured out and everyone is doing great. Joe went back to work this week, so us 3 girls have been hanging out and having fun!

Maya is growing, growing! On Monday, she weighed in a 1/2 oz. shy of 8lbs., so she has been gaining a little over an ounce a day since coming home from the hospital. She was 21 inches long -- hard to believe she grew 2 inches in 2 weeks, so we think her legs are just starting to stretch out a little more! She has been sleeping a good 5-6 hour stretch every night and going 3 hours between meals during the day. I'd like to say we have her on a sleep-eat-play schedule, but most of the time it is just sleep-eat-sleep! Here she is this morning all bright-eyed and beautiful!

I think she has Joe's long skinny legs already, don't you?

Gabi has been doing much better this week. She is all about sitting close to the baby and giving her kisses. She really wants Maya to play with her, so she keeps giving her toys and showing her things. On stroller rides, she points things out to the baby (even though Maya is sleeping most of the time). It is very cute. She still is needy for hugs and attention from us, but I can't complain about that -- I would hug and kiss Gabi all day long if I could! Such a good girl.

Daddy's Girls

Here are some pictures of Gabi from this week!

"Bubbas!"

Rolling in the grass like the cat!

We all went to the zoo last Sunday and Gabi had a great time. She said "hi" to all of the animals and we think she liked the elephants the best. Maya enjoyed her snooze at the zoo. ;-)

If you know us, you know that we can't sit still and have to be out and about. I get the girls out at least once a day for a walk to a park or to the store. (I need to remember to take a picture of the girls in their double stroller --maybe by next post.) On Saturday, we walked down to the Farmer's Market and to the playground. Gabi loves the curly tube slide.

We have had lots of visitors the past week or so. Today, Angie and Kristine came over for lunch and brought along their girls to play. They had a blast and the sun actually came out for a bit (it has felt more like Seattle than Denver here for the past few weeks, so it was a welcome surprise). Thanks you two for lunch, the dinners, and company!

Gabi, Charlie (Kristine's), MacKenzie & Asha (Angie's) and Maya in MacKenzie's arms!

And last, but certainly not least, Gabi & Maya are the proud new cousins of Marcello Anthony! Amanda & Greer celebrated the arrival of the newest son on June 4th. He is a cutie! So, Maya is no longer the baby of the family anymore! :-) Congratulations you guys!

Proud brother, Gio, and Marco

Have a great week everyone!

Joe, Tara, Gabi, & Maya

One Week Old

We can't believe how fast this past week has flown by. We have been absorbed in loving up our little Maya and adjusting to the MANY changes it has brought. She has been sleeping and eating great and has become more and more alert each day. What an angel she is.

Maya was a little jaundice for the first couple of days, so we just stripped her down and let her bask in the sun in the bay window. It has cleared up nicely. I'm sure the neighbors were a little concerned about our parenting tactics! ;-)

Gabi is adjusting well. She does get jealous quite a bit and her dramatic side has been magnified often. She does kiss and pat the baby a lot and loves to pull her socks off. We've been trying to give Gabi lots of attention so she doesn't feel left out. Just like the rest of us, she'll need some time to adjust. This picture is what happens when you let a 20 month old pick out her own clothes. At one point, she had Joe's shoes on and looked quite comical!

Here are a few more pictures from when our families were here.

Love to you all,

Joe, Tara, Gabi, & Maya

Meet Our Newest Arrival...

Maya Katherine

May 26, 2009

4:30 pm

7 lbs. 11.5 oz.

19.5 inches

We are so excited that Maya finally decided to join the world! She is healthy as can be and such a joy to have in our lives. So far she has been sleeping most of the time, but during her awake hours she is eating well and very observant.

Her labor was quite the ordeal. I don't know if 41 hours breaks any records, but it should come close to a few! Yikes! I started having contractions at 11:30pm on Sunday and we decided to finally go to the hospital at 4:00am Monday when they were 3-4 minutes apart. Much to our dismay, they sent us home. I spent Monday at home in labor and we decided to finally go back Monday evening. Again, they sent us home because even though my contractions were strong, my cervix was not dilating very fast. Finally, at 2 am Tuesday morning, we made our final journey back to the hospital. So, labor continued through the morning and I was only 5 cm by noon. They decided to break my water, but that didn't even help anything except make the contractions even worse. I really wanted to have a natural labor, but when they told me it was either get pitocin or have a c-section, I chose the first option. An epideral was needed as well because I was so exhausted that I wouldn't be able to push either. So, those two things sped things along and by 3:30pm I was pushing and by 4:30pm she made every little part of labor and pregnancy worth it by joining our family!

Gabi gets to meet her new baby sister -- "BABA!!!!" My mom flew in to Denver on Monday morning to watch Gabi for the week. They had lots of fun going to the park and playing. We're so thankful she was able to be here to hold down the fort this week.

They finally released us from the hospital on Thursday afternoon. We were so excited to go home -- Maya was too -- she didn't mind her car seat at all!

Joe's parents arrived just before we got home from the hospital. My dad had arrived on Tuesday evening to join my mom in Gabi duty. It is so nice to have our families here to help us out.

I'm sure we'll be taking lots more pictures, so check back soon! Thanks to all of you for your support, prayers, and love. We have the best friends and family ever and our sweet little girls are so lucky to be surrounded by all of you.

Love to you all,

Joe, Tara, Gabi, & Maya

In the Spotlight

I figured that since Gabi will have to share the spotlight soon (or as our doctor always puts it, will be "dethroned") I wanted to have one last post all about Gabi!

Ready for Summer!

Sleeping Beauty -- I had to wake her up from her nap one day and found her like this. It's a good thing we don't have to wake her up often -- she was not a happy camper.

We went to a 3 year old's birthday party on Saturday and Gabi got her own apron and immediately fell in love with the pockets -- they can hold all of her rocks! Do you think she'll love rocks enough to follow in her mom's geology footsteps?


Happy Mother's Day!

Have a great week you all!

Tara