the outskirts

This is officially the longest amount of time I've gone without posting. Nearly two whole weeks. I used to get so frustrated with other blogs when I wouldn't see an update in a timely manner. And here I am totally slacking. I have no excuse, really. Well, I guess you could say my excuse is that I just haven't felt that blogging enthusiasm lately. I've had plenty to say, but little aspiration to update.

My head is just not in it these days. I think it's the stress of all the constant cleaning, staging, open houses and private viewings that have been taking up whatever attention I have left to pay after I give Maya the lion's share. Selling our house has really turned out to be a full time job! I'm just hoping all my efforts aren't for nothing. The market is BRUTAL right now. While we've had a lot of interest, we've seen no offers yet and it's a bit discouraging. I haven't even heard from my realtor over the past two days.

And, if we DO get an offer, a whole other layer of stress will be added to the mix. Then we have to find a new place to live. Right now is indeed a great time to buy - there are tons of options out there - but until this is all settled, I'm feeling a bit muddled. Selling, buying, moving. Ug.

But other than that, things are great. Maya is wonderful and continues to surprise and amaze me on a minute-to-minute basis. She is two weeks shy of SIX MONTHS and is growing and changing so fast. She continues to "talk" all the time, and she is constantly adding new "words" to her repertoire. She has full conversations us. She even talks to the cats. She wakes D and me up every morning by telling us all about her dreams with such animation. She makes these great facial expressions and varies her tone and volume with each word - it's so funny to watch. She's really trying to communicate! I think she'll be talking at an early age.

Speaking of the cats, over the past two weeks, Maya has become completely obsessed with them. She kicks and waves in excitement whenever she notices one. She'll reach out and smile at them, and seems honestly and truly disappointed when they don't come and interact with her. She is also totally into watching people eat and drink. She'll make a grab for whatever you're about to put in your mouth. Yup, my girl's ready for solids I think. D and I were going to give her some rice cereal for the first time last night, but she's got a bit of a cold so we're going to wait until she's over it and then it's Solid City for miss Maya. I think she's going to like eating. She loves her Baby Mum Mums and I've given her a few licks of a banana this week. All with good and happy results.

Maya went to her first birthday party yesterday - it was her "boyfriend" Jack's 1st birthday. We dressed Maya up in the sweetest party dress and off to the party we went. Maya had a great time watching the other kids and interacting with all the people. She discovered balloons for the first time and once that happened she was completely preoccupied with them for the remainder of the party. It was a really fun afternoon. And I know I'm biased, but I have to say, my little daughter was the cutest little belle of the ball. Unfortunately my camera was dying and I didn't get many good pictures, but here is one I was able to salvage (although it's a bit blurry....booooo):


I'll try to post more frequently going forward. Plus I've still got a ton of photos to upload. I want everyone to know that I am most definitely reading and keeping up with you all, even if I'm not commenting as often. I'm still here, just hanging around on the outskirts. Just for now.