Today our sweet Maya is ten months old. Wherever did the time go?!

On her nine month birthday, I stopped nursing & pumping. Now, that time feels like an eternity ago. For the most part, I don’t miss it … mostly because there’s just too much excitement now watching Maya grow and develop!

She is now crawling, semi-cruising, pulling to a stand, standing unsupported (for a little bit!) on her toys –all within the past month. She’s not quick yet … but she is determined to get to what she wants, and will find a way!

She’s ridiculously curious about food — and we offer her tastes of what we’re eating quite often these days. In fact, often she reaches out for more (like tonight, she liked the butternut squash we’d made) and is an adept self-feeder via her mesh feeder or taking puffs from her snack trap.

She repeats things like a little monkey, including blowing raspberries back at you, waving “bye bye” on command, and repeating certain babbles and/or intonations and faces.

She’s intrigued by her toys and can sit with her rings or blocks for a good chunk of time just trying to figure things out.

She flaps in delight when we pick her up at the end of the day, saying “dadada” (to me OR Luis ;)).

She expresses preference for one toy (or person) over another now — new this past month.

She loves her new ducky bath and splashes like crazy in the tub (reassuring us how much she has enjoyed/gotten out of her swim lessons; she’s comfortable in the water).

She still sleeps 11-12 hours a night but now she sleeps on her tummy (with her tush in the air–it’s ridiculously adorable) and often we find her in the morning sitting up in her crib playing with her giraffe Wubbanub or her teddy bear. (We had to lower the crib mattress a notch and will likely need to lower it one more notch when she gets a little taller).

And though she’s still toothless, she still has those delicious baby rolls and now even has enough hair to put in little bows and barrettes–hurrah!

I’d say she is an absolute joy 99% of the time. 😉

That 1% when she’s a pain is when we are trying to change her! Like a fellow mommy friend said once, it’s like trying to diaper a moving target now. Though it’s usually pretty easy to change her in the morning, as the day goes on, she flips over and is adamant about not laying down easily for us. It’s becoming harder and harder, and I’m sure that will continue until we get into the potty-training stages.

In many ways, it’s hard to believe we are just two months shy of her first birthday … and have no fear, Mama has tons of ideas already 😉 Mostly, though, we’re just blown away by how quickly she is changing and how her little personality is budding. We see two sides of her already. The side that’s like me: communicative, expressive. And the side that’s like my (engineer) husband: deliberate, curious about how things work.

I think the most amazing thing about motherhood, so far, is realizing that the love I thought I was capable of … its surface has only just been scratched. The love I have for Maya … it grows by the day. My love for my husband … it grows by the day as I see him as a daddy. And my love for my own mom … it grows by the day as I realize how much she did/does for us.

It’s one of those things that, til you’re there, you can’t understand it. But once you’re there … it’s priceless. And we’re only just beginning.

Sweet Maya … we love you more than you can ever know.

The best is yet to come.