4 Months!

Maia turned 4 months this weekend. She is 16 pounds, 12 oz and 28.5 inches long. She is flipping from back to tummy and tummy to back. Hope you enjoy these pictures from the past few weeks.

Maia rolls over

Maia rolled from her back to her tummy last night. I missed it because I was too busy watching the Rangers-Yankees game.

We put her down on her playmat, and she was making happy baby playing noises, and I was only sort of paying attention because I was too busy watching the Rangers-Yankees game. She started making not so happy baby noises, which I ignored for a while because I was too busy watching the Rangers-Yankees game. When I looked over at her, she was stuck on her tummy on top of a stuffed dinosaur toy.

We didn't get any pictures because, like I said, I was too busy watching the Rangers-Yankees game. What a mother.

Would you buy toilet paper from this baby?

I took Maia to have her 3 month portraits done. I wanted some professional pictures, but we couldn't afford a private studio. After doing some research, I decided to take her to Portrait Innovations in Orland Park. Overall, I was very happy with the photo shoot and with the quality of the pictures. They tried to use a few cheesy props, which I'm not big on, but they listened to me when I said I wouldn't buy a picture of my baby draped in a hot pink feather boa, so don't waste your time! They did use a silk daisy in a series of shots and I was like "ok..whatever you think," but it turns out to be one of my favorite pictures. Then, when the shoot was over, the photographer turned it into black and white, and I was sold.

So, they work about 20-30 minutes taking about 50-60 shots, then they sit down with you at a large screen and make you start trashing them. Once you hesitate just a bit, they pull up a corresponding package. Its pretty slick:

Me: Oh, I don't know, I like all 26 of them we have left

Photographer: Well, we have our 26 pose package, its only $450!

Me: Delete number 2, 5,6, 23, and 26

And on and on it went. I had settled on the six pose package and started picking out sizes when I realized that we don't have enough family, friends, or wall space for 94 pictures of Maia. So I cut out three more and went with the more reasonable 3 pose. This is where they got a little hard sell on me, but I held firm and walked out of there with the right number of pictures. Oh, and an 8 x 10 of the black and white with her and the flower. It makes me melt.

Like I said, overall a very good experience with Portrait Innovations. If you have the dough, a local private photographer is the way to go, but if that's not possible, its nice to know you can have decent portraits done and stick to your budget.

So, enjoy. We received low res digital files of all the pictures they took, including this one that looks like it should be on a package of TP. Be prepared for cuteness overload!

North to the Future!

I guess we haven't blogged about this yet. We're moving to Anchorage, Alaska! My daddy got a postdoc job at the University of Alaska Anchorage, where he'll develop and teach college astronomy lessons based on "authentic research projects." He'll also keep studying asteroids with folks in Seattle and Chicago. I don't know what any of that means, but he seems real excited about it. Mommy may get to stay at home, or may work part-time, we'll just have to see. We'll be up there for at least 2 years, but not more than 3 or 4. This'll be good preparation for my daddy to become a professor at a small school back in the midwest, so we can be close to my aunts, uncles, and grandparents. But what an adventure in the meantime! Go Seawolves! Blublublub-Raaaaawr-Blublublub! Did I mention the midnight baseball?

We'll move up there in late August or early September. Now Daddy just has to finish his thesis. You can do it, Daddy!