The differences

I never thought that the two girls that we created could be so different. It's interesting taking a look at the two girls and getting to know them and their little quirks. Claire had colic at the beginning, and then was an absolute angel with sleeping and transitioning to everything. She caught on very quickly with things. Maya has a little more of the stubborn personality from Jeff and I, in the sense that when she wants something her way, we basically need to do it. For instance, she must have the pacifier to go to sleep. I tried getting rid of it early on, and she would throw a fit! So, I decided that if we can both get more sleep, then she can have it. Claire on the otherhand, didn't need the pacifier much (only naptime, and never at night). I think I'm partially to blame for Maya's obsession with the pacifier, since day 1 I gave it to her in the hospital because she seemed to need to suck so back.

Maya also MUST sleep on her stomach if she's taking a nap or going to bed at night. If she's in our arms, she'll try to sleep, but ends up very restless. We just got back from a trip to Florida with the family, and had a long leg coming back (5 hours 40 minutes), and she couldn't sleep at all, and was crying. As soon as we got home, I changed her and put her to bed on her tummy, and she was out, just like that.

Claire is very set in her ways now with the foods she wants (even though she ate everything when she was younger). Now she only wants fruit in a fruit cup, and rarely will eat fresh fruit at all. She still eats amazing with her vegetables, and in fact will usually ask for veggies first thing in the morning, or before bed (usually snap peas or carrots). Maya on the other hand, loves her grains. She's just getting into the finger foods, and always wants to feed herself (the pureed foods didn't last too long). She'll eat Cheerios and Puffs like they're going out of style. She'll pretty much eat whatever we give her, but prefers the grains.

These are just some of the differences I notice, but I'm sure we'll collect more soon!

Pee Wee Soccer

Claire has been begging us to sign her up for soccer, so we did, and got her on the Pee Wee soccer team. There are 6 games. They practice for 20 minutes, then play against other Pee Wee teams for 40 minutes. The kids are all 3-4 years old. One of Claire's friends, Cash from daycare, was on her team, so that made it fun for her. The first game we missed because we were in Colorado. She got a shirt, and shin guards, and everything! So cute! Funny enough, her team was playing against another one of her friends from daycare too (Bella). Cash, Claire and Bella are all friends, so they were holding each other's hands when they were supposed to be playing. Claire and Bella (from opposite teams), held hands most of the game. The other parents were already kind of "Soccer Moms", so not sure they were so thrilled that we were kind of a man down since the kids were holding hands, but I thought it was adorable.

On her second game, she scored the first goal. Go Claire!

Claire and Rosey the Tarantula!

I took the girls back to Denver to visit the family, and we had an amazing time. The flight out was a little rough because it was bedtime (7-10:30 pm flight), so that's my fault, but they still did great.

We stayed with Mema the first few nights, and the girls got to hang out and play there. Then we headed over to Nana's house for a few more days. The first day with Nana we went to the Butterfly Pavilion. Claire loved it, and was so excited to have butterflies flying all around her. They also had a bug area with spiders and beetles that we got to check out. In one area, they have Rosey the Tarantula, and people can hold her. Claire didn't want to at first because she's scared of spiders (just like mom!), but then changed her mind after Nana held the spider (which shocked me too because she's scared of spiders). So Claire stepped up and held her! She was so brave! I couldn't believe she did it. When she was done, she asked if she could hold her again. Atta girl! So proud of her!