What's New With Maja?

As I'm sure most of you have guessed by the fact I haven't updated the blog in a while, things around here have been busy. Since I last updated, a couple of exciting things have happened in Maja-land!

First and most importantly, this past Sunday Maja was baptised and is now officially a Catholic! I was a bit worried about how she would do during the whole service (total of 5 babies were baptised so the service lasted just over an hour) because (as we all know) Maja hadn't been sleeping well the past little while. But I'm proud to say that Maja was an angel during the whole thing! In fact, the poor little girl beside us started to wail (it was her feeding time and she had missed her nap apparently) and Maja didn't even flinch! :) We were all so proud. After the service, we all posed for photos (thanks to Grandma & Doug for taking the pictures and to Uncle Ryan for taking the video) then headed back to Baba's place for tasty food (thanks to Baba for all of her running around and her hard work). Although Maja was the star of the show back at Baba's (it was her day afterall), the attention did get drawn away from her once the roasted pig came out for dinner! My nephews, Will & Graham were very curious about the whole thing. And we were all impressed when they tried some of it (as did Grandma) and liked it. Graham, the comedian, commented that he liked the taste of it and that it tasted like chicken. To which, Baba offered that maybe the pig was a different version of chicken but Graham told Baba that he thought the pig tasted like chicken because it probably ate a chicken just beforehand! :) Kids crack me up! Anyhow, here are some photos from the baptism for you guys.

Our little angel all dressed up. Maja wore my christening dress (my Grandma on my mother's side hand smocked it for me) underneath part of Marvin's baptism gown and his cap (that his God-Mother gave him) and we covered her in the crocheted (or knitted?) blanket that my Nana (my Grandma on my father's side) made for my sister's baptism...
Here we are waiting for the service to begin (from left to right are Marvin, Teta Linda (aka kuma or God-Mother in Croatian), Auntie Sandra (aka Christian witness or second God-Mother so to speak), me and of course Maja...
Part way through the service, Maja fell asleep! Her latest sleeping aid is holding on to my hair as you can see...

Here Maja is having the water poured on her head. I was so proud of her here... she was dead to the world asleep and when the cold water poured on her head, she just opened her eyes quickly, looked startled, then fell back asleep! What an angel...
Here she is after having the oil rubbed on her forehead and crown (please note - still sleeping)...
"Hooray, I'm Catholic!"

Maja examining her baptism candle...
Maja examining the desserts back at Baba's place. If you had any doubt that she was my daughter, just look at the way she's "eyeing" the chocolate cake and you'll know for sure she's my daughter...
Just a quick note to say that we felt like all of Maja's Great-Grandparents were with us that day given her outfit was a culmination of items they made and also because Baba found (and used) a tea set that Baba's mother owned years back. It was nice to have the whole family there!

And second, not only did Sunday mark the day Maja became Catholic, it marked the first day in at least 4 or 5 months that I didn't have any chocolate or caffeine! Because I had tried everything else to get Maja to sleep, I thought I'd finally admit that I needed to give up chocolate and caffeine because maybe it was the sugar and caffeine that was preventing Maja from sleeping well. Although she didn't sleep well at all on Sunday night (she had a very busy day and was probably suffering from sugar withdrawl the same way I was that day...), I am very excited to let you all know that she has slept much better since then. She is no longer waking up every hour (knock on wood)! She has even given me 2 hour and a half long naps over the past three days and she doesn't wail unconsolably like she used to! :) My mom asked me if I find it hard not to eat chocolate, but I don't, not as long as I suspect that's what's helping her sleep! I'll keep you guys posted on the progress!

Then on Monday, my nephew Graham turned a whopping 5 years old! Can you believe it? Little Graham is growing up so fast! So Happy Belated Birthday to Graham (don't worry, I called on behalf of Marvin & Maja on his actual birthday to wish him a Happy Birthday... I'm not a bad Auntie, really)! Graham, next time Marvin, Maja & I see you we'll bring our gift for you! Hope you had a great day!

Last night as part of our bedtime routine Marvin (or should I say Maja - see below) gave Maja a bottle before her bath...

Then after the filling meal, Maja thought she should try to catch 40-winks..
Still catching the 40-winks...
This morning, Maja was hanging out on her mat playing with the overhanging toys. This is a new toy for her... although she did have it before, she wasn't very interested in it. But now that she's starting to grab a lot more, this is more fun for her...

Maja has really started to use her hands a lot more these days... she's grabbing my hair and face a lot and she's also starting to "talk" more. And I have to say that she also seems a lot more happy (and smiley) over the past couple of days. I think it's because she's getting more solid sleeps. Anyhow, I hear her in the monitor, I should get going!