Happy Mother's Day!

Marvin...
and I...Would like to wish our mothers a Happy Mothers' Day!

Being a mother has made me understand, respect, appreciate and love my mom more than ever before because I now know what it means to be a mom. Mom, thank you for giving yourself to me in all ways possible! Thank you for putting up with my "challenging" ways and my quirky nature... thank you for always being there for me, even when you had other things you wanted (and needed) to do... thank you for being such a great role model for me... thank you for making me who I am today... but most of all, thank you for being such a great mom! I hope you have a great Mother's Day (although it's almost over for you given you're in Greece right now...) and I love you!

And to Lora, Happy Mother's Day to you too! Thank you for being there for Marvin and I whenever we needed you... thank you for being a great mom to my wonderful husband... thank you for being a great mother-in-law to me... thank you for being a great Bakica to Maja... and thank you for raising such a great son and giving me the best husband I could ever ask for.

Now that I'm a mom, I got to finally join in the wonderful celebration of Mother's Day (although technically I was a mom this time last year, I have to say it's so much better being able to hold your child on Mother's Day as opposed to just poke its head through your belly)! The day has been a great day so far... it started off wonderfully as Marvin got up with Maja this morning, entertained her, changed her poopy diaper (extra points), brought her in to see me while I was still lounging in bed, fed her breakfast, got her ready for our brunch with Teta & Bakica and occupied her while we were at brunch so I could enjoy a warm meal (thank Marvin)! I also got two beautiful cards - one from Marvin (which was hand delivered to me along with a hug and kiss) and one from Maja (which was left for me in the fridge beside her food knowing that I'd see it there)!

Anyhow, here are some pictures from our brunch with Teta Linda & Bakica at the Mandarin (my pants are still tight and it's been a good couple hours since we came back home)! Here Maja is pointing out the fish and the turtle at the front of the Mandarin to Bakica...

Here Maja is pretending to look at the camera for a nice shot with Teta Linda, but is really watching the fish in the aquarium behind me (she was just fascinated by the fish)...
And here is a shot of the five of us as were left the restaurant stuffed to the gills...
Now for some photos from the past couple of days... On Friday (when Maja still wasn't feeling so great), I spoiled Maja by letting her watch 5 minutes of TV (specifically Captain Hup from Four Squares on the Treehouse channel). Here is a shot of her watching TV and sporting her cute little jumper that Grandma got her before she left for her trip earlier this week...Here's Maja saying "Look what I can do"...
Here Maja is showing off her new pjs with little zebras all over them... And then here is a shot of Maja in the crib yesterday morning as she played with Marvin (she always cracks me up)...
A close up of her foot positioning from in the picture above...
A shot of Maja as she was getting ready to go for a walk with Daddy yesterday afternoon...
Maja double checking that it was in fact Daddy's fingers she was holding (one of her latest tricks - leaning her head waaaay back to see who is with her)...
Last night, Marvin, Maja & I headed over to our friends' place (Nevenka & George) for a nice dinner and great chatting (thanks again for a wonderful evening guys)! Maja made me soooo proud yesterday (not that she doesn't make me proud other days, but yesterday she made me extra proud)! First, she napped in the car on the way to our friends' house, which made for a refreshed and friendly Maja just in time for when we arrived. Then she was very sociable with our hosts and was passed around from person to person without making a fuss at all (and even went for a short ride on the back of their golden lab on the deck). And then, she went to sleep for the night upstairs in their bedroom with only a little bit of encouragement from me. She stayed asleep until we had to wake her up at 11:30pm when we left for the night, at which time she was very smily again and was her usual charming self. Just in case I haven't told all fo you this before... I love our daughter very much - she is such a sweetie!