Addicted

Mae has an addiction (albeit healthy). Her addiction: music. I know I should be happy that she isn't addicted t tv, junkfood, or sticking her finger in a light socket. It would be bearable listening to her "moogoose" if it was something that I wanted to listen to. If you are wondering what style of music she is interested, she is addicted to nursery rhymes and songs. Yes, yes, we know it is age appropriate and are happy she is hitting her developmental milestones but wow, is it mind numbingly really hard to listen to it. Her favorite is what she affectionately refers to as "lamb" [Mary had a little lamb]. She asks for "lamb" about 100 times a day - no joke. A sidenote, it took me a day or two to figure out that she was asking for me to sing this. At first I thought she was saying, "yum." As time has gone on "yum" has turned more into sounding like "lamb." I wish I still was clueless about this word. We have a CD (thanks Mom!) that she asks for when she wakes up, when we get in the car and throughout the day. Here are photos from the last couple of days of her enjoying her music.

Week 34: Losing Steam

Today marks WEEK 34 of pregnancy for Baby Cummings #2. Thankfully, I don't have that much to complain about in terms of this pregnancy, such as swollen ankles or heart burn. I have been fortunate to escape all those horrible much complained things while being pregnant. I chalk it up to great genes.

In week 34, I think the number one thing that is happening is that I am losing a whole lot of steam to do anything besides care for Mae during the day and lay on the couch at night. I don't remember being this lazy when pregnant with Mae. I assume I was but I also only had to take care of myself. This laziness has translated into some of my parenting, maybe for the worse. For instance, I have introduced TV...insert gasp! The reason why I say insert gasp is that the American Academy of Pediatrics says no screen time before the age of 2. Screen time means computer and TV. Needless to say, Mae has been asking about Elmo. It is cute and also very difficult to redirect her attention. I normally say Elmo is sleeping and she will give up after a couple of times of asking but I don't think that is going to work forever. Looks like I need to come up with a new strategy.

I wish I had more pregnancy news to report but it is has been pretty standard or what is standard for me. The baby is pretty active but has been pretty gentle on me and my insides. I still have no feeling whether it is a boy or girl and we are no closer to deciding on a name for either. Only six more weeks to go and we get to meet him/her!

Photos of the Day

I think that these photos pretty much say it all. Today turned out to be a really good day! It started off rocky because the weather has been pretty cruddy (yes, welcome to Seattle in Spring) and I am NOT enjoying it one bit. This afternoon, we met up with some friends [Shanda and Greyson] and headed to the Arboretum to see the ducks. As you can tell watching the ducks ended up in playing in puddles.

Mae and Greyson

Great Trip, Worst Flight EVER

Being able to spend 10 days at home in Alexandria, VA was, in one word, fantastic. The flight back to Seattle, was in one word, hell. First, the hell. All I can say about the flight since I refuse to dwell on it is that Mae did not sleep the entire five and half hours, despite it being her bedtime two hours into the flight, only taking a 20 minute nap that day, and going to a playground for 2 hours that day. I was exhausted, sweaty, and beyond patience when we landed. Thanks to the very kind man next to us. Your karma will be good for awhile. Second, the fantastic. There were so many highlights of the trip, including:

• The weather. I forgot how great Spring is in DC.


• Mae spending lots of time with her cousins, Grandma & Papa, Aunts, and Uncles.


• Going to see a play with my mom.


• Rides in the red wagon (thanks to my parent's next door neighbors for letting us borrow it).


• All the cool new toys at Grandma and PaPa's house, including the bike and the basketball hoop.


• Getting to see friends.

Here are some photos from our time at home. I didn't bring home my camera so I had to rely on photos from my mom's camera.

Aunt Julie & Mae

My Name is Mae

I know this is the third video that I have posted but I can't help it.

As you can see Mae knows her name and loves to tell people it. She also loves looking at pictures of herself.

Another Video

Running the Halls

Since being at home, I have taken a bunch of videos of the cousins spending time together. This is one of my favorites. As you can see, Mae loves her cousins.