6 months old and a birthday!

Maia is now 6 months old. At her doctor's appointment today we found out that she is 27.5 inches long and weighs 15 pounds 5 ounces. She now knows her name, can sit up on her own, sleep through the night (!!!), say "ba ba ba" and "da da da", and be really cute.

Aleks celebrated his 29th birthday on Oct. 3. This last year has been a big one for him. He became a dad, got his first teaching job, and got hearing aids, to name a few events. It's been a great year and this next one is going to be just as exciting. He's finished his dissertation, passed all the mandatory testing and will be defending his dissertation in the last week of October. All signs point towards a December graduation. Heaven help us, he'll be making us call him Doctor Sternfeld-Dunn the minute he passes his defense.

Here is my handsome 29 year-old husband:

For Aleks' birthday, he decided that he wanted to cook for some friends. He's been really into cooking authentic Mexican food and has been making recipes from Rick Bayless cookbooks. These recipes include drying his own chilies. For his birthday he made chicken en mole, tortilla soup, salsa, and homemade tortilla chips. It was all really good and we had a great time with his friends. In the spirit of a Mexican feista, I made a pinata. I was going to make a replica of Aleks' face, but thought it could get weird when we tried to break it. I made one of Voldemort instead. It's in the spirit of the Potter Puppet Pals Voldemort.

Owl Hill Goods

So today I had a little fundraiser at my house for Hartford Opera Theater. (Yes! It's still alive and growing in Harford, CT!) This spring I've been asked to sing a role in a commissioned opera, "Tom Sawyer", which will be performed at the Mark Twain House in April. April 21, 2010 marks the 100th anniversary of his death and the Mark Twain House in Hartford is sponsoring many festivities that month.

My good friend, Michelle Hendrick will be directing this opera and is the producer as well. Along with being an extremely talented director and actress, she is also a wonderful textile designer/creator. This summer Michelle started Owl Hill, which features her handmade goods. Many of these goods are created from recycled materials and are organic.

Below are some of the goods that are still for sale. If you're interested in purchasing something, please let me know and I can tell you how much it is. Michelle is donating all proceeds from this collection to Hartford Opera Theater.

Rag Rug (about 5 feet in diameter)

Pot holder rug (about 3x3 feet)

Pot holder rug (about 3x3 feet)

Child's sweater

Child's Bird Hat

Baby bloomers (cashmere)

Angora bunny (made from a sweater)

County Fair, First Ponytail, and the E.R.

The past few weeks have been pretty big around the S-D household. Maia is now sleeping 12 hours a night! Aleks and I are so grateful and are slowly catching up on our sleep.

Usually we put Maia down at 6:30 and she sleeps until 6:30 the next morning. Last night when we put her down, she woke up at 7:30 screaming. We went in and calmed her and she fell back asleep only to wake up again at 8:00 and 8:30 screaming. Aleks and I were both getting concerned and decided that a trip to the E.R. was called for. Well, 1 1/2 hours later, the E.R. doc diagnosed her with an ear infection and prescribed ear drops and Tylenol. If she doesn't get better in the next few days, we also have a prescription for some antibiotics that we can fill. So far, she's been doing fine with the pain management. Anyway, after we put drops in her ears, we have to put some cotton balls in to catch any oil that might drip out. This evening, Maia was eating peas in her rice cereal with cotton in her ears... I think she looks like Shrek.

Maia's hair is long enough to put in a ponytail! It didn't last very long and looks like it was styled in the 80's, but still pretty cute.

This weekend we went to the County Fair. One of my students was showing a pig, so here we are with Hamlet the pig.

It was super hot, so Maia cooled off with some ice.

Maia rode her first merry-go-round! She loved it and we loved seeing her experience it for the first time.

5 Months Old

Maia turned 5 months this weekend!

Some of her many faces:

(and she's sitting up on her own now!)

We love it when she's sleeping!

We went to the water park in Moscow, ID. It was Maia's first time in her bathing suit and hat. She loved it!

End of summer

Well, summer for the Sternfeld-Dunn's is officially over. Aleks went back to work on Monday and I will begin teaching next week. It's been so nice being home together, we will miss Aleks being gone most of the day. Maia is still not sleeping very well and this week has been especially tough. We think she has a cold and/or is teething. I try to remind myself that things will change in a few weeks at most.

Maia is starting to sit up on her own! We've been practicing lots and Maia is getting the hang of it.

The National Lentil Festival was this weekend and so Maia got dressed up in her cute hat and baby converse. She loved her first Lentil Fest.

Maia's friend Alden came over the other night to hang out in the air conditioning. He's 2 months younger than Maia and a total cutie! They'll probably start a rock band together one day.

Here are two more of Maia's friends; Oliver is in the middle and Owen is on the far right.

Owen and Maia are BFFs, they are 5 days apart and love hanging out at the park.

And a news update about me:

I've been hired to teach adjunct voice lessons at WSU this semester. I have 5 students and will be teaching one day a week at the university. I'm really excited about the opportunity to do something outside the house and for myself. I really enjoy teaching. My private studio is also full this year, I'm teaching 3 afternoons a week. Thankfully, Aleks will be able to watch Maia while I teach. She's still being super clingy and prefers mom to almost everyone. However, there are two exceptions, Dad and Aunt Terry. Thank goodness for them!

Visit to CA and family portraits

We spent a little over a week in CA visiting family. On this trip, Maia got to meet her great grandparents for the first time. It was a very special trip for us.

Maia with Great Grandma and Grandpa Pappas

Maia with Great Grandpa Peter

Maia with Great Grandma Barbara

Maia had her 4 month check up yesterday. Everything looks great. She's in the 97% for height and right in the middle of things for weight and head size.

At her appointment yesterday she weighed:

14 pounds 3 ounces

and was

26 1/2 inches long

On Aug. 4 we had professional photographs taken by Tania Soderman in Walnut Creek. To see more pictures you can go to:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=75scjk1m.1i015hsy&x=0&y=e97iko&localeid=en_US

Sewing

Of course I have to put some pictures of Maia. Here she is helping me cook.

"I love rice cereal!"

When Eliza was visiting this May, she had a dress that she used to wear when she was little.(The original is above) Since I've started sewing, I thought I'd like to try and make this dress. I had Eliza send me pictures and some measurements and tried to recreate the dress. I ended up making a pattern on my computer using PrintShop Plus, then blowing it up 300% at Kinkos. It was a lot of fun to figure out how to do this. If anyone wants the pattern, let me know and I can email it to you as a PDF.

The denim side

The white side (back)

Soon I'll try and post pictures with Maia actually in it...she's kind of grumpy today, so I'd rather not try a photoshoot. :)