The D'Amato Family: September 2011

There is joy in learning.....

Before school started I was admittedly weary of how things would go with Mayah. Friends were even suggesting sending her to school. I knew in my heart that was not an option. I bought a curriculum that just seemed like Mayah and dove in.

Glory!!!!! Mayah came to school ready and eager to learn and to top it off she has so much JOY doing it!!! It is the kind of joy that is contagious. I just love it! I am completely impressed with how much she knows; her only struggle is with handwriting, but I know it will come.

Here she is making letters with long spaghetti

I love that smile on her face!

Her name

What a hard worker!

She asked if she could help make lunch.....love it!

Check out that smile!

This week was all about the letter S and the Sun. We took a green grape and used the sun to make a raisin (you cannot eat it).

A learning CDRom that she enjoys

The ripped paper art -her sun!

Finger Paint and Popsicles

One day this past week Cristina Brown came over to play for a while....Mayah is loving having her right next door! Me too. After a couple hours of them playing I took out the finger paints for some fun. Even with fingerpaints there are teaching moments. Leah tells me her colors, the big girls are using fine motor skills, we talk about mixing red and blue to make purple, Cristina and I made a C for her name...it was great!

What to do with all this watermelon I cut???? Mayah asked if we could make popsicles....sure! Leah was so very excited about this. So, Mayah helped me puree the watermelon a bit and into the freezer they went. The next day for lunch......watermelon popsicles!

Emma Lynne-3 Months Old

Has it really gone by...3 months...really? Those first few weeks you focus on getting to this point and it seems to far away and yet here we are already. Those first few weeks are already starting to be a blur; it just can't be happening this fast.
Emma Lynne is such a joy to photograph-mostly because she has no escape from me. Ha Ha!

I wish I could say we are on a schedule and sleep is in abundance, but alas that is not the case. Our day can start anywhere from 5:30 to 7 AM.
Yes, the gap is that big.

She only likes to be up for an hour to an hour and a half and then into her swing for a nice 3 hour nap (usually). This is when I teach the oldest two girls. She wakes up and nurses. We might do some belly time or just lots of talk time with sisters in the school room. She is usually sleeping again around lunch time for an hour or so....and from there it is sporadic and "cat naps". It's hard to get things done in the afternoon around here, but we do what we can.

She does not really nap well again until I have to make dinner around 4pm. Thank goodness! She usually has a little fussy time around 6/6:30pm, but we can usually get her to take a rest or just hang out in her swing...sometimes with the help of the vacuum's white noise! She nurses before going to sleep in the swing around 8 or 8:30pm. We take her to her bed when we go to bed at 10 or 10:30pm. She has been waking at 12am, but just last night she made it to 2am! Glory! Hoping for that to become more permanent.

She coos and "talks" to me and her sisters a lot. She loves to open her mouth and stick out her tongue. She has begun drooling....fun! I needed a bit of moisturizer on me. I have to admit that I love that no matter how upset she is when she knows it is me picking her up she calms down. Instant and deep love.

She has already changed to much and I know there are so many changes to come.

A Growing Relationship

I am finding so much joy watching Mayah with Emma. When Leah was born Mayah was only 2 and wanted nothing to do with her....this is NOTHING like that!

Mayah is head over heels for Emma and Emma knows her big sister Mayah's face. Love. If she could hold her everyday she would be happy. She wants to be near her all the time and she gets this super sweet voice when talking to her. Precious.

Good Old Fashioned Fun

This has been the hottest August on record for Arizona and we are surely felt it! So, what to do to cool off....that's right, turn on the sprinklers and water the lawn and the kids!!! They love it and I love any opportunity to play around with my camera!