Good night, sleep tight..... please?

Hey all, it is Brian posting now... it has been a while, and I thought I would pop my head in to say "Hi".

We don't really have anything new to report here. Maia is still trying to crawl, but hasn't actually made the move to a full-blown crawl. She can mash and slide her way across the room, but she has yet to put one hand in front of another in order to crawl. We aren't hurrying her, and she is in no hurry.

Her days continue to be filled with smiles and giggles as she buzzes around like the busy bee she is. We took a quick walk around downtown tonight and she smiled the whole way. I would poke her forehead with my finger and she would giggle like I was the best game maker-upper in the whole world... as if she were saying "Poke my forehead again, dad! This is sooooo much fun!"

Her sleep has been mostly good lately... when she finally falls asleep. The amount of time it takes for her to fall asleep is extremely inconsistent. This weekend, it took an hour for her to fall asleep which included back rubs and the like to get her there. Monday and Tuesday, she fell asleep immediately without a peep. Tonight, it is 9:15 and she is STILL awake! The most telltale sign is the music maker attached to the side of the crib. She likes to turn it on and off. She gets a real kick out of it. Mom and Dad, on the other hand, wish she would just fall asleep for god's sake! You'd think we fed her coffee before bed! We are going through what they call "sleep regressions". They are really common around 4 months and 8 months and it looks like we have seen both of them!

Next weekend is our big barbecue party. We look forward to seeing everyone who can make it and will miss those who cannot. The current RSVP count is up to 42 including kids. There will be a TON of kids this year! The weekend after that is when I go to Boston on Business. Then, in October, we have a trip to Chicago to see my Genisio family (Grandma, Aunt/Uncle, Cousins, new kids, etc) and then Cara will fly to New York with Maia to visit Joanna. The next 6 weeks are really busy!

Maia is STILL AWAKE! Go to sleep, my sweet little girl.

Talk to you soon,
Brian, Cara and Maia