This is the virtual home of the Udkow family (pronounced "uhd-koh"). This website is run by Ben, so it mainly features pictures of and stories by Ben, Tammy and Maya (born March 24, 2007), but also features photos and stories of Jonathan's trip to South America and lots of photos by my cousin Matt. Most of our "adventures" involve hiking somewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area and the occasional trip to somewhere with a beach, snow, or great hiking.
I'm taking a photo a day of Maya to try and chronicle her growth and allow everyone to see her every day. Of course I'm also taking lots more photos of her, but there will always be at least one new photo of her every day. (The photo posted on any given day will be taken on that day).
For those of you who don't know and are wondering, Tammy graduated from the UCSF School of Pharmacy and works at Elephant Pharm as a Pharmacist, and Ben is a Network Engineer (aka nerd) with Verizon Wireless. Maya is currently unemployed. Gail is a physician at Kaiser Permanente, Mike has retired to a life of skiing, biking and cleaning, Jonathan works at Rosenblum Cellars, and Flavia works at the Palomar Hotel in San Francisco.
Photos of Maya
I'm taking a photo-a-day of Maya (cleverly called My Maya-A-Day). Each day I take a photo of her and post it that same day to allow everyone to see how she's growing and progressing. The photo under "My Maya-A-Day" on the left side of Udkow.com will always be the latest photo.
In addition, any photos that don't make the cut as My Maya-a-Day's will be posted under the month they're taken in Monthly Maya.
Finally, to view all the photos that have been added in the past five days, you can click on Recently Added Photos of Maya (which is always updating as photos are added to her gallery).
All three of these collections, as well as a couple more (such as Maya's Firsts, and Photos of her Birth) can all be viewed under Maya in the main Udkow.com Photo Gallery.
Last month looks like it will be the last walrus shot for Maya. She never really liked sitting on or near the walrus, and today she made it quite clear (to the whole neighborhood) that she was "displeased" with the walrus. No reason to make her scream (SCREAM) just to get a silly photo of her sitting on a giant stuffed walrus.
Oh well, the whole My Maya-a-Day project is about Maya, so if it doesn't make her happy, it's not worth doing. But, the daily photos will go on as Maya now loves pointing to herself on my camera display and saying "Maya!" :-)
Maya had a great First Birthday Party yesterday with her friends. The weather was amazing, the food was delicious (Tammy made some great salads) and we had so much fun with everyone. It was great to see all the babies actually interacting with each other.
Maya got some great new books, shoes, clothes and puzzles. Thanks to everyone who came. :-)
Immediately after that party, my parents, Tammy's parents and my grandparents came over to have party number two. :-) The leftover food, drinks and cake rapidly disappeared and Maya had a great time being passed around. She really was in such a great mood all day and I think truly did enjoy having everyone over.
WOW! Maya is one year old today (at 8:08am). It has been an amazing year with her. Looking back on all the photos it's neat to see how she's changed and grown. I remember when she had short hair, no eyebrows, and a squished little nose. Every photo was of her lying helplessly on her back staring up at the direction we pointed her.
Then she learned to stay seated when we plopped her down, and her world changed. She could reach out for things, clap her hands and laugh at silly Daddy.
Now she's standing (with assistance), trying to snap her fingers, talking up a storm and has hair down to her nose (we really need to cut her bangs). She gets more sweet, more adorable and more beautiful every day. As fun and wonderful as the last year was, we can't wait to see what the years to come have to offer.
Happy Birthday Maya from all your friends and family who love you so much. :-)
We spent last weekend in Lake Tahoe with Kira (and her parents Kristian and Tamara) and Vaughn (and his parents Julianne and Ken). This was Maya's first time in the snow, and she seemed to like it. She would pick up the snow in her hand, realize it's cold and drop it. :-)
We knew the forecast called for snow, but we still went. It was perfectly clear as we drove up on Friday night and the ride with two babies was about as smooth as it could be. I think the adults complained more than the kids. :-)
On Saturday we woke up to fresh snow (that was still falling). We spent most of the morning just hanging out inside playing with the kids and watching TV. I did make a great egg scramble that everyone seemed to enjoy. After we all got a bit stir-crazy with having three babies inside the house, we all bundled up and took the kids outside. After we got them into their snow clothes they all seemed to have a good time outside in the snow. Maya seemed fascinated by the snow falling on her face and was somewhat zen-like (though it could have been that she was unable to move her arms because of the winter coat).
On Sunday we woke to over two feet of snow, closed roads and questions on if we would be able to leave. We took an easy morning playing inside the house and Kristian and I shoveled out the cars. The snow was light and it was sunny and gorgeous out. We probably spent longer shoveling than was needed, but honestly we were having a great time. :-)
By the time we were all packed and the house was cleaned the roads were open, it was sunny and the roads were clear. We piled into the cars and headed home. It turned out that we didn't even need to put on chains, and the drive home after the big storm took only about 30-minutes longer than the drive up.
It was an interesting and great weekend. Having three families with small babies in a single house mostly snowed-in for the weekend is an experience. At least we could all complain and commiserate together. We can't wait to get Maya back to the snow when she's old enough to actually play in it.
I finally got my first tooth! Mommy says it's on the bottom and is very sharp but very cute. Finally my friend Kira won't be the only one with teeth, though she has two already and her mommy says that more are coming any day now. Hopefully I'll be able to eat the yummy baked chips that mommy and daddy eat. And hamburgers. And pizza. Daddy says they're yummy but that only big girls with teeth can eat them. Yay for teeth!
