Yesterday Deals and I ran away to New Mexico to escape reality for a bit. I can't really explain why it felt so necessary but it was. However as life would have it to be reality followed us here. I suppose it's in a good way seeing that we potentially have a home but the stress of it all has left me bewildered and scared both normal feelings I suppose but I hate that I can't be excited about it. Anyways, there are moments I wish I could run away forever but that wouldn't be fair to Matt or Deals so I'll continue to make strides to work through each day because life is going to continue to happen and I cant' shut down every time it does.....Here's some recent pics of Deals he's growing like crazy it should be interesting stats at his 6 month check up.

I write today with a sad and broken heart.....we went to have our sonogram this morning to see how sapling #2 was doing and there was no heart beat. The doctor kept checking and checking at every angle but there was no beat just a sweet looking baby curled up like it was just sleeping. Of course they can never explain why this happens especially at the gestational period but tomorrow morning I go in to have a DNC and they'll have the tissue sent off to make sure there was nothing crazy going on. I am filled with a million different emotions the two prominent ones being sadness and guilt. Of course I know I did nothing to cause this but I feel very guilty for my shitty attitude about the pregnancy over the past weeks. I never wished it wasn't happening but had my moments of self pity realizing how hard this was going to be. So I will no doubt have my days or weeks of tears but I am excited about the life that is ahead of us and even though it was only the pregnancy that brought us back to Texas we are still happy about being here near friends and family especially with the upcoming births of Dealey's two cousins....I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving...much love and hugs.....

Okay so I've been a neglectful mother this week and am two days past posting Dealey's 5 month pictures. It's been a busy week, however we've found some good prospects for houses one that may just be perfect! So this week we have a few dr. appointments before heading to Austin to cook Thanksgiving! Lots of new stuff happening will blog about it later (maybe :o) Dealey has successfully eaten peaches, sweet potatoes & pears, next is squash, he's a good eater and is excitingly close to sitting up on his own we still have a few balance issues to work through but I expect any day he'll shock us! He's getting big and refuses to sit in his bumbo chair straight so feeding can sometimes be "interesting" for lack of a better word!

: Yum Yum Eat'em Up :

Well, much to Dealey's dismay we finished up our week of peaches yesterday. I was wondering this morning as I unwrapped the containers of sweet potatoes, oh crap, what if he doesn't like this? What if he doesn't like veggies? Well my fears were soon put to rest as my good eater scarfed down his half container of sweet potatoes and I mean scarfed. He looked like a baby bird sitting there with his mouth open, I couldn't spoon it fast enough. I don't know why but I was timid in starting the foods I know mainly it was because of the move and the stress of that I didn't want to start something new right now but our skinny little man needs a few more calories in his diet so he can chunk it up a bit! So I sucked it up and it's been a blast!

Also sadly our stay at the ZaZa ends tomorrow but it's an exciting day as well because we will be going by Matt's new job to fill out insurance papers, W4's, etc. I was silently worried about this and am so happy that one of the biggest needs, income, is under control. Now we just have to find a house and buy another car. We have plans to view several houses this weekend and would love to find the perfect place but realize it may take a bit of time. We're looking forward to relaxing some and spending the holidays with our families and hopefully welcoming Dealey's cousin Ella any day!!!!

I think in this last one he's wondering if he can lick the container, he didn't believe us that it was all gone.....

Peaches 4 U : Peaches 4 Me

: Peaches 4 the whole world to see :

Dealey loves peaches! He had a daddy night last night while I was out with my girlfriends (recaps of some gut busting conversations to come...hee...) and Matt said he couldn't get enough peaches! He's a good eater not sure what we'll try next a veggie of some sort maybe squash! Isn't our D the cutest I just love his facial expressions! Our little hair challenged lady killer is turning into a little boy and we couldn't be more excited!

Oh....it's real....

What you ask, well everything, we've gotten moved back to Texas and I have officially seen the new little friend growing inside me! It was a long trip back to Dallas D didn't love it as much as he did going up there and now he HATES his car seat with a fiery passion. But we made it with all our crap in tow. I told Matt while we were driving that the next time we decided to take a 4 month vacation from Texas we should just leave all our stuff here...hee....

So for now we are living the posh life at Hotel ZaZa and seriously I could live here and not just because someone comes and cleans my room, bathroom and makes the bed everyday but it's just so comfy. I thought our bed was sweet it's crap compared to what we're sleeping on right now! We will have the final word on Matt's new job Friday but it's looking awesome and it such a dream come true for him it's a place he's always wanted to work and a promotion from his current job! We have lots of dr. appointments coming up but it looks like I'll be having the circlage surgery Nov. 26 with a short week of bed rest but after that there is high hopes I'll be able to stay mobile and active through the pregnancy which thrills me since we'll be getting settled in a new home!

I've had such mixed emotions about moving back to Texas....did we fail? No of course not although I would have never considered Texas the prize for anything. But what is most important is Dealey, ? & quality of life and Texas offers one thing now other city can, family and as a bonus about 100 friends we love dearly! The thing we keep reminding ourselves of is that we're not stuck in Texas forever but for the next 4 or 5 years it's the place for us!

In other news Dealey is starting peaches tomorrow morning I'm terrified and super excited all in one breath hopefully we won't totally destroy our hotel room...hee...I'm actually thinking I may set him in the shower in his bumbo chair so any food that goes flying can be easily washed away! Because with little spastic arm boy you never know what's going to go flying next! Sono pic and pics of Dealey eating peaches to come!

As promised pics of Dealey in his Halloween costume! The middle two pics are D in some other Halloween gear his Mimi (Matt's mom) bought him the boo shirt and the spider socks and his little sweet heart Maggie got him the skull and cross bones hat! It made him the perfect gangsta!!! The last two pictures are me getting crafty at a fall festival we went to, it was too fun I can't wait to get crafty with D!

A SHORT HELLO...I wanted to take just a minute to say hello to all my faithful blog readers unfortunately because of the move I won't have a ton of time to blog this week however I will try hard to get pics of Dealey in his Halloween costume up by Wednesday! However before I forget I wanted to share a few eatery's you must check out if ever in NY. Last night we took my parents to La Mela in Little Italy and it has the most amazing Italian food and wine (I got have my share of a bottle last time we went :o) also you have to visit Tisserie it's this amazing bakery/coffee shop not so quaint or quite but once you take a bite of any dessert, pastry, sandwich or oven fired pizza you'll quickly escape into a whole other world where noise just seems to disappear! More on our final days in NY to come and of course more pictures of Dealey than anyone care to look at!

Last Sunday Matt and I got to experience one of the finest experiences the North East has to offer, apple picking. It is something we've been looking forward to since arriving in NY and are so happy we got to do it before leaving. I really hope we can find a place to do this as Dealey gets older because it was so cute to see all the little kids running through the orchards going, " wow, look at those apples, their huge!" So cute. The other great part of it was sharing the experience with Christine, Stephen & Eva and Tamara & Jay. We picked apples in the orchard eating many along the way as we made our way down to the family area where the general store was along with a host of other fun activities like pony rides, a pumpkin patch, face painting and live music. We had a picnic in the orchard and enjoyed the beautiful rolling country side with it's splashes of orange, yellow and red. Here's a few pics cataloging our day, it was one we won't soon forget.

We went to the dr. today for D's 4 month check up he got three shots (he was not too happy about those) but he weighed in at 13lbs 13oz which still keeps him in the 25th-30th percentile on weight his height was 25 1/4" which puts him in the 80th percentile so he's still long and lean. The hardest part was telling Dr. Darcie we were leaving she started crying, it was so sweet.

Oh and we have one new development D has started holding his own bottle!!! He usually flips it out of his hands about half way through but it's a fun development! And Dr. Darcie said we can start stage one fruit and gradually work the cereal out of his bottle and on to a spoon! I think we're going to wait until we get moved to actually start it but I'm excited, he's growing up and not a bit too fast for me!

I never really see how much D has grown until I do these monthly pics. I didn't think there would be much of a difference from 3-4 months but he's really filled out a lot and is looking more and more like a little boy & a big brother! What's new.....

1. D loves to talk and I mean loves, he'll go on and on for 30 minutes or more and his sounds have expanded however he hasn't picked up ma or da yet but my guess the next month will produce even more new sounds!

2. D's first tooth has started to break surface which is totally cool in so many ways and the discover of this has explained some recent discontentment.

3. He's getting better and better at reaching and grabbing objects you place in front of him and of course once grabbed any and every object goes towards the mouth.

4. Sleeping has gotten much better he's sleeping 11 hours at night now (yeah!) and taking two hour and half naps during the day. Of course it can vary from day to day but he's always taking at least one nap and I feel lucky when I get two but it is becoming a little more frequent!

5. He responds so great to Matt and I especially in the morning we go in and roll him over to his back and have a little play time and he just smiles and smiles, hasn't quite gotten the laugh figured out but we get a little sort of laugh every once in a while!

Lots of other stuff going on and I'm hoping he enjoys the road trip to Dallas as much as he did at one month old. I also hope he adjust well to the changes. I keep telling him he better get used to change daddy and mommy are nuts! hee! We're off to the doctor on Thursday so I'll post new stats then!

I think "oh my crap" doesn't even begin to explain the emotional roller coaster Matt and I have been on the past few weeks. I could be cruel and draw this holy crap news out and make you all wait through a long and boring post but I won't, frankly because I don't have time to write a long post. So part one of the news is Matt and I will be welcoming sapling number two to our family in May of 2008! I'm 9 weeks pregnant now and feeling every bit of it. My first appointment is November 5th in Dallas with the lovely Dr. Speight who took such good care of me during my pregnancy with Deals. That may sound strange, I mean why the heck would I go back to Dallas for mt Dr. appointment?

Well, that leads right into part two of our news. On the heels of finding out our family is expanding we have decided as much as we "heart" NY we NEED our family and friends to get through the coming days, months & years. We don't consider the book closed on NY by any means and hope that it could be in the cards for us to live here again someday and while there are still, and always will be, things we very much dislike about Texas the presence of family and friends make it all a bit more bareable.

It's been such an adventure this year who knew you could live in 4 places, move half way across the country, have a baby, get pregnant and move back half way across the country in ONE year. Well if anyone was up for the challenge it was the roaming Maples we've never been known to sit still for too long but rest assured we are looking forward to owning a home again and settling down near friends in the wonderful suburb of Plano/Richardson, Texas. Check back in Nov. for sono pics and updates on baby. Hopefully we'll know if D's having a brother or sister by Christmas! Oh and along with this news I thought I'd share a few pics of our NY apartment. One thing we won't miss about it.....the squeaky squeaky floors and lack of light switches and lights......

The living room was one of our favorite rooms, light filled and roomy, and our stuff looked so great in there! Like I said there's lots of things we love about NY we look forward to many trips back to the city and S.I. there are so many amazing things for kids I can't wait to bring D and his sibling back here. One thing we'll miss most our new friends. We've meet some amazing people here and are going to miss them and the pizza at Cafe Milano's the most!

Coming post will include details of our move, packing, etc as well as a beautiful description of the perfect fall NY day that we experienced today picking apples with friends. It was awesome, I'm so glad we got the chance to experience that before we left NY.

Who will win Dealey's heart? Will it be the giggle filled Aliza who will soon be moving to BFE? Or will it be the laid back Maggie with her infectious grins? Only time will tell but D loved meeting the girls of his dreams. We've definitely noticed he's a lover of the older woman! Here are some of my favorite pics of our time with the Furman's & the McKays both of which would make amazing in-laws! Besides maybe the next baby will be a boy too then the girls don't have to fight over our gorgeous little boy they can each have a little Maples to love on!

I love this pic of D it looks like he's looking at me saying, "check her out mom!"

Gloria holding the D-man.

The two of them couldn't hide their attraction as they played footsies, well until Aliza tried to put D's foot in her mouth. And this next picture is the one you've all be waiting for..........

Aliza goes in for the kiss and yes D looks a bit scared!

This is post kiss, as you can tell Aliza is shocked by D's less than impressed reaction!

D meets Suz for the first time.

Our most favorite shot of Mags. So freaking adorable!

Mags was interested in D's feet too, something about those big flippers attract the ladies!

Me and Mags...she loved my necklace, we'll have to get her a little girl size one.

And this is one of my favorites. Mags is looking at Matt like I've seen the hair on the chin before, but you're not my daddy?!

It was so great to see two of our very closest friends and meet their sweet little ones as well! And even though they aren't pictured it was great to see Dave & Aron as well....We can't wait to see what the future holds!