Happy Birthday Maya!

March 29, 2024 /

It’s Maya’s birthday today, so I’m about to photo dump you with pictures of her from over the years. In no particular order (gotta get to my yoga before she wakes up), here you go.

I said in no particular order, but this is our first photo together, taken in the delivery room. Which was also the labor room. Usually they would have you labor in one room and then move you to deliver. Who thought of this idea? Clearly a man. No woman would think it was a good idea to move rooms in the middle of being torn apart from the inside. Anyway, here we are, and that is my natural hair color. Of course, it’s got grey in it now.

Here we are on our first Mother’s Day. She’s fussy because it’s humid (we lived in Philadelphia at the time), and I haven’t colored my hair back to blonde yet. The tulips are from Ted. Look at our big TV? Remember when they were big like that?

Another early photo. Ted showing how to totally bond with your baby without breastfeeding.

Oh! Out of order (told you) but this is her first Easter. That year it was about 2 weeks after her birthday, and it snowed. Ted’s mom sent the sweet outfit, and she made the baby blanket that Maya is laying on. My camera battery had died or something, so a friend/neighbor came over and took some pictures for us. She went on to become a professional photographer.

Now we’re in California, and quite a bit of time has gone by. Maya’s favorite book was “Madeline’s Rescue” (A few years later, when we got a dog, we named her ‘Genevieve’, after the dog in this book.) She had it memorized, and it was cute to hear her ‘read’ it to herself in her crib. She read herself to sleep on this particular evening.

She was partial to the singer ‘Jewel’, and we would print up a picture for her from the album cover, and she would carry it around. I used to love hearing her sing, in her toddler voice, “I hear the clock, it’s 6am…”

We only had one car, and sometimes I would take it to work, and Ted would take her to daycare on the back of his bike, before starting his work for the day (he was researching/writing his dissertation).

Playing peek a boo in a hotel room (Parc 55 San Francisco, where I worked in my 20s, before we moved to Philadelphia)

Same vacation, room service in Monterey. This was a horrible vacation, because for some reason Maya couldn’t sleep at night. She would try, and wake up every 1/2 hour or so saying, “Mama, I want to go HOME”. Needless to say we cut our vacation short a day or two.

Oh, out of order again. Here’s her first Christmas, before her stranger anxiety kicked in. We weren’t doing Disney or Santa in our house, so of course Ted’s sister bought her a Disney dress and had a friend come over in a Santa suit.

Early Halloween, she’s 3 or 4 here. She’s a cat, I’m Little Red Riding Hood.

Easter in Ted’s parents’ back yard.

A visit to an Air Force Base for the Jason Project, which my company supported.

She’s always been empathetic, and we could never carve a pumpkin, because she didn’t want to hurt it. All of our ‘Jack-O-Lanterns’ were named ‘Pumpkin Pie’.

When she was 4, we went to Philadelphia so Ted could defend his dissertation. We made a stop at Longwood Gardens.

She LOVED snails when she was little. Still does, but she doesn’t have them crawl (Creep? Ooze?) on her anymore. Note the purse. She was very proud of that purse.

Christmas one year, we had given up our Barbie embargo (and Disney too actually). Declare that you won’t have something in your house, and your kid wants it 10x as much and she just wore us down.

Playing with my Dad at the Children’s Museum in Portland.

Playing at Chrissy Field in San Francisco with my BFF Rosemary’s son, Kyle.

Our first trip to Hawaii, 2005. She’s 9 here.

Back to 2001, in Oregon at my sister Maya’s wedding.

I don’t remember what year this was, we went to Portland a bit before her birthday, and my family there had a surprise party for her. This is the kitty cake my step-mom made for her.

2007, professional shot taken at my friend Cherry’s wedding.

Giant leap ahead, High School now. We’re in the Botanical Gardens in Golden Gate Park.

I think this is her 16th or 17th birthday…Pretty cake!

Lunch in San Francisco to celebrate her birthday. She’s in college at this point. Ted had to go to work after this, but Maya and I went to the Legion of Honor and saw the famous painting, Portrait of Young Woman with Unicorn.

High School graduation.

College graduation.

Thanksgiving with Mulder in the back yard at Ted’s parents’ house, 2021 I think.

2022 Birthday. She will again be having a Milk Bar cake, though this year she wants the vanilla version. Picture forthcoming.

Today we are taking the day off to spend together, though she is still asleep. Tonight we will go to her favorite vegan restaurant in Oakland, Millennium, and tomorrow will be her party with family. Thanks for hanging in there with all of these pictures! Happy Birthday to my darling girl!

29 Comments

  • Elisabeth

    March 29, 2024 at 12:29 pm

    This was just so, so lovely. That fallen-asleep-with-a-book picture might be my favourite. All the heart melts over that one. And with Mulder <3

    That cake looks amazing last year; I'm curious how she feels about vanilla vs. chocolate!

    Happy BIrthday to Maya and I hope the whole family delights in celebrating her!

  • Kyria @ Travel Spot

    March 29, 2024 at 12:56 pm

    Happy Birthday to Maya! I hope you have a great time at Millenium. I know we have chatted about this already, but I was impressed by them when I went there and am also so happy that they made it through the pandemic! Also how cute that Ted commented today! Have a great weekend!

    • J

      April 2, 2024 at 7:13 pm

      Thanks Kyria, Ted reads every day, but on his email, so he doesn’t usually log in to comment. A treat!

    • J

      April 2, 2024 at 7:14 pm

      Milk Bar is a fancy bakery with locations in LA and NY I think. Maya heard about them during the lockdown, and since everything was cancelled, we went ahead and bought her one. It’s become a thing I guess. Fun to get a frozen cake delivered to your door. Lots of packaging!

  • nance

    March 30, 2024 at 5:00 am

    What a great retrospective! I hope Maya has another happy birthday and many, many more to come.

    (And you and Ted don’t seem to age at all. You must live righteous lives?)

  • Ernie

    March 30, 2024 at 11:00 am

    Happy belated birthday Maya! I so enjoyed the glimpse into your life. Great photos. I love the one of her falling asleep with a book on her face. So funny. Hope you enjoyed your day together.

  • Lisa’s Yarns

    March 30, 2024 at 5:46 pm

    Happy birthday to Maya! She is such a beautiful girl/woman! I love all the flashback photos the one with her asleep with the book covering her face is my fave. I hope you had a wonderful dinner out together!

    Our kids have never been to visit Santa and I feel like we are the only family among our group of friends that hasn’t. My kids have always had major stranger danger so a picture with Santa would have inv

  • Lisa’s Yarns

    March 30, 2024 at 5:49 pm

    Whoops – accidentally pushed post on that comment too soon. Anyways any Santa visit would have involved them screaming with terror and while some find this funny, I don’t!! Phil’s cousin did dress up as Santa one year at the Christmas Eve celebration. Paul hid in the other room. Taco was just over 1 so he sat on my lap and I sat on Santa’s lap but he has the most skeptical look on his face. But the kids are very big fans of Disney, especially taco!! He wears a Mickey shirt almost every day.

    • J

      April 2, 2024 at 7:18 pm

      I thought of Taco and his Mikeey shirts when I was posting that picture. 🙂 I never took Maya to the mall, this picture was at my SIL’s house, and Maya was only 9 months old, so not scared at all. Another time my niece came over dressed as Santa and scared the crap out of her though. Why do that? Oh, I know, they had no idea it would be so scary!

  • Stephany

    April 4, 2024 at 10:22 am

    I don’t know what I loved more – all of these photos or Ted’s sweet comment! What a great set of photos and happy birthday to Maya!

  • Anne

    April 8, 2024 at 9:49 am

    You know I zeroed in on that HUP gown, but then I was immediately distracted by the best picture of Maya sleeping with the book. Absolute classic, that one. 🙂

    You do have a great kid, although I would recommend chocolate cake + vanilla ice cream, but that’s just me…

    • J

      April 9, 2024 at 6:59 pm

      I wish I had taken her home in her little HUP t-shirt. The picture with the book…these were the days of film cameras, I’m so glad I had film and everything, that was priceless.

  • San

    April 18, 2024 at 11:57 pm

    Awww, happy birthday, Maya.

    Your daughter is beautiful. Thanks for sharing these photos/memories and letting us see her grow up in front of our eyes 🙂