Life Beside Miriam

I have kept up with a number of blogs and am very interested in the variety of content and have decided I would like to write about something besides Miriam though that is the primary reason I decided to start a blog. Saying that I have had a hard time thinking about what else I would like to write about as Miriam consumes most of my life. We aren't involved in a whole lot else and spend the majority of our time at home and don't see a whole lot of other people, something I'm very interested in changing but not sure how to go about doing it. Miriam is very good at entertaining herself when she is well rested so then I spend my time mostly puttering around on the computer ie checking blogs, e-mail and playing easy little games. The next biggest activity I engage in is reading, I still make it to the library about once a week. Lastly, when I can make myself I clean house and fix food, so all in all not very exciting life and one that could stand greatly to be improved upon. Perhaps I will do some book reviews later on we'll see.

On another note I got to go to my Relief Society Birthday dinner last night which was very well done and even managed to chat with other people, yea! They did a really nice job converting our church into Zions Place Mall complete with a food court and 6 different shops. We rotated around the shops that were mini classes and even got handouts. I really enjoyed a rare night out!

One year Check up

One thing about this Dr appointment is they told me the 23rd when we got there after a minor crisis they said no its the 24th- argh! Miriam hasn't grown much in the last 3 months. She weighs 19.33 lbs up from 18.32 last time putting her in the 22 percentile. She is 29.25 in long up from 28.5 last time putting her in the 57 percentile. For head circumference measured 17.75 in up fro 17.5 last time putting her in the 51 percentile. I should have realized she hasn't grown much because she has basically worn the same size 3 diapers and clothes (somewhere between 3-9 months). The doctor said she looks really good just worried about her iron count so I need to get her some supplements. My goodness we were at the Dr's office for an hour and a half though! Miriam was very tired of waiting.

She is a very steady walker and can even regain balance at times. She doesn't say a lot that is clear though, however she babbles a lot. She loves books and being outside. She is definitely right at or ahead of her age level. She is a good eater, plays with utensils more than uses them properly. She understands a lot and can follow simple directions that have been used a lot. Starting to go fetch different things for us. She is helping put on and take off her clothes but still hates having her diaper changed. We're getting close to weaning, but I'm not sure how to break off the finally feeding or two. All in all a terrific little girl that mommy and daddy are very proud of!!

Happy First birthday Miriam!!

Today Miriam turns one and all through last night I was thinking about what I was doing last year when she got delivered. What a year we've had! She is such a cute engaging little girl who is very interested in everything around her. We probably won't do much to celebrate today other than we have banners up and she is wearing an adorable Happy Birthday onesie because we did most our celebrating this weekend with my parents.

They came late Friday. Saturday we had waffles and Miriam got to play and play with everyone, everybody else took a turn reading her favorite book, "The Monster at the End of the Book". We walked down and had lunch at Sonic, they had everything 1/2 off for customer appreciation day. Then Mom and I went shopping and got Miriam her new forward facing car seat plus a few other things. We came back and went down to the park for a BBQ dinner. I figured Miriam would like that best. Best of all she could eat everything but the steak. We stayed till it was quite dark and she had a great time! It was so late that we hurried home , into the bath and into bed. On Sun after church we had her birthday that Grandma made, Love-A-Lot Bear and opened presents. My cousin Stephanie and husband joined us for both occasions. All in all I think Miriam had a good time.

We let her have first dibs in her cake. She was pretty funny. Mostly she used her one pointer finger and poked at it and mostly ate the frosting.
We got cute princess wrapping paper and she enjoyed oping presents. Grandma and Granddaddy gave her some cute clothes, a Princess dish set, purple bouncy ball, giggly doll, and Daddy gave her a train set. I'm still looking for her present so she'll be getting a few more things lucky girl. Happy Birthday Miriam!

Happy St Patrick's Day!

As most of you know I really like decorating and dressing up for the holidays. I kind of skipped decorating for Valentines (somehow I couldn't get up the oomph to finish putting away/sorting the last of the Christmas decorations) so we skipped from snowflakes to shamrocks. I'm actually get a decent collection of St Patty's which has been difficult as it isn't the most famous holiday of all. I was despairing of finding Miriam a cute outfit and was trying to see what could be made when my mom found this cute one at Walmart "Mommy's Lucky Charm". So we all got decked out in festive clothes,but the only other thing we did was have green shamrock pancakes for dinner.

This was from Sunday when Miriam and I both wore green. Someone told Eric he needed a green tie to fit in. After church Miriam was hanging out in the window which is becoming more and more common. I'm not sure if shes just longing to go outside or watching all the kitty cats at our neighbors place, but she loves crawling up on the back of the couch looking out.

Announcing Our new Baby!

I discovered in the middle of December that I was getting awfully tired and had that feeling that I was pregnant and sure enough I was. We broke the news to my family on Christmas Eve and boy was it hard to keep the secret from my mom till then. Then I had my first case of morning sickness on New Years as we were trying to pack up to go home (probably the snacks and late night contributing). We broke the news to Eric's parents middle of January when we went down to Delta. From there just told folks individually as it came up. I was seeking a midwife so didn't get to the Drs till first of March. I first felt the baby move on March 5 a couple of days lator. Lucky for me I havn't had as bad as morning sickness as I did with Miriam but have been much, much more tired, hmm wonder why? Could it be chasing Miriam?
Today we had the ultrasound and got a big surprise. We're having a boy come August 13! I truely was expecting a little blond girl to come. The only thing we know about names is the middle will be Briscoe. The fun part is Eric's brother and wife are also expecting a boy in Aug.

Can't Take Miriam Anywhere!

Miriam is in exploration mode and is always wanting to wonder around and doesn't want to sit still much at all. Church is exciting we can make it through sacrament only with cheerios. She doesn't even want to look at any toys hardly at all. Yesterday we made it most of the way with books and stacking cups. we may start practicing church. Then on Friday Eric and I went to the varsity theater on campus to see a movie called Morning Light. It was a Disney documentary about a crew preparing and sailing the Transpac race (from Los Angeles to Diamond Head Hawaii). It was pretty interesting though I was grateful there were probably only 10 other people so we just wondered around after her. Also we recently had stake conference and took her along to the adult session, same story so, it was hard for either of us to really get anything out of it. Next stake conference we will definitely have a babysitter. It's hard to say exactly why I haven't taken her to a babysitter we've had plenty of people offer to watch her. Before now I could take her everywhere I went except the temple, obviously that's changing.

Random Miriam thoughts

She is growing and changing everyday doing cute things and even some things I don't find very fun.


Last week when Eric and I had our weekly lunch date we walked over to the Lotus Garden and decided to let Miriam walk. She thought that was the greatest thing to be walking on her own holding Mommy and Daddy's hand. She's in such a hurry that her head is in front of her feet and Eric and didn't have to walk that much slower.

She is interacting with us in many different ways. She is quite fond of climbing all over and pulling hair, which sad to say I don't have much patience for. Though I did find it adorable that when I held her and she would pat my back/shoulder just like I do hers. She is also very fond of patting both her head and ours. I haven't decided if that means something or not.

She is sleeping in her own bed all night long for about a week now, hooray! I think she still wakes up crying at least once in the night, but has managed to go back to sleep before too long. I'm not sure because in my exhaustive state I'm actually ether tuning her out or to fuzzy to keep things straight. Which means we're down to nursing only twice a day-last thing at night and first thing in the morning. Then if she has slept properly I actually have been able to skip the morning one if we get her breakfast asap. An interesting phenomenon has developed with Eric getting her out of her bed more often, she is not satisfied till she comes to me but after nursing she doesn't want anything more to do with me just daddy, she is very upset when he leaves for work. Though Eric has a heck of a time keeping her occupied when I'm trying to get extra rest or quiet alone time she is always on the lookout for me.

Miriam is now starting to recognize words like water, dog, outside, mommy and daddy. when asked if she wants to go outside sometimes she'll respond but Eric knows he just needs to put on her coat or open the door and she'll come running. Boy is she upset to come inside. Can't wait for her to have a yard to play in! This week when Eric gets home I have said Daddy is home and she ran over to the door trying to get out. Eric will often take her for a little walk, mostly to the mailbox, when he gets home and she loves it!



Also I have started trying to get her to "fetch" things. I decided her dog was the best as it is what she plays with the most, consistently (we've replaced the batteries 3x since she got it at Christmas). In fact when she's bumped or sad we can get her to cheer up with puppy kisses from her dog. Yesterday for the first time when I told her to get her dog she actually brought it to me (although when I told Eric he says shes been doing that for him for awhile) instead of just going over and pushing the button.



She loves to put things over head wrap her clothes around her, etc. She has been playing in the cupboards and gotten out these white metal mixing bowls I have and putting them on her head-likes like an army helmet! She also has been putting more things in her mouth in particular socks and pacifiers she hasn't touched in months.

Today we've noticed that we are in BIG trouble. For awhile now she has been fascinated with lids trying to put them back on and such, well now she can get the lids off on her own as she got into her medicine, cereal bags, and oil bottles. I'm not sure how to keep up with her.