Miriam's Mat

Miriam does a lot of playing and what I call "exercising" on her tummy during the day.  She's a super active baby and loves kicking, punching, and wiggling on her pretty pink mat.  A wonderful friend of my mother's who we knew in Wisconsin made Miriam the quilt we lay over her mat; one of the most beautiful things we received.

This is a pretty realistic series of her typical tummy time, working out those back muscles and holding up her big noggin' is hard work!

I hope you noticed the long string of drool.  She is always dribbling and soaking her shirts!

Of course it's not all hard work; she gets to play too!

We thought we'd try some more tummy time too...

...unfortunately that didn't go over as well!

All dressed up for a party at mom's friend's house:

Watching Patriots with daddy:

Meeting Great Grandmom

Miriam had some visitors a couple of weeks ago.  Her Great Grandmother visited from England with her Grandma and Grandpa; it was very exciting!

Miriam and her Great Grandma both had their first trip to the Grand Canyon!

4 generations of first born girls

Can't wait for my visitors to come back!

Babbling

As I mentioned in my last post, Miriam's newest trick is babbling.  She started "talking" to her mobile (she adores that thing!) and now holds conversations with her mobile, Mortimer the moose, mommy, daddy, and really anyone who will listen (including herself).  She will babble back at Jason and I when we talk to her; I think we're going to have a real chatty girl on our hands!

A Week in Photos

Miriam has been going through another growth spurt, which means a lot of eating, eating, eating, and a dog tired mommy.  We did manage to have some fun though too this past week.  Miriam's new tricks are dribbling, babbling, giggling, and sucking on her fingers.  She's been nicknamed Ms. Wigglebottoms because she loves to wiggle her bum and raise her hips on her mat; practicing her moves to roll over. I am amazed everyday how quickly she's developing and changing. We think she's starting to look more like Jason everyday, do you agree?

Meeting my friend Abby at the Zacharias' house for Clemson game. Go Tigers!

My other favorite team; Go Pack Go! Ok Daddy, I also like the Patriots, too (but I pooped all over that onesie and mommy needs to make me a new one!)

Watching football with daddy.  We love watching T.V. together.

Hanging out with mommy on Saturday morning.

I'm bundled up for my fall walk in the park!

Let's go get some pumpkins

Picking out pumpkins.

Baked Oatmeal

Last night / very early morning was rough for mommy and baby so I woke up this morning needing some real comfort to go with my coffee.  Of course it also had to be simple enough for my sleep deprived brain to put together and quick enough to satisfy my growing hunger.  I've always been really sensitive to texture in my food, and absolutely HATE the thick, gloppy texture in oatmeal.  I've tried countless times to like it because it is such a healthy breakfast; all attempts were met with epic failure until I tried baked oatmeal.   It's yummy, crunchy, and oh so easy.

What you need:
1 egg
2 TB sugar or splenda
1 individual size cup of no sugar added apple sauce or about 1/4 cup
1.5 cups oats (not the quick cook)
.5 cup milk - any kind
1 apple, cored and chopped fairly small
some raisins, dried cranberries, or other dried fruit - (I recommend finding it without added sugar - look in the bulk section at Whole Foods or a similar store)
cinnamon, nutmeg (just a little), cloves (just a little)
about 1/4 tsp salt
about 1/2 tsp baking powder

What to do:
Whisk egg, sugar, apple sauce in a bowl.  Add oats, milk, baking powder and stir together.  Throw in apple, fruits, spices, & salt and stir. You can also add in some nuts here, but I leave them out for the nut allergen in the house.  Grease a square baking pan, fill with the mixture and bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes. It's done when the top is golden brown and slightly crunchy.  You may need to adjust the time depending on how your oven cooks.  Mine cooks hot and it's usually done in 20.

I serve mine with a little cream and slivered almonds. Yummmy!

Face Lift!

I gave the blog a little face lift again.  Some of my previous posts will initially display incompletely because this design only shows the first photo from the post, but all the text.  Click on the post title to view the full post and all the pictures!  Post coming this week about a visit from my parents and grandmother, and of course, an update on Miriam.  Speaking of, she's stirring, so I'm off!

Bath Time

Miriam LOVES the bath.

She loves to kick her legs and bug out her eyes when the warm water runs down her tummy.

Staring up at daddy

So calming, one of the most precious parts of the day.