July 4th

We had our first house guests in our new house. Malay & Chitra are friends of ours from Clemson.  Miriam adored them, and when they were leaving she kept wanting to go to Malay...so sweet.  I'm pretty sure she won't enjoy riding in the backseat of the car alone after 4 days of attention!

We ate a lot of good food, cooked out for the 4th, visited Grand Canyon & Sedona, dinner & First Friday downtown.  It was a great time.  These pictures are all from Malay's camera.  I haven't downloaded from my phone, but I have a few other cute pics I'll share later.

Dinner!

Good company for the 4th

At the Canyon.

Pretty girl:)

With her new buddy.

Daddy is so funny!

Giggles!

Sunset in Sedona.

Not gonna lie, I live in a pretty awesome place.

Sunset.

Jason & Malay in Sedona.

Cool girl.  She ADORES daddy's glasses and hat!

Miriam is closer and closer to walking!  Cruising, cruising, cruising everywhere on anything.  She's said "dada" "mama" and I've gotten a few "Hi"s from her.  She continues to be little Ms. Friendly; waving, giggling, and approaching adults, kiddos, babies, and pets alike.  We count ourselves lucky everyday to have such an easy going, delightful daughter.  Every night this weekend we had Miriam out until 8:30 and you would have had no idea that she was out past her bedtime. Loving life!

Jason's First Father's Day

Helping daddy open his gifts Sunday morning.

 Breakfast at the Country Club before a hike.

Pictures after breakfast.  I wonder where Miriam gets her seriousness from?!?

Playing with daddy's hat.

All pooped out after a wonderfully tiring day celebrating the best daddy is the whole world!!

A few more of our favorite things lately.  Dining al fresco...

Hitting up World Market.  She was in a deep analysis of my keys when I snapped this beauty.

 M is closer and closer to walking.  She pulls up on everything and cruises around.  I love watching her face when she stands up or reaches something new...she is SO proud of herself! 

Standing, standing, and more standing...

Best Buddies

Miriam and Maddie are just as in love as ever.  Miriam squeels with delight anytime she sees a kitty or doggie when we are out.  She lets them lick her toes and giggles with delight when a doggie's wild tail whips her in the head.  Zero fear of animals.  Wonderful, and also slightly terrifying as her mother.

Regardless, Miriam holds a special place in her heart for her kitty.  She will chase Maddie around the house now, and is the second thing she will crawl to every morning when Jason brings her into our room (second only to mama...she has the milk).  Yesterday we spent a few extra moments cuddling and scratching our kitty love because my brother had to put his 3 year old kitty down after discovering a chronic condition that was causing Chazzz a lot of pain. He is heartbroken and we are heartbroken with him.  Chazzz was a sweet kitty with a wonderful temperament.  Yesterday reminded me to love my Maddie everyday.  She is almost 16 and has more frequent moments of kitty dementia and general craziness, but that kitty was there before marriage, before Miriam, before Arizona.  Maddie's snuggles have seen me through many tears & just as many celebrations.  Unfortunately it took such a shock to remind me to take the time to love my sweet pet.

A few more updates on our family's comings and goings...

It's summer...well Jason reminded me it isn't technically summer, to which I replied, "school is out, it's hot...it's summer!"  Summer means Flagstaff Hullabaloo -- woohoo!  Lots of fun was had by all.

Summer also means weekend hikes. Jason with his carry on...

Enjoying the view...

I now I've told you how social Miriam is, and it is so true.  She would rather be out and about than stuck at home most of the time.  She will go to anyone who opens their arms to her (again, wonderful, and slightly terrifying for mama) and charms everyone at stores, restaurants, parks...

All dressed up for a morning out downtown...

One of her new favorite activities...tearing apart mom's purse.  It's contents are purposefully baby friendly; pulling everything out and exploring can entertain her for a solid 10-15 minutes...not bad.  I love watching how intently she pulls things out and meticulously explores the items. This was on the floor of The Mix where we stopped for coffee.

Of course, sometimes those moments at home are just as lovely.  I love this sweet face she's making after she got me up with the sunrise last week. 

"Look into my eyes...you are getting very sleepy...".  Ummm of course I'm sleepy, it's 5:00am!!

"Someone's gotta get some work done around here..."

This weekend Miriam is going to her first birthday party!  My friend's daughter is turning 5, and Miriam - AKA Baby Hammer to my friend's daughter, will be attending the soiree. It's also the Wine & Food Festival Saturday evening, and we just got Miriam a baby pool that we will use this weekend to beat the record heat.  Have a great summer weekend!

Mama and Me

Miriam started sleeping through the night a couple weeks ago, and while I was pretty happy to get a full night's sleep for the first time in 10 months, something strange happened.  I missed her.  Silly right?  I missed our middle of the night nursing sessions and cuddles.  It's rare she lets me cuddle her other than night time now a days.  In a weepy mama moment, I looked through all of her pictures on my phone while she slept soundly down the hall.  I reflected on how much by baby had grown, but I also noticed that we only had like 2 photos of she and I together. Unacceptable.  So, I had Jason take a few in our back yard as we were out the door to Phoenix.  I LOVE this picture.  I can look at it at night when I miss her and smile:) 

On the Move...

Miriam learned to crawl when we were at the Homewood Suites in Phoenix.  Apparently a change of scenery and the warm weather gave her that last bit of motivation.  Now we are home she is scooting all over the house, getting into things she shouldn't, and already trying to pull herself up to stand. She does this odd crawl hybrid where she plants her right foot on the ground and drags her left leg behind; it's surprisingly effective!

In PHX, we spent time with friends we knew from Clemson who also lived in Flagstaff with us for awhile.  They have 3 kiddos & lots of fun things for M to enjoy, including 2 doggies! With Jason around the fire pit.

Miriam has really picked up her eating.  She went on a "mush" strike and refused to let us feed her anything.   This is one area we really see her independent streak; she must feed herself, and she must use the spoon, not mama.  Unfortunately, she didn't quite have the dexterity at first that her perceived maturation desired, but she's coming on lately with the spoon, finger foods, and feeding herself from a food pouch.  Her favorites are hummus on anything, eggs, cheese, meats, tomato, avocado, squash, & sweet potato; although, she's eaten everything we've put in front of her to date with the exception of mushrooms.  Mushroom ravioli was spit right back out! This moment below had be rolling laughing -- "eating" her first pizza.

When we came back from Phoenix we celebrated our first Mother's Day since M's arrival.  I was curious what it would feel like to be a mother on Mother's Day, and it was a pretty normal, nice day.  Good food and  lots of snuggly time together.  Very lucky to be this little girl's mama.

Showing off her sweet new shades after Mother's Day brunch.  These things crack me up.  I think she knows they are awesome too because she laughs every time we put them on.

Miriam LOVES shopping.  Her favorite is the grocery store because she can gnaw on veggies and yogurt containers.  Last week she was chowing down on a roma tomato.

Her hair is getting so long!!  I've started clipping it back when we go out because it is hanging in her eyes.  Not even sure what to do with all these gorgeous locks.

This picture is from ages ago - shortly after we moved in - I think she's about 7 or 7.5 months.  Jason and I cracked up when we found it today - Miriam & Maddie pose for a serious shot.  Reminds me of this.

Just us messing around with the camera.  Miriam really likes the camera, it's actually getting harder to get pictures of her because she'll dive for the camera or my phone every time she sees it come out.  She spends a lot of time laughing and screaming with excitement.  Generally over tickles & kisses, daddy, her kitty cat, or whenever other people laugh.  Total strangers can laugh in a store and she'll look at them and try to join in -- "good one guys!"  She is SO social & wants to be buddies with everyone (as long as all they talk about is how adorable and funny she is:))

"Seriously with the hat & pictures, mom?!? I'm trying to relax by the pool."

Just to evidence her getting into things she shouldn't...the pile of recycling was just too much temptation to bear...

In case you were wondering why my blog posts are fewer and farther between lately, this is what happens when I bring out the computer and camera to upload pictures...

It is summer around here for sure and other than the nasty winds we get at least twice a week, which keeps us inside, we are at the park, in the back yard, and taking lots of walks.  We still detest yard work, and just do what we have to, but at least we care more now because we own our house.  Getting new patio furniture next weekend though so we can enjoy our yard with a glass of wine and dinner...more our idea of enjoyable yard work:)