M

7 months (almost 8!) looks pretty good on her. M is up to her usual tricks: smiling, laughing, staring, and increasingly on the move.  She hasn't figured out crawling or pulling up yet, but pivots and scoots around on her belly and back.  SO HAPPY the weather is improving around here.  It means lots more walks, hikes, and outdoor activity.  Jason heads to Pittsburgh on Sunday, which begins his whirlwind traveling schedule for the next month or so. Luckily, included in that is a trip to Massachusetts to see Jason's parents, brother, sister-in-law, and our 2 nieces, a trip to Delaware to see my parent's, and Phoenix while Jason does a training for work (and M and I visit IKEA and the pool!).  Lots of excitement!  I've started working a few hours a week from home for NAU, and I am loving it.  I'm really fortunate to have a great employer who allows me to work on projects for them while taking care of Miriam.  We do take the occasional trip onto campus; tomorrow M is joining me for a coffee meeting at the Union - what fun!  Here are some photos of Miriam from the past month.

Smiley girl!!

Out to lunch for mommy's birthday.

"Listen here kitty, I'm in charge around here!"

Ready for a St. Patrick's Day lunch 

Ooo Thomas the Tank Engine is on

Cutest picture ever.  My friend brought her 7 week old over and we took their picture together.  M reached down and grabbed her hand...so sweet!!

Ready for spring!

Miriam loves the swing.  There is a park a few minutes from our new house and we go at least once a week to walk, swing, and watch the other kiddos play.

Doing some morning exercises

She seriously loves pulling on the string hanging down from her highchair

Smiles:) :)

Kitchen swimming

Snow day dress up party.  M and I played dress up while daddy hung her curtains.

Yummy!  M isn't totally sold on this whole solid food thing, but she's trying lots of new things.  Generally though she likes all different fruits, sweet potatoes, squash, avocado, & bananas. 

We Are In!!

As of this Saturday we are in the new house! It looks kinda like this:

Lots of organizing, & decorating in my future. Truth be told, those are a couple of my favorite things, so lots of fun for me:)  Not as much fun is unpacking boxes, but we have at least tackled items to cook, clean ourselves, and change baby diapers, so we'll survive. I will post lots of pictures once it's internet respectable.

It's been a while since I posted about Miriam. She is becoming more active by the day and loves constant attention from mama (or anyone really).  M is sitting like a champ, still shoving everything in her mouth, and enjoying rolling around and scooting on her back more.  She's even made a few attempts to pull herself up, but not quite there yet.  Still has me up at least twice a night, but we are slowly learning her evolving sleep preferences, no surprise, she likes it how she likes it and no other way (she is her mother's daughter after all:))

One of her favorite things to do is go out! Restaurants, other people's houses, shops, it doesn't matter. As long as she can explore other people's stuff and get attention, she puts on the charm and has a great time.  That's nice for me because I love getting out during the day.

Here are a bunch of pictures to make up for my lack of posting in the past month!

Yogurt is messy

Bundled up for a walk outside

Wearing her Valentine's Day outfit from Grandma Hemmer

Let's move some boxes!!

Helping mommy pack

:)

:):)

Just chillin'...

BFFs

Selfie!

Yup, I'm good at sitting now!! Check me out!

Playing with daddy's socks is funny

Prunes!!

Relaxing with mommy after an exhausting day moving.  

Leave me alone, I'm reading!

Sweet girl

I Love this Face

6 months tomorrow! Time is flying too fast.  Loving cuddling and playing with this little joy.  Lots of errands, visits to the new house, visiting with friends, and M is (usually) a joy all the way.  Smiling at folks, wanting to touch e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. & playing are her favorites.

Another darling shot...

What's that you say? One more? Ok, if you insist...

And, I'm done:)

Quick update on the house: painters have painted the main living area (we weren't ready to tackle 20 ft ceilings!), Jason is ready to start painting M's room, some furniture & boxes have made the move, and we're continuing to pack up and clear out here.  Hoping to make the official move and start living over there in about a month.  Would like to get the bigger painting jobs & a few odd jobs done before moving in.  Cannot wait!!

As of today, it's ours.

Jason and I are homeowners.  We weren't sure if we'd ever take the plunge, but when this amazing house came on the market, combined with low interest rates, we knew we had to jump on it.  I'm sure I'll post more pictures of the inside once we get moved in and set up, but it ticked all the boxes for us.  It's a 1 story ranch with (very) high ceilings, laminate floors (necessity with a kitty & a kid!), 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and the main living area is nice and open to the living room, dining area, and kitchen.

We are working on painting and fixing a few things and plan to move in by March 1. We still have our rental until March 31, so plenty of time to make the move.

Side note, here are a few pictures of Miriam.  We're closing in on 6 months and she's still growing like a weed.  She's so long that I've started buying 18 month sweaters and tunics and using them like dresses with tights, so much more cost effective as she can wear them later as intended!  As far as eating, she's tried sweet potatoes, carrots, avocados, bananas and isn't really a fan of any of it. I learned she's really not a fan of being fed, but rather will eat a few bites with her self-feeder.  She rolls a lot to her side, but not much onto her tummy.  She'd much rather sit or stand with our help.  From lying down, if I hold her fingers, she'll pull herself up to a seating position, and just this morning pushed herself to stand.  She's so proud of herself and absolutely loves it.

Asleep @ Home Depot. Apparently washer / dryer shopping isn't that exciting for a 5 month old!

Smiles in one of her long sweatshirts & tights get up

Still a chronic finger chewer. Alas, still no teeth.  You can see how much her hair is growing in this one too.

Using her feeder to taste carrots

Looking cute to go sign some loan documents!

Her new highchair toy.  It's suction cup, so at least there is one toy she can't  launch off the tray.

Eating madness...

xoxo

My 1st Christmas

I took a ton of pictures of Miriam over the past few days.  I think I was afraid of forgetting little bits of her first Christmas. She's wearing lots of super cute Christmas outfits thanks to her Auntie Cindy and cousins; hand-me-downs are the best!  We bummed around the house, ate food, skyped with family, played, and watched silly Christmas movies.

Skyping with Grandma and Grandpa Hemmer. 

Wearing her first Christmas Cracker party hat. Christmas Crackers are an English Christmas tradition. You crack them at Christmas Eve and Christmas day dinner and all have to wear the silly party hats.  These are synonymous with Christmas to me.

Waking up Christmas Day; Santa Came!!

Doing some Jane Fonda crunches in her cute reindeer top and Hanukkah slippers. And one, and two...

My how a year changes things!  Christmas breakfast with mimosas and a sippy cup.

Christmas breakfast.  Finished my oatmeal, now on to the finger chewing!

Miriam's 1st Christmas haul...not too bad for a 5 month old. Thank you mom & dad, my Kitty Madeline, Grandma and Grandpa Bailey, Auntie Cindy & Uncle Erik & Emelie & Juliette for my gifts!! She also has some more books and a Pottery Barn book rack coming from her Grandma and Grandpa Hemmer, some Amazon money to spend from Uncle Kurt, and a few surprises coming from her Uncles Tim & Richard.  She is one lucky little girl to have such wonderful family!

Whew, what a day! 

Posing with her stocking and the cookies and scotch we left out for Santa before going to bed Christmas Eve.  What can I say, Santa likes his scotch!


This was a different Christmas for Jason and I this year not being with family, but we didn't want to travel with Miriam at Christmas and think it's important to start establishing our own traditions for Miriam to have the type of Christmases we grew up with.  There is nothing like sleeping in your own bed waiting for Santa and waking in the morning to see the tree full of presents!  Obviously she doesn't remember this year, and won't really know what's going on a awhile, but it feels really nice to enjoy Christmas in our home together.  We missed our family a lot, but thanks to the wonders of Skype we can still see them whenever we want.   

Miriam is absolutely the best present we received this year.  She brings so much more meaning to not only Christmas, but everyday of the year.  I'm not sure if it's hormones, recent tragedies in our country, or the simple joys my daughter shows me everyday; it's likely a combination of the three, but I find myself more reflective than usual, and I am so abundantly thankful for our health, family, and each other.  We hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas season and look forward to new joys and adventures in 2013.