September

September always seems to really fly.  School is solidly back in session, last vacations / outings / warm days of the summer, and transitioning into my favorite season: fall / football (yes, football is a season in our house). Unfortunately, Miriam and Jason came down with colds, a consequence of all this school / late summer / early fall fun. Cutting 2 teeth & battling the sniffles, Miriam was pretty fussy most of the week; although, she's a pretty decent patient...not sure I can say the same for her daddy ;) 

Here she is snuggling up on the couch with me chowing her daily banana.  One of her nicknames is Monkey not only for her love of climbing up, on, in things, but also because she'll down at least one banana a day. Loves them.

Speaking of climbing, this week Miriam discovered she could climb onto the chair in her room via its foot rest.  This let to all sorts of interesting poses and antics.  I call this one Downward Facing Baby; she's my little yogi.

Saturday we took Miriam to her first football game!  It's no Clemson / Patriots / Packers game, but Lumberjacks will do.  Miriam loved all the music and noise, and kept clapping and dancing along.

Keepin' you posted...

Looks like it's been about a month since my last update...oops!  Miriam is working on transitioning down to 1 nap, which means far fewer moments during the day for me to do much of anything except chase her little butt around.  Since last post we had our first steps!  She's still not convinced walking is better than crawling, but everyday she takes a few more, and then a few more.  It's amazing to watch her little world opening just a bit wider each time she takes a step.  No real pictures of that yet:(  I am never prepared when she takes off, and before I know it she's back on her bum again.

Miriam had a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Bailey.  A lot of play time, grilling, eating out, and Jason and I even got a date night!  Everyone loved their visit, and we were all a little sad when they had to go.  Madeline also adores my parents; we call my dad "tuna man" because he always feeds Maddie tuna.  Maddie knows this too because at about 5:00 am every morning she starts whining outside their bedroom door!

Over Jason's birthday we went to Ouray, CO. with some friends.  It's a little town tucked into the bottom of a canyon.  The drive in is called the "Million Dollar Highway" for the silver mining history, although the views are also worthy of the name. Taking a walk our first morning there with "Auntie" Jen:

Our friends brought their dog, Montana.  Miriam LOVES him.  He gave her licks every morning and they chased each other around.  At the end of the day when Montana was tired he would let Miriam crawl all over him, pull his ears, and "pet" him (more like aggressively slap).  All he asked for in return were a few baby biscuits and breakfast scraps...

Miriam "reading" to daddy about our hiking options:

Hiking Box Canon Falls.  Miriam loved the mist and loud roar from the falls.

We stayed in a condo about a mile from downtown and walked to get groceries, coffee, or dinner.  On this day we walked Miriam down in the BOB for breakfast.

After all that excitement, we've been laying low the past 2 weeks. Jason and I are both busy with some projects for work, and we are getting the house ready to transition into fall and winter.  Here Miriam is watching daddy do some yard work:

Laying low also means more time around the house for Miriam and I during the week.  Here Miriam is sitting in her chair and "reading" to her friends.  Books continue to be her favorite.  This week we are going to check out the story time for babies at our library; I'm suspecting my book worm will approve.

Of course, we also get out everyday to enjoy these last moments of summer.  Miriam and I keep up our daily walks, and last week we combined it with a play in the park.  Here she is enjoying the swing:

Lastly, Miriam's new thing is kissing.  She lays these wet, sloppy kisses on Jason and I that just melt us.  She thinks it's the most fun and will do it about 10 times in a row, or just leave her lips hanging on your lips for like 15 seconds.  Well, last Friday we took Miriam to visit with some friends at a local brewery tasting room, and she decided to try her new trick on our friends' 3 year old son.  He wasn't feeling the kissing though, and Miriam was totally rejected on her first kissing attempt!  Always the confident one though, she wasn't too fazed, and picked herself back up and got right back to dancing to the live music; we're going to have our hands full with this girl!!

Kitchen

I forgot a picture of the kitchen on my last post, probably because it's usually a total disaster.  The previous owners renovated the space, and while it's probably not what I would have chosen, I love it.  Jason and I really like cooking, and we all love eating, so we spend alooooot of time together in here. 

Case in point: lunch time with Elmo.

Enjoying the last few moments of Flagstaff summer. This picture is from Buffalo Park on our morning walk. Wild sunflowers are out and they are so beautiful.  Soaking up every moment outdoors before fall and then winter are back!  

Casa

We have been in the new house for 5 months, thought it about time to post a few pictures.  I snapped a few the other morning of the rooms that were semi-respectable.  So, here is the guest room.  Anyone want to come visit???

One of my favorite rooms in the house, Miriam's room:

Living room.  Looking from the middle of the house.

This is the middle of the house, looking from the front door.  There are big picture windows at the back and front of this room; it's always flooded with light.

Miriam's bathroom. 

A baby in the sink...

A few random shots of the week.  I promise I didn't pose this with my eyes shut, just happened to be blinking!  Miriam got a new owl towel for her birthday, she always gives me the sweetest hug when I wrap her up after her bath.

We took Madeline for her vet visit this week.  Doc says she looks amazing for 16; still got lots of life in her.  Miriam was in absolute heaven, dogs and cats everywhere.  In this shot we were waiting for our appointment, and Miriam was squealing.  She was so excited / thought it was hilarious that the cat was in the bag. 

One shot of the back yard, our favorite spot in the house right now.  Miriam is enjoying walking in the grass & watching the birds.

*Sigh

*It happened, my little Miri-Boo turned one.  

In just 365 days she went from this...

To this...

Wow. Now that's some personality.  What a difference a year makes!


We went out for pancakes and eggs, shopped, played with our new toys, and had burgers, champagne (for mommies & daddies!), and a lemon-blueberry cupcake to celebrate the day.

Blueberries!

Duh, the pancakes were delicious Mom! 

How most pictures go these days.  I smile, Miriam tries to escape.

Very civilized now she's one.  Only eats cupcakes with a fork.

We are ready to see what adventures & milestones the next 365 days will hold!

Time to Par-tay!

 Today was Miriam's FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY!  It was, in a word, Amazing.  Beautiful day, fantastic friends, bubbles, barbecue, cake, sangria...amazing. To say Miriam enjoyed herself is an understatement. She didn't understand they were there for her, although when it came time to sing "Happy Birthday" she noticed everyone was looking at her and gave a face as if to say.."ummm what's going on here?".  By the end of the party she was covered in baked beans, frosting, dirt, and lord knows what else...definitely a 2 bath kinda day.

Just an amazing day.

Beyond blessed and thankful to our Flagstaff family for sharing today with us.  Miriam is surrounded by love, friendship, and protection from all of her adopted Flagstaff grammies, mommies, and cousins.  Truly blessed.

Oh, and this is just the beginning.  Her actual birthday is Tuesday.  We are planning a blueberry breakfast, pool, park, & family dinner and presents.  Looking forward to a week of celebrating our baby girl's major milestone.  We all survived, I may even say we thrived, in our first year of life, motherhood, fatherhood, parenthood.  We are forever changed by our little Miriam Rose, and would not have it any other way.

July 4th II

By later I apparently meant now.  Continuation of my earlier post, here are some more pictures from our long weekend.  so.much.fun.

Lunch on July 4th.  Again, daddy's hat provides hours of entertainment.

Playing in the backyard, showing off her tutu.

 Post-Grand Canyon brewery run.  Enjoying the offerings at Mother Road Brewery.

These 3 pictures are from the most AMAZING part of the weekend.  Anyone who has been to Flag knows we get about 80 trains / day through downtown. We were waiting to cross the street and happened upon one and Miriam lost her little self with excitement. She squealed, laughed, screamed with excitement; it was absolutely fantastic.  Her little mind = blown.

 Dinner at the Spanish Tapas restaurant for First Friday.  M tried olives and loved them!

 So much fudge, so little time.

Perfect example of Miriam making friends.  She was throwing her little self towards him; he wasn't so sure what to think of Miriam's advances:)

With daddy... :)

Bye, bye friends! Thank you for visiting!