You made SO many changes these last 3 months, sweet girl!
Lots of growing up happening:

You began to give many instructions during this phase; we lovingly refer to you as ‘bossy’ 😉 Some things you like to tell us: “Pick me up/Mommy up please/Daddy up please”; “I neeeeed it!”; “Share it!” which usually refers to snacks/food …

Your biggest success in the last 3 months has been potty training! You and Mommy started working together on Feb 10th and by the time about 4 weeks had passed, you nailed it. You are night-time and nap-time trained as well; you are a very willing learner, Miriam. You still have accidents once in a while and you resist having to stop to go pee/poop sometimes, but other than that, you are there! Way to be!

You are a little parrot when it comes to speaking; you repeat nearly everything we say. “Hippopotamus” was your first 5-syllable word (Feb 9th); we love your version of ‘fish’: “shif”! You’ve started putting sentences together really well. “No like it!”, “Mommy eggs all gone”, “Daddy at work”, and “Mommy show Miriam computer” are some examples. You like to ask, “What is that?” when you see something new. When we ask you where something is, you will say “I know where it is”. And most of the time, you’re right 😉 You asked ‘Why?!’ for the first time on April 6th.

You counted to ‘9’ on your own on Jan 20th. As of this post, you now count confidently and accurately to 10 and sometimes you’ll add “eleven, twelve, thirteen” to the end of it as well. You love to sing and say your ABC’s, and usually recruit someone around you to do it with you! In early March, you began to recognize the letters ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘L’, ‘P’, ‘M’, and ‘T’ (can you tell why?!) As we’ve worked with you this last month, you’ve added ‘F’ (you say, ‘F! Foo Fighters!’ to Mommy and Daddy’s delight, of course), ‘J’, and sometimes ‘W’ and ‘X’.

You are quite fond of music; you sing and play ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ on the piano for us. You recognize the Foo Fighters (you say “Dave!” when one of their songs come on) and you love to watch the movie ‘Wall-E’ before going to bed at night. Your current favorite shows are “Little Einsteins” and “Peppa Pig” 🙂

You have developed an affinity for horses and bunnies. You love water and ask often to go to the pool. You really enjoy being with others – playdates and gymnastics are the highlights of your week.

You love your brother and sisters. At night, Mommy always reminds you that you are “my sweet, brave, smart, beautiful Miriam”; to which you say, “Beautiful Aubry”, “Beautiful Bubba”, “Beautiful Lauryl”, “Beautiful Daddy” and “Beautiful Mommy” – you sometimes add Zeke or Levi or Zoe or Aunt Tricia! You have a sweet, sweet heart, Miriam.

Your second Easter experience was the end of March. We had a little hunt inside our house and that prepared you well for a big hunt at Mimi’s the next day. You loved every minute of hunting for the eggs and treats. 36 eggs, 3 plastic eggs, and a couple Easter baskets wore you out!

We also made a big change in your sleeping situation recently. We took the front rail of your crib off and made your first big girl bed! You are doing great with it; you haven’t fallen out yet and you are adapting to a new bedtime routine pretty well. We are still in the room with you for about 20 mins but overall you’re getting along without the rocking chair. We sing songs like “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep”, “Jesus Loves Me”, and “Row. Row, Row Your Boat” at bedtime; while you used to just listen, you are really starting to sing along in the last week or so. You’re growing up so fast!

Miriam, you are full of emotion and have started expressing it in words, not just body language. You’ll be playing and say, “I so happy!” or you’ll see Mommy make a sad face and say, “Mommy sad …”.

It’s such a joy and privilege to be your Mommy! Daddy and I agree that not a single day goes by that we don’t thank God for the honor and blessing of being your parents. We love you very much!

~Mommy~

Miriam Elayne, you have had a phenomenal 2nd quarter to your 2nd year!

Your 16th month brought huge additions to your ever-growing vocabulary – 75+ words now. Your first 4-syllable word was avocado, one of your favorite foods! We introduced you to “Finding Nemo” (the movie) and you LOVE it. It’s pretty entertaining to watch the movie with you, as you’ve seen it so much now, you predict the next scene coming 😉

We played outside a ton as it was a true fall this year; lots of cooler, sunny days in the transition from summer to winter. Even in early December, we were outside without a jacket some days!

During your 17th month, you pushed through 2 more molars – you’re up to 4 now. You started imitating every word you heard or were asked to say. You also started a 7-week stay with our friend, Ms. Michelle, because Mommy started a 7-week long-term sub position for a counselor on maternity leave at Barry School where she used to teach. You did very well each day; you would protest when Daddy would drop you off but only a little and then you would proceed to have fantastic days. You learned to love their cat, Elvis, and their baby, West. You also played very well with the other girls in care there, Adrienne and Sawyer.

You met with more success with the fork and spoon this month. You started putting 2- and 3-word sentences together such as “Wear it!”, “You got it!”, “Hold on”, “Love you”, “Mommy, sit” – or whatever other command you decide to give. Toddler bossiness is pretty hilarious 🙂

During your 18th month, you moved from speaking in separate words to saying two- to three-word sentences most of the time. You continued to spend time at Ms. Michelle’s as well as celebrated your 2nd Christmas. Here are some pics of Christmas with Mommy and Daddy:

We took a big trip this year over Christmas (24th- 29th) to New Mexico to visit Daddy’s side of the family. We took the train! Here are some pictures of our fun:

Your favorite color now seems to be yellow. You name ‘pink’, ‘yellow’, ‘purple’, ‘green’ and ‘orange’ with high accuracy; ‘red’ and ‘blue’ still trip you up a bit. “Brown Bear, Brown Bear” continues to be one of your favorite books; you’ve also added “Llama, Llama, Red Pajama” to your favorites list. You love to go to the library and protest when it’s time to leave. You are reading books to yourself now, ones you know and ones that are brand new. You added words like ‘dangerous’ and your own name to your vocabulary this month.

You are a sincerely sweet girl, Miriam. Recently, you were sitting at your small table in the kitchen eating a snack and saw Mommy putting away the groceries. You got up and helped me unload each sack until the job was done, and then you went back to your snack. It was a proud Mommy moment, for sure! You are such a natural helper! Here’s a picture of what I found you had done one day with your diaper laundry:

You are in the beginning stages of dressing yourself; you are fiercely independent as well as a cuddle-bug. You are saying about 1/4 of the ABC’s (random, not in order yet) as well as counting to ‘2’ on your own, and to ‘8’ with us.

Mimi came down from NE to spend New Year’s Eve with us; you had fun reading and playing with her as well as building “a fire!!” with Daddy!

Miriam Elayne, you are our joy and sunshine! Every day, Mommy and Daddy laugh out loud with you. We pray you will continue to discover who you were born to be; we’re proud of how hard you are working to learn and we can’t wait to see the impact you will make on the world!

Love,

Momma

Miriam Elayne, you have grown and changed so much since you turned one year old!

Your vocabulary is changing every day; you now say and/or sign at least 50 words. Here’s some examples you’ve added since I last wrote: ice, ice cream, apple, down, ups (up & upstairs), waffle, uh-huh (yes), yes, no, mess, trash, Aubry, Bubba (Brendan), Mommy (changed from Mama), Daddy (changed from Dada), Auntie, rice, o-tay (okay), outside, wa-wa (water), me, mine, mail, please (you don’t just sign it anymore!), ‘yes, please’ and ‘got it’. You just keep surprising Mommy and Daddy every day with your words! You also took your first swim class, around the beginning of August. There were 6 sessions and you learned to reach/pull the water, kick your feet, blow bubbles, jump off the edge, and hold your breath while going under. One of the neat things about your swim class was that your instructor’s name was Miriam 🙂 On the last day of lessons, you got to go down the big water slide. Daddy came to that class and went down with you. You weren’t sure what to think afterwards 😉

We took a big trip in August to visit Aunt Tricia and her family because your cousin, Zoë Kayte, was born. She was born a few weeks early so she and her Mommy spent some time in the hospital before she could come home; you and Mommy went out (for 16 days) to help. You had SO much fun with cousins Zeke and Levi; you all played in a park every day in the mornings and then after naps, the 3 of you would play in the sandbox and the water table. You learned to climb the stairs, up and down, and you also learned to stand up for yourself 😉 It was good for you to be around other kids your age! You missed your Daddy very much; when he came out to be with us for the last few days, we picked him up at the airport – when you got out of your car seat, you ran to him and hugged him for the longest time. You just melted our hearts!

We also took a trip to Lake of the Ozarks, MO in early September. Aunt Monica, George, EMY, and Dan came out to visit us from NM and we had a grand time together. We went swimming, boating, toured a cave, and did some hiking. We made many good memories! In fact, we’re going to visit them over Christmas this year.

You’ve moved up to the toddler room at church (ugh, Mommy finds it so hard to believe you’re already there) and you love to sing. At church, you like to join Mommy and Daddy for worship time so you can sing and clap and look at the lights! At home, you love to watch Little Baby Bum videos, singing along to the nursery rhymes. Your favorites to sing with right now are the ABC Song and Baa, Baa Black Sheep. At naptime and bedtime, we sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Rock-a-Bye, Baby, You Are My Sunshine, Jesus Loves Me, and Jesus Loves the Little Children.

You and Mommy or Daddy are still taking runs together a few times a week. Almost every day, you and Mommy also take walks in the wagon or stroller around the neighborhood during afternoon play time. You are still working on your one-year molars; Mommy hasn’t seen any of them pop through yet. They’ll be here soon! You continue to be a great eater; some of your favorite foods right now are blueberries, rice, noodles, turkey sausage and tomatoes.

You are still such a great sleeper, Miriam! Mommy and Daddy are so thankful. We are working on sleep training right now so that you can become more independent at going to sleep without Mommy and Daddy; Mommy just loves to rock you though so I’m probably holding you back. You’re my one and only baby so Mommy is cherishing every second you’ll let me hold you!

You are a very confident walker, surprising most people who ask how old you are. You are even running some now, and yes, you’ve had your first big fall. You were a pretty sad bear the rest of the night, but you healed up within a week.

You’re also exerting your independence and will in a very normal developmental way. You are kind and sweet yet very sure of what you want. You offer to clean up messes you make and are naturally obedient. I would use the words inquisitive, sensitive, and good-humored to describe your personality at this point. You are developing your sense of humor quite well, and will play jokes on us, like offering to share a snack, hold it up to our mouth, and then pull it quickly away. You laugh and laugh because you know you’ve “tricked” us. You’re pretty proud of your newfound ability to impact those around you, and so are we.

Miriam, you are our bright star – our beloved sunshine! Each day, you surprise us with greater joy. We love to see you grow and change and enjoy life to the fullest. We love you very much!

Mommy

Miriam, you had an amazing time with family and friends at your one-year birthday party! We celebrated on Friday/July 10th with the theme, “Brown Bear, Brown Bear” (by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle) because it is your favorite book at this time and you love animals!

Your guests in attendance were Mimi and Poppa (from NM), Pop-pop (from CO), Grandma and Great-Grandma (from NE), Great-Aunt Judy and Cousin Seanna (from WI), Aunt Tricia, Uncle J, Zeke and Levi (from CO via Skype), Heather and Ben, Karissa, Laura, and The Palmer’s – Andrew, Annie, and Jonas.

You played with Ben and Jonas in some activity stations that represented the animals from the book; you enjoyed the Brown Bear/Goldfish station the most 🙂

We had some yummy food and opened presents; your birthday cake/cupcakes were made by Mommy’s friend, Suzy – she made you a gorgeous and delicious cake! You handled being the center of attention very well. Mommy and Daddy are proud of the gracious, kind, and sweet girl you are, Miriam!

At your 12-month check-up with Dr. Pam, she complimented you on your developmental milestones as all being above average; way to be, sweet girl! You weighed in at 22 lbs, 13 oz and 29 1/8″ long. One of your gifts for your birthday was a new car seat because you have grown out of your infant one. #longlegslikedaddy

You rode in it for the first time today and loved being able to see out the window!

Miriam, you truly bring sunshine to every day! We’re so grateful for every day with YOU!

Love,
Mommy

Miriam Elayne, you are one year old!!!

What a gift this year has been! You have brought our family immeasurable joy and laughter. Here’s a few of your highlights as you round the corner of ‘year one’ and on to ‘year two’…

You took your first Mommy/Miri trip to visit Grandma Pam in NE this month. You really warmed up to her and had a lot of fun!

We’ll be going to CO on a Mommy/Miri trip next month to visit Aunt Tricia and soon-to-be-born GIRL cousin. #yayforgirls 😉

You took a few steps on your own for the first time on June 20th. You and Mommy were at a baby shower and you were toddling along, holding on to my finger when you decided to let go and keep taking a couple steps. It was SO cute! You did it several times that day. You’ve been more apprehensive since that first walking day but you have tried hard every day and just in the last couple days you are really getting brave. As the following video shows, you really want to walk and get frustrated pretty easily when you fall; but the truth is, you’ll be *running* soon!

You have added a LOT of new words to your spoken vocabulary this month: ‘duck’, ‘quack’, ‘shoes’, ‘baaa’, ‘tweet’, ‘me-ow’, ‘whooo’ (for owl), ‘dress’, and a sweet little lipsmack for the sound a giraffe makes (even though they really don’t make sound) …

You are still working on pushing through your top two middle teeth. The right top tooth actually came most of the way through on June 29th! Your second top tooth is still just a swollen gum but you’ll have it soon! We also celebrated Daddy this month; Father’s Day was June 21st and you loved helping Daddy enjoy his day and his new guitar.

Speaking of smiles, your one-year pictures turned out just gorgeous! Here a few of our favorites: Once again, Ms. Laura (riddlephoto.com) did an amazing job.

In the past few weeks you perfected the use of a straw – so much so that you have new sippy cups with straws and you can put it in the correct spot on your tray. It’s a bit of a stretch so you miss sometimes but you try very hard! That did take some learning on your part; for some time before this month, you would just push your cup onto the floor when you were done with it. Daddy and Mommy used a little modeling and positive discipline/correction to get you to change that behavior – it really only took you one day and one big, sad crying session to understand how to exercise impulse control over your hands and mind. We’re so proud of how quick you respond to Mommy and Daddy, Miriam!

You have been weaning off of soy formula the last 5 weeks to whole milk and have done a great job with it! You drink just whole milk now and do so 3 times a day. Next up? Weaning off the bottle. That’ll be a bit harder as it seems you really only want to drink water from your straw cups.

Your birthday party with friends and extended family is tomorrow, July 10th, so Mommy will be posting a blog next week that has pictures from your “Brown Bear, Brown Bear” party as well as stats from your one-year check-up. Here’s a few pics from your “on-the-day” party with Mommy and Daddy:

Happy 1st Birthday, Miriam Elayne! Mommy and Daddy could not be more thrilled to call you ‘ours’! You are our beloved sunshine; our sweet, brave, smart, and beautiful Miriam!

We love you!

Miriam, you have had a very busy and exciting eleventh month! You have acquired many new skills and your sense of humor is really shining 🙂

You learned to wave ‘hi’ and ‘bye’ this month. Unless you are distracted by the situation, you will wave pretty much every time. You can roll a ball back and forth with someone and are beginning to follow directions such as ‘look’ or ‘watch’ or ‘put the duck in the tub’. You’ve made SO many connections; it is true what pediatricians report: your vocabulary is much larger than the words you can say! You’ve started to communicate more than just one word at a time. You’ll look at Mommy or Daddy and say several “words” in a row, like you really want to tell us a whole sentence/concept. What fun!

Blocks have taken on a new meaning too – you try to stack them as well as knock them down, although destroying is still much more fun. You learned to clap just this last weekend – it’s pretty cute: you hold your left hand still and clap your right hand to it 🙂 You and sister Aubry have been working on using a straw and you’ve learned to not only blow bubbles in the water but to also drink the water. Big girl!

Your strongest concept at this point is dogs. Anytime you see or hear a dog – not just our dog – you say ‘woof’. You’ve added the ‘f’, ‘h’, and ‘s’ sound to your abilities this month as well as more tongue-clicking. One of the funniest discoveries you’ve made is how to fake laugh and cough. You’ll be eating dinner and suddenly break into a fake laugh. It’s hilarious! Mommy thinks you inherited Daddy’s quick wit. #love

Your new favorite book is “Toot Toot Beep Beep” by Emma Garcia. You love to make the car sounds, specifically the ‘honk honk’ of the yellow taxi and the ‘brmm brmm’ of the tiny purple car. You’re pretty much an expert at giving kisses now. They’re still open-mouthed and more of a lick but they are super-sweet. You love giving hugs as well and are generous with them! We love your sweet side so much, Miriam 🙂

Mommy has been working with you on identifying body parts and you’re getting pretty good at it. You can find a mouth, nose, eyes, hair, and ears about 50% of the time. Each night after your bath, you use your hairbrush semi-correctly on what could be the begininngs of some curly hair 😉

Mother’s Day was so special with you this year! Grandma Pam came to celebrate with us and Daddy took us out for a delicious meal at Trezo Mare. Your gift to us that day was sleeping during lunch, as well as a gorgeous piece of artwork from you and Daddy 🙂

You had your fourth plane ride this month. We visited Steamboat Springs, CO over Memorial Day weekend; Pop-pop invited our family and Aunt Tricia’s family up for the weekend. We had a great time relaxing and laughing and making memories 🙂

Interestingly, your current favorite activity is playing with laundry. While you don’t discriminate well between clean and dirty laundry *yikes*, you absolutely love to take it in and out of the laundry basket. Here is a pretty cute video of how happy laundry makes you these days:

Miriam Elayne, Mommy cannot believe it is already time to plan your first birthday celebration! Words can’t describe how much joy you have brought our family in just 11 short months. We can’t wait to see what your energy, joy, and love will continue to bring to not just us, but the world. You are our beloved sunshine!

Love,

Mommy

You’re in double digit months, Miriam! Wow, we got here so fast!

You had your first trip to the zoo this month; we visited the KC Zoo and you enjoyed the penguins as well as the Carousel.

You are making great physical strides this month. Your strength shines through as you can now get off of your zebra by yourself, crawl SUPER-fast, and walk behind your push toy. You have learned to click your tongue – mostly when you are happy or enjoying something, and you do so while you walk 😉 #sodarncute

Here’s a cute video of you on your zebra:

Momma needs to relax, huh?? In my defense, that was the first time you were on the zebra and trying to get off on your own …

You love to show your joy through shrieks and laughter but you also love to flail. Yes. Flail. Your entire body moves, silent but intent, as you smile the biggest smile. We think of it as a temper tantrum but in the most positive way possible. This is one of your ways to show us your excitement or intensity towards something! You are full of joy, Miriam!

We have ventured into more new foods this month – avocados, tomatoes, and hummus (you don’t like this one yet). I’ve learned you will eat most cooked veggies if I make them. Gerber foods just won’t cut it for your refined taste buds.

You’ve discovered your tongue and like to buzz it between your lips. It’s very cute, and spitting is still socially acceptable at this age so … we encourage it 😉

You continue to discover what your voice can do – lots of slides and a new laugh have appeared. When Daddy or Bubba or Sissa, or even Tobie appear in your line of vision, you get SO thrilled!!! It’s contagious to hear you laugh – we all join in with you 🙂

You’re still working on getting more teeth (since the first two in March); lots of runny nose days and chewing on everything. Still, you are our sweet, sweet girl and are sleeping well despite the pain. You LOVE brushing your teeth already and we can only hope this will continue 😉

Your understanding of cause and effect is increasing every day. You like to prolong going to sleep by taking your binkie out of your mouth and ever-so-slowly reaching out to drop it on the floor. You can be quite impish sometimes. 😉 You notice when lights in the house or car go on/off and are beginning to connect light switches to the event. You have also started to put items into containers rather than simply remove them. Your awesome mind is creating so many synapses!

We visited Aunt Heather and cousins Allison and Sam this month for a picnic lunch in Topeka. Much fun, dirt, and veggies were partaken in 😉

Miriam, there’s so much about you that we are proud of! Most of all, we love your gentle, snuggly nature coupled with your fierce enthusiasm for life. You are truly our sweet, brave, smart, and beautiful Miriam! Daddy and I love you so, so much <3

It’s your Golden Month!
And it’s been quite an award-winning ninth month 🙂

You are starting to learn to share. Daddy invented a game where he “steals” your binkie with his mouth and then you take it back 🙂 You think it’s pretty funny and it’s starting to transfer to other objects – you like to offer us toys now and then have them returned to you …

You are crawling super-fast as well as walking with help. Your new Robeez shoes are helping you a lot because of their flexibility and design; you like them and will leave them on for long periods of time. You have a strong fascination with shoes so we’re hoping having your own helps lessen the licks you give to other [dirty] shoes 😉 You pull up on everything as well as take great risks in letting go to sit down. We haven’t had any major accidents yet but I’m sure there’ll be bumps and bruises in your future.

Your chatter is nearly non-stop; your sounds are getting more diverse as well. You have started clicking your tongue, which is a super-cute sound coming from you 🙂 “Mmm’s” mean several things, including ‘more’, ‘momma’, and ‘I see something new or that I like’. You change your tone to communicate different desires and you’ve added “nnn’s” to your sounds this month. They are the precursor to your disagreement with something. Oh boy! #nohasalreadybegun

This month brought not just one, but TWO teeth – at the same time! We discovered your bottom two incisors on March 21st. You’ve really been pretty good about cutting teeth; just a bit more fussy at times and not sleeping as well/through the night sometimes. At first, you didn’t want to show us your teeth – you kept them covered with your tongue; I’m sure they felt strange to you. Now when you smile, we can see them on a pretty regular basis – they make you look so much more grown-up, which makes Mommy hug your baby-ness even more! I never want to forget how you feel as my baby girl!

This month, I got to be a part of my big sister Aubry’s baptism! It was so exciting to be there with her 🙂

You weigh in at about 18.5 lbs and 27″ long. You are eating like crazy, having added pasta, yogurt, and rice to your foods-tried list. You love all 3 of these but bananas do still seem to be your favorite food.

Imitation is another new skill you have acquired. Sounds that people and nature make, planes overhead, music – you like to try them all out with your own voice. It’s so fun to see you acquire language, Miriam!

Easter was April 5th this year; we went to Grandma Pam’s house and you did so well at hunting/picking up eggs! You received a cute hat from Great-Grandma Lila and a gorgeous polka-dot summer outfit and wooden blocks from Grandma Pam. Mommy and Daddy gave you a Royals onesie, a couple pairs of shoes, a toy phone, and a tee-shirt. Of course, there was candy but that didn’t matter much to you. YET!

Your sign for ‘milk’ is getting much stronger as well as for ‘more’. You use them about 75% of the time now. We’re working on waving hi/bye at correct times and nodding yes/no as an answer.

Miriam, you are changing and growing faster than Mommy can hardly document! My hope is that one day you will read this as a love letter from Mommy and Daddy … may you always know in your heart of hearts that you are our beloved sunshine!

Love,

Mommy

Miriam, you are 8 months old today!

This month, you hit several exciting milestones 🙂 On Feb 10th, you said your first interpretable word: “da-da”! To say the least, you made Daddy’s day, and Mommy’s too. You’ve worked on a lot of other babble as well; we hear p’s, b’s, f’s, g’s, m’s, whispers, bubbles, and screams as you continue to explore your communication abilities.

All month long, you’ve been trying hard to become more mobile. You firmly grasped how to sit back up from a tummy/plank position on Feb 20th. You also started crawling backwards, and in backwards circles, efficiently around this time. You can pull yourself up to your knees and once in a while all the way to your feet, but that still seems to be more accidental.

Your biggest day this month was March 5th! You got frustrated enough to crawl forward!! Daddy witnessed it first and then you demonstrated for Mommy soon after 🙂 We got your big moment on video here …

You absolutely love to read books. Your current favorite is “Clifford’s Animal Sounds” by Norman Bridwell. Daddy captured this video that shows just how much you enjoy the art of reading!

Oftentimes, Mommy will leave you for a few minutes to play independently in your playroom and upon checking in on you, will find you with a book, turning the pages and chewing on it. Mommy likes to think of this as reading; Daddy’s not so sure 😉

Other fun new things you discovered how to do this month:

*You love playing peekaboo with us, but discovered you could do it by yourself as well! You cover up your forehead (thinking it’s your eyes) and we find you 😉

*You went sledding this month for the first time; you weren’t sure what to think, especially after face-planting in the snow when you and Mommy fell off, but you were a good sport.

*We offered you a pickle slice this month, expecting a funny face reaction and instead you LOVED it!

*One of your favorite activities is to feed yourself puffs; you love the bowl, dumping them out, picking them up – the whole process 🙂 You are eating extremely well and have picked up a couple new fruits this month; we’re still working on liking vegetables and meats. Here’s a picture of you and Daddy enjoying dinner together:

*You really enjoy being outdoors, especially now that Spring is knocking on our door! Mommy and you like to go running and take walks with friends almost every day. You are a great exercise partner!

Miriam Elayne, you are our beloved sunshine! You bring Mommy and Daddy deeper joy each and every day. We’re so grateful to have been entrusted with you!

Love, Momma

This month went by extraordinarily fast!

We visited CO again … your cousin Zeke and his family moved to New Castle, CO and he turned 3 so we went to celebrate with them! Grandma traveled with us too 🙂

You are still trying to learn to crawl – lots of rocking back and forth and backward movement, but no forward movement yet. You’d rather pull yourself up than go forward; you just might decide to walk rather than crawl, like Mommy did!

You pulled yourself up in your crib and were quite proud of yourself. Here’s a video of you after you pulled yourself up and were gumming up the rail:

Miriam is pulling herself up in her crib now!

You continue to amaze us with your problem-solving abilities and persistence. You have a lot of tenacity, even when you get frustrated about something. If you’re not in the mood for something though, watch out! #temper #0to60onadime #KnowsWhatSheWants

You’re growing taller seemingly every day! You’ve “sized up” in your cloth diapers (which just means a different snap, not new) and are in size 6-9 month clothes for sure. You often need to wear 12 month sizes due to your lengthiness. Your hair is coming in fuller on top although most who aren’t around you every day wouldn’t notice much difference. Mommy can’t wait to put barrettes and bows and braids and curls in your hair 🙂

You caught a bit of a stomach bug and earache from the trip to CO but recovered over the course of a couple weeks. Your appetite went down for a few days but soon you were back to loving food! You’ve added many new foods to the “tried it” list, including broccoli, blueberries, ham and green beans – none of which you’d love to revisit – but we can add pears and applesauce to the repeat list 😉

You are sitting on your own now completely; most of the time you also lean over, with a gentle face plant to the floor, so you can be on your tummy and move about. You’re developing a unique-to-you laugh; it’s so wonderful to see you change and grow, Miriam!

Mommy’s friend and amazing photographer, Laura at Riddle Photography took your six month pictures on 1.14.2015; they’re so, so adorable!! Here’s a few of our favorites:

You gave your first kiss to Daddy on the 7th of February. He was holding you, getting something from the fridge, and you just leaned in with a wide open mouth and gave him a “kiss”! #daddysgirl

Miriam, you are our beloved sunshine! You bring light and beauty to every day; Mommy and Daddy could not be more honored to call you ‘daughter’.

Love,

Momma