8 months old

Better late than never, here are M's 8th month portraits. 

(They are only so-so. We took them in a hurry.)

I'm still rather shocked that she is really 8 months old already, but this is a really fun stage.

She sits and plays by herself...well next to me usually. She doesn't tolerate me not being near for too long. 

She is liking her daddy more and more, which is adorable.

She loves peekaboo and will even hold the blanket over her face herself.

Her laughs are infectious. 

As are her smiles.

She has a superior gag reflex which means she's not eating solids yet, 

even though she likes to taste things.

She really loves her big brothers and sisters.

There isn't a day that goes by that I don't feel like the luckiest mom ever 

to have such a sweet and beautiful baby girl.

Yeah, I'm not really liking the post-processing I did on these either, but am too lazy to redo them. Oh well. She's still cute!

ack!

I just realized that today is the 24th and that means Miriam turned 8 months old YESTERDAY. I can't believe I totally missed it! Today someone actually asked me how old she is and I said 7 months. Why does time have to go SO freaking fast?! I don't like it. Guess I'll be taking her 8 month portraits tomorrow... two days late.

amazing hypnobabies home waterbirth--unassisted!

My wonderful Hypnobabies instructor, Liz Phalp, gave birth to her 6th baby back in October. She recently posted the birth story and video to her website, and I just have to share it. I totally teared up watching her quick, easy, peaceful birth. It brought back how I felt when Miriam was born. The awe and peace and ease with which it all happened. Although the specifics are different, our births were very similar--quick labor, kneeling in water, water breaking late, only pushing a few times, catching the baby ourselves, the utter joy felt while lifting a new baby out of the water.

This was not a planned unassisted birth; the midwife (same as mine) just didn't make it in time!

Here is an excerpt from the birth story and the video follows:

I remember feeling excited when I realized that no one else was going to make it. Though I’ve never wanted a planned, unassisted birth, I knew the ones that happen by accident, always seem to happen without incident, and I was really feeling good about things. So with this pressure wave I pushed once and the water broke, I pushed again and his head came out. When I said “there’s his head” Tyson said “are you serious?!” and finally put his phone down, then as I took another breath Tyson said “is he out?” (I’m not sure why he couldn’t see at this point, I guess I was blocking him, I was in a part kneel, part squat), and I said “not yet” then pushed the rest of him out. It was so incredible, feeling his head after the water broke, then seeing his head when I pushed it out, then holding his whole body as it came out. What an incredible way to be totally and completely connected to my baby and my body, and doing it all completely by myself was so incredible! I just really can’t describe how it felt other than completely natural and right! From the minute I stepped in the tub not a single fear or doubt even entered my mind, I was so assured and confident. It was like someone else stepped into my body, someone who had done this hundreds of times. It was so perfect, so amazing, truly such a miracle!

She also named her baby Asher. :-)

just because

Sometimes it's ok to be a girly girl.

love

Stopped pancake making to make this image instead.

How could I resist?

Miriam cuddles like this are rare.

windy walk

Wednesday the weather was still warmish so we wanted to get out for a little walk. Although warm enough not to need a winter coat it was WINDY! And it just got more windy as we walked. Although I got hats on the kids I didn't wear one myself and my ears were hurting like crazy by the time we made it in. The best part of the walk was Asher looking at a bunch of a little bugs. He was fascinated.

I love Miriam's face in this picture.

By the way, I edited these pics using MCP Actions free Mini Fusion Action for photoshop. If you have photoshop you should check it out. MCP has a few other free actions that are great too.

baby feet and other ramblings

Are baby feet not the cutest things ever? I had kinda forgotten just how freaking adorable M's feet are since, it being winter, they are usually covered in socks or footed rompers or shoes. The past several days were quite warm for February so M was going barefoot around the house, and I have really been enjoyed her cute little tootsies. She's always pointing them and swinging them and touching them together in the most darling of ways. I must confess, that I have secret hopes she'll be a dancer some day.

Also, I think she may be working on her bottom teeth. Man, she's been crankier than usual the past few days. Yesterday wore me out. She wasn't crying tons but just lots of whining. I was SO ready for bed time. I hope these teeth either make an appearance soon or give her break for awhile. Neither of my kids seem to handle teething very well. Asher just got his top two year molars and we had a few really hard nights with him. He still needs his bottom ones so that should be fun.

I was in a seriously funky mood myself last night. I'm not sure exactly why other than being worn down by kids. My house is disaster and I am tired this morning. Wishing I could just go back to bed. I need to clean and start tackling the humongous pile of laundry that I've been ignoring for a week. Blech.

I feel like I should end on a better note than that so here's this: Jared picked up Photoshop CS5 for Mac while he was in NC. Having the student discount means we get to buy it for 1/10th of the retail price! I've been really enjoying having Ps on my Mac instead of having to use windows all the time to edit photos. I HATE windows. When we bought Ps a few years ago we didn't have the Mac. I'm still getting used to the new version and stuff but I love it!

post nap hair

I'm just happy to see she actually has enough hair for it to be messy. :-)

I'm really looking forward to the day when she has hair to style. 

I think she'll be even cuter if that's possible. 

a saturday afternoon downtown

Jared spent Thursday through Monday in North Carolina for a conference at Duke, which means I was home alone with the two little ones. (The big kids were with their mom.) This is the second time he's had to travel since Miriam was born. The first time was a longer trip and was physically more demanding because both kids were younger. This time for some reason, emotionally it was a lot harder to have him gone. I am so spoiled that Jared works mostly from home so I get to have adult conversation throughout the day. With him gone, I felt so lonely. I'm really glad to have my best friend home again!

My sweet friend, Olya, was really thoughtful and invited us to crash her mommy/daughter date on Saturday afternoon. We met downtown at the Church History Museum which has a fun little children's exhibit. The weather was absolutely gorgeous--sunny and 50 degrees so we also spent some time on Temple Square letting the kids run wild. It was wonderful to get out of the house, enjoy the company of a real grownup who is fun to talk to, and enjoy the beautiful weather.

Plus, we had AMAZING light and both captured some beautiful images. Olya's camera battery died but luckily our cameras take the same battery so we took turns switching mine back and forth. :-) I think we both appreciated having a few pics of ourselves with our kids since we are usually behind the camera. Thanks again, Olya for a wonderful afternoon! I've said in the captions which photos are Olya's.

How freaking adorable is this?

Taken by Olya

Is that joy or what?

I'm obsessed with the flare in this one!

Taken by Olya with my camera

Taken by Olya

Taken by Olya

On our way back to the car, Miriam got all puckered out and feel asleep in the stroller. Asher on the other hand was obsessed with all the fountains and we had to stop at each one so he could put his hand in it.

Asher calls her "Mimi Bear" when she's wearing this.

Happy Valentine's Day

Me and Jared on our first Valentine's Day together four years ago!

My Valentine is currently on a plane on his way back home to us. I have missed him like crazy these 4 days he's been gone. He won't even see this post until after I pick him up from the airport but I wanted to post it anyway to say Happy Valentine's to my amazing husband. I love him more and more. Four years seems both too short and so long at the same time. Here's to many, many more silly Valentine's Days to come!