Miriam at Six Months!

Little Miriam has been getting so active and fun lately. She weighed 16.8 lbs at her sixth month check up which the doctor said was in the 50% and was 26.5 inches tall which is in the 70%. She is wearing 6-9 month clothes and is just about to outgrow her size two diapers. She is rolling all over the place and scooting all around the floor. She has gotten up on her hands and knees and rocked a few times so I have a feeling she will be crawling soon. She can sit up pretty well and is usually pretty content to sit and play with her toys.

Miriam had several colds and was super fussy and whiny this month. Her nose was super stuffy and she was up a lot at night and just wanted to be held. Usually she has a pretty happy and easygoing personality so those weeks were hard. She was feeling pretty miserable on the day she turned six months old which is why she looks kind of sad in the pictures above.

Miriam got to get her first x-ray this month. One of her sisters picked her up and Miriam's arm got twisted behind her. I heard a little pop and then she would not move her arm at all. She cried big painful cries every time someone touched her arm or when someone would move it. I rushed her into the quick care clinic and they were worried that something may have been going on with her collar bone so they did an x-ray on it. Turns out it was just a pulled muscle but Miriam did not move her arm all night and would still cry when it was moved the wrong way for the next few days. After a few days she was back to normal and rolling all over on her arm again. It was a scary moment for me and a painful one for her. Luckily nothing was broken and she is back to her happy self. 

Miriam got to try her first foods this month. I bought a few jars of baby food and all of the girls have had a lot of fun helping me feed her. Miriam has had some mixed reactions to the whole thing. She seemed to love the food at first and then she started to make the most disgusted faces and spit everything out. She learned how to blow raspberries and likes to do that as soon as I put food in her mouth. It took Miriam a lot longer to be interested than some of her other sisters but now she will try to grab everything we try to eat. She loves sitting in her high chair during dinner time.

Miriam loves toys, she loves paper, and she likes to try and put little things in her mouth. I keep trimming her finger nails but she is still constantly scratching her face. As soon as one scab disappears, she gets another one. Her hair is finally starting to grow back in but she is still pretty bald. her eyes are getting darker They are mostly are dark blue, brown color right now.

Miriam loves to stick out her tongue and is constantly playing with it. She has been making lots of fun new sounds and her favorite one is "dada." She loves her daddy and her smile lights up as soon as she hears his voice. I thought she was going to say mama first but it looks like her first word was "dada."

Miriam absolutely loves bath time. I started to let her take a bath with her sisters with just a little bit of water and she likes to lay on her belly and splash and move all over the place while she is in the bath. She laughs and squeals with delight for the entire bath. She still likes to be in the baby carrier but doesn't sleep in there as well. She likes to be able to take part in the action around her.

Miriam still wakes up to eat at least one time every night to eat. We are honestly so busy during the day that I have had a hard time getting Miriam on a really good napping schedule. Luckily Miriam is pretty flexible and falls asleep pretty easily in the car seat or in my arms. Most of the time I can transfer her to her bed once she is asleep and she sleeps in there pretty well but sometimes it is a struggle to put her down, especially when she wasn't feeling well.

Miriam still loves to jump in her jumper thing and she likes to play on her activity mat. Most of the time she rolls right off of the mat so I don't use it as much as I used to. She doesn't need the bumbo chair or the swing anymore so we have moved both of those things out in the garage and we brought in the high chair to take it's place.

We sure are grateful for this sweet little baby. We love watching her grow and learn new things. 

January 2019

The year 2019 is officially underway and January is now over. We started the year off with games and food at Grandma Verna's house. Joel had the day off but spent most of it helping my dad help a friends with some house projects. The girls got the whole rest of the week off of school and we spent the week playing and relaxing at home. The girls all played with their new presents, made and ate treats, made slime, and did crafts, 

The library had a fun stem day that we enjoyed going to. The kids had so much fun playing with all of the things there that they did not want to leave. Brynlee got invited to a friend's birthday during the week and had a fun time swimming. I spent a night hanging out with some friends at a party and Joel got to go snowboarding with his Brother Jake and sister Joanna and some of their family and he had a great time. On Sunday the girls all got to move up to new primary classes and they all seemed to like their new teachers. We also got to meet at a new building, the same building we were at before, and at a new time. Now we meet at 10:30 and we only go for two hours instead of three. It was a lot of changes all at once. No one knew where to go and the Sunday school teacher got confused and let everyone out a half hour early but so far we are really liking the new time and we love only having church for two hours. It is leaving more time for us to spend as a family. 

On Monday the girls had to go back to school and our normal schedule resumed. I took Miriam in for her four month check up that day. She had a cold but we were still able to get her shots. We went to the library and to parenting class. Kyla started preschool and the girls went to school. I got to volunteer in Annalyn's class at school. My mom ended getting a job at the girl's school part time so I won't be able to go in every week. I sure am glad I was able to help out for a few weeks.

I got to go and play Bunco with some friends later that month. We decided to take the whole family out to dinner one night and used up some of the gift cars we had laying around. I was pleasantly surprised at how well our girls all did at the restaurant. I also got to take Kyla on a date night to Jabbers. It was so fun to just hang out with her and see what her little mind was thinking. We played with blocks together and played with some little doll figurines. Then I watched her go down the big slide they have there about 100 times. We finished the night with a trip to Winco for donuts. I love getting to spend one on one time with the girls. Later that month Joel got to take Brynlee and Annalyn on their date nights. He took Brynlee to dinner at Panda Express and to watch a movie. They saw the new Mary Poppins movie together. He took Annalyn to Wahooz and it sounds like they had a pretty fun time. Annalyn came home with lots of prizes. 

We had several days of sickness this month. Summer and Miriam started out the month with bad colds and coughs and then Brynlee and the other girls got them too. A week or so later Kyla got an ear infection and had to be on antibiotics. Exactly one week after that Brynlee and Annalyn both got fevers and Brynlee's throat was super sore. I took her into the doctor and they confirmed that Brynlee had strep throat. Annalyn did not so I figured it was just some other kind of virus. All three of the other kids had at least a day of a fever and by the end of the next week Kyla woke up in the night crying that her ears hurt again. I ended up taking her in for another check-up and they found out that she still had an ear infection along with a ruptured ear drum. The doctor prescribed her with some super strong medicine. She is already allergic to penicillian and the medicine they gave her gave her a super bad tummy ache. They also referred us to an ENT doctor to look at her ears and tonsils. It looks like we got to make a trip to the doctor's office every single week this month. I can't be sure but I think that is a new record for us. And now that we are into the second week of February the trips are still coming. Right now we are at six weeks in a row.                                                                                                                                                                                

I went to a relief society activity. The girls got to go to a birthday party for a friend and they had a super fun time. Annalyn made a new friend a school and we had her over once. Brynlee also had several playdates with friends. I spent a lot of time starting to exercise and organize our house. I redid my closet last month and did the girl's closet this month. I went through everyone's sock drawer which was a huge job. Now I have a bunch of things I need to get rid of. We made dirt cups for family night one day this month and the girls had way too much fun eating them. Annalyn and Kyla both got trims from aunt Heather.

We had a few days of snow but for the most part the weather was actually kind of nice for January. 

This month was busy and there was plenty of hard moments but there were also lots of moments of fun and laughter. I am grateful for this little family of mine. I am glad I get to spend my days with all of these little people. 

Miriam at Five Months

     I am having a hard time believing that little Miriam is already five months old. She is getting big already and is now rolling all over the place. Almost every time I put her on her back she rolls onto her belly. She can also roll from her belly to her back but she does not do that as often so she usually just ends up rolling onto her belly and then plays there for a while. She is starting to scoot a little bit on her belly so when I lay her on the ground I never know where she will end up. She had a bad cold and cough and was still not feeling super great on the day I tried to take some pictures of her but I did eventually get a few picture of her not crying. 

Miriam loves to play with all of her baby toys. She will play with everything on her baby mat for a long time. She also loves her jumper and will jump and squeal when I put her in there. Really she is usually such a happy little baby. 

     Miriam starting off by celebrating Christmas the day after she turned four months. She didn't actually open any of her presents but she had fun being a part of everyone else's excitement. She celebrated the New Year and was up nursing right as midnight rolled in so her and I were the only ones in our family up to officially welcome in the New Year. She got to see snow again but didn't get to get close to it. She had a pretty bad cold and cough and even had a fever one day  this month. She was not happy at all those days. I took her back into the doctor for a check up and there was nothing they could do to help her but she was pretty miserable. She spent a lot of time cuddling with her mom.

     Miriam still wakes a least once a night on most night but then goes right back to bed after I feed her. She takes several naps during the day. She will fall asleep in her bed sometimes but most of the time I have to rock her to sleep and then carefully transfer her to her bed. The nice thing is that she is more than content to sleep in our arms at church and in the baby carrier and in her car seat on car rides.

     Miriam has not shown a lot of interest in real people food. I have given her a few small bites of some of my food. She has had mushed carrots, yogurt, and green beans among other things. Usually she just holds the food in her mouth and really doesn't react at all. She just stays super still and will eventually swallow the food after a while. Summer gave her a huge bite of some cookies and cream ice cream and Miriam almost choked on that. I had to hurry and scoop it out of Miriam's mouth. I haven't been in a huge hurry to start her on food but she will start getting lots more towards the end of this month.

     Miriam is usually totally fine with her sisters getting right in her face. She loves it when they sing to her and hold her. They like to play baby with her and they are all pretty gentle with her. She loves having lots of big sisters to help take care of her and she is thoroughly entertained by them all the time. She is starting to sit up a little bit on her own and loves to stand on my lap and sit so she can see all of the action. She has sat alone for a good three or four seconds before falling. 

      Miriam loves taking a bath with the big kids and splashes and plays in the water. She likes to make all kind of fun noise and has said "mamamama" a few times. I am trying to get her to say it a little clearer so we can count it as her first word. She likes to stick our her tongue and play with her mouth. She also likes to suck on her fingers and on mine. She is now at the stage where she is constantly trying to put things in her mouth. She is getting pretty good at getting her soother back in her mouth when she loses it but usually gets the back of it in there so she just sucks on the side of her binky.

     Miriam is such a blessing to our family. We are so grateful that she chose to come to our family. We love watching her grow and learn new things every day. She is officially wearing 6-9 month clothes. She is a joy to have around.