This weekend, we took it easy for once. For about the last 2 months, we have been "running the roads," as Jason would say, every weekend. Jason and I were starting to feel a little run-down and in need of a mostly-at-home weekend. So we took things at a much slower pace this past weekend. Friday night, we had our usual Friday night pizza and caught up on some TV watching. Saturday AM, we headed to swim class.
As usual, Miri did great! She is a water bug, for sure!
Then we just hung out around the house for the rest of the day. Jason finally got around to putting cabinet latches on all our kitchen and bathroom cabinets, effectively ending Miri's favorite game of opening them and then BANGING them shut! While I didn't mind this game in theory, it had already happened once that she BANGED a door shut w/ her finger in the way. Ouch. So the situation is now rectified. Jason also pulled down all the dated decorative trim/ plate rail thingy on our kitchen cabinets. They used to look like this (this was taken at our inspection, when the previous owners still lived there, for anyone who notices that the decorating and belongings don't appear to be ours):
And now they look like this:
Easy instant update, don't you think? The next step will be to get new, modern-looking drawer pulls and cabinet handles... then we'll decide about potentially painting the cabinets. We also had fun playing outside for awhile Saturday afternoon.
Miri went to bed with a fever and a less-than-her-usual-sunny-demeanor on Saturday night... I think it was possibly teething-related though, as she woke up Sunday AM back to her normal self and no more fever. Which was great because "Auntie" Jennifer had plans to come over for a couple hours to hang out with all of us and see our new place! I wish I would have remembered to take some pics of Miri and Jen, but you will all have to take my word that it was a VERY fun visit! I think Miri finally redeemed herself to Jennifer, because I think every time before this that Jennifer has seen Miri, she has either been asleep, in a crabby mood (remember way back in the day before M got onto the right reflux meds when she SCREAMED all the time? No?! Well I do, and I bet Jen does too), or going through a total stranger anxiety phase. But this Sunday, she had a DELIGHTFUL time with her Auntie Jen, even going so far as practically divebombing into Jennifer's arms when Jen asked if she could hold her. Thank you so much for coming to visit us, Jen! We all loved seeing you! Sunday afternoon, we went to Harrington Beach State Park for some hiking. It was a perfect Indian summer day-- very sunny, relatively warm (since we were literally a stone's throw from Lake Michigan), and the leaves are almost at peak color change. We quickly checked out the beach
and then we hiked around Quarry Lake.
And then we went to the Highland House for dinner. YUM! Then we went home, Miri went to bed, and we watched the Packers game (well, I would say Jason spent more time "watching" the inside of his eyelids... this is what happens when you work too much! Cautionary tale!). Another victory for the Packers... just the right way to cap off a great weekend!
Lastly, I think most of my readers know that during the time when Jason and I were trying to get pregnant, I joined an online community for women trying to get pregnant. This was not something I had ever envisioned myself doing, but as anyone close enough to me to read this blog knows, our journey to having Miriam was not easy. And while I have an amazingly supportive family and group of friends, I didn't have many people in real life who could truly relate through first-hand experience to what I was going through. So I randomly ended up in a small "buddy group" who cheered each other on through the hoops and hurdles of getting and staying pregnant. These girls are awesome people who kept me sane during a time when I could easily have gone stark raving mad. And after getting pregnant with Miri, I moved to the "Mommy" side of the online community and met my "September DDC" (DDC = due date club). Our Sept DDC went through 9 months of pregancy together. Which is awesome, because I had pregnancy and babies on the brain 24/7 when I was pregnant (understandably), but my "real-life" friends did not want to hear me talk about pregnancy 24/7 (also understandably). So the DDC was great. We bounced questions off each other, engaged in hormone-fueled rants about the inavailability of the precise food we were craving at any given moment, shared ultrasound pictures, talked about our fears, made each other laugh. Just like "real life friends." After the Sept babies were all born, we moved our to a private group on Facebook, and we continue to all keep in touch on a practically daily basis. We share stories, ask for and give advice, post pictures, cheer members on as several of them are now embarking on new pregnancies, etc etc. Although we all truly do consider ourselves friends, we all know that many/most of us will never get an opportunity to meet in person. We have members in at least 20 different US states, several Canadian provinces, Australia, and New Zealand. Anyway, all of this long-winded set-up was just to get you all to realize how crazy it is that one of the other Sept DDC moms actually lives in... WAUWATOSA, WI! Which is 15 minutes from Germantown! So today, we met up at the zoo. It was so awesome to meet her, and I think Miri just *may* have taken a liking to her son... you can judge for yourself!
What a cool experience. The kids had a great time giggling over the animals, practicing their walking, and playing at the zoo playground together. My favorite story of the day is one that I could use if I ever happen to teach a speech pathology course on language acquisition of young children. Many kids go through a language acquisition phase that we SLPs know as "overgeneralization." This occurs when kids overgeneralize an example of a word... for example, calling all women "Mama" or calling all round items "ball." Well, if you were listening to Miriam and her new friend "M" talk... you'd think the Milwaukee County Zoo only has 2 animals-- ducks and dogs. Miri labeled every single bird there (from emus to vultures) as a "duck" and her buddy "M" called just about every furry animal from gorillas to bears as a "dog." Pretty funny!
And that's all she wrote, folks! :)
When we got home, two of Miri's favorite people came over for a visit... Uncle Adam and Aunt Rochelle! The happy couple just got back from their honeymoon in Hawaii (they had an amazing time, naturally) and were briefly in town to collect their daughter and pup before heading back to MN. We were so happy to have a few hours to hang out, as we haven't seen them in almost 3 months. I am really looking forward to Christmas to have more time with my brother, sister-in-law, and my sweet, silly niece! Later in the day, we got out for a little Christmas shopping and the day was wonderfully capped off with a Big 10 championship for my Wisconsin Badgers!!! Rose Bowl, here we come again!
While he was working hard, Miri and I played outside for a bit to keep an eye on him and make sure he didn't come catapulting off the roof. How cute does our little girl look in her new winter coat, hat, and mittens? 
and her Aunt Allison... 
Happy birthday sweet Des-- we love you!!! 
And here is the very best picture I could get of Miriam and Pres posing with our fall decor... Miri appears to be glaring at Pres, and he appears to be missing an ear. Major props to professional child-and-pet photographers, because they sure don't have an easy job! 
