We will do a proper Halloween post after Halloween, but I just could not wait to share this video of Miri and me reading her current favorite book "Where is Baby's Pumpkin?" by Karen Katz. She ADORES her Karen Katz books, and this Halloween one especially, as it allows her to practice her current favorite word-- APPLE. Jason and I love reading it to her, because she's always so happy about it. ADORABLE!
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
The gifts of fall
First of all, I want to excitedly announce that Jason and I have a new NIECE as of this morning! Baby T is here, and she is a beautiful and healthy baby GIRL! Jason and I were so convinced that she was a boy... oops, sorry Baby T! We are still waiting with bated breath for a name announcement. Yay, we are so excited for Robin, Bobby, and big brother Desmond! We will get to see the Thompson family and meet the little princess in a few weeks. Stay tuned for pictures, of course! :)
Last weekend, we went to a local farm stand and picked up some pumpkins, gourds, Indian corn, and a bale of hay to decorate our yard for Halloween. Miriam really loved checking out all the pumpkins and other fall stuff. She is definitely a little sponge, so eager to study and learn about everything she can in this great big world.
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! 
Finally, I just had to share a cute video of Miri watching her new Baby Animals video from Gramma and G'pa that arrived earlier this week. I l ove how she excitedly squeals "ooh, ooh" and then keeps pointing and saying "What's that?" And as always, the divine Miss M has some rockin' dance moves! Perhaps a future dance squad member, just like mama?? :)
Last weekend, we went to a local farm stand and picked up some pumpkins, gourds, Indian corn, and a bale of hay to decorate our yard for Halloween. Miriam really loved checking out all the pumpkins and other fall stuff. She is definitely a little sponge, so eager to study and learn about everything she can in this great big world.
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! 
Finally, I just had to share a cute video of Miri watching her new Baby Animals video from Gramma and G'pa that arrived earlier this week. I l ove how she excitedly squeals "ooh, ooh" and then keeps pointing and saying "What's that?" And as always, the divine Miss M has some rockin' dance moves! Perhaps a future dance squad member, just like mama?? :)
Saturday, October 15, 2011
12 month check-in (give or take a month)
Miri had her 12 month check-up on Thursday at a hair over 13 months old. She is getting to be such a big girl (to us, not statistically speaking). But speaking of those stats, here they are... Miri is now 28 3/4" tall (20th percentile) and 17lbs3oz (10th percentile). Yes, she's a petite little girl, but I'm sure 90% of the babies out there are just totally jealous of how Miri can eat and eat yet barely gain an ounce. Doctor says she's right on track with all the things she should be doing at this age...walking, talking, eating grown-up food, all cups-no bottles, etc. etc. According to the guidance sheet from the doctor, we should now be keeping our poisons out of her reach and keeping her away from the lawnmower. Well there goes our fun, Dr. Buzzkill. So, poisons have been put in a secret place (they're in the basement...shhhh), lawnmower has been moved from Miri's closet to the garage, locks on cabinets, guard on fireplace, outlet covers in...all fun removed from Miri's reach. She is now a toddler (and has been screaming like one too!). But seriously, Miri is a little angel. Sure, she has her (very few) moments, but we have been blessed with a very sweet, easygoing, beautiful little girl. This past year was an amazing thing to watch. It has been just incredible seeing Miri grow and learn and become the "big" girl she is today.
Also, just wanted to share some photos we just got back from Miri's photoshoot a couple weeks ago. She just looks so adorable in each and every one (also want to mention how beautiful my wife looks...but you can see that for yourself). Our photographer, Laura Couture, did such a wonderful job capturing our little girl's vibrant personality, and was such a pleasure to work with. You can see her more of her beautiful work on her blog (Miri's entry is on 10/14) here: http://littlesnapshot.blogspot.com/
...and may I ask, who is that stunning man on the far right?!?
Also, just wanted to share some photos we just got back from Miri's photoshoot a couple weeks ago. She just looks so adorable in each and every one (also want to mention how beautiful my wife looks...but you can see that for yourself). Our photographer, Laura Couture, did such a wonderful job capturing our little girl's vibrant personality, and was such a pleasure to work with. You can see her more of her beautiful work on her blog (Miri's entry is on 10/14) here: http://littlesnapshot.blogspot.com/
...and may I ask, who is that stunning man on the far right?!?
Monday, October 10, 2011
Home Improvement, Hiking, and Hyenas
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! :)
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! :)
Monday, October 3, 2011
Long overdue
Bad bad mommy hasn't posted in over 2 months. Crikey! That's a long time! I could make up all kinds of excuses as to why I haven't written a blog post in so long, and while they would all be true, they would also be a waste of time. Instead, I'll skip to the good stuff.
1) Our new home! As everyone knows, we successfully closed on our house on 8/12 without the slightest of hitches and moved in 6 days later. The move went off well, with only the mysterious disappearance of a few hand towels... Jason swears he saw our moving men using them to pad furniture and they've never been seen since. Anyway, before moving in, we managed to get the master bedroom and bathroom painted, as well as Miri's room. Miri's room had that crazy wall mural of Miller Park...
Multiple coats of primer and 1 coat of paint+primer later, they are now a lovely shade of "Timeless Lilac." We have many more house projects still to go-- painting, decorating, etc etc-- but we're at least settled enough now to live comfortably. Jason and I wish we had more progress towards being truly settled, but there simply aren't enough hours in the day.
2)Vacation/ Adam and Rochelle's wedding! Miriam took her first vacation for her uncle and aunt's wedding in late Aug/ early Sept. It was a very fun time, and the wedding was such a lovely, special day. Here are a few pictures:
a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMcuP1qAXajtsn6SukiVMQ8gqeEaCcR8HyYbvIi9uVoHXooAhS0PkPiBX_3oHE5ixmCGLhMf1U1aHo8UMt6q4QBLb-FO3BGpHP0QRbwwT4Z0gCBl8urJnC34pn4jv-9Qje5IWyutAUYxzO/s1600/ARweddingbobbie.jpg">
Can't wait to see all the beautiful wedding pictures that the very talented Bobbie Buchholz-Recob took of the wedding! I'm on pins and needles!!! 
Miri enjoyed meeting Rochelle's little cousin at the wedding!
3)Miri's one now! I'm sure my 3 or 4 faithful blog readers have all seen her birthday pictures on Facebook by now, but I will re-post one of my favorites, taken on her actual birthday while enjoying a mini chocolate cupcake.
Our lovely little lady has been bringing joy, laughter, and love into the hearts of everyone who knows her for over a year now. She is truly the most magnificent person and Jason and I are delighted and proud to be her parents.
4)Fall fun! So far, my favorite season is off to a wonderful start! And not only because my Packers are 4-0 and my Badgers are 5-0 and gave Nebraska the perfect "Welcome to the Big 10" spanking! The Bashaws have also been having non-football-related fun too. A few weekends ago, Uncle Adam and Aunt Rochelle came up to belatedly celebrate Miriam's birthday. We went apple picking and had a great time, despite Miri being under the weather with a whopper of a cold.
Miri worked on this apple for probably close to 2 hours. Forget teething toys people... just give your baby an apple! She loved it! 
Also, I went to FL for a 3-and-a-half day weekend with my amazing girlfriends! I had a wonderful time and was reminded again how blessed I am to have my BFFs in my life. The weekend was characterized by soaking up sun in the pool, drinking wine, listening to the "Country Strong" soundtrack, eating yummy food, and laughing so hard my belly ached. As much as I missed Jason and Miriam (and trust me... I missed them A TON), my soul was nourished being with my girls. I love them all so much. Every girl needs a getaway with her BFFs now and then, preferably to a warm climate. 
While I was gone, Miri and Jason got some really great bonding in. Jason did just fine all on his own w/ Miri (his first time!), as expected. He even texted me pictures of her all weekend long, which was so sweet. I am so lucky to have J as a husband, and Miri couldn't possibly have a better daddy, that's for sure. Since I came back, I noticed that she seems closer than ever to her daddy, so I think the trip worked out really well for all of us.
5)Miri's a walker! She started taking an occasional step or 2 about a week after her birthday, and just a few days ago, she really took off! I missed her first really long walk while doing laundry in the basement last Friday, but J counted 23 STEPS! She's still a little wobbly and it's not second nature yet, but this girl is on the move!
6)And a talker! Miri now consistently and appropriately uses the following words: Mama, Dada, up, uh-oh, hi, night-night, and bow-wow-wow (when you ask her what sound a dog makes). She continues to sign "more" and "milk," as she has been for the past few months. I am also 90% sure that she has intentionally, with meaning, on multiple occasions, said help, duck, apple, read, cup, Prescott, Elmo, Gammy, and I love you, but because I am a speech pathologist who takes language very seriously, I am hesistant to officially list them as words yet until I see her say each of them a few more times. My mom and Jason think I am nuts for this and don't give her enough credit. They're probably right. :)
1) Our new home! As everyone knows, we successfully closed on our house on 8/12 without the slightest of hitches and moved in 6 days later. The move went off well, with only the mysterious disappearance of a few hand towels... Jason swears he saw our moving men using them to pad furniture and they've never been seen since. Anyway, before moving in, we managed to get the master bedroom and bathroom painted, as well as Miri's room. Miri's room had that crazy wall mural of Miller Park...
Multiple coats of primer and 1 coat of paint+primer later, they are now a lovely shade of "Timeless Lilac." We have many more house projects still to go-- painting, decorating, etc etc-- but we're at least settled enough now to live comfortably. Jason and I wish we had more progress towards being truly settled, but there simply aren't enough hours in the day. 2)Vacation/ Adam and Rochelle's wedding! Miriam took her first vacation for her uncle and aunt's wedding in late Aug/ early Sept. It was a very fun time, and the wedding was such a lovely, special day. Here are a few pictures:
a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMcuP1qAXajtsn6SukiVMQ8gqeEaCcR8HyYbvIi9uVoHXooAhS0PkPiBX_3oHE5ixmCGLhMf1U1aHo8UMt6q4QBLb-FO3BGpHP0QRbwwT4Z0gCBl8urJnC34pn4jv-9Qje5IWyutAUYxzO/s1600/ARweddingbobbie.jpg"> Can't wait to see all the beautiful wedding pictures that the very talented Bobbie Buchholz-Recob took of the wedding! I'm on pins and needles!!! 
Miri enjoyed meeting Rochelle's little cousin at the wedding! 3)Miri's one now! I'm sure my 3 or 4 faithful blog readers have all seen her birthday pictures on Facebook by now, but I will re-post one of my favorites, taken on her actual birthday while enjoying a mini chocolate cupcake.
Our lovely little lady has been bringing joy, laughter, and love into the hearts of everyone who knows her for over a year now. She is truly the most magnificent person and Jason and I are delighted and proud to be her parents. 4)Fall fun! So far, my favorite season is off to a wonderful start! And not only because my Packers are 4-0 and my Badgers are 5-0 and gave Nebraska the perfect "Welcome to the Big 10" spanking! The Bashaws have also been having non-football-related fun too. A few weekends ago, Uncle Adam and Aunt Rochelle came up to belatedly celebrate Miriam's birthday. We went apple picking and had a great time, despite Miri being under the weather with a whopper of a cold.
Miri worked on this apple for probably close to 2 hours. Forget teething toys people... just give your baby an apple! She loved it! 
Also, I went to FL for a 3-and-a-half day weekend with my amazing girlfriends! I had a wonderful time and was reminded again how blessed I am to have my BFFs in my life. The weekend was characterized by soaking up sun in the pool, drinking wine, listening to the "Country Strong" soundtrack, eating yummy food, and laughing so hard my belly ached. As much as I missed Jason and Miriam (and trust me... I missed them A TON), my soul was nourished being with my girls. I love them all so much. Every girl needs a getaway with her BFFs now and then, preferably to a warm climate. 
While I was gone, Miri and Jason got some really great bonding in. Jason did just fine all on his own w/ Miri (his first time!), as expected. He even texted me pictures of her all weekend long, which was so sweet. I am so lucky to have J as a husband, and Miri couldn't possibly have a better daddy, that's for sure. Since I came back, I noticed that she seems closer than ever to her daddy, so I think the trip worked out really well for all of us. 5)Miri's a walker! She started taking an occasional step or 2 about a week after her birthday, and just a few days ago, she really took off! I missed her first really long walk while doing laundry in the basement last Friday, but J counted 23 STEPS! She's still a little wobbly and it's not second nature yet, but this girl is on the move!
6)And a talker! Miri now consistently and appropriately uses the following words: Mama, Dada, up, uh-oh, hi, night-night, and bow-wow-wow (when you ask her what sound a dog makes). She continues to sign "more" and "milk," as she has been for the past few months. I am also 90% sure that she has intentionally, with meaning, on multiple occasions, said help, duck, apple, read, cup, Prescott, Elmo, Gammy, and I love you, but because I am a speech pathologist who takes language very seriously, I am hesistant to officially list them as words yet until I see her say each of them a few more times. My mom and Jason think I am nuts for this and don't give her enough credit. They're probably right. :)
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