Miriam

It is with great pleasure that I announce that we have a new READER in
the house!! Miss Miriam has join the ranks of the literate. She read
her very first book last night. Yes, it was one of those Bob Books for
beginning readers, but she was so incredibly proud of herself. She was
actually jumping up and down and yelling. So cute. We are so proud of
her!

Our dog Snoopy has a very bad habit of running away. He could have been Houdini dog! Seriously.
But today Miriam has found the solution to keeping him in our yard...

Miriam: Momma, I'll put up a sign to keep Snoopy in our yard.
Momma: What?
Miriam: I'll put up lots and lots of STOP signs in our yard so Snoopy will stop and not run away.
Momma: But Miriam, Snoopy can't read.
Miriam: I'll teach him.
Momma: But Miriam, dogs can't learn to read.
Miriam in her 4 going on 14 voice: Of COURSE, they can, Momma!

Well, DUH! Guess she told me!

Four years ago today, a young woman walked up a flight of stairs in a large house half way around the world. A video camera was rolling, hearts were pounding, and in the distance there was the noise of babies fussing. At the top of those stairs was the portal to a whole new world. At the top of those stairs was the answer to prayers and tears and heart longing difficult to describe.  At the top of those stairs, in the last room at the end of the hall a tiny 5 month old baby girl lay sleeping. Her caregivers woke her and placed her in my arms. She fussed for only a few seconds and then looked curiously at the strange people who were cooing over her and crying. Her life begin before me, but in many ways mine begin over that day. I walked up those stairs that morning just another woman, but I walked down them a mother.

To sorrow Jehovah shall add JOY!  Miriam Josephine Desta

Happy Family Day, my beautiful, wonderful little girl!

Day One

Fall 2006

Fall 2007

Fall 2008

Fall 2009

One of those things that we have struggled with as Christian parents is that pesky little holiday at the end of the month of October. I was raised without any acknowledgment of Halloween and never dressed up or when trick-or-treating. Brian was allowed to dressed and t-n-t, but still it was not a good holiday. Interestingly enough, I am actually the one with the least hang ups over the kids dressing up. At this point, we do not want to celebrate Halloween and all it's dark meanings, but this year we did dress the kids up for a few party type things in the week prior. I'm not sure exactly what we'll do in the years to come, but I would love to see some type of celebration of All Hallows Eve and All Saints Day. But who knows.

Anyway a few picture of our Princess, Cowboy, and the Ladybug!

Well, we have completed our first full month of homeschooling for this school year. :)

Even though Miriam is only 4, I decided to start her in a kindergarten curriculum since she is starting to read already. I felt like if we go slow she can handle it. So far it looks like I was right.  I decided to use the My Father's World From A to Z which is the kindergarten level for My Father's World (MFW) curriculum. I am very excited with how MFW has everything set up. It's easy for me the teacher. It's interesting for the kids. It is a mixer of a number of different styles of homeschooling all of which I really like. It is 100% Biblical world view. They even teach Creation Science!  

Anyway, we spent the first 2 weeks on a unit about the days of Creation. The last two weeks we have been working on unit 1 which is the letter "S" and a study of the sun. We didn't do all the activities they suggested but we did go out an play with our shadows. We even outlined them and watched how they changed over time. The kids loved that. (See picture below.)

Some people have already ask me, "How do you homeschool Miriam with two other little kids??"  Well it really isn't hard. The lessons are short, only take 30-40 minutes a day total. Evan often joins us for the lesson. I don't require that he does but when he does, I focus on letter recognition, learning colors, shapes, and counting for him. So I focus the easy preschool stuff to Evan, and the harder stuff to Miriam. When he doesn't want to do school, he plays quietly or he does Starfall on the computer. Evan LOOOVESS to do "ABC's" on the computer. (See picture.) Now Katie is bit trickier cause lit' Miss isn't missing anything! LOL Usually though I can convince her to sit in a chair and "color" or  put the crayons in and out of her bag. After awhile of that, she comes and sits in my lap as we finish up. It's really not bad at all.

As I mentioned, I am slowing the program down a little since Miriam is a year younger then expected. Each unit is designed to be 6 days. But I decided to make it into 10 days or 2 weeks.  So we do Lesson 1 on Monday. Lesson 2 on Tuesday.  Wednesday is storytime at the library and we do a worksheet or catch up if needed. Thursday is Lesson 3. And Friday we do Lesson 6 which is actually reading a book and doing activities around it.  Then the second Monday is Lesson 4. The second Tuesday is Lesson 5. Wednesday is library again.  Second Thursday is Lesson 6 again but with a different book (they give you 2-3 options each unit).  Then the second Friday we can catch up anything we need too or do other worksheets or games.  So far, so good! I may speed things up though as Miriam gets better at stuff and more used to the routine. We will see! Tomorrow we start the "M"/moon unit. Should be fun!

We were very blessed to be able to make an all expense paid trip to Dollywood this month. Brian's employer has a Family Day there as part of their yearly employee appreciation week. We got free admission for the whole family and a free meal. Since all our kids are young, we took our time getting there and didn't actually get into the park until about 11:30. Still we had a wonderful day.

There were a lot of rides even for our little kids. Besides the kiddie rides, Miriam was actually tall enough to ride all but 8 rides in the whole park (not that we even came close to riding all she could ride!) We did some for the whole family like the carousel. Miriam was standing in line for it when she spotted THE carousel animal she HAD to have. Yeah, a chicken!! LOL

Even doing kiddie rides, we soon learned that Katie liked the rides ONLY if she was with Momma or Daddy. If she wasn't the tears flowed.

We also learned that Evan is much like his father. He doesn't much care for fast, high rides. In fact Evan hates heights. So I think he only rode about 5 rides all day. We tried, he preferred to sit it out.

Miriam on the other hand... well, we couldn't get a ride high enough or fast enough for the little adrenaline junkie!! She wasn't tall enough for a real roller coaster which I think she would have loved. But she was just tall enough for their indoor roller coaster. If you ask her what her least favorite thing about Dollywood was she would say the fire in the roller coaster. The theme of this ride is that you are a firefighter rolling through the back hills of Tennessee putting out fires. It scared Miriam. However, if you ask Miriam what her favorite ride was it was also the roller coaster. Cause little Miss Fearless might not have like the "fire", but she DID like dropping 50 feet into pitch blackness at 45 miles an hour. Yup, that's my girl!! :o)

All in all, it was a really fun day! Hope we can go again next year. And maybe Miriam will have grown 6 inches. :oD

Well, Miriam and Evan had their 4 year and 3 year physicals the other week. I am happy to report they are basically healthy and certainly developmentally on track! LOL  Miriam weighted in at 38 1/2 pounds and is 42 inches tall. That puts her around 50th and 89th percentiles respectively. Evan (the dear boy) weighted in at 40 pounds and is 38 1/2 inches tall. That makes him about 60th percentile for height and somewhere around 99th for weight. They did a BMI on him which of course was off the charts. I think this is a case of US growth charts not being the best measurement of little Guatemalan boys. Thankful my Pediatrician agrees. Seriously, dude is not fat... he is just a TANK!!

Miss Miriam has always loved the color pink and is quite fond of princess things. She likes "pretties" but doesn't mind getting covered in mud.  So I don't know that I would call her a girly girl. However that may be changing. Sunday, in an attempt to trim her horrendously long toenails, I agreed to paint her toenails for the first time. She LOVES it. Unfortunately, Momma didn't have pink polish so silver had to do. She was still VERY please. Something tells me pink polish has been added to the shopping list!!

We've had a lot of rain the last month. I finally got tired of being stuck in the house so out we went. I think they had fun. :)

Miriam has become the queen of crazy stories lately, and today she tried her hand at illistration. Take a look.

We had Miriam and Evan's birthday party on June 20th. They had a really good time!  Aunt Kristin and Uncle Dave were in town and got to be here. The kids were so excited by that! They got some cool presents including 3 large floor puzzles that get put together almost everyday. Evan's cake was "Old McDonald's Farm" and Miriam had an ice cream cone theme. Here are some pictures.

Poor Miriam. She stepped on her first bee today. :( Thankfully she is not allergic and not in too much pain. I got the stinger out pretty quickly and put baking soda paste on it. She is resting quietly watching her favorite video for distraction.

Miss Miriam turned four today. How is that even possible? Wow, does time FLY by. I am reminded everyday how big she is getting, more mature, more capable!

Happy happy birthday, baby girl! Momma loves you so much. In the blogger tradition here are 4 things I love about you!
1.) Your wonderful imagination. I love the stories you are starting to tell and play out. I can't wait to hear all that is in your head!
2.) Your big beautiful smile. You can light up the whole room when you smile.
3.) Your love for all things small and furry! Yup, you are your mother's daughter!
4.) Your love for your siblings. Yes, they drive you nuts almost daily. And sometimes you let them have it, but when push comes to shove, no one has even had a better, more loyal defender then you are!

Happy 4th birthday!

Miriam has this thing about chickens. She loves them. She also has this thing about wanting to "hold" animals (that maybe a 4 year old thing, not sure). So we were at the zoo with Aunt Kristin, Uncle Dave, and Grandma W.  A few chickens had wandered away from the farm area and were over by the "animal encounter" area. Some big kids had caught them, and before I knew it, Miriam was holding the little brown one. She was doing a good job being careful so I let her keep holding it. Then the girl came out to do the animal encounter (a snake, BTW), and there was Miriam in the front row with her chicken. The girl looks at her and said in a sort of shocked tone, "You're holding a chicken! Please put the chicken down!" Miriam did as told and then walked off all dejected (head down and arms limp) saying, "Now I have NOTHING to hold!" Classic Miriam! Of course, I pretended to have no idea who's kid she was! It was all really too funny. Here is M with the chicken. 

We spent last week up in Indiana on the family farm where I grew up (hence no internet!) The kids had a great time. Lots of outside play. Up WAY to late. Eat way too much ice cream. Two trips to zoos (two different ones) involving lots of water.  Spent lots of time with Mimmi (hence the ice cream!) Got to ride on the lawn tractor with Mimmi. Got to see Aunt Kristin, Uncle Dave, and Grandma W one day as well. Fun trip!

Here are some pictures from the farm. I'll postzoo pictures tomorrow.

Brag time!!! Time for me to brag on my babies! :-D

First there is Evan. After a set back due to being one sick little dude, potty training is back on track! We had our first poopy success today!! He even told me he needed to go and held it until we made it to the potty! GOOO EVAN!! WooHoo! Maybe I can get back to one in diapers again? A Momma can dream, right?

Miss Miriam, AKA Too-Big-For-Her-Breeches, has been getting in some trouble lately for being a little smarty pants. Brian ask her the other day who was smarter, Momma & Daddy or Miriam. Without hesitation she said, "Miriam!"  Hmmm, that explains a lot! However, she really IS smart if not so wise at time. She has known her letters from sometime now on sight both name and sound. She also knows then in correct order. The last month or so she has taken to writing them (or trying to) over and over. She has gotten really pretty good! There are mistakes of course. "R" and "W" are a challenge for some reason. "S" is backwards sometimes as is "J". Over all though you could read 90% of them most of the time! She is also starting to read! She can sound out simple words... cat, mat, dad, mad, etc. Today I taught her about adding "s" to the end of these type words. She got it right away. She is starting to recognize more complex words as well things like "stop" and "spot". She also showed me that she know right away that "spot" was NOT stop and then fixed it to "Stop" on her own.

And the amazing Miss Katie... Well, she is amazing. :) Words she says: Mama, dada, that, cat, up, cup, hi, bye, "Moaw Moaw" (her cat lovey) and all done. Signs she knows and uses: up, down, yes, no, more, and all done. She waves hi and bye. She blows kisses. She says, "Shhh" and puts her little finger to her lips (too cute!) She toddles everywhere now, walking far more then she crawls. It's so amazing seeing the speed at which she is learning. She dances when she hears music (also too cute). Loves to play peek-a-boo. When you tell her "Good job" or "good girl", she starts to clap and smile so big. And the other night she even gave Momma a kiss! :)

Some pictures from our Easter egg hunt and lunch. The big kids really had this figured out this year! "Candies!!" as Evan would say!

I'm so glad I got them matching Chinese outfits.

That's the question of the week it seems! Well, it's a bit of a complicated answer as you might expect. The short answer is it could be better, but it could be a LOT worse!

The biggest issue right now is sleep--or lack thereof.  Katie is still not on our time zone. I don't like to give kids benadryl for sleep but we are getting desperate. So last night a dose of benadryl got us sleep from 9- 12:30ish. Then she was up screaming in her crib wanting to play. Second dose of benadryl followed but she really fought the sleep. Holding her, rocking her, nothing worked, so we tried melatonin again... 10 mgs finally put her out at 3AM! She was up at 6 AM for the day! UGGGGGGG!!!

The second biggest issue is that I am not feeling well. I have some stomach thing going on. I get stomach cramps every time I eat... nothing else, just cramping. It's been going on for 48 hours now and my abdomen is actually sore to the touch! I'm really wanting to feel better! Uggggg!!

Things that are going well.... that would be just about everything else!

Katie is eating well. I found things she loves... oatmeal, scrambled eggs, Mimmi's egg noodles in chicken broth, yogurt, cheerios.

Things I can't get in her... fruit or veggies of any kind! That's what happens what you get a child at the age when they are least open to trying new foods.

Katie continues to have a happy personalty despite not sleeping. She loves Momma, but if not too tired will play with Daddy while I'm not of the room. She is always happy to see Momma! :) She likes her siblings. Loves to follow Evan and was SO excited to see Miriam this AM.

Miriam is handling having a sister well. She mostly seems nonchalant about it. But has been excited about having three "hers" in the house now. I think that already being a big sister has made this easy for her. She is a little protective of Evan, and at one point when Katie took Evan's toy, Miriam took it back for him!  LOL

Evan's adjustment... Wow. I am so proud of this little guy! He really has taken to his new role as big brother like a fish to water. He has such a big heart, and it really shows in his interactions with Katie. He loves on her with hugs, sniffs (don't ask!!), and pats. He shares his toys... even ones he really wants... with her. He likes to show her things and is even getting down and crawling with her. See pictures at end of post! :) Really he is being very gentle with her, but I still keep reminding him! More later.

Not much going on here... just waiting. Waiting on visa's which should arrive midweek next week. Waiting on travel approval... hopefully that will be here by next Friday. I'm finding to hard to get motivated to do the stuff I need to do as a result. I need to clean my house well and put up 2 months of frozen meals, but no motivation here. :)

I'll leave you with a few Miriam-isms.
Heard a lot lately. "Oh no, what are we gon'ah do now?"
Heard when she wants to cuddle with me. "I want to be hers with you."  Apparently when we are apart we are not "hers".

Oh, there is one piece of posible good news. Hopefully by Tuesday we will have a new picture of our baby girl. Another family is traveling to pick up their son at her SWI and will ask to see her and get pictures. *fingers crossed*

Today has been a wealth of Miriam-isms. Since they are too cute, I'm going to share!

Miriam was playing her toy violin (which will play 18 different songs) over and over and over at the top of the stairs trying to get Grandpa to come up and play with her. Right now the batteries in this toy are almost gone so it doesn't sound the best at times. Miriam was whining about this when she turned to us and said "Ooooooh, it's the sound of mourning!" George and I had to agree that it did indeed sound like mourning. To be fair, she could have meant "morning", but it was really too funny the other way.

Conversation between Grandpa George and Miriam following reading a book about a goldfish.
Miriam: "My fish aren't goldfish."  (This is true. They are Beta fish.) "They are red and blue."
Grandpa: agreed with her
Miriam: "They like to look at their selves in the mirror."
Pause
Miriam: "Maybe they are self-fish!"

Seriously, I love this kid!

Miriam joined our family, and I became a mother. It was one of the most wonderful days of my life. She was asleep, and they woke her up and handed her to me. She was so sweet and so beautiful.... and she still is! I could not have asked for a more wonderful or perfect daughter. I love you Pookie!

Miriam did it. She read her first word today!! Brian wrote "eggs" on a piece of paper, held it up, and ask, "what does this say?" She immediately answered, "eh-guh-guh-sssss".  Brian said, "put it together." And she said, "eh-guhguhsss...EGGS!!!
I'm so proud!!

It is with a bit of sadness that I report one more piece of evidence that my baby girl is growing up. Miriam can now correctly say her name. So good-bye "Mee-uhm", I miss you alrerady.

I'm really almost afraid to say it.... BUT Miriam is finally daytime potty trained.  Praise the Lord!!! WOOOHOOO!!

Last Monday night she just decided she wanted to sit on the potty and she did every 15 minutes for about 2 hours... then SUCCESS, for the first time since that wonderful day the end of June! The rest of the week she went at least once or twice a day, but we also had a few accidents and I didn't think she really knew when she needed to go. Then Saturday the light went on... she went to the potty all by herself. I didn't even know she was in there until I heard "MOMMA!! I PEED!!" Then half an hour later she also put poopoo in the potty all on her own.  We have not had an accident since then.

Poor Evan.  He learned his first lesson about female behavior today.

Miriam woke up today rather grumpy.  Evan had two books of hers and was running around with them.  I asked him to return them to her room where they belong.  As he was doing this, she called after him, "One book, Please!!"  He kept going and yelled "NO!!" over his shoulder.  Immediately, she turned on the tears... full out fake crying!  Poor Evan fell for it.  He came back and offered her both books. While she DID stop crying, she humphed and turned away refusing to take either book.  Evan offered each book in turn and each time she humphed and turned away.  Poor Evan. He looked at me with a look of complete confusion and exasperation.  Sorry dude... it just gets worse.  As your father said, "You're never going to understand and you're rarely going to win!" (Hummm... should I be offended by that???)

Because I'm a bad mother a bad blogger, I am just now writing the kids' 2 & 3 year updates or as the case really is 2.2 and 3.2 year update!

Evan at 2 (and 2 months): weight 33 pounds ( 94 percentile) and height 34.5 inches ( 46 percentile).  Evan is starting to talk more finally.  I really think he just has no need to talk with M always talking.  He is now saying two word phrases/ sentences on a regular basic and will repeat things for me now if he's in the mood (ex. tonight I got him to say "napkin please").  He understands about anything I say to him, and he is Momma's little helper!  He is in a whining stage which I will be very glad to get through!! He runs around like a crazy boy and LOVES to jump. He'll go anywhere Sissy goes. :)

Miriam at 3 (and 2 months): weight 34 pounds ( 75 percentile) and height 39.5 inches ( 88 percentile). This girl is nothing but TALK, TALK, TALK! She also has quite the imagination these days and loves to pretend things. She also likes to tell her brother what to do and even tell him what he is feeling! She is getting more and more independent.  She still loves to read and sing and now dance.

So after recovering from the charlie horse from Hell (I could barely walk for 24 hours!), I decided it was time to take back my garden from 2 weeks worth of unchecked weed growth this morning.  So M & E and I headed out the door. Things were going well until I realized they were doing more then "just resting" under the apple tree. The little rascals had helped themselves to the green apples and had taken bites out of 3-4 each before settling on one that was not quite as sour and eating 1/3 of it! Sheeeeee.....

So out of the blue Miriam has started biting! Last Friday we were out in a public place where she couldn't run loose like a wild animal, so I made her hold my hand.  She got tired of the "dead weight game" not working and bit me! Then yesterday she bit poor Evan on the cheek. He came to me crying and holding his cheek, saying "Sissy bie!! Sissy bie!!" And there was the proof of what he was saying for all to see! Then today in the space of 10 minutes she bit him twice, once on the cheek and once on the back! Where did this come from??

at the end of the potty training tunnel!  Oh, please, PLEASE, don't be a train!!!

Miriam kept her panties dry all morning with three pee pees in the potty!!  To be fair, this was the result of Momma putting her on the potty every hour to hour and a half, BUT in the past that never worked. ALSO, she asked to sit on the potty and 5 minutes later we had our first EVER poop in the potty!! WOOOHOOOOOOOOO!! Oh, please let this keep up!! 

Miriam saw a rake the other day.  Not remembering what it was called she came up with a new name: leaf fighter.  Love it!

Yesterday we attended a church pool party with both kids.  It is the first time Miriam had been in a real pool that she could remember.

I have a new song: (sung to the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It")

Oh I wish I could kill a mosquito
Oh I wish I could kill a mosquito
For their a bitty and a bitey over everybody's hidy
Oh I wish I could kill a mosquito

Miriam is finally officially a US citizen!!  Well, she has been one technically since Dec 2005 when we re-adopted her here in the US, but the US Government requires that you fill all kinds of crazy paperwork and pay them hundreds of dollars in order to be able to prove that!  I sent off all the paperwork last May...  It just took them all of a year, but today we finally got her Certificate of Citizenship!!  Yea!  All the paperwork for Miriam is FINALLY done.

I was so proud of Miriam today.  I've helped her sit on the "big girl" swing a half dozen times or so, but would only swing her a few feet very slowly... not really swing at all.  Today Daddy put her on the swing and started pushing more and more.  By the end of the afternoon, he was pushing her high, not over his head or anything crazy, but MUCH higher then before.  She even started leaning and pumping.  She looked so big. *tear*  My baby is growing up so much!

Let me count the ways! As some have been forced to hear before, potty training is hands down the WORST thing about parenting so far. I hate it. I HATE it. I hate IT! Unfortunately I also am tired of changing diapers... and washing them... and folding them... and changing them... and washing them... etc. I truly am at a loss to understand how a child as intelligent as my almost three year old can be so at lost as to what to do on a potty. La sigh.

Conversation with Miriam last week.

Miriam: "Who this?" (points to self)

Mommy: "Miriam?"

Miriam: "No!  I Sissy! That's Brother." (points to Evan)

Mommy: "That's right Miriam.  Evan is your little brother and you are his big sister."

Mommy: "Do you want a little sister?"

Miriam: (pause) "Not really." 

Miriam is refusing to has no interest in potty training... other then getting a "mallow" (marshmallow) for sitting on the potty.  Once in a great while we get a little pee-pee in the potty, but that's rare.

The other day I heard loud crying coming from the other room. In runs Evan sobbing and rubbing his head, followed by Miriam.  After picking up Evan, I ask Miriam, "What did you do?"  Very sweetly she replied, "I hit my Evan on the head!"

We had a great Easter this year. We got the kids up and took them to sunrise service like we do every year... not that there was a sunrise that you could see this year! :) Then breakfast with everyone at church. Then home to get ready for the service.

Miriam and Evan created an interesting game tonight. Miriam would fall over and then call out "Evan, you get up." Evan would run over to her, grab her by the shoulders, and while saying "Up, up, up, up" would pull her to her feet. Miriam would then fall over again, and it all repeated. After about the 6th time of hauling his sister to her feet, Evan looked at me and heaved a loud sigh. It was all way too cute. And I still can't believe he actually was able to get pull her up!

and this time he is trying to make Miriam a cannibal... well, maybe.

Miriam has started to pretend that she is making guest appearances on Elmo's World answering Dorothy's questions. For example we often hear this: "Hi, Dor-phee. This is how I jump! (jump) See Dor-phee?"

Well this week Miriam invented a new one. "Hi, Dor-phee! This is how I eat Momma! (bites in Momma's direction) See Dor-phee?"

Yeah, very funny Dor-phee. Just wait, I'll get you and your little red monster friend too!!

Today is one of those days when Miriam's communication seems to take a quantum leap forward. She has been talking so much today with a ton of completely unprompted comment/sentences as well as a number of words I have never heard her say before.  Most notably two three syllable words... used correctly with all three syllables pronounced.

Sleepy was riding in a dump truck and Miriam informed me that "Truck is dangerous, Momma!"

Later something was hurting Miriam's eye.  The following comments were overheard:

You know it's a bad day when your stuffed puppy mauls you!

This little guy has been seen "mauling" Miriam lately. Well, at least, she has been seen running around the house screaming and telling Sleepy to "STOP!" while he continues to attack her face. Seriously, how bad is it when you stuffed puppy turns on you?

P.S. To be fair, it is also possible that Sleepy is simply licking her since she has been known to exclaim during an attack, "No lick you Sleepy!"

Conversation after finishing Miriam's hair today.

Mommy:  You're hair is pretty!

Miriam: My hair is happenin'!!

Mommy: Did you just say your hair is "happenin'"??

Miriam: Yup.

Mommy: Where did you hear that?

Miriam: You said it!

Uh, well, yes, just now I did... LOL 

Heard at our house today..

"It's okay Momma, vacuum cleaner will hurt you." While she meant to say "won't" not "will", her little slip actually reveals her own great fear of the vacuum cleaner. Which explains the loud wailing and gnashing of teeth abundant tears earlier in the day when I ran the vacuum for 2 minutes. And I thought she was finally over this....

Miriam hearts Sesame Street. I mean really really hearts Sesame Street. God forbid you say the "Street" word when the show isn't actually on. You will get a 5 minute tantrum because you can not produce "STREET!!" for the little princess.

So in the process of learning to talk like all kids Miriam says some cute stuff. One of the latest involves diaper rash cream. At first she saw the white stuff going on Evan's bottom and called it "ice cream". I corrected her, but the wires still got crossed. She now talks about "diaper ICE cream"!!
So then I tell Brian the cute little story. He looks at me very seriously and asks. "What do you call diaper ice cream?" His answer? "Frosty!"

My dear, sweet, baby girl,
Time is a funny thing... On one hand it doesn't seem possible that two years have passed since I first saw your beautiful face as you lay sleeping in your crib at the Care Center. You're growing so quickly. The little baby is all gone and in front of me is this sweet, beautiful little girl full of giggles and mischief and silliness.
On the other hand, how can it only be two years since you entered my life? What did I do before my day was full of your happy songs and flying feet? It feels like you've always been here.

It is a sad day at Westhaven today. We lost Sleepy. I don't know how... one minute he was there and 10 minutes later when a tired mommy with a headache finally got both kids strapped into the car I realized we didn't have him. So... I unload both kids and with the headache now at full force headed back into Wal*mart to look for him. I searched for 30 minutes retraced my steps but alas no Sleepy. I fear the lovable little guy is gone for good. It was heart breaking to hear Miriam call for him as if he could answer... "Here Sleepy! Sleepy, where are you?"

So Saturday lunch was a little late since we had been outside dumping sand on each other... I mean, enjoying a nice fall day. Due to the late lunch and/or having to leave the sand pile, both of my children were very whiny. They continued to whine all the way through lunch. At one point, Miriam was whining that she wanted ham not the turkey she had. When I told her I didn't have ham to give her, she REALLY started to whine. At which point, I joked to Brian...

or not.
Well, Evan is finally sleeping through the night. *happy dance* *happy dance*
BUT... Miriam has decided to start waking up at 5 AM and needing Mommy to sleep the rest of the night.
I guess I should be happy it isn't both of them, right?

...or Where in Evan Becomes a Blood Sucker
It started out as a perfectly lovely day. We had just returned home from shopping and the park. I was starting lunch for the three of us, and the children where happily playing with each other.

We're a football family. At least as far as watching sports goes. Brian tends to really get into the games and yell things at the TV. Thankfully nothing bad. :)
Anyway... this last weekend we were able to watch the last Colt's preseason game. Brian did his normal yelling. No one thought more of it. That is until a commercial for the next game came on later.
Miriam took one look at it. And started yelling. "GO!! GO!! GO!! GO!!! YES!! YES!!"
Too cute!

Well, Miriam has been paying attention and something is sinking in!

Miriam (sing): "Daddy! Daddy! God made me!! Mommy! Mommy! God made me!!"
Mommy: "Yes, He did sweetheart, and what a good job He did too!"
Miriam: "Thank you!"

So, what exactly do you do with a child who *likes* timeout?? Miriam has started putting her self in the corner (face to the wall) with a big ol' smile saying "Timeout!!" She also doesn't want to come out of timeout when she has been placed in it by Mommy. Yup, she's a weird kid... but to be in this family she needs to be. :)

Well, it finally happened... I knew it would and it did the other night. To understand this story you need to know that Miriam has her own cell phone given to her by her daddy. It's a real phone, but it doesn't have service so no big deal if she dials a number. Well, except for ONE phone number, have you guessed it yet?

As I watch this little girl grow everyday, I see more and more what an incredible, amazing little person she is. I am blessed beyond words to have been given the honor of being her mother. Here are a few recent Miriam stories.
Their first argument

Miriam is 18 months! She is growing so fast... where has my little girl gone?
She is 23 pounds and 8 ounces, the 45 percentile for weight, and 33 inches which is the 80 percentile for height!
She's our little talker. Here's what she is saying these days:

What Miriam can say these days...
No, hi, hello, bye-bye, peek-bo, thank you, done, more, down, up (comes out "up-ah" often), Mommy, Daddy, Miriam, "Gee" (Grandpa), kitty, pet (the kitty), cracker (food in general), cookie, drink, sippy (cup), (out)side, Bite-bite, Sleepy (her stuffed puppy), book, sock, shoe, apple
She will also try to parrot a lot of other words. Today she tried to count after Brian. If I say "goldfish" she says cracker. :) The other morning she woke me up screaming, "Mommy, upah! Mommy, upah!!"

Miriam is getting a bit of a vocabulary...
Words we hear often:
Hi!! (Said over and over at every POSIBLE moment)
NO!! (*sigh* don't know how she learned that one... she only hears it a few hundred times a day!)
Da-da
Ma-ma
Kitty!! (said at a scream!)
Baby
Words we occasionally hear...
Bye
puppy
bite-bite (when she's hungry)
thank you
ei-ei-o (okay, I know that's not a word exactly but she loves to try to sing Old McDonald)
Miriam
up
baba (bottle)
ouch (yes she said this when she hit her head!)
Yeah!!
Meow (okay, more of a sound then a word, but hey!)

Well, Miriam is now one year old! She has grown so much just in the past few weeks. Besides learning to crawl, she is working on pulling up to stand. She is all over the house now checking our baby proofing skills. The other day, I found her at the gate to the stairs shaking it for all she was worth. Her favorite game besides chewing on the glass! coffee table is chasing the poor cats.
She has great fine motor skills and has started staking two blocks on top of each other. She still wants me to feed her as she doesn't put most things in her mouth... which I'll not complain about!

Yup, if finally happened. Miriam figured out how to get those legs to go forward! She's been crawling backward for a month or so now and also doing this "sit up, lean forward, sit back up, lean forward again" thing to get around. However yesterday she learned how to truly crawl! I saw her move a few inches forward in the afternoon but couldn't get her to do it again... then Daddy came home. Miriam crawled about four feet across the floor to get to her Daddy. So sweet!

Well, it finally happened. After all that chewing and drooling, Miriam has teeth!! In two weeks time she how has three teeth through.
Her hair is just long enough to the top where they didn't shave it to do a little something with so yesterday we tried for the first time. Miriam was not happy about it. :-( After about 15 minutes and a few tears, I got three little pigtails in... but by early evening they were out again. Oh well, I tried. :-)
I'll post pictures of the teeth (like the one to the left) and hair "do" soon.

Miriam is nine months old now. She can sit like a pro, reach all over for toys, pick up little things with her finger and thumb, roll form side to side, stand with something to hold on to, rock from side to side, laugh her little head off, make every sound in the English language, say "mama" and "dada" but is still learning that means us, imitate sounds and expressions, growl and hiss, blow the loudest "raspberries", clap her hands, play "patty cake", and lots of other things!

Can I just say Miriam is getting to be so much fun! Now that she can sit really well, she is much happier to play while I try to get a few things done around the house. I know I know... you're thinking housework can wait... babies grow up... I know this is true but I happen to be one of those people who are emotionally upset by a cluttered and dirty house so getting a little done makes me feel much better about myself and life in general!

We've had Miriam for just over three months now! We have settled into a routine of sorts and Miriam is doing very well. She has finally started to sleep through the night most nights except for waking once or maybe twice. Much better then before!
She is sitting very well these days and plays well with her toys. She still refuses to roll over. She looks at me like I'm nuts when I try to get her to do it.

Today is my last day of maternity leave. I have to return to work tomorrow. I really wish I didn't have to go back to work. I just want to stay home with Miriam, but until Brian gets a job with benefits this is what I have to do.
We are at least lucky enough not to have to hire a babysitter as Brian will be able to watch Miriam since I will only be working weekends.

Wow! How times flies! We've been home for two months as of today.
Miriam has gone from 13 pounds even and 25 inches long on home coming to 16 pounds and 12 ounces and 27 inches long on Wed. She is now wearing her 6-9 month clothes. My little girl is getting so big. :-)

Yesterday we learned that the second urine culture is clear! Yeah!!! No more medications for right now. I can't tell you the relief I feel.

Well, we have been to see our Doctor four times now and have to go back AGAIN tomorow. Miriam was found to have a urinary tract infection (UTI) on her first visit after we returned home. She had no symptoms so we had no idea.

Good morning everyone and HAPPY THANKSGIVING! It is a beautiful day here in east Tennessee... sun shining, baby sleeping :-)... what more can you ask for?

Well, Miriam finally slept through most of the night last night. One of the main reasons Danielle and I haven't posted anything on the website the past few days is our lack of sleep. Last night, though, Miriam slept from midnight to 5am, after a block from 9pm to almost midnight. That allowed Danielle and I to get nearly the same amount of sleep ourselves. We are all in much better moods today.

Today we got a scan of Miriam's birth certificate. It lists us as the adoptive parents, with her name created by the usual Ethiopian formula: the first name is Tideg, which they gave her at the care center, but the middle name comes from her father's first name. So the full name on her birth certificate is Tideg Brian $%^&. Very odd. Her legal name will be changed to the name on this website after we get to the states. Anyway, here is the picture of her from the birth certificate, a "mugshot" of sorts.