Playing around the house

I am new to online movie editing, so you'll have to forgive these because they are a bit choppy. For some reason eblogger isn't letting me upload individual pictures. When I go to add them, my only option is to add the entire photo library! But I'm sure you don't mind a live action video!





Those videos are also taken from my regular digital camera. I am thinking about investing in a real video camera- I must do some shopping around. I hope to have one by Christmas. But this is a good alternative, for short clips, right? :)

Miriam turns ONE tomorrow! She is constantly right on our heels as we go about the apartment. I don't think it will be long before she is walking because she is starting to cruise on furniture and push things forward. I can't get over it! To think that last year she was just a little 8lb. baby is just amazing to me! We've been through a lot this year! She's such a blessing and I'm happy to say: we've made it!

I will try to put pictures online by Sunday. We're having a little party for her over the weekend.

Miriam is crawling!

More pictures to come....enjoy the video!

Buncha Pictures!

These pictures are in no particular order, they have been taken in the last month.


Titus and Miriam- Miriam is a week older, but Titus is crawling and has more teeth. They were fast friends.

Outside of the house in NH. We didn't take any pictures at the beach!

Katarina and Miriam (cousins), playing.

On the swing outside the NH house.

Miriam and Emilie (cousins) playing.

Miriam at Prescott Park in Portsmouth, NH

On the Lawn at Fordham University

Cute eating picture.

Paul and Miriam (cousins) playing in NC.

My latest favorite picture of Miriam.

I'll try not to let so much time pass between posts next time! I need to keep my camera handy!

Here are the latest stats...from today's 9 month check up. Miriam is 20 lbs heavy and 29 inches tall. She's clapping, shaking her head no, rolling over, almost crawling, standing, and she has her lower two front teeth! We think she's close to getting the top two soon.

She's also vocalizing a lot. She says many dipthongs-- "boy-o, boy-o, boy-o", "doe-y, doe-y, doe-y" "yabba-dabba", "Mama mama", "da da", "bedo bedo" to name most.

By leaps and bounds, she's changing! I will keep you updated as she grows.

Miriam Poolside

Miriam went for her first dip in the pool! It must have been a bit shocking to her. When we put her feet in the pool she was ok- but when we brought her in up to her hips she was a stunned with the cool temperature of the water. So the swim was short, but she got in enough to "make it count".



Miriam has also learned another skill: how to clap. She's been demonstrating as much as she can. She doesn't clap socially (imitating me or her Dad), but that will soon change.






From July 4 (Special thanks to Sara, Mark and Paul for the patriotic outfit!)




Summer is here, and we're enjoying it as much as we can without melting!

A new trick

Miriam likes to stick out her tongue! She just figured out how to do it- I don't know from where because I don't stick my tongue out at her. But now that she knows she can do it, I have caught her several times. I had the camera handy!

Miriam sitting up!

Here she is knonked out. I like it because it shows how much she's grown (look back at the entry Mar 8 "Some more pictures")

Bath Time!

These pictures were taken June 18.

Miriam and the block

Miriam hasn't quite grown into her high-chair. Here are some pictures to give some perspective:





These pictures were taken June 3.

Miriam at the NY Botanical Gardens

Wednesdays, the Botanical Garden grounds are free to the public. We can walk there from the apartment, so we try to get out every Wednesday to enjoy the sights (esp now- the weather is not too hot or too cool!) In these pictures, we went to the Gardens with Natalia and her baby, Guadalupe ("Lupe"). Lupe is 6 months older than Miriam. There friends as much as they can be for babies!


Miriam really had a good time seeing all the roses. It reminded me of Portland, OR. All the roses were blooming; beautiful colors, sights and smells.



These pictures were taken June 6.

Miriam's take on carrots

However, as of today, June 24, Miriam likes: sweet potatoes, peas, pears, and apples; finds avacado acceptable; and dislikes carrots and green beans. Next on the list of things for us to try is butternut squash and peaches. No allergies yet, thankfully! She's also eating rice cereal, oatmeal and barley cereal.

Where's Miriam??

Here she is!!

Kate's Graduation, Lake Placid, and Ottawa

May 16-24, we went to Upstate New York, aka "The North Country" for Kate's graduation. It was a good time spent with family. Miriam did really well on the trip. She didn't complain much with the long car drive (6 hours!).



She had a good time with her cousin Paul and the rest of the family.





On one of the days, we went to Lake Placid. It was a typical mountain town. Unfortunately, there was construction on the main drag of town, so really all there was to see was the Olympic facilities. Lake Placid hosted the winter olympics in 1932 and 1980 (Hockey "Dream Team" win- US v. Russia).


(There happened to be a hot-rod car show on display in the hockey arena)

We also went to the ski jump site. Here is a picture of Susan, Sara and I standing on the olympic medal podium. It worked out that Kate was not with us, there isn't a fourth place medal! Sorry the place markers weren't in the picture. The funny thing is that we're standing according to birth order, Susan is 2nd born, Sara, first and me third. Good idea, but we missed the mark on the picture taking. Oh well!


Back to the ski jump....if you asked me before I went to see the ski jump if I would ever strap on skis and try the ski jump out, I would have enthusiastically said "YES". Now that I've seen it, I will think twice. Then I'd ask you to buy me a few shots of Baileys and after that I *might* say "Maybe".

I found this from a website, "The Mecca of Ski Jumping*" I'm putting my pictures in the mix of the quote so you get the idea.

"The length from the starting point to the take-off ramp is a 101-m slope with a maximum inclination of 35 degrees which is called the approach. The jumper slides down this slope at a speed of 90 kilometers per hour and reaches the take-off point.

(notice the look of a 'drop'- it's just a steep slope, but you can't tell that from my perspective.) "At the moment of take-off, many jumpers say they experience a moment of unconsciousness that lasts for about two to three seconds, which is likely a result of the factor of fear."

Keep in mind, when it is snow covered, it might be hard to judge height and distance as you are attempting fate. I don't think any amount of alcohol would empower me to do this. Sorry, feminists out there- this (olympic) sport is still for men only. But Pu-lease....if you got me to the top of the tower, I push off, I think my screams would echo from every corner of the earth! And God help me land on both feet! *sigh*


Now that I've come back to consciousness....

I'm sorry I don't have pictures of Katie on her special day to share. My camera was acting up that morning and my pictures are dark!

The day after graduation, we took a day trip across the border to Canada. It was Victoria Day, so many places were closed and the city was basically empty. We found a street with international flavor (read, the happenin' place on a national holiday!) and had falafel for lunch (yum!). When we were done eating, we were kind of looking at eachother trying to decide what to do. There was a poster ad for a tulip festival. So I asked the server where this was. He said it was about a 20 minute walk down the street. He said we couldn't miss it on the left side. We asked if we should drive or walk, and he confidently said "it's walkable".

Yeah....about 45 minutes later, and waaay off the beaten path- many turns and removed from the street he said, we arrived at the tulip festival. All was not lost, in spite of tired feet and legs and a grumpy crew, we were able to see the native Ottawa in a street fair in the park.




I hope you can see from the pictures above that we had a lovely time in the "North Country" It certainly tuckerd Miriam out!

Until next time!



*http://web.city.sapporo.jp/nordic/okurayama-e.html