Sunday, March 28, 2010

The BIG Ride

Today is day #1 of the BIG ride! My brothers, Lorin and Dean are riding their bikes over 2,500 miles across Australia from Perth to Sydney. The ride is planned to take a month and I'll be there with the whole family to meet them at the finish line. It's so exciting! If you'd like to check out their progress, go to their website at www.blindcourage.com. You can also follow them on twitter or facebook.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Wiggle and Sneak

No, I'm not refering to the traditional english dish known as "bubble and squeak"--I'm refering to Miriam and her covert occupation... I've never yet seen her do it, but each time I turn away or leave the room, she's somewhere other than where I layed her. If I watch her, she'll only roll or scoot a foot or less, but I swear she waits for me to turn my back so she can sneak, sneak, sneak, sneak, sneak... I suppose you'll tell me she gets it from her father. Joe is known for eating his mother's Weight Watchers chocolate popsicles while hiding out in the pantry. Me? You might not have known that when I was little I used to clandestinely snack on kitty kibble. Does any hope remain for this child?

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Pictures!

Here's our little princess after a bath. Pictures taken Feb 2010.Joe and Miriam.
The Fort Worth Water Gardens on Joe's dad's birthday weekend. See the following post for details.
The BYU versus TCU basketball game. Also, see following post for details. GO COUGARS!!

Monday, March 8, 2010

Big Weekend

This weekend we celebrated Joe's dad's birthday. Also, Miriam is officially five months old.

We spent a fun Saturday pretending to be tourists in downtown Fort Worth; We visited the Omni Hotel and the Water Gardens and we took lots of pictures (which I'll have to post ASAP). I'm kicking myself that I didn't know about the Water Gardens when my family were visiting last October/November. Hopefully I'll have another opportunity to show them. We all had a good time although I think I enjoyed it more than anyone. I also found the Water Gardens to be among the most challenging navigation experiences I've had in a while with so many stairs and drop-offs with water running everywhere. Still, my record for most challenging is the Spit to Manly hike around Sydney Harbour when I last visited in 2006. That was challenging in a different way though, with so many rippled and uneven sandstone steps and rocky terrain. The Water Gardens on the other hand was just a matter of navigating over straight-edged steps, but there were gaps between each tall step with water gushing through, so although it was reasonably predictable, the stakes were higher if I made a mis-step.

On Saturday evening we donned our BYU gear and went to the BYU versus TCU basketball game. I thought the blues would be in the minority among the crowd, but boy was I surprised--we dominated. One TCU fan said we were "like cockroaches"--blue cockroaches that came up out of nowhere and took over the place! *laughs* Despite a crummy start, BYU won by thirty points.

We celebrated the birthday win with a barbecue dinner. While eating, we looked over at Miriam in her carseat to find that she had managed to pick up her little half bottle of milk left over from the car ride and was swigging away. We've never seen her do anything like this before. She changes so fast and never ceases to amaze. I suppose lingering hunger brought out her resourcefulness.

I regret to say that Miriam had her first accident on Sunday at church involving a split second, a countertop, and a hard floor. It was awful and I was sure in that moment that I was the worst mother in the world, but luckily for us all her diaper absorbed most of the impact and she has recovered a hundred times faster than me. That was the one event that marred the weekend, but thankfully no harm done and I learned a few valuable lessons, not the least of which is how precious that little firl is to me. I also think I need to learn to be more calm and constructive and less panicky and shame-filled just in case I ever have to deal with a real emergency.

I can hardly go on with this post, but the day did improve with a birthday dinner and a Sunday drive. It was in the end an enjoyable weekend and we all lived to tell the tale

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Miriam at 4.5 Months

Poor Miriam has a cold. Until the last few days she was beginning to make a breakthrough with her sleeping habits; A few times last weeks he almost slept all the way through the night from 10pm to 6am. I say"almost" because on each of those nights she woke up once but wentright back to sleep when I put a binky in her mouth. On those nights she went the whole night without eating though, so that constitutes a breakthrough considering that she most nights still eats twice.

As for my sleeping habits, I'm much more a night owl than I used to be. For example, Joe's dad has been staying with us for a while now and the other night he got home really late after a super long day of renovating houses. He walked in the door right after Joe and I had gone to bed. Joe had already fallen asleep and I decided to get up and say hi, mostly because I hate the thought of a man coming home to zero greeting. So, we chatted for fifteen minutes or so while he made himself some dinner. (Just as a side note, Dave has been a fairly easyhouse guest for the past two months. He's no trouble, buys a few groceries here and there, and loves baby Miriam. He keeps saying he'll be moving into his own place soon, but in any case, we all seem to be getting along rather well and time has flown.)

I sleep in until around 7:30 or 8 most days. Well, I mostly cat napafter Miriam eats at 4 or 5 and Joe gets up at 6. Miriam usually wakes up again somewhere in there too.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Cowtown Half Marithon 2010

Here we all are: Joe, Louise, Miriam, and Michelle after the Cowtown Half Marithon in Fort Worth last Saturday. Joe ran the half while Michelle ran the 5k and Miriam and I were the cheer squad along with our friend Tiffany Anderson, whose husband, Adam, was also running. It was a beautiful sunny but brisk morning. Congratulations to our runners! Joe's time was 1hr 49mins; He's quite satisfied. Also, his medal is pretty nifty--it is designed so that if you earn five medals over successive years, the wedges will fit together to make a texas star.