Looking Back

Most of the videos I take are solely for the purpose of keeping Miriam entertained. She loves to sit in front of the computer and watch videos of her and Simon (so do I). Therefore a lot of them are just her playing and such. However, the other day I was realizing that I took some cute videos last year that I never even posted. (Mostly for my family who was far away) I have been trying to figure how to incorporate videos that are a year old into my posts. There probably isn't a good way, so over the next couple of weeks I am just going to post some old videos of Miriam and Simon.

January 2011

January 2012

Looking at pictures is one thing, but once I see these videos I realize how much kids change in a year. Which brings me to my next point. The only way we have to take video right now is our regular SLR camera. Not very efficient. We had a Flip video camera, but it broke... yup flat out won't work... bummer. We need to get a new video taking device. Any suggestions?

Nightly Ritual

My dear sweet Miriam has always thrived on routine, have I mentioned this before? Anyway, every night at about seven o'clock Simon is tired so we start getting ready for bed. This is the way it goes and don't you dare try changing it up:

• Kids get undressed and play on Mom and Dad's bed
• Mom and Dad wrestle to get kids in pajamas
• Kids brush teeth
• Family prayer
• Mom puts Simon to bed first while Dad and Miriam read books
• After Simon is down it is time to read the Book of Mormon with Miriam

When I come out this is how I find them every night:

Miriam thinks it is so much fun to hide from Mom. She has a hard time not laughing and giving away the hiding spot.

To finish out the routine I rock and sing with Miriam. We say her prayer, go potty, give Dad kisses, and off to bed (hopefully Simon is fast asleep by this time, which he usually is). It makes me so happy to see Miriam having so much fun with Michael. During the week this is the only special time they have to spend together. I hope she will always remember hiding with Dad.

First Primary Prayer

Miriam was asked to say the opening prayer in primary today. We talked about it all week with her. She was so excited. She went up and said it all by herself! I was so proud of her. The only downside was that nobody could hear it. The microphone in the primary room wasn't working, so the only person who heard her prayer was me (and Heavenly Father of course). She said she was "thankful for coming to church". She said "bless us to be kind and brave". She said "we are thankful for all we can do today". Miriam's prayers amaze me each day. She is always so thoughtful and sincere in everything she says. These are the moments when I feel like we are teaching her the way we should. It is so nice to know something is sinking in. I hope to be able to teach her more about the gospel and the way she should live her life each day.

Stylish

I decided to try styling Simon's hair after his bath last night. His hair is pretty long on top (By the way, I totally attribute this to cutting his hair early. Soon after Simon turned two months old we cut/shaved his hair. I think this did two things: It evened it all out and made it grow in faster. We have trimmed his hair about every six weeks since then. I get a lot of comments on his hair.) But I digress.

6.19.2011

Anyway, last night I gave Simon somewhat of a mohawk. I think it is cute. His hair doesn't really stay styled though. We would have to add product if we wanted it to stay... hmmm we shall see.

the flash was a little bright for him

Miriam loves to accessorize. Her favorite book right now is Fancy Nancy. She loves to put on all her pink stuff and "go to the store". This morning she told me she was ready to go to Costco, so I snapped a couple pictures of her being fancy.

Unconventional

Why sleep the right way on your bed...

...when you can sleep like this:

18 days

Eighteen days and I am just getting to our year in review for last year. Actually I just barely thought about it this week. I thought it would be fun to post all the pictures we took of our family last year. I mean, who doesn't want to see all those pictures?

 January

April (none for February and March - blame pregnancy)

May

June

July (lots of fun to be had during the summer)

August

September

October

November (I only posted one - lots more here)

December

2011 was an amazing year for us. I love looking back at the great memories we made. It is fun to see how much Miriam and Simon have changed. Look out 2012... here we come.

Miriam and Simon visit the doctor

Miriam is three years old so it was time for her annual well-child visit. Since I know how much everyone loves hearing how big my kids are, here you go (or it might be because I want to look back and remember for myself). Miriam is 39 inches tall and weighs 35 pounds. She is in the 75 percentile for both height and weight, so she is proportionate. I just had a thought, how long before it won't be kosher to tell you all how much my daughter weighs. It won't be long before she won't want this information shared. For now, she has no choice.

Simon is nine months old and to make things easier on myself I took him for his well-child visit at the same time as Miriam ("smart mom" move for me). Simon is 29 inches tall and weighs 22 pounds. He is also in the 75 percentile for both height and weight, proportionate as well.

I am so happy to have two healthy children. They are both growing and developing really well. Miriam and Simon are happy kids and really love each other... most of the time. I feel so blessed to have them in my life.

By the way this is post number 300. Go me.

nine months

We are only three months away from Simon's first birthday. Craziness! He is growing so fast. His personality is really starting to shine through. He gets a lot of attention from women wherever we go. His big blue eyes and chubby cheeks get them every time. What a charmer!

So much has changed this past month for Simon. He now had two teeth on bottom (see above picture) and one on top that is ready to break through very soon. He is learning how to feed himself. He is trying all kinds of new food. Our biggest development over here this past month...

...Simon can scoot.

He even ended up under the table today.

Taking pictures has become a game. As in let's see if I can get away from Mom. This is why I am thankful for digital. I take a million pictures and hope I get a good one. I was sure today was a bust, but after looking through all of them it is hard to pick just a couple to post.

For lack of a better term some "fun facts" about Simon:
*He loves the swiffer-vac. Every time I turn it on to sweep he gets super excited.
*Every time we bathe him he wants to climb out of the tub, so we just have to lay him on his back.
*He takes off his right shoe every time we get in the car.
*He is wearing 12-18 months clothes. I hope I have enough to last through the winter before he grows out of them.
*He is sleeping through the night, YAY! I count ten hours (about 8:00 to 6:00) then back to sleep until 7:30 as sleeping through the night.
*We are still working on teaching Simon new signs and hope he catches on as well as Miriam.

NOTE: nine month appointment next Monday... stats to come...

The holiday rush is over

Now that we have some down time at home, the kids and I have just been hanging out. I feel like I had so much to blog about there for a while. Lately we have just been doing the regular day to day stuff. By why can't that be blog worthy?

 playing together before bedtime 

(notice how I actually got them both to look at the same time... miracle)

dressing up

 catching up on some zzzz's

Being a mom is absolutely the best. I have such a great time staying home with my kids. I feel so blessed to have a husband that works so hard to make this possible. I feel like I am living the dream.

Happy New Year

It is hard to believe that 2011 has come and gone, but we are excited to see what 2012 has in store for our family. We decided to celebrate the new year with a little bit more Christmas. We didn't get a chance to visit the Washington DC Temple lights last week so we thought we should go on the last day. It was a little bit rainy, but not too cold at all. Miriam loved looking around in the visitor's center and pushing buttons. We are glad we have made this a tradition for our family.