22 month update! A few days early **updated

Time for a 22 month development update for Miss Miriam:

Had a verbal explosion starting at the beginning of July. It felt that way to me anyway

Says cute things like "Daddys wort!" which means "Daddy is at work." which she tells me at least 5 times a day.

Can identify many letters on her alphabet puzzle by name, and can put pieces in the correct spots. The newest letter she learned is "W" for which she usually says "dooble"

Counts to 10 - well mostly. I started doing this as a way to keep her still during diaper changes. It only worked until she learned to count to 10. Her favorite number is 8. She usually skips 6 and 7 when we are counting and just says "eight, eight" until we get there. I thought she didn't know seven, but have caught her saying it when she counts to herself.

Loves loves loves her kitty.

Runs. This is another cute one. She now says "Ready, Set, Go!" and starts running down the hall or sidewalk and then cries "Runnin'!"

Has started saying "Nokay!" instead of just "No!" Some of the time. **All of the time

**Has two speeds. Stop and Run.

**Doesn't like me putting bubbles in her hair to "wash" it, but will put bubbles on her head herself

Because I am posting this early, I'll probably think of more as the weekend elapses....

Before I was the mom

Before I was the mom I thought I would like to have a cat. Remember kittens? How they were so cuddly and sweet how they sat on your lap and purred?

Now: If you didn't sneeze on me and puke on my floor and try and scratch my sofa - not to mention Miriams little leather chair that was a GIFT (that cat was 2 seconds from death) and meow at me and constantly sit on my lap AND if I wasn't the one who frequently cleans your catbox...maybe I would like you

Before I was the mom I thought a lot about types of bottles and sippy cups and the order of introducing foods. Not to mention other baby "details" like "oh poo -pun totally intended- nobody knows my secret about how I've never EVER changed a diaper before." And swaddling the Teddy Bear...no joke although our type of swaddle does require a certain amount of practice...

Now: Lets just say...I won't be spending a lot of time on that again.

Finally Fall!, by Maggie Cox

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.

Getting Started Blogging

Two years ago I was almost 7 months pregnant and I had just returned from Seattle, where my husband had done his internship. We were getting ready for a new quarter at school - not to mention a new quarter of our lives! I'd spent many weeks at my Uncles watering plants, cooking meals, watching A Baby Story and Food Network - not really enjoying Seattle due to my lack of funds. I was however spending plenty of time reading up on everything baby, especially at Parents.com, which I hadn't chosen for any reason accept it was the site for the only parenting magazines I currently received.

A few weeks into our return home, however, I found myself spending the weekend in the hospital trying to make sure that our baby did not arrive early. She didn't arrive that weekend and I got sent home on medication on bed rest. To say the least, I had a LOT of time on my hands. Even more then I had in Seattle - and nothing I could do with it. I could sit in my recliner, read, watch shows, walk to the bathroom, get some food, sit back down. Thinking back on it..yuck!

That is when I started blogging. At the time I was spending a good few minutes each day on My Space. I didn't have much else to do, so I started blogging there. But really I got the idea from the blogs I read on Parents.com. After Miriam was born I decided to start a blogspot so that I could share with more people. And now, I've been blogging for almost two years.

I bring this up because Parents.com is doing an overhaul of their community section of the website. The two gals I've spent the last two years reading from, who inspired me to write down what we were going through - one who I even wrote a post for when she was a few days postpartum, are now in their last few days of blogging at Parents.com.

I'll still get to follow them on their personal blogs. It just is a little sad not to have my inspiration give me my weekly (or tri-weekly) dose of blogging goodness. Thanks ladies, for helping me discover my inner writer.

*Keep in mind that the links will only be good through Monday!

House part deux

Our loan was approved today! Wait. Is this happy, or scary, or something else?
We're just waiting on a few repairs still. I have some pictures from a higher resolution camera so, here they are!

The 5K I never thought I could run

Do I look like I just jogged 3.1 miles?
Trust me, I felt that way. I felt flushed and wet and out of breath. Shortly after I had noodle legs. But I felt really good. Like, really good. Like, this whole "healthy living" thing might be totally worth it, good.

I've never been a runner. Never. Not even as a gymnast (although I was probably in fabulous shape then). But I was able to jog most of the 5K. The last mile was hard. I probably walked 1/4-1/2 mile. I kept starting and stopping at landmarks. Until the last time when I saw my finish-line person 1/4 mile away and I was able to focus on them instead of my burning legs.

I wish I could point you to some good couch-5K running program. But I didn't start from the couch and it's not like I've been out practicing 3+ times a week. I've been walking 3 miles on Saturdys for the last month, which was all I could do. Last week was the first time I ran AT ALL. And it was a mile, broken into two segments.

I'm not sure I would have even done it at all if the ladies from my ward hadn't started the race off jogging. I wasn't in the mindset of "hey, I'm going to go run this whole thing" But we started off jogging and I felt dang good and suddenly I realized "It's been a mile! Okay so I'll push through to the turn around point! (At approximately 1.5miles) Yeah, I can do that." But then I just kept jogging and had gone over 2 miles before I hit the wall (you know, I think I am going to um...throw up or faint) and had to break it up with some walking.

Final time: 33min. 12seconds.

I'm fairly pleased. 8th out of 30 people.

And look at what Weight Watchers gave me:



The number tags were kinda neat too.

And I might actually do this again!

I've only posted twice in August and the second time I used a picture I've already used

But this is not a picture I've used:
That is the layout of our house. After a couple hours of Bill and Jeff (our realtor) measuring EVERYWHERE. Because of needing to decide on flooring. I was thinking - you know - fridge and curtain measurements. But oh yes, flooring. But look at what my husband did with all that information!
More house updates soon!