Miriam is 4

Miriam spent the weekend before her birthday with her Gigi and Papa! She had a blast. They went out to eat, saw family, and Gigi took her to the spa for a manicure and pedicure. When they brought her home, we celebrated Landon, Gigi, and Miriam's birthdays in style!

Miriam has seen this cake every time we've been in Publix for the last year. EVERY TIME she sees it she reminds me it is her birthday cake! She was so happy to finally have her birthday cake!

Miriam is a happy, enthusiastic child. She is always on the go, unless Sofia is on TV. She loves to help me and often does something to help before she is even asked. Her favorite colors are Pink and Purple. She loves going to church and seeing her friends. I am so grateful that I got a daughter! She is a true joy in my life and in the life of everyone she meets!

Girl Time

I am grateful every day I have a daughter! She is just sweet and helpful and kind and thoughtful. I love her so much! We enjoyed a little girl time and got our hair cuts!

A Daughter

I am definitely a boy mom because my daughter falls flat on her face in the street, gets up without tears, and keeps on running. She's one tough little girl, but she has a tender heart.
I love that I was given a daughter. She is one of my greatest gifts.

I love how she wraps her little arms around my neck to give me kisses. I love how she is quick to say "sowwy, mommy" when she makes a mistake. I love how she is in tune with the needs of her family. Recently, Weston was playing on the floor and had acquired some nice-sized boogers on his face. Before I even realized what was happening, Miriam had tromped upstairs where the tissues were and returned to wipe his little face.

Today, my daughter turned 3! It always happens and I always struggle to believe it. The last couple of nights, she has wanted to "read" on her own, like her big brothers do before going to bed.  When she'd fallen asleep and it was time to turn out her light, I stood at her door for a long time with a heart full of gratitude.

Disney Done Right

We love the Cottle's for so many reasons! They have moved from friend status to family status. Earlier in the week, we were able to do a Disney day for Miriam's upcoming birthday. My mom (it was her actual birthday), Stacey, and Noah (his first visit ever) came with us. We had so much fun. The kids were super in to it and that is always my favorite part. Thanks for making this happen, Rachel and Brad!

 So it begins! I carried this baby 95% of the day. Our new friend, Anna, gets a shout out for the generous gift of her old Ergo. It has been saving my life lately.

Baby Devin is like, "This old place?" Hahaha. He's already a Disney pro.

Birthday girls!

First timer!

It was also Weston's first visit. The last time I was at Disney was in August 2014. Brad, Rachel, my four older children, and I were there. I had actually just found out I was pregnant the day we went. 

Too bad that crane is messing up my perfect shot.

Dumbo ride! My mom has a photo of her and I on this when I was Miriam's age. I need to track it down.

Babies' first Dumbo ride. Caught this photo while Devin was it the middle of a sneeze. He's so cute.

My boys are too impatient for character meet and greets, but Miriam really wanted to meet Minnie. We also got to meet Goofy, Donald and Daisy.

Noah hugged on Minnie for a little while. It was adorable. Noah is so cute! It was fun having him all on his own today. He predicted our visit would be "So Fun!" and he was right.

All she wanted to do was meet Minnie and then she was so starstruck when we had our turn. The hug was so quick, I didn't get it.

Jared didn't like these because he said Miriam looked too grown up. She does look grown up, but I love these because I can actually see her beautiful face. Girl won't let me put her hair up, so it's always hiding.

Despite little sleep. This guy did swell.

Birthday present from Gigi.Such a cutie.

Last week she was so sad to send Landon off to school She told me all she needed was a backpack and then she could go to school. As she received a backpack from Gigi on her Disney Day, she was ready to go the next day. Such disappointment that she couldn't go. I am definitely not ready for that!

Miriam is 2

Our sweet baby girl is 2 and it is really unbelievable. She adds so much fun to our family. Everyone just adores her. Her brothers are so sweet to her. They love to give her kisses and pretty much anything else she wants. The other morning, they all wanted waffles but discovered there was only one left. Without even skipping a beat the three boys all decided Miriam should have the waffle. It's so sweet to watch them take such good care of her.
Miriam loves to go, go, go. She loves putting on her shoes and going to fun places. She loves her Gigi and "calls" her on the phone regularly. Miriam's favorite foods are pancakes (she ate five the other day, 5!), strawberries, yogurt, and cheese. Miriam can run really fast and I love when she does because her cute curls bounce up and down the whole time. Miriam's personality is huge. She is fun and silly and at two already knows what she wants and voices her opinion quite often. We love having Miriam in our family.

Miriam received this beautiful coat from my mom and dad and the cute dress from Jared's parents. She didn't want to take her picture this morning, but I tried to capture her stylish ensemble regardless.

Spending Valentine's Dinner with Dad and Mom.

Happy birthday to Miriam!

Opening presents with Daddy.

My parents got Miriam this cute rocking chair for her birthday. She loves it.

Enjoying a cupcake on her birth day!

This is pretty much how the boys feel about her. They just love their little sister.

Jared and I got her a stroller for her birthday to push her babies around in. Definitely a huge hit.

Making the birthday cake.

I was trying to photograph Miriam's pigtails, but she didn't cooperate. She was pretty cute though.

Miriam's Photo Shoot

The boys found the camera and had a photo shoot with Miriam. Here are some of their best shots. She was really cheesing it up. We love her so much!

2 Photos

Ethan works so hard at school He is a great student and loves to learn. Apparently there is a list of 1000 sight words (words readers should know by sight in order to become successful readers). This list was made by finding the words used most frequently in writing. It starts out with words like "my, like, when, etc" and works up to words like "various, decimal, Japanese, etc". Ethan started out the year knowing nearly 400 sight words! I found out at Open House that this was definitely impressive, as all but one other student was hovering between 50 and 100. Mrs. Rivera (Ethan's teacher) said that once a student reached 1000, he or she would receive a trophy. I felt confident Ethan would earn that trophy by the end of the year. I was blown away that he earned it before Thanksgiving! So proud of this hard-working boy of mine. Here he is with his star reader trophy. 

Just a little girls bedhead! She is big enough to eat with us at the table now and is really trying to manage that spoon. She's so big.

18 months

I've gotten a little behind. Miriam turned 18 months in August and I wanted to record some things about our sweet girl. She weighed in at nearly 27 pounds and is 31.5 inches tall. She is growing pretty well considering she is my pickiest eater. She loves carbs and yogurt and dislikes pretty much anything else. We did serve chicken wings recently and she loved those. Guess we need to start grilling all of her food.

 

Miriam has started running. It is an essential skill around here or else she gets left in the dust. She tries to feed herself and ends up wearing half of it. Peekaboo and following her brothers around are her favorites. She is quite the climber and has gotten herself into a few precarious situations. Miriam also loves to be outside and to swim. Her hair is a constant worry for me as it is ALWAYS in her face. I try putting it up and she just pulls it out. It's almost long enough to tuck behind her ear and I just can't bear to cut it. So we have a girl with crazy hair most of the time. Her curls bounce when she runs and it is the cutest.

15 Months!

Miriam celebrated another milestone: 15 months. It always amazes me how much babies accomplish in so short a time. Miriam remains at the top of the growth chart. Weighing in at 25 lbs 13 oz (95%) and she is now 30 1/2 inches tall (80%). Miri is also walking and getting into everything. She says a few words including Mama, Dada, More, Stop, and Up. With three big brothers, she uses "Stop" a lot. Miriam loves to snuggle and give smooches. She really is a sweet little girl and we love having her in our family. She recently discovered a little booster seat I have stashed in the dining room. I find her spending quite a lot of time over there trying to figure out the buckle. It is sooooooo cute. Okay, I admit, I think everything she does is cute.

One year ago

One year ago, Jared and I brought our baby girl home from the hospital. We are so happy that Miriam is a part of our family. She is such a beautiful, happy girl. Her brothers (and parents) adore her. She has learned so much about life in this first year. She is cruising around the furniture and crawling super fast to keep up with her brothers. She talks all the time, but only one word is actually recognizable. Can you guess what it is? It's Dada! Of course, those two are peas in a pod. It is so cute to see Jared with her. One of my favorite things for sure. She can clap and sing and laugh. She weighed in at 24.5 lbs and is 29 3/8 long.  Seriously, she is in the 95% and at this rate will be bigger than her brothers. We love our baby girl.

 

First family shot at the hospital last year.

Miriam (6 days old) and Dada.

 

 

 

On her blessing day (2 months old).

 

 Birthday girl's first piece of cake.  She loved it.

 

 Birthday girl's first doughnut. She only liked that.

 

Trying to get a birthday shot, but Miriam just wanted to get the camera.