The life of a shift worker

I know that there are many of you out there who understand. :)

Computer problems fixed

I started to post on the blog a few weeks ago, but had to stop because our computer ran out of memory! We've finally fixed the problem, so now I can download pictures from our camera again.

Miranda is growing like crazy! At her doctor's appointment a few weeks ago, she weighed 21 lbs. She's in the 50th percentile for weight and the 10th percentile for height! (Which I think is funny because the boys are both in the 90th percentile for height!)

Miranda is pulling up, cruising, and even standing by herself for a few seconds at a time. Here are a few new pics of Miranda to show you how she's grown.

The boys had their first day of school last week. Mitchell is going to a new school for 3rd grade, so they don't ride the bus together anymore. So far, the school year has gone great for both of them.

The weekend before school started we went to Tantara at the Lake of the Ozarks for the MoGuate weekend. There were around 30 families who all have adopted children from Guatemala. It was fun to get to meet all the families. My mom went with me and the kids and the boys had a ton of fun with her while Miranda and I mingled with the families.

Happy Fourth of July!

Not much to post. We're having some friends and family over tomorrow afternoon. Matt and the boys will go to the parade in the AM, while Miranda and I stay home. She'll nap and I'll get ready for the party! Hopefully the rain will STAY AWAY!!!

Here are a few pics of Miranda in her red, white, and blue! I'll have more pictures to post after tomorrow.

I am a blog-posting slacker

The title says it all. I can't believe I haven't posted in 2 weeks!!! We've all been keeping busy. The boys have had swimming lessons 4 mornings a week for the past two weeks. They are doing great and love swimming. We are trying to convince Mitchell to join the swim team (he is a GREAT swimmer), but he's a bit nervous because he doesn't know anyone on the team. My parents are now in St. Louis, so we've hung out with them a few times. They have a great pool at their house, so the boys and Miranda have enjoyed that.

Miranda had her first ear infection. She had a fever up to 103 and was simply miserable. After she finished her antibiotics, she was feeling so much better. Then my ear started hurting, my head felt like it was going to explode, and I had a fever!! Guess what??? Yep, ear infection for me, too. I am now, finally starting to feel better after about 2 1/2 weeks.

Miranda is doing awesome. Sleeping all night...goes to bed at 7pm (if we're not out at various baseball games or other activities!) and sleeps until 7:30am. She takes a bottle 4 times a day (7:30, 11:30, 3:30, 7pm roughly), and is now eating baby food three times a day! So far, there isn't any food that she doesn't like. Thus, she is gaining lots of weight...she now weighs somewhere close to 20 lbs! My arms are getting tired from carrying her!

Miranda is crawling, pulling up to standing, and can go from laying down to sitting all on her own. She thinks it's pretty fun to crawl under the exersaucer, then get stuck there! Matt and I are trying to get the house child-proofed. He has a bunch of door latches that I need to get him to install! She's getting quicker and quicker every day with the crawling, so we need to make our house safer!

Here are some pictures of what we've been up to the past few weeks! Matt's been busy at work...that's why he isn't in any pictures!

Hanging out at my parent's pool has been lots of fun for all of us.

My mom and I took Miranda and the boys to the wading pool at Tower Grove Park. Miranda loved playing with the fountains.On a recent trip to the zoo with some church friends.

Two Firsts

Miranda had two firsts in the past few days---her first biter biscuit and her first ponytail! I forgot how great biter biscuits are when you need to occupy a baby for a little while. Yes, they are extremely messy, but I was able to cook dinner! She really liked it and did well gumming it...since she doesn't have any teeth yet!
Today, I attempted Miranda's first ponytail! I didn't think she had enough hair, but friends at church kept telling me it was possible!

As you may be able to tell from the pictures, Miranda wasn't feeling so hot today. She's had a runny nose for a week, had a fever last Tuesday and a fever today. While I feel bad for her that she feels yucky, I sure don't mind the extra snuggling that she does when she feels bad. I'm actually typing this whole post one-handed because she fell asleep in the hip hammock and I wanted to let her have a little cat-nap before I leave her with Matt and the boys so I can go to Costco!

Not sure if she's teething or caught some virus, but I really want her to feel better before we go visit relatives this weekend!

I Love Our Neighbors

So, last night was supposed to be a "neighborhood BBQ." Some neighbors down the street (all our kids are in kindergarten together) organized it and we were all supposed to bring our own meat to grill, bring a side dish, etc...typical BBQ stuff, right? NO...it was a surprise baby shower for Miranda!! Deep down I have always desired some kind of surprise party in my life, but have never one...well, last night I was totally surprised! I can't believe that the secret didn't get out!! We had a lot of fun--we all get a long great--and we got a few more cute things for Miranda!

Miranda was the center of attention with all the little girls in the neighborhood. She was very content for the night...lots of attention. She stayed up until 8pm, I fed her, then she slept all night until 7am!! Yay!

church shower

Last Wednesday night was our church shower for Miranda. It was a lot of fun, with over 35 women from church coming to the shower. Miranda came for the first 45 minutes, but then got pretty tired, so Matt came to pick her up. I enjoyed spending time with women from our church family and I was so grateful for all of their generosity. Here are a few photos from the shower.