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.

New Pics

We had a good weekend with Matt's family and some church friends out in Augusta. It was very relaxing. Unfortunately, it rained a lot, but it cleared up yesterday afternoon and Matt and our friend Ken took the kids out on the canoe.

On Saturday, our church had an event at a local place with go-karts. The kids had a great time and Mitchell was disapointed that he wasn't tall enough to drive the big karts by himself.

Last week my grandma came to visit. She said she just couldn't wait to see Miranda...which made me really happy! We had a nice visit.

Our friend Gloria gave Miranda this cute outfit, so I had to take a picture!

Miranda has her appointment on Wednesday at the International Adopton Clinic at St. Louis Children's Hospital. I'm dreading her having to get blood drawn!! Even though I do it all the time at work to kids, it's different when it is your own child. I'll report back after the appointment.

Wednesday night is also the shower at the church for Miranda. I'll try to get lots of pictures!

6 month pictures

Took Miranda to a photo studio today for her 6 month pictures. We have 8x10's of the kids on the walls in the living room and we needed an 8x10 of Miranda! The photo shoot went really well and we got some really good pictures. Looking forward to a photo shoot with Uncle Greg sometime soon when it is nice enough to go outside. Enjoy the pictures!

New Pictures

(Yes--I can sit up all by myself now!!)

Hi everyone. I'm finally taking the time to sit down and create a new post! Miranda is doing great. Went to the pediatrician's office on Friday and Dr. Irvine said she looks great. She's sitting up really well on her own now and doing really well eating from a spoon. So far, she's had rice cereal, oatmeal, squash, carrots, and sweet potatos! She is taking an hour nap in the mornings and a 1.5-2 hour nap in the afternoons. She takes a bath and goes to bed around 7pm and has been waking up to eat between 3 and 4am. Obviously, this is something I'm hoping she'll grow out of soon!

Miranda is a very happy little girl. Lots of smiles and laughs. I think that she is bonding to Matt and I--she seems to have a brighter smile for us and for Mitchell and Max than for others. Though, really, at this point, she'll laugh and smile with almost anyone. Being home has been good for her developmentally, because with the carpeted floor that I vacuum at least once a day, I can let her explore the floor without hesitation. Our hotel in Antigua didn't have carpet, so I would just put her on the floor on a blanket--this didn't give her much room to roll! So, here she is rolling all over the floor and doing GREAT sitting up.

Here are a few photos for you. Papa John came to visit yesterday (didn't get any pictures) and Grandma and Grandpa Herndon and Uncle Greg came today. Matt's mom always makes a quilt for each grandchild and she brought Miranda's today. It is GORGEOUS---I love it! The picture above is Miranda sitting on her new quilt.

Some new pictures of the room. The small square pictures below each have a picture from Antigua, where we lived for 2 weeks. The larger photos above her crib are Miranda with me, Matt, Mitchell, and Max. Matt also put the shelf up with the stuffed animals and bought the totally cool lamp that I just love! Great job Matt!! The room is almost complete...we're just waiting for curtains and the cushions for the rocking chair!
When we were taking pictures of Miranda and her new quilt, we had to get out the boys' quilts that their Grandma made them and take a picture of everyone! Their quilts are a bit more tattered...or should I say "well-loved" (and washed lots and lots of times!)