Water baby

Check out our little water baby. Can you tell that she still LOVES bath time?!

Good times in the bathtub! from Jacob Nishida on Vimeo.

Houston Children's Museum

We've been to the Children's Museum several times, and it really is amazing! We still haven't been able to do everything, but here are some picture from our first visit in May and our visit last week.

Our budding artist...


She's tracing her hand in this one...


Shopping at the grocery store...


Driving the police car...


Playing in the water...

Children's Museum in Houston from Jacob Nishida on Vimeo.

Flattening a penny...

Sunglasses and the zoo

I just love this picture of Jacob with the girls in their new sunglasses!



We went to the zoo again last week - boy do we love living a mile from the Houston Zoo! Here are some of the highlights:

Radial head subluxation

So...Monday was all fun and games during our family outing to the Houston Astros baseball game until a very unwelcome case of Nursemaid's elbow or radial head subluxation happened to rear its ugly head. We were on our way back to the car after the game, swinging Miya by her arms between us. I quit playing, and since Jacob was still holing on when Miya tried to sit down, a one arm pull suddenly brought the fun to an end. Miya couldn't use her right arm at all, but we were able to get her home, bathed and in bed with only intermittent crying and frequent "Hurt arm" or "Ouchy elbow" comments from Miya.

We figured out what had happened using the trusty ol' internet, and when Miya woke up crying at 2am, Dr. Michelle went in and bravely attempted to "fix" the problem. Yes...all by myself. If anyone is shocked and/or apalled by this, know that I was fully prepared to take her to the emergency room, but hey - she had gone right to bed, and turning her hand over seemed like a pretty simple procedure to me, Especially since I was 99% sure that what had happened really was nuresmaid's elbow. Perhaps it will comfort you to know that I practiced on Jacob first. :)

I read this during my internet search:
Treatment
- While supporting the radial head, the forearm is supinated or pronated and flexed at the same time. A "click" will be heard or felt.
- After the "reduction", the child will immediately use the arm. There is no indication for immobilization and rarely are analgesics necessary.

I chose to hyperpronate since it's evidently more successful than supination (I even remembered what these terms meant from my anatomy classes...amazing!), and I immediately heard a glorious POP! Miya rolled over and immediately went right back to sleep. The next morning, she used her arm just like normal, although I found myself being extra careful with her when we played.

Thank goodness it wasn't something more serious, and that we didn't have to make her suffer through the night/day until we could get her to a real doctor. I'm considering med school now...I think I have some definite potential.

Here are a few pictures from the game. Miya took the first one (in case you couldn't tell). She's quite a talented photographer, don't you think?

Sit ups

I'm finally posting the amazing footage of the infant who does stomach crunches. We've trained her to do 50 every morning and 100 every evening before bed. Okay...no training. She's just a natural cruncher, and she's been doing it since she was 3 months old. This first video is from when she was 4 months old (it's kinda long...I didn't edit it), and the second video was taken at the Miller family reunion when she was nearly 6 months.

Crunches from Jacob Nishida on Vimeo.

Everyone comments on her unusual exercise routine, so I thought I'd catch it on video more than once...she still does this every day!

Sit ups from Jacob Nishida on Vimeo.

I like to think her early obsession with her abs has to do with her umbilical hernia. Her pediatrician said that the hernia would go away (hopefully) as her stomach muscles strengthened. Go, girl, go!

This photo is from Feb 7, at a month old, where you can see the hernia pretty clearly.

Cousins

Here are some pictures of some of Miya's new pals. She sure loved hanging out with Ellie, Alex, and Kade.

Flaming Gorge

The Miller family reunion was at Flaming Gorge this year. It’s been a long time since I’ve been there, and it was so nice to spend some time with Mother Nature again! All of my siblings were able to come, so it was nice to see everyone and do a little catching up.

Flaming Gorge from Jacob Nishida on Vimeo.

Miya got to ride a horse, float the river (evidently she cried the whole time…I was on baby duty, but I can just imagine how fun that was for everyone in the raft!), go fishing, blow endless amounts of bubbles, feed the ducks, go on “adventures” with her cousins, eat lots of “treats”, and play in the water. She was in toddler heaven, let me tell you!

Miya - Riding a horse from Jacob Nishida on Vimeo.

Vacation

I took the girls to Utah for a visit from June 26-July 5. I managed to juggle my two girls, toys for Miya, a large carry-on (full of diapers, wipes, change of clothes for the 3 of us, etc.), a stroller, and a carseat while boarding a plane. Yes, I did it all by myself. I too, was amazed! Although we survived the plane ride (which Miya was very excited about both times) I probably won't do that alone again any time soon...if I can help it. :) Jacob wasn't able to join us this time because of a conference and work...we sure missed him!




We visited with our good friends Emily and Andy in Provo for a couple of days. We managed to wake up before 6am every morning (sorry Emmy and Andy) because of the time change, but we had a great time. Thanks for sharing your space with us!

We also spent a couple of days with grandma up in Ogden before driving down with her to the family reunioin. I sure love my grandma! She always has a quick smile, laughs a lot, and is so much fun to spend time with. We spent one afternoon at the dinosaur park, and had a ball!


There was a little excavation site where Miya found some dinosaur eggs.

Dinosaur Park from Jacob Nishida on Vimeo.

Miya did not want to leave grandma's house the day we flew home. The conversation went like this:
Me: "Don't you want to go home and see daddy?"
Miya: "I want grandma's home." Me: "We get to fly on an airplane today. That'll be fun."
Miya: (Trying to convince me her idea was better.) "Ride a airplane to grandma's home."

Honestly, I was also quite reticent to leave my Utah mountains, but the thought of seeing Jacob again outweighed my outdoorsy need to commune with nature (Houston summers are not outdoor-friendly...sadly).

Emi: the big talker

I'm a little behind (when am I ever caught up these days?), but here is a video of Emi at 4 months (she's 6 months now...) when she really took off with her 'talking'. Here's one of our "conversations", and though I know it's a bit long, you should at least keep watching to the 1:08 mark. :)

Talking - 4 months from Jacob Nishida on Vimeo.

Why is it that they always spit up for the camera?

Rice cereal!

Here's a video of Emi's first attempt at solid foods last month. We gave her rice cereal, and she ate all 3 tablespoons of it! Miya tried a bite and promptly said, "No like it, mommy." :)

Emi - first attempt at solid foods from Jacob Nishida on Vimeo.

Spitting image

Emi is the spitting image of Jacob, and I particularly love these two pictures.
Cute, cute, and cuter.



These pictures were taken at the end of May, and shortly thereafter, most of Emi's hair fell out...except for a little mohawk action on the top of her head...what's with my girls ending up with infant mohawks anyway?? Not much has grown back, and we're hoping that she doesn't follow in Miya's footsteps (hairsteps?) and wait until she's almost 2 to start growing some more.



By the way, this picture was taken the first time we gave Emi rice cereal (June 24th) and she gobbled it right up!

Houston Zoo

We decided to buy a membership to the Houston Zoo, and have been there quite a few times since coming here. We went there again yesterday after Jacob got off work to celebrate being back together again (I took the girls with me to Utah for a family reunion...more details to come). Althought the forecast in the morning promised that the termperature would not exceed 93 degrees, it was already 98 (but cloudy) when we left home at 4pm. Too hot in Houston! I want the Flaming Gorge 75 degree weather back...



Miya loves to brush the goats,




and always requests to ride the carousel and see the elephants.



There is a petting zoo and playground, and even a little water park section where kids can run around and get wet (obviously she loves that, too. Still a little water baby!). Houston really does have a great zoo - the membership is definitely worth it!