The Four Nishidas

The summer

2011-09-25T20:30:00.009-04:00

I set a goal to update my blog by tonight, so here I go. A short synopsis of the summer includes:
- Miya turned 4. She wanted a castle party, so we made one out of cardboard boxes, and all her friends dressed up. She had a great time.

- Jacob and I took a trip to London and Paris - thanks for watching the girls Grammy and Poppy!

- Camping with the Miller family in Wyoming

April Disney World Trip

2011-05-31T14:56:00.009-04:00

Ok, Ok...so it's been a while!

2011-04-25T17:25:00.003-04:00

Ok, so it's been a while since we've posted anything. So if you really want to know what we've been up to, you should probably just call me, :) But if you're interested in a pictoral synopsis, here you go:

Emi turned 2 in January,

and Jacob turned 31.

Miya and Emi continue to wow us with their art... :)

Valentine's day came and went...the girls loved getting and giving notes for our "14 days of Valentine's" activity.

We've taken lots of trips to the nearby zoo, park, Sea World, and you-pick farm.

Green lemon spinach-soup for St. Patrick's Day, of course.

Miya started a little garden on our balcony. Yes, everything is still alive. So far...

Well, there you have it. We just got back from a family vacation to Disney World, so I'll save those pictures for another post. All in all, we're doing great....can't you tell?!

New York, NY

2011-01-19T16:22:00.006-05:00

Here I go again...trying to catch up on pictures and posts...

We took a family trip to NYC with Jacob's parents before Christmas. We've been there several times in December, and I'm still convinced it's the best time of year to visit the big apple. It was pretty cold, but we stayed near Times Square this time, so we were never far from a respite from the cold weather.

Miya was excited to sit on Santa's lap (she asked for a jack in the box), but Emi wanted to go no closer than the doorway.

Christmas time means laughter...and bunk beds...and haircuts

2011-01-11T21:31:00.005-05:00

We decided to get the girls a bunk bed just after Thanksgiving, and as you can see, Miya was thrilled about it! Emi sleeps on the top, and Miya on the bottom. Of course we had to decorate their house for Christmas, especially since we live in an apartment now and have no house to decorate of our own! Surprisingly, we've had absolutely no trouble with Emi getting out of bed since transitioning her from the crib. It was truly a Christmas miracle!

Emi also got her first haircut in December. Miya also got a trim, and made sure to tell the stylist how she wanted her hair: "I want it cut long, like Rapunzel. Down to here." (pointing to her toes as she says this, the result of uncle Dave having taken her and her cousins to the movie Tangled over Thanksgiving. She seemed happy with the result, though was disappointed it didn't reach to her feet.

Holiday Fun

2011-01-11T16:32:00.009-05:00

We spent our Thanksgiving holiday visiting the Miller family. We all met up at my sister Kari's place in Fort Collins, CO (thanks for sharing your space with us!) and stayed for about a week. We were able to enjoy some family games, good food, and even a trip to the mountains.

Miya was disappointed that there wasn't more snow, but they made do with what they had in the backyard. Personally, I'm grateful the snow and cold was kept at a tolerable level...the Houston experience is already making us soft!

Most of all, the girls liked the time they had to play with their cousins...sure wish we lived closer to all that cousin fun!

On to November...

2010-11-05T16:58:00.007-04:00

Here are some Halloween shots...the girls dressed up on multiple occasions, so they tried different costumes. My favorite was the kitty sisters. Cute, cute!

We went to "Boo at the Zoo" with friends...

...and then we went back again with daddy.

(a wingless fairy)

We also did trunk or treat at the chruch. Are those kimonos cute, or what?!

We came home with way too much candy....I would know, since I'm the one eating it. :)

What we've been up to (Part 3)

2010-10-15T19:24:00.000-04:00

One more catch-up installment...here are some pictures from our last month here is Houston. We took a weekend trip to San Antonio and visited the Alamo and Sea World. We're headed back again next week with Jacob's family, and are looking forward to some gorgeous weather!

We've also done some kite flying (that Jacob and the girls got me for my birthday).

Yes, I turned 30 again! We love riding the carousel at the zoo, so we made a carousel cake to celebrate.

Are these girls getting cuter and cuter, or what?! This is usually what I get when I ask them to smile for the camera...

...but I can still catch them being cute as cute can be!

Where we've been (Part 2)

2010-10-14T19:38:00.000-04:00

And now for part 2...what in the world have they been doing to survive that hot Houston weather? Well, here's what we've been up to since we've been here in big (hot and humid) Texas:

Visiting the beach in Galveston, TX.

Visiting splash parks like this one downtown at Discovery Green.

Coloring, painting (I love how artsy Miya is), or just hanging out at home (yes, that's a balloon...and it never popped no matter how much she bounced on it).

Swimming at the apartment pool.

The temperature has finally cooled off some, and though it's still close to 90, it feels heavenly in October!

Update: Where we've been (Part 1)

2010-10-13T20:52:00.012-04:00

Okay, okay...back to the blog. Yes, it's been a super long time, and no, I have no good excuse for the absence of posts. Unless you count Miya and Emi as a good excuse. And a move to Texas. And finding my way around Houston, and...okay, I can't think of any more. So there you go. But we're back in business, and here is the much anticipated "little" update on where we've been (in 3 or 4 parts...stay tuned)!

Jacob graduated from Purdue in May, with his Masters in HR Management. Yay!

Then we sold our house and took a little six week vacation to visit family. We made it to Martin's Cove in Wyoming,

and Estes Park, CO.

We also visited some family and friends in Utah and Wisconsin. We took in the sights in Door County, WI. Beautiful. Lots of traveling by the time we made it to Houston, but it was worth it.

Exciting, right?! I'm sure you are all relieved to hear that we are still alive, and you can rest assured that more posts are coming your way about our adventures in Texas..just not tonight...baby steps.

I'm 1, 2, 3!

2010-05-18T21:42:00.008-04:00

Our little Mimi turned 3 at the end of April, and of course, I made another fun cake. There's just something about channeling energy into themed baking....if you haven't tried it, you should. Very therapeutic. :)

And no (for those of you who are wondering), cakes are not the only things I take pictures of or use to occupy my free time...I just haven't gotten around to blogging about the rest of our lives. More to come...promise.

In the meantime, check out this cute cake!

The cows were my favorite...

But Miya really loved the pigs. She took some pigs and piglets to preschool that day to celebrate her birthday.

What a cute bunch of kids, wouldn't you say?

Even Emi enjoyed the baby cupcakes...especially picking the marshmallows off of the sheep.

Thank you to everyone who could come and celbrate with us!

Sushi cake

2010-04-11T22:02:00.004-04:00

Happy Birthday Papa! We got to celebrate papa's birthday at our house, so we made a sushi cake in his honor. Is this cute or what?!

I love the internet...it's full of such great ideas! Miya's birthday is coming up, and I've already got a cake idea in mind...stay tuned!

Budding artist

2010-02-10T19:15:00.005-05:00

Back in November, Miya started drawing people with arms and legs. You know, the kind with all the appendages coming out of their heads. Well, one day after preschool, two of her teachers excitedly reported this skill to us, saying that it was unusual for kids her age (2 and a half) to draw people, never mind the detail. The child care worker at the gym was surprised to hear that Miya wan only 2, and told me the same thing this morning, so I had to look up the developmental timetable for myself.

Sure enough - she's a prodigy! :) I have been meaning to scan some of her drawings, and finally did it so that we could properly showcase the talents of our budding artist.

This is a drawing of the family: daddy, mommy, Miya, and Emi (she asked Jacob to do his own eyes, ears, and hair).

A picture of mommy...I'm not sure why I get a cone head.

Her friend Hayden. Most pictures she draws are of Hayden. When I pointed to the nose and asked what they were, she said "Two nose holes, mommy." Oh, right. She also made sure to show me the feet...see them?

A self protrait.

The drawing she did at the gym this morning with Nicole.

I'm walking!

2010-01-29T22:19:00.002-05:00

The baby is walking. She started using her feet as her primary means of transportation (at least around the house) last week.

"I'm walking!" from Jacob Nishida on Vimeo.

And here she is this week. Go Emi, go!

Walking at 12 months...again from Jacob Nishida on Vimeo.

(Please excuse the messy house...we're excused right? I heard that having 2 mess-makers excuses you from having to have a tidy house. That's just what I heard...)

Christmas

2010-01-21T19:42:00.000-05:00

We spent Christmas this year with Michelle's family in Wyoming.

Grandma and Papa Miller

Emi is loving her time with Dada.

Miya is such a good big sister. She loves giving Emi hugs and making her laugh.

Emi is a young lady on a mission. A mission to fling anything that is on a table, chair, or at "Emi height" on to the floor. With a face like that...how can you get upset? (In case your wondering...it does happen!)

This shot was a result of Michelle's creative mind. I think that it is a fun shot! Emi loved the glass balls on the Christmas tree and this was a fun way to capture her reaching for one.

Miya discovered that she loves peanuts and M&Ms...they were always sitting out on the table, so she was always eating them!

Ice Fishing

2010-01-16T23:33:00.004-05:00

We made sure we fit in some ice fishing while we were in Wyoming. The temperature stayed in the 20's, so it wasn't half bad (for the first couple hours, anyway).

Jacob and grandpa drilled the holes...

Then we dropped a few lines, and waited...

Some of us waited longer than others...

All in all, Jacob caught 5 fish, grandpa caught 2, and Michelle...she only caught 1, and it was a sucker that we had to throw back. Poor Michelle.

Happy 30th!

2010-01-16T19:04:00.005-05:00

Jacob turned 30 this weekend, so I threw him a surprise party. We ate soup and bread (thanks, everyone, for bringing the food!) and hung out. We almost played rock band, too...right Dylan?

I tried my hand at making a cheeseburger and fries ice cream cake. I wish I'd taken the time to get some good pictures (since we now have an awesome camera again), but here are a couple of shots (thanks Dylan).

I made peanut butter icing for the bun (topped with sesame seeds), with fondant for the cheese and lettuce, and chocolate ice cream for the burger.

Yummy... Good thing there were lots of people there to help eat it...it was huge.

One year old!

2010-01-11T21:18:00.006-05:00

Our little Emi turned one last week, and we celebrated the snowy day with a snowman cake, balloons and presents.

Is that a cute cake, or what?! (Yes, sometimes I do make time to be crafty/creative...)

She knew just what to do with that cake, and she even tried to blow out the candle!

Blowing out the candles from Jacob Nishida on Vimeo.

The 1st piece of cake from Jacob Nishida on Vimeo.

Emi loved to hear the "Happy Birthday" song, and would sway to the tune (this is post-cake eating...thus, no shirt).

Swaying to the Happy Birthday tune from Jacob Nishida on Vimeo.

Sugar cookies

2010-01-10T17:28:00.000-05:00

Grandpa and grandma helped the grandkids make cookies while the adults went to a movie (I think it was mostly grandpa). The kids (and kitchen) were coated in flour, some cookies were decorated with fruit snacks, and the official report was "Making cookies with papa is fun!"

Decorating

2009-12-24T15:57:00.006-05:00

After Thanksgiving, we put up our tree. Jacob has SOOOO many ornaments (yeah...I contributed zero to our collection when we got married. He, on the other hand, had several boxes) that I can do a color theme each year, and put up ornaments that match the color of choice. This year we did gold with burgundy and browns. It turned out beautifully, but it seems that I never took a picture of the finished product...we're in Wyoming for the holidays, so I can't take one now to show you. Oh well. Take my word for it: it's beautiful (if I do say so myself).

And of course, I had to share some pictures of my beautiful babies.

Olives

2009-12-07T19:55:00.002-05:00

Miya loves to feed Emi (I should post another video of that), but Miya got a kick out of giving Emi something that was a little out of the ordinary to see her reaction...over and over again. Emi just kept going for it! Fun.

Thanksgiving olive tasting from Jacob Nishida on Vimeo.

10 months - working on walking

2009-12-06T21:43:00.004-05:00

This video is from nearly a month ago, but I didn't get around to posting it....obviously. Emi is getting quite good at her push toys, and will even stand up and balance without holding on to anything (quite the contrast to Miya, who didn't even want to crawl until she was 11 months!). She's definitely a busy-body these days!

Push toy at 10 months from Jacob Nishida on Vimeo.

Thanksgiving

2009-12-06T21:11:00.003-05:00

We spent our Thanksgiving with Jacob's family up in Green Bay. We had a wonderful time, ate lots of good food, and thoroughly enjoyed our little family vacation.

Miya made some turkeys out of apples, marshmallows, olives, and dried cranberries. Gobble, gobble!
And then grandma helped her make some homemade bird feeders out of pinecones, peanut butter, and birdseed. I had a good laugh when Miya would forget that the birsdeed wasn't edible, and she would lick her fingers to try and eat the peanut butter(this happened several times, and the surprised then disgusted look on her face got better each time)!

Happy

2009-11-22T23:04:00.003-05:00

Today, Miya was just plain happy. Pigtails and all. Happy to be home. Happy to go to church. Happy to be outside.

Come to think of it, I took a picture last week, too, when everyone was happy to be riding around in boxes (don't let Emi fool you...she was loving it).

Gotta love Sundays.

What are YOU thankful for?

2009-11-22T23:01:00.001-05:00

I saw this today, and in the spirit of the season, I remember that I have many, many things to be thankful for.

Eating toes

2009-11-17T21:17:00.003-05:00

This cracked me up. Not only did Emi think this was great fun, but so did Miya. Yucky...but a cute yucky, right? Right. Get a load of those giggles! (Sorry it's so long...the good stuff's in the first 30 seconds, but I don't have the energy to edit it right now.)

Eating Toes from Jacob Nishida on Vimeo.

This happened last week, before Emi cut her first tooth (Sunday). I'm guessing it would have been a little less fun with the tooth...

Temple

2009-11-15T21:57:00.002-05:00

We went up to Chicago on Friday night, then went to the temple on Saturday morning with the ward. It was nice. The weather was beautiful, and the girls were good. Love the temple.

Beautiful

2009-11-15T21:30:00.006-05:00

The weather here has been beautiful! The girls love to be outside, and of course, Emi loves to eat everything she finds out there!

Before I gave it away, we took some quick pictures using the frame from our entry mirror (that met a tragic fate a while back...it had something to do with Miya and time out...). I wish I would have thought to do it earlier with some fall leaves shots...oh well.

Long

2009-11-12T22:10:00.003-05:00

It was a long day. One of those days where you keep wishing it was tomorrow already, hour after hour. It's been worse, but it's also been better. This is what it was like:

One minute everything is fine.

And the next, it's chaos.

The day was filled with:
- everyone waking up before 7am...never a good sign. I don't ask for much, just let me sleep until 7.

- repeatedly scooping small pebbbles out of Emi's mouth (compliments of Miya smuggling them into the house in her pockets after prescool day after day).

- making lots of phone calls to find a backup babysitter while I worked several hours (no, I didn't shower again today) - thanks Julianne, for coming to the rescue.

- scooping out more pebbles (hiding in the carpet...frieze is nice, but it hides those darn rocks!), then some pink play-doh. Nothing like slobbered on play-doh on new frieze carpet, right?

- working in a smoke-filled house, sitting on dirty carpet, then changing into clothes not smelling of smoke and covered with germs before hugging my babies.

- running Miya to preschool while Emi cried (she was tired, and doesn't like the carseat much these days).

- sneaking Emi into her crib (she finally fell asleep 2 minutes before arriving back home) only to have her wake up 40 minutes later (just enough time to get in a shower and do some paperwork, but not enough time to catch my breath). But I was clean!

- picking up Miya from preschool, then having her fall asleep in the car on the way to church because she didn't take a nap today.

- driving all the way back home (after arriving at the church) to get new supplies for my insulin pump that had somehow been pulled out of my body! Grrr...I hate it when that happens. High blood sugar does not mix well with an already bad day.

- got my blood glucose down a couple hundred points, then drove back to church to help set up for enrichment night(with Miya still sleeping in the car), and Emi crying because whe was hungry.

- trying to drive straight while periodically straining to reach Emi in the back seat and hand her snacks to eat (10 month-olds are not very good at keeping a good hold on teddy grahams and rice crackers).

- calming the now grumpy Miya who woke up tired and irritable, in front of all the sisters at enrichment night (imagine her laying on the floor, reaching for me saying "Mommy!"). Sigh.

- cleaning up a puddle of milk on the nursery room carpet, and letting Emi eat spilled cheerios right off the floor. Yuck.

- listening to Emi cry all the way home, because it was almost 9pm and way past her bedtime.

- convincing Miya that it really was time for bed despite her insistence that it was time for lunch and that she wanted cottage cheese (she would live off that stuff if we let her).

- typing this at 10pm while I wait for my hard working husband to come home to me and give me a hug.

That's all. No, not the worst of days, but I'm definitely done with it.

I'm not usually a complainer blogger...I guess I got carried away. Hopefully most of you got bored and skipped most of that. Just stick to looking at the pictures...that's what I do.

Grateful

2009-11-11T19:55:00.003-05:00

I'm so grateful that I have a job. A good job. A job that allows me to use my skills and education. A job that has flexible hours. A job that I want. A job that allows me to still stay home with my girls. A job that pays well.

Not everyone can say that, and I'm so glad that I can. Speech therapy rocks!

Bus day

2009-11-11T19:47:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I went on a field trip with Miya's preschool to the bus station. We rode a bus there, took a little tour, went through the "bus wash", then rode back. Very exciting.

Here she is waiting in her cubby before we all left to board the bus.

It brought me back to the Houston days when Miya would ask me every day if she could ride the bus with daddy. It usually started with two questions, then a statement: "Miya ride a bus, okay mommy? Miya ride a bus? Miya ride a bus." Jacob did finally take her on the bus a couple of times. She was in heaven.

Happy Halloween

2009-11-01T21:30:00.000-05:00

We dressed up as a family of penguins for Halloween. We were pretty darn cute, if I do say so myself!

Emi was having such a good time playing with the pumpkins while we answered the door for the trick-or-treaters...except for the unfortunate fall for the camera.

Penguin in a pumpkin from Jacob Nishida on Vimeo.

She got right back up, by the way, and played some more!

We went to Lafayette's "Boo at the Zoo" activity, and Miya had a great time playing the games and trick-or-treating. We entered the cute costume contest, but didn't win (it must have been rigged).

Miya did want to dress up as a fairy princess on Friday, though, and was delighted to wave her wand and twirl on demand when people asked her what she was.

Chicago and DC

2009-11-01T21:02:00.005-05:00

Thanks to our super Expedia deal find, we we took a couple of trips in September: one with the girls to Chicago for 3 nights ($54...I know, it was a steal!), where we met up with grandma and papa, and one with just the two grownups to DC ($184 for airfare and 3 nights hotel plus car rental for 2 people...couldn't pass that one up, now could we!). I love my girls, but boy did I love being away and getting a good night's sleep three days in a row!

Here we are in DC...kidless, remember? It was nice...thanks for taking care of our babies, Kathy! We really loved the Newseum and the Library of Congress. And the killer garage sale we ran across one morning! I got a bunch of New York Times Best Seller List books for cheap, cheap, cheap! Now I just have to find time to read them!

Here are some pictures from our Chicago trip.

The Bean.

Riding the Ferris Wheel.

Taking an architecture tour of the city by boat.

At the zoo. Miya loves taking pictures...this is her insisting that it was her turn.

At the Shedd Aquarium. This is where I got the idea for our Halloween costumes. This is the first time in a while that Miya has wanted to dress up in a costume, so I thought I'd better capitalize on it!

Disney World

2009-11-01T20:47:00.010-05:00

Yes, we went back to the wonderful world of Disney. I guess we just can't get enough of the happiest place on earth!

Miya loved the plane ride and bus trip to our resort, then did a face plant off the curb before we checked into our rooms. Poor baby. The swelling went down after a day, and she was back to her happy self in no time!

We stayed in a cabin at Fort Wilderness, and loved it! We rented a golf cart to get around. No, this isn't ours...but there were some pretty wild decorations!

We went to the "Not so scary Halloween Party" one night, and had a great time riding rides and trick-or-treating. We thought Miya would be tired or grumpy (or both) by the end of the evening (it started at 7pm), but she loved every minute of it! We got lots of comments on our penguin costumes.

Good times at Disney! Here's Miya asleep on the plane ride home. As fun as it was, it is nice to be home again. Thanks Kathy and Les for the memories...Until next time!

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-04T22:33:00.003-04:00

I know, I know...we haven't posted in forever. Time flies when you're busy. :) I'll do my best to post a little about what we've been up to these last couple of months a little later, but in the meantime, I thought I'd share some pictures we took yesterday.

We took a trip out to Millenium Farms Pumpkin Patch between sessions of General Conference. Miya and I rode the barrel train.

We also got to take a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch and pick our own pumpkins. Miya thought this was loads of fun...and Emi was mildly amused. We got some pretty good sized pumpkins!

They had a big slide, a hay bale maze, and other little games to play, but Miya was most impressed by the her ride on Charlie, the pony. After she finished her ride and we were walking away, she waved over her shoulder to her pony and said, "Bye Miya's Charlie!" I guess they got pretty close over those long six or seven minutes of riding.

Broken

2009-08-29T21:17:00.003-04:00

Yes, it's broken. Miya's clavicle, that is. She took a tumble down a flight of 13 stairs in Jacob's parents' home. It was traumatic...especially for me. I did not remain calm, I must admit, and was as hysterical as Miya was for a while there. And I didn't even see it happen. But let me tell you, hearing it happen was worse than seeing it. I felt like I was seeing all of the worst case scenarios flashing before my eyes the way people describe their lives playing out in the seconds before a near-fatal accident. Evidently she dropped her toothpaste on the top step and fell as she was leaning down to pick it up.

This picture was taken the night before she fell...wearing the "princess jammies" that probably contributed to accelarating the tumble rate!

Anyway...a visit to the ER and 4 x-rays later, Miya (as well as the rest of us)was exhausted from the hours of crying...and we still had to pile in the car and make a 7hour trip back home. But we survived. Barely. Poor Mimi.

The next two days were rough, but Miya is doing pretty well. She still can't use her right arm much (they didn't put it in any kind of sling due to her age) but she doesn't cry very often because of the pain anymore. My poor baby...

6 months

2009-08-09T21:48:00.005-04:00

Take a look at this cuteness! Is she adorable, or what?

I know it seems like I only post pictures on here...no musings, stories, etc. But hey, at least I'm posting, right?! These are from Emi's 6-month photo shoot. They turned out really cute. She's sitting up now (though she hasn't mastered it yet) and she kept the smiles coming throughout the entire session for the photographer.

Photo shoot

2009-08-04T14:27:00.004-04:00

This afternoon I'm going to pick up the pictures we had taken of Emi at 6 months, so I figured I had better get on the ball and share the pics we had done of the family 3 months ago! The scanning quality isn't great, but get a load of those cute girls (and Jacob, of course...he's cute too.)!

Water baby

2009-07-30T23:12:00.001-04:00

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

2009-07-29T22:06:00.004-04:00

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

2009-07-28T10:57:00.003-04:00

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

2009-07-25T22:31:00.005-04:00

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

2009-07-23T14:31:00.003-04:00

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

2009-07-15T21:23:00.005-04:00

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

Flaming Gorge

2009-07-15T18:03:00.003-04:00

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

2009-07-15T14:41:00.009-04:00

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

2009-07-09T10:36:00.000-04:00

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!

2009-07-07T16:53:00.004-04:00

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

2009-07-07T16:40:00.005-04:00

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

2009-07-07T16:26:00.004-04:00

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!

Miya and her Elmo friends

2009-06-21T16:45:00.005-04:00

I actually uploaded this video by mistake, but I thought it might still be worth posting since we spend LOADS of time talking about and playing with Elmo and friends. :) This is one of the magnet books we got for Miya shortly after moving here - I love Borders' clearance section!

Father's Day

2009-06-21T16:18:00.004-04:00

I am so grateful to have Jacob as the father of my children and my husband for eternity.

He is so good with Miya and Emi, and is the perfect 'dada' - we love you!

Discovery Green

2009-05-24T16:40:00.008-04:00

On Friday after Jacob was finished with work, we went downtown to a place called Discovery Green. They have an area where kids can run through a bunch of water jets, and Miya had a ball!

There was also a playground near the water. Since Miya was already wet from playing in the water she rocketed down the big slide and flew right off the end and onto the ground (think "crocodile mile" or "slip and slide" downhill with WD-40). She must have liked it because she got right up and slid down several more times. We went to a great little Mexican restaurant after that, and called it good. So far we're loving Houston...especially the fact that we live so close to downtown. :)

Pools and beaches

2009-05-24T15:47:00.005-04:00

Miya couldn't seem to get enough of the "water pools" (as she so affectionately called them) at the hotels.

But we couldn't convince her to put her head under the water...

We also stayed several nights at one place in Gulf Shores, AL near the beach and a state park. We had a good time just taking a break from sitting in the car and got to do some fun things while we were there.

The LONG drive to Houston

2009-05-24T15:12:00.004-04:00

We broke up the nearly 20 hour trip from Lafayette to Houston over 6 days, which was a genius idea. It would have been nice if Emi had looked like this every time we got into the car...

...but in truth, we merely managed to instill in her an extreme dislike of her carseat and dim enclosed spaces.

Miya was a gem on the trip. A special thank you goes out to Elmo, his goldfish, and his other little friends.

We stopped every 2-3 hours, and were able to visit some beautiful state parks in Tennessee and Alabama.

Good thing Miya is entertained by things as simple as throwing leaves into moving water...

...and that Emi isn't picky about where she eats.

Sometimes Miya would ask to hold Emi's hand while we walked. :) She has no idea ho cute she really is!

Fun with cupcakes, presents and bubbles!

2009-05-13T22:44:00.002-04:00

The kids decorated extra cupcakes with sprinkles...eating way more sprinkles than any parent would wish for them to ingest. Yummy! :)

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-13T16:28:00.003-04:00

We're on our way to Houston (taking our time and fitting in a family vacation), so much of Mother's Day was spent on the road or in a hotel room. But grandma Nishida sent me a Pajamagram, with matching jammies for the girls. We were in the process of finding the camera for a picture, when Miya gagged on a cracker, then threw up all over her bed. So...that is why only Emi and I match. Sorry Kathy...we were hoping for a picture with all 3 of us! :)

Happy Birthday Miya!

2009-05-13T15:56:00.005-04:00

Miya turned 2 at the end of April. We celebrated by going to the zoo, then having friends over for dinner, eating cupcakes and ice cream, and having some fun with bubbles!

The party theme was butterflies and bubbles, but I made an Elmo cupcake-cake for the occasion as well since Miya has decided to be infatuated with him (after watching her Elmo Potty DVD ONE time. Yes, ONE time.). It's interesting to see how quickly kids can become attached to things!

I had to include these pictures of Emi at the zoo and with one of Miya's balloons. Those balloons (when tied to her wrists) have proven to be one of the best toys!

Way behind

2009-05-13T14:23:00.002-04:00

I know, I know, we are way behind in posting. We've got some good pictures to share, but lately, time is not my friend. It keeps slipping away before I can manage to use it the way I'd like. But everyone is happy...Jacob survived finals, Miya turned 2 and is as sweet as can be (well, most of the time...she does have her moments), and Emi is nearly 13 pounds now and is starting to laugh.

I'm setting a goal to get caught up this week, so you can look forward to updates on Miya's birthday, our family vacation on the way to Houston, and even family pictures! I know, you're shaking with anticipation, right? Well, stay tuned!

Our little family

2009-04-12T23:16:00.001-04:00

And here's a picture of our little family that we took after church a couple of weeks ago. :)

Emi - she just keeps getting cuter!

2009-04-12T23:08:00.002-04:00

Here are some recent pictures of little Emi. Don't you just love those little chubby cheeks?!

Easter helper and hunt

2009-04-10T14:42:00.000-04:00

One of Miya's favorite things to do is be mommy's helper in the kitchen. Here she is sporting the little Easter apron she got from grandma and grandpa Nishida.

We hosted an Easter egg hunt for play group at our house this week. We had about 15 kids between the ages of 1 and 4, and we had a good time. Thanks to Heather for snapping some pictures for me!

Dressing up

2009-04-10T14:31:00.004-04:00

The other day I found Miya in our closet with mommy's shoes on and daddy's tie around her neck. Nice combo, huh? :)

Baby Blessing

2009-04-10T14:21:00.004-04:00

I know I'm behind on this, but I'm finally posting a few pictures of Emi in her baby blessing dress. The blessing was beautiful, and amazingly, Emi was content and quiet through the whole thing.

Evidently Emi has little patience for pictures when it takes several minutes to coordinate mommy and Miya kissing her at the same time. :) We never did get it quite right.

First hair cut

2009-04-10T13:42:00.004-04:00

Miya got her first hair cut last month (yes, she finally grew enough to warrant an acutal cut!). Although I was worried that she wouldn't sit still (she rarely lets me put her hair into a ponytail or even comb it for more than 5 seconds), but she did really well the entire time. And look how cute those little curls are!

Blankets and craftiness

2009-03-05T22:01:00.003-05:00

We have received some beautiful baby blankets as gifts for Emi, so I thought I'd try and show them off.

This is a blanket and nursing cover, and I have to say that every time we go out (I have used the blanket multiple times to cover Emi's carseat) someone comments on how much they love it. And so do I - thanks Codi!

I made this blanket for Miya just after Emi was born and my mom was out visiting...okay, who am I kidding? My mom really gets most of the credit. I was more like her assistant. :)

The purple blanket and burp cloth with the crocheted edges are adorable (this picture doesn't do them justice because I took a picture when they were wrinkled!). Bekah taught me how to do the edges myself with some more burp cloths, but really, I can't find a spare moment to do it!

The multicoloered flowers/polkadot fabric is a blanket in the making...hopefully I get it finished before Emi's old enough to finish it herself.

These are from my grandma and my visiting teaching companion.

And this is a little dress I crocheted before I left on my mission, many, many years ago...but Miya never wore it because I couldn't find a slip for it before she grew out of it!

Photo shoot

2009-03-02T14:06:00.006-05:00

I tried to get some pictures of Emi on Sunday afternoon, and after a while, she wasn't really having it.

I got more pictures of her crying than I got of anything, but she's still precious in every one of these!

Progress and cuteness

2009-02-15T20:37:00.002-05:00

Can babies get any cuter than this? I think not.

And I still can't believe how much hair she has! By the way, Emi gained more than 2 pounds in her first month of life! She went from 5lbs 7 oz at her 1-week check-up to 7lbs 13 oz at her one month check-up last week. Her Dr's comment was "Wow - she must be a good eater!" She sure is... She's getting those chubby little newborn legs, and doesn't feel so tiny in my arms anymore. They grow up so fast...*sniff*.

First bath

2009-02-15T20:26:00.002-05:00

I know I'm behind on posting...there just isn't enough time in the day it seems!
Here is a picture of Emi's first bath in the tub, and of course, Miya was right there being helpful the whole time. :)

Hats and cameras

2009-02-15T20:20:00.004-05:00

We haven't been able to go outside much this winter (you know, new baby, cold weather, etc.), so Miya has taken to wearing her winter gear inside the house. Don't you just LOVE that hat?!

She's also learned how to take pictures (note the finger in front of the lens) with her camera, and she gets quite a kick out of seeing mommy, daddy, and Emi on the screen.

The whole story

2009-01-25T20:11:00.003-05:00

Since so many of you have asked, I thought I would post the official details of Emi's birth so as not to forget the deatails (yeah right) and to not have to recreate it multiple times via e-mail. So be warned, this might be long. I personally have a hard time with really long blog posts, so I will not be offended if you just skim it. :)

Here goes...

Contractions started sometime after 5:33am (I remember seeing this specific time on my alarm clock) on a very early Wednesday morning. I started timing the contractions at 6:03 after I woke Jacob up (in a panic, I might add, because these contractions HURT)and they quickly went from 4-5 minutes apart to 3 minutes apart. I called my Dr. (who was still out of town) at 6:30, and the on-call doctor told me to come to the hopsital Emergency Room and they would "check me out." It seemed to me that Jacob took FOREVER to get dressed and out the door, by the way, but we got on those icy roads and to the hospital by shortly after 7am. Jacob admitted later that he thought this was false labor, and that they would be sending us home after a brief visit to the hospital. He did have the foresight to bring his camera, however, but left out the memory card! The NICU was nice enough to provide us with a couple of pictures, though, so that was nice.

We left Miya at home (sleeping soundly) with Jacob's sister, in case any of you were wondering if we left our firstborn home alone. Deborah had some time off work, and had decided to come down for a few days...fortunately for us! If we had waited even 10 minutes longer trying to find someone to watch Miya for us, I might have had our baby in the car or in my front room - scary! Thank you, Deborah, for being in tune enough to decide to visit us that week - I don't know what we would have done without you!

So...by the time they got me up to labor and delivery, I was already 7cm dilated. The next thing I know, several minutes later, they say I'm "complete", and I hear them telling each other that there won't be time for any pain medication because this baby is on the way out. (Let it be known that the scariest moment for Jacob was hearing them say that I wouldn't get any pain meds...I thought that was pretty funny. And I had my own little surge of panic since Miya's birth was induced and I was saved by my epidural). By the time they delivered the information about no pain meds, I already knew this baby was coming, and then they have the nerve to tell me to "try not to push yet" because the doctor is still a few minutes out. Yeah right...I tried "not pushing" for a long time (it was probably more like a minute, but who really knows...at which point they reminded me to breathe because I was hyperventilating...great). It was over from there... and our little girl was born before the doctor could make an appearance. She was born at 7:49am - 5 lbs 9 oz and beautiful!

Yes, I experienced natural childbirth! Not really by choice, but if having a baby could always be this fast, I think it might not be such a bad thing. Don't think for a minute that I won't consider pain meds next time if I get a choice and a chance...having a baby still HURTS, HURTS, HURTS, and I haven't forgotten that yet. But I am so grateful it was relatively fast, and that I did it! And so grateful that Emi is healthy and doing so well. 5 days in the NICU, 2 weeks at home, and doing great so far!

There it is. The official story. Oh...no, we don't know why I went into labor at 35 weeks, though it seems unconnected to the reason Miya came at 34 weeks (preeclampsia) and it's difficult to say if the next time will be similar. Perhaps my body just gets tired of being pregnant...I don't know what I'd do if I had to go 5more weeks and get really huge like every other pregnant woman. I'm blessed for so many reasons. :)

Emi's Name

2009-01-20T11:10:00.004-05:00

We neglected to post Emi's full name, so let me do that. We named her Emi Kate. Emi is a Japanese name meaning "beautiful, blessed ", and it's pronounced "em-ee" like the Em in Emily. In fact, we chose the name because of the Japanese meaning, and in honor of one of our favorite people whom we lovingly refer to as Emmy (a.k.a. Emily Chaffin...now Belnap). Kate came from...well, we just liked the sound of it next to Emi. It fits beautifully, don't you think?

Incidentally, Miya is also a Japanese name meaning "temple/sacred house", and her middle name Mae is in honor of Michelle's grandma Miller, Della Mae, the best grandma in the world. Really.

Emi Update

2009-01-19T20:47:00.004-05:00

Our little Emi is home and is doing very well! She was born at 5 lbs. 9 oz., went home at 5 lbs. 3 oz., and was 5 lbs. 8 oz. at her one week check-up. She is eating like a champion and consequently pooing like champion as well. We have had lots of help with meals (thanks dinner swap group and our ward) and we have had family come and help too (thanks Deborah, Mom Miller, and Dad Nishida). Miya is adjusting well and is our little helper. We are just so happy! Here are some pictures that we snapped yesterday.

Miya discovered "forts" today

2009-01-19T20:22:00.003-05:00

We just got a package today and it was packed with a long crumpled sheet of brown paper. Miya had fun playing with it and when we twirled it around her, she didn't want to get out. She wanted her Dada to come inside with her, but as you can see from the pictures there wasn't room for him. (Please note that the sticker that is on her forehead was placed there by Miya. She likes to accessorize.)

She just couldn't wait!

2009-01-07T13:49:00.005-05:00

This is Jacob. I just wanted to share a little bit of our excitement and surprise with you. Rather unexpectedly, Michelle delivered little Emi to the world this morning. After two hours of contractions and no time for pain medication, it has been a whirlwind morning (I am sure that Michelle would have a different adjective). Michelle is doing well and so is Emi. Since the birth came so early we expect to be at the hospital for a minimum of several days and a maximum of...well, we are really not sure. Here is our precious baby girl:

Miya at 19 months

2008-12-27T21:20:00.003-05:00

Here's our little baby Miya, looking (and acting) more and more toddler-like every day!

She did a great job posing for the photographer, though it took a little while to convince her to lay on her tummy.

We didn't get a family picture taken...I'm a little ashamed to admit that it mostly has to do with the fact that I feel huge. Okay, so I look huge, too, and I'm holding out for a family shot when these extra pounds take the form of a baby outside of my body. :) So stay tuned.

Christmas morning

2008-12-27T20:57:00.003-05:00

Here are a few fun pictures of the Christmas morning present extravaganza. It sure is fun to see children get excited over new things. I love that Miya is such a happy little girl in general, but it was double the fun hearing her giggle and enjoy all the attention.

Almost all the presents under the tree were for Miya, and after a while, she got burnt out. So we finished opening the last few later in the evening. Evidently opening all those presents is a lot of work!

We were glad to have grandma and grandpa Nishida visiting with us as well. Miya is going to miss her favorite playmates when they leave!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-20T22:55:00.003-05:00

Well, this is my first post on our family blog in quite some time. I completed my finals a couple of days ago and have been enjoying my time with Michelle and Miya. Watching movies, shopping, and eating yummy food...I sure love holiday break! Here is a picture that was taken at our church Christmas party.

Houston

2008-12-14T21:39:00.003-05:00

I thought I would let Jacob post this, but with finals looming, it looks like it may not happen any time soon. So to make the announcement, he has accepted a summer internship with Shell Oil in Houston, TX. He had some really great offers, and it was a tough decision. But we both feel good about this choice and look forward to a summer of fun in the hot and humid Houston sun!

Okay...maybe I'm not really looking forward to the "hot" and "humid" parts, but I'm warming to the idea.

Negligence... and Baby Updates

2008-12-14T20:52:00.006-05:00

Talk about failure to blog on a consistent basis! It's been nearly a month, and I apologize for our negligence...time flies.

As for updates on the baby...I've had more Dr.'s appointments these past two weeks than I have had in the past 6 months. 6 all together, with 4 ultrasounds. Yes, you heard me right. Our little 3-pound 9-ouncer seems to be doing fine, but we're all keping a close eye on her. I went in for an appointment the Monday before Thanksgiving, and after an hour and a half of being hooked up to the machine for a non-stress test, the baby's heartbeat wasn't accelerating with each movement like they expected it to. This led to the first ultrasound, which lead to a second follow-up ultrasound 2 days later. Then we got to have a pediatric cardiologist do another one to look at the baby's heart, followed by another ultrasound to do all the measurements again. Those last two were on Friday, at which point they declared everything to be just fine, (good muscle tone, movement, heart rate, practice breaths, etc.) with the baby's size consistent with my due date.

So...I still get to have weekly non-stress tests, but probably not more than one or two more ultrasounds. It's actually quite a treat to be able to see our little girl so frequently, and to be able to really watch her grow and develop. Most women only get to have one, and I've had 7! I am grateful for a careful and thorough OB, and for insurance. :)

She often has her hands up by her face, but here are a couple of the most recent pictures. I've seen her blink her eyes, open her mosuth and swallow, empty her bladder, and turn over. Pretty cool.

Oh...and evidently she has "lots" of hair (according to the tech). I'm not sure what "lots" means, but maybe she'll be lucky enough to not be hairless for the first year of life like Miya was. Maybe...

Dinner Swap

2008-11-17T21:04:00.004-05:00

I joined a dinner swap group a while back, which means that we get together and exchange several meals each week that we can just heat up at our leisure. It saves me from having to come up with and cook different meals each night, but it requires me to set aside a couple (sometimes more) of hours on Saturday or Sunday to make triple (at least) of a meal of my choosing. Last week I made beef and chicken fajitas. It was by far my most colorful meal, so I took a picture.

Beautiful, eh? This week I made Potato, Leek, and Cheddar Soup with bacon, with parmesan-garlic rolls as a side...from my new Wolfgang Puck recipe book, of course. Thanks Kathy! I've made this soup three times now, and it's one of Jacob's favorites. In exchange, I scored shredded pork with South Carolina BBQ sauce, peach and ginger chicken with a side of rice, and a build-it-yourself pizza kit. We already ate the pizza - fun idea for a swap.

Pumpkin Patch

2008-11-17T20:50:00.005-05:00

We saw snow flurries yesterday, and I have to admit once again that I am not excited for Father Frost to come this year. I just love the fall, and I am already feeling like it's too cold to get out much.

These are pictures from another pumpkin patch Miya and I were able to visit last month. It's owned by Purdue, and all the pumpkins we picked were free. Can't get a better deal than that!

Miya picked lots of gourds...she must have liked the fact that they were more her size.

The hay ride, once again, was Miya's favorite part!

Fall leaves

2008-11-07T12:19:00.003-05:00

Miya and I spent a lot of time outside this week. The leaves were beautiful, and the temperature has been in the 70s all week! I borowed a backpack carrier from our neighbors, and Miya has been happy to ride around in it on my back while we both enjoyed the beautiful scenery on some Indiana trails. Jacob was even able to take a break from school and come with us one afternoon (Yes Bekah...I stole these from your blog...I hope that's okay). Bekah came with us one afternoon, and I'm so glad she had the foresight to think to bring a camera!

This is a picture Renee sent us from daycare. The kids went out and "helped" Renee rake some leaves on Wednesday...I wish her eyes were open, but hey, that's the same face I pull sometimes when the weather is this gorgeous and I'm able to be outside enjoying it. I wish fall could last forever...or at least to the end of this pregnancy.

Daycare

2008-10-29T22:53:00.003-04:00

Since I have been working part time whild Jacob is in school, Miya gets to go to daycare 2 days a week for a few hours each day. We love Renee, who takes very good care of our little Miya. In fact, Miya usually claps when we pull into Renee's driveway, and is always happy when I come to pick her up. There is usually only 1 or 2 other kids there with her (one is 2 months younger, and the other is 7 months older), and Miya loves playing with her friends there. I am so grateful we found someone whom we can trust with our baby girl!

This is a picture of Anna and Miya from this morning, eating pancakes together. Thanks Renee, for taking and sending this picture!

Visit from mom and dad Miller

2008-10-27T22:24:00.006-04:00

My parents came out to visit last weekend, and we spent some time at the Farmer's Market, at Octoberfest, just hanging out, and seeing the changing leaves. Dad also helped us put in a screen door (yes, I finally painted our front door...no more magenta-colored entrance, thank goodness!).

We went on a little hike on part of the Wabash Heritage Trail up in Battle Ground, and as you can see, it was beautiful.

Miya carried around a branch on the way up (Jacob carried her), and a flower on the way down. She would put it to her nose and sniff it every few minutes, which was precious, but we couldn't catch her doing it on camera, of course.

These pictures were all taken by my dad (thanks, dad), but since we don't have a working camera, we don't have any pictures of grandma and grandpa Miller! Also, dad, I want you to notice that I have honored your request not to post the picture of the two squirrels in action. Maybe in a future post... :)

MORE tomatoes

2008-10-27T22:02:00.004-04:00

Another post about my tomatoes. It is going to freeze tonight, so I decided that I had better get outside and pick whatever was left on the vine. Well, this is what was left!! One large cookie sheet, 2 bowls, and 3 pots full...and yes, there are some green bell peppers in there, too.

We canned 12 jars of salsa when my parents came to visit last weekend, wiping out my stash of tomatoes. Now I have another stash that will have to ripen on the counter. I've already given some away, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the rest of them yet...more salsa?? Tomato sauce?? We'll see. As always, Miya was quite the helper, especially after she saw me throw one of the rotten tomatoes into the trees behind our house. Before I knew it, she was taking the picked tomatoes and following my example. I'm not sure how many tomatoes were lost duing the throwing episode... She also ate her fair share, and took only one bite out of multiple tomatoes. It's a good thing I had tomatoes to spare.

The high temperature was only 46 degrees today, so it was a bit chilly outside. Notice her pink nose and red hands (I did put gloves on her, but the first pair she soaked in a puddle of water, and the second pair ended up covered in tomato seeds and a squashed caterpillar...yes, I have yet to teach her how to be gentle with anything smaller than her hand...lots of grasshoppers and caterpillars have died due to my failure to teach her properly).

Miya periodically went back into the house to warm up since it took me an hour to pick all of these (my tomato plants grew into a jungle-o-tomato-plants, remember?). It was a lot of work!

Sunday Best

2008-10-27T21:48:00.002-04:00

Our camera has not been working for the past couple of weeks, and consequently, I haven't been able to take any pictures...and evidently I can't blog without pictures! Then I remembered that after cleaning out the car a while back, I discovered an old camera that Jacob had found on campus when we were living in Auburn, Alabama. Long story short, he turned it in to the lost and found, and when no one claimed it, they gave it back to him. Nice, huh? It's not a great camera (as you can see from the pictures) but it'll have to do for now.

Here are some pictures of Miya in her Sunday best. She is posing, as you can see. Can she get any cuter?!

Slides

2008-10-12T21:15:00.002-04:00

Miya surprised me about a month ago when she followed a little girl up the steps to the highest slide, turned over on her tummy, and slid down feet first all by herself. She nearly fell off at the bottowm since it took me a minute to figure out what whe was doing.

I finally caught her in action this week. Such an accomplishment! Now she could spend all afternoon going down slides...

...with an occasional break for swinging. She loves the park (and so do I). I am going to be so sad when the snow comes and our daily park trips are interrupted. *sigh*

Double Jogging Stroller

2008-10-12T21:04:00.003-04:00

We got a new stroller this week, and Miya and I (and her black horse) spent some time one evening putting it together. We won't need it right away, but I'm looking forward to being able to use it after our 2nd little one comes. I know...it's hunter orange, but we got a great deal on a top-of-the-line stroller, and we just couldn't pass it up.

On another note...last week I (sadly) hit our other jogging stroller with the front car tire while backing out of the garage. Sad...it took my neighbor's toolbox and his brute strength to bend the frame back into place, then some trial and error tinkering with the front wheel. But now it runs just great again! Thank goodness. Miya and I both need our daily jog to the park, and those few days without our trusty stoller were sad days indeed.

Applesauce

2008-10-12T20:50:00.003-04:00

A family in our ward moved into a house with lots of apple trees, and they let people go over and pick them - free! So Miya and I went on an apple-picking excursion (through many-an-Indiana-corn field to get there) and had some good laughs as I tried to make the apple picker do what I wanted it to do. Miya laughed every time an apple fell to the ground or when I would duck or gasp becuase one was about to hit me...which was often, I'm sad to say. I don't think I ever really got the hang of that apple picker.

We got a decent size load in the end, and I decided to try my hand at apple pie and applesauce. I froze a couple of ready-to-bake dutch apple pies, and then used the rest of the apples for applesauce - which turned out to be delicious (even if I do say so myself)! I used a mix of 4 different kinds of apples, 2 sweet, 2 tart, didn't have to add any sugar, and it came out a beautiful rosy pink color.

I froze most of it (since I don't have a canner), but I'm enjoying having a little apple goodness every day...I enjoy it alone most of time, however, as Miya will have nothing to do with it. Hmmph...I'm trying not to be offended.

MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory

2008-09-30T21:40:00.003-04:00

Since I'm a speech-langauge pathologist, I'm all about speech and language, especially when it comes to my Miya. But I don't think I really grasped how many words she actually knows until I filled out the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory. Miya has participated in some infant language studies at Purdue, and they sent me this parent report form as a follow-up to one of the studies. It turns out that she is able to say 64 different words!

Yes...64. And that doesn't include words like "please" that she will sign, but not yet say. My newest favorites are "ight" for light (she points out every lamp, ceiling light, headlight, flashlight, and street lamp we pass during the day, by the way. It's actually quite amusing to see how fascinated she is by seeing lights), "tut" for cut, "outs" for ouch, and "boop" for scoop. She also says "eyes" and "ears" remarkably clearly, and that's pretty cute. What a good talker she's becoming!

It's a GIRL!

2008-09-23T21:14:00.003-04:00

Of course it's a girl. I used to say (growing up) that girls were too high maintenance, and consequently, I was having all boys. Well, it looks like all girls might be more like it!

We are very excited for Miya to have a baby sister. We had the ultrasound this morning - I am officially 20 weeks and 2 days along...more than half way through, and doing great so far.

In fact, I can feel her moving right now...she must sense that I'm writing about her. Or maybe she just likes the hot fudge sundae that I just ate.

Ukrainian Borsch

2008-09-21T22:51:00.004-04:00

We've been getting beets for a couple of weeks now from our share of produce, so I decided to make some borsch for old times sake. I haven't made it in a really long time, actually, and I decided to use a slightly different recipe this time around - one that I found online. This recipe used sausage (though I usually use beef) and I actually was really pleased with the flavor. This makes me want to make some more Ukrainian food ...maybe I'll be ambitious this week...we'll see.

Here is the recipe in case anyone is interested (this makes a LOT of borsch...at least 10 servings):

1 (16 ounce) package pork sausage (I used half this amount)
3 medium beets, peeled and shredded
2 celery stalks, chopped
3 medium baking potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 tablespoon oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
3/4 cup water
1/2 medium head cabbage, cored and shredded
1 (8 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained (I used fresh tomatoes...from my garden, of course!)
3 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon white sugar, or to taste
1/2 cup sour cream, for topping
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley for garnish

DIRECTIONS
Crumble the sausage into a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir until no longer pink. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Fill a large pot halfway with water(about 2 quarts), and bring to a boil. Add the sausage, and cover the pot. Return to a boil. Add the beets, and cook until they have lost their color. Add the carrots and potatoes, and cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Add the cabbage and tomatoes.

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and celery, and cook until tender. Stir in the tomato paste and water until well blended. Transfer to the pot, cover and turn off the heat. Let stand for 5 minutes. Taste, and season with salt, pepper and sugar.

Ladle into serving bowls, and garnish with sour cream and fresh parsley.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Patch

2008-09-21T22:41:00.004-04:00

We took a family trip to the pumpkin patch on Saturday, and are so glad that we went! It was the first day they were open, so they had a special running where you could go on a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch, pick a pumpkin, and ride back to the farm, all for $2!

Miya loved the ride, and didn't want to get off when we made it back to the farm.

So for a mere $6, we had some good times riding behind the tractor and traipsing through the pumpkin patch. Not to mention the fact that we got 3 pretty big pumpkins!

Miya sure liked playing in the corn as well...she probably would have stayed there all day if we'd let her. Plus she kept sampling the corn...I guess she kept forgetting that it wasn't edible. Good times in Indiana!

Yum

2008-09-19T22:17:00.004-04:00

I pick the tomatoes about twice a week, and I get at least 50-60 each time. Needless to say, we are eating a lot of tomatoes, and I'm happy to report that Miya eats her share. She also picks the green ones...I can't seem to convince her to ignore that color yet.

She likes to sit and pick them right off the vine. The seeds get everywhere, but she just loves them. Oddly enough, she will rarely eat a tomato that is cold, out of the fridge. Only straight off the vine for Miya, so I have to make sure I leave some out on the counter for her after we bring them inside!

Every Thursday when we pick up our share of other veggies at the Farmer's Market, the ladies get a kick out of Miya asking them for a tomato, and then happily eating it like an apple (seeds getting everywhere, of course...I finally wisened up and started bringing a bib).

Hopefully she remains a veggie lover for many years to come!

Extreme Tomato Plants

2008-09-19T22:08:00.003-04:00

We thought we should document our monster tomato plants. We planted 5, and they all survived and thrived (though I must say that lots of other things we planted didn't fare so well, like the okra, brussel sprouts, acorn squash, and sugar snap peas). So the tomato plants topped 6 feet, then started growing outward when the growth of the tomatoes weighed them down (they were all cherry tomatoes, by the way - two varieties).

And just look at these beasts now! They are all tangled together and taking over the lawn, not to mention overshadowing the red bell peppers. But boy are they delicious!

da-da

2008-09-15T21:15:00.002-04:00

Daddy has been MIA lately as he has been studying for midterms (they have two 8-week modules during each semester, thus the early midterms). Miya has finally stopped waking up from her naps and immediately going room to room searching the house, saying "Da-da? Da-da?" At first it was so cute, then it made me so sad to hear her always looking for her now absentee father...we sure miss daddy around here!

Signs

2008-09-15T20:59:00.005-04:00

I thought I'd post a little something about Miya's speech and language progress. She's learned a lot these last few months, and I am so glad that Miya is a communicator! I was keeping a list of the words she says, and I was pleasantly reminded of how many baby signs she uses to communicate with me as well. She'll sign help, open, more, fish, cookie, milk, drink, eat, bubbles, orange, and will shake her head and nod for 'no' and 'yes' (not signs, but still communicative). If I model a new sign, she'll try and imitate it as well.

As for words, our all-time favorite word she uses is "uh-oh" which is her way of saying "Hey, I just threw (or will throw) something on the floor, so pay attention." In addition to trying to imitate a lot of what we say, my favorite new thing she says (while nodding her head) is "yeah" when I ask her a question. I need to get some of these on video.

She can also say and point to a lot of her body parts, and I've caught her several times these last couple of days looking in the mirror in our bedroom, and pulling up her shirt to point to her belly button (belly button is "duh-duh" right now...so cute!). She is also obsessed with pointing to my eyes, nose, teeth, and tongue, and I've had many-a-stray finger painfully pointing those parts out to me when I least suspect it!

Roseola

2008-09-09T12:01:00.003-04:00

Having a sick baby is stressful...no one wants to be that mom who is paranoid all the time, but on the other hand, no one wnats to be so complacent that important symptoms are ignored with dire consequences. So with that said, I am so glad the mystery is finally solved so that I can stop worrying that Miya had contracted some weird illness from the shopping carts at the store or the slobbered-on toys in the nursery. It's just my luck that she always seems to start showing symptoms on a Friday, so that I have to wait out the weekend with only urgent care or the emergency room as options for diagnosis!

So Miya ran a high fever for several days, and on top of the fussiness (and inability to sleep more than two hours at a time...yes, it was a rough weekend for all of us) she got me extra worried by not eating anything. Well yesterday, her fever was finally gone, and a rash showed up all over her tummy and back. Roseola! I'm just so glad she finally feels better and can sleep again without breaking out in a sweat and needing her mommy to cuddle her. Welcome back healthy Miya (well, almost healthy...as soon as this rash goes away)!

Books, books, books

2008-09-04T20:36:00.004-04:00

Since I am officially "taking a break" from school, I have felt the need to read, read, read (fun stuff, for a change). I decided that I finally needed to check out these Stephanie Meyer books and see if I agreed with all the hype. And I do!
First of all, let me just say that I am so glad that I missd out on the first few book releases so that I could read all 4 books at once; I would have gone stir crazy waiting for the new books to come out each time...
I read all 4 in about 10 days...which is quite an accomplishment considering I have a one year-old...I gave up a lot of afternoon naps with Miya because I just couldn't put these books down. I was sorely in need of a good romance, I discovered, and I couldn't get enough of Bella and Edward. Now I'm so sad the story is at an end...I've tried to move on to Harry Potter (I never got around to reading book 7 after buying it when it came out), but I just keep wanting my romance back!