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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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).
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. :)
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 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!
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!
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!
We are now living in Beaumont, Texas. Jacob is working for Shell and Michelle gets to stay home with her 3 beautiful children. Every day is an adventure!
