Finally, An Update

I can't believe it's been so long since I updated the blog. Time is flying by. Things are going better now. We don't exactly have a set schedule, but Miri has gained weight, Aleaha is a great helper, and Mommy is figuring things out, finally.


Here is Miss A doing a new hobby she called "Horse Fishing".


Here's one of those funky reflex smiles you get from your newborn while they are sleeping, before they actually give you a true smile when awake. It's a wonderful feeling - a little preview of the fun we will soon get when Miri can smile for real.

The weekend of Aug. 8-9, GrammaBon came down to see us, and we all ventured to Woodburn on Saturday to watch Daddy at the racetrack (where he WON his class --woohoo!!). I couldn't have imagined making it all the way up there with both girls if she hadn't been with us. Thank you, GrammaBon!! :)


Aleaha wanted to wear her horse riding helmet at the track. Her reasoning: "So my ears are covered and I don't hear all the noise, Mom." Uh, notice that her ears are NOT covered by this helmet. But hey, some battles you decide not to fight. Right? And if my kid wants to be a safety-sam and wear her helmet, I'm not gonna stop her. Fashion be damned. (Same goes with eating her veggies. She wants to fill up on a snack of broccoli, am I gonna stop her? Heck no!)


Nice shot of Aleaha and Daddy.


This is a bit hard to read, but I thought it was pretty cute and had to snap a photo. Her class was studying occupations, and this is what Aleaha answered when her teachers asked her what she was going to do for a job when she grows up: "I am going to help Mom and help horsies. I'm going to be a cook, but I don't have an apron." (Yes, Mommy is beaming at that! Daddy's response? Well, he'd like to know where mechanic expertise and drag racing will fit in. I'm sure that will have its place too!!)


I had to get this documented. That's Daddy with a MOP in his hand, cleaning the floor of his new racecar trailer.


We have a fabulous big swing that Miss A used for about 2.5 years. Miri was using it too, when the motor conked out. YIKES! Must have replacement!! So, while a new one is being shipped, we went to the back-up model (a portable version). Thank God for Fisher-Price and Duracell!!!


While Daddy was up in Bremerton for the race on Aug. 21-23, Aunt Jodi and Cousin Ella came down to stay with us. It was a Fabulous Girls Weekend together. (Thank you so much, Jo, for making the trek down and helping me!!!!) Here are the twosome, getting ready to do chores.


Ella feeds MamaLlama, one of her favorite animals, while reciting lines from "Llama Llama Red Pajama", one of her favorite books.


Aleaha feeds Weensie and Teensie.


I thought it might be fun to see if Mirielle liked the baby swing outside. Uh, not so much. At least not for now. The rolled-up kitchen towels don't really make it comfy. She likes being outside, but she prefers Mom to wear her in the BabyBjorn.


Here is Miss A modeling her new Happy Canyon sweatshirt from GrammaBon and Aunt Jodi. She also picked out plaid shorts (cuz Mom was wearing something similar). And naturally, the boots were a prerequisite (we had just been down at the barn, feeding the horses).


She can't pump her legs to swing herself (Ella, come teach her that trick, please!!), but she has learned how to spin around like this. Hmm... maybe I should make her put that riding helmet on for stunts like this!

Summer Fun

Mommy took Aleaha and Miri blueberry picking earlier this week. It was one of the hottest days of the year (stupid! but we needed to get out of the house for a bit). We just went down the road a spell. Turned out to be a bit of a disappointment, because the bushes were sorely picked over, and there were no berries at Aleaha's level. So we didn't put too much time into it. Just enough to say we did it and "put by" a quart of berries in the freezer.


Here's a silly shot of her wearing her favorite lead rope. She looks awfully proud, eh? (Hmm, this better not lead to other things later in life... whips, chains, etc.)


And finally it was time to go to the Benton County Fair! After downing some quick fair fare, we hit the pony ride. She was hoping to ride "Silver", the same one as last year. But Silver wasn't there. "Bamboo" obliged us for the ride. Aleaha was Little Miss Serious the whole time. (And then later, when she took another spin before leaving the fair, she was suddenly all smiles about it. Can't 'splain it.)


Then it was off to the Ferris Wheel. However, we don't have any pictures of that because she was full of talk about it, but didn't actually want to ride it. Whatever! Instead, she had spied the carousel, and that's all she could think about. She took a turn on a black one first, and then, after a good ride on a mean-looking roller coaster with Dad, she went back for a ride on a white one.


Time for ice cream!


She fell in love with the aerobatics of the airplane world. And the best part of all was that these things were actually kid-controlled! She was using the stick and pushing the buttons to make the plane go up and down. (Mommy was jealous, having very specific memories of the Dumbo ride at Disneyland, where the controls in the cockpit were merely for looks.)




And what did Mirielle think of the fair? Here's her A-1 activity:

(She was very happy to be hauled around in the Baby Bjorn for 4 hours. Hollered loudly - rivalling Aleaha! -- when it was time to go home.)

Pics from GrammaBon and Grandpa's Visit

A few belly shots, taken the day before Miri was born:



And here's one of Aleaha hot-wiring her bubble machine. The switch rusted out on it over the wintertime (hm, note to self, probably shouldn't leave such items out in the weather all winter, eh?), so Daddy fixed it by showing her how to twist the wires together to make it work. Ah, the redneck/mechanic's way prevails again!


The next day, while I was in labor, Dad was in a laboring project of his own. Here he is taking issue with a scoundrel fir root in the way of the foundation of our new shed, and below that he rejiggers and reconfigures the plans.



Aleaha watches the progress...


And she does her chores...


The next day, it's time for a visit at the hospital. Miri was showered with kisses from her big sister.




GrammaBon and Grandpa get a good look too.



Back at home a few days later... Would OSHA approve??


Aleaha likes how Miri does the Kung-Foo Grip Trick on her finger.

Hangin' with Daddy

Daddy has been spending lots of time with Miss A, doing all kinds of fun things. Mommy really appreciates this (as does Aleaha, natch), because it is great for them and great for a little break for Mom. Check out the things they have been doing this summer...

First, there's just simple stuff like hanging out in the "darage" with Dad, working on Special Projects. (Uh, a little premature-but-important corporate advice, my dear: It's not always good to be assigned "Special Projects". It usually means they don't have anything else for you to do.)

Here she is working on something, uh, special:


Daddy took Aleaha to the Philomath Frolic, where she got to ride "Tom-Tom" the pony again. She remembered riding him there last year, and by golly, he was back for more this year! The photo doesn't truly capture the rapture, but trust us, it's there!


And then they attended the Linn County Fair, where she got to ride the carousel (a big favorite) and even go on a roller coaster "All. By. My. Self!" (Good thing Mom wasn't there to watch that one - freaks me out to see my child on such a beastly ride!)

Unfortunately the ferris wheel was out of commission, so they missed that one.





They've had such a good time on these outings that Daddy has made a goal of taking her to every possible fair/rodeo event they can get to for the remainder of the summer. So, they'll hit the Benton Co. Fair this weekend, then the Polk Co. Fair, and even the State Fair. Woo-hoo! (Mommy and Miri hope to make it to one or two of those also.) And there's at least one more drag racing event (Woodburn) to see, also.

Here they are taking in the sights at the Sprint Boat Races near Tangent. Mud, boats, sun, and way too much speed. What's not to love? Well, the food wasn't all that great, the lines were too long, there weren't enough seats, and she had to pee 4 times while there. But still, it was a great outing!



And when the heat is really on, what's a better way to cool off your Poober Lou than a run through the "spinkler"?! Here they are showing me their routine....

"OK, Daddy. On 'Three'!"

One...


Three!


("Hey, what happened to Two?!")

Afterwards...

Adjusting to the new way of life ... sorta

Aleaha offered to help feed the baby yesterday, which was fantastic, because then I could unload groceries and start dinner. Here she is doing a great job as Big Sister.



They are both pleased as punch. (Note that Miss A is still wearing her swimsuit -- when I picked her up from school, she had been running through the sprinkler. We all think it's pretty interesting that she has worn the swimsuit so much lately, because last year there was NO WAY they could get her to wear one at school.)

Then later it was time to transition to one of her other personas -- Rowdy Rider Girl. She also does trick riding, although I actually try to discourage that, for reasons that will become apparent in a moment....


She had to pick certain black accoutrement to match: boots (look closely and you'll see they are on the wrong feet); hat; and shirt. "I yike dis outfit, Mom, cuz them matches." Nice -- some sweet redneck grammar, too. ;)

By the way, wanna guess what she was watching on the tellie that made her want to go get all this garb on? Well, a horse movie, natch. This one was Seabiscuit. (And yes, we fast-forward through a few scenes that are PG-13. She prefers to watch just the scenes where he's racing, fortunately.)

I should have known that all those horse movies would ignite the Rider in her. After dinner, she begged to go down the barn "... and put on the halter and rope and pad and ride my horse Jake, Mom." Feeling a bit wistful for riding myself, and wanting to give her a little Mommy-Aleaha time, I agreed.


She insisted on using the black and white lead rope. "It's my favorite now, Mom." (Well, that's good, cuz the pink one I bought her last year is rusted in place on the gate! Cheap thing.)


There's a happy one. The kid, I mean. The horse is being very tolerant, but since he's missing his dinner to accommodate this ride, I can't really blame him for the expression.


Cheezy grin.

We did a few laps in front of the barn, but it was not really enough to satisfy Rowdy Rider. She wanted to go up to the house and go riding down the road. But that takes both Mom and Dad to wrangle that sort of adventure (and we use her purple saddle for those trips), so it wasn't going to happen at that point. (Dad was up at the house feeding Miri.) Also, Chloe the mare gets pretty riled up if she sees that Jake appears to be "going somewhere" without her -- even if that somewhere is a 20-foot diameter carousel ride in front of the barn. So I wasn't about to manage a three-year-old and 2 horses at the same time. Therefore, it was a brief ride, only serving to whet her appetite, I'm sure.

You see now why I discourage too much trick riding on the horse in the livingroom? Wouldn't want those skills to spill over to the real thing!

Welcome to Mirielle!!

Aleaha's little sister, Mirielle Corrine, arrived on July 8. She weighed 7 lbs, 7 oz. at birth, and was 7 lbs even when we took her home. Soon thereafter, we thought she was gaining her weight back, but it turned out not to be the case (bad data and some misinterpretation of signals). So, we've had a bit of a struggle to get her weight back up. As of today (July 20), she's on the mend and gaining well. I had really hoped to avoid the stress like we had with Aleaha in the beginning, but that was just not to be. I hope that soon we have this period behind us. I know they are newborns for such a short time, but this is a fairly anxious time, and we just want to know she's growing well.



Miri is a marvelous addition to our family, and we feel very lucky (and complete!). Her features and expressions are duplicates of Aleaha at that age, although Miri has gobs of dark hair. We'll see if she keeps that or if it turns light, which is what happened to Aleaha (Miri's eyebrows and eyelashes are lighter).





Chris says, "Don't you have any pictures of her awake?" Well, she hasn't spent much time awake, and when she is, I'm feeding her! ;) Gramma Bon took lots of pictures during their visit, so I hope to scan some (ya, that's right, I will have to scan them, as she is still using film, if you can believe that?!).

Check this out... below is a picture of Chris holding Mirielle for her first photo with Daddy. And below that is the identical shot from 3 years ago when Aleaha was born. If they hadn't put a different color hat on each of them, I wouldn't be able to tell them apart! :) (Of course, I guess there isn't much of the child to be seen, when they are wrapped up like a burrito!)




My mom and dad came down the week Miri was born to take care of Aleaha for us. My dad was put to work as a ranch hand, and man, did he deliver! He fed all the animals (I think he spoiled the horses!), and he built 2 sheds for us. Here is the big one, which will house the tractor and be a woodshed for us:



He also framed up a "chicken outhouse", which is the shape of an outhouse and will be used to keep the feed out of the weather.

Finally, a shot that expresses a lot (can you see the exhaustion?). Again, I'm sure I have a duplicate of this from when Aleaha was born. ;)