I Just Can't Keep Up...

It has come to my attention that there were some technical difficulties with the bath time video from the last post - so here it is again. :)

It's crazy how just a few days can go past and babies can go through so many changes! Mira has finally decided that she loves the doorway jumper. Lately when you help her stand up she starts jumping (or trying to jump) so the doorway jumper is great now that she's figured it out. Before when we put her in it she would just try to walk around in it. She's also learning how to clap her hands. Her version of clapping has been to flap her arms around but a couple days ago she started to bring her hands forward when she flapped, and eventually her hands make contact in the middle. So cute! She'll only "clap" a couple times and then she gets fascinated with her hands and will clasp and wring them together and examine them very closely. And then it's on to the next thing. She's just a busy, curious little explorer! And still as happy and sweet as ever. She's not really babbling yet but she does like to laugh and coo, and when she's really tired she hums.

I feel like she's gone through another growth spurt. I was looking at her today and thought to myself, "Holy crap, she's ginormous!" People keep making the comment that she's really long for her age. She certainly does seem tall. So hard to believe that I used to be able to hold her tucked under my arm like a football!

Oh and some more big developments in Mira news: she can crawl now! Last week she was just "lurching" around but a couple days ago she figured it out! She's only doing it for a short distance right now and she still likes to rock back and forth a lot but just give her some time and she's definitely got it. She'll crawl more if she's chasing something she shouldn't be getting her hands on, like an expensive watch or anything electronic. At the same time she seemed to figure out how to go from her hands and knees back to a sitting position. It's so exciting! I know I've been saying that I don't want her to be mobile but since she's figured it out I guess I ought to encourage her. Everyone keeps saying that she'll definitely be walking by the time she's a year old. I hope not but the way she's going that's certainly how things are looking.

Here are a bunch of videos. I know videos are more time consuming than pictures but I always feel like pictures don't capture the whole story. Here's one of her crawling.

 Here's one of her jumping.

And here's what happened when we gave her a pickle to suck on.

I was really surprised about the pickle. I thought the taste would put her off but she LOVED it and screamed when we had to take it away from her because she started biting off chunks of it. The interesting thing about this is to hear my parents talk about how similar Mira is to how I was as a baby. They keep saying that when I was Mira's age I also rocked back and forth a lot, I loved to jump, and I LOVED pickles. It's so neat to see that she is, in fact, my daughter. :)

So despite Mark recovering from pneumonia, last weekend we ran the Dirty Dash at Soldier Hollow. For those of you not from Utah, Soldier Hollow is where the cross country skiing events were held during the 2002 Winter Olympics in SLC. If I were into cross country skiing I would have loved this place - but I'm more into downhill. But anyway, the Dirty Dash is a mud run - a race that they make you run a 10K or 5K through the mud and all sorts of obstacles and the point is to get as dirty and muddy as possible. There's no way you could run this just to get through it quickly and make good time. There were THOUSANDS of people there to race, and everyone would get bottle necked at all the obstacles so really it was just for fun. And oh boy, was it ever fun! It was a lot more fun than we thought it was going to be! My dad and sister Sara got to watch Mira and try to get some action shots.

Mark and I ran with a team of people from PCMC (my work), and our team's name was Beauties and the Beasts and the men had to dress like women and vice versa. One of the best parts of a mud run is the costumes - you dress up in these really wild and creative costumes that purposefully get trashed by the end of the race. There were some awesome ones there - fairies with wings, people in cow suits with udders, there was a group of men wearing baby carriers complete with baby dolls strapped in, women in huge tutus - it was crazy! I really think Mark had one of the best costumes in the whole race. So many people would call out to him on the race and say things like, "Looking good, Granny!" And he totally played up the part too. And the best part is he started the race with a sunhat and a purse, and finished the race with a sunhat and a purse! While we were getting ready before the race started he overheard someone say something to the effect of, "Yeah, good luck finishing with the purse!" So since he heard that of course he became bound and determined to finish the race with that darn purse! And he kicked my butt too, even with sick lungs he probably would have finished the race an hour before I did if he wasn't nice enough to stick with me. (I think he got worried that I got trampled after we got separated early in the race.)

They had some really fun obstacles - swamps of mud to slog or swim through, climb up ropes while slipping in mud, crawl through pipes half full of mud (while getting blasted with snow-making machines), climb over hay bales and wooden fences, a huge Slip 'N' Slide - someone had a lot of fun figuring out this course! We started off doing the 10K course but ended up cutting across partway through so we probably ended up doing a 7.5K or something like that. It was exhausting too! It didn't feel so bad right afterwards but the next day we could barely move! I got some pretty awesome scrapes and bruises, which is how you know it was fun. It was so worth it though and now we're excited for the next one (which probably won't be until next year). My sister Sara wants to run the next one too. I'm already formulating our team's name and costumes in my head. :)

Here are some pictures of race day.

Mark and me before the race.

The start of the race.

If you look closely you can see Mark and me running through the mud.

"Granny" after the race.

I'm impressed my 'stache stayed on the whole time!

We survived!

Very fun day!

7 Months Old!

My excuse for taking so long to get another post up is "technical difficulties." Our wireless router is retarded and we couldn't use the internet for a couple of weeks. Just so everyone knows - Cricket freaking sucks. I'm so ready to switch carriers so we can have a reliable internet connection. Anyway, it's working now, so I'm finally getting around to another post. Mark has also been sick with pneumonia the last few weeks and it's really taken a lot out of him. It just started off with a URI (upper respiratory infection) and traveled into his lungs. He's prone to getting pneumonia since his lungs are trashed and have lots of scar tissue from previous infections (his first time was when he was a little baby), but this one has been pretty bad. He's been through 2 rounds of antibiotics and he still gets winded walking up the stairs so I don't know what's up. Hopefully we can get it figured out soon.

First, let me just say THANK YOU for the support I got from everyone after my last post. It really did make me feel a ton better to read the comments and talk to everyone. I have some great friends and lots of support, so here's a big general thanks to everyone, it really did mean a lot! :)

Eating is tough work...

Since we're on the topic, the sleeping issue is getting better. Mira still has some nights when she is up a lot (like last night, or any night when I have to be at work during the day) but it's not nearly like it used to be. She usually goes to sleep somewhere between 10 PM or midnight (I know that's late but that's on purpose since I work night shifts), sometimes she wakes up at 2 or 3 AM to eat, then again around 7 or 8 AM, and then is ready to get up with me at about 11 AM or even noon sometimes. Works great with my sleep schedule so I hope it sticks. No child of mine will learn that getting up before 9 AM is acceptable! :) I go into her room to feed her when she wakes up in the middle of the night since she'll usually nurse for about 15 minutes and then she's asleep again so she stays asleep in the crib. When she wakes up at 7 or 8 in the morning I'll bring her into bed with me so we can both sleep longer. At least it's a routine that I'm okay with. It's so much better than when we first had her sleep in her crib! It would literally take an hour to get her to stay asleep in the crib. You'd have to rock her to sleep, make sure she was in a good deep sleep, carefully put her in the crib, she would wake up and cry, so you'd pick her up and rock her for 10 or 15 minutes until she got in a good deep sleep, carefully put her in the crib, she'd wake up and cry... repeat... repeat... It was rough. I have this lavender and chamomile scented pillow mist that I sometimes use to help me fall asleep and I've tried it with her a few times on her sheets... doesn't seem to hurt anyway!

This is what happens when you leave blankets within grabbing distance

 I just can't believe Mira is 7 months old already! The time is just flying past. And she seems to learn something new every day. She hit some big milestones again since the last post. She can now sit up by herself - yay, what a big girl! She figured it out overnight it seems. I would set her down in the playpen and she'd sit for a few minutes and topple over, but one day she kept sitting, and sitting, and sitting, and just sat there playing with her toys like she was a pro at it. Since then it seems like she's been happier playing on her own longer (meaning not attached to my hip constantly), but she's still definitely a mommy's girl and needs LOTS of attention from me. Poor Mark feels so left out that when Mira's tired or upset she isn't happy until I hold her. It is kind of nice to know that you're that wanted, and there's nothing like walking into the room and your baby smiles and laughs and flaps her arms up and down because she's so happy to see you. But it would be nice to have a break once in awhile. I try to remind myself that when she's 16 she'll hate my guts and will try to avoid me at all costs so I should enjoy this while it lasts.

She has very good posture.

The other thing she figured out how to do was crawling. It's more like a lurch than a crawl right now but she is definitely mobile. That happened really fast too. One day she figured out how to push up on her hands and knees, the next couple days she was rocking back and forth and would either scoot backwards and get pissed off or rock forward so hard she'd face plant. Then the next day she was traveling forward! It's exciting but I was hoping it would be awhile before she figured this one out. Now we definitely have to baby proof. :( She is very determined and it's fun to watch the wheels turning in her head as she attempts different ways of getting from Point A to Point B. Yesterday she tried lifting her hand up off the ground and putting it in front of her to pull her forward, which is how crawling works best, but she only did it with her right hand so it didn't get her very far. She also does the yoga pose Downward Dog, which is really cute but as she's figuring out, doesn't get her very far.

 Here's a video of her "lurching" around. Notice what object she goes for. :)

 

I keep thinking she's getting ready to cut another tooth because she's been cranky the last couple of days and particularly drooly but nothing yet. We must be ready for one soon because it's been 2 months since the last one came in. I'm hoping for some new teeth soon so we can start trying those teething crackers. I guess she can try gumming those but I'd feel better if she had some more teeth first.

Of course she's still such a happy baby! When we go grocery shopping she, for some reason, always starts laughing and giggling as we wander through the store. I'm not sure why shopping is so funny but it sure is cute. I still get asked all the time if she's always this good, and of course the answer is always that she is. I really lucked out with this one. She also likes blowing raspberries and loves it when you sing interactive songs with her. Her new favorite is "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and still likes Patty Cake. She still loves to have help to stand up and she just looks so proud of herself! I can't imagine what it'll be like when she can stand by herself.

Here's some more bath time fun.