She's A Walker!!!

We knew she could do it but it was just a matter of her having the confidence. Finally a couple days ago Mira decided she would walk all the way across the room and back again! She still likes to crawl a lot but she is definitely walking now! Mark and I are so proud of our daughter! Here's some video overload.

Also in big news, Mira had her 1 year checkup last week. We were a few weeks late getting in but I figured as long as it got done before she turned 13 months we were golden. Here are her 1 year stats:

Head circumference 17.5 inches (28th percentile)
Height 30 inches (72nd percentile)
Weight 21 pounds (43rd percentile)

She grew 10 inches and put on 15 pounds in one year - that's a lot! Especially since it means she more than tripled her body weight. Yikes!

The only downside of the appointment is we found out she had an ear infection. I guess you can't be a kid without coming down with at least one of those. I feel a bit like a delinquent mom because I had no idea! She wasn't pulling at her ear or anything. She had come down with a nasty cold a few weeks ago (right before we left for Disneyland in fact) and her runny nose had never gone away, but it hadn't occurred to me that maybe the runny nose was because of an ear infection. I knew she was teething (she has 5 teeth now), but her nose was exceptionally snotty for teething. Well, apparently kids can sometimes get a snotty nose with ear infections, so now I know for next time. And she had been a little cranky lately, but again, I figured it was because she was getting over her cold and she was teething. It's easier to diagnose other people's kids, I guess. Well, no harm done, she just got put on a course of antibiotics and whattaya know, her symptoms cleared right up. Now she's snot-free and happy again! And sleeping better too, which is always nice. :)

I think Mommy's glove is a little too big...

 Well it only took until March but we're finally getting enough snowfall in the mountains to make skiing worthwhile! The last couple of weeks Mark and I have been going skiing and trying out some different resorts. A couple weeks ago we went to Snow Basin, which was apparently where some downhill events were held during the 2002 Winter Olympics. The snow was perfect then but it was freezing cold and so windy that the chairlifts were swaying all over the place. Plus there were whiteout conditions so we could barely see what was coming up. It was still fun though. I hadn't gone skiing in years so it was nice to get back into the groove. I look like the "special" person going down the hill though. And it doesn't help that Mark is an excellent skier - he used to be on a ski team and he can do double back diamond runs like it's no big deal - meanwhile I'm snowplowing the whole way down the mountain... We're a good combination! Ha ha.

Last week we went to Sundance. The weather was gorgeous!! But the good snow is already gone! It was icy and rough in the morning and slushy in the afternoon, so I kept catching an edge and turfing it. Although part of the problem could be my skis. My skis are old rentals so they're not very good. Once the end of the season gets here I think I'm definitely going to invest in a really good pair of skis. And a helmet - I find myself holding back when I'm skiing because all I can picture are the horrible head injury patients I take care of at work! Not the best approach.

Here are some pictures from our Sundance ski day:

Mark and me at the summit

Looking out over the Utah Valley

Over this mountain is Mt. Timpanogos, the seond highest peak in Utah, which Mark and I climbed a few years ago.

This week our plan is to go to Canyons and maybe the week after Wolf Mountain. We have a bunch of free passes so that's why we're going to so many different resorts. Normally my favorite resort is Alta because they don't allow snowboarders (no offense to my snowboarding friends!) but they're quite expensive so I don't think we'll get up there this year. Hopefully next year the snow will be better and we can start skiing earlier in the season.

Besides the walking, I just can't believe how fast Mira is growing up! The other morning I decided to see what she would do if I let her try to feed herself with a spoon. I've been avoiding it because she usually likes to just toss the spoon over the edge of the highchair but I guess when you're hungry it's a different matter. I made her oatmeal with fruit and darned if she didn't know exactly what to do! She just needed some help getting the oatmeal onto the spoon. The rest she did herself, and she tried so hard to scoop the oatmeal up too! I was so impressed. But then when it's your own kid you get impressed pretty easily and with the silliest things. :) So I think we're going to start really encouraging her to use a fork or spoon as much as possible because obviously she's ready.
Some things, though, you just let them use their hands - like brownies. We gave Mira a brownie for dessert and she LOVED it. She's definitely my daughter! She just went to town with it, and then I said those infamous words: "Angry face!" Oh man... I got lots of pictures and I just couldn't stop laughing!

Yummy brownies!

Nom nom nom...

She's so good at sharing!

Gotta get every last bit!

What a happy girl!

And here's when I said, "Angry face!" I dare you to look at these pictures and not laugh.

So so funny. I love this girl so much!

As far as work goes, I'm trying working 3 shifts in a row again. I hadn't worked 3 in a row in over a year - with a little baby it just was not feasible to do that. But now it's getting to the point where it might bot be feasible for me to work my shifts all spread out. It's so hard working straight nights and having a baby at home. Your sleep schedule gets so wacked. I think if we can make it work I'm going to try doing the 3 in a row from now on, just because if my sleep is going to get all turned around it would be better to do it all at once instead of all spread out throughout the week. Then I never have time to recover, plus I'm basically at work ALL the time. I love my job but it is stressful and it can be depressing to only see the worst of the worst. Mark and I have had some discussions about the best way to schedule my work because my chronic lack of sleep is turning me into an evil witch, and that's not fair to anybody who has to be around me. We're going to try this 3 in a row, but some other options we've discussed include me going to day shifts, which I really don't like. I haven't worked a day shift in years, I hate day shifts, I hate mornings, it would be a massive pay cut for us, and I wouldn't get to see Mira at all on the days that I work. I'd be gone from 6 AM until 8 PM, and that would suck. But... I'd get more sleep on day shifts. Sleep counts for a lot, unfortunately. I don't think we're quite that desperate yet. We've talked about having someone watch Mira every morning Mark works, even if I'm off, so I can sleep in more and not have such a massive swing in my sleep patterns. Before Mira was born I would stay on sort of a night schedule all the time for this reason. This option is also tempting because Mira's only up for a couple hours in the morning before her nap anyway so I wouldn't be missing much... but I'm not sure that would be feasible either, for obvious reasons. Not to mention there's something called Mommy Guilt that makes me feel bad for not taking care of Mira every waking second.

Here's what I've learned about Mommy Guilt: It sucks. It makes me think I have to do everything or I'm a bad mom. If I'm home and not in between night shifts, I have to be the one to care for Mira or else I'm a bad mom. If I don't raise her a certain way, I'm a bad mom. If I take time for myself, even if I desperately, desperately need it for my sanity, I'm a bad mom because I should want to be with my daughter every single second. That's because she'll be scarred for life if she doesn't bond with me, you see. I realize this way of thinking is not good at all but I think most moms suffer from some amount of Mommy Guilt. I'd just like to know how to get rid of Mommy Guilt because I think it's making me push myself when I should be more laid back about the whole thing. Be prepared to hear more from Mommy Guilt in future posts - I think it'll be showing up again.

Anyway, everything works out eventually and we'll get the sleep situation figured out. I've done 3 shifts in a row this week and it went all right so maybe that's all we need to do. In the meantime, it's going to be fun now that Mira is getting the hang of walking - now we can go out and do stuff! And buy her lots of cute shoes. Gotta have the shoes. :)