Miriam: 9 months

I get pretty excited when my babies get to be 9 months old because it means they've been out in the world as long as they were growing inside me! I don't know how big Miriam is yet (her checkup isn't for another week) but I know she's grown a good deal since her last appointment. She's still a small baby but she's growing!

Sleeping patterns: Goes to bed around 7:30, wakes up for an hour or so around 8:30/9, then goes back to bed shortly thereafter. We put her back in Niko's room last week and things have been ok! They wake each other up sometimes but we just let Miriam fuss herself back to sleep (the way we would if she slept in her own room). They wake up at a normal time in the morning (7 or 7:30) so things are looking good!

Eating patterns: Breastmilk every 3-4 hours with 6-8 oz of formula in the evenings and people food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. She's been eating lunch and dinner with us for awhile, but recently she realized that we eat food in the mornings too and threw a mild fit for a few mornings until we figured it out and started including her in the eating process. She frequently gets grumpy at us if we're eating something and not sharing, to the point that I've often remarked to Jesse "This is a baby that would have survived the stone age!" (You know, bothered her stone age parents so much for food that she got fed and grew up healthy and strong compared to the babies who didn't get grumpy and demand food. Also, I've just realized that perhaps Jesse and I are super weird for saying stuff like this to each other and not thinking it's weird...) Another anecdote to prove the point: Jesse was holding Miriam in one arm and a sandwich he had just made for Nikolai in the other and Miriam reached over and grabbed a chunk of the sandwich and stuffed it in her mouth. This baby knows how to get what she wants (and what she wants is food)!

Look at that tiny standing baby up there! So small! So standing!

New discoveries she made: Nikolai can give gentle hugs (sometimes) and she likes them!

Accomplishments: Being the sweetest baby we know :)

Places she went: Oh golly, all over! The zoo, the library, church, Josie's house. 

Special memories: I put this pirate eye patch (or as Niko used to call it, his pirate 'atch) on her eye and she thought it was HILARIOUS.

Hey sweet Miri, we love you!