Miriam turns 11!

Miriam is 11!!! She is such a sweetheart. I seriously can't believe I was lucky enough to have her as a daughter. She brings so much light, happiness, love, and fun to our family. She is incredible. One thing that really stands out to me about Miriam is her determination. If she decides on something she follows through 100%. It is remarkable. She has an incredible sense of compassion for her friends and family. I am thoroughly impressed with her sense of the Spirit also. I can really tell that she is sensitive to things that bring the Spirit and block the Spirit. Miriam is so kind and loving. She is smart and fun. She is a hard worker and is almost always the first one to have her chores done. She is friendly and inclusive. She is generous and helps her family everyday. We are so lucky to have Miriam!

I love, love her birthday dress this year. She looks like a fresh breath of Summer sunshine in that yellow sundress. That is pretty much her personality too. She makes every day better.

We did a fun photo shoot up the canyon for birthday photos. We did a combination photo shoot and got some of Ellie, Darcy, and Miriam. It seems like we left Holland out but we did a fun birthday photo shoot with just her already. 

Lets do a quick interview with Miriam at 11.5 years old: 

1. Describe yourself. A bookworm, baker, ice skater, swimmer, student, 6th grader. My hair is red. I like clothes. I am good at grammar. I like music. I like country and pop songs.  
2. What are you thankful for? My family, house. I am grateful that I don't need glasses yet. I am grateful for plants and the scriptures. I am grateful that we live in the century that we do. I am grateful that we have toilets and plumbing. 
3. What makes you happy? Chocolate, cuddling, books, playing games with my family (unless I lose super badly.)
4.. What makes you sad or angry? Depressing books, getting sick, love triangles that go wrong in books. It makes me kind of angry when people don't like books. Drama in general, except in books. Overly dramatic people in books are fine. 
5. What do you want to be when you grow up? A dermatologist or preferably a stay-at-home mom.
6. What’s important to you? The gospel, my family, that the world supply of chocolate doesn't run out, reading time. 
7. What do you love most about yourself? I care about other people. I am good at ELA, science, and math. I am a fast reader. 
8. What do you love most about your mom? You are really hard working. She helps everyone when she doesn't have to. You listen to us. You love us. You are a really great mom in all aspects. You are funny. 
9. What do you love most about your dad? Daddy is really good at teaching us how to play games. He works instead of staying home. He is a really good chicken griller. He is funny. He cares about us. He is a really great dad. 
10. If you could go anywhere, where would you want to go? 45 day cruise to Egypt, Bora Bora, and Hawaii.
11. Who do you admire? Why? I admire my parents because we got through college and have a healthy relationship and are handling life well. 
12. What do you want to learn more about? Space and why it is snowing in late March. I also want to learn about people's skin and dermatology. 
13. What’s something you’d like to do to help someone else? Bake them chocolate croissant bread. Being someone's friend who might be lonely.
14. What are you afraid of? Spiders, apocalypses, someone drugging me and accidentally getting addicted to that drug.  
15. If you could only keep one thing, what would you keep? My sanity, my insurance, or Daddy's job. 
16. What’s your favorite memory? A lot of trip memories. Our big, long cruise. Long Beach, San Diego, New York, Bear River Lodge, Canada, Sunday game nights, Parent Daughter dates, hiking in the desert.
17. What are you proud of yourself for? I got into the gifted and CAS class. 5th grade scholar. 
18. What are you looking forward to? Middle school, the next time I get to eat more chocolate croissant bread, my next Parent Daughter date, dinner, next trips, when I get to see Grandma again, next PE class, not next music class. 
19. What do you dream about? I tend to dream about my classmates doing really horrible things. I once dreamed about a giant golden bathtub.
20. What else do you want to say? I like drawing. I like playing the piano, ice skating, climbing trees. I hope people will stop being stupid and stop breaking the commandments. I am excited for girl's camp. I prefer the weather in Arizona but the people in Utah are friendlier. I don't like braces.

Honestly, what a beautiful, wonderful girl.

Spazzy and delightful.

I love her relationship with her sisters. She has worked hard to have a better relationship with her little sisters. I am so proud of her.

She's a gem. 

At 11 years old, Miriam weighed 67.9 pounds which is the 15.63%. She was 56 inches tall with is the 40.54%. I guarantee this has changed. I feel like she has shot up the last few months. Growth spurt for sure! That means that her BMI is 15.22 which is the 13.67%. 

At 11 years old, you still love reading more than anything, especially the romances. That being said, you are super committed to watching a movie on the weekend. Movie nights are important. :) You love to cook and made it a goal last summer to learn to cook better. You made us the most delicious meals that are now just in our rotation. Thanks for discovering them! I feel so spoiled to have a darling daughter that just wants to make a delicious gourmet grilled cheese for dinner for everyone. Actually for a Mommy Daughter date right before your birthday we went to Barnes and Noble and you picked out a cookbook to buy with a gift card you had received. 

Actually I want to talk about that gift card. You worked extra hard during 5th grade to become a 5th Grade Scholar. This was a non-required challenge given to your class to do extra projects and expand learning opportunities during the school year. You had to do a bunch of projects, research, and put in a lot of effort to do this in a shorter than usual amount of time (because we moved in part way through the year). I am so proud of you for going the extra mile to make the most of the opportunities you were given. You did amazing! As a reward for you effort, your teacher gave you a personalized stamp for your collection of books, and a $10 gift card to Barnes and Noble. You picked out a cookbook because you had been checking some out from the library, but it was always frustrating to have to return them at the end of the checkout period. I love how dedicated you are to things. It is so impressive.

I also have to say, I love watching you at swim lessons. You have improved so much this last summer. You are such a great helper with your little sisters. You're amazing. 

One night you had a tender moment when you told me, "I don't know why I am being so emotional. I know in my head it isn't a big deal, but I just explode." You and me both!

On your actual birthday we had just gotten home from Canada (we sang Happy Birthday to you at the airport after midnight because we were so late getting home). So we celebrated on July 8th. This was the only way you could have had fun food, decorations, and activities on your birthday. On July 7th we got to bed at 2:30 am. You helped us unpack the whole day without complaint. Then we took a quick power nap and went on an outing together. We went to the library, birthday dress shopping, and got frozen custard. I adore you Miriam. You are such a blessing. 

On July 8th, we celebrated with crepes, raisin bread, mangos, taco cups, and chocolate cheesecake. We also went swimming, had a dance party, and opened presents. You were so surprised by the extra cookbook we gave you (you had the hardest time deciding which cookbook to buy at Barnes and Noble) and the stuffed elephant you fell in love with there. We also got you a swing set for the yard. I hope you aren't too big to enjoy swinging! Of course we had to get you some chocolate treats too. 

Miriam wasn't the only one who liked the swing set.

We got her this cute succulent from Trader Joes.

This is the elephant stuffy that Miriam fell in love with at Barnes and Noble.

Uncle Daniel spoiled you by sending you a cool Lego set too. 

At the end of the month we threw your 10th birthday party a year late. It seemed like a success even though we set up everything outside but had to quickly move it inside when the wind picked up. That was too bad. It was a really cute set up outside. You seemed really happy about the whole thing even though it seemed pretty crazy to me. Your friend even facetimed you for a bit for your party. You were so invested in it and gave Daddy and me the feeling you were concerned we were going to drop the ball somehow. :) It was pretty funny. Being around all those kids made me SO grateful that you are our daughter. You are amazing. We love you more than we can say.

Darcy's 2nd Birthday

Oh my beautiful baby! What a joy you are! You are sweetness personified. I love you like crazy. You are such a blessing to our family. Our whole family is wrapped around your finger. We all jump to do the things that you want, and it no wonder that you say the funniest/ridiculous things like "I want what I want." You certainly do, and you almost always get it. I don't know if we can help buy spoil you. 

At your two year check up you were in the 13.17% for weight at 22 lbs. You were in the 54% for height at 33.6 in. Your head circumference was the 24.75 % at 18.2 in. 

Interestingly, at your 2.5 year check up, you must have changed to a different chart because your percentages were very different. You weighed 23.37 lbs which was the 2.46%. Your height was 36 in which was the 65%. This meant that you are very tall and lean, which meant that your BMI was 12.68 which is the 0.03%. That is crazy low. I am not sure I believe it. You don't seem emaciated to me. Nevertheless the doctor suggested that we push the whole milk on you after you eat meals mixed with Carnation breakfast mix. We have been doing that a lot, so we'll see how that affects your weight. Honestly, your body shaped doesn't seem to be changing at all to me. 

As I said in a previous post, you failed your vision test at the two year check up. We went to see a specialist, which you didn't like at all. You screamed and squirmed and somehow he held up lens to you wriggly, uncooperative face and managed to whip our a prescription. I have no idea how he did that. We have had to go back in for several check ups, and your left eye isn't recovering like he was hoping it would. We are trying to get you to wear your glasses pretty much always so that you don't have to wear an eye patch. I keeping my fingers crossed. 

Darcy, you talk so much! All of my little journal entries are filled with "Darcy learned this word..." and "Darcy mimicked this phrase, and it was so cute." You truly astound us at how much you talk. Right about when you turned two, you were obsessed with counting things "Un, two." And then you figured out "Un, two, tee!" One funny phrase you mimicked right around your birthday was "Skedattle please." You make us laugh so often. Some of your most common words at age 2 were: "Urse!" "Me too!" "Mommy do it." "Urse car." "Urse chair, couch..." "Gug" (hug) "Goo hug" (group hug) "Come!" "Too 'picy."

One day we were outside, and you didn't have your shoes on. You told me, "Hoos off, does on." (Shoes off, toes on. You are so cute!

I think it is funny that you are already figuring out commands. One day when I was laying you back on your changing table you told me "Be coe-ful Mommy." 

Your first composed song consisted of "Ice kispies, doo, doo, doo." It was about 2 months after you turned 2. 

We also love all of your little antics. You love to sing, give monkey hugs, and dance. You love nursing so much and everywhere. You love raisins at nursery. You love going to nursery with Daddy. You loved pushing the music on the sit 'n spin at night and doing a little dance party before getting wrapped up. You do the funniest little squat, hip wiggle dance. You love giving my belly raspberries. They go on way longer than I would think you would be interested in. You get my belly and your face all wet, and you love it. Right around your birthday you started getting interested in undressing yourself, which was okay except the time that you decided to take off your diaper too and got poo everywhere. 

Right about when you turned two you definitely didn't voluntarily eat salad, but if it is left out you will go at it! One day you almost choked because you had stuffed your mouth so full of salad. 

I thought it was so funny how at age two she kind of avoided saying the word "yes." It reminded me how my other girls wouldn't do that either. Darcy's favorite word for yes was "sure." "Do you want some ice cream and cherries?" "Sure." (not enthusiastically). 

You sure make our life fun, but you also have put a damper on our board game playing. You have next to no patience for us playing board games. You would prefer to have all of the pieces and preferably be on top of the game board. It is tricky to play with you, but occasionally we can get you interested in water colors while you sit in your high chair enough to play a quick game.

At 2.5 Darcy loves the song "Kookaburra" and wants to sing it all the time. She will also sing one line from a Taylor Swift song that she has heard her sisters play...again and again. 

She has really latched onto a toy lamb that has a music box in it that is broken. She totes it around everywhere. 

She surprised us a little while after she turned two when she requested to sit on the toilet to go potty and just immediately let some pee out. That weekend she went pee on the potty 10 times with out any kind of struggle. Unfortunately I didn't have the bandwidth to try to potty train her then. We waited to Feb 2023 to do it. At the beginning of March we are still working on it, but it is coming. The novelty has definitely worn off, but as long as she doesn't poop at nap time or in the middle of the night it seems to work out. I think it is funny that she tends to sleep dry at night but not at nap time. Side note, one day Darcy called her puddle of urine "orange juice" and to be honest, orange juice hasn't been the same since.

Speaking of nap time, she is in a sweet phase of just falling asleep on me nursing at nap time and then I just lay her in her bed. Right about the time we started potty training, she figured out how to climb out of her crib and open doors so that has made bed time harder for a bit, but hopefully were getting past some bad habits, right? 

At two years old she has gone through phases of sleeping through the night every night and waking up once a night every night, and it switches every month or two. You just started waking up again and I am a little depressed. You just show up at the side of my bed at night and climb into nurse. You love to nurse probably more than ever, which is too bad because my milk is almost gone. I was hoping to nurse you until your 3rd birthday, but I don't know if my milk will last that long. You would probably be happy trying to nurse without milk coming out anyway. I am nervous to try to wean you, but it has to happen. You call my breasts, "milkies" and they are your favorite thing ever. I literally can't sit down without you climbing on my lap, pulling up my shirt, opening my nursing bra, and latching on. You just help yourself.  

You love, love Grandma Deru. It is such a sweet blessing to see you adore her so much. She doesn't have a lot of abilities anymore so it is such a miracle that you just want to be around her, talk to her, and cuddle her. What a miracle. It was so adorable when the other day I asked you, "Darcy, who is your favorite?" "Mama and Grandma, and I actually really like me!" 

At two and half, you are chattier than ever. Recently you told Daddy, "Mommy is my extra favorite, but you are my Christmas favorite." You also use the word "quite" a lot and it makes me smile every time. "It is quite yummy." You are so darling. Of course sometimes you burn us pretty good. Like yesterday you told me, "Don't kiss me, it isn't fun." You literally popped off nursing to tell me that, so it felt pretty rich of you. 

You are a fair weather friend though because once last August I asked you "Who's Kylee?" You said, "I don't know." "Who's John?" "I love him."

I think it hilarious when you want to talk about my to do list, "Uh....how about nursing? Maybe scriptures? And cuddling?"

You have started really like going to friends houses, even if playing with them and sharing toys is a little beyond you. You play well with your sisters though. Maybe I should say that they play well with you? You are so lucky to have them. You also love going to the library and reading stories (reading you stories is how we get you to eat most meals, you're welcome.) 

You love to eat candy baskets though. We have a candy basket, and it is your favorite thing to pick out a piece of candy after dinner. You would rather have that than any other kind of dessert, crazy girl. 

At 2.5 you have started to work on the art of the tantrum. Wowwy, you are picking it up quickly. You threw the biggest tantrum the other day when you insisted that the Berenstein Bears were real (those are your favorite stories right now), and I said they were just a story. That was not okay. Some other memorable tantrums were when you lost your mind when I wouldn't let you walk to park, in the snow, naked. You definitely went through a phase of not wanting clothes while we were potty training. You also threw a fit just today because you had a whole handful of lotion that you wanted to take to your nap, and I wouldn't let you. 

You also really, really love deodorant. One day you got into Daddy's deodorant and rubbed it all over your armpits, on the outside of your clothes! He now keeps his deodorant on a high shelf where, truth be told, I can't even reach it. You latched on to a glasses cleaner bottle and call it your deodorant now. "Where's my deodorant?" You ask regularly. Right now, it is in the cabinet in the downstairs bathroom, just FYI. :)

You like chapstick too. There was an incident on the long drive to Marc and Miriam's house where you were too quiet for too long with the chapstick and ended up wandering around their house in only a diaper while your clothes had to be washed. Basically you keep us on our toes...and we should be wary of quiet. 

The ophthalmologist showed you the Baby Shark video at the first hard appointment, and despite it being a rough appointment, you loved the video. Now when we listen to music you insist that we listen to Baby Shark. You also love baths. Especially if you can have a bubble bath. You like playing with the bubbles and making beards and white bubble hair. 

Since we almost always just do grocery pick up these days, you hardly ever have an opportunity to go into stores. Once recently though we took you into Costco, and threw such a tantrum that it ensured that we will not be going into a store with you for at least a year. You didn't want to sit in the cart or be held. You just wanted to run around and dodge between the giant carts. But then you lost it when we tried to put your jacket back on you in order to go out in the February cold. We're so mean. Mainly I just grateful for grocery pick up. 

Your favorite things to eat right now are snacks. And your favorite snacks are fruit leathers and bananas. I am always impressed with how you can put an entire banana down in less than a minute and then want more. 

One thing you have been saying a lot recently is "Taste o Fight." This literally means anything you want it to mean at the moment. You use it as a noun and a verb. I think it is something that you and Holland said to each other, and it just stuck. She is such a good sister to you and plays with you a ton. 

This is remarkable because you tend to steal her stuff. Her souvenir shells from Cabo are half missing because of you. You cart around all of the toy kitchen accessories that belong in her room. But the main theft was Catsandra. Catsandra is the stuffed kitty that Aunt Crickit gave to Holland when she came for a visit. Holland immediately named her Catsandra, and you immediately thought she was the coolest thing ever. You time and time again played with Holland's new toy until eventually it became more like your toy. Catsandra still is Holland's, but anytime you want to be told a story you request a Catsandra story. Specifically you want a story about how Catsandra wants to paint her room another color. Ellie has the most patience in the world telling you version after version of this story on long car rides. 

So because you have been really hitting the tantrums hard and also trying not to sleep, we have had to start experimenting with time outs. We have only done it twice (for like 10 seconds), but it made a big impression. We have only had to threaten a time out and that helps you change the behavior. 

Here is a little interview we did with you at 2.5 years old: 

1. What is your favorite color? Pink
2. What is your favorite food? Strawberries
3. Who is your best friend? Jane
4. What is your favorite thing to do? Play songs
5. What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be 14.
6. What is your favorite toy? Play baby dolls
7. What is your favorite book? Pinkalicious
8. What is your favorite movie or TV show? Curious George (she's never seen it?)
9. What is your favorite song or nursery rhyme? Kookaburra
10. What is your favorite animal? Piggies
11. What is your favorite game or activity? Two hotel cages (a game she plays with Holland when we move the chairs away from the table to sweep)
12. What is your favorite thing about school? When I am growing up
13. What is your favorite thing about your family? Getting treats and clean up
14. What is your favorite holiday or special occasion? Getting out, having hotel cages
15. What is your favorite thing to do with your mom or dad? having a Mommy and Darcy or Daddy and Darcy date (she hasn't started these yet.
16. What is your favorite thing to do with your sisters? Play games, Pinkalicious games
17. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play in the snow
18. What is your favorite thing to do inside? Play with Mommy and play with the lamby. 
19. What is your favorite thing about your room? Playing Little People in the house, car, and bus
20. What is your favorite thing about the world around you? Having a baby bath and having a beard on your chin. 
21. What is your favorite character from a story? Pinkalicious, Elephant and Piggie. 
22. What is your favorite piece of clothing? A Christmas shirt and pants
23. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Pancakes
24. What is your favorite thing to do when it’s raining outside? To get inside
25. What is your favorite thing to do when it’s sunny outside? Put a cover on me and get in the carrier
26. What is your favorite thing to do when it’s cold outside? Cuddle up!
27. What is your favorite thing to do when it’s hot outside? Get inside
28. What is your favorite thing to do when you’re feeling sad? Nurse
29. What is your favorite thing to do when you’re feeling happy? Play
30. What is your favorite thing to do when you’re feeling scared? Cuddle up
31. What is your favorite thing to do when you’re feeling silly? Playing some songs
32. What is your favorite thing to do when you’re feeling tired? Sleep
33. What is your favorite thing to do when you’re feeling energetic? Sleep
34. What is your favorite thing to do when you’re feeling hungry? Eat pancakes
35. What is your favorite thing to do when you’re feeling full? Get out of my high chair and car seat and going out side. 
36. What is your favorite thing to do when you’re feeling lonely? Cry
37. What is your favorite thing to do when you’re feeling loved? Nursing
38. What is your favorite thing to do when you’re feeling curious? Feeing sicky
39. What is your favorite thing to do when you’re feeling brave? Getting still food. (I don't think she knows some of these words.)
40. What is your favorite thing to do when you’re feeling adventurous? Go to nursery
41. What is the best thing about Daddy? Daddy holding me and making me happy.
42. What is the best thing about Mommy? Cuddle with Mommy when I am sick. Nursing and being silly. 
43. What is the best thing about Ellie? Catsandra stories and Fawn stories and Berenstein Bears stories
44. What is the best thing about Miriam? Playing with me and dances.
45. What is the best thing about Holland? Plays so many games with me. 
46. What is the best thing about Grandma? Getting out of trouble. 
47. What is the best thing about Darcy? Starting so sweet. Starting Starfall and learning my letters. 
48. What is the best thing about Nursery? Stealing graham crackers (a boy stole her graham crackers last week.)
49. What is the best treat? A candy basket
50. What is the prettiest place? Having a better day (?)

Lightened up cheesecake for dessert. You loved it, and so did I! It was delish.

You got some dresses and Calico Critters for your birthday.

And an airfort! It has been fun!