The adoption is final! YAY!!!!

Today, April 22nd 2008, the adoption became final! We'll be celebrating April 22nd for years to come. It's a very happy day, but we're so happy to have it be done. God has been blessing us through this whole process, and we're so grateful for His protection and favor. It is a very emotional day for me, as you can probably see on my face in the picture. Happy tears. I wanted to thank you all for your prayers, He was listening. I also wanted to thank you for all the comments you've been leaving on the blog, they've been SO encouraging to read... so thank you.

She's found her voice!

Miriam has discovered that her voice can be used for recreational purposes! It's funny though, she rarely talks without a captive, responsive audience. And she WILL NOT talk if she spots a camera of any kind, so we had to be pretty sneaky to get this little video. It has been so fun to watch her respond to us like this, and to see her respond to hearing her own voice. We've loved it! Speaking of things we've loved... she's still been sleeping through the night 7-9 hours every night for the last two weeks. YAY for sleep!

Me and my favorite cousin, Addison.

I get all my cool clothes from grandma and grandpa.

Can you guess what this face means?

10 Weeks Old

The biggest news we have to report is that Miriam slept through the night for the first time to celebrate her 10-week birthday. The last two nights we've all had 8 uninterrupted hours of sleep! I forgot how wonderful it was! I'm so thankful to not have to get up until it's light outside again. YAY! In other news, Miriam had her fist "sympathy" cry. She's never really noticed the emotions of other kids around her, until this week. It was so sweet, you would have thought her little heart had broken.

Flexing for the camera.

She really does look very pretty in pink!

Stop taking my picture!

She holds her head up very well now... at least for 5 or 10 minutes.

Happy 2-month birthday!!

Today is Miriam's 2-month birthday. I feel so sad when I look at the box of clothes she already outgrown in two short months! Everyone keeps telling me to "hold on" and that the next baby stages will be so much easier than the newborn stage, and I understand what they mean but... I've LOVED the newborn stage. Even with her confusion between day and night, and the colic, and the eating every two hours 24/7. I've just loved it! She's been so warm and mushy, and she wants nothing more than to snuggle in my arms all day... who wouldn't love that? But now she's starting to hold her head up, and she likes to be by herself more and more, and she actually gets sick of being held sometimes! Sad.
She had her 2-mo check-up yesterday. Everything was wonderful. We finally found a formula that works for her sensitive little system, soy. She weighed 10 lbs 12 oz. And she was 22 1/4 inches long. She's exactly on the 50th percentile for height, weight, and head size. She was supposed to have shots yesterday, but she's just getting over a cold, so they'll do those next week. Shots and all other things relating to pain or blood are Jason's department. I'm a fainter.
Well, that's all for the 2-month update. We're glad that you're all getting at least a glimpse of our baby through the blog. Sorry we don't update as often as we could. But we love you all!
~Mandy

It's so hard to get pictures of her smiling. You gotta be pretty quick.

She's JUST starting to be a little ticklish.

Formula tongue. Yuck.

I think it's funny when mom opens my onesie and screams, haha!



All of a sudden I can't remember why I used to hate baths so much. Oh well.

I was working so hard on throwing a fit (since I was
being dressed against my will) that I fell right asleep.
It's hard work!

VIDEO: Miriam smiling at teddy bears

6 weeks old already?

Where has the time gone? I'm still getting to know my mommy and daddy. They started making me sleep in my own room all night, every night, and I'm trying not to take it personally. But I actually like my room, and I can really spread out in my big crib. I got weighed on the 5th and came in at 9lb 3oz. I'm gettin' fatter and fatter, and mom says "that's how we like 'em". As you can see in my pictures, I discovered my reflection this week... MAN I'm good lookin'!! See ya later!
~Miriam

I wish I could be naked ALL the time.

Grandma Kirschenmann's badge of honor

Look at those LONG, curly lashes!

There's a mirror on the other side of that leaf...

... and she loves to check herself out!
She smiled into that mirror for almost an hour the other day.

She's quite a spitter.

I'm a month old!

Miriam just had her one month check up on Monday the 25th, and all is well. She had failed her hearing test in one ear at birth, so they tested it again and it was just fine. She's right on track with all of her "milestones", she started smiling on purpose this week, YAY. She jumped from the 5th percentile in weight to the 50th percentile in two weeks, we were pretty happy about that. She weighed 8lbs 8oz on Monday at the appointment. She's already outgrown all the preemie clothes that she wore for the first two weeks of her life (sad). And she's starting to outgrow some of the newborn sized clothes too (really sad). She's growing like a weed.

Sittin' on the couch like a big girl.

Sometimes we find ourselves just staring at her,

we still can't believe how blessed we are.

Mira's Shower

On Friday, the ladies in our church threw Miriam the most beautiful shower. It was so much fun! She got LOTS of new outfits to show off her cuteness, I just hope she gets a chance to wear each of them before she outgrows them! Haha. Oh, and the food was amazing... lasagna, salad and bread (the same meal as at our wedding) with cheesecake, and pink cupcakes for dessert, YUM! We feel so blessed by the wonderful people in our town, and our church... we love you all!

Miriam's new Friend Ali

A lady in our church made Miriam a BEAUTIFUL quilt!

She's very talented!