SOO Much to Update From Playing to Turkey Day

Well-- It's been awhile since I've done a proper post and my camera is filling up with all kinds of new adventures with Miley!!

Let's start off from the beginning here-- Miley has gotten so good at playing and using her imagination! It's fun to watch her! We have a very large entertainment center upstairs and the bottome three cubby holes are all Miley's cubby holes. One holds her music table another holds her percussion set and the last holds her toy box- which has wheels so she can easily pull it out when she wants to go into Miley's World, we call it. She sits in there and will bring toys in there and plays and thinks she is so funny when she hangs out in there! It's so cute!!

Miley's hair is really starting to grow in- but it still isn't quite long enough to really put anything in it. We did buy some cute little clippies to pull the front back a little bit. It's really cute, until it falls out! :)


And just some cute pictures of Miley hanging out at home, one in her diaper and the other in her cute Christmas PJ's. :)


My parents still have their bouncy seat out at their house as Miley thinks it's fun to turn on the music and sometimes puts her baby or teddy bear in there. Well, apparently on this day she felt like being a little baby again and crawled right in there and sat down like this! Goofy Girl!!


She has also learned how to dig in my cupboards. One evening I was chopping up some veggies at the counter and she was behind me pulling out all of my pots and pans and then I turned around because it got really quiet and she was GONE! I quickly dropped what I was doing to go and find her and here she was-- all the way in the back of the cupboard trying to reach for the last lid that was way back in there! Keep in mind- our cupboards are still a 1970's design so they are pretty deep! I laughed so hard once I finally found her! And we have now moved our tupperware into a lower cabinet so she can now dig in those too. She sure has a hay day sometimes!




Now on to Turkey Day. We had a wonderful time- We had our first celebration on that Sunday at Taylor's Grandparent's house. Taylor unfortunately had Master's School so he was unable to attend, but me and Miley made it and we had a yummy meal and she had fun playing with her cousins. Their house has a step down living room and the step is the perfect height for Miley to sit at. She thought she was pretty fancy sitting there.

And here are the Pagel grandkids with Great Grandma and Grandpa

And all of the Great Grandkids with them

Thursday we went to my Aunt Michelle's and Uncle Robby's house with my family and we played games, had yummy food, and Miley had fun playing with her other cousins. We got a nice photo and Dylan and Danielle with Miley.

So, Miley's first Thanksgiving was perfect! And that was just the start to our weekend!!

Saturday we went to Hampton Hills Tree Farm to continue on mine and Taylor's tradition of cutting down our own tree. We found our perfect little Fraser Fir and Miley LOVED helping pick it out. She thought it was so funny that Daddy was cutting it down and was just in awe of all the activity that was going on there. When I put her down to check out what Daddy was doing she just stood there forever, and as soon as the tree fell down, she sat down. It was pretty funny!




On our way home she fell asleep and I didn't want to ruin her nap so we pulled in the driveway and I sat in the car with her as Taylor put up the outdoor lights- that is my favorite part of decorating- is seeing the outdoor lights up! We might be adding a little more to our display this weekend, if its not too terribly cold.

Once Miley woke up from her nap she was amazed with the lights outside- she kept pointing at them and saying Wow!!! So then it was time to decorate inside and put up the tree. When we first brought the tree in Miley was afraid of it but once we got the lights and ornaments on it she warmed up to it. She still doesn't really want to touch it or go near it, but just enjoys looking at it, which is good for us! We thought we were going to have to gate off the tree to keep her out of it. And that just wouldn't have been as pretty! :)


Here is Miley's First Christmas Ornament from her Grandma and Grandpa Pagel. I love this picture!

Sunday morning it was Taylor's turn to put her down for a nap and once she fell asleep this is where he laid her! She slept here for a good half hour or more. It was SOO cute!!!

Then, when she woke up from her nap it had snowed so we went outside to play in the snow for her first time! It was quite the task getting her all dressed up because she doesn't understand when you tell her if we get all of these winter clothes on we get to play in the snow, but as soon as we got outside she was full of smiles and laughs. We even tried to have her make a Snow Angel- she thought that was very funny!!



And the last photo I have here is Miley enjoying one of Nana's Fat White Sugar Cookies- I told her if she ate a good supper then she could have a cookie. The little stinker knows where the bag of cookies is and she ate her supper and pointed at the bag and then devoured the whole thing! I mean, what can ya do, the girl loves her sweets!!!

Lately, there have been so many firsts for Miley and we are loving every minute of it!! I can't wait for Christmas, it not only is my FAVORITE holiday ever but now that we have our little family I look forward to starting some of our own family traditions during the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!!!

Miley the Acrobat

Holiday Baking from the Nana and Bumpa Cam

On Thursday night Miley spent the night at Nana and Bumpa's house so Taylor and I could wake up early and head out to Target to get Miley's Christmas present that was on sale- and do the rest of our Christmas shopping. When we returned it was time for some Holiday baking with Danielle. We all got decked out in our aprons and made two different kinds of fudge, Special K bars, and Fat White Sugar Cookies. Miley enjoyed the fudge and cookies! Maybe a little too much-- if she sees one of us take one out she comes racing towards us wanting a bite! :)

We had a lot of fun and Miley had a great time playing with Danielle! Dylan even stopped by for lunch and to hang out until he had to go to work. It was fun spending some time with both of them. And Nana and Bumpa had a wonderful day getting to see everyone.

Walking!!

Interesting Weekend....

Well-- our weekend started out fun on Friday after work... we went to visit Nana and Bumpa while Taylor was out hunting and to have dinner with them and everything was just fine, food was good, Miley was playing and we were enjoying each others company. Then, when we got home, something just wasn't feeling right. I was able to get Miley to bed quickly and then the 'fun' started happening. I came down with a very nasty flu bug! And, YES, I even had the flu shot-- but without it I guess it could have been worse. I was up every hour on the hour exactly from 7:50 to 3:50! It was terrible!!! Then when I got up on Saturday morning, Taylor had gone out hunting, not thinking that I was still feeling sick as I had been able to sleep from 4-7am, things were just terrible. I brought Miley to her room to change her diaper and passed out, luckily Joey was right there to lick me to wake up so I wasn't even out 5 seconds before I was able to come to enough to keep telling Miley not to move. She was a good girl and just laid there, I'm assuming she was sensing something was wrong. I had my phone right with me and asked my Dad to come over to help me until I could get some food and water in my system.

So- the piece of toast I ate and the attempt I made and drinking so fluids didn't help at all, I was having terrible back cramps and a fever and just had no idea what was going on. I thought maybe I was having a terrible Crohn's flare up or something so I had Taylor take me to the hospital. While there they were able to diagnose me with a nasty flu and gave me a couple bags of IV fluid and I was able to finally relax and take a little nap while Taylor so patiently sat next to me in a tiny room for 3 hours. I told him to bring his laptop to keep him occupied. :)

After some good sleep on Saturday night I woke up on Sunday feeling MUCH better- getting food in me was still slow but I was able to keep pushing the fluids and now, Sunday evening, am feeling 95% better. What a weird thing!! But I certainly don't wish that on anyone! As for Miley- she's been OK- she was kind of spitty on Friday evening but nothing much since then besides a runny nose. They say with breastfeeding that the baby is exposed to the virus 12 hours before you show any signs of it so I think if she were to get sick like I was she would have already been ill. So hopefully we are in the clear of it in our household.

Besides an icky weekend here are some pictures of Miley from the week. Her walking skills are improving everyday, she will even be sitting in our laps on the floor and will stand up on her own and start walking. She's still all over the place but is starting to take a try at turning while she walks too. It's pretty fun to see! And she met her Mommy's goal of walking at 10 months just like I was! :) Woo Hoo!!

Nana and Bumpa's Camera

Here are some pictures from recent that were on Nana and Bumpa's Camera.

These pictures are from the 3-Day in September. Miley was a HIT when all the walkers were leaving the starting location on Day 1- she was full of high fives and smiles to help get the walkers excited about the 60 miles that lay ahead of them.

These are at the closing ceremony. Miley was so excited to see her Nana. And of course, all decked out in her 3-day gear!



This was our camping trip in Fairbault at the beginning of Oct. This handy dandy little highchair was perfect for Miley. She could eat her dinner in it and also sit outside like a big girl on the camping chairs.



This was on Miley's first sleep over at Nana and Bumpa's. She was fasinated by their TV and playing in the DVD cabinet. And she loves watching Wheel of Fortune too!




Here is Miley and her cousin Danielle on Halloween. Danielle was Miss America and Miley was a big fluffy bunny. Danielle even got to help feed Miley her supper since we were taking a pit stop at Nana and Bumpa's do eat.



And Miley loves taking baths at Nana and Bumpa's. Nana gave her quiet the hair-do here!

10 Months

Miley is offically 10 months old today!!
At 10 months Miley is doing so much more then I thought a 10 month old could do!

For food she eats pretty much anything that is put in front of her. Her diet consists 99% of table food- she occasionally gets some baby food fruits or veggies but for the most part she would prefer to eat table food and feed herself. It's hard to name favorites because she likes it all, so I'll name the VERY few items she isn't a fan of: Oatmeal, must be a texture thing- but she likes Cream of Wheat, and table food veggies we are working on- she LOVES cooked carrots but the other ones she is adapting to- and yup- that is the end of my dislike list. :) She even loves grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, french toast, pancakes and cheese, just to name a few. :)

For mobility- she can get to wherever she wants. She pulls up, she climbs, she crawls and just tonight- two times- she let go of one thing and took a couple steps (without hanging onto anything) all by herself to quickly grab onto something else!
Here she is playing with her Rody- she was first trying to stand on top of him and Taylor told her- No Climbing on your Rody- and she looked at him, sat down and then wrestled with her Rody. It was very cute to watch!



And her newest trick of climbing into her rocking chair and then standing up! Taylor was watching her this evening and he said he about had a heart attack when he turned around from the sink and saw this! He had no idea she could even climb into her chair, normally we have to set her in it!


She is getting very good at understanding what we tell her. She knows when she isn't supposed to be doing something, she knows when we get excited, if you tell her to hug her baby she will give her a big hug, she is getting good at giving kisses if you ask for one, if you tell her to get something most of the time she will go and get it and bring it to you, tonight I asked for her baby and she crawled over and got her and brought her to me, and of course if you say- Is it Bath Time- she gets VERY excited!!!

We are working on signs with her- she knows how to do More when she really wants more of something, its not all the time but once she does it one time, lets say for food, she will continue to do it for that whole session. She also knows the sign for Nurse- she only does this one when she gets upset and really wants her Mommy and wants to Nurse. She points at everything! If she wants something she will point at it and if she is curious about something she will say What's That and point (mind you its more like 'wasss tat').

She goes to the chiropractor every once in awhile just for a check up with me and she told me that Miley's body is very symetric and strong and she has some good muscle tone which we have noticed as she can pick up things I never thought she could pick up and her leg muscles are strong as when she is going to fall down she catches herself pretty well so she doesn't land so hard on her bum.

Miley also is really good at figuring out how to get out of things if you trap her in, for instance, at Gramma Pam's she tries to block off the entrance to the entry way with the toy boxes and Miley knows that she can pull and tug and push on the toy boxes to get them out of her way so she can head for the stairs since climbing stairs are her new favorite past time!

She is growing and changing with each passing day and I am so excited for the up and coming holidays and all the family traditions we get to finally share with our new little family!!!

Lots of new TRICKS and some TREATS too

This year was Miley's FIRST Halloween!! She went to Pam's house all decked out in orange and black with her spiffy Halloween shirt.

Then when I got off work she got all dressed up in her costume- a Pink Fluffy Wabbit is what it was called. Her girlfriends Peyton (a Fawn) and Sophie (a lamb) came over and we all headed down to the parade downtown.


We made it to a few houses to visit, we did the best we could with a 9.5 month old who only had about an hour and fifteen minutes total for naps that day. But she did really good when we were downtown. She held her own basket and when we made a pit stop at Nana and Bumpa's to eat some chicken nuggets she dove right into her basket. She would dump out the candy and then pick it all up and put it back in her basket! I was very happy to see her learn this new trick- now she can clean up her own toys! HAHA




SO-- the past three days have been quite exciting for us in our household... Miley has learned a few new amazing new tricks!!

First new trick: Independence
I was working in the kitchen and she was playing in the entry way of the kitchen and living room and then I heard her crawling thinking she just went to the living room and when I went to check she wasn't out there! Then I heard some noises down the hallway- she had crawled to her bedroom and pulled out the toys in there and was playing all by herself in her own room! It was just so fun to see her do that all on her own and not be scared! I had to snap some pictures of what she was doing in there.



Next new trick: Playing in the Fridge
My mom was over on Saturday morning and we were both getting stuff out of the fridge and when turned around to go in there again this is how we found Miley...

Then this morning Taylor was getting something out of the fridge and Miley wanted to check out the fridge again- so he let her and the little stinker pulled out a tupperware and pushed it right up against the door and stood on it like a step to better get in the fridge!! She is just getting too smart for us!


AND I Saved the BEST trick for last: DRUM ROLL PLEASE..... WALKING!!!!!!!!!!
I don't have any video or pictures yet but I will try to get some but on Saturday afternoon Miley took her offical first steps all by herself!!!! It was amazing!!! Me, Taylor and my Mom were all here to witness it! Taylor had set her down on the ground like he always does just to see if she would walk to me- it never has happened before normally she sits and crawls- but not on Saturday- she took 4 steps to get to me!! We were all VERY excited! We made her do it three more times! And now whenever she is in the mood we keep practicing so she doesn't forget how to do it and so she can keep getting better.

Disco Math

Here is Taylor on Disco Math Day at school! Apparently it is a really fun way to teach the student one of their math lessons- all the math teachers get together and do it together in the gym! Doesn't he look hilarious!