Another new Hair-Do! :)

Jamie did a WONDERFUL job on my new hair-do!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!! I have to Thank Kelly Pickler for the inspiration of this new style! Now- Jamie is suggesting an all over color for the winter-- maybe a chocolate brown... hummm... I'm thinking about it... but if you know me-- Shoes, Purses and my hair-- I have a hard time committing to something- I always have to think long and hard before I do anything (I've been thinking of this style since February!)... But it sure would be fun and sassy!!! :)

**Footnote-- Yes- I was parked at a stop sign waiting for traffic on 52 when I took this photo!

Miley falls down

Happy Birthday to Me! ..... 24!!

Well-- Today is my birthday and 24 for some reason feels a lot older then 23! But it feels good to be 24- sometimes I feel older then I really am and I think now I feel my age- a wife and a mommy- it just sounded weird to be all of that at only 23- don't ask me why- it just did. :)


I had a wonderful day and the rest of the week will just keep getting better!
I went out to lunch with some gals from work at Erbert and Gerberts-- it was YUMMY!! Then they surprised me with a DQ Cookie Dough Blizzard Ice Cream Cake-- I highly recommend trying one-- it was SOO good!! Then we went to my parents house for dinner and Ken, Pam, Jenae and Landon joined us. My parents even got me a birthday cake!! And Pam, Miley and Landon were busy at Grandma Daycare today making me birthday cards!! She put lipstick on Miley and got her to put some kisses on paper and put the kisses in my card! Totally a keeper!!! And Landon made me a beautiful card too!

Tomorrow night I'm headed down to Wanamingo to see Jamie for a haircut and eyebrow wax-- FUN FUN! I'm thinking a cut similar to Kelly Pickler this time around.... we'll see how it turns out! :)

Friday we are going out with some of my friends and their husbands to celebrate mine, Jackie's and Amy's October birthdays- we are going to Bubba Gump Shrimp at the Mall of America- I'm really looking forward to that- we don't usually go on dates with my friends and their husbands.

Then Saturday is my present from Taylor- Dinner at Ichiban's Japanese Steak House and then a play at the Guthrie- The Caretaker-- and then I guess it will be Miley's first overnight at Nana and Bumpa's.... I'm not too sure on how I am going to handle that- but I guess it has to happen sometime. Taylor talked me into it- he said she'll be sleeping by the time we get home anyway and why not just get one good night of sleep to catch up and we can go and get her and have breakfast at my parents bright and early Sunday morning. I think I will have to have a drink or two to help me not think about it....

So- it will be a WONDERFUL birthday week!!!

And for fun-- here are some cute photos of Miley this week! She thinks it is SOO funny to crawl underneath the coffee table!

9 Months

At Miley's 9 month appointment she weighed 23 pounds and was 28 inches long. He said still very normal for a breastfed baby and he is betting by the time she reaches 18 months she will have slimed down. Everything else checked out perfectly normal and I had him check out her mouth for more teeth because she's been one crabby baby again and he said he can see some activity going on where the molars will be coming in. I think on top of teething she is kind of getting a little bit of a cold and she also got her flu shot and ended up with a fever all weekend, it was controlled with some Motrin but she just hasn't been herself, not eating very much and mellow.

But- on a happier note- as you can see in the video below she is officially crawling on her hands and knees now- no more of the body worm to get where she wants to go. She still loves walking behind her toys, she pushes things all over the living room to get where she wants to go and she zooms around the coffee tables to get what she wants. This morning she said her first offical word- she said Bye Bye and knew what she was doing-- her and Taylor were leaving and I was at the top of the stairs waving and saying Bye Bye expecting to just get her normal wave back and she said Bye Bye and waved-- and we both clapped and said YEAH MILEY and I guess she continued to wave and say bye bye over and over while they walked to the car, got in her car seat and took off- then did it again when Taylor said Bye Bye when he was leaving his mom's house. I think she is really close at saying Hi too-- she makes a little squeel noise when she waves Hi so I'm sure that one is right around the corner. Of course she says Mamama and Daddda but I don't think she knows what she means when she says those.

We have now finally introduced all three meals, lunch was our last meal to introduce and she has been doing really well with all three. She just loves to eat anything you put in front of her and it makes it so much fun at meal time because she isn't picky. I hope she stays this way and will continue to be an adventureous eater, I'm sure as long as we keep introducing new things and not allowing her to just fall back on the basics she will be a good eater.

She has quiet the little personality too- she has a sense of humor and is really good at playing by herself, we love to just sit back and watch her use her imagination already. We always wonder what could be going on in that little head of hers.

So- to go along with her imagination she is now very curious and adventures all over the house, needless to say, our baby gate should be arriving this week.... she hasn't quite gone towards the stairway alone but I will feel so much more comfortable trying to cook dinner in the kitchen knowing she can't fall down the stairs.

Miley is now wearing 12-18 month clothes!! YES! Already!! Depending on what kind she wears 12 or 18 month pants-- some 18 month ones are way to long for her short little legs and for long sleeve shirts she has to have 18 month ones because the 12 month ones are too tight on her arms! Here she is sporting one of her new fall outfits.


A picture we took to entertain Daddy when he was in the deer stand

Waiting for the Doctor at her 9 month check up

Offically Crawling on her Hands and Knees

Learning how to walk with one hand

Rockin'

Walking around the camper

The 3 Day

The 3 day was this past weekend and what a beautiful weekend it was!! The DuBar Dolls rocked all 60 miles and with less blisters then last year!! Me, my Dad and Miley went to all the cheering stations again and cheered them on and gave them hugs to keep them going. We camped at Bunker Hills campground in Anoka and then spent the days driving to all the cheering stations and just all around. We got to drive over the 35W bridge- which was historical- as last year we drove by it and took pictures of the collapse. We went out to eat at a Vietnamese resturant called Hoa Bien off of Lexington Avenue, I ate there for a lunch meeting before and wanted my Dad to try the eggrolls, they have the BEST eggrolls you'll ever eat!! It was a fun weekend spending time with Dad and Miley and we look forward to our time together again next year to cheer the Dolls on again!

We took more pictures on my parents camera and they are now relaxing up north so I'll have to post those pictures when they get home. But here are some cute ones of Miley...


Here we are at one of the cheering stations. We sat across the road in a grassy shady spot and Miley played toys


I wanted to get a picture of all her teeth but the top ones are hard to get a shot of. But here are her 4 bottom teeth-- YES-- she is 8 months old and has 8 teeth!!!! Four on top and four on bottom!!

Bumpa showing Miley how to climb a ladder

Walking around the camper

In the mornings we would wake up and get ready and take off to find them at the first cheering stations and then we went to Panera Bread on Saturday morning and Caribou on Sunday morning to feed Miley her breakfast and enjoy a refreshment.


Miley was SOOO well behaved the whole weekend. For 8 months old I couldn't have asked her to be any better. She was a trooper! She might even be famous... on Sunday my Mom got us some 3-day t-shirts and they didn't have anything for babies so she decided to get her a multi-use wrap thing-- apparently you can wear it as a headband, a bandana, a neck wrap, a leg wrap, a sweat band, etc. So I put a white onsie on Miley and then put the wrap on her like a tube top and then topped it off with her string of pearls that a walker gave her-- she was a HUGE HIT!! All of the walkers LOVED her-- they remembered her all weekend and seeing her in some 3-day gear on Sunday really topped it off for them! Then at one of the cheering stations on Sunday some of the 3-Day crew took some photos of Miley, we had to sign a release form and everyhing so we are keeping our eyes peeled to see if she'll be in a brochure for next year.

Happy Anniversary!

Well, it's been 2 years now and we are still happily married! We've done a lot in two years time.... sold the condo, bought our first home, did some minor updates to our home, and the biggest of all- had a baby!! Boy how time sure does fly by fast!

So- to my loving husband- I love you until ever Taylor James!



OK- and for a funny story--- Miley is totally her daddy's daughter- last night I could hear her moving around in her crib so I went to check on her to see what she was doing- she had pulled herself up and was hanging onto her lullaby turtle that hangs on the side- so I went in to lay her back down, I got up to her and she looked at me and I put her paci back in her mouth and before I could even get her laid down she was totally out cold! I think she was standing up in her sleep! It was so weird!

Is walking just around the corner...

Go Vikings!!

Football Face


Cheerleader Face

8 Months Old- Already!

Boy- the time sure seems to be flying faster and faster. Miley just turned 8 months on Friday! She is becoming such a little person! At eight months Miley now has 2 full teeth on the bottom 1 on top that is half way in and 1 on top that is poking through right now and I can see both the top and bottom second tooth to the left just under the gum-- no wonder she was such a cranky pants a month ago- she was working on 4 teeth! We are starting to see her favor her right hand- so I think she is going to be a righty-- she would prefer to grab and hold things in that hand.

We have noticed that Miley likes FLAVOR!! We tried giving her just some noodles with a little bit of butter and salt on them one night for dinner- hey- I liked it-- but she DID NOT-- it didn't have enough flavor for her! We've noticed that her favorite dishes are a bit spicy- she's following in her Daddy's footsteps- and I like spicy flavor now too- just not SUPER hot stuff, wonder if Miley will.

Miley is really starting to move all over- her 'crawling' is getting better and better every day, she still loves to walk around with assistance, she pulls up on everything, she walks around tables and she is already switching from the coffee table to the couch and back, sometimes she gets pretty brave and tries to switch to quickly or reach for something that is just a little bit too far and ends up on her tummy on the floor, but we haven't had any dings or bruises yet (knock on wood), she actually finds it funny when she ends up on her tummy. :)

Labor Day weekend was a busy, but fun weekend, my Uncle Randy came up from Arizona and we all camped out at my Grandpa's because it was also his birthday. It was fun to see the whole Bodette clan and to just relax and eat good food. My aunt Lisa has some horses out there and Miley LOVED them! Everytime they would come up to the fence she would get all excited and want to go over to them, she even got to sit on the horse with Kaiti and Carissa.

The very few pictures I have-- a couple I will take credit for, the others I have to thank Uncle Randy for sending them to me..







I haven't been very good with taking a lot of pictures lately, my memory card only has 20 pictures left and everything on this card is all of Miley, starting with me in the hospital having her. I'm undecided on what I want to do, I can't print them all because there are 690 photos! (YES- I'm just a little bit obsessed with my baby!) And I'm too afraid to just delete my card because they are all on my computer, what happens if my computer crashes and they all get deleted, I'm thinking maybe I just need to get a new memory card and label this one as Miley- but that would mean me actually getting around to ordering a new one or going shopping to find the right one- the one I have is a refurbished (sp?) one from Olympus online and it was $10 cheaper... I like that! What do you do with all your pictures on a full memory card? I guess I could just put them all on a CD...

Up North

We got the pleasure of joining my Aunt Michelle and Uncle Robby up north at their cabin this past weekend. Friday, my parents, Taylor and Miley picked me up from work early and we headed up. Miley did a really good job in the car for such a long ride- I was impressed! We had such a relaxing weekend.


Friday night we went to the Old Milwaukee Club and had the Friday Fish Fry-- YUMMY! And everyone else enjoyed a nice camp fire- Miley, however, wanted Mommy all to herself and didn't want to go to bed. Finally at 11:00 she gave in- with some help from Nana- then she was up from 2:30-3:45 and finally fell back asleep on the floor with me. Miley and I laid low on Saturday and just relaxed- the guys got up early and went fishing and then golfing. Saturday late afternoon we did go into Nisswa to the shops and got Miley some Robeez shoes-- she has the typical chubby baby chubby feet so those shoes actually fit her! She thought it was pretty fun when we put them on her and she could walk around outside!



Saturday night was a much better night for Miley- she got her bath and was asleep by 8:30- I made a bed on the floor for her instead of her pack-n-play and she seemed to like it much better. She slept until 4am!! WOO HOO for me! So Taylor and I headed over to the Haggstrom cabin and played some cards and had some laughs- I really needed that! Then Sunday the guys had a fishing tournament between cabins- Our cabin WON! They hit a nice little crappie hole and got a bucket full! We had a FRESH fish fry for lunch on Sunday! And Taylor caught a nice Bass-- he said this was the best fishing he has ever had!





The ride home on Sunday started off good. My dad thought it would be fun to see how his new GPS would bring us home- out of curiosity- to see which route was faster and so the GPS took us on 94 and we got stuck in some stop and go traffic. Let's just say we decided to get off of 94 and we were thinking we were going to get home at 5:30 and I believe it was 6:45 when we pulled into my driveway! And to top it off there was an accident on 52 that had traffic backed up for miles! We were all ready to get out of the car by the time we got home!





And as we were unpacking Robin, Emilee and Grace Lorentz stopped by to drop off some clothes for Miley that should fit her next fall- which will be REALLY nice! And in the big bag of clothes was this cute litte outfit! I LOVE IT!!! My little ballerina!

We had a WONDERFUL time Up North and would love to go back again! They have such a beautiful cabin and are so fun to hang out with!! We Love You Auntie Shell and Uncle Robby!! THANK YOU!!!

YUMMY

Miley the Inch Worm

Just another day with Miley

Things with Miley are still going great- she finally got over the hard part of teething and isn't as crabby anymore, now if we could just get this 'going to bed' thing down a little better we would be all good!

Miley is getting better each day at all her new things. First off she is now eating fruit with some oatmeal mixed in for breakfast and a bottle (or nurses on the weekends with me)- or at least half of one, a bottle for a late lunch and then she nurses shortly after I get home, then she has dinner which consists of usually whatever we are eating or mac & cheese with some meat all grinded up and a veggie and my milk in a sippy cup. I LOVE my little grinder that I got at Target- it cost me all of $10 and it works GREAT! So far I have grinded up lasagna, hash browns with ham chunks and Mac & Cheese (actually its Easy Mac) with a little bit of chicken. She LOVES to be able to feed herself. We put the main course on her tray for her to dig in and then we feed her the veggies as they are pretty messy still. Then she nurses around 7 or so and then one more time right before, and of course- the over night feeding as well.



Miley can also drink from a straw! She has a sippy cup that has a straw and she really enjoys drinking water from it, especially after we've been outside on a hot day.

She is getting really good at pulling herself up now, she has some pretty strong arms, she can pull up on all our coffee tables and at first I thought they would all be a little high for her but she surprised us and used her super strength and pulled right up. It's funny to watch her get a good grip and pull, pull, pull and to see her little arms shake towards the end and then she finally stands up and smiles really big as she is so proud of herself!

She is moving all around now too- she doesn't really crawl but she does the inch worm really well as you can see in the video above. :)

And now with all these new little tricks of being able to pull up and squirm around- it sure has made bath time quiet the adventure. She doesn't really like when I wash her hair- but we get it done and she thinks it's funny to try to pull up on the side of the tub- the first time she tried that I freaked out as she almost slipped so the next day I headed to the store and got a cute little Mermaid Dora bath mat so she doesn't slip and fall.

She has also finally popped another tooth!! The tip of the left top one has made its way through! And I can see the right top one and also a third one on the bottom now. So I'm guessing in the next 2-3 weeks she will have officially 5 teeth! I just think that is crazy!!

Here's just a cute picture of Miley with Daddy.


We are headed up north this weekend- it will be Miley's longest ride in a car- the motorhome was fine because she could look out the front window- but in the car- it's a little more packed, but mom and I will be in the back seat with her so hopefully we can entertain her for 3.5 hours. :)

Miley is Mobile

Well-- she is finally there- she is MOBILE!!! She doesn't totally crawl but she gets around. She can either sit on her butt and bounce/scoot her way to something she wants or she can roll around and inch worm her way around. We were downstairs and she was sitting and playing and then she all of a sudden rolled down to her belly and usually she whines and wants help sitting back up but Taylor and I just waited to see what she would do and we 'pretended' to not pay attention to her because that's when she seems to whine so we were both watching her out of the corner of our eyes and she worked herself all the way around the living room- we were having so much fun watching her!

She can also pull up very easily now if what she is pulling up on is low enough so she can reach it. We were at Brendon and Shelly's the other night and they have a low couch in the basement and she pulled herself up at least 10 times and each time got easier and easier for her. It is just so weird to me that not even an year ago she was still inside me and this tiny little fetus and now she's a little person and moving all around! Guess we better get our baby gate now!

Here are just some phone time fun photos:
Standing up in the bathtub

Here she is eating lasagna- which she LOVED!

Eating a strawberry out on the patio

7 Months Old!!!

Today is Miley's 7 month birthday! I can't believe she is already 7 months old! The months seem to fly by faster and faster! So, at 7 months Miley can:

Roll over and now likes to roll over in her bed now so she can sleep on her tummy

Sit up all by herself and then reaches for what she wants and most of the time ends up on her tummy to get it

Feed herself little puffs and any toy she can get in her mouth

Chatters all the time- she has said MAMAMA but lately she likes to say DADADIE-- thats what it sounds like anyway

Knows how to ask for help by doing this little whine-- actually- I would like to break that habit so we are trying to show her how to do the sign for help instead (also the sign for more and milk)

Can clap perfectly and do SOO BIG

Wave HI and BYE BYE when asked

She can pull herself up (sometimes) and stand by things if we help her alittle

Can walk with assistance

And she is getting better each day at using her imagination and playing by herself for longer periods of time

Miley likes:

To try foods we are eating

Eating her dinner at night and drinking mommy's milk from a sippy cup to wash down her dinner- I'm thinking about starting to offer her breakfast each day too, we'll try it out this weekend

Baby Einstein- she knows when we put in her DVD's and knows when Little Einsteins comes on TV

Jumping in her Jumperoo

Walking around the house

Performing her tricks

And playing the piano

She is growing and changing with every passing day. Like this whole walking thing- she learned that in a weekend! And waving Bye Bye and Hi- Taylor taught her that last week! It's just so much fun to see her do new things. And I don't want it make it sound like every moment is fun and full of joy because she sure does have her fussy times. Like the past two weeks- her teeth must really be bothering her because she goes from super happy to super crabby in a blink of an eye. Today, Taylor had her and it was a rough day. She didn't feel like napping and then got over-tired and it made matters worse. He tried everything he could think of to make her happy and finally after 2 hours of trying he put her in the car and drove around until I got home. And lately going to sleep has become a little issue- we can't just lay her down and have her fall asleep- she won't sleep and she cries and cries until we come in and 'lay by her' (that's us putting our head in the crib next to her so she can feel our hair and then she'll drift off to sleep) I know- it's not the best habit to start but sometimes you just do what you have to do in order to get some sleep. I'm sure it is just a phase and next month she'll do something different. So we are all hanging in there and learning as we go.

Another New Trick!!!!