Some other cute pictures -

Here are some other recent pictures. She loves her play mat, and has been batting at the bird. There is one of me and Maryam - the camera doesn't show it, but we're both wearing rainbow stripes. And the last one is of her beautiful,

chubby, curious face

Three months old!

Tomorrow Maryam will be a big three months old. These pictures compare her at one month and at three months. She's gotten so much bigger! Today she grabbed a toy. It was accidental, but she did it! She's raising her head frequently, and was rolling over in bed last night. Tomorrow Jim is teaching her calculus.

Currently, Maryam loves everything except her car seat. The poor baby just cries. The car ride used to just put her to sleep, but now it doesn't, so if we're driving long at all, we'll pull over and try to find out what's wrong - usually nothing, except being strapped in her car seat. If she could live in her sling, she would.

We're planning a trip out to Washington in a couple of months -- Maryam's first time meeting so many people. She states she is excited and will not cry on the plane. I'm not so sure.

Christmas time

Maryam had a wonderful first Christmas. She got her picture with Santa (and was awake for it), went to the candlelight service at church on Christmas Eve (and was not awake for it), and received lots of wonderful gifts for Christmas from family and friends. The cats love to jump in her toy basket and make all of the ones with batteries go off!

Our dog, Sera, was a bad doggie and opened her gift of tennis balls early. She didn't open any other gifts, just her own. You can see how remorseful she looks.

At her two-month checkup, Maryam weighed 12 pounds, 4 ounces, and was in the 90th percentile for weight, and the 75th for height. She's my little porker. Her 10-inch thighs are too big for the small size of the Fuzzi Bunz diapers we use, and we had to order mediums!





Her eyesight is improving very much, and she can see things across the room. She loves to make eye-contact with us, and will coo and gurgle in response to our talking. She smiles constantly, especially when Jim does his "baby massage" on her.





Jim and I are practicing attachment parenting, so she is usually in our arms or carried in our wrap or sling. I went to bell choir practice on Thursday night, and wore her in the wrap. She slept through the entire thing! I love waking up to her warm body and beautiful face. Lately, I have been reading in bed while Jim sleeps. Maryam will curl up next to him, face to face, until I turn out the light and pull her over to me to sleep. It's so beautiful. She doesn't wake up at night to cry - she'll just make her 'nursing sounds' and nurse, then go back to sleep. Nighttime is quite peaceful around here!





Oh, and Maryam's namesake, Maryam R., is engaged!!! Congratulations!

Last night I was messing around with the camera, and got some cute pictures of Maryam's beautiful face! Some are pretty blurry, but you get the general idea.

Maryam is finally beginning to coo and smile (despite her crabby face in the last picture), and she's sleeping longer at night. Today Jim took the day off of work and we went to a state park. Maryam was pretty cozy in her wrap, and spent the afternoon dozing as we hiked with her along the river.

http://www2.snapfish.com/share/p=89151166202168288/l=228869456/g=81023425/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

It's worth it

It's past noon and I'm not dressed, my teeth aren't brushed, and I haven't showered. The dog hasn't been walked in days. The laundry is piling up, the floors need to be vacuumed, and dinner has been fast food for the past two nights. The sheets on my bed that were just changed last night are now saturated in spit-up, as am I. But my baby knows that when she cries, she will be held. When she needs to be rocked, she will be rocked....and rocked....and rocked.

four hours later: I can't even manage to finish a blog entry! Now I'm actually dressed, but have been spit-up-upon twice, and poor Maryam has spit-up in her ear, from when she was lying down. I finally managed to get her to sleep in her car seat, of all places. I think she likes the cozy-ness of it. I just realized that I forgot to eat lunch, and it's too late now, since Jim will be bringing home dinner in a half hour. No housework has been completed, and the dog has not been walked. But Maryam and I are happy.

I love this life, this crazy "I can't remember to eat" life, because I love my little girl so very much. She has a wonderful daddy who loves her, and two big brothers who are finally starting to interact with her. Believe it or not, this is the life I've always dreamed of having. And now it's here. I stink of spit-up, but I cherish it, and know it will fade away all too quickly.

Good day, bad day

The past two days have been hard, for both Maryam and mommy. She has got to be in a growth spurt of some kind, since she's nursing nearly every hour. When she's not nursing, she's been very very fussy. But then there are brief moments when she's sleeping, and I forget all the fussiness, and she looks so peaceful, so..... good. And then she wakes up.

I also discovered last night that I can NOT have KFC and nurse. I've never heard such gas, and it is pretty painful for her. Her dad and I suffered a bit as we smelled it. At first I thought it was the dog, but she wasn't in the room. How such a little person can create such a stink is beyond me.

This blog

This blog has been created to show my new daughter's life.

Maryam Elizabeth was born on October 21st at 5:22 PM. She weighed 7 lbs, 4 ounces. I struggled with prodromal labor for two weeks before my doctor induced me. My husband and I have struggled with infertility, so Maryam's birth has been a huge blessing and joy.

Maryam will be six weeks old tomorrow. She weighs nearly 11 pounds. Her eyes are open much more than they used to be, but she still sleeps away most of the day, and some of the night. We're still waiting for that first intentional smile, which should come any day now. Her big brothers, Aidan and Wayne, are taking more of an interest in her now that she can look at them. Aidan likes to read to her, and Wayne played with some of her toys this morning.

Here's a website with some more pics in it! http://good-times.webshots.com/album/556149322msQXte

Enjoy!