Mommy's new haircut and other more exciting things

Maryam loves to pull hair. She especially loves to pull my hair. She'll even use it to pull herself up to standing, the bugger! And in this awful Ohio heat, I decided that enough was enough and got it chopped. I love it - it feels so cool, and my hair no longer serves as a rope for my daughter, seen here eating toast.
This summer, the boys went on safari, hunting the great wild animals of the Harmon Household, using only a Starwars light beam gun and a baseball bat. Maryam helped by holding a miniature lion she caught and chewed on. Note the hats. It's vital, I've been told, to wear hats on safari.

Maryam went to her first drive in movie (seen here with her brother Wayne). We saw Ratatouille - Maryam slept through the entire thing. That was a very fun family movie night, even though it got a tad chilly in the end.

I woke up to this image on my camera. Jim takes the morning shift at our house, while I sleep in blissfully until 8:30 or so. And what does he do with my precious baby? He puts her brother's underwear on her head. HER HEAD! At least it was clean. And she obviously doesn't seem to mind one bit

Maryam's First (real) Word

Guess what it was?

Not Daddy or Mommy, or even More. It was 'doggie'. More like "d'ghe". She looked right at her puppy and said it. Then said it again while looking at her. She'd babble, then look at Sera and say doggie.

Then she promptly took Sera's ear into her mouth and made the worst face of disgust. I started to laugh, and then so did Maryam.

Doggie.

Doggie.

Trip to the Zoo

Can you see Maryam's hair in this picture? It always stands on end like this after her bath. This has nothing to do with the zoo, of course, but I want to show that she DOES have hair. It's just really, really blond.

Our family, minus Jim. Poor guy has to work during the summer, while I get to have all the fun. Did I ever mention how much I love being a stay at home mom?

Bats! These are some huge flying creatures. The picture doesn't do them justice. They're nicknamed "flying foxes". Very cute.

Wayne and Aidan sitting on a baby elephant statue. Normally I don't let them sit on babies, but I relaxed a bit on this one.

We went to the zoo yesterday. Maryam only lasted a couple of hours before we had to head home for a nap, but that her brothers and me plenty of time to look at some cool animals.

It's been a busy week for us, with a trip to COSI (our science museum), the zoo, and a party with friends yesterday to celebrate the summer.

8 months old!

Maryam is 8 months old today. My baby is getting to be such a big girl! She tries to pull herself up on everything, although she hasn't managed to get up yet. She'll sort of make herself into a tripod, with her ankles together, and her arms spread out on the ground, butt wiggling in the air, and then collapse. It's funny to watch. She'll try to get on her hands and knees and wriggle her rump back and forth, trying to move.

She does crawl backwards, which is frustrating for her. I can see the desperation in her eyes as she moves away from me, while trying to get closer.

She's getting much longer lately, and it appears that her thighs are slimming down. She's still all chubs and rolls, though.

Her personality remains happy-go-lucky, and she laughs at the antics of her brothers, especially Wayne. Whenever he hears her fuss, he'll go up to her and growl, and make claw gestures with his hands, and she giggles like crazy. "She likes to be scared" he says, but anyone looking at Wayne would break into laughter too, since he looks, well, just goofy. Not scary in the least. But don't tell him that.

She takes two regular naps now, one around 10:30 AM, and the other at 1 or 2 PM. The first one is only an hour or so, but the afternoon nap has become longer, around 1 1/2 hours. We are very, very, very happy about this. She gets so crabby when she's tired, and does not like to go down, even though she's acting miserable. I think she doesn't want to miss any of the action.

Maryam's New Ride

I sewed this up this morning. It's a gorgeous silk blend. My friend gave me enough to make two slings - one I'm going to dye a pretty dark blue (hopefully), and this one I'll keep cream. Well, cream with spots of green beans and sweet potatoes, and squash, and....

2nd Tooth, almost crawling

The pictures are of Maryam on the new bench I got for my first Mother's Day, and of Maryam with her daddy with the ducks at OSU. We often visit Jim for lunch at work, and have a picnic, and then go see the duckies at Mirror Lake.

The big news for the week is that Maryam's second bottom tooth is in, mostly. She is cranky cranky cranky, and starts to whine and whimper when you set her down. Needless to say, our carriers have come in handy as I'll just 'throw' her on my back and weed the garden, do housework, or walk the dog. She's content as long as she is 'on' someone, preferably daddy or mommy.

A friend has lent me a box of 18 month girl's clothes, and I was really hoping that they would fit Maryam. I tried in vain to put a pair of shorts on her, and they wouldn't even get past her thighs. Same thing with a skirt. Those pretty diaper covers that look so cute under dresses leave deep red valleys in her legs. And my favorite dress, (18 month), has a snap crotch. It pops open a few minutes after snapping it closed.

The good news is that she's almost crawling. I was at a friend's house yesterday, and she was so close to crawling! She'll sit on her bottom and tip over forward on to her knees as she tries to get something out of her reach. But then her arms will collapse and she'll be face down on the floor, very unhappy. She's not allowed to sit on the couch anymore, because she'll try to lurch off of it, face first. I'm trusting that when she crawls, her little legs will slim down and clothes will fit her better.

She's often compared to the Gerber Baby, or a Cabbage Patch Kid. I can definately see that. But there is strong disagreement over 'who' she looks like. At a party on Sunday, my friend swore that she looked like me. Then another friend came by and commented that she looked 'just like Jim'. I can see her brothers when I look at her eyes, and I can sometimes see Wayne in her smile. Her rolls are all her own, though :

Camping

I wish I had pictures to share now, but we forgot the camera and had to buy a disposable. Hopefully we can find a way to post the pics here, because there are some great ones.

Maryam went on her first camping trip Tuesday for our anniversary. The boys are with their mom, going to Sea World and Epcot (sp?). Jim and I have been married for three years now! We ended up having the campground to ourselves. Sera went with us, and kept us safe from all of the.... flies? We went hiking, Sera swam, and we roasted hot dogs and smores over a huge fire.

The air mattress we borrowed kept deflating, so I was sleeping on hard ground in the morning, with poor Maryam mushed up next to me, and Jim and Sera to the side.

The worst moment for me was as I was nursing Maryam, I felt something crawling down my shirt. I yanked Maryam off and shook out a huge spider. Not fun, even for someone who likes spiders.

Jim's worst moment was when he stepped on the very very hot metal ring of the fire pit with his bare foot.

Maryam's worst moment was having four poopy diapers in 24 hours, and having to lay still for the diaper changes.

Sera didn't have a worst moment. She even ate steak scraps from our dinner out (she sat under the table).

Watch out, Baby With Brush

Maryam loves anything mommy (or daddy) has. Does she need a hairbrush? No, she has no hair. But mommy has the brush, so Maryam needs it. And for some reason all her own, Maryam loves combs and brushes, preferring them to any other toy or household object.

I took some shots of me looking down at Maryam, because that's often my view - the pleading "pick me up mama" eyes, the slight whimper that says "I'm bored!", and the grin that tells me she's happy I'm there.

Her bottom tooth has broken all the way through, finally, and she slept really well last night, as did mommy and daddy. She's still almost always happy, at least when others are around. She truly gets bored with me during the day, and I try to make a point to take her somewhere public, with other people. As long as she can get someone to smile at her, her world is in balance, and she's the happiest person on the planet.

7 months old!

Maryam is now the big 7 months. She has just begun to cut her first tooth (and is not too happy about it). She's eating three meals a day, along with nursing frequently in addition to all of her peas, carrots, sweet potato, avacado, pears, parsnip, and squash (her favorites).

One of her favorite things to do lately is growl. She makes this gutteral, deep growling sound. We couldn't quite figure out where she learned it, until we saw Wayne growling at her, making her giggle. Her big brother is already teaching her things! Wayne loves to make her smile and giggle. He's really good at it. She'll see him from across the room and just smile at him. Wayne has lost his two front teeth, and can make some very silly faces at her.

Maryam has also figured out how to roll over from her back to her front, and she'll take steps while holding on to your hands. She still puts everything into her mouth, and she still smiles at every person who comes near her. She's a cuddler, a giggler, and the sweetest thing in our lives.

Hiking

A couple of weeks ago, Jim and I took Maryam hiking at our favorite state park. We went there while I was pregnant with Maryam, and again when she was just a couple of weeks old. It took her awhile to get used to the Kelty backpack, but she soon enjoyed it, especially watching her doggie go swimming.