Grooving and Cruising

Over the past few weeks, some lovely things have happened.  For one, our friend Teri had her very first baby.  Baby Josie is super cute and we can't wait to meet her.  We just hope she will be a good influence on our girls since "Danger" is literally her middle name.  Ha!

In the mean time, Mommy has gone back to work.  Her classes this year are a bit smaller than she is used to, but it is forcing Mommy to be more creative, which is something she enjoys.  She also thinks the group of students she has this year seem very nice.  So, all in all, it ought to be a good year.  Penny went back to daycare full time.  She is apparently not napping more than 45 minutes a day and is barely drinking.  We are hoping she settles down as she gets used to going full time again.  She seems pretty happy when we see her there. 

Sophie has also gone back to school full time.  Other than being pretty tired at the end of the day (and hence there is a big grump factor), she really seems happy to be back.  I think she missed seeing her friends all the time.

With that said, other big changes are that Penny is now queen of cruising.  She uses Sophie's kitchen, her own activity table, and the low lying furniture to cruise everywhere.  It is extremely cute.  Sophie has started playing soccer and is really loving it.  We love seeing her dressed up in her little pink cleats, pink shin cards, and pink active wear. 

Currently, we are preparing for Penny's first birthday party and all the halloween and month of October activities.  So, exciting blog entries should be henceforth coming.

Summer 2011

Well, time flew by and before I knew it, the summer had passed, so here's what happened!

First, we got a new dog.  Her name Is Madeline (Maddy) Miranda.  We adopted her from a lab rescue group.  She was approximately 18 months old at the time of her adoption and is a bassador retriever (hald bassett hound, hald black labrador retriever).  Her body is entirely black and she has a thin bassett hound build with a droopy labrador retriever face (making her look a bit like Hunter).  She has made an excellent addition to our family and we look forward to when she stops eating kid toys that are left on the floor.

As we approached the official start to summer (i.e., the end of the academic year), the Miranda clan headed north to Ogunquit, ME.  Mommy got stuck teaching until June 27th due to inclement weather extending the school year.  As a result, everyone went on vacation in Ogunquit, ME, but Mommy had to drive back for a day to go to work.  As it turns out, Daddy did great with his two girls all on his own in the foreign terrain of Maine and the whole family was able to enjoy the rest of their Maine vacation, featuring tons of beach time, pool time, chacky shopping time, seafood eating time and ice cream eating time.  We even got to see an antique car museum (it was interesting...and a bit smelly), hang out with Grams' and Gramps' friends, Farron and Gary, and walked the Marginal Way.  Mommy discovered that the Marginal Way is exceptionally easy to travel on when you aren't extremely pregnant (as she had been the year before).

As a semi aside, during this time in Maine, Penny really learned how to crawl.  Now that it is the end of August, she is a lean, mean crawling machine, who occassionally cruises the furniture and enjoys walking with Mommy holding her dainty hands.  But, back to the rest of our summer....

For the rest of the summer, Mommy, Sophie and Penny spent a lot of time going on playdates with friends, going to music classes, going to museums and discovering new out door places to pass time, like the Decordova Sculpture Park and the Chelmsford Bike Path.  Mommy and Sophie also spent a lot of Penny's nap times on Sunny (but not too hot days) attempting to garden.  Unfortunately, the weeds won this year, but next year, we shall declare our vistory!  Sophie, Penny and Mommy also discovered a few new play areas that were great for crawling babies and hyper kids.  Sophie also got to experience two separate weeks of camp.  She really enjoyed it and we will do it again next year.  Additionally, for the month of August, Sophie took swim lessons.  She really likes it and will continue for the Fall (along with soccer lessons).

In terms of family visitation, we had a visit from the Pittsburgh Mirandas, which lef to another fabulous sleep-over between cousin Mara and Sophie.  Mara was a godsend as the time of her sleep-over corresponded with Daddy's summer trip to India.  Having Mara around was like having a little helper.  Mommy only wishes she could have stayed the whole week Daddy was in India!

Additionally, Mommy, Sophie, Penny, and sometimes, Daddy, also made numerous trips down to New Rochelle to see the Stewart clan and to visit with Mommy's friend, Meredith, and her lovely son, Matthew.  We had a wonderful time and Mommy wished she could have stayed longer.

During the course of the summer, Penny and Sophie experienced many changes.  Penny has gotten very long and has a lovely head of wavy, dark hair.  She also got 4 teeth (all central incisors).  Sophie grew about 3 inches and now has a sweeping main of dark hair.  She also has become an expert at taking cell phone photos, using skype, and talking on the phone. 

Alas, the summer has come to an end and Mommy has to go back to work.  Currently, Sophie and Penny are at daycare and in a few short weeks, Sophie's school year will start again, where she will go back to her Montessori that she loves.

In short, we had a wonderful summer that felt very short.  We had lots of great adventures, and hopefully, I will start posting more often again. 

Currently, there are now several albums newly posted:
June 2011
July 2011
August 2011

Cheers all!

bad mommy!

So, I am a bad mommy because I have been derelict in my duties towards blogging about my children's lives.  So, here's what has been missed.

On March 27th, Sophie celebrated her fourth birthday party at Plaster Fun Time.  She invited her entire pre-school class plus some extra friends.  Most of her classmates came as did most of her additional friends.  They had a fantastic time painting pottery, eating chicken fingers and pizza and eating her gorgeous Tinker Belle birthday cake (bless you Hannaford for making yummy, beautiful cakes!).

During that weekend, Sophie also had a visit from her Pittsburgh relatives.  She was especially excited to see Mara again.  Mara even stayed over for a sleep-over and the girls spent the next day at the New England aquarium and then off to the movies to see "Gnomeo and Juliet" in 3D.  They enjoyed the movie but were underwhelmed by the 3D option.

In April, both Sophie and Penny had their physicals.  Sophie had her 4 year check-up where her height was mis-measured.  Argh!  So, we re-measured her at home and found her to be 41.75 inches tall!  She's getting so big!  Penny's 6 month check-up occurred in this time frame.  She was 75th percentile for her weight, height and head circumference, making her a perfectly proportioned girl!

During April vacation, Mommy, Daddy, Sophie and Penny went down to NY for a few days and celebrated Grams' 60th birthday with the Stewart/Dann family.  We also celebrated the first night of Passover with Mommy's Aunt Laura and Uncle Frank.  Unfortunately, passover is a long holiday and we had to leave due to baby crankiness.  This suited Sophie who takes after Daddy and does not appreciate NY Jewish food delicacies that often make Mommy extremely happy....and thus a swift trip to McDonald's was made on the way back to Grams' and Gramps' house to fill up Daddy and Sophie's bellies.  Also during this visit, Naomi and Sophie had their first sleep-over and spent the following day at the mall with Mommy, Dadd and Penny since we had a car malfunction that ended our plans to go to the AMNH to see the dinosaurs.  Sophie and Naomi had a great time anyway, in part, because they got to go to build-a-bear workshop.

In other news, since her 6 month check-up, Penny has now developed the ability to say "Mama" (as of May 21) and use it appropriately (as in, "Mama, I want you to pick me up or change my diaper or feed me!").  She has also developed a backwards army crawl (as of May 22), which can only mean forward walking sometime soon!

Since time is short, I will add a secondary picture blog to this entry soon!

Rice:0; Pears:1

From 2011-3-9

From 2011-3-9

This weekend, in addition to worry about the safety of our friends, the Nakazawas(we just found out that they were ok after the initial Earth quake, thankfully!), and bouts with various new illnesses striking Mommy and Penny (Mommy's tired and hurty, Penny has a fever), Penny has met her first milestone as a real human....she has started to eat actual food! Sophie and Daddy went to the Toys R' Us and bought Penny a well-deserved high chair now that Mommy thinks having a "space saver" chair is stupid when you never take the space saver one off the chair it is on-top of. So, now Penny has a brand, spanking new and very girly high chair. Daddy and Sophie also purchased some starter grains and some starter fruit and vegetable kits. At first, we tried to feed Penny rice mixed with formula. She was not a fan. However, since Mommy remembered that Sophie's first successful food (due to the same issue) was rice and pear nectar, Mommy opened up a jar of pears for Penny to try. This was far more successful and Penny has now enjoyed it around dinner time for two days in a row. If Mommy has time tomorrow, she will try to buy Penny some pear juice or nectar to mix in with some rice cereal after a few more days of just eating pears. It will likely depend on how well Penny is feeling.

Sophie turns 4!!!

From 2011-3-9

This week, we celebrated Sophie's 4th birthday this week!  It was a great day.  She woke up, went to school, had a lovely celebration at school, went out for donuts with just Mommy right after school, came home, had ice cream cake with Mommy and Daddy and got a "Tangled" birthday present, involving a device that makes patterns on the ceiling with lights.  Sophie was very excited the whole day and has spent the last four days talking about her next birthday and asking whether or not she was still four years-old today.

From 2011-3-9

From 2011-3-9

From 2011-3-9

Also, over the past week, the Miranda clan went down to NY to visit the Stewart and Kellman clan and to meet the family's newest addition, Joshua Kellman.  Sophie and Naomi had a lovely, two-day long playdate, Mommy got to hold Joshua a lot, and Penny enjoyed rolling around and learning how to blow the cutest raspberries, courtesy of Gramps.  Penny has also become a champion at standing, able to stand for minutes at a time with just balance support from an adult.  She is also excellent at sitting up with minimal support.  She seems to be prepping her body for crawling, she rolls onto her tummy and kicks out her legs, but has yet been able to get up on her knees.  I predict army crawling in her future.

In these coming weeks, we look forward to Penny starting to eat solids, a visit from the Pittsburgh Miranda clan, Sophie's 4th birthday party at Plaster Fun Time, a visit from Grams and Gramps, and hopefully more developmental milestones from Penny.

This week also marks a time of sadness for the world as a horrible earthquake shook the east coast of Japan on March 11, 2011.  It shifted the entire country by 8 feet and caused an enormous tidal wave that destroyed much of the country.  We currently wait to hear from friends abroad and to see what future news the mass media brings to us.  Good luck to all our Japanese friends.

Daddy's First Time in India

From 2011-02-09

For the past week, Daddy has been in Hyderabad, India, interacting with an engineering group there that he generally works with remotely from Cambridge, MA.  He has been having quite the adventure!  First, he was bumped from advanced coach up to business class.  Then, he got to tour around one of the local sites.  He also got to celebrate his 34th birthday there, complete with a cake being smashed into his face and he went to his very first Bryan Adams concert.  While Mommy is uncertain about what to do with Daddy and his new found love of Bryan Adams, she is very happy he is having a great time.

From 2011-02-09

In the meantime, Sophie, Mommy and Penny have been enjoying bachelorette life back in Massachusetts.  Mommy had work this week and since she starts work at the same time as preschool opens, Sophie has been going to Penny's daycare all week.  Mommy has been very proud of herself for getting to work on-time almost every day this week despite the 7am drop-off.  Apparently, Sophie has had a wonderful time at daycare, playing with a few of her old friends and playing protective big sister.  Penny has come home each day utterly exhausted, so having Sophie at daycare with her must be extra stimulating.

From 2011-02-09

From 2011-02-09

This coming week, Sophie, Mommy and Penny have some playdates, a dental appointment (for Mommy), and a tryp down to NY to visit the Stewart family and its affiliates.  Mommy hopes that her big sister has her newest baby soon so that Mommy can see him ASAP and attend the bris.  Sophie just hopes that "Tangled" is still playing in the theatre because she wants to take Naomi out to see it.

4 month appointment

Due to the snowmageddon that is upon us, Tim worked from home today and took Penny in to her 4 month doctor's appointment while Sophie was at school and Mommy was teaching.  Below are Penny's stats:

Height: 25.5 inches
Weight: 16 pounds, 3.6 ounces
Head Circumference: 42.5 centimeters

This places Penny squarely in the 75th-90th percentile range for all 3 categories, which is surprising since last time Penny was just about 50th.  And, here I thought I had a pip-squeak baby (and, I was enjoying it....I mean, aren't babies supposed to be tiny?).

Anyway, Penny apparently was a champ at her appointment, charming her doctor all the way through and braving her three injections like the warrior princess she is sure to be.  Did I mention that Daddy would like his girls to eventually be trained in a martial art?

In other news, Mommy and Sophie both had half days today because apparently the next ice age has decided to start and has focused its wrath on the New England, Mid-Atlantic and Mid-Western states.  Hopefully since we are supposed to still be in a global warming event, this will not mean a brutally hot summer (which is generally the trend, right fellow archaeologists?).  Here's hoping!!!

Last Week of January 2011

This week marked several events.  First, Penny rolled onto her tummy on Tuesday.  For those not in the know, this is a major milestone.  It means she is well on the way to the land of crawly babies and that Mommy will have to start making sure there aren't any stickers, coins, pen caps, etc... left on the floor by the other inhabitants of the house (starting in the next few months).

From 2011-1-23

Penny being a cutie-patootie

From 2011-1-23

Penny enjoying Roxie kisses


This week also marked yet another snow day for Mommy, Sophie and Penny. They enjoyed the day just hanging out at home and Sophie and Penny spent the late morning and early afternoon at a playdate and their friends' house.

From 2011-1-23

From 2011-1-23

Penny and Sophie each hanging out with a male counterpart, Sophie with Forrest and Penny with Rye.  So cute!

This weekend, Sophie and Mommy spent their date time going to see Sesame Street Live! Sophie had a great time bouncing in her seat to the music and learning all about what it takes to make a garden grow!

From 2011-01-29

From 2011-01-29

Sophie at Sesame Street Live, enjoying the music and seeing the characters

Finally, all of us were supposed to head down to NY this past weekend to celebrate Cousin Naomi's 4th birthday, however, Mommy felt very ill after Sesame Street Live. After a brief 6 hour visit to the ER, she found out she had bronchitis. Currently, Mommy is home trying to recuperate and hopefully will be well enough to go back to work tomorrow (which is a Tuesday!). If not, her students will be forced to, gasp, read the text book and, double gasp, answer some reading comprehension questions!!!

From 2011-1-23

The girls hanging out with Daddy while Mommy was in the hospital.  Momy greatly enjoyed receiving photos of them on her phone while awaiting medical services.

Snow Storm O'Rama

The past two weeks in New England have marked some of the snowiest ones that I can remember.  As a result, Mommy has had several days off from work already and perhaps may get another one this week.  This has meant that Mommy has continued to see Penny's progress as she has now mastered rolling back and forth between her back and either one of her sides.  She uses this new movement to navigate her way around her playmat.

From 2011-1-23

on her playmat

From 2011-1-23

playing on a snow day
This week has also marked one where Sophie got to go to Penny's daycare the whole week since her pre-school had a delayed opening that neither Mommy nor Daddy could make, was closed for a snow day (although Mommy was home that day too), and was closed for two days because of teacher conferences.  Mommy went to Sophie's teacher conference and discovered that Sophie is exactly where she ought to be, is apparently quite silly and cooperative at school, and is even very popular amongst the 3-4 year-old set. 

From 2011-1-23

happy to go back to school after a snow day
In poor news, Sophie keeps suffering from "growing pains" as she has grown a ton over the past 6 months.  Her newest growth spurt keeps occuring during the weekends and the poor kid often needs an ice pack for her knees.  We hope this stops soon.  Mommy is considering a doctor visit anyway, just to make sure it really is from growing. 

Penny seems also to be suffering a bit from growing pains as she has gotten much longer these past two weeks and is thus not as comfortable when she falls asleep ontop of Mommy.  Penny also has a sad rash on her tummy which Mommy hopes will go away with enough moisturizer.

From 2011-1-23

finally falling asleep on mommy after struggling all evening
Daddy came down with a 24 hour flu this week that is slowly making its way through the family.  So far, Mommy has it too.  We'll see who it hits next!

In better news, Sophie went to her first birthday party of the season.  Her friend, Maddie, turned 4 and celebrated by having a party at the Science Discovery Museum.  Sophie had lots of fun and Penny enjoyed watching from her baby bjorn!  Next week marks cousin Naomi's 4th birthday party.  We are sure that will be a blast too!

From 2011-1-23

at Maddie's birthday party, drinking some juice and eagerly awaiting some cake

The Holidays and Returning to Work

From 2011-01-12

The girls cuddling in Sophie's new rocking chair, courtesy of Mommy and Daddy via Hanukah

From 2010-12-22



Our first photo Holiday card

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of celebration and change.  First, we celebrated Hanukah and Christmas.  We lit the candles, said the prayers, attended parties, had a yummy Christmas Brunch (Mommy made it and everyone ate until they were sick, fun!), and Sophie received many, many presents.  We even got our very first real christmas tree to add to our collection of menorahs, dreidels, stockings and our "Hanukah Bush".  Sophie was extremely excited by the tree and very sad when we took it down about a week or so ago.

From 2010-12-22

From 2010-12-12

From 2010-12-12

For New Year's, we went down to NY for a few days to visit with Grams, Gramps, Aunt Allison, Uncle Alan, cousin Naomi and Mommy's best-friend, Meredith and her whole family.  While Mommy had fun oggling Meredith's new baby boy, Mattie, Sophie had a lot of fun playing with Meredith's Grandpa and playing with Meredith's sister, Diane.  Mommy and Daddy also greatly enjoyed talking with Larry, Ruby and Jim.  Diane got lots of great pictures of the babies together which will hopefully look great in their future wedding album.  Hee hee....

From 2011-01-12

Sophie and Naomi holding hands on their playdate at the American Museum of Natural History

From 2011-01-12

Gramps playing with Penny

Upon returning to MA, Mommy returned to work.  The first two weeks have so far gone over pretty well, despite Mommy needing to re-inforce "law" into her classroom.  Mommy's substitute teacher did a pretty good job with the students and she is impressed that they seem well on their way to finishing up the year in good shape.  However, kids will be kids, and Mommy now needs to remind the students that SHE is their teacher and that anarchy will not be ALLOWED!  Hopefully, the students will get their act in order shortly and Mommy can return to the world of nice teachers.

Penny has taken to daycare brilliantly.  She is smiley and happy and has lots of baby friends, all within a few weeks of her.  Nonetheless, Mommy was very happy to have had a few extra days off this past week when there was a massive noreaster that permitted Mommy to have two snow days from school.  It meant extra time with both Sophie and Penny.

From 2011-01-12

Noreaster/Blizzard of January 2011

Penny has made a few changes herself.  She contracted pink eye from Sophie a few weeks ago and so has had her very first, real contagious disease.  She took to the eye drops like a pro and is now pink eye free.  She also now weighs nearly 15 pounds and is almost ready to switch up to her 6 month-sized clothes.  She also during the past two days has mastered rolling onto her sides.  It is very impressive to see her navigate her way around her playmat on her back just by lolling her legs around.  Penny also enjoys sitting and standing alot, so Mommy has begun to place her in the exersaucer.  She really likes it about once a day, for about 10 minutes.  She also now has a bumbo chair.  She seems very smiley in it, but Mommy has never owned one before, so it gets Mommy a bit nervous.

From 2011-01-12

Sophie has become masterful and many skills while at school these past few months.  She is now excellent at pouring liquids and can get herself her own cups of water from our water pitcher.  She also is attuned to where her snacks are and will often try to get them for herself too, despite her penchant for that snack being a piece of chocolate from the refridgerator stash. 

At school, Sophie has made many friends and apparently, become quite popular.  However, her best friend is a little boy with whom Sophie has had a few playdates.  Today, they will even go to the Museum of Science together.

Sophie has also mastered POTTY TRAINING!  Yes, it is a happy time in the Miranda household!  Sophie mostly prefers wearing her pull-ups at school, but has become so good at potty training that she is now permitted to attend school in her underpants.  To celebrate, Mommy bought Sophie Disney Princess underpants.  Sophie also enjoys going potty on the actual toilet, so her toy toilet seat has been stowed away.  We could not be happier or prouder of her!

From 2011-01-12