My little girl...

It is truly amazing how quickly your children grow up. Everyone always tell me to "enjoy it while they are young because they grow up so quickly," and now I can relate! It is hard for us to believe that Bennett is already 8 months old, and now closer to a one year old than our little newborn. She brings us so much joy, so we thought we would share some of it through a couple of recent videos. The first is her contagious laugh (that just puts a smile on our face when we hear it), and then the other is her feeding herself one morning this past week.

Happy Blogging!

For those of you who blog, or are interested in blogging in the future...I wanted to share some info that my friend, Chelsea, found on a website. For those who don't blog yet...this may prompt you to finally set one up! As you all know, a blog can be a great journal of your life, so how terrific would it be to archive it, and save it as a memento to read later. Well, there is a way to actually do this! After much surfing, Chelsea found this site that allows you to order your blog as a book. It's free to download the software. I haven't done it yet, but Chels claims it is pretty easy to use. When you're ready, you can order a book of your blog as a fun keepsake. Prices vary depending on page size, number of pages, hardback, etc., but based on her research it was reasonable compared to other sites. Here's the site if you want to check it out. http://www.blurb.com/create/book/blogbook?tag=3_sf

Whew...what a night!

Snow has been predicted for Birmingham this weekend, and according to Steve, the grocery store will be packed today with people buying food like they may not leave the house for a week. Since we had to go out, we decided to pack Bennett up and go out to dinner first. We headed to one of our favorite Mexican places and enjoyed a great dinner. Near the conclusion of our dinner Bennett starting grunting. We always think it is so funny, so we waited for her to finish and then I went to the bathroom to change her diaper.

As I pulled down her pants carefully, I noticed that the outside of her diaper was covered in it, as were her little legs, and now socks as I continued to pull the pants down. She didn't mind, and was in fact happy to have them off and started joyfully kicking her legs (getting it on my shirt, on her changing pad and the restaurant changing table). It was a complete mess, and I didn't know where to start. I tore the diaper off and noticed that nothing was even in the diaper...it somehow bypassed it and went straight out the side. I cleaned her up well, using half of the wipes. I stuffed her poopy pants into a baggie (thank goodness I had one in her diaper bag), and started rummaging through her bag for a diaper. I opened up a little pouch where I keep the diapers and it was EMPTY! Can you believe it?! I couldn't, so I kept digging through her bag thinking that maybe one fell out in the bag. As I realized that I was wrong and that I didn't have a diaper, I started to improvise. I used one of her burp clothes as a temporary diaper (keep in mind I did not have pins to secure it, nor a plastic cover to really protect her), and pulled on a new pair of pants. I rushed out to Steve (who was trying to be patient since we were in there forever) and told him the story.

We prayed that she wouldn't tee-tee and hightailed it to the grocery store where we could buy a real diaper. Steve went in to change her, and of course she had and was already soaked through her new pair of pants. He put the diaper on her, covered her with a blanket and told me to hurry as we shopped. When we got home, we gave her a warm bath and cleaned her up. I really don't think she knew any different, but I sure learned my lesson...check the diaper bag before leaving!

Our Water Baby!

This morning we went to Bennett's very first swimming "lesson" (of many, many more I'm sure). Since she was born, Steve has been anxious to enroll her in a swimming class. Since he used to be a lifeguard, he is adamant about her becoming a good swimmer and not being afraid of the water. He wanted to start her young to help promote that, but after speaking to our pediatrician and the swimming teacher, we elected to wait until she was a little older and can actually reach for objects (hopefully the side of the pool in coming weeks).

She loved the experience, and it certainly didn't hurt that the water was very warm. She immediately started splashing around in the water and kicking her legs (quite the natural). The instructor didn't want to do too much in the first class, so she focused on getting them in and comfortable first. Then it was floating on their backs and fronts (with their heads above water). She also tried to encourage them to blow bubbles (the first video shows Steve trying to teach her). This has become Bennett's favorite thing to do at home, but of course she wouldn't imitate us this morning in the pool. To encourage them to reach for the side of the pool, they started with a floating ball. The ball was to be placed in front of them so they could reach for it. She understood that part, but didn't quite "grasp" the reaching for the side.

This last video is at the end of class when she is just kicking her legs and enjoying the water. I think she liked floating best. We go back every week for the next five weeks, so stay tuned for more updates on our little mermaid.

Our NEW Home!

Well, several of you have asked to see photos of our new home...so here you go. Since we have only been in the house for a few weeks, you need to cut us some slack with the lack of pictures on the walls, accessories and window treatments. We have been furniture shopping some, and are going to order things slowly. Since we expect to be in this home for awhile, we want to make good quality purchases, rather than going about it quickly with inexpensive pieces that we may regret down the road. I'll try to give you the tour through the photos.

the living room, from the entrance

dining room

wet bar b/tw dining room & kitchen (shelves on both sides)

kitchen w/ nook and deck off the back

master bedroom w/ hall leading to closets & bath

tub & shower in master bath (shower has 3 shower heads!)

Also on main level is the laundry room, Bennett's room & bath, and a guest bath. Then upstairs we have two more bedrooms with baths and a media room and half bath. There is an additional laundry room upstairs, but we have converted it to our temporary office for now. The house is just perfect for us, and now big enough for us to entertain comfortably and have house guests. So for those of you out of town...please come visit us soon!

Happy Birthday Mimi!

Today the Mizerany family got together to celebrate Myra's (Mimi's) birthday! Louis and Michelle invited everyone over for santa fe soup and then a black forest birthday cake with ice cream. It was all delicious!

Myra got some great gifts, but her favorite one was an Alabama umbrella stroller from Dan that she can walk Bennett around the neighborhood in when the weather is nice. As always, the family had fun together and John Michael was anxious to show us all of his new and cool Christmas toys, including the Wii. I had fun designing my character (technology has improved so much since I was a kid)!

A New Year...and New Beginnings!

Happy New Year!! We couldn't be happier in our new home, and spent the entire day in our pjs lounging around. We were hoping to sleep in after staying up to ring in the new year, but Bennett had a different idea. She was up and ready to get her day started at an early 6:30 today. Steve was kind enough to feed and entertain her so I could sleep an extra hour, but then we all started stirring. We had made a promise to each other that this would be more of a relaxing day, and it turned out to be just that. Steve made me breakfast, and then we opened a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne that my parents gave us when we got engaged (over 2 years ago). We had been waiting to open it for a special occasion, so after we made the purchase of this home, and closed on our old one, we picked today. We thought it would be perfect for ringing in the new year in our new home with our new baby girl! We reflected on this past year where we celebrated our first anniversary and the birth of Bennett, said good-bye to our beloved dog Shelby, and then made this move right before Christmas. It was a busy year, but a great first one of many in our marriage.

We had a great day, just lounging in our pjs and discussing all of the things we plan to do to our home in the coming months and years. Since we both enjoy working in the yard, and we have a large backyard that hasn't really been landscaped yet...that will be one of our first spring projects. We also have a huge unfinished basement, where we hope to build out a bar, living space and an additional bedroom and bathroom. Steve can already envision his "man cave" that walks right out to a patio and our backyard. Since we had been thinking of building our home, we have been saving pictures from magazines for the past couple of years of things that we like, so we're looking forward to implementing some of them in our new home.

I am confident that 2008 will be another memorable year for us, and I look forward to documenting our stories right here. So, please continue to return to check out our updates. We wish you all the very best this year!