This is the life....

I am currently sitting in my recliner with the shades open. The snow is falling very slowly, but just enough to make it pretty outside. Ahhh......
Miriam is sleeping next to me in her swing. She has a stuffy nose, so I have been trying to coax her to take a little bit longer naps than usual. She has been sleeping in her swing this week because of all the drainage at the back of her throat. Laying her on her back just wasn't working. She would wake up every hour coughing. But, in the swing, she sleeps hours on end. At first, I was hesitant to use it because I didn't want a new habit forming. But, in the end, you do what you gotta do and really......I don't think she will be 30 years old and still need to be rocked to sleep in the swing. It's not detrimental.
She has learned so much in this past week. I love to watch her deliberately grab a rattle and go cross-eyed staring at it with intentional and purposeful thought. Within 2 days, she grasped that if she shakes it, it will make noise. She's still working on the whole, 'not hitting myself in the head with it' thing, but I would say it's good progress.
We had Stephen and Monica over last night and were able to celebrate their recent engagement with them. It is so exciting and I love the fact that Miriam is getting another aunt. It was also fun watching Miriam through 'fresh eyes.' Stephen would point out funny things that she was doing (like whole body spasms when she gets excited about a toy) that we are so used to, we don't really notice that much anymore.
Miriam loves to be sung to. For Christmas, she got 3 Disney CD's and for some reason, she prefers those over anything else. She is lucky that she has 2 parents that went to Disney World on their Honeymoon. We listen to them in the car and if I sing to a couple of the songs, she calms down (because she HATES her car seat) and will usually fall asleep. That's how I got her to sleep for her nap. ha ha. 3 verses of Supercalifragilisticexpialidotious and she was off to La La Land. I don't really know if that is how they spell it because the CD is across the room and I am too lazy to get up. So let's pretend it's correct and you are all impressed with my correct spelling skills of made-up words.