I love my Mi Mi

This picture is so classic of Miley. Look at this crazy girl! Oh, I just love her so much! I have had such a rough couple of months. During the hardest times when I felt the most alone I would pray to Heavenly Father for a friend. I would beg him 'please send someone to my life that will be my friend. Someone I can enjoy being around right now. Someone who can lift my spirits and help me through this difficult time, and I pray that I can be as much a blessing to their life as they are to mine.'

Little did I know a one year old girl would be the answer to my prayer.

Miley has been my best friend this past little bit. She has kept me company day in and day out when I have felt lonely, and Cheered me up when I have felt sad. I know I would not have made it through these past couple of months without her sweet little smiles, hugs, kisses, and laughter.

Miley has been so fun lately, and I want to remember all of the funny things she has been doing.

• To start out, I should explain why she's got her jammies flapping in the breeze...a couple of weeks ago I went into her room to get her out of bed in the morning and found her with her jammies unbuttoned from top to bottom. Somewhere along the line she figured out how to get them undone, and now she always wants us to button then up so she can unbutton them over and over again.
• Next, please let me explain the crazy mohawk she is always sporting in all the blog pictures. I do her hair everyday, but I swear her pony does not stay in for more than 10 minutes. So, by the end of the day her hair just sticks straight up like a rooster.
• Miley getting a drink of water sounds like it should be an olympic sport. She can down a sippy cup full of water in 1 minute flat. She can drink from a water bottle, cup or straw. She doesn't care how she gets it as long as she can gulp it down like a mad woman.
• Lately she has been learning about Jesus, and she likes to point him out in all of the pictures around the house. When we ask her "Miley, where is Jesus?" her face lights up with excitement as she points to the pictures. We also have a Christus statue in our house and when ever she sees it she wants to touch Christ's hands, feet, and face, and then she leans in for a soft kiss. I'll tell her "Jesus loves you" and she will proudly pat her tummy, identifying herself.

• Mi's loves to walk around the house with her baby doll. If you can see it in this picture, she's got it over her shoulder, holding it with one hand. This is how she carries her baby everywhere, patting baby's back, rocking baby in the swing, and laying baby down on the floor, and covering her with a blanky. No doubt mimicking mommy with baby Scotlin.
• Miley is blowing kisses these days. I love it when she will put her entire palm up to her mouth and give half her face a good swipe, and say "muwahh!"
• Miley adores her baby brother. She has been sweet to him since day one and has not had any trouble adding a new member to our family. Every time she sees him she says "awww" and then bends over to give him a kiss. She gets so excited if I bring Scotlin into her room in the morning to get her up out of bed. She practically jumps out of her crib, and the first thing she wants to do is give him his kisses. I will lay them on the floor next to each other and change both their diapers and she will roll onto her side facing him and just smile at him, and snuggle up close to him. She loves him so much.
• The other day Miley was throwing a fit about something. I don't remember what she was upset about, but she was ranting and raving, and carrying on. There were tears, and yells...the whole nine yards. Right in the middle of her tantrum she heard Scotlin start to fuss (probably him saying knock it off!) and in the midst of her cries she still stopped to say "awww" and then right back to the madness. I just had to laugh.
• Mi Mi's loves to dance! Everyday when she get's up the first thing she will say is "dan" ('dance') and start moving her body to show you she wants to go dance to her music. We rented a couple CD from the library and she wants them played over and over and over. It goes to show kids love consistency and repetition. As soon as her music starts she will start twirling around it circles, twisting at the waist, bobbing up and down, and waving her arms with a huge smile on her face. It is adorable.
• Mi's has her first crush on her friend named Sammy. She got to play at Sammy's house last week, and on the way there I asked her "do you want to go play with Sam Bow?" Her eyes got huge and she started looking around for him, and then kept asking me where he was. While playing at Sam's I was told she gave him a few kisses, and then when we left I asked if she had a good time playing at Sammy's house. Just mentioning his name had her reaching for the door, and pointing out the window to tell me she wanted to go see him. Whoo! Whoo! Sammy got to come play at our house too one day, and Miley just followed him around everywhere he went. Her dad told her Sam is the only boy he'll let her chase after... EVER.
• Miley has been so good at following instructions, and is learning to be obedient. Everyday she has helped clean up her toys before meals, and before she goes down for a nap. She has one drawer in the kitchen she is allowed to play in and pull things out of. As soon as she starts opening up the other drawer I only have to ask her once to please close the drawer and she will do it right away. As soon as I can tell she is finished playing in the kitchen I will ask her to please put her things back into the drawer, and she does it right away. I have actually been quiet impressed that she picked up on the whole concept of clean up so quickly. It has been very helpful. We do the same with her toys, and again, I am always impressed she will put them away when I ask, and not try to keep playing with them. It has only taken me a few tries to teach her what I expect from her. Like when we undress her in her room for her bath, I let her get up, and ask her to go straight into the bathroom so we can get in the tub. It would be so easy for her to run around the house like a free naked baby, but she jumps right up and heads right to the tub. We still have a lot in the discipline area to work on, but bless her little heart, she is doing so good, and being so sweet along the way.

I could go on and on. There is so much I love and appreciate about my sweet little girl. I am so happy she is mine, so grateful she enjoys being around me too, and so blessed to have her friendship. She is just the ticket if you need a smile, and she makes each day a little brighter.