Where to start?

Maxine R. Pergler

May 31, 1923- June 8, 2007

After getting the news about my grandma, we had to quickly move into planning and logistics on how to get us all to Michigan (while there are 50+ teachers at my house for the last day of school party). My sweet Mom already had previously booked plane tickets to fly to Michigan the day after school got out for her, so we quickly decided that she would have a little person named Meredith join her. This is not quite how I envisioned Meredith's first plane trip, but it was a necessary thing because the rest of the Raleigh crew rented a big van and made the 17 hour trip a day later. Mom said that she did really well overall. She was totally fascinated by everything on the plane, especially the tray table (she wasn't happy when that had to be 'stowed'). Sounds like she provided some entertainment for other passengers as well, mom assures me that it was the good kind :) So, Elizabeth and Abby & Jessie were all there to greet Mom & Meredith in Traverse City and Meredith got to have some unexpexted quality time with her cousins.

The rest of us left early Sunday morning in the big ol 12 passenger van (trust me, we needed all that space for 6 adults!) and the trip went very well overall. We got to Michigan and were able to spend Monday resting and processing the events that would come. Tuesday, June 12th was the funeral at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Cadillac, which was my grandma's lifelong church and where my parents, aunt and sister were all married and my two nieces were baptized. I am very fortunate that I have had to attend very few funerals in my life, but that doesn't make it any easier. It was good to see all of my family and the service was nice...what else can you say?

The best part of the whole thing was when my amazingly strong mother spoke about both grandma and grandpa and their lives together and the wonderful family they have created. I will never forget her grace and strength as she spoke.

Meredith obviously had no clue what was going on and was her normal squirmy self, so Chris spent most of the service with her in the nursery. There was the good Lutheran luncheon to follow in the fellowship hall.

The church is set way back off the road and the little girls had a blast just running through the field and it was really special to see those kids having so much fun together. We knew grandma would love that.

Later that day we spent some time at the lake and Meredith totally loved it. She was a little hesitant at first, but once she got past that initial chill (this is northern Michigan afterall!) she was just a little waterbug.

Early the next morning we headed south towards Battle Creek to the cemetary. My grandfather is buried at Ft. Custer National Cemetary, so that is where grandma would join him after 15 years. It really is a beautiful place and there is something comforting about knowing they are together again after so many years.

After lunch, the Raleigh crew got back in the van to head south again. Meredith was with us this time since Mom was still staying for a few more days. I have to admit that I was quite worried about how she would do on such a long trip, but she did amazingly well. At one point we all sang to her because she was getting a little fussy and she stopped and just looked at all of the silly adults around her and just grinned. It did help that a lot of the trip was late at night so she could sleep, but I was totally impressed (the new addiction of Doritos did help us through a few rough spots though!). We arrived home around 3:30am on Thursday morning and Allison and I both had class that night, so we slept as much as we could that day and headed to class that night.

Oh, I forgot to mention the fabulous way our trip started. There was a terrible thunderstorm on Saturday night that knocked out the power at our house. Well, we assumed it would be back on soon, so Chris and I headed out to grab some dinner since Meredith had left that morning with mom. Well, as we drove we saw that all of the Leesville area was without power, so it was really big. Let's just say that packing by candlelight isn't ideal, not to mention it was hot as heck without the AC on. So the lights still weren't on the next morning and we left for our trip hoping everything had made it into the suitcase, having a terrible night's sleep and showering in the dark. We had to call our neighbor to come over and make sure things were turned off and reset the thermostats bc it didn't come back on until noon the following day. It was just the icing on the cake at that point.

Sad news

I have some very sad news. My grandmother in Michigan passed away early this morning. I can't say it was a total surprise since she had been in declining health, but that doesn't make it any easier. We are still trying to figure out logistics, but we will likely be driving to Michigan at some point this weekend and will be there for most of the week. Keep our family in your prayers.

Restaurant, what's that?

We have officially entered the no-restaurant zone with Meredith. We've been pushing it for awhile to where we could scarf down our food and somehow keep her fairly content through the meal by shoving goldfish at her, but she fully confirmed last night that there is no more sitting in a restaurant high chair for her. I actually made quite a lovely meal last night, but it was to take over to a good friend who recently had pretty serious surgery, so we decided to go out after we dropped it off. We were over by one of favorite old hangouts, Buffalos, and decided that wings sounded awesome. We barely sat down and got her into her chair before she was squirming and wanting out. She chewed on a few crayons, ate a few bites of her dinner and she quickly moved to the no way in heck am I staying in this chair phase, immediately into the I'm going to scream my head off if you make me sit here any longer, oh and by the way, I want to stand in the chair, not sit. It is a family restaurant, but I'm not going to let my child scream while we eat. So, Chris and I took turns taking her outside to let her run around since I had taken approximatley one bite of my meal when she lost it.
She did the same thing at the Mexican restaurant last weekend and my mom was nice enough to walk the child around outside while I finished eating.
Nothing apeases her...no toys, books, food, drink, nothing. I guess our days of attempting to go out as a family on occasion (mind you, we hardly go out as it is!) are over until she can calm down a bit more.
Oh, well. I guess that's life as a parent, right?

Church Portraits

So, we just got our first official family portrait made for the church directory! Nothing like the good ol' Lutherans to get you out for a family picture! We were the suckers that ended up spending way too much on ordering some, but we just couldn't resist the ones of Meredith (they knew that too!!) These were taken about 3 weeks ago.

We had a nice long weekend. Nothing terribly exciting. We stuck pretty close to home and got important things done like cleaning out the pantry and doing lots of laundry. Oh, can my life get much more exciting?? Meredith is talking up a storm. Still nothing substantial word wise, but she is running her mouth all the time! My favorite is her way of saying kitty cat. She ends up adding several syllables and it comes out something like kidigidycat. The babysitter said that Meredith said gracias the other day too! This whole being exposed to two languages at such an early age totally makes me excited!

Something else that has me excited is that she is starting to take an interest in books (she did attempt to eat the board book that also sings songs the other day...we got a flat tire and she was awfully quiet in the car while we were changing it and it was because she had chewed an entire corner off! Cardboard is another food group, right?). She still won't sit still long enough to let me read more than a page or two, but she'll take the book and go sit at her new table and chairs (great find on craiglist!) and turn the pages and pretend to read! It is so cute! She has moments of sitting still lately, which has thoroughly amazed me and makes me realize that there is hope for this child to be calm and peaceful on occasion!

She absolutely loves being outside. She starts to throw a fit if one of us goes outside and she can't come. She ran through the sprinkler the other day, which was pretty darn cute too.

Let's see, what else. She now has all 4 of her first molars (or whatever the first really big teeth are called) that have cut through for a total of 12 teeth! Her new favorite food is an orange. She can hardly stand to wait for me to peel it because she gets so excited! Oh yeah, we have almost gotten past the milk hurdle. She has successfully had several cups of milk now. I think it's just because she's super thirsty and that's all that is in her cup, but we are at least making progress!

Chris only has about 2 weeks of school left and then he and Meredith will start their summer together (i'm so jealous!). We are still going to take her to the babysitter probably one day a week, just so she will have some continuity through the summer and we don't just plop her off in the fall to a kindof strange place and so that Chris can get things done around the house or run errands etc...trust me, I'm working on the honeydo list!!

Summer school is going well. It is overall a very easy class in comparison to last semester and I'm already half way through (I have the midterm tomorrow)! Work is work. I've been feeling a bit disenchanted lately, so I need to get myself motivated about work again somehow.

Sorry for the long post...I've been bad lately about adding anything.

Mother's Day

The first picture is of Meredith's favorite thing ever. Her Dora chair. She loves this thing!

This second picture is a couple of weeks old. We finally put her infant seat in the attic and she decided to play with it before we put it away. Hard to believe she used to fit in that seat!!

We had a very nice Mother's Day on Sunday. We went to church (we were 15 mins late, but better late than never, right?) and since there were some other very noisy children around us, Meredith stayed for the whole service instead of going into the nursery. Then we went out to the Duke Gardens, which is right by Hillary & Joey's house, and let Meredith loose! She loved running around and was not happy to get back in her stroller. She LOVES being outside! We stopped and got a LocoPop, which is this kinda hole in the wall place in Durham that has the coolest and most unique popsicle flavors ever! I got a cantaloupe ginger one and it rocked! I was quite intrigued by the mango chile one, but didn't go there. Meredith was so cute because she basically went around to everyone and begged for a taste of their popsicles! The funky flavors didn't seem to bother her a bit. We had dinner at a mexican restaurant in Brightleaf square and then went back to Hillary & Joey's house for dessert and presents (we also combined Hillary's birthday into the day as well!) I got my baby girl's handprints :) It was a very nice day!

Bye Bye bottle!

(This is a pic from when we went to the mudcats a few weeks ago).

Well, it is quite overdue, but we are officially saying goodbye to the bottle. Meredith still won't drink milk out of a cup, but I figure she can't have a bottle forever, so it's time to just take it away completely and be sure she gets calcium elsewhere with cheese and yogurt etc. I've tried everything to get her to drink it out of a cup. I've bought new cups, some with straws, some that are just cool colors, I've tried soy milk, chocolate milk, watered down milk, half milk & half formula, only water in the bottle. She just takes one sip from the cup, makes a face and puts it down and wants nothing to do with it. I had just been hanging onto the bottle because that was the only way she was getting milk in one or two bottles a day, but now that she is 15 months old, it's just time. The good thing is that she loves cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese, & broccoli (I was kindof surprised to know that broccoli is high in calcium!), so we're just going that route and will continue to try giving her milk to see if she finally will take it now that she doesn't have a bottle.

I'm so thankful that she is well again. She really was wiped out with that nastiness she had and I just can't express how nice it is to have my happy girl back! Makes me appreciate the mischief she gets into and not worry so much about all the messes she makes while she is her happy little self! We really are lucky because she hasn't been sick very much at all and I certainly don't want to re-visit it again anytime soon.

Have I mentioned that she is still obsessed with shoes? She loves them! If Chris or I leave our shoes out, she picks them up and brings them to us and tries to put them on our feet. She often finds her own shoes and will sit on the floor trying to get them on her feet, which never works, but she tries! She also hates having them on in the car. She pulls and pulls on them to see if she can get them off. Not sure what all this means, but I'm sure that this too will pass!

She also loves to try to put things together. It may be something simple, like a lid to a bowl, but she will sit there and try to fit the two pieces together for the longest time. She still won't sit still long enough to watch any tv/videos for any length of time, but some of them are starting to catch her eye. Anything with animals or babies really stops her in her tracks...for a second or two at least!
Oh yeah, her faaavorite thing to say lately is 'doggeee'. Although, everything is a doggee, everything. First we thought it was just all animals, but now it's pretty much anything she is pointing at that very moment. It is very cute :)

Mean, mean molars

Having a sick baby with molars pushing through at the same time just isn't good. Meredith got the bug her dad had last week and has been totally miserable. She spiked a fever on Friday morning, so I left work and took her to the doctor. (by the way, tried the new pediatrician up at Brier Creek, The Growing Child, and was very pleased). She got an antibiotic and cough medicine and went downhill from there the rest of the weekend. She struggled with a fever, cough and congestion all weekend along with terribly swollen gums from her inscisors and molars pushing. She would just start crying and want to be held constantly, so I got nothing done all weekend. I sat up with her for awhile at 4am on Saturday while she just wanted to be held and needed another dose of Tylenol since she was burning up. Once again, those late nights make me remember the days of a newborn...not ready for that again! By Sunday I thought we were coming out of it, but still wasn't sure, so I let her sleep in until after 10:00 on Monday and took her to daycare for half a day. I really didn't want to take another vacation day if I didn't have to and she ended up doing fine. She fell apart again last night and her cough is still pretty hacky, but I am seeing glimpses of my sweet baby coming through again. If those poor teeth would give her some relief, we'd really be on our way!

Here is the best Easter picture I have of her in her pretty dress (notice the drool all over the collar!). She just wouldn't cooperate for any other pictures! Late again, but at least it's something!

Meredith Meets Chef Boyardee!

So, last night was one of those nights where I just didn't have anything great to fix for dinner, so that can of ravioli in the pantry came in handy....she had a blast. It was just easier to let her go at it while wearing only a diaper than fight with her about a bib!

Birthday pictures...late

I'm feeling quite unproductive today since I finished my last exam last night, so here are a bunch of Meredith's birthday pictures. I think most of you have seen them, but wanted to get them out here anyway! Her hair is a little longer since this, but she doesn't look too different!
She'll be 15 months old next week! Hard to believe.

April

Let's see. What's going on? First of all, my baby girl isn't a baby anymore. She really is turning into such a little kid! She said what I believe is her first sentence last week. Now, mind you, this is with mommy ears, but she said "I go outside". It came out more like "Ah go oussie", but she was standing at the storm door pointing outside while she said it. Which also leads me to say that she is totally an outside girl. If you have the door open, she just bolts for it so that she can run around in the grass. We really need to invest in a fence because she just wanders/runs between our yard and the neighbors yards on both sides (don't worry, she is under supervision!). She would definitely take off around the front of the house and head for the road for sure if we weren't watching. I'd love to let her just run around, but without a way to keep her corraled, it makes me nervous. She has so much energy that it just makes me tired!
We went to her first baseball game this weekend out at the Mudcats in Zebulon. The whole Smith clan went and we had a really good time. Meredith quite enjoyed climbing underneath everyone's chairs and going up and down the stairs many times. She also found a water fountain with her Nana and she thought that was the coolest thing ever. Got a little wet, but that was the least of our worries! She kinda started falling apart towards the end of the game, so we left a little early and had dinner at Knightdale Seafood, which I highly recommend. I'm an NC girl and have had a lot of bbq, but this place was the best I've ever had! Meredith also enjoyed her first taste of fried okra. She still isn't digging much meat, but we keep trying!
She is working on getting two more teeth on the bottom. One has just popped through and the other one isn't far behind. Her gums have been so swollen lately, that it has to be a relief for these to come through, but once again she has handled it really well.
She's getting better with feeding herself with a spoon. We sat outside on the patio last night for dinner, so I just let her go for it. My goodness she was a mess, but that's what it's going to take for her to really figure it out! I haven't been all that willing to give her free reign to make a disaster (well, more of a disaster) in the house by feeding herself with a spoon, but now that it is nice out I'm just going to let her make a mess when we sit outside! Still not much luck with milk out of a cup. I even tried putting a couple of drops of chocolate sauce into it and she still wouldn't drink it. I just bought two new cups last night, so maybe that will help! I'm going to have sippy cups coming out of my ears soon!
One more bit of excitement is that I am done with school for the semester after tonight! I have a final exam tonight and then I'm off for about 2 weeks before summer session starts. Then I'm on the official 6 week countdown!! This summer class should be a lot of fluff, so overall the meat of my program is OVER!! Yeehaa! I had a presentation on Thursday that just beat me up, but overall it went well. So, my final MBA class will be on June 21st my friends!

Funny girl

We have had several successful teeth brushings this week. I have been trying for awhile, but Meredith just clamps those lips together and nothing is getting in. I decided to try to other night again with her pink toothbrush and Dora pink toothpaste and she actually did pretty well. Only on the bottom teeth though. It must feel funny when I brush the top teeth because she immediately turns away. Hopefully this will improve with time. Her bottom gums are so swollen that I'm sure we'll have more teeth to brush in no time.
On another note, still no milk from a cup. She might take a sip or two, but she pretty much still makes a face and wants nothing to do with it. We are at least completely on milk now, but only out of a bottle. Hopefully this will improve with time too.
She also loves taking my shoes off, attempting to put them back on and then immediately wanting to take them off again. She also loves playing with her own shoes and acting like she is putting them on. Of course she can't get them on, but I think it's funny that I have a little shoe lover already!

Easter 2007

I am having such a blast with Meredith. She cracks me up every day. She has started this silly toothy grin and she squishes her face up at the same time and just giggles. She will just run through the house hollering happy noises and waving her arms around like a crazy person. She has so much personality! We got her a one of those kid size soft chairs with Dora on it for Easter(I decided that dark haired Dora was a better choice than blond Cinderella for my brunette baby!) and oh my goodness, I think we may need to take it back. The acrobatics that have ensued since we got it have made me quite nervous. First of all, she had her first meltdown in the toy department because she couldn't take everything she saw and then when we put the chair in the cart she about vaulted into the back part of the cart from the front of the cart, so we had to shove it underneath. We should have know that this thing was going to cause problems! She now climbs in it so she can climb into the couch and chairs easier, but then she likes to bend the back of it over and flips the whole thing. She is quite amused by it, so we'll see if the newness wears off.
She was a pretty good girl for church yesterday, mostly because she spent most of it in the nursery! She was just being wiggly and squirmy and we were trying to get her to make it to the children's sermon, but Chris and I both smelled something, so thinking she was dirty I went ahead and took her out. Turns out it was the kids in front of us with real hard boiled eggs in their easter baskets that we were smelling! Oh well, she seemed to have a pretty good time in the nursery anyway.
We did a little Easter egg hunt too. She immediately locked in on the colorful eggs in the yard, but it took her a minute to figure out that she should put them in her basket. At first, she would pick up one, then another and then drop one to pick up another since her hands were full. It was pretty cute. I just filled them with goldfish and cheerios since we aren't doing candy yet and she thought that was pretty cool too once she figured out that they opened up.
Meredith will be home with Chris all this week for Spring Break, so I'm jealous, but I'm thinking of taking Friday off too.
No pictures again. She barely sat still to take any decent pictures yesterday, but I'll try to get some uploaded soon.

Not a fun first

Well, we have had our first fun bout of vomiting all night. Meredith must have eaten something that didn't agree with her on Monday, so she puked all night. Poor baby, I think the feeling really scared her since she hasn't ever really done that before. Fortunately, I was scheduled to work from home the next day, so I could keep a close eye on her. She never got a fever and was just sleepy the next day because of her eventful night and seemed to be back to herself for the most part. I hadn't pulled the 2-4am shift in awhile, so I was exhausted too. Chris was a great help with changing the sheet and starting laundry, while I changed her and got her settled down, which was a big help.
All of you mommies out there can now breath a sigh of relief because my baby girl that I was determined wouldn't be a picky eater, now is a picky eater. Maybe it's just a phase, but she is not eating like she used to and pushes everything away. She is very much into shaking her head no and clamping those lips super tight so that nothing will get in! The other big challenge is that she hates milk. I waited to give it to her until she was a year old, like all the dumb books say, but she will not drink it out of a bottle or cup and if she even takes one sip, she quickly figures it out and drops the cup onto the floor. She just loves her formula! I've been trying to mix a little milk with her formula and I'll gradually increase the ratio of milk to formula. She seems ok with that so far, but I think she can tell because she doesn't suck it down like normal. I don't want to take her bottle away since she will only drink juice out of a cup and I need her to get enough fluid that isn't all juice, so I'm just going with it and trying not to stress about it. So, any of you mommies out there that have suggestions on how to get her to transition to milk only, go for it! I'm listening! I've heard a lot of people say that their child never noticed the difference. Well, apparently mine has a very discerning palate! Ha!

It's been awhile...

Wow, it has been a long time since I have posted anything. Life has been flying by at warp speed and I'm barely keeping up! Meredith is spending the weekend with my mother-in-law, so I have a few minutes to post. What has been going on? Chris is into his Spring sports season after a whole week between last season & this season, so his game nights are the same nights as class nights for me, so we've been calling on my mom a lot lately to help out with Meredith. Meredith is just wonderful. She doesn't slow down for much and is almost always in a good mood :) Her new favorite thing to do is to give you a chin nod. Yes, like she's saying 'wassup'? She kindof grunts and pops her chin out like she's taking a second to acknowledge you, gives a grin and back to whatever she is doing. She's getting a little better and saying dada every now and then, but it's mostly still mama and A LOT of babble. She definitely is getting the cadence of speech down, it just happens to be in Meredithese. I try to play along like I know what she's telling me, and she is just so serious about what she's saying. She also loves this electric sweeper thing I use to 'sweep' the kitchen floor. The thing is twice her height, but she lugs it around like it's a toy! She still likes things that are far too big for her, like when I picked her up one day from daycare, she was carrying a bouncy seat across the room. Yes, my daughter has that strong Smith blood in her! We had a few very nice warm days this week, so she was able to play outside during the day, which she loved. Oh yeah, she has also figured out how to kick a soccer ball. She does a really good job with it! Do we have a soccer player on our hands? If it can get her any sort of college scholarship, I'm all for it! I went to a college planning seminar this week and we are going to be opening a 529 account for her soon. With 17 years until college, I hope we are starting soon enough!! It's a pretty depressing thought to know how much college will cost when she is ready to go. Hopefully I will have my own college loands paid off by then!! Ok, now I'm just babbling. Nothing too exciting has been going on other than the normal stress with school and work and baby. Oh, I have had quite a few doctors appointments lately trying to get me to feel better. I just started on blood pressure medicine yesterday, so maybe that will help. I think a major blood pressure reducer will be graduation....only around 90 days left!!!
Sorry, no pictures. Just writing a post is a feat for now!

A year with Meredith :)

I've been wanting to make a timeline of the major Milestones from Meredith's first year so that when I get around to doing her baby book, I'll have it all set. This probably won't be very interesting for anyone, but wanted to do it for myself :) Thank goodness for this blog because if it was left up to my memory, there would be nothing!

2/2/06- Meredith Grace Elliott, 3:05pm, 8lbs 5oz, 21", Rex Hospital
2/19/06, 17 days old- Baptised at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church
Early April, 8 weeks- spinal ultrasound at WakeMed (all was fine)
Early April, 8-9 weeks- first smiles & laughing
Mid April, 10-11 weeks- starting to sleep 6 hours at night
Mid May, 2 1/2 months -started with babysitter, rolling over
May- 3 months- started sleeping for 12 hours at night
Late June, 4 1/2 months- 1st cereal
Early June, 18 weeks- started being really happy all the time, major changes
Mid June, 4 1/2 months- Sleeping on tummy
Early July, 5 months- first beach trip, up an all fours & almost crawling
August, 6 months- first solid food, sitting well on own, crawling
Mid September, 7 1/2 months- full size carseat, saying mama, standing in crib
Late September, 7 3/4 months- climbing stairs, says dada
October, 8 months- first finger food
Mid October, 8 1/2 months- first tooth (bottom right)
November, 9 months- standing on own, using walker to walk
Mid November, 9 1/2 months- first step
Early-mid December, 10 months- walking well
Mid-late January, 11 months- Teeth 3-5 & clapping

Party Pics!

Finally have a few part pics..mostly cake. We got her a cake of her own and the icing turned out quite a bit greener than we planned on, but it was still pretty :)

Birthday Party

We had a great time on Saturday for Meredith's party. We had a good turn out and Meredith loved playing with all of the kids that came over. Her favorite new toy is this Doramobile (as in Dora the Explorer) that our neighbor Karen got for her. She could hardly wait to get it out of the box before she started sitting on it and attempting to push it along. I was suprised since she doesn't have anything like it, but she has a blast either riding it or pushing it around the house now. Of course it plays music, but it hasn't made me too crazy yet. I did notice that she got a lot of noisy, musical toys and she loves them all! She was a bit tentative about digging into her cake with everyone watching, but it didn't take long for her to get the idea. She didn't make a huge mess, but it was mess enough! The State/Caroline game was on, which provided part 2 of the party. A lot of people stuck around for that, but UNC lost, which didn't make Chris too happy! I don't have any pictures to post yet, but will soon.

My baby is 1!

Happy Birthday to my baby girl! It's so hard to believe that she has been around for a year already, but then again at the same time it's hard to believe that I've only known this amazing little girl for a year. I've been getting a bit emotional today thinking about my life now and my life before Meredith and how this year has been the best and most challenging year of my life! I was holding my tiny baby in my arms last year at this time with no clue about the road ahead of me and now she is walking and talking (kinda) and has turned into such a cool little girl with a huge personality and mommy & daddy have a years worth of parenting under our belts now too :) I'm certainly not wishing away this baby time, but I am just so excited and intrigued to see this little angel grow and develop into such an awesome girl!
I was able to work from home today so I got to spend the day with her. It's so funny how to her it is just another day, no big deal. I know that won't last for long, but it's almost refreshing right now :) We're having a party tomorrow, but I baked a cake for her to have later on her real birthday. Thought I'd post one of her Birth day pictures from a year ago!

Busy!

Life is just a crazy mess lately. Class is keeping me super busy two nights a week, plus at least one study group night and homework as well. We had some drama with one of my groupmates from my huge strategy class. He quit our group because he wasn't happy with the decisions we were making and the schedule we had mapped out for meeting wasn't planned enough....whatever. He is taking this way too seriously and the unfortunate part is that all 4 of us have gone through the past 3 years all together and had become friends, but he has chosen to sacrifice that. Trying to move on, but I am having some serious anxiety over this semester because of that issue and because he left our group, we have a lot more individual work to do now... Ugh, I could go on, but I won't.

Meredith is wonderful. Her birthday is Friday and we are having a party on Saturday, so we are looking forward to that. She has both teeth on top and 4 on the bottom now. It's funny because now she liked to scrape her graham crackers on her teeth so she can hear the noise! She just started this hilarious thing the other night of holding the phone up to her ear (well shoulder really) and acting like she's talking. She'll walk around the house holding the phone (or remote control on occassion) and talking. I guess this is the first blatantly obvious example of mimicking, but it also made us realize that we both need to be careful about what we say and do around her!! I certainly let a bad word slip every now and then around her, so I don't want her first real word to be a bad one! Her favorite thing to say lately is 'eh' really loud and repeatedly. She especially likes to hear herself echo in a room with a high ceiling. I've decided that she reminds me of my grandpa because he couldn't hear for anything and would always would yell 'eh?'. Have I mentioned that one of her favorite toys is also the nasal aspirator that we got at the hospital? I think that the rubber feels good on her gums(yes, it is clean!). I know, weird huh? She has just started to actually play with toys. The other night we both watched in awe as she sat on the floor for probably 2-3 minutes and just played. This child NEVER sits still, so it was pretty amazing!

We went to Tennessee this weekend since my in-laws can't come down for her party this weekend. It ended up being a pretty good trip. Chris & I got to spend most of Saturday out and about Knoxville doing some shopping, dinner and a movie while Mimi watched Meredith, which I know is all she wanted to do anyway! I will be very happy to turn her carseat around after her birthday because I think that her legs were a little cramped on the 6 hr trip and she wasn't all that happy on the way home. Also, I won't have to break my back reaching back there to pick up whatever she has dropped.

More teeth- #4 and 5

No new pictures...we're really bad about uploading pics.
This has been a big week for Meredith. She sprouted two new teeth over the weekend, her 4th on the bottom and her first tooth on the top. She has woken up at night for a couple nights, so I think they are bothering her a bit.
She also started a new daycare yesterday. It is an in-home licensed daycare and there are several other children there for her to play with. I specifically note that this is a licensed day care, which really does seem to have its benefits in comparison to just having the neighbor watch her and cart her all over the place, regardless of the convenience of her living next door. Chris and I both dropped her off yesterday and she was really excited to see all of the toys and immediately started playing. Apparently she didn't sleep much at all, so she was pretty grumpy when she got home, but sounds like she had a great day otherwise. Chris dropped her off this morning and he called me to tell me that as soon as Prissila opened the door, Meredith gave her a huge smile...so, something went very right yesterday :)

Tooth #3

I'm not exactly sure when it happened, but sometime in the last few days Meredith sprouted her 3rd tooth on the bottom right. I have been so busy looking at her top gums (which are sooooo swollen) that I didn't even think to look for another one on the bottom! (It is not an easy event trying to get a look!) The top two really can't be far behind considering what her poor gums look and feel like. She has also had a pretty runny nose the past few days, which I hear is a sign of teething, but then again it could be the freaky weather we are having too! Overall, she has been in great spirits though. She woke up several times last night, but never seemed to upset. She is home today with daddy for MLK day. Teaching doesn't pay much, but man it's a nice schedule!
She went to church with Nana & Papa on Sunday because she spent the night with them so that we could go to a party Saturday night. Apparently she had a great time in church and was clapping and moving to the music, but decided to make lots of noise when it was quiet, so she went to the nursery during the sermon and had a great time with the other kids. Graham crackers were also something to keep her quiet, but she still isn't the cleanest when it comes to eating and it ended up on her and her Aunt Hillary!
This weekend went way too fast :(

January

Well, seems like we are back into our routine. I have been sick with a bad cold for the past week or so and am just feeling like I'm back to normal. Thankfully, Meredith has managed to stay well. I was home from work Friday and Monday, so I feel totally off kitler.
I started class last night and it seems like it's going to be a bear. This one is my final Capstone, so I expected it to be a lot of work, but it is never fun when the syllabus has a table of contents!!! We'll see what my other class will be like on Tuesday. I'm nervous about the semesters, but also just want to get going so it can be over!!
Meredith is walking more than she is crawling now. She still needs to pull up on something to standing, but I don't think it will be long before she figures out how to stand up on her own. Oh, she started clapping last night! Chris said she did it for the first time while I was at class, but he kept her up late so I could see her yesterday and she did it for me too :)
Her latest really odd play thing is the lint roller. We keep it in the bottom drawer in the kitchen and she come over, opens the drawer and pulls that thing out all the time. She likes to walk around with it waving it around. She still loves to carry her dad's tennis shoes around by the laces. The coasters still rank up there, but the remote control has lost a little luster lately.
She seems to be putting together more gibberish that sounds like she's talking, but not any real words to speak of yet.
We were at Kohl's the other night and it was totally dead, so we let her walk around a little bit in her new shoes and she walked right up to these two ladies that worked there and started pushing the cart that one of them had. They were very nice and thought she was adorable and Meredith just got the biggest kick out of the whole thing, she was making very happy screaming noises the whole time. She is just awesome and is so happy all the time. She makes us laugh every day :)

Wagon

Meredith loves taking rides around the house in her new red wagon :)

Here Comes Trouble!

Walking while licking the lid to a pot!







Standing in the laundry basket.







This is my wonderful child :) Note her shirt says "Here comes trouble"....too true!

Christmas 2006

Well Christmas has already passed in a whirlwind! Meredith really didn't care much about it at all. She enjoyed some of the boxes and has taken a particular liking to a talking puppy from her great grandma elliott (she tackles it and giggles when it talks to her), but otherwise she could have cared less! We went into Greensboro on Christmas eve to spend most of the day with Chris's mom, step-dad, sister and brother-in-law. Meredith did incredibly well considering she only got one not long enough nap in that day. She was asleep in the car before we even hit the highway to come home. She woke up long enough to get her cute gingerbread pjs on and her daddy read her The Night Before Christmas and off to dreamland she went. We actually had to wake her up on Christmas morning since she got to bed so late the night before! We went over to my mom and dad's house and had breakfast, opened gifts and Meredith went down for a nap. Shortly after she woke up, we headed over to Chris's stepsister's house, who fortunately lives in Raleigh now. We did the Elliott Christmas over there and Meredith pretty much lost it since she was so tired from all of the action! We got her home and she took a really late nap and when she woke up she was ready to play. Chris's grandparents spent the night and we had breakfast for them and Chris's dad and step mom the next morning. By the time they left on the afternoon of the 26th, I was ready to crash!! Meredith seemed to enjoy all of the attention, but she had 3 very late nights in a row and we are just getting her back onto a normal schedule!
We did a bunch of shopping/returns the past few days and we bought her first pair of Stride Rites since she is a walking maniac lately. She no longer takes only 9 or 10 steps, she can walk all the way accross the room now with no problem. The shoes will take some getting used to, but she seemed to like them (size 5.5!!!) By the way, I can't believe that her shoes cost more than a pair I bought at the mall for me!! She was so cute in the store walking all over the place. She even walked right out into the mall (with daddy close behind). She also rode one of those little rides they have at the mall (no such thing as the penny horse....75cents now!). Chris and I both said how it made her seem so grown up with her big girl shoes on and riding a ride (she thought it was pretty fun!) She will be 11 months old on Tuesday, so I guess she is a big girl!
I am working today, hence the post! I was off the rest of the week and we are closed on monday for new years day, which will be nice. Fortunately, it is pretty quiet. I will post some pictures once we get them uploaded. I honestly didn't take a ton of pictures, but there are a few cute ones.

Oh, on another happy note...My friend Jessica had her little boy today....Miles :) Happy Birthday!

Pictures

I just can't help but post more pics. We had a 'photo shoot' the other day trying to get some good Christmas ones in front of the tree, so these are the many poses of Meredith :) The one with the holly was one that we printed from Snapfish with a border!

Christmas is almost here...

Well, Christmas is upon us! Today is my last day of work for a week and it should be a totally slow day, so I am going to take a minute to write a new post. We somehow thought that now that we have a baby, Christmas would be easier as far as parents coming to us instead of us having to go all over. It hasn't proven to be easy at all. I think we have things worked out now, but I don't think anyone (inlcuding me) is overly thrilled with the plans. I think we are going to go to take a family vacation next year, just the three of us! I just want to make it special for Meredith, even though she'll never remember it.
Miss Meredith is so much fun these days. She is walking quite well now. She can take around 10 steps max right now, but she is getting better every day! Chris and I know that we are in trouble once she is truly mobile. She has no fear and is into everything! The little wicker chair in the pictures is her favorite now. She can crawl up into it and stand up, yes stand in the chair! Who knows what is next?!
She does seem to be working on a little cold. She has been couging a lot at night for the past few days, but I also think it could be the dry air, so we are digging out her humidifier to see if it will help. Plus, every time she coughs, I wake up, so mommy is tired!!
I steamed her some fresh asparagus last night and she wasn't terribly thrilled with it. I think it was just a texture thing though. I have pureed it and given it to her before and she liked it, so I think it was just weird since it can get stringy so easily. We did let her have a bit of gingerbread cookie the other night and she wasn't overly impressed, which made me happy!
I doubt I will make another post until after Christmas, so hope everyone has a great one!
I feel like posting a lot of pics of my beautiful baby :)

Walking!

Here is another fun picture from the beach this weekend....

Well, my little baby is officially taking steps. Yes, that means more than one step. Last night she took three steps in a row. (I almost cried and she looked at me like, what's wrong mom?) Mind you, they are from one piece of furniture to another, but she has no support at all. She is getting more and more confident every day. We finally took our big coffee table out of the living room this week and got one of those big padded ottomans that can double as a coffee table and it opens up so we can throw all of her toys in it too! I think it even makes her feel better since it is soft and if she bangs into it, it won't hurt! I know I am already much more relaxed with her cruising around the living room.
She has been waking up between 1am-2am every night for about a week. She cries for a minute or two and then settles back down. It seems to be a fairly consistent time, so I'm not sure if it is her teeth (still nothing has cut through on top) or if she's having a bad dream. She has also started fighting her naps and bedtime. She used to just lay down and play for awhile and just drift off to sleep, but now she likes to scream for a good few minutes or more. I try to get her into a calm routine 30 mins before bed, but there is no calm with this child. Even when she is rubbing her eyes because she is so tired, she wants to be crawling around and getting into mischief! I saw this baby about her age at the store the other day and he was sitting so calmly in the shopping cart and I just watched in amazement! I haven't dared to put her in the cart yet because I know she would be diving for everything she could get her hands on! I think it's safe to say that I have a 'spirited child' (thanks for that term Jess F!).
p.s. We think that her hair is starting to get some curl. It definitely has a wave in the back, so we'll see what happens as it gets longer. Chris & I both had super curly hair as babies, so I wouldn't doubt she will have it too. Oh yeah, she also ate spinach last night and loved it! I am determined that she won't be a picky eater. I did mix it with some baby food, but she didn't even make a face, just opened up her mouth for more! What a good girl :)

Smiley baby

The picture on the stairs was taken just before Meredith took a header into the corner right there at the stairs...she recovered well, but there were tears shed for sure. Her newest thing is crawling up the first step and then turning around and sitting. Yes, that is drool all over her shirt and dripping from her chin and she has some unruly hair these days too! She has gotten into this funny smile where she scrunches up her whole face and shows her gums/teeth.
I also LOVE this picture of her at the beach. We took a quick trip down to Emerald Isle this weekend with the folks, grandma & Allison. It was awesome to be down there in the winter since I've never done that before.

A few pics

Family picture after the wedding

Meredith and dad watching the Carolina/State game.
Halloween dalmation..I'm a bit behind!

10 months

Meredith is 10 months old and is just so awesome right now. She is so curious about everything and is into everything! She is standing much more confidently and has taken a few very tentative steps, I'm actually still not sure if they truly quality as steps, but she is figuring it out. She is babbling like crazy and has added a few sounds to her repetoire . Mama, dada, baba, nana and her latest is bookie or boogie..she is either going to love books are be a gambler! She has been doing this funny grumbling, growl thing the past few days and I guess she is just experimenting with what her voice can do. She did it all the way home from Brier Creek the other night and Chris and I just laughed! Sometimes when music comes on she starts to bop her head and bounce up and down...it is so cute!! She continues to love non-toys like the cell phone, remote control, pots and pans from the drawer under the stove, shoes, magazines, newspapers, boxes...you name it and she is trying to either chew on it or drag it around. She seems to love dragging around things that are much too big. She pulled one of Chris's shoes (by the laces) all the way up the steps with her and it was hilarious because she wouldn't let go, but she was so determined! Of her real toys I'd have to say that the glow worm still ranks right up there. We took her to get her Christmas pictures taken last week and it was dark on the way home and I gave her glow worm to her while she was in her carseat and she totally cracked up when it lit up in the dark! She isn't really paying to much attention to the Christmas tree yet. She was quite intrigued by the box for our fake tree, but not the tree so much. She did want to eat one of the lights, so we'll have to keep a close eye on her! Her top two teeth are coming in and I think these are bothering her more than the bottom two did. She hasn't been overly grumpy, but a little out of sorts the past few days.
Other good news. Meredith has a new little friend...my friend Heather had her baby on Friday. A little girl named Reese (not sure on the spelling yet). Congrats!
Ok, for some odd reason my snapfish account is now a 'forbidden site' at work...so, no pics today!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was wild and crazy, but good. We had around 30 people at our house. It was a combination of our family, Joey's family (my new brother-in-law) and the wedding party. Meredith did really well and thankfully had lots of people who were more than happy to keep an eye on her while mommy ran around like a chicken with her head cut off!! This picture is from her Aunt Allison....she can take those stairs like lightning now!

Wedding

Quick picture from the wedding this past weekend. We are downstairs at the church before the wedding....more later.

Walking?

Well, Miss Meredith is certainly on the go these days. She kinda sorta took her first step last night. We had gone over to our neighbor's house to drop off her birthday present and Meredith was standing next to the ottoman and she reached out and stepped over to the chair. Now it may have been considered more of a fall forward type thing, but there was foot movement and she wasn't holding onto anything, so it kinda counts. She totally loves her little walker and last night when I got home from class she was just scooting all over the house with that thing. I definitely had one of those moments where I said, "my baby is so grown up!". The walker seems to have become somewhat of an obsession actually. She will make laps of the house over and over (with some steering help of course!). I guess the good thing is that it wears her out big time and she sleeps well!!
On the flip side, she hates to wear bibs! I can usually sneak it on her without her noticing too much, but as soon as she figures out that she has it on, she starts pulling and pulling until the velcro or snap gives way. I had one on her the other night that is the kind that just goes over her head with no snap etc. I had to actually take it off of her because I thought she was going to hurt herself by pulling so hard! She just gets mad when she can't get it off! Interesting little phase here.
Ok, this was just a quick note today since I am home from work to be cleaning and getting ready for the big Thanksgiving and wedding events! Meredith is sleeping, so back to work!

November

It has been forever since I have posted! Life has been really crazy the past few weeks between work, school & Meredith. I only have a few weeks left in this semester, but that also means case studies and final exams...fun, fun. Hillary's wedding is a week from tomorrow and family starts arriving early next week for Thanksgiving. Let the fun begin!
Meredith is all over the place. She had her 9 month pediatrician appt last week and weighs 21 pounds and is 28 inches. She is in around the 80th percentile with everything. She had a finger prick so they could check her blood for anemia, flu shot and two other shots. She did well with her finger and just kinda watched as the nurse squeezed her it to get the blood out and she was especially fascinated with the bright blue bandaid she put on her finger and of course tried to eat it. She screamed as loud and as sustained as she ever has with the other shots. She even kinda glared at the nurse as we passed her on the way out of the room! She took a Tylenol induced nap when we got home and then she was totally fine the rest of the day (I took the day off to be with her). She has to go back next month for the second dose of the flu shot since babies under a year only get a half does the first time.
One of her favorite things is climbing the stairs and she bolts for them constantly now. She just kinda looks up at me and then takes off crawling toward the stairs and she giggles and squeals the whole time she is heading towards them. She gets to the landing and turns around and waves! It is the cutest thing ever! She also loves her walker and she can take off across the room pushing it and walking...we try to hold on to it since it goes too fast otherwise, but she is walking well with it. I don't think it will be too terribly long before she takes her first step by herself!
She's eating all kinds of good stuff. I just gave her yogurt for the first time this week and she got a little weirded out by it, but ate it up! She also likes cheese as well. Chris got her some biter biscuits (these little gerber cracker/cookie things that are shaped so she can hold it easily) and she just chowed down! Last night for dinner she was a bottomless pit! She really doesn't need the bottle nearly as much any more and she often doesn't even finish them anymore, so I don't think we are going to have too hard of a time weaning her from the bottle when the time comes. She loves her sippy cup and does well with that too.
So, that is the quick Meredith update :) I'm sure there is more going on, but since I'm stealing time at work to type this, I better get back to it!
This picture is the day before Halloween at the pumpkin patch!

8 month pictures

These are two of the pictures from Meredith's 8 month portraits. I have to credit her grandma Simpson (Chris's mom) for the idea of doing all white. I think they turned out awesome!!
Yes, she is 9 months today, but these things take time!

9 Months

Meredith has been a busy girl lately! She has now climbed both sets of stairs (meaning she got to the landing and made it up the next set as well) and she can do it quite quickly I might add! She is now officially wearing 12 month clothes and is about to pop her feet out of 12 month sleepers already! I bought some 18 month sleepers yesterday and they just seem huge, but I guess they won't be for long. She has been doing incredibly well with eating her finger foods. She has had all kinds of stuff like cauliflower, peas, beans, potatoes, pears, apples, carrots and she seems to like it all. Actually she seemed to really like the cauliflower a lot, but it doesn't seem like she has a clear favorite or dislike. She does make a HUGE mess now because I just put the food on her highchair tray and let her go to town, meaning that it gets dropped all over the floor and all over her! She definitely prefers feeding herself over being fed, so getting the pureed baby food in her has been a challenge...especially since she likes to grab the spoon as it's on the way to her mouth!
She had her first weekend all by herself with daddy this past weekend when I went down to Wilmington for Hillary's bachelorette weekend. They seemed to do really well other than Chris never changed her out of her PJs all day Saturday! I thought that was hilarious! He did admit that it was a tough job all by himself.
Meredith is standing all by herself now. She has stood for at least 30 seconds if not longer without any support. She just loves being on the move and doesn't want to be slowed down by anything...especially silly things like diaper or clothes changes! One night it took me almost 15 minutes to change her diaper and get her in her pajamas because she was wiggling and wanting to crawl off to something more exciting. I have learned how to put a diaper on her while she is standing up....that's sad! Her bath is a whole separate challenge. Since Randy is living with us right now, I have been bathing her in our big garden tub in the master bath. She loves it, but she feels the need to stand up all the time, which worries me because she could slip, so I bought one of those anti-slip mats. It definitely helps because she is no longer content just sitting calmly in the water!
I wanted to upload some pictures, but it won't seem to let me right now...seems like that happens a lot!