Momentous Day!

Big news, Meredith slept through the night last night without a pacifier!! We haven't really been pushing it and had given ourselves a July cutoff date (our friend's are having a baby in July and she was going to 'give' the baby her pacifiers since that baby will need them since she will be so little.) She really only has it at night most of the time now, not much during the day unless she uncovers one that was randomly in a bag or under the couch etc. I have been wondering if she really needed it at night anymore (well, I know she hasn't actually needed it for awhile now) and last night it really kindof happened on accident because when I went to lay her down there was no pacifier in her bed like usual. So, she asked me to go get it and basically I just never came back with it. She never called out for it one time and slept beautifully through the night. It did probably help that she was really tired since it was past her bedtime (we went to the 8th grade graduation at Chris' school). She asked about it this morning and I just said I didn't know where it was and she totally dropped it. We just laid her down for her nap and she is jabbering away, but not asking for it. So, I know it is too early to call, but we are making major progress!!

We just got home a little bit ago from the Sesame Street Live show and she had a blast. We had great seats and she only had two fairly minor meltdowns. It was awesome to see the amazement on her face as all of the characters came on stage. Priceless.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! Keep your fingers crossed on the 'pacifaser' (the latest pronunciation).

Happy Memorial Day

I have been terrible about keeping up with the blog lately, oops. Suffice it to say that we have been busy with a little diarrhea here a little puke there, a lot of overall funkiness, several trips to the pediatrician, one false diagnosis of hand foot and mouth disease and another 'the puking and pooping is going around' diagnosis. It is just very frustrating to never quite know what is going on with your child when all I know is she is a miserable little thing and I can't do much to make her feel better. I did one of those crazy days Wednesday of going into the office super early, coming home to get Meredith to bring her to the ped, back home until Chris got home, back to the office oh and I fit in a dentist appointment for myself too. She is doing much, much better now, and I have been very thankful for a nice long break from daycare to detox. She'll go back tomorrow and she only has one more full week after that until Chris is out of school for the summer (and my jealousy begins).

I also had my 10 year Meredith reunion last weekend, which ended up being a lot more fun than I had expected. I really didn't plan on going, but a couple of friends talked me into it, so I wrote my $65 check (ugh) and went. I sang in the alumnae choir, which was actually pretty fun since I sang in the Chorale in undergrad and we even sang one of the songs I sang back then. I won't be booking any singing gigs or anything, but it was a nice thing to do that I haven't done in a long time. Our big event was Saturday night at Prime Only downtown and there were probably 60 people that came. Good to see a lot of faces I haven't seen in 10 years. Most everyone had put on a few pounds and most everyone had kid(s). Maybe successful people are the ones who go to reunions, but it was interesting to hear how many people had gone on to get their Masters degrees and have great jobs etc (not that I'm really including myself in the 'successful' crowd). I don't think I really rekindled any major friendships or anything, but I think I may go in 5 more years without as much kicking and screaming. Here are a few pics with Meredith girls class of '98.

Hope everyone has had a nice relaxing Memorial weekend. I got to see my good friend Kelly and the kids played, which was really nice. I always love chatting with her :) We had a cookout yesterday with my sisters (Mom and Papa are in Michigan), but otherwise, we haven't gotten anything done we had planned on doing this weekend. I'm sitting on the patio enjoying the gorgeous weather, dreading returning to work tomorrow...at least it's a short week.

Mr. Rogers

Meredith hasn't really been very interested in Mister Rogers in the past, but she just watched an entire episode. I was quite surprised that I was singing along with the songs word for word. Guess some things never leave you!

Busy weekend

We had a nice and very busy weekend. Friday night was spent preparing for Randy & Katy's baby shower. I cooked up a storm and the best decision ever was that we didn't have it at our house. I am such a total stress case when I have stuff here. I love doing it, but between cooking, cleaning and all of the setup for something like that, I just become an unbearable mess to be around. So, the shower was at the Adams house and it went really well. It was actually a surprise for Katy and she seemed genuinely surprised and didn't go into labor or anything. They got lots of cool stuff and it is really amazing to see how much things have already changed in two years since we got baby stuff! I bet registering now would be lots of fun because I know what I needed and didn't need at all.

Meredith decided to get feverish and clingy while we were at the shower, so we made a quick exit and got her home. She still REFUSES to take medicine, so I managed to forcefully squirt some Tylenol down her throat and I left her home with her dad. I went to this very interesting event at the Unitarian Church for a group that supports a small Nicaraguan village. One of the men who spoke only spoke Spanish, so I did my best to grasp his accent and I managed to understand bits and pieces before the translator confirmed or denied if I was on the right path. I have to say that I was quite unaware of the travesty that our country has imposed on this country over so many years. I guess I was one of many who has fallen victim to believing what you see and hear in the media and from our government....This is a group that my mom has gotten very active with and my sisters and I wanted to go and support her and we all learned a lot at the same time. Hillary, Allison and I went out for dinner afterwards and it was really nice to have some girl time.

Meredith was still acting a little whonky on Sunday morning, so I went to church by myself and met up with my mom, dad, Hillary, Joey and Allison. I did get Mother's day breakfast made for me, which was nice, but it appears that by the third mother's day, it doesn't warrant any more than that. Our female minister gave an awesome sermon about how the Holy Spirit is really the feminine/mothering part of the Trinity and how the church never talks about it, almost like keeping it a secret. It was nice timing to have Pentecost and Mother's day on the same day. She joked that they would never let her preach if the two fell on the same day again. Funny how her sermon parellels mothers in general...they do all the work and get no glory.

After church, we went over to my parents house and had yummy chinese takeout. We all decided that we were too tired to cook (and that would also mean that the men would be in charge of an entire meal and that would take away from watching golf...hence the takeout) and Imperial Garden is the best chinese afterall! We also combined Hillary's birthday into all of this too. It was nice to be with my family. Came home and resumed all normal mothering duties...now I think I know why my mom may have been slightly grumpy on past Mother's days...because nothing really changes, even for one little day.

Monday morning I had a not so fun procedure. I had an upper endoscopy done, which is where they stick a camera down your throat to check out your stomach and all that good stuff. They did give me some drugs, but I remember enough of it that I know I don't want to do it again soon. I have a nice sore throat, but I also didn't have to work yesterday either. Actually, I would have much rather been at work... I find out next week if they found anything.

Hungry

Meredith has started telling me she is hungry, but when she says it I laugh out loud because I swear it sounds like "Mommy, I honky". SO funny!
Happy FRIDAY!!

Creative!

Meredith loves yogurt, so I often give her a cup while I'm figuring out what to make her for dinner. Last night she had a cup of yogurt and I had also poured her some milk into a 'real cup' and given her a straw. Her creative little mind decided that she should suck the yogurt through her straw! It was so funny to watch and she actually ate/drank most of the yogurt this way! Maybe it's time for those yogurt drinks.

We were in her bathroom last night 'brushing' teeth (I say that word loosely) and she stopped and looked in the mirror and said 'I Mernith and dat's my Mommy'. Not sure who she was talking to, but it made me laugh out loud.

I'm moving offices at work once again (musical chairs around here) and while packing up my desk yet again, I decided that it was time to take home the flip book of baby pictures I brought to work with me when I came back from maternity leave. So, these pictures are from birth to 3 months, so she was really little. She started flipping through the book in the car and she made all kinds of oohs and aahs over the 'tiny baby' and that 'baby is cying'. She was just enamored by this little book and I kept trying to tell her that the baby was her, but she was more interested in pointing out mommy, daddy, nana, beezer etc. The one thing that was so funny was that she was totally bothered by the very newborn picture where she still had the big clip (I'm sure that's the medical term!) on her belly button where they cut the cord. She kept pointing at it saying 'what's dat?' and seeming very confused and almost upset over it! I guess she figured that everything else looked like a baby, but that thing just didn't belong there! I talked to Chris this morning and he said that they had to take the book with them in the car this morning too. So funny!

Weekend

Our weekend was all over the place. Friday was Chris' field day at school, which is probably the biggest PE related event all year long, so he was at school by around 5:30am. So, I took Meredith to daycare, which always throws me off since he takes her 99.9% of the time. I end up getting to work later than I normally do since I can't take her before a certain time, so while it was nice to actually see her in the morning, it kinda threw off my whole day (plus she cries when I leave her since I take her so rarely).

Then Friday night Chris' sister and brother-in-law came to stay with us to get some time away from the hospital waiting room in High Point. Their grandfather is remaining fairly stable, but is actually in surgery again right about now to repair the remaining damage that has caused him to continue bleeding internally. More prayers please.

We had a neighborhood yardsale Saturday morning and I went to the MS Walk, which is one of our company's biggest community events of the year since our two biggest products are for MS. It was at the RBC center and apparently no one felt there was a need to direct traffic, so it was a total disaster trying to get in and park. It was a beautiful day though and it felt good to get some exercise outdoors.

Kaci and Evan ended up staying Saturday night too and then left early Sunday morning. Meredith and I went to Sunday school and decided to skip big church since she was already on her second meltdown of the morning by the end of Sunday School. She did act interested in singing some of the songs this week, but is still more interested in the toys in the classroom.

We put the pitiful amount of money we made at the yardsale towards a new kitchen table to replace the glass top one we had (note: if you have a child, a glasstop table is not a smart thing to have unless you want to buy stock in windex). It is one of those pub tables that sits higher than a regular table. We really like it even though I think it is a little big for the space. The picture shows 8 chairs and the leaf. We put 2 chairs at the island and kept 4 at the table.

Prayers

Chris' grandfather on his Mom's side had an aneurism (sp?) burst in his aorta yesterday. He lost a ton of blood internally and wasn't looking good; however, he made it through surgery and is in ICU fighting really hard. At 87 this is pretty much a miracle to have made it this far. He still isn't out of the woods, so he still needs lots of prayers. So send some good prayers his way!!
Thanks.

Potty Talk

Me- 'Meredith, do you need to go potty?'
Meredith- 'No, Thank You'
Hey, at least she's polite about it.

Meredith is very capable of opening the doors around the house, so she often comes in while I'm in the bathroom myself (I know I should just lock the door). I received applause the other day for going potty. 'Yeah Mommy, you go peepee'. Oh, the fun we have at the Elliott house :)

1980 vs 2008

My uncle was going through a shoebox of pictures from my Grandma's old house and scanned a bunch of them. Here is a very interesting comparison of Meredith and me. For a little girl who looks just like her daddy, this shows me that she does look like me afterall!

I know the first pic is from 1980 and I think the second one is around the same time, which would make me around 4. I'm in the middle in the pink and blue dress in the first pic and I'm in the red shirt in the pic on the right.

24 hour bug

So, I've always heard that there are 24 hour bugs, but hadn't really seen it so evidently as I did yesterday! Meredith was happily playing in the back yard after dinner on Monday and about 7:00 it was time to come in and start the bath/bedtime routine. It was like she went from happy to pitiful in about 60 seconds. She HAD to have her pacifier and was just as whiny as she could be. Then I felt her head and it was burning up. She sunk into my arms and was super clingy. She had a nice 102 fever and was just sad. The lovely part was that she would NOT take any Tylenol. I mean, it was really bad trying to get her to take it. I finally got the majority of it in her mouth and only a little on her shirt, hair, couch and me. It helped the temperature go down enough that I felt ok putting her to bed and she was just exhausted. I figured I was in for a long night, but she managed to sleep through the night, but there was no way she was going to daycare. I know kids can't control when they are sick, but it does seem to always end up being on the busiest day of the week. Chris has a super packed day on Tuesdays and I really needed to be in the office as well. So, I got up at the crack of dawn and was at work by 6:30 to do a few things before Chris had to get to school. The fever was never quite that high again, but hovered in that 100 range for most of the day. We snuggled on the couch, watched a lot of Dora, Diego and Lazy Town and after long afternoon nap she was still quite grumpy, but made an amazing recovery by around 5:00. It is amazing to see the human body at work. It knew it needed to get rid of something she had picked up and wallah, 24 hours later she was back to herself! It was a bit of a chore getting her to bed last night since she had apparently saved up so much energy by resting so much! She was happy as a clam this morning with a happy 98.5 temp. Kinda feel like I dodged a bullet with this one!

Check for rocks!

I was just doing a load of laundry and heard some clunking around in the dryer. There were two rocks in there. Lately Meredith loves putting things in her pockets, especially rocks. So, I guess the time has arrived to check her pockets before I wash anything. I'm only assuming that Chris wasn't the culprit! Too funny :)

Meredith's tastes

Yummy Broccoli!

Snacking on Almonds


I rearranged my dress!

Funny Face!

So, Meredith's appetite has returned. For several weeks, she has been eating like a bird. I felt like it was mostly related to the bulging molars in her mouth and now that two are mostly through, I'm pretty sure that was the culprit. In the past several days, her appetite had returned and thensome! Last night she kept asking for more, so I'd giver her a little something more, expecting her to take a nibble and then announce she is 'finnis', but she would eat everything up! I think I have also figured out that she likes to be served in little courses. I'll start with something like cottage cheese, then move to veggies, then to a sandwich or something as more of a main course. She seems to do better with those smaller portions, one at a time instead of all at once. Some of her more interesting favorites right now are almonds, laughing cow cheese with crackers and broccoli!

Just this morning she became very opinionated about what she wanted to wear. I started pulling out jeans and a tshirt and she said 'no mommy, I wanna dress'. I tried to propose several other options, but she was set on wearing a dress today. I actually thought it was really funny because I remember very clearly wanting to wear dresses all the time when I was little. Remember those fun long 70's dresses? That was me all the way!

Our biggest challenge is still brushing teeth. She absolutely hates it. We keep talking about how brushing her teeth will keep them happy so that they don't get owies and she totally gets it and talks about it, but throws a fit every night. I think it is mostly a battle of power because she likes to brush them herself, but I always want to give it a good finishing scrub to actually get them clean and that's when the screaming starts. I'm kindof at a loss here, but I also don't want her getting cavities at 2!

Her newest favorite show is called 'Lazy Town'. It is really kindof strange, but she really likes it. Speaking of strange shows, has anyone seen 'Yo Gabba Gabba'? That is the weirdest show I've seen. It seems to capture her attention and I don't really see anything wrong with it, just odd. She still loves Dora, Diego and Elmo the best though. Yes, she is still in love with tv.

Sunday School

So this was the weekend I decided to take Meredith to Sunday School for the first time. There is a 2-3 year old class and now that she is a ripe 2 years and 2 months, figured it was time. She was pretty stand-offish for the most part (I stayed the whole time) and tried to leave several times, heading to the door saying 'Home'. I think she was probably the youngest one there and the 3 year olds that are getting close to 4 definitely ruled the roost since they have been coming for quite a while now. She was quite intrigued by the gluestick during the craft and I didn't think she was paying attention at all (we made a picture of our family), but later she explained the whole thing to mom, pointing to each of our little cutouts and saying 'Mommy, Daddy and Mio'. She definitely like the mini muffins for snack and washing hands at the little sink also ranked up there. She stayed very close to me most of the time, but I think she really like it overall and we will make our best effort to get back regularly.

I had somewhat planned to do Sunday School and then just go to the beginning of service and leave after the children's visit, knowing that it would be a long morning and there was no way she'd sit through church too. She was very restless through the beginning of the service (gotta love those Lutherans who sing ALL the verses to a 6 verse hymn), but I kept thinking, only a few more minutes. So we finally go up to the front for the children's visit and Pastor Larry is telling this nice story about families and bringing in the emporer penguins and how they take care of their eggs... I lost it from here because Meredith decides she is going to walk away from the rest of the kids and she is bringing another little girl with her that she has played with before. I'm debating, do I just let her go? She isn't really bothering anyone. But then she just got too far away, and is also pulling this other little girl by the hand, so I tried to nicely direct her back toward the group and she starts hollering in protest. Then I pick her up, instantly deciding that it was time to leave. She proceeded to scream at the top of her lungs all the way from the front of the church to the back where the usher is kindly holding the door wide open for me to take this screaming kicking child out (he did give me the semi-understanding smile). Yes, I was the one with that child. The one that everyone was thinking, 'can't she control her child?' Yep, that's me. It's not that I care what people think all that much, but it's that I care and I want my child to behave in public, not to mention in front of an entire congregation. She continued to throw a fit as we got into the narthex to leave and she wanted to go down the hall to the water fountain. So, she laid on the floor giving me this smug look, like 'just try to make me leave woman'. Let's just say that we left without going to the water fountain. The screaming continued all the way to the car...it was a lovely serene morning in the neighborhood and her scream cut right through it. Let's say that I said many prayers for patience on the drive home.

Otherwise, we had a good weekend. Mom kept Meredith Friday night so that Chris and I could go out to dinner. We just went to On the Border at Triangle Town, did a little shopping and then a few drinks. Sunday after the church fiasco, we had a really nice lunch at Mom's. It was nice enough outside that we were able to enjoy their great deck. While we were there my sister Hillary said it perfectly while watching Meredith protest against who knows what...I lose track. She said "there is no denying that your daughter has an amazing personality". Yes, I must agree that at 2 years old, she has some pretty clear ideas on what she does and does not want to do and expresses those feelings freely. I can't wait until she's a teenager...Lord help me!

Top Spot!

So, my friend Jessica passed on a quiz that determines the best place in the country to live based on how you answer the questions (findyourspot.com). Looks like I'm meant to live out West. Don't worry Mom, we aren't going anywhere!

Here's my list:
Las Cruces, New Mexico
El Paso, Texas
Jacksonville, Florida
Orlando, Florida
San Bernardino, California
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phoenix, Arizona
El Cajon, California
Norfolk, Virginia
Las Vegas, Nevada
Little Rock, Arkansas
Los Angeles, California
San Diego, California
Orange County, California
Charleston, South Carolina
Houston, Texas
Baltimore, Maryland
Charlotte, North Carolina
Long Beach, California
Valencia, California
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
West Palm Beach, Florida
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Augusta, Georgia
(I think saying I wanted to live near a large Spanish speaking population may have skewed it a bit!)

Proud

Chris got a letter in the mail yesterday letting him know that he has been nominated as an outstanding teacher in the RBC Centura Tribute to Teachers program. Of course, he kind brushed it off, but I have to say that I'm really proud of him! I don't know anything about the nomination process, but the important thing is that a parent or student thinks enough of him as a teacher, that they took the time to nominate him. People are so quick to criticize, so it is refreshing to hear praise! Good teachers are totally undervalued, both monetarily and in the human sense of being valued. So, here's to my sweet husband and all the other great teachers out there that aren't told how great they are! Thank you, because I know I couldn't handle that job!

I'm going to stop this car right now!

So, I had a major flashback moment tonight. We were on our way back from an errand tonight and Meredith decided to pull her arm out of her carseat belt. I told her to put it back through the belt and she said no and just kinda gave me this snotty look. So, I said "we are going to have to pull over if you don't put your arm back in the belt". We did end up pulling over and she finally put it back in and we had a talk about how that keeps her safe and we can't drive if she isn't safe in her carseat. It just brought me back to when I was little and we would hear something very similar when we were fighting with eachother in the car. It was something like "Keep your hands in your lap or I'll pull this car over". My, how things come full circle :) I just can't imagine handling four kids in the car. I only have one to deal with and she frazzles me regularly.

Speaking of being frazzled, for the past four nights Meredith has screamed her little head off when I put her to bed. I end up having to rock her and it takes forever to get her down. Not sure what's going on, but I hope it doesn't last long. It's just unusual since she's been going to bed so well for a long time.

We had a good boring weekend other than the horrible UNC loss in the final four. Got lots of good rain that seems to be helping with the green blanket of pollen that has fallen on us.

TN weekend

We went up to Tennessee this weekend to see Chris' mom, stepdad, sister and brother-in-law. We left Thursday afternoon and stayed through Sunday, which made for a nice long weekend. Chris had been on Spring Break last week and I took Friday off, so it was a good getaway. We spent Thursday night at his mom's house and then Chris and I went into Pigeon Forge for the next two nights. His mom had some time share points she had to use up, so we got to stay for free which was even better. It was a nice place and we did tons of shopping at the outlets (bargains only, of course!). Found some good clearance clothes for next year for Meredith, got myself some new tennis shoes since I've really been trying to get to the gym lately, a few things at the Liz Claiborne outlet and some other random stuff. I guess what we saved on a hotel room, we spent on shopping and meals. Oh well, it was worth it and Chris and I got some quality time together, which is always nice :) Chris was also happy bc UNC made it to the final four.
Meredith had fun with her Mimi and Kaci. She loves seeing the horses and the dogs and cats. Their house is so different from anywhere she's been because it is a horse farm in the country, so it would be interesting to know what goes through her little head when she's in such a different environment. I know we don't live in NYC or anything, but it's still very different.
We did the usual stop through High Point to see Grandma Dot and Grandaddy Clarence (Elliott) and they were thrilled to see Meredith. We made it home around 8:00 and tried to get Meredith to bed as soon as possible, which wasn't easy since she had been cooped up in the car for most of the day. So now we are into another week and another month already. March seemed to fly by. I'm ready for the beach now....come on July!

Another comparison..

Guess I'm in the mood to see what a year can do! Appears that it can produce a lot of curly hair! Feb 07 vs Feb 08.

Comparison

Easter 2007 versus Easter 2008