July 2007

Ok, it has been so long, I hardly know where to start, so this may be a bit choppy and long.... sorry.

We spent the week of July 4th down at Myrtle Beach. I really haven't ever spent any time down there except one quick trip in college, so it was interesting to explore a new area. I personally am totally fine with parking myself on the beach for the entire week except to sleep and shower, so since we weren't staying on the beach, it was a little different for me. We were in a rather small condo several miles from the beach, so we ended up spending a lot of time at the pool because it was just easier. It really bummed me out, but it was still fun. Meredith did really well in the pool, but she wanted nothing to do with her float, so I had to just hold her in the water and she acted like she just wanted to take off, which made things interesting. We went to the beach one evening to have a photographer take a family picture of the whole group and Meredith was wearing this sweet little while sundress...yes, you can see where this is going. She wanted to be IN the water. We could barely keep her out long enough to get a few pictures and then we were back to the waves. She was totally obsessed, so needless to say, she was soaking wet and so was I. The pictures the photagrapher took were so-so, but we got some really neat ones on our camera that I'll post. The funny thing was that the next day when she was in her bathing suit, sunscreen, hat etc, she wanted nothing to do with the ocean. I guess there is something to that whole thing of something being more appealing when you're not supposed to be doing it! She did some digging in the sand, but we didn't spent a lot of time on the beach with her. Oh funny story...Chris's dad and step-mom were also down there the same week, so we went over to their place and went down to the beach on the 4th. The beach was swamped, so people were practically right on top of eachother. So Meredith goes over to the cooler next to our tent and pulls out a bottle of water. The people were very nice, but thought it was so funny that she saw a cooler and decided it was hers! Overall, it was still nice to get away for a week, but it wasn't my ideal beach week, plus I had to send my baby off to TN instead of bring her home with me :(

Meredith spent the next week in Knoxville with her grandparents while I spent the week in Nashville for traning. The plan was for Chris to spend a few days at home getting things done and then drive up to Knoxville, get Meredith and come spend a day or two with me in Nashville. Well, that didn't work out, so I flew home on Friday night and turned around Saturday to go meet them half way to get Meredith. At that point, I think I would have driven anywhere so I could get my little girl! I did really well until about Thursday when I just started missing her so badly. She looked like she grew and inch and her hair got longer and curlier!

So now we're all home, in the same house and very happy to be there! I'm done with traveling for a little while at least. Our next trip is to AZ for Randy's wedding over Labor Day weekend (w/o Meredith) and the very next weekend to Michigan for my cousin's wedding (with Meredith).

Oh, I almost forgot that right before we left for the beach, I finished school!! It hasn't really sunk in until this week when I was at home after work and hardly knew what to do with myself. I actually cooked dinner this week and feel like I may even have some time to clean too (gasp!). I may actually have some time to be somewhat domestic now! The actual graduation ceremony isn't until December, so it will be weird to walk then, but my friend Meredith will be there with me, so I think I'll still do it. I'm waiting on my last tuition reimbursement check from work and am so thankful that practically all of my graduate degree was 100% paid for by Father Biogen! Now, I can finish paying of undergrad...I'm really almost there :)

Chris is off to Pinehurst for a golf/bachelor party weekend for Randy, so I'll get some quality time with baby girl. Let's see, what is she up to lately. She is talking up a storm, but still not a lot of true words. She says mo for more, bye bye, uh oh, mama, bobo for dogs and a lot of things that are really close to words, but not quite! She has almost let me read her a short book, but it is more fun to just pull them all off of the bookshelf! We're still working on brushing her teeth. As soon as we get to the top of the stairs at bedtime I tell her 'let's go brush your teeth' and she immediatly runs right into her bathroom, but she still mostly just eats the toothpaste and I have to do some serious work to actually get the toothbrush in there to do much brushing. She is doing a really good job of understanding directions, now the following the directions is another story! Her new favorite food is raisins. The girl LOVES them. She'll finish a little box and come up and say 'Mo' because she wants more. I figure that's ok because her other favorite food is still cheese, so all you mommies out there know what that means! They balance eachother out nicely :) She also ate more cantaloupe and cheese than any child should at Chris's step-sister's wedding, but I was quite proud when she chose green beans over french fries when given the choice!

Ok, well I think this thing is long enough! Adios.