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

Easter Fun

Easter was lots of fun. We went to church for the breakfast and then an Easter egg hunt. Meredith really enjoyed it and definitely knew what she was doing this year. It was pretty unorganized and by the time we got out there, the bigger kids had already gotten lots of the eggs. Meredith was quite happy with the handful of eggs she got and I was fine with her not getting more chocolate to drip down her white dress! The long morning made her completely unbearable for church. We tried to keep her in the service until the children's visit, but that was torture on us and everyone around us, so Chris took her out for most of the service. We went home long enough for her to have a nap and then we were off to Mom's house for a very yummy lunch/dinner. It was a big crowd with all of us and then mom had invited one of the African families from church that we are good friends with as well as a friend from work. We had another egg hunt there and since there were only three kids, Meredith racked up! Good times :)

Observation...

Mom came over yesterday after school to have lunch and drop off an Easter goodie for Meredith. While she was there, she made a very interesting observation. Meredith was sitting in her Dora chair in front of the TV, hollering for me to turn on 'Dori', saying 'Mommy, Dori now'. Mom stopped and laughingly said, she reminds me a lot of your grandfather right now! It was so funny because my grandpa would sit in his chair in front of the TV and holler at my grandma saying 'Eh Ma' (he called my Grandma Ma or Mom and she often called him Dad). My Grandfather was a very stubborn, but very loveable old guy, which would be exactly how I would describe Meredith :) So, even though she was never able to meet him, she is living proof that the Pergler blood line is alive and well :)

Pictures Finally!

Celebrating the big UNC win this weekend

Modeling her new bathing suit

Elmo needs a diaper
Meredith & Jamie

Meredith & Kiera (somehow I didn't get one of Reese)

A snack in a bib, crocks & nothing else...
Fudge pop, Yumm!
Sitting in her baby stroller..those things are sturdy!
No pants please, just my cowboy boots!

March Madness

We had another really nice weekend. I had a late dinner with Hillary, Allison, Karen and Matt on Friday night. We had a lot of fun just catching up. Yes, I work with both of my sisters, but we really don't see eachother all that much during the week, so it was nice.

Saturday morning we had a fun play date for mommies and kiddos! Kelly brought Kiera and Jamie over and Heather brought Reese. The kids did really well playing together even though Meredith was quite 'sharing-challenged'. The funny thing was that we figured out that she had no problem sharing with Kiera who is several years older than she is, but if one of the younger kids even acted like they wanted a toy, she was all over them! So, we had a lot of conversations about sharing and I even had to send her upstairs to her dad because she was being so bratty (yes, bratty is the correct word to use here). In between chasing my non-sharing child, the mommies were able to talk and catch up, which was so nice. I love my friends :)

Later Saturday, Allison and Matt came over to watch the Carolina game, which they won. Then we had Randy and Katy over for dinner. They had been out baby shopping all day and picked out a crib and bedding, so they were very excited. We had a nice dinner and caught up on all of their fun stuff with a new house being built and a new baby arriving around the exact same time. Should be interesting timing!

Sunday I took Meredith to church while Chris did his own worshipping in getting ready for the ACC Championship game with UNC/Clemson. It was Palm Sunday, so Meredith quite enjoyed swinging the palm around. I will say that she did much better in church this week and we made it through the entire service (minus the last 3 minutes when she decided to pitch a small fit). I do my best to pack her a bag of books, crayons, a cup and snacks, but after she inhales her scooby snacks within the first 2 minutes of the service, she is pretty bored with her bag and would much rather go through Nana's entire purse. She tends to settle on her little pocket calculator for the longest amount of time. I know she will get better, but it makes it hard to get through church.
Then we had a few more people over for the game, which thankfully, Carolina won.

In other news, I noticed last night that Meredith has a new molar. Just one on the upper right, but maybe that could explain some of her grumpiness lately. Guess that means there are 3 more molars worth of grumpiness to come! She also has gone from calling her pacifier 'Pi' to calling it her 'Fier'. It seemed to literally happen overnight and I was so confused when she was whining for her 'fier' and I had no clue until she actually pointed at it. Random. Oh, and in the spirit of St. Patty's day, she also often likes to take her sippy cup and clink it with your drink and say 'cheers' (it comes out more like 'cheews')! How funny?!

The King and Queen of Our World

Dora and Elmo are the absolute king and queen of Meredith's world right now. If those two paired up and had a show together, it would just blow her away! She is a little TV obsessed lately and constantly wants to watch her 'show'. The funny thing is that she much prefers her little portable DVD player than the big TV, so at least we don't constantly have 'Dori and Melmo' on our TV.

I'm hoping that this TV thing will pass now that the beautiful spring weather is arriving. Chris mowed our back yard yesterday, which mostly consists of dead brown grass (no, it's not dead, it is dormant bermuda as Chris would correct me) and he dumps all of the clippings at the very back of the yard as sort of a mulch for the plantings we have way back there. Well, Meredith thought it would be fun to dig in this dusty, nasty, brown grass and carry it all over the yard by the handful. She was putting it in her little house, in her play car, everywhere and consequently, she was utterly filthy. To the point of needing to strip her down outside before she came in. I'm talking brown drool on her chin and everything. However, she was having a total blast, so what's the harm? A little dirt won't hurt ya.

Nice weekend

This weekend was really nice. Chris and I had date night on Friday night and Mom kept Meredith. We went to dinner at Dos Taquitos and it was so yummy. It is Mexican food, but with more of a flair than your typical mexican restaurant. We had a couple of margaritas and I had some tasty fish tacos. By the time we finished dinner, it was only 7:30 and we both looked at eachother like now what? Mom was keeping Meredith overnight, so we certainly weren't going home that early, so we ended up hanging out with my sister Allison and her boyfriend Matt. We had a good time with them. They are such an easy going couple. They remind me a lot of Chris and I when we first started dating :)

Saturday I slept in until almost 9:00 and then went to the gym. We just had a nice laid back day and then we had our friends Brian and Dierdre over for the UNC/Duke game along with their sweet 5 month old baby boy, Colin. Meredith thought the baby was pretty cool and didn't seem bothered at all when I held him for awhile. She really wanted him to give her a high five, which was so funny. My husband was thrilled with the Carolina win, so the Elliott house was a happy one. He was so cute, he asked me if he could go to Franklin street to celebrate. I looked at him like he was crazy and needless to say, he didn't go.

The time change kinda screwed with all of us on Sunday, especially Meredith who was a little grumpy all day. So we didn't make it to church, but we had a nice day anyway. Chris went to the driving range with Matt and I just did stuff around the house, which included laundry, ironing for the week ahead, getting out cookbooks to plan meals for the week and fixing dinner. I'm not sure when the domestic Jessica moved in, but don't worry, I'm sure it will pass. We also went out to check out the lot and neighborhood of a friend's future house, which is in a new Martha Stewart neighborhood up Strickland road. Then we just drove around that Creedmoor/Ray/Strickland road area where there are some absolute monstrous houses. One neighborhood started at a million bucks! One can always dream, right? No really, those were truly ostentatious houses that I wouldn't ever want to live in (ok, twist my arm and maybe).

A new week has begun and I'm loving the lighter evenings even though it is dark as night when I get up. Now I'm ready for it to really start warming up! Spring fever anyone?!

You Look Tired

It's never good when someone tells you that you look tired. I was just in the breakroom getting my 3rd cup of coffee today (hint, guess I am tired!) and I was chatting with a co-worker about yesterday's primaries and he stopped and said "you look really tired". Yes, it's true that I am tired since I haven't been sleeping very well lately, but don't point it out! I guess my new under eye concealer isn't doing the job. Maybe I should just go get another cup of coffee....french roast please.
Cheers to all my tired friends and family out there :)

My sweet girl

I realized that my last few posts have made me seem like a rather complaining mother, so I thought it was time to 'accentuate the positive', because there is a lot of positive with my sweet girl.
She loves giving hugs and kisses. In church on Sunday she was being quite squirmy while I was holding her and she just wrapped her arms around my neck and gave me the biggest hug out of the blue. Made me say a quick blessing for my wiggly girl. (As soon as the sermon started, we made our exit and she decided that running up and down the wheelchair ramp in the pavillion was much more fun than sitting in church).
She loves books. I was so worried that she would never sit still through even a board book and now she is doing great and has been for awhile. She does have strong opinions on which books I can read though. I can't even open a few without her closing them and telling me that she doesn't want that one. Ok. I usually don't mind reading whatever she picks out, but she has this one book called "J is for Jumpshot". It is a lovely hardback book that was given to Chris by a co-teacher and it is a basketball themed abc book. Meredith loves this thing and it just bugs me for some reason. So, I put it at the bottom of the stack and she still manages to pull it out at bedtime. So, my positive twist on that is that she is an independent thinker and will go after what she wants :)
Her favorite treat these days is fruit snacks. You know, those gummy fruit flavored things. We bought a box that are Scooby Doo themed and have been calling them her Scooby snacks. It is so cute to hear her ask for them. It comes out something like 'Cooby Goo'. She can down a pack of those in about 60 seconds or less.
She is saying so many words and sentences now. She had one of her sand buckets in the house the other day and she said 'bucket' as clear as a bell. I can't ever remember talking about her bucket before, but that goes to show how many words she is picking up now without much emphasis. One of the books she picked out last night was just an abc word book, so I would ask her to point to the word and I have to say I was very impressed at how easily she pointed to things and it isn't a book we read very often. That little brain is developing more every day and it is so fun to watch! (I don't claim to be a child development expert and I know that this is all probably very normal, but it's all new and amazing to me!)
Positive note is that she continues to do very well with potty training at daycare. Not so positive- she is making no progress at home, almost none actually. Weird.
Ok, enough rambling. I just need to emphasize that I am so thankful to have such a healthy, happy and energetic little girl.

Congrats!

Congrats to my lil' sister Hillary who got a great promotion at work! It has been so rewarding working with both of my younger sisters and see their progress and how wondefully professional and respected they are! I better watch out or I may be reporting to one of them one day!

Now!

The latest to come out of my lovely child's mouth is 'Mommy, I wannit NOW' and I emphasize NOW. I am really not sure where this is coming from. I honestly don't think I ever say anything like this, but she is becoming a demanding little sucker. She gets all red in the face and just hollers at me. Seems like it's only me she yells at, but she is down right mean! I try to stay calm (and sometimes try not to laugh) and very firmly tell her that is not a nice way to talk to me. Then she looks at me as if to say, 'yeah, whatever'.
She has also decided to refuse pajamas at night. I grab a pair of pjs out of her drawer and she says 'I don't want it' and starts to kick and yell at me some more. So, I proceed to give her several choices, none of which she chooses. Now, if it was July I'd probably just let her sleep in her diaper, but it is like 20 degrees at night and that just won't fly. So, I end up wrestling with a screaming child to get something on her. So tonight I told Chris that he needed to get her dressed and she didn't fight him one lick. Man, I feel abused. Oh, and the toothbrushing breakthrough was just a fluke. We're back to screaming every night.
With her sentences becoming clearer every day, it is becoming even more clear that she is a pretty spoiled little girl....lordy, what's next.

Toothbrushing breakthrough!

For some unknown reason, Meredith has become very receptive to letting me brush her teeth over the past week. Normally it is a kicking and screaming nightly battle, but for the past several nights, she has fairly willingly opened her mouth at let me scrub those pearly whites! Yeah for clean teeth!

What exactly is a banshee?

I'm not too sure what a banshee is, but my daughter has started screaming like a wild one! I don't know if this is something she picked up at daycare, but she just screams really loudly and at a super high screechy pitch for no real reason. Sometimes it's to express how unhappy she is with me when I tell her she can't have 'cream' (ice cream) before dinner (which I know is terribly unreasonable on my part!) and then sometimes it may just be in the car for some random reason.
The actual really nasty tantrums seemed to have decreased for the time being and she has been having some really sweet moments lately, which is very nice. Her Aunt Hillary got her loads of cool stuff for the bathtub for her birthday (colored fizzies, bath gel pens, foam letters etc) and now we are having the opposite problem with the bath again... not wanting to get out. Most nights I have to just throw the towel on her in the tub and somehow scoop up a wet squirmy screaming little body. She usually gets over it fairly quickly, but most often the banshee makes an appearance for awhile!
I picked Meredith up today and her babysitter reiterated how well Meredith eats when she is there. Today she made broccoli and was quite amazed at how muchMeredith ate of it! I was quite proud :)
I'll try to post some pictures this weekend.

It's tough being the mommy

So, I've had evening obligations every night this week, which has meant that daddy has been in charge. I left after dinner Monday night and he had to get her bathed and in bed, then last night I had a work dinner, so I didn't get home until after 8pm and tonight I got home at a more reasonable 5:30 and Chris was about to pull his hair out. He admitted to the fact that I usually do 99% of everything for Meredith and it is hard work. I laughed and said, "it's tough being the mommy, huh?" He just sheepishly shook his head in agreement and left to go play poker with the boys.
Are all you other mommies out there nodding your heads in agreement too??

Nice Weekend!

We had a really nice weekend. I got to visit with good friends Kelly & Pamela on Saturday and Meredith got to play with Kelly's son, Jamie. They played really well and it was fun to watch them together.
Chris got new golf clubs while we were gone on Saturday. He swears that with gift cards and discounts, he didn't have to pay anything out of pocket for his new TaylorMade irons...he is such a shopper it isn't even funny! He is pretty excited because he is going down to Pinehurst with his best friend Randy next weekend and he gets to play Pinehurst #2 (for all non-golf enthusiasts, this is a big deal bc it was the site of the 2005 US Open). The other great part about it is that Randy won this package from work, so it will be minimal cost. He's like a little kid in a candy store :)
Sunday we went over to my mom and dad's for Meredith's birthday celebration with them since we were out of town last weekend for her real birthday. We had a yummy 2 year old friendly meal of homemade mac n cheese (YUM), cheese bread (YUM), cottage cheese (are you seeing the carb/cheese theme?). My ever health conscious sister Hillary made some good kale and a really intersting and tasty orange, red onion and green olive salad with a citrus vinaigrette (sounds crazy, but it was really good!). Cupcakes and ice cream topped it off. I've decided that Meredith must be really sensitive to lots of sugar because both last weekend and this weekend about 5 minutes after diving into the frosting on her cake, she got all dazed looking and started rubbing her eyes like crazy. I really don't give her much sugary stuff at all, so maybe it's just a sugar rush from not being used to it. It was a fun afternoon.
We're in for a busy week....off we go.

Dinner tonight...

So, Meredith's self proclaimed dinner tonight consisted of a bowl of cereal, a turkey dog and baked lays. That's a grain, a meat, and a dairy right? Almost all 4 food groups! Oh wait, she had orange juice too, does that count as a fruit?? I won't even pretend that I'm counting the chips as a potato. Hey, at least she ate.
Isn't two fun!?

My favorite babysitter ever!

We have been so blessed with our wonderful babysitter. There is such comfort in knowing we are leaving Meredith in such loving and competent hands every day. God really sent an angel our way :)


This is a picture of Prissila, Meredith and Prissila's daughter Monsi (short for Monserath. It was a new one for me too!).

The big TWO!

My baby girl is 2! We spent her birthday in Tennessee with Chris' mom, step-dad, sister and brother-in-law. Meredith really enjoyed the horses on their farm. She helped Kaci feed them and take them out of their stalls to the pasture. We literally had to drag her inside because she loved being up at the barn so much. She had an Elmo cake (by the way, Elmo is like crack for little kids!) and got lots of nice gifts. Chris and I also were able to go out to dinner and a movie while we were up there. Date night is a very good thing for parents of a two year old! We stopped through Thomasville on the way home to see Chris dad, step-mom and grandparents. They gave her one of those yellow and red little tike cars. To say that she loved it is an understatement! We had to put it right next to her in our car so that we could get her in the car to go home. She is a bit obsessed at this point!

Today was Meredith's 2 year well check and she came through with flying colors! They had to prick her finger, which made her go ballistic, but otherwise she did really well. She weighs 31 lbs (92nd percentile) and is 36 inches tall (80th percentile).

Wall O' Diplomas

Chris and I finally have all of our diplomas up on the wall in our office. We are a fairly educated duo...too bad we don't make any money!
Top left: Chris- Masters from University of Georgia
Bottom Left: Chris- Bachelors from NC State (we had to re-request a copy since he had no clue where it was)
Top Right: Jessica- Masters from Meredith
Bottom Right: Jessica- Bachelors from Meredith

Tantrum anyone?

Oh my goodness. Meredith is testing my patience to the extreme! She has started having these tantrums where she just screams like a wild animal to the point that she is almost growling at me and her voice goes hoarse. Tonight it was over getting in the bathtub. She has given me little tastes of this behavior recently, but this one was over the top. She really scared me with how crazy she was. I'm really at a loss as to how to handle her when she is like this. The other fun part is that she only does it for me. Example: Chris had picked her up from daycare today so that I could go straight to the gym from work since I am really trying to take some time to do something for myself. So, she was just fine and dandy with him until I got home. She ran to the door to greet me and it was on from there. She completely lost it about 30 seconds after I walked in the door and it didn't end until I put her to bed screaming at 8:15.

Is this what having a two year old is really like? I've always heard people say, "I have a two year old" as if it was some sort of automatic excuse or a shared understanding between parents. Do I have to go through this to join the two year old club? Help!

On a good note, I had coffee with some great friends this weekend. Kelly, Heather and Jessica. I love hanging out with them and we aren't able to do it often, but when we do we can talk for hours.

We also had Meredith's 2 year old pictures made on Sunday. She did pretty well, but the stubborness came out again, which didn't make it the best time, but they still came out with a few good ones. I'll post them soon.