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!