Baby Palmer!

Congrats to Randy & Katy Palmer on the birth of their baby girl Ryan! She was born yesterday evening around 9:30pm, weighing 6 lbs 14 oz. She was a week late, so mom & dad were really ready for her to be here! Chris and Randy have been best friends since middle school, so this is really special. We can't wait to go meet her when we get home.

The beach has been great. The first day and a half were kindof a mess from tropical storm Cristobol. Since then it's been good weather, fun times and family. Life is good.

EI

We are off to Emerald Isle in the morning. My sister, Elizabeth, and her family are en route from Michigan as I type. It's going to be a fabulous Smith family extravaganza with my entire family for the week! Last time we went, Meredith was just learning to crawl, so this time will be quite different to say the least. I can't wait! I am hoping that the weather forecast improves, but we'll have fun no matter what. I wish bags could pack themselves too, but guess that's out of the question :) Off I go to pack!

Mommy, I stopped crying

I realized that I haven't really done a good post on just Meredith lately. So, here are some of the funny things about Miss M these days.

-The funniest one lately is that she tells me when she is done crying over something. One minute she is having a total meltdown and then she tells me 'Mommy, I stop crying' and then she is as happy as a clam. It is like someone flipped a switch! It makes me laugh every time because she is so darn upset and then she just decides she is done.

-Back in May, Meredith was sick several times and we made a couple of trips to the pediatrician within a very short period of time. We talked a lot about how we go to the doctor when we don't feel well, but also when we feel fine so that we can be sure we are healthy etc etc. Now, she will just start spouting off things about the 'dodor' now about how they look in her ears, and eyes and mouth, all while pointing to each thing and using the funniest inflection in her voice. You can see the Ped office from 70 (it's in Brier Creek) and she points to it and starts talking about the doctor. Funny kid.

-She has a baby doll that she has randomly named baby Lucy. I have no idea where that name came from because we don't know anyone by that name and I'm not aware of any characters on tv with that name either. I'm guessing it came from someone at daycare, but it cracked me up when she was asking for baby Lucy and I had no clue what she was talking about until she went and got the doll. Random.

-She recently got her first Barbie doll courtesy of her Mimi and she calls her 'Bahby'. I guess it's the 'Bahston Bahby'.

-She has some play money at my mom's house and then she'll drag out some index cards at home and call them her moneys. She has decided that everyting costs $2.99. I'll ask her how much something is and she quickly replies with $2.99...where did that come from??

- She plays in her pink tent that is in her playroom a lot. She often wants you to get in there with her, but that is a different story. She always wants to zip it up, but she can't say 'zip', so it comes out as 'Mommy, Yip it'.

-No matter what store we are in, she will find a backpack and put it on while we walk around the store. Of course, she thinks she is Dora with it on, but it is hilarious because they are always huge on her and it will hit her on her calves while she struts around the store talking about how she is going to get on the bus with her 'packback'. Hey, it keeps her occupied for awhile. We've only gotten roped into buying one so far and it had a beach towel in it, which she needed anyway!

- There are two horses by our house in two separate fields that we drive by every day. Chris decided to name them Pinto and Bean, which I thought was hilarious. So, every time we drive by we wave at Pinto and Bean...she loves it! If they aren't in the field we'll make up a story about how Bean is taking a nap or Pinto is eating dinner. I think one day we'll have to knock on the owners' doors and tell them how much Meredith looks forward to seeing Pinto and Bean every day :)

Ok, that's enough for now. Off to Emerald Isle next week! Hope the forecast improves!!

Pictures

I finally got around to uploading our recent pictures. I'll post Hilton Head first and probably put more up over the next few days.

Back to the grind

We had a great trip to the Hilton Head and I think the only thing keeping me going is knowing that we go back with my family in 2 weeks to Emerald Isle!

Chris and I ended up going into Savannah on Monday, which is only about an hour from Hilton Head. We ate at the Paula Deen restaurant, The Lady & Sons, and it was just wonderful. We actually went there in 2005 when I was pretty newly pregnant and I remember feeling like I wanted to pass out or puke the whole time we were there, so needless to say, it was a better experience this time! On the way back to HH we stopped at the outlet mall and went the the Coach store to get my anniversary present...yes, I am the proud new owner of my first Coach bag! Trust me, there was a reason we went to the outlets and don't believe for a second that my husband would ever pay full price for something. It really turned out to be an excellent bargain and I'm pretty pleased :)

The rest of the week we pretty much just baked in the sun at the pool and watched my little water baby swim. We got her some water wings and it was the best dollar I've ever spent! She even has a little tan line where her wings were! We ate some good seafood, relaxed a lot and I got to finish a book and a half (reading just never seems to happen at home for me and I LOVE reading at the beach. This was the first year since Meredith was born that I actually finished a book on vacation!)

Meredith ended up doing quite well on her little blow up mattress. Her bedtimes were late all week long, but hey, we were on vacation! We also found out that she *HATES* fireworks. We walked down to the harbor, which was just on the other side of our condo, just in time for the fireworks to start. It is a really neat area called Harbour Towne and there are all kinds of restaurants and shops right along the marina, but it gets really really ultra crowded on the 4th, which is why we waited until the last minute to go down there. Chris put Meredith up on his shoulders and the first two went off and at first I thought the look on her face was excitement, but it quickly turned to shear terror and tears soon followed. She just kept saying 'I don't wanna, I don't like it' with tears streaming down her face and reaching for me. We decided not to force it and just went inside and she loved watching them on TV! She quite happily said, 'I like fireworks' while comfortably sitting on the couch...that's my kinda girl :)

That pretty much summed up our vacation. Now I'm back to work and I'm not all that thrilled about it. Hopefully the next two weeks will fly by and I'll have my feet in the sand again before I know it!

6 years!

Today is our 6th wedding anniversary! We spent awhile at the pool and ended up getting pizza for dinner. We know how to party after 6 years! Actually, I think we'll be heading to Savannah later in the week for a real dinner out. We walked down to the harbor and had dessert and drinks though. Meredith made it to bed by 10:30 tonight, so at least it's moving in the right direction...

11:17pm

11:17pm...the time my daughter finally decided to go to sleep tonight. We are at Hilton Head, had a very uneventful, good trip down, but she has been bouncing off the walls since we got here. Guess 6 hours in the car will do that to a 2 year old. We are trying out the toddler aerobed (blowup air mattress that has a raised edge all the way around, so she won't roll out) for the first time and so far the bed is great, she just won't stay in it! I ended up having to sit next to the bed until she fell asleep so she wouldn't get out. I just pray she'll sleep in tomorrow so she won't be in pieces all day! Hope this isn't a preview of the rest of the week!

Ahhh

With my summer schedule, I was able to leave work today at 11:30 and went for a facial. I had a gift card from Skin Sense that Hillary had given me for graduation in December and I just got around to using it. I've never had a facial before and I must say that it was lovely (well, there was the extraction part that wasn't so lovely). My skin feels so nice and smooth and clean. The girl was very sweet and asked me if I exfoliate very often....um, nope. She politely recommended that I do that more often, which translates to 'girl, your skin looks terrible!'

I feel nice and refreshed and now it's time to pack for the beach. We leave tomorrow for a week at Hilton Head with the Simpson family (Chris' mom). I'll bring the computer and maybe I'll get to post some if they have wireless.

Thought I'd post this funny picture from a few weeks ago. Yes, the shirt says 'Warning. I am two.' If I remember correctly, she was living up to that phrase quite well at the time!

Happy Birthday Chris!

Today is my sweet husband's 38th birthday. I'm working at home today, so took a break to make his cake with Meredith and she has been talking about it about every 5 minutes, telling me how much she likes cake. She has been totally into birthday's lately and proclaims that every day is her birthday. She spontaneously bursts into the birthday song quite a bit. One day recently she was sitting on my lap and she put her hand on my face and as sweetly as possible said 'Happy Birday Mommy'...it was so precious even though it wasn't my birthday and it isn't until August. That's just how much she loves birthdays lately. Too bad she has to wait until February for hers. We've been talking about who has the next birthday, so today is finally daddy's birthday and she said 'my birday next'...well, in about 7 months sweetie :)

Happy Birthday Chris!

Hydrangeas

I'm loving that our hydrangeas are going crazy this summer and we have been able to pick lots of them and enjoy them in vases around the house.
Yesterday Chris was kindof messing with Meredith's ever-growing vocabulary and pointed at the flowers and said "Meredith, say hydrangea", knowing that is a pretty tough word for a 2 year old. She looked at him very seriously and without missing a beat said "Daddy, say flower". Maybe you had to be there, but it was hilarious!

Cute Picture

My mom read my pity note about never having pictures up and she sent me a picture of Meredith at her house from Feb....SO funny!!

Let's play catch up

Ok, time to catch up. Now I have to remember everything that has been going on with us.

First off, the funeral for Chris' grandfather went as well as it could. We had the end of the year party for all of the teachers at Chris' school the same day as the visitation. The timing of everything was incredibly odd considering that exactly one year ago we had just found out about my own grandmother's death and we hosted this doggone party then too. (I think we are going to bow out of hosting this thing anymore in hopes that nothing bad happens on that day again!) This was all during the 100+ degree heatwave, which just made everything harder.

Meredith was a complete trooper for the entire weekend. She totally lightened the mood for everyone in the family. Friday night at the visitation she was going up to complete strangers and holding out the skirt to her dress and saying 'look at my dress, I a princess'. Needless to say, she made a lot of people smile :) She had a good time playing with her second cousins (?-or whatever Chris' cousin's kids would be) She was bossing around these 8 and 9 year old boys and they were being very sweet with her. We drove back to Raleigh Friday night and drove back for the service on Saturday morning. It was a lot of driving, but we just needed to be in our own beds.

I definitely did a lot of thinking about my own family during this time since it was so reminiscent of a year ago. Chris' mom and his aunts have been dealing with a lot of really hard stuff because his grandfather had remarried and this wife really did some terrible things to cause some major riffs in the family. Unfortunately, his own children were unable to make some of the most important decisions concerning the end of his life and I'm sure there are plenty more unfortunate things to discover as everything else is settled. I hated to see his family go through all of this, but I also know that they are all so thankful that Bill is now with his first wife(and only real wife) and his final resting place is right next to hers.

We got back in town on Saturday in time to go to our neighborhood carnival. Chris' mom, step-dad, sister and brother in law all came to our house for the night before they headed back to TN. So we all ate bbq and watched wild woman Meredith jump in one of those bouncy house things and slide down a huge inflatable slide. I can't express how wild she was. It was like 98 degrees outside at 7:00pm, but she could have cared less. Even some of the other dads that were standing around commented on her fearlessness coming down that giant slide. I was secretly praying that we didn't end the night in the ER, but she had a blast and only ended up with a big blister on her toe.

We went to Myrtle Beach last Thurs- Sat, just the 3 of us. It didn't start off very well because of terrible traffic and just a comedy of errors, but we ended up having a good time. Meredith much preferred the pool to the beach and she really did a good job of learning how to kick her feet and swim (we really need to get her in some swimming lessons). She surprised us by totally refusing to sleep in the pack n' play that we brought, so she slept in one of the beds with me one night and Chris the next (she fell out of the bed on his watch!). It may have something to do with the fact that she is way too big for the travel bed, but she still sleeps in her crib at home, so we figured we'd bring it. Even though she is still content in her crib at home and there have been no more climbing out instances for months, we know that it is time to move on up to the big girl bed. We'll start with converting her crib and then move her into a full size bed from the guest room. I can visualize lots of jumping on the bed, but hope it will go well. If it goes as well as getting rid of the pacifier, we should be good. On occasion she still asks for her paci, but I can say that we are paci-free now!! My baby is getting so big!!

We had a nice, but very low key father's day. Meredith and I made 'toads in a hole' for breakfast aka eggs in hole in toast. Meredith gave daddy some good smellin' (that's what we always called cologne we gave our dad) and a tie (that he's already returned). Hillary made homemade pizza at her house and we went and got Locopops up the street from them. I had chocolate wasabi sesame and couldn't resist a second one that was lime coconut sesame. I love how creative they are!

Ok, I think I have bored everyone enough, so I'll say adios for now. I am terrible about uploading pictures, so I won't even pretend I'll have any soon.

I'm still here

I promise I haven't fallen off the face of the planet... life has just been nutty. I thought I'd get a chance to write a nice long post today, but darn it, work has been keeping me slammed today again! Maybe tomorrow. Whew, off to finish a few more things before I call it a day.

Grandaddy Bill

Chris' grandfather, Bill Smith, passed away yesterday morning after being really sick for several weeks. He was 87 years old. It was 14 years to the day that Chris' grandmother passed away. There is a certain level of reassurance knowing they are together again.

Paci Update

Where do kids take lessons on pitiful? Meredith should have an Emmy, Oscar and Tony award for her performances over the past few days. She actually hasn't been all that bad during the day, but night time has been the hardest. The first night must have just been a fluke because she didn't make a fuss at all about not having her pacifier. Saturday night was another story. She kept finding different things for me to bring to her. She would holler "mommy" at least 15 times in a row and then I'd finally check in with her and she'd ask for milk or she'd ask for a teddy bear, or she didn't want a specific stuffed animal in bed with her....stalling...and asking for her 'pacifaser'...lip poked out, eyes down, lashes fluttering and that extra sweet, pitiful sounding little voice. She really didn't cry much, just took her forever to fall asleep. It must have been 10:30 before the child finally gave in. It took her forever to go down for a nap Sunday and then we lost our power after the thunderstorm last night. It was out from 7pm until midnight....fun. She kinda thought it was a cool adventure to have the flashlights out and shine them all over, but she certainly did not want to go to bed in the pitch dark. This was where extra pitiful came into play. She cried and asked over and over for her paci and then she looked up at me through teary eyes and said "Mommy, I sad". I almost went and got the stupid pacifier right then, but we made it through it and she finally drifted off to sleep. The good thing is that she seems to be sleeping well once she gets to sleep and is her normal happy self in the morning. I know it is just a matter of time now, but she has had this thing for her entire life, so it is a huge adjustment for her. She's not buying the 'big girl' thing when she wants that sense of security. 3 nights down....

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!!