Family

The other night between terrible screaming protests about taking a bath and going to bed, Meredith looked up at Chris and I and while smiling and hugging our necks said, "We're a Family".
She about melted me....thank goodness for those moments of clarity that come from this precocious child!

Happy New Year!

So, there are no good excuses for not posting in so long. Life just gets away from me!
I will try to be better this year about posting.
We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Meredith was really into the whole Christmas thing this year. She was a snowflake in the church Christmas program and she did surprisingly well with 'performing'. Guess those dance classes may be worth it afterall!
She continues with her ballet/tap class and I'm thinking she's leaning more toward the jazz/tap world since she isn't quite the delicate ballerina!
Chris and I were able to both be home for two whole weeks, which was just wonderful. I've done that for a few years now by saving up my extra vacation time (thanks to my generous company!) so we can just have lots of uninterrupted family time. I think we're all ready to get back to normalcy by the end, but it's so nice to pretend that I don't have to work :)
Meredith's birthday is in just under a month. Hard to believe she'll be 4! She's still struggling with potty training, but has stretches of greatness, just not consistent. She had several accidents over vacation. It's interesting because she hasn't had an accident in public in a long time, but when she's at home or a very familiar place is when it happens. Guess she's not too worried about it. There's no way she's coming out of a pullup at night any time soon. She does wake up dry now and then, but mostly it's soaked even with going potty before bed. She has also taken to being terrible about going to bed at night. I'll get her in bed by 8:30 or so and she is awake until at least 10:30 most nights! She has also started coming into our room at 3am almost every night lately. She used to be willing to sleep on our floor, but not anymore...she must be in our bed. So, there isn't much good sleep for me since she's jammed up next to me and she has actually wet through her pullup twice in our bed!! Something has to change because I'm not getting a plastic sheet for a king size bed! Hopefully getting back into a more normal routine will help.
Well, that was just a short and sweet update. Hope everyone is well (if anyone even checks this anymore!)

Advice please!

Ok, I need some advice from all of my mommy friends! Took Meredith to the dentist today for her second ever checkup. Chris took her the first time and she did so-so. Wouldn't sit in the big chair, but had her sit in his lap and they were able to get through the exam and cleaning.


So, I took her back today and it was a disaster. We had talked it up all week and she really seemed to be cool with it and excited about being a big girl. It went well at first, she hopped right into the chair and I had let her bring a stuffed animal in and I thought we were set. Well, when they moved the chair back, she just lost it and wanted nothing to do with the chair. So, we tried the same thing as last time with her sitting in my lap and leaning back and she did let her count her teeth, but the cleaning just wasn't going to happen. She tried every stalling technique, from going potty to telling me her legs hurt. She cried, screamed, wiggled and all but tried to escape. The dentist (pediatric dentist in Brier Creek) was ok, but I can't say she had very many great ideas. She just gave up and told me to reschedule.

So, any advice is appreciated on how to get this child to cooperate.

Grandaddy Clarence

Sadly, we lost Chris' paternal grandfather last Thursday, September 24th. Clarence had been diagnosed with bladder cancer earlier this summer and it was quickly determined to be stage 4 that had spread significantly. He then suffered a heart attack and stroke within a week of eachother. He wanted to be home and that is where he was when he passed away. Chris had just seen him on that Monday, and while he hadn't felt like that would be the last time, he knew the time was near.

This was the third grandparent we've lost in as many years. My grandmother in 2007, Chris' maternal grandfather in 2008 and now Clarence in 2009. Meredith was small enough the past two years that she didn't grasp any of it. This year was a different story though. The whole funeral thing is a bizarre tradition even for adults, so how can a child make sense of it? It is amazing how much levity a child can bring to such a grim occassion though. That is why I felt like I needed to have her there. Not for Clarence, but for Chris, his dad and his grandmother. She asked a lot of questions (as she does about everything these days) and I tried to answer them as honestly as I could while keeping it on a level she could understand and not frighten her. The permanence of it is the whole concept she (Nor I!) really doesn't get. The funeral was on Saturday in High Point on a cool, yucky, rainy day. After being with Chris for so many years, his family is my family too and seeing the person you love grieve is heartbreaking.

Robert Clarence Elliott, 83 years old

June 27, 1926- September 24, 2009

Rest in Peace Grandaddy.

That's my kid...

So, you know how you could always tell the kid who wet his pants at school because he had to wear pants that were a couple sizes too small from the front office (usually poly plaid)? I'm soooo afraid that is going to be my kid!
I walked into daycare today and there she is, wearing these tight blue sweatpants and I immediately knew. Now, I'm pretty with it when I pack her bag and am always sure she has at least an extra pair of everything. So I quickly thought in my head that I must have messed up and didn't pack her bag right, but NO, that actually meant that she didn't wet herself just once, but twice!! The worst part is that she had a great weekend and hasn't had any accidents in quite awhile. I know my daycare lady thought we had been putting her in pullups during the day over the weekend based on our conversation and I swear, she only wears them at night and has been waking up dry a lot lately too.
Ugh, I'm just done with this mess. Dear Lord, just throw me a bone here...PLEASE!!??

Sleep

I finally caved and stuck a sleeping bag under my bed for Meredith. It has become almost a nightly ritual for her to come into our room between 2-4am, but she seems content with sleeping on the floor lately instead of kicking us all night long in bed. So, several people had suggested to just keep a sleeping bag under the bed so that everyone can get back to sleep more quickly. It worked perfectly last night and we all got some sleep.
Having my sleep interrupted so much lately for only a few minutes has been making me crazy, how in the world did we Mom's get through being up all night with a baby!?

bath stalling

"But Mommy, I don't need a bath. Smell me, I don't stink! Pulleeeaaasse." (insert crying and kicking here).
I thought we were past the bath struggle. There is always something.

Summer 2009

A quiet house on a Sunday morning and a large cup of coffee makes for the perfect time to give some attention to my VERY neglected blog!

We have had a really fun and full summer. This was really the first summer that Meredith had a lot of different camps and such and she had a blast. First was swimming lessons at Meredith College, which were probably the lowest on the success scale, but still a good activity for her. I think we may invest in one on one lessons next summer.

Then we were off to Edisto Island, SC with Chris' family over the 4th of July. I believe that was the last time I blogged. Very nice, very HOT trip. Edisto is not far from Charleston, but it is quite remote out in the low country of SC. Let's put it this way, there is one Piggly Wiggly that must have been built in the 50s and hasn't been touched since! It was a very different place to go, but I quite enjoyed it!

Next up was dance camp for a week. I have to admit I was nervous about putting Meredith in a leotard since this whole potty training thing is not 100% yet. Amazingly, she never had an accident and ended up having a really good time. Chris was the taxi this summer since he was out of school and he said whenever he picked her up, she was all sweaty and seemed to have had a lot of fun. (It is also funny to see what her hair looked like! Chris still swears he can't get his fingers in her little hair bands! She looked a little ratty, but hey, she was in one piece!) We enrolled her in a class this fall called 'Hollywood Kids'. It's a combo of ballet and tap. She really wants to wear the 'loud shoes' for dance, so this way we can figure out if she likes tap or ballet better or has a more natural aptitude to one.

Then Meredith went to a preschool camp for two weeks. The fun part of this one is that my mom teaches at this preschool every summer and taught there full time until she started at The Fransiscan School. Mom wasn't her teacher, but was there to be a familiar face. Another family tie that we didn't know when we enrolled her was that my brother-in-law, Joey, ended up teaching their music all summer! So, Meredith had a lot of people watching out for her :) The actual preschool experience was just fabulous. Meredith really fit in well with her little class and she seemed to do well with more structure and a true classroom. (She also never had an accident, which was always on my mind!)

The whole preschool thing really made Chris and I realize that we need to make a change in her childcare, at least for Pre-K. My major frustration with the whole preschool thing is that most of these great affordable church programs are only half day programs. If you want a full time preschool, it is going to cost an arm and a leg at one of these franchise type places. Don't get me wrong, her current provider is wonderful and she has learned a lot there, but she is a daycare, not a preschool. She also has a range of ages with her and Meredith seems to be one of the oldest now. So, we are in a quandry as to what to do right now. I think we may just leave it alone for a little longer and take out a loan (ha!) to get her into a good all day preschool the year before Kindergarten!

Then we went to Nags Head with my entire family! There were a few issues with the house we stayed in, like no AC the first night and some plumbing problems, but all in all we had a wonderful time. Meredith and my niece Jessie were two peas in a pod and they wore eachother out every day. I had never been to Nags Head and really loved it. We also took a day trip up to Hatteras to see the light house and took the ferry over to Ocracoke Island. We ended up getting poured on and spent way too long waiting on the ferry, but it was still a neat experience. I'd definitely like to go back to Nags Head in the future!

So, that brings us pretty much to current. Chris has gone back to school and Meredith is back to daycare full time. I worked all summer, but of course our vacations are focused in the summer since Chris teaches, so I also feel a little sad about the end of summer. It also seems that the summer cold has hit all of us, so it really caps off the summer!

Well, the house is no longer quiet and my coffee is gone, so I guess it's time to close. Hopefully I will be better about updating, but sometimes when I get so behind, it makes it worse because I know it will take longer to update!

Edisto

Just so everyone knows I haven't fallen off of the planet...I'm still here. I had planned on catching up on the blog while I was on vacation last week, but alas, there was no internet access. It's amazing how refreshing it actually is to be disconnected from the wired world sometimes! This was the first vacation in years that I haven't checked email once. We were down in South Carolina on Edisto Island, which is just south of Charleston. This was our annual trip with my in-laws to a timeshare, so this was very pool centered even though we were close to the beach. Meredith had a blast in the pool and Chris allowed me lots of time to bake in the sun and read while he kept up with her most of the time (I finished an entire book, which is a big dael these days and started another one only to realize I had already read it...only took me two chapters to figure it out! Guess my memory is going!!).
We celebrated our 7th anniversary while we were down there and went into Charleston one evening. We had dinner at this nice place right on the water, walked through historic downtown and had drinks at a great rooftop bar to watch the sunset. Low key and lovely :)

Back to the grind today and not happy about it. Amazing how my head is already hurting...

I promise I'll try to make a better update soon.

Meredithisms

So, Meredith just said, "Mommy, when can I have a new mommy and daddy?" !?!
I told her she was stuck with us. What in the world?

The other day she also said "I'm a Princess, Mommy's a Princess and Daddy's a Queen". So darn funny!

Bad me

Ok, so I've been beyond bad about keeping up lately! So, I'll try to give an update without going on and on forever!

We recently had a neat opportunity to have some great photos taken of Meredith. My neighbor across the street is a stay at home mom and is starting up her own business as a photographer and wanted to take some pictures of Meredith for her portfolio as well as for a website she was partnering with that sells tutus for little girls. So, Meredith got an adorable tutu, we were thrilled with the pictures and my friend got some great pics for her website! (Meredith is on her April blog as well as he website and she is also on the tutu website- she is 'modeling' the 'birthday diva' tutu)(http://elainebellaphotography.blogspot.com/) (http://ballerinabells.com/)

At the end of March, Meredith and I took a road trip with my sisters Hillary and Allison to meet up with my other sister Elizabeth and her family in Florida. Her in-laws have a house in Homassassa Springs, which is near the gulf and they were planning on spending their spring break down there and invited us along! Meredith was wonderful in the car, especially considering we were seriously into potty training at that point. I still kept her in pullups in the car, but she stayed dry almost the whole time. We had some great sister time and Meredith and her cousins, Abby & Jessie, had a blast together. We stopped back through Savannah on the way home and has some awesome low country boil (we tried crawfish for the first time!) and just wandered along the river. All in all, it was a wonderful time and I'm still amazed that it all worked out so well!

Speaking of potty training, we have made some huge strides in the last month or so. I'd say she's 98% trained on #1 and 85% trained on #2. I'm not even going to try to do anything at night for awhile, so a pullup overnight is fine by me! She still wakes up dry quite often, so that's not too far off. Let's say that I'm not totally worried every time we leave the house...I remember the first night we went to a restaurant without her wearing a diaper. I was convinced a puddle would appear under her chair at any minute, but alas, the child managed to pull through and has really done well (for the most part) since. I guess it has taken a full 3 months to get it really controlled.

Meredith spent a week in April in Tennessee with Chris' mom and step dad. Last time Meredith went up there for a week, the week just kinda flew by and we didn't do too much fun stuff. So this time, we promised that we'd do a lot that we normally don't do with her here. We went out almost every night to happy hour or a movie or a a nice dinner. We probably spent too much and ate too much, but it was worth it to really enjoy our time as just us.

Work has been keeping me very busy and things still seem to be quite stable there other than some basic budget tightening that everyone seems to be doing regardless of how business is or isn't. Chris is almost done with school for the summer and he will be the chauffer dad this summer carting Meredith to her busy summer schedule of events! She is starting with swim lessons at Meredith College (her first 'classes' at Meredith :), then a two week dance camp, then a preschool camp at the place my mom teaches at in the summer (yeah!) and then we're off to the beach. She has a calendar all her own!!

I'm really looking forward to the summer and vacation even though my schedule isn't nearly as fun as Meredith's!

Hope everyone is doing well!!

Have you ever...

Have you ever looked at your child's legs and thought she had a horrible skin rash because it looks like there are red lines just creeping along her legs....only to realize it was the red slurpie from the night before that had dripped all down her legs!!?? (Also, please note the slurpie was purchased by her father at approx 8pm while Mommy was on the way home from church. hoping to find a bathed, pj'd, ready for bed child!)

Florida Trip

So, I'm increasingly bad about updating this blog. I admit that Facebook seems to be using up my 'extra' computer time lately.

We had a nice trip to Florida to see my older sister and her family. Hillary, Allison, Meredith and I took a road trip and it was quite a success. The little girls played really well together and there was a pool at the house (my brother-in-law's parents house near Tampa) and we went to the beach one day and also went to this great wildlife/zoo type place to see the manatees and tons of other animals. It was really good to have girl time and Meredith did incredibly well beyond never wanting to sleep. Her earliest bedtime was 10:15 one night...yeah, it was great. We stopped through Savannah on the way home and got some yummy low country boil and walked along the river front. Other than some terrible stop and go (more stop than go) traffic on the way home, it went really well.

Sleeping

So, we recently went through a good week or so of Meredith sleeping on the floor. I have no idea why, but she simply would not get in her bed at night. My theory was that as long as she was sleeping, I didn't care where. Then I decided that taking the guard rail off of her twin bed might make her feel like it was a real big girl bed, which actually worked with some prodding for a few nights. Now, she has determined she wants to sleep on her blow up air mattress (we have a toddler size aero-bed). That started the other night when I was too tired to fight (I was really sick this past week) and once again, if she would sleep, fine with me.
Everything is a battle with her. Nothing is easy. I feel like a terrible parent half the time because I 'let' her roll with some of these crazy ideas she has, but if I don't, life would be miserable for us all. Parenting is the hardest job ever.

I thought that maybe just maybe by the time she was 3 I'd be cleaning up less pee and poop. Man, was I wrong. It's actually harder now since it's in underwear and not a diaper that can be thrown away. Heaven help me, this child is pushing me. I mean, she peed on herself twice while we had a playdate at Kelly's house last weekend. I had brought a change of clothes, but still had to borrow some pants from her daughter (thanks Kelly!!). I understand that playing is much more fun than sitting on the pot, but isn't sitting in nasty pants even worse? We've been fully potty training for about 6 weeks and I'm regularly tempted to put her back in diapers. It sure would be easier on me. So, if you just happen to have one of those children who just magically potty trained herself, I don't want to hear about it. It's just one of those days.

Quick Funny

So, I know it's been forever, but just wanted to post something funny that Meredith has been doing.
During the Presidential election, she was educated on who Barack Obama is and pointed to magazines and newspapers with his face on it and proclaimed it was him. I was so proud :)
Well, recently I have noticed that she seems to think that all light skinned, African-American, well-dressed men are our President! We have a reporter for one of the local stations (ABC I think) who does bear a slight resemblance to him and the other night the news was on and she said, "Look Mommy, it's Arack Obama!". She was quite proud and I admitted to her that this man does look quite a bit like the President, but that is not him. There was also a picture of Denzel Washington on the cover of something and she pointed him out as 'Arack' too! I just brushed them off as flukes until yesterday afternoon we were out and she and I were sitting in the car while Chris ran into a store. We were just sitting there and this young black man dressed in a suit walked by (pretty sure he was out of ear shot) and she proudly yells it again! We had a nice little conversation about how the President lives in Washington DC and maybe he will come here sometime, but this man just looks a little like the President!
I'm not sure if I should be proud that she is so excited about the President or a little embarrassed that she is categorizing all of these men as the same person!
I'm just going to get a little chuckle out of my observant child and leave it at that.

Long time, no post

Meredith had an awesome 3rd birthday party on the 7th. It was freaky warm for February. I'm talking like 70 degrees! It was fabulous because almost everyone (and there was a crowd) spent most of the time outside. I think the kids had a blast with the bouncehouse, swingset and her Little Tykes house in the yard. I think the adults had a good time too....let's say that our keg went dry if that tells you anything! Princess Belle came in the beginning of the party and she was sweet, but not sure she really had control of this wild gang! She was a former student of Chris' and pretty much just does this for fun and asks that you donate some money to the Ronald McDonald House...how awesome?!

We were in Tennessee last weekend, over Valentines day. We really never celebrate V day, but since it was on a Saturday we took advantage and went into Pigeon Forge for the night and left Meredith with Chris' Mom. Nothing fancy, but found a great Mexican place with cheap beer, a Mariachi band and great fajitas. Then Chris humored me and we watched 'Mama Mia'...Love it! Overall, it was a quick trip, but it's a must do every few months.

Amazingly, I would say that Meredith is now 85% potty trained! It is the craziest thing how she just decided it was time. She still has accidents, mostly #2, but she has made incredible progress over the past 2 1/2 weeks.

While she has really improved with the potty thing, she seems to have regressed more with bedtime. The child will stay up until midnight if we let her! It just seems to be a battle every night and she also says she's afraid of the dark. I got her a really cute new nightlight on ebay with her monogram, but it hasn't helped. Yesterday I found this kinda crazy looking nightlight that she can actually have in bed with her at Walmart and she thinks that is pretty cool and helped a bit last night. Chris even made her a CD with some great lullabies and that hasn't had great results either.

Her 3 year old well visit was this past Weds and the doctor called her 'perfect' :) She had a hearing test, which I was glad she passed since she has been acting like she is really sensitive to loud sounds lately. She also proved once again that she is a big girl bc she fell in the 80th %ile for height and weight. The doctor even said she was surprised bc when she looked at her she was sure she was older than 3! The only crazy thing was that they wanted her to pee in a cup...I mean come on, the girl barely goes when I ask her, let alone in a weird bathroom with mommy holding a cup under there!! Needless to say, after much pleading and begging she wouldn't do it and they were cool with it since they said most 3 year olds are barely potty trained anyway....

Ok, enough for now...

Are there really fairies?

So, is it possible that there is a potty training fairy and she waved her magic wand over my house on the night of Meredith's 3rd birthday? It is the craziest thing, she woke up on Tuesday and told Chris she wanted to wear panties! She has NEVER asked to wear them and when we did put them on her in the past, it just didn't click at all that it wasn't a diaper. She really wanted them, so he put them on her and took her to daycare where she had one accident, but did really well with them on all day. She had one more accident at home last night, but she made it more than she didn't. We still put a pullup on her at bedtime and she actually seemed semi-bothered about it! Holy cow, is there a magical switch that turns on at 3?? It is by far entirely too early to call it, but I think we are actually really on our way now! People kept telling me that it just seems to happen all of the sudden and I think we may FINALLY be on the verge! Hallelujah!

Happy Birthday Meredith!

Today is Meredith's 3rd Birthday! I'm having a hard time really believing that she is 3! She still isn't potty trained like I had hoped she would be by her birthday, but oh well, it will come. Chris and I are going to go have a little party at her daycare this afternoon, then we're going out for Mexican with my parents and maybe her aunt Hillary.

Snapfish is not cooperating with me today and I'm having a hard time retrieving pictures, but wanted to post a little timeline in pictures. Don't have a real birthday picture, but it is 6mos, 1 yr, 2 yr and last week!

Almost 3 year old funnies

A few funnies.

-Weds night I went over to a friend's house. I had gotten Meredith's dinner ready, but she decided she didn't want to eat anything but her pears, so the mac n cheese & green beans were just sitting on the table when I left. Well, she told Chris a little later that she was hungry, but wanted to eat upstairs in her room (she has a little table & chairs in there and I mistakenly let her have a snack up there one time and determined that was a big no-no on my part). Well, she knew she could get it past her father who was glued to a game on his new flat screen tv in the loft, so he brought it upstairs for her. Well, she proceeded to make 'soup' by mixing her juice with her mac n cheese and then it appeared that she flung it all around the room (no evidence of green beans, so she either ate them or they are hiding somewhere. Fortunately, he had it cleaned up by the time I got home, but this is what happens on Daddy's watch.

-Meredith has figured out that if she puts her fingers in her ears it makes things sound different, so at random times I'll see her standing there, fingers in ears just humming or singing or talking. Pretty funny.

-She busted out with this song she learned at daycare awhile back,
'Arriba's up, Abajo's down,
I speak Spanish and English too,
I like them both, how bout you??' (enter lots of enthusiasm and jumping up and down here)
That just totally cracked me up. She actually knows quite a bit of Spanish. Counting to 10, her colors, directions, some basic commands, but our daycare lady says that when she tells the kids to do something, she will very often only say it in Spanish and Meredith is great about knowing exactly what to do. So, I think she actually understands a lot more than she can actually say. It's just proof that repetition with anything can really sink in! I can't help but think that this will help her later on in life when she's in a classroom learning Spanish.

-She has also recently determined that boys and girls are different. Not in any anatomical way, but just that there are boys and there are girls. She frequently reminds us that Mommy and Meredith are girls and Daddy is a boy. I have to just laugh, but some of the things she says are just totally made up. Like last night her daddy was going to read her bedtime stories and she piped up saying, "No, boys can't read stories!"...that translation could easily read that he almost never reads to her, so hence, boys can't read stories. She does a lot of the boys can't do this and girls can't do that kind of talk, which makes me cringe a little and I have to remind myself that she isn't a right wing Republican, but an almost 3 year old who is a little sponge and I just try to calmly reinforce that girls and boys can do whatever they want if they put their minds to it!!

It's hard to believe she'll be 3 on Monday!