Growing Up So Fast!

I feel like Meredith is growing up so fast. In the past week and a half she is feeding herself, crawling and staying up longer and longer (and thankfully taking longer naps, too!). Our little girl is growing up!

All in all, things are going well. However, she was sent home from daycare on Monday for a "temp" of 101 degrees F. She had been a bit fussier last weekend, she was having diarrhea, coughing, runny nose and not eating that great - but never had a temp for us. I didn't know if she was teething, had a cold, or a GI bug - so I just sent her to daycare. Well, I got a call at work on Monday that she was fussy, not eating, not peeing and had a temp. So, luckily Jon was done operating that day and picked her up. She was fine, at least the same as she's been over the weekend. But because she had a "temp" at daycare, she was out for the next day as well, because she has to be fever free for 24 hours without medications before she can come back. Jon ended up staying home with her on Tuesday and she was the same, maybe a bit better. I also had Wednesday off, so she didn't go back to daycare until Thursday, and all was well!

We did have a little adventure on Wednesday. I took her down to Mankato to have lunch with my Gma Pfaffinger at her Senior Living Apartment. We ate with her down in their dining room with a bunch of the other senior residents. Meredith was well behaved and a big hit with the older folk. I had her in her big stroller, which Jerry - my Gma's "friend", was very impressed by. After lunch we went and checked out Jerry's new apartment - he had lived in apartment across the street and had just moved into the same senior apartment building as my Gma a few month's ago. Then, Meri, my Gma and I went up to her apartment and chatted while Meredith crawled around and rolled around on the floor. All in all in was a good visit. We were able to time it perfectly and Meredith took a nap on our way back up to the Cities.

The only other exciting thing we've done lately is we went to a friend's home last night for a "Wine Club" get together. A group of my college friends had started a wine club several years ago and we've been getting together sporadically to taste wines, learn about wines and generally just have fun. Well, it's been quite awhile - a year I think, since our last get together - so it's long overdue. And the hosts even allowed us to bring our kids, so Meredith tagged along. It actually went great. We got there at 7pm, I warmed up a bottle and fed her in a quiet room upstairs, then I had brought a travel highchair and Jon and I took turns feeding her puffs, bananas and more formula. Then she just hung out, rolled around and crawled for awhile while we started doing our wine tasting. By about 9:30 - she was beat. We changed her into her PJs and brought her to a room upstairs and tucked her into her car seat. It took a little doing, but she eventually fell asleep. We then joined the fun downstairs and kept an ear out for her using the baby monitor we brought (yes, we were prepared and we brought A LOT of stuff). We left a little after 11pm. When we got home I just warmed up her last bottle, swaddled her and fed her and she was back fast asleep until this morning!

And as far as what I first mentioned - yep - Meredith is crawling, like moving forward, crawling. She's still kind of slow, but can definitely get around. It started happening on Tuesday. We were on the floor and the remote was in front of her and she went for it. It was only a few steps, but she was doing it. She did that all night, but only to get to the remote. By Wednesday - she was really getting around - good thing we had the gates put up this week!

And yes, she's feeding herself. Gerber cereal Puffs are her new favorite thing. We started a week and a half ago and she's finished 2 entire containers already. So now, twice a day, I give her a bottle, and then put her in her high chair and put puffs in front of her - the rest of the bottle in the drink holder area of high chair, and also spoon feed her a fruit or veggie mixed with cereal. So, she's feeding herself puffs, occasionally taking bites of food from me and even will reach towards her bottle when she wants a sip. It's hilarious. So, now Jon and I have been eating dinner while she eats her puffs, it's great!

And her napping and awake periods are changing. Especially in the evenings. Since Thursday she has basically dropped her last nap. So she gets up around 5pm and can stay up to 8 or 9pm without getting too fussy. And during the day her naps are about an hour and half to two hours long. And she's still sleeping until about 7am! So many changes, but so much fun!

Next weekend I'm heading to Blue Earth and at the end of the month we're flying to San Francisco to visit Jon's father, his wife and her children. And between now and then we have a few other fun things happening, plus Jon's back at Regions - for his last 2 months of residency, which means a lot busier call and earlier mornings for both of us because we both have to be at work by 6:30am. May will be a fun, but busy month!!

By the way, Meredith was chosen to be a model for the Manhattan toy catalog. We'll be doing that on Tuesday. We also had gotten a call for her to do a Target ad, but it fell through, apparently they were looking for an older baby, maybe next time!

Meredith with her great grandma Pfaffinger