8 Months Old!

Wow! Time is truly flying by now. Meredith is another month old and continues to grow and learn. We are having so much fun with her, especially now that the weather has gotten so much nicer!

It's been awhile since I've last blogged and a few things have happened. Last weekend, I brought Meredith down to Blue Earth. Friday night we went out to the Legion for my good friend's mother's 60th Birthday. Meredith's schedule worked pretty well, she took a long nap on the ride home, we stopped briefly at my mom's to feed her a bottle and then headed up to the Legion. I had my travel highchair and put Meredith in it and fed her some puffs! I was able to hang out and catch up with my friends Emily and Danica, while Sheila's mom opened presents and visited. The only difficult thing was Meredith really wanted to get down and crawl around, but the floor was just a bit too dirty there! It was a lot of fun and I'm glad we went. We got back to my mom's about 9:30 and she spent some time getting hugs and kisses from Gma and Gpa and then got her off to bed.

The next day I had brunch with my Gma, mom, sister-in-law and step-sister up at a store for a special mother's day brunch. Then my Gma came over to spend some time with Meredith. Then after a quick nap we headed to my brother's place for a late lunch with my dad! It was very nice spending time with my dad and Meredith, but after a few hours, Meri was ready for another nap. The rest of the evening we spent with my mom and step-dad. We even had time to watch the movie, "The Blind Side" - which was a very good movie.

We headed back up to Minneapolis the next morning and I was greated with flowers, a present and a couple of cards for Mother's Day. Unfortunately, I was feeling very exhausted (I had a horrible cold, that kept me home from work that Friday, and was still sick, plus the weekend had been very busy) and all I wanted to do was take a nap. After feeding Meri, with Jon's help, I did just that! It was fabulous!

And this past weekend, I actually got sick again! We had my Aunt come over on Friday night because we had plans to go out to dinner with another couple to Restaurant Alma. Cory and Stephanie came over about 7pm to have a drink before dinner and to see Meredith. My Aunt was here by 7:15pm. We all headed out to make our reservation by 8pm. But at the restaurant, almost out of nowhere, I got nauseated and ended up getting sick, twice actually. I toughed it out through dinner, but didn't eat any of my food, but we had to leave right after dinner. I felt so bad, because Jon and I had been looking forward to going out for a long time. I ended up getting sick again in the middle of the night and couldn't eat much the next day. In fact, I didn't do much but sleep until about 2 in the afternoon. I still have no idea what happened. I had eaten some focaccia bread on Friday evening, maybe that was bad, I don't know. But it totally bummed me out.

I did still go to a work party on Saturday night with Meredith for about an hour and a half, but I didn't eat or drink anything there, except Ginger Ale! It was a birthday party for a couple of coworkers, that she has had the last few years. She has it at her house in Highland Park in St. Paul, so it's very close to our house. We got there after Meredith's dinner and it was so nice to see all my coworkers outside of work and they all seemed to enjoy meeting Meredith. My friends Nicole and Travis brought there daughter Paisley, too and they seemed to be fastenated with each other. But by 9:30, Meri was getting tired - and so was I, so we headed home.

As far as Meredith is concerned, things are going well in every area - except her eating, as usual. The last couple of weeks she hasn't been eating very well, especially at day care. Like only taking 1 to 3 oz in her two bottles at day care. She's been crying a lot with the bottle, and really only eating well when she's asleep. She's also basically refusing anything by spoon at home, though does eat a bit better by spoon at daycare (probably because she takes so little by bottle there). She does, however, love to eat puffs. I think if she could eat puffs all day long, she would. It's been very stressful for me, and after some encouragement from some coworkers, I'm going to see the feeding clinic at Children's Hospital. I had an appointment with them back in February, but ended up cancelling because she was improving. But the truth is, she does improve at times, but she always comes back to these times where she hates the bottle and it's a struggle to get her to eat. I'm reading to get an expert opinion and I fully intend on going ahead regardless of how she is eating at the time of the appointment. And actually the past couple days have been a bit easier to feed her, which has been great. It doesn't look like we will be able to get appointment until the beginning of June, so we'll see how she is doing then.

But other than that - Meredith is doing so great! She sleeps well at night, she's happy when she's awake. She's always smiling and giggling, she's crawling everywhere and starting to pull up on things, at least to get up on to her knees. She is so inquisitive and independent. She's just a lot of fun!

And as far as Meredith's modeling career. It's off to a very bumpy start. Actually, the Manhattan Toy Company shoot also fell through because the toy Meri was going to model, wasn't finished. So, she didn't end up doing any modeling:( The photographer and my friend at Manhattan Toy Company are going to keep us in mind and maybe we'll end up doing something in the future!

Here she is crawling around, she's getting pretty fast now!

Here's where the red hair comes from, her Auntie Emily! Her and her hubby spent the night with us a few weeks ago before taking an early flight out to Las Vegas the next morning

Meri's spending some quality time with her Gpa Pfaffinger

Here she is snuggling with her Great Auntie Kate, who graciously came over to babysit on Saturday night! Thanks Auntie Kate!

Here we are with the Swingen's who we went out to dinner with, bummer that I got sick :(

Jon's good friend, Pete, was in town for a Surgery meeting. He and Jon have known each other since Med School, then were in General Surgery together and he was even the best man at our wedding - but he now is a Colorectal Surgeon in Ohio and we haven't seen him in a long time. It was nice to see him again!

Meredith is starting to show interest in standing. She can't pull herself up to standing, but can pull herself up to kneeling and is getting close to standing - I think we're in even more trouble!

She's starting to like to crawl into the dog bed, with or without the dog. That equals, lots of dog hair all over Meredith, oh well!

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

7 months Old!

I got a good photo before she realized the little poster was there, but it was the wrong side!

As soon as she realized it was there, it was in her mouth!

I just can't believe it... our little girl is 7 months old!! And it is amazing how far she has come in such a little time. She is getting bigger and bigger everyday. And even though I don't quite understand how she continues to grow, but still eats under 30 oz a day of formula.

Here are some of her 7 month milestones......

- She is sitting by herself and can do so for long periods of time. I just dump a bunch of toys in front of her and she can be entertained for quite awhile. She pretty much stays put when sitting, but is starting to get onto her hands and knees and then she gets a moving.

- She is getting very close to crawling. She's up on all fours and is scooting backwards, as well as rolling both directions. So, she's pretty mobile. She doesn't seem to get frustrated that she can't go forward....yet!

- She is getting better with spoon feeding and just this week we started a second feeding at day care around lunch time. The first day she ate a bunch of bananas, today she didn't much like her carrots.

- Her nap schedule is on the verge of changing. She seems to want to be awake for about 2.5 hours, possible 3 hrs and at home is taking longer naps - so we might have to cut back on the bottles to every 4.... we'll see how this weekend goes.

- She's still sleeping though the night. She goes to bed between 8:30 and 9pm and sleeps until 6:30 or 7am on the weekends. I'm still giving her a 10pm bottle while she's sleeping, but am trying to figure out how to give it up!

- She is just a happy little girl, smiles a lot and is just generally happy. She's a joy to be around!

Other Happenings...

The big news is that I left for Las Vegas last Wednesday morning and spent four days and four nights there while Jon stayed home with Meredith. I went with my friends Nicole and Craig (both Nurse Anesthetists that work at United with me), Nicole's husband, Travis and his friend Brent. We went there for a conference, but mostly to have fun.

I flew out early on Wednesday with my friend Craig. We got to our hotel, The Wynn, by noon. So once we got to our room (yep, that's right I bunked - in different beds - with Craig, a dude. No worries, Jon knew and there was absolutely no funny business, he's like hanging out with my brother!), we got unpacked and ready for the pool. We spent the afternoon in the sun, had lunch and some cocktails and then headed back to the room for a nap. By the time we woke up and started getting ready - the other 3 had arrived and were ready to get out and have some fun. We headed to the casinos to do some gambling, me on the penny slots, and then by 11pm we headed to the club, Blush, at the Wynn. We had got our names on the list so got in without waiting or paying - plus they had free champagne for ladies from 11:30pm to 12:30am. It was pretty fun, a smaller club, but it was the perfect first night. We headed back to our rooms by 1am, since we had to be up for the conference by 6am!

The next morning we headed to the Flamingo for the conference. We were done by noon and back to the pool! The weather was so nice the whole time we were there! We just had lunch, some more drinks and stayed there until 4:30. Then we went back to the room and got ready to meet Travis and Brent downtown. And downtown was a lot of fun. Cheaper drinks and food and just a great place for happy hour. We headed back to our hotel at about 7:30pm. We didn't end up doing much else that night because we were all pretty buzzed and tired.

On Friday, it was much of the same: pool, lunch, drinks, back to room, quick nap. Then Craig and I ended up going to a nice sushi dinner while the others took longer naps. But we all got up and headed to the bigger club at the Wynn, Tryst - around 10pm. We stayed until 2:30am - dancing and drinking and having a good time. Boy, it's been awhile since I was at a club. It was fun, but I definitely couldn't do it more than a couple times a year! We were beat by 3am and back to bed.

On our last full day, Craig and I got up a bit earlier and got chairs at the pool and half price tickets to see Mystere, a Cirque du Soliel show at Treasure Island - all 5 of us we're going. Then it was back to the pool for lunch and drinks. We ended up staying there until 6:30pm hanging out with some people we met from Minnesota. Then we had to rush to get ready and get dinner before heading to the show. The show was very good and it was over by 11pm. We got back to our room and to bed by midnight, which was good because we had to get up and to the airport by 7am.

All in all, it was a great relaxing time. Fun time with friends and just a nice break from reality and responsibilities. I really enjoyed just relaxing at the pool and getting a little extra sleep (though not nearly as much as I wanted, oh well!). And I still called the daycare everyday to see how Meredith was doing and talked to Jon a couple times a night. By the way, he did great! He was able to pick Meri up by 3:30 everyday at day care and got her to eat and take naps just fine. I really had no doubt. I did constantly feel guilty for relaxing when I know he was doing so much work. But I also knew I deserved a little break. And now I know that they can both survive without me. Though he was quite tired by the time I got home and relieved to have me back!! I was glad to be home, too!

Now, we're all getting back into the swing of things. Naps, bottles, fruit, veggies, cereal, baths, bedtime, etc... No matter how much work it is, it definitely is worth it when she smiles at me!! Speaking of smiles, today I took Meredith to her first casting call. My good friend, Mindy, works for a company called Manhattan Toys, and they were looking for models for their summer catalog. She had sent me an email because they were looking for 2 girls 6-12 months old and passed along the audition times. One time was today from 3p-4:30p and worked perfectly for me to get off work, pick up Meredith, give her a quick bath and a change of clothes and off we went. We were only there for less than 10 minutes, but Meri did great - all smiles and looking at the camera. The photographer even asked if she could put one of the pics on her website. So, now I guess we'll just wait and see.... Who knows, maybe I'll quit my job and become Meredith's agent...(just kidding!!)

In front of Treasure Island

Downtown drinking "footballs" (except me because the beer would get too warm and flat before I could finish the thing)

Here's a pic from the casting call photo shoot by Liz Banfield, she liked the pic so she put it on her Facebook Fan Page and then sent me one too, we'll see if we get choosen!

Bunnies and good weather!!

(Here are some of Meredith's 6 month photos, by Swaddlebee. They turned out great. Go to my facebook page to see the rest....!)

Well, once again time is getting away from me and it's been awhile since my last post! It's crazy how busy you can be doing not a whole lot with a nearly seven month old! The Easter holiday was extended for two weekends for us. The actual holiday we stayed home and didn't do much, and this past weekend we headed to Blue Earth to celebrate with my family! Both celebrations were great!

Easter weekend was pretty low key, but after the busy weekend we had prior to that, it was kind of nice. Jon was on call, so we stayed close to home. But now that Meredith has been somewhat predictable, we took the time to make fun dinners and watch a few movies. Friday night we broiled pork chops and I made Brie and garlic mashed potatoes and a spinach salad. Then we watched "Up in the Air", great movie!! Then Saturday night Jon made Paella and we watched "A Serious Man", I think you have to be Jewish to appreciate that movie, but stil good. Then on Easter Jon made eggs Benedict and we had mimosas, not a bad Easter brunch! I had also bought Jon and I some Easter candy and for Meredith she got a plush bunny basket that has a motorized tail that wiggles and says "Some bunny loves you", I also got her some soft blocks to play with.

And this past weekend we headed down to Blue Earth Friday evening and stayed unilateral Sunday morning. It's the longest I have gone without going home since Meri's birth, it had been 6 weeks! Meri had so many new tricks to show my family! She's sitting up on her own, scooting backwards and getting up on all fours. She's dangerously close to crawling (which is why I had a professional baby proofer come by for a consult, more on that in a minute....)! It was so nice to see everyone. Friday night we just hung out at my mom's and my two sisters were there, my niece and nephew and bro-in-law, and of course my mom and step-dad were there too! We just played with the babies and had a few drinks and all caught up!

The next day I had a hair appointment, so Jon and my parents watched Meri. Then that afternoon e headed to my Gma Wickersham's for a late Easter dinner. My bro and his wife were also able to come as well as my Aunt, uncle and three cousins. Once again we ate, hung out, had a few drinks, played with the babies and chatted!

All in all, it was great couple of weeks. As I mentioned earlier, Meredith is getting stronger every day. She's rolling all over the place, getting up on all fours and rocking and scooting backwards. I called a person about baby proofing and they came over for a consult a week ago. I am an educated medical professional, but it was amazing what this person reminded me of. Just simple changes to make my home safer, as well as suggestions for outlet covers, baby gates, closet and door locks, cabinet locks, fire extinguishers, CO2 and fire detectors. It was a great eye opener. I'm waiting for his estimate for the equipment and installation and then I can choose to do some, all or none of it. I'm excited because everything he said made sense and I'm looking forward to implementing it.

Now, looking ahead.... I'm actually heading to Las Vegas tomorrow morning for 4.5 days. Jon will be in charge, by himself, until I return. He will be taking her to day care Wed-Fri and home all day Saturday with her. I return Sunday morning. I know he'll do just fine, but all the same, I've been a little sad the last couple of days knowing I'll be leaving my little girl. It will help that my good friend and fellow new mother, Nicole, will be amongst the people on vacation with me. So, I'll update you soon on how my trip was and how Jon's home alone experience with Miss Meredith went........

Getting so strong!

Happy Easter! A bunny and some blocks!

Meredith and Brooks, checking each other out!

Up on all fours. I'm both excited and worried about the nearness of the crawling stage!

We're loving this age

I know everyone says to enjoy this age, while it lasts and I can see why. Meredith is just being a cute little angel. She's smiling and giggling, but still stays put, though I have a feeling she'll be on the move within weeks. We've had a busy and fun weekend and I can't wait for the next weekend to spend more quality time with my little cutie.

Friday night we had a good couple friends over for dinner, Sylvester and Danielle. Sylvester started out as an intern with Jon and Danielle was a nurse on the Transplant Unit at the U. We've all been friends for many years, but they will soon be leaving for Toronto so Sly can finish his training as a Transplant Surgery Fellow. Anywho, we had them over for dinner. It was very nice. Meredith was pretty well behaved. She took her usual naps and when she was up, she was a happy camper, just hanging out in her Exersaucer while we all dinner. Jon decided to break out his smoker for the first time this year and we had smoked prime rib, roasted potatoes and wilted spinach, it was all very delicious. Danielle brought dessert, a triffle - which was also excellent. All in all, the evening was a success!

On Saturday night we headed over to our friends home for a taco dinner and game night. We brought Meredith and our Pack N Play. We got there a little after 5pm and had enough time to visit and let the kids play together before Meredith needed a nap. She fought it a little, but eventually went down, which gave us time to eat. When she got up I fed her a bottle and then we attempted to get her to eat cereal and squash. She was having a great time, but a little to distracted to eat much. She then had a great time rolling around on the floor and flirting with our good friends son, Brady - there only 2 1/2 months apart, perhaps a future couple?! Then we got her off to sleep by a little after 9pm. We then had a fun time playing "Celebrity" with the other couples. It was so much fun seeing everyone and their little kids and I was so glad we could all get together. Meredith ended up sleeping fine and though I was really worried how the whole transporting her back home and getting her into bed would work, it went just fine. She ended up waking up while we put her into her carseat, fell back asleep on the ride home and woke up briefly as we got her out of her carseat and back into her swaddle. I just then gave her a bottle and back to sleep she went until 7am!! What a good little girl!

And today we had her 6 month photos. We had Wendy, from Swaddlebee in Mankato, come to our home. She was the photographer who did our newborn photos. She got here at 1pm, which worked out perfectly. Meredith had just woke up from a nap and just had a bottle. She did pretty well, posing and smiling. She lasted about 45 minutes and then started to fuss. She just really wanted to put everything in her mouth and she be allowed to roll and bounce as she pleased. I know we got plenty of good shots and I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product. After a nap and another bottle we dressed Meri in warm clothes and all headed out for a walk. We ended our day by grilling a few burgers and feeding Meredith some carrots (which I don't think she likes!). Basically, it was a busy, but super fun weekend!

The next big project will be baby-proofing. Meredith is rolling like crazy and seems to be getting up on all fours, briefly. I'm excited to see her crawl, but also terrified as well. I guess there's really nothing I can do to prevent it! When it happens, we'll be sure to get it on video!

Jon and I, having fun being hosts for our friends

Me and Danielle, snuggling in for a photo

Jon and Sly

Meredith sitting in her bassinet while I made the bed, she's so close to sitting on her own, she still wants to throw herself back or forward, so I have the pillows to steady her (on another note, I finally took her bassinet down today - I hadn't really used it in a good month, except for the rare 30 minutes on the weekends from 6am, or 6:30am to 7am... - don't worry it was rated for up to 30 lbs, but it was time to take it down!)

She's really loving to bounce, so the Jenny Jump Up is perfect

Meredith flirting with the very chill, and strong, Brady DuBois

Meredith all bundled up for our walk

Meredith, not loving the carrots :(

Visit from Gma Stone

Last weekend Jon's mom, Kathy, aka Gma Stone, came to visit us from Massachusetts. She arrived later on Thursday night and was with us until Sunday afternoon. It was really great to see her again, and even better that Meredith is so much happier and interactive than at her last visit when Meri was 6 weeks old!

Kathy's flight arrived earlier than scheduled on Thursday night, so she was able to catch a glimpse of Meredith before she headed off to bed. Then the three adults enjoyed a little bit of Thai takeout as we all chatted and caught up.

The next morning Meredith got up at her usual 7am time. I fed her a bottle and then let dad and Gma take over so I could head back to bed for a few more hours, always a treat for me. After I got up again and gave Meredith another bottle, we made brunch before heading out to the Mall of America for a little stroller ride and some shopping.

That evening Kathy had offered to babysit, so Jon and I could go out on a date. But after considering what a short visit she was having, we all decided to go out to dinner together instead. We didn't go to Sea Change per the reservation Jon and I made, instead we went to the local Mexican Restaurant, Pepitos. But before our dinner, we gave Meredith hers, it was her first taste of veggies - sweet peas to be exact. She didn't completely hate them, but certainly didn't love them either. After we got home and put Meredith to bed, we finished watching the movie we rented, Precious. It was an excellent movie, but darn depressing!

The next day we had made reservations to go to Hells Kitchen, but ended up cancelling them due to Kathy being sick. It seems like she got the same stomach flu that Jon and I had the previous weekend. I'm not exactly sure if it was from us, or if she picked something up on the plane or even at her work before coming, but either way - she wasn't feeling well and spent all day Saturday either in our bed our on the couch, not eating. We felt very bad for her, and at the same time were hoping that Jon, I and Meredith were not going to get sick again ourselves.

Thankfully, by the next morning, Kathy was able to eat a little something and felt well enough to take her flight home. We didn't get to do as much fun stuff as we'd like, but I think she had as nice of a time as she could have just seeing us and her very smiley and active granddaughter.

Here are some pics from the weekend...

Meri's getting very strong on her tummy and loves to just roll and roll and roll

Gma getting a little snuggle from the smiley Meredith

Not liking the peas so much

Gma's trying, but it isn't going much better

Jon and Kathy at Pepitos

Me and Meredith at Pepitos, too

Hanging out with Gma in Jon's office

Dad, Gma and baby girl

It had been awhile since we've had a family photo, so here's one (even though I'm still basically in my jammies)!

PS: We had Meredith's 6 month appt today: She's 16 lb and 11oz and 25 inches long, right in the middle and certainly having no problem with her weight gain. All is well and she's currently sucking her bottles down - 5-7oz at a time. And she seemed to like her green beans last night, we'll see if this trend continues..... :)

Our Little Girl is Growing Up: 6 months old!!

Well, Meredith is 6 months old this week! Our little girl is growing up! I can't believe she's a half a year old already. And it's amazing how much she's been changing lately. She's becoming more and more interactive and stronger and stronger everyday. She has mastered rolling over and over and can travel quite a distance by doing this. She's also getting really strong on her tummy, pushing up with her arms and even with her legs a little. She's also scooting backwards a bit. It's getting me both excited and worried at how mobile Meredith will become in the near future!

Other happenings with her... she's an excellent sleeper (knock on wood).... she wakes up around 7am, takes 4 hour-long naps during the day and then to bed around 8:30pm. During the night she still occasionally fusses and I need to give her her pacifier, but this seems to be happening less and less. She is still swaddled, but it's working so we'll keep doing that until it doesn't work anymore. The one caveat is that she doesn't sleep as well or predictably at daycare, but apparently she's still happy when she's awake, so I guess that's okay!

She's also just such a smiley and generally happy girl, which is a far cry from how she was just a few months ago. She smiles and lot and giggles, too. She's easy to make happy even when she does fuss. She's becoming more and more fun every day!

Eating is still an intermittent challenge. The flu was going around day care and though Meredith didn't seem to be sick, she decreased her intake to a few ounces at a time and even refusing bottles over the weekend. Then I ended up throwing up and nauseated on Sunday and Jon was sick on Monday. So, I'm hoping her decreased intake is still due to a lingering stomach bug as well as her being congested. She's up to an occasional 4 to 5 oz at a time, but isn't finishing 5 to 6 oz like she was last week. My expectations are continually lowered and I feel like my anxiety is decreasing about her eating since I see she can still be happy, sleep at night and somehow grow and gain weight even with her low intake! We're also still working on solids. We've gotten through rice, barley and oatmeal cereal. She's still just eating a little, but we're going to be trying veggies and fruit soon - so hopefully we can get her more interested.

She's still putting everything in her mouth and drooling a ton, but no teeth yet. She still loves her activity mat and Exersaucer. She's just a happy girl and Jon and I love hanging out with her.

Tomorrow, my mother-in-law is coming for a visit over the weekend to see her grand-daughter. We look forward to showing her all of Meredith's new tricks and smiles and giggles!