A Busy Summer is Beginning

I can't believe how quickly May went by and our baby girl will soon be 9 months old!! I can't believe it! The last couple of weekends have been pretty busy. The weekend before Memorial Day we had a party at my cousin's house for her graduation from Law School (Congratulations Jessica!!), then Saturday I went down to Mankato to spend a night with my high school girl friends while Jon stayed home with Meredith. Then over Memorial weekend the three of us took flight to go to San Francisco to spend some time with Jon's dad and step-mother, Cynthia.

The party at my cousin's was nice, but a bit short-lived. We got there a little after 7pm, after Meri's nap and bottle and she was getting pretty fussy by 9pm, so we decided to call it a night. The next morning I fed her and then had to go to an ACLS course and apparently while I was gone, Meredith was freaking out and fussy. When I got home I temped her and she was 102.9. We immediately gave her Tylenol. I was worried about leaving Jon alone with her to go to Mankato, but he reassured me that it was fine and I went anyway. I had a great time with my gal pals - nice hotel room, nice dinner, then drinks and dancing and to bed around 2am. Needless to say, I didn't get good sleep and was tired the next day. Meredith had done pretty well after the meds, her temp was done and seemed to be recovering by Sunday. She had no symptoms but fussiness and not eating that well (surprise, surprise)!

We left for San Francisco the following Friday (of Memorial Day weekend). Our flight didn't leave until 4pm-ish, so we had plenty of time to finish packing, bringing the dog to the kennel, and doing last minute things before taking a cab to the airport. It wasn't busy at all and we got to the gate, no problem. As soon as I got to the gate, I spoke to the gate agent and just asked if they happened to have any open seats, that we'd love to have one for Meri and her carseat. She said the plane was fully booked, but not everyone was checked in - so if that remained so - she'd give us and extra seat. And lucky us, we got it!! So, the flight wasn't too bad. She took a bottle at take off and then slept. She woke up for awhile in the middle of the fight and we had her play with toys, try to eat Puffs (that was mess) and try to converse with another baby across the isle (she was happily screaming at that baby and ended up making that little girl cry like three times, I felt a little bad). Then she fell back to sleep in her carseat. All in all, it wasn't that bad. By the time we landed, his dad picked us up and we drove back to their home a bit north of San Francisco, it was 8pm CA time (but 10pm, MN time). Meri had taken a little nap in the car and was rearing to go when we got there. We ate a late dinner and finally put her down at almost 10 pm (midnight MN time). She went to bed pretty fast, but still woke up at 6am CA time after a 3 hr coughing, then crying for pacifier while eyes still closed fiasco of which I was up and down for. Luckily, my husband took her and I was able to go back to bed until 10 am (it was my birthday at this point, for God's sake!!)

My birthday was very nice. As I said, I got to sleep until 10am. Then we just relaxed around their home, as Jon and his dad were already smoking some pork for dinner. Cynthia's kids and their S.O.'s came over around 3pm. It was just a nice relaxing little get together: great conversation, great drinks and great food. It was really nice. Meredith was pretty well behaved, but I will have to say this..... I completely underestimated the work it takes to keep your child from choking on normal out door items - like leaves and stones. Being in CA, we were hanging out on my in-laws lovely deck, a lot and no matter how much you sweep, there's always another juicy leaf or stone for Meri to put in her mouth. It was a full time job trying to keep her from doing it, or at the very least getting the leaves out of her mouth once she got them in her!

The next day we took the ferry across the bay to San Francisco proper for a Dim Sum brunch. We left around 11am and didn't get back until close to 3pm. Meri did pretty well, she slept a little in her stroller on the ferry over and then sat at the table with us in a high chair and ate puffs and baby cheetos (and a bottle), while we ate dim sum. We were seated right near the kitchen so we were offered the food rapid fire and ended up going from starving to overly stuffed in a matter of 10 minutes, but it was still a very fun experience. Meri then slept a bit more while we waited for the ferry home and in the car back to the house. We then all grilled out some great burgers for dinner and then called it a night.

For our last day in CA, Memorial Day, Jack and Cynthia had some family friends over for a lovely brunch in the morning. We had great Bloody Mary's and Champagne Cocktails and a very tasty brunch. It was another beautiful day to enjoy on their deck. Later that day, Jon and I decided to go on a hike with Meredith. There are some trails on the hill/nature preserve right above Jon's dad's home. Jon strapped Meri in the Bjorn and we were off. It ended up being a bit more strenuous than we thought, but it was still a fun time. Then when we got back, Meri took a nap while we enjoyed some cocktails with a few more of Jack and Cynthia's friends. That night, Jack and Cynthia had offered to watch Miss Meri so Jon and I could go out to dinner. So, we headed into Sausalito to a French Cafe on the water. It was a nice evening out and Meredith did well with Gma and Gpa.

We were a little more rushed at the airport for the way home, but we were lucky once again and got a free seat for Meredith and her carseat (once again the flight was booked and there were even stand-bys, but we still lucked out and got a free seat!!). She did okay, but was freaking out for almost an hour in the middle of the flight before finally going back to sleep.

The trip was nice, but, as usual, it is always nice to get home! Since Tuesday it's been laundry, work, groceries, work, house stuff..... and the weekend is busy too! I'm looking forward to my next day off at home with nothing to do, I think that will be sometime at the end of June!!

And how is Meredith these days?! Pretty good. She still takes 3 naps a day and seems to like to stay up longer in the evenings. She could make it 3 to 5 hours if we can keep her busy. She is an expert on crawling and getting stronger at pulling herself up on things all the time. I just ordered her a walker today, hoping it will keep her happy and off the floor a bit. Her eating is still a bit tricky. She was doing great before her fever a few weeks ago, then that threw her off for a week. Now she's back to taking 4 oz, up to 6 or 7 oz. (but usually only when she's sleeping). When she's awake and eating it's a bit of a challenge. She's take up to 4 oz, a little at a time, then she's fussing and I just keep offering the bottle over the next hour and sometimes she takes more. But she still loves Puffs, but the Gerber "Cheetos" stuff even better. Tonight I gave her the Wagonwheels for the first time and she ate over 2 servings of them. She still hates anything on a spoon and any fruit or veggie I've given (avocado, banana, blueberry, carrots). I'm bringing her to that feeding evaluation in a few weeks and I hope to address all of her eating quirks and see what they suggest. But generally, she's still a smiley, happy girl and we just love her to pieces!

Other than all that, I am just SO ready for Jon to be done with residency (which is less than a month away now!! YEAHH!!) He is on call quite a bit and has several evening educational commitments every week. He's also very busy lining things up to start his private practice. He does his best to be available when he is home, but he' s tired and his mind is often elsewhere, which equals not really helping me at home. Being gone so much and having to play catch up, along with Jon being unavailable has equalled me being more stressed out then usual. I know the time is quick approaching that things will be changing for the better, but all of that is still a big unknown and scary too - so I can't wait until our new life has begun and stabilized a bit.

This summer will go by very quick and I just have to keep focused on Meri and all the new things going on with her. I will be doing my best to keep up with this blog, but forgive me when I get behind!!

Girls Night Out in Mankato with my High Schoo Gal Pals

Meredith in CA on a cute wooden horse her Gpa got her

Happy with Gpa

They have a huge tub and Meredith was LOVING it

Cynthia's daughters (Jon's step-sisters), Natalia and Jessica with Meredith

Jon enjoying a beer while being an attentive dad

Everyone outside enjoying the beautiful California weather

Having some fun with Meredith

Thanks for all the presents everyone!

Keeping Meri entertained

Having fun with Uncle John

Meredith hanging out on the ferry into San Fran

A beautiful view from the boat

Back on the deck, enjoying a cocktail as Meri naps

Meri's up and we're working on keeping her from eating the leaves and sticks on the deck, this newspaper insert will work!

Family photo op

Cuddling with Gpa

Meri having some fun in the Johnny Jump up (the archways were too high and she couldn't touch the ground, so we got creative)

Brunch, once again, on the deck - I'm starting to see why people love it in CA

Having a good time with Gma Cynthia and a placement

Now with Gpa and a pot holder, anything that isn't a toy is the funnest thing ever

What a happy girl!

The baby's with Gpa, so I get to cuddle with the puppy

Here's us on our hike together, getting to the top of the mountain/hill was quite an accomplishment with a 19 lb baby strapped to Jon!

Three generations of McCues

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!