what on earth is this?!?

Well, we finally had some good weather so I took Meredith outside to play.

I love how she's throwing knives from her eyes at the grass. She was pretty unsure about what the heck all that green, pointy stuff was. Does that furrowed brow remind you of anyone?

She's so angelic :-)

My new favorite picture.

Last but not least, I think this one is funny.

making progress

Meredith is making a little progress towards crawling. But don't let this picture fool you. She's not quite there yet. I have a feeling it will still be a while. Her dad is more optimistic than I am.

jen's deck party

Last weekend we went to my friend Jen's house to celebrate their deck being finished! We had a great time visiting Jen & family, and Renee & family. Also, I can tell Sandy (Jen's mom) is a natural at being a grandma!

the tooth

Here is the tooth I was talking about. You can't see it very well...for some reason the pictures aren't as clear on Google as they really are. There are actually two teeth. The second one is just barely above the surface still. The tooth is kind of growing on me. I guess it's kind of cute after all.

breaking news

Take a good long look at this beautiful gummy smile. It's one of the last few things that made her look like a true baby nowdays.


I'm sad, yet excited to tell you all that Meredith cut her first two teeth today. I had no idea she was teething since she showed no symptoms really (now that I think about it, she's REALLY cranky today). They are just barely through so once I can get a good picture, I'll post a tooth update.

there's just something about babies...

There's just something about babies that other babies find fascinating. First off, congrats to Nate and Jen on the arrival of their baby, Samuel. Sam is almost three months old and last month Nate and Jen took him down to Arizona on his first vacation. Sam sent a sweet e-mail full of cute pictures to his grandma (Phyllis) and she printed it out and put it on the refrigerator. As soon as Meredith caught sight of it, she couldn't look away. She even had to touch it.

Nate & Jen - If you read this, Meredith is very excited to meet Sam next month at Ben and Angie's wedding. I think they will be good friends. She may even try to kiss him.

grandmas & grandpas

I'm happy to say Rich and Mary made it home from Florida. They even brought me a 1/2 bushel of Valencia oranges and they are so good they taste like candy. Meredith is so excited to be able to see her Grandma and Grandpa Carlson!

While we're on the subject of grandmas and grandpas, Grandpa Schwake stops over every now and then and usually Meredith cries when she's around him. Well, she's getting SO much better with her social skills and she sat on his lap, played with him, and yep - she kissed him!


And finally, here is Grandma Schwake and Meredith on Mother's Day.

mother's day

I am so thankful to be a mom. It really, truely is the best thing in the whole world - nothing compares. I love you Emmy!

I'm also thankful to have a wonderful mom and mother-in-law. I love you too!

We spent my very first Mother's Day visiting relatives for Ben and Angie's wedding shower. We had such a great time. It was good to see everyone!

I love this picture of Mary Jo and Meredith.

pictures

We took Meredith to the mall on Saturday to get some pictures taken. I feel like such a horrible mom because I haven't had pictures taken since she was 3 weeks old. She's 8.5 months now. She did pretty good though and was all smiles during the first outfit as you can see. She wasn't quite as smiley once we changed her into her dress though. Here are some of my favorites.

is she crawling yet?

People always ask me if Meredith is crawling yet. I thought this photo would shed some light on her current ability to crawl.

blonde baby

The one trait I really wanted Meredith to inherit was my blonde hair. I have always wanted a blonde baby for as long as I can remember. She may appear to be bald in pictures but she's starting to grow some beautiful white hair. She gets cuter every day and I can't wait for her to have a head full of fuzzy, white hair.

lock your sons up part II

It seems that Meredith has found her true love when it comes to kissing. Never fear, it is NOT your sons. It's not even Mom or Dad for that matter. We're chopped liver nowdays. Her favorite thing to kiss now is her dolly.