lock your sons up

Meredith knows how to kiss (and hug). I'm going to regret thinking this is cute when she's a teenager. She was feeling particularly amorous one night and I got these great pictures.

She gets all serious and still while she slowly leans in.

Then she keeps her lips open with her tongue hanging out just a bit.

And finally she slowly presses her lips to her victim (this time it was daddy).

This is her kissing face with the open mouth and tongue hanging out.

And finally, the classic 'I'm so cute' obligatory picture.

i'm a cyber mom

It all started when I was planning my wedding. I found a really cool online community that was full of brides planning their weddings. Not only was it a plethora of fascinating information, it was also a place I would go to entertain myself by following the lives and times of all my newfound cyber friends.

Well, after you got married, the site automatically pushed you over to another site where all the 'marrieds' would hang out and chat. Stemming from the 'marrieds' community, there was a pregnancy community. After pregnancy came the babies community. I visit on a daily basis and it's full of mothers from around the country. I have become friends with a lot of these moms even though I've never met them or even talked to them in person - up until a few weeks ago.

I found one mom that is my age and she lives in Burnsville and we met up for lunch a few weeks back. She has a little girl named Erin (she's a doll!) who is about 3.5 months older than Meredith. I've attached a couple pictures of the girls during our lunch date (ironically, I ran into Jenny and Dick Berquam during lunch that day but that's a whole different story!). It was a lot of fun and a big milestone for me. My first cyber hookup! I can't wait for another playdate.

I've learned pretty much everything one could ever want to know about pregnancy/babies/baby products/parenting from my cyber friends. That statement sounds a little scary but I think I'm a better mom because of it. My knowledge is never ending.

first trip to the zoo

These pictures were from a few weeks ago when Meredith went to the zoo with Grandma, Jennifer, & the Bairds. I think she had a good time but didn't quite 'get' that you go to the zoo to look at animals. I can't wait to take her there this summer!







Chillin' with Janis

I love my second cuz!

Looking like a tourist with Jennifer and Mary Jo.

Chillin' with Grandma now.

Thanks for taking me to the zoo Grandma. It was lots of fun!

it only gets worse

This is what I deal with now when taking pictures of Meredith. I know, I know ~ it only gets worse.

Mom, what's this I see?!?

Is this a new, expensive toy you bought for me?

Mom, I wanna play with it.

I'm cute enough to be a troublemaker.

big girl carseat

We officially have transitioned Meredith from her infant car seat to her big girl car seat. And it certainly is a big girl car seat. Having the infant seat has been wonderful over the winter months as to avoid having to bundle her up but it sure gets heavy. Carrying around a 9 pound carrier along with a 20 pound baby gets pretty old after a while. We've moved on to high chairs at restaurants and shopping carts at stores.

Now, I don't have any pictures of her in the car seat but I do have some pictures taken that day from our trip to the mall.

get together with friends

Justin and Michelle (and Owen) were kind enough to invite us over for dinner; along with Pat & Anne (and Ryan), and Jeff and Deana (and Ethan & Andrew).

Meredith did great! She was a tad skeptical but she didn't cry and even showed off how she can sit like a big girl. She made a few new boyfriends considering that no one I know has girls (except Shannon).

It's amazing and fun to see how fast all the other kids have grown.

Ethan just celebrated his 4th birthday.

Andrew is 13 months and is mobile. He was walking around like Frankenstein wobbling back and forth. It was very cute! Thanks to uncle Justin for his new nickname.

Ryan is almost a year old now and mobile.

Owen is about 16 months in this picture.

Could this picture be any cuter?!? Looks like Meredith and Andrew like each other!

Last but not least, I have to include a picture of my kid :-)

the next face of babytalk magazine?

This is the photo of Meredith that I entered in the Babytalk Magazine and Good Morning America contest. I love this picture because it shows so much personality and it's dang cute. I mean, they would be stupid not to pick her, right? After all, she is the cutest baby EVER.


I'm actually going to cheat and submit this picture under a different e-mail address. Shhhh...

What's wrong with this picture?!?

Uncle Scott decided to come down for a visit a couple weeks ago, and in honor of returning to my pre-pregnancy weight, I decided that a trip to CiCi's Pizza Buffet sounded like a great idea. Without me knowing, Greg snapped this lovely picture of me. He thinks it's pretty funny. Since I'm the subject matter, I don't find it quite as amusing. Seriously, I have three plates of food on my tray. And this was seconds. And I hadn't had dessert yet. Yikes.

Meredith sat on uncle Scott's lap and played on the computer for a little bit. She loves the keyboard. One day, she managed to put it on standby all by herself.

Last but not least, here's a family photo. Besides the fact that I look hawt, aren't we cute?

6 months old!

I can't believe the first six months have come and gone. It seems like just yesterday that she was this little six pounder. Now, she's an alert little person who can do all sorts of things. At six months, Meredith weighs 17 lbs. 13 oz. Happy half, Sweet Pea.

caught red handed

I only have to leave Meredith's door open a crack and Tabitha jumps at the chance to get near her. One morning I was getting ready for work and Meredith was playing in her crib and this is what I walked in on. Is it just me or do both subjects look guilty or something?!? I think there's a conspiracy going on.

who do i look like?

Do I look like my daddy?

Maybe just a little bit.

cruise!!!

Attention family (and friends, if you're interested)! We booked a cruise and expect a few of you to follow suit. We're booked on the Carnival Legend leaving out of Tampa on December 14, 2008 stopping at Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize City, and Roatan, Honduras.

We're coming into Tampa on December 13 (I would highly recommend coming in a day early). The cruise is 7 nights and gets back to Tampa on Sunday, December 21. We will be extending our stay at The Villages to visit Rich & Mary over Christmas and returning home on December 26. Please let me know if anyone has questions. We booked a balcony room but there are cheaper options that will run around $650/person including all taxes. Airfare is currently around $320/person.

first fit

This blog is full of firsts...first smile, first roll over, first foods, etc. Well, we have another first. Meredith had her first fit. There really is a little bit of mommy in her after all.

She was playing with an empty package of wipes. It made the most wonderful crinkly sound. Daddy thought it wasn't appropriate to play with so he kept taking it away and each and every time, she started screaming until we gave it back to her. Then she would drop it and start screaming again. Fortunately, she's completely forgotten about it and we can go back to her 'real' toys.

big girl food

We gave Meredith her first taste of 'big girl' food. The meal of choice was rice cereal with a side of formula. She LOVED it. As you can see, her mouth shot open like a little bird. We're going to try vegetables next weekend!


What's this mom?!?

Mmmmmm....yummy!

Fingers taste better.

ben's birthday

It was Ben's birthday on Thursday, so following tradition, we had a family get together at Red Lobster. The wee one behaved herself while we waited for a table but as soon as we sat down, following yet another tradition, she started to scream. She proceeded to scream the rest of the night. And it wasn't just crying...it was screaming. A friendly patron even commented to me on the way out that he "hopes she sleeps well" that night. I'm starting to wonder if she's too sheltered?!? She never screams like that at home. She's made a liar out of me. **sigh**

new friend

When I was pregnant with Meredith, Greg and I wondered all the time about how our cat, Tabitha, would react to having a baby around. Tabs was the baby so I knew she would have to get used to not getting as much attention.


I think she's taken well to having a baby around. Meredith's toys are to a cat what Disney World was to us as kids. Tabs thinks Meredith's flailing arms are an open invitation to be pet. Tabs is still none the wiser even though she has lost a couple good size chunks of fur.


They're buddies...for now.

confession

I have a confession. I stalk my blog. I stare at it all day when I'm at work.
I'm going out of town this week for the first time (okay, more than one day) since Meredith was born and I'm going to be gone 6 days. I added these pictures because I like them and I need something to look at while I'm in Milwaukee. I'm going to miss my sweet baby girl!

tutu cute

Little girls are so much fun. You get to take the girliness to extremes and do cheesy things like dress them up in tutus.



She gets chubbier by the day...she might have a future as a sumo wrestler instead of a ballerina.

After we took the tutu off, it lead to an impromptu photo session on the changing table where I got these beautiful pictures!