The Big ONE!

The day is finally here.....oh, I'm so excited!  (Even more excited than my own recent birthday, but that goes without saying that birthdays are not as fun once you reach a certain age.)

My little Meredith (also known as "Mer", "Mer-Bear", "baby girl", "girlfriend", "Pebbles" and the list goes on) has been with us for ONE YEAR!  That just doesn't even seem possible.  My life changed for the better at 5:08 p.m. on May 3, 2011.

My hope is that one day Meredith will look back on my blog and gain a small glimpse into our lives at this very moment.  So, here is a year in review of what was going on with our little blessing from her perspective.

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Day 1

Wow, that sure was a trip!  What's going on?  Where am I?  And...who are all of these people that keep looking at me and holding me?  Why do they keep wrapping me up really tight in blankets?  And what's the deal with the bright lights I keep being put under...I think someone said it's because I have jaundice!  I just want to sleep....

Month 1

OK, so I think I'm starting to understand - this is mommy and daddy that are around me all the time.  But, why do they keep taking so many pictures of me?  Don't they realize that the flash hurts my eyes?  Oh well, they must think I'm cute or something.

Month 2

I really like to smile now.  I usually do it when Mommy is singing to me or sometimes if Daddy makes funny faces.  I also heard someone say that I have dimples - not sure what those are, but I think that's a good thing.  

Month 3

Can you tell that I am now beginning to hold my head up really well?  Mommy says I'm very strong.  I also just learned how to roll over.  My favorite toy is the exersaucer - it's really fun.  I can touch a lot of toys that are within my reach and chew on anything in site.  Oh, one other thing...Mommy ended up quitting her job to stay home with me full-time - I must be pretty special!

Month 4

So, I think this is becoming a regular thing.  That is, they keep putting me on the couch every month and taking my picture.  Daddy makes funny faces so I will smile, while Mommy is holding the camera.  I guess I can get used to this.

Month 5

I think I have found something that Mommy and Daddy don't agree on - baseball teams!  Daddy is really excited because the St. Louis Cardinals just won the World Series and it happened the year I was born; But, Mommy didn't care too much about it, because she likes the Chicago Cubs.  Mommy still gave in, though, and dressed me in a few Cardinals outfits for the playoff games.

Month 6

Mommy and Daddy let me open an early Christmas present, after they got it at Black Friday sales.  It's a jumperoo!  I really like it, but I'm not sure why they laugh so much when I jump up and down.  Isn't that what I'm supposed to do?

Month 7

This was a fun month for me.  I got to see both of my grandparents and some extended family for Christmas.  I received many gifts, but was still not fully able to open the gifts on my own.  I also got to sit on Santa's lap and tell him my wish list.

Month 8

What's the deal with these white sharp things in my mouth?  It hurts really bad.  Isn't there an easier way to give me teeth?  I began going to "Baby Rock" at the library this month.  It is so fun.  I get to be around other kids my age, dance to music, listen to a story, and the best part of all...BUBBLES!  I love to yell as the bubbles come falling down.

Month 9

Mommy and Daddy keep saying I'm growing up so much.  I can now take a few steps on my own.  I still prefer to crawl everywhere, since it's much quicker!

Month 10

My walking has improved a lot since last month!  I can now walk much longer distances, even once being able to walk the entire length of the living room floor.  Mommy also likes to take me to the park now on nice days - I love the swing!  My hair has also gotten really long and some days, a little crazy looking.  I sometimes will let her put my hair in pigtails, but I usually can't sit still long enough.
 

Month 11

Don't I look so much like a little girl in this picture?  Well, Mommy thinks so too.  So much so, that she stopped giving me the pacifier.  Not that I really used it too much anyway.  Now, I just suck on one of my fingers if I need to calm down.  Also, I can now walk almost anywhere and only occasionally fall. 

Month 12 (One Year!)

  
Mommy says I'm really smart, because when Daddy leaves for work, I walk over to the window to look out.  I'm still working on how to wave, but I like to watch his car drive off.  Also, I love to talk and do it all the time.  I don't think anyone knows what I'm saying, though, because they just repeat nonsense (goo-goo, dada, mama) words back to me, but I know what I mean.  

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Oh, what a great year we have had with Meredith.  Happy birthday, Mer!  We love you so much!  I'll leave you with an excerpt from Mommy and Daddy's letters to you, found in your baby book:

"Two of the greatest moments in my life were when I found out I was pregnant with you and the day you were born.  It was a surreal experience when I first held you in my arms.  I am so glad that God blessed me to be your Mommy; You are truly a miracle from God."

- Mommy

"I love the way your smile melts my heart.  I love how excitable you are.  I love how you light up when you first see me as I come home from work.  I love the way you study everything around you and always have to be in the middle of all the action.  You are such a wonderful gift from God."

- Daddy

Almost One!

The big day is almost here for our little girl...we are going to have a one-year old on Thursday!  Everyone says how time flies when you have children, and I'm beginning to understand exactly what they are talking about.  Lately, when I see or hold a little baby, I can't even remember Meredith being that small.  Crazy how time flies!

Meredith advanced to the next nursery room at church on Sunday....#tear.  She went from the "God's Gifts" (for crawlers) to the "Works of Wonder" (for walkers) classroom.  Since I also volunteer in the Works of Wonder classroom, I was sure to tell the next hour volunteers that it was my baby girl's first time in this room and to ask that they keep a special eye on her.  I was most concerned about the slide that is in the room.  Of course, I never thought about it being an issue when I watch the other kids in the room, but when it's my own baby I think about all the things that could go wrong from a fall to an injury requiring stitches....ah, but alas she survived and gave us a big smile when we came to pick her up after church.  That melts my heart!

Other than putting the final touches on her birthday party next weekend and planning our upcoming trip to the Dells/Mall of America, not a ton of new things going on in the Prentice household.  I'm planning a special post to honor a "year in the life" of our little Mer-Bear, so that should be coming later in the week.  In the meantime, I will leave you with this picture of Meredith all ready for the Dells trip:

She still loves to hold shoes (refer to my previous post entitled, "Date Night")!

Big Girl

"Big Girl" is the best way to describe this post.  Meredith stepped up big time over the past few days and it's something we never would have expected from our 11 month old.  It started on Thursday night - I was feeling really nauseous, light headed, and sick to my stomach.  Turns out, I ended up with the stomach flu.  No warning whatsoever that it was coming...ugh!  I didn't sleep at all that night and when I asked Chad what his work calendar looked like the next day (I didn't see how I could manage watching Meredith from the bathroom), he said, "I think I may have to take a sick day too."  So, Friday, we both had a terrible case of the stomach flu and could barely stand.  With no one in town to watch Meredith, we wondered how this would work.

First, we summoned ourselves to the living room and kept Meredith in with us by blocking off both exits with the ottoman and high chair.  Pretty creative if you ask me.  Next, we watched to see what she would do.  Other than the occasional pull at the window blinds or the pounding of the TV screen, she did phenomenally well.  What a Big Girl!!!  She was able to entertain herself by turning pages in her books, chasing a ball around, and of course, perfecting her walking skills by going in large circles around the room.  I probably should let her entertain herself more often like this in the future so that she isn't always dependent upon me for her entertainment, but hopefully I won't be deathly sick like this again.  I didn't take any pictures to mark this occasion, because the house was much too messy!  Thankfully, Meredith has not yet caught the stomach bug and hopefully never will.

Here are some other things she has begun to do over the past week:

- She is PACI FREE!  We've tried "paci bans" in the past, only to end up giving in after a day or so.  Well, this time, she has gone one week without a paci.  I think she's old enough now to understand how to calm herself down, usually by sucking one of her fingers.  We never used a paci a ton with her, but it was a crutch for us (primarily when in public places) and her and I'm hoping this continues.

She usually likes to suck on her middle finger or ring finger.

- She can now drink from a straw!  A sippy cup straw that is....

- Yesterday, we noticed that she is indeed learning words from her videos (the only TV we let her watch is her "Your Baby Can Read" videos, twice a day).  When you ask her to put her arms up, she will put one or both straight up in the air.  It's really funny to watch when she does it while also walking.   Also, when one of the girls on the video looks at her hand, Meredith will put her hand in front of her and turn it from side to side.

- She getting another tooth! :)  Her second one in the top middle is still coming in and yesterday we noticed that she has a third up top starting to come in.  I use to wonder if she would ever get teeth, since her first didn't come until 8 months, and now we're wondering if we should begin a special fund for braces.   

- She also now figured how to climb (on objects other than the stairs).  I was in denial that this would happen.  Not that I wanted Meredith to never be able to climb into a chair or bed, but I'm now picturing accidents around ever turn.  Here are her action shots (Note: she was supervised - notice my hand in the pictures?  While my first thought was "whoa" she's climbing and going to hurt herself, my close second thought was that I needed to grab the camera!)

Date Night

Meredith is nearly a year old and we finally did it!  What, you may ask?  Well, Chad and I had our first official "date night" this past Friday, to celebrate our recent birthdays.  Sure, we've gone on "dates" before since she was born, but it was usually while our parents were in town to visit and we would sneak away to a quick movie after she was already in bed.

My friend, Theresa, has a baby that is right around Meredith's age and when talking one day, we thought it would be nice if we could switch sitting for each others kids, so we could each have a date night.  It's a neat idea and I would love to do it larger scale one day, with several couples set-up in the scheduling ring.  Basically, we sit for each others kids (right now, every other month, so that one of us has a date night each month) and there is no cost involved, since we are swapping services.  Kind of nice when you don't have family in town and you're on a budget!  Also, we think it is so important that we connect and get out of the house by ourselves occasionally.  Of course, I love spending time with Meredith and really don't like leaving her with other people, but it's such an important part of our marriage to make these commitments.

Chad and I went to Olive Garden (one of my favorite places!) and then bowling.  I couldn't even remember the last time we bowled - it was nice, but boy was my wrist sore the next day!  One of the gifts we request of our parents each Christmas are restaurant gift cards.  Eating out at sit-down restaurants can be a budget-breaker and something I normally see as a frivolous expense, so we enjoy having these gift cards.  I have so much stuff around the house, that I really don't need or want home decor items, etc. for gifts, but would rather remember a nice meal/experience out instead!

Not a lot of new stuff going on with Meredith, other than she is walking really well and gets back up every time she falls.  Plus, she likes to try to climb the stairs anytime she thinks we're not looking.  And, she is getting her fourth tooth up top and has learned to grind her teeth - argh, like nails on a chalkboard!  Oh, and she loves to pick up our shoes and walk around the rooms with them.  Ok....so, maybe there is a lot of new stuff going on with her!  Here are some photos from the week:

I got Daddy's shoe!

Yay!

I'm strong!

I love the stairs!

My first birthday as a Mom!

Easter Happenings

Boy, these weeks sure do fly by!  Chad said yesterday that Meredith seems to learn something new everyday and I believe it.

• She is now becoming quite the walker.  It's very weird to see her toddle around, when it seems she learned to crawl just yesterday.  Over the past few days, she has really begun to advance in her walking abilities.  She can now squat down to pick up objects and get back up unassisted (e.g., without falling back down and crawling).  She also seems to enjoy walking more now, so we imagine she will be walking fairly well by her first birthday. 
• She can also now kind-of-sort-of wave!  It's quite funny - when we wave to her, she raises one or both hands straight up over her head.  It sometimes comes with a squeezing of her hand, but it's most funny when her arm just shoots straight up :)
• Okay, this isn't exactly a milestone, but I think it's funny and proves her awareness of surroundings.  I was at Fazoli's this week with a friend and as I was preparing to order, I noticed that she kept looking past me and opening her mouth really wide.  She then would close her mouth, look at me, and look past me and do it again.  I finally looked over my shoulder and could see why she was doing this....there was a picture of a girl eating spaghetti and she had her mouth wide open!  Ha!  Meredith was just trying to copy what she looked like.  I got a good laugh out of that.  This is a reenactment she did later of that face:

• Finally, this wasn't exactly the milestone I wanted, but we have moved her to the kitchen sink for bath time.  She seems quite content here and though it is weird to think I wash her body in the same area I wash her dishes, it works and is much better than our bathtub disaster (see previous Blog post, Milestones)!  I'm sure this solution won't work for long, though, since she will be too big soon.

For Easter, we invited both of our sets of parents over to help us celebrate.  Also, this year Easter fell right in the middle of Chad and my birthdays, so that was another reason to celebrate.  I was kind of excited to be able to cook a nice meal for everyone, since my cooking skills have increased substantially since my single-hood days.  Plus, I LOVE crockpot meals.  I made pot roast in the crockpot (my Mom provided the recipe - the BEST I have ever had, and no I'm not just saying that because I made it), green bean casserole, mashed potatoes/gravy, and rolls.  Yummy!

We realized that this was the first time Meredith's grandparents have all been together since the day she was born.  Here is a picture:

Chad and I decided not to do an "Easter Basket" for Meredith.  I guess we just feel that she won't remember it now anyways, plus I think it kind of takes away from the true meaning for the Holiday.  We were talking about how we can kind of understand Santa and his purpose (gives out presents to children that are good), but what is the purpose of the Easter Bunny?  I mean, they don't even lay eggs that the kids hunt for.  We think most of the Easter Bunny's in kids pictures are a little freaky looking.  Not to mention it's around $20 for the cheap picture package at our local Mall.  What a rip off.  So, we instead let our parents get her gifts - she got a few books about Easter, an Easter dress, and a stuffed Easter bunny.

Fun New Toys!

Miss Meredith in her Easter dress