Pictures!

Finally, some pictures! Aunt Erin and Aunt Meghan have been very patient with me and hopefully these will be worth the wait! :) I tried to get some video of our new walker yesterday, but she wasn't willing to show off for me. Apparently, she took two more steps yesterday at daycare, so now I know this isn't all in my head! Meredith and I went shoe shopping over the weekend and she is now the proud owner of some cute white Stride Rite shoes (as well as a pair of brown and pink mary janes that squeak when you walk--I'm sure they'll be cute for about three seconds once I hear her squeaking all over the place. Thankfully, the squeaker is removable). A few pictures of what we've been doing over the last few weeks...

These are both from Auntie Janae's rehearsal dinner in Columbus. Meredith and Mimi came with me and we had a great time. The wedding was absolutely perfect! Mimi bought Mere this adorable dress (Skyler has a matching one actually) and I just love it. The pigtails complete the outfit, don't you think?

This is also from the hotel in Columbus. I was trying to get dressed for the wedding and Meredith was playing outside the bathroom. Somehow, she ended up with a roll of toilet paper and proceeded to unroll it everywhere. I have a feeling Mimi was involved, especially since Meredith couldn't reach the toilet paper by herself!

We bought Meredith a play kitchen for her birthday (she got it a little early!). She's been playing with it nonstop. These pictures are from the first day that Daddy brought it home. She was playing with the spoon and/or fork just hanging out of her mouth--I guess she wanted to keep them close by in case she needed a bite of some of her play food. Her blender makes noises and has little balls inside that bounce up and down, so that's why she's carrying it with her (or she wants easy access to it for margaritas during happy hour--she's a smart cookie).

This is why you don't let Meredith play with the mail! She was reading the paper and maybe ordering something from Williams Sonoma. I guess I'll see when I get our credit card statement next month! The black and white thing she's playing with is the bottle bag from her diaper bag. It usually has a sippy cup in it and she likes to pull it out of the diaper bag to play with it. I promise she doesn't play with it all the time (it just looks that way from these pictures). If you look closely, you can see her hair is starting to get some actual curls. So cute!

Before bedtime last night--she was "mooing" at the dogs

The last few weeks have been filled with lots of firsts. Mere is talking up a storm. She can now tell you what a cow says ("mmmm"--close enough to moo, right?) and says "mama" when I ask her what my name is. She's getting better with saying Daddy's name too (she gives him a loud "DA" when she sees him now). She can give high fives, clap her hands when you ask and blow raspberries on command. I'm happy to report that the snoot face is back and she gives us snoots regularly. She has also started shaking her finger and saying "na na na" when she doesn't want to do something. She knows some body parts (gives us a snoot face when we ask where her nose is, can point to her toes and mouth and points to our noses, eyes and mouths). It's really fun to see her personality. The red hair is not just for show! She has also developed quite a close relationship with Lambie, her pink stuffed lamb. He goes everywhere with us. When we come in to get Meredith up from bed or from a nap, we often find her holding on to Lambie and standing in the crib, waiting (sort of) patiently. Chris bought a stand in for Lambie the other day (just in case of a Lambie catastrophe). She's warming up to the idea of Lambie 2, but he's a poor substitute for the original.