What did you say?

We've had a word explosion at our house recently. At her 15 month check up, Mere was saying roughly 10 words. Now, at almost 18 months, she's saying around 70 words with relative consistency. She comes up with something new every day. She was telling me all day about being my "helper" and decided this morning to jump on our bed and yell/sing "More milk! More milk! More milk!" after she finished her morning beverage. We're really staring to see her sense of humor come out. This weekend while eating lunch, she put a piece of apple on her fork, stuck it on her head and said "Hat!" and giggled like crazy. She's such a funny girl! Her opinions are definitely more pronounced and we're into full-fledged tantrum territory. She has also sprouted six new teeth in the last week (to add to the six she already had). Perhaps that contributed to her occasional unhappiness?!?

Chris and my dad have been working like crazy to finished Meredith and Jack's playroom. They're getting close! They took a blank room and have done beautiful built-ins. I included a few pictures of the masterpiece in process. I love going in that room and so does Meredith. We also bought Jack his very own chair to match the one his sister has. The first picture is Meredith (and Baby, of course!) sitting on the box that the chair came in.

Baby Jack has been growing well and moving like crazy. We've had a few ultrasounds since my last post and everything looks great! His room has been painted and is almost ready. I ordered his glider this weekend and most of our baby laundry is done. It's much easier to get ready the second time around!

The other big news at our house is that Philly had surgery on Friday to fix one of his toes. He had a pretty large corn that was causing him to limp and be in a lot of pain. As I write this, he's hanging out on the floor of our bedroom enjoying the buzz from his pain pills. He should be good as new once his stitches come out in a few weeks. We're definitely relieved things went well and we're looking forward to taking the pups out for walks again.

18 weeks and counting...

I can't believe I've only got 18 weeks to go until Jack is born. Mere, Mimi and I went to the OB this morning and it looks like Baby Jack is right on schedule. His heart rate was good and I'm doing well too. Big sister Meredith wasn't too happy to be at another appointment, but she was a good sport. We bought a new bed for Meredith and Chris set it up in her big girl room over the weekend. We're going to start trying to transition her to the new bed this weekend so we can start getting the nursery ready for baby #2. Should be interesting!

Over the past few weeks, Meredith has really started talking up a storm. She has almost 30 words now. I love having conversations with her! We were reading books before bed last night and she turned to me, patted my chest and said "My mommy" and rested her head on my shoulder. It was such an amazing moment! She also has started saying good morning to the dogs when we come downstairs. She calls them Meez and Bubba (can't say Philly yet) and likes to pat them, throw their toys and give them Milk Bones. When she sees them, she says "Hi Bubba" or "Hi Meez" and waves. So cute! She has also figured out when Chris leaves for work that he's "bye bye" and says "Da bye" throughout the day. She's such a funny girl! The big hit in our house lately is her baby doll. Her baby and her "bop" (blankie) go everywhere with her these days. We've also started reading books about being a big sister and about what babies can and can't do. Papa was visiting over the weekend. At one point, Meredith gave him his hat and sweatshirt and tried to open the door to tell him to go home. She kept saying "Papa bye" and waving. I can't wait to wake up in the morning and see what new thing she's going to do each day!