A New Look

Last week we had a follow-up visit with Meredith's ophthalmologist, who had checked her eyes about 3 months ago. The verdict at that time was that she was quite far-sighted and that one eye was weaker than the other. There wasn't any sign of natural improvement this time, and so she wrote Meredith a prescription for her first set of glasses. These should hopefully strengthen her weaker eye, and potentially help both of her eyes. It's even possible she won't permanently need glasses - but without them now, she could actually lose sight in her weaker eye due to the strong eye "taking over." Obviously that would be bad!

The optician gave me a little speech when I showed up with Meredith. It went something like this:

"Children Meredith's age don't have peer pressure. No kids her age can make fun of her for her glasses. So what we need to prioritize are durability, comfort, and effectiveness in staying on."

You can guess what that means...a friend said "it sounds like they could just use goggles." He was joking, but it's not too far from the truth! Luckily, Meredith is so adorable that she even looks cute in her new pink baby glasses:


She has been doing quite well with keeping the glasses on. She obviously isn't a huge fan, but we've found that after she pulls them off we can usually just put them back on and they stay on for a while. They have a strap around the back since her ears aren't really big enough to hold them up!

A game that Meredith has been enjoying lately is tilting her head to the side and having you imitate her. It never ceases to crack her up. This picture turned out really cute...

We will be going up north for the holidays, so we may not post for a bit - but hang in there! We should have a nice Christmas collection of photos for you!

The Magic Sweater

Check this out!! A new milestone for sure....recorded December 1, when all four of our parents were here for the Thanksgiving holidays!

Hooray for a Crayon in the Mouth!

You may remember that we're having issues with getting Meredith to put food in her mouth. She doesn't put ANYTHING in her mouth. We have been working on this with all kinds of various cookies, crackers, etc. If we break off a piece, she will let us put it in her mouth and she'll chew it up and swallow, but then give her a piece in her hand and she just throws it.

Not long ago, our babysitter Jenee had the great idea of Nilla Wafers. She caught Meredith red-handed giving one a little lick:


This is when the excitement began! I found I could get her to do the same with an animal cracker (the kind with the pink and white icing). But still, she wouldn't suck or bite....just lick a little, or even just touch it to her closed mouth and then later lick the crumbs (silly kid!).

Then yesterday, I gave Meredith some big crayons to play with, and she actually stuck one in her mouth - just for a second - and I of course said "no" and she was fine with that (didn't taste too good anyway). But inside I was saying "yes! yes!" because this meant she was starting to be interested in trying to taste things.

And finally, today, was the big breakthrough. The key: a cheese stick. It is one that looks like string cheese, but it's a more delicious mix of mozzarella and cheddar. First I pulled a piece sort of loose off the top, so that when I put it in her mouth and told her to "bite" she would easily get a piece of cheese. (I tried this for a bit yesterday and it had worked, but she wouldn't transition to doing it herself). I have found that she loves this cheese. Then I stopped breaking it up for her, and just let her suck and gnaw a bit while I held it (don't worry, I had her in my lap the whole time in the unlikely event that she bit off too big of a chunk -- she doesn't seem capable of that right now anyway). And then....

.... I gave her the cheese stick....

... and ....

... she put it in her mouth and bit a tiny bit of cheese off!!! By herself!!!

And she did it again and again until she got sick of it - probably 15-20 bites before she wanted to move on! She has quite an ingenious system - since her jaw is apparently not strong enough (or maybe coordinated enough?) to bite off a real piece of the cheese stick, she instead puts the stick pretty far into her mouth, closes her few teeth around it, and then slowly pulls it out, so that she scrapes some cheese off. The cheese stick sort of looks like it was in a pencil sharpener, but I think it is beautiful :)

Classic Fall Outfits

I brought Meredith out on a walk the other day and it was a little chilly, so I took this opportunity to try on a little outfit that Rob's aunt and uncle gave us. It is a little big but just about fits! And in a month or two the matching socks (from Rob's parents) will fit too -- Meredith seems to have disproportionately tiny feet :)

The picture above captures my many efforts to catch a photo of Meredith in this outfit while she crawled like a madwoman back and forth across the couch.

Below are my ultimate successes!



We also just got a bundle of winter clothing from another friend, and this amazing dress was in the box. It is corduroy (I love corduroy!). Here she is sleeping after church on Sunday.

Speaking of which, I hear a little girl waking up, so that's all for now!

The Little Cow Who Didn't Moo

This Sunday was the Fall Festival at church. We took this chance to dress Meredith in her Halloween costume (and since we think trick-or-treating with her would be too obvious of a candy grab on our part, this was her one chance to wear it!).

Several people asked Meredith if she could "moo". She answered with silence. Not even a "buh". But she was so cute that no one cared.

I thought I'd post a few pictures - here she is looking at the animals at the petting zoo (kids could actually go in, but they were starting to pack up by the time we got to that area so we just looked from the fence).

Here is our little calf checking out another little calf:


Such a big girl!


Excited to pet the sheep!

How cute is that little tail?

Meredith also now holds the title for Diaper Dash champion! There were three crawlers in the competition, which involved crawling across a large blanket from Mommy to Daddy. Though Meredith can crawl fast, she decided not to. She meandered slowly over to Rob, turned sideways a few times, and general cracked us all up. Lucky for her, the other two kids decided that they did not want to crawl at all :) The prize was three raffle tickets - unfortunately, she didn't win the raffle, but I do have those ticket stubs for the scrapbook! Here she is, in all her glory, crawling toward Daddy:


Hope you all have a great Halloween!

A few "words" (?)

Our pediatrician asked us if Meredith calls us mama and dada yet. We told her she says those words, but not in reference to us (or anything in particular). She definitely knows what they mean though - if we say them to her, like "Where's Daddy?", she usually looks at the right person.

However, we have made more progress with a few other words. None of these are totally consistent, but here's what we've got:

First, she pretty consistently refers to her toy ducks as "gah". We say "duck, duck, duck" and she clearly thinks she is repeating after us when she says "gah". She now calls it that even without our prompting.

Second, she loves looking at pictures (we have a constant slideshow on the screensaver on our coffee-table laptop) and she sees photos of her Grandma and Grandpa regularly because of some photos on our computer from when they visited. She definitely recognizes them, but hadn't called them anything. Today, though, it seems she is making a connection and calling them either "bama" or "babba" or something in between. Very cute!

Finally, my personal favorite new word is "boomboom". It means balloon. Rob has been telling me this for a while but I didn't believe it was true, because she also said it sometimes when no balloon was in sight. But as we sit here watching the slideshow with her, when she sees a picture with a balloon (which was her first favorite toy after coming home, thanks to Auntie Burcin!) she is as clear as day: "boomboom, boomboom". Adorable!

Our efforts for word # 4 have been futile so far. The goal is "moo". Meredith is going to be a cow for Halloween (it was a cute costume at the Weecycle baby thrift store that fits her perfectly). We will post pictures when the time comes. It is my great hope that by the time of our church's fall festival (Oct 26), when the costume makes its debut, she will be able to say "moo". Here is how the training is going:

Me: Meredith, this is your cow (holding small plastic toy cow). What does the cow say? Mooooo! Moooooo!

Meredith: (silence)

Me: Mooooooo! Moooooo! The cow says Moooooo. Moooooo! What does the cow say?

Meredith: Buh.

Other training sessions involve a large stuffed cow and a picture of a cow in a book she likes. All of them consistently result in "buh". So we may just have the first cow known for saying "buh" instead of "moo".

(Note: I've decided to try to post a bit more often by allowing myself the occasional post without photos - hope everyone enjoys the stories too...)

Meredith's Latest Skills

Enjoying Life with Meredith!

Look at the hair on this girl!

I've been asked several times for a blog update, and I've been meaning to do it. Just a little busy these days! The semester is 1/3 through and we are doing well, but the time is flying by. In all my "spare" time, I am still writing thank-you notes for gifts received in July (sorry!).

All in all, this last month has been good! Meredith's favorite thing to do is to have you walk her around everywhere (she holds your two fingers - she could do just one, but she doesn't like it and she'll stop until she gets that other finger back!). My back has been in serious pain, but I know it is just a phase, and probably when she starts running around on her own I will wish I had the kind of control I do now!


In preparation for the day she starts toddling around on her own, check out our fireplace area:


Instead of paying $50+ for a foam padding fireplace protection kit, I bought a few yards of fleece at Wal-mart for $8 and we used good old duct tape to stick it on (the fleece is folded in several layers to make it pretty soft). We'll let you know if it works or if she finds a way to get it off :)

A favorite game continues to be peek-a-boo. I know smaller babies like this game to be played by others, but Meredith likes to do the hiding and revealing by herself.

Exhibit A:



Exhibit B:

As a standard measure for international adoptees, we asked to have a developmental evaluation done by the local "early intervention" program. They offer free services for children with developmental delays. The woman who came to our home concluded that there's no evidence of any delays and that Meredith is really doing well for a child who was in an orphanage. She is very verbal, has good motor skills, and in general is on-target for her preemie-adjusted age (and thus not qualified for further program services, which is fine). Her only difficulty right now is eating - and it isn't that she won't eat. She is actually willing to eat anything that's reasonably soft. But she will not put anything in her mouth herself. We've recently gotten her to eat these little crunchy stars (sort of like fast-dissolving Cheerios) which was big progress, but she only eats them if we put them in her mouth for her, and she mostly just sucks on them until she can swallow (not a lot of chewing). We'll be continuing to work on that and update you as things progress. I think there will suddenly be a day she realizes that she herself has the power to transport food and drink to her mouth - and then things will be off and running. My guess is that orphanage life always involved being fed by someone so that is all she knows. It will just take some time.

Today we had her 15-month (12-month adjusted-age) pediatrician appointment. The pediatrician is happy with how things are going. Meredith is still on the growth chart, though no higher than before (around the 10th percentile for her adjusted age). She's 18 lbs 6 oz and is 27.25 inches tall. I have a feeling there will be a growth explosion when she starts eating more on her own - meanwhile, we will make sure she's getting plenty of food the old-fashioned way, on a spoon we put in her mouth :) Our pediatrician said we can start with whole milk instead of formula, so that will probably be nice for her - at least I for one think it tastes a lot better!

We are very excited to be getting some new regular help around the house. Starting on Labor Day (ironically) we had our first every-other-week visit by a cleaning lady. It is so nice to have clean sheets appear on our bed (and Meredith's crib)! And you can imagine our kitchen and bathrooms are always in need of some spiffing up too. It is a load off my mind. I have told people, it doesn't really save me much time, but rather it saves me guilt -- because I wasn't cleaning these things much anyway, I was just feeling bad about it because I knew they should be clean :)

We also made a more exciting move - we have our friend Jenee coming over twice a week to help out with Meredith! If you haven't met Jenee, let me tell you she has a way with kids. She comes over on Wednesday afternoons so that I can work at home, and also on Friday mornings so that Rob can stop using vacation times to be off (he will continue to take Tues/Thurs mornings off to be home while I teach). Of course, it's a big move with attachment to decide to have another caretaker, but we feel like things are going very well and that Meredith knows who her parents are. We are also so thankful to be able to do this in our home very part-time, since we do want to keep "nesting" here.

Not only is Jenee a great babysitter, she is also a quilter - we love the quilt she handmade for Meredith, with a specially Russian-looking design and color scheme:


Many of the pictures you're seeing are courtesy of our friends Brandon and Krista (and their families) who have been in town visiting and have taken more pictures than we have lately! I would be remiss if I didn't include a photo of their little sweetheart Emma!

Amazingly, 3-month-old Emma and Meredith seem fine living in the same house for a couple of days. We thought they would wake each other or set each other off more with crying, but they operate pretty independently. We just have to stop Meredith from grabbing her too hard (same issue with cats actually...).

Finally, lest you'd think everything is always perfect at our house, here's Meredith when something isn't going her way:

Her face stays red, and the tears stand on her cheeks, long after the episode is over. She is a bit of a drama queen I am afraid :) My mom thinks Meredith is "strong willed." I think she might be right. I also think she might be an extrovert - which scares her poor introvert parents. Hopefully we won't drive her crazy...or vice versa!

We'll be posting a video as soon as we get it loaded - it's a good one. But for now, hope you enjoyed the pics and the updates!

Finally a second post!!

Well, life is busy and happy here! So busy and happy that we haven't had a lot of time for blogging. So this batch of photos is meant to help make up for it.

First, a few photos from Grandma and Grandpa's visit (my parents)...Meredith had a great time when they were here. Below we've got her with my mom, with both my parents, and then with my brother Benny. She loved looking at him!



The next photos were mostly taken by Rob's sister Beth, who is a fantastic photographer. Look at these expressions she caught while we were visiting Rob's family in Canada...


Meredith is much loved by her Opa (the Dutch word for grandpa, Rob's dad) and also her great-grandpa, who is her only living great-grandparent.



We went up to the Hamersma cottage in central Ontario for a few days. For those who aren't familiar with it, it's a wonderful rustic place in the woods next to a creek with a small waterfall. It doesn't have running water, and we use a generator for electricity (usually just for a few hours in the evening for some light).

Here is Meredith with her Oma (Rob's mom) on the cottage porch.

We learned a few great things about Meredith at the cottage:

1) She doesn't mind eating her baby food or drinking her formula at room temperature rather than warmed up.

2) She isn't bothered by crawling on wood (yes, that's right, she's crawling!) as long as she has pants on.

3) She apparently tastes good to mosquitos (several bites) but she also heals quickly.

4) A sling ride through the woods with Daddy puts her to sleep.

(don't worry, the thing holding up her head was not on there when she was awake - she was allowed to look around -- just apparently too sleepy to do so after a bit!).

5) And finally, she JUST fits in the cottage wash basin for a bath.

Does she look chubby to you? Here are a few stats:

weight at birth (June 16, 2007): about 2 pounds
weight in May when we met her: just under 13 pounds
weight at the pediatrician in early July: 15 pounds 6 ounces
weight at the pediatrician today, 6 weeks later: 17 pounds 13 ounces

All I can say is WOW! She is growing. Don't worry, she's gotten taller too :)

The last part of our trip to Canada involved a big surprise party for Rob's mom's birthday. Meredith's cousins (well, technically Rob's cousins' kids) had eagerly awaited her arrival. Little Jake (in the middle) even brought her a picture he made for her. His mom Robin - holding their littler one, Mitchell - told me that Jake had made picture after picture and she has asked him to just select one to bring for us :)

Jake and cousin Olivia check out Meredith in her stroller.

The scenery at the party was gorgeous, as it always is at Aunt Ann and Uncle Jack's garden center, http://www.griffinsgreenhouses.com.



Here is Meredith enjoying some time with her Aunt Ginny.

We got a nice family shot at the party. Unfortunately Ginny's husband Justin couldn't be there, but otherwise the picture turned out really nice. In the lower right is Rob's sister Beth, who was taking most of the pictures (and hence wasn't in any of the ones I posted up until now!).


I'll wrap up this blog entry with the news that Meredith's top two teeth are now strongly in place. I had to work a bit to get a good photo, but if you click on it you can see all four of her teeth clearly! She is sure growing up fast.


We'll be sure to keep you updated with all the new developments as time goes on - thanks for reading!

Welcome!

It's so good to have friends and family who want to join us in watching our little Meredith as she grows from week to week and month to month. Just in the last few days we have noticed some new things:

* She says "mama", but it usually comes out "mamamamamama" and isn't particularly directed at me (or anyone).

* She says "daddy", but only in Aramaic ("abba"). It's more like "abbabbabbabba". It isn't particularly directed at Rob (or anyone). But when she was holding a toy sheep the other day and saying this, I was very impressed at her accurate sheep sound.

* She claps, but mostly holding her left hand still and clapping down onto it with her right hand. All of you here in Gainesville recognized this immediately as her very intentional Gator chomp. See exhibit A below. (Sara Joy, this is the outfit I picked out for her on your behalf - Classic Pooh!)


* She is starting to take two naps at fairly regular times each day and usually sleeps through the night for about 8-9 hours. This is incredibly awesome!

* She is outgrowing the clothes that fit her when we got her about a month ago. See exhibit B below for her chubby arms and cheeks!


* Her hair is getting shaggy! See exhibit C below, a picture taken by Grandpa (my dad) when she was, shall we say, not crazy about her dinner.



* She had no teeth when we met her in May, one tooth when we visited her June 11, and eventually a second tooth when we had her with us in Moscow. Now those two bottom teeth are almost done growing in, and meanwhile the stubs of her top front teeth have just become visible. She is growing so FAST!

We will update this blog at least monthly to tell you what is going on with Meredith and to post some pictures or video clips. Please keep us all in your prayers as she continues to adjust to life in our family and as we continue to learn about life with a little one!