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!