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!