Something New

Howdy all! I am learning a bunch all the time! This week I learned how to giggle. Mama says it is music to her ears! Daddy started off the process by tickling me and making strange noises. Grandma and Grandpa Stavenger were able to get me to giggle next just a little and then Daddy got me to do it a few times in a row by singing me the song he sings to me when I am angry. it goes like this,"Whhhhy is Meredith so angry, so angry, so angry? Oh, whhhhy is Meredith so angry, so angry, so angry?" He does this while boncing me and it normally calms me down becuase it is just so strange. Mama thought it was GREAT to listen to me giggle more then once. Then tonight I giggled for Mama for the first time! She was blowing on my tummy. She has done this a few times but I normally just stare at her because I am not sure what kind of reaction she wants from me. Tonight she was thrilled and kept doing it over and over. Daddy says that if Mama keeps doing the blowing thing to my tummy that it will be red but there is nothing but beautiful belly there right now! Well it is bed time for me so I got to get going. Off to my stinky room (I have been congested so Mom and Dad bought some night time stuff to plug into the wall to make me fell better).

More Pictures to the Right!

I've changed the "Links" section that used to be on the right side of the blog to be titled "More Pictures of Meredith". I've also added a new link to pictures we took this Christmas. In time we'll add even more links as we take more pictures.

Christmas Presents

I sure like Christmas. My Grandma, Grandpa, Aunts, and Uncle get me all kinds of cool new clothes, books, and toys. And boy was it fun to open the presents! I tried to eat them of course, but with some help I got them all open so that I could see what new things I was getting. I've included a couple of pictures, including me investigating one of my gifts as well as a picture of my new teddy bear.

Grandma & Grandpa Play Time

In between times when I got angry because of my nose being plugged up or because I needed to get changed, I got to play for a short time with Grandma and Grandpa. They certainly had a lot of fun, and so did I! You would think they're pros at this child-raising thing or something. They really wanted to get me to giggle again, but I'm not so sure I'll do that again for a while. It kind of surprised me the time I did it earlier for Mommy and Daddy, so I think I'll wait until I'm more sure of what is going on. That doesn't seem to deter Daddy any from trying to get me to giggle anyway...

I Love Santa

My Mommy and Daddy dressed me up for the Christmas Eve church service in a santa outfit. I'm not particularly sure why, as most of the time I was in the sling, so all you could see was my head anyway. To be sure that there was proof that I was in the outfit, my Daddy took a quick picture. Isn't the bib appropriate -- I'm like Miss Claus :)

Tummy Tummy Time

My Grandpa came up with a much more entertaining tummy time exercise -- I lie on his tummy on my tummy, making tummy tummy time. This was much more exciting for me, and I didn't get angry as quickly as I normally did. Now all I need is for Grandpa to come home with me on Friday so that we can continue the fun times.

Carriage Ride in Austin

As a part of our Christmas celebration with Grandma Kat and Patoo, we went for a carriage ride in Austin to see the lights and visit. It was a fun time and Meredith seemed to like watching all the lights. After giving each other gifts and going out to dinner, the carriage ride was a nice finish to the evening. See the picture of Mollie and Meredith attached to this post.

Christmas in Michigan

Meredith, Mollie, and I flew to Michigan Thursday to spend a week with my parents and sisters over Christmas. Meredith actually did quite well on the flight into Detroit! She didn't get too crabby until we had to wait in the plane for another plane to leave the gait we were to arrive at. I guess sitting still in the plane for 20 minutes is difficult after already doing so for three hours while flying.

My Mom and Dad sure love seeing Meredith, especially for how big she's getting and for how much more responsive she is now. I've posted a picture of Meredith with my Dad, take a look to the left.

What is this white stuff?

It's cold, wet, and crunches when Mommy and Daddy walk on it. I keep hearing this new word, "snow," but I really don't know what that means either. After a long flight Thursday and a day for me to recover yesterday, Mommy seemed anxious to get us outside for another one of these picture things. Well, I certainly didn't like getting in the reindeer suit again -- boy doesn't my Mom know when to stop dressing me up in these strange outfits. She thinks they're "cute."

Anyway, it is cold out here and I don't think I quite understand the purpose of the white stuff. Maybe I'll get it more when I'm older (or so my Daddy says).

Now and Then

We just moved Meredith's high chair from the full reclining position to a position that is almost sitting up. We are for the first time using the buckles that came with it to hold her in place and keep her from falling out. As you can see from the pictures she has grown a ton. This picture was taken last night. Notice too that she has the ring on her wrist. She did this not us.

Groups of Three

Today Timothy, Meredith and I went to the Missions to get out of the house and to have an excursion with the cameras. We took along all the cameras in the house including our point and click that we have not used in two years.(we found pictures from our backpacking trip that we forgot we even took) We wanted to use up the film that we keep saying you know we should really get that used up. The goal was to take pictures that had groups of three in them. It did not matter weather it was three colors, three people three...well you get the idea. We had quiet a good time. Some of the time Meredith slept, some of the time Meredith was awake and making messes for Mommy and Daddy to find creative ways to clean up. But everyone was mostly in good spirits! Timothy will be blogging about his experience in finding groups of three and including a few pictures. I included one of the pictures that was taken at the end of the day. It is of all of our feet. I had to hold Meredith's foot to get it to stay were we could get the picture but it really puts it into perspective how tiny she is compared to us. Hence why we call her "little bit".

BIG NEWS!

Guess what Meredith can do now?!? She can sit up by herself! She was doing it yesterday and today. I am so excited to see her sitting up but I know that this just means that she will be moving soon and I am not sure I am ready for that. She looks so cute sitting up! It took a long time to get the picture because every time I would hold the camera up she would move her head up and it would cause her to fall backwards. It was so comical!