happy birthday!!!

2008-02-23 birthday day

today we had the most wonderful party for meredith's first birthday. she was showered with lots of love and attention! she had a ladybug themed birthday party and was very lady like and enjoyed everyone at the party wearing their ladybug antennae and having a fun time.

meredith was entranced as we all sang happy birthday to her.......... she was somewhat stunned as we watched her at first with her cake. she then quickly snapped out of it and dove right for the ladybug! after sampling the frosting she just stuck her hand right in the cake and had fun from there......... she reached out a little to daddy to offer out some chocolate cake and just had fun being messy. she really became animated toward the end when nana was taking photos! i had always heard that the birthday girl usually doesn't eat much cake on her first birthday but that was not the case with meredith! she really got a lot in her mouth and she loved every mouthful! as you can see in the photos, she was a bit nostalgic at the very end and ready to crash! it is a lot of work being the birthday girl!

thank you to everyone for making such a happy girl!

morning celebration

2008-02-23 birthday morning

on the morning of the party we had fun eating the fun raspberry cake and enjoying some intimate cake eating.......... of course this is the best breakfast ever!

birthday fun

2008-02-22

today was a difficult day..... full of reminiscing about our little little baby already being one! it is a wild thing to think about how much our lives have changed and how special and complete our world now seems. where were we before? how could we not have meredith in our lives? she is our little sunshine. she is our punkin. she is our princess!

today is a beautiful and sunny day, just like i remember the actual birth day. meredith is adoring the extra attention and singing of her birthday song throughout the day.... she is thrilled to get an 'elmo' present today and per daddy's request we have a special cake and ice cream today for her. somehow we just don't get the cake eaten today though..... the birthday girl gets too upset after choking on some spaghetti at dinner and so we postpone the raspberry cake for tomorrow morning. birthdays are so unpredictable!

got nana and papa

2008-02-20

it is fun to play with nana and papa. they like all of the new expressions that i can make now..... especiallly 'ooooooh' we get to play with piano and all my toys!

back in mi

2008-02-19

it is fun to be back home again! we had a quick flight home and are busy getting ready for the party and visiting!

pretty in purple

2008-02-18 big fruit

today we were busy getting some last minute play time in before our big trip home for birthday fun....... and today was one of those days where i had to dress miss meredith up in her pretty purple outfit and try to catch the fruit plate fun area at the nearby zona rosa shopping center before it got crazy with kids. well it was crazy with kids, and i tried to get us in there with some photos without getting kicked in the head or knocked over. wow! kids can really be quick! it is almost like they can spot us from a million miles away and they come tumbling and kicking their way over to see us and touch meredith's face. whewh! i am getting myself all worked up just trying to describe the mad house fruit plate! well we survived, and meredith enjoyed every minute of it...... including the almost hugs and near misses with bare feet..... she thinks all those big kids are just the coolest!

a little art

2008-02-17 fun art

time for some messy art fun! it was a little interesting to start off because meredith wanted to taste the pretty colors..... but soon we were on a roll just smearing and swirling and just really enjoying fingerpainting for the first time!

i was unsure about posting the 'clean up' photos but hopefully they are all in good fun and meredith gets to show off her cool water fountain ducky from linens and things. that ducky can really spray! it requires 3 AAA batteries!