Lael
Reise
This weekend Meredith got to see her Grandma and Grandpa Burrows again! Her grandparents noticed the ways she has changed since they saw her at a few days old, including her rounder cheeks. They also enjoyed seeing her grin and respond to tickles and they were impressed how much more control she had over her head.. To celebrate Halloween, Meredith wore her pumpkin outfit all day, but her folks decided she was a little young for trick-or-treating.
October 30th, 2003
Each day Meredith smiles a little more often. This week she has stuck her tongue out at her mom and dad in response to their sticking tongues at her to their glee. Today while her parents' friend Julie looked after her, Julie discovered that Meredith responds to tickles. Her response wasn't necessarily giggles, but what could confidentally be called proto-giggles along with some sqirming.
October 27th, 2003
Meredith's mom brought her along with on a trip to Northfield today. Meredith spent much of the time sleeping. In the evening, she got to meet Great Uncle Walt and cousin Nora from Seattle, who were in Minnesota on college-visiting business. Meredith did not want to go to sleep at night, but eventually relented at her parents' insistence.
October 26th, 2003
What a fun weekend! Today the family went to see the youth orchestra that Uncle Jean conducts do a wonderful Halloween-themed concert and Meredith loved it. She stayed awake the whole time, gazing at the bright stage, listening intently, and startling when the piece became suddenly loud. She also looked adorable in her costume, a little orange onesie that makes her look like a pumpkin. Meredith also had a busy social schedule this weekend, with visits from Jeff, Matt from DC, and Andrea from Portland. It is cold here now, which will hamper all the fun stroller walks she's been taking with her mommy; snow flurries are expected this week. This weekend, Meredith gave her first truly responsive smiles. She smiled several times in response to her dad playing peakaboo from behind her mom!
October 24th, 2003
Meredith had a "playdate" today with a friend who also has a new baby at a local coffeeshop. The babies didn't interact yet, but the moms had fun! Paige is two weeks older and gave Jen a wonderful glimpse of what is just around the corner, namely responsive smiling. That will be fun! She did great this week being watched by Julie, Christy, and Brooke while her mom worked three mornings, and everyone seems to have enjoyed the variety in their week. Most exciting, she slept much better this week, waking up only once on two different nights. That was a wonderful thing to her sleep-deprived parents. The final big development this week is that she is starting to outgrow some of the newborn clothes - sometimes it's hard to get a sense of how much she's grown when you see her all day every day, so that gives her parents a clear benchmark. She's also almost too big to give her baths in the sink; water is starting to slosh around everywhere.
October 18th, 2003
More "firsts" were experienced by Meredith. She joined her parents on a trip to enjoy the fall colors and went on her first trip to Wisconsin (her parents are determined to make her into both a traveler and a Packer fan). While in the neighborhood, she and her parents joined their friend Sara, who is in Saint Croix Falls. Sara convinced them to stay to watch for the first scene of her play that evening and they ended up staying for the entire play. It was Meredith's first play, though she was more interested in her pacifier than anything on the stage.
October 14th, 2003
Meredith went to a cafe with her dad this evening where he was meeting with some friends. They took turns holding Meredith and calming her down. Meredith behaved quite well, but eventually got hungry and lonely for her mom and her dad hurried her home.
October 13th, 2003
Meredith's dad goes back to work full-time today (he had been half -time the last several weeks). Meredith had an alert-filled day with her mom. She did a little brown-nosing with mom by giving the most adorable smiles. Meredith was particularly delighted by the ceiling fan that was turned on, beaming at it as she watched go 'round and 'round and 'round.
October 12th, 2003
More excited visitors paid their respects to Meredith this afternoon. Sara and Sabrina got to sit with Meredith and then go for a walk. They probably took more pictures of Meredith between the two of them than any visitor yet! Meredith was asked to stay awake for her visitors, but preferred to spend most of the time sleeping. Well rested, she kept her mom and dad awake for much of the night.
October 11th, 2003
Meredith spent much of today awake, giving her parents few opportunities to get anything else done. A couple times she finally fell asleep in her dad's arms and stayed there for a few hours because her dad was afraid of waking her if he moved. In the evening, she was very well behaved during her bath. She didn't even put up a fuss until her head was rinsed--a pet peave of hers.
October 10th, 2003
This afternoon Meredith and her parents took a walk to the nearby grocery store, where they were giving flu shots. Both her parents got a shot to try to make sure they don't get a nasty illness to pass along to Meredith. Fortunately for Meredith, she is too young for a shot herself, but she will get plenty other of vaccines in the coming months and years--visits to the doctor her parents are not looking forward to.
October 7th, 2003
Meredith is four weeks old today. Her parents have noticed that she has changed and learned a lot in such a short period of time. She obviously sees farther and more clearly. She makes many more interesting noises. As a healthy eater, she has filled out all over. Already this week, she has given several more obvious smiles while awake.
October 5th, 2003
Another admirer paid her respects to Meredith. Julie drove over from Saint Paul between her weekend double-shift to meet the new baby. Meredith, who had been rather fussy prior to Julie's visit, soon relaxed and fell asleep in Julie's arms. Later in the day, in a blatant attempt to stall a feeding, Meredith's parents gave her a pacifier. She was satisfied for about ten minutes, after which she concluding it wasn't meeting her primary need: nutrition.
October 4th, 2003
Meredith escorted her parents to a party at Amy and Michael's new house. Meredith was extremely cooperative and didn't let the noisy people disturb her sleep too much. There were many other parents of young children there and Derek and Jen were able to exchange lots of great parenting notes.
October 3rd, 2003
Meredith is practicing her variety of facial expressions much more frequently these days. In fact, she is delighting her parents with many more unconscious "sleep smiles" while she naps. Her dad was thrilled today when she gave her first accidental smile while awake as he was rocking her. Despite much parental encouragement, she was unable to repeat the smile later. Her parents look forward to all future smiles and laughs she is certain to have.
October 2nd, 2003
Another visitor came to meet Meredith for the first time today. Her parents' friend, Carolyn, drove all the way from Mankato to meet the darling baby and generously fix Meredith's parents a delicious dinner!
October 1st, 2003
Today featured Meredith's first trip to a museum. She accompanied her parents to the American Swedish Institute museum right in Minneapolis. A fun time was had by all. Meredith is taking slightly longer naps now, and her parents know when she's dreaming. She makes all sorts of sounds in her sleep--many of which sound like she's having a conversation with someone. (Maybe she's talking about these strange adults she has for parents...)