Baby Food

Meredith started really taking to baby food recently.

We discovered that she likes veggies way more than fruit.

And she does NOT like cereal on its own.

She's still getting used to the taste.

But she really does like it!

What I didn't expect

I am one of those people who grows old before her time. I am disillusioned by all the kids who get freaked out by dirt, who know video games better than sports, and who leave behind childhood more quickly than I think is reasonable. Or good, for everyone involved. Yes, I'm crotchety ;)

But there is hope, I have found. I drive two boys home when I go to pick up Louie and these kids have access to all the latest gadgets and games out there. Do you know what they love to do, in fact, they race to get in the van to do this? Play with the Etch-a-Sketches we keep in the back. I have no idea why because, as neat as it is, I find it extremely frustrating not being able to make it do what I want.

Something else is that Louie and another of the boys are in one class and the other is in a different class. While we're waiting one or the other to get out, a group of boys run around the school yard playing something that looks a lot like imaginary football. I am not familiar with this game, but a huge group of five- and six-year-olds call to each other to toss the "ball" and then other go crashing into them. They are having a ton of fun, and I'm so impressed that they are pretending. That's so two years ago!

Fall is fleeting

A Few Shots of Halloween

Been bit by the Christmas bug

The boys have been overly cranky this week, something I am attributing to the lack of naps after a long weekend. So, yesterday when I had about enough of the screaming/crying/fighting/whining I popped in a Christmas CD and something magical occurred...

They stopped crying, started listening, and then, began dancing! Oh, the power of holiday music! I'll have to store this bit of knowledge away for years to come. Of course, I can't use this all year-round or else it'll lose its power, but for now, I'm happy to use it for all its worth.

The boys do independent dances, partner dances, and then start ice skating on the kitchen floor. If you ever get a chance to see it, I'm sure it'd put a smile on your face like it is mine.

No big thing

I think Meredith just officially rolled over...and no one even noticed. I put her on her back so we could pick up all the puzzle pieces and then, she was on her back! I'm pretty sure she has rolled over before, but because Kevin and I weren't breathing down her back with a camcorder in hand, we'll never know for sure. I promised myself that I wasn't going to have my children think I loved the first any more than the others because I documented his life better. How naive I was. It's not about the want, it's about the time and, of course, the ability of focus on five things at once.

She's doing so much! She talks about as much as Charlie does, without all the "static." She grabs and holds and SLOBBERS so teeth can't be far away. She smiles so brightly with those cute cheeks. She's changing each day, and one of the newest changes has been the extremely high pitch squeal that she's adopted. I call her Squeakers now.

We celebrated Meredith's baptism back on October 18th. Here are a few pictures to prove it (sorry, it's been so long since I've done stuff on the site that I forgot that when you're uploading pictures you have to do it reverse order. Here they are):

Meredith's delicious cake from BonBonerie (thank you, Aunt Erin!)

Four Generations

The whole family

The Godfathers, Uncle Jeff & Uncle Joe

Fr. Pat, baptizing Meredith

It Is November

My sister's wedding has come and gone and now I can start putting back together the blog that I have slacked on for...about a month. We have some great pictures of the last few weeks I want to share. I may not get too many details right, or maybe even at all. I don't want to spend the next month recapping!

Here is a picture of the kids in their Halloween costumes. They wore them about three times, even though they didn't officially go trick-or-treating. We went to our zoo's HallZOOeen, Ben and Lou each had a school Halloween parade, and then Joanie and Josh had all the kids wear costumes to their rehearsal dinner. I think everyone was worried that the kids were going to miss out on the holiday, but the definitely got their fill! In case you're not able to figure it out, Meredith was a giraffe, Benny was a skeleton (he wasn't able to wear his mask at his parade), Charlie was a monkey (Curious George that all three boys have now worn), and Louie was SpiderMan, probably the most popular costume we saw this year!

Check back soon for more pictures!