Meredith 8 Months

Meredith’s 8th month was full of firsts and fun!

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Samantha, Amelia and Meredith at 8 months. Meredith is really looking like her own person these days. It’s so fun comparing these three– they are so different! If you’re in need of a laugh, check out Samantha and Amelia at 8 months here.  Good times (and I can’t believe Samantha was crawling so well by her 8 month birthday– Meredith isn’t even close)!

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Unfortunately, there will probably be no more milestone block pictures with the correct numbers on them as Meredith loves to occupy herself eating/swiping/throwing them during picture time.

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Who, me?

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Meredith is HUGE and sported 12-18 (and sometimes 24) month clothes. She started dropping the 3rd nap (Hallelujah!) and slept 11-12 hours at night.

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Firsts included Meredith’s first bike ride, first trip to San Diego, first time swimming in the pool, first Utes game, and, sadly, her first time rolling off the bed! Good thing she’s a tough one.

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Meredith started eating finger foods regularly, and my time spent cleaning increased exponentially. Guess it couldn’t be worse than the twins at this age.

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Meredith ate Cheerios like there was no tomorrow! She also loved sweet potato, squash, pasta, avocado, green beans, broccoli and cauliflower.

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PRUNES AGAIN?

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Meredith devoured 8 pieces of pita bread at Panini Cafe and I was so afraid she was going to get so constipated! I don’t know where it all went, but she was fine. Note the seven tons of basmati rice all over the floor. Understandably, bus boys flee when they see us coming into restaurants.

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Meredith’s excursions also included visiting Great Grandpa, co-hosting Allison’s baby shower, chilling at the beach, going raspberry and apple picking, swinging (ALL THE TIME), playing at home, and hanging out at the park with sisters. Meredith also goes along for the ride to the girls’ gymnastics, dance and soccer practices and can’t wait for the day she can join in.

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Now that Meredith is more mobile and interactive, Samantha and Amelia have a blast playing with her and keeping her entertained. She is absolutely bored to tears when they are at preschool and looks at me like, “WHERE IS MY ENTERTAINMENT?”

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Meredith and Maple enviously watched the big kids roast s’mores at the pool.

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Samantha and Amelia are awesome with Meredith and treat her like their own little dolly. Seriously, they get 5 stars all around. It’s cute to see how nurturing and caring they are with her, and they’ve become so much more responsible and grown up as a result. Their favorite thing is to tell all the kids at school (and strangers at the park) that they have a “baby sister named Meredith who is 8 months old.”   Out of the blue, sometimes they’ll say, “I LOVE my baby sister!” and I melt into a puddle.

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“Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth…because I’m happyyyyyyy!”

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I find it hilarious to contrast Meredith with the girls at each stage.

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Thinking back to the first year, I always tell people all I remember is 365 days of crying, but I do sometimes wonder if I’m exaggerating about how hard it was. Looking back at pictures confirmed my memories! It was rough!

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I NEED A SHOULDER TO CRY ON.

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Occassionally, the twins were in good moods. Like every 1 out of 250 pictures.

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No one ever accused Samantha of being skinny.

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Samantha the Grump at 8 months.

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I WILL NOT SMILE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE.

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It’s hard to believe I used to have nothing else to do but chill at the park and watch these two play. Now Meredith is the one observing the chaos.

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Good times at the park!

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Like the twins, Meredith enjoys the outdoors and wiggles her whole body when I put her in her stroller or Ergo because she knows an outing is coming. She’s just like Bandit!

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Meredith started completely rejecting purees this month and pretty much grabbed the spoon out of my hand whenever I would try to feed her. She would either attempt to feed herself, or demand finger foods. Let’s just say it’s been an epically messy month. Bandit was not complaining.

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Meredith loves to engage with people and makes friends wherever she goes. The teachers at the girls’ preschool remarked one day at how it brightens their day to see her in the morning. Whenever I walk or jog with her. it’s funny to see the smiles on bikers or joggers coming the opposite way– for a split second, I always think they are saying hi to me, when I realize that Meredith must be giggling at them.  img_0331

Still no teeth or crawling this month. Meredith’s preferred mode of transportation was rolling. Nighttime sleep took a little bit of a downhill detour once she started rolling all over the place in her sleep and woke up disoriented.

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Still, I can’t complain. She is a sweetheart and full of personality. Love you, Mer Bear!

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Lots of love,

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Meredith 6 Months

I wish I could freeze this past month in time. Just when I think she can’t get any happier, chubbier, and more adorable, she ups her game! Happy half birthday to our little monkey!

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Amelia, Samantha and Meredith’s 6 Month Comparison:

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Meredith definitely has similarities to the twins (especially Samantha), but is taking on her own “Meredith” look too.

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At her 6 month appointment, Dr. Young announced Meredith was officially literally off the growth chart. She weighed in at 19 pounds and 28.5 inches tall. She barely fit on the baby scale!

“Clearly, you are starving her,” remarked Dr. Young.

And just because I love graphs:

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Go, Meredith!

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Meredith can still fit in a few 9-12 month outfits, but mostly wears 12-18 month clothes. Unfortunately, the clothes I kept in that size from the twins are all winter clothes, so lucky Meredith got to splurge on some brand new clothes for the summer!

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Meredith usually wakes around 6:30- 7:00 a.m. and takes two 1.5 hour naps and one short cat nap a day before going down for the night around 7-7:30 p.m. Unlike her sisters at this age, Meredith is a star sleeper most days.

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Those cheeks really seem to weigh her down. She gets a workout just keeping her head up!

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It was drool city for Meredith all month, but still no teeth! She loves chewing on her teether toys, though.

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New activities for Meredith this month included blowing raspberries, grasping more toys (and hair!) and pulling them toward her with ease, bouncing around in the exersaucer, grabbing her feet, giggling hysterically at the twins, swinging, swimming, trying solids and turning to her side more. She can sit up for a few seconds before falling over, so we usually prop her up with pillows.

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The twins seemed to be more advanced with their gross motor skills, as they were both rolling over all the time and sitting up without help by six months. Meredith definitely gets carried around a lot more than the twins were and is constantly being toted around in the stroller, carseat, Ergo, high chair and wherever the twins go. With her sisters, we were home playing on blankets and mats more, so I have to wonder if that has contributed to her being behind the twins in her gross motor skills, or if it’s just her unique timetable. Meredith seems more advanced by far on the fine motor and cognitive skills. I find all the comparisons between siblings so interesting!

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Meredith can flip from her tummy to her back, but is usually content to hang out, so she doesn’t try too often.

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She’s usually so content with a toy on her back too, that I think she figures in reference to rolling, “Why bother?”

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Meredith enjoys talking to herself and all the pretty butterflies from her crib. SO different from the twins who were usually screaming to get out of their cage the minute they woke up and were never entertained by toys or with each other.

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Meredith loves to stick out her tongue and play peekaboo.

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Meredith and her favorite sea creature mat.

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A recap of Meredith’s sixth month:

Her first road trip to Utah (permanently traumatized from being in the car for 12 hours!)

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It was all worth it once we arrive and Meredith enjoyed 24/7 cuddles from Grammy, Grandpa, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.

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First Fourth of July!

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First official tea party.

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The star baby.

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She celebrated Cousin Noah’s 2nd birthday.

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Many beach days!

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First time swinging at the park (true love).

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Meredith couldn’t wait to fit into the Future Harvard Freshman outfit our friend, Marisa, gave the twins when they were babies. And just in case she messes it up, I have an extra.

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The twins constantly asked to hold/squeeze/hug/kiss/feed/play/read to Meredith.

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The twins dressed up Meredith in the koala outfit Aunt Sarah brought back from her trip to Australia. Not cool, guys!

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Baby playdate with Maple!

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Meredith didn’t miss out on any of the outdoor action in her portable high chair.

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Jake was playing Meredith’s favorite game, airplane, when he got more than he bargained for. IMG_4337

First solids the week of her sixth month birthday. Not a good birthday present, apparently.

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A new cherished activity (on the twins’ part). Meredith acts mostly terrified when they get anywhere near her with a spoon.

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I think I’ll just put my feet up.

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Flashback to Samantha and Amelia hanging out together at six months:

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We love you, Meredith!

Lots of love,

 

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Meredith’s Adventures in Solids

Meredith reached a milestone I have been putting off as long as possible– solids! Back when I was a newbie and naive, I couldn’t wait to start the twins on solids. I actually had a special baby meal plan and baby food maker back then (and used recipes– ha!) whereas now I just dig out whatever fruits and veggies we have on hand/are eating that day, steam them and throw them in the blender. Many of the new foods the twins tried had their own dedicated blog posts (too much time on my hands back then?)

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Samantha and Amelia trying solids: click here. 

Little did I know back then how much of a mess and extra work starting solids would be, hence my lack of enthusiasm when it was time to start Meredith the week of her 6 month birthday. She had been eyeing each bite we put into our mouths with envy for months, but when it was finally go-time, she wasn’t too excited about her bland brown rice cereal and oatmeal starters!

Veggies and fruits have been met with much more gusto. The scoreboard so far:

Brown rice: meh
Oatmeal: meh
Bananas: Yum!
Squash: Yum!
Sweet Potatoes: Yum!
Green Beans: Yum!
Corn: Yum!
Prunes: Yum!
Apples: Yum!
Watermelon: Yum!
Cantaloupe: Yum!
Pears: Yum!
Avocado: Ew!

Then many faces of Meredith eating:

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Mealtime is the twins’ favorite part of the day now. They beg to feed Meredith, much to her chagrin!

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Life is good!

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More please!

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NO MAS.

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What kind of torture is this? (Her first taste of oatmeal). IMG_4298 IMG_4501

Loving those green beans.

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Meredith enjoys grabbing the spoon and attempting to feed herself (SO messy) and especially loves cold watermelon or cantaloupe put in her silicone self-feeder to soothe those sore gums.

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So far, the only food she’s really detested is avocado (a tragedy!) We will keep working on it.

The twins eating avocado: click here. 

Our adventures in solids to be continued…

Lots of love,

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Meredith’s Month 4 Recap

The girls’ 4 month comparison: Amelia, Samantha and Meredith. Meredith is still trending toward the Samantha side, but is also taking on a look of her own.

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Going through the twins’ 4 month old pictures, I was struck by two things: I have approximately 11 million more photos of the twins than I do of Meredith (third child syndrome), and I have maybe 5 pictures of  the twins not frowning or being grumpy at this age. In photo after photo, the twins are either staring blankly at the camera or visibly perturbed. A stark contrast from our happy-go-lucky Meredith! My blog posts were also substantially longer back then (ha!): the twins at 4 months.

Even at this age, Samantha and Amelia were stubborn and full of mischief.

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Meredith is a little more like Amelia personality-wise. Almost every photo of Samantha at this age features her sticking her tongue out or frowning.

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A rare smiling picture. 996823926836645061257992119n

Meredith kicked off last month with her baby blessing, in which she looked and acted like an angel. Even the twins talking and crying from the pews didn’t faze her (I’m sure she’s used to it by now).

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Meredith enjoyed commissioning a mural for her room from Grandma Celeste who visited from Utah.

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Meredith ate up all the cuddles from Aunt Gigi and Uncle Kip from Washington and Uncle Jarom and Aunt Jen from Idaho.

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The twins never say no to a sister photo shoot.

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Meredith happily awaiting a diaper change, looking around at her favorite pictures– the owls in the girls’ room and giant canvas pictures of the girls eating cake.

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Happy to be out and about.

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Eating out and basking in all the compliments from other diners.

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She’s slightly terrified whenever the twins ask to hold her (which is about every hour or so).

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Playtime!

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Celebrating our first Mother’s Day since Meredith’s arrival.

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Meredith loves to play with the dresses hanging from the shelf by the changing table.

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Conked out during an afternoon walk.

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Saturday morning snuggles.

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I love me some baby rolls.

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Out and about in her wrap.

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Comparing notes with her friend, Maple, who is two months older. Meredith inherits many of her clothes from Maple and loves her fashion sense!

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Four squeezable cheeks.

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Friends holding hands.

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Grammy came to visit from Utah and Meredith wasn’t put down for an entire week.

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YOLO during bath time.

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Post-bath ‘do.

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4 month birthday!

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Lots of love,

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