Meredith Carson... Across the Pond and Back Again...

Today is Lili's birthday, and here is a little story in picture-form about her new favorite thing: CAKE! Hmmm... this looks interesting. Let me inspect it a bit more closely. Not Bad!  Not Bad At All!! Seriously.  Why have they been keeping this stuff from me? Dad, this is amazing!  You should try it! Love it!  Can we do this again tomorrow? Happy FIRST Birthday to my sweet little Baboo!! My how it flew by!!

But I opened one of my presents today!! The mailman brought it.  Want to see?? It's a Lynx from Mimi.  (Mom has been calling it Lancelont Lynx.) And I LOVE it!! Kiss Kiss Kiss!  Oh, how I love it!! I cannot wait to see what fun tomorrow brings! (Actually I'm not sure what all the fuss is about.) Lots of love from Lili  

It has been a little bit difficult to write lately because quite frankly Lili does not approve.  Anytime I sit down at the computer, she is there, standing next to my chair on dainty tiptoes, yanking my hands repeatedly away from the keyboard.  You might be thinking, "Why doesn't she write while Lili naps?" to which I would respond, "Have you met Lili??"  She still catnaps sporadically during the day, preferably on my shoulder, NEVER in her own bed.  It's alright though because she is very cute and sweet and did I mention she's my last?  Nap time was never established since I  have two other kids who always seem to need to be toted around here and there.  Lili catches zzz's in the car, in the stroller, or in the baby backpack.  Whatever.  It is what it is.  Right now I have a few minutes of peace as she is seated on the floor next to me wildly shaking a crackly-sounding Barnes and Noble bag.  You should try it sometime. ...

As suggested by my title up there, this was a week of firsts: the first full week of school, my first attempt at a Jazzercise class, my first neighborhood Bunco game, and wasn't there something else??  Oh yes, Lili took her very first baby steps! School seems to be going well.  Emma and Sophie have both been excited to go to their school's library, and both are into new book series now: The Fire Within (Emma) and The Littles (Sophia).  Sophie also reports that she "LOVES ART"!  So school is good. Jazzercise is hardly noteworthy since I have been a big fan of aerobics classes for many years now.  I enjoyed the class.  I did not, however, enjoy hearing Lili screaming her head off in the nursery room everytime there was a break in the music.  What am I going to do with that girl?  She loves her mama entirely too much. Bunco, a completely mindless dice game, was good fun and gave me a chance to meet and mingle with lots of my neighbor ladies....

Today was an exciting day for Sophia.  She got to sleep in a few minutes later than usual and miss the school bus since she had a "well check" appointment at the pediatrician's office.  Emma had her well check several weeks ago, and that was an entirely different ordeal... When Emma met our doctor for the first time at that appointment, she had a laundry list of concerns and worries: bad tummy, big tonsils, poor hearing, and a few others I'm sure she would rather I didn't broadcast on the Internet.  She also had to have two shots or "jabs" as I still like to call them.  (There are quite a few British words I am not keen on giving up.) So after discussing all of her woes and worries with our new and exceptionally lovely doctor, Emma braced herself for the dreaded jabs.  I sent Sophie out of the room since I knew she was due for jabs at her next appointment and since I was certain that there would be no shortage of drama and tears in t...

I am beginning to wonder if I will ever sleep through the night again.  Seriously.  I cannot remember the last time I slept through the night without being woken up by my third baby who requires some sort of attention that awakens and disturbs me.  I am certain it has been over a year since I have slept through the night .  I was always told that "third babies are so easy and laid back."  Really?  Lili apparently did not receive that memo as she is a right pain in the backside when it comes to sleeping...day and night! Since my older girls have been at school this week, I have been trying to encourage Lili to take a nap in her crib in the afternoon... to which she replied, "Mama, Say WHAT??"  Those weren't her exact words.  Mostly she just screamed every time we came anywhere near the crib.  She has grown so accustomed to catching cat naps here and there as I have shuttled her big sisters around, that she thinks I am completely nu...

Today started out in the usual way.  Lili found her way into our bed between 4 and 5 a.m. and took up her usual position, lying horizontally between my husband and me.  I got up at about 7 o'clock when I heard a loud crash coming from upstairs.  Lili had already nearly pushed me out of bed and onto the floor anyway.  (The above photo shows what I left behind when I arose.)  When I got upstairs, both girls were dressed and in the process of brushing teeth, and no one seemed to know what the aforementioned ruckus had been, but both girls were bright eyed, bushy tailed and bubbling with excitement.  Alas this was not an ordinary day.  It was the first day of school, and I had decided that I would bite the bullet and put my two eldest babies on the big yellow school bus this morning.  We breakfasted and chatted then headed out to the end of the driveway to wait for said school bus.  As we waited I heard Emma say, "Sophie...

At long last... after a week of very disturbed sleep, buckets of snot and a full round of antibiotics, our sweet buddy is back!  Our sweet buddy was so excited to be feeling better that she was up celebrating it after midnight last night.  Luckily for her tired mother, she DID sleep in this morning and woke up after 9 am in the arms of her fabulous big sister... Part of the excitement may have also been due to the fact that Dad is back, AND we spent all day yesterday at Michigan's Adventure theme park.  This is all terribly exciting even if one is too little to ride any of the rides... Sophie and Emma enjoyed all of the rides and fun even if little Lili couldn't join in.  Emma, once again, pushed the limits of her bravery by riding the enormous Shivering Timbers roller coaster.  She also tolerated a few of the smaller rides with the other kids... Ok... barely tolerated. After this last adventure we are all officially ready to head back to school...

Anyone who has spent any significant amount of time with my Lili will inevitably comment on what "expressive eyebrows" she has.  We often find ourselves laughing (or occasionally feeling admonished) by her very serious faces.  Above she is pictured taking a brief pause from her kazoo playing to non-verbally ask, "What you talkin' bout, Mama?"  Another photo for the scrapbook is posted below.  I finally took Emma and Sophie to the Taco Bell for the first time ever in their dear little lives, and boy were they impressed.  Emma is a big fan of the low fat "Fresco" menu, of course, and Sophie just wants to sample everything.  Say "Nacho Cheese!" Happy 90210, Friends!

Sure, it's a little early for apple picking and a little late for blueberry picking, but that didn't stop us from making a trip out to Freeland on one of our last free days before school starts to visit both kinds of farms.  Strong psychic vibrations are telling me there may be some homemade pies in our future.  Sophie and Emma were very discerning in their selection of the apples.  They literally picked a peck, and now that we are back at home, we get to decide what to do with them all... apple oatmeal, apple pancakes, apple pie, apple spice cake, apple crumble, fried apples, grilled cheese and apple sandwiches, apples with peanut butter?  I really don't think we can go wrong. Of course the journey is as much fun as the destination, and I'm thinking that blueberry and apple pies are the ultimate destination.  We really enjoyed our time at the apple farm.  The kids got to play at the rustic playground and see all sorts of little farm animals.  Ou...