Ode to Meredith

Meredith has now been 3 years old for almost 5 months. So far the "3's" have not exactly been my favorite age. I know they always talk about the terrible 2's...but in our house...the 2's were great, it is the terrible 3's that are killing us! In the past 4.75 months we have experienced a lot of attitude, a lot of selective hearing, lack of cooperation, lack of respect and a lot of tears from Meredith. Plus, a few tears (okay, maybe a lot of tears) of frustration on my part as well! It has been a trying time, but through all of this, I am still reminded daily that my little 3 year old monster has a really sweet heart. How can a little girl be so sweet, so thoughtful and so insightful...yet still so much trouble? I swear all of the attitude and everything else is an act! It is like she is the star of her very own play...every day she wakes up and decides what kind-of a character she would like to be and how she wants the story to go...and off we go. I love my little manipulative turkey. Especially when her sweet side comes out for a moment and we have conversations like this:

Meredith: mom...you're a special mommy
me: thanks, sweetie. why do you say that?
Meredith: because you always take care of everyone

Or she'll say things like:
mom...you're so cute, I just want to eat you up!

Or this:
mom! you're all ready? you look really pretty!

Or this:
mom! you adore me!...and daddy adores me!...and baby nora adores me!...and i adore you, too.

Or she'll just look at me with her huge blue eyes and say with a big smile...I love you, mommy!

Amazing how just a few sweet moments can make up for almost 5 months of turmoil. :)

Meredith, I love you! I love everything about you! I love your big blue eyes. I love your spit-fire spirit. I love watching you dance around and wiggle your cute little bum. I love that you want to do everything by yourself because you are a "big girl". I love how sweet you can be with little Nora and how you always say that you and baby are best friends. I love how you will still lay down and snuggle with me at night. I love how you put your arms around my neck and play with my hair as you fall asleep. I love how you want me to tell you that it sounds like rain when you use the potty. I love that you won't touch the toilet or wipe yourself when using the potty, so that you don't have to wash your hands. I love how much you love to play hide and seek and I love that you hide in the same places over and over. I love how you lay down on my bed and take a nap every afternoon while watching a "nite-nite" movie. I love how you adore anything that moves and I love that you aren't scared to hold or touch slugs, snails, rollie-pollies, etc. I love to watch you collect everything and anything. I love how you always stop and pick every dandelion that you see. I love that you still want me to love you like a baby when you get hurt. I love that you want to sit by me when we eat. I love the sound of your sweet, rolling laugh and I love that I hear it often! I love you more than I could ever imagine. Life is hard, but seriously so sweet. Thank you, Meredith, for making it all worth it. I love you, my sweet baby girl!

HB Fun...

Our good friends came into town last week. It was so much fun to see them and it was a great excuse to do some fun hb activities. Here are some pics from the Hoagland's visit:

I love Kauai!

Thanks to our dear friends...we just got back from spending a week in Kauai! Such a great trip! It was so nice to finally see our good friends, the Thurstons! We haven't seen them since I was pregnant with Meredith and it had been way too long. We had so much fun catching up...hopefully we'll see them again sooner than later. After spending a whole week with them in relatively tight quarters...I realize how well we actually get along! We miss you guys...especially you, Clayton! :) We both had babies with us, which made for a less-adventurous trip, but still an amazing week! Kauai is seriously probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever been...I definitely understand why they call it the "garden island". I don't know if I've ever so many different shades of green (and blue!) in the same place! I know people always talk about getting "island fever" if they are stuck on an island too long...but I'm not sure if that would ever happen to me?!? I love the laid-back atmosphere and the small-town/small-island feel. I think I would actually really enjoy living somewhere like that. Can't imagine that ever happening, though. Oh well. I can dream, right?

Here are part 1 of our pics...I'll post the 2nd half of our pics soon!