A Guy, Two Girls and a Pup

OK, even though it’s almost NEXT weekend, already, I would be completely remiss if I didn’t talk about LAST weekend, which was completely amazing. Our dear, dear friend Chris was in town to kick it, Seattle-style. We ate at 3 new restaurants (Greek, Vietnamese and Chinese dim sum!), went to the zoo, walked around downtown Seattle in the rain, played Trivial Pursuit and generally had a wonderful time. We love Chris! Hopefully he’s still mobile, as he is right this moment camped out at the base of Mt. Rainier in the middle of a week-long trek.

Next up, Grandpa and Grandma Chapman drive in for the weekend to see Meredith! (Possibly the rest of us, too, but I doubt it.)

Our favorite little girl is now an international sensation: http://www.ohdeedoh.com/ohdeedoh/happy-birthday/happy-birthday-meredith-060552.

A year ago this evening, I climbed into bed, not knowing that the next morning, our lives would change forever.

What a year it’s been! I have to admit getting a little misty-eyed as I’ve been wrapping gifts for Meredith, thinking about where she started, where she is now. What a change: from so tiny and fragile to bright, smiley and happy today!

We celebrated in style this evening with cake and presents with our friends (and Meredith’s nanny) Michelle, Adam and Cate. Meredith was having some tough moments — her top teeth are officially coming in, so she hasn’t been eating or napping much during the day, meaning she was super-crabby by the time cake time rolled around. But, trouper that she is, she allowed herself to be distracted by Michelle, Cate and RED CUPCAKE! Her hands are going to be pink for a few days…

So Happy Birthday, baby girl — we love you so much!

Our dinner with our realtor friend Mary and her family went really well — we had lots of fun, her husband is a sweetheart, her kids are…um…at that age. Dinner was GOOD — Kevin made a Moroccan-style casserole with garbanzo beans, lemons, olives, eggplant…tons of stuff. All good. We talked and gave a tour of the house and had a great time. Unfortunately, Meredith got to bed LATE — about 9pm — but she went down OK, so it worked out.

It was so fun, we’ll do it again! Well, at Mary’s house after Labor Day, but first at our place when we have Michelle (our nanny), her husband Adam and their little girl Cate over on Thursdsay to help celebrate Meredith’s birthday. One year old! Hard to believe our little pooper is a whole year old — from little tiny beginnings to a bundle of energy (as the fact that she was awake and couldn’t be put back to bed at 3:30am will attest.) We’ll have cake courtesy of Kevin and help Meredith open her TONS of presents. (Really. It’s embarrassing. :>)

We’ll be hosting our first dinner guests Thursday night: our real estate agent Mary and her family. We love her! And we’re excited to not only meet her family, but to show off the little house she got for us. There will be 7 of us crowded around the table — Kevin, me, Mary, her husband, their 2 kids and Meredith in her high chair. Time to find the table leaves!

Clearly she is her father’s daughter, the little monkey. Care to lay odds on how long it will be until she’s up and over that gate?

Meredith had a big day today, not only making it halfway over that gate but also having a bath in the “big girl tub” for the first time, instead of in her baby tub. She keeps trying to crawl out of it anyway — might as well give her higher walls to crawl up. (And slip and bump her head on — she’s a genius at finding the slippery spots.) Pictures of Meredith the mermaid on Flickr.

Kevin’s been at the Dragonflight convention all day having fun being super-geeky. Hopefully he didn’t get caught in traffic — Bellevue is all tied up today due to construction…

Last night was Night Out Seattle (and, from what I understand, Night Out Many Cities Around The US) and our little block celebrated with a potluck on our next-door neighbor Will’s front lawn and by blocking off the street so that the kids could play there. It was really fun, and we met lots more of our neighbors, who are all really interesting and SMART. There are a couple of people who work at the university and the library, a couple of artists, some geeky tech people like us. There are old and young, but lots who have been in the neighborhood a long time. It’s really wonderful.

And of COURSE they all love Meredith, so that’s a big plus.