We made it! Megan was so good on the plane! I did learn an important lesson - check the car seat, use the stroller. Use your imagination to figure out how I learned that lesson.

Megan was good for Grandma while I was away, however, she will not sleep!!!! She's wearing us out! Instead of doing Atlanta, we stayed in today and tried to get sleep (since Grandma and I were up all night). Tomorrow we'll do Atlanta.

We had so much fun with our cousin Anna this week! Even though she is 3 months older, they seemed to have a great time! I had fun watching them play together...the fabric book was the main attraction. No other toy made as many trips between two little hands in such a short time. We hope Megan is as playful, happy, and fun in 3 months as Anna is now. Just to let you know how much we learned from Anna's mobility, we dropped over $100 on baby proofing items today. We're armed and ready...well, we will be when it's all installed.

I'm extra appreciative of Ashley for helping me "mellow out" (yes, I did) about solid foods. She is such a great example to follow! All fruits and veggies and "whatever goes." She even convinced me it was okay to give Megan cantelope and mashed potatoes! I felt like I was breaking a law or something! I am really trying to loosen up.

They're welcome back anytime!!!

6 month appointment update:

17 pounds, 13 ounces (90th percentile)
26 1/2 inches (90th percentile)

Solids 2 times a day, and move to stage 2 foods.

We MUST nap. Megan's night time sleeping problems most likely stem from being overly exhausted because she refuses to sleep during the day.

Sippy cups and cups with water only - no juice.

Teeth are still coming in, but have not come through yet.

3 shots and loud screaming for about 30 seconds...then back to playing with the cute baby in the mirror.

No broken foot!!! But that doesn't mean it stopped hurting. Next stop: Po-di-a-trist. At least I'm not chasing after Megan with a big cast on my foot. Of course I have the Graco stroller to thank for my lingering injury. Someone asked me today how a stroller could cause such an injury. To that I say, "Keep your foot out of the way when folding it up." End of explanation.

We are excited about having company this week! Megan's 2nd cousin, Anna (9 months old) is coming to visit. We'll see how Megan does when it comes to sharing her toys and house and, of course, attention.

Pediatrician at 9:15 a.m. for her 6 month check-up. Daddy says she's 18 lbs; I say she's 17 lbs 12 oz; Grandpa says she's over 18....we'll see who wins!

Reality check. I just found a new photo program and am in the process of importing our pictures to the software. It found 1241 pictures. Now, that's 1241 taken since the end of 2002, but that's still a lot of pictures, right? What is my problem? I take pictures of everything! And not just one or two...several.

I just took inventory of my pictures, and it is my conclusion that I have an addiction. I am addicted to pictures. Is there a 12 step program for this addiction? It's the digital camera, of course. If it wasn't so easy to just snap and delete, then I wouldn't take so many pictures in pursuit of the "perfect shot." And look, I'm in denial.

I refuse to look at how many I have of Megan. That would just be too depressing.

I need intervention. Or else I just need to come to terms with who I am...a picture-holic. There. I feel much better.

Cousin Kati and Ryan (future Cousin Ryan - hey, we're no dummies) babysat Megan last night. They volunteered! They let me clean up around the house while they watched her and they let us go out on a date, too. Now by date I mean dinner at Macaroni Grill followed by a few errands to Target, Kohl's and Walmart. My, how times have changed...

As far as we know Megan was on best behavior (except the pee-pee on the towel during bath time - and she does that to us). For those that know me very well, please be proud that I only called once! Kati gave me a lecture about calling too many times before I left.

We will definitely have them back! Thank you Kati and Ryan!!!

It's hard to tell from this picture, but Megan has been miserable with, what we think is, teething. She is currently screaming her head off in her bed for about the third time tonight. I don't know what else to do!!! Motrin, loving, singing, walking, etc. Nothing works. Poor baby!

Quite for the day:

"Adam and Eve had many advantages, but the principal one was, that they escaped teething."~ Mark Twain

She wanted to drink out of my cup, but refused my help - little independent thing (wonder where she gets that)! She got about 3 to 4 swallows down before she dumped the rest of it all down the front of her. Look at that form...

Megan is teething or something or both. How do I know? I can't find her owner's manual and my crystal ball is broken, so I have no idea what is wrong with her. Here are the symptoms: FUSSY, drooly, needy, eats every hour or so for part of the day - refuses to eat other part of the day, won't sleep, cries quite a bit, pulls at ears, pukes on kitchen floor (after about 4 days of NO spit-up whatsoever), etc, etc, etc. Any ideas? (Mom and Dad...don't tell me this was normal for me when I was a baby.)

Last night I called my mom, who is in Utah visiting a sleeping, non-crying baby Rylee, for advice - and in hopes that she was on her way home! Megan was screaming and hollering in the phone to her. About 45 minutes later my dad knocked on the door. She had sent in the reserves. Just like normal, as he must've cast his special Grandpa magic before we answered the door, she was a perfect little playful angel while he was here. No fussing; just played with him (it was midnight). He stayed over to help through the night, if needed, but she slept with him here. We looked like idiots! She was just fine with him here. I think I even caught her giving me the "I win/I told you so" look.

Gran and Papa came to play yesterday; Gran again today!

Then Grandpa came to visit tonight! It's not often Grandpa gets one-on-one Megan time...he's usually sharing with Grandma and Uncle Scott. Since he dropped them off in two different states, he had special Megan fun.

Of course she showed off all of her new tricks. Yes, blowing bubbles and the "mmm" sound are tricks!

Yes, it's been awhile. Thank you to all that have asked about the fact that I haven't posted in days. We've had lots going on around here. You know I'm busy if I haven't taken a single picture since July 4th!

I thought Megan had an ear infection because she was trying to pull her right ear off and was very fussy, but after a trip to Dr. Hull we found out that it's just teething. Fun. We also found out that Megan weighs 17 pounds, 5 ounces. Um, that's 2 pounds more than last MONTH. Husky girl!

Megan is sleeping in her crib every night and doing very well. I have to make several trips to check on her, but I'm not making nearly as many as I was a week ago. So far so good. Just a few little mishaps...one being a chunky thigh stuck between two crib slats. It was so stuck that I had to extract it using lotion and a big tug. Uncle Matt was disappointed that I didn't have a picture of it, but for once in my life I was more concerned about the hurting than the picture. Maturity?

Happy rainy 4th of July!

What a lazy day at our house! Apparently Granna and Double G wore Megan out last night as they babysat...Megan has slept off and on for most of the day. We've had plenty of time to get a few projects around the house out of the way. No complaints -yet-of course, unless she wants to stay up all night tonight.

Speaking of tonight, after we watch fireworks, Megan is going to sleep in her crib in her own room! Yes, you read correctly - tonight Megan graduates from the Co-Sleeper next to our bed to her own crib in her own room. Like she'll care, but I'm not going to lie...I think it will be harder on me. Although I think back to the first night we put her to bed and let her cry it out. Man that was hard, but when she slept through the night, it all became very worth it. Maybe this move will have similar benefits.

Megan and her cousin Mandy had quite a conversation! Megan would "talk"; Mandy would "talk" and giggle at whatever Megan would say. This exchange went on for quite awhile. We figure we're in for many more girly conversations.

Saturday we went to Alex and Austin's birthday party. They're already 2!

We had the camera out, snapping shots of the kids playing and opening presents. I made one request of Daddy - I wanted one decent picture of Megan and I together. It took several shots, but we ended up a goofy one and a serious one.

Somebody actually took a very long, 2 hour, nap today in her own bed! Apparently we wore her out this weekend. She hasn't ever napped for more than 30 minutes in her bed...I couldn't believe it. Quite frankly, I wasn't quite sure what to do with the time. When she woke up she had some funky hair - the Elvis do.

The most exciting part of the weekend happened this evening. Granna and "Double G" (Great Grandpa) came to visit Megan (hey, I am smart enough to know who they really came to see!). She was a little apprehensive at first, but it had nothing to do with them. It's her latest phase - "let's-be-scared-of-anyone-but-my-mom-and-dad." She warmed up very quickly; it was like they were never away. We ate dinner together, and Megan was so good! We had a great time, but we had to let them go home since they were tired. We'll get them back tomorrow!