Snow Day!

It was lots of big fun at our house today!

All tucked in...

Since South Dakota is a ridiculous place to live, it decided to snow at least a foot today. It is supposed to snow every day until Friday, when it is supposed to rain. Umm... so much for the whole "out like a lamb" thing. So, Mer and I are just hanging out at home, trying to stay warm As you can see, we're still having some runny nose issues.... but she's darn cute anyway! The last picture is the first time I braided her hair, and I was really excited. Just four little braids, but still! I can't believe it is long enough! Later, I'll write about wrecking my bid for mother of the year 2009 (and it's only March!!!), but for now, Mer, Nathan and I are all snowed in together. Too much fun to waste time typing!

Sicko...

Mer has been feeling pretty awful. The doctor says she has a cold (even though she isn't coughing...) but I think it is mostly just teething. Either way, she has been pretty miserable. Thankfully, she is feeling much better today. The drool is out of control! You can see in the pictures, I'm sure. She'd only had her shirt on for 5 minutes when I took these pictures, and it is already soaked. It's like someone turned on a faucet in her mouth. She didn't really sleep or eat for about 3 days. Poor munchkin! It is awfully nice to have my happy, smiley Mer back. We missed her! * Please note... the last picture (the one where she is making a pouty frown face) is the one and only picture in which I asked her to smile. I'll say it again... I'm scared for when she's 13.

We're going to have to start being careful...

about what we do in front of Meron. Today I saw her trying to clean her ear with a stick (pretending it was a q-tip), blow her nose and carry the cord of the vacuum cleaner around so that it wouldn't get in the way while I vacuumed. She has also been repeating almost everything I read to her. She can read most of Moo, Baa, La La La... well, she can do all of the animal noises except for the pig. It is so funny to see her sitting and reading a book by herself. She turns the pages and points out all of the things we usually point out and makes all of the expected noises. Sigh. I'm pretty sure this means she's almost ready for college.

Hair

Meron has gotten very good about sitting still while I experiment on her hair, so we have been getting a little bit more adventurous. I love the pictures of when I took out her puffs... she looks like an evil genius. Kind of.

First trip to the Zoo!

Mer loved looking at all of the animals, especially the penguins, the monkeys, the lions and the fish. There was a tank with little yellow fish in them, and she insisted that they were "cheese". Okay.... Swimming cheese it is.

17 Months

Yup. That sounds old. In honor of the fact that it is now all the way back up to 45 degrees outside (it was blizzarding and below 0 again a couple of days ago) Meron tried on yet another summer outfit. Can you tell I am doing a little wishful thinking?

Okay, in the time it took me to type the first paragraph, Meron somehow figured out how to take off her jeans and diaper. I finished the sentence and turned around to see what she was laughing about, and Rose was licking her. Ummm.... I'm not sure which one came up with that brilliant plan, but I think you all will be with me in stating my belief that it is inappropriate.

In other news, Meron has started to practice jumping. I'll post a video of her gigantic leaps. I guess I'd better stop typing... now that I know the answer to, "What trouble could she possibly get into in 30 seconds or less?"

We're Ready!

(For spring). Yet another person succumbed to the irresistible urge to buy really cute clothes for Mer. My friend Mary contributed to Meron's summer wardrobe... with incredibly sweet results. Don't you just want to tickle those knees? And the shoes that Mer's Grandma bought.... wow. Nathan says we have to paint her toenails now. We'll see....

Some pictures for you.... the first one is Meron when she is watching "Happy Feet." She really isn't allowed to watch much tv, but she watches this movie from time to time. She LOVES it. She will sit for almost an hour completely engrossed with that look on her face. Wow. It is just this movie, too. She will watch others for a minute or two, but then gets busy. It is a little scary how intense she gets about the penguins!

The videos are of Mer getting tickled (can you believe it took 2 months before we ever heard her laugh?), Mer practicing sign language while eating pie and doing the funky chicken dance, (it gets boring in South Dakota... not much else to do but teach the baby the funky chicken dance) and lest you think she is too perfect, the mad face that she does before she starts yelling at me. I know I say this all the time, but she really does look like such a big girl now!