Early Retirement...

It is decided. Mer is going to be a supermodel by the time she is 18 and I am going to retire. So, just 16 more years of work. Shwew.

How do I know, you ask? Well... since you asked....

Mer won the first ever JJW Photography Facebook Contest!! The topic was "Eyes" Well, I mean, that is kind of her best thing... or one of them... Jodi (of JJW Photography) took our first professional pictures of Meron, and her daughter (Destiny) was at House of Hope with Meron.

There was some seriously stiff competition, especially from a whole bunch of incredibly lovely Ethiopian kids.

Here is our winning picture


Mer, January 09
Congrats to the runners up- Amanda, I thought Adia was robbed!

11 Months.

Okay, my post is one day early, but better early than late, right? We have now known Meron for 11 months. That is astonishing to me. 11 MONTHS! How can that be all? I can't even imagine what I used to do without this girl in my life. On the other hand, how can 11 months have gone by so fast? It literally breaks my heart every time I look at these pictures, because she looks so grown up. I swear, some of them look like she was posing for senior pictures. She doesn't look like a baby any more... not even a little bit. I can see what she is going to look like when I walk her to kindergarten the first day of school. I can't see what she'll look like as a teenager yet, but I think that is only because my poor brain couldn't handle it.

I was going to say that I have enjoyed every minute of it, but that is absolutely not true. There have been many poop-splosions that I have decidedly not enjoyed, along with many many tantrums, fights for sleep and just plain butting of heads that have not been in any way pleasant. Mer and I both have rather strong opinions on many things, and sometimes that makes things hard. There have also been such scary things- medical worries, a fall off a chair, first open wound and more heart aches than I can count. None of these things were pleasurable. I can say, however, absolutely without a doubt, that I am so very very grateful for every second of time that I have gotten to spend with my daughter. She brings light to everything and everyone around her, and I can't believe I couldn't see how shadowy the world was before I knew her.

Our weekend in pictures...

Mimi the Pickpocket

My baby is 21 months old. Yup. That means almost two. And, being a precocious child, she has decided to get into those 'terrible two's' a little early. Really, it isn't so much a terrible thing so much as an "I can do it myself (even if I really can't), and I don't want your help, and I might not even really like you" thing. To counter balance this new found love of Independence that makes me weep at least once a week, (sobbing quietly to myself or to Nathan "My baby doesn't need me anymore!") comes amazing new language skills and even more of a sense of humor than she had before. So, when she doesn't hate me, she is really really fun. Meron has gotten very fond of naming things. She likes to pat me and say Mama and then Nathan and say Dada and then all of our various body parts, etc. She was having a terrible time saying Meron, though. She can say Tewabech, I don't know, I love you, oh man!, etc but not Meron. All of a sudden last week she came up with a solution and dubbed herself "Mimi." It is pretty darn cute. She likes to write her name (she holds the pencil while I guide her hand) and can say all of the letters in Meron. So she says, "M-E-R-O-N....MIMI!!!" So funny.

She has also begun a path toward a life of crime, from which I am hoping we can dissuade her. I was cooking a few days ago and she was standing by my side watching me when I suddenly realized how quiet it really was. No asking to come up and help, no chasing the dogs, no asking for apples or cheese. I got nervous. When I looked down I saw that she had managed to take everything out of my pocket without me noticing and was laying it in neat piles on the floor. I watched her without saying anything, curious about what she had planned. She left everything else on the floor, but took my debit card out of the pile, opened up a cupboard, opened the little used bread machine, and put my debit card inside of it. Wow. How many years would it have been before I found that, you ask? The answer is... maybe Mer would have found it when she was cleaning out our things after Nathan and I had both died of old age. Maybe.

Happy 4th!

We had a lot of fun, although we missed Nathan. I'm really tired of him working on all of the major holidays... but I guess someone has to provide 'active treatment' to the kids who don't get to go home, right? I wish he had the same job I do, because I'm not allowed to work on holidays!

Some notes about the pictures...

1. Many of the pictures I have are of Meron running away. I mostly saw Meron's back all day, as she was extremely busy. There was a little boy who was 2 1/2 to play with, and her grandma, and a kitty... I wasn't even on the coolness scale for most of the day.

2. I know my grandma will hate it that I posted a picture of her on the blog. Sorry grandma, but I think it is beautiful, and I love it. It is going on my wall, too.

3. I love the last picture, because it is at the very end of the day and shows just how full and sleepy she was by the time we left.

We didn't get to see many fireworks, except while we were driving home. Meron was supposed to sleep the whole way, which worked really well at first, but she woke up about an hour and a half before we got there. So, she saw her first fireworks, too. She loved them, and would squeal and say "Ohh! Ohh! Wow!" every time she saw one. It was actually pretty fun.

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday!

Seriously...

The hat might be a little too small, but I still love it. Have you ever seen anything in your life sweeter than my girl? I haven't.... but some might say I am a little biased.