Proud Mama

I've just been overwhelmed today at everything my little girl does. Just today, three times she has very clearly expressed herself without prompting. In the past if we wanted her to say a word we would say it and she would parrot it back at us. Or we would point to something, like a squirrel, and say, "squirrel", and she would respond "qor". I guess there are four things because yesterday she walked over to the window overlooking Amma and Papa's deck and said, "qors?" There weren't any outside at the moment and she was asking for them :).

This morning she finished off her juice and I asked her if she wanted more. There wasn't much of a response so I went ahead and refilled it and, holding it out for her, asked her if she wanted more juice. She replied, "No, no juice." Her first official little sentence!! We've come close with saying "nigh-night" or "bye-bye" to people but nothing this clear. I was so proud.

Then, later this morning I was wearing my USC sweatshirt. About a month ago I started pointing to the letters saying, "U S C". She started responding "Trojans" and knew she was supposed to do something with her fingers but couldn't quite figure it out. This morning, without any prompting, she looked down at my sweatshirt while I was holding her. She pointed to the letters and said, "S C, S C, Trojans!" Then she formed her fingers into the Victory sign, a la Adeline (it looks more like an ASL letter "F" than a "V") and started waving her hand around. Once again, Mommie was amazed :).

Finally, she was upstairs playing a few minutes ago and discovered, amongst her Christmas gifts, an unopened package of the soap we use for her bath. She took it over to Alan and said, "Nakie!" and tried to start taking her clothes off. Alan said, "Do you want a bath?", and she replied "Bath" and ran over to Amma's kitchen sink (where she bathes when she's here - she doesn't like the full-size tub). She wanted a bath! It was the cutest thing.

It just amazes me the concepts she's beginning to understand and the things she says. I'm not naive enough to think that my daughter is the smartest cookie in the world and clearly exhibiting signs of genius at age one and a half. I'm sure this is basically just the life stage she is in. But after so many months of wondering what it would be like to have a little person running around the house who thinks and does and says what she wants to when she wants to, it's pretty crazy to finally be there. My baby is growing up! And soon enough she will be the big girl in the house :).

More Pictures

Here is a link to a few more pictures from the last couple of days. Amma and Papa gave Adeline a slide for Christmas and she just thought it was the greatest thing ever. Also in this album are some more pictures of my playdate with Lillian.

More soon!

When Blogs Collide

Today Mommie, Daddy and I had a very special playdate. We all got to meet our blog buddy, Lillian, for the first time! Lillian is my cousins' cousin :). She is about 6 weeks older than I am and our Mommies have been helping us blog since we were born. We know all about the other's adventures, thanks to blogging, but this was the first time we met in person. Lillian invited us over to her house for a little visit and we had such a nice little time. We even got pictures!

Christmas Pictures

Here are some pictures from Christmas Day and today. Adeline loves all her new toys! Check out the videos, too :). View pictures.

Christmas Eve!

Well Adeline is feeling better. I can tell the new antibiotic makes her drowsy, but thankfully tomorrow will be the last day she'll have to take it. The hives are all gone, however, so no more benadryl which is good for all involved.

We had to drive through some pretty nasty weather last night to make it to Holland. Normally it's a two and a half hour drive, going about 70 mph on Michigan highways. It takes a little longer when you have to go 35-45 the whole way. We made it in about 4 hours and Adeline did really well. The last 45 minutes or so she woke up so I narrated and sang to her the entirety of The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh movie. It was subsequently running through my head all night long...

So far we've been enjoying a fun and relaxing time with the family. Adeline is having fun with her cousins that she's only ever seen once before, and it's pretty fun to have all 10 of us under the same roof. Waking up for Christmas morning tomorrow will be lots of fun - and Adeline will look extra cute in her Christmas jammies :). We sure miss Uncle Peter, but look forward to seeing him - and him meeting Adeline for the first time! - on Monday.

So Adeline didn't have much of a half birthday yesterday, but she is indeed now a full 18 months old. I can't hardly believe it. Tomorrow will be her second Christmas and next year she'll have a little sister to celebrate with. This family stuff is pretty cool :).

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and enjoy your time with family and friends.

Much love,
Meredith :)

The Crazy Week Continues....

This morning we woke up and were about to give Adeline her next dose of antibiotics when I saw what looked like a rash on her face. A quick peek under the jammies confirmed my suspicion - an allergic reaction to her meds. I called the doc and she was really good at getting back to me quickly. Adeline is now on Benadryl and a new antibiotic.

Had it been any other Sunday I would have stayed home with Adeline and sent Alan to church alone. But this morning Alan and I were becoming members of our new church. A couple weeks ago we had our interview with the elders and last week we had our picture taken. This week we stood up in front of the church, answered some questions and read the church's Statement of Faith and were accepted into the congregation. This is very exciting because it's the first time Alan and I have been members of the same church. The excitement is compounded by the fact that membership in the EPC is Alan's first step into being ordained into the EPC. There's a process he must still go through which will take several years, but he is on his way.

That's all from South Lyon for today. Pray for our little girl, that her health is restored and the hives go away.

Blessings,
Meredith

Strep

This seems to have been a fairly big week for us.

First of all, Adeline woke up from her nap on Wednesday afternoon with a 103.9 temperature. Thursday it had gone down to 102.9, but obviously still very high. We called the nurse on call at her pediatrician's office and she advised that other than keeping her comfortable for the time being there was nothing we could really do. The doc wouldn't see her till she's had a temp for 3 days. Friday morning she woke up and it was still hovering around 102.5. We called the nurse back and she made an appointment for us to come in. The complication was that yesterday there was a huge snowstorm. The roads were terrible. There was so much snow piled in them. It looked like a plow hadn't touched them and our little sedan was not built for it! We managed to get there safely thanks to some brilliant driving by Alan. We're glad we made the trip because although her fever had gone down to about 100 degrees by the time we got to the doctor, it turns out she has strep throat. Apparently this isn't too common in kiddos her age, and we're hoping that she doesn't end up prone to throat infections. She's now on antibiotics and sleeping a lot - can't really get her to eat much but the doc wasn't too concerned about that as long as she stays hydrated. By the end of the day today she'll no longer be contagious - Alan and I are hoping not to get it - but she'll be on the meds for 10 full days.

In other news, the appointment with my midwife on Tuesday went well. I met a new midwife, Mary, and she is so sweet. We talked about the birthing center in Southfield and short of taking a tour to make sure it's definitely what we want to do I am sold on it. She has opted not to change my due date even though I've been measuring small since day one, so I've adjusted the ticker above to reflect a May 2nd due date. I doubt she'll come that early, though, and the midwife said that should I come to 42 weeks gestation she would take into consideration the possible early estimation of the due date. All that means is that they may not make me induce and/or may still allow me to give birth in the birthing center instead of the hospital should I still be pregnant on May 16th.

A request has been made for a belly pic ;-) -- still not much belly to show given that I lost 15 pounds again this time and am measuring almost two weeks small. Most people have no idea that I'm nearly 5 months pregnant. More than halfway - I can't believe it! We'll get around to the belly pics soon though I'm sure :).

That's all the news for now I think. We head west to Holland next week to be with my family for Christmas and New Year's. It's so unbelievably nice not to have to travel this year. For those of you whom we will miss dearly in California we're planning a trip - our whole family of FOUR! - out next August. We'll keep you posted on that.

Much love to you all and Merry Christmas,
Meredith

Backlog of Pictures!

I finally uploaded all of the pictures from our camera today. They date back to when we were still living in the shoebox and include our move, lots of videos of Daddy and Adeline playing while I was sick, and the latest pictures I took of Adeline helping Daddy to put up the Christmas lights. They can be seen by clicking here.

I haven't yet set up the scanner to scan in the ultrasound photos from last week. But as soon as I do I'll get them posted. There are some really good ones. I think Pink Floyd looks like her sister already :).

I have a midwife appointment this afternoon. Should be pretty standard: listen to the heartbeat, "Do you have any questions?", etc. I'll found out if they're going to move my due date, although no one has technically even told me a due date yet. All things considered, though, we're about halfway.

Oh, good story! Alan and I decided to go to the mall in Novi on Saturday. We had no idea what kind of craziness this actually entails. We made the turn into the mall and we seriously thought we could have been at Disneyland. SO much traffic trying to get in and out of the mall. HUGE lines of cars waiting to exit. A sea of cars parked with not an empty spot in sight. It was so crazy. We decided to brave it anyway after driving all the way out there in the snow. Adeline did really well. Thankfully we didn't have too much of an agenda. The one thing I did want to do is get my wedding rings checked and cleaned as I do about every six months (it'll be easier now that I live in a state where my jeweler is). I handed over my rings to the sales lady behind the counter and things were taking longer than usual. I thought this was strange since I had just had them checked and cleaned while in Holland last month, but didn't have the signature cards so I needed to come back. After having three people look oh-so-carefully at my engagement ring they determined that one of my center diamonds had chipped! I couldn't believe it! I really do not recall smacking my hand against anything recently and especially not in the last month. The good news is that my hubby was oh-so-smart and bought my ring at a jewelers that guarantees their product, so they sent my ring off to their big Chicago store to replace my diamond absolutely free! And all because I've been consistently getting them checked for the last 6 years. It's kind of exciting to know that all that checking and cleaning and going out of my way a couple times a year paid off, although with just my wedding band on my left ring finger my hand feels very naked and light! I hope my ring comes back soon. I told Alan they should give you a loaner like the car dealer does when your car needs repairs. Do you think I could convince them of that???

Pictures with Santa

Our new little group of friends here in Michigan invited us to come with them to have our picture taken with Santa on Monday. We couldn't convince all the kiddos to sit with Santa by themselves so the Moms ended up in the picture too. Enjoy! :)

Another Brick in the Wall

Okay, so maybe it's not nice to call my future child a brick and in so doing imply my current child is a brick, but I wanted to be true to the lyric. In all truth possibly the title of this post should be, "Another Girl in the Family"... but I don't think Pink Floyd wrote that song. Have you caught on yet??

IT'S A GIRL! :)

Yes we are indeed expecting girl #2 which is granddaughter #5 for my folks. Alan said at the ultrasound, "What does it take to get a boy around here?!?" We, of course, are thrilled to be expecting a little girl and Adeline no doubt will love having a little sister (she will someday, right Megan??? ;-)

We got some great ultrasound pictures and I hope to be able to scan and upload them soon. Our newest little addition is absolutely beautiful like her sister - I can tell already :) - kicks up a storm and is not shy! She was very active during the ultrasound too so it was fun to watch her move and roll around.

I am measuring about 13 days small. At my early ultrasound I was measuring 5 days small. Neither of these amounts, however, is enough for them to change my due date, so it will remain May 2 according to them, but I will keep it at May 8 according to me :). Alan is still not permitted to schedule ANYTHING from the end of April to mid-May :).

In other news... Adeline grows cuter everyday, if you can imagine. Everyday brings new words and new discoveries. She continues her love affair with Pooh and shouts "Piglet!" every time he comes on the screen and when we see his picture in our Winnie the Pooh book. She really has come to love both Piglet and Pooh, but will also say "Eeyore" and "Owl", although I'm probably the only one on the planet who actually understands what she's saying :). I'm Mommie. It's my job.

She's also becoming exceedingly fond of Elmo. She can't wait to run and get her diapers changed several times a day because Elmo is all over her diapers. "Elmo! Elmo!" When we're walking through Target and she spots Elmo Live I have to push the little button on his foot multiple times - "Elmo wants to tell you that Elmo loves you very much. Mm-hm. Kiss kiss! Mwa! Mwa!" She gets a kick out of it every time. She also really likes the Christmas section in Target with all the lights. "Ooh!" When Daddy was putting up our Christmas tree every time he would plug in a new set of lights Adeline would squeal "Ooh!" with delight. So adorable.

On the down side she is definitely teething right now. It looks like tooth #13 is giving her more trouble than any other tooth so far. She can be pretty cranky and chews on her fingers and just about everything else, too.

I think that's about all the updating I have for now. I have been taking lots of pictures of Adeline lately and hope to get a chance to upload them soon. Check back :).

With love,
Meredith for The Conrows

Brilliant

So this week I discovered two incredibly brilliant things:

1. A bowl of vinegar will disarm any smell in any room. Really. It's amazing. Why on earth have I ever gone out and spent money on air fresheners that simply mask the smell with "ocean breeze" or "fresh linen" (which doesn't smell anything at all like fresh linen by the way) when all I needed to do to neutralize odors was put out a tiny bowl of vinegar? A bowl 3/4 full has been sitting in Adeline's room for the last few days and you wouldn't even know there's a trash can full of poopy diapers in there. Actually, it was minutes before it started to neutralize the odors. Really. It's amazing.

2. Whoever works in the baby department for the Method company must be the most brilliant person on the face of this earth. The other day while perusing the Happiest Place on Earth (aka Target) Adeline and I were shopping for some diaper rash cream. Sure enough, sitting there on the shelf amongst all the tubes and tubs of various things that have or have not worked over the last year and a half of her life was this:

It's a pump!! I can't tell you how many times I've gotten diaper rash cream EVERYWHERE in the process of only trying to get it on nothing but one of my fingers and one little tushie thanks to those flip-top or screw-on caps. Maybe I'm just diaper rash cream challenged, but this seemed like the most brilliant invention ever for mommiehood. Putting cream on Adeline's little tushie has never been simpler or tidier. I seriously bought this cream the second I saw it just because of the pump! It was an extra plus that it's all natural and works GREAT! Very exciting. I highly recommend it :).


That's all.

My Second Thanksgiving

I have had so much fun this Thanksgiving weekend with Amma and Papa and Uncle Rob. On Thanksgiving Day Mommie, Daddy and I got all dressed up and took our Christmas pictures in front of the fireplace. Amma even hung our stockings. I was very adorable in the little dress Mommie bought for me from Gap and my new little brown shoes. What do you think??

Amma and Papa were busy busy in the kitchen for most of the day preparing our feast. For dinner I enjoyed mashed potatoes, turkey, hawaiian rolls and even some duck! Yum!

On Friday after I woke up from a looooooong nap we went downtown to walk around. We stopped by the gallery, where Amma occasionally works, and had to stop by Kilwin's to get a caramel apple for Mommie. We went to a little store full of Christmas things that I had so much fun looking at. Mommie says it's called "Home & Company". Amma and Papa bought me a little nativity set. I have had so much fun playing with it too :). Then we went to a store just for little people like me called "Tiptoes". Amma bought me a little book. I love to read.

It was pretty cold outside so we had to head back home. Plus I wanted to get up and run around. When we got home I had something new for dinner - Pizza! I scarfed it! So yummy. After I went to bed Mommie and Daddy played a game called Chickenfoot with Amma and Papa and watched Miracle on 34th Street. I guess the movie is a Thanksgiving family tradition. They also put up Stanley, the Christmas tree.

Today we're just getting ready to go home. Papa says that today it's very important for us to root for Oklahoma State, Auburn, Oregon State, Florida State and of course USC in football. I don't know about all those others, but I can say "Trojans!"

I hope you all had as great of a Thanksgiving weekend as I did!

Love,
Adeline

Update

Sorry for the delay in a new post. We don't have internet at home just yet so posts will be few and far between for now. At any rate, here's what we've been doing recently...

• I had a list going of more and more words Adeline is saying, but the list was growing by about 10 to as many as 20 words a day and I just can't keep up! Some of my favorites that are new are "magazine, "Amma", "silly silly", and the fact that she recites lines from Winnie the Pooh!
• Adeline and I went to our first play date last week at a friend's house. We had breakfast for lunch and played and played. It was fun. We had another little play date this morning at another friend's house. It's fun to get out of the house and let Adeline play with other kiddos while we moms get to chat :).
• I don't think I posted that the first time we heard "Floyd"'s heartbeat was October 22nd. My ultrasound is scheduled: December 10th. Two weeks from today we'll get to see "Floyd" again and learn if he's a he or she's a she! I did start to feel "Floyd" moving around last week. It is the coolest thing. I will never get over that or get tired of it.
  
• We're now in Holland at Amma and Papa's house where we'll celebrate Thanksgiving with "Turducken" and Alan's Grandma's Potato Casserole tomorrow. Yum!
  

Happy Thanksgiving all!

Much love,
Meredith, for The Conrows

An Important Word from Adeline....

Did you catch all that???

Also, some new words:
"Juice"
"Eat"
"du jour" - Amma says "Adventure" and Adeline says "du jour!"
"Click"
"Nose"
"Shake"

Can you stand the cuteness!?!

Adeline and I are moving home tomorrow (Saturday) where we don't have internet so probably no posts for a little while. Pray for me this week as I will have to spend a lot of time taking care of Adeline by myself and am worried about my energy level. We're actually coming back to Holland the following week for Thanksgiving (the first Thanksgiving I've spent with my family in 8 years) and I'm really looking forward to that. Next midwife appointment is Tuesday so I'll post updates as soon as I can.

Much love,
Meredith

More Words

"Nine" - when you count with Adeline every number is nine!
"Kitchen"
"Whee!!" - does this count as a word? Her new favorite thing to do is turn herself around in circles and say "Whee!" over and over again. It is toooooo cute!
"Bye" - very similar to "Hi" and "Nigh-night" but it's the context that matters, right?
"Peach" - Amma calls Adeline "Peach" a lot so Adeline repeats it! Time to be extra careful what we say. It all gets parroted back!
"Squash" - Amma has some Fall decor out and they always say nigh-night to the squash on their way downstairs.


Everyday Adeline does new and different things and surprises me with the things she knows. For example, when Alan and I first arrived in Michigan we were in the car with Adeline. We were parked and unhooked her from her seat. She crawled up to the front, sat in Alan's lap in the driver's seat, took his keys from him and reached around to put them in the ignition! We were so amazed! She knew exactly what to do (but thankfully not exactly how to do it!).

When you ask her if she wants lunch or dinner she goes straight for her little seat, reaches up and grabs it. Or occasionally she'll go to the fridge and try to open it. If she's done with her juice or milk I say, "Go give it to Amma and she'll put it away," and she walks straight over and gives it to Amma. She's very good at putting things away when you ask her to and closing cupboards and things that she might have opened. And she knows her routine so well that when you say, "Is it time for a snooze?" she walks over to the top of the stairs (can't go any farther because there's a barrier there) and just stands there waiting for Amma to pick her up and take her downstairs. Oftentimes when she wakes up these days she just lays in her pack-n-play and talks to her doggie. It's just amazing to me how much she knows how to do and everything she understands. Her verbal vocabulary may be limited to these lists, but her cognitive vocabulary is certainly way beyond.

I guess that's enough swelling with pride from Mommie :). I just really love that kid!

Wishlists Updated

Adeline and I have been working hard on getting our wishlists populated and updated to give people ideas for Christmas if they need them. I've also started a new baby wishlist. It's meager right now as we don't really know what we will need - I'll have more time to think about it in the months to come. I've decided to call Baby #2 "Floyd". Don't know why. It just came to me the other day and I like it better than "baby", or "new baby", or "baby #2", etc.

You'll find the new wishlist links to the right and we'll work on Alan getting his updated as well so we can post a link to his.

I'm enjoying a beautiful rainy/snowy/mix day here in West Michigan and hope you all have a nice Sunday, too.

Much love,
Meredith

New Words & Pictures!

To add to Adeline's vocab list...

"All Clean!"
"Yes"
"Apple"
"Go, go" (Amma says, "Adeline, should we go on an adventure today?" Adeline replies, "Go go?")


And, without any further ado, new photos and video of Adeline can be found here.

The Election - my $.02 (Meredith :)

Because I apparently started the blog election talk among some family and friends I thought I'd better post some closing remarks. Not that anyone probably cares what I think, but hey, I have a blog so I can tell you anyway ;-).

First of all, I should probably let you all know that I actually did not vote. Before you freak out, let me explain. Alan and I made extra effort to make sure we were registered in our new home state of Michigan in time to vote on November 4th, and at the time I had every intention of voting. However, due to my health, I was unable to get an absentee ballot and of course was nowhere near my polling place in South Lyon on Tuesday. So it was not for lack of desire, but for lack of ability.

Moving on... I must confess that I was never a gung-ho McCain supporter. Frankly I chose him because he wasn't Obama. However, now in the wake of the election, I must say I am a little relieved that McCain did not win, but still quite concerned about an Obama presidency. On the one hand I am excited for America that they are excited about their president-elect. They wanted change and hope and they think they can find it in Obama and I am willing to sit back and let him prove himself. On the other hand, I don't think there's a single issue on which I agree with Obama. I don't like his tax plan, his health care plan, his education plan, his plans for a troop withdrawal timeline, I disagree with him strongly on his stance on abortion, I don't think the government should legislate spreading the wealth, and I believe in small government and low taxes. But to the democrats' credit, it is true that this country has not thrived under President Bush's leadership and I think America has spoken and they want to give them a chance to do it their way. You have 4 years. Start proving yourselves.

On a different note, I must say to the San Fransiscans out there (I'm sure there are so many who read The Conrow Family Blog), you should be ashamed of yourselves. Thankfully it did not pass, however even the notion of putting a measure on the ballot that would change the name of a toxic waste plant to bear the name of our 43rd president is disgusting. I don't care how much you disagree with his policies, his leadership, his choices, etc. He is your president and the person in that position should command and secure your respect, even while you disagree. The treatment of George W. Bush by some people with a lot of voice has been disgraceful, and I can promise you I will never condone such treatment of a democratic president in office even while I might disagree.

So there's my little soapbox posted in the only little outlet I have for my faithful blog-readers (if you've made it this far). I am always proud to be an American, always, and you should be too, no matter who your president is, if for no other reason than the process you have the privilege of participating in the first Tuesday of every fourth November.

May God bless our president-elect, and God bless America.

Baby #2

Given that I'm feeling a bit better - well enough to be online just about everyday now - I thought I should post an update about how our new baby is growing:

This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb.

In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.

Tomorrow marks the end of my first trimester. In a couple weeks I'll go back for another appointment at the midwives' office and maybe have another ultrasound that will tell us if Adeline will have a little brother or sister :).

Adeline's Vocabulary

I thought I might sit down and try to list all the words Adeline can say. Since we've been living with my mom her vocabulary has definitely expanded. I love to hear her little voice. I keep waiting for the first sentence, but she hasn't quite been able to put a couple words together yet. I keep hoping for "Hi Daddy" since we say that one a lot on the phone :). Her attempts at "I love you" have mostly been extended babble. Mostly when she hears someone else say I love you she starts giving kisses :). Too cute!!

Without any further ado, here we go:

"Uh-oh"
"Mommie"
"Daddy"
"Papa"
"Hi!"
"Nigh-night"
"Cheese"
"Toes" (she says "toht" - not to be confused with "tot", the German word for dead!)
"Stretch"
"Cookie"
"Trash"
"Up"
"Off"
"No"
"Hush" (Goodnight Moon)
"Squirrel" (kinda comes out like "qor")
"Yum"
"Doug" (her lovey)
"Shoe"
"Doggie" (still "goggie" - and actually most animals are "goggies")
"Trojans" (fight on!)
"Domino" (she loves playing with Amma's domino set)

And we're getting really close with "I love you" and "Amma". For a while she was saying "mom" and it was decidedly different from "Mommie" referring to me of course so we thought that was Amma - but she's since stopped doing that.

She also says "Howie" on a pretty regular basis but we have yet to have any clue what that means. And there's one "phrase", for lack of a better word, that she says all the time that's so nonsensical to my ears that I can't even type it and I've yet to figure that one out too.

I feel like she has more words than this but I can't think of them at the moment. I'll add to the list as I remember more.

Dr. Bochman at Adeline's 15-month check-up said that between 15 and 18 months her vocabulary would explode going from the half dozen or so words she knew then to about 50. I think we're on our way! She chats all the time. I wish I knew what she was saying :).

Precious Adeline, I am so delighted by you. Thanks for being the most adorable little girl ever :).
Love,
Mommie

Big Turn

I am pleased to report that Halloween which marked 13 weeks along also marked a big turn for the better on my end. I'm still weak and a little "urpy", but food - real food - is now staying down on a regular basis as long as I eat it slowly and don't have too much. I've been able to take little outings each day since last Friday. They exhaust me, but I no longer feel like I need to carry a bag with me wherever I go. I'm spending more time online keeping up with the news and friends' and family websites, and have even already started my Christmas shopping!! So make sure your wishlists are up-to-date :).

This week marks the final week of my first trimester - I can't even believe it! Thank you all for your prayers. There has been a remarkable difference in my health since my last post.

Adeline now has 12 teeth! She's talking up a storm and now says words like "stretch", "trash" (she loves to throw things away), "cookie" (pop tarts are cookies around here), and we're getting really close to "Amma" :). She loves to eat mini wheats soaked in milk for breakfast, and lunch and dinner always end with some jell-o for dessert.

Daddy was able to visit with us these last couple of days. He and Adeline got some good father-daughter time in and now he's back to work.

That's all for now. Happy Election Day!

Love,
Meredith

Super Quick Update

I just wanted to say hello to let you all out there know that we're still alive since it's been so long. Adeline and I are living in Holland (MI) with my mom right now while Alan is at home in South Lyon. We don't know how long we'll be here. The sickness with this pregnancy is significantly worse than with Adeline. At this point (12 1/2 wks) with Adeline I wasn't throwing up everyday and could eat lots of normal things, even go out and about on a regular basis. This time a good day is if I throw up fewer than 3-4 times (today's not been a good day) and can keep anything besides some cream of wheat and some juice down. Between my first two appointments (3 weeks) I had lost 6 lbs... not too bad. Then in one more week I went down 7 more lbs. for a total of -13 this pregnancy so far, and I actually don't even know what my real pre-pregnancy weight was. My guess is I've lost a couple more this last week since my appointment on the 22nd, but I haven't gotten on the scale so I'm not sure. I just know I'm weak and when I wrap my thumb and pinkie finger around my wrist they overlap.

Many of you have said you are praying for us. I thought I'd let you know some specifics you can be praying for:

• Healing. I need to be well. I am so sick with no end in sight and I simply want to be able to do things like hold my daughter.
• Adeline. She has been doing well, but I know this is hard on her. She only gets to see Daddy once a week, if that, and Mommie can't hold her, sing to her, put her to bed or anything. It's hard on all of us, but one-year-olds don't exactly know how to cope.
• Alan. It's difficult having Adeline and me away with no one to come home to or take care of.
• My mom. She's been Super Amma these few weeks and it's exhausting!

That's all I've got in me for now. Hopefully there will be more soon.

Blessings,

Meredith

So Sick... and other news

Well all I have to say is Thank God for Zofran. Really, praise the Lord that He gave someone the wisdom to create such a miracle-working drug. The last two days without Zofran have not been good. Basically when I eat I'm thinking, "Will this be easy to throw up later???" Okay, sorry to be so graphic. I'm doing better today, back on the Zofran, and praying that this sickness doesn't progress to the worst it was with Adeline and that it will last only as long if not a little shorter. I'm thinking I probably have about 10 more weeks to go... Which means by Christmas I should be able to enjoy a nice meal :). Thanksgiving on the other hand is probably shot. And I don't even want to really think about how sad my birthday will probably be :(.

Anywho, in other news, I think I shared in my previous post that we were going to be moving into our new place today. Well we decided not to go with that little condo and are now looking at other things. The folks we are living with right now are very generous to let us stay until we figure things out. It looks like we'll be settled on a new place and moving in by the end of the week. Good thing, too, because we really need access to the rest of our clothes :).

More soon!
Love,
Meredith

The Last 10 Days

Hello there!

Long time, no update, but we've been on the road! We have safely arrived in South Lyon, MI and are staying at the home of some church members until our apartment is available on the first of October. Here's a quick rundown of the last CRAZY! week or so.

Friday, 9/19 - Meredith's last day at work. They threw a mini party with cake. I wish I would have been feeling better so I could have enjoyed it more.

Saturday, 9/20 - Alan's last day at work. He, too, had a little going away shindig and they gave him a beautiful calfskin bible that he had been pining after. Also today my brother, Rob, broke his arm playing football. He was supposed to help us move... so that put us in a bit of a bind, but we're glad he's okay.

Sunday, 9/21 - Our last Sunday at Christ Church. Rob had surgery on his arm today so the three of us visited him in the hospital.

Monday, 9/22 - Meredith's midwife appointment. I found out I was probably about 7 weeks along. They poked and prodded and I had a gazillion vials of blood drawn.

Tuesday, 9/23 - Today was super duper "go" day. Adeline had a doctor's appointment in the morning where she got two shots, but she did well. We learned she's 50% for weight at 22 lbs 5 oz. and 75% for height at 31". She's growing so fast! Afterward Adeline and I ran errands - as many as we could get done before I was about to pass out from exhaustion! We only made it till about noon. The rest of the day was all about packing and moving. Alan took a uhaul truck over to my coworker's house to pick up the things we had stored in his basement. He brought them back and with some help from a friend loaded our ABF trailer. Later in the afternoon another friend came over with a friend of his to help us pack and load. It was craziness. We finished at about 2am.

Wednesday, 9/24 - We got a later start than planned, not leaving South Hamilton till noon, but it was good to say goodbye to the shoebox and Massachusetts. I was so happy I cried :). We drove and drove and drove, stopping every couple of hours so I could snack, Adeline could stretch her little legs and get a diaper change. We arrived at our hotel in New Columbia, PA at about 9:30pm I think and were happy to crash for the night.

Thursday, 9/25 - Earlier start today as we were out of the hotel by about 10am. Not much to share about today because it was just more driving! Out of PA and into OH, we arrived in Cincinnati at the Wrights' at about 7pm.

Friday, 9/26 - Today was kind of a rough day for me, sickness-wise. We all got a pretty late and lazy start though. Johanna and I stayed at home with the kids resting for a few hours in the middle of the day while Nathan and Alan went over to Kentucky and also explored Cincinnati a little. When they came back we all went to the zoo for about an hour before they closed.

Saturday, 9/27 - Today we went to the top of the Carew Tower in Cincinnati to look out over the city and across Kentucky even. It was beautiful (except for the smoggy haze... :). Nathan gave us our bearings and told us about various buildings around the city. After that we went to get famous Graeter's ice cream. Then we went over to see the house that the Wrights' just bought. We didn't get to go look inside, but we did drive around the neighborhood quite a bit and it looks like a lovely place to live.

Sunday, 9/28 - Today we went to Covenant-First Presbyterian Church in downtown where Nathan is the Associate Pastor. The church is absolutely gorgeous and the people there are very sweet. It was nice to worship there with them that morning. For most of the rest of the day we rested and waited for Adeline to wake up so we could get going on our drive to South Lyon. We ended up not leaving Cincinnati until 5pm which happened to also be right when the Bengals/Browns game was ending... We were part of the mass exodus from the city after the game, but thankfully the traffic didn't last too long. We arrived in South Lyon at 9:30pm and were happy to have a comfortable place to sleep and make ourselves at home.

So, here we are, Monday, 9/29 - Happy Birthday, Aunt Beckie! There are some errands and things that need to be done for us to get into our apartment on Wednesday but for the most part I think we should be able to relax a little till Wednesday when the rest of the moving process begins.

Hopefully there will be more soon from South Lyon.

With love for The Conrow Family,
Meredith

Hi There!

I just thought I'd post a little something since it had been a while :). The latest news is...

• We're moving to Michigan next week. Alan accepted a Director of Student Ministries position (forgive me because I'm not 100% sure what his title is...) in South Lyon, MI (near Ann Arbor) and he starts October 1st.
• It's getting chilly out here in MA which is really making us wish we had all our Fall clothes right about now. We packed them away at the beginning of the summer knowing we would be moving by the end of the summer before we needed to be dressed more warmly. I think we'll just make it!
• And one more little tidbit of news... You may have noticed the new ticker at the top of our web page. Yes, it is true. Adeline will be a big sister come next Spring. I am expecting, and not feeling too great at the present time, hence the lack of posting.
• Adeline has a pretty nasty cold which means she's not really sleeping these days which means I'm not really sleeping these days. Keep her in your prayers.
• Last week on September 9th Adeline's first molar broke through! It's on the right side. Very exciting :). I can't believe what a big girl she is.
  

That's basically the news from South Hamilton. Soon, we'll have news from South Lyon! :)

Why I (Meredith) am voting for John McCain and Sarah Palin.

We believe in low taxes, spending discipline, and open

markets. We believe in rewarding hard work and risk-takers and letting

people keep the fruits of their labor.

We believe in a strong defense, work, faith, service, a

culture of life, personal responsibility, the rule of law, and judges who dispense

justice impartially and don't legislate from the bench.

We believe in the values of families, neighborhoods, and

communities. We believe in a government that unleashes the creativity

and initiative of Americans, government that doesn't make your choices

for you, but works to make sure you have more choices to make for

yourself.

I will keep taxes low and cut them where I can. My opponent will raise

them.

I will open new markets to our goods and services. My opponent will close them.

I will cut government spending. He will increase it.

My tax cuts will create jobs; his tax increases will eliminate them.

My health care plan will make it easier for more Americans to find and

keep good health care insurance. His plan will force small businesses

to cut jobs, reduce wages, and force families into a government-run

health care system where a bureaucrat stands between you and your doctor.

We all know that keeping taxes low helps small businesses grow and

create new jobs. Cutting the second-highest business tax rate in the

world will help American companies compete and keep jobs from going

overseas.

Doubling the child tax exemption from $3,500 to $7,000 will improve

the lives of millions of American families.

Reducing government spending and getting rid of failed

programs will let you keep more of your own money to save, spend, and

invest as you see fit.

Opening new markets and preparing workers to compete in the world

economy is essential to our future prosperity.

I know some of you have been left behind in the changing economy, and

it often seems that your government hasn't even noticed. Government

assistance for the unemployed workers was designed for the economy of

the 1950s. That's going to change on my watch.

Now, my opponent promises to bring back old jobs by wishing away the

global economy. We're going to help workers who've lost a job that

won't come back find a new one that won't go away.

We will prepare them for the jobs of today. We will use our

community colleges to help train people for new opportunities in their

communities.

For workers in industries that have been

hard-hit, we'll help make up part of the difference in wages between

their old job and a temporary, lower paid one, while they receive

re-training that will help them find secure new employment at a decent

wage.

Education is the civil rights issue of this century.

Equal access to public education has been gained, but what is the

value of access to a failing school? We need to shake up failed school bureaucracies with

competition, empower parents with choice.

Let's remove barriers to qualified instructors, attract and reward

good teachers, and help bad teachers find another line of work.

When a public school fails to meet its obligations to students, parents deserve

a choice in the education of their children. And I intend to give it

to them.

Some may choose a better public school. Some may choose a private one.

Many will choose a charter school. But they will have the choice, and

their children will have that opportunity.

Senator Obama wants our schools to answer to unions and entrenched

bureaucrats. I want schools to answer to parents and students.

And when I'm president, they will.

My fellow Americans, when I'm president, we're going to embark on the

most ambitious national project in decades.

We're going to stop sending $700 billion a year to countries

that don't like us very much.

We'll attack the problem on every front. We'll produce

more energy at home. We will drill new wells off-shore, and we'll

drill them now. We'll drill them now.

My friends, we'll build more nuclear power plants.

We'll develop clean-coal technology. We'll increase the use of wind,

tide, solar, and natural gas. We'll encourage the development and use

of flex-fuel, hybrid and electric automobiles.

Senator Obama thinks we can achieve energy independence without more

drilling and without more nuclear power. But Americans know better

than that.

We must use all resources and develop all technologies necessary to

rescue our economy from the damage caused by rising oil prices and

restore the health of our planet.

My friends it's an ambitious plan, but Americans are ambitious by nature, and

we've faced greater challenges. It's time for us to show the world

again how Americans lead.

[an excerpt from John McCain's acceptance speech given September 4, 2008 in Minneapolis/St.Paul, MN]

All this and a confident, smart, ethical woman that my daughter can look up to.

Vote McCain*Palin!

Three State Day

Alan had a paid day off of work today - woo hoo! - so we decided to take a little family road trip. The plan was to head down to Providence, Rhode Island and find something fun to do for the day. We hopped in the car this morning about 9am - just in time for Adeline to have her morning snooze in the car - and arrived in Providence at about 10:30. We went to the capitol building first. We weren't sure what to expect as far as crowds and things around the city, but were very pleased when there were very few people in sight... and all the parking was free! We walked around the building for a bit. It is spectacular. Pretty typical capitol building, and so large for such a small state that Alan remarked that they could probably fit the entire population of RI in that one building :). Hehe.

We stopped off at Providence Place Mall right next door to pick up a map of the city then walked around a bit. Across from the mall is Waterplace where throughout the summer on selected evenings they do something called Waterfire. Alan had learned about it when we first moved to New England but we never got around to doing it. If you're ever in RI in the summertime, however, we've heard it's a really spectacular sight to see.

We were getting pretty hungry at this point so we went to a spot called Union Station Brewery. For you Californians it's a lot like BJ's. Alan and I had delicious burgers while Adeline snacked on grilled cheese, cucumbers and pickles. What can I say? The kid has interesting tastes.

Anywho, after food we decided to head up toward Brown University to get a look at the campus. It is in a very cool location. The buildings are beautiful and old. We would really liked to have gotten out and walked around, visited the bookstore, etc., but kids were moving in and the hustle and bustle of the first days back at school were evident. So after a little drive (hilly drive!) we called it quits.

Overall we really enjoyed Providence. It is a beautiful and very clean city. I would not mind spending more time there. Maybe I'll be a Brown Parent one day ;-).

Since it was only about 1:30 we decided that we were so close to Connecticut (less than an hour's drive to New London), how could we not go??? (nod to Mom ;-) So we stopped by the local AAA office to pick up a Mass/Conn/RI map and headed west! In New London we found a little spot to park right next to the water and a pier and let Adeline get out and run around for a while. She was very grateful. Then we stopped off at an ice cream place to top ourselves off and I was very grateful :). After lunch in Providence and dessert in New London, we decided to call it a day.

Three hours and three states later, we arrived home. The end. :)

Click here to see pictures of today as well as California pix and some other little videos and pictures from August.

Michigan Visit

Hello all! Alan, Adeline and I will be visiting the church in Michigan next weekend. We're leaving on Friday the 5th and coming back the night of the 7th. Please pray for this weekend - that the Lord would do what He wants to do and that we and the people at the church would get a good chance to really get to know one another.

We covet your prayers as this process continues.

Picaboo

A little while back I created a Picaboo photo book of Adeline's first year. I ordered a couple of copies and really liked the way they turned out. If you wanted to get one, or make one of your own to order, but didn't get around to it, now is a good time because you can get 25% off your order if you purchase by August 28th. If you download the software and create an album of your own you get your first book free (up to $9.99). I thought it was fun and will probably be using it again one day.

Enjoy!

Yet I will rejoice in the LORD

I know what you're thinking - how many posts are there going to be in a single day? This is the last one, I think... :)

I just wanted to share that God has been doing some amazing things in me these last few days. He has shown me things that I have been holding onto that I had no idea about. I'd like to share the story with you, because I am so excited and so hopeful and I want people to know.

On Sunday evening Alan and I sat down to pray and journal together. After inviting the Holy Spirit to speak to us and do His work in those moments, Alan suggested we journal out all of our wants. We were going to write down everything we wanted - not just now, but anything we could possibly think of wanting - from an overall sense of satisfaction in life to a fireplace in our home one day (can you guess which of those two was mine? ;-)

So I sat there, pen in hand (I'm always the secretary :) and wrote down the couple of things Alan initially said. Then Alan asked me what I wanted, and I couldn't write. I didn't want to. I felt angry. Frustrated. Overwhelmed. In despair. Alan attributes what happened next to the speaking of the Holy Spirit. He said to me, "Make a column on the other side of the paper. You [speaking to me] are going to write out all of your fears." I thought, this is dumb. Like this is gonna help anything... I started writing nonetheless and several pages, many minutes, and lots of tears later I finally stopped. I never, until that moment, knew how much I was afraid of, and the topics ranged from one extreme to the other: fear of being forgotten all the way down to the fear of never living somewhere with a fireplace. Fears I never told God before. How could I? I had never told myself.

Once the fears were out the wants started flowing. The list of wants was not nearly as long as the list of fears, but we wrote and wrote until we could think of nothing else. Now God knows. Now we know. There is indeed so much freedom in that amount of honesty and openness - not only before God but between one another within our marriage.

Believe it or not, that was only the beginning of the story... :)

Earlier last week, before Sunday, I sat down to do something called the Daily Examen (this isn't the greatest link but one of the better ones I found). My boss had sent it out to our D.Min. staff so we could use it to prepare for our staff retreat which took place Wednesday this week. The five steps to the Examen are 1. Thanksgiving 2. Intention 3. Examination 4. Contrition 5. Hope. When I read through it last week to try to sit down and do it I got to the Hope section and thought, this exercise is not for people like me in my situation in life. Oh well. And I gave up on it. I didn't know at the time that the reason I couldn't do it was probably because I had been feeling pretty hopeless.

After Sunday, on Monday afternoon, I sat down to try to do it again. It was a whole different ball game. The whole thing doesn't take much time at all (even though I did write it all out) but it made all the difference in my day, my week, my life. I felt like I could sit there and be perfectly honest with God, telling Him exactly the things which came to mind for which I was thankful that day, what I really wanted for the day, how I had experienced His love that day, how I had sinned that day, and what choices I would make that day to allow Him to lead me to a brighter tomorrow.

THEN... on Wednesday morning at our staff retreat we spent two hours in solitude and quiet that we could basically spend however we wanted. (How cool is that that I have a job that pays me to spend two hours alone with God!?) During some group prayer time my boss read the account of the feeding of the five thousand from John. He also mentioned that in the account in Matthew's gospel when the disciples tell Jesus the number of loaves and fish they have, Jesus says to them, "Bring them to me." I spent a lot of time meditating on this phrase during my two hours. Bring them to me. I felt God telling me that I was to bring everything I am to Him. Jesus asked the disciples to bring to him what they had. They could not bring more than what they had and in doing so had to bring their inadequacies as well. But the miracle is that Jesus indeed worked with what they gave Him, but He did not work the miracle until they gave Him what they had. In that moment I felt so thankful that God had prompted me to bring myself to Him - mostly my inadequacies - on Sunday and spared me that experience yesterday morning. I felt like this extra time of solitude that I had been given allowed me to tie up the loose ends and continue to move ahead since Sunday's breakthrough.

Believe it or not my two hours was not yet up at this point so I decided to pick a book of the Bible to read. I landed on Habakkuk. I knew it was short, I hadn't read it in a while, and it also contains one of my favorite verses, 2:20. When I got to the end of the book I was reminded of some of my other favorite verses that had not come to mind in a long time...

Though the fig tree does not bud,
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.
The Sovereign LORD is my strength.

Hab. 3:17-18, 19a

Anyone got a spare fleece??

Alan and I are in the process of once again trying to figure out what is next for us. We are praying daily for Him to work a miracle by August 31st and/or to give us unmistakable direction for what to do next. Job things are once again in the air (irons in the fire but no confirmation for anything yet) as is the housing situation. We are asking God to help us discern what to use as a fleece (a la Gideon) as an instrument for a sign from Him.

We thank those of you who are joining with us in prayer for these things.

Alopecia Areata

Some of you know that since about late June, early July, I started to lose large chunks of my hair. Hoping it was simply stress-related I decided to wait it out because, at the time, it looked like things were going to be changing for us rather soon. Well, when Virginia didn't work out and we started our process over again I decided I had to go to the doctor about it. My primary care immediately diagnosed me with a condition called Alopecia Areata and referred me to a dermatologist, telling me that to treat it she would likely give me steroid injections in my scalp. I'm thinking, that sounds fun.

I had my derm appointment on Monday and she did say that the shots were one treatment option. Then she further explained that due to the size of the balding areas on my head I would need to have somewhere in the ballpark of 50 little shots with no guarantee that it was actually going to work and there was a likelihood of my having to repeat this treatment again in 3 months. Did I mention she also said it's quite painful?? I was very pleased when she recommended not to go with the shots and offered me other options.

After listing a few options we landed on steroid creams. She prescribed two - one for night and one for the day - and also men's extra strength Rogaine (OTC) for when I wasn't using the other two. However when I went to get them filled my insurance only covered one. Guess which one! The cheapest! Of course! The daytime cream they wouldn't cover - the $207 one of course - so we're working on that. In the meantime I'm just going to wait it out (one of the "treatment" options she listed) and see how things go. It will largely depend on what I hear back after a week or so, once the 12-page appeal process has been completed for the secondary meds.

Anywho, that's my sad story with Alopecia, and I only post it here partly so those who know what's been going on can get the story without me having to share it a gazillion times! Oh, and the derm also had my blood checked for a thyroid condition, anemia and Vitamin D deficiency as those things can cause hair loss. The derm described the Alopecia by saying that for some reason my body is attacking its own little hair follicles. Alopecia Areata is more common in those with family members with autoimmune disorders, like a thyroid condition.

So that's it. I go back in October (if we're still here...) for a follow-up. If we're not still here I'll follow-up with a derm wherever we do end up. Thanks for your prayers for my hair :).

BPA Update

The FDA recently came out with yet another study that BPA has been ruled safe. An article about it can be read here. The report can be read here. At the bottom of that page you can also find more details about what BPA is and some other articles. Anti-BPA activists and concerned parents alike are questioning the study based on the argument that the experts on whose word and studies the FDA and the ACC based their report are biased towards the chemical and therefore might argue it as safe even if it isn't. They are calling for other experts to be consulted. Experts they argue are objective about BPA.

Personally I'm done being worried about it. I have taken steps to make sure that I don't use BPA bottles for future children just in case - plus I just think glass baby bottles are kind of cool :). But for those of you who might be wanting or looking for more info, I hope this helps.

Happy Anniversary, Alan and Meredith! You've won an all-expense paid trip to... the Emergency Room!!

Yep... Happy #5 to us.

Yesterday when I was out watering our landlord's plants I was nibbled on by quite a few bugs. One in particular, on the inside of my left thigh, began itching immediately. Being bitten, however, since living in the shoebox is nothing new, so I shrugged it off and went about my day.

At 7:00 this morning, when I headed to work, I noticed that the bite had swollen to 3" in diameter. Hm... no ordinary mosquito. Must be another spider bite.

At 1pm this afternoon after arriving home from work I notice that the swollen area has spread another inch all the way around. Needless to say I'm not feeling too great about this.

Alan heads to work about 2pm and Adeline and I took a nap then a walk (once we woke up :). At about 4:30, after the walk, I notice the redness is getting worse and it hurts to walk. Hm... not good. I called Alan at work and he encouraged me to try to do some research online after calling friends to see if anyone might be able to come over to sit with Adeline while I borrow their car to head over to the ER. Mind you I'm not thinking this is necessarily an emergency, however the Dr's office is closed and it's a weekend and I'm thinking this needs to be looked at.

I secure the help of a friend and moments later - about 5 - Alan calls back and says he's in the car on the way home to take me to the ER. Turns out he did some research of his own and discovered it was better to go to the ER and he knew me well enough to know that's it's something I really didn't want to do on my own. At least we would get to spend a couple hours of our anniversary together!

Once I finally saw a Dr in the ER he said it might actually be a tick bite and because they can carry Lyme Disease it was good I came in. He put me on antibiotics and gave me another drug for the itchiness. I should be feeling better by Monday.

We went to the pharmacy to drop off the Rx's and then went to the grocery store while we waited. We picked up some fried chicken for dinner, ate it in the car, then picked up the Rx's, headed home, then Alan left again for work to finish up his shift.

So that about brings us to the current time. Thankfully we learned early on that less is more as regards anniversary celebrations so of the five we've had, this one is actually pretty okay ;-).


By the way, Adeline said "up" today :). So many words!

Sick... + New Tricks I can do!

Today I am just not myself. Daddy noticed I wasn't feeling well when I woke up from my extra long nap this morning and I had exploded out of my diaper :(. Then Mommie took my temperature tonight before bed after I didn't really have an appetite all day and felt really warm to her and it was 101.2 degrees. Not good. I'm going to try to get a good night's sleep tonight and Mommie will check my temp again in the morning. Pray I feel better soon. It's no fun to be sick.

In other news, though, before I got sick, these last few days I've done a couple of new fun things. Mommie and I like to watch the Olympics together so she taught me how to cheer. When our USA team members are competing I say, "Go! Go! Go!" I must say I am so adorable when I do it, too :).

Also, on Friday I was playing with Daddy when all of a sudden I decided it was time for a nap. I picked up Doug and went to my crib and just stood there holding the railing looking in. Daddy picked me up and put me in bed and I was out like a light. Daddy was so impressed that I put myself to bed :).

That's all for now. I'm going to rest now.

Love,
Adeline

Contentment

I've been thinking a lot about contentment over the last 36 hours or so. Paul says in his letter to the Philippians that he has learned to be content in whatever circumstances he is. What does this mean, to be content?

Whenever I wonder about what a word means in any given context I go straight to the dictionary. I figure that I should start with whatever variety of definitions the English language offers me before I go doing any Greek word studies. So I went to dictionary.com (after having no luck with merriam-webster) and they provided me with the following:

satisfied with what one is or has;
not wanting more or anything else.

I immediately thought, "Shoot. Here I am whining about my situation in life, constantly wishing I was somewhere else and often praying to God asking him to do something about it. I am not satisfied with what I have and I definitely want something else."

Then I thought about it some more... If content simply means that I am to be straight up satisfied with all things and circumstances in my life, how am I to ever get anywhere? If I was perfectly content living in my shoebox in Massachusetts with a somewhat meager income, why would I ever move on? If I was perfectly content based on dictionary.com's definition above, then I've already reached the pinnacle of my life, have I not?

Clearly this was not the right conclusion to come to. So I brought the conundrum to my wise and loving husband who had no doubt thought of this before (he's thought of just about everything before! :). He told me that he used to think that to be content in all things was to settle. To have the mindset of, "Well, guess this is it! Nothin' I can do. I suppose I should just be cool with it." It occurred to me that settling is where my English word study had brought me (and I use the term study loosely - I just looked it up in a dictionary... online!!). The idea of settling was what I could sense was not what the true biblical definition of contentment was.

Then Alan said he had learned that being content in whatever circumstances you are is more about trust than it is about settling. I felt such a huge weight lifted off my shoulders! Trust!! Of course! Contentment is being satisfied with who and what you are, with what you have knowing and trusting that God's good and perfect will reigns in our lives.

Warren Wiersbe in the Bible Exposition Commentary (Victor, 1989) goes further, stating, "The word 'content' actually means 'contained.' It is a description of the man whose resources are within him so that he does not have to depend on substitutes without."

So not only can I trust in the God of the universe to lead me when the time is right - and I firmly believe he can and often does use discontentment to do so - I already have all the tools I need within me to survive the trials of this life which at the moment includes but is not limited to living in a stuffy, spidery shoebox.

So here I am at the end of this very brief and far from thorough little "study" and I feel that I can confidently say with the Psalmist,

Whom have I in heaven but You?
And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Psalm 73:25-26

Yay God :)

AG Pictures

So I was just visiting my sister-in-law's blog and she's already uploaded her pictures from the weekend she spent in AG when we were there, so I'm going to cheat for the time being and just let you look at hers till I have more time :). So click here.

Update from Adeline

As I was preparing to type I decided to go crazy on the keyboard and now there is no more "a" key... Mommie says that should make it fun trying to update the blog from now on!! Oh well. Now it just matches the "u" key :).

Anyway, as you may know we are back from California. We got in Tuesday night and were home about midnight. I was so tired and must have still been on west coast time because I slept in till 9am on Wednesday! Then I napped for about 30 minutes in the morning, and about 45 minutes in the afternoon. I looked so tired that Mommie put me down for the night at my usual bedtime - 6:30ish - but I was wide awake and kicking just an hour later! I finally went to bed for the night at 10pm and slept till 10:00 this morning. While Mommie says it was nice that she and Daddy got to sleep in for a change, she doesn't like this whole staying on west coast time thing. I guess I'll have to work on that.

Anywho, I think Mommie left off on Sunday morning when we were still at Grandma Jo's. After I woke up from my nap we headed down to Grandmother & Pa's for the Fantasy Football draft and to play and swim. Daddy drafted while Mommie and I played and swam really :). I went in the pool for the first time and wasn't quite sure what to think about it. But I sure did look really cute in my little tankini that Amma gave me for my birthday! Here is a picture of Amma's side of the family. From left to right, top to bottom: Daddy, me, Mommie, Papa, Amma, Aunt Kathy and Uncle Brian, Grandmother and Pa, Uncle Rob, Aunt Megan, my cousins Abby, Sophie and Amy and my first cousin once removed Garrett. Our family friend Denise took this second picture of us after being out in the sun and swimming all day. I don't think my cuteness wanes a bit after a full day, do you?? :)

On Monday, our last day in California, Mommie and Daddy tried to keep me on a normal schedule so I'd be well-rested for the airplane ride home on Tuesday. So while I was napping they had a lot of fun playing Papa's Wii. Daddy was sore for 2 days! That evening we had a family gathering for Grandma Jo's birthday which was Tuesday. I went o bed early :).

Tuesday was the flight home and it was a long day but overall I did okay. I was pretty happy to sleep in my own bed that night. Now I'm still working on adjusting to being home.

Mommie will post more pictures and some videos sometime soon. For now, I think we both need a nap :).

California

Hello Faithful Blog Readers!  Sorry it has been a while since we posted.  We've been living it up in California!!

Tuesday, July 29 - We made the flight out here.  Adeline did okay.  It's hard for a little person to be cooped up for so long, and her sleep schedule was so off.  We did finally arrive in California and after picking up our rental car and exiting LA (faster than we thought we would) we had our first stop at In-n-Out - it's always one of the very first things we do.  From there we continued to head up the coast and stopped off in Santa Barbara for a couple of hours to visit with Alan's grandpa who recently had a stroke.  He was elated to see us and really enjoyed our visit - especially seeing little Adeline running around.  After our visit we finished our road trip up to Alan's parents' house in Arroyo Grande.  By the time we got in it was after 9pm and of course feeling like after midnight to us.  Adeline didn't sleep very well that night so we ended up snuggling her close in our bed.  She was okay after that :).

Wednesday, July 30 - Alan spent today with the guys celebrating the final days of his friend Mike's bachelorhood.  They went shooting and played some game where they pelted Mike with grapes and blueberries and made him strip...  not sure I want to know more.  Anywho, while Alan was out doing "Guy Stuff" Adeline and I went up to Morro Bay to visit with our friend Rhiannon (whose husband was also engaging in the aforementioned manly activities).  Rhiannon and I visited while Adeline and Nayeli (Rhiannon's two-year-old daughter) played together.  It was funny to see Adeline be the baby.  I'm so used to her being the older big one :).  We went back home and headed to bed fairly early.  Alan was supposed to be out camping with the guys that night, but because he was lacking a sleeping bag he came back home to sleep - after a shower because he smelled like campfire :).

Thursday, July 31 - Today the manly activities began again in the morning.  They went down to the lake and did some crazy things.  After getting cleaned up Alan and I headed out to the wedding site for the wedding rehearsal.  Adeline stayed home with Grandma and Aunt Laura.  After the rehearsal we went to the rehearsal dinner where they served delicious tri-tip.  Oh how I miss California food!!  Since Adeline was hanging out with Grandma and Aunt Laura Alan and I went out, just the two of us, after the rehearsal dinner.  We were going to go somewhere for dessert but couldn't think of anywhere to go.  We ended up getting a package of Dibs at the grocery store and then we sat in the car by the Pismo Beach pier and gazed out at the ocean.  It was nice.  We miss our ocean.

Friday, August 1 - Today was the day Alan and I set aside as family time.  When we finally got going in the morning around 11, we went out to visit Grandma at work to show off Adeline.  That made Grandma's day, and everyone was excited to finally see this little girl they've heard so much about.  We then went up to San Luis Obispo to go to another one of our favorite food spots - Firestone Grill.  We always get the steak cobb salad and it never disappoints!  We walked around San Luis for a bit and then went to Alan's grandparents' house for dinner with the fam.  We saw Alan's Aunt Beckie and Uncle John there, too.  It was a good time of visiting and catching up.  For the second time this week, however, Adeline was moved in the middle of sleep and therefore did not fare too well that night.  She slept with us again.

Saturday, August 2 - Grandma came into our room and picked up Adeline in the morning when she woke up so that Alan and I could sleep in a bit.  That was nice, although sleeping in these days is more like just resting till 8am.  Oh well.  Grandma watched Adeline again while Alan and I went out for Jamba Juice - yet another thing that does not exist in Mass that we really miss.  We came back home just in time for Alan to get showered and head off to the wedding to be with the guys for a couple of hours before the ceremony.  Grandma and I got Adeline all ready and headed off to the wedding.  It was about 100 degrees outside and the entire group of guests was seated in the hot sun.  All things considered Adeline did very well.  We partied, danced, ate, had fun with friends we hadn't seen in years and miss dearly before we parted company with the Central Coast folk at about 9pm.  From there we drove down to Orange County and stayed with my Grandma Jo.  Again, super late night for Adeline.  We got to bed around 1:30am. 

Sunday, August 3 - That brings us to today!  We skipped church this morning because of the late night we had last night.  That and I wanted to preserve Adeline's nap time at all costs!  Once she wakes up we'll head down to Newport Beach to my Grandmother and Pa's and swim and play and do the Fantasy Football draft.

I think that brings y'all up to date!  There will be more later in the week when we arrive home.

Much love to all,

Meredith - for The Conrows

(not-so) Little Update

Alan sent off some resumes and cover letters this week. Both churches he sent resumes to on Sunday called and/or emailed him back on Monday wanting more information from him. This was AMAZING and a complete God-send. If any of you have ever been in a process like this with a church you know that the last thing most churches do is move swiftly. Whether or not either of those churches works out it was so reassuring to hear back so quickly. Alan and I agreed it gave us hope to move on as we begin this process all over again.

He sent off another couple of resumes and cover letters on Monday and received a phone call today from the head pastor of one of those churches. Not recognizing the number or area code on his caller ID, Alan went ahead and answered wondering who it was. 20 minutes later(!) he got off the phone to tell me that he basically had an impromptu phone interview right then and there! The guy wanted to know a little more about Alan - his experience, what he's doing right now, why this church in this particular state (I'm being ambiguous on purpose...) - and the overwhelming feeling Alan got from the conversation was positive. When he mentioned that he was currently serving and worshiping at an Anglican church (a real point of contention when Alan was interviewing with the church in Virginia), the pastor (a Gordon-Conwell grad with a son currently at GCTS) asked about one of our priests. It turns out he knows him from years ago when they both lived in Wisconsin! He seemed really excited about Alan. As it turns out this church is actually pretty far along in the process with "a couple of candidates" - we're not sure how many - but Alan piqued their interest enough that they were willing to risk the possibility of the process taking a bit longer in order to pursue Alan a little more. Alan hopes to receive a questionnaire from them and complete it before we head to California next week.

All in all, whatever comes from any of these churches and/or any of the few others to which Alan has sent his information, we have hope and encouragement again as we face this process. We also have additional confirmation in multiple forms at this point that the Virginia church really wasn't for us. I am so thankful that God has already revealed at least a little bit of his working in this situation. It makes this waiting time so much more manageable.

So keep us and the job search in your prayers - and pray especially for these three churches that we are moving ahead with. One is in North Carolina, one in California and one in Michigan. Any of those locations would place us closer to family in one form or another and we're excited about that prospect too. Also pray for the living situation as we are looking for a new place - still in the GCTS area. We're basically planning on being here till Christmas, although if that third church is really serious about Alan and having someone hired by the time school starts (or within a week or two of the beginning of the school year) it's quite possible we might just get that miracle that we asked for and really be out of New England by the end of August... although I'm not holding my breath for that one ;-).

For all you Californians, Michiganders, Texans and Hong-Kong-ians (whatever you call people from Hong Kong ;-) we'll be seeing next week, we can't wait!!!


Much love,
Meredith, for Team Conrow :)

First Communion

On Sunday at church all three of us went to the altar rail for the Eucharist as we usually do. This week, however, instead of the priest simply giving Adeline a blessing, he asked Alan and me if she could receive. In the Anglican church, once a person has been baptized, no matter how young, they may receive the Eucharist. Alan and I agreed and Fr. Bart handed us a wafer for her. When the attendant with the wine came by we dipped her wafer in the cup, broke it in half and gave it to her to eat. She made a little bit of a funny face - my guess is that was the tang of the wine :) - but she did indeed take "the most precious body and blood" of Jesus Christ.

Praise the Lord!

Update on Bottles...

I just heard from Lillian's mom :) that when she called her local BRU in Michigan they said they were participating until August 10th. So if you have bottles to exchange, get on it! :)

Bottles

So when I was registering at BRU for baby stuff galore I put Avent baby bottles on my list. Mind you I have been waiting years knowing I wanted those bottles for my babies because, honestly, I liked the way they looked, and I knew they were high-quality. Well, my first exposure to the BPA controversy wasn't until about, oh, I don't know, maybe 3-5 weeks into little Adeline's life when I'd already opened all of my packages of bottles, washed them and prepped them for Adeline's use. I thought, "Well, things are still uncertain, and if it really was that dangerous they wouldn't be on the market, right?" I even emailed Steve somebody-or-another who is the head of the BPA-producing world (sorry for the terrible explanation there...) and even got a personal email back from him. (I was amazed when I learned who this BPA Big Wig was given that he personally responded to my specific questions in my email. It turns out he's the one who's quoted in the all the reports and magazine articles on this stuff.)

Anywho, I ended up using Avent bottles for the majority of Adeline's liquid diet praying daily that it wasn't harming my little girl. Once she was done bottle-feeding, I bagged up the Avents and they've just been sitting around. I didn't really know why I was hanging onto them UNTIL...

Yesterday at church my friend Sarah told me that Babies-R-Us is doing a bottle exchange right now. You can take in any and all of your BPA bottles - as long as you have all the pieces - and exchange them straight up for BRAND NEW BPA-free bottles. This includes Dr. Brown's and Born Free glass bottles as well as Born Free BPA-free plastic bottles. They basically give you a credit for your used bottles as though they were brand new and you have that much money to pick out the BPA-free bottles of your choice.

I was really wanting to do glass bottles for baby #2 (which, in case anyone is wondering, is not on the way and we don't know when he/she will be) so I was able to pick up 3 2-packs of Dr. Brown's 7 oz. glass baby bottles for FREE!! I was really excited about that. Obviously that's not enough bottles so I will eventually need more and I'm really interested in the new wee-go glass bottles - the down side is that they're $18 a piece... So I think I'll start saving my pennies :).

I just thought I'd share this great thing. So if you have any BPA bottles (Dr. Brown's, Avent, there might be others) gather them together and head to Babies-R-Us!!

Pictures!

I've uploaded all of the pictures from May 31, 2008 - the day the Wrights left - and June 22, 2008 - Adeline's First Birthday Party - to Snapfish. You should be able to click here to see all of them. If it doesn't work, let me know and I'll email the link to you.

The files are pretty large and should print well if you decide you want to order any :).

Love,
Meredith