Happy Birthday, John!

Today is John's birthday! He is 28 and looking great (ha ha)! We will be celebrating with his parents tonight by eating a yummy dinner and dessert. This weekend, he and I will be retreating to Raleigh, where we first met and where our hearts lie to have a romantic weekend away as well as to watch our beloved Wolfpack.

To John:

Darling, I am so thankful to have you as a husband and Meredith is more lucky to have such an incredible father as you. You are truly a blessing to the both of us and touch everyone you meet through your silent strength, your unwaivering faith, and gentleness. We are so proud of you and pray for many birthdays to come!

Love,

Melissa and Meredith

The Itsy Bitsy Spider went to the EBC FestiFall....

It was Meredith's first Halloween and we had so much fun with her. She was an itsy bitsy spider that had become a creepy crawly one as of a couple weeks ago. We had a great time seeing everyone else in their costumes especially IV who bounced from place to place at the festival. It is so nice to be back near family so that we could enjoy those moments that we had been missing. Meredith was a hit but she had great competition among all of the adorable little children at EBC.

We have also been really excited about Meredith starting to crawl which started a couple weeks ago. She crawled for a day and then realized she could pull herself up on things. So, we think it won't be long before she is walking. Also, she started feeding herself her "puffs" this past weekend which just floors me! How does she learn to do these things?! We are loving every moment of time with her and I am selfishly just soaking it all up--I hate to share her.

Here are some of her latest pictures! She is now 8 1/2 months old!

At the park on a cool fall day! She loves the swings!

Enjoying her time at the park!

Drinking with a straw.

Eating all by herself.

Clean up after making a mess from eating.