Autumn and our U.S. Trip

So I know it has been longer than a month since I updated, but I was in Alabama for a month and getting over jet lag with a baby has been a little bit difficult! But we are all doing well.

Here are a few pictures of Meredith from September






Meredith enjoys talking to her Daddy






Daily life is hard on Sunny, as you can see






Here are a few pictures of the Reaves family enjoying the last of the summer weather in September. We are walking in the woods near our house in Böhl-Iggelheim







We had a wonderful trip to the U.S.! Todd was not able to go with us because he is pretty busy at work these days, so Meredith and I went, and he and Sunny stayed in Germany. My cousin Martha Marsh came over to visit us for about a week before our trip, and she flew back with us to Atlanta. Here is a picture of her with Meredith in the Frankfurt airport

We spent 2 weeks with Todd's parents in Satsuma, where we got to see a lot of our friends (but I know we didn't get to see everyone this time!) Here are some pictures of Meredith while we were visiting with the Reaves

This is when she first met them













Meredith with Mom after a friend's baby shower, and playing on the floor at Mimi and Papa's







Reading the paper with Mimi and talking to Papa










Meredith really likes George. He doesn't seem to mind her, but he was a little jealous.














Meredith and I also got to take a trip with Mrs. Reaves, Todd's brother David and his wife Joanna to North Alabama to stay with Mrs. Reaves' cousins Lois and Virginia Whitlock, and to see the "Family Unit" (the Aycocks) and some other family and friends up there, which was a lot of fun. Here are some pictures of our trip to North Alabama


Meredith with Price Aycock

with Aunt Joanna


playing at Lois and Virginia's






With Aunt Joanna and Uncle Dave

Kathy Isom, Martha Reaves, Lois Whitlock and Virginia Whitlock, when we were celebrating Virginia's birthday


Talking to Uncle Dave



Our friend Nita and her daughter Camille came to see us in Satsuma too, and since it was around Halloween time we took the girls' picture in the pumpkin patch in their Halloween costumes. Meredith was a lobster and Camille was a poodle.




We also spent a week in Montgomery with my parents, where we got to see a lot of friends too! Her are some pictures of her with my parents.




Nana with a little bunny, and looking at the pool with Pop











Meredith also got to go to my mom and dad's work and meet everyone. She really loved the kids at my mom's school, as you can see. They were making faces at her, and they got a big laugh!






We also trick-or-treated at the neighbor's houses on Halloween. I don't think she was thrilled with the costume, but she did pretty well.


Our last weekend we went to Athens, Georgia to see my sister Lauren and her husband Richard. We got to tour Athens a little bit, which was a lot of fun.


Uncle Richard does pretty well with the Baby Bjorn!

Here's the whole group after lunch in downtown Athens. A nice stranger offered to take our picture. And here we are with the "toga" bulldog


Meredith loves to "type" on the computer keyboard, so Aunt Lauren was helping her. And here she is with Aunt Lauren and Uncle Richard at their house
















She really enjoyed Alabama (and Georgia!) and was a little spoiled when we left - I guess she still is!

We are all back home together now, and doing really well. Meredith has moved from the bassinet in our room to her crib in her own room and seems to like it a lot - I think it's just a lot more interesting now that she can turn over. After about a week or so of hassle, she is basically sleeping through the night again - it gets better every day. Todd is really busy with working the night shift 7 days a week now, so we don't see him a lot, but that should all be back to normal soon too.

I can't believe it, but Meredith turned 6 months old last week! Time really does fly. She got one more check-up and set of shots about 2 weeks ago, and thankfully doesn't have to go back to the doctor again until she is a year old. She is developmentally on track, reflexes are good, and he said she is doing great! She weighs exactly 16 pounds and is almost 26 inches long, which puts her right about the 50th percentile for height and weight for girls her age. However, her head is still pretty big - 97th percentile. At least she is staying steady on the growth chart. I just point-blank asked the doctor this time if she had a big head (you know, medically speaking, because I can obviously see it is big) and he said yes, it is big. But not too big of course. She can roll over now, from back to stomach, and then from stomach onto her back again. She can also sit up with support, and does pretty well without support, although after a while she will fall to the side or forward onto her head if you aren't close by. She can scoot backward while she is on her stomach but doesn't seem to have the hang of crawling forward yet, but she did push up on her knees this week and we "practiced" crawling in baby gymnastics today, so crawling shouldn't be far behind! Really our only problem is that we are in the throes of what is apparently teething, but unfortunately don't have any teeth imminently breaking through yet, so we have the fussy, whiny, gnawing everything she touches, from the remote control to the dog's ear, for an indefinite period of time ahead of us.

We are planning another trip to the U.S. soon, right after Christmas - we will be there from December 29th to January 21st. We'll have about 11 days in Montgomery and 11 in Satsuma and if we didn't get to see you on the last trip then we'll make it a priority to see you if you will be close to one of those places while we're there!

More updates soon!