Miss Thang made her debut. On Tuesday, 08/07/07 @ 0752 am, Meghan Jane Rowley was born!

What she looked like just minutes after birth:



What she looks like these days:

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich and I were both born on December 26. Other than the fact that both of us are breathing, I don't see any similarities.

Coincidence, of course. I doubt Stoker's parents said, "Let's try to have a baby with the same birthday as Vlad the Impaler so he'll grow up to write a book with a character based on him."


And on a related note, Dracula is one of my favorite novels.

Saturday-Tony and I walked the half block up the street with Meghan to the Presbyterian church for their Heifer International fund raiser. The What Knott Farm brought their traveling petting zoo. There was a pig, a turkey, a bunny, goats, sheep, a llama, a chicken, baby chicks, ducks, and a cow. That's where my new user icon came from. There are more pics on a disposable camera that still needs to be devoloped. We bought Meghan some new books, plus a book about The Lewis and Clark Expedition for Tony and a new Stephen King: "Lisey's Story" for me. We hung around a bit longer and grabbed something to eat, then went back home. Meghan was very good, and seemed more interested in watching the people than in petting the animals. We have a picture of me holding her while I had my arm around the cow. Also of her sitting in front of the turkey cage, and I think with one of the goats. BTW, do you know how hard it is to get animals and babies to cooperate with getting their picture taken? None of them wanted to look at the camera LOL. I wish I'd gotten a picture of the church itself. I'm not a Presby but it is one of my favorite pieces of architecture in Lansdowne. It's just a gorgeous building.

For dinner Saturday, we had lasagna and garlic bread.

Sunday-Today was my niece's 2nd birthday party. Her actual birthday was on Friday, the 26th. It was a pizza party. Second day in a row eating Italian food. I didn't make anything for dinner. Meghan just finished eating, Tony is elsewhere doing stuff for work, and I'm not hungry. If anything, I'll grab a hot dog later.

All in all, a very nice weekend, and I'm happy to report that my daughter's 'tude has improved. Toofy #8 has finally erupted, hallelujah! Now if I can just get her to stop turning the apt upside down I'll be all set :)

My niece's second birthday party was today, and she had a pizza party at a nearby restaurant.
Here are some pictures of Meghan enjoying the festivities behind the cut.

( Behold the cuteness )

My niece turns two years old today!

Meghan's Picnic in the Park birthday party went off without a hitch! It was a beautiful day, plenty of food, and she made a huge mess of her cake! She also got a lot of very nice toys and clothes, and Mama won't have to buy diapers and baby wipes for quite some time, yay!

Pics will be posted in the near future, once I finish the roll of film and get it developed.

She was much better today than the past couple of days, and I'm glad. Yesterday was the worst of the two days, and it was very trying, I'll be honest.

Anyway, I had emptied the dishwasher last night while she was having her pre-bed cup of milk, and I didn't get anything done today until we'd both gotten up from our nap. That was around 1800 or so, and all I did was Swiffer the kitchen and living room floors. I was just too busy having fun with Meghan and enjoying her good mood.

We took a trip to Giant this morning to buy milk, and a trip later in the day to the playground, but we didn't stay long as it was hot. We had gone outside about an hour ago, but couldn't go anywhere since it was drizzling. We just stayed on the porch for awhile until the rain got harder and then came inside. She had a snack of watermelon and some water. Her appetite started getting better yesterday and it's been pretty good today. Yesterday was just her mood that stunk.

Meghan and I had a very busy day today, while Daddy was up at the Mountain for some fundraiser/benefit thingy.

After breakfast, we stopped by the house of my relatives who were having a Yard Sale, and brought a few new toys home with us (free), and then we went to two parties. The first was her cousin's 2nd birthday party, and she got to eat cake. The second was my uncle's Annual Lobster Party.

Now we're home and she's playing on the floor, but I need to get her in the tub soon. She got up earlier than usual this morning, for some reason.

Even though Meghan's birthday party isn't for another week, I wanted to do something nice for her on the actual day.

We shared a chicken quesadilla, one of her favorite foods. For dessert, we split an ice cream canoli. I made a video of her eating the canoli, so I hope my camera issues get resolved. It's too cute!

One year ago today, at 0752 am, fyrfitrmedic and I welcomed our beautiful little girl into the world!

It's been a year of ups, downs, laughter, tears, challenges, joy, pride, frustration, sometimes anger, getting to discover everything all over again, and learning that the ordinary world can be so very exciting. I've learned more about myself and my capabilities in this past year than in my entire lifetime.

There are things I wish I'd done differently. A part of me still wishes I'd tried harder at breastfeeding. I should not have sat on my hands so long in dealing with my PPD (which probably has a lot to do with the bf issues) and I should have been more patient at times, and not worried as much or kicked myself as much. I know that all of these are water under the bridge now, and I don't feel bad or guilty for the choices I've made, just sometimes they come back to me. I guess it's more being reflective than anything else. Wondering what if?

But through all the frustrations, she is just the light of my life. There have been times, yes, when I have not always liked her, or more specifically, her behaviors, but I have always loved her, and every choice I made for her, whether it turned out to be the right choice or the wrong one, was because I love her and was doing what I thought at a particular time to be the best thing I could. I've been blessed to be able to stay home with her, and while money has been tight, I would not trade this for the world. I have had the joy of watching her grow, explore, learn, and I've been able to be there for her when she was not feeling well, teething, or just being in a bad mood. It wasn't always easy, but we both somehow managed to come out on the other end none the worse for wear.

And she loves me unconditionally. No matter what mistakes I make, or how frustrated I get, she always loves me. She holds nothing against me. Every single morning when I go in the bedroom to get her up for the day, she is sitting up in her crib and as soon as she sees me, she starts bouncing up and down, squealing in excitement, and beaming. So I think that if that's the greeting I get every morning, I must have done something right all these months.

I'll post then and now pics later, after she's up. But in the meantime:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MISS MEGHAN JANE ROWLEY!