Nana kept Meredith during the day for her birthday.  She ate a lot, had a tea party, and Nana dressed her up in clothes that Mommy wore when she was a baby.  Nana has loved getting to spend time with Meredith - and Meredith has loved spending time with Nana.

Daddy brought home 2 balloons for Meredith, which was just the perfect addition to make her birthday special.

Aunt Melissa, Nana, Mommy and Meredith got to go to the pool today and had fun splashing!  Anandi came by to say hello, although we had to get out pretty quickly because of a thunderstorm.  Aunt Melissa tossed Meredith up into the air, which she LOVED. 

Meredith had a fun time at her birthday party!  The theme was "A Very Hungry Caterpillar," and we had food and activities to match.  We ate all the foods that the caterpillar ate - a fruit salad with one apple, two pears, three plums, four strawberries, and five oranges, a chocolate cake, swiss cheese, salami, pickles, sausage, lollipops, and of course watermelon, Meredith's favorite.  (There were also sandwiches, veggies and dip for good measure).  The rooms were decorated with streamers and balloons and partyware in primary colors, and Meredith's outfit of plaid capris and tank matched!  The babies played with toys and then went on a caterpillar hunt. 

We were so glad that Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Eric, Aunt Cheryl, Meredith's cousin Ryan, Aunt Melissa and Nana all came to be there for the party.  We're spreading out the opening of toys as to not overwhelm our baby girl!

On Sunday afternoon Meredith did indeed break out in a rash.  I took her to the doctor this afternoon (because she was pulling on her ears and I was worried about an ear infection on top of everything else) and she does indeed have Roseola.  She should be feeling better very soon (and no ear infection, yay).

On Thursday afternoon when I picked up Meredith from daycare, her teachers said that she had been very uneasy all day.  I noticed that she felt very hot!  I took her temperature when we got home, and it was 102.  She continued to have a fever the next day and into the night, which we controlled with Tylenol, but because she seemed to be her happy self most of the time (just a bit more sleepy) and showed no other symptoms, we weren't too concerned.  At 9PM on Friday I noticed that she was burning up, and her temperature was 105.3!  A page to the pediatrician later, we gave her a lukewarm bath and Tylenol and had instructions to take her to the ER if her temperature didn't drop below 102 within the hour.  At an hour it was 101.7.  So we waited out the night and took her to the Urgent Care Center yesterday morning.  Poor baby had to endure some tests - a catheter placement to get a urine sample and a blood draw - to rule out a urinary tract or kidney infection.  With no real explanation for the high fever, the pediatrician hypothesizes that in a day or two Meredith will break out in a rash that disappears within 24 hours, a sure sign of Roseola.  We won't really know until she gets a rash though!  Meredith hasn't had a fever at all for almost a whole day so we're not sure at what point it's okay for her to join other kids.

In the meantime, we're making sure that she gets plenty of rest and fluids. 

Meredith is so thankful for her daddy - he is the best daddy in the whole world! 

Bradey's mom Michelle hosted a Father's Day brunch, and since Meredith hadn't had a fever in over 24 hours, we took her.  The brunch was wonderful and we got to see all of Meredith's friends (and our neighbors).

We later found out that Amelia had a fever later that night (not from Meredith - since they're in the same class at school I'm sure she got it from the same source much earlier in the week) and that Graham has pink eye!  So we hope that everyone feels better before Meredith's birthday party on Saturday.

On Saturday, Meredith, Hayes, Candace and I drove to Chattanooga for Anika (our friend Adrien's daugher)'s first birthday party.  The party was fantastic!  Adrien did a beautiful job decorating, and the food was delicious.  Meredith and Anika got acquainted.  Anika looked beautiful in her birthday outfit.  Meredith enjoyed eating lunch with Anika (Meredith LOVES to eat), and the girls followed each other around a bit.  It was a big day for them both and they needed naps by the end of the party!

Ben's birthday is Monday, June 2, so we celebrated on Sunday.  Meredith was excited to discover all of Ben's presents and helped Daddy to open them. 

Amelia was over for a playdate Saturday afternoon and the girls had a big time.  Max (along with his mom and dad) came over while Amelia was still here so all 3 babies had a fun time together.  (Amelia beat up on Max a little bit, which was sort of funny). 

I bought new sippy cups for Meredith, called Nuby, and she seems to like them a lot.  We'll try that for school tomorrow.  We think we've successfully gone down to 4 bottles a day (versus 5) and tried to push to 4 today with a less than pleased baby, so we went ahead and gave her the bottle.

Meredith is rounding corners well with her cruising - so nothing is off limits any more!  We have to be really careful about what we leave around.