I was watching Oprah on April 28, 2003 when I started seeing twinkling bugs flying in front of my face. Because I was four days past my due date, my doctor took the bugs as a sign that it was time for Meredith to come out. About an hour later as we drove to the hospital, Jeff and I stopped by White Castle because I thought I needed a fish sandwich and fries. (Did I mention that I gained 80 pounds during this pregnancy?)
Anyway, when it was determined that pushing Meredith out the traditional way would most likely be impossible, my doctor decided that we would go with a C-section.
Nurse: Have you eaten anything today?
Me: Yep. A fish sandwich and fries less than an hour ago.
Nurse: Okay, well, it’s best to wait eight hours after eating before surgery, so that puts us right at 1:30 in the morning.
Me: Worth it.
Meredith Claire was pulled out at 2:03. She was 21 inches long and weighed 10 pounds and 3 ounces, and that White Castle fish sandwich was the only thing that prevented my kids from having the same exact birthday (with two years between).
Meredith is super smart and super funny and I often forget that she’s in the sixth grade because her mind seems so much deeper. When we moved earlier this year and started at a new school, it took Meredith a few months to find friends because she felt like it was important to make the RIGHT friends. I was pretty worried about her because it seemed like Harper was coming home with a new friend’s name nearly every day. Eight months later? Meredith has surrounded herself with amazingly smart girls who share her love of books, animals, and music. Last night before she went to bed, she told me that even though some kids poke fun at the smart kids, she really enjoys knowing that she’s intelligent.
This is one of her current favorite songs.
Meredith loves burritos, chocolate chip cookies, and reading dystopian fiction.
She is 12 years old and is already researching universities.
She is convinced that she requires at least one doughnut each week.
The happiest of birthdays to you, Meredith.
I’ll be sitting over here in the corner eating MY weekly doughnut and trying to figure out how to make time slow down.
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Happy birthday, Meredith! It’s been fun watching you grow up online.
Happy day AGAIN.
I can’t believe I didn’t know that story.
I DO know that you OBVIOUSLY only make babies one day a year.
Oh my goodness. Meredith is my spirit animal. And that picture of her squeezing the you know what out of Harper makes my heart tingle.
Meredith, I hope your day is the most fabulously fantastic. Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday, Meredith! I can’t believe how tall you’ve gotten.
Happy birthday, Meredith!! :)
Wow. Wow. I am pretty sure I’ve seen all of these pictures when they originally posted. Which means I’ve been hanging around for quite a while now.
I’d just like Meredith to know that while some kids do poke fun at the smart people in the tween/teen years, finding the RIGHT friends will mean that you will likely be friends with them for a VERY long time. And also, when you get to be a grown up – people no longer poke fun at the smart people – they look to them for their smarts, and talk to them about their ideas, and have enthusiastic discussions about books, and understand witty puns, and much, much more. This makes life interesting and a whole lot of fun for the smart people!! Happy Birthday Meredith – it IS good to be intelligent – and the older you get, the better it will be.
Happy birthday, Meredith! I hope that 12 is more than you imagined and better than you dreamed!
Her rejection of infant-biting rattlesnakes is a classic. Happy day, kid.
I’ve never realized it before, but your girls bookend my E3 (11 last Jan). The similarities are wild, from book and game choices to enjoying being a smart girl. When You Reach Me turned her on to A Wrinkle In Time, and she’s continually building new houses on Minecraft because she can’t find any of her homes and needs a place to sleep! I can’t remember for sure, but she’s on HP four or five. Where does your household stand on the Marvel movies and TV series Agents of Shield/Agent Carter? We could start a smart girl commune!
Happy Birthday to Meredith!!
Keep doing what you are doing, because I think you are an amazing person. (You have amazing parents as well)
What a beautiful day for a Birthday!!
Aww Happy Birthday to your girls! I started reading your blog right before MC was born I think. Time Flies! If you figure out how to make it stop, please share. :)
Happiest of happies, Meredith, from The Other Meredith and her mom.
Happy birthday, Meredith! I hope you get at least two donuts this week!
I remember when you had little girls!!
Happy Birthday, Meredith!
HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY MEREDITH
What is Dystopian fiction.
Yay! Happy birthday, Meredith!
I love that Meredith is so smart and knows it. Smart girls have such a lot to take them through life, and being such a wonderful big sister is icing on the cake of your life. Happy Birthday, Meredith! Your mom has shared just enough of your life with us to make me wish I knew you personally. I admire what a great girl you are. The best is yet to come.
Happy Birthday to Meredith! My youngest is twelve and it sounds like she and Meredith would get along famously, discussing dystopian futures while eating donuts.
If you figure out the time slowing down thing, let me know.
Happy birthday, Meredith, from one ten-pound baby to another. We owe our moms a lot for all that gestation they gave us. Seventh grade will be great!
Ten pounds? No wonder you had a c-section. It makes me very happy that Meredith likes being smart. As long as she doesn’t get tired of always being the smartest one in the room.