Elsa is a tall drink of water

Took Miss Elsa to the doctor today - she wasn't feeling great. (She's going to be fine.)

Asked them to weigh/measure her, as she's recently been busting out of her clothes at an amazing rate. And eating like a truck driver.

They weighed her, and, to my amazement, she has not gained an ounce since January.

Then they measured her, and in that same interval, she has grown - get this - three inches! Holy Cow. Guess that explains where all the food was going...

I'm pretty psyched, because her new measurements put her cleanly in the TALL category. A true Merriman. :-)

At 22 months:

Elsa is 27 pounds; 63th percentile for weight.

Elsa is 35 inches; 90th percentile for height.

how do you catch a cloud and pin it down?

 

like a log

 

cool video

Here is a great video - just published - of last summer's Ethiopian "blog union"... a gathering of adoptive families with Ethiopian kiddos. Elsa and I are in here in a few spots - and Jan makes a quick appearance too!!

Woofstock at Waterloo

Lulu and her Orvis catalog pose

Lulu and her Orvis catalog pose
Originally uploaded by pamplemousse2007

My sister Porter has been visiting me in Austin, so great to have her here and perfect weather for it too.

She brought her killer-diller camera and got this great shot of Lulu at Bull Creek. It's Orvis catalog time!

We had a great time going to Hula Hut last night and following that up with a visit to "Hey Cupcake", an airstream trailer selling, well, cupcakes.

This morning, we met up with an Austin-based blogger buddy of Porter's who turned out to be great, lively, funny and warm. She and her hubby are also adopting from Ethiopia, so we made plans to go to Aster's soon.

Drove out toward Wemberley but then found out that Elsa is feeling under the weather, so turned around so Porter could fly back to San Fran tonight and be there for her little girl. Slight bummer, but we've had an excellent visit all around and I'll be back in Cali very soon.

Artichokes

 

...are so lovely, I wish I wasn't too pooped today to paint these. But they will get eaten and maybe I'll just paint from the photo. It's spring!