Lauren's Favorite Person

It's no contest. Daddy is Lauren's favorite person it the whole world. Don't worry, I know she loves me too. She gets upset if I so much as walk to the other side of the room. But I love seeing how happy she is when Robbie just walks in the room. Last night I brought Lauren into our bed during the night because she couldn't sleep in her crib. She crawled over to Robbie and draped herself over his chest and fell asleep. They adore each other, and I just love it.

10 Months

Dear Lauren,

I can't believe it's been another month, Little Love! I feel like soooo much has changed this month too. You're suddenly morphing into this little toddler and it's so fun, and so exhausting, to watch.

Learning and playing: Baby girl, you are walking EVERYWHERE. You prefer to walk rather than crawl now and you're even trying to run! Grandpa Jim says you look like a little drunken sailor when you're walking. It's so cute, baby! Again this month your favorite toys have not changed- Winnie the Pooh is #1. You adore Winnie! But by far your very favorite thing to do is just to make messes. You love to pull your drawers out and then pull every piece of clothing/headbands/burp cloths/blankets/toys/etc out and toss them around your room. You also love to open cupboards in the kitchen and pull out lids, pots and pans, etc. Your favorite games are "Where's Lauren?" (we toss a cloth or blanket over your head and say "Where's Lauren?" then you take it off and we say "There she is!" You love it!), and "I'm Gonna Get You!" (I say "I'm gonna get you," and you take off as fast as you can in the opposite direction while I chase you. So many baby giggles, I love it!) You love to wave hello and goodbye, and you love to give high-fives.

Evidence of the aforementioned messes.

Additional evidence...


Eating: We started finger foods in the last couple of weeks and you LOVE it! You've never been a picky eater- so far you have loved all veggies, fruits, and cereals you've had. That is, until I gave you cheerios. You LOVE cheerios. You now prefer cheerios to everything. You'll eat other things too, as long as I give you cheerios with it. Silly girl!

Teething: Teething sucks. I'm so sorry baby. I think you're working on one of your top middle teeth at the moment. And you are not happy about it. Thank heaven for cold teethers, Sophie the Giraffe, and baby ibuprofen. I wish you didn't have to hurt, baby. I'm so sorry.

Sleeping: Oh dear. I'm not entirely sure where to start. Apparently the Lauren that I put to bed half the week and the Lauren Daddy puts to bed half the week are completely different girls. When I'm at work and it's just you and Daddy, I hear your night goes something like this: You get tired around 7-8 pm. Daddy gets you a bottle, and the two of you cuddle until you peacefully fall asleep in his arms about 15 minutes later. You sleep straight through the night until I get home from work, when you wake up with lots of energy and are ready to play! When I'm at home, our night goes something like this: you get tired around 7-8 pm. I get you a bottle, and we cuddle. When you finish your bottle, you FREAK OUT. I try rocking you, cuddling you, singing to you, walking, bouncing, watching TV, listening to music, letting you play in your crib... but after several hours of this, I finally give up and hand you to Daddy. You're then asleep in about 15 minutes. Nothing I do helps you fall asleep. You just want your Daddy. And then you wake up over and over again all night long. Eventually I bring you into bed with us, and you immediately crawl over to Daddy and cuddle up next to him. It's so sweet that you want him so much, but if you could start sleeping through the night again like you have for the last however many months when I'm home too, I would appreciate it :)

Happy 10 months sweet girl! I love you madly!

Lauren's Favorite Lullaby

Three Little Birds by Bob Marley
(well... our version of it)

I woke up this morning
 Smiled with the rising sun
Three little birds by my doorstep
Singing sweet songs of melodies pure and true
Singin: this is my message to you-ou-ou

Baby don't worry about a thing
 Cause every little thing is gonna be alright
Baby don't worry about a thing
Cause every little thing is gonna be alright

Fathers Day

I'm aware this post is drastically overdue... but better late than never right?

Lauren and I spent Father's Day trying our best to spoil Robbie. He got a mini fridge for his office, The Geek Dad Book for Aspiring Mad Scientists, and we took him to lunch at his favorite restaurant Five Guys Burgers and Fries. Lauren gave him lots of Lauren Hugs and Lauren Kisses and enjoyed spending the whole day with her very favorite person!

9 months

Dear Lauren,

 Time goes so quickly. I blink and another month has passed. And each month you learn and grow and change so much. I love everything about you, sweet girl. Here are some of those things...


Learning, growing, playing: Little Goose, you are so anxious to grow up! You are so determined and so smart, and these two things together make you so mischievous :) you are everywhere and into everything. Your problem solving skills astound me. You moved a box so that you could crawl up onto it to climb onto the couch to get the TV remote that I had taken away from you. My jaw dropped watching you do that. I am in awe of you, little girl! And the week before you turned 9 months old, you took three steps all on your own! When holding on to my hand or the furtinure you are practically running. You love to give high fives, copy noises people make, and play peek-a-boo. Your favorite toys haven't changed (a light saber, a giant pink ball that's bigger than you are, Sophie your teether giraffe), although you have added one new one. A stuffed Winnie the Pooh. Your eyes light up and you give him lots and lots of baby kisses and hugs. It's so sweet :) You and Winnie and great friends. You also love shoes and cardboard boxes!

Teething: it seems the teething has finally given you a break for now! You have two adorable little bottom teeth at the moment. The second one came in just a week or two after the first one. 


Talking: you say "ma" or "mama" or "mom" quite frequently. It melts my heart every single time, I just love it! Right now it's really the only word you say with any frequency. You can of course still say "dada" too though! And you don't say the word "no" yet, but you communicate it quite effectively by shaking your head. Cutest. Thing. Ever! 


Sleeping: it's amazing how completely things can change in a month. Our bedtime routine has been drastically adjusted. While before it helped you calm down for the night and fall asleep, now it seems that it gives you the heads up that it's time for bed and boy do you dislike that. You haaaate going to bed. Which is fascinating because you sleep so well, and have a pretty consistent schedule. You wake up around 8 am ish. And almost exactly two hours later you take about a 2 hour nap, give or take maybe half an hour. You take another nap sometime in the late afternoon, and go to bed sometime around 8 pm ish. You sleep great, you just throw an enormous tantrum about 80% of the time first. Our bedtime routine still includes a bath and a bottle, but it's not so much a routine anymore... If its too predictable, you kind of have a melt down. Its probably a good thing that your evening routine when im at work and its just you and daddy is so different- im pretty sure the two of you just cuddle on the couch watching baseball until you fall asleep in his arms. :) One thing we always do at bedtime though is rub lavender oil onto your feet. You fall asleep faster and seem to sleep so much better when we do. 


 Daddy and I love you so much, Lauren. You make life so much better. Happy 9 months my darling girl!