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!

8 Months

Dear Lauren,

Oh baby, this has been a big month for you! You have MASTERED some huge developmental milestones and I swear I can see you changing right before my eyes.

  Stats: 17 lbs, 15 oz

Awesome stuff you're doing: right as you turned 7 months old, you started crawling. One month later you are EVERYWHERE! It's like the whole world is at your sweet baby fingertips and you are bound and determined to get into whatever you can. Daddy and I are learning about baby proofing, and you're learning about how to get what you want despite it. Within days of mastering crawling, you started pulling yourself up to a stand all on your own! A few weeks later and now you are letting go of things and standing all on your own for a few seconds! And believe it or not, youre even WALKING along the sides of the couch or you'll hold onto the sides of our ottoman while you go around it! You are all about discovering anything you can, my sweet adventurous girl! You have no fear! Even when something scares you or causes you to fall down and bump your head or get hurt in some way, you want loved and cuddled for a minute and then you're right back doing the same thing again. And Lauren, you started talking this month! Your first word was "Dada" and your second word was "Ma!" sometimes I want so badly to freeze time and just be in this stage forever, but it's such a joy watching you learn and discover new things I don't know if I would if I could.


Eating: you still love everything you were eating a month ago, but now we've added carrots and oatmeal with various fruits mixed in to your list of yummy treats!

Teething: SUCCESS! All those months of teething (4 to be exact) have finally paid off and you have your first tooth! This is new just in the last couple days! You're so grown up :) its your bottom middle right tooth!


Sleeping: most of the time you sleep with me and daddy. You will sleep in your crib, but you wake up at least once an hour when you do... And since daddy and I don't mind having you in our room with us, and we all sleep better when you are... That's what we do 90% of the time. Your bedtime routine is still one of my favorite parts of the day. We spend about an hour having dinner, bath, story, and finally a bottle and cuddles. You fall asleep in my arms and I just love it. Every night I hold you for a few minutes after you fall asleep and just kiss your little nose and soak in some of the sweet joy of your babyhood.

A cute story about you!: Last night you and I were sitting on the floor in Daddy's office while he did some grading on the computer. I was trying to find something nearby to entertain you with, so I grabbed Daddy's toy T-Rex. Your eyes got HUGE, and you kept looking from it, to me, then back to it again. You wouldn't even touch it (a first, since right now you are grabbing anything you can and trying to eat it). I touched it to show you it was okay, and you burst into tears and hugged me. Seriously, it was so cute/sad/sweet. You're scared of T-Rex's. I love you, little girl!

Your first box- hours of fun! 

I love my Daddy! 

Mommy kisses!  

My First Mother's Day

Thank you so much Robbie and Lauren for making my very first Mother's Day so wonderful! Robbie made me breakfast and spoiled me with roses and some fantastic presents, and Lauren gave me sweet baby kisses all day long.  

Lauren is my greatest blessing and the very best part of my life. The opportunity the be her mommy is something I cherish every day. 

Dada!

Lauren said her first word!!! Robbie is involved with a research grant with one of his professors. Part of this involved going to a (not at all nearby) national park for a few days and gathering stuff for the lab. The park is in the middle of nowhere without cell phone access or anything, and Lauren and I both missed him a ton! Lauren has never had a night without her Daddy, and one of the nights he was gone I just could not get her to fall asleep. She sleeps with us in our bed 99% if the time, so I decided to just go lay down with her in our room, hoping she would take the hint and fall asleep, lol. Instead, she started crawling around our bed and whispering, "Dada. Dada. Dada. Dada." She was looking for Robbie. It was the sweetest thing I've ever seen. My baby loves her Daddy so much! 

And then about a week ago my parents watched Lauren while Robbie and I went on a much needed date! When we got back Lauren and my mom were walking around outside, and as I got out of the car Lauren said/yelled "Ma!" Oh how that just makes my heart burst! She says both "Dada" and "Ma!" all the time now, and I smile every single time. This girl is my whole world. I love her so much! 

7 Month Update

Dear Lauren,

What is it about 7 months old that seems so grown up to me? Your father and I look at you and just can't believe how much and how quickly you change. You've always been right on track, if not ahead, but you've grown so much developmentally this past month. It makes you seem so grown up!

Awesome Stuff You're Doing: Baby girl, YOU CAN CRAWL! As of today, I am officially saying you can crawl! You've been going in circles for weeks, and have been able to crawl backwards for quite awhile too. But today you actually INTENTIONALLY crawled forward! I don't think you realize you did it which is hilarious, but I'm so proud of you! You have so many toys that you love and often can't decide what to play with, so I'll find you with a toy in your mouth and another toy in your hands. Your new favorites are anything that isn't a "toy" such as- the lids to my plastic containers, pulling your clothes out of your dresser, your hairbrush, your headbands, etc. And while you're not saying any words yet, you love to talk. So far you mostly just say "babababababababa!" and it is adorable. You love your voice and have figured out how to crescendo into an ultrasonic scream. Happy or mad, there have been days where you scream ALL day.

Eating: You've tried several different foods now and love them all! You've had bananas, sweet potatoes, avocados,  apples, rice cereal, and green beans. You LOVE green beans! And you really love playing with your food or the containers or utensils. We go through a minimum of two spoons with every meal... one for you to hold and play with, the other for me to help you eat with. If we don't use this system more food gets on you than in you; you grab the spoon before I can get it to your mouth and attempt to put it in your mouth yourself. You're successful, but in a very messy way, lol.

Sleeping: I've decided to follow your lead when it comes to sleeping. Our bedtime routine is still going strong and I'm loving every minute of it. Most nights I can lay you down in your crib and you'll sleep for at least a few hours or all night, but sometimes I get the feeling before I set you down that you're just not wanting the crib tonight, and sure enough you wake right up and won't go back to sleep until you're cuddled in my arms in the rocking chair. Those are the nights I bring you back into bed with me and Daddy, which I'm completely okay with. You're still sleeping at least 8 hours at night. Sometimes you don't get up all night, and other nights you get up a few times... I think those are the nights your teeth are hurting you.

Teething: Well Little Love, still no teeth yet. But the teething hasn't given you much of a rest. It's been 4 months now of teething and I hurt for you! I got you some teethers made out of natural materials- no plastic and no toxins- and honestly they seem to help more than anything else. Sophie, your giraffe, is made out of rubber and she's your favorite teether. (No, I didn't name your giraffe- she came with that name, lol). Your gums are super hard though, it hurts now when you chomp down on my finger (or shoulder, or hand, etc, lol), so hopefully for  your sake some of them will come in soon!

Nicknames: You've had so many nicknames since you were born based on what you were doing at the time. The one that has stuck since your birth is Little Love. Others right now may need a little explanation. They are Little Goose and Baby Turtle. You're hilarious, and I started calling you a silly goose. Somehow it got combined with Little Love, and now you're Little Goose, lol. Baby Turtle comes from this thing you do. Because you don't realize you can crawl yet, sometimes you won't do it. You'll lay on your stomach and put all of your limbs in the air and rock back and forth like you're stuck- which is just ridiculous. You are perfectly capable of sitting up from whatever position you're in. It's like a baby turtle that got flipped over onto it's shell and can't flip back over. And you let out this "Ahh! Ahh! Ahh! Ahh!" noise at the same time. So when you do it we call you Baby Turtle and remind you that you can roll back over, lol. That, or in this case take a picture of you:

Baby Turtle 

Lauren, I love you so much. You make Daddy and I so happy. As much as I'd love for time to slow down, I'm having so much fun watching you grow. I love you, Little Love! 

Lauren's First Easter!

Yes I am aware I am super late with this post. Lauren's first Easter was... well... probably not as eventful as it would have been. My boss was desperate to find someone to work so she offered me and extra $5 an hour plus the time and a half for the overtime it would put me into. I just couldn't pass that up. So I got off work in the evening and we headed to my parents house to celebrate Lauren't first Easter!

She got two Easter baskets this year! One from us... ahem... I mean the Easter Bunny, and one from my parents!

The Easter Bunny brought her some cute outfits, bunny ears, and adorable little stuffed dinosaur toys! The Easter bunny likes dinosaurs- who would've thought? ;) 

 Lauren with her Aunt Emily, whom she completely adores! 

Happy Easter, everyone!