Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Lauren Attending Her First Birthday Party

So Lauren attended her first birthday party last night, as an actual invitee. Little Miss Macie Shumway turned 2 and her mother, Lis, threw the most adorable Ladybug Party. It was so cool, that even the little boys in attendance loved playing "Pin the Ladybug on the Flower"! Lis even had the kids do a craft--making Ladybug Antennae! So as you can see in the picture, Lauren is not only rocking the Ladybug Antennae, she's also rocking a gerber daisy hair bow to complete the theme! ;0P

There are No Cuter Ladybugs Than These Ladies...




Playtime at the Wilson Household - 9.5 months


So these are just a couple pictures that the responsible mothers took last week during playtime at our friends', the Wilson's, home. Lauren looks like she's having a grand old time (for the life of me, I can't remember what she's laughing at); however, the other little girls here, Kate and Lorelai, thought she was outta control (or so I'm reading into their faces) ;0P

Shaving Cream Playtime!

Oh what fun Lauren had at OT this week! After she got done jamming on her keyboard (see Mini Mozart video), she got to play with shaving cream! Unfortunately for Lauren's OT, Autumn, she got to play with the shaving cream too--just not voluntarily!



The 'Current' Favorite Toy

Lauren's 'current' favorite toy is a singing cookie jar of all things! Every time you put a block in through the top, or through it's shape slot on the sides, she gets to jam to the tunes! You can't help but smile when witnessing this spectacle :)Add Image

Bathtime in the Kitchen Sink!



Sippy Cup Sleeper




Lauren was caught by the Sippy Cup Sleeper yesterday! I had run upstairs to put away her laundry, and when I came back downstairs, I found a barely awake Baby Lauren clinging to her sippy cup. Guess her juice must've been THAT good ;) Even the Sleep Monster couldn't tear her away!





Mini Mozart...if Mozart Also Head-Banged! - 9.5 months

Lauren was given a keyboard during her OT today...and well...SHE LOVED IT! See for yourself :0P

Spring Dress Time! - 9.5 months

So Lauren got the most adorable dresses today from Grandpa Bill and Grandma D! She's only been able to wear one of them so far, but she was the "Bell of the Ball"...or more like Sacrament Meeting ;P But she was sure workin' it!!! Thanks Grandpa Bill and Grandma D!!!







Guess Who Found the Front Door?! - 9 months



...And the Glass Front Door!




The Goldfish Cracker Massacre of 2011 - 9 months

Hello Friends and Family :) Today Lauren found the goldfish cracker bag unattended and within reach...and so began "The Goldfish Cracker Massacre of 2011!" (Pardon the picture quality). She upended the bag and proceeded to select which fish she wanted to eat; THEN, she proceeded to pull herself onto her feet and stomp on the goldfish crackers. Guess they sounded like great fun under her feet! :/ And I was pretty stoked to be on my hands and knees salvaging the wreckage and vacuuming the crumbs out of the carpet...BLAH! ;P

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

9 Months Old Today

Blogging two days in a row?! Look-out world! ;P Here's a picture of Lauren during her weekly PT session and she's actually playing on her knees-LOVE IT! Wish you could see her adorable pink Converse shoes that she's wearing. They are wonderful and she's just mesmerized by the shoelaces... Lauren is still doing her PT twice a week, and has been doing OT once a week for about a month now. She is still hitting all her milestones, but will continue with PT and OT during the next couple months. Her neurologist requested this due to her age and the fact that babies grow leaps and bounds between the 7 month - 12 month period. She will go through a one year evaluation back at STL Children's hospital this July. During the multi-hour test Lauren will be evaluated on what she can do at that time, and compared to what children of that age are expected to be able to do. I'll share more exacts about the test after we have the appointment, but it's coming up soon and I'm gaining more and more confidence in Lauren's ability as she scoots around the house in her discombobulated crawl.

Holy Jeez-It's Been 7 Months Since Our Last Post!!!

Good Afternoon Family and Friends, I sincerely apologize for my 7 month hiatus (that's really ridiculous) from writing on our blog. Baby Lauren is doing great and making all her milestones thus far, so things are going pretty awesome...except for my ability to keep everyone updated as a mother--FAILURE! :(
But let's stop dwelling on my gross neglect of keeping y'all informed, and go through the list of what Baby Lauren can now do since we last posted (since September 2010-yikes!):
- Rolls over (though she hates her tummy time, so she sits up ASAP)

- Sits-up

- Feeds herself finger foods/snacks(not with spoon just yet, but she sure makes Nate "excited" when she grabs the spoon mid-feeding)

- Sleeps through the night

- Waves "hello" and "good-bye"

- Got her first tooth (bottom front two actually!)

- Just started crawling (just last week, I'll post the footage right after this post)

- Says "Dada" purposefully

- Pulls herself up on furniture

- Walks with two-handed assistance

- Claps

- Purposefully grunts for attention (Nate and her get in grunting matches, it's quite entertaining actually)

I'm sure this is not an all inclusive list, but it's what I've brainstormed right now. I'll add to the list as I discover what I'm missing and as Lauren continues to develop.

Speaking of Lauren developing, her neurologist, Dr. Smyzer, at STL Children's Hospital is very pleased with how well she's doing developmentally. We last saw him in February for Lauren's 6 month follow-up, and he's very positive about Lauren all around! He said that he cannot find anything major that she's lacking developmentally, which is the concern with her two brain hemorrhages she suffered from oxygen deprivation during birth (minor refresher on her HIE she suffered during labor/delivery). So Dr. Smyzer said that he's "knit-picking" when he discussed her slight favoring of her right hand and lack of desire to use her upper body. But as you'll see from pictures I'll post, as well as the videos, Lauren no longer appears to favor either hand, and she is starting to crawl, so her upper body appears to be coming along just fine! :0)

Lauren will be 9 months old as of tomorrow, 12 April 2011, and man is she a big baby! We went to her 9 month well baby appointment today, and she' measuring 29.5" long (between 75th-90th percentile) and weighs just under 22lbs (between 50th-75th percentile). She's definitely a sturdy baby, and people aren't quite so baffled about her age compared to her size when Nate's holding her; but when I'm holding her, no one every believes that she's just 9 months old--as if I'm confused about my baby's age?!?! Silly people! :)

We are heading out to Colorado on the 22nd of this month to see Grandma Olsen and also to catch up with Nate's siblings! We haven't been to Colorado in many years, so we're stoked to be heading back for a week-long visit! We haven't seen any of Nate's family since Lauren's baby blessing in October...I'm pretty sure they'll be surprised and overwhelmed by Lauren's girth! :) But she's so fun and smiley, they'll only be taken aback for a moment or two! ;0)


Speaking of Baby Blessing, we've had the following events occur since the last post too:


- Lauren's Baby Blessing (October)


- Lauren dressed as a cow for Halloween (October)...and she was accompanied by her farmer dad--quite the cute duo :)


- Lauren went on her first airplane ride (March)...and finally met Auntie Mimi and Uncle Boomer back in Arizona. And she did amazing on the plane ride!!! We heard quite a few comments from other passengers that they "didn't even know there was a baby on the airplane!" Woohoo


- Found out we're expecting Baby #2 (on/about 1 September 2011); I know what you're all thinking, that's not very long between babies-yes, you're correct! Only ~14 months, and we were just as shocked as all of you probably are right now reading this! :P


    Okay, that's enough for y'all right now...too much information at once leads to low information absorption...I'll post again soon-PROMISE! I can't do much worse than 7 months in between posts, right?! :)

    FIRST CRAWL

    COOKIE MONSTER - Lauren's First Cookie

Monday, April 11, 2011

Lauren Standing at Toy Chest - 9 months

Coffee Table Climber - Almost 9 months


Bedspread Baby - 8 months


First Fortune Cookie...Delicious! - 8 months


First Time Standng Solo - 8 months



Good Times with Nana Barbie - 8 months


Girl Scout Cookie Aftermath - 8 months


Lauren Meeting Uncle Boomer for the First Time - 8 months


Happy Highchair Times! - 8 months


Pickled Binkie - 8 months


We were back in Arizona visiting the Sprotte Family, and Lauren met her Uncle Boomer for the first time. I made the mistake of letting her sit between Grandpa Bill and Uncle Boomer at lunch one day, because next thing I knew, Lauren was sporting a pickled binkie--literally! She was teething at this point during our visit to Pinetop, so she was loving the texture and taste of pickles. She can be pretty demanding during food time, because, well, she loves food...and a lot of it. Guess both Dad and Boomer got sick of feeding her constantly, so they came up with this novel idea of Lauren "feeding" herself. Too bad it didn't work! :( Every time she tried to lick/eat the pickle, the binkie would fall out. Not so great foresight on this invention Grandpa Bill and Uncle Boomer!!!

Backhoe Baby - 8 months


While we were visiting AZ in March, Lauren got to "play" in Grandpa Bill's backhoe with her Auntie Mimi. She LOVED hanging onto the steering wheel and moving it from side-to-side; but got mad as a hornet when we had to go!

A Rarity: Tired Lauren - 8 months


Purple Flower Power - 8 months


A Dirty Mouth...but SO Happy! - 8 months


Daddy & Lauren During PE Study Time - 7 months


Thursday, April 7, 2011

Lizard Lauren - 7 months


Lauren's First Shoulder Ride - 6.5 months

...And what a ride it was, just check out that wind blown hair! Actually you really should be checkin' out Nate's hair, because it functioned as some great reins for a startled Lauren...

Car Cruisin - 6 months

Lauren's a pretty happy car seat baby, as long as the carrying handle is safely stowed in the down-right position. If she has anything obstructing her view of the window and the outside world, oh it'll be a LONG ride...no matter where we're going! :)

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Happy New Year, Clark Griswold Style! - 6 months

Sweet hat right?! This is Lauren's ode to Uncle Randy from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation ;P The hat is a great, warm winter hat, but has the tendency to make any baby's neck just...disappear! :o)

Keeping Warm in Southern Illinois - 5.5 months


A Tired Out AFA Falcon Football Fan! - 5.5 months

Baby Lauren was so tuckered out from watching our AFA Falcons whip some Georgia Tech tail during their Independence Bowl showing, that she had to take a catnap in one of her fav blankets, which just so happens to be our class blanket ;P Check out those hands?! HUGE! :)

The Monkey Knibbler - 5.5 months


Cutest Giraffe EVER! - 5 months

So I fully believe this is one of the cutest giraffe hat pictures EVER taken! And one of my top 5 favorite pictures of Lauren thus far. She sure has the "animal in the headlights" look down, doesn't she?! :)

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Happy Tummy Timer - 5 months


Lauren rarely enjoys tummy time, and will only do it when bribed with delicious treats! :) Mmmm Mum Mums!

Monday, April 4, 2011

Sleeping Power Curls - 4 months

This is how we found Lauren after a car ride...guess dad's been working her hard with the arm strength. It's just reflex now! :0)

First Halloween


Here's a dazed Baby Lauren in her Halloween sleeper! She was a baby cow - furry black and white costume, topped off with a small cow bell! She even had her owner with her, Farmer Nate. Since I was in charge of our Ward Trunk-or-Treat this year, Lauren and Nate didn't have many options as to where to spend their time this year. It was a great time with a wonderful turnout, but there were so many people packed into the small gym, that it was probably 20 degrees hotter inside than outside...and Baby Lauren was sweating like a cow in the summer sun!!! Thank goodness for baby onesies and the socially accepted actions of striping your little babies down wherever you are ;P Now if only Nate and I had taken a picture of Lauren when she was IN the costume. Too simple right?!?!?