Hi Daddy!

Lauren and I are missing Justin this week since he is at a conference in Arizona. Lauren wanted me to post this video for her daddy to see...See you soon!

8 months old!

Little Lauren is 8 months old now!! Hard to believe. She's had a nice little break from all of her illnesses and we're hoping it stays that way through the rest of this unbelievably long winter! (Thanks again Grandma Nancy for making me this warm sweater...I love it!)

Lauren is really exploring the world around her. This afternoon she was supposed to be taking a nap in her crib, but when I went to check on her, she was sitting up and playing with Duckie. This is the first time she has been able to sit up from laying down on her own. For the past couple of weeks, she was almost there, but couldn't quite let go with her last hand. Well, she's figured it out. So, I'm sure she'll be playing in her crib every morning now! She's also starting to feed herself....well, puffs (similar to cheerios). I think she likes being a little independent.

Two weeks ago, we enjoyed spending the weekend in Galena with Justin's side of the family. We had a great time. Lauren got to go swimming with her cousins and her daddy. Of course we took some video. (Click here).

Lauren goes to the doctor again on March 10 for her 9 month well-baby check. This will be her last time to see Dr. Roth since we will be moving on the 14th. We're sad about that as we really liked Dr. Roth. Hopefully we'll find another pediatrician in Wheaton that we like just as much.

Until next time...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Don't you want to be her valentine?

I thought that you might enjoy another cute video of Lauren (are there any other kind?) She has recently started moving and grooving to her music. It's so funny. She must take after her mother! See it here. Lauren has also been perfecting her army crawl. It's much easier to slide across the hardwood.

We're headed to Galena this weekend to spend the weekend with Justin's family...10 adults and 8 kids in one house! Whew! We can't wait to see everyone.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Until next time...

On the Move

Lauren is definitely on the move! Everything is all of a sudden within reach. She's getting good at picking things up and has started to "army crawl." Watch her here.

We had a nice weekend at home. We did a little packing, went to dinner and the theater with Nonny/Boppa and Mike/Megan and watched the Super Bowl on Sunday with Mark, Trulie and Jessie. (Well, the first half anyway. Kick off really isn't so convenient when your bedtime is at 7:00 p.m.!)

I took Lauren to the doctor today since she's been waking herself up at night and during her naps with a nasty cough. It doesn't seem to be more than just a cold, but she has ear infection in her right ear yet again! This is infection number 3! The last one was in December in her left ear. So, she's back on amoxicilin. Hopefully it clears up quickly and we can avoid another one this winter. It doesn't seem to bother her much though. But she is 19.6 lbs!! Holy cow!! No wonder my arms get tired holding her. Guess we know she's a healthy baby. We go back on March 10 for her 9 month appointment.

I can't resist posting this other cute video of Lauren. We're not sure she knows what "No" means, but she seems to have picked up shaking her head when she doesn't want something. It's so cute, we just have to laugh. She thinks it's funny too. (Watch here.)

Hope everyone is well. Thanks for checking in on us.

Until next time...

7 months already!

Wow...hard to believe Lauren is 7 months already. She is changing so quickly and becoming more like a kid instead of a baby every day. Sigh....

She is sitting up by herself now. She loves it and rarely wants to be on her back anymore-- including in her crib where we find her on her stomach most mornings! We finally had to take her sling out of her baby bathtub this week because she is just too big for it and wants to sit up anyway. We took some cute video of her splashing away in her bath this week. See it here.

This one is great too...she thinks her daddy is hilarious! So cute! (Click here). We just can't get enough of that little laugh.

We also installed her new car seat this weekend. She has officially graduated to a bigger car seat! I can barely lift her in her little infant seat anymore...although it has been a great workout. She's just getting so old!

Lauren was such a good girl this weekend. We went out to dinner on Saturday night and she sat in the high chair and played and ate her baby food. She loved it! She loved seeing all the people-- and everyone admired her. They couldn't believe what a good baby she was. We weren't surprised!

We started doing a little packing this weekend. March will be here before we know it. Lauren helped out too...

We also found a new daycare for Lauren in Wheaton. She'll be going to Bright Horizons, which is near our house. They have a great little deck area for the infants with sand and water to play. We're very excited and hope that it will be an easy transition.

Thanks for checking in on us. Until next time...

We Bought a New House!

We're so excited that we'll be moving to Wheaton on March 14!! We went under contract this week on our new home at 136 N. Beverly Street in Wheaton-- it's a mere 2.9 miles from the Zorns. Yeah! We had our inspection yesterday and everything appears to be in good shape. It's 4 bedroom, with a 5th non-conforming bedroom in the basement. It was built in 2004 and the current owners have done a great job maintaining the house. It has 3 1/2 baths, a beautiful kitchen, great family room with a gas fireplace, and HUGE masterbedroom (our furniture will look so tiny). The full finished basement has the 5th bedroom, two unfinished storage areas, full bathroom, roughed-in plumbing for a wet bar, and lots of space for Lauren to roll around. We took some pictures yesterday at the inspection...check them out here. We're planning to visit some new daycares in Wheaton on Monday, so hopefully we'll find one where Lauren will be very happy.
We hope you will all come visit us this Spring...guess we should get packing!!

Until next time--

Merry Christmas & Happy 2008!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!! It seems that the holiday season is always over too quickly. I'm not sure where the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas went, but it flew by without a new posting to Lauren's blog. This may be a long one!

Lauren is 6 months old now! I can't believe it. It really seems like it was not so long ago that we were headed to the hospital to have a baby. Her 6 month well-baby check was great. She's 17.5 lbs and was 26 1/2 inches long! (For those that like to know the percentages, she's in the 80th percentile for both height and weight. No wonder my arms get tired!!) She also had more shots, which are never fun. We go back later this month to have her second round of her flu shot. The good news is that there are no shots at her 9 month visit! Yeah! She is still a great eater and is beginning to have solids three times a day. She's also starting to sit up on her own. She manages to hold it for a bit before toppling over. And she's rolling everywhere! It's so funny to watch, but now we really have to pay attention to everything that is near when we put her on the floor. I think she's determined to figure out how to crawl soon. And she LOVES her exer-saucer! Just watch her bounce (click here)... apparently she thinks it's funny when her daddy talks to her about Tommy Harris from the Bears!

On December 21, we entered into a contract to sell our townhome! YEAH! What a great Christmas present!! The attorney review and inspection period is now, but assuming all goes well, we will close on March 14. We have now "officially" started our new home search. We're really excited and are looking forward to settling in a bigger house in a new community.

We spent Christmas in Iowa with my family! We had a great time and Lauren enjoyed her first Christmas (another reason we need a bigger house!) See Lauren opening her presents here. Aunt Melissa, Uncle Jim, Steph, Nick and Aunt Maggie and Uncle Mike were able to join us at Mom and Dad's for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. As you can see from the mound of presents, everyone must have been very good this year!! We were also able to see my extended family at the traditional Christmas Eve gathering at Grandpa and Grandma's!

Lauren loved admiring her cousins...

...and her favorite Aunt Becky, too!

Nick got Guitar Hero for Christmas for his Wii. It's so much fun! Even Uncle Justin was rockin' out! (Watch here).

Lauren was also very excited to finally meet her Auntie Katie! Katie stopped by Mom & Dad's while she was back from Kansas City. We hope we get to see her again soon!

We drove back to Evanston on the 26th (Happy Anniversary to my parents!!)

We welcomed in 2008 with Trulie, Mark and Baby Jessie! (Well, sort of...The Simpsons went home at 10:00 and we saw the ball drop in New York at 11:00 and lights out at 11:15!) It was a great night with fantastic food and friends! (We made beef tenderloin and the Simpsons brought HUGE lobster tails! Mmmm!!) Lauren stayed up until 7:00 p.m. on New Year's Eve, but she was very excited to wake up in 2008!

A few more Christmas pictures:

...with her cousins Nick and Steph on the steps waiting to see if Santa had arrived!

With Uncle Mikey and Aunt Maggie on Christmas morning....

...on Stephanie's new horse, Butterscotch.

checking out my stocking with Daddy....

....ready to go in my new "Going to Grandma's" suitcase.

Christmas is hard work....

Thanks for checking in on us! We hope 2008 will be a wonderful year for you! Check back soon for more updates on our family!