10 months old!

Lauren is 10 months old! It's so hard to believe. She's very active and really enjoying exploring the world around her. She has officially graduated from her army crawl to crawling on her knees. (See her here.) I think she figured out that she can get where she needs to go a lot faster on her knees. She also just wants to stand all the time. In fact, we found her standing in her crib in the morning when we went to get her up. She loves pulling herself up on her toys as well. (Click here.)

Lauren's top two teeth are finally poking through. We've been working on those for a long time now, so we're glad to finally see them. Lauren seems to be understanding a lot of what we say. She really enjoys playing peek-a-boo, reading stories, and playing with her blocks. See her showing you how big she is here. We're working on learning the word "no" now. She seems to think it is funny to open the drawers after Mommy tells her no.

Last weekend, we drove to Des Moines to visit Melissa, Jim, Nick, Steph, Mike and Maggie. It was a long drive but Lauren was able to take a few naps with Charlie the Bear, which definitely helped! We had a great time and got to watch Stephanie play soccer (sort of) and Nick star in his baseball game. He definitely is the star-- pitched 3 innings and didn't allow any runs and was 4 for 4 hitting. It was a really cold weekend, but we had a great time. Melissa and I also had a great time at the Bon Jovi concert!

This weekend has another long car trip ahead of us. We'll be driving 10 hours to Abingdon, Virginia to visit our friends Alex and Peg. Hopefully Lauren sleeps well in the car. It could be a crazy weekend if she doesn't. We're looking forward to the trip (and hopefully some warmer weather).

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

Live from Wheaton

We're all moved in and loving our new house! Lauren loves all the new space (especially since we're a bit lacking in furniture...she has HUGE playrooms...for the moment.) We're getting to know our new neighborhood and finding our way around (did I mention Target is right around the corner?) We are almost unpacked and working on making this our "home."

Lauren is adjusting well to life in Wheaton. Her new daycare is great! She has four other kids in her class (so it's much smaller than her class in Evanston). She's napping well and learning new things each day. Last week Mr. Bob came to her class to play his guitar and sing songs. Lauren loved dancing to the music. We're very happy so far with the change. She is also pulling herself up to stand on her toys. She's really getting to be such a big girl! Lauren is also finding her words! How amazing! We just can't believe the things she says already (wonder which side she gets that from??) She says dada, mama, all done, wow, whoa, and we once heard her say "duckie." You can see her say Mama here. Isn't she sweet?

Lauren is also loving her food! She loves feeding herself and is trying new things everyday. She tried dill pickle this weekend and thought it was great. She also has moved to the big bathtub. She and her duckies now have a "pool" for bathtime. Lauren loves to put her face in the water during her bath. Guess it's time to get her in swimming lessons.

Lauren made her first trip to the new Wheaton doctor already. She came down with pink eye this weekend. So, we get to wrestle her down four times a day to give her eye drops. It's not so easy with a mobile nine month old! Hopefully she gets over this quickly and we can move on to a healthy spring.

We had a wonderful Easter. We went to church at First Presbyterian of Wheaton with the Zorns. Lauren even liked the nursery. Then we had lunch in Riverwoods with the Meads, etc. Lauren looked adorable in her Easter dress. And wasn't her cousin Ashley (and their dads) cute too??

Thanks for checking in on us. Stay tuned for pictures of our new home. We hope that you will come visit us soon!

Until next time--

One Last Post from Evanston

We're almost packed and definitely ready to go! We closed on our townhome today and the movers come on Thursday morning to load everything up and move us out. We close on our new Wheaton house on Friday morning. Yeah! We're so excited and hope that you will all come visit us very soon at our new place.

Lauren had a bit of a rough weekend. She came down with a fever on Friday afternoon. She was up and down all weekend, but Sunday spiked a 104.3 degree fever! Yikes! But the Dr. didn't think we needed to go to the ER, so we waited it out. We took Lauren to the dr. on Monday afternoon for her 9 month check-up. She has influenza (even after having a flu shot!), but no ear infection. We were grateful for that. She's growing like a weed! She was 19 lbs. 10 oz (75th percentile for weight) and 28 1/2 inches tall (90th percentile for height!). What a big baby. Of course, she's perfect in every way. We were a little sad that this was the last time we'll get to see Dr. Roth. She has been a wonderful pediatrician and has given us some great guidance as we learn the ropes of parenting.

Lauren is starting to pull herself up and stand a little on her own (with Mommy and Daddy standing by carefully!) Here's a little video we took this weekend in the midst of packing. (Click here). She's also starting to eat a few tablefoods. She loves puffs (similar to cheerios) and had her first taste of cheese. It will be really fun to watch her explore new foods.

Lauren's last day at Childtime Day Care is Thursday and she'll be starting her new daycare next week. I will be off all week, so we're hoping to ease her into the transition. She is definitely noticing new people lately and is taking a little while to warm up. Hopefully she'll love her new teachers.

Thanks for checking in on us. Next time we post, we'll be checking in from our new house in Wheaton!

Until next time...

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...