Lauren is 1!!!

Our baby girl is one! We can hardly believe it. What a year it has been. We love her more every day. She continues to amaze us with how much she changes, learns and grows each day. We took Lauren to the doctor for her 12-month well-baby check up and she's perfectly healthy. And Healthy she is!! She weighs 23 lbs and 14 oz (88th percentile) and she's 31 inches tall (98th percentile)!! Whew! She's saying lots of words now (mama, dada, shoes, wow, up, bye, hi, ducky, and a few more). She also knows some of her animal sounds (woof woof, moo, and neigh for the horse). She really is getting funny.

We had a busy birthday weekend! Justin and I were off work on her actual birthday, Friday June 20. We were hoping to take her to Brookfield Zoo that day, but the weather (and her nap schedule) didn't cooperate, so we enjoyed the morning playing at home. Mom and Dad and Grandpa and Grandma Rowe arrived in the afternoon and we took Lauren to the little Cosley Zoo near our house. Lauren always enjoys seeing the farm animals there. Then we went out for pizza for dinner. Uncle Mikey, Aunt Maggie, Aunt Melissa and Stephanie arrived later Friday night.

Saturday was the big party day! We had a Rubber Ducky themed birthday party with ducks everywhere! Lauren was in heaven (even without very good naps that day.) About 20+ of our family members came to help us celebrate her birthday, including her 3 Uncle Mike's, Cousin Michael and Grandpa Mike (better known as Boppa)!

Lauren got way too many presents-- everyone was so generous. Thank you to those who helped us celebrate! She is still loving playing with all of her new toys! We of course we gave her her first taste of chocolate cake! She wasn't really sure quite what to do with it and didn't really like her sticky fingers after touching the frosting. See her eating her cake here.

Lauren (and her parents) was exhausted after the weekend was over but she still loves when we sing Happy Birthday to her!

We are really looking forward to seeing how much Lauren grows and changes during the next year. Thanks for checking in! Enjoy the rest of her birthday party pictures below.

Until next time--

Times are Changing...

The past few weeks have been busy ones for us (as usual!) We've been busy with our house-- working on the landscaping, having the interior painted, ordering appliances, and starting to decorate. We're excited to see things starting to come together.

Next Friday Lauren will turn one! I can't believe it's been a year already. We hardly remember our life without her. She has truly been a blessing and is getting such a cute little personality. She's not quite walking yet, but she's determined. She thinks everything is so funny, especially her Daddy. Her favorite thing to do it swing. Watch her laughing and enjoying the swing at the park. (Click here.)

We're having a Rubber Ducky birthday party for her next Saturday night. Lauren will love it. She loves ducks and sleeps with "Du Du" every night. We hope to see you there! Justin turns 30!!! this month as well. Whew!

Lauren had her first visit to the zoo a few weeks ago. We have this great little zoo/farm near our house that is perfect for young kids. They have all kinds of farm animals and birds. Lauren loved it. Especially the cows, ducks, and goats. She really wanted to get in the pond with the ducks. Enjoy the pictures:

Last weekend we packed up and went to Iowa for the weekend. Lauren got lots of Grandma and Grandpa time and also got to see her Great Grandpa and Grandma Rowe, Aunt Becky, Uncle Denny, Aunt Kris, and Erika. Lauren even got some early birthday presents. She was more excited about the tissue paper and wrapping though. Guess she'll figure out that the fun part is inside. Lauren learned her new favorite word from Grandma. "Uh Oh!" Now, everything she drops (especially on purpose), we hear "Uh Oh!" Sometimes it's "Uh Oh" even when she's anticipating the drop. We all had a great time and can't wait to visit again soon.

My big news is I resigned from the Bank this week. I have been offered a fantastic opportunity to be General Counsel for a new company, Cortland. I'll be working alongside some of my current colleagues. I'm very excited about the opportunity. So look for new contact information from me at the end of the month.

Lots of exciting things to celebrate at the Mead house this month. Thanks for checking in on us. We'll be sure to post pictures of the birthday girl!

Until next time--

11 months!

Time has definitely gotten away from us. Lauren is 11 months old! I cannot believe our little baby girl is going to turn one next month. She is growing so quickly. We took her to the doctor a few weeks ago for another round of ear infections and she was about 23 lbs! Whoa! She is getting her third tooth on the bottom (this makes number 5!) and is really cruising along the furniture and trying to walk holding our hands. Check out this video of her pushing her little leapfrog table. (Click here.) Doesn't she look like a little old lady with a walker? So funny!

We have been on the go lately (which is why I haven't had time to blog). At the beginning of May, we drove to Bristol, Virginia to visit our friends Alex and Peg. They live in a beautiful home near the mountains. Although it was a long drive, Lauren did great! We left Wheaton at 6:00 p.m. on a Thursday evening and stopped to change Lauren into her pajamas and she fell asleep around 8:30 p.m. We drove until about 1 a.m. and then stopped for the night at a hotel in Lexington, Kentucky. We finished the drive the next day and arrived in Bristol Friday afternoon. We had a great time. Lauren got to meet her new best friend, Chloe! Chloe is Alex and Peg's yellow lab. Lauren loved her! (I think she wants a doggie of her own, but unfortunately for her, Mommy and Daddy said no.) Everytime she sees a dog now she says, "Woof." She was very brave and let Chloe even lick her face. (See her here.) While in Virginia, we took a bike ride down the Creeper trail. It was a beautiful day and we saw some great views. It was a 17 mile ride, but luckily it was mostly downhill. Lauren enjoyed riding in the baby seat on the back of Justin's bike...so much so that she even managed to take a little nap.

--Daddy and Lauren -- --Peg, Mommy & Lauren--

--The beautiful scenary along the Creeper Trail in Virginia--

We spent Memorial Day weekend in Crivitz, Wisconsin at Justin's parents' house with the Chaons and the Meads. It was a great weekend. The boat is now officially in the water and ready for the summer. Too bad the weather wasn't nicer so we could have enjoyed it a little more. We're planning to head back to Crivitz in July, so we're looking forward to Lauren's first boatride then. Lauren really enjoyed playing with her cousins Elise and Logan this weekend. She especially loved rolling the ball back and forth. We look forward to seeing everyone again soon.

We've been busy around the house and have a busy summer planned. Our painters started painting the interior of our house today. We're really excited to see the changes and are looking forward to finally decorating. Justin's been busy working on our yard. He even bought a lawnmower! We have some summer trips planned as well. We'll be in Iowa in a few weeks to see family and friends and will also be heading back to Wisconsin in July. We're looking forward to celebrating Lauren's first birthday and Justin's 30th!!! birthday next month!

Thanks for checking in on us! We hope to see you all soon.

Until Next Time--

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!