Zoo Fun and More...

My new favorite picture :)
I had to do it....Lauren's first pedicure! She sat SO still and didn't even flinch while I painted them. Good girl!

We've got a drummer on our hands! (Note the skinned knees from that day's trip to the zoo. See below...)Sorry it's been awhile...things are hectic around here. Westin has been sick--really sick. He's vomited up blood a few times and has been to the doggy ER and his own vet for many X-Rays and a full panel of blood tests. The most recent XRays came back abnormal so he could be headed for an ultrasound and/or possibly stomach surgery if he doesn't start showing some positive signs soon. He isn't allowed to have dog food right now; he can only have plain white rice and boiled hamburger in very small amounts. He's on some antacid meds (think Pepcid for dogs) and we are watching him very closely. His vet said he can't have dog food until next Saturday or Sunday and that's ONLY if he doesn't throw up at all between now and then. The X-Rays revealed that it's one of three things:

1) A SEVERELY irritated stomach lining that is bleeding and needs about a week to heal without much food.

2) A tumor or growth of some kind in his stomach that would likely result in surgery.

3) Some type of foreign object he must've ingested, such as a plastic bag, lodged in his stomach that could likely result in surgery.

So....unless he throws up this week, we are first trying the food-withholding route to see if this is just an irritated stomach lining. Please keep your fingers crossed for Westin!

As for Lauren, she's getting her upper molars this week and spiked a pretty high fever this weekend. Luckily, my mom and sister Karlee were with us for the weekend helped tremendously.

In the past few weeks, we've enjoyed warmer weather with a trip to the zoo and we also had a blast at the surprise Dinner Club baby shower for some close friends of ours. Enjoy the new pics!

Relaxing in her old bouncy seat, which she has clearly outgrown!
The mommy and daddy-to-be!

I love this picture. I think her smile is just adorable :-)

And now for our first trip to the zoo in '09!
That peacock doesn't stand a chance."Wait! Just one hug! Please?!?!"Lovin' on Daddy~Waving at the ponies.No, she isn't trying to milk a goat here. Actually just giving it a hug.
This was moments before she ran and fell, causing both knees to scrape and bleed. Thus the end of our zoo trip.

I'm off to bed. L is sleeping really well lately, despite teething. Yikes, hope I didn't just jinx it. G'night!

M & L

PS- Karlee, why didn't I take any pictures of your visit?!?! I was too wrapped up in Westin's and Lauren's health issues. Did you get any on your camera?

Spring Break in PA!

We took Lauren to Pennsylvania for a few days to spend time with Chad's grandparents, affectionately known as Mum-Mum and Pap. They are Lauren's great-grandparents and had only met her once before, last Memorial Day. So they were thrilled to see her and to get some cuddle time in with her. Lauren travelled well and stayed cheerful throughout our flights to and from PA. We brought an entire suitcase full of toys for her so that she'd have lots to play with while we were staying at their house. Unfortunately the weather was cold and rainy while we were there so we stayed indoors the whole time and she got a little hyperactive from being so couped up. Oh well. It was so nice to spend Easter Sunday with Mum-Mum and Pap. We went with them to church and Lauren ended up napping through the entire service, which was MUCH better than what I had feared she would do. (I had envisioned many hollers of "Mom! Mom? Mom!!" during all prayers and the sermon. Luckily that didn't happen!)

During an unexpected flight delay in Cincinatti, we had time to explore the airport and "get the wiggles out". Lauren passed the time entertaining herself (and many others) by trying to walk the wrong way on the moving sidewalk. She got nowhere fast!We borrowed a portable DVD player from friends of ours and Lauren got to watch her first DVD! Baby Einstein kept Lauren entertained for a few minutes at least :)Easter Sunday with Lauren's great-grandparents.On our way to church.On Monday, Chad's cousin Stephanie came to visit with Chad's aunt Sally and Sally's mom Jean. Lauren loved finally getting to meet them! Here she is spending time with Stephanie.

Playing piano with Aunt Sally.
Playing with Pap's hat.
Mum-Mum surprised Lauren with an Easter basket. She decided that it'd make a better hat!
Reading and cuddling with Pap.
Reading books and cuddling with Mum-Mum.

Enjoying a spaghetti dinner with Mum-Mum and Pap. We brought Lauren's booster seat with us so that she could eat at their table with us. Worked well!

Lauren is sitting in Daddy's old rocking chair. Awww....

Smelling the fake flowers on Mum-Mum's coffee table. What a goofball.

Lauren enjoyed riding the hobby horse at Mum-Mum and Pap's house.

For all you non-believers...Allie REALLY DOES like Lauren! They were cuddling together this morning. Ha!

We got home Wednesday evening and I'm enjoyed some time off at home with Lauren. This morning, we went to the toddler storytime at Barnes and Noble and she had a great time singing and dancing. It's supposed to be nearly 70 degrees here tomorrow for the first time this spring, so I'm thinking about taking her to the zoo. We'll see...

Enjoy the new pics!

Love,
M&L

New pics :)

Just a short update! My mom is staying with us for a few days to visit and to help with childcare. She'll be watching Lauren tomorrow for us because I have meetings until 8pm and just couldn't bring myself to ask our daycare provider to keep her so late. I'm sure she would have been totally willing, but she has a family of her own and I just feel bad :) Plus, that's such a long day for Lauren to be away from home. So....she'll spend the day with grandma tomorrow! Still fascinated with her toes and the lint between them!
Lauren loved our spaghetti dinner that my mom made tonight. Plus, I gave her a plum to eat which she smeared on her forehead while trying to fit it all into her mouth.

A face only a mother could love. Ha!

Again, Lauren's new favorite pasttime. And what's with her hair?!?!

We had a busy weekend. I had an 8-hour class yesterday, so my mom and Chad watched Lauren and got lots of stuff done around the house. Chad is hammering away (sometimes literally) at his "to-do" list of things he wants done before we put the house up for sale. He got a bunch of it done yesterday, so that's good! Then we attempted to go out to dinner and failed miserably. Lauren was happy until just after we placed our orders. Then she had an absolute meltdown. We still aren't sure why or what happened, but she just lost it. We took turns walking her out by the lobby until we could get our food packaged up to go. Of course, once we got home she was fine. Guess she doesn't like Chili's. Oh well.

Today, Chad and I met with our realtor and walked through a few houses that we like. We are looking to move closer to Chad's work to cut down on his commute (it's currently an hour long and will be even longer when his office re-locates in July). We really liked one of the houses we saw today, so we'll keep it in mind as we look at some others to compare it to. We aren't ready to put an offer in on anything right now. We need to have ours on the market first and get an idea on how long ours might take to sell.

While we were house-hunting, Lauren and Grandma had lots of fun cuddling, reading books and trying on shoes. And trying on shoes. And trying on shoes!! Lauren LOVES to try on her shoes. She currently has about 10 pairs on the floor of her closet (you're probably wondering why a toddler needs 10 pairs of shoes. I'm wondering that too.). She loves to bring them to you and hold them out while she whines in her most polite voice. Once you put them on her, she prances around in them and brings you another pair to help her put on. This goes on and on....she loves it! Poor Chad is realizing that his daughter has a shoe addiction already!

New words now- "Bye!" although it sounds a bit more like "Ba!" and "Peez" which she said just once when I told her to say "please". Yesterday, my mom held Lauren up in front of a large picture of herself and asked her "how did we get such a cute baby girl?" Lauren immediately responded with "yeah!". Gotta love her modesty.

Have a great week!

Love,

M & L