A week of milestones!

Lauren has had a very busy week full of new things! She has officially learned to sit all by herself and loves to sit and play with toys without being supported.

Yesterday, we had friends from Madison come to visit us. They hadn't met Lauren yet, so it was fun to see their kids with her. Here are Tess and Maddie meeting Lauren!

Lauren's first tooth broke through her gums this past week! It's on the bottom on her left side. It's not up all the way yet but you can definitely see it (and feel it!) Luckily for us, teething is not yet making her fussy--just a little clingy.

She's making great progress with eating solid foods. Tonight, Chad fed her sweet peas and rice cereal mixed with breastmilk (sounds lovely, doesn't it?). She was liking it so much that he could barely keep up with her.

Friday night, Chad and I took Lauren to the zoo for a few hours. She seemed to prefer watching other kids instead of the animals. Go figure. Today, we took Lauren to Beloit for one of my dad's baseball games. It was incredibly hot but Lauren enjoyed it and was happy for most of the game.

"Okay, let's go watch baseball!"

Uh-oh. I think Lauren's got a boyfriend! This is Brian. He's the son of the hitting coach on my dad's team.

"Just one kiss. Please?!?!?!"

Lauren was more interested in watching Brian than baseball.

Visiting with Grandma Lucas at Grandpa's baseball game today.

It looks like Grandpa must be telling her a good secret.

Good night! Love,
Mindy & Lauren

Six Months Old!

This is how they greet one another every time Lauren and I return home. He licks her toes and she giggles.
"Aren't I so big?"


"My toes are so yummy!"

I think the past six months have been the fastest of my life. Where has the time gone? Lauren had her check-up at the pediatrician's office today. She weighs 16lbs 9oz (between 50-75th percentile) and was at the 95th percentile for length. They tell me that she's as long as a 9 month old. No surprise here. Her eyes are still blue and the doc told me that she is sure they'll stay that way for good. Since Chad and I both have brown eyes, I guess Lauren has inherited her Grandma Lucas's blue eyes. I think that makes Grandma proud! The doc also told me that Lauren is doing very well and is right on target with all of the expected developmental milestones. That's good news!

After our doctor appointment today, we relaxed at home together and spent quite a bit of time playing on the floor with Westin. I took some really adorable pictures of them--there are several, so sit back...relax...and laugh!

Yes, that IS Westin's stuffed animal.Westin, I know what you're thinking. Don't lick her fingers!!! Lauren entices him and eggs him on.
This is when I put the camera away and separated them so I could wash her fingers. They'd do this all day if I let them :-)

In the evening, my dad came over to grill out with us for dinner and to spend a little time with Lauren. He told her he can't wait until she's older so he can come over to play dollies with her and have tea parties. I think having a granddaughter is taking him back to the "good-old-days" when my sisters and I were little and we played for hours with him :)

Good night!

Love,

Mindy & Lauren

A Scary Lesson Learned...

Here's Lauren enjoying her new Jumperoo that I borrowed from her daycare provider. It's blurry because I couldn't get her to stop jumping long enough to take a picture :)
This afternoon I had a terrifying wake-up call that could have ended very tragically. I've been letting Lauren sleep with her baby blankie that she's becoming attached to. We take it with us in the car to comfort her and she likes to snuggle with it in her crib at naptime and bedtime. When I put her down for her nap this afternoon, she pulled it close to herself and was fussing a little when I left the room (that's normal behavior for her lately). I listened on the baby monitor while she fussed for about five minutes. Then she suddenly started screaming some of the sharpest, shrillest screams I've ever heard. I RAN down the hall and into her room, where I found her writhing around with her blankie wrapped tightly around her head covering her eyes, nose and mouth. I grabbed her while yanking the blanket off and then collapsed into her rocking chair to rock and soothe her (while I was shaking and trembling as I pictured what could have happened if I hadn't heard her screams). So, if you read this blog and have a baby or know somebody who does....please, please, please remember that even older babies who seem able to push things away from their face and push their face away from the mattress can still get wrapped up in a blanket and struggle to breathe. I was naive to think that Lauren was no longer at risk of suffocating in bed since she can roll and push her blanket away if needed. Thank god I learned my lesson and it ended safely.

In other news, we had a fun week together and attended infant/toddler storytime at Barnes & Noble twice. We even got to meet Clifford the Big Red Dog!

We enjoyed a great afternoon at the zoo on Wednesday with Tara C. and her two daughters, Trinity and Camryn. I think the highlight of the trip was when Trinity, who is three, rode on a camel all by herself. Way to go, Trin!

On Friday night, Chad and I bought a baby gate and protective netting to cover the banister railings on our main floor (the spindles are too wide and thus need to be covered). Chad said he wanted to put up orange snow fencing on the banister but I nixed that idea.

Lauren has been waking up twice a night again and so we've decided to take the tough-love approach and no longer feed her if she wakes in the night. Instead, I give her a really long, thorough feeding at bedtime and then Chad has been going in at night to comfort her when she wakes. We're hoping that she'll learn that nighttime isn't for eating, it's for sleeping. She has a doctor's appointment on Tuesday for her 6-month checkup, so I'll talk to the pediatrician to see what else she suggests about this.

Tomorrow we are having Lauren's 6-month portraits taken and we're going to have a formal family portrait taken as well. Wish us luck. (It took me over 5 hours at the portrait studio when we had her 3-month pictures taken. Ugh.)

Have a good week!

Love,

Mindy and Lauren

Oops- One more thing!

My sister Holly sang the National Anthem and God Bless America at Sunday's Atlanta Braves game. She said it went very well and she really enjoyed it. Here are a few pictures from her big day.

Yes, that actually refers to her as an "international recording artist"!!! She has music playing on the radiowaves in the Netherlands, so I guess that makes her an international recording artist!
Great work, Holly!

Love,

Mindy & Lauren

A weekend getaway~

Here's a hint about our weekend...Sorry it's been so long since I last wrote. I wanted to get time to sit down with Chad and have him pick out a few of his pictures from his trip to put on the blog. But time got away from us since we went on a weekend getaway to the beach~ We got up early Friday morning and took the first flight out to sunny Florida! Yep, Lauren went on her first plane ride! She made it SO easy on us, too. The flight was only half-full, so Lauren got to have her own seat with her carseat instead of riding on our laps for the flight. Here she is on her first plane ride:
She slept for most of the two-hour flight and was super happy the rest of the time. We arrived in Florida about 11a.m. and Chad rented a minivan!!! (I think it's hilarious because he told me back when we started dating that he would never, ever drive a minivan. Ha!) We stayed at his Grandmother's condo, along with Chad's parents who had flown down on Thursday. On Friday afternoon, we all hung out together at Chad's grandma's pool and then we enjoyed a nice barbeque dinner. Saturday morning, we got up early and took Lauren for her first day at Clearwater Beach! We were very excited to witness her curiosity and her joy when she saw the ocean for the first time (okay, the Gulf).
Chad was telling Lauren about how this is the beach where he used to come so often when he was little.


With Grandma Sallie~

Tired out after our beach day. Ahhh...

This was a very special trip for us because we had five generations together at once: Lauren, her daddy, her grandpa, her great-grandma and her great-great-grandma.

A few more fun pictures from our busy weekend-

Holding hands with her great-great-grandma who will soon celebrate her 96th birthday.

We had a wonderful, albeit short vacation. We wish we could've stayed longer but Chad has very few vacation days left due to Lauren's birth and his trip to China. Oh well...guess we'll have to go back to Florida next year! On our flight back today, Lauren fell asleep before our plane took off and she stayed sleeping until after we landed! She made it so easy on us and is probably trying to prove to us that she deserves weekend trips to the beach more often :) She's been a busy girl, learning new things each day. Her newest "tricks" are that she now reaches for me when she wants to be held or picked up. Also, tonight she ate her first bowl of baby oatmeal and she loved it! She almost sits up on her own and LOVES to jump. When you hold her on your lap, she jumps up and keeps on jumping. It's pretty cute although it quickly wears out your arms.

I promise I will still add pictures from Chad's trip. I just need him to go through them with me and pick out a few!! Have a great week! Love, Mindy & Lauren