I Finally Did It!

For months now I have been finding great idea after great idea on pinterest, but not doing anything with them. I started one declutter challenge once, but never finished it, so I don't think that really counts.
Finally this week I tried not one, but two things I'd pinned!

Source: via Catherine on Pinterest

I made this for dinner one night. It was easy and everyone liked it. Chris even raved about it, which he rarely does when I cook! My favorite thing about it was not having to defrost the chicken, it goes in frozen.

Source: aspottedpony.com via Catherine on Pinterest

A girl I used to work with tried this awhile ago, so I knew it worked, I has just never gotten around to trying it. We did a photo shoot on Saturday morning and I don't have much time to do my hair, so I decided to try it. It was harder than the tutorial made it out to be, isn't that always the case? 

This is the picture I took when I first let my hair down, I had to do a little work to it to make it picture worthy, I'll have to practice some more so I can just get up and go!

I'm so proud of myself for finally using some pins, if I never use any of them, what's the point of pinning them, right?

6 months!

This month she:
- weighs 12lb 14oz
- has started laughing at just about everything, especially when we tickle her or when she "hits" Daddy or Uncle Ian
- tried squash, carrots and sweet potatoes (the sweet potatoes upset her tummy)
- swam in an outdoor pool for the first time and loved it
- has learned to hold her breath when going underwater
- loved visiting the horses on our family farm and laughed hysterically when one sniffed her foot
- loves Dr. Seuss books
- likes watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
- has started sitting on her own for short spurts
- has started sleeping in her own bed again, with some success

I probably should have stuck with laying her on a blanket for her month pictures to better show her growth, but I'm so excited that she's starting to sit up I couldn't help myself!
And this first picture is just too funny!

 

I can't decide which one I like better!

Summer Reading

As a stay at home mom of just one baby, our days get pretty monotonous, so I'm always looking for fun and interesting things to do. Especially things that are good enrichment for little Lauren. At the beginning of the summer I discovered Lauren could enroll in the library's summer reading program. I just had to read 25 books to her. It was fun to make trips to the library and fun to get lots of different books to read and see what kinds she liked.

Surprising Mom

I just realized I forgot to post this! You'd think I was busy with a baby or something, haha.

Thomas was upset he couldn't surprise our mom at Christmas, so he decided to surprise her when his training was done. Originally his training was supposed to end July 7, but then it was decided that there wasn't any point in coming back for two days after a three day weekend for the 4th. Apparently he found this out early on, but didn't tell anyone at first. He had to tell our dad because our dad is retired and plays on the Internet all day and was always looking at Thomas' company's website, so he would've seen the change in date. He told Ian so there'd be someone to help him plan the surprise. He wasn't going to tell me, but our dad forgot and told me. But that's ok, I love planning surprises!  We came up with lots of fun ideas and put a lot of work into setting it up, it was so much fun! Thomas had an overnight flight so Ian picked him up at 10am and took him straight to his unit to check in. Meanwhile our mom had spent the night at my house and was helping with the baby. There was a lot of texting going on to make sure we got the timing right because we didn't know ahead of time how long Thomas would need to be at his unit and I kept worrying my mom would think I was being rude or that something was up. Finally the boys were in place so I "randomly" suggested to my mom that we go to the family farm because I needed to pick up something from my aunt. Ian and Chris were waiting for us and indulged me in taking Lauren to see the horses, to make it all seem natural. Then I suggested we take a walk in the formal garden and take some pictures. We took these first to keep things natural.

Then it was time for the surprise! We got mom in position, Chris gave the code word to Thomas, and click!

I said we better preview the picture and make sure we like it. So Chris shows my mom the picture and we all smile in anticipation and she says, "It looks fine." What?!? We all ask if she's sure, Chris has her look at it again and again she says it looks fine. So I suggest we take another, "just in case". So we get back into position, Chris gives Thomas the code word again and zooms in.

We have her check it and again she says it's fine! At that point I just started laughing. Chris started to have her look at it again, I started to say, "What's behind us?" when Thomas, who was hot and tired of hiding, just walked out. Then the jumping and screaming and crying and "What are you doing here?" finally began.

We then showed her the pictures again and she felt a little silly, blaming it on the dark screen and the fact that when someone asks you if you like a picture, you really only look at yourself. My only regret is that we didn't think to record it! But otherwise it was perfect!
And then Lauren finally got to meet her Uncle Shoopa!

5 months!

We spent most of July in Utah, which ruined any progress on sleeping and schedules. Lauren slept most nights with me and even picked up her first stomach bug, poor thing.
This month she:
- weighs 11lb 9oz
- started eating cereal and loves it
- tried bananas and liked them
- got to suck on an apple
- started Mommy and Me swim classes
- spends more time on her tummy, but gets tired of it very quickly, I wonder if she'll ever crawl!
- is wearing all 3 month size clothes, and some 3-6

9 Years!

I can't believe I forgot to post about our nine year anniversary!! For months I was trying to figure out what to do for this anniversary. In the past we've always gone on a trip for our anniversary, some small trips, some big trips, but always somewhere overnight. With a new baby I knew that'd be pretty impossible, but I was so sad to think of skipping our trip this year. I tried to see if we could take one before the baby came, but I was so tired and uncomfortable by that point that the thought of traveling anywhere sounded horrible. Then Chris' dad died and Lauren came early, and we never got our trip. I'm still sad about that, which Chris laughs at me for.
So what we did do was take Lauren to our friends' house for her first time with a babysitter while we went to dinner. I love all my friends dearly, but there aren't many people I would have left my one and a half month old with for several hours, especially with other kids in the house, so I'm very glad this friend was available! We went to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner and Rita's for dessert. It was a little weird and we weren't sure what to talk about, but it was good to get out and feel like adults! My friend was good and texted me updates and even a picture.

4 months!

One year ago today Chris and I were at GBMC having procedures done to conceive our little baby. The doctors had tried to plan my shot schedule to avoid July 4th, but my body had other ideas! And Lauren was born exactly 8 months later! She's now 10lb 4oz, gaining really well!
In the last couple weeks she's changed a lot. She's "talking" like crazy and making more facial expressions. She started rolling over "for real" last week. She'd rolled from back to front at two months, just twice and rolled from front to back a couple times a couple weeks ago, but that seemed more like gravity. Last week she started rolling both directions like crazy and on her tummy she scoots around in circles and tries to get her legs under her. It's crazy to think she'll be mobile soon!
She's slept through the night a couple of times, which is so exciting! I keep trying to recreate how the evenings went on those nights, to help her do it again, but no luck so far.
She definitely has a mind of her own. Anytime I try to encourage a behavior she fights me all the way, until it's her idea to do it! Chris says its the redhead in her, even if she doesn't actually have red hair.
She's still in some 0-3 month clothes, but able to wear some 3 month things too, especially sleepers. The reflux seems to be mostly under control, thank goodness and I can't wait til she's done taking the medicine she hates!