New party trick!

Lauren is definitely a climber. She has learned to push her chair over to the table and climb on the chair, then the table. She does this until she gets caught. Typically if it's quiet....I know she's in "trouble"!

Here she is with the "She caught me" look.

"Oh, don't worry she's got the camera! Maybe if I look cute, she won't do anything."


"Cheese!" Yes, immediately after seeing the camera, the infamous poses start!

Later this same afternoon, I found her on the table again and went to grab her in which she turned to get away and ended up stepping off the table. Startled and shocked, but no crying or bruises. You would think that she would learn...but no, it was only minutes later she was doing it all over again. Now her Tinkerbell chair sits against the wall!! She can't scoot it with the rockers facing the opposite direction....YET! What a turkey.

Another sewing project complete....

On Saturday after my teacher left, I continued into another project. Here's what I came up with by Sunday morning. It's a cute little red tank and capri outfit with little white stars. I'm not sure if it will still fit for the summer, but we'll see. And it's FAAAAAAR from perfect, but hey, it's done! And wearable! It's super cute. Lauren likes modeling the new clothes!

Mommy's model

Friday night, Nana and Papa came up so that Nana could give Mommy a sewing lesson. Daddy and Lauren bought Mommy a sewing machine for her birthday, but I had no idea where to start. I had bought a few things to make some items. And my gift from Nana and Papa (besides the lesson) was a box full of "things I'll need".

My first task was a pair of pajama pants Friday night. They turned out good....wild....and little large, but good. I'll wear them! Then on Saturday we tackled a little dress for Lauren. It turned out darling. I had a wonderful teacher! I definitely would not have been able to decipher the pattern lingo without her!

There are still a lot of things I don't know, but my head is filled with sewing knowledge. I've come a long way since last weekend when I opened the box and couldn't even figure out how to thread a bobbin...yes, it took me about 2 hours. But I managed to continue sewing even after Nana and Papa left yesterday and I finished a pair of pants for Lauren, got frustrated with the shirt and quit. But the shirt is staring at me right now and I'm determined to finish it. Wish me luck.

Here's some more pictures of my cheesy model! She'll never be a top model if she keeps smiling all the time! We need some more dramatic pouty looks! I think she likes her dress! She definitely liked all the attention.

Jumping.....I think

Grandma and Grandpa came over last night. We had chili....so of course Lauren had to get almost naked. And of course since we were naked (ok, a diaper and socks) we didn't want to get dressed. Instead we decided to entertain everyone with her jumping abilities....or at least that's what we thought she was doing. Obviously she's picked this up off of the cartoons!

We realize that she never got off the ground. But she gets an A+++ for the effort!!

Carson's Birthday party at Chucks!

Yes, that's right. Lauren attended her first birthday party. It was for mommy's friend Erin's son Carson who turned 2 on Dec. 29th. But with the holidays they postponed the party for today at Chuck E Cheeses in Salem. Boy, was that place a zoo. But Lauren thought it was fun!

On arrival mommy was thinking "what did I get myself into!"
Lauren was thinking "what kind of place did mommy bring me too!"

And then the mechanical Chuck E Cheese started dancing and singing: "oooooooohhhhhh!"

Lauren dancing in front of all the tables by the mechanical Chuck E Cheese. It would stop and she would YELL at him. She didn't understand that it was on a timer! She also made a couple of little friends. One she hugged and the little girl just stood their stiff. Another little boy chased her around for awhile until he realized that Lauren was not ready for a boyfriend! And a bigger kid picked her up and moved her out of the way, in which Lauren walked back over to her and cleared her out of the way. Great!

The man himself.....or at least she thought so!

Seeing herself on tv....boy is that chick funny! This is where she had the run in with the bigger kid!

Don't worry puppy, I'll drive us to safety!

The birthday boy! Mr. Carson Michael Frenzel with his favorite purple dinosaur! He is now the BIG 2!

"Ok, Fred the Vet, where are we going and why am I not driving!"

Lauren and the birthday boy....eating and drinking everything but their pizza.

OMG! It's another Chuck E Cheese. That guy is sooo funny! She was the youngest party goer and the only one not afraid of the Chuckster himself.

Clapping after Chucky's performance.

Wait, Chuck's over there with Carson! Lucky kid!

The birthday boy trying to eat the frosting. C'mon Carson and just blow out the candle already!

Cupcake time! Who needs to eat pizza when you get an entire cupcake.

What a mess!

Overall it was a great party. A little too much stimulation though for the 15 month old. She slept the entire hour home. Poor thing. Partied out! And we even left a bit early!

15 month update

So Lauren went to see Dr. Davis yesterday for her 15 month well child check. She is 30.1 inches tall (50%), 22lbs 15.5 oz (50%) and her head was about 65%. So she's average, even though mommy and daddy thinks she's more than average!

Here's a partial list of her vocabulary with translations:
Mama
Dada
Nana (this is used for Nana and banana)
Papa (this is used for Papa, Dada and something else!)
Hi and Bye (waves for both)
Booo Ducks (even when asked to say Go Beavers!)
Biscuit (but it comes out more Biggie)
Thank you (sounds like "tink ting")
Baby
Ummmm (when she's thinking about something)
Mickey Mouse (but it comes out My Moose)

She can make make animal sounds such as "moooo", "meow", "bock bock", "grrrrrr", "raaaar" and the ocassional grunt for a piggy.

She enjoys to talk on the phone and pretends that everything is a phone especially the Wii remote!

Favorite foods: Nilla wafers, MILK!, grapes, bananas, cheese, anything potatoes, carrots, broccoli (yes that's right but only the fuzzy ends!), peanut butter ritz bits and ice cream to name a few.

Favorite toys: Doesn't really have one. Except for her horsey blanket "Douglas" that she NEEDS to fall asleep.

Favorite cartoons: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Winnie the Pooh, Wonder Pets and Olivia mainly.

She is doing a little potty training on her own. Dr. Davis says we are too early, but if she's showing interest to follow through on it but not to force it. We'll see what happens! We make it to the potty at least 1 time a day and sometimes more.

Our 15 month old daredevil

Lauren turned 15 months old yesterday. And she's become quite the little daredevil. She climbs on anything that looks like it should be climbed on. One of her most recent ventures is to go in the back bedroom, remove the toy basket, climb on the tote, then climb on the box and flip the light switch. Daddy caught her doing it the other day when he knew that neither of us were back there but the light switch was turning on and off. Great. So this is what we found:

Startled look when the camera flash went off in the dark catching her:

Lights on, "Oh it's just you mommy. Look what I can do!"

And once again the lights go out.


She finds items throughout the house to climb on, or push/carry to an area to help her climb on other items. Like daddy's boots if turned sideways help to give her leverage to climb on the couch. Or her sit and push car makes an awfully good step to climb on the coffee table. Or heck with it, let's just take our baby's stroller and stand on the tray in the middle of the living room. Yes, the little pink on that she got for her baby doll with 4 rollers for her birthday. Heaven help us. That has broken bones written all over it.

She's also mastered the stairs, according to her at both grandparents' houses. Found her upstairs at both of them having a GRAND time! At Grandma and Grandpa's she was staring over the railing, which we have a baby gate now. And at Nana and Papa's she was causing havoc in the bathroom, which somehow the baby gate was opened (she's a little houdini...said that ever since she mastered getting out of the tight wrap jobs by the nurses at the hospital!).

I realize her hair is quite stunning in these pictures! It's getting sooooo long that it's taking mommy some time to figure out what works. If you put a barrett in, she just takes it out. The top pony tail works, but then that's the only way to fix it until bath time because if you take it out she has a mowhawk. And it's so straight on top but completely curly in the back....you know "business in the front, party in the back" like a mullet. And heaven help her if she needs to sit still to have her hair done. You'd think that I was torturing her!! So for the most part, if we don't have to leave the house, this is how she rolls during the day. Oh well. Sooner than later it will grow out.

Happy New Year!

Last night Lauren stayed up to ring in the new year.....ok, so I'm fibbing. We all stayed up to 9 p.m. and helped the East Coast ring in the New Year (I love satellite television). She watched the craziness in New York, danced to New York, New York by Frank Sinatra and was in bed by 9:30 p.m. Daddy and I weren't far behind.....real party poopers we were. I woke up at 11:59 to hear some neighbors shouting the countdown. Then there were some fireworks. But Daddy and Lauren just snored right through them!

So Lauren woke up at 2:30 a.m. this morning screaming. At first we thought it was her teeth, then a night terror. But no, it's her diaper rash. I guess you need the entire story. The evening of the 30th Daddy wanted a back rub, so Lauren and I got out the massage oil stuff and Lauren walked on Daddy's back and helped mommy massage a shoulder knot he had. Well, mommy forgot about the bottle and of course since she forgot about the bottle, she also forgot to put the lid on it. Pretty soon we find Lauren dumping it all over the carpet.....and has ingested some. Sooooo, needless to say I called Poison Control. I really thought I was going to be that one parent that never has to call. The lady was very nice and just told me to rinse out her mouth and make sure she drinks lots of water. Thank goodness it was "all natural" from Bath and Body. The lady was also impressed that she was wiping her own mouth out with her hand, because typically they don't think stuff tastes bad until 5 years old. (Not our girl.....damned overachiever!)

So to get to the diaper rash. What goes in...must come out. And it's an oil. And trust me it ALL came out. Which in turn made her little bottom a red rash nightmare! She would BAWL any time she peed just a little. Poor thing. But we are on the mend today. What a way to ring in 2010!