Wednesday at Skamania

On Wednesday, we were up at 4:30 a.m. thanks to Lauren....we figured we didn't have to be up until 5:30. So we got up, showered, ate and were on our way to the Daddy's work (AFRC's) annual meeting at Skamania Lodge by 6 a.m. Thankfully when we got there our room was ready to check in! Once the portacrib was delivered to the room, Lauren laid down for a nap. When she woke up, it was the first time she has been exposed to Elmo! Boy did she love that creepy red monster!



Happy as a clam in "jail".


It was cold and windy on Wednesday so we hung out inside most of the day!


AFRC had a welcome reception Wednesday night....so we had to put on a dress to attend!

More food!

Lauren has been testing out her taste buds lately. We first tried rice cereal which she didn't love. Dr. Davis told us to try oatmeal which she seems to like a WHOLE lot better. Her first real food was sweet potatoes that daddy "manned" lasted summer....that's what he calls men canning. She wasn't a fan. I think more was spit out than swallowed. We'll try them again in a few days. I think part of it was the fact that they aren't as "finely" pureed as the other, which we'll work on!

The most recent vegetable that she has tried are carrots. I tested her with the Gerber sample we received on Easter and she really liked it. Even though she'd pull away and tucked her chin to her chest, she always came back for more! I blended our "manned" carrots last night since I ran out of the sample jar in 2 sittings. She had a little more than 2 tablespoons of carrots, 2 tablespoons of oatmeal and a 3 ounce bottle before hitting the hay last night!

Lauren's first oatmeal.




Sweet Potatoes at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Happy Easter!

Lauren's first easter has already came and went. Grandpa, Grandma and Great Grandma came over. The Grandparental units house has been undergoing a pretty major redo with new granite countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms. So it wasn't ready for Easter dinner. Mommy cooked a ham she got the recipe from watching Rachael Ray....hey, I watch a lot of TV being a stay-at-home mommy now! It turned out pretty well if I don't say so myself!




Lauren got a couple of easter bags from her grandparents and Gram Gram. (She was way into the bags...good thing they didn't go with the traditional baskets!)

She got a small stuffed bunny, a teddy and a bunny book. And don't forget the tissue paper!! Lauren's Gram Gram won a couple of bunny's off the BINGO table for her which she wanted to chew on. We didn't figure that was a good idea, so here's daddy taking them away.

She is six months now and it looks like the blue eyes are here to stay!

Her new "wrinkle-nose" smile!

6 months old!

Lauren turned 6 months old yesterday. Wow how time flies! She saw Dr. Davis yesterday and got a couple of pokeys which has made her pretty tired today. She is 17 lbs 10 oz (75 percentile) and 25.6 inches long (50 percentile). Dr. Davis said she's perfect!


She's considered a "supported sitter". She tries to sit on her own but does the "weeble wobble"! We get to start vegetables this week and can introduce a new one every 3 to 5 days so we can make sure she doesn't have any allergies to one particular vegetable.


Her new thing is to wrinkle her nose when she smiles or thinks something is funny. She also does a grunt/growl combination!

Play Date

Lauren's first play date was today at my friend Carley's house. It was a very nice day and they had lots of space to play outside.

Lauren absolutely loved the baby swing! Definitely need to look into getting one!

Carley has Allison (4 months) and Spencer (3).

Rachel has Payton (8 months) and Sadie (4).

Jenny has Carson (15 months) and Conner (4).

There was lots of energy that needed expelled!


They saw the fish, fed the cows and somehow roped Rachel and Carley into pulling them in the wagon!


We had a stroller convoy to pack the little ones around in!

It was good to get all of the kids together....as well as the mommy's even if we couldn't hear each other half the time!

First Cereal

Yes, that's right. She's not quite 6 months, but we went ahead and gave her cereal for the first time last night. I more or less wanted to feed her rice cereal before her 6 month appointment so that if I had any questions for the doctor I would be able to ask her at the appointment on Monday.

Lauren actually tried to hold the spoon a couple of times.

She thought the whole thing was pretty amusing, especially since she had an audience. Grandma and Grandpa came over to watch!

I think she got more of it down her chin than in her mouth.

Obviously mommy wasn't feeding her fast enough.


Daddy says she looks like a little stoner in this picture. Must have been some good stuff.

I also gave her a sippy cup with a little forumla in it afterwards. She was more interested at biting the sippy part than actually drinking out of it. Teeth??

Carson came to play

Mommy's friend Erin came over on Saturday with her little guy Carson (aka Phyllis) to play. Carson is a very busy body since he is 15 months and walking. He was OK with Lauren as long as his mommy wasn't holding her. And he was infatuated with poking her in the eye...no children were harmed! Anything Carson handed her went into her mouth. It was a good learning experience to find out what needs baby proofed for the toddling phase!

Some cute pics from the week

This week we packed away most of our 3-6 month clothes....a few she is still squeezing into! We found a few cute outfits that Lauren can finally wear, but a couple of shirts make her poor budda belly just look silly! And her 6-9 month jeans are pretty uncomfortable unless she's standing or laying down. So needless to say I don't think she will be in 6 month outfits for very long!

Grandma had us take her swing home since it's a little bigger! She likes to have the tray off so she can touch her toes...but only with supervision.


Daddy bought his girls flowers last week. After they wilted I was going to throw them away and Miss Lauren kept grabbing at them. So I took the petals off a couple of the roses and let her play with them. (Don't worry, I figured they weren't good for baby's to eat so they never touched her mouth even though she made a valiant attempt! And her hands were wiped immediately following.) She made a mess! But it was cute so of course I took pictures!


She is rolling over pretty well now. So when she was done playing with the petals she rolled over into them. She seems happy in the picture, but grunted when mommy picked up the petals and threw them away. (BTW - This picture really makes her hair look red...hmmmmmm.)

Trip to the park with the Cousin

Cousin Syd, Nana and Papa came to visit today and are staying tonight. Papa and Daddy went to the Beaver baseball game and plan to go again tomorrow. So Cousin Syd, Nana, Lauren and I went to the park while they went to the game.



We snuck into the Croquet field that is full of daffodils this spring for a few cute pics.




Lauren really likes her jogging stroller now that she can sit up straight. It was a nice day but chilly.

Lauren's first Beaver baseball game

Lauren attended her first OSU baseball game today. Daddy and Papa have season tickets. And since Papa couldn't make the home opener, mommy and Lauren decided to take his place. We made it through nearly 5 full innings before daddy decided it was getting to cold for her. Plus she was really tired and every time she was close to nodding off in my arms, the crowd would cheer and she would pop awake! When we decided to go the score was 1-0 Beavers...and as we were leaving they scored another 4 runs! The Beavers won vs. Utah Valley 7-0. Go Beavers!

Lauren's first photo with Benny Beaver....or as Daddy calls him "Scooby Doo". The new Benny is a little odd looking compared to when we were kids!


Mommy and Lauren sporting the shades! It was 62 degrees but overcast and a little breezy. So we tried to stay covered up. She liked the front pack...being able to see everyone and the action of the game kept her very entertained!