Tah Dah!

Sunday afternoon Lauren realized that the pool is just the right height to pull herself up! She gets very excited when this happens! However, Sunday mommy was without her camera for once so this is a reenactment yesterday. Our big girl is learning and growing every day.

Daddy was working on having Lauren say "Mom" Sunday and "Ma Ma Ma" came out. I'll take it!

High Fives

Lauren thinks high fives are fun! You can hear daddy's video game cheering her on.

Green Peter Reservoir

On Saturday, we took the boat to the Green Peter Reservoir for Lauren's second boat ride. It was such a nice day. We left earlier so we could get there when the fish where biting. Either someone beat up to the punch or the fish saw us coming. We only caught a few. The water was warmer than the air first thing in the morning.

Lauren drove the boat at one point....or at least she thought she did.

There was so much going on that napping was out of the question until she was to tired to keep her eyes open. Poor thing took an hour nap just sitting in the middle of the lake.

Since the water was 70 degrees on top, we decided maybe Lauren could get in. She didn't like sitting in the tube since she couldn't see out very well. We thought she would since she loves it at home.

We got a little bit of swimming in, until Miss Lauren started shivering a bit. But since it was 80 in the sun, it didn't take her long to warm up!

Even Biscuit joined in on the action. And mommy has some scratches to show!

Grandma and Grandpa had to have a picture with Baby Lauren too!

Working with Daddy

Yesterday Mommy, Biscuit and Lauren joined Daddy for work. It was "Bring your dog to work" Day, but Daddy decided to include the whole family! Lauren got to ride in the front every 100 yards in the truck as we traveled around in the forest near Alsea looking at timber sales. She thought she was pretty special.

Once we got home she needed to motate after being couped up in her car seat all day! I'm not sure if it was her Johnny Cash prison shirt that made her sit in her basket or if she was just being silly. I'm guessing the later....even though she still loves her Johnny Cash CD.

"Lauren....no!"

Everything seems to be "Lauren.....no!" lately. She has found the electrical plug ins which I have fixed with the safety plugs. However, it doesn't seem to stop her from testing my patience. I couldn't help but photograph it today. First it was "Oh darn, mommy caught me...maybe if I look cute she won't say it." Then it was "Lauren...no!" and it quickly progressed into a full fledged meltdown that ended in a nap. She needed one any way! I can't help but laugh. The progression is priceless. Poor Lauren!

Pioneer Picnic

Yesterday our play date group came over and went to the Kiddie Parade for Pioneer Picnic. We were afraid it was going to rain but only sprinkled. The parade was about 10 minutes this year and full of candy! Everyone had fun.

Afterwards we went to the park and ate some good fair food! The kids played on the bounce-4-fun toys while Lauren took a nap!

Today mommy and her took in the Grand Parade. Every time a fire truck or horse came by there was a loud drawn out excited "Ohhhh!"

Proof of the tooth

Just wanted to share with everyone the proof of the tooth. Click on the photo to enlarge it and see the little thing poking through!

Deer!

Lauren had her first up close encounter with deer last night. We were invited to a wonderful dinner at Ross and Melodee's house in Eugene. They live near an area that is inhabited by a family of deer and ocassionally an elk or few. Shortly after eating on their patio, which was so serene, we were joined by a doe who had recently given birth but the baby was no where in sight. They feed the deer bread and grain so she was obviously looking for her evening handout. And before we left, daddy deer showed up to show off his antlers. Lauren was easily amused!

I love this picture.

Cousins

We were able to see the cousins for a brief second Sunday evening as we made a quick trip to Myrtle Point. Uncle Kyle's baby was born EARLY Monday morning at 2:39 a.m. It was a healthy baby girl, Noni Jo, weighing 8lbs 3.5 oz and 20.5 inches long. She is a cutie!!! So yet again, we were informed that the guys need MORE guns.

Gram Gram's 83rd birthday!

Today we went and visited Gram Gram. She turned 83 yesterday, but we postponed our trip since she had so much company yesterday. We figured we'd rather go when we could have our own special time.

Milestones!

Well, it seems our little baby isn't so little any more. She's receiving her first tooth and I'm certain more are on the way. She is rolling over with ease and I found her making her way into the kitchen by scooting backwards and rolling while I was making dinner last night. She tries to walk and actually pulled herself up by using the laundry basket last night.

And yes it's true, there have been some vague words coming out of her mouth as she mimics what she hears. She says "Hi Dad" with ease and greeted daddy with a wave and that phrase on his birthday which made him pleased as punch. However, I proved that she doesn't know what it means by saying "Oh hi Biscuit" while she was having a bath, which Lauren said "Hi Dadda". She tries to say mama but laughs when I try to prompt her. And last night she was attempting Biscuit.....which wasn't even close. She'd get "B" or "cut" out, but not together.

Here's a funny pic of her checking herself out. There isn't a mirror that is passed without her getting a glimpse of that beautiful baby staring back!

Houston.....we have a tooth!!!

Yes, that's right, a tooth has finally broken through the gums! She is still drooling like crazy, but she's not quite as fussy now that it has arrived. Daddy's birthday was yesterday, so nana and papa were up. Mommy thought she felt a little something rough Thursday night, but Nana confirmed the arrival as Lauren chomped on her knuckle! Today it's pretty visible if she'll let you look!

The other latest attempt at a milestone is pulling herself to a standing position. She is rolling over and around more, so she can get herself from laying position to a half sitting position at the edge of the crib. Then she grabs hold and rocks and grunts and goes on. She also attempts this in the bathtub but it doesn't work out quite as well. So with mommy's help, she made it to standing position. Only for mommy to realize that since we are at this point, the crib railing needs to be raised each time she's put to bed!

Lauren smiling behind her binky at mommy while she tries to hoist herself up. She sometimes goes to bed with the bink but spits it out shortly after going down. However now she finds her binky when she wakes up and stuffs it back in her mouth.


Lauren standing after being helped up. She's concentrating, so there were no smiles for this shot!

Here's our big girl riding her car. She hasn't managed to scoot around yet, but has scooted backwards.

8 months old

On Saturday Miss Lauren turned 8 months old. She's a very big girl. She likes to be the center of attention...imagine that! She still likes vegetables over everything else. We've started giving her puffs, which she loves....and so does Biscuit! We tried the Stage 1 meats as well, which she did not like. Mommy can't blame her because they smell horrible...but mixed with carrots she seems to eat and like them. But then again carrots are her favorite! She is sitting up on her own very well, minus the little tumble we took this morning at the Chamber meeting. I thought for sure she'd have a bruise or egg on her head, but she's fine this afternoon. She tries to crawl, but occassionally pushes backwards and goes in reverse. She is rolling/flipping over more regularly. She likes to play with her toys and will work hard to get one out of reach. We're having some problems sleeping. We seem to be going through some teething pain, even though none of them have broke through the gums. So I'm attributing the sleeping problems to this. I hope it ends soon, because mommy could use some sleep as well!

Lauren napping in her crib....she looked so peaceful! She was taking about a 2 hour nap today during this photo. The naps have seemed to be longer now, which is nice but not normal!


Today, Miss Lauren took a big girl bath in the bathtub without her baby tub. It is probably long overdue! She loved it. And mommy liked it too since it was easier to wash her. I have some cute pics, but daddy says no naked pics on the blog...so this is the closest we'll get!

Lauren's First Parade

On Saturday, Mommy and Lauren met up with their play date group and watched the Strawberry Festival parade in Lebanon. Mommy felt like she should go to support it since it was the 100th year and she was a princess back in the day.

Lauren upon arrival at the parade. It was a little stormy at first and she was a little sleepy as well.


Ohhhhh, the parade started! Wow!


This is fun.....and these people are funny! (There were a few "characters" in the parade that may have been a little questionable.) Someone actually gave her a hard butterscotch candy which mommy snapped away!


Sleeping during the parade....boy was it a long one. It seemed to be about 2 hours...which was long for Miss Lauren. She tried napping as you can see. But the ROTC truck came by and honked, then a big rig, then the firetruck. It was hard on a little girl to get any zzzzzz's.


Here's a few pics of the other kids enjoying the parade.

Lauren......underwater!

Today was our last class of our 10-week Water Babies class at the Osbourn Aquatic Center in Corvallis. It has been so much fun watching Lauren accelerate in swimming. And no, she doesn't have the breaststroke down or even the doggie paddle for that matter. But to think that during her first class she was clingy to mommy doe-eyed....to today splashing, laughing, going under water with ease, wanting to stick her face in the water, back floating with and without a life jacket, starting to frogger swim, etc....its pretty amazing what 10 half-hour sessions can do! It was well worth it. We didn't sign up for summer classes, mainly because we didn't know where we'd be. But once we sell our home and things settle down, we will definitely enroll again!

It's official...we are selling our house

Last night we posted a FSBO sign in our yard. Jake and I spent most of last weekend prepping the house and taking pictures. I thought this one was cute of Lauren in our empty living room minus all of the baby toys. It's probably the cleanest this house has been since we moved in!



So the house is officially listed on Craigslist, the local paper, Samaritan Ebay, BigBrick (http://bigbrick.com/29560) and our signs. Hopefully we won't have to locate a realtor, but you never know. We had someone knock on the door this morning at 9 a.m. wanting to look at it! Wish us luck!