...and My Heart Melted

Tonight I had the first night of this semester's round of Parent-Teacher Conferences. If you think you hate going to them - just imagine sitting through 25 of them.

Of course, because its how life works, Mike had to work tonight. Fortunately we are lucky enough to have great friends like Kristen, Jay, Kate and Wil to play with Lauren until I could pick her up. I walked in the living room and she was excited to see me - as usual. She got a big smile - as usual and started flapping her arms - as usual. But, when I picked her up, she leaned in for a kiss and then laid her head on my shoulder and snuggled in...and then my heart melted.

PS - Thanks Kristen, Jay, Kate and Wil! You guys rock!

Prayers for our friend, Brayton

Our friend Cooper and his mommy, Julie, posted this on their BLOG about our friend Brayton. Lauren and I decided to put it on our BLOG so we can have as many people praying as possible. This is what our friend Julie wrote:

There's a special baby boy, Brayton, who is 6.5 months old and has never left the hospital since he was born. He was born with a defect in his esophagus where it was not connected to his stomach (along with related complications) and he has been in the NICU/PICU since the day he was born (6/30). I know this baby's mom, Aimee, through an online support group I belong to.
Brayton had surgery on Thursday to attempt to repair and connect the necessary parts. This was a long awaited procedure that would eventually allow him to finally go home. However, there have been complications that are quite dangerous and worrisome and little Brayton needs all the prayers and positive thoughts he can get right now.
Please join me in praying for little Brayton. Thank you!

6 months BIG

Truly - where did a half a year go? Lauren celebrated her six month birthday by sharing her big day with President Obama (did anyone else get goosebumps?) and having a "poo"fest at daycare. I just can't believe how big she is getting. Before I know it, I'll be on here telling everyone what our plans are for her birthday!!!! I am scared!

No big plans for the evening. Daddy is working. Mommy is having a salad for supper and Lauren is having carrots. Then it will be bath, books, bottle, bed - the 4 B's! Kisses to all!

Sad Day

Oh what a sad day...we put Lauren's swing away. To say that she spent time in the swing would be putting it lightly. If it weren't for her swing, she probably wouldn't have taken a nap between a month and 5 months old. It was taking up a lot of room in our living/dining room. Our living room has been taken over by Punky's toys. She has two exersaucers (although one is now in our bedroom), her pink rocking chair, crawling tunnel and various little toys. Its amazing how a little thing like her can have so much stuff!

The fun part is that we finally got out her "Johnny Jumper", I don't know if that's the technical name for it, but that's what I think its called. She had a ball in it and spent about 20 minutes in it, which I think is pretty good for the first time. She is really developing her leg muscles and was showing us her "jumper" as Uncle Ryan would say.

Our little girl is really growing up!

Fully Recovered

After 5 days of mommy and daddy having the flu and Lauren fighting a cough everything seems back to normal. Daddy has been working the past two nights in the cold. Lauren and mommy have been visiting the Walls' and playing with all the toys in the living room in front of the warm fireplace. Lauren is starting to work on crawling...she gets her butt way up in the air and really wants the blocks that mommy puts in front of her! She also discovered a new love, laying on her back in the bathtub and kicking and splashing. We are also starting swimming lessons in a couple of weeks. Hopefully sleeping through the night will come back pretty soon - although mommy and daddy won't complain because they are spoiled by Lauren!!!!

Here's some of Lauren's current faves:
Veggie - squash
Book - "Bear Wants More"
Hat - pink camo
Body Part - toes
Toy - Exersaucer

Back to the Salt Mines

After 2 week plus vacation, it is time to go back to work on Monday! I am glad that Mike didn't work tonight, so he'll be home in the morning. That means Lauren will be hanging out with him, so I don't have to get her to daycare. We didn't have school the last day before vacation because of the weather, so I have some work to get done that I was going to do that day!

It is hard to believe how much Lauren has changed in the two weeks! I was just writing a note to Kathy (Daycare Goddess) so Mike didn't have to fill her in on all the details. She sits up, she rolls, she eats veggies, she takes prunes with her oatmeal and she has moved to bathtime in the bath tub instead of sink. Even her looks have changed. Her eyes are this amazing blue. Most of her dark brown baby hair is gone and is filling in with light blonde hair. The spot on her head that the dr. was worried about has really fixed itself and she is grabbing everything in sight! She especially likes computers - I wonder where she gets that from :-).

Didn't quite get the living room back together, although all of the Christmas stuff is packed and put away. I am sure I forgot something, somewhere as it seems you always do. I'll have to work tomorrow night on getting things back together. We are taking the coffee table out of the living room to allow for more playroom. I am looking forward to a little rearranging tomorrow night! It is amazing the things I can get done when Mike isn't here....although I have to give him big credit for taking Lauren on errands with him Saturday for six hours so I could unpack from our trip and start getting things organized! They spent some time with Grandpa and Grandma Holm!!!!

Hope everyone's new year is off to a great start.