lauren :: four months

Our little Lojo is now 4 months old.

Four month stats:

Weight: 14 lbs. 8 oz. 75th percentile
Length: 24 1/2 " 50th percentile

Here are a few of the things she's been working on this past month:

Growing hair like nobody's business. Due to normal baby-hair loss and the many head scrubs she gets to remedy her cradle cap, things were looking thin up top for awhile. Now, it seems, the hair is back and it appears to be thicker and blonder than ever.

Thinning out. I had to laugh when the nurse told me it looked like she was really starting to thin out. She has the best cheeks. They are so kissable and fun to snuggle.


She also has amazing legs. Seriously. I cannot wait to see her in a swimsuit.


And speaking of legs, she likes to use them to scoot about on her back. When placed on her back she frequently begins to push with her feet and can move all over the place. It reminds me of a dog lying on the ground trying to scratch its own back. This is the most frustrating at night or naptime when she pushes herself into the side of her bed. Today I laid her on the ground to change her diaper and realized I needed more wipes. By the time I got back she had pushed herself into the coffee table. Maybe this is common? I just don't remember Will ever doing anything like it. We wonder if maybe she is trying to itch her back? It hasn't seemed to exacerbate her hemangioma. When placed on her stomach she tries to move, but hasn't yet figured out how. Will's toys seem to be all the motivation she needs to try though.

Her smile just keeps getting cuter. She laughs occasionally and it is one of my favorite sounds ever. She can be a grouch if her gums are bothering her or when we are changing the dressing on her back, but she gets happy again pretty quickly.


She's figured out that her brother is far more interesting than her parents, as he captivates her attention whenever he is within her line of site. It makes me laugh, every morning when she gets up the first thing he says to her is, "Lauren, Will's awake."

neighborhood watch

Last week Will made the big switch from crib to a twin bed. Despite my reservations it has been an incredibly smooth transition. It's actually been better than anticipated, because he seems to think that he can't get off his bed until either Tony and I come in to get him. I don't expect this to last forever, but I sure am enjoying it while it lasts.


His new bed is on the opposite side of the room from where his crib resides and happens to be under a window. I wasn't sure what Will would think of the window, but turns out he loves it. When I walked into his room this morning he had his head behind the blinds and told me it is "awesome" and "fun" (his words) to look out the window. He then informed me that he had seen a bus and a cat. We're starting to think the ne'er do wells of the neighborhood better start watching their backs because Will spends a fair amount of time after we put him to bed and after he wakes up in the morning staring out the window. Observing.

our little music man

When picking up Will from the nursery today, I asked his teachers how things had gone. They replied that he was pretty good (which means he probably cried and got upset a few times), but that he seemed to enjoy drumming and is the best drummer in the class. Apparently they had an activity where the kids got to drum on the table and most of the kids pounded haphazardly but Will tapped a quiet, steady beat. This made me literally LOL because Will spends HOURS each day drumming.


And it's not just drums he loves. He loves marching bands, singing and instruments as well. It's safe to say music is a big part of his life at this point. He is constantly telling me he wants to watch marching bands on the " 'puter." I think our family has contributed to at least 100 of the hits this video has received in the past week. Anthony has found a Japanese marching band with several videos on youtube that Will also enjoys. Yes, he has gotten quite selective in his tastes.

He loves to read the book Animal Orchestra. If you haven't read the book before you should check it out. Or just ask me to recite if for you. I'd say I have it 2/3 memorized at this point. Basically the animals of Animaltown are gathering to put on a show. The handsomest hippo in the land is the conductor. Their performance is well received. My favorite line is the very last, "Hip - hippo - ray!" He also enjoys naming all the instruments in his Baby Einstein First Word's Book.

Will the conductor.

On Papa John's suggestion we checked out the Music Man from the library. Will's not really into dialog at this point, so we typically skip to the musical numbers, and if he is feeling especially impatient, the grand finale. He loves those trombones.

TJ got out his trumpet a few weeks ago and has been playing for Will on occasion. Will LOVES it. Now he tells me that Will and Daddy and Papa play the trumpet and that Lauren and Nana play the flute. When I asked him what mommy plays he replied, "Mommy watch." He has since relented and now I can play the trumpet too.

One of Will's favorite games to play is marching band. How do you play? Everyone has a pretend instrument and follows Will around the house as he beats his drum. So far none of his friends have been very enthused about the game. Probably because the pretend instruments (pen = flute) don't make any noise. So far only Lauren seems to enjoy the game and that is because Anthony or I carry her around behind Will and she seems to genuinely like his drumming and moving about.

It will be interesting to see if Will joins the marching band when he's in high school, or even if he wants to play an instrument. But one thing is for certain, he clearly enjoys music at this point in his life.

x o x o

I tried to take a few Valentine's Day themed photos of the kids. As you can see, Will wasn't really into it. I had to bribe him with a piece of bread and nutella to cooperate. Will calls it chocolate, but it has to be relatively healthy if they advertise themselves as a breakfast food, right?

Anyways, even if the pictures don't quite convey the love we feel, we wanted to send our love to our friends and family on this day of love and friendship.

once there was a snowman

We finally got some snow. So after work Anthony took his snowman-obsessed child outside to build one. It wasn't too cold, so they stayed out for awhile. I came out for a bit to document the experience.




Will enjoyed singing "Once There Was a Snowman," while they worked. His favorite part is "tall, tall, tall!"

We decided this is more of a snowdog, because it sort of resembles Snoopy.

As with all fun things, Will was extremely disappointed and cried for a bit when it was time to come in. I'll admit, I frequently find myself hesitating to start fun activities because I don't want to deal with the aftermath. Maybe once Lauren starts sleeping better I'll have the energy to better deal with the tantrums, but probably not.

Okay, we got some snow. Now I'm ready for spring. :)

Happy Birthday!

I mentioned in a previous post that Will really likes to sing the Birthday song. Here we are attempting to sing it to Uncle Matt. The best part is at the end.

Sing a long

Will has really enjoyed singing lately. Here are the two of us singing "Daddy's Homecoming."

100 days of Lauren

As of Jan 29 our little Lauren is 100 days old. To celebrate we drove from Orem to St. George to visit her great-grandparents.

She was a doll on the trip down and enjoyed rocking out with her aunts Jill and Laura.

I neglected to post about her at 2 months, but at her 2 month appointment she weighed 12 lbs. 4 oz. (90th percentile). At her dermatologist appointment Wednesday (103 days old) she weighed 14 lbs. 1 oz., so she's gaining about a pound a month. She is a good eater and I am loving that she eats once every 3 1/2 to 4 hours during the day and has only been waking up once or twice most nights.

Lauren loves her brother. She watches him play and gets a pleased look on her face when he pays her any attention.


The other night she almost gave herself whiplash trying to keep her eye on him as he marched around her singing "Ring Around the Rosie."

He is really warming up to her too, and I often overhear him telling her to "Look!" at whatever it is he is doing at the moment.


Because of the placement of her hemangioma (right lower back) the doctor has ordered as much tummy time as she can handle. She handles it pretty well.


At her doctor's appointment this week I realized I hadn't been using one of her ointments correctly and that I could give her painkillers before I changed the dressing each day. Since we've made the switch she is tolerating the process much better.

She has really started to communicate with us recently. Smiles, coos and squawks are now a regular occurrence. It's fun to watch her change, yet remain herself, as she gets older. Time is weird, especially as you get older and have a broader perspective. Some things take so long and others pass by much too quickly. That is exactly how I feel about the first 100 days with Lauren.

papa (and nana and matt)'s in the house

The week after Christmas Doug, Tina and Matt came to visit. We enjoyed showing off our house and introducing them to Lauren. It was great visiting with them and especially fun watching Will interact with his grandparents. He warmed up to them very quickly and was so sad when left. He still calls the room they stayed in Papa and Nana's room.

Some high-lights of the visit:

• Celebrating Anthony's birthday with some Oklahoma Joe's and Jell-o No-Bake Cheesecake.

(With 4 Crane family birthday's in December, Will got pretty good at the birthday song. In fact, he often requests we sing the "Memaw Song," which is what he calls "Happy Birthday," because her birthday is last chronologically.)

• Anthony, Doug and Matt spent a morning at the College Basketball Experience where they had a free throw competition, 3 pt shoot out, and dunk contest. Anthony also lost his wedding ring, but don't worry, it was found by an employee a few hours later.

• Doug, Tina, Anthony and I painted our family room. We couldn't have done it without them. It took longer than we thought, due in part to the inordinate amount of dark trim. I love how it looks!

• We did most of the painting while the kids were asleep. If they woke up before we were done, Matt held or distracted them. Lauren enjoyed the attention she received from her Uncle Matt.
  

• Doug helped Anthony clean out the gutters with the new ladder he got for his birthday. Doug also raked 95% of the leaves in these bags.

• Will LOVED all the attention he got from Nana and Papa. They sang songs, read books, built towers, played music, and gave him the attention he has been craving since Lauren was born.

• Matt introduced us to the show Firefly. My first foray into the space western genre. Definitely intriguing.
  

• Lauren was blessed on New Years Day.

The family in attendance.

It was neat having both grandfather's and Uncle Matt in the circle.

It's really unfortunate that most of the pictures we took were on New Years morning. I guess you could say my photogenicity improves as the day goes on.

We had such a fun visit. Thanks for making the trip!

a walk to remember

In honor of the unseasonably warm weather we've been experiencing this week, we decided to take a few walks today.

Will was content to ride on the stroller for about 5 minutes. Then he insisted on walking. At first I was fine with it because it was a lot easier to push the stroller sans his 30 lbs. But then we moved along at a pace of about one sidewalk square per minute. Seriously, I think we averaged about a 45 minute mile. It really tested my patience, but it was nice to be outside and breathe in the crisp, fresh air.


At one point Will yelled, "Mommy, look! A deer!" When I turned and looked at him he had two sticks against his head like antlers. He later told me to look at the moose as he was holding larger sticks up to head. He's been pretty imaginative lately and it cracks us up.



Our slow leisurely pace put Lauren to sleep. I couldn't blame her. Feeling the warm sun on my face made me look forward to the warmer days of spring and summer that are just around the corner.

Will placed the stick and "ball" (sweetgum tree seed?) on her chest. I think he has figured out that it if he picks up items for Lauren he can take twice as long and pick up twice as many objects.



The forecast looks pretty bleak for the foreseeable future, so I'm glad we were able to get out and enjoy.