lauren scoots

Lauren likes to scoot. Unfortunately I started to record after she had moved about 5 feet and turned 90 degrees, so it isn't too exciting, but it does show how she likes to get around.

lauren :: five months

Lots of exciting things happened to Lauren this past month.

She had her first outdoor swing experiences and enjoyed them.

Unfortunately the little park near our house only has one "baby" swing, so the kids have to take turns, but Lauren firmly believes that a little sharing never hurt anyone.

She also got to soak in a little bit of March Madness and the excitement that is preparing for and participating in 4 fantasy baseball drafts with her dad.

She especially loved the practice drafts that didn't mean anything, but that dad did to hone his game. Fantasy drafts can be stressful and preparation is key.

She really became fascinated with Will this month. She loves to watch him. And be near him. And especially interact with him. He's more ambivalent, but I've been encouraging him. He now likes to walk to her room in the morning and proudly announce that he's awake. This makes her very excited and she usually kicks and pushes herself into the corner of her bed and that makes her very frustrated.


He also points out everything he see to me and also to her, in case she missed it.

"Look Mommy, a jumbo jet! Look Lauren, a jumbo jet!"
"Mommy, there's a cardinal! Lauren, there's a cardinal!"
"Mommy, Will likes dirt. Lauren, Will likes dirt."
"We don't throw rocks, Mommy. Lauren, we don't throw rocks." (He doesn't practice what he preaches, unfortunately.)



Here he is teaching her about nature, because you are never to young to benefit from a good flashcard.

The crowing achievement of this month has to be the cutting of her first tooth! Hallelujah! It's really changed the entire look of our family. She now proudly sports a one-tooth smile, and the circles under my eyes aren't quite as deep (due to the fact that she is sleeping again).



The ulceration on her hemangioma is almost healed! We are getting close to maintenance mode, which means that all we have to do right now is wash and dress it daily, and that's it! The doctor's say we are close to not even having to do that within a month or so. This is very exciting and will cut her bedtime routine in half! Things to look forward to in the coming months...her seborrheic dermatitis has regressed a bit, mainly in her elbow and knee pits (medical friends, I'm sure there is a better word for those areas) but we're hoping that as she gets more mobile things will improve.

entertainment center redo

When we upgraded to our house our square footage tripled. However, we still are spending most of the day in the same amount of space, the approximately 500 square feet that occupy our family room and kitchen. As such, it has been important to me to make these areas as comfortable, functional and aesthetically pleasing as possible. This is a bit of a challenge because this sort of thing does not come naturally to me.

First order of business was painting the family room, which we accomplished at the first of the year when Doug & Tina were visiting from Boston. I love the color and the room is so much brighter and feels much more relaxing. Thanks again for your help, Doug and Tina!

Second order of business was making use of this space:

According to our Realtor, this used to be a bar, but the previous owners refinished it and used it to house their huge box television.

Because of the logistics of the room (fire place, windows, doors to basement, entryway and kitchen, window to kitchen) this area is really the only place to put a tv. Though our old entertainment center fit, it wasn't the most functional. We were wasting a ton of space! It was driving me crazy that we were using the fireplace to "store" things, when there was all this available space. Not to mention the fact that it was a bit of a eyesore.

Ghetto fabulous

So we enlisted the help of our talented friend Ross, and put together some plans to make a simple built in entertainment center with storage.

Building

Ready to paint.

Making progress

I did most of the painting because when we got to this part Anthony was entering a busy period at work. This is where I found out that TJ is particular about painting methods and that true love means accepting criticism when you are wrong and letting things go when someone points out your flaws (still working on that, obviously).

The finished product.

It's amazing how much more pulled together the whole room seems now that this project is complete. Of course, it helps to have a place to put things instead of in piles of miscellaneous junk on the fireplace.

Thanks again to Ross for all your help and to Lauren for sharing your husband!

this and that

I have a lot of things I want to blog about, but besides lacking motivation, I am suffering from a bit of writers block. So tonight I am just going to write about a few of the things I've been thinking about lately.

..This year daylight savings time has seemed like a cruel joke. This past week TJ and I have each taken a turn spending the night in the living room taking care of a very mad Lauren. The she wasn't demanding to be held she was waking up every other hour. Sleep around here was coming in 2-3 hour increments if we were lucky. Our lady seems to be feeling uncomfortable, probably due to teething, a setback with her skin, and gas. So really, what's one less hour when you are already only getting about 5 on any given night? Sigh. When you look at it that way, Daylight savings couldn't have come at a better time. And bonus, Will DID sleep in!



..How can someone be so grumpy at night, but delightful during the day?



..It's baseball season again. I actually felt a little bit excited when Anthony turned on some spring training the other day. I think I'm probably more excited about things I associate with baseball: warmer weather, carefree summer nights, and fun with family and friends.

You have to be careful when Will has the bat. He may try to hit the ball out of your hand.

..I'm kind of excited to take care of our yard. The previous owners of our house kept an immaculate garden (if our neighbors haven't already noticed our lack of gardening skills they are in for a rude awakening). It's been fun to see daffodils begin to bloom around the yard. I've also spotted some forget-me-nots and tulips. Who knows what else is out there and what will bloom with the 70 degree weather we're supposed to be getting this week?

Um, yeah. Probably need to get the leaves out of the flower bed.

..The way Will eats his "bread and choc-at" (bread and nutella) makes him look like The Joker.


..I participated in the Kansas Republican Caucus yesterday. I've never voted in a caucus before. Ron Paul actually came to the site I was at and spoke for a few minutes. I was kind of surprised by how few people voted and saw first hand that it really does make a difference when a candidate gets people excited to vote. I was one of the younger voters. Are people my age apathetic? Lazy? Not republicans? I feel frustrated by and am often annoyed with the current political climate. I don't like a lot of what I see, but I don't necessarily know what the answers are. I am committing myself to try harder to stay current on the issues so I can have informed opinions and then exercise my right to vote when the time comes.

..Will is crazy. He routinely tells me that Lauren is tired or that she wants to go to bed in order to get me to pay more attention to him. The other day while I was taking a shower he got into the cupboard under our kitchen sink (it was accidentally left unlocked). When I came out to check on him he was very jumpy he told me "Will made mess" and ran into the kitchen. I walked into the kitchen and saw a couple of our couch pillows on the floor. I thought that was a bit strange, but not really a big deal. I reached down to pick them up and return them to the family room. Will immediately tried to put the pillows back, but it was too late, I'd see the damage. Carefully covered by the pillows was a broken light bulb. For the rest of the day he kept telling me that "only Mommy touches light bulbs." At least I know he listens sometimes.

My kids make me laugh.