Daycare Photo

Another photo from daycare. Talk about making your day, every time we get one of these Sean and I can't help but stare at it all day. Love her smirk.

Lauren is a Hedgehog!

We had our annual Halloween Parade at Lathrop yesterday, and Lauren joined in the fun. She is just supposed to be a hedgehog, not a "dejected" hedgehog, but I get it L, you're humiliated. But I say it was worth it. Eventually she became so overheated we had to take the costume off; great for outdoor trick-or-treating, not so great for trick-or-treating in a heated environment.

Pumpkin Patch

Lauren made her first trip to the pumpkin patch, to Weston Red Barn Farm, last weekend. The temperature was perfect and the sun was out in full force, although it was a little windy. They have tractor rides to the pumpkin patch, hot apple cider, a little area with farm animals, and of course, pumpkins. I imagine she'll find this more entertaining when she's a little older, but we still had fun. We realized only a few days later that the reason Lauren looks so dejected in these photos is because, if you'll notice, Mom and Dad are wearing sunglasses, but Lauren is not. So she was keeping her eyes down to avoid the sun. Just another reason we won't be winning any Parents of the Year awards.

Daycare Update

The new daycare may not have video cameras over the cribs, but they do occasionally email us a photo of Lauren. Here she is napping in the swing, which she loves to do at daycare but won't do at home. Go figure. Big news from last night: Lauren crawled! She was so proud of herself, but not as proud as we were. You would have thought she'd ended world hunger. We use the term crawling loosely, it was not exactly textbook, but she got herself from one end of the couch to the other, and was very happy about it. We'll take video soon.

By the way, we continue to love the new daycare. Lauren is taking nice, long naps both in the morning and afternoon and is a happy girl when we pick her up in the evening. That makes nighttime a lot more fun for us, although it means we're sad to put her to bed because she's so much fun.

Lauren's Nursery

Here are some photos of Lauren's nursery, for those of you not on Facebook. I picked out the fabric before we knew if we were having a boy or a girl, because I wanted a gender neutral nursery. I know this will make some gasp, but we figure she should get used to a world where not all is glittery, pink and frilly from the get-go. Just our approach. I made the bed skirt and top sheet because I couldn't find anything I liked in the stores. We're pretty pleased with it, which, let's be honest, is all that matters. Lauren's not going to remember it.

Sean found the orange chair above a couple of weeks before Lauren was born at an antique mall in the River Market in KC and brought it home for the nursery.

The tree turned out even better than we thought it would. It's a giant (9 feet tall) decal that we had custom-made to fill that huge wall. We put it up in several pieces. Lauren LOVES it. She doesn't get as excited about it now that she's older, but for a period of time it was one of the only things that could calm her down if she was really upset.

We wanted a really cool light fixture that was interesting for Lauren to stare at, and this one was perfect. It came in a flat-pack box and took an evening to put together.

Grabby McGrabberton

Lauren is getting really good at grabbing things. She seems to have inherited my Go Go Gadget Arms; we sometimes sit her down in the Bumbo and move things far enough out that we swear even we couldn't reach, yet somehow she still manages to either retrieve them and put them in her mouth, or knock them over. Below, Sean indulges her tree fascination, and in two seconds flat she had those branches in her mouth.

The Many Faces of Lauren

Lauren continues to keep us on our toes and wasn't consistently sleeping through the night, but I think we've rounded the corner. I just knocked on wood. She has quite the little personality. Below, the many moods of Lauren.

Annoyed

Social

Angelic? Thoughtful? Eddie Haskell-esque?

Too cool

Sleepy

Bored out of her mind

Lauren Models Winter Fashion

Lauren made an impromptu trip to the American Royal BBQ Competition on Friday night because our babysitter wasn't able to make it, and thankfully friends who have been generously funneling us clothes as they no longer need them happened to drop off this snowsuit on Friday as I was leaving work to pick Lauren up. Good thing, because until this weekend we didn't have any winter clothes for Baby L. She tolerated the Royal for about an hour, and that was it, but she looked cute even while melting down in front of co-workers. And Sean's ribs were delicious.

Lauren turned 5 months old on Sunday. Very very hard to believe. She is still trying to crawl, but isn't quite there yet. She can also sit by herself for short periods of time, although that hasn't quite taken off yet. She has taken to getting her arms out of the swaddle in the middle of the night, rolling over on her stomach, and then screaming for help. To all of those parents out there jealous because she started sleeping through the night at 6 weeks, take heart. We are paying now. Lauren (and Sean and I) love her new daycare. They take such good care of her, and she's even taking two long naps during the day, which make for a much happier baby at night. They've been instrumental in getting her used to eating rice cereal, so we are eternally grateful.

I forgot to post Lauren's 4 month stats, so here they are:
Weight: 14 lbs, 3 oz (70th percentile)
Height: 25 inches (80th percentile)

Besides night wakings, the Power House is doing very well. Lauren's current fascinations are Miller, John Coltrane and rolling over, then screaming.