Saturday, May 28, 2011

Lauren is a Big Sister!



Not to detract from Lauren's blog, but of course it wouldn't be fair if we didn't do the same for baby brother Jack (affectionately referred to as "Baby Jack" around our house). You can check out photos and info about Jack at http://www.jackclaytonpower.blogspot.com/.


We'll keep a separate blog for Jack for the next two years (or at least that's the plan), and we'll probably transition to a Power Family blog soon and eventually after Jack turns 2 all of our posts will be there.


Lauren is an AMAZING big sister. She's very gentle with Jack, doesn't touch his face or hands (sorry, we're practical. Lauren is at daycare, otherwise known as Germ City), and gives him sweet kisses on the back of the head. When he cries she demands "Mama, pick him up!" Things are going really well considering the fact that I still can't pick Lauren up. In fact, they're currently napping together (OK, in the same room, Jack's in a bassinet). Bliss.



Enjoy Jack's blog!

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Lauren is 2!!!

Lauren turned two years old on May 4th! It was a weekday, so she went to school like any other day, and wore her birthday crown of course. There was some extra excitement since I was due just two days later, and the possibility that she would share her birthday with who we now know as Baby Jack. So we weren't sure if we'd actually celebrate her birthday on her actual birthday, because I didn't want her birthday celebration to be cut short because I was in the hospital.

But the morning of May 4th came, and I just knew that there was no chance that the baby was coming, so on we went with the celebration. Lauren's BFF Ada had recently celebrated her 2nd birthday, so Lauren was very confused when we kept telling her that it was her birthday and asking "Happy Day Ada?" I'm still not sure if she understood that it was her own "happy day."

Below, Lauren on her way to school dressed in her birthday crown, wearing her yellow rain boots (no, it wasn't raining, and no, she hasn't worn any other shoes in over a month) and carrying "turtle" (for those of you who are wondering, turtle is a sprinkler head that we bought because we thought Lauren would enjoy it this summer. Instead, Lauren refuses to put it down and even sleeps with the hard piece of plastic).



Around 3 o'clock, their snack time at school, Sean and I headed to school with a couple dozen cupcakes (Lauren calls them "happy day cakes"). Lauren seemed a little confused as to why everyone was singing to her and looking at her, and was actually pretty shy about it, which surprised us.



She was pretty happy to shove that cupcake down her throat, though.




We had planned to celebrate Lauren's birthday with our families the weekend before my due date, the last weekend in April, but we were kind of behind in getting everything together at our house, so we postponed and planned on having the party three weeks later, when, we assumed, the baby would be a couple of weeks old. However, Baby Jack's late arrival meant that the day we planned for the party was the day that we came home from the hospital. But all of our family was here anyway, and so Sean went out and picked up another round of cupcakes, and we held a somewhat impromptu ("somewhat" impromptu because we had planned to have it that day, but I hadn't considered that I might have arrived home from the hospital just hours before the party) birthday party for Lauren. She loved it.


Above, opening presents.


More Happy Day cake!


We had a great birthday celebration, and Sean and I were just as shocked at her second birthday that we'd kept her alive this long as we were at her first. I have to say, two is the absolute best age so far. We're huge fans. Lauren is talking up a storm and is so much fun to be around. We love our Laur Laur.