Lauren's First Haircut!

Recently, we decided it was time for Lauren to get her first hair cut. She has what we affectionately refer to as a "reverse mullet," which means that the hair in back never grows, but her hair in the front keeps getting longer and longer. Because we're not "bow" people, nor "ponytail on top of the head" people, and barrettes are a choking hazard, we had no choice but to finally cut Lauren's hair, or more accurately, to trim her bangs.

Sean's stylist had been asking if she could give Lauren her first hair cut, so off we went to Skyline Salon. Lauren is fancy.

Above, Sean's and Lauren's stylist, Emily

Sean took holding duties so I could take my place behind the camera.

Lauren did GREAT. No tears. Some attempted grabbing at the scissors, and head swinging, but no tears. Small victories.

Lauren, post hair cut, again able to see. Hello unobstructed world.
Let's be honest, how cute is that baby? Are you kidding me?

Trip to St. Louis

I've been a little slow on the posting lately. Many apologies. Sean and I have both been swamped at work, and since the weather has been nicer we are now spending our weekends outdoors, when possible. And several weekends ago we headed over to St. Louis to see Grandma and Grandpa Power for Easter. It was a long drive over, as we stopped in Jefferson City to pick up Sean's new bike from his favorite mechanic, and then at H&M outside St. Louis, which ended up being a bust, but hey, when you're in the "big city" (why don't you have an H&M Kansas City? Why?) you stop to shop. Lauren wasn't too happy about the trip. And by "not too happy" I mean that she screamed, at the top of her lungs, for over two hours. Miserable. Finally, 30 minutes from Grandma and Grandpa's, she fell asleep. Of course.

When in St. Louis, there are some things we must do. The first: get a "South Loop" pizza at Pi in the Loop. It's President Obama's favorite pizza place in the US, and he's from Chicago. It's that good.

If it's good enough for the President, it's good enough for Lauren.

As usual, it's not about the food for Lauren, but her surroundings.

The weekend we were in St. Louis, it was GORGEOUS. The weather was perfect. What to do on a perfect weekend in St. Louis? The St. Louis Zoo, people. It was packed. And amazing. I don't understand how this zoo is free.

Lauren was pretty into the bird cage, pictured above (with Sean and Grandma Power). She liked to point at the birds in the trees.

The day at the zoo ended as it should: with a nap. Looking at animals is exhausting.

We had a great time at Grandma and Grandpa Power's house for Easter. They watched her for us a couple of times so we could zip out to do, what else, more shopping, and she loved the great expanse of carpet in their house. Lauren isn't quite to the Easter egg hunting age yet, but we're looking forward to it for next year.

Fake Smile

Lauren isn't an overly smiley baby. In fact, we refer to her as our serious baby. She smiles, don't get me wrong, just not all the time. I take this as a sign of intelligence. Kind of like hey people, I'm not your monkey or your clown, I'm not going to go all googoo gaga just because I'm a baby. You have to earn my smile. Note: I take everything Lauren does as a sign of intelligence, so this doesn't mean much, except to me.

Anyway, this weekend we were at Grandma and Grandpa Power's house in St. Louis, and Lauren started fake smiling. I mean full out cheese, it was clear she didn't mean it, smiling. It's pretty hilarious, or at least to me, as is clear from my cackle at the end of this video.