Pro Tip

For those of you technologically challenged: if you want to see a larger size of a picture I've posted, just click on the photo and a larger size will pop up. Hit your back button to get you back to the original post.

A Picture to Tide You Over

Lauren and I went to a play date on Friday for downtown moms while they were moving my office at work, and one of the other moms posted this photo on Facebook, so I thought I would share since our home computer is still down for the count. We had quite a weekend; Sean and I had the stomach flu and Lauren's ears became so infected that it caused the doctor (when Sean took her in on Saturday) to exclaim "her eardrum's going to burst!" Not sure if it did or not, we haven't seen any fluid, but poor Lauren has been in a lot of pain. Aunt Arie was called in for backup. She called it "Arie's Day of Giving" (she'd been volunteering in Ottawa, KS when I made the frantic call for help).

The problem/beautiful thing about Lauren is that she's not a complainer. Unfortunately, that means she sometimes doesn't start complaining until her eardrum is about to burst vs. when she first gets the infection. But she's on antibiotics now and we're crossing our fingers that they'll work (sometimes they don't). This is ear infection number 7 or 8 for her...I've lost track. When other parents say that their kid has a "double" ear infection like it's some kind of big deal I'm like really? Is there anything but a double ear infection? Lauren likes to go all the way. No single ear infections for her.

Also: she crawled with her butt up this weekend! Like the real crawl that you think of when someone says their baby is crawling, vs. what Lauren was doing, which Sean liked to explain this way: "Imagine you were in a car accident and broke both of your legs. But you have to get away from the car because it's on fire and might explode. That's how Lauren crawls." But no more! Now she crawls like a big girl! OK, OK, she still car accident crawls sometimes. But she's getting there.

Lauren Has a Tooth!

OK, so I haven't been posting lately because I haven't had time to sit down to upload videos or photos, and I feel like text only posts are boring. And then our computer crashed last night, so it might be awhile before I get to the photos and videos again, but I figure something (even without photos or videos) is better than nothing. So, without further ado...

LAUREN HAS A TOOTH! OK, so it's just a little piece of a tooth, poking up through her gums. On the bottom, in the middle, on the left side. She has been really fussy lately, and unfortunately her first tooth also coincided with a nasty cold, but it's here! It still has a little growing to do, and the one on the right side looks like it's on its way as well. Inexplicably, I felt so proud when I saw her tooth. I have no idea why, it's not like it's some huge accomplishment like playing peekaboo or waving bye (both of which she does now), but it felt like a big step to me.

Hopefully we'll get our computer back up soon so that I can attach a picture, although she's not really letting us look at the tooth too much, I don't know how a picture will go over with her.

Lauren Loves Bananas

Apologies, it's been a little too long since I posted. In an upcoming post I'll give you Lauren's 9 month stats. That should keep you on the edge of your seats.


This video is Lauren eating finger foods! This is a big development for us, she is now much more interested in finger foods than in baby food; I had no idea that the baby food stage would be so short. We still try to get some in there because most of the finger foods never make it to her mouth, but she's typically not happy about us coming at her with the spoon. She wants to do it herself, but she's not quite there yet. Her pediatrician says that she has an excellent pincer grasp for her age (the grasp needed before they can start on finger foods). Our little baby is an excellent pincer! We're so proud!


Lauren's runaway favorite finger foods are these organic apple puffs that are kind of like Cheerios (but puffier), and bananas. The kid loves bananas. She can often go through a whole banana at one sitting, which seems like a lot, and it is, but please remember that Miller ends up eating about half the bananas off of the floor, and the other half is stuck to Lauren's face and the rest of her body, and then often to Sean's and my work clothes. She also eats carrots, broccoli, a little egg this morning, grapes, grape tomatoes, sweet potatoes...we're introducing more and more every day. It's really fun to watch.


Lauren displays some of her other tricks in this video, like clapping her hands, making noises with her hand against her mouth, and loosely signing the word "finished" from American Sign Language. We've really only taught her "more" and "finished." She pretty much just claps for more (the signs are kind of similar), but finished she has down.


I know I say this every time, but Lauren is really a blast right now. More about her current goings on in my checkup post. Wait for it....

Finger Foods

We recently introduced Lauren to finger foods, as she has moved up at daycare to the "Crawlers" room (she's not crawling yet, but she likes to watch everyone else do it), and they have finger foods there. We started with bananas, which she's getting better at, but they're slimy and hard to pick up. The easiest for her to pick up is Cheerios, which she loves to get into her mouth, but as you'll see from the video, she isn't a huge fan once they're there. She does occasionally swallow them. She doesn't have any teeth yet, so she just kind of gums them down. She's a pro.

Lauren Claps Her Hands!

Lauren learned how to clap a week or two ago, and now she does it all the time. In fact, she claps when I leave after I drop her off at daycare in the mornings. I'm trying not to take it personally.

Lauren Tries to Swallow a Binky

I've been bad about posting lately. Forgive me. Lauren learned how to clap last night, and I've already taken video, so be on the watch. In the meantime, Sean had Lauren one day last week when daycare was closed and sent me this picture. He was giving her a bath and couldn't find her binky, and then realized that she had almost the entire thing in her mouth. She's full of new surprises every day.