Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July everyone! I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday weekend. The Power family will be heading to Kirksville, MO tomorrow morning to see Great Grandma Auxter, Grandpa Auxter and Terry, and Aunts Arie and JoAnna and Uncle Matt, among other Auxters.

The pictures below are from a 4th of July parade held at Lauren's school. You'll see that they made the little ones very festive. Lauren was in a wagon with her little girlfriends; somehow they managed to give her a ponytail, bow and headband. And she won't even let me pull back her bangs with a barrette.

Even the babies participated!

Hopefully we'll never have need for a stroller like this.

Lauren wishes you all a Happy 4th!

14 Months

Just thought I'd post some random 14 months or thereabouts photos and let you know how our little Lolo is doing. As you can see from the photos below, she's not getting any less cute, for sure.
All is well at the Power House. Life is back to normal after the party, and we now look forward to weekends not filled with yard work from sun up to sun down. Lauren has started to recognize us again, which is nice. She was partially orphaned for awhile. Lauren is still the greatest sleeper to ever toddle the face of this earth. As she is wont to do, she is getting several more teeth at once on the top, so she's been a little fussy (current teeth count: 6. Four on top, two on bottom). She is doing a lot of finger walking, but isn't doing as much on her own walking since we posted the video. She signs more, thank you, please, help, milk and water. She's also saying "more" verbally. She loves the song "The Wheels on the Bus" and either does the movements to get us to sing it, or starts us off by singing "the...," which might be the most adorable thing I've ever heard. She picks out her own book at night for us to read to her before she goes to sleep. She still loves her dog lovey and cat binky. We also started giving her a blanket at night, and now she can't sleep without it, so she has to have all three things to sleep. During the day I serve as all three (read: she's going through a Mom phase) (also read: Dr. Matile might have forgotten to cut the umbilical cord).

At school she crawls or "walks" over to the little table to eat, pulls out her chair, gets in, and scoots the chair in to the table. This is apparently a very big deal. She steals other kids' food and eats that in addition to her own. When her teacher holds up her sippy cup and says "whose cup is this?" Lauren raises her hand (and doesn't raise her hand when it's not her cup). If you ask her how old she is she will allegedly hold up one finger, although I have yet to see this. At nap time they tell the kiddos to go to their cots, and she crawls right over to hers, climbs up, and goes down for a nap (for 2+ hours). School is teaching her some very beautiful things.

Current nicknames: Laur, LaurLaur, Lolo, Chunky, Monkey, Chunka Monka, Chunky Monkey, Laurmas (started by Sean around Christmas, when it was really all about Lauren).

That's Lauren in a nutshell right now. 14 months old this past Monday!
Here, she practices her "what, you're taking a picture of me while the A/C is blowing through my hair? I had no idea" pose. She's really good at it.

Below, a progression of dinner time photos. Here's the deal: that baby may look like me, but she inherited both her father's appetite and, apparently (and we're hoping), his metabolism. She eats well over twice as much as I do at any given meal, and typically keeps up with Sean.

This is Round 1. And yes, there was an equally large Round 2. That's a dinner plate, folks. Not a salad plate. Do not be confused.

This is a couple of minutes later. Yeah, just a couple of minutes. She shovels it in by the handful.

Why is our little precious crying in this photo. That would be because Dada is not cutting up her spaghetti fast enough. Chop chop, Sean.

And here she is, happy again, and already part way through Round 2. Which she also finished completely, but by that time I was hungry and had put down the camera.

This was the popsicle cart that came to our house for dessert during the Associates Party.

Above and below just some random photos of Lauren from the past month or so.

Lauren Walks!

So we've been really busy. Sean and I have both been busier than ever at work, and to top it off we hosted the summer party for the Lathrop associates at our house on Saturday, which involved a lot more work than we anticipated. So poor Lauren has not had the full attention of both parents to which she has become accustomed. Perhaps in an effort to get us back on board the attention train, she walked for the first time on Friday, in the midst of the craziness.

I got to school to pick her up and her teacher came to the door whispering for me to go into her old crawlers room and watch her in secret from the Dutch door there. So I did, and sure enough she stood right up and walked to Ms. Carolyn. I started crying, it was so moving. And her old teacher Ms. Chrystal was crying, too. It was such a great moment. I can't believe she's not my little baby anymore. She's a big girl now.

She did a lot of "finger" walking this weekend (holding on to Sean's and my fingers), but not a ton by herself. But I have a feeling we're really in for it now.

Theatrical Thursdays

So Lauren is in a new room at school now, the "Walkers" room. She's not walking yet, but she's getting close, and she LOVES the new room. Lots of new toys, much more structured activity, and they get to go out to the playground and have water play in the summer. She sits in a little tiny chair at a little tiny table and eats her meals with her classmates (vs. sitting in the little highchair with a tray). She sleeps on a cot (!) for a 2-2.5 hour nap each day. It's crazy! Also, they have themes every day: Musical Monday, Talk to Me Tuesday, Wiggle Wednesday, Theatrical Thursday and Flashcard Friday. I walked in last Thursday and about died when I saw her dressed up (see photos below). Of course she started crying because I ran in but then had to run back out to the car to get my camera. Such is life, kid, Mama's got to get the shot.

Sean and I also love the new room, it's more like Lauren is in "school" now instead of hanging out in a different location. We have loved the other two rooms as well, this is just very different, in a very fun way.

My sweet little Babushka!

Here Lauren attempts to apply pretend lipstick to me; she could tell I was washed out. Grandma Becky would be very proud.

Ada was not as interested in the lipstick application. Fair enough, kid.

The Month of May

The month of May is a pretty big deal at the Power House. I met Sean for the first time in May, and knew instantly that he would change my life. I didn't quite know how, but I knew he would do it. And he did. In the most beautiful way possible. We moved in together in May. The next May we got married. And that same May we bought our first house (my first house ever). The next May we took off. Everyone needs a break on occasion. And then, last May, we had Lauren Rebecca Power. And our lives changed forever, in the best way possible. Last May we learned what it was like to love someone so much that you wake up in the middle of the night panicked that she might not be breathing, and then feel such an overwhelming sense of joy and relief when you figure out that she is. We learned what it was like to not care that we weren't sleeping, because all that mattered was that that little tiny creature in the next room was alive and well, even if she was wide awake and crying. We learned to feel such pride when that little girl rolled over the first time, smiled, laughed, sat up by herself, and got her first teeth. We learned that what life was really about, at least for us, was sharing our love and our life with our baby.

May is also the month for Mother's Day, and the month that my Mom died. This year they happened to fall on the same day, which has happened before. My mom died eight years ago, which is far too long to be without a mother. Every other year I've been very sad on this day, but this year was different. Technically I was a mother last year, but I was six days post-birth, sleep deprived, and not thinking about much except surviving. This year I was able to take a step back and give this anniversary some thought.

Sean will be quick to point out that he was the one pushing for a baby. It's not that I didn't want a baby, I wanted one so badly, but I wanted to make sure that Sean and I had some married time to ourselves first. Because as important as Lauren is to us, it's just as important for Sean and I to love each other, and for Lauren to see that we love each other. Just yesterday I was holding Lauren and gave Sean a kiss, and Lauren flashed the biggest smile, like she appreciated that we liked each other.

But back to having a baby. You see, for those of you who didn't know my mom, all she ever wanted to be was a mom. And her greatest accomplishment in life was being a mother. She worked as we were growing up, had lots of friends and lots of hobbies and interests, but most importantly she was a mom. And a damn good one. I can say without a doubt that I got more out of having Becky Auxter as a mother for 22 years than most people get in a lifetime. Without a doubt. So this May instead of being sad I was thankful for the opportunity to be a mother to one Ms. Lauren Rebecca Power, and for the opportunity to know and love my mom in an entirely different way, because although I always knew that she loved me more than any other human was capable of loving, now that I'm a mom myself I can see it in an entirely different light.

Thank you, Mom, for teaching me by example how to be the best possible mom I can be. While I would rather have you here, sharing this with me in person, this May I figured out that what is really important is that you provided me all of the skills I need to do this right, before I ever even knew that I needed them. Mom, you are missed, and you are loved. And although Lauren will never meet you, she will know you and love you, too. Through Lauren I get to know you all over again, and for that I am so thankful.

Swim Lessons

We recently finished up Lauren's first round of swimming lessons. She did so great. She was cautious about the water at first (she's a cautious baby, after all), but was an absolute natural. She has the most natural kick I've ever seen (and remember I used to teach swimming lessons for a living, folks). She like to stick her face in, and although she just swallowed water instead of blowing bubbles, we'll get there. She also tolerated going under. She wasn't giddy crazy about any of it, but she didn't ever cry, which was good. We're going to call Round 1 of swimming lessons a success.

Lauren is One!

We had Lauren's First Birthday Party on Sunday, May 2nd. Aunt Arie, Great Grandma Erma, Grandpa Auxter, Terry, Aunt Ragan, Grandma and Grandpa Power, Aunt Shannon and Lauren's cousin Holly were all in attendance. It was a whirlwind getting ready for it, but totally worth it and we all had such a great time. The weather was GORGEOUS. Here's to May birthdays.

Lauren eats outside with Dad under her Happy Birthday banner.

Everyone digs in: crudites, salad, Happy Gillis soup, pasta salad and curried chicken, egg salad and turkey sandwiches.

Aunt Arie and Great Grandma Erma take in some food on the back deck.

The group cake; Lauren had her own. This was my first foray into baking cakes and making frosting from scratch.

The cake progression. She is curious, excited, and frightened all at once.

Please notice that half of the cake is gone in the photo above.

The inside of the cake, in Lauren's nursery colors.

A very happy Mom after a piece of cake and several mimosas.

All of the excitement wore Lauren out, so she took a nap break with Grandma Power before opening presents.

This was the first time Lauren was really pumped about opening presents.

Golf clubs from Grandpa Auxter? Shocking.

Lauren and Terry take in a mellow moment after all of the festivities.

Sean and I still can't believe that Lauren is a year old. I know everyone says it, but it's so true, the first year flies by. As will the rest of the years, I'm sure. Lauren was an absolute doll at her party, especially considering the fact that we partied right through her normal nap time. It was great to have everyone around celebrating this huge first milestone. The older Lauren gets, the more of a "real" person she becomes, and we are having so much fun getting to know her and introducing her to the world. We had high expectations for parenthood, and it is so much better than we ever thought it could be.

We love you, Lauren Rebecca Power. And we always will. You are the most special gift, and we are so lucky that we get to show you this big crazy world. You are everything we thought you would be, and so so much more.