What a Star!!

I don't even know where to begin. Lauren has figured out so many things in the past two weeks it blows my mind. I know every child goes through the same stages, and learns how to crawl, walk and talk but when your child does it you just think they are genious! Really quick I am going to write down all of the things Lauren has learned in the past couple weeks, then I will expand on it later. She can pull herself up on things all by herself, she can clap (haha it is so cute), she can CRAWL, She has a tooth :), she reaches for people when she wants to go to them, and she says mama (I don't think she knows that she is saying it, but every once in a while she says ama ma ma)!! And I am not kidding when I say she has done all of this stuff all within the last 2 weeks.

Here is a picture of Lauren standing by the elephant that she first pulled herself up with! My mom had watched her while I taught dance and when I came to pick her up we were talking and when we look over Lauren was all the sudden standing! So we didn't even see her pulling her self up we just saw the ending results!

Now she thinks she needs to stand up all the time! Here she is peeking at me, after she had pulled herself up on the exersaucer!

Yes, yes my little girl is CRAWLING!! I was almost worried that she wouldn't because I held her to much. But she figured it out! She really started to try on the March 16, and then it after that she was really getting the hang of things! She still doesn't crawl long distances because everything in our house is two crawls and a belly stretch away. But she is getting braver and is starting to realize her freedom! Scarry for me, but fun for her :)

She is so funny because the only things she will crawl to, are things that she isn't supposed to have! Like this wrapper..

I was trying and trying to get her to crawl to a toy, and was sitting there encouraging her.. Then she started for the couch and found this wrapper underneith the couch. So to my enjoyment I took the wrapper and set it on the other side of the room, and sure enough she headed that way!

Even now she is still really only crawling to things like keys, cords, and other things she shouldn't be playing with. I feel so bad sometimes having to turn her away from those things because I love to watch her crawl, but I have to be strong!

Lauren got her first tooth on March 21. I didn't notice her being to unpleasant, so the tooth must have not bothered her that much. She has still been a little more cranky than usual so I wonder if there are more teeth trying to find their way up.

Like I said she is a Star.. she is my star! I can't beleive it, but I love her more everyday! She makes my day so much fun, and I get a kick out of watch her figure out new things! I laugh at myself as I try to figure out parenting :) It is a tough job, but a rewarding job! I guess it isn't to tough right now, I really can't complain in that area.. but it is definitley challenging and life changing!

Swimming!

Today Lauren got to experience her first time swimming :) She seemed to really like it, and we were at the Cody Rec Center and they have a kids pool so it was also nice and warm and shallow to! Lauren seemed to enjoy her self at the pool, she didn't kick or splash as much as I thought she would, but she had a fun time!

This was also Triffin's first time swimming, and he really enjoyed it too! He is crawling now, and it was so funny because he would crawl around in the shallow water and follow a ball and when he got up next to it he would hit it with he nose, and go after it again! He is the sweetest little boy, and a cute one too!

After swimming we had to treat our selves to a nice treat, so we chose DQ! I didn't realize it was open at this time of year in Cody, but dun duh duh DUN... it was :)

This is Triffin, and I have some pictures with his eyes open.. but i couldn't resist this one because you will see how cute it is even if his eyes are shut!!

I think that these two could be twins.. to me they look so much alike. This picture doesn't show how much they look alike, it's just a fun one!

I tried to get pictures of the other kids eating their ice cream, but you take what you can get with this crew!

Now while we were up in Cody we had to stop at Walmart. I have been looking for a coat for Lauren, because before she didn't need one because when we were outside she was always in her carseat tucked under blankets. Now that she has her big girl carseat I really wanted her to have a coat. So I had been looking on the internet, and everyone is trying to get rid of winter stuff. So I thought I would just see if Walmart had any better deals than what I had found on the internet. Sure enough!! I found this coat that you will shortly see for 5 dollars!! Yes, yes it was 5 dollars marked down from 22 dollars!

It is a 24 month size, so she has plenty of room to grow. We rolled up the sleeves and the arms fit perfectly. It is a little long, but I LOVE IT! I would have gotten an 18 month size but they didn't have it, so this will do FINE!

Moms I am sure you know this, but now is the time to by winter clothes for this next winter. Everything is marked down quite a bit! I love getting good deals, it makes me feel so good! Hope you enjoyed!

8 Months

I can not believe that my little girl is 8 MONTHS! It literally feels like only a few months ago we had her, but then I can't remember my life without her! She has been such a joy, and I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world! She is getting so big I can't believe it, she thought since she was 8 months she would have to go up a size in diapers and up a size in clothes. I was in denile for about a week because Lauren would go through about 3 outfits a day due to blow outs of her diaper. I didn't want to move up to size four yet because they seemed so big. I finally made the move and we are back down to one outfit a day! On the clothes end Lauren is fitting into 12 month clothes.

Lauren makes me laugh every day, she has just aquired a fake cry. At times it can be frusterating, but most of the time it makes me laugh :) She has just started to jump in her little excersaucer and she thinks that is pretty cool! She still isn't crawling but I can tell she wants to SO bad. When she sits on her bottom she leans over her legs and gets on her stomach and isn't quite sure what to do after that! Sometimes when she is on her stomach gets up on her hands and feet (like a bear crawl) but doesn't move, she just thinks she is pretty cool! I don't know if I am ready for her to be moble yet, I am so used to setting her down and leaving the room and finding her in that exact same place! It is so fun to watching her figure out how to crawl, and she is getting better each day!

Lauren also loves to look at herself in the mirror. I don't know how this began.. but everytime we pass by the bathroom she leans toward the bathroom and then when I take her to the mirror she smiles and leans towards the mirror. So this is her new favorite place, standing in the sink looking at herself in the mirror...

And stay tuned because we are going swimming this weekend at the Cody Rec. Center with my mom, two sister-in-laws and their children and we are SO excited! I recieved a few swimming suits from hand-me-downs and we just had to try them on.. so here is a preview! Lauren was in a good mood so she was willing to do a few wardrobe changes!