Things my kids say...

Lauren:  Mom, I need to change my underpants.
Me:  Did you have an accident?
Lauren:  No, I just got some toot on it. 
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Driving down the road and we saw a car with University of North Dakota Plates and Kevin yelled
"GO SIOUX!!" 
Kaelin then yelled : Hi Sue, Sue come back! Hi Sue!!!

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Me:  Lauren, quit kicking the door!
Lauren:  I'm not! I'm just knocking with my feet!

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While watching the X Factor or the Voice

Kaelin:  That's terrible!  or Bravo! 
(She really loves music) 

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While taking out my contacts: 

Lauren:  Mom why are you taking out your eyeballs? 

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Friday Funny

Here are a few things out of my girls' mouths this last week that might make you laugh because they made me laugh! 

Lauren after seeing a commercial:  "Hey Mommy, when I grow up I want to wear bras and get big boobies like you!" 

Kaelin:  "Ice Ice Baby do do do do do do doo doo" - In tune and all..

Lauren followed me in the bathroom while Aunt Flow happened to be in town:  "Oh No, mommy! Do you need a bandaid?!"  -- She was legitimately concerned. 

Kaelin to her dad:  "Pull my finger...toot"  - I swear he taught them that! 

During Bedtime prayers: 
Lauren:  "I am thankful for a door, a window and a forehead"
Kaelin with her finger in her nose:  "I got boogers"

Giggly Girls

The girls LOVE to play in my closet.  Some nights I just let them unwind while I get some "alone" time (if you can call it that) on my computer and watching, as Lauren says "Mommy's shows". 
The girls were having a blast the other night and the giggles began.  It was so cute!

Slightly mortified...

I didn't think I'd start this early being embarrassed by what my children say.    Lauren is an early talker and quite the gifted gabber.   I guess she gets that from me.    This afternoon I dropped her off at a friends house while I took Kaelin to an appointment.    When I returned to pick her her up she was walking around with the fly swatter saying "Trouble, Lauren Trouble".    I asked her what she was saying and she brought me the fly swatter and said "Trouble, Lauren Trouble"    I corrected her and said "No, it's a fly swatter" but she insisted on calling it "trouble".  Slightly mortified, my two year old was making me sound like I beat her with the fly swatter when she was in trouble!!  I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.    Although embarrassed by her choice of words, and baffled because I'm not sure where she got her choice of words, I laughed.    I have let her play with our fly swatter before and chase around the flies, but never once punished her with it or referred to it as something she would associate with trouble. 
Anyway....yes..it was embarrassing but I guess it could have been a lot worse and instead of saying it at a friends house, I guess it could have been at the doctor or daycare! HA! 

Spaghetti face

Lauren: Summer 2010

Lauren: Summer 2011

"Allow children to be happy in their own way, for what better way will they find?"

I can't believe how much a year has changed Lauren Grace.  She is now 22 months old! Just 2 short months until she is 2years old.  It doesn't seem possible.  She is so intelligent and witty.  She always has me laughing (sometimes yelling).  She is talking up a storm. So much so, there is no need to even type what new words she is saying because she can repeat anything that is said to her.  She of course still says things with a toddler/baby way of saying them but articulation of her words will just take practice. She's lucky to have me as a mom..I LOVE to talk :)  
She has started to put together short sentences as well, which is a lot of fun.  I love our conversations!  

Lauren isn't too keen on sharing with her little sister.  I know it will get better as they both get a little older.  I am just tired of hearing "No Kaelin, mine Kaelin, Mom!!!" ...oh wait...that's not gonna stop for another 18 years is it?  :) 

Lauren loves being outside.  She enjoys playing with sidewalk chalk and going to the park.  
Lauren is great about naps and is slowly but surely getting rid of her morning nap.  Just depends on the day and how she feels. I honestly could care less if she continued to take a morning nap.  It gives me a little free time too!! :) 

She is just way too much fun.  Minus the occasional meltdowns, this has been my favorite state so far.  I love watching her learn and grow.  It truly is amazing!!

 

 

Lauren Grace - 15 months

My silly munchkin is 15 months already! I can't believe it.  I just don't know where the last year has gone.  She (Kaelin, too!) is the most amazing blessing that Kevin and I have ever been blessed with.  There isn't a day that goes by that she doesn't melt my heart, make me cry (happy mommy postpartum tears), make me laugh, and frustrate me.  Lauren Grace is my little music box.  She loves to sing, dance, hum, and clap along.  It is the most adorable thing ever.  She and her daddy share an extreme love for music.  I just loved the nights they would sit down at the computer and listen to songs together.  He would tap his leg and she, on his lap, would sway back and forth, and clap her hands. 
Lauren's new thing is to fall asleep ANYWHERE but her own bed.  She was doing well about going to sleep on her own, but since we moved she has been a bit out of her routine.  She is so stinkin' adorable though. 

Lauren's vocabulary grows everyday.  She has a handful of words that she says clearly and in the right context.  They are:

Mamma, Dadda, Kaelin, Sissy, Flower, What is it?, Who's that?, Hi, Up, Pretty, and Debbie. 

She couldn't quite say "grandma" She caught onto Debbie super fast though. Lauren also says "Dah" for Uncle Jordan.  If we says "Where's Jordan?" ..she walks around looking for him saying "Dah!" 

She also knows how to sign the word more.  We learned that from her cousin Caleb.  That is the only sign language we know but it has definitely helped with the screaming when she wanted more food! 

Lauren loves books, especially her animal and color book. She is just like a sponge and is soaking it all up.  She makes monkey sounds, and yesterday I heard her growl while looking over at a lion magnet.  She also is learning to identify her colors.  She can now correctly point to the colors, Red, Green, Blue, Pink, Brown and White in her color book.  The other night at dinner, we were trying to show her off to her Auntie Kara, we laid 3 crayons in front of her and asked her to pick up the green crayon and hand it to grandma.  She stared at the crayons for a good 30 seconds, but throrougly thought before picking it up.  She picked up only the green crayon and handed it to Grandma.  We were so impressed and excited for her.  She gets excited too and starts laughing and clapping at herself. 

We just love love love love her to pieces.  I can't wait for all of the big developmental milestones to come.  She impresses me daily.  

One month to go!

Homestretch!  One month to go and Kevin will be gone for 3 1/2 weeks!  eek!  He is at the Joint Readiness Traning Center (JRTC) in Fort Polk, LA.  He will be there until Sept. 12 possibly.  They have said that they will send him home by Sept. 7th...but if there is anything that I have learned as an Army wife in the last 8 months, it is to not get my hopes up and to not make plans.  I will not make any plans or announcements of him being home until I get the phone call saying "My plane just landed"

I am just praying that this baby will be patient and wait for her daddy to be here before she makes her appearance.  I know if I go into labor on my own early, chances that any family or Kevin making it in for the birth are very slim.  I just don't want to be alone. 

Yesterday was a hard day for me and Lauren.  It was so hard to drop Kevin off at work knowing he would be gone for nearly a  month.  I suppose we are just taking baby steps to our big separation in November when he is deployed to Iraq for a year.  No time apart is easy, even just a few days or weeks. 

Yesterday was the first time that Lauren really has showed true sadness.  It broke my heart.  After Kevin kissed her goodbye and shut the door, she instantly started crying.  It was a very sad cry.  Not a throwing fit cry, or not feeling good cry.  A sad cry.  It was almost like she could sense that something was not right.  She loves her daddy so much! I wish everyone could witness the joy that I see when Kevin walks in the door each night and her face lights up.  It is pure happiness at its best. 

I can't explain the happiness that will be experienced after he gets home after these next few weeks...let alone after his year deployment!! 

Lauren and I took the time yesterday to just get our tears out and relax.  We ate junk food, and watched Curious George and Barney and just cuddled.  We ended up falling asleep on the couch together in the afternoon.  I slept for 2 hours and Lauren for 3!  It was just what the Dr. ordered.  We both woke up feeling great.  I had an amazing evening with Lauren, singing, dancing, laughing, playing etc.  And to top it off, she went to bed without even a fuss.  She couldn't make me more proud.

Here are a few videos from our evening.  Don't you just love her to pieces!?! I know we do!!

Hello

"Hi, my name is Lauren! "Destroyer of all things once tidy!"

Sleepy McSleeperton

Not only has sleep training been going really well at night, but we she is also been doing great at nap time too!  The last week she has put herself to sleep with very minimal or no fussing at all.  In fact, she is getting so good, she now falls asleep pretty much anywhere!  The floor, the couch, the high chair..we even have caught her laying her head down on the foot stool of our glider..it was as if she was trying to rock herself to sleep.  Some nights (and days), we can lay her down and not a peep with come out of her.  Others, just a few minutes of fussing or even just talking and then she is out like a light.  She has been sleeping about 10 hours on average too!  It has been great. 

It must be exhausting making a mess like that!  Poor thing definately inherited her butt and thighs from me :)

We kind of felt bad after the first week of trying this because we realized one day that her top teeth had popped through.  So, some of the tears and cries in the middle of the night may have been due to the teeth that we have been anxiously awaiting their arrival for 5 months now!  Yes, it has been 5 months since she got her bottom two teeth and she is just now getting her top ones.  They are so stinking cute though.  Take a look for yourself!

They are just poking through, but they will be in before we know it! 

Oh, and did I mention that we are BFF's?!  Yeah, pretty much most of the time unless she pees on me like she did last night while getting ready for her bath.  :)

Who's that kid with the Oreo cookie?

That would be my kid....

I somehow thought this was a good idea.  I thought for being so good and sleeping well for a week, that we would treat Lauren to a milk dipped Oreo cookie.  I had no idea it would literally turn to mud.  On top of cleaning this mess in the kitchen, I now have to scrub the bathtub too! LOL

Atleast she enjoyed it! That makes these messes all worth while. 

One more thing...

This pictures cracks me up!! It was taken a few weeks ago in Minnesota by Aunt Cindy.  She captured Lauren mid-laugh while her silly cousins were talking and playing with her!  I love it!!!

"You expect me to hold my own bottle mommy?!  Not fair!"

It's a girl, 30 years, and 9 months!

Phew!! It has been a while since I have updated.  We have been super busy and had some computer problems too.  We had a few days of no internet service followed by our computer crashing. After a full system restore, we are back up and running.
It's a girl!
Last Tuesday, we had an ultrasound and found out that we are having another little girl.  We are due Sept. 17.  I am 25 weeks along and feeling great!  I am getting more tired as time goes on, and my heartburn is starting to reappear but other than that, I am good!  The ultrasound showed 2 legs, 2 arms, 2 kidneys, a liver, a beating heart with all four chambers working the way they should.  I forgot to ask how big the baby was at this time! Oh well! I guess it will just be a surprise.
I did ask the ultrasound tech how she could tell it was a girl.  I can't ever make out much of anything on the fuzzy 2-d black and white picture.  She said, and took mouse on the screen and pointed to another blurry image and said.. "See this is the labia"..and I said "uh.. ok"..she then said "Back in the day they would refer to it as a camel toe, does that help?!"  ...I was a little taken back, my eyes got big, I looked at Kevin, inside dying laughing...I just said "Sure"...What I really wanted to say is...."Camel toe lady?! LOL seriously?! I know what a labia looks like, I have 2!  How about hamburger buns, that seems like a better term for my unborn baby".  But I didn't..I just sat there, trying not to laugh...if I did, I would have peed my pants because she was taking forever and I had a full bladder!
 I probably won't have another ultrasound for the rest of the pregnancy, unless there is an emergency.  My BP is still elevated but not in the danger zone yet.  We will continue to monitor my BP plus Kevin and I have to be aware of any sudden swelling in hands and face etc. 
Kevin was really wanting a boy, and I assumed I was having a boy since this pregnancy so far has been completely different than when I was pregnant with Lauren. He is super excited though to have 2 little girls so close in age.  They will be best of friends, and not to mention we will be able to use all of Lauren's clothes for our new baby girl! This will save us a ton of money in the long run.

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30 years

30 years ago on Memorial Day.  My husband Kevin was born.  He is my best friend, and the love of my life.  I truly think him being born on Memorial Day is the reason he is such a great patriot today.  I am so proud to call him my husband. 

When we first started dating, he said that he wanted atleast one child before he turned 30.  At the time, I was like "yeah right!..we need to wait a few years!" ...but now we do have our precious Lauren and another little angel on the way.  So in a way he got 2 children before he was 30. 

Kevin is such an amazing father. I love to see him interact with Lauren.  They have a special bond that will never be broken.  Happy Birthday Kevin.  I love you!!

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9 months!

Happy 9 months to my beautiful daughter Lauren Grace.  She is getting so big! 

This is how I found her yesterday in our living room.  She had climbed up on her pack and play.  We had left it there when unloaded the car.  I was in the kitchen and I looked around the corner to check on her and there she was just hanging out and all smiles!! I about had a heart attack.  She is growing up too fast!  I decided then that I would just set up her pack and play in the living room so that I didn't have to wonder where she was all the time, and low and behold the stinker would dig her little feet into the side of the mesh and crawl up the side!  She is like a little monkey.  She drinks about four 6 oz bottles a day.  We still can't get her to hold her own bottle or sippy cup yet.  We call her Miss Lazy Pants when it comes to eating.  She likes it all done for her.  She will hold her bottle and when we try and help her tip it up, she just lets go completely, puts her hands behind her head and figures that we'll do all of the work.  She usually eats cereal mid morning, fruit and some puffs at lunch with sippy cup of water or formula, afternoon snack is usually a bottle and then a long nap.  Dinner is usually whatever we are having plus a jar of veggies and fruit.  Last night she had all big kid food for supper!  She did really good and ate it all! We were so surprised and happy.  It's so fun to watch her use her little fingers to pick things up and get them to her mouth. 

She is just too much fun now.  On our way home from our little road trip to Illinois for Memorial Day weekend, she just started giggling out of no where.  Kevin and I couldn't quit laughing.  It was the cutest thing in the whole world!  I just love how grown up and independent she is getting.  I love that I can put her on the floor to play and she is content for long periods of time. 

I hate how she cries though when I drop her off at daycare.  It breaks my heart!

I know it will get better!

Well I can hear the stinker in her bed.  I am very happy she slept til 8am today and was not up at 5:30!!

Hope you all have a good day.  I will try and stay updated more now that we are back into the swing of things here in KS.