meal time just got a whole lot messier....

This past week Lauren has decided that baby food is really not for her. After all, she is 9 months old and thinks she is a big girl! So we tried adding to our current table food menu of Gerber puffs and Ritz crackers to see how she would do....(considering she turns her nose up at most anything on a spoon these days). So this week she has eaten some yogurt, sliced american cheese, chunks of banana, green beans and some cooked carrots. I am planning to let her try some mashed potatoes this weekend while the grandparents are here (they should get a kick out of it should she smoosh them in her hair!)

Here is a picture of her eating her "balanaced" (ha!) dinner of ritz crackers, cheese and green beans.

She is sooooo funny...she doesn't want any help putting the food in her mouth, but it takes her FOREVER to get it there on her own (and half of it ends up in the little pocket on the front of her bib) But when she gets a bite in there by herself...she grins and says "mmmm...hmmm...ummm..mmmm!" My only concern is that she is not eating as much and our doctor was talking with us about giving her 6-8oz of babyfood per meal..how am I supposed to do that when she doesn't want baby food from a spoon? Hmmmm..?? I am sick of any doctor questioning how much we feed her, and how much milk I produce, (um??) and sick of feeling like my baby is too little.....She eats all the time, and I feel like she gets plenty,...and wouldn't Lauren be crying all the time if she was hungry?

I know, I know.... I sound a bit defensive, (and I'm sort of venting right now) but the whole 9 months that she has been alive, I just feel like people have been wondering why she's not fat...but she is healthy and happy...so what's the big deal? I am done...I'm plugging my ears...that's it! As my four year old pre-k students would have put it -(with fingers sticking in their ears)....lalalalala..... I. CAN'T. HEAR. YOU!!

God is in this....

I talked to one of my bestest friends on the phone yesterday and she told me about a prayer request that I will have to refer to as "unspoken." She is scared and nervous right now and I know that there are some people that read this blog that are prayer warriors...so I am asking for prayer for her! (I realize it is hard to pray for a person you don't know about something that is unspoken...but I am trying to intercede for her in this post!)
" And we know that in ALL things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose!" Romans 8:28

growing so fast

Ok, Lauren...in case you didn't get the message....stop growing so fast! mommy is not ready for you to be a big girl yet. Really, I'm not. You started crawling about 8 months and I thought "ok, now you can be a little independent since she you are mobile." But in the last few weeks, you have been pulling up, and standing (while holding on) and even did a little "cruising" this week along the coffee table!

Here is my big girl....

And, NEW FLASH!! For the past 7 nights, Lauren has gone to sleep at 7:30 or 8, and slept until 6:30 or 7am the next morning without a feeding, or having to be rocked back to sleep, or even needing a paci replacment...Hallelujah! Now that is what I call "sleeping through the night!" Woo-hoo!! I am a happy girl!!

mountains, part 2

Jeremy, Ashley and Logan came up to Gatlinburg last weekend for a little vacation. Jason's parents were supposed to come stay with us and we had planned to all drive to their cabin on Sunday. Anyway, long story short, his parents didn't get to come, but Jeremey called and invited us to come stay the night with them on Saturday since they had a 2 bedroom cabin...um, ok!

Lauren had a fun time watching Logan run circles around her...he is such a cutie! He is saying a ton of words now, too....and he loves hair! He would look at me and say "hair" and I would lean down and let him "pet" my hair...he doesn't even pull, he just touches it so softly...it's too cute! I think Ashley was not thrilled because he didn't want to share any toys with Lauren...but that's ok, because Lauren doesn't know what sharing is yet!! :) Here they are playing under the coffee table in the cabin... and Lauren "letting" Logan sit in her bumbo!! (I think they have the same blue eyes...)

When we work up Sunday morning, it had snowed about 2-3 inches! Logan went out and played in the snow (he called it "no") while Lauren took a nap. We ended our fun mini vacation by eating lunch at the Apple Barn with Jeremy, Ashley and Logan..Lauren was on her best behavior during lunch and we had such a good time! We were a little sad to go back home but glad that we got to spend time with family!

Susie's RING

So my sister got engaged on Valentine's Day and I finally have some pictures of the bling....I mean, ring! I really feel sorry for her...even though her ring is platinum, and beautiful, and sparkly...I think her hand must get sooo tired from holding up that rock all day long!!! :)
I agree with Heather, I think we have finally discovered what sunk the Titanic!! :)

CONGRATS SUSIE!! I LOVE MY LITTLE SIS!!

Lauren is 9 months old!

We took Lauren to see Dr. Saji this morning for her 9 month check up. She weighed 18.1 lbs and was 29" long (still a string bean!). (Jason was immediately worried about her weight and said "do you think the doctor will want us to give her formula?") *sigh* I wanted to smack him with the clip board...but I refrained. "No, Jason...I don't think she needs any formula, she is gaining weight and is growing and is happy and she is fine!!" (for the 100,000,000 time!!)

Her weight was in the 37th percentile and her height was in the 97th percentile. (Here she is standing at her piano composing a symphony and crawling around the kitchen table like she's Danica Patrick!!)

Other than that, he told us that her little tongue thing didn't have to be clipped until 12 months, so we could wait. And that she COULD start whole milk products, such as cheese and yogurt despite the other cousins have milk allergy problems....and that he thought from her history that she would be ok. So we will try some yogurt tomorrow with breakfast!

She is also now addicted to Ritz crackers (thanks for the suggestion, Beth!) and LOVES them so much. I haven't tried cheerios yet because I am so scared of her choking, but we probably will try them this weekend. We are also still trying to master the sippy cup...hopefully by 12 months!

In other news, Granna and Pop-Pop are supposed to come for a visit this weekend.... so I need to go get busy cleaning up my house!

suggested classes for men

I found this list of "Suggested Classes for Men" that someone had sent me (probably via email) and got a laught out of reading it again....maybe you will too! (some "classes" have been left out due to ugliness!)
1. The Remote Control-Overcoming Your Dependency
2. Romanticism-Other Ideas Beyond Sex
3. How Not to Act Younger Than Your Children (is this one even possible? Jason plays with ALL of Lauren's toys!!)
4. You Cannot Always Wear Whatever You Please
5. We Do Not Want Sleazy Underwear for Christmas (or Valentine's Day for that matter!) Just Give Us Credit Cards
6. The Weekend and Sports are not Synonymous (could have fooled me!!)
7. Parenting Roles Beyond Initial Conception (In Jason's defense...he's a great daddy)
Well, they are pretty funny....... :)

My sister is engaged!!

My sister's boyfriend, Chris proposed to her on Valentine's Day!! I am soooo excited for her!! I have yet to see the actual ring, but I have seen a texted picture of it on my cell phone...wow!! She is still in Florida but will be driving back tomorrow!! Don't they make a cute couple??

Valentine's Day

I had the most wonderful Valentine's Day!! On Friday, Jason came home with a vase of 2 hot pink roses (I hate red ones!) and said they were for "his girls." Then when we went to bed Friday night, he told me that he would get up with Lauren in the morning and I could sleep in.

Me? Sleep in? Wow!!

So when Lauren woke up the next morning around 7:30, I nursed her and Jason was true to his word...he took her and changed her diaper, got her dressed and (hopefully) fed her some sort of healthy breakfast while I tried to go back to sleep. (Let me explain...I am a very light sleeper and once I am up, I'm up- but I tried to close my eyes and rest while listening to Lauren "talking" and howling and Jason banging stuff around in the kitchen....I figured he was emptying the dishwasher....LOUDLY!!) :)

The next thing I knew....I hear Lauren crying and Jason calling "mommy....come down" up the stairs. When I came down...this is what I saw (besides Lauren's red eyes...she had apparently bumped her head on a kitchen chair but was ok!)

Jason had cooked me pancakes (which he doesn't eat, so they were just for me!!) And had my Valentine's day present and a card from him and from Lauren on the table....PRECIOUS!! (the stuffed bear you see is Lauren's)

I loved my breakfast soooo much and my gift was some Russell Stover chocolates (yummmmm) and the DVD of Fireproof which we had not seen.

I gave Jason some Alabama sports magazines and a Nascar Illustrated 2009 special edition magazine (hey, it's what he wanted and he's been reading it ever since!!) and some Reese's peanut butter cups.

It was Lauren's nap time, so while she was sleeping, we watched the photo slide show that I had made on Snapfish for Jason from Lauren. It was baby pics and some new ones that he hadn't seen and I think he loved it!! Here he is watching it....

When Lauren woke up, we "let" her open her gift....some musical shakers, a new book and some super-cute shoes to match this pink and brown outfit that she has. (plus, the teddy bear from Jason....hey, it's her first Valentine's day) Then, Granna called and wanted to know if Lauren had gotten the card she sent, so I went out to the mailbox and her card had a little sucker inside. You guessed it...we let Lauren lick it a couple of times, so my child has now been introduced to sugar and the girl couldn't get enough! She about sucked it off the stick!!

So we hung around the house for the rest of the day and then Jason cooked us steaks on our George Foreman grill for dinner. After we put Lauren to bed, I made a sonic run for ice cream and we sat down to watch Fire Proof. It was soooo good! (yes, Beth...tell Scott some of the acting was questionable, but the message was great!) I think it is the perfect movie to watch with your spouse! It definately made Jason and I think about a lot of things in our marriage!! (and this was also probably the first time that we have watched a whole movie, uninterrupted, since Lauren's birth!!)

It was a wonderful day and I will always remember it!! Here is my sweet little Valentine baby!!

1 John 4:7 "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God!"

updates

First of all, this is what Lauren does while Mommy is using the computer(IF she is not taking a nap, like today!) She looks out the glass window of the office...or takes a ride in the computer chair! :)

My roommate, Beth, from dear old JC called me today to "follow up" on the post about Lauren's not sleeping. Well, wouldn't you know that after 3 nights of that insanity....Lauren now sleeps from 8pm-7:30am (ish) without a peep! I think sometimes (as with all babies, I'm sure) they take a step back before going forwards.....so for Lauren, she seemed like she was trying to add an extra night feeding when really she was about to drop that last one before midnight. So I'm getting tons of sleep and when Lauren woke up this morning at 6am, I didn't even really mind! (we've been MAJORLY off schedule today...but oh well!)

Also, she is now LOVING Gerber puffs and has mastered her version of the pincer grasp that involves a 2 finger hold...it's really funny. Now that she doesn't gag from the new consitancy, I have to watch that she doesn't stuff them all in her mouth at once.
She is aslo crawling like a Nascar baby about 200 miles an hour around the "track" of our small house. (when we bought this house; there were no babies on the radar....but more about the house at a later post) She also is pulling up on low- to- the- ground objects such as our air mattress that is in her room as well as mommy's lap when I am sitting on the floor with her.
I was taking pictures of her today in this cute red polka dotted shirt that a lady from church bought for her (Alli has the same one and I LOVED it on her!) and I really think she was POSING for the camera...tell me what you think. With the economy in the shape it is i, I may need to think about exploiting my child into baby modeling or baby beauty pageants!! :) Just kidding!

great deal on prints

Oh my goodness! Snapfish is having such a GREAT deal on prints. You can get three 8x10 prints for only $5.00 and/or five 5x7 prints for only $2.99 up until Valentines Day! (well, you have to order online and pick up at your local Walgreens, but that is no big deal for me!)
Now, Jason and I are definately watching our pennies these days and trying to get things paid off and extra put into savings- HOWEVER....I have been wanting to "blow up" some prints of Lauren for her baby book and just couldn't bring myself to do it because of the price. These prices are so good, they are literally like paying the price for one 8x10 or 5x7 and getting the others free. The coupon says "can only be used once" but I am devising a way around this by submitting separate orders so that I can use the codes mulitple times. Cheating? Maybe. Lying? Not quite! I am soooo excited because I think this will give me motivation to get Lauren's scrapbook caught up which is so one of my New Year's Resolutions! In case you or anyone you know uses snapfish...here are the codes:
8x10 code is 8x10WAL
5x7 code is 5x7WAL

Also, I got my March edition of Creating Keepsakes Magazine in the mail today and was sooo excited because they have right there on the front cover, in HUGE letters... 165 WAYS TO GET ORGRANIZED....love it!! I love to organize and when I have the time, nothing makes me happier than to organize my stuff. It also features some great free downloads from the creatingkeepsakes website. Oh happy day!
Now I just need some free time (ha!) to devote to scrapbooking (nearly impossible with an active almost-9-month old underfoot...) but maybe I can bribe Jason to "watch" her play in the living room while he is watching Nascar this weekend and I could scrap until I am needed to feed her! Sounds like a plan!

NOT sleeping

Ok, so Lauren has NEVER been a good sleeper. At first, I attributed it to her reflux and the fact that she spit up all night long and had to be changed or sleep in wet pjs. Then I heard that breastfed babies just don't sleep as well, because they digest their meals so much faster (although I have 2 friends whose bf babies have been sleeping undisturbed for 12 hours at a time for months now.) My darling angel baby just started "sleeping through the night" (as in 5-6 hours at a time) LAST MONTH...when she was 7 MONTHS OLD!! You can imagine how little sleep I have been getting.
Lauren used to just wake up and not be able to go back to sleep without a paci. It wasn't time to be fed, I really don't think she was even hungry. But Jason and I were doing this MANY TIMES all night long. Then, at about the 7 month mark, she started sleeping long stretches; waking for a feeding around midnight and then sleeping until morning (7am or so) I have been so excited and have literally gotten more sleep during that month than all of Lauren's 7 months of life combined!!
However, I am not a very sound sleeper and I hear every little peep from her. If she is just "fussing" a little, I just try to ignore it and she usually goes back to sleep. HOWEVER, in the past week, she has started waking early (between 2am and 5am) and crying. (and I mean the kind of crying you can't ignore). 2 nights ago, Jason went in and rocked her back to sleep. Last night, (or I should say, this morning) she woke up at 5 am and was screaming. She was sitting straight up in her crib and when I came in, she started smiling and laughing at me.....ok, NO we are NOT waking up at 5am!! So I gave her the paci and tried to get her to lay back down. She screamed LOUDER and much more DESPARATELY....as I walked out of the room.
I thought maybe she would settle herself back to sleep, but 45 minutes later, she was stille fussing and keeping me awake! Jason was getting up for work anyway, so he went in and patted her or something because he told me she was back asleep. What gives? She has been doing so well and now is just pitiful. I don't want to ignore her needs, but I can't figure out what they are at this point! All of my family and in-laws and even my dear hubby (who all mean well) are convinced that it has something to do with the breastfeeding. They are assuring me that if I will simply switch to formula, she will miraculously go to sleep and not wake up until morning. I can't believe that this could be true...and am not doing any such thing until I speak to her pediatrician at her 9 month well-baby checkup on the 20th.
I'm sleepy.....I should be taking a nap instead of posting this!! :)

let it snow!

We got 2 inches of snow this morning! That is the most we have seen in the 4 1/2 years that we have lived in TN. People were building little snowmen and sledding down the hills on my street. It was so funny. Jason was like a kid in a candy store....he LOVES snow!!

mommy's little helper

Today Lauren decided to help me with the laundry...or maybe she WAS the laundry! :)

Lauren is crawling!!

Last week Lauren decided to take the plunge into crawling....she had been getting up on her hands and knees and kind of rocking back and forth...then she was army crawling herself using her forearms across the floor and now she has pretty much got the coordination down to crawl. Sometimes she still sticks her right leg out straight when she stops to rest or starts crawling...Jason says it's her kickstand so she won't fall over!! (don't you love her little baby legwarmers? I LOVE seeing her little toes and thighs poking out of the ends of them! She loved them and crawled around the house in them all day!)

on the road again

We were on the road again (ha!) this weekend to Alabama. We weren't too busy...just a birthday party, baby dedication and baby shower all in 2 days!! We got to celebrate our nephew Logan's 2nd birthday early on Sat. (he will be 2 on Feb. 23) and then dedicated Lauren at Jason's family's home church. Afterwards, we got to shower Jason's cousin Heather with gifts for her soon-to-be born baby, Will. It was a fun weekend, but we were exhausted when we got home!!

Lauren refused to be held by anyone except myself or Jason (further proof that a little separation anxiety has set in!) without screaming and crying. I had a talk with her because she needs to know that Jason's family is only getting bigger with each marriage and birth....she's gotta get used to a lot of people and noise!!

I have been enjoying our days home together a lot lately. (of course there are still those days that I feel I will go crazy!) We are pretty much in a good routine (I don't like to use the word SCHEDULE!) She started crawling last week and is getting pretty quick. Needless to say, I have been frantically babyproofing our house!!