Playing with Grandma B

Lauren is 8 MONTHS OLD TODAY!!! Oh my, where has the time gone?? She has turned into a little 'gremlin' as her auntie Amanda likes to call her, hehe! She loves to talk and make funny noises that sound like a monster. She laughs at herself when she sneezes. She pulls up to things on her knees and sits on her knees a lot. She LOVES crawling and has little rug burns on her knees to prove it! She has two teeth on the bottom that are still creeping up but has been sleeping a little better lately. She nurses about every 2-3 hours during the day and will have a longer stretch at night. She will eat just about anything and gets jealous when mommy and daddy won't let her eat what they are.

We hung out with Grandma Baker before heading to Debbie's Surprise Birthday Party on Saturday (read post below for details). Lauren loved climbing all over Grandma, banging on her with toys (sorry, Grandma!), sitting at her feet, and snuggling in for a little snooze! It was wonderful to see you Grandma, hopefully we will be back soon!

Playing with the fake puppy, Cousin Ethan loved this too when he was little!

Sucking on the knobs

Playing with her toy keys, THANKS Grandma!!

Hanging out at Grandma's feet, she loved listening to her

Listening to Grandma read the Church Newsletter

SURPRISE!!!

Kyle's mom turned 50 on Saturday and we celebrated by having a surprise birthday party for her in Iowa. Although I think she might have suspected something was going on, she had no idea that all her kids and one grandkid were going to be there!

We drove to Cedar Rapids on Friday night to break up the drive a bit and stay with Amanda. Saturday morning we drove to Laurens to spend the afternoon with my grandma Baker (pictures to follow in a later post) before heading to the party around 6:00pm. After 14+ hours in the car...I have officially mastered nursing in the car seat!! :)

The queen's throne!

Waiting for the guest of honor...
...and waiting...

...and waiting some more....90 minutes total of waiting!

Surprise!! I love this picture because of the look of accomplishment on Gary's face! He definitely pulled it off!

Getting adorned in all her '50 Gear'

50 candles is not an easy task!

It was a VERY short trip but so much fun!! Only downside...a few of us got upset tummies. Kyle and I are training for the Avon Walk and have been eating pretty healthy and Amanda is training to run a marathon in a few weeks and the Avon Walk so the weekend of fried food wasn't the best for us!

My Animal Cousins...

What does this picture tell you?? No I am not pregnant! My mom has assigned animals to each grandchild. Ethan the Elephant, Olivia the Giraffe, and Lauren the Monkey. I guess the next one will have to be a Penguin!
Wait...are you telling me that I won't always get your full attention?

Are you kidding me??

Ethan's bum sure does taste good!

...and his foot too!

This pic was just too cute not to post!

In 39 Days...

Look at my little Lauren bump

We will walk as ONE!! Yep...you read that right! WE are doing the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer again this year! Kyle, his sister (Amanda), and I are going to walk 39 miles the first weekend of June to raise awareness about Breast Cancer.

Last year, I walked for the Lubinus side of my family who has been horribly affected by this disease. This year I am walking for my Grandma Baker who was diagnosed shortly after Lauren was born. Kyle is walking for his aunt Kris, a 6 year survivor!! We NEED to find a cure before my sister and I are affected as well as our daughters! Just about every female in my family has suffered and it needs to stop with our generation!

But...we need you!! We need your prayers for our training, your support on the day of the walk, and your financial resources. The three of us are required to raise $1800.00 each in order to participate in the walk. Whatever we do not raise, we are required to dish over ourselves.

Please leave a comment letting me know how you wish you support us whether it be through your prayers, thoughts, or finances!

Here is how to donate:
Click on one of our links and find the pink button that says 'DONATE NOW'. Fill in your financial info and you are done...easy peasy! Your monetary donation is even tax deductible!

Kyle's Link

Jamie's Link

Team Link (3 Breast Friends)

Silly Lauren

Last night she woke up before we had gone to bed. We were trying to get our teeth brushed quick before joining her so she would fall back asleep and she must have mistaken the pillow for one of our chests!

She loves the weather! Whenever it comes on the news in the morning she stops what she is doing and gives it her full attention. She is starting to pull herself up too! We had to put covers over all the outlets this morning, such a different world with a moving baby!
She always tries to crawl onto my lap when I am typing a paper so Kyle whipped out his old laptop for her and I was able to type in peace!

Playing wheelbarrow with Dad...she thinks it is pretty cool!

The Many Faces of Lolo...

The many faces of Lauren have changed quite a bit from when she was nine weeks old (click here). Oh...my little baby has changed so much and has quite the personality!






The other day a lady on the train asked me if Lauren was my child. I replied that she was to which she stated, "She must look like her dad then!"...I know she has fair skin and light blue eyes but can't I take a little credit for her cuteness!!

Crawling...

This was pretty difficult to get on camera...but she is crawling really good now. She is able to crawl to her toys (and things that she shouldn't be getting into) but hasn't quite realized that she can follow me if I go to the other room. The baby-proofing has begun!!!

Our Eventful Week...

This has been quite the week...

On Monday, I noticed Lauren was extra cranky! I tried everything and she was even crying during nursing (which rarely happens). I felt inside her mouth and lo behold...I was pricked! A TOOTH!! Slowly we watched it over the course of the week turn from a tiny little prick to a tooth that is half way out...and now the one next to it just broke the skin! Just a side note, teeth (especially on the bottom) do not interfere with breastfeeding at all. Lauren's tongue is over the ones on the bottom when she is nursing. Here is a typical teething cranky baby, tears running down her face, gnawing on her toy! Poor baby, she is feeling a little better now though. Now if that wasn't enough excitement for one week, she decided it would be a good time to crawl too! Here is a little sneak peek but I will post a video later!
Yesterday, we traveled to Iowa to visit the Duhn Family and their newest addition: Landon! It had been FAR too long...7 months to be exact!

Lauren was pretty excited to meet her future husband.
She kept crawling over to him and trying to get him.

Alaina enjoyed reading books to Lauren...see her hand and foot kicking away!

Precious Landon! He slept the majority of the time, I forgot how often newborns sleep!

She is so full of spunk and energy! I have a feeling Lauren is going to have a personality very similiar to hers.

As Promised...

Week in Review

We are only getting busier! Our mileage for the Avon Walk training is increasing each week leaving little time on the weekends to do anything else. We walked 10 miles on Saturday and 6 on Sunday. It really doesn't take that long but we usually figure out how we can incorporate an errand into the walk to make it seem more productive. Saturday we signed our new cell-phone contract and Sunday we walked to the paint store to get some samples. Lauren loves riding along in the wrap the entire time, she sleeps for a good portion but then enjoys the view the reminder of the time.

I can't believe I got this picture!
She was blowing bubbles really quick with the massive amount of drool she has been producing.

Humor me...try to guess her new food this week, it is the combination of two fruits!

She finally discovered her books on the bottom shelf and has been scooting over to them.
Here is a tiny peek at our new place...a budding tree on the side of the house!
Great video coming soon!

Easter 2010

We have been busy...I mean...REALLY busy!! Between wrapping up the spring semester, house hunting, FINDING a house (yes you read that correctly, more on that later), training for the Avon Walk, and attending our mommy groups and church activities.

This past weekend, Kyle's family came into town for Easter. It was fun to see how many people we could pack into our tiny apt. On Saturday morning we tagged along with Amanda while she ran 12 miles for her marathon training. Lauren and I were able to get in about 8 miles of walking during that time...in the pouring rain: thankfully she was strapped to me and I had my umbrella!

We went to the babywearing group in our county last week and rented this Hoppediz wrap for the month. I have been wanting to buy a more structured woven wrap but wasn't sure which brand to try. It works so much better for our longer walks and she doesn't sag at all. Plus I feel much more comfortable doing back carries. This was our first attempt and Lauren was pretty excited about it:

Our Easter dress (thanks Bekah for letting us borrow Lina's old clothes). Daddy was twirling her around and she was smitten...

Evidence of her 'smittenness'

Frequent Lolo Face

Reading her Easter present from Grandma and Grandpa Rouse

Lauren is working so hard on crawling! It is so much fun to see her progress each day and watch her try to problem-solve how to move. She is up on all fours now, able to rock back and forth, and will move her hands forward about two steps before falling on her tummy. This morning we watched her try to go from the all fours position into a sitting position...so close!