Work it!

My mom and Lauren have been having a great time this week. She makes Lauren "work out" on her beach ball, and she loves it. The leg warmers are a nice touch.

Sour Peaches Lauren

We picked up fresh peaches at the farmers market and put some in the baby food grinder. They must be more sour than baby food peaches. How cute!

Rockies Game

We went to the Rockies game last night with the whole family (Grandma V, too). Here are a few shots from the game!

Kiddopotamus Tiny Diner Placemat

This is a great product- my sister-in-law gave it to us, and we love it. We keep it in the diaper bag at all times. Laurie- you need one of these. I had good intentions to pick on up for you at babies-r-us today, but Lauren fell sound asleep so I decided not to stop. It is nice to contain the mess, but especially nice when the baby sucks on the edge of the table. It is hard rubber, so you just wash it in the sink with hot dish water. The only downside- this light pink color stained quickly from baby food, so if it comes in a darker color I would do that.

Lauren loves Grandma!

Thanks for visiting! Lets plan another visit soon- I miss you already!

Rodeo

There is a really cute, small rodeo in Fraser that we took Lauren to when her Gma was in town.

Bike Ride

This is after the bike ride (helmet came off only once we parked). Notice how she is still clutching the rattle.

Bike Ride

This last weekend Jeff's mom was in town for some quality time with her best girl. We headed up to Winter Park, and Lauren got to go on her first bike ride. We rented a helmet for her, and they gave us a snowboard helmutsince they didn't have a bike helmet small enough. Her head got all sweaty and she wasn't thrilled.

Turns out she is probably just too young for this, and it isn't safe. The bike helmut people at Children's suggest they are 2-3 yrs old prior to riding in the bike trailor- that is no fun!! Interested in other people's take on this.

Lauren's first road race

Like her Daddy- 4th of July weekend we ran a 5 mile race to benefit CHildren's dialysis unit. It started at WP resort and ended in Fraser. It was Lauren's first roadrace, we had fun. Poor Casey was recovering from surgery so he could not make it.

Hissing Beetle

The other night there was this HUGE (1-2 inches long) fat beetle with crazy antlers on the deck. Casey went to sniff it out, and it started to hiss at him. This was all kinda funny until the bug ATTACKED Casey. Literally lunged at him and clung to his fluffy face fur. I freaked out and ran in the house and Jeff was trying to get Casey to quit thrashing so that he could pull it off and kill it. The next night another one flew in the house- scary. My friend Amy has seen them too, so we did some online research- it is called a Ten-lined June Beetle or polyphylla decemlineta. Yuck-O!

529 account

OK, So we are a bit behind on our planned schedule. We have been meaning to, but have not yet started a 529 college savings account for Lauren yet. I think we are looking at the "savings" type account instead of the "in-state" type. Jeff thinks she can go to CU to save money, but I think that the world is her oyster and I dont want to limit her choices. I know that different states have different deals, and you dont have to live in the state to use them. Does anyone have any advice for us? It is a bit overwhelming right now!

Winter Park

More to come I promise......

Dad

Lauren can say Dad. It isn't dada or daddy, it

is Dad (maybe Dat). It may have started with a babble, but since she started saying it a week ago- Jeff runs to her side and proudly responds, so she now knows that "dat" is Jeff. He is beaming constantly. She has the sweetest voice I have ever heard. Other words she can say and understand- Ball ( she is obsessed with balls- especially beach balls) and Up. She also will clap her hands and wave bye-bye, it is too cute! She is growing up so fast!

Crawling...

Lauren is starting to "lunge" more than crawl. She doesn't really know how to coordinate her moves yet, but she is getting close. None-the-less she can scoot on her but or twist and manage to get to what she wants. She also likes to stand, you say "up" and give her your fingers and she pulls up. This seemed like a good thing for her to learn, until bathtime. Now she constantly pulls herself up in the bath- crazy! You have to wash her while she is standing in the tub because she refuses to sit down anymore. We are working on some baby gates....

I am here....

So, our wireless router died- so we have been without internet for over a week. And we had houseguests, and Lauren has been sick- so.... I am here, just a bit behind on my updates.

Eat my shorts!

Check out the cool stamps I got at the post office today. I LOVE The Simpsons.

Pondering...

Today I am doing laundry, and was gathering stuff up from around the house. For once, Lauren is not out of bibs, but actually just has a full load (thanks Laurie, Joe and Ella!!). I grabbed the cover from my nursing pillow (My Brest Friend- the name makes Jeff laugh every time...) and realized- gosh it has been a while since I washed it! I remember when Lauren was brand new, it seemed like I was washing that pillow cover almost every day- for sure 3-5 times/ week. Now it is a few times per month. It got me thinking- why is that? Here are my options:
a) Lauren doesn't spit up as much anymore
b) She still spits up, but I am better at anticipating it and catch it with a burp cloth
c) I am not as insanely particular about everything she touches being super soft and clean.
Hmmmmm- not sure which is the correct answer- I think it is some combo of the three. It is weird to ponder about how things have changed since Lauren was brand new. How she has changed, how Jeff and I have changed and how our life has changed so much. What a blessing she has been to our lives, and I have changed- and I like who I have become. I love to be Lauren's mom! I am still Nicole- I still am respected at work as an intellectual with sassy shoes. It is weird, today might be my epiphany day when I realize I do have it all. I am smiling...Life IS good.

Laugh for the day

After every flight, Qantas pilots fill out a form, called a "gripe sheet," which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems; document their repairs on the form, and then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight.Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humor.

Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by Qantas Pilots (marked with a P) and the Solutions Recorded (marked with an S ) by Maintenance Engineers.

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you're right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

And The Best One For Last !!

P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget

Thanks to my brother Gus for sending this to me- it had my coworkers & I laughing outloud and crying tears the other day- too funny!

Is a bib the new "IT" accessory?

NO! Lauren is a drooler. And a puker. So, she is usually wearing a bib in most of her photos. Jeff is a strong believer in the "bib at all times" philosophy. I prefer to change her clothes, since she has so many. So, unless she is home with me alone, she has a bib on all day long. That is our drive to do a load of laundry for her- when she is out of bibs!

Swingset

Finally the photos! I have been telling everyone how much she loves the swingset up at our place in WP, well I finally remembered my camera tonight when we went out there to play.

ps-it is in the high 50s here in the evening, 60s during the day, thus the jacket. It feels so nice!

Daddy- Give me the keys!

Weeds

This is my favorite show. It is on Showtime (or HBO...) and we dont get the channel but I watch it on netflix. It is literaly the best- and it isn't even reality TV (my other guilty pleasure). This is just trashy humor- I used to be hooked on Nip Tuck, but the last two seasons are kinda "blah". But when I was on leave for my surgery a couple years ago, my friends Laurie and Joe sent me a ton of DVDs to watch, including the first season of weeds- OMG, I was hooked. I have gotten some friends hooked on it as well. So, I got the first disk of season 4 in the mail this week. I cannot wait to watch it- I am thinking it is going to be a while until I get through a disk- not much TV/ movie watching in my life anymore. If you like a bit of dirty humor-check it out! If you are too clean (it is about marijuana, sex, crime- but all in a funny way...) then aviod at all costs!

Life is good...

Casey's surgery

Casey's surgery went well today. Poor baby is clearly hurting tonight, it is so tough because you cannot explain to him why he feels bad, and that it will get better soon. He is a pretty tough cookie, though- we expect to be back to normal in about a week. I have the rest of the week off, I will be home taking care of the little guy. We are all heading up to the mountains for the weekend. Happy 4th of july!