8th Wedding Anniversary

Our 8th wedding anniversary. The traditional gifts are bronze or pottery, the modern gifts are linen and lace. Hmmm...
Linen: Jeff is folding laundry
Pottery: While I am loading/ unloading the dishwasher and washing baby bottles.

Not actually quite that boring, we went to a nice dinner at Carmines. But what a difference a year makes...

Lets go Rockies!

This is after the Rockies game- poor girl! She has had a long weekend, we are lucky she is such a good sport!

GABF

Yesterday was the Great American Beer Festival in Denver. Jeff and I went and had the best time- it was like Christmas morning!! We usually go every year, but had to miss out last year because I was pregnant. We had a great time and tasted many yummy beers. I discovered a new favorite brewery Cascade Brewery - they had a great kriek and apricot ale. I dont think you can get it outside of Oregon. We had our pretzel necklaces, but noticed a new trend- there were some girls with cheese sticks and slim jims on their necklace along with the pretzels- great idea!

Doh!

One of the many silly outfits.

This is Diana- a friend from work. She was a volunteer beer pourer. Jeff and I used to volunteer, but this year we couldn't committ to the time because of Lauren- maybe next year!

Bath time

Lauren loves her baths- our tub is nice and big so she crawls around the tub playing. She also likes to stand up in the tub, which makes it hard to wash her up. Here are some shots. :)

Happy last day of summer!

It snowed today in Denver! I love it! One of the things I like best about Denver is that you get all four seasons (sometimes in the same month!).

Weekend Guests

We had a really fun weekend - our good friends Laurie and Joe came to visit with their daughter Ella who is 11 months old. It was the first time we met Ella in person, but have Skyped with her and seen tons of pictures- so it felt like I already knew her. Laurie and Joe are some of our easiest friends- it just feel easy and natural to hang out with them and we always have a blast. Laurie and I are going through all this mommy stuff together and we have so much in common, I would love to spend an afternoon with her chatting while the girls play more often. Ella and Lauren got along very well, although Lauren wasn't always the happiest about Ella playing with her favorite toys. And infants dont have the gentlest touch- so they poked and hit each other a bit- but mainly out of affection or curiosity, I think they liked each other!

Friday night we had a cookout with lots of great friends- there are some pictures of the girls, I failed to get pictures of the deck and the grown-ups, but it was a nice night and a great party.

Saturday we went to tour the Stranahan's Wiskey distillery, it is just a mile or two from our house. There were a bunch of kookie shriner guys on tour with us, but it was fun. There were even "kid-sized" oak barrells (hah hah). Jeff and Joe are big fans of this wiskey, I am not- I couldn't drink my sample, I cannot stand wiskey- even the good stuff.

Saturday night Jeff and I got to babysit the girls while Laurie and Joe went to a friend's wedding (Congrats Leslie!). The girls played really well together, and it was a lot of fun for us too. We had them both snug in bed by 8pm- wow!

Greenville zoo

We took Lauren to the zoo in Greenville this weekend, it was fun but she totally got overheated. They have a bunch of animals to pet, and it is very small and quaint. It will be fun to go back when it isn't so hot! Check out this sign- makes me want to send it in to Jay Leno!

Car jacking

So, we were in WI for my cousin's wedding- it was super fun! We tried to order an Irish car bomb with my cousin at the reception- but the bar wasn't able to make it. They needed us to tell them how to make it, and did not have any guiness or any Jameson- as the bartender put it- they were "kinda short on Irish tonight". Well, none of us were creative enough to think of another shot we wanted, so we improvised and had him make it from crown royal, bailey's and michelob amber bock. We dubbed it the "car-jacking", and it was not good....

Family Photo

Time with Grandma V

Lauren got some quality time with her grandma this weekend. I still think her stunning blue eyes come from grandma.

Here piggy, piggy

While in wisconsin this weekend, we hit the cheese and sausage fest in New London. Jeff ran the 5k because he really wanted a tshirt, but they ran out of shirts and goodie bags, so he got nothing- but still had to pay registration- seriously!?!? Quite the Mickey Mouse operation, I would say, that is a bummer. But the festival was fun. They had kid's activities including a petting zoo- Lauren's favorite parts were the fences and the grass/leaves and trying to get at the food and water bowls for a Shih-tzu puppy. She also got to pet a bunny and a rat. My long-time friend Anne came down to hang out with us, it was very nice!

Harley Chic

Lauren in the sidecar- one day she will get a ride. ( I didn't get a photo, but she rode around the woods on the golf cart...)

Lauren and Great Grandpa

Lauren visiting great grandpa sawall. She was very happy to sit on his lap and chew on his cane (which for the record, it doesn't seem like he needs!!) Jeff got her dressed, and I think she looks like a boy!

We dont travel light...

Our family at the airport... we must be a scene with the dog and Lauren, trying to grab dinner before our late flight...

Happy Birthday Honey

We celebrated Jeff's birthday in Wisconsin, we went to Bean City for dinner and Jeff was surprised to find more than a dozen people show up to celebrate his brithday.

9 month stats

Lauren had her 9 month pediatrician visit today, and she got a flu shot! She is still right on track with her growth, she is 19 lb 11.5 oz (70%) and 29 inches (90%).

The bad news, the pediatrician agrees that she is allergic to dairy. Turns out that her recent refusal to drink breast milk and all of her vomiting are probably related to dairy in my milk (because I eat a lot of dairy). So, she had a full allergy profile drawn (ouch- real blood draw from the arm) and we are going to avoid all dairy. Now I just have to decide if I am cutting out all dairy myself, or weaning her to soy formula. I dont even know where to begin, I have never bought formula and was hoping to not have to figure it out. I am very sad for Miss Lauren, I was so hoping she would not have allergies.

People of Walmart...

Ok, there is this funny webpage called http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/ and it is hilarious! You can post pictures on there of people (only at Walmart, I guess) who go out in public looking a mess. There are mullets and wife-beaters galore, lots of men in drag (not sure if all are on purpose) and thick women dressed in tiny, tiny clothes. I have been cracking up looking at the pics. Some might say it is mean- i personally think if you show up in public dressed like that, you are asking for some attention. I just cannot believe there are people out there gutsy enough to take pictures of strangers in a store- but thank goodness they do. he he he he! This pic is one of my personal fav's- what was this guy thinking? Are these underos?

Heading Home!

Lauren and I are on vacation! I am off until next Tuesday, yipee! Tomorrow night we are getting on a plane to WI for my cousin Jessie's wedding. It is going to be so much fun. So, between now and Thursday I have to organize and pack, and get a million errands done. Traveling with an infant is more work than i thought. Thanks a million to my mom- I just have to make a shopping list and my mom will pick up the diapers and food and everything I need. And she has great friends who keep her stocked with all of the baby gear, so we just show up!

Lauren has started to get kinda clingy with me lately, and doesn't like to be set down or let me out of her sight- so I am interested how this trip will go. I would love her to hang with everyone and be passed around but I am worried - she is a bit fearful of people she doesn't know well. It might be bad timing.

One of the best parts of the trip? Grandparents! Jeff and I will get to experience what it would be like if we lived by family. My parents are taking Lauren during the wedding, then we are going to bring her with us for a while, and they are going to come out to the reception (THANKS MOM AND RANDY!) and pick her up and bring her home to bed and let us stay out as late as we want!! YEEEE HA!!

Confession

So, I have a confession. I read People magazine every week. And US weekly sometimes too. I am so up on celebrity gossip, makes me want to puke! This is a new guilty pleasure for me, we just renewed our newspaper subscription and they include a free magazine with it. I decided to pick People because it included the most magazines and I need something mindless to read while I am "making Lauren's lunch" at work (she is still drinking breastmilk, so I have to take some breaks at work to make her lunch...). And I have a friend at work who is an US Weekly addict and brings them in for me to read on my "breaks". It fulfills the requirement of mindless entertainment to pass the time- but I am embarrassed to admit all of the useless celebrity gossip I know. Like Jon and Kate and their twisted lives, and Kourtney Kardashian's unplanned pregnancy..... if it is useless gossip, I can probably fill you in. Oh.... the things I do for Lauren.......... (he he he he)

Cheerios!

Lauren and I just had the best breakfast. We took turns feeding each other Cheerios! She was laughing so hard when she would put a Cheerio in my mouth, what a fun thing!

The Cottage Cheese Incident (CCI)

Mmmmm Cottage cheese. Lauren was having fun with her dish of cottage cheese. But, she actually didn't like it at all- she would cringe and spit it out if I tried to feed her any.

The really bad news- about 10 minutes after I took this photo she broke out in really bad hives all over. Essentially covering her face, neck, hands and lower arms- with a bunch of isolated hives everywhere else. And lots of sneezing. This is the 3rd time she has done this with dairy- I think we have a problem. Once she ate yogurt and didn't have any trouble- so I dont really get it?? I have been praying all along that Lauren doesn't get my crazy allergy issues :(