Packing for Mexico

We are leaving in less than a week for Puerto Vallarta and I am starting to gather things for the trip. We are not staying at a hotel, so we have to bring Lauren's pack-and-play for her to sleep in. We are also bringing and umbrella stroller for her and her car seat. As you can see- we will not be traveling light.  I just plan to tip a nice cab driver well to help us haul our stuff around.  Jeff has this psychotic idea that we dont need the carseat, so I am fully responsible for that one on my own. (he is dumb...) Anyone have any tips or advice, like "dont forget to pack the _____"?
So far I have - pack-and-play and a sheet
bathing suits, cover ups, floating baby suit, swim diapers, tons of sunblock, sun hats, sunglasses
baby forks and spoons, sippy cups, some snacks she loves, soy formula we saved (so we can make it up in a pinch while trying to track down soy milk)
clothes, shoes, diapers, wipes, bath toiletries
some toys and books for her. We will probably buy her beach and pool toys there, cuz they are cheap.
Cutest baby passport ever (her hair is in piggy-tails, I might try to scan her picture- it is so cute)

Is there anything for Lauren that I am forgetting? It is a bit different traveling to a foreign country, especially since we need to find soy milk and such. I tried contacting SILK to ask where the distribute product in PV, but (suck!) they did not respond to my emails.

Please post if you have advice for me- we are getting so excited, what a place to turn 35 years old- I will be on the beach with my two favorite people (wish Casey could come too) and sipping a tasty drink. Might even be reading a book on my Kindle- it really doesn't get much better!!

Girl's Weekend

Last weekend my very dear friend Anne came to visit with her daughter Belle. Her daughter is almost  2 years old, so a perfect buddy for Lauren. We had a FANTASTIC girls weekend and the girls were so cute. I think Belle has been bullied a bit in her life (by her older sister perhaps?) and may have been a bit tough on Lauren, but they were so cute together anyway. I cannot believe this is the only picture I took of them all weekend. I tried a few others, but this darn camera did not work- I hate it and I totally need to return it. 

Saturday night Jeff was a dear and he watched the girls so that we could go out on the town- here is a pic at a cute bar/ restaurant near our house- look at all those hot brunettes!! It was a blast, and I was sorry to see Anne go. I have some fantastic friends out there, and it makes it very tough to be so many miles apart...

Lauren's coach

Can't believe I am sharing this- but what the heck! It is who I am. We went to the coach outlet store the other day and I thought- mama needs a new handbag. Seriously, I need one and I deserve it (according to me I guess). Anyway, the three of us went to the outlets with my 20% off coupon and I took to looking around.  The daddy was supposed to watch her, but who knew what she was up to. She was clinging to my legs - mommy, mommy, mommy..... Anyway- I needed this moment- to buy myself a nice gift. So, I escaped the little critter and started to adore the pretty leather bags. Well, Lauren is enjoying them too- she has a little colorful clutch that she is proudly clinging too and sucking on the handle. She struts through the store like she owns it- while sucking on the coach handbag. Daddy sits in a corner guarding the stroller- GREAT!  Anyway, I could not imagine putting the sucked-on handbag back.  I would hate for someone to plan a splurge at the coach store like I was, and end up with a little clutch that a baby sucked on. Besides, with the 20% off it was less than $30. 

So, you can see where I am going with this right?? Lauren has a coach bag- the ladies in the store wrapped it up pretty in her own little shopping bag and she strutted proudly about (as did I) with her coach shopping bag. Jeff tried to get our picture, but getting a shot of Lauren these days is not so easy....

Elmo!!

How does she know who he is?? 

OK, to start from the begining. My friend Anne is visiting with her two year old daughter, and she asks the girls, "Do you want to watch elmo??" and Lauren and Belle both come running over to watch elmo on her iPhone. Lauren yells, "Elmo, Elmo!" clear as a bell. What?? How does Lauren know elmo? She doesn't have anything elmo except a play cell phone, and I dont think we ever say the word Elmo, we just call it her phone. I forget it even has elmo on it.  She has an Elmo balloon, but she calls it "balloon" and doesn't seem to notice Elmo on it. Anne asks me if we have elmo movies, I dig through our movies and we do- but it is still in the wrapper- I am seriously in shock when we put in the movie and Lauren gets all excited whenever Elmo appears and shouts ELMO, ELMO!! To my knowledge, she has never watched an elmo show, or really seen anything elmo. When Jeff came home and saw her watching elmo and shouting his name, he was equally in shock. He just kept saying, "how does Lauren know Elmo??"  So weird, isn't it? That Elmo- he really gets the little girls wrapped around his finger, doesn't he?

At your service

Yesterday we dropped Lauren off at daycare, and they told us she was out of soy milk. WHAT?? Why didn't they tell us that the night before? It was 6:30am and we both had to be at work at 7am, absolutely no time to go buy her milk. I am picturing her at lunch saying "more milk, more milk" and using her little hand signs. When I got to work I asked the concierge if they could go buy her some silk and bring it to the daycare for me- no problem!! So, we got a half-gallon of Silk delivered to Lauren's daycare within 45 minutes- and it cost me $2.62 total with mileage!! How is that for service??

Rockies home opener

We went to the Rockies game last sunday- it was the home opening weekend, but it was warm, sunny and beautiful. My mom was in town ( I think we always drag her to Rockies games) and we had a really nice time. Lauren is getting more interested (the music, clapping, etc) and easier to handle. Wow- we are so lucky to live in a town where we can just decide to "pop in" for a professional baseball game. I like to caption this picute "An Orthodontists Dream..." (ie- a family of people with such jacked-up teeth, we all smile with our mouth closed...)

GMA V Visit

So, my mom was here to visit last weekend- we had a great time. I have been a bit too busy to post, and royally frustrated with my new camera. Here are the two best pics that I got of them- not good, right? Everything is blurry, I just really hate the Nikon. Please help- i need a tiny purse camera that doesn't suck- suggestions please?
Anyway- Lauren had a great time with Grandma and learned some new things including "arm-pit check" (Gus- you are laughing out loud right now, aren't you?).  It was a great weekend and I cannot wait to see my mom again. I think I learn to love my daughter and my role as a mother even more (as if that is possible) when I see our family through my mothers eyes....

Busy as a Bee

Sorry I haven't been posting lately, I have been "busy as a bee"- just like the million bees pollinating my dogwood tree. Here is a pic of some of the blooms- it is just white with flowers, and there are at least 20-30 bees on it at all times. I just wish I could post the smell- our house smells fantastic right now...

Blue Hair

Lauren has moved up to the toddler room at daycare, starting this month. What does that mean? She no longer uses a crib or high chair- they eat at a tiny table with tiny chairs, and they nap only once a day from noon till 2pm on little cots. They also go outside to play twice a day for almost an hour each time, every day. Even when it is snowing or cold or sloppy out. What does it really mean? We pick up a very tired, very dirty, hungry little girl. She is doing well with the transition, and seems to love her new days, but she is a busy body and doesn't eat the best, and all of the playing makes her very tired out. The funniest thing is how dirty she is- today we picked her up and she was wearing different clothes than we picked her up in, and her "new" outfit was covered in blue paint and a bit of dirt.  The funniest thing was her blue/green hair. You can see a green streak behind her ear in this picture. She was painting with a paintbrush!!! She is totally punk-rock, I just wish the picture would have showed it better.

Croup

Croup is scary- if you have ever seen it, you know what I mean. Today I got Lauren up and when I went to change her, she made a loud wheeze/ gasping sound. Like- really loud. I was scared almost speachless, I was worried she had something ( a toy, button, etc...) in her airway. She has not been sick, so I thought of croup but figured she would have other symptoms. I called for Jeff and he came running up- apparently I barely wispered, "Jeff, can you come up here right now?" and the tone in my voice freaked him out.  He heard one squeak out of her- and said "She can't breathe, we are going to the hospital." So, off we went to the ER. She got a bit better on the way there, which made me think it was more likely croup- and the cool air outside was helping. But my hands were still shaking and I could barely talk when we got to the ER. The nurse we saw in triage was a guy I know and he apparently picked up on how freaked out we were right away. 

Anyway, it is just a classic case of croup- she got some steroids and has been starting to cough throughout the day.  I had to call in sick to work AGAIN, this is not a good thing at all. We need a grandma to move here ASAP before I loose my job!!

Happy Easter

We had a great day. We hid eggs in the yard and Lauren loved searching for them and putting them in her basket. In the afternoon we had friends over and we all enjoyed easter dinner on the deck- it was a beautiful warm sunny day.

Winter Park

This is the view taken from my living room, in my pajamas last weekend.  (Obviously two different days...)

This is why I love to spend our weekends up there.

Purple Jellies

This morning my lovely daughter was a bit of a pill. As I was getting her dressed, I asked her what shoes she wanted to wear.  I brought down her shoe basket and pulled out 3 pairs of shoes and set them out and asked her what she wanted to wear. I made a big *Rookie* mistake! She grabbed a pair of purple jelly shoes that are several sizes too big and wanted to wear those. What was I thinking- leaving the whole basket on the floor in her plain view?? So I put up the basket with the purple shoes and asked her to pick from the ones that fit her. DRAMA- she cried and thrashed and would not let me put her sneakers on her.  So,  I carried her kicking and screaming downstairs in her socks and put her shoes in my purse to bring to daycare for her. When Jeff tried to put her coat on she just cried and thrashed and said NO and SHOE over and over.  Well, I gave in and got the stupid purple shoes and she shut up and started smiling immediately. STINKER!!! She tromped into daycare in her too big purple jellies and I left them with the white sneakers that fit. What is happening to my sweet little angel?