Great Lauren Moments from the Week

* Lauren says “Poop” and about half the time, she actually has it in her diaper. Once this week, she told me before its occurance and we made it to the potty for the first time. Another, she woke up crying with a big blowout. It’s amazing to see the first signs of awareness here.
* We got her new comforter and sheets on the bed in her room. She was fascinated with the guardrail to keep her in. But, her first night in it, she stayed awake for an hour past her bedtime. (And she looked like such a tiny peanut in that big twin bed!) I put her back in the crib at 9 p.m. and she was sleeping in less than five minutes.
* She spent part of Tuesday night with Color Wonder and watching Sponge Bob Square Pants – all from inside one of our laundry baskets.
* Lauren trotted over to the open pantry Tuesday morning and pointed up, “Rai-sai? Rai-sai?” requesting a breakfast of raisins. Of course, waffles and milk completed the meal.
* She can put her number puzzle together by herself.
* We bought her a toy castle for $5 on Craigslist.com and she loves opening the front doors. Nick sticks a character through the door and she laughs!
* She helped clean up at Kaye’s and stood, looking at Kaye when she was done. “Well? Thank you, good job?” she retorted when Kaye didn’t say anything immediately!
* She noticed I had flowers on my skirt this morning.
* We’re talking a lot about the little brother coming up, and she kisses my belly willingly.
* She’s still really preoccupied with showing off her belly button, asking to see yours, and telling you your watch goes, “Tick, tock, tick, tock.”

Run Day, and NordicFest

Nick and I were coordinators for our church’s Fall Festival 5K Run/2 mile walk, held at 8 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 12. Our annual family reunion (Nick’s dad’s side, affectionally dubbed “NordicFest”) was to take place the same day, 3 1/2 hours away. Nick’s brother Ryan and Ryan’s fiancee Jessica helped us set up, ran the course, and traveled to the reunion with us – good sports all the way. Friends graciously watched Lauren for us Friday night and Saturday.

Picture #1: Our start line, pictured at 6 a.m. after we went out and sent up directional arrows for the route. Nick hung the banner the night before, with lots of laughs from Ryan, Jessica and me.
Picture #2: A tent on the grounds which served as awards stage, water station, and food.
Picture #3: A close-up of our donated bagels and fruit.

Great weather and a successful turnout. I wish I had pictures of the crowd but from that point I was just too busy. We were cleaned up by 9:30 and hit the road by 11, picking up Lauren and lunch along the way. It was nice to see everyone at the reunion, but then the room started to spin for me, so I napped while Nick took Lauren on a boat ride and fed her supper.

Picture 4: Lauren and cousin Sam.
Picture 5: Lauren and “Uncle” Calvin playing “speed Patti-Cake” (don’t ask; it made her laugh!) We laughed at the similar hairstyles

It’s A Boy!

(Insert 20-week sonogram shot here; CD from doctor isn’t working)

On Sept. 4, we visited the doctor for our 20-week sonogram. Kaye requested this particular Friday off, so I was home with Lauren and she had to come to the appointment, and Nick was going to meet us there. With mama-brain, I’d confirmed the appointment, assuming it was in the clinic we had the first sonogram, but it was at the hospital where Baby Wenos will be born. Fortunately, they are a few buildings away from each other, so Nick and I raced in. You get to be up to 15 minutes late before your sonogram is cancelled, and we were 10.

In the waiting room, Nick read Lauren a children’s book while I tried to settle down. I don’t like to be late as a rule, and I was praying the baby was healthy. Finding out the sex, as we agreed as a couple to do, was secondary. “I try to limit my caffeine intake to one a day, and Lauren turned out fine when I did that with her,” I told myself. “That turkey lunch meat you ate by mistake won’t give your kid two heads,” I promised.

Inside the sonogram room, I pulled up my shirt and they spread the warm gel on my stomach (I know this gel used to be cold, and I’m so glad they invented gel warmers in time for Lauren’s sonograms). Mama-brain take 2: I’d forgotten to pack Lauren a ton of toys in the diaper bag, but she behaved well, playing with a doll the sonogram tech provided. Mama-brain take 3: I also forgot the 20-week sonogram can take up to an hour. Spine OK, check. Brain OK. Little feet and hands and my nose. Beautiful blood flow. I squeezed Nick’s hand and tried to relax. Being on my back is uncomfortable.

“And what do you think it is?” the sonogram tech asked, focusing in. Um, it was pretty obvious.

“It’s a boy!” Nick said, as ceremoniously as he’d said “It’s a girl!” the cold December night Lauren exited my body. I liked finding out this way, without the exhaustion on labor clouding my thoughts. Happy tears fell as I let the news sink in. “Our family will have one-of-each,” I thought. Then, “Can I be a good mom to a boy? Nick will have to help me understand him,” then, “We’ll need some clothes.”

And then Dr. S came in to review, and pronounced Baby Wenos healthy, and our family of four got a little closer to real.

Labor Day

Dad and Mom with Lauren at the merry-go-round. Mama looks tired, but Lauren looks so happy!

Some of my friends have charming pictures of themselves with their kids at the Ella’s Deli merry-go-round so I put it on our to-do list for the summer. After Liz, Jon and Brayden left from a visit on Monday, the three of us headed down there. 75 cents per person – the most affordable ride in town! I’m not sure if she understood what we were doing; these horses didn’t look like Aunt Kathy’s, so explaining what they were didn’t make sense. And during the up-and-down of the ride, we cheered and she put on a brave face. Nick and I went inside to get single-scoop cones afterwards, and Lauren sampled ours.

Lauren developments: She can go down the big twisty slide at the park by herself now! She knows where the steps are and we watch her, but she’s pretty much on her own. She can sing the entire alphabet with pauses, although she’s not sure what it means. If you sing the next part, she’ll pick it up. And Nick says he’s heard her count to 10; I’ve heard her count to eight. She gives the best hugs in the entire world. She can be tricked into eating her vegetables if I put them on a spoonful of yogurt, and she hardly ever throws food anymore. She says “Yes” and “Yup” in response to questions, and most of the time she does understand them. After the cones, we went to Target to pick out a comforter for her twin bed, the first step in moving her from the crib.

Camping with the Wenos Family

The only picture I managed to take the whole weekend! Lauren eating our spaghetti dinner cooked on the camp stove. She did have a fork….

Last year we took off a week in August to go camping. This summer, Nick and I are a little short on vacation time (there will be a maternity leave and a 2010 trip to Texas to use it for; my vacation time gets renewed in July of every year). So, we set off for Clear Lake campground on a Wednesday afternoon. Nick packed every essential into the Ford Ranger, and Lauren rode in the passenger seat with the airbag turned off as I crammed into the tiny backseat and try to let my pregnant body sleep. We stopped at McDonald’s for a lunch. Lauren, recently suspicious of any meat form, wouldn’t eat her chicken nuggets until Nick found the magic trick: dipping them in ketchup. She prefers the grapes from the fruit and walnut salad (good girl).

We round up Grandpa, Grandma and Aunt Kayla in Rhinelander, attached the sailboat to the Ranger, and headed up to the campsite. Buckets of rain hit the windshield. Nick has affixed a tarp over our stuff in the hatchback, but after a hour at our site, it won’t stop raining. Someone suggests staying at the house in Eagle River; we think that’s a fantastic idea. We get there, unpack and eat by 10 p.m. I silently say thanks in my head to how much heavy lifting Nick is doing now that I’m pregnant. I tell him later.

We stay at the house from Wednesday-Friday. Lauren is happy to see everyone and plays with her toys. We take her to the children’s museum on Thursday and spend hours there. She likes the playhouse with the dolls in it the best. Liz, Jon, Brayden and Ellyse arrive. On Friday evening, the forecast looks clear, although Saturday night is predicted to cool to 38 degrees. Wait, is this August?

We meet up with Chrissy, Sam and Jess at the site. Because we have photos on our fridge of Sam and Jess, Lauren knows their names immediately. (One of her games is to have me name all the people in pictures on the fridge.) Foil pack dinners, boating, Lauren digging in the sand rounds out the rest of the weekend. Lauren sleeps well in the tent, but when she cries in the middle of the night, I slide her on the air mattress between Nick and me. On Sunday morning I wake. The forecasters were right. I look at Lauren. She opens her eyes, sits up and says, “Hi!” Despite the cold, I melt inside.

Raspberry Splat

Lauren,

I posted this picture on Facebook.com with the following message. I just wanted to archive it for you…

Dear Jason and Jenny,
Thank you for inviting me, and my parents, over last weekend. I was eating your raspberries like a normal person around you, but when Daddy was out of town and Mommy was in charge, I decided to see what happens when you clap raspberries in your hands. Here is the result…

Oh, kiddo, I laugh at you now, but when y0u did this, I was a little sad Dad couldn’t help me clean you up! We picked the raspberries from Jenny and Jason’s patch at their house. You weren’t sure what to do until I taught you to pick, and then your mouth was red. On this particular evening, Dad went to a Brewer game in Milwaukee. After this dinner, I cleaned you up and we took a stroll on State Street up to Concerts on the Square. We stayed for five songs (one being Flight of the Bumblebee) before you decided you’d had enough.

Puzzle

When I bought this puzzle for Lauren ages ago, she moved the pieces around and put them in the wrong spots. Then, she learned her animals, and each piece became “Moo!” or “Oink-oink” or “Neigh!” Now, she can put the pieces back in the right places. She’ll sit and do this puzzle five or six times in a row! I also have an alphabet puzzle and a number puzzle, which I expect will take longer to master.

Courtney/Kummer Wedding

Picture #1: The wedding party for my aunt’s wedding. There I am on the left, squeezed into a non-maternity dress and feeling good about it!

Picture #2: Grandpa Tom, Lauren and me. She was pretty pleased to visit with him.

Picture #3: Nick and Lauren check out trees by the golf course. I love this photo; it’s such a simplistic father/daughter shot, and neither one knew I was taking it.

My aunt Sharon got married in Green Lake, Wis. on Saturday, August 8. The backstory: Some time ago (probably less than five years), my father told me Sharon and Uncle Pat were divorcing after 25 years of marriage. “Oh no!” I said.  Then, about three (?) years ago, Sharon met Jerry. They love to golf, ride motorscooters and renovate their home together. About a year ago, they got engaged, and set the date for this summer. I was asked, as one of her nieces, to stand up in the wedding.

It was truly one of the best weddings I’ve ever attended. They exchanged vows under tall shade trees on the golf course at a club. The ceremony took a total of 15 minutes. I wore what I wanted, and my only duty was to make a card box. Despite it being a hot day, Lauren behaved herself and ate fruit at the outdoor supper. My cousin, another bridesmaid, brought wildflowers from her garden, and another cousin made intricate cupcakes. The food was delicious, and over supper, we all went around and introduced ourselves (the group dining was small enough for these specifics). 

My father walked patiently on the grounds with Lauren as she confidently extended her hand to him. She’s been in a phase this summer where she’ll fall and get her hands dirty, and hold them out for someone else to brush off. Dad diligently obliged. And we did some business on the side: For two years now, he’s been talking about getting paperwork together for me now that he’s getting older. He lost a sister (84) and a brother this year (71) and no matter how many years go by, we remember how organized my mother was when it came to funeral preparation. He delivered some paperwork to me on that day, but he did it tastefully behind the scenes, as to not ruin the joyous occasion. I know that by giving me this, he is regarding me as an adult, and I feel honored to be in charge of something because he’s done so much for me.

The discussion reminded me of the day I told him, “I wish I could do something for you, because you’ve done so much for me.” I think it was shortly after I graduated from college.

After making his standard “buy me a Ferrari someday when you’re a CEO” joke, he said:

“Just be a good parent to your own children.”