Almost Two Pictures

Lauren’s 2 year picture, courtesy of J.C. Penney Portrait Studio.

We brought one of Lauren’s favorite puzzles for this photo shoot, and the photographer handed her a plastic “2″ to hold, which automatically went in her mouth, but this shot, with her shyly playing with the button, was the winner. Nick put her barrettes in – a nice finishing touch.

We recently took Lauren to the “Sesame Street Live!” stage show at the Alliant Energy Center. They had a nice kid-friendly set-up where everyone was close to the stage but there was room for kids to dance/walk the steps of the center. Lauren was impressed by Big Bird, Cookie Monster and Elmo, and did her share of walking on the steps. But she stopped in her tracks for the Elmo/Mr. Noodle segment (Mr. Noodle is a mime that accompanies Elmo. Lauren says, “Mr. Noodle. Ah, funny!”)

We headed north for Nick’s annual deer hunting weekend/a baby shower for Nick’s cousin Sara. Lauren was worn out chasing her cousins. Funny/nice things to remember:
* Cousin Sam covering her with kisses, and watching out for her.
* Aunt Kayla tickling her. Lauren asked “What Kayla doing?” whenever Kayla was not in the room.
* Playing with her Etch-A-Sketch in church, and when I scribbled circles on it, Lauren shouted, “WOW, MOMMY, WOW!” sending Aunt Chrissy into giggles. I am the best artist ever.
* Saying “yups” in answer to everything (where did that come from?)
* Begging for a bite of cake at the shower.
* Saying, “Bye bye Grandma,” really clearly on Sunday.
* Having a nice three-hour trip home after having a temper tantrum on the trip up. Sometimes you hit on the right amount of snacks plus toys plus music, and you feel like you’ve won.

New Room

I mentioned that Lauren moved into her new room downstairs, and I just wanted to include a shot of it. We purchased a used crib that converts to a toddler bed, so she’s not in this twin yet. I threw out some ideas originally, because Nick is a good and interested collaborator on this kind of stuff.

“We could do an Elmo or a Dora theme because she’s really into them, or another idea that’s popular now, and would last longer, is a pink-and-chocolate brown theme,” I said. He jumped at the final suggestion and launched a trip to Sherwin Williams, where a helpful guy matched our sheet pillowcase and said, “You’ll have a beautiful…pink…room?” I helped Nick with the first coat on a warm day when we could ventilate the room. He did the second coat. I found the crib on craiglist.com, and the couple even threw in some old sheets. And the border (removable decals) were found at Menards for $12 total. Our room for baby will remain yellow until he’s older.

More funny stuff:
- After Sam’s birthday, Lauren went around for a week saying, “Happy to you, Owen.” Owen is the little boy across the street, and I think she mixed up the names.
- She’s on a thank you kick. “Thank you Mommy, thank you Daddy, thank you Kaye.” Most of the time it’s appropriate, like when I give her a glass of milk, but sometimes she’ll sit and say it randomly to herself.
- We got a book at the library, “Ba Ba Black Sheep,” because I wasn’t sure of all the lyrics. Within days, she taught herself most of it and speed-sings it, like “Ba-ba-black-sheep-have-you-any-wool-yessir-yessir…” Kaye ended up teaching the other kids at day care the song because she wouldn’t stop.
- Already, she’s interested in sitting on the sink and watching me do my make-up in the morning, and she practices combing her hair, then Mommy’s, in turn.
- Speaking of turn, if someone has something she’d like to use, like a crayon, she says, “My turn.” But “My turn Mommy,” means, “Mommy, it’s your turn now.”

Halloween 2009

Ladybug Lauren.
Halloween fell on a brisk Saturday this year. Few children braved the cold to trick-or-treat, even when their parents carted them around in minivans. Nick took Lauren to a children’s Halloween party at our community center, and then door-to-door for a little while in the evening. “She didn’t want to go up to the door, and then when she was there, she didn’t want to leave. After awhile, I felt bad, like I was using her to get candy for myself or something,” he recapped. “Maybe next year, I just wanted her to get a taste of Halloween,” I said. She WAS pretty adorable!

What Do You Need For a New Baby?

Baby Wenos is 29 weeks today. My pregnancy email update says he’s 2 1/2 pounds, about the size of a butternut squash. Which just makes me hungry for butternut squash soup …

Anyway, Nick and I have an awesome friend, Haly, who is expecting her first child in February with her husband Joe. (Feb is a popular month; we have four other friends expecting). Haly emailed me asking for advice on her registry. I felt flattered and even loved re-capping getting ready for Lor. And what I remembered is worth saving for Lor. And Baby Wenos – we are getting your room ready and have all this stuff for you! Here’s what I sent her:

“I’m going to send you my ideas, and if Nick has any, he can chime in (he seems to have a better memory of those first months with Lauren than I do. I was sleeping, trying to sleep, or breastfeeding).

First off – we were cheapos! We got Lauren’s crib for free, and after measuring the slats (Google the guidelines – you don’t want your kid’s head to fit through), it was kosher. We got the bedding off craigslist.com (unisex – Lauren was a “surprise” – moon and stars). So I’m not sure how to tell you to shop for a crib. Our high chair came from a garage sale.

We got a Boppy and a Bumbo from craigslist.com, and these were the BEST. They are not creatures from outer space. A Boppy is a U-shaped pillow that goes around your middle and allows to you breastfeed comfortably (or helps the baby drink a bottle) with the baby on top of it. A Bumbo is a seat that allows your child to sit, even if they can’t hold up their own neck yet. Great for spoonfeeding the babe when they move on to solids if you don’t have a travel high chair. Both retail for over $50 each (I need those patents!) so try to get one used, or maybe a few people can go in on them in the registry.

A vibrating chair or swing is nice for your free hands. I would say you don’t need both, but that’s just me.

Likewise, a Baby Bjorn or a sling is nice and easy to get used (they can also be $50 and up). You probably don’t need both – most moms I know are partial to one or the other.

Receiving blankets, hats, bibs, pacifiers (if you decide to use them) – good gifts, and you can never have enough.

A bassinette – nice to just put by the bed for the first three months, but baby could go swaddled in the crib and you could skip it.

Diapers – register for sizes newborn, 1, 2, 3 and you’ll save $.

I was disappointed by Diaper Genies and I just throw my diapers in the trash. Some people like them, though.

Car seat – we got two bucket style car seats that have bases. You can unsnap the seat and clip it onto a shopping cart. Ours were Evenflow and Graco. If you are taking a birthing class, they have a “car seat day” with dolls. You can do it! If you aren’t, Google your area police – sometimes they have clinics on how to properly install a car seat.”

*Nick added later (what a good dad. Makes my heart melt):
- Baby monitor
- Infant bath tub – this fits into a kitchen sink with a little hammock to keep them from moving
- We had a changing table that worked great. You can also get a curved shaped pad that sits on top of a dresser as long as it isn’t too tall. It keeps them from rolling over while changing
- Car seat cover – great for the winter, it fits around the car seat to keep them warm
- Socks – they don’t really where shoes right away but socks are good
- Kids books
- Rocking chair

A lot of stuff for a little peanut, and I’m sure we didn’t even hit everything …

Moral Support

A salute to the things keeping this big mama happy in her 28th week:
- A copy of Hope Edelman’s “Motherless Mothers” from the library. Edelman wrote “Motherless Daughters” in the mid-1990s, and a copy was gifted to me by my English teacher when Mom died. When I found out Edelman has a new book out, I found “Motherless Mothers” from a few years back. Her interviews with other “motherless mothers” and stories of her two pregnancies are a tremendous comfort.
- Getting back to a few sessions of BODYPUMP weight class brought back adreneline and good spirits, and cutting out early because “I can’t do” the ab section is fabulous!
- Low-calorie hot chocolate. It’s nicer outside now than it was in October, but I still bust it out.
- A solo shopping trip on Halloween morning, where I Christmas-shopped (earliest ever) and Nick spent time with Lauren. In the mall, random people walked by in Halloween get-ups, Williams-Sonoma pushed Thanksgiving menu items (too expensive), and Hallmark geared up for Christmas with ornaments.
- An “Elmo’s World” DVD from the library, starring Tina Fey as a pirate. Ah, Tina, I love you so.
- Lauren lighting up when watching said DVD. What is it about Elmo that makes kids gravitate toward him?
- Moving Lauren into her new pink bedroom downstairs. I miss her upstairs, though!
- Crayola Hassle-Free Watercolor Paints. You wet a washable pen with a water strip, put the tip in paints that ONLY have an opening big enough to hold the pen, and apply to paper, and suddenly Lauren is entertained and I can get dinner done before Nick gets home. Genius. She may have moved on from the paper to her left arm with the purple – but hey, it washes off.
- Being invited to things: I’m going to lunch with a friend on Friday and a baby shower later this month. It’s nice to be social.
- Random co-workers gifting me with old boy clothes. Yes, I will take them!