Playing Around...

Playing the "close the door to the den" game. This girl LOVES to shut doors! She is just starting to be able to pull down the handle to open doors too.
Lauren has a drawer which we call "Lauren's drawer" with plastic items in it that she can get into in the kitchen. She was playing in her drawer and let me snap this cute picture.

We had an 18 months doctor appointment with our Pediatrician here in town yesterday and she also was impressed with how well Lauren is doing and we don't even have to go back until May for her 2 year appointment. I can't even comprehend how fast that is going to come. How can she already be 18 months old...it's AMAZING. She is rapidly expanding her vocabulary and recently tried to say "basketball." NO it was not perfect, but it was certainly an attempt at it and my mom heard it too. She is very quick to let you know if she is unhappy about something (quite the pouty face) and when you ask if she wants something she will say "no" if she doesn't or come get whatever it is you are asking her about. She runs to her high chair and tries to climb in it when she is hungry and will go to the refrigerator when she wants her cup out of it. She loves to walk videos of animals with her dad on the computer while sitting on his lap. She has also become VERY ticklish. It's really fun to make her laugh so hard while one of us holds her and the other one tickles. I remember HATING when my dad and sisters would hold me down and tickle me, but now I understand why they did it. It is so fun to watch your child have a huge smile on their face while laughing uncontrollably.

We (my parents, Lauren, and I--Adam has to work--BOO) are heading up to Washington to my sister Kelly's for Thanksgiving tomorrow and we are looking forward to having a great time with the family. I hope to get lots of pictures to post! I'm sure Lauren will love being around her cousins and will have a blast. Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Lauren's First Snow!

We got some snow here in town late last night after Lauren went to bed and luckily it was still here when we got up. We got her all bundled up and took her out in it. She seemed to love it at first and then got cold, so we went back in. It was about 24 degrees when we were out. Brrrrr!
And...that was at 9am!
In the video she is attempting to say "snow" but she wasn't really getting the "sn" in front so it just ended up being "no." And yes, "no" is her absolute favorite word right now. ;)


Lauren is still a wonderful sleeper (12 hours a night) and wakes up around 8 or 8:30am. She definitely likes to take her sweet time to wake up and loves to play in her crib for a bit before we get her up. Take for instance yesterday...we went in at about 8:20 to get her up and when we walked into her room she said "no" and ran to the corner of her crib not wanting to get out!

Little Girl in Big Slippers

Lauren and I were playing yesterday and she decided that she wanted to wear Daddy's slippers. She actually stayed in them long enough for me to snap a picture.

We had Lauren's appointment up at St. V's last Tuesday and she 100% shocked the Doctor and Phsyical Therapist. They were extremely impressed by how well she is doing and even said that most ex 25-weekers do not do this well. They said she is closing the gap between her actual and correct ages. They were very impressed with her walking (running is a better term) and her language. We will go back in June to see the Doctor...the Physical Therapist said she is doing so well that she feels she does not have to ever see her again! How AMAZING is that!!!! We did talk about just getting through this Winter as far as Lauren getting sick. So we are being cautious about taking Lauren out again. It's hard because I feel like I don't take her out enough sometimes, but I couldn't forgive myself if she got sick or had to be hospitalized.

Last week at work one of my co-workers asked if since Lauren is almost 18 months old and doing so well, does it seem like any less of a miracle. I had to tell her absolutely not. I still get tears in my eyes every single day about what a miracle Lauren is. I could be sitting here with no baby at all or one with a lot of medical problems if things would have gone differently. I don't know how she did it, I really don't. You pretty much can't even tell that she was a micro-preemie anymore. She will always have her "reminders" (scars) but I think those will always keep us all humbled by what we experienced. I know that she is doing wonderful, but I am cautious...who knows how things will be when school starts as far as learning disabilities.

Alright...someone is making a mess in here, so I better get off the computer. :)

Water Bottle Fun

I let Lauren have one of my water bottles to play with to see if she could take out the straw and put it back in. A very good way to help with coordination according the the doctor at St. V's (but I will post about next.) Adam showed Lauren how to get the straw out and then into the bottle. She mastered it pretty quickly!
She got so excited when Adam was showing her, it was so cute.
Here is Lauren trying all by herself.

Lauren the Ladybug!

Lauren was a little ladybug for Halloween. Isn't she cute!


Here she is sitting by a door. She actually didn't mind having the costume on at all and wore is from about 3 till bed time.

Typical Girl

My friend Meghan scored some clothes for Lauren from one of her friends who was getting rid of her daughters clothes she had grown out of. Needless to say Lauren loved going through the clothes and sat right in the middle of them. She pulled out a couple of shirts that she loved because she made me put 3 different shirts on her.

Another Beach Day

On Saturday, October 16th the 3 of us headed over to Lincoln City to have a beach day. We had lots of fun and Lauren had her first Halibut Fish & Chips from Tidal Raves in Depoe Bay. It was really windy on the beach, but we got Lauren all bundled up and she had a wonderful time picking up rocks.