little lauren landmarks

well miss l is now 10 weeks, crazy right? she gets bigger and changes so much each day, its wonderful (and a lil sad) at the same time. being back to work has been tiring... mainly b/c i have to get up so early and then drive 1:15hr to work,work 8-430, drive 1:15hr back home then take care of baby. which im happy about b/c i miss her so much...but the days are long and it seems sleep (though solid) never lasts long enough. but, these are the sacrifices i make for my child & in order to have a job!which, are two very important things!!!

well a few "major" or exciting things have happend with lauren the past week or so. on saturday (4/24/10), while i was out wedding dress shopping with my mom, heath told me that lauren laughed for the first time. he said it was super cute, which im sure it was!! i guess she was on her changing table post new diaper and was talking up a storm (btw she talks a lot while on her changing table and on her floor mat/toy).... heath started baby talking with her and got lots of smiles, "talking" and then a big ole baby laugh!

then on sunday (4/25/10) while playing on her mat, she actually was moving like she was gonna flipover. she moved so much that she got her legs all caught up in the toy part (see pic to the right)...it was really cute yet interesting at the same time! oh and she also is sleeping in her crib all night, yay! this started this past week as well. i think she likes it b/c she's not all scrunched up like she was in her pack& play. but she moves around duringthe night too. she'll wake up and be 90* to the right from where she started haha. so she's definitely a mover!

and then yesterday (4/27/10) i got her to laugh. it was just as cute as heath discribed it. i dont think she laughed for me as long as she did with heath, but it still melted myheart! ALSO, we've noticed the past few days shes been sticking out her tongue quite a bit! like she'll be smiling and talking and then sticking out her cute skinny lil baby tongue... so cute! i know everything she does we think its cute, but seriously, so so cute!!!

well thats all the updates i have for now. im trying to keep up w/ posting. but seriously when i get downtime, ijsut dont feel like doing anything. so, my apologies in advance ;) but know miss l is growing and changing a lot, and is the cutest happiest lil baby ever!! we love her so much!

two down, three to go

monday (first day back to work, laurens' first day @ daycare):
- i definitely shed some tears when i dropped her off. lauren was super happy monday morning...all smiles and lots of talking. which is better than crying, but made it hard for me to leave her. i love how much she smiles and talks. and the thought of missing that broke my heart.

- throughout the rest of the day i thought of her a lot and teared up a few times...but made it through the day!! plus i have a lot of 'catch up' work stuff, so that kept me busy! plus people kept talking to me & of course i didnt mind talking about my baby!!

- when i picked lauren up she was sleeping. dove (our daycare provider) said lauren "did so so good" that day. only a little fussing. she napped a few times, ate four times & had plenty of diaper changes. so that made me happy that lauren had a good first day.

- once we got home, i realized HOW exhausted i was AND how exhausted lauren was. she normally goes to sleep b/w 830 and 930pm, last night she fell asleep at 745!! out like a log! then woke up at 230am, fell right back asleep & then woke up today (tue) at 6am. so she really did have a busy first day.

- dove said she was a good girl and that she enjoys taking care of her, which of course makes me happy. i know there will be *rough & tough* days for lauren (and heath & i) but its nice to know she's off to a good start!
tuesday (today... three more days, three more days!):
- woke up, oddly refreshed. dropped lauren off w/ no tears!

- today has been fine. of course i think of her and miss her A LOT, but iknow she's in a good place. im just hoping today is a "good day" too.

- i cannot wait to leave and pick her up! (yeah im @ work, naughty of me...but i wanted to write this update quick!!!)

random: this is a picture of what heath and i call lauren's "sad/pouty" face. i know she's usually upset or whiny about something, but seriously, this is the cutest face ever! her little lip sticks out, she gets a huge frown & her big beautiful eyes get so sad! we call it her "grinch baby face"... b/c if youve ever seen the real people version of "the grinch movie" w/ jim carrey.... this face reminds us of the part when the grinch is a baby, sitting in its highchair, throwing a hissy fit. obviously lauren is 100 TIMES cuter than that green creature... but she really does look like the grinch baby! :)

i jsut love my baby so much!!! and she's just so so so so cute. i know im biased, but really, how did that happen? ahh, we're lucky...and we know it!
xoxo
-jkh

sunday NOT funday :(

SIGH! tomorrow is going to "suck" for a lot of reasons...
1. i got back to work (the commute is gonna be so hard now)
2. its lauren's first day @ daycare (even tho we love our daycare person)
3. heath is traveling for work & gone all week-- i miss him SO much already
... im tired and just hoping for a good, quick & successful week.
friday at 530pm (when i get home, 1:15hr commute home included) cant come soon enuf!
anyway, lauren is sleeping (knock on wood) and im off to bed too. 545am will be tough...
xoxo
-jkh

TWO MONTHS OLD!

so lauren is two months old today, and therefore had her "two month check up". today was vaccine day, so there were a few tears. but all in all, our baby was a rockstar!! she even had to have an x-ray done (ill explain later) and she rocked it through that w/ only a few tears! (mom & dad did well too, i thought i might get a little emotional, and i didnt. i held it together for our lil baby girl!)

-here are her 2mo stats: lauren now weighs 12lbs 1oz (85%), is 24.5" long (97% - tall/long girl!!!!), and her head is 15.25" (50%). she started at 7lbs 9oz and 20" long... cant remember her head size. but according to the growth charts, she's right on track!!!! :)
-these are the vaccinations she got: Pentacel A, Hep B (2nd shot), PCV7, and Rotavirus... the doc explained them all, but i dont feel like going there.
-he also suggested i supplement lauren's milk w/ "tri vi sol" vitamin once a day. its a combo of vits A C & D. i guess babies sometimes dont get enuf vit D or the others. so, we'll start that!
-lauren had to have an xray of her neck b/c she tends to "look/turn" more towards her right side. doc said she has the muscle ability to look/turn left but since she doesnt do it "willingly" he just wanted to check. he isnt too worried but would rather scope it out now. so we'll find out about that w/in the next few days.

again, lauren did very well, and we'll go back to the doc in another two months.... time will continue to fly by!!!!!! *great job lauren, we love you!!!*

xoxo
--jkh

surprise, surprise....

just a quick update......

lauren's baptism weekend went well. it was busy and sometimes chaotic, but good. we had lots of friends and family in town, which was very special: both my grandparents came jack & mom and dad; my good friends liz (flew in from philly) and andrea (took a bus up from milwaukee); heath's parents; and his two sisters and their families.

also on saturday some of us girls went over to the wedding shoppe in saint paul for our bridesmaid dress appointment. we did pick out a dress and color and placed orders (yay!!). if you're curious, here is the dress (the color is "claret", so a darker red. not maroon,not wine, just a darker red...its quite pretty): http://www.weddingshoppeinc.com/pr/Alfred-Angelo-6493/3199/6475

but the biggest surprise of the "weekend/early week" is that we put lauren in her own room for the first night monday night. not only did she do just fine, she slept from 930pm til 530am!!!!! then last night (tue night) she did 830pm to 230am, 300am to 500am, and then woke up around 7am for the day. so not bad!!!! i know this is cliche, but she's already growing up so fast!! :( she's our good, perfect little girl!!!!! way to go lauren :)

well thats all i got for now. gonna enjoy today through fri and the weekend before i go back to work. (yah i made a mistake before... i start the 19th not the 12th.)

xoxo
jenna

bullet point post

• lauren's first easter was a success! she traveled like a champ as we went to and from green bay AND to and from brewster!!! she got to meet new family member: paul, cindy, tom & ken (from my side) and great grandparents marv & betty and great grandma wing (from heath's family). a lot of driving but an all around great weekend.
• this wkend will be BUSY! lauren is baptized on sunday!!!!! so lots of family in town sat thru sun. ALSO my bff-sff liz will be in town from philly and my lovely girlie andrea will be in town from milwaukee. theyre here to see the house, meet heath & lauren & do some wedding stuff!! so w/ those two and heath's two sisters we'll be doing a few girlie wedding things saturday morning, should be fun.
• lauren & my "mom& baby class" ended yesterday. it was a 6wk class that met once a week for 1.5hrs. it was nice to get out of the house, meet other new moms & just talk about baby stuff. we're all first time moms so that was nice! (picture of all the babies posted on left)
• i got back to work on monday. i am NOT looking forward to that and i know heath isnt either. although we really like our daycare provider... and in home lady named dove. she's really really nice, lives close to use and only had three other kids (including one of her own)....so lauren will be in good hands. we both just have to get used to the idea of her being w/ someone else all day AND missing us!
• on wed night heath& i went on our first date since lauren was born. our friend lynne babysat from 6-9 so we could go out. i didnt cry, but i did miss lauren while we were gone. BUT it was SOOOO nice just to be with heath & enjoy HIM! we had a lovely dinner at murray's in downtown minneapolis! spendy but well worth every penny!! hopefully we'll have more date nights to come!!! :)

XOXO
-- jkh