Wednesday, September 27, 2006

What Lauren's been to up

She might be growing red hair, we're not sure. Her eyebrows look like my mom's, and I found an old photo of my mom as a baby where she had Lauren's coloring, so there could be a chance. Her eyes are back to being more denim blue than green, but definitely not the light Grandpa-shade of blue like her legions of aunts, uncles & cousins have.

Her benefactor, Alexa, gave her some more toys and in the batch was a little pink plastic car. She loves it! I have to hold her on it because her feet can't both touch the ground but I push her around on it and she tries to get one foot on the ground like she's riding a motorcycle. She's got great balance. She can stand if I am there to make sure she doesn't fall, but she's been doing that for the past 3 months. She has 6 teeth but thankfully, she does not bite when she nurses. She tried it a few times when she had only a few teeth but I nipped it in the bud (pun intended, hardy har har).

She loves to giggle and she likes to get in on the joke if other people are laughing. (Even at her!) She flurberts my face and thinks it's the most hilarious thing ever. She has long monologues with herself when she first wakes up in the morning and she still wakes up happy every morning (is she really my kid?)

She likes to put her arms up to get picked up, and her latest thing is doing this in the stroller when she feels she's been in too long. Then I'm stuck pushing a stroller and lugging a 21 pound baby at once. I weighed her by stepping on the scale and then doing it while holding her, and subtracting. It was 21.5 pounds more, but i figure her clothes & diaper, plus margin of error, she is probably 21 pounds. We'll know for sure on October 3 when she goes to get her 6-month shots.

I'm a big proponent of shots. I would have her get a shot for every single kind of illness medicine can prevent, if I could. I would take her to the vet and get a rattlesnake shot! Seriously, there are people who are worried about mercury levels in shots causing autism. I'm more worried about her catching a disease before she's been immunized. We are both getting a flu shot. Think of it, when I was a kid, I got chicken pox. I still remember how itchy and miserable I was. Now Lauren won't get it, she'll just get a shot instead!

I am SO EXCITED about our upcoming trip in October to New York to introduce Lauren to relatives. I think about it several times a day and in my head, I'm deciding what to pack, where to go, and how great it is going to be. We'll only be there for 5 days because I have to get back for work, but that's okay, I'd probably miss Jake too much if we were there longer. This might be crazy, or it might just work, but we're taking an overnight flight and I'm hoping Lauren will sleep the whole time, in my arms. We practice now, having her nap while I hold her sometimes. All of our hard work to get her trained to put herself to sleep alone, now I want her to not be distracted by me and to sleep in my arms!

I'm trying to decide which baby equipment we need and I think I'll err on the side of not bringing things, on the theory that we can borrow or buy whatever we forgot. So no lugging a stroller, no car seat (borrowing one there), very few toys (she'll play with measuring spoons or we'll hit the toystores if we need too) but lots of clothes! I've got so many cousins with kids that it shouldn't be a problem if we need equipment.

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