Lauren's first pair of tights

I thought it was time for L to wear a pair of tights.  I loved this pair from gymboree but they sold out immediately so I had to buy them from ebay.  I think they're absolutely adorable.

At ECFE

 

Later that day in my classroom

Happy Anniversary...

to my Grandma and Grandpa Koch today. They've now been married for 30 YEARS!! That's a really long time, even older than Mommy (but not Daddy, hahaha.) I hope you have a great week Grammy & Grandpa!

Auntie Jeslil visits

Today when Mommy and I got back from her AM class, I had a surprise waiting for me in the driveway...no it wasn't a puppy (I do LOVE doggies though.) It was Auntie Jeslil, one of Mommy's BFF's! We had fun playing and eating (I ate, she just poked fun at my lima beans.) It's so nice when people come to visit me and Mommy. Come back soon, Jess!

Are you a bean follower?

If so, then I have just the thing for you. Blogger has rolled out a follower function on their blogs. If you follow the bean's blog and you have a blogspot account you can have her postings sent straight to your dashboard. Just click the "follow this blog" link at the left.

As you can see, she already has two faithful followers. HAhahah!

Lauren's gonna fix it with her wrench

Mommy was driving the scooter to get some gas last Friday afternoon when she saw a garage sale. She did the usual and slowed down enough to scope it out for good toys and came across a little tykes took bench/table/sink combo set. She may have driven faster than she should have to get the gas and back to our neighborhood to call dibs on the set. She didn't have any money with her (except the check card, and they didn't take plastic) so she had to go back with a check.

Check out my new favorite toy...I'm a natural (whatever that means.) Mommy said I'm going to be a plumber.

A day at the orchard

Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Grandpa, and I went on a trip today. We went to Minnesota Harvest apple orchard, Jim's Apple Barn (on HWY 169) and Emma Krumbees. I had the best time at Emma Krumbees! We did so many fun things. I got to ride a train, a real live pony, and ride in a wagon. I also got to pick my own baby pumpkin out of the patch and then they had to weigh it. The cute boy at the scale said mine would be free so Mommy put me and the pumpkin on the scale for fun. Mommy said something to Daddy about "What are we feeding her?" According to that scale, I have gained about 2 pounds in two months. Here are a bunch of pictures that Mommy said something about 'speaking for themselves'.

My 1st wagon ride at Jim's

Picking my 1st apple (after it was cleaned I munched on it for awhile.)

A family picture at Jim's

The animals at Emma's (Mommy had to tell me to be gentle with the goats on the right.)

Riding the train at Emma's

Playing on the giant haystack (Mommy is still itching from this, she got some weird rash.)

Trying to pick up the pumpkin I picked out of the patch

I decided on the smaller one instead

The scale said I weigh about 24 pounds, maybe it was the pumpkin?

Just Daddy and me!

I want a pony!

Straight from the patch, it's beanitude!

Videos from Saturday

Here I am on my very first wagon ride. It was sooo much fun. This one had tall sides and off roading tires. Mommy had a blast pulling me through the store in it too. I think a super sweet wagon is going to be on my Christmas list this year, so take note...

Here I am on my very first live pony ride. It was almost as much fun as a merry-go-round. Although, now that I think about it, I really kind of prefer the merry-go-round because those ponies go up and down in addition to around and round in a circle.

I was so sleepy after my long day this is what I started doing before we left the Emma Krumbees parking lot. Sweet rest!

Happy 14 months Lauren

That's enough, no more pictures Mommy!!

Pickin' up the slack...

Mommy has asked me to help pick up the slack around the house since she's been so sick lately. Today she cleaned the patio doors inside and out. The inside was a little yucky since I like to bang on it and I eat right by it too. I like to help out. Mommy locked the sprayer on this bottle of Green Works cleaner and I carried it around for about 20 minutes.

I love to read

I love to read. Every morning after breakfast, a diaper change and getting dressed for the day, I read books. There's a big basket of them in my room beside my cool new chair. I love to take them out and look at them. Sometimes I will read them to Mommy. My favorite is The Foot Book (By Dr. Seuss.) I can always pick it out of the pile and I love to hear it over and over again. If eMommy lets me choose the book, I will ALWAYS pick this on and bring it to her.

Here I am in my book basket. I'm drooling a lot because of the teething. My top two teeth will be in before you know it (and just about 4 months late too!)

Rough week

It's a been a rough week (starting last Monday) for Mommy. She's pretty sick and hasn't really been herself lately. She was very worried about me getting her sickness, so she tried her best not to spread the germs. Last Wednesday she as so miserable Daddy stayed home from work to care for me while she slept. She was feeling better on Thursday but probably didn't rest as much as she should have, so she was even worse on Friday.

Mommy was feeling soo yucky that she didn't go to work yesterday morning. She knew there was no way she could have such a busy day. So she had to call a sub. I also stayed home from my ECFE class this morning so we could rest.

I think Mommy is on the mend now finally, which is good because the weekend is coming and I think Grandma and Grandpa are coming up to take me to Emma Krumbees and another apple orchard. I can't wait to pick some apples, play in the hay, go down the slide, and maybe eat just a little tiny bit of a caramel apple.

At Mommy's night class last night (which she went to because finding a sub for a night class is IMPOSSIBLE!) one of her little girls picked some apples from Emma Krumbee's over the weekend and brought them for her. She was so surprised!! This little girl in her class is "just a sweetheart" (as Mommy says.) I guess she gives Mommy kisses and hugs before her and her Daddy leave class every week. Mommy mentioned something about me taking some lessons from M (her student) but I'm not sure what that means. Here are som fun pictures from the past week. Sorry they're kind of random.

Junk Days

Our town has a junk day/recycling day every spring and fall. Mommy and Daddy thought it might be funny to set me out on the curb. I didn't think it was funny at all. People go driving around and take things before they come to haul it away and I was worried someone might come and take me. Luckily, mommy and daddy didn't keep me on the curb for long.

Daddy Blogging: Who's the babydaddy?

For those of you that are not familiar with the term babydaddy, I'll fill you in. A babydaddy (pronounced as one word) is litterally "the father of my baby" or "my baby's daddy" Typically this is an absentee father that is looked upon with scorn.

We've been trying to teach Lauren some words, and she's really putting an effort into learning them. For example, we've taught her to say "baby" and we've taught her to say "daddy." She will on occasion say "mommy" but it's not as reliable as "baby" which is her go to word.

So this morning when Lauren woke up we went into the living room and I asked her if she could say "baby" and she did. Then I asked her if she could say "daddy" and she responded by pointing at me calling me "babydaddy." I'm hoping that this wont turn into a trend because if people hear her calling me "babydaddy" then people might think that's what I am.

To be completely serious, though, things are really moving fast with Lauren lately. Her top two teeth have really started to grow in, she started walking overnight, and now she's experimenting with words. It's a really exciting time to be Lauren's daddy.

Dada!

Tonight Mommy and Daddy took me on a walk to the mailbox. I walked the whole way there. At first I didn't want to leave the driveway, but once I got going it was a good time. It sure was a long way and took about 15 minutes. Mommy said I was walking at just the right pace for her since she doesn't feel very good. Normally Daddy has to jog to keep up with Mommy's walking pace, but this time, it was me keeping the pace.

Daddy Blogging: Mommy's Sick day

Mommy isn't feeling very well today, so she asked Daddy to take over for her. Thus we have another installment of Daddy blogging.

For the most part this has been a pretty regular day, except that Daddy is playing with me instead of Mommy. Mommy has pretty much just layed on the couch and slept most of the day. She did have an appointment with a doctor today, but that wasn't related to her feeling sick. I've really been bummed out because Mommy doesn't want to touch me today. She says that I will get sick too. Daddy tried to take a picture of Mommy, but she wasn't having it.

So Daddy had to take care of lunch today, and since he isn't very good at dinner I wasn't expecting great things. But Mommy managed to come through with some Burger King and that was really good. I ate a bunch of my fries and almost half of my burger. Daddy also gave me a fruit cup and I had a good time with that. I did manage to get some mustard on my nice white dress, though. Daddy got in trouble for that when Mommy woke up from her fourth nap of the day. Daddy says that he has no idea what he's going to do for dinner tonight. Maybe I'll finally get that macaroni, mushroom, and pancake hot dish that I wanted the other night.

My favorite game to play with Daddy is chase. I chase him around the house, and then he turns around and chases me. We've been doing that all day. Daddy also tried to teach me how to say "bear." I was playing with a stuffed toy and Daddy kept saying the word. I gave it a good try, and he said that was good enough for today. Then he tossed me in the air a few times and told me that he was proud of me. I laughed and smiled for him. I've also set a new personal record for stealing Daddy's glasses: six times in one day!

I'm going to go take a nap now. Maybe I'll write more if anything exciting happens tonight!

Daddy Blogging: Cooking with Old Mother Hubbard

Mommy is at work tonight so it was just me and Daddy for dinner.  As usual, Daddy had no idea what he should make for dinner, so I offered to help.  I went over to the pantry and selected a delicious set of ingredients: 1 can of cream of mushroom soup, a box of macaroni noodles, and some powdered pancake mix.  I was sure that Daddy could make something awesome with those ingredients, but he said that I needed to eat something more balanced.  So then he put those ingredients away and picked out other stuff.  He also mumbled something comparing Mommy to "Old Mother Hubbard."  I don't know who she is, but I bet she's nice.

Daddy cooked up some frozen meatballs and a chicken patty and he served that with some fruit.  He also gave me my usual appetizer of raisins, and animal crackers and served it with milk.  It was really good!  At one point I was so overcome by the flavor that I tore off my bib and rubbed a meatball all over my pink shirt.  Daddy said that he was going to have to sleep on the couch if he didn't get that stain cleaned up right away.

Daddy is going to have to take care of dinner tomorrow night too.  He says that he better start thinking about what to make now.  He's not sure what kind of meal he can put together from potato chips, mayonnaise, one hot dog bun, and a packet of sugar.  By the way, even though daddy made me eat fruit and meat with my dinner, he ate a piece of cake.  I think he's a hypocri--  a hypo--  a hip-- he doesn't do what he says.

Happy Birthday

Grandma. It was fun celebrating with you this weekend.

The Como Zoo

Yesterday Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Grandpa and I went to the cities to the Como Zoo. I had never been there before and the last time Mommy was there she was only 7 years old. I guess it had changed quite a bit since then.

It started to rain once we got there so Mommy had to buy an umbrella for her and daddy. I stayed nice and dry under my awesome stroller canopy and warm "boot" cover.

I had a really good time looking at all the animals. My favorites were the water animals. I especially liked sparky the seal. Unfortunately they had put Sparky indoors because the weather gets cold after labor day (so we missed his special outdoor show.)

After the animals, Mommy took me on a really really old and beautiful carousel. I love that ride, it's my favorite. This one went really fast so Mommy was kind of nervous, but I loved the wind in my hair.

Later that day, we stopped at the outlet mall in Medford. Mommy bought me some new clothes since it's cold out I can't wear my summer stuff anymore and my winter stuff is still a bit too big. I was a bit cranky, but overall it was a fun day. I even got to get out of my stroller and walk around a bit too.

Here I am checking out the Sea Lions

Here is Daddy and I checking out the Primates.

Here we are on the carousel. Gosh it was fun!!!

All good things must come to an end. Here is Daddy, Grandpa and I snoozing on the ride home. Grandpa was using my Baby Stella as a pillow.

The zombie walk

Here is Lauren doing the zombie walk on Friday. After Elliot came over on Wednesday she was much more interested in trying to walk. Friday saw quite a few more steps taken. Saturday was definitely the turning point. All day was a walking day (including the como zoo and Medford.) She's such a strong willed child, I'm a bit worried about the fits she throws when she doesn't get her way. I've heard from several people that she's just taking after her Mommy, but that doesn't help much. :)

A busy week

I've had a very busy week with Mommy.  Daddy was gone for most of it, so I missed him.  It was also Mommy's first week back at school and she had a hard week.  Her schedule is very very busy on Mondays and Tuesdays.

On Mondays I get to go with Mommy to a class that she's teaching in the morning.  Then we come home, have lunch and I take a nap.  On Monday nights Mommy teaches another class while I stay home with Daddy.

On Tuesdays I go to my own ECFE class in the morning, then we come home and eat lunch very quickly in order to make it to Mommy's center 30 minutes later for open playtime.  During open playtime I'm supposed to take a nap in the crib in her room.  I had a hard time napping there this past week because it was unfamiliar to me, so I didn't sleep very long.  Once open playtime is over, we can go home for awhile.  This past week I was really tired and cranky so I took another nap at home.  Then about two hours later Mommy has to go again to teach a night class.  This past week since Daddy wasn't home to watch me I went over to my friend Elliot's house.  His Mommy and Daddy are so nice to take care of me when Mommy couldn't.  They even took me along to Elliot's baby sign class and I got to play in the cozy coupe AGAIN!!  (The video below is my playing in the car at MY Tuesday morning class.)

Luckily, Mommy doesn't teach any more classes after Tuesday night so we can spend lots of time together.  This week was a big one for me as I'm now an OFFICAIAL WALKER.  I took my first steps around the time of my first birthday party and then walked my first real distance a couple of Friday's ago.  But this Wednesday when Elliot came over to my house and walked all around, I made the decision that I wanted to walk like him too.  So I did. 

Friday was the day that I walked a lot lot more, but today (Saturday) it was my MAIN MODE of transportation!!!!  I'll write more about today in another post, so in the meantime, here is a picture of me eating Chicken noodle soup.  I love noodle soup!

The cozy coupe

New Videos

Here are a couple from my new flip video camera. They seem to be better quality than with my camera yet take up half the space in MB's! Yaay!

Here's Lauren and her crazy ball popper. I love it when she puts her head over the place where the balls pop from and her hair flies in the wind. She loves this crazy toy...me...not so much.

Catching up

It's been a week, I know.  It's been a long week for me too.  I just got my new new computer today, don't even ask it's a long story with lots of naughty words in it, all aimed at Dell.  The bright side, I got a free flip video camera out of it and saved $200 above my original purchase price.  The dark side, an expensive sprint bill due to all the darn problems I had with the old one and less mental stability. LOL!

Here are some pictures to catch you up to now.

Here's Lauren in her toy stroller (a gift from G&G Thompson)  Grandma Koch thought she might like a ride in it (and she did.)  Luckily it was a one time thing and she's back to pushing it instead of trying to sit in it.

Here's Lauren sitting in the open trunk of her Dora Mobile.  She spent about 30 minutes (two weekend ago) just picking grass and putting it in the trunk with Grandma while the rest of us stained the deck.

I title this one: "The Bean's Righteous Fury!"

Here she is snuggling Grandma last Tuesday.  I went home on Tuesday for a Dr. appt and left Lauren there until Friday.  It enabled me to do a bunch of pre/post work at school and she had fun playing with all of my old toys.  Seriously, she had a blast, but we missed her.

This past weekend, we did a whole lot of nothing in preparation for my school year starting.  Well, we did nothing as a family, as I was pretty much camped out at school the whole time.  Ugh, I forgot how much work it is.