No more monkey's jumping out of cribs!

Here is Chloe's new sleeping arrangement. It took her about a week to get used to it and she still has her moments when I put her in her crib but it is so nice not to worry about her jumping out. Now I can leave here in there for hours..kidding! Some of you wondered what it looked like so here it is. When she woke up from her nap I told her I was going to take a picture of her but I had to go get the camera. She laid back down and didn't move a muscle until the photo shoot was over. I thought this was cute since she is always trying to get out..I guess she thought it would be fun to pose:)

Little Trooper

If you look closely you can see Lauren loves the new mask the doctors let her keep.


Lauren is doing great recovering from her surgery. The day of Surgery she got up at 5am which was my worst fear since she couldn't eat or drink anything. She cried and begged at first, but then felt better that Steve and I weren't "allowed" to eat or drink anything. Once we got to the surgery center she loved all the toys that the nurses were giving her. She also got to play with a real stethoscope and she knew right away that she wanted bubble gum flavor on the mask to put her to sleep. The doctor then gave her a mask with the flavoring to keep. As you can guess this is now a fun addition to our doctor kit. They decided not to give her any drugs before hand since she had no anxiety. The hardest part for me is when they wheeled her away. We told her she was going on a cool ride and she asked if I was coming too. This broke my heart and put me in tears but she did fine when they wheeled her away. After surgery she had a hard time for a couple of hours, but was back to eating and drinking by the afternoon. Today she is back to normal but mainly stays on the couch. Its amazing how much better kids recover. I just had to grab her and make her sit because she was chasing Chloe! We are very thankful that everything went well and that this is behind us!

Lauren Turns 3

Lauren turned 3 on the 4Th and we had another princess party which she absolutely loved. Lauren's middle name should be party. I thought I would list some of the things that I love about Lauren and her fun age.

1. Her new thing is to say "Hey mom,should I have..." rather than just asking for what she wants. Usually it is for something that I will say no to.
2. If she notices that I got hurt(stubbed toe..) She will run over to me and kiss me several times to help it feel better.
3. Sometimes out of the blue she will say "mom, I love you"
4. She will dance on demand.
5. She notices everything.
6. When she sings she typically yells it.
7. She loves the doctors office and hasn't cried when she got her last two shots.
8. Enjoyed getting stitches.
9. Laughs so hard sometimes that you can't help but laugh along with her.
10. Says Chloe and our dog are her best friends.
11. Loves school so much I can threaten to keep her home if she is not behaving.
12. Loves bugs and anything else that a typical girl would run from.
13. She embraces new experiences and most times could care a less if I am with her.
14. When she prays at night she often prays for the animals.
15. She loves to cook.
16. She loves to hide when her dad comes home from work so he has to find her. Usually her legs are sticking out of her hiding spot.
17. Loves baths and doesn't like to have her hair combed unless she is doing it.
18. Loves giants.
19. Early bird- typically 6:15am she is ready to go.
20. Loves all her cousins.
21. Sits and reads books and rambles on and on pretending she knows what it says.
22. Can play in the car for an hour with Chloe if I let her.
23. Loves candy.
24. Can't help but open packages or other interesting things that she is not supposed to get into. When she is quiet there is trouble.
25. Has to walk next to the cart and touch most everything in the store. Today she said "MOM, look at this..isn't it beautiful!" The lady in the isle burst out laughing because she said it with such passion.
26. Most favorite thing is going to the park..she asks daily.
27. Wanted a baby shark for her birthday from her Uncle Tony(see picture above..its really a Betta) We will see how long this survives!!

Happy Birthday little Lo!!

Please pray that everything goes smoothly on Wednesday as Lauren is having surgery for hernia repair. We are blessed that this is our only issue that seems to be due to prematurity, but non the less we are not looking forward to Wednesday. I will keep you posted on her recovery which is said to be quick.

Giving Thanks for family

We spent Thanksgiving with Steve's whole family in Michigan this year. It is not often that we can all get together so we had a great time. Lauren and Chloe were loving all the time they got to spend with their cousins and it was great for us because it kept them busy:) We managed to get a lot in for one weekend. The kids enjoyed Christmas with their cousins and Lauren got to celebrate her birthday along with her Uncle Jeff. We also took family pictures at the Museum downtown GR..can you guess which kids made it a bit difficult??? Thankfully there are some great pictures from the day. We also went bowling which Lauren got a kick out of. It was fun to watch her get all excited, except dad had a hard time lining the guide up so most of the balls were gutters:) She didn't seem to mind. Lauren also received her first bike from her cousin Emily. Thank you Emily!! It has been too cold to practice, but she is quite excited. It was a great weekend and we have much to be thankful for!