Brandon & Lauren: 9 Months!

Busy, busy, busy! That's what I am. I'd rather be busy than bored anyday, but I'd love for just 10 minutes in the morning when I can drink my coffee in peace. Oh the trials and tribulations of a Stay at Home Mom:-) When Steve comes home from work and asks me how my day was and what I did, it's a real accomplishment to me to get a shower and wash my hair;-) Lauren takes two good naps a day now, so it's much better, but from the time I wake up until she goes down for her first nap, I'm in high gear mode! Lauren had her nine month checkup on March 9 and weighed 19 lbs (50th %), was 28 3/8 inches long (50-75th %) and her head was 17 5/8 inches (75th %). Right on track! I'm so thankful to have two healthy kids. Lauren is an intense baby - you better have the food ready if she's hungry or you are going to get it and she is going to get so overworked that you have to give up feeding her solids and just go to the bottle:-) She is constantly moving when you give her her bottle - she has never just laid there and drank. She kicks her feet, waves her arms, grabs your hand - doesn't stay still. And, she's not even rolling over yet - the Dr. said she most likely skipped that part. She sits up great and just got her bottom two teeth in during the end of February when she was 8 months. But not crawling yet, which is fine by me bc I think this one is going to push the limits:-) She says "Mama," "Da Da," and "Ba Ba" for bottle. The other day she was crying, saying, "Ma Ma - Ba Ba." She really wanted her bottle! She does this new thing Brandon and I call the "Piggy Face." She squinches her nose and snorts and you see the tops of her gums. It's a really funny face and she does it on call now:-) She is the sweetest, cuddliest, funniest, smiliest baby with a great disposition, but she wants things her way sometimes - so funny. Wonder if it's the second child syndrome or a girl thing or just her personality? She throws little tantrums when you take toys away and I asked the Dr. about that and he gave me a big smile saying that it's her personality shining through. Great! Shopping trips are going to be a blast now! :-)

I'm going to register Brandon for Kindergarten tomorrow - so hard to believe. How did the years fly by so fast? My easy one - my little buddy, is growing up too fast. The one that listens well, never throws tantrums in stores - it's crazy to think he won't be around in the afternoons like before. It will be nice to have some quiet time to focus on Lauren though - sometimes I feel like she doesn't get the attention she should. I have to write this down about Brandon - it's so funny. He collects things - mostly coins. He will find a random old jewelry box and put various coins in there - you find them all over the house - these little boxes with either coins or small little things he's found that are important to him. He took all of Steve's trophies from tennis and arranged them on his shelf. He found a small shoebox the other day and put trophies inside it and also some nerf darts, a random lock and key he found and other little treasures. I think it's really cute and have to admit, he probably gets this from me:-)

Pretending to be Santa

Big Blue Eyes

Happy 33rd Birthday Daddy!

Yeah - work pants that fit!

Enjoying the festivities

The man and his dog

Lauren LOVED the tissue paper

Finally - I'm in a picture!

And another one! Brandon took this one - not bad!

I think she looks good in blue

Happy Girl!

Go Wildcats! Brandon is on the KY Wildcats tball team this year. It's a real professional team with umpires and everything. They get two coach throws and then hit off a tee. He's on the 5/6 team, but a couple kids are so tall they look like they are 12! Here's Brandon and his pal, Ian.

Getting ready to march in the parade at the opening ceremony

Most kids wanted to be up front with the banner, but not Brandon. He wanted to walk in the back with all the coaches and was very serious. He wouldn't even wave at me - he was in baseball mode:-)

Announcing their team on the stage (half the team slept in)

Lauren LOVES her big brother - everything he does is hilarious to her!

Crazy hair day at school! I'm surprised he let me do this, but I used some of Steve's hair gel and it stayed in all day long! He was pretty proud of it I think:-)