If it weren't for Lauren

The other night when I lie in bed awake at 3:00 in the morning, listening to Lauren cry, I was composing a post in my head about all the things that wouldn't happen if Lauren didn't wake up in the middle night. Among the things the went through my head were the following:
*We wouldn't know that there is a family of four deer that rests and eats in our backyard over night.
*Aaron and I wouldn't have the chance to bicker over whose turn it is to feed her.
*I'd have less time with Lauren.
*I wouldn't value a full night's sleep as much as I do.
And the list went on. But what I really love about Lauren is her curiosity, her smiles, her cuddles, and her laugh.

Lauren is becoming such a little person as of late. She's into everything (that she shouldn't be) and is so aware of the world around her. As I write this, she's watching Aaron make her a bottle before bed and smiling.

Lauren is eating more and more. She's now had a wide variety of vegetables, cereals, and fruits. She eats a little fruit and cereal before heading to day care in the morning, lunch, and then dinner. She's drinking water from a sippy cup, and we just recently started trying to let her feed herself some puffed rice. That's not going so well as she gags/chokes right now, but hopefully it won't be too much longer.

Lauren now has 5 teeth - 3 on the bottom, 2 on the top. The top two just poked through within the past week and a half. They don't seem to bother her too bad, but she's chomping on everything. The thing we really have to watch is paper or tissues that might be on the floor. Alyssa sometimes leaves her coloring books on the floor, and both girls have runny noses that means there's usually a tissue somewhere nearby to wipe noses.

Lauren was recently sick too. She woke up one Saturday morning with a bad cold and an ear infection. We had to wait until Monday to take her to the pediatrician; they prescribed her Amoxicillin. It took a full week for her to really seem better, but she did get there eventually (just in time for Alyssa to get sick). She's now got a runny nose again, so here's hoping that it won't get any worse. The poor little thing looked pretty pathetic as you can see in these couple photos.





One of my favorite moments from the past few weeks is the day Lauren started to play peek-a-boo. She would just laugh and laugh; and you can't help but join in with her laughs. She's got the best little belly laugh, she can't really sustain it, but it makes me laugh every time. We caught it on video and thought you might enjoy laughing with her too.