The Mouse Family Blog

Latest news on Lauren's motor development. She has been gaining significant skill with her hands. In the past she might have been able to close her hand around a toy if you put it right into her hand, but now she reaches for toys, and can grasp them if they are held to the front or back of her hand. Once she gets a toy, she tries to get it into her mouth. She has been working on getting her thumb in her mouth for the past few weeks, but toys are a new thing. She does pretty well, but can get frustrated at times when it isn't working out. She also likes to experience different types of toys (and textures for her mouth). The purple elephant in these pictures is from her play gym. When you pull the string it vibrates. Lauren thinks it is fun for the toy to vibrate when she is holding it. She was able to hold it's ears (which make a fun crinkly sound) with both hands and bring it to her mouth. The result was that she got to taste the elephants trunk.

Lauren's Uncle Bret, Jace's brother, was in town and spent the night with us on Saturday. Here he is with Lauren. (Yep the baby shower decorations were still up.) We had a nice dinner at Corosh (we liked being the only people there in the outdoor seating) followed by ice cream from Oberweis.

We celebrated with a baby shower for my friend Amanda at our house this past weekend. She got some lovely gifts including this art piece with her daughter's name on it. We can't wait for baby Charlotte to be born. Lauren and mommy will like having friends to pal around with during the day. I should also note that Jace took Lauren on an outing during the shower, accompanied by our friend David and his 1 yr old son Ethan. They had a good time at Wicker Park.

Lauren's mommy loves sushi, so my friends gave Lauren a sushi outfit. It has a pink top with sushi on it, socks with a soy sauce bowl and chopsticks, a hat that says 'No Wasabi' and black pants. We think it's pretty cute.

Sorry fans, no picture to go with this one. I just want to talk about the movie experience that Lauren and I had today. The movie theater that Jace and I usually go to is Kerasotes City North 14 since it is located nearby at Western, just off I=90/94. And it has an attached parking garage where parking is only $2. I had noticed the last time we went to a movie (sans child, aka a long time ago) that they have a 'Mom Movie Magic' program. Every Tuesday, the tickets are only $6, you get a free small popcorn and the first showing of each movie is for parents and their babies and kids... and no one is supposed to care if the kids cry or talk. I figured I could deal with other peoples crying babies if it meant that I could see movies during the day. Besides, the regular ticket prices (not on Tuesday) are $10, so this was a great deal (you now how I love a great deal). It also gave me and Lauren something to do to get out of the house. This movie theater is usually overrun with kids anyway, so they have gotten a reputation for being 'family-oriented'. I got there early and took a seat in the handicap section so I could park Lauren's stroller right next to my seat and so I could get up without having to climb over anyone. I put on my Hooter Hider so I could feed Lauren as soon as she got fussy. So the movie started, and as I predicted, Lauren got fussy, so I nursed her. Instead of falling asleep like I hoped she would (babies tend to shut down in loud environments, and the movie was plenty loud) she continued to fuss and actually started to cry. I walked over to the side aisle where no one could see us, but I could still see and hear the movie and walked with her to quiet her down. She got quiet right away, but then two movie theater employees came in and told me that someone had complained and that if the baby cries again, I'd have to exit the theater. Ummm.... where's my Mom Movie Magic? I told them that they advertise that this movie is supposed to be specifically for moms to bring their little kids to. They said they'd go check. Long story short, they came back and said that yes I was correct and that I had a very cute daughter and they hoped I enjoyed the movie. Lauren had fallen asleep at this point so I enjoyed the rest of the movie in my seat with her sleeping in my lap. It was a little more stressful than I had hoped, and I bet that if I go back I will be ticking off another theater full of people who unknowingly decided to attend Mom Movie Magic, but when it comes to movies like Harry Potter, it's worth it.

Lauren thought that she'd post a scary picture since it's Friday the 13th. She hasn't quite gotten her hands to work the way she wants them to. Sometimes when she tries to put then in her mouth, they end up in her nose.

Lauren has some fun summer clothes from Baby Gap.

Lauren has been holding onto fingers since day one (don't all babies?), but now she is holding onto toys. She finds that the rings and links that we use to attach toys to her carseat, etc are the right size for her to get her fingers around. Sometimes she gets such a good grip that you can pick her up and carry her around and she keeps holding on. Once I even pulled her onesie off over her head and arms while she was holding the links you see pictured and she kept her grip! And yes, we got a few more bibs to keep up with all the spit-up...and this one says "spoiled by grandma." Lauren says "Hi Grandmas!!"

First, here's a new video of Lauren. Not too much is happening in it since Lauren is still a ways away from being able to actually roll over, but we thought the grandparents would enjoy it. It's also a nice opportunity to hear Liz's baby talk regimen. :)



Second, at Vann's suggestion, we have a new feature on the site. Our special "monthly" photos of Lauren now are labeled for easy reference. Just click on the "Monthly Photos" link under each, and you'll see all of the pasts months.

Labels: Movies

Lauren celebrated the fourth of July with her friends Vann and Amanda. They are expecting a little girl (their first) in September. We cooked out on the grill and ate outside on the patio. Lauren enjoyed her bouncy seat while we ate. Then Lauren went to sleep at 9:30pm and the adults went up on the roof of our building to watch the unofficial (and probably slightly illegal) fireworks in our neighborhood. Wicker Park folks go a little nuts for July 4th. Here's Lauren sporting patriotic colors. This outfit came from Jace's cousin Megan in OK. Isn't Lauren cute?!

Time flies. Lauren is now two months old. To commemorate the occasion, Lauren had a visit to the doctor to get FOUR immunizations! At any rate, here she is with her heifer.

The doctor also took her measurements. She's now dropped to the 95th percentile -- 14lbs 10oz, and 24.5 inches.

Labels: Monthly Photos