Thursday, July 31, 2008
Lauren sends Grandma Saundra well wishes for fun travels. We hope you have a safe trip to Africa!
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Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Lauren has a new cousin! Kirbey Lea was born to Boyd and Kristi on July 30 at 6:58 am. She weighed in at 9lb 9oz with a length of 20 1/4 inches. She was warmly welcomed by her big brother Bryce. That brings the count of cousins on the Mouse side to 7. The Gieseke side (3 with one on the way) is behind, but Andy and Mara are doing their best to catch us up ;)
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Monday, July 28, 2008
Lauren visited her friend Charlie's house today to play with some of Charlie's new toys. Charlie has her first birthday coming up, so the gifts have started to come in. Lauren loved Charlie's new house front, with so many neat features like an opening door to crawl through, a letter slot, a weather report, a downspout with balls, etc. I have no idea how much it cost, and Charlie's dad spent an hour putting it together, but it was pretty engaging for both a 10 month old and a 14 month old. Here are some favorite shots.
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So I was looking at the selection of dolls on Ebay and had to laugh at this photo I came across. I have heard or seen some funny "caught in the background" stories about Ebay (naked man reflected in teapot) but hadn't actually ever come across something on my own. Until today. Captured in all her pregnant glory, this Ebay seller must have been blind not to notice that her bare belly was in the background. Or, even more hilarious, maybe she did notice and didn't care. She doesn't seem to have that many stretch marks, so maybe she's proud and showing off. The auction for the doll ends in 9 hours so if you want to see the picture first hand, click here.
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Sunday, July 27, 2008
We paid a visit to Old Saint Pats church in Chicago's west loop neighborhood today to see baby Marcus' baptism. The church is beautiful and after the short ceremony, Lauren has fun toddling around and checking out the lovely ornamentation.
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Saturday, July 26, 2008
Today we popped Lauren in the backback and walk to our neighborhood festival - Wicker Park Fest. We had stopped by Psycho Baby earlier in the day to see if they had any good bargains, but alas they did not. I wasn't about to wait in a 12 person line to buy a pair of leggings and a tank top. In the late afternoon we took in the bands, the beer and the booths. I was surprised at how many port-a-potties they had! There was even a big pen of farm animals for the kids to pet. We didn't take Lauren in. She has enough trouble walking down a sidewalk without falling down, let alone walking amongst giant sheep, goats and bigger kids. But she enjoyed looking. We picked up some chips and guacamole from the Adobo Grill booth and then stopped by Wicker Park's playground for some swinging and sliding before finally heading home.
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Friday, July 25, 2008
Today some mom friends stopped by "Mouse Beach" (our deck) for some snacks and fun in the shade with our kiddos. In the various pictures you will see Lauren, Austin, Trinity, Everett and Elynor. The kids enjoyed the pool, Lauren's tent and a multitude of toys. Lauren thought this was way more fun than most days where there is no one to play with but mommy and Indy.Lauren had so much fun she wanted to give awards. They are as follows: Lauren would like to give an award to Trinity for Best Use of Toys. Austin gets an award for Best Swimmer. Everett gets an award for Best Piano Performance and Elynor wins the coveted award for Best Effort To Avoid Tan Lines :) We can't wait for the next time our friends come over to play!!
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Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Lauren and mommy went on a little trip this morning to Chicago's Museum Campus to use our free pass to the Adler Planetarium (I checkout free museum passes whenever they are available at the Bucktown library). I figured there wouldn't be anything at the Planetarium for children Lauren's age, but she still found a few things to enjoy. We had seen everything in less than 1 hour - not stopping to read anything or see any shows. One thing she really liked was a little remote controlled "lunar rover" that some bigger kids were driving. She even called it "robot" after mommy asked her if she could see the robot! Check it out in the video.
After the Planetarium, we strolled along the walking path along the lake and admired the skyline. As usual it was windy and cooler over here by the lake - wonderful on a hot summer day!
Labels: Movies
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Sunday, July 20, 2008
Lauren doesn't get to see her cousin in Dallas as often as she'd like, but she didn't want to miss out on celebrating his big day.
Lauren also has a photo book of her family, and loves pointing out Bryce ("Bice") by name. If you listen closely, you can also hear her mention cousin Faith ("Faif"). She later gave a shout-out to Drake, but (as you can see from the rough video) I was a little too distracted to get it all captured. Later in the afternoon, Lauren entertained a few house guests for a Sunday afternoon cookout.
Published by Jace Mouse
on Sunday, July 20, 2008 at 8:18 PM.
Lauren also has a photo book of her family, and loves pointing out Bryce ("Bice") by name. If you listen closely, you can also hear her mention cousin Faith ("Faif"). She later gave a shout-out to Drake, but (as you can see from the rough video) I was a little too distracted to get it all captured. Later in the afternoon, Lauren entertained a few house guests for a Sunday afternoon cookout.
Labels: Movies
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Saturday, July 19, 2008
Lauren and I (Jace) strolled over to a friend's house here in Wicker Park to help George celebrate his birthday.Lauren had a cute moment of toasting George and clicking glasses with him (she brought her tea set for the occasion), but it's on a friend's camera.
Lauren frolicked with everyone for a couple hours before daddy strolled her back to the house in time for her nap.
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Friday, July 18, 2008
I was shocked this week when Lauren did not enjoy Lake Michigan. She has become a huge fan of the Gulf of Mexico (see pictures of that here). We were at the Foster Ave. beach for a day in the sand and surf with other Park Moms. Lauren spent most of the time climbing in and out of her tent and asking for "cookies" which currently yields her a gram cracker. She also was demanding that I "opee" my water bottle for her. She wanted me to screw the top off so she could take a drink instead of being content to drink the exact same iced down water from her sippy cup. After numerous attempts to get her to walk into the water, stand in the water, be dipped in the water, splash in the water, "look Trinity and all the big girls are doing it", "look all the little babies are dong it" she still pleaded "up up up!" and clung to my arms and legs with a death grip. I'm not sure what that's all about. She has been loving her kiddy pool and a public pool we visited recently. Maybe the first dip in the cold water of the lake was not what she expected and therefore set her mind against it. Oh well, we still had fun visiting with other moms and their kids.
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Thursday, July 17, 2008
I hereby publicly promise never to subject Lauren to this. (Video needs sound to be appreciated. Warning from Liz: don't let your baby watch this with you.)
That poor, poor kid. I bet he grows-up and moves to some distant island, far from electrical power, computers, the internet, and his parents.
On a more constructive note, here's a fun free program that turns your computer into a baby-safe digital baby nirvana. Baby Smash for Windows We've let Lauren play with it a few times, and she really loves it -- she even stopped playing the first time to look me in the eyes and give me a big kiss.
Still, I don't think we're going to make it a regular habit. Computer use is probably a lot like recommended TV limits for young kids. Besides, who wants to train their kid to pound-away on their computer?!
Published by Jace Mouse
on Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 12:05 PM.
That poor, poor kid. I bet he grows-up and moves to some distant island, far from electrical power, computers, the internet, and his parents.
On a more constructive note, here's a fun free program that turns your computer into a baby-safe digital baby nirvana. Baby Smash for Windows We've let Lauren play with it a few times, and she really loves it -- she even stopped playing the first time to look me in the eyes and give me a big kiss.
Still, I don't think we're going to make it a regular habit. Computer use is probably a lot like recommended TV limits for young kids. Besides, who wants to train their kid to pound-away on their computer?!
Labels: Geek Stuff
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Tuesday, July 15, 2008
My good friend Cory came over for a visit tonight. It took a little while for Lauren to fully warm up to him, but not long after we left the house, Lauren was chatting up a storm about him! Liz was quick to capture it on video.Labels: Movies
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Monday, July 14, 2008
Why is it we can never get her to smile this big for the camera when she has a clean face? :)Tonight's dinner was a selection of avocado ("cado") along the outer rim, a course of fresh blue berries ("booberwee") and grapes ("gape! gape! gape!") along the "inner rim," and a smattering of "cottage" (cheese) along the lips.
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Sunday, July 13, 2008
She was playing with them one morning, so Daddy brought over "kitty" and "puppy" for Lauren to host an impromptu tea party.
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Friday, July 11, 2008
From our morning blog roll during breakfast.....
Cousin Zoe is picking up speed very quickly, and that makes Lauren really excited!
Lauren's initial reaction was even more excited, but I couldn't grab the camera fast enough. On seeing the video, she started yelling "Zoe! Zoe! Zoe!" I think it's so great that the cousins can use the web to stay somewhat connected.
Published by Jace Mouse
on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 8:24 AM.
Cousin Zoe is picking up speed very quickly, and that makes Lauren really excited!
Lauren's initial reaction was even more excited, but I couldn't grab the camera fast enough. On seeing the video, she started yelling "Zoe! Zoe! Zoe!" I think it's so great that the cousins can use the web to stay somewhat connected.
Labels: Movies
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Thursday, July 10, 2008
On Tuesday Lauren enjoyed cooling her heels at the Crown Fountain in downtown Chicago's Millennium Park. She played in the water with her friend Josie. That's them in the picture. It's a lot more interaction and eye contact than toddlers their age usually make. I'm glad I caught it in a picture. Josie and her older sister Emma are kids in my mom's group.On Wednesday Lauren and mommy tried out a Chicago public pool for the first time. We went to Holstein Park which has a nice enclosed kiddy pool that goes from about 3" to 18" in depth. A few times Lauren took a complete dunk and while she didn't like it, she didn't cry either. She now says the word "pool" quite a bit. As we were leaving the pool, she put two words together and said "bye bye pool" (ok, technically that's three words, but I'm counting bye bye as one toddler word). She has said about 4 other two word combos. It's fun to see her communication develop. Another one was "momma shower", ok I can take a hint ;)
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Monday, July 07, 2008
For those of you waiting on copies of our photos from occasions long since past....there's cause for hope.
We have a new feature at the Mouse House. We've made all our family photos and other files available on a special password-protected website.
Ten years of digital photos and videos are now available. Better still, all our new files will be available the moment we copy them from the camera!
There are some special considerations.
- The connection is slow, for a couple reasons. You're connecting to the server at our house, and all those up-to-the-second photos means they're all the really big files that come straight from the camera.
- There's no easy preview feature. To peak at a photo, it will probably take you 10-20 seconds per photo.
- It's hard to download multiple photos at once. Though if you're a "power user" you can point your FTP program to the server and go wild.
- The server will be offline sometimes. Usually, it's when our internet connection goes down, but there might be unforeseen issues that bring it down for longer periods.
- Some photos are unavailable. We may decide that some photos, like Lauren's bath time, just aren't allowed outside the house, even for family and friends. I'm sure you understand.
- Some of our naming isn't very accurate. A folder with vacation photos might also contain shots from just prior or after the vacation. So if you don't see something you're looking for, try the folder immediately prior or after the date in question.
- Pretty much any photo we've taken in the past ten years. They're all organized by date. "2007-07-04-Fireworks" would contain the photos from July 4, 2007.
- Special family files, like Allen Woody's WWII audio stories. They're in the "Projects" folder.
- Looking for some of Jace's photos to decorate with? I'll post them here for you to print.
- Anything else someone asks us to post.
- Any friend or family member. Just email us for your password. Please do not share your password with others.
- Passwords will expire occasionally. If yours does, just email us for a new one.
I've attached a little teaser of some of the photos we have in our archive. I'd forgotten all about most of these!
Just shoot us a quick comment or email, and we'll send you a password.
Enjoy!
Labels: Geek Stuff
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Friday, July 04, 2008
We spent part of today at the Chicago Botanic Garden. The weather was great, and Lauren had a ball. She enjoyed toddling around on the lawn -- a skill she's developed in the last couple of months, since uneven ground was a challenge at first. She loved being able to push the distance between herself and her parents.
Once Lauren found the fountain in the rose garden, she really got excited. It is right at her height and designed to have water cascade over the edge. She loved showing off her new-found "splash" skills that she's been practicing at Mouse Beach.
Jace had a fun time using his camera. Note to grandparents: your prints are already on order. :) But if you have any particular size requests, just let us know.
Also, take a minute to admire Liz's latest handiwork -- custom hair bows.
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Here's the view from our rooftop this evening. You might recall from last year that these are not the official city fireworks....these are just the ones that the people in our neighborhood shoot off! The whole idea is still mind-blowing to me. In the photo above, you can see the Hancock Tower the left and the Sears Tower on the irhgt. The new Trump building is in the center. When it's finished, it will be the second tallest building in the city, behind the Sears Tower.Here's the scene looking west of our house, away from the loop and towards the center of our neighborhood. I was just in time to catch the sunset and crescent moon as it was setting over the city.
And another shot looking west.
Photography Details: I don't know how many photography buffs we have in our readership, but here's some background on how I captured these images. They are actually pretty simple to do on any camera that offers manual control. I just set my shutter speed to around 10 seconds, and set my aperture very small (big number) to avoid washing out the image. Since it's digital, it's pretty easy to review your work and make aperture adjustments as needed. The long shutter speed gives you ample opportunity for some fireworks to go off sometime during your photo. It has the additional benefit of allowing the faint sunset to come through more powerfully.
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Thursday, July 03, 2008
Here's Lauren, getting acclimated for the day.She's still a very early riser -- about 5:30 or 6:00 -- but that's okay. It gives Daddy a chance to spend an extra meal with her each day. Each morning over breakfast, Daddy does a "blog roll" so Lauren can see new photos of her friends and family and see what new things they are up to.
Lauren was a little sluggish today, so we sat on the couch a minute and did the blog roll from there.
The last couple of days, Lauren has also started bringing her "ducky" with her when she leaves the crib. It's a toy we started leaving in there a few months ago, because some parents report their children will spend an extra hour or so in their crib, just "talking" with their toys. Lauren rarely seemed to even notice him until recently. She seems to only reach for him when she's finally ready to leave her crib. It's the closest we've come to a "love object" other than her belly button that she'll often touch when she's tired or fussy.
Here's a rough video I shot after taking this picture.
Labels: Movies
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Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Lauren and her doll donned matching outfits today. These dresses were purchased at a beach-side craft fair in Sarasota. They certainly convey the Florida spirit. And it looks pretty sunny outside, even for Chicago!
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Jace had a busy afternoon this past Saturday when he took care of Lauren and Ethan by himself. Liz was enjoying a baby-free (at least free of Lauren - the darling Anna was there) baby shower for Mollie. Ethan was visiting Chicago with his parents who were attending a wedding. Luckily both Lauren and Ethan cooperated by taking good afternoon naps. Here's a picture of Ethan and Lauren pretending to be puppies and having a rest on Indy's dog bed. Ethan is just past 2 yrs old, so it's fun to see where Lauren will be in a year.
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