The Mouse Family Blog

Today the moms and kids in my moms group went to an apple orchard in Hobart, IN to pick our own apples. We had a great time wandering amongst the pumpkins for pictures. We rode the tractor trailer out to the apple trees and picked our own. I selected Red Delicious. We'll see if a pie becomes of it. Lauren tasted an apple while we were in the orchard. I didn't think she would be able to really eat it, but I was wrong, she chomped right in and went to town. Sadly, there were lots of mosquitoes in the orchard that also went to town, so we grabbed apples, a few pictures and then high tailed it back to the barn for some lunch and the orchard's famous (or at least that's what the employees kept telling us) donuts. We also checked out a barnsyard with little donkeys, pigmy goats, potbellied pigs, chickens, minature horses, calves, bunnies... just about any cute animal you can keep in a pen. Lauren continued to chomp on her apple through the whole barnyard.

Here's a shot from my business trip to Seattle this week.




Photographic Details: 10sec at f22, 37mm using Canon 10D and 17-40L lens at 37mm. This photo is close to the original exposure, except that I use Photoshop to remove a portion of the sign that was obscured by foliage.

Back to back birthdays! And more Cubs fanfare! Lauren had another super fun time helping Austin celebrate his first birthday. Here is Austin enjoying his cake. He didn't get as much icing in his hair as Everett did, but he gets points for going after the blue icing. And yes ladies, he is that cute. These younger boys... oh Lauren. We also have a cute picture here of Lauren with a friend she sees in the church nursery, Emilyn. They are taking turns with Austin's new baseball toy. Lauren is excited that she got another Cubs shirt and a big blowup baseball of her own. Liz was excited to have more cake :)

And have you noticed the style of dress in these pictures? Yes it is t-shirt and sundress

weather in Chicago. We can't believe our good fortune to have highs in the upper 70s this week. We'll take it while it lasts. Pretty soon the fall weather will be here. Just in time for apple picking and pumpkin patch visits!

Lauren got a Cubs t-shirt at Everett's birthday party. I (Liz) got to decorate the back! Here is Lauren taking a ride on the elephant and showing off a pretty face. She must be practicing for her first trip to Wrigley Field outfield bleachers - beverage in hand!

I have never seen a 1 year old take down a cake with such gusto! Everett, my man, you rocked it. Happy birthday little Cubbie!

We had a super fun time at Everett's house today to celebrate his 1st birthday Cubs style. The decorations were fabulous, including a Cubs cake with Ivy frosting. Lauren loved the popcorn and even tolerated the party hat.We enjoyed hot dogs, popcorn, peanuts (not Lauren) nachos and of course cake! Lauren's mommy got to decorate a Cubs t-shirt just for Lauren to take home - photos of that after Lauren wakes up from her nap. Boy was she pooped from all the fun. Nothing keeps a toddler entertained like a house full of kids, food and balloons.

Liz and Lauren,
Just getting ready to work the trade show. I miss you already. See
you Saturday night.

Maybe Lauren will take after mommy. She is showing some early organizational skills. This morning she put all her blueberries in the cup holder on her tray before she started eating them. Too funny Lauren. Oh and she is taking after Jace too with her analytical skills... examining the blueberry with serious consideration of all it's aspects ;)

As some of you know, since I've been staying home with Lauren I've been growing an increasing interest in sewing. It all started with burp cloths when Lauren was baby. Then she grew some hair and I got all excited about hair clips. Now I've branched out into clothing. It's a scary world. I have no training about how to sew whatsoever (I do not think anything I learned in high school Home Ec. has stayed with me). I'm making tons of mistakes. Usually I cut the material slightly off pattern. I always end up sewing something together upside down or wrong side out (the seam ripper is my best friend). But in the end, I enjoy it and so far I've turned out a few things that are actually wearable (so far - Lauren did pop a seam in a pair of pants playing at Leslie's house today - but that was an easy fix). Here are some pics of a recent outfit.
Posting update: Lauren woke up from her nap and tried on her outfit with matching hair bows - she liked it! She liked my melted ice water from McDonalds too :)

Labels: Sewing

Heather, Lauren and Mommy got up early (not early enough) and drove out to South Barrington to attend a grand opening of a new L.L. Bean store in Chicagoland. The first 500 people were going to get gift cards that were for as much as $500 dollars. We did not get gift cards. Can you believe it. We were there at 8am and after waiting in line for 1.5 hrs we finally go to the front door and... no more gift cards. The guy said we were off by about 75-100 people. Darn. But Lauren got a really children's book about meeting a moose in Maine for free. She also got a scone while we were waiting in line. She did a good job waiting in her stroller. Then Lauren and Mommy weaved our way throught the sea of humanity inside the store while Heather shopped. Then we all went to see our friends Colleen and baby Anna in Fox River Grove. It was a fun day. Lauren is excited that Anna loaned her an excellent toy - an elephant rocking horse. Lauren has already figured out to climb on and off by herself.










Here is Lauren in the shoe section checking out how cute she looks in the mirror while talking on Heather's iPhone.










Here is the line behind us!

On Thursdays Lauren and Mommy will be having Everett over to play. Day 1 was fun, we hope that's the case every week. Lauren and Everett took turns napping, so Mommy had lots of time with just one child. And Lauren shared her highchair and toys like a very good girl. Everett was a complete gentleman.

These days, Lauren is increasingly reluctant to end her bath time. She knows what the drain does, and she doesn't like it one bit when we pull the plug before she's ready! We decided to make the most of her extra time in the tub by taking these photos.

Here's the result.

Here are some photos of Lauren from our trip two weeks ago. Liz spotted a nice set of props, so she had me bring my camera down.

Lauren is constantly on the go, which made these photos a challenge. Lauren's smiles are credited to Liz, Grandma and Papa Gieseke. Liz would place Lauren in the scene, run off camera, and then I'd shoot as the whole gang vied for Lauren's smiles.


I need a lot of practice in order to apply my "landscape photography learnings" to children's photography, but these don't seem too bad for a first attempt. I get really excited to think about the pictures I could get with some better lighting and practice.



Photography Tip: For anyone interested, here's a photography tip. Have you ever wanted to get blurry out-of-focus backgrounds like the pro's do? It's pretty simple once you learn the tricks. All you need is a camera to has a manual or "aperture priority" mode, which most do. Read your camera's manual to set the aperture to the lowest number possible on your camera. It's usually around 2 or 4, and often listed with an "f" in front of it, like "f2." I won't bore you with the physics -- just think of this setting as the amount of "stuff" that will be in focus in the image -- the lower the number, the less stuff in focus. A low number means your kid can be in focus while the stuff behind (and in front) of them will be blurry. The final trick is to put some distance between your kid and the background -- the more the better, but at least five feet.

Well, we missed the usual 15 month appointment at the doctor due to our busy travel schedule in August, so we went today. Lauren turned 16 months on Sept 2. She measured in the 90th percentile for height and weight.

Her stats are:
26 pounds
32 inches

As for a general update on Lauren, we continue to be amazed at how verbal she is. This past weekend in Oklahoma, so entertained family with her ability to make animal sounds. If you say "What does a sheep say?" she responds with "Baaa!" She makes the sounds for cat, dog, horse, pig, monkey, cow, sheep, duck and elephant (usually with a raised arm like a trunk), she sometimes even gives you a goat or chicken sound. When you ask her "What does momma say?" she responds with a loud "no no" - she knows how to get a laugh. She knows the names of most of her foods and friends (stuffed and human). She puts words together, for example she says "hi momma" "hi daddy" "go outside" "all done" "momma hold you" "daddy's shoe on "no Indy"(haha, she hears that too much). If my phone rings she says "mamma's phone." It's hard to capture here, but she really knows what we're saying and communicates back to us - it's awesome. The other day she found her sand shovel in the toy box and carried it to the front door and looked at me and said "car go beach umm hmm" "umm hmm" is her way of saying yes. I was amazed. Sadly, it was not nice enough weather to hop in the car and go to the beach.

In motor development, she is pretty normal for a kid her age. She climbs up and down our stairs (with mommy or daddy there to spot her). She is pretty much running and she can walk backwards. She also is able to climb down off the couch but not up onto it yet. She is working on her shape sorter, usually getting all the shapes in with a few encouragements to turn it or try it in a different hole. She can stack up several blocks and is working on drinking from an open cup without totally dousing the front of her shirt. She needs more practice with a spoon and fork, but that's really more mommy's fault for not offering enough chances - Lauren is still an excellent eater with her hands and puts away a good amount and variety of foods. Fruits are her favorites.

In social skills, she is doing pretty good. She finally showed signs of separation anxiety, but they are really mild. She quickly gets comfortable around most people, even ones she meets for the first time. She even let the flight attendant hold her and take her for a walk several seats up the aisle on our most recent flight. She takes longer to warm up to men. She usually doesn't mind getting dropped off with a babysitter or at the church nursery and if she does act clingy, all it takes is to get her interested in some toys and then get out of eye sight.

She has 4 front teeth on top and 4 on bottom as well as 4 molars (one in each quadrant). The first week of cutting the molars was tough but she seemed to adjust and the rest came through without interrupting sleep. She sleeps from 8pm to about 6:30am and still takes 2 naps for a total of 3 hrs sleep in the daytime. Mommy is not in any hurry to drop that morning nap, that's mommy's coffee time :) Oh, and in case you haven't noticed in the pictures, she has the most beautiful curls in the back of her hair, which is finally long enough for ponytails!

As I'm sure it is for most parents of a 16 month old, these months since she turned one have been amazing. Her ability to walk and communicate with us has made our ways of relating more complex and rewarding. I know that introducing discipline is coming up soon and after that potty training, so we'll just try to enjoy life now while everything seems perfect.

Labels: Monthly Photos