My First Mother's Day

Someone asked me what I was doing for Mother's Day and I replied, "We're having lunch with Peter's mom and then dinner with my mom."

Then she said, "Well, what are you guys doing for YOU?!"

Funny thing is, I hadn't even thought of it. After so many years of making Mother's Day plans for our moms, I forgot about my own first Mother's Day. Luckily, Peter and Lauren didn't forget, and I woke up to banana pancakes and this:

My first Mother's Day card!

We went to church and then to Mom P's house for a delicious lunch. Afterwards we invited my Mom to our house for a BBQ. The weather was so nice we ate outside in the backyard.

Time flies...

When I dip, you dip, we dip

I love fondue!

We celebrated our 8th anniversary today. Hard to believe it's been 8 years...so we got through that 7 year itch without a hitch! (Does that really exist? The only itch I was feeling was the one on the surface of my belly when it had a growing baby inside!)

Last year we celebrated by going to the local Indian chaat house (I was in the middle of my pregnancy craving craziness). This year we brought the little cheekaboo with us and had some fondue (FUN-do! heh) It was neat, I'd never been to one of those places before. I thought it was a little pricey considering what you get and how easy it was to make the dipping stuff (throw in a little beer here, a little shredded cheese there...add a little shake shake of seasoning and voila! That'll be 80 dollars please!) The Bananas Foster fondue for dessert was delicious though, so that made it all ok. Lauren enjoyed watching our server flambe' the fondue with a flourish of sprinkled cinnamon into the flame that made sparks fly. She also enjoyed bits of bread, cheese, apple, and banana that we set aside for her. Overall it was fun, so I think we would go there again.

TGFS

I love working for the University. Even though we get less pay, we have great benefits and nice working environment, so I'm not complaining. Once a year the University shows it's appreciation by having a picnic for staff called TGFS (Thank Goodness For Staff). The staff picnic this year was catered by the Buckhorn and the food wasn't too bad...plus it was a beautiful day to hang out and we picked a perfect spot under a big tree. We had tri tip sandwiches and ice cream from Fentons. Lauren had pureed squash and cheerios. Yum!

Peek A Boo!

This is the kind of silliness that I miss out on when I'm at work. I wanna pinch her!

Lazy Sunday

I was doing errands around the house last Sunday while Lauren and her daddy played in the bedroom. I'd been working for almost an hour when I noticed how quiet it was, there were no giggles or baby talk coming from the bedroom. I went to investigate and this is what I found:

On the move...and standing still.

Well today she made lots of progress on both fronts...walking AND standing. Well....using a walker anyway. And before you guys slap my hands for letting her use a walker, I made sure she was in a safe area and will promise not to let her hang out in it for too long that it will encourage bad posture, etc. etc. (but hey, my mom put all of us in walkers and I think we turned out ok!)

Even though she's been using her walker for the last few weeks, she never did anything more than scoot backwards a few inches at a time. She mostly just hung out in it and it was a safe place for her to be while I did some errands around the house. Well...all that's about to change! Something must've clicked in the part of her brain that controls coordination because suddenly she was whizzing past us going backwards and FORWARDS! And you should've seen how excited she was when she realized that she could get to the container of cheerios across the room on her own! Yay! and Boo! a the same time...I can no longer keep her unattended in that walker and have to clear the area of hazards. I can still put the brakes on though so that it remains stationary like an exersaucer, but I have a feeling that once she's had that taste of "walking" she's not going to stand for being still.

Like I said, the synapses in her brain that control coordination must've been in overdrive today. After she pulls herself up to standing, she can now let go of whatever she's holding on to (usually my leg or my butt..if I'm lying down) and remain standing ON HER OWN for almost half a minute before crashing back down. The look of pride on her face is priceless while Mommy and Daddy wistfully shake their heads and worry that their cheekaboo is growing up way too fast.