Where does the time go?

I can hardly believe it's been as long as it's been since I've blogged. But there's been good reason. Here are a few highlights.

After having been to Lewistown on Memorial Day weekend, a trip which included a stop off at the Toyota dealership for a little recall work that my Highlander needed, we returned exactly one week later due to some engine lights that were on. It turned out to be nothing, but Joshua had an opportunity to experience the waiting room of the service department. He was quite pleased to find small water bottles that he could drink from like a big boy. Lauren, as you can see, slept almost the whole time. When she did open her eyes, she was less impressed with the small water bottles than Joshua had been.

What was supposed to have been an overnight at Nana and Pap's with just me and the kids turned out not to be an overnight at all. After supper Friday night I decided that I was exhausted from chasing Joshua, correcting Joshua, helping Joshua to play nicely with Brooke and Lauren, and didn't think I had the strength to deal with an overnight of Joshua and I sharing a bed while also dealing with Lauren and her I'm-going-to-wake-up-at-least-3-times-every-night-just-to-prove-who's-boss antics. Joshua still can't manage not falling out of the big beds at Nana and Pap's, so he requires a night time chaperone. At least at home, I can spend the wee hours up with Lauren without also waking her brother (most of the time anyway). So I sincerely hoped that I hadn't offended my parents or my sister by going home early and worried about that most of the way home. But it was good to get back when we arrived prior to bedtime.

The rest of my good reason for being absent involves Lauren's recent developmental milestones. Honestly, in the past 2 weeks we have made progress that is almost too much to believe. And frankly, I'm not liking how quickly the time is flying by!

She is pulling up to stand with ease at everything. She doesn't seem to care whether things are nailed down or not, and just stands up like a pro against doors, furniture, toys, tool boxes, book bins, pant legs, and on and on and on. She is fearless and fast.

Beginning last Friday/Saturday, I'd say we officially have a crawler. She can go the entire length of the house in about 5 seconds, making it impossible to take your eye off of her for even a millisecond. The only thing working in our favor right now is that she has also taken a turn into some serious jabbering in the past couple of days, so there's a soundtrack of ma-ma-ma-ma-maaaaa and ba-ba-ba intermixed with her normal raspberries and long vowel sounds to indicate which direction she's heading. I'm beginning to learn the volume of said sounds that indicates she's within the danger zone of the dog's food and water. Learned that one the hard way when I looked around the corner to the kitchen and saw her with an entire bowl of Watson's water in her lap. She looked quite pleased until I plopped her right into the bathtub at 8:00 in the morning.

Occasionally, she'll get herself trapped under the chairs. She crawls under them and then sits up but can't lay back down without banging her head against the rails. Would it be wrong to admit that I've left her there momentarily while I finished washing a dish or filling up Joshua's sippy cup because I knew she couldn't get out?

Any free time we may have had at home is now gone because our full time job when we're home is to referee between the children. Joshua is not loving Lauren's new found mobility and doesn't seem to appreciate the fact that she can now help herself to whatever of Joshua's precious treasures she wishes to chew on. There has been a good bit of grabbing, pulling, growling and smacking going on in recent days and we've just about had it up to here. I had honestly forgotten how exhausting this stage is, but I'm definitely still supporting my previous declaration that the crawling stage is not my favorite.

As of yesterday, we also started trying little pieces broken off of Gerber Puffs and she seems to enjoy them. No choking or gagging, so I'd declare that a victory. None of this food exploration seems to be affecting her appetite or interest in nursing as we're still working that into the routine an average of 5-7 times a day. Sadly, 2-3 of those are coming during the hours that most of the world is enjoying a little shut eye. I'm convinced that she's either growing (6 month clothes are just about too small) or is really working on those teeth...or both. Between nursing and three good sized baby food meals, she's certainly eating well and appears to me to be growing.

I'll do my best not to let as much time pass until my next post!