Surprise Shower

For the last few days Lauren has been coughing and it got a little worse yesterday. She feels fine and is playing, but on the way to work I moved her already scheduled doctor's appointment from Tuesday to yesterday morning just in case. I had to have her to the doctor by 8:40 a.m. so I went to work for about an hour then left to take her to the doctor. What I didn't know was that my office had planned a surprise baby shower for that afternoon and they all became slightly concerned that I might have to take Lauren home (I think there was a sense of relief when I got back to the office two hours later).

At lunch time they lured me into the conference room, which was decorated with baby boy balloons, cake and a whole spread of food. We had sweet and sour meatballs, hot wings, a vege tray, fruit kabobs, potato salad, homemade salsa, mini roll-up sandwiches and a couple of desserts. After lunch I opened presents and baby brudder once again racked up on gifts. He got lots of clothes in sizes varying from 3 to 9 months -- including a super cute Alabama sweatsuit. He also got a blanket with his initials embroidered on it, a piggy bank, some diapers and wipes. Here are a couple of pictures of all of his presents. You can click on the pictures and they will enlarge.

Lauren even got a present.

I think baby brudder has plenty of stuff now and we're pretty much set for his arrival in the next 2 and half weeks. Oh, and Lauren's cough is fine. The doctor said she is congested, but it's all in her head and sinus cavities, not her lungs or chest. She got some Benadryl and Robitussin and should be fine in a few days.

Halloween 2009

Lauren has been dressing up for Halloween ever since she was born, but she had never been trick-or-treating because we knew she wouldn't really get it. So this year we decided to take her. However, that plan was almost cancelled because Patrick was going to a conference out of town over Halloween weekend. Then his conference got cancelled and he ended up having to visit a client at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville instead so we got to spend Halloween in Birmingham. Here are a few pictures of her in her bumble bee costume at Birmingham Botanical Gardens...

After the photo shoot, her highness requested to stay in her costume during nap time so the bumble took a nap and after she woke up she practiced trick-or-treating with Uncle Jeff. He stood behind the pantry door and Lauren would knock on the door. When Jeff opened it she was coached to say trick-or-treat, which she usually got, but she kept forgetting to say "thank you" after receiving candy. So they continued to practice. Jeff threw her off once by asking "what are you?" and she looked up as serious as can be and said "Lauren."

Later on me, Patrick and Jeff took her out to test her skills. We started with the next door neighbors...

However, despite all of her practicing Lauren froze at the door. After she got the candy though, she quickly learned to perform.

After going to about eight or so houses we headed back to eat dinner and check out her loot...

... and learn important life skills from Dadda, like how to TP the living room.

Furnny story, she had to go potty later and the toilet paper was missing. I told her Dadda didn't put it back and she told me, "Dadda didn't put it back? You gunna pop his mouth." Not sure where she gets that... :)

We ended the night by surprising Maw Maw and Paw Paw.

Bebe got to choose all the candy she wanted because Maw Maw is easily impressed by her cuteness.

After we left Maw Maw and Paw Paw's house we had to head back to Columbus because Patrick had to go out of town early the next morning. So the bumble bee changed into her jammies and slept all the way home.

Fall Fun

When we were in Birmingham for the Columbus Day weekend Mike and Carol (also known as Pops and CG) officially kicked off fall with a pumpkin carving activity. However, their plan backfired when Lauren decided the inside of the pumpkin was "yucky" and therefore didn't want to touch it.

So it was up to me, Pops and Aunt Carol to pick up the slack and carve the pumpkins while Patrick took pictures and CG entertained Lauren. Armed with my mini saws and pattern book I suggested we make it a contest.

This was the extent of Lauren "helping." She wanted her hand traced on the back of our pumpkin.

I was pretty confident I would win the contest due to my skillz, but since Aunt Carol is an artist I knew I would be challenged. However, Lauren was the judge...so at least I had that going for me. Here are our creations. Pops' pumpkin is the one on the left, Aunt Carol in the middle and mine is on the end.

The judging has begun....and the winner is...

Aunt Carol. Yep, my traitor daughter didn't pick her Mamma's pumpkin. Even though I asked her several times which one she liked she stuck with Carol's. So I lost. The following weekend brought cooler weather to Columbus, which was nice because it actually felt like fall. So Patrick got some pine straw to make our flower beds look pretty and some hay and Mums for the front porch.

Lauren decided Dadda needed help spreading the pine straw.

She soon got bored so she stopped to smell the Mums.

The next day headed out to the pumpkin patch. We were supposed to go while we were in Birmingham the weekend before, but the weather didn't cooperate and it rained. So I asked around at work and decided we would go to the Marengo Creek Farm just outside of Phenix City, Ala. It was an okay farm, not as good as Old Baker Farm in Harpersville, but still nice. They had giant swimming pools filled with dried corn for the kids to play in and at first Lauren declined. She said "I don't want to get dirty." So I convinced her to at least touch the corn while Patrick went back to the car to retrieve her jacket.

However, once Dadda got back he jumped in the corn.

Then suddenly it was okay to get dirty and Lauren begged me to put her in too.

So she played and wallowed in the corn for awhile before deciding to explore the rest of the farm. Next up was sheep herding. It was way cool. The dog brought the sheep right over to us.

Lauren LOVED the sheep. She waved and talked to them.

Then she decided it was time to move on again. So we went over to the hay maze, which consisted of a bunch of hay bails set up for kids to run through.

She had a blast, but soon discovered you could cheat and climb over the hay rather than run around it.

After the hay maze it was time to go see more farm animals so we went over and saw goats, chickens, turkeys, a cow, a mini horse, some bunnies and more sheep.

Lauren was good when one or two sheep were near her, but when the whole flock came over and started saying "Baa!, Baa!, Baa!" she looked at me and Patrick and said "I scared." So we moved on to find the hay ride.

Waiting on her hay ride to arrive...

The hay ride was "okay," but it could have been better. The last stop on it was the pumpkin patch, which is why we went to the farm in the first place. It turned out to be a disappointment because the pumpkins weren't grown there and they were grossly over-priced.

So we took some cute pictures and decided to get our pumpkins at Walmart later.

Although Lauren was pretty thrilled to find one she could hold we weren't willing to spend $8 on tiny pumpkins, especially when I got two for $9 the next day at Walmart.

Overall, Bebe had a fun day on the farm. Even now, three days later and she's still talking about it. She likes to lead you into the conversation with "What did Warren see on the farm?" You are then to reply (in an exited tone) "What did Lauren see on the farm?" To which she will say, "Umm...she saw goats and shickens, bunnies and a doggie chasing the seep." You can then continue the conversation and talk about the pumpkins and chickens and such. More fall fun is scheduled for this coming weekend as Nonie and Granddaddy come visit and we carve the Walmart pumpkins.

Our morning commute

Thought I'd share a little bit about our weekday morning commute. We live about 20 minutes from Fort Benning and then once we get through the gate it's another 10-15 minutes to Lauren's daycare and my office, which are about five minutes apart. So we're in the car together for about 30 minutes or so each morning.

Back in 2008 when she first started going to daycare on post Lauren used to say nothing, then she started babbling, then it was the occasional few words such as mamma, dadda, bus, and now she starts conversations, most of which are quite funny. Take today for instance...we got in the car and drove past the bus stop which was crowded because the school bus hadn't come yet. Lauren said "What those kids doin'?" My response was, "They're waiting on the bus." And she said "They going to school like Warren?" (She doesn't pronounce her name very well). I laughed and told her "Yep, they're going to school like Lauren."

As we left the neighborhood and reached the first major intersection I got in the turn lane and it's funny, but Lauren can tell you if we're going straight to school or stopping at Starbucks first by which lane I get in. Typically I make coffee at home about three times a week and indulge in a latte the other two days -- today was an indulge day. Usually she asks when we're in the turn lane "You need coffee mamma?" but she didn't today. However, when we got to Starbucks there where already two people in the drive-thru ahead of me and Lauren hates that so she said "Those cars need to move."

The rest of the trip she was pretty quiet for awhile then she said "What 'chu doin' mamma?" I said "Driving, what 'chu doin' Lauren?" Usually her response is "I'm sitting in my carseat" but instead today she rattled off a list of stuff she needed to do, "I need to get my oil shanged, I need to go soppin', I need to get zroercies, I need to buy brudder bottles..." For those that don't speak Lauren that translates to I need to get my oil changed, I need to go shopping, I need to get groceries, I need to buy brother bottles. I laughed out loud. I told her she had a lot to do and she said "I busy."

Then mom called and we talked or little bit. After we hung up Lauren decided it was time for her to call people. So she got out her cell phone and said "I callin' dadda. Hey dadda. You runnin'? I miss you, miss you. Good night!" She then called her usually line-up of people...Aunt Hoddy and Biscotti, Michael, Jonathan and Nonie. Sometimes she'll throw someone else into the mix, but those are her regulars.

Shortly after she finished her correspondence we reach the Fort Benning Main Gate and if you've never been to a military installation you have to pull up and give the gate guard your military I.D. card so they can check to make sure you aren't Osama Bin Ladin. As we pulled up Lauren said, "We goin' through the gate? I need my card" She reached into her My First Purse and pulled out her play credit card, which she considers her I.D card. She held it out for the guard and said "Here, thank you!" (she does that just about every morning and it's precious).

After we rolled through the gate we had random conversations about buses and car colors, and her favorite, we counted the houses. When we finally got close enough to daycare she started craning her neck to see if her favorite teacher's car is parked out front. She'll look and say "That Emmie's car!" Ms. Emily is Lauren's favorite teacher and my daughter the stalker knows her car. God forbid Ms. Emmie go on vacation or get sick -- Lauren doesn't handle it well. We went inside the routine is pretty standard each day. They scanned my card to check Lauren in, we went in her classroom, washed hands and headed over to the reading corner. Lauren kissed me bye and I headed to work. She never protests going to school or me going to work because she has such a good time in daycare, in fact sometimes she requests to go to school or "go see friends" on Saturday. So that's pretty much our morning commute and some variation of it happens between 6:45 and 7:15 a.m. every weekday.

Shopping for Baby Brother

Lauren and I went shopping the other day and we picked up a few things for "Baby Brudder" at Target. 'Bout time too because this poor child was going to look fabulous in pink if we didn't start buying him clothes. So here is what we've got so far and you can click on the photos to enlarge them now because I updated the blog account. To get back to the blog after viewing enlarged photos just click the back button.

He's also got a a couple of bibs and socks and a blankie, which I had to have because it's very similar to Lauren's "bankie."

His blankie has inspired what I'd like to do with nursery, I just haven't decided on the pattern yet. I want to do the room in the colors of light baby blue and light green, like the blanket. However, I must say there are not a lot of cute boy patterned crib sets. Maybe I'm biased, but the girl ones are so much cuter. Anyway, these are the few I've found so far that I like. Vote for your favorite in the comment section.

Option 1: "Vintage Patch"

See online at Vintage Patch

Option 2: "Go Fish"

See online at Go Fish

Option 3: "Puppy"

See online at Puppy

Option 4:  I don't like any of these, but you still have awesome taste.

Like I said, vote in the comment section and tell me what you think or even offer up suggestions. There's really not a giant hurry because he'll spend the first five months sleeping in our room in the Pack 'N Play anyway.

What I did on my Summer Vacation

We've had a fun-filled summer and really the only way to hit all of the highlights is with pictures. So, without further ado, here is what Lauren has been up to this summer...

In June Patrick set up Lauren's pool on the patio for the first time and she enjoyed it a lot more this year. Last year she kept climbing in and out, this year she actually played in the pool. Sure she got out, but it was usually to water the plants -- she's quite the gardener you know.

The pool we have is supposed to be shaped like palm trees that rain down water from the center. However, Lauren still doesn't care for the rain aspect so we generally leave the top off. Maybe next year she'll both stay in the pool AND like the rain feature...we'll see.

She also had a major milestone this summer, her first haircut. Yes, it took 2 and a half years for her to grow enough hair to get a haircut AND still keep it long enough to pull into a ponytail. We took her to a cute little place here in Columbus that specializes in children's haircuts called pigtails and crew cuts. I was kind of afraid she would not take this well because she doesn't care for certain strangers. Sometimes she's great and sometimes she totally freaks out. For instance, she HATES the guys at Express Oil Change and the guy who sprays our house for bugs, so I was hoping she wouldn't mind the lady who cut her hair because that wouldn't make for good pictures. Fortunately, she was awesome.






A total pro at having her hair blown dry.



All done and such a ham! This is her new pose. Whenever I get my camera out now she cocks her head to the side and smiles unprompted. Sometimes she says "Hi Nonie!" I guess Bebe knows who looks at her pictures the most.

This summer we also took our standard two-week vacation to the beach. Lauren enjoyed the sand and she REALLY enjoyed eating outside. We would usually get outside about 9:30 or 10 a.m. and she would immediately start asking for snacks..."I want gapes, I want setzels, I want yunch." For those that don't speak Lauren, that translates to I want grapes, pretzels and lunch.

She also enjoyed having Patrick make her a "bed" in the sand, meaning she liked to be buried up to her waist with sand behind her so she could recline.

Her indoor activities consisted of decorating Maw Maw's kitchen cabinets with "tickers" (stickers)...

...and making puppy nervous.

We also did our standard twilight photos on the beach. Basically we take Lauren down to the beach in a sundress after dinner to get cute shots of her running around the sand while I chase her with a camera.

And once again, she posed. She ran up to this little hill, plopped down and smiled.

Running from the waves...

Here are a few other random summer photos. Here she is making her babies go night-night while I make dinner. She lines them up face down, covers them with a blanket and pats their backs. This takes place just about every night in the Gordon household about 6 p.m.


Helping Dadda on his computer.

Helping Dadda again, this time folding laundry.

Puppy got in on the action and helped too. He mostly lounged amongst the clothes though.

Finally, Lauren learned many things this summer, but most importantly she learned not to let Dadda pick out her outfits.

(In Patrick's defense, Lauren really picked out this outfit, but he did stand-by and let it happen.)