Lauren rolls

Here is the video of Lauren rolling. I realize I sound like a complete dork in this video, but isn't that what moms do when their kids do something new!

Rollin'

Big news in the Quast household . . . Lauren rolled over for the first time and luckily, I caught it on video as I was playing around with my new camera when she did it. Bad news, I can't get the video uploaded. I've tried and tried, and haven't had success. Once I figure it out, I'll post the video.

In other Lauren news, she is cutting her third tooth, shared her first popsicle (sugar-free mind you), and gummed down her first banana puff (a baby treat). All this before 6 months - not bad if you ask me. I noticed the third tooth this evening after I finished nursing her. She wasn't really eating, just nibbling so I rubbed my finger over her gums and felt the tooth poking through. Like I said before, my nursing days are coming to an end, and not one day too soon - teeth do not feel good! We had our popsicle together this afternoon as it was a very warm day. Ryan and I were sucking down our treats and poor Lauren just sat there licking her lips so I figured, why not give her a taste. At first she gave me a weird look, but once she got used to the taste, I couldn't get it to her mouth quick enough. And finally, she gummed down her first puff tonight. Ryan used to love these things and it appears as though Lauren is going to follow in his footsteps. Luckily I bought 5 containers as they were on sale.
Ryan kept busy today as always. He played inside and outside, painted, colored, you name it, he did it. He took a 3 hour nap to recover and was back at it as soon as he woke up. I look forward to many more warm summer days with him to keep me busy. A quick story about Ryan . . he had a scab on the top of his head that started to flake off today so I picked it out of his hair and said, "gross, you have a booger in your hair." Ryan wanted to see it (who wouldn't) so I showed him the scab and told him to throw it in the garbage. What does he do, shoves it in his nose! I immediately plugged the opposite nostril and told him to blow and got the scab out. I asked why he did it, and he said, "because boogers go in your nose." Oh, to think like a 3 year old.

He had to rehydrate after a busy day

Train Museum

We headed out to the train museum again today. The museum is only open on Wednesdays and Saturdays so it is difficult to get there, but we made a point to set this Wed aside especially for the trains. Ryan of course was on cloud nine when he saw where we were. I was a little bummed when we pulled into the parking lot and saw two bus loads of preschoolers entering the museum. We were told the last time we visited the museum that they run a kiddie train outside starting in May so that was our mission today. I had planned on being there early to get in some rides before the crowds came, but that obviously wasn't going to happen with all the kids. To top it off, the kiddie train (which was built in 1974 I think) was not working so there were no rides to be had. I was a little disappointed, but Ryan could have cared less, he was just happy to be back with "his" trains. We (or should I say Ryan), climbed in and out of all the trains making sure to visit the cool ones two or three times before one of the museum volunteers asked if we would be interested in a caboose ride. Of course we would! Usually they only run the caboose rides on Saturdays, but because of the school visits, they had the engine running and offered rides to the public after all the school kids left - this was the highlight of the day! When I told Ryan we were going to ride on a real train, I think he thought I was just talking about the trains he had already been in. Not until we were outside and he saw the engine pull up did he really get what was going on, and boy was he excited!!!! The conductor came out and talked to Ryan as we were boarding the train. The conversation was a little one-sided with Ryan spitting out more words than I could even understand and the conductor just nodding and smiling - he was a very nice guy. When the train started Ryan had the biggest smile on his face - it was so fun to watch him as we rode along - pure happiness at it's best. You are probably thinking you'll scroll down and see the picture of this smile - guess again. Wouldn't you know, my camera decided to stop working today of all days and I didn't get one single picture (I'll touch on that later). We didn't get home until after 1:00pm and then it was lunch and naps for the kids. During their naps, I used the time to research cameras on the Internet and decided that it was time to get a new one. When the kids got up, we headed out to Target where I made my purchase. I usually don't make make on the spot purchases like that, but my camera had been acting up for a while, and I didn't want to miss anymore special moments so I justified the purchase and went home to try out the new gadget. Check out the new pictures - notice all the smiles I was missing with my old camera that had a super long delay.

No more diapers!!

I don't want to jinx this, but I had to share the good news - Ryan hasn't been wearing pull-ups for his naps or at bedtime for the past couple of days and we haven't had any accidents!! I started leaving him in his undies during naps about two weeks ago and hadn't had any issues so I decided to try it overnight these past two nights, and both mornings he was nice and dry! Last night he even went without undies - or at least his whitey-tighty undies, instead he wore boxers just like daddy. At first, I don't think he liked it too much as he kept pulling at his shorts, but once he got used to it, he was loving being such a big boy. He is also working on other things these days . . . he is able to get his velcro shoes and sandals on all by himself, he can fully undress himself and throw his clothes in his hamper (now if he can just teach daddy how to do this, then I wouldn't have to pick up all of his clothes off the floor), he goes potty all by himself (expect for wiping after going poo), and has become a real help with Lauren - he holds her bottles, burps her, wipes her face, and always keeps her entertained - who knew a three year old (in one month) could be such a big help! Now I just have to work on getting him off his sippy cup - he is like a crack addict when it comes to that thing. He has been using cups at meals the past few weeks, but still likes his hot chocolate in his sippy - that way he can slam his coco in 30 seconds instead of having to sip it like a normal person. Hopefully he'll be done with it by his 3rd birthday - that would be a present for both of us!

Shorts or a skirt - he needs to put some meat on those legs!

Some recent pictures of Lauren during a recent photo shoot in our living room.Hum . . . I wonder

Auntie Graduates!!!!

This was a very busy weekend for us as Ashley graduated from college - yeah Ash! I know Mom and Dad are happy she made it, but I'm not so sure Ash is excited to enter the real world. Especially when summer vacation is no longer 3 months long, but a 3 day weekend here and there. There is no more J-term, or Spring Break, and you only get one day off for Christmas versus a whole week - doesn't this sound fun!

When I graduated just 7 short years ago, I had one event, the commencement, but Ashley's graduation was much more involved than that. The fun started on Friday night with the"Pinning Ceremony." From what Ash tells me, this is the real "graduation" for nurses. The kids and I attended this with my parents. Trav had his good friend's surprise 30th birthday party this night so he went to that - lucky guy. The ceremony started at 7:00pm and we didn't leave the campus until close to 10:00pm- talk about a long night for the kids. To my surprise though, they both did great. Ryan did get a little antsy during the ceremony, but luckily the actual pinning took place during this time, and he started to hoot and holler as the girls walked across the stage - it was perfect timing and a great distraction to get him through the final 20 minutes. By the time we got to Aaron's place, the kids were both out cold.
After a short/tough night (mom, Ryan, and I in one bed with Lauren just feet away in the pack and play), we were ready for a day of fun with the entire family. Aaron, Ann, and Trav all made their way back to Aaron's place and we headed out for a day of fun at the Stillwater Art Festival. It rained on and off throughout the day, but we were still able to get out and walk through the place. Later in the day we all sat down for lunch and then headed back to Aaron's place. By this time, the kids were getting cranky - no naps means no fun, so Trav and I packed up the van and headed home. It was an early night to bed for everyone as it had already been a long weekend for us even though it was only Saturday.

We spent Sunday doing yard work and cleaning up the house before Trav had to leave for New York for work. The kids and I were playing outside when my parents came by on their way home from the final two events of Ash's graduation. On Sunday they attended the "Hooding Ceremony" in the morning, and the actual commencement in the afternoon, where Ash finally got her diploma. They were exhausted and ready to get home to start the long work week ahead.

All in all, it was a fun weekend and we were all very excited to see Ashley graduate after four tough years of college. Now onto the next stage - finding a job- hopefully that won't take four years!

Beauty and the Baller

It's that time of year again, time to change out the winter wardrobes for the summer wardrobes. So the whole gang (Ryan, Lauren, Auntie, and myself) were all packed in Ryan's room for the big event. As I go through his clothes and pull out the stuff he no longer fits into, I reminisce and have a moment of sadness thinking about how big he is getting. Unfortunately the moment is brief as Ryan usually comes flying into my lap, or runs by screaming at the top of his lungs and just like that the moment is over and I'm back to real time. Whenever I start pulling stuff out of drawers, Ryan always wants to put something new on. In the past, it has been a pair of sandals that are two sizes too small, or a favorite t-shirt that I manage to squeeze over his head and pull down far enough just to cover his belly button. On this particular evening, he was all about his basketball outfit. This outfit was a hand-me-down from a friend and he rarely wears it, but tonight, it was a must have. So I figured since he was putting it on, we might as well go all out and get the wrist bands and basketball shoes on too - check out the finished product below (the red socks just finish off the outfit don't they).

He's got some serious speed going on here

He was mad and running away from the camera in the pictures because his shoes (or should I say shoelaces) weren't right. He has this crazy thing were he doesn't like to see any part of his shoelaces when he is wearing shoes. Well, this works fine when he has pants on, but as I have explained to him everytime he has worn shorts in the past two weeks, it doesn't work with shorts, they just aren't long enough. Let's hope he gets over this soon so he doesn't have to have a meltdown everytime we put his shoes on - keep your fingers crossed.

Onto the "beauty" or Lauren . . . as usual, she got to sit and watch the events. To keep her entertained, and because she loves to dress Lauren up, Auntie decided to share her sunglasses with the babe. At first Lauren just kind of sat there not knowing what was going on, but soon enough, the smiles came and she was loving the new look - could this be her inner fashion diva coming out again?

Please, no more pictures

The curse of the white capris

I went shopping a while back with mom and Ash looking for some good bargains for Lauren. Luckily, we were able to find some really cute shirts at Old Navy - the only problem was that two of the shirts that I bought would look really cute with a pair of white capris, but Old Navy didn't have any in stock so I went home with the shirts and a mission to find some white capris. The next day we went to Shopko - the store that truly does have everything a person could possibly need and found the perfect pair of little white capris for the babe. I was so excited to dress Lauren in her cute outfits, but with it still being so cold outside, I had to wait for almost a month before it was warm enough. On this particular Friday, we were going to make a surprise visit to daddy's office so everyone could meet Lauren for the first time. So I picked out one of the tops and put on her white capris, and off we went. We were in the office long enough for everyone to see Lauren and chat for a couple of minutes before she had a blowout and the white capris were no longer white - off to the bathroom for a wardrobe change. At the time I thought it was just Lauren being Lauren, after all, she pooped through an outfit almost daily. The next time I put her in the white capris was for a trip to see some of my girlfriends from my old job - this time we didn't even get out of the house before the blowout - no white capris. I was starting to think that maybe the white capris were just not meant to be, but I hadn't given up hope completely. So one day this past week I put her in what I like to call, her "sailor outfit" - white capris and red striped shirt just for the heck of it. The first thing I did was to take the pictures below so I would actually have some of her in this outfit, and then we started our day as normal - we walked to the park, played a while (Lauren slept in the stroller), and went home. To my surprise, although I don't even know why I'm surprised anymore, her capris had a mysterious brownish spot of the side. Yup, she pooped through them again! I now strongly believe she does this just because she knows how much I love those little pants and she wants nothing to do with them. I'm just glad I took the pictures when I did. These may be the only ones I have of her in the infamous white capris -enjoy!




By the way, if you do ever see Lauren when she is in these pants, I wouldn't offer to hold her because chances are, you'll some mysterious brown spots on you by the time you give her back!