8 months, ear piercing, and Toby Keith's Bar and Grill

So we celebrated Lauren turning 8 months old, by having a girls day out. Terra, Grandma Tiger, Sue, Lauren and I all went to OKC. We started off at the mall and ended up at Hobby Lobby. In between we managed a few stops, including Toby Keith's Bar and Grill and Harbor Freight. Toby's was awesome, and the food was great. We had a lot of fun! I found my mother's day present at Harbor Freight, stainless steel solar lights for the front and back yard. And they are nice.

<----- Grandma Tiger thought Lauren needed some makeup... ain't she purdy!?!?!?!


At the mall, I get the 'meanest mother of the year award'... I decided a few weeks ago that I wanted to get Lauren's ears pierced. It took a bit of convincing on Levi's behalf, but he reluctantly agreed.


I think the threat was somewhere along the lines of: "if her ears hurt, and she gets an infection, I don't want to hear about it!"

Okay, sure, people pierce their baby's ears all the time, and they are fine, she'll be fine! And she was... she cried, but I think the biggest part of it was being held down, she didn't like that. But a few minutes after the evil doings and she was happy and ready to shop some more.





<----- making sure all is well!











<----- Definitely not a happy camper!










At Toby Keith's, I took her picture up on the band stage... This is the only shot I managed as she took off crawling afterwards and I was left to catch her. The rest are just some pictures goofing off... kind of self explanatory:












































<----- Her ears look big here, but they really aren't... you'll notice the sign coming out of the left (your left, her right) ear.








<---- last is a picture on the way home of the princess catching some beauty rest.

Grass, just in time for Mothers Day, and mojo...

Whew! Is all I can say right now... Finally we are back to normal in our house. Lauren is no longer throwing up and is a much happier baby.

This past week has been great! I've had lunch with one of my best friends... I have sold a couple of vacuums... we got our garden planted... and I got a ton of fish pond 'goodies' given to me.


Here are some recent pics taken of Lauren:






























She wasn't too keen on the grass, and while trying to 'get away' from it, she fell over.



Just a shot of her highness playing in her high chair. We also discovered her love of spaghetti. Unfortunately spaghetti doesn't love her so well... I believe it's the acid reflux as she tends to have a lot of wet burps and spit up after eating it. She does however have a lot of fun with the Gerber Graduates puffed apple and carrot wheels.








This was taken last Sunday, on our way to church. The outfit she has on was a hand-me-down, and it is adorable (I shoulda posted in color) It is navy blue and pink.














Here are a few pictures taken while goofing off at Grandma and Grandpa's house.





























<----- She is trying to stand up here... she has figured out how to pull up on things... so at 7 months, we had to move her crib mattress down. She was standing up at the rails, and I feared the worst.
















Finally here are a few pictures from my Mother's Day... first let me say, it was a sweet one but not my 'first'. A lot of people forget about Hunter, may be a step-mom, but I still do all the motherly duties when he is around. But yes, in a sense, it is my first mother's day to my own sweet child. And I was surprised twice today. First, Levi showed up for Sunday Church services. And despite the day, I left Lauren in the nursery during the last half of services. While she was down there, she 'made' me a construction flower. I was so pleased to have my first Mother's Day gift from my daughter. Levi offered a gift of shrubbery in the front yard... which I graciously accepted as a wonder Mother's Day gift. Something I can see and have every year.

Avery spent the day with us... he made a great 'hand' yesterday helping Levi load all the fish pond rock. I was unable to help because I had a gallbladder attack. Today he attended church services, and then he went to lunch with Levi and I.





























Once again, not liking the grass at all!!!























My Mother's Day picture: Levi, Avery, Lauren and I.


















Finally, I am posting a picture that I absolutely love from my latest photo shoot. A family of four. At first, the shoot was slow and sour, but I finally felt the mojo kick in. We used the setting sun, and I made the color more vivid and voila!:

















(I will be using this idea for my own family as soon as Hunter returns)

Will it EVER end?!?!?!?!?!

Well, here were are, three weeks later, and Lauren continues to stay sick. We have spent a couple of days in and out of the hospital running tests trying to figure out what is going on. The best the dr. can find is it's most likely a virus, and as most know, you can only treat the symptoms of a virus, not treat it.

She throws up, mostly at night still. And we spent this past weekend running a fever around 102 degrees. I'm sure she did or does have a virus, as I got sick last Thursday after what I thought was food poison, but stayed sick for several days. Today is my best day so far without symptoms.

Grandma Tiger made it in with Hunter on early Friday morning, and we had a wonderful weekend. Her Baptism went fantastic.


















<----- Lauren and Madison goofing around!







This was a hilarious moment... Papa was holding Lauren up over Hunter's face so she could play with him. Lo and behold, what did she do?... She let a big ol string od drool slide down on his face, and there wasn't a thing he could do! He was laughing so hard and so were we!
















<---- Grandma Tiger seeing Lauren for the first time since Lauren's birth.
















I got two surprises this weekend. One, Aunt Norma called and said she was coming through back from Colorado, and stopped for a visit.

Two, Tiger brought out so many clothes and baby items, it was literally like a fourth baby shower! We all had so much fun looking at everything!






Here are some picture from Lauren's Dedication. Tiger took the pictures, and the middle one is my favorite, but blurry.

I was really impressed with Lauren, the Holy water is cold (obviously) and I really expected her to throw a fit and cry, but she was quite content, a little mesmerized, but she definitely took it well. She did conk out right after we were done though...












































I'm including a short video clip, as promised of her Baptism: