Lauren likes being tickled with feet!



Now that we've gotten the laughing out of the way, on to our not-so-regularly scheduled blog posting. James has informed me that I'm slacking on my blog posts. I have a feeling the whole summer's going to be like that. We have the busiest summer coming up that we've had in quite a while.

It officially started on Memorial Day weekend. Check out the pictures in the Kodak Gallery if you haven't already. It was great to see the Bilek side of the family, and Lauren made her first trip to an official art studio. She even managed to leave all the art intact.


Chris also got in some golf with his friends, and we had the traditional Bilek barbecue and bonfire. Lauren also met her second cousins, Cooper (Coop) and Jackson (Jack). Coop was being a bit shy so there aren't any pictures of him. Jack is one month older than Lauren. She was really jealous of all of his hair.


It was perfect weather for a bonfire, which also meant we had to make a run to Babies R Us to pick up some long-sleeved onesies, pants and socks for Lauren. Lauren also got her second tooth while we were there. She'll be ready for steak before long! Basically, this picture sums up our trips to Minnesota. This is what we do pretty much the whole time. I know, it doesn't look that exciting, but it really is a good time!


Next up: Columbus Arts Festival this weekend. Grandma Darke is taking the munchkin Friday night so we can go for a nice dinner and a stroll at the arts fest. Keep your fingers crossed for no rain!

And now for the extended calendar.

June 22-23: Double duty this weekend. The NHL Draft is in Columbus this year, so of course we have to go to that. This weekend is also Comfest, a free outdoor music festival with lots of great people watching. Going to Comfest is a tradition...ask James about the time we went when were in college and he slept under a pine tree. I don't foresee any of that going on now, but we still have to go with a picnic and some beverages to hang out in a nice park with a really diverse group of people to listen to bands I've never heard of.

June 28: Lauren's 9 month checkup. Yes, it's been almost 9 months already. Where does the time go? She's actually starting to look like a little kid instead of a baby. She's in size 18-month clothes, mostly thanks to some junk in the trunk. I'm looking forward to an official measurement of "Tiny."

July 8: I'm going for a girls night out to see Wicked. Chris could care less about musical theater, but I'm looking forward to doing something girly.

July 12-13: I'm volunteering at the Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational, a stop on the PGA's Nationwide Tour. I'll be working in the media tent, and I also get a week long pass to the tournament, plus 2 additional passes. Of course Chris is excited, and I think he might talk James into hanging out with him as well.

July 20-22: Trip to Ann Arbor/Detroit, Michigan. We're really excited for this one. Grandma Bilek is in the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, which is only a 3-4 hour drive from Columbus. And I have college friends and family in the area, so it should be a great time. This will be Lauren's first road trip since Thanksgiving. Something tells me it won't be as quiet as the November trip.

August 4-11: A week at a cabin on Sand Lake in Michigan with my mom, sister, brother-in-law and niece. We'll be near our aunts and uncles and cousins that we were so close with growing up. I can't wait to catch up with my extended family in Michigan. Since we all went to school, started our careers, and got married and had children, we've kind of lost touch. Chris won't be able to stay the whole time, but Lauren and I will be there for a full week.

September 27: Lauren's first birthday! Lots of messy cake fun to be had by all.

I think that's all we have planned for now. Throw in Father's Day, 4th of July, Labor Day and Chris' birthday and I think we're booked solid. Hopefully we'll enjoy all the craziness and won't forget where we live!

Just a quickie

I'll post full details later, but we're still catching up on sleep from our fun trip to visit Chris' family in Minnesota. But at least there are some new pictures!

We have eruption!

And I'm not talking about Lauren's diaper. Lauren's first tooth came in on Saturday. No pictures yet, and if you've ever tried to take a picture of the inside of a 7-month-old's mouth, you know why. Plus, it's still pretty hard to see. But you can definitely hear it clinking on a glass when she drinks, or a spoon when she eats. Tooth #1 arrived without much fussing or screaming. This is probably a complete fluke, and I'm sure we'll be punished for the ease of the first tooth at a later date.

In other Lauren news, we've finally been able to get her to take a nap in her crib. She's always had this odd fascination with sleeping on the couch, with her face buried into the corner of it. Perhaps it's from the last 2 months in the womb when I slept exclusively on the couch. In any case, the last couple of days we've put her in the nursery awake, let her jabber away for a few minutes, and then.....silence. Ahhh, a lovely sound when there's a baby in the house. This is obviously good for us, since we can now do productive things, like cooking and cleaning, without worrying about waking her up. Of course, we'll probably still end up sleeping or just watching TV, but we could cook and clean if we wanted to. Lauren will also now go to bed for the night on her own. She was getting too distracted by the TV, especially if there's a hockey game on, so we started this maneuver before the crib-napping. So far, so good.

Finally, we've hired a new house cleaner. Well, hired isn't quite the right word, since we don't technically pay her. Let's just call it earning her keep...




17 days and counting until Hurricane Lauren arrives in the Twin Cities!

Long time, no write...

Wow, I can't believe it's been almost a month since I posted last. I don't really have a good excuse. The weather's been mostly crappy and we haven't been doing anything fun.

Chris and I both started new jobs. He is now working at Golfsmith, so he's starting to look for a second job to pay for his first one. Just kidding. He's been leery about getting back into retail, but it's working with product he loves and so far it seems to be working out okay. Plus he doesn't have to drive all over Ohio and he's home at a reasonable hour. I'm still at Nationwide, but I'm moving from Marketing to Sales. I won't actually be selling insurance, but I'll be developing tools and processes for our agents to use. I'm excited for a new challenge and a change of pace.




Lauren is still Lauren...happy, funny and chubby. I actually had to cut a shirt off her a week ago because I got her into it and then couldn't get it off. Why they make baby clothes without any stretch is beyond me. She's discovered that Dad makes a great jungle gym, and that the futon is a good place to practice her gymnastics. She's down to two 1 1/2-2 hour naps a day, plus a little one early in the evening. That means there's a lot of free time to fill. Now that the weather is finally doing what it's supposed to, we're able to get her outside a bit.



Speaking of outside, in his week between jobs Chris laid a flagstone patio in our backyard. We (meaning Chris) still need to put some finishing touches on it, and do some additional landscaping, but it's a great addition to our backyard. Thanks to Grandma Darke for ordering way more than she needed to do her own!

Last but not least, it's only a month till we'll be in Minnesota. Everyone put in your order for good weather so Lauren can run around with her pudgy arms and legs hanging out! We can't wait to see everyone.

Check out the Kodak Gallery for new pictures! The other baby is Lauren's boyfriend, Tenzin.

Happy Easter!

Easter morning greeted us with snowflakes. Not exactly the best weather for the easter bunny, but he still managed to bring Lauren a basket. Check out the Kodak Gallery for some more Easter pics.

If you can't tell from the pictures, Lauren is still a big girl. She just had her 6 month checkup. She is 28" tall and weighs almost 24 lbs. That's still off the charts for her age. She received a clean bill of health, along with two more shots. She also really liked Dr. Couling's stethoscope, and he had a hard time prying her death grip off of it.

In other exciting news, I had 4 teeth extracted on Friday, so I'm nice and dopey on Vicodin. Luckily Grandma Darke took Lauren Friday and Saturday nights.

We also had a wonderful visit with Grandma Bilek. Now we can't wait to visit Minnesota at the end of May.

I'll post more once I'm back up to speed.

Lauren's on the move!

I am officially the worst blogger on the planet. We went to Vegas and I didn't even post any stories. Oh well.


No news is good news, as they say. We're just chugging right along. This parenting thing has gotten easier, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time before we get thrown for a loop again. Probably when she starts walking without a frame to keep her from actually hurting herself. As you can see from the video, Lauren can definitely get around the house on her own now. It's a pretty good trial run to see what we need to babyproof. And she loves it, and it tires her out so she sleeps well. Walkers are wonderful, I don't care what the books say.

We're busy getting ready for Grandma Bilek to arrive. It's been a few months since Lauren has seen her, so we can't wait. Hopefully the weather will continue to be good. Regardless, we're going to see the butterflies at the Franklin Park Conservatory, so we'll at least be able to pretend like we're in the tropics.

Lauren also has her 6-month doctor's appointment next week. Yes, it's really been six months. I can't really remember what life was like without her around.

Stanley Cup

Sorry for the short post, but at least it includes the Stanley Cup! More to come soon.