Swim Lesson Day 1

Lauren, Kraig and I went to the Swim Ranch for our 1st lesson today. Lauren did GREAT and LOVED the water!

Here we are getting in the water...

Splashing and blowing out the water through our mouth...

Using the boogie board (which Lauren did better than I thought she would)

Lauren doggie paddling to me...

More doggie paddling practice...

Look at that face!

At the side resting saying Hi to daddy...

Laying back on mommy...the start of our floating lessons.

And finally...class is over and it's play time! Lauren got a pink floaty and a pink Sea Horse to play with!

We are looking forward to next Saturday!

Thanks for being our photographer today daddy!

24 Wks

Here are some 24 wk photos of me now and some 24 wk photos of my pregnancy with Lauren.

Lauren...

and Colton...

4th of July at the Lake

Happy 4th of July 2009!!!

Lauren and Mrs. Carla

Loading up on sunscreen...even in the hair!

Rodeo of the Ozarks 2009

Friday night Lauren and I went to the Rodeo of the Ozarks with my sister and her family Kody, Katlyn and Austin.

Lauren spending time with Katlyn and loving it!

Here we are sporting our sunglasses!

Katlyn, Tammy and Austin

Uncle Kody and Lauren enjoying the rodeo together.

Aunt Tammy holding Lauren while she enjoys the rodeo.

And last but not least I had to show this video because Lauren is talking like crazy lately...and this video just shows part of it. We were watching the barrel racing and Lauren was cheering on the girls saying "go horsy go!" and yelling "Yea!"

4th of July Parade 2009

Saturday Lauren and I went to the parade with my sister Tammy and her kids Katlyn and Austin. Lauren wants to do whatever they do since they are the 'big' kids and she is so grown up now! :-)

Katlyn and Austin brought another chair for Lauren to sit in...thank you for sharing your chair AND your drinks! As you can see, Lauren loves being around the two of you!

Lauren sitting in her chair like a big girl.

Katlyn helping Lauren back to her seat.

All three drinking their drinks waiting on the show to start.

Lauren pointing at the trucks.

All three kids waving as the cars went by and Lauren saying "Hi truck!...By truck!"

The kids after the parade is over.

Lauren and me (Colton you are there too) after the parade.

Tammy and her kids after the parade...notice the bunny ears behind her head...Austin would not take a photo without them! :-)

And finally a group photo.

Here is Lauren saying "Hi Brown Truck" and "Hi choo-choo train" (another truck). Like I said above she was having a great time waving at everyone and everything! Thanks Austin and Katlyn for sharing your suckers and tooth brushes that the parade threw our way! You are such a big help with Lauren and we really appreciate it!

23 wks

Even though we don't have a 23 wk photo to compare to I had to put this photo on the blog because we were taking our weekly photos and Lauren (who had just woke up so that's why she had bed hair) ran over wanting to help. I think it's too cute to not add to the blog. :-)

We love you baby girl!

Visiting Granny and Papa Barenberg

Lauren loves it when we go to my parents house because she gets to play games, ride tractors, etc. Here are a few photos of our visit.

Aunt Tammy stopped by on her way home from work so she got to play with Lauren a bit too.

Lauren thought it would be fun to play hide and seek...can you see her?

Oh wait...there she is! :-)

She got to ride the lawn mower with my dad...

and the 4-wheeler

and play checkers...

and eat ice cream! She is so proud of herself here...it's cute!

Then papa wanted to help too...

Fun Day with Mommy!

Kraig is playing in a golf tournament this weekend so Lauren and I spent the full day together. We got up and went to Target, Payless, Chick Fil A, Hobby Lobby and Walmart and that was all in the morning! Then this afternoon we went to Stella's birthday party at 4, church at 5:30 and dinner at the Beck's at 6:30 and didn't get home until almost 9! So needless to say it was a busy day for the both of us! Lauren did manage to get in a 1 hour nap...but that was about it. :-) She did great though and I think had a great day with mommy!

This is Lauren with a full chicken nugget in her mouth at Chick Fil A. :-)

Love you baby girl and I had a great time today!

Did Kraig Spill the Beans???

Since Tuesday people have been saying "So did Kraig spill the beans?" and I just wanted to brag on my husband and say he has been awesome about this. He has wanted to know from the beginning, however he knew I didn't, so he never said a word! So no, Kraig did not spill the beans...

Kraig kept the secret...I just knew deep down that it was a boy (since they told us at 11 weeks they thought it was a boy) so Tuesday all day I was just thinking "it's a boy!" so Kraig and I went to dinner that night with Lauren and I started thinking of how in 4 months we would have Kraig, Colton, me and Lauren...our perfect little family. So when we got home I put Lauren to bed and Kraig was rubbing my belly asking how "the baby" was doing and I said "HE is doing great" and Kraig said "why do you say it that way?" and I was like "it just hit me today...it's for sure a boy and I'm ok with knowing!" so Kraig said "I don't know what to say at this point?!?!!?" and then I said "It just hit me today that it's a boy and I don't want to go the next 4 months knowing it's a boy and pretending like I don't know" and I of course started crying from excitement/realization...not sure why...hormones! LOL...so he said "do you want to watch the video?" and so we did and he was so excited that I knew because he said it's been hard for him to not show his excitement because he didn't want me to know if I didn't want to know...so we are SUPER excited AND I realized that when I had Lauren when she was asleep I had time to do things around the house...well with Colton I won't have that time because I'll also be taking care of Lauren...so the more I prepare now the better. :-)

I guess since our Dr. told us at 11 weeks without us asking/wanting to know it was kind of a shocker and took a bit of the surprise away for me because with Lauren I didn't find out for sure until 22 weeks and the first we even thought it might be a girl was at 18 weeks...so I had 18 fun weeks of wondering 'boy or girl?'...but with this one it was on our 2nd appointment! So I guess since I knew the ultrasound was one of those 'scheduled' things I just was not ready yet and wanted it to be on my own terms...ya know? So I knew I would probably want to know eventually...but at our ultrasound I just wasn't ready. I know it may sound weird to some because some want to know the day they conceive...but since this is our last planned pregnancy, I want to cherish every moment and make it special...so I just wanted to know on my own terms and not have them take away the surprise/guessing game I guess. :-)

Girl or Boy?

He's an imperial and an angel,

a dreamer, a tease

An explorer of meadows,

and a climber of trees.

A runner of errands,

and doer of chores.

Who tears his best trousers,

and tracks up your floors.

He's a solemn young man with some mud on his feet,

And a daredevil riding his bike down the street.

A bundle of questions, who wants to know "why",

The world goes around and the stars fill the sky.

But adventurous, timid, excited or quiet,

There's nothing so new that he won't care to try it.

And just when your temper and patience wear thin,

He'll look up at you with an innocent grin.

And your heart melts again with your real pride and joy,

In that mischievous, wonderful treasure--- your boy!!