Baby Laughs

We finally caught some of his giggles on camera.

It's not the best quality because it's just our digital camera but you get the idea.

After we took this video he passed out! The laughing wore him out :)

First trip to Arkansas ever.

All the states I've been to include:

California, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas and now Oklahoma and 

ARKANSAS!

This is pretty exciting for me since I've never been this far east or this far south. I'm slowly making my way to the east coast.

We got to spend the long weekend with Bekah and Jordan and their families in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Although it's technically farther north than Dallas, we felt like we were more in the south. Before I left my mom told me to take lots of pictures. I actually didn't pull out my camera once but at least I got my handy cell phone camera!
Even though it's really not all that different, Arkansas seems so far away! It's the land of plantation-looking homes, porch swings, sweet tea and fried pickles!! (I actually tried them and they're good):

This was also little Cole's first trip ever and he did great. Just think, in his short little life he's been to the states that took me 24 years to get to. What a dang lucky kid.

The trip consisted of.....

... getting our hair done at the salon. Bekah is amazing! (Cole got some love from the hair girls)

Brazilian Blowout, highlights and a trim..I'm like a completely new person.

...eating out:

...meeting Bekah's gran and grandfather:

...relaxin':

By the end of our trip Cole was pretty tired.

This is his tired face. He literally slept the entire day yesterday.

And we sure enjoyed the southern hospitality. Thanks Bekah, Jordan and families :)

Oh, and of course by the time we left Steve had a fake southern accent. He just can't help it ;) 

Like Mother Like Son

Does his outfit look familiar? It should. 

It's the exact same little outfit I'm wearing it in my baby picture I posted a couple days ago!

Let's just pretend that there isn't any lace on this outfit. And no ruffles. And definitely not a little teddy bear with a bow. It's yellow so obviously it's perfect for a baby boy too. :)

Yeah, we look nothing alike.We're both about 2 months in this picture.

My mom saved the outfit all these years and sent it to me so that I could dress my own baby up in it. My grandma gave it to my mom and the blanket in the background is also one that my grandma crocheted.

Let's just hope that Cole thinks he looks just as cute in this outfit as I think he does and that he doesn't hate me for posting these pictures when he grows up!!

The feathers are in!!

And I love it!!

Pretty cool right? Bekah put them in yesterday and I think they look great :)

And this weekend we're going to Arkansas with Bekah and Jordan and she said that she's going to do the Brazilian Blowout to my hair when we're there. It's pretty much THE CURE for frizzy hair.

I am so totally getting spoiled by this girl!

And this is how it went down

Steve came home from school, had a shower and put on a shirt and tie.

I got cute too, wearing my floral skirt, heels and I straightened my hair!

I stayed in the room with Cole and worked on Steve's present while Steve worked on his in the kitchen.

Finally he was done and I came out of the bedroom to find this:

Candlelit dinner!! A real red rose and a valentine.

Too bad you can't read what it says in the picture but it says:

"I should have gotten a dozen but your beauty is singular."

Haha, I don't know where Steve comes up with his cute phrases but I like it! :)

After dinner Steve opened his present from me which was the movie August Rush. The one and only time we watched it together was back in college before we were officially dating and we watched it on separate couches because at the time I wasn't sure I liked him. hehe, so I said I'd make it up to him the second time around and watch it on the same couch this time ;)

After that we packed baby boy up and went to Barnes and Noble where we went on our first Valentine's day together. We had a gift card there and were trying to figure out how to spend it. And we found the perfect thing: A baby book for Cole.

Then we sat down in Barnes and Noble and made a little video of us telling our story. We had to make it short.4 minutes short since we were doing it with our little digital camera. It was fun!

We came home and topped it off with Ben&Jerry's Strawberry Shortcake ice cream. Now that I can't eat chocolate anymore it is sooo my favorite!

yay for V day 2011 :)

(ps, this was Day 15. a photo of someone you love. I love Steve. again!)

It's V-Day y'all

Here's to my first Valentine's Day in Texas!

Steve says he has something planned for me when he gets home from school so I guess we'll see what that is :)

On Friday night we had a little V day party at our house. I got the idea Thursday night and texted a bunch of people and surprisingly everyone was able to come even though it was so last minute. There were 7 couples here so it was a full house!

I mainly did it so that I had an excuse to make some adorable v day treats I'd found on people's blogs. haha.

I made some pink heart rice krispies from here

And flaky cinnamon heart twists from Haley

And Bekah, Jordan and Steve helped cut out the sugar cookies:

I also taped paper heart doilies everywhere:

But I wish I had done something like this:

via

Isn't that so cute? I wish I had done something like this for my wedding!!

Anyway, we played the newlywed game, since all of us are fairly newly weds. And people commented on how their cheeks hurt so much from laughing. It was pretty fun :) I'm so glad to have such an easy going baby to allow me to do stuff like this!

And I'm also so glad to have my husband to share Valentine's day with! 

This is why I love him:

Back in September, when I was about 5 1/2 months pregnant, I was walking home from the library since it had closed sooner than expected. Steve was on his way home from school and was going to pick me up but he didn't make it in time before they closed. I only made it a few steps down the street when I saw Steve driving towards me. He drove past me so that he could pull over into the library parking lot behind me. So I turned around and I was walking towards the car which was facing me and I could see Steve through the wind shield so I waved to him and he waved back. Suddenly he rolled down the window and yelled out: 

"HEY!!!! That's my WIFE!!!!" 

I was confused because I thought he was yelling at me but then he continued yelling: 

"Yeah, Dawg! That's my WIFE!!!!!!"

I turned around and there were these two black kids on their bikes riding behind me. I guess they'd been checking me out without realizing that my husband had a perfect view of them. Steve kept calling them "dawg" and repeating that I'm his wife. As they got closer, one of the kids told Steve all sheepishly:

 "Sorry Sir, we thought she was a girl in our class..."

I love this story because...

1. At 23 years old and 5 1/2 months pregnant I was mistaken for these middle schoolers' fellow classmate. (wait, that's why I don't like this story ;)

2. When Steve talks to black people, he thinks he needs to talk to them the way he thinks they talk. (that's why he said dawg a million times.) He would also talk to my ESL students like he was an ESL student himself. Yeah. Just imagine Steve speaking fake broken English to all my students. I always tried to stop him because it definitely doesn't help them learn English but he says they can understand him better that way. No babe, I really don't think so.)

3. And the main reason I love this story is because Steve didn't hesitate for a minute to stick up for me when he saw two black kids checking me out. Simple as that :)

And that's why I love him!

Happy V-day!

He melts my Heart: Cole Update!

Day 12. (another) photo of you

Me and baby boy again

Let me just do an update on the little guy:

First of all, he's been laughing and smiling tons, and it melts my heart.

Smiling and cooing for Bekah and Jordan :)

And here's my favorite:

that's right, he's been full on laughing now. And he's awake now when he does it :)

I love his baby talk and baby coos.

He brings so much light to our life; we are so in love with him!

I also love his kissy lips:

He does this a lot after he's done eating.

Everyone comments on how good of a baby he is and how they never see him cry. He does cry but he really doesn't cry that much. So when he does, I know something really is wrong.

Cole loves his pacifier. And when it falls out of his mouth, he won't cry he just ends up sucking his top lip. And oh my gosh, it's so cute. Wish I had a picture of that.

And this is what his hair looks like in the back: 

Poor kid's getting the bald spot. But he still has quite a bit of hair back there. 

And he looks just like his daddy when he's asleep

Well, when he's awake too. So I guess that's not a surprise.

I just love him :)

Two birds of a feather

Day 8. a photo of your favorite band/musician

Here's a video instead:

Right now it's Train, but honestly I don't know who my favorite is. Watch this video, or don't. I just like them 'cause they have good lyrics, they always do and I can appreciate that :)

"If we're two birds of a feather, then the rest is just whatever!!!"

Snow hats

Day 5. a photo of you

Well that's not hard at all, I've been putting up a bunch of pics of me. But I guess I'll choose this one for today:

This is me holding my sweet baby :) My sister took it when she was here a couple weeks ago. She's amazing!

Below are some more pics of me.....

Last night Bekah and I went to Walmart to get some things so that we could make some homemade button earrings! I got the idea from my friend Haley. You basically just buy cute buttons and glue earrings posts to the back of them.  Bekah and I actually just used the hooks instead since there weren't any posts at Walmart but we're really happy with how they turned out! Super easy and super cheap. It's like my favorite thing ever right now.

Pretty cool, hu? Check out how to do it on Haley's blog.

Today we did go on a walk outside in the snow. We took a little trip to the library.

First, we bundled up baby boy:

And then took him out.

It probably felt more like off-roading to him, trudging through all that slush and snow. He slept the entire time.

like our snow hats? We went all out for this snowfall :)

My little Snow Baby!

Day 4. a photo of the last place you went on holiday

Well, the last place we went on vacation was back to Spokane to see Steve's family last August:

BUT I'm just gonna say Coeur d'Alene since we went there on that trip too.

That's little Cole inside me :)

Anyway, today is also Day 4 of Steve being out of school. That's right, the last 4 days in a row have been snow days here in Texas. TEXAS!

It blows my mind. If it was going to snow here in Texas, why won't it just do it at Christmas time when it matters most? I can't remember the last time I had a white Christmas.

But I got to dress my baby up in the little fleece suit Aunt Emma got him:

My cute little snow baby. It's still too big for him but that's ok, it keeps him pretty warm :)

Maybe tomorrow we'll go for a walk in the winter wonderland. Maybe.

"I told you I would mask your genes"

I got this idea from Cats and Cardigans. I'm going to try out this 30 day photo challenge. Who wants to do it with me? :)

So, here's Day 1. your facebook profile photo

well, this isn't exactly of me but it's the one that's currently up right now

(my sister took this picture: Marie Photographie)

This is baby boy at 5 weeks. He's 6 weeks now and already looks different. Just look at the pics from the previous post. 

Everyone at church who meets him says: "Oh, it's a mini-Steve!"

Yes, my son looks everything like Steve and nothing like me.

I brought this up to Steve again the other night:

"I just don't get how he can look nothing like me. I mean, he incubated in me for 9 whole months..how can he have none of my features? I was staring at him today trying to find something that he got from me. nothing."

"Well, you know Lauren, I did tell you I would mask out all your genes.."

What? He never told me that.

I guess it makes sense. He has the dark hair, I have the light hair..but still.

Now I'm just picturing our future family: a bunch of Steve Jrs. (especially if we only have boys which is totally a possibility)

And then there will be me.

Sounds like a pretty lopsided family to me. And I'm not sure how I feel about it. 

(although over the weekend someone told me for the first time that Cole looked just like me! Might be the first and LAST time. But it's funny how it just totally made my day :)

And in case that profile picture doesn't count, here's one that's actually of me:

I always thought this one was cool. Taken on our honeymoon :)