Cutest Baby Contest

So, while I am usually against this kind of thing, I decided to enter Loren in a Cutest Baby Contest at a local baby boutique. The first round of voting will be held on July 18th, the Saturday of the Gig Harbor Art Festival. I'll post voting info when I have it. This is the photo I submitted, wish us luck!

Happy 7 Months!

Just Some Pictures... And An Update

Loren's been working hard learning to move the past few days. A few days ago she learned that she can barrel roll across the room and yesterday she mastered scooting on her butt
We went out to dinner with Grandma Lena tonight and I got a chance to take a bunch of photos of Loren. Enjoy!

Playing in the Fountain

This weekend we worked a show in Wilsonville, Oregon at this cute park that has a great fountain feature. Loren LOVED playing in the fountain! It was a good thing too since it was CRAZY hot this weekend!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

For those of you who have been anxiously awaiting a photo update on Loren's website, it's officially posted. Enjoy! Keep an eye out here for postings of the various videos I've taken over the past months, I just figured out how to post them.

I finally got the slide show of Loren's first 6 months done. Enjoy!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

6 Month Check Up

Loren had her 6 month check up and shots today. She did very well, playing with the paper covering the table and jumping with her legs when Dr. Berglund held her in a standing position. Dr. B said that she's very strong and looks very healthy. Loren was 26" tall (65th percentile) and 17lbs 3oz(75th percentile).

Playdate with Addie

We visited Angie and Addison today. The girls had lots of fun playing together with Addison's toys. Both girls were fussing this morning just before visiting and became all smiles as soon as they saw each other. It looks like they're starting to recognize each other now! Too Cute! Loren also seems to really like Addison's daddy, whom she met today. He was talking to her and she told him ALL about it! Then he left the room to change Addie's diaper and Loren immediately began fussing. Coincidence, who knows?

Apparently Loren has become the latest fashion accessory... Check out this woman's blog featuring a pic of Sunny wearing Loren in my Moby Wrap.

http://contrarienne.blogspot.com/2009/05/sartorial-port-townsend-mothers-day.html

First Mom's Day

Well, my first Mom's Day has passed... I had a nice day, but it wasn't what I had originally expected. Scott wasn't able to be with us that day because he had to go to a memorial for his grandmother who passed away last week so it was just me and Loren. We were working a show in Port Townsend and ended up having a girls weekend with our artist-friends Sylvia and Sunny. We all stayed Saturday night in a hotel and woke up early to Loren, loudly, pooing her pants. Sylvia and I couldn't help but giggle because it was so loud and then we were all awake. The day was pretty low-key and Sunny had a great time wearing Loren around in my Moby Wrap. Sunny and Loren went shopping and bought me Mother's Day presents, a bar of artisan soap and a bowl from something called the Community Bowl Project that had been hand painted by another kiddo as part of a fundraiser. I know Loren picked them both out because she loves the color red and the bowl has red stripes on the inside and the bar of soap has a red wrapper. I'm also going to get to pick out a couple of rose bushes for Artondale as a present. Here's a picture of the four of us on Mom's Day:

Update from the busy traveling bees

I just realized how long it's been since I posted an update. Such is the life of a traveling artist family. We're almost to the half-birthday mark and I can hardly believe it! But, I'll reflect on that come Friday...

In the past month, we've done a bit of traveling. We spent 11 days in Idaho working 2 different shows and hanging out in Lewiston.


Loren has made a number of friends among the other artists, they all seem to look forward to seeing her and make a point of stopping by to say hi and make smiles at her.

She got her first cold just before we left for Lewiston, poor kiddo, and was a snotty mess for about 3 days. Too bad she took all of my immunity and left me with the same cold for 7 days and I still have the stupid cough!

Loren us almost perfected the art of sitting up unassisted. She can hold it pretty much indefinitely but we can't test that because she always seems to see something she needs to reach for off to the side that that just topples the tower. She's getting even better and being able to stand while holding our hands and is working hard to perfect balance in that position. In the past week she has been working on holding herself on her hands and knees in preparation for crawling and she is pretty dang good at rolling herself over when she want to as well.

Last night, Daddy had laid her on the floor at our friends house to change her diaper and as soon as he moved his hand off of her to get the diaper and wipes ready she rolled over and began frantically flailing her arms and legs as though she was going to get away. It was too funny, and now we're pretty sure we're doomed as soon as she perfects the skill.

I recently updated photos on her website (www.jesshogandesigns.com/loren.html) so check them out.

5 Months!

Loren is officially 5 months old today! To celebrate, we got together to play with Addison who also turned 5 months old today! We went to the park and played on a swing for the first time and visited at our house.

Happy Easter!

Loren and I've had a busy day today. We went to church with Grandma Ro, Grandpa "Smitty," and Great Grandma Mary and then met daddy at brunch afterward. She was such a good girl at church, cute and all smiles. At brunch she sat in a highchair and smiled at everyone and talked too. When we got home, Grandma Lena and Great Grandma Margit came over for a short visit too! Now she's in bed taking a nap before we go run an errand in Tacoma. I did get a cute picture of her before she went down for her nap...

She sat up unsupported!

Loren has been trying hard for weeks to sit up unsupported and was able to do it for more than a second or two today. She held herself sitting up for at least 2 minutes straight while at our play group potluck and then again for a brief period of time at Great Grandma Margit's and Grandma Lena's houses.



We played at Ethan's house for a bit this afternoon and met a nice group of mommies and babies. Can't wait to meet with them again soon. Then we visited with GG Margit for a bit before going to Grandma Lena's house for dinner and to meet a cousin visiting from Sweden. She was happy and chatty with everyone most of the day.

Fun in the Sunshine! WooHoo!

We got together with friends Angie and Addison today for a walk in the sunshine on Ruston Way. Addison and Loren share a birthday so they're meeting the same milestones and Angie and I have a lot to talk about. We had a lot of fun and can't wait til we can do it again!

Who's Turn is it Next?

So, we had our tire blow out last weekend on our way home while caravanning with an artist-friend. Then on Thursday while caravanning with a different artist-friend to a different show, his transmission starts spewing fluid everywhere! We should probably post a warning to anyone who wants to caravan with us that we're dangerous! Poor Sylvia! She's doomed!

 

The weekend in Pullman was fun. Loren did well despite the really late night Friday. She passed out in the wrap around 7pm and I took her out around 9pm to feed her and change her into her jammies before we left for the hotel. She didn't even wake up! Not even when I put her into the freezing cold carseat! Poor tired out baby! She also got to snuggle "uncle" Dennis this weekend and made his day I think!

Shopping and Graham Crackers

Quick Update: the trailer was fine overnight and is now back at home with a brand new tire. So no worries... Now we have to unload and check our product to make sure none of it was broken during the bumpy ride.

 

We went shopping with Logan and his mommy today. Both kiddos did well, Loren even took a nap in her stroller and scored a cute dress at Old Navy. Definitely lots of fun to get out for a bit and Loren had fun playing with Logan on his play gym. She was more interested in trying to eat his jammies (that he was wearing) and poke his eyes, nose, and mouth than play with the toys. Apparently people are MUCH more interesting to her. When we got home, we had some cereal until it got boring and then we tried a couple bites of straight-up applesauce and practiced with a graham cracker. I got a couple of pictures that I'll post on her website when I update next.

Tire Blowout Fun!

Well, that was an adventure... A tire on our cargo trailer just blew to bits on I-5 while we were driving home! Right by the Tacoma Dome, talk about seeing the light at the end of the driving tunnel and not being able to reach it. Ug. So we limped it off the freeway on the rim of the tire and parked it in the first spot we could get it into in downtown Tacoma. Definitely not ideal, but the only solution until we can get a new tire in the morning. Apparently the fates feel that we should have gotten a spare for the trailer a long time ago when we first talked about it rather than continued talking about it and not doing anything about it.

A Long Weekend...

But, at least it was profitable! We're currently driving back from Pasco, WA where we spent the weekend selling at an art show. Loren has got to be one of the most popular people around at those shows, everyone knows who she is and what her name is. I think she's quickly becoming the mascot for all of the artists at these shows. They also seem to think that she NEVER cries, apparently their ears don't hear it like mine do. She's been working on a tooth all weekend, so it's been a long weekend of wearing her in my Moby wrap and walking around the show all day in between feedings and doses of Tylenol, Orajel, or teething tabs. Though I can't think of a better way to continue loosing weight if I don't get a chance to snack on junk or sit down! Now she's out cold in her carseat, hopefully she stays that way and we have a quiet drive home.

We picked up the pictures today

Loren and I picked up her 4 month pictures today. They turned out adorable if I do say so myself.



After picking up the photos, we stopped by Grandma Ro's to drop off some pics and visit with Grandma and Great Grandma Mary. Then we ran a few errands including buying some new jammies, she's growing so fast we needed a bigger size! She also got a new book featuring her favorite character, the Fisher Price monkey! When we got home it was time to start packing for our trip to Pasco this weekend! Time to go visit with all of her new artist admirers!

She laughed at me!

Loren and I went to our first Babies Rock meet up, a Mall Walk at the Tacoma Mall. We got to meet 2 other moms and their boys. It was lots of fun getting the meet and visit these other moms and have some social time. I can't wait until the next one. Anyway, when we went to go home, I was buckling Loren into her car seat and she began fussing so I began being a ham about buckling her in with lots of fun voice tones and excited faces. Apparently I was pretty funny because she giggled at me, a real he he he giggle. It was too cute!

Loren Giggled!

Loren did one giggle a couple of days ago while we were watching a clip from the Tim Noah video "In Search of the Wow Wow Wibble Woggle Wozzie Woodle Woo" called "Musty Moldy Melvin."

Apparently those crazy looking creatures were funny. Then today, we were watching a Sesame Street clip featuring Cookie Monster and Prairie Dawn.

She let out 4 different giggles. It was too cute! Then later, I was pretend-munching her bare belly and she thought that was really funny and let out a number of short giggles! I can't wait until she lets out a full belly laugh, or at least giggles consistently enough that I can video it for everyone to see!

Starting A Blog

When I first learned that I was pregnant, my friend Brenna (the poet) told me that I needed to make sure to write down all of the stories I collect over this adventure called motherhood. I thought that was a great idea and even bought a journal that I meant to use during my pregnancy but somehow I never found the time. Now that Loren's 4 months old and life seems to be settling down a bit, I thought I should figure out a way to write here and there that would be easy. Hopefully this is the way to do it. Only time will tell. Note: All blogs prior to this date are either reminiscences or copied from MySpace.