Making a SUP Paddle

The other day, okay, so like 8 months ago, I decided I wanted to make a stand up paddleboard paddle.   Not that I need another hobby, but this was more of a project that I new I could get done in a few weeks.  In the summer it seems like a teach one to three stand up paddleboard classes a week and I thought a neat paddle might make it a bit different, and give folks the chance to see a wooden paddle. I did some research, in October, and realized that it would cost more than I wanted simply because of the epoxy that is often used in constructing wooden paddles.  I decided, in June, when it was back on my mind that I would just start and go from there, which sounds like a good idea on how to write this post.

I bought wood, cheap wood.  A simple 2x4 from Home Depot, a strip of red cedar, and a little piece of oak.  Most people would laminate the shaft but I figured for my first try a cheap 2x4 marked "fir" on it at Home Depot would work. I did pick through the pile to make sure I could get one with no splits and limited knots.  I didn't plan to do a reverse scarf joint, just mark the 2x4 with a 10 degree angle and cut it out.  The 2x4 allowed enough room for me to do this without having to do any special joints, but more on that later.  I marked out the angle and cut the 2x4 with a table saw and a hand saw.  A band saw would have been easier, but alas, no such thing in this household.  After some cuts and some glueing, I got this. 

The shaft was cut to about 1 1/2" wide, so mostly square, and the handle parts, to shape the grip, were glued 84" up the shaft, from ground level if holding the paddle straight up.  I new I would lose some of the blade in shaping, and that was the height I needed.  I also glued on all the strips of wood at this point.  You can see the 10 degree piece on the floor, which is what got cut off the 2x4 to give me my angle.  After the glue dried it was time to get rid of all the extra wood.  I cut some off with a handsaw for the angles to the shaft, and made a straight across cut the bottom of the blade to save time.  

And now it was time to get the thickness of the blade down, the whole way to the line you see on the tip of the blade.  I didn't glue all this wood with the grain going the same way, so spokeshaving was a bit of a challenge.  I was able to get most of it, but I had to both push and pull the spokeshave based on what piece of that colored wood I was working on.  I also started to round off the shaft, marking the center on all sides, and then 1/4" marks the whole way up and down as well so I could get it as round as possible.  After awhile, and a few days of income making work, I got it down so far, and chose to get out my orbital sander.  If you what videos of how wooden paddles are made, they use a big router making two passes and have the shaft done.  A belt sander then makes the T grip piece with a few passes.  It is NOT that easy with a spokeshave and a orbital sander, which is why I gave up all my 1/4" marks and just went to town hoping that in the end I would have a mostly round, mostly centered paddle.  I did keep the center lines until the final stages of sanding though.  Sand, sand, sand. 

Now was time to test some epoxy and fiberglass, which is what I, and you if you are trying this, are most nervous about.  You want me to pour gluey, messy, expensive sludge on my beautiful wood that I have spend 10 hours working on?  Yep.  I opted to try some Parks Super Glaze, link below, instead of forking out $80 or so on West Systems Epoxy, system 3 epoxy, or any of the actual epoxies you read about when researching fiberglassing wooden boats, paddles, etc.  I also just bought fiberglass cloth on amazon, and after mixing up the Parks Super Glaze as directed, I poured some on a text piece of wood, laid the fiberglass cloth down, and poured more Parks Super Glaze before spreading it over and pushing it down with a plastic spatula thing.  No pictures, sorry, I only had a few minutes to work. This is what it looked like though after it dried and I cut off the messy edges.  Not bad I thought, let's do this. 

After a lot more sanding (read: HOURS), I was ready to fiberglass this thing.  I sanded the whole paddle down to 800 grit, and even wet sanded it a few times to draw out the grain and to make it super smooth. After some wipe downs and some supply gathering, it was glass time.  Parks Super Glaze makes it clear to use flat bottom, straight walled containers with calibrated measurements, which, are impossible to find at the normal stores.  I found some cups at the dollar store, poured in 2 tablespoons of water, marked them with a marker, poured out the water, dried the cups, and was good to go.  Mix, mix, mix, pour on some glaze, lay the fiberglass down, pour on more glaze, and smooth it out with the rubbery fiberglass spreader thing, glassing only the blade on one side.  This takes four tries, once for each side, a sand on each side, and a second coat to fill in some holes and make it smooth, in a dust free, warm environment so it dries smooth.  After the first coats on each side I did some sanding, which takes that perfectly smooth surface and makes it white and cloudy, again, scary. I had a few bumps of epoxy to get rid of, but after I was happy with it, it was time to clean with alcohol, and coat with spar varnish.  This is needed because UV is not good for epoxy, and spar varnish, from what I read, has UV inhibitors in it, so don't just use the cheap poly.  And since it is now dinner time and I have a 3 year old and a 8 day old baby, I need to go make dinner shortly, so it will be brief.  

Here is what I used/purchased. 

Wood - varied, $10, and yes, a cheap 2x4

Tools - spokeshave $17, handsaw, sander, spatula spreaders

Glue - wood glue, $7, hopefully this works. 

Epoxy - Parks Super glaze, $25, again, a test, but not $80. 

Finish - spar varnish, $9, I bought the spray but would spring for a quart of liquid for better coverage.

Sandpaper - had some, bought some 800 grit, $10

Fiberglass cloth - Fiberglass cloth  $9, only 2 oz cloth, everything I read says 4oz, again, we'll see. 

And the paddle, used once so far with a 3 year old sitting on the board, so I'll let you know more later. 

Not so bad, so here is what I would do differently.

• Thinner wood for the blade to limit the sanding.  
• Thicker wood for the first strips out from the shaft.  The drop here is a sharper corner, which A: looks funny, and B: probably isn't as strong. If the first two pieces off each side of the shaft where thicker, I could taper out the blade better with more wood where it counts. 
• Tablesaw the shaft with more 45 degree cuts, again to limit the spokeshave time. 
• Laminate the shaft. Yes, more work, but my shaft has a small split in it (second to last photo). It is filled with epoxy so it shouldn't be a problem, but it looks bad, plus, a laminated shaft could make the paddle stiffer, more flexible, etc.  Since this was paddle #1, I have no idea how this will be, but the shaft seems as flexible as an AquaGlide Rhythm Carbon, per my put the blade on the floor and push down on the shaft tests.

And that is all.  Paddle specs:

Weight: 34 oz, claimed weight of similar carbon paddle, 31oz. I could get this down with thinner epoxy coats, something I need to practice to master. 

Blade: 16 x 8" - seems good, and is much like other paddles on the market. 

Shaft: 83" - good for me.   It is also ovalized where I place my shaft hand to limit fatigue.  

T-Grip: custom for my hand suckers.  

It was fun.  If you want me to make you one, I can, but it won't be perfect and you can buy a mass produced one for cheaper.  Make your own and paddle your own paddle. 

We love Cleveland. We love Dayton. One year after the move.

One year ago today I started my new job at Cleveland Metroparks. I spent my first day a year ago today playing on Lake Erie in a powerboat during a close quarter maneuvering training.  Today, one year later, I spent my day playing on Lake Erie on a stand up paddle board during a SUP instructor training.  Not too bad, but let me do a bit of explaining....we love Cleveland, and we love Dayton.

One year ago today I moved to Cleveland and Hilary stayed behind to pack and keep the house clean for showings as we tried to sell the house.  We were (are) fortunate enough to have family in Cleveland so I could stay with them in their extra room as we carted ourselves back and forth from Cleveland and Dayton, with one car mind you.  The first month was crazy, we bought a second car, got a contract on our house, visited friends and family, and I worked my crazy schedule.  We didn't find a church right away, work was challenging, and we missed Dayton and our friends.  Sitting here looking back it was, and continues to be, bittersweet.  Since I'm not a great writer, and the fact that it is 10:48 on Sunday night and I have spent the past three days on a SUP in training for 12 hour days, I'm going to make a list.  Read the list and know that the moral of the story is life is challenging, but God is good.  He has sustained us and continues to bless us beyond our expectations.

We love Dayton.

• Our first house we owned is in Dayton - we loved it, minus the lack of storage.
• Lots and lots of good friends.  Church ones, lots of good church ones.
• Lots and lots of good friends.  Work ones, fun ones, great co-workers, a joy. 
• A great church small group, granted many folks moved, we still miss it.
• Small city. Biked to work. 
• 2nd Street Market - boom. 
• Bicycling boom that I was a part of. 
• Lots of lots of good friends.  Did I say that yet?
• great friends on the street - for Lauren to play with and Hilary to talk to. 

We love Cleveland.

• a good job, same retirement system. A chance to advance the outdoor recreation world of CLE.
• great neighborhood.  Nice sidewalks and great playgrounds.
• drive time to family is amazing.  We still are amazed it is so fast when we visit family.
• grocery store a few blocks away
• two cars - Hilary says she loves it - only possible because of the job move. 
• Lauren loves our new church. 
• Making new friends. 

Sure, we could write the cons of each place as well, and yes, so far the We love Dayton list is longer, but we have only been here one year.  In life you have to make decisions and you don't always know everything before you make those decisions, so as some people have said, grow where you are planted. We are still getting settled.  We are waiting on baby #2 to arrive in 7-8 weeks, and we continue to try to serve God and show His love to others through our actions, stories, and lives. Blogs are weird, but I hope you are encouraged by this.  Have a great day! 

Reading Time

She loves looking for the dog and cat in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Way too much text, but fun pictures. (Picture from December 2013.)

One of my hobbies is reading. I just love to read. I read books like some people watch movies. I can sit down with a novel and three hours later -- BAM. Book consumed. (Sometimes my sweet hubby has to gently force me away from a book. I just get lost in book world.) I have so many wonderful memories of my dad reading to me before bed, all the way up through middle school. I was the nerdy kid who would go over to a friend's house and read a book there -- while she read too, of course. I actually packed books in my suitcase when I went to London for a reading-intensive semester abroad. A gift card to Barnes & Nobles was one of my favorite annual Christmas gifts growing up. The first year we were married, with no internet, no t.v. and a sleepy rural town, I visited the library weekly. Reading has always been a part of my life.

Being a mom hasn't necessarily cut back on my reading. I read tons of books for the first six months that Lauren was nursing. Not only was she an incredibly slow nurser (she'd nurse for an hour at a time), but she completely ignored the ipad. So I would borrow books digitally from our library and read, read, read. I read all sorts of books in the wee hours of the morning. I read Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, and it was so captivating that I almost stayed up to finish it despite the completely sleep deprived early days of motherhood. I read a sleep training book in the middle of the night, when I was desperate for some ideas on how to get Lauren to sleep. [Note: the middle of the night is the WORST time to read about how to get your baby to sleep through the night.] I read books on breastfeeding and babies and silly mysteries and memoirs and anything that sounded interesting.

Then Lauren started to reach for the iPad, nursing sessions got shorter (not that I'm complaining!), night awakenings kept happening, and reading disappeared for a while. Now that Lauren is older and sleeping through the night, I find time to chill out with a book, normally after she goes to bed.

All that to say, I love reading. Always have, always will.  And I assumed Lauren would love reading too!

Enter my child. Lauren is active. She was active in the womb, and she's been active ever since being born. When she was an infant, she would kick-kick-kick on the floor, her little legs never stopping. And reading? Well, as soon as she could move, she was much more interested in exploring than sitting in front of a book. All of the sleep advice that suggested reading a few quiet stories before bed made my heart heavy. My kid? Maybe if I strapped her down!

I persisted, as much as I could, sometimes reading to her while she was eating or if she relaxed for a few moments. Nothing really seemed to interest her until friends brought over some flap books with textures. She started to flip open the pages while I sped-read through the text. She'd lose interest almost immediately, but slowly -- very slowly -- she started to take an interest in books.

Right about the time Lauren turned one, we finally started to be able to read. It still wasn't the marathon reading session my nephew loves, but it was a start. It helped that she finally started to allow herself to relax, instead of fighting it. Her love has grown from there, and both Dan and I enjoy reading to her. (Notice that a blanket over your lap is a necessity for reading.)

Current favorites include (and the list changes nearly daily) are:

Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Little and James Dean

Alphabet by Matthew Van Fleet

Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion

Mr. Paint Pig's ABCs by Richard Scarry

All Kinds of Kisses by Linda Dowdy

It's scary how many children's books I can recite, top to bottom. And we've only been doing this for 18 months! Imagine how many I'll have memorized after a few years.

Orbiting

A while ago my mom said, “You know, I used to read this one blog, but the authors haven’t updated it in a while.”

It took me a second, but I figured it out.

Oh us? We’re still alive and kicking. Lauren is now 18 months old. The last half a year has zoomed by – holidays found us traveling (and not sleeping) and sleep regressions, teeth, fever, and colds have also kept us on our toes (and not sleeping). (There’s a theme, and it may have to do with the sleep roller coaster.)

We’ve found out – just like all other parents before us – that kids have a certain amount of gravity. Lauren has pulled us into her orbit. While in many ways it is okay for our family life to be primarily about her, there are two other people in this house with their own needs. So our current challenge is finding what works for us, what keeps us smiling and refreshed, and when it’s okay to let things go. And for the last six months, this is one of the things I’ve let go.

But today? I’m back. Nothing much to say, other than I’m here. We’re here. Lauren is blossoming into a determined, active toddler. She loves to make animal sounds (she’s mastered the sounds for dog, cat, cow, goat, sheep, horse, owl, chicken). She put this into practice the other evening when I was feeding her chicken.

“Would you like some chicken, Lauren?”

“Bawk, bawk!” she replied, each and every time I mentioned the word chicken. (It was even more strange when we had goat the following night. "MAAA. MAAA," she would bleat.)

She manages to communicate plenty with her mix of sign language and words, and even sometimes manages to stretch out bedtime routines with her demands. She would spend the entire day outside if she could, climbing up and down the stairs, sorting rocks, playing in the garden, putting away sticks Lander has dragged around the yard, kicking her ball, and practicing running. She loves when her daddy comes home. Lauren meets him at the door, insists he takes off his coat, and brings him his slippers. It melts my heart each and every time it happens.

I am so thankful that I get to be at home with Lauren, watching her grow. I'm thankful that our families have been able to be a part of Lauren's toddler hood through technology, visits, and old fashioned long-distance love. I'm thankful that Dan has a job, and I'm thankful that his job allows him to do fun things during the day like take us out to lunch.

My heart is full of thankfulness. Just another day in my favorite job.

Life with Lauren: Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday, big girl!

Our beautiful girl is one year old. ONE! It's so crazy to me that a year has already passed, and yet so normal and beautiful that I'm having trouble finding words to describe the day, as well as the past month.

I'll start out with stats, because facts are easy to state. Her weight is 23 lbs, her height is 30.5", and according to the doctor, her head measures 17 cm (yes, cm). Obviously that last reading isn't right, but I didn't really care to measure her noggin. She's a plump girl, and I think she's just perfect. I feel great joy when we go to the doctor's office and there are no problems with weight gain. After watching how much this girl eats, there is no surprise that she is at a healthy weight! She eats pretty much everything, including salmon, which I didn't expect to share with her. She waved her arms, fussed and pointed at my plate (and I was the only adult at home) so I had to be the bigger person and give her some of the delicious, wild-caught salmon, straight from Alaska.   

This is the same basket Lauren was in as a baby for newborn pics. How she has grown!

Lauren is walking all of the time and is into everything. Every drawer and cupboard is her territory, which makes our kitchen look like a wreck. I keep saying we need to install more kid locks, but we haven't yet. Her favorite place to get into is my bathroom drawer (contact solution, deodorant, makeup, etc. are all gleefully pulled out and dropped on the floor) and the baking cupboard (those little bottles of extract are the perfect size for her to cart around). We've just started playing outside as the weather has gotten cooler, and she'll happily walk around the backyard for 30 minutes to an hour, climbing up and down the stairs to the deck, and playing with rocks. We both love the vitamin D and I love how it wears her out. 

Her routine still consists of two naps, three meals plus one snack, and nursing before sleeping and when she wakes up in the morning . She isn't a talker, although I think she says dog. Not quite sure about that. Reading books is still a challenge because of her boundless energy, but we certainly read AT her as she goes about her business. Getting bruises is practically a hobby, with new and creative ways for bumping into things occurring each and every day. Her favorite toys vary from day to day, but consistently she loves Ross (the cabbage patch kid) and a wipes box full of scarves, which she never tires of pulling out and then wrapping around her shoulders. 

As for her actual birthday, we had visitors. Uncle Andrew, Aunt Shelley, Ben and Caleb all came to visit, and we celebrated by eating apple crisp and vanilla ice cream both the day before and the day of. Her father and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary (same day) by going on a breakfast date without Lauren -- woo hoo! (Thanks for watching her, visitors!) She got a few sweet presents -- a slide, a bike, and musical instruments -- and I'm already wondering what possibly she could need for Christmas and where will we store it. (Why bother to store it? They just get torn out of their baskets and strewn about the house.) Our house is going to be overtaken by toys, but they make her happy and our house fun.

Happy birthday, dear Lauren! We can't wait to see how you grow over this next year. 

Life with Lauren: 11 months

Hanging out at the beach.

In 26 days I will be writing a one year update. One year! Too crazy to be true, but it is. So I'm savoring the moment of 11 months while a certain 11 month old is sleeping. I don't actually know her stats for height, weight and head circumference, but she continues to be pleasantly plump. She still has a few inches to go and a few pounds to gain before she officially grows out of her car seat, but it is so heavy with her in it that we are about to switch her over to a big girl seat! 

Swings!

On our way to Camp of the Woods, Lauren took her first steps. We were at Dan's sister's house, and Lauren was playing on the floor with Dan while we stood around and chatted. She stood up and then, as she started to walk using Dan's leg for support, he quickly moved back and she took three or four unsteady steps. I was shocked and so thrilled that we were both able to see it! I didn't think she was that close to walking alone, since her balance wasn't that great. Just goes to show you that effort counts for more than skill. Now she practices walking whenever she can and will walk across the room if she has a toy in her hand that she doesn't want to set down. Crawling is still her most reliable form of transportation, but we are seeing more and more walking every day.

Enjoying the lake. 

Lauren is starting to communicate more with us. She waves her arms or claps when she wants more to eat. (She has not yet grasped the sign language for more.) She points to interesting things that she wants to see. She knows who Ross is -- Dan's old cabbage patch kid -- and loves to play with him. It is amazing how much she understands (where her books are, where Ross is, if she wants to dance). Speaking of dancing, Lauren is a bop-per just like her mom. If we put music on, she bends her little legs while holding on to the coffee table and looks all around while she moves to the music.

A new game: grab the sunglasses. It's soooo much fun.

Granddad and Lauren like to stick their tongues out. Lauren does it just about every time she sees him.

Sleeping has become more challenging in this past month. Morning naps are hit or miss, but as long as she is happy, I try to take it in stride. In general, she is still on a similar schedule as before. As long as she can get a longer nap in the afternoon, I'll be okay with dropping to one nap. We'll have more of a window for fun! As for eating, she loves it but will hardly tolerate being fed with a spoon. She likes to do it herself, just like her mom used to. Like mother, like daughter.

This has been a great summer -- our first with baby Lauren. But our baby is soon becoming a toddler. Watch out world!

Life with Lauren, 10 months

Swings almost always get a smile. (Not this time, of course.)

I'm two weeks late for the 10 month post, and it is hard to sort out what was has happened since then. (One major thing: she took her first steps!) But I'd hate to skip a month, so I'll do the best that I can.

Weight: 20 lbs, exactly (63%)
Length: 29" (according to the doctor, 79%)
Head Circumference: 18 7/8", which put her at the 100% (an impossible percentile, but still... big noggin!)

July was a fun month for us. After camping, we went to Fredonia to hang out with my parents, brother and sister-in-law + kiddos, and my sister, when she wasn't in Ithaca or traveling. We celebrated my birthday and Lauren blessed us with sleeping again, after giving us a rough few days while camping. Dan and I escaped to the fireworks while Lauren snoozed peacefully in bed, while Dad kept an ear out for her. We saw the great grandmas and Lauren permitted them to hold her. Lauren went through a phase of separation anxiety that last most of the month, but seemed to wear off by the time we went on vacation in early August. Phew! Tears every time someone else held her was exhausting.

Learning new tricks from her buddy and future husband Micah. 

Following that, we had a couple of normal weeks in Dayton, and then a visit from my college friends and their families! Lauren learned some new things from some of the bigger kids, and tolerated everyone else in her space quite well. She tried out the splash park with the gang, and although the water was cold, she decided it was quite interesting.

Splash park!

Dislikes: the feeling of grass (which is convenient for the times we put her on a blanket outside), being rocked/held/made to sit still, getting her diaper changed (see previous)
Likes: Peekaboo books, pulling hair, her cup, her bottle, FOOD, crawling, pulling up

Stay tuned for another update in a few weeks about what Lauren is getting into at 11 months!

Life With Lauren, 9 months

Loving her avacado.

One of the most wonderful parts about being a parent is that each new milestone Lauren reaches brings a different joy to our relationship. Each stage is a little different and it is amazing to watch her grow! Friends and family who are a little bit further along in their parenting journey will say things like, "Now he's able to play with us... He's really getting to be a lot of fun!" I've heard that from them at various times, so I'm confident that this sentiment will continue as Lauren develops. Right now, though, we are having a lot of fun with our 9 month old.

I love her expression here. 

 Lauren is crawling and pulling up on objects and taking steps while holding on to hands. Pulling up is her favorite thing to do. She has a few bruises to show for her increased mobility too. Currently she's sporting a bruise in the middle of her forehead from taking a fall into the corner of a crate. Ouch! These bumps don't slow her down too much and sometimes particularly spectacular falls merit no response whatsoever. She is an extremely active baby. She is not a snuggler and only likes to be held if she can see what is going on.

The look on her face says it all.

One delightful change this month was sleep. Praise the Lord, Lauren has started sleeping through the night. Prior to a few weeks ago, I was fairly certain that I was not going to let her "cry-it-out." It felt too mean to let her wail in her crib. But after several awful nights of sleep torture, I was at my wits end. All of the old tricks that would help Lauren sleep suddenly stopped working. So with Dan's support -- I put him in charge, actually -- we let her put herself to sleep in her crib. It was rough the first night, but I knew in my heart that it was time for Lauren to learn how to go to sleep by herself. And it worked. Now she gets onto her tummy and snoozes peacefully for nights and naps, with a few off times here and there. Lauren sleeping has made me feel like a real person again. I am so, so thankful that she has learned how to fall asleep without the very strict conditions that would lull her to sleep before. And for all of the moms out there who are struggling with their baby's sleeping, I'm sorry. I feel your pain. Someday you will feel like yourself again.

Camping was an adventure. 

Lauren finally got a tooth this month, followed a few weeks later by her second tooth. She has continued to chow down on food without any major issues. She is plump and sweet and active. She is starting to be somewhat clingy to me. We've been traveling (camping with Dan's family and now we're hanging out with my family), so the changes in location and people might have thrown her off. I'm hoping the mommy-only stage doesn't last for too long. (That said, she still managed to hold it together during nursery at church, so she's not having a terrible case of separation anxiety.)

With Aunt Joanna.

Lauren's next doctor's appointment is in a few weeks, but her unofficial weight is 20 lbs and length is 28" (which I think is 1/2" shorter than last month, so something wasn't very accurate!).  Growing like a weed -- growing out of 9 month clothes and into 12 month outfits. As she gets more plump, her resemblance to me as a baby grows. We will just see who she ends up looking like!

Life With Lauren: 8 months

At church two weeks ago, we sang "I Need Thee Every Hour," and while introducing it, our worship leader noted that a stay at home mom wrote the hymn. His implication was that even a stay-at-home mom needed Jesus every hour. Of course! I thought. Nothing has pointed out my own need for God's grace than staying at home with my daughter each day. It was much easier for me to ignore my need for Jesus when I was busy at work, dealing with other people's children. Raising up my own child highlights my own sin and need to become more like Him. 

That's the musings for life with Lauren at 8 months. Despite my own struggles at times, I can say that I am truly happy to be at home with Lauren. I am so thankful that I am able to! Every day there seems to be something a little more delightful about her than the previous day. I hear from friends with older kiddos that this trajectory stops around five, so I am soaking up the sweetness while it lasts.  

Weight: 18.2 lbs (between 25 & 50%)

Height: 28.5 inches (between 75 & 90%)

Skills: Sitting up by herself! Occasionally she gets really into a toy and forgets that she has to hold herself up. In those cases, she thumps back and hits her head. Fortunately, this has only happened on the carpet and a quick snuggle stops the tears. Also, she started inch worming her way around early this month and capped it off by doing a real crawl! Watch out world, here she comes.

Eating: Three meals a day. Breakfast is oatmeal + fruit, lunch is a veggie, fruit + yogurt, and dinner is a veggie  and fruit. There are copious amounts of puffs and cheerios eaten/scattered at all of these meals, as well as a bottle after each of them. Lander has taken care of the vacuuming for us. She goes bonkers when we eat apples, and occasionally I'll let her chew on one while suppervised. 

Teeth: Still none!

Sleeping: Two steps forward, one step back, and sometimes five steps back. Overall, she is getting better at sleeping, although she had quite the set back when we visited Dan's parents last weekend. Ugh!

She has slept  through the night a handful of times in this past month, so I hope the trend continues. I also hope that she is able to sleep when we go on vacation this summer, since we have at least 2 weeks where she'll need to sleep in her pack-n-play. 

Routine: Up around 7, breakfast and play, nap around 9, usually a walk, then lunch, play, nap around 1 or 2, and bed around 7:00 or 7:30. It feels pretty amazing to be able to write a routine with times attached to the different parts. She isn't very regimented, but this is the general framework of our day when we are at home. 

Fun Times: We had a great time seeing Dan's family last weekend. Lauren had lots of snuggles from everyone. One of the sweetest moments was when Tyler, Kristy, Dan and I were in the hot tub at his parents' house. Lauren had gone to bed an hour or so before, so I thought I had time to sneak in the hot tub without an issue. But, to be safe, I asked Kylie (Dan's niece) to keep an ear out for the baby monitor. After a while, she came out to tell me that Lauren was crying. By the time I got inside, little Caleb (6 years old) had gone down to the pack-n-play and was twirling his glow bracelets for her and saying, "It's okay Lauren. You don't have to cry." So stinkin' sweet. She is loved, by cousins, aunts and uncles, and her grandparents, not to mention her father and me. 

Life With Lauren: Seven Months

After Lauren's seven month appointment, the stats are in.

Length: 28" (50-75%)
Weight: 16 lbs, 5 oz (5-10%)
Head: 16" 

Skills: Rolling like crazy, front to back, back to front and across the room! She's starting to get up on her hands and knees for crawling. Her fingers are often in her mouth, especially when she is quietly observing the world. She looks around to find where our voices are coming from and usually breaks into a big grin when she spots one of us.
Sleeping: There are good days and bad days! Daytime sleeping has generally normalized into two and sometimes three naps per day, of a duration varying from 20 mins to 1 hour and 45 minutes. Night sleeping consists generally of going down between 7:30 and 8 and up 2-3+ times before her morning Daddy time at 6:45/7:00. She did well last night so I'm feeling optimistic, but there have been many days this past month when I have been extremely grumpy about her sleep. (I've had to call my sister-in-law from some pep talks about how she will eventually sleep.) We did have to resort back to swaddling one arm to help her sleep a bit more soundly.
Eating: This is one area where Lauren excels. In addition to nursing plus 12 oz of formula a day, Lauren is eating at least two meals a day. She eats fruit at lunch (2 tbsp) and veggies at dinner (1/4 cup). Everything has seemed equally pleasing to her, from spinach to sweet potatoes, prunes to pears.
Other: No teeth! I keep expecting them but not yet. She'll get really drooling and start biting on everything for a few days, and then it stops. She had a little red blood blister on her gum a couple of weeks ago, but then it went away and no tooth followed. As I know that nursing will be a little more dangerous after she gets a few, I have to admit that I am not that sad that she hasn't had any pop through.
Lauren Loves: Her stroller. She's now comfortable enough to fall asleep during walks.
Her dog, Lander. He makes her laugh oh-so-hard.
People. She smiles at everyone!
Bathtime. Splashing water on her face? She thinks it is the best thing ever. (That's must be a trait from Dan, not me!)
Being tickled. Her chuckle makes the world a better place.

Visits! We were blessed with two sets of visitors this month. Joanna, Shelley and the boys came for a few days in early April, and my parents just left yesterday after spending a few days here. Lauren loved the extra people to watch and play with, and we loved having them. 

Life With Lauren: Six Months

Once a month blogging... not impressive, but at least I've been consistent for the past half a year. Half a year! Pretty incredible that we've had our little girl for six whole months. I was holding her at 2:41 a.m. on March 29 and realized that was the exact time of her birth. It was special, but to be honest, I don't want to be holding her at 2:41 on her one year birthday. I'd prefer her to be having a nice long night snooze by then. So as you can tell, we've reached the point in parenting when sleep is our obsession, especially on the bad days. Read on for the details!

Weight: 14.2 lbs, according to our bathroom scale. She hasn't quite doubled in weight yet, but we're getting there. Also, our doctors appointment is at 7 months because of scheduling issues.
Length: 27 inches
Eyes: Hazel
Hair: It's still growing in, getting longer and longer! It is still super fine and the color is hard to determine. Sometimes it looks blonde but other times I think it might be a light brown. It is still far too short to do anything with and I don't even really have to comb it.
Skills: Rolling both ways, as of two days before her six month birthday! She plays with her toes, looks for us when she hears our voices, and knows what she wants -- usually a bottle or Mom.

Sleeping: This has been a rough month, for reasons unknown. Many many nights she has been up 3+ times. Blamed it on travel, rice cereal and temperature fluctuations, but who knows? We quit the rice cereal which helped for a night, started turning on the ceiling fan and play some white noise. Nothing has seemed to be the magic solution. It has been quite a mystery to us. On the plus side, she has started to nap during the day at somewhat consistent intervals. That has been awesome.

Events: A trip to NY -- she was a rock star in the car. Being dedicated -- Gramma and Pap visited to see that. Attending Bible study with me on Tuesday mornings -- the other ladies love her.
Clothes: A few 3-6 month items still, all of her 6 month clothes, and a few 9 month outfits and onesies. Diapers finally fit pretty well -- we're doing fewer outfit changes during the day.
Loves: To sit up (not by herself, yet, but in our laps or the bumbo)! Pop up toys. Putting things in her mouth. Her birdie mobile. To touch our faces. To be tickled under the chin.

Life with Lauren: 5 Months

This is Dan's favorite sleeper for Lauren. 

Five months outside of the womb have passed so much ore quickly than the first five months of pregnancy. Lauren seems more like a little person each day, and I can only imagine that this impression will grow stronger as she asserts more of her own opinions about things. She has always been alert -- baby big eyes! -- but even more so now. She captivated the ladies sitting behind us at church, and calmly accepted their praise and clutched proffered fingers. Immediately after she stuck her index finger in her mouth to chew on, so I sincerely hope all of those people were part of the clean hands club. (Oh yes, she has mastered the sucking of the index finger.)

Big moments from the month include the first unenthusiastic spoonful of food, and I use the word food loosely here. When our doctor said we could start her on rice cereal any time after four months, I was surprised, then sad (my baby is growing up!), then excited (real food!), then started to plan (baby food cookbooks? an immersion blender? storage containers?), all of which was tempered by at least three parents confessing that their babies despised rice cereal. We waited until she was pretty steady sitting up and very observant of our mealtime actions. (Sitting on our lap, she cranes her neck to follow the path of our glasses from the table to our mouths.) And, so at about 4 months, 3 weeks, we gave her a spoonful, which was pushed around and pushed back out. Dan tried a couple more spoonfuls and gave it a break for the night. We've only tried twice since then, every couple of days, with similar results. So, maybe as we get closer to six months we'll try a little bit more. I'm not in a hurry. Our combination of nursing and supplementing with formula continues to work for us.

Funniest look on her face. 

Lauren currently weighs 12 lbs, 14 oz, so she's continuing to gain weight at a slow and steady pace. Her length is __________*. She's our string bean and I love her to pieces! She's in her 3-6 month and 6 month clothes. It's so funny how different brands fit -- in her Gerber onesies she's in the 6-9 months because of her length, yet the Gap 3-6 month sleepers are still too long. Things still have a habit of sliding off her narrow frame, especially pants and socks. But her cheeks are getting chubbier and chubbier, as you can see from the pictures!

Another beautiful milestone of this month has been increasingly regular morning naps. After two hours of being up in the morning, she wants to go back to sleep, and I am happy to oblige by swaddling her up and being able to do whatever I want around the house for 45 minutes or so. The actual time of these naps vary quite a bit, anywhere from about 7:45 in the morning to 10:15. More often than not, Lauren's internal alarm clock goes off at 5:40, and sometimes that's it! She's up for the day! (Although my internal alarm clock doesn't love it, at least Dan occasionally gets baked oatmeal out of the deal, fresh from the oven.) Night time sleeping is getting better, with the occasional agonizing setback of multiple times up in the night. I'm realizing that when she goes to bed, usually between 8:30 and 9:00, I need to go to bed.

Playtime is more and more fun. She loves grabbing on tight and putting things in her mouth, especially blankets. Weird? Maybe. We read a few books every day and sometimes her hand happens to turn a page. I know it's a coincidence, but I like to pretend she knows what's going on.

As I said before, Lauren is very observant. One of the cutest moments of this month was when she was sitting on Dan's lap during dinner. He was telling me about his day, and Lauren was leaning back, head turned up at him, staring at him adoringly. I broke the spell by grabbing the camera, but it was the sweetest expression of total fascination with her dad. My favorite moments from the month have been the belly-laughs when I kiss her round cheeks and soft neck. I can't get enough of it! The other special memory for this month, for me, is during some of the early morning nursing times. Lauren has fallen asleep in my arms, and before I've put her back in her crib, I've spent a few minutes just looking at my baby girl. She's had the most beautiful, peaceful look on her face.

Just so you know, it's a fact she's cute. So cute, in fact, that at the doctor's office yesterday, a little boy said, "Your baby's cute! Is it a boy or a girl?" I told him that she was a girl and he said, again, "She's so cute." Then he reached into the car seat, patted her foot and then patted her head. (His mother told his to stop, but he was only touching her clothes.) I followed him and his mother out to the elevator, and he turns to her and says, "That baby is really cute, right mom?" Melt my heart, funny little boy who can't say your "r" sounds.

This week, Lauren and I are off to visit family while Dan is stuck here with work, so we are hoping for an uneventful car ride there and a wonderful week of memories!

*Baby is currently sleeping. I will update with this information at a convenient time... aka never. 

Life With Lauren, 4 months

Here she is at four months old. About a week ago, Dan and I were eating our dinner while Lauren played in her stim gym on the floor. She managed to grasp two of the toys in her hands and was earnestly pulling them towards her mouth. We laughed to see the look of determination in her eyes, and asked each other if she could get any cuter. Apparently, she will, but oh my. I can hardly imagine.

At her four month doctor's visit, Lauren weighed in at 11 lbs 9.5 oz. We were thrilled. It was nearly a two pound weight gain this month, which puts her back on the chart at the 8th percentile. We've settled into a rhythm for her feeding cycles for now at least. After every time she nurses during the day, she gets 2 oz of formula. The last feeding of the night normally knocks her out and no bottles in the middle of the night. I finally came to peace about using formula during the middle of the month. For a while there I was still obsessing about milk supply, but seeing how she was growing and blossoming, I realized that this is what we needed to do. Fortunately, Lauren didn't have any major reactions to adding formula in to our routine. (From certain books, I picked up the belief that she was going to be fussy, sick, and miserable the second the formula touched her lips.) So to any moms out there who are struggling with their baby's failure to thrive and yet are hesitant to follow the doctor's advice by adding formula, take heart. It'll be okay.

Apparently, Lauren shrank between visits to the doctor, but I think her most accurate length is 24.25", although I think that is even on the short side of her actual length (I might just have to measure her myself). I'm not sure what the percentile is on that, and her head circumference is 15". She's outgrowing her 3 month clothes and is transitioning to her 3-6 and 6 month outfits. A whole new wardrobe, already!

Sleeping continues to have its up and down moments for our girl. After Christmas, she transitioned to her crib (yippee!) and she's been pretty happy there. For almost two weeks, she would sleep for really long chunks of time, sleeping either the entire night through or waking up once in the early morning. She fooled us for a while because halfway through the month, I was so disappointed when she started waking up every two to three hours. Darn growth spurt! Then she slept through the night for a couple of night when my parents were here, probably because she did not sleep a minute during the day, afraid to miss something fun. Now we're settling in on waking up twice per night. She's loved being swaddled up until now, but she's starting to break free from it, so we might be in for another not so fun transition from being swaddled to being free. (She's so jumpy when I lay her down without being swaddled that she will almost immediately wake herself up.) As for day time naps -- as unpredictable as the emotions of a pregnant lady.

Fun moments from this month:

• Lauren will mimic Dan when she is feeling talkative. If he says "hello," she'll do her best to sing the vowels back to him, even with the same intonation. 
• A visit from my parents and my aunt and uncle. Lauren loved the commotion, except for being fussy because she was exhausted. 
• A little giggle! She did this early in the month, but has only repeated it a couple of times following. I was so tickled that I teared up while smiling oh-so-big. 
• Play time is more exciting now that Lauren grabs things to stick in her mouth. At first I thought it was just a coincidence that she managed to grab on to the toys, but it has happened too many times. 
• Lauren looooves the Moby wrap a friend loaned me. Thank goodness for some extra mobility. She likes to snooze in it as opposed to taking a nap in her crib.
• About half way through the month, Lauren also decided that she does NOT like being carried like a baby. She wants to sit UP, thank you very much, and will do these little crunches to attempt to pull herself up to sitting in your arms. She likes facing out in the Moby wrap, too, so she can see the great wide world, both in our house and outside. 
• A dimple! My dad noticed it when they were visiting and has christened it the granddad dimple.

Each new day has something different, from sleep to new discoveries to emerging mannerisms, and we are doing our best to enjoy each day as it comes. I wonder what will show up this month!