Laurel has been able to say "I love you" and "I'm sorry" for a little while now. But suddenly she's using them more freely, and of her own accord. Today at the store she dropped some dish soap that spilled on the floor. When the lady came to clean it Jon asked her "what do you say?" and she answered, "I'm sorry daddy." Then he said, don't say sorry to me. So she looked at the cleaning lady and said "I'm sorry."
As if that weren't enough, yesterday she came up to me and hugged me and said "I love you mommy." There is nothing better than that.

Happy Mother's Day! Laurel wanted to take this chance to give a shout out to all the other mom's in her life. So Happy Mother's Day to her two grandmothers who love her and would do anything for her. Also, Happy Mother's Day to the little mom's, Abby and Hallie who help take care of her and play with her every week.

Today we went plant shopping. I know it's late in our season to start planting...but we do everything late. That's just us. One day we'll get it together, but today is not that day. While we were at the Lowe's buying plants Laurel fell in love with the fountains. She ended up soaked by the time we got back to the car, but she had a good time. She especially liked this one because the little bamboo part moved up and down. (She "moved" it so much I thought we might end up with a "you break it you buy it" scenario)

Daddy had an award ceremony on Tuesday night, so we got to dress him up. I figured it was a perfect picture moment. Laurel wore her toddler hat proudly through the entire ceremony. The second it began she tried to run down the aisle, when I caught up with her she started screaming. We then spent the rest of the ceremony in the back of the room trying not to be too loud. (Of course then she found the search & rescue dogs and had to talk to them, pet them, kiss them, etc)

I had to take this picture. Laurel looked so big, so old. I can't believe how much she's changing. She talks so much and has her own sense of humor. She will only play on the big jungle-gym at the park, the baby ice cream isn't enough for her. And unfortunately, she's started cursing. (Didn't think we'd have to deal with that for a while) Luckily, it's not because she's imitating us, so for that I can feel good. She's learned to say the work fire-truck...but she somehow skips the "ire-tr" part of the words. (Get it?) And she says the letters that are left over with perfect clarity. The guys at the fire station thought it was particularly funny as she's pointing the fire truck saying "big "f&%k, daddy f$*k." Nice, huh? What can you do? She's learning, I'm not about to tell her not to say something that she thinks is right. I'll just listen and nod and quietly giggle in my head if we're at home, and be silently mortified if we're in public.

I've let time slip away again. It's usually related to misplacing the camera. This time we found it in the car. But in our defense we found it in time for Easter events.
Laurel's cousin Jessie came in town for Easter. Unfortunately she wasn't able to stay long, which led to several days of Laurel asking "Where Jessie go?" But at least they were able to have fun while she was here. We dyed eggs, made Easter cookies and even had an Easter egg hunt in the front yard. (Jessie found them a little faster then Laurel and had to keep donating eggs back to the cause) But she was a great sport about it.

A lot has happened since the last time I posted. 2007 is here. Laurel can walk, she talks much more. Her hair is getting long. Essentially she's gone from being a baby to being a toddler. The transition happened so quickly that we didn't realize until after it happened. She suddenly has an opinion about what we do and how we do it. More importantly, she has an opinion about what she doesn't want to do.

1) She doesn't want to put on pants.
2) She does want to put a clip in her hair, but she doesn't want to keep it there.
3) She doesn't want to leave the playground.
4) She doesn't want you to get her grapes, she wants "apples" even though they're really grapes.

Of course this all makes her sound like a demon child, which she's not. She's wonderful. Sweet and funny and lovable. But she does have her moments (as all toddlers do) when you're trying to shop and she wants to walk. Or when you're at the park and she wants the duck. (She doesn't want to see the duck...she actually WANTS the duck.)

This is a picture of Laurel and Daddy on Christmas day. She looks like such an angel, it's hard to picture her throwing a fit in the Wal-Mart.

I realize this is two posts in one day, but I couldn't resist it. There are so many cute pictures from Halloween, I didn't want to have to pick just one. So I'll keep the writing short and sweet. This picture is from the pumpkin carving. Laurel had a good time pulling the pumpkin-guts out of the bowl and onto the table.

Last night was Halloween. We had a whole day of events planned...but it was one of those days that didn't turn out quite right, and we ended up rushing around to do only some of the things we had planned to do. We DID get to buy and carve a pumpkin. I DID manage to finish Jon's costume. And we DID go to a Halloween party, and of course we trick-or-treated.

The nice thing about having a young toddler, is that they don't really care about the trick-or-treating part. So we didn't have to spend all night walking from house to house getting as much candy as possible. She can't even eat the few pieces we got...so instead they sit there on the counter staring and me and Jon tempting us to eat them. (I swear a Kit-Kat woke me up last night and begged me to eat it)

I found a monkey costume at Old Navy a few months ago, and couldn't resist it. But rather than just be a monkey, I figured I could jazz it up by making her Curious George. What did I do to jazz it up you ask? Absolutely nothing. Her costume is the same as when I bought it off the rack. Jon however had to dress like a Miami Vice wannabe with a giant foam hat. Luckily a lot of people got it. He was the Man in the Yellow Hat. Sadly a few people didn't get it, and though Laurel was a bear and that Jon was just strange. (He didn't appreciate that) But he was a very good sport about it.

This weekend we headed up to Cloudland Canyon for a camping trip. It was the perfect fall-leaf weekend to go up there. The leaves we're bright red and yellow and orange. However, we didn't realize how cold it was going to be. When we got there at 3pm it was already 46 degrees. I don't know what it ended up dipping to in the middle of the night, but it was cold. (The kind of cold where you hold it all night because you can't bear the thought of having to leave the safety of the tent)

Not that the tent offered any protection from the cold, but it did offer a little against the wind. And somewhere between 10pm and midnight the air mattress completely deflated, leaving all four of us on the frigid ground. (Yep, all four. Jon, Me, Laurel and Roger) The funny part was, although you are on the ground, the bed isn't really completely deflated...so every time any one of us would shift the others would get popped up like popcorn.

On top of all of this the baby (who went to sleep very quickly around 8pm) woke up screaming at 10:30pm. Then again at 10:40pm, and again at 10:50pm. I tried everything. Sitting up, laying down, putting her in her pack-and-play. I even tried nursing her. (Which was a miserable failure. Laurel has been weaned for 3 weeks now. Only three weeks. So I assumed even if she couldn't get anything, she'd at least be comforted by it. Not so much. She looked at me like I was crazy. She wouldn't even try it!) After I got her back to sleep she slept on and off until about 7:30AM. I slept NONE. So when daylight hit I tried my hardest to wake everyone else up so we could get off the ground and go start a fire and have some hot coffee.

Once we had warm breakfast in us the weather mellowed out and we packed up and spent the rest of the afternoon hiking before heading back home. The hike was beautiful, but tough, and the waterfall at the bottom of the canyon is the picture posted above. And I learned a good lesson about not camping in the cold weather with a baby.

This weekend we had all of the kids. It was crazy, but fun. Laurel has really grown to enjoy her time with her aunts and uncles. She can even say Abby. Of course she calls both of the girls Abby, but she'll learn.

We all went to an organic farm on Saturday. The event was pretty laid back, but fun at the same time. The kids were good about trying most of the things. They had everything from gourmet foods to pomegranates to fermented beet juice. (Apparently fermented beet juice is supposed to be refreshing. It isn't.) There were arts & craft, organic chocolate and plenty of plants and animals to see. The kids loved being chased around by a duck.

Laurel just likes being free to roam around. She stays in the backpack as long as you need her to, but once you let her out, she doesn't want back in. This is a picture of her and me on the grass listening to one of the bands.

Laurel has been growing and changing so much lately. It's scary. She's almost walking, she talks constantly and she has an unbelievable temper. We've also been introducing her to a lot more recently, hiking, camping, etc. Throughout the fall we have a lot planned, more camping, pumpkin picking, Halloween, and two Thanksgivings. (Yep...twice the turkey for me this year) So even if I don't have time to write that much, I will try to keep up the pictures.

The picture here is from Laurel's first official hiking trip. As you can see she found it very tiring. We didn't know how she'd do, so we started with a fairly short 2 mile hike. We first tried the jog stroller with the big fat bike tires...but that didn't go well (too bumpy). So we heaed back to the car to try her in the snuggly. (too small) We hadn't tried the snuggly in months, not realizing that she had outgrown it. So, finally we tried the good-old Maya wrap (just right). At first she was mesmerized by the sun coming through the leaves, then she was irritated by the leaves brushing into her, then she was lulled by the constant rocking motion...and before we knew it she was out like a light.

Since then we found a cheap hiking backpack at used it camping and hiking, and she loves it. (I'll put those pictures in later) We have also taken her to some dirt trails around town and let her play in the mud and the creeks. It turns out she loves mud. Loves to play in it, loves to eat it, pretty much loves everything about it. Mud has lots of minerals, right?

Today's blog is not for the faint of heart. But still, I thought this picture and this event needed to be recognized. (If only to show how gross...and funny parenthood can be)

So, a few days ago Jon and I were playing with Laurel on the floor of her room. Being the regular little scamp that she is, I realized it was about that time in the day for a dirty diaper. Now, bear in mind I didn't smell anything, so while it should have been dirty, I didn't really think it was. So without hesitation I reach to grab the back of her diaper and take a little peak. But when I did, I realized my finger sank into something warm and squishy. And when I pulled my finger back out..."warm and squishy" stayed on board.

Being the calm and rational person I am, you would have thought my first inclination would have been to go wash my hands. Instead, I ran and grabbed the digital camera so that I could savor this mommy-baby moment in time forever.

It's been so long since we've posted again. Laurel is a crawling fool now. She can get from her room through the living room to the kitchen in about 60 seconds. (Which means watching her just got a lot harder) Although, it's more fun now. She'll come find you wherever you are, and when she does she's smiling from ear to ear.

She can also pull up to standing on just about anything. At first it was just her crib. Then it was the coffee table. Now it's cabinets, your leg, the dog...or anything else she can get a good grip on (Unfortunately for Roger, he does not appreciate his ears being used to hoist Laurel up).

Last Saturday I brought Laurel out to see her daddy at work, which is where the picture came from. We rarely go visit him at work, since it's so far. So I thought it would be a good chance to get some fire truck pictures of Laurel and Daddy.

Tuesday was an important day in the life of Laurel Dorman. It was the day she said her first word.

What is it you ask?

Was it momma? (The one that gave her life?) No.

Was it Dadda? (The one who takes care of her day in and day out?) Nope.

Maybe it was bye-bye, this seems like a pretty obvious choice. Wrong again.

It was Roger. Yes, I swear...Roger. We didn't believe it at first. We had to hear it half a dozen times before we finally believed it. For those of you that don't know, Roger is our dog. Our big black oaf of a dog. Of course the word comes out something like 'Ah-jeu' but you definitely get the drift of what she means when she says it. So here's a picture of the Rog to commemorate this occasion.

Today was Jon's birthday. Laurel and I decided to let the "guys" take him out for a beer and some wings. So Laurel and I dressed up like boys and took daddy to Athens for a whole bunch of wings. (I had no idea Laurel would make such a cute boy!) The picture is of Laurel and Jon at the wing place. Jon and I ate more wings then I care to mention, and Laurel ate some cheerios and babyfood. (Actually she ate the off-namebrand cheerios that I lovingly mock Jon by calling cheepios.) Get it? Cheepios...like cheep cheerios...I slay me.

Anyway, after the wings we walked to Big City Bread for dessert. I had only been there once, and didn't realize how far of a walk it would be. I also didn't realize it was going to be over 90 degrees. Yipes. It was hot. By the time we got there we were just happy to be in the air conditioning. I got a white cake filled with blueberries and lemon curd with a cream cheese frosting and Jon got a chocolate cake with chocolate mousse on the inside and covered in chocolate ganache. They were great. They were so rich we couldn't even finish them. (Ok, that's a partial lie. Jon couldn't finish his, I totally finished mine)

After walking back we were so drained from the heat and the huge amount of food we consumed we pretty much just hung out for the rest of the day. Hooray for lazy Saturday afternoons. (And hooray for Dish Network for having hour after hour of mind numbing movies!)

This week Laurel learned to tie her shoes. No, really...look at the picture. You can't refute evidence like that. This has been an easy week. And while there have been no huge jumps in development, you can tell she's getting stronger and smarter everyday. It's the little things. I was thinking this week about when she couldn't sit up by herself. We would sit her up and she would just slump forward. Now, not only can she sit up, she's sure of herself doing it. She's got the feel for her range of motion, and feels comfortable moving into different positions. She's a natural yogi I think.

Tomorrow is her daddy's birthday. We have big plans for him...but we can't tell you what they are just in case daddy reads the blog tonight. But in the next post we'll put a picture of the days events and tell everyone how it went. In the meantime, it's bed time for babies.

I guess I should apologize AGAIN for taking so long to post. I thought I would be better at doing them more often, but like everything else (cleaning, dieting, etc) good intentions don't always materialize. But, once again this means we have more to tell.

Since the last post, Laurel can now say "uh-oh." She spent an afternoon in the Target dropping Jon's sunglasses on the floor and looking at him innocently and saying "uh-oh." She can also stand for long periods of time. She isn't venturing in any direction, but she'll stand forever. This proves once again that my kid, so far, is a lot like her father...she gets comfortable and doesn't like change.

I feel like a lot more has happened this week, but now that I'm sitting down to write it, nothing much is coming to mind. She's still sleeps all night. How lucky are we? We went to the doctor this week and found out that she's in the low percentile for height and weight. The doctor wasn't concerned, especially since she looks so healthy. The funny thing is, she seems to have taken it to heart. The same afternoon after we left the doctor she started eating like a champ, and hasn't stopped yet.

The picture is of her eating a tomato-pasta-beef baby food mix. She painted some of it, and mommy painted some of it. (It looked like fun, how could I resist?) Lesson learned however, the orange-red sauce all over her face stained. It's been two days now and there is still an orange tint to her eyebrows.

It's been over a week since our last post, which is good because it means there's more to tell. Laurel still isn't crawling. It doesn't seem like she ever will. I don't say that to be self defeating, it just seems like she doesn't want to crawl. I've never seen anyone so content to be in the spot she's in. I will try to tempt her by moving an exciting toy slightly out of reach, she'll look at the toy and then look at me as if to say, "no thanks, I'm not in the mood." Then she'll settle down into her little piece of the carpet and play with whatever is at hand, even if it's just her own foot.

The progress we have made this week: she waves to anyone and everyone, she claps and makes an "ay" sound (we think this means yay...but we're partial to thinking Laurel is a genius too), she's also started eating more variety of solid foods, including fruit puffs. (Which is dangerous because as the Dorman's will remember...Jon likes them too.) We certainly can't afford to buy enough fruit puffs to feed them both.

She actually just started eating them last night. But she started with a bang. She still won't put them in her mouth herself, but if I'm holding one anywhere in her visual area she will find a way to get it in her mouth. (This is how I found out she really liked them) I had given her a couple of broken pieces to see if she liked them. I was sitting there next to her with one in my hand, not really paying attention and all of the sudden she nose-dived into my hand and ate it the whole fruit puff. I guess they really do tell you when they're ready to move into different foods!

She's also got a new game she plays. She will make two little fists and then scrunch her face up and tense up her body. Then she'll release all the tension, smile big and wait for you to laugh and mimic her. This will last pretty much as long as you let it. It had Jon and I laughing at the dinner table for quite a while. I'm not sure what you call this game, but I found out it's good for releasing tension.

Oh, and of course the biggest event of the week...drum roll please. Laurel now sleeps through the night...in her crib...alone. I never thought that would happen. (Well, actually I didn't want it to happen) You'd think I'd have slept very well this week, but instead I just sit and wait for her to make noise. But she doesn't. So I spend all night turning the sound up on the monitor to hear her breathing. (Of course when you do that, it's so sensitive it picks up everything) I about had heart a heart attack when the dog layed down on the ground in the living room...it sounded like an earthquake. After that I turned down the volume a little.

So...I hadn't planned to post today. It's been a long day. Yoga, work, baby...I'm tired, the baby's tired. She was so tired and fussy I thought maybe a bath would cheer her up. (You'll see in a minute why I changed my mind about writing today) Normally baths DO NOT cheer Laurel up. She hates them, at least until recently. She hated taking baths in her baby tub. So, silly me, I figured she'd love playing in the big tub. So the other day I fill it with rubber duckies (a whole family) and a beach ball and then put her in. She screamed and cried through the whole thing. Then I had an epiphany...the sink. I've seen others do this (on TV), so I thought, what the heck. Well as it turns out, the TV is always right. She loved it. So she and the duck family now take their baths in the kitchen sink.

Which leads me to tonight...Laurel was so fussy, I thought maybe a bath would help. I filled the sink, added the rubber ducks and put her in. As I supsected, she had a blast. So she's playing and I'm sitting on the counter next to her. Suddenly I realize the splashing has stopped, and she's giving me this strange look. After a moments pause...a loud sound comes from below and then the bubbles followed. This is a first for us...the bath poot. She looked at me with this confused expression...I laughed. That was it, once I laughed, she laughed. Then I laughed more, then she laughed more. Then she burped, which was then followed by two more poots and a lot more bubbles. Laughter again.

I can honestly say that tonight was the funniest moment in the life of my baby. (Now you understand why I had to write today)