10/16/09 - 10/18/09: First UF Game

Outside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium

The Ale House

Just having dinner in the First Aid Station

After Gator Growl and stiiillll going!

Just the 4 of them!

The Hall's and Lauren

Watching College Game Day in bed...hotel living!

Baby and Beer...ready to tailgate

Dental Friends tailgating

Taking a stretching break in the Touchdown Terrace

Yeah, that's right...I'm my daddy's girl!

All this white noise makes me sleepy!

Wow! Something HUGE just happened!

Us 5 girls!

Lauren and the silly daddies!

Oh, daddy, I'm going to miss you!
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The 3 of us went to Gainesville for Dental Fall Weekend/Homecoming Weekend at UF. We met Uncle Mark and Aunt Mary (22 weeks pregnant with Ashlynn and Kaylee) and got to see the Ticola's and other great friends while we were there. We had a great time, of course (we're in Gainesville!), and took Lauren to a few of our favorite places: Las Margaritas, Gainesville Ale House, Yamato's, McAllister's. She was a great sleeper in the pack n play at the hotel and a good little girl the entire weekend. Friday morning we took Lauren to the Burn Unit to meet all of my Burn Friends. Wow, the feelings of walking into the West Entrance--the same entrance I had walked through hundreds/thousands of times before--can not be described. It was a good feeling to bring our baby to Shands to meet everyone. We took the "back hallways" to the unit to avoid patient areas and possible flu areas and stayed for 30 minutes or so and visited. She didn't cry at all...we had discussed "good behavior" before we got there. Ha.

Friday night, we all went to Gator Growl. I used the Bjorn and Lauren lasted for an hour or so before it was time for her dinner. I went to the First Aid Station to nurse her...if anyone ever takes their baby to a game, THIS is THE place to nurse them! Air-conditioning, comfy cots, complete privacy and nice EMT's who understand! I love the picture of Lauren sitting on the cot with her full belly. :-)

Saturday was spent having lunch with Eric's fellow pedo resident, Mindy, and her family then tailgating with dental friends across the street from the stadium. Lauren wore her Gator cheerleading uniform and sported a gator tatoo on her cheek courtesy of Daphne and Mary. Mary and I sat with Lauren in the Touchdown Terrace (which was awesome for a pregnant lady and 4 month old baby) and enjoyed the game with Mike and Liz. Lauren was SOOOO much better than I had anticipated! She took 2 naps during the game, seemed to love the noise from the crowd and was content to sit in my lap (broken up by one break on the couch inside).

So, Lauren has now experienced Gator Country at its finest and has officially done "We are the Boys" swaying. She was her daddy's little gator all weekend long.

I know this entry is a bit hard to read by my FSU family...thank you for understanding and stomaching our gator stories! :-)

Leaving Gainesville was a little bitter-sweet: it meant that Lauren and I began our 1 week in Orlando but also leaving daddy for 1 week was hard.

Week 16: 10/13/09 - 10/19/09

Lauren is definitely not a "newborn" anymore! Here she is in her Bumbo seat; this doesn't last long (maybe 5 minutes...it's hard work!) but she seems to enjoy a different view of everything. She is now officially in 3-6 months clothing. Some of you have heard this story, but here it goes again. I told Eric the other day, "Lauren is clearly in 3-6 month clothing...can you believe it?" and he said, "well, she is CLEARLY 4 months old!" This is true, this is true. Cleaning out her closet of 0-3 month clothing was kinda sad for me! I am so glad that she is growing, but there were mixed emotions while boxing the tiny clothes up: she didn't get to wear this one enough, did I get a picture of her in this one?, she used to be so much smaller! But she is still small and now it means that we get to move on to the new section of clothes! Fun!

We started our week with a ride to Freeport to watch Thomas Jay play football again. This time Lauren lasted the entire game (an improvement since her first game a couple weeks ago). Thomas Jay is an awesome player and I can tell that we are going to have fun watching him play for the next 7+(yes, I think college play is in his future!).

Eric and I have joined the gym here in PC. We absolutely love it and it reminds us of our old gym in Tioga. So, this means that Lauren gets to go to daycare! :-) She doesn't seem to mind being handed off to the ladies in the kids area and they seem to take really good care of her and hold her the entire time (for those of you who know LEB, this is a bit shocking). We can watch her from a TV screen in the work out area. It's perfect!

We are getting ready for our big trip to Gainesville and Orlando. Here is a picture of Lauren "helping" me sew a table cloth for Aunt Mary's baby shower.

On Thursday, we left for Gainesville, but before we could get on the road we 2 girls had tons of errands to run (Open House at Aunt Kay's Cosmotology Department--picture above), hair appointment with mama at Dana's and visit Gigi and Grandma at their offices before leaving town for 11 days.

Lauren is getting much stronger with her back and neck muscles and really likes her exersaucer now. She can spin herself partially around and looks at each little toy. It is wild to think of how much she has developed in the past 16 weeks! I can't imagine what will take place over the next 16 weeks. I don't think I will ever take enough pictures or video to capture the memories.

The 3 of us went to the Food and Wine Festival at the Beach and met the Howell's and Melzer's. We had a good time walking around, enjoying the nice weather and listening tothe bands. I guess this is Lauren's first festival. :-)

We'll talk to you when we get back from our trip!!