DeCoteau's Visit

Bob's dad, grandma, and aunt Joyce came to visit us last weekend. We finally got some pictures of Bob's side of the family to share. Also, Lauren was back in the office for the first time this past week. She worked two days from home and two days at the office (she typically works 4 - 10 hour days). So, she was happy to see the weekend come to spend some quality time with Blake. Hope this finds everyone doing well!

Four generations of DeCoteau's: Robert, Bob holding Blake, and Gladys

Grandpa DeCoteau and his new grand-daughter

Blake and her Great-Grandma DeCoteau

Aunt Joyce and little Blake

Starting to Smile

Blake has started smiling back at us...not just when she has gas. It is pretty cute, and we were able to capture the progression on film. It took about a million pictures to actually get her to do it without getting so excited that they were all blurry. ENJOY!!!

Phase 1 - I'm starting to get excited, and I'm thinking about smiling.

Phase 2 - I get so excited and smile so big that my mouth is wide open.

Phase 3 - I end with a little smirk.

Also, we weighed Blake when we went to the doctor's on Monday of this week, and she is up to 9 pounds 1 ounce. She was 7 pounds 1 ounce at birth, 6 pounds 3 ounces at 3 days, and 8 pounds 2 ounces at one month. It is just so amazing!

Our Cutie Pie

It is so hard to believe that Blake is already a month old. She has changed a lot more than we had imagined in such a short time. She is really starting to hold her head up on her own and has quite the grip. We will try to keep the blog updated with the newest pictures so we can share these wonderful changes with you all.Also, some good friends of ours, Kyle & Jess, just welcomed their second child, Beckett Lee, into their lives on September 4th. Congrats, Jess! And, Randy & Suzi, some other friends of ours are expecting their second baby girl in November. It is kinda cool that we are all going to have children the same age. None of us would have ever guessed it when we were in college...how things change. Well, it is finally time for Lauren to return to work. She will be working from home over the next week or two, and then it will be back to the office. She has really enjoyed spending so much time with Blake. But, she is ready to return to her normal work routine, especially since we have found a wonderful caretaker, Chris (not Brune), for Blake. It is just nice to know that Blake won't have to go to a day care. We really don't know that many people around here, so it makes it very hard to know which day care would be appropriate. Chris has three boys and the youngest is off to kindergarten this year, so she seems excited to have a little girl around to keep her busy. Our best wishes to everyone, and we hope you enjoy the updates!

Grandma & Grandpa Visit

Grandma & Grandpa flew up from Oklahoma to visit their new grand-daughter this past week. It was Grandpa's first visit up here since Blake was born. They were extremely helpful around the house, and of course, Grandma had no problem holding little Miss Blake every second she got the chance. Grandpa finished painting our side porch area and our kitchen...THANK YOU!!! We will post some pictures of the kitchen later on when we get the chance. It looks really nice. Bob and JR were also able to take the boat out for a day, and (for the first time) Bob got out-fished on his own boat. He was a good sport about it though. Grandma and Lauren were able to run several errands during the week, and they even got the chance to go garage saling with one of Lauren's good friends, Suzi. Suzi had her daughter, Claire, along for Deb to spoil with attention as well. Suzi was VERY thankful for the extra help. Blake had a little bit of a stuffy nose while Grandma and Grandpa were here, but she still managed to be a fairly easy keeper. She's been sleeping very well, which has given her mom the opportunity to get some good naps in. The week went by way too fast, but we are excited to get to see Deb and JR again in December. Thanks again to all those who have us in their thoughts. We have really appreciated all the kind words, gifts, and support.

Blog Facelift

Well, thanks to seeing many other people's blogs and being ashamed of how lame mine was, I decided to give the website a facelift. So, I hope everyone enjoys the new look.

Also, here is proof that little Blake does actually get dressed in cute, pink outfits. Even though Lauren isn't a big fan of the pink, Blake sure does look cute in it.

And, here is another picture of Blake and her daddy. She sure likes to cuddle with him, and he doesn't seem to mind much either. It is amazing how tiny she is in comparison!

The Nursery

Uncle Chris and Grandma did a great job setting up the nursery while they were here. Thank goodness! It was such a wonderful help to have everything set up when we got home from the hospital. Most of the furniture/decorations were generous baby shower gifts...THANK YOU!!!

Blake Marie - 1 Wk. & 1 Day Old

Here are some much better pictures of our little Blake. She is just so darn cute! We are finally settling down into our own routine here at home, and Lauren will have a couple more weeks off of work to spend with our little girl. Bob returns to work on Monday, but he will probably get more sleep in a hotel room than he has been getting at home. So, the return might have a few perks...although he definitely enjoys spending time with Blake regardless of the amount of sleep he gets.