Taylor: One Year

We have a one year old. She's the most adorable one year old. Super happy, loving life. I'd say this month has been one of the smoothest for Taylor, we're still breastfeeding pretty much full time, but her naps are smoother, and she's starting to really understand things, which has been really fun for us!

Taylor is still a little mover. Always walking or dancing somewhere. She loves music and getting her groove on, we have regularly scheduled dance sessions. 

Nana caught the above picture. Playing her keyboard with her feet. What a silly pants.

I never get many pictures of Taylor and I, so they are always selfies. Taylor really loves phones and their cameras. She loves looking at herself, and scrolling through different pages, and especially, activating the voice feature on all Samsung phones. ha.

The weather outside has been so beautiful this month that we've taken lots of walks. Taylor loves walks, but we usually stop at a playground and swing and then she does NOT want to go back in her stroller, so she ends up pushing the stroller, or being carried. It's more difficult when I'm along and have to do it...

Love this cutie. Nana made her the adorable ladybug hat, which looks great with her adorable little jacket. She's adorable. Have I said that already?

She was rolling around grabbing her feet while sipping from her sippy. Still working on eating foods that aren't pureed. She's open to trying new things, but it's usually one bite and she goes back to her regulars: cheese and squeezies. What can you do? Girls gotta eat. Taylor is in the 5th percentile for weight, so whatever she'll eat, I give her. If she could just have breastmilk, I think she would be completely satisfied with that...oh weaning is going to be so fun...

The above happens on the regular. We still haven't mastered putting them back yet--it's a work in progress! Taylor's still really chatty, but mostly when she's reading. I think part of the reason she loves reading so much is that she's super cuddly, and gets that close one on one time with whoever is reading to her.

This girl had quite the day on Halloween. She got to go to Blaine high school to be observed for Stacey's psychology class, then to visit Nana, then to visit Grandma Kris at work, and then to visit Daddy at work. She loved all the attention, and looked stinkin' cute in her costume. When we got home I tried to teach her to 'who', but she ended up growling instead. Oops.

Josh and I don't get out much, but we decided to go to a Garth Brooks concert for our anniversary. It was technically my first concert, and it was AMAZING. Taylor had a fun night with Nana, who did a photoshoot of us in our plaid with our trucker hats (Taylor wouldn't keep hers on--technically it was mine, but it didn't go with my boots! I needed a cowboy hat. Next country concert...).

Taylor is starting to try to do things on her own, we've let her experiment more with feeding herself, and when she tears apart her dresser, she likes to put her clothes on her head. 

I can't imagine life without this little girl. She brings so much happiness to our family, even on the bad days. It's not all rainbows and sunshine, but we get by.

Taylor: Eleven Months

I can't believe Taylor will be a year next month. A year. Time keeps flying right on by, doesn't it? Taylor started 'officially' walking this month, she's pretty much a pro. She also is loving her books (her favorite is 'Oh the thinks you can think' by Dr. Seuss), still loves to dance, play catch, and throw balls (she's got quite the arm). She likes to sing the church hymns and doesn't like to hold still--we can barely get a diaper on this girl. 

Taylor is a chatter box, she can say 'boo', mama, dada, nana, cheese (chs), and monkey (basically just ma-me--which sometimes is me, too). She points at what she wants and is pretty good at communicating this way. You can also ask her where things are and she'll point to them, or go get them (like where's monkey? Where are your books? Where's dada? If he's not home she points to his picture :)). She loves to go outside and be out and about--which is a nice change from her screaming car seat phase--she smiles at everyone while we grocery shop.

If any of Taylor's seats recline, she puts her feet up in true relaxed fashion. Silly girl.

This month it has been a real struggle to get Taylor to eat a variety of foods. Once she likes something, that's all she wants until she gets sick of it, then on to the next thing. She still hasn't gotten sick of cheese though. But is definitely not very carnivorous.

Can't go anywhere without this Monkey. It's her lovey (which is currently in desperate need of a bath). She wants him when she's sad, happy, eating, strolling, and she likes to chew his tail. 

Taylor had her first cold this month. You can't really tell in the picture, but she had quite the runny nose. Runny noses and babies: not fun. Although, lucky for us Taylor does this thing where she breathes through her nose fast (pretty funny--it's kind of like a happy laugh, through her nose), which helps blow out boogers. Unfortunately, she doesn't do it in a tissue, but usually on mom's sleeve.

Daddy has a pile of stuffed animals he got from his mom's house. He decided to share his toys with Taylor. I can already tell that Taylor will be a stuffed animal lover, she loves all of daddy's tigers--she gives them kisses and we're working on her growl.

Lately we go for a walk around the block pretty much daily, and we stop at this little play park along the way. Taylor loves the park, so much so, that she gets very angry when we leave. So I have to carry her and push the stroller on the way back, but this wasn't flying for this girl, she wanted to walk, so I decided I would let her push the stroller. It was pretty slow going, but we made it home (after mommy lost her patience and scooped baby up and played the walking walking walking walking, hop hop hop song the rest of the way home).

Taylor loved her aunt Afton, uncle Bryan, and cousin Logan. She just happily followed Logan around and stole his toys (and vice-versa). They went on lots of adventures while I was at work. I wish I had more pictures.

Loves her auntie. And I'm sure will love her new cousin, too! Can't wait to meet him :)

Taylor: Ten Months

Happy ten months to this chick-a-dee! Two more months and she'll be a one year old. I wish time would slow down. This girl is practically walking. She can stand up on her own and take a good chunk of steps (2-8), and loves chasing the big kids (as in 1 year olds) at church. Speaking of chase, it's one of her favorite games, she usually plays it with daddy, and runs to me. She's a chatter box, likes to wave, read, dance, clap, walk, stand, point, squat, play catch, climb, listen to music, sing songs, play peek-a-boo, and throw DVDs! ;)

From this

To this. She was pretty upset with me for not letting her dive face first off the chair. I'm not even really sure how I got this shot--it's less blurry than the happy picture. But yes, despite all Taylor's happy pictures, she does sometimes get mad at her mean mom. Do you know what calmed her down? Reading her books. :)

This month's song favorites seem to be the Hokey Pokey (still), and I like to Move it! (still). Really anything upbeat is a winner to this girl, she starts bouncing up and down and especially likes it if you do the hokey pokey while holding her.

Like mother like daughter. I love that she loves her books. This is her favorite page of this book, she loves dogs, so I think that's why this page is so enjoyable to her. And why she likes to kiss it. And tries to bark. Adorable. 

Surrounded by books! :)

Taylor (and her monkey) with grandpa on his birthday. It was almost bed time so she was a little excited (she gets chatty when tired). 

We went to visit great-grandpa this month! This was his first time meeting Taylor. We really need to go visit him more often, this was a good age for her though--she loved all their kitties, and even let him hold her for the picture. Four generations. :)

Loves phones so much, she gets excited when you try to take a picture (photo credit: nana)

She takes this monkey everywhere, especially right after she wakes up. It's pretty cute. We don't leave the house without it anymore!

Did I mention she loves the DVDs? I remember when her cousin Logan was here when she was just a month old, and he did the same thing. Love them both. I'm excited for them to be friends.

This picture kills me. Nana's high chair leans back really far for some reason. So Taylor often lounges while eating. It's pretty funny, but definitely makes it more difficult to feed her (we don't recommend this high chair ;))

I discovered this one evening when it was almost bedtime. Peek-a-boo crib time fun. Hilarious. It was hard to take a picture of it, she usually has a huge smile when she looks under the crib. I'll have to have Daddy photograph us next time we play.

This little one popped some teethers this month--two to be exact. And we were aware of their arrival by the amazing amount of drool involved for each. Didn't seem to affect her too badly though, sometimes a little cranky as a result, but what can you expect? It's hard work growing teeth.

This has been an amazing month for us, we struggled a bit at the beginning with naps, but it seems like we're finally in a good groove with them again (until she phases out to one nap...). Nights have seen a bit of a regression towards the end of this month, but hopefully they'll smooth over here soon. I say this all the time, but we love this girl so much. She amazes us everyday with how smart and loving she is. I love  being her mom!

Taylor: Nine Months

I can't believe this girl has been in the world as long as she was inside me. Where does the time go? Taylor now walks along furniture and with her sit-to-stand play toy. She pulls up on everything, and likes to take things out of baskets, bags, shelves, etc. Very curious! She claps, waves bye, and is eating more and more table foods, and she's FINALLY sleeping through the night. Thank heavens. 

WARNING: This month I took way too many photos, and therefore, had too many to choose from, so...sorry for all the Taylor cuteness you're about to endure #sorrynotsorry

The bottom picture is more of an indication on how this month's photoshoot went. Why I decided to take her picture on a chair...may not have been the best idea for this little mover. Last week she was about to leap off, and this week she's trying to dive over the edge! Yes, there was a daddy spotter standing at the ready behind her chair. :)

She clapped while I was working. FROM HOME! HA! So I ran out to witness it in real time. Thank goodness for work from home days or I might've shed a tear or two.

The picture above just makes me laugh. We were on our way to Wisconsin Dells and she was just chatty chatty chewing on her foot. So so cute. She sleeps in the car now! What the what? Remember when I couldn't drive anywhere without her screaming the whole way? This is amazing.

We went to Wisconsin Dells for a family reunion this month, Taylor was a champ! I didn't take very many pictures sadly (except the one above...which I can take at home...). Taylor loves water. I don't know if I mentioned that in my previous posts, but bath time is her favorite time. She splashes like crazy and is usually sad when we take her out. 

If you ever go to the Dells with a baby though, just go to Kalahari. They had a little place that was heaven for babies (or at least for Taylor); soft areas around different sculptures she could crawl around, baby swings, tunnels, turtle bells, and all kinds of little fountains perfect for little Taylor. She spent most of her time there with grandma so mom got a chance to go on some crazy slides (and was tricked into going on a drop slide--never again. awful. scary. story for another day). It was a fabulous day, and it was indoors so we didn't have to worry about lathering Taylor baby up!

Great Granny Pat (GG) gave Taylor this outfit. She looks pretty stinking adorable if you ask me. Oh, and pulling herself up. Obvi.

This is her Daddy's tiger, so she (of course) loves it. She likes to put the whiskers in her mouth. 

Taylor's first zoo trip also resulted in her first carousel ride. I'm not sure she was the biggest fan...

This is her favorite book lately. It's touch and feel baby animals, and yes, she touches everything with her mouth too. P.S. see that green monkey in the corner? Taylor's new lovey. Doesn't sleep without it!

Pool day with nana. I love baby swim caps. I'm surprised I don't see more of them, Taylor's hair is still on the bald-ish side, so gotta protect that little noggin from the sun!

More from our zoo trip, she seemed to have a pretty good time checking out all the animals. Definitely preferred to be in her carrier--was only in the stroller if she had some puffs in her tray. We bribe her with puffs. They're definitely her favorite food!

And that sums up our eventful month nine. I can't believe this girl is almost a year old. She's amazing. Being a mother is amazing. Amazing.

Taylor: Eight Months

Taylor bug is such a little mover. She has truly mastered the art of crawling, she never army crawled, just went straight for the real thing. She also started pulling herself up fairly soon after learning to crawl. When she wants to move--she figures out. I have a feeling we're going to have an early walker on our hands (yikes).

In the top photo she was about to leap off the chair. She had a spotter (Josh) and as you can see, she was snacking on his phone, too. The elephant kept her occupied for just the beginning of the shoot (bottom picture). Silly pants.

Now that she's on the move, the above is pretty typical. She knows where all her toys are, and doesn't waste anytime in dumping them all out. Our house is pretty messy these days with this little tornado coming through.

See. Pulling herself up! On everything! She's a wild one. She's also starting to eat her solid foods at regular meal times. She did go through a bout where she had a hard time eating solids--she very much hates green beans and peas, and so if I tried to give her any she would refuse anything after that. She LOVES puffs, pears, bananas, apples, peaches, sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, and nothing green. ha.

She loves to kiss herself. Mirrors. Dishwashers, fridges, windows. You know. Love. 

She finds the baby in the phone/mirror hilarious! (she would probably kiss my phone if I let her...)

Climbing up the sliding glass door...and more kisses to the baby in the window!

Taylor's super chatty, says mamama, dadada, babababa, wawawa. She crawls to your feet and head butts you until you pick her up, putting her arms out for you when you bend down to get her. Speaking of her head, she uses it for everything, to climb on the couch, to attempt to climb up your leg, in her crib. Because of this, she has some lovely bruises on her noggin. And again, speaking of her head, she's also sprouting some curls. Oh this girl. We love her so.