A Week with My Cousin Katie!

We loved having cousin Katie visit us for the week. Taylor had a playmate and since she is newly mobile, that was a huge help to me. Katie had her own little baby doll for the week and Taylor had someone to play with all week. We went to Nasa and the Health Museum and Taylor loved being around all of the people and the colors and lights!

I kept forgetting that Katie was just 10 and probably shouldn't be left alone with Taylor because she was so good with her and was always the first to get up the stairs to get Taylor when she cried (my legs and feet just don't move as fast as they used to!). One morning I had gone back to sleep after the 4 am feeding and woke up to footsteps above in the gameroom. I figured it was Katie waking up and watching TV and I turned on the baby monitor to see if Taylor was still asleep (I have taken to turning it off at night because if she really needs me I figure I will hear her without the monitor!) and the baby bed was empty! I figured that Katie had gotten her out of her bed and they were playing in the gameroom. I didn't really like Katie picking her up out of the bed by herself, but like I said, 10 year old legs are much faster than 32 year old legs! So I thought to myself that I better get up there and for a fleeting second I thought, "Katie's up there with her, they will be fine" and almost rolled over and went back to sleep, but my better judgement made me get my butt out of bed and go up there. It was a fun week, but I was pretty darn exhausted by the end of the week. Two kids are definitely more work than one!

Weekend in New Orleans

Throwing a birthday party for my Great Papa and Great Grandma!

Taylor and Grandma Janet

Playing with all of my cousins! Taylor thought she was a big kid just like everybody else. I don't think that she get's that she is just a little baby. She had a great time playing with all of her girl cousins!

We went to New Orleans two weekends ago for our newphew Bradley's wedding. This was Taylor's second wedding in her short little life and we discovered that she really loves to dance! She did so good for it being a night wedding and way past her bedtime. Everytime she got cranky I would take her out to the dance floor and she would start waving her arms, kicking her legs and smiling. She loves music and loves to dance, just like her momma! We were even out there line dancing together to Footloose! I thought I was rather talented to be able to hold onto her and keep up with Footloose in heels! I love this picture of us all dressed up. Of course this is pre-wedding before it got hot and then none of us looked this good for the wedding! I couldn't keep her shoes or her bow on, but at least we have this beautiful picture! It was a beautiful wedding and a fun weekend spent with family.

On the Move!

Taylor has been trying to crawl for a couple of weeks now and she is soooo close! I have mixed feelings between wanting her to be able to crawl and wanting her to stay in one place! She already gets around by scooting to where she wants to go. She can lay on her belly and use her legs to propel her across the floor. She seems to have reverse down, but forward is taking a little longer. She tries to get up on her toes to crawl and hasn't been able to take more than two are three crawls before falling down on her belly. It is the cutest thing watching her want to get somewhere. She concentrates so hard on things! Sometimes she backs herself up under the furniture and then she gets stuck so she whines until you move her out into the open again.

Her favorite toy is the light up piano that she has to stand up to play. She can hold herself up on it and sometimes I thinks she is going to walk before she can crawl! She was using this toy as a walker to walk herself across the floor the other day and then another toy caught her attention and she let go with both hands while standing! Good thing mommy was there to catch her. She doesn't understand the concept of gravity yet because someone is always there to catch her.

Bath time for Taylor

Since Taylor is sitting up, we started letting her take a bath in the big bath tub and she really enjoys it. Here is a video of her first big girl bath. Please enjoy the vocals by Scott and Amanda! This is her favorite bath time song! Scott even googled the words so we could learn them all!

Happy 4th of July (and Happy Birthday to Me!)

This was the first year that we have been home on the 4th of July in a long time, so we decided to have a pool party to celebrate my birthday. Scott bought me a new digital camera and I am so excited to start taking professional looking pictures. Scott posed for my first professional looking picture with my new camera! Model ready right! Or is it just my awsome photographer skills that make him look so good! He kinda looks scary!

Taylor enjoyed playing with her friend JD. Couldn't get them to both look in the same direction at the same time!

Scott went all out and made me a birthday cake...from scratch. It was sooooo yummy and he was so proud of it. It was the moistest cake I have ever had. It had french vanilla coffee, buttermilk and 4 sticks of butter in it. Can't go wrong with 4 sticks of butter!

Let's get a close-up of that cake!

It was a great day with family and friends! Thanks to everyone who came and celebrated with us!

Look at me....I can sit up!

One day I had Taylor on the floor in the bumbo while I was doing dishes and the next thing I knew she had somehow crawled her way out of it. So, I figured it was time to pack the bumbo away. We started sitting her up on the floor and it only took about 3 days of falling over before she got the hang of it. She is so proud of herself.

She has also gotten enough hair on the top to pin a little bow in it! YEAH! She used to let me put headbands and hats on her, but has now learned how to pull them off of her head and now nothing but this little bow will stay in her hair.

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

For Father's Day this year we went out in the boat and went tubing and then had a picnic by the lake! Uncle Eric shared his ice cream with Taylor so now she has decided that she likes him. Prior to the ice cream, she has cried every time he looked at her. I think that they will be friends now!

Scott thinks he is Kind of a Big Deal now that he got the big promotion at work, so my mom bought him the T-shirt to match mine for his birthday. Since it was his first Father's day, he decided to be a big deal that day!
For my two favorite Daddy's, I decided to bake a cake! It was my first attempt at doing the icing with the writing and borders. Mom came over to help me and I think it came out pretty good. I have big aspirations now of becoming a master cake decorator and making all of Taylor's birthday cakes! I am pretty pumped up about it and getting all kinds of ideas for her first birthday! So, if anyone needs a cake for something, I need lots of practice so let me know!

All in all it was a great day! It was a hot day, but we enjoyed being out on the lake and in the pool.