My new camera skillz!

I took a camera class this weekend and these are my two best shots so far! Pretty good huh? I am loving that I am learning how to use my new camera.

Trip to San Antonio

Scott had a conference in San Antonio this week so Taylor and I tagged along. He took the day off on Monday and we spent the day at the zoo. We did have a stroller, but Taylor spent most of the day on her Daddy's shoulders. She likes her new way to be carted around. Who needs a $400 stroller when your Daddy can just carry you everywhere!

Taylor didn't know what to think of the petting zoo. She tentatively reached out to pet the goats and made the funniest face! The San Antonio zoo is so cool. They have two sections dedicated to kids under 5. It was beautiful weather and we had a great day!

This is a picture in a park outside of the zoo. We have a happy girl! I was trying out my new camera and all of the new tricks I have been learning. I think I am getting pretty good if I do say so myself!

Taylor and I have put some miles on the BOB strolling all around downtown San Antonio. This morning we are at a Starbucks on the riverwalk enjoying breakfast with a view. In a minute we are going to check out the San Antonio Children's Museum. Yesterday we did the Alamo, RiverCenter Mall and hiked all the way to the farmers market. I was so excited to buy her some Mexican Marracas from the farmers market because she loves to shake things, but it broke before the day was over!

Although it has been a great trip, I am looking forward to being home so Taylor can sleep in her own bed. I have been sharing a bed with her for the past two nights to keep her from screaming and waking up all of the other hotel guests! She definitely takes after her mommy in sleeping! She is a thrasher and a bed hog! Can't blame her though, I like my personal space too!

Touchdown!

Taylor is 9 months old and I can't believe it! Went for her checkup today and she is 20 lbs 7.5 oz and 29" long. This puts her in the 78% on weight and 90% on height. Such a big girl! She got a shot and a finger stick today and didn't shed a tear or make a sound. I was so proud of her!

This is a wooden puzzle piece of a ball and Taylor loves to put in in her mouth just like a pacifier. She crawls around with it in her mouth while she plays. But she won't keep a real pacifier in her mouth! Go figure! Why fight it?

Taylor's favorite toy these days is her LSU football. She raises it in the air when you yell "Touchdown Taylor!" She likes watching football with her daddy. She went to her first Texans game last weekend and we made it to halftime before she had a melt down and we had to leave.

My two front teeth!

Taylor loves playing with her Daddy when he gets home from work! She has unfortunately gotten to the point where she prefers climbing and clinging to mommy, but she is so excited to see her daddy when he gets home from work. I try my best to pass her off to daddy to climb on, but she inevitably crawls back to me. I feel like a human jungle gym and she is a rough climber!

So this is Taylor's new smile. About a week or two ago she started to crinkle her nose and snort when she gets excited. My mom said I used to do this when I was a baby too. She started cutting her two front teeth and it gives her facial expressions a whole new look! Scott and I were just commenting how she doesn't look like a baby anymore and is starting to look like a little person with a BIG personality! She may not say any words, but she definitely gets her point across. Her tantrum stage has started too, where she throws her arms and back backwards so you can barely hold onto her and then she cries the most pathetic cry. I am so not ready for the tantrum stage! Where did my sweet little angel go???? She is trying to talk so hard and wants to repeat words we say, but everything comes out with the "G" sound. "Ga, Gu, Gi" for everything! It is really cute! She will be walking and talking before we know it!

Getting into Everything!

Caught on camera before I fussed at her to get down! Taylor is climbing up on everything these days! She listens "relatively" well, but sometimes wants to test you to see if you are really serious before she stops doing something. Her favorite thing to do is play on the bed and the couch where she throws herself backwards into the pillows or tries to take a nose dive over the side. Yesterday was the first time I missed catching her before she hit the floor! I was devastated, she cried but was ok. You would have thought that would have taught her a little something about gravity, but no, she was at it again later that day. I have to keep a hand on her leg at all times. She is a fast little booger!

The Little Gym

Taylor with her new friends Tristan and Chloe at the Little Gym today!

Fun with balls at the Little Gym!

So since Taylor started crawling a few weeks ago, she uses all of the furniture as a jungle gym to pull up on. It is so hard to keep up with her and keep her from letting go and bumping her head. I had the idea to take her to the Little Gym to give her a safe environment to play and climb. Today was our first class and she LOVED it! She was a little social butterfly. All of the kids were supposed to sit with their moms in a circle on the mat while we sang songs and did different exercises. My Taylor didn't think that sitting still and singing songs was such a great idea. She crawled around the circle to say hello to all of the other kids! The Little Gym was more of a workout for Mommy than Taylor. For one I had to chase her around the circle and two, all of the songs required some sort of lifting of the baby by the mommy. Our favorite part was climbing on the mats, swinging from the bars and learning how to do a tumbleset. My little girl was probably the youngest in the class, but definitely one of the fastest and the strongest! Both Mommy and Taylor made lots of new friends so I think that it was a success!

Taylor's Photo Shoot

Taylor is 7 1/2 months now and we just went to get her 6 month pictures. Better late than never! I wish we would have gotten them 2 weeks ago before she was on the move because it made picture taking a whole lot harder! But our photographer Kelsey Call is great and got some great photos. Taylor is a supermodel all hamming it up for the camera and in all of her smiles you can see those two cute little teeth. I don't have the pictures back but she did post some sneak previews on her blog at kelseycallphotography.com. Look at the entry for August 4th, Miss Taylor to see the cutest baby ever! My favorite is the first one of her sitting in my wedding dress. I was having an artisitic moment, rarely do I ever have an artisitic moment, and I thought it would be so adorable to have her playing in all of the tulle from my wedding dress. Not like the dress is going to get a whole lot of use for anything else, so why not?

We took pictures for an hour and Taylor was so good right up to the very end. I can't wait to see the rest. I will let you all know when the disk is ready so you can view and pick your favorites.