New Video Time!

Taylor at 10 months old, and up to her new tricks.

Where does it end, daddy?

Taylor's first experience with the beach was pretty tame. She wasn't dressed for the sand and she thought the water was way too cold! So today was more of a "get our feet a little wet and look out at the vastness" kind of day. I must admit, I'm not too upset by her fear of the ocean just yet. It's much safer in Daddy's arms.

Our weekend in Chicago

We got back from our trip to Chicago a little later than planned, but all in all our trip was a great one! Grandpa George and Sue threw a big BBQ and we got to spend time with a lot of family we rarely get to see. There were burgers and brats served, bean bag toss tournaments, swimming, and a lot of laughs. We had such a great time. Below are a few pictures of Taylor with some special people.


Top left is Taylor and her Grandpa George (I especially love this one because you have two great baseball teams represented!), top right is T with her Uncle Scott, bottom left is Taylor with her Great Nana (mommy's Nana!), and bottom right is Taylor with her very cool 2nd cousin, Meghan.



Thanks, Dad, for hosting a great tradition. We'll be back next year!

Keeping up with Taylor

Keeping up with Taylor has been slightly challenging. I guess you could say we were a little naive about how long we'd have to get around to babyproofing. Scott and I were always telling each other we had plenty of time to babyproof. We realized that it only took her about an hour to go from not being able to crawl to crawling everywhere and getting into everything! I remember so fondly when we could put Taylor in the jumperoo for a good 30-40 minutes and have a few minutes to ourselves. Now she'd rather be crawling underneath the jumperoo than being confined in it!

HEY EVERYBODY!!!!

Wow, Taylor will be ten months next Friday. It's really unbelievable to us. She's gone from this little itty bitty thing that had a hard time gaining weight to this beautiful girl with so much excitement and energy. So with that said, I wanted to take the time to share all the changes and everything Taylor is up to!

- Crawling. She loves to crawl. Everywhere! No longer can you put Taylor down and have her sit still while you try and get something done. As soon as you do that, Taylor is off to the races. She'll move from one room to the next, sometimes stopping in between to do a mini-hand stand. Often, she stops after crawling for a little bit and looks up at me or Karin, or whoever is around, and smiles and waves.

- Waving. All you have to do is say the words "bye-bye Taylor," and she waves. Of course she doesn't know what it means, but she likes to wave. Also, she might be a little delayed, and you may start to walk away, but she'll be sure to wave at some point!

- Standing. Crawling is clearly something to keep her busy until she can finally stand. That's her goal, and she knows it!

- Eating. Oh, does she like to eat. Her favorite food is cheerios. I tried to mix in some Kix this morning, because they are kid tested and mother approved, so I figured, well, what the heck, Karin approves of it. Well, Taylor didn't. They looked funny to her and she pushed them aside and waited patiently for the cheerios. Her other favorites are graham crackers, baby cookies (they're good!), chicken and rice dinner, cold cuts like turkey, all kinds of fruit, sweet potatoes, and of course bread. DO NOT take her bread from her. This is an advanced warning.

- Toys. Taylor loves her blocks, and loves mirrors. But, she also is fond of her tupperware (See above picture)! Taylor has musical instruments that she shakes and she loves playing along to music. Clearly, she'll be loving singing and dancing when she starts to better understand, because she definitely reacts to music now.

We continue to be amazed by her. I am looking forward to spending more time with her and teaching her more awesome stuff. Taylor really is a great kid and we're proud of everything that she is accomplishing and learning!