Happy Birthday, Great Grandma!

On the Mend

Taylor has been down and out for the last few days. It all started with a fever on Saturday night that didn't seem to want to break until the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday. With the fever came a yucky head cold and (to top it off) her two front teeth pushing through. She hasn't been to daycare since last Thursday and dad has been home with her during the day trying to take her mind off the general "ickiness" of this bug. The good news for T is that means ignoring the rules. This translates to lots of videos of Vinko on tv, juice in her bottle, and late bedtimes.

Now the good news is that today there's no more fever, the cold seems to be getting a little better, and the teeth have broken through. So...today she's on her way to daycare....

To spend the next two days saying good bye to all the friends she's made and to say, "see ya next year!". Friday is her last day. Scott will be hanging with Taylor during the day and transitioning to full time student as he earns his Master's in Education at Salem State! I think Taylor is excited to get Dad all to herself ;)

Happy Belated Birthday, Uncle Scott!

Taylor is bummed she missed posting birthday wishes for her Uncle Scott! She was down the Cape having fun in the sun and had no way to get to a computer and post. So here is her public apology for saying Happy Birthday 6 days late. Taylor loves her wicked cool uncle!

Our week-long vacation down the Cape!

I'm sad to be making this entry on the Monday night before I have to go back to work. The last 10 days have been heaven and I guess it must end sometime. The last week of August, Scott, Taylor, and myself spent a fantastic week on the Cape. We rented a small condo at the Ocean's Edge Resort in Brewster, MA where we: swam in the pool, rented bikes, played mini golf, ate ice cream, and went to the beach. It was a little different from vacations-past in that everything was done in 2 hour blocks. Taylor would wear down after 2-3 hours (understandably!) and we always made sure to make time for naps...which Mom and Dad indulged in too!

These pics are from Taylor's first "real" day at the beach. This time she loved it and wasn't scared at all of the ocean. She ate the sand, kicked her toes in the water and smiled the entire time. We were prepared to be there for anywhere between 15 minutes and all day. Taylor lasted about 2 hours before she needed a nap and couldn't manage to settle down enough under the beach tent to nap there. So we packed it up and headed home for naps. All in all, a very successful first day at the beach!

The next pics are from the pool at Ocean's Edge. There was a large "grown up" pool and then a small toddler wading pool. We would start the day out at the bigger pool. As soon as Taylor was used to the chilly temp of the water she was all about splashing and kicking in the big pool. Then we'd bring her to the toddler pool where she could have a little more independence. Scott and I can't get over how much of a "fish" she is!

Just a couple more pictures from our mini golf match (Scott beat the combo team of Taylor and Karin) and then a trip out for some lobster! Taylor didn't have any fish but she LOVED the sherbert at the Lobster Claw :)

So tomorrow marks the end of the summer. We had a ton of great experiences with Taylor where we watched her discover a lot of "firsts". It's been our complete pleasure and joy to watch her learn and grow and become such an amazing little person. What a personality she has! She makes friends everywhere she goes (especially since she learned how to wave!).

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!

Our trip to Roanoke

We're just back from our trip out to Roanoke to visit Taylor's Nana! While there we visited with Nana, Bob, Aunt Stacy, and Libby (Bob's daughter). It was really a lot of fun and we enjoyed every second. Nana and Bob live in a beautiful home surrounded by gorgeous scenery (notice the mountains in the background!). The trip was nice and low key and allowed Taylor to go for lots of walks, spend the afternoon in a pool only big enough for her, and make an exciting trip to pick peaches (I say exciting facetiously because Taylor fell asleep on our jaunt for peaches and it turns out she didn't miss too much)! Taylor also made some huge progress on her crawling efforts and I think we can declare her an official crawler now. I love the crawling but something that makes Scott and I nervous is the fact that she's also attempting to (and succeeding half the time) pull herself up on anything she can grab on to. Last night we put her down to sleep and I walked in to check on her to find her standing up and holding on to the crib bars for dear life. She's good at pulling herself up but not so great at getting herself back down :)

We drove the 12 hours to Virginia during the night and Taylor slept the whole way. I'd do it again this way because we spent less of our awake vacation time making the drive and Taylor was so comfortable and quiet. Thanks to Dad for driving most of the way!!

Our next stop on Taylor's summer tour is Chicago. We leave on Friday Aug 8th and return home on Sunday the 10th so it will be quick!!