Taylor Update - really late!

Well, it's been forever since I've written about my little one. I'm even behind on my journal to her. I'm keeping notes in my phone, but I really need to sit down one of these days for a couple of hours and get it all recorded - before my phone loses it :)



She's been sitting up like a champ since January, but she has finally decided being at one place is not as much fun, so she has begun to scoot on her cute little toosh around the floor (she started this a week or two ago). Earlier this week she even got to a lay-down position from sitting up and really covered some distance. Gone are the days of me leaving her in the living room, knowing she will be at the same place when I get back (or leaving her on my bed while I get ready/clean). Brian and I really need to get more motivated on the "baby-proofing" thing...the living room is almost done; that just leaves the kitchen, formals, hallways, bathrooms, bedrooms....yeah; we need to get on it.



Her two bottom teeth are almost completely in and her two front top teeth are getting really close - man, it looks like it hurts. We started on more "solid" foods after she was nine months old. That girl really loves her Cheerios. She gets all giddy when she sees the box or even sees us go to the pantry while she is in her high chair. She smiles really big and makes her excited noises (kind of guttural but nasal at the same time too). She has fed herself one, once, but for the most part waits for us. Okay, so she doesn't really wait for us - she'll pick them up (sometimes as many as 4 at a time, but normally only 1), and drop them in our hands. If we aren't paying attention, then she'll just reach toward us as much as possible. She will then reach her head as far forward as possible and open her mouth real wide; sometimes she'll even try to attack the Cheerio while it is still in our hands. Yesterday, there was one of the edge of the table, and she tried to eat it off of the edge! It really is one of the cutest things she does and melts my heart every time.



This morning I came into her room, and she was sitting up in her crib! First time for that, so her crib will be dropped down today at some point. When I went in there yesterday morning she was pulling on her bumper pads and I thought "oh, we are days away from her figuring out how to pull herself up"...I was right. The funny thing was that she had her back to the door and she kept on hitting her head against the top of her crib. Didn't seem to faze her, but it looked (and sounded) like it hurt.



Right now, she's on the floor playing; becoming the "taylornator"...she scoots herself to her box of toys and starts pulling. Today isn't so bad - she has only gotten 2 books, her giraffe stacking thing, her drum, and elephant train. She likes the music the drum plays, so she hits it every time it "times out" and then leaves it alone....mommy may be getting tired of that music :)



Taylor and I have had a busy week. On Tuesday we started our Father's Day project. I cleaned the kitchen floor and then moved our island and set her in the middle of it. I then got out scrap booking card stock and finger paint and away we went! I got two good footprints right off the bat, but it took me a little longer to get hand prints - she kept on wanting to close her hands. I got one of each hand (exactly one) and they are okay, but not great. I guess if Brian and I want a better one, we can make it the "fun Father's Day project" :) I'm putting this page in a scrapbook and plan on having Taylor (and future siblings if we have them) add to it each year until she's 18. I think it will be really cool (full disclosure....there is no way I came up with this on my own; I had to have gotten it from somewhere, but I don't know where - I hope I didn't steal it from any of you kind people :)) Hopefully I will have time to finish it today (or we are all in trouble).

I started this post on Friday, and it is now Saturday night. We dropped her crib down this afternoon; a smidge bittersweet. I love going into her room at night and giving her a kiss while she sleeps - especially on her cheek. I actually love kissing her cheeks and forehead when we lay her down at night. However, now she is so far down, I have to lean all the way over her crib, putting all of my weight on it just to reach her. I'm not sure the crib is built for that, but I may continue...we'll just see how much I can handle not getting those final kisses in.

Pumpkin

It was bound to happen...it took ten-and-a-half months, but she has finally become attached to something besides Brian and myself...her blanket and "Pumpkin"....a little stuffed lion I bought her in December 2008....yes, 6 months before she was born. It was actually the first thing I felt "comfortable" in getting, but it was never-the-less tucked away, hidden in a closet for a couple of months before we felt comfortable looking at it daily, and then it found it's way into our beds and into our hearts. It was named Pumpkin, participated in pregnancy photos and eventually got a twin (in case something happened to it). So far, Brian and I are pretty good about not letting her have it out of her crib for more than a couple of minutes - when we pick her up in the morning or after naps she always catapults her body out of our arms to get either him or her blanket (or both). We let them snuggle for a minute or two and then back into the crib! We are even mean parents every once in a while and make her go to sleep without him - just in case there comes a time she needs to.



The blanket is a slightly different story...we rotate those as much as we remember too (every other week or so, but we know we should do it more frequently), so she seems to be okay as long as she has "A" blanket. We'll take a blanket with us to day care and church in case she needs a little help to calm down/sleep, but it's really cute to see her get all excited when we hand her her blanket after she has laid down in her crib. She flaps her arms and pumps her legs in excitement. She then grabs it with both hands and normally rolls to her side as she nuzzles her face into it. We love it!



Here last current "favorite" item is a little yellow ball. It has a cute little face, and jiggles a little when you shake it. We think it's the color that she likes so much, but we aren't sure. She will hold it for hours, passing it from hand to hand, and even pass it to us. She is such a good sharer, but I dread the day, she gives a toy to a little friend, expecting it right back and then getting mad when that doesn't happen! She will also play with our remote. Luckily, it has multiple settings, so we just change the setting every time she gets it so she doesn't actually change the channel or anything. We tried giving her a decoy remote, but she caught onto that one quickly and is not fooled.

We can't believe she'll be a year old in less than a month, but we are really looking forward to family being here to celebrate it with us.