Taylor's First Birthday!!

This past Saturday, August 16th, our baby girl turned one! It's extremely hard to believe that a whole year packed of amazing milestones has gone by so quickly. We had a very memorable birthday weekend for Tay (or at least we'll remember it) and have many pictures and videos for her to look at when she's older.

Before we get to that, we want to document some of Taylor's recent milestones and personality traits. We don't ever seem to get around to scrapbooking or updating her baby book, so we've relied heavily on journaling through this blog. Feel free to skip to the pictures at the bottom since this post is pretty "wordy".

One year doctor appointment stats:

Weight - 21lb 13oz (65%)
Length - 31 in (96%)

Head - 18.75 in (98%)

She's staying steady with her long and lean, big-headed look! ;)

Taylor is such a fun girl and is full of personality. She is constantly amazing us with how quickly her brain picks things up and soaks everything in. Her first word is officially "Ball" although it comes out as "Ba!". She definitely knows what it is though. She also says "ma-ma" and "da-da", but not as consistently. She loves to pull herself up on anything, but is still a little ways away from walking. For a couple of weeks she has been able to point out "nose" and "ear" and is very deliberate when pointing to other things. She also waves "bye-bye" and has been doing that for awhile now. Currently we think she is predominantly left-handed, but you never really know if that will stick. Her new favorite thing is to throw things down the laundry shute. I knew this day would come when we would find toys mixed in with the laundry downstairs, but I never expected it to be before she could reach it by herself! She also likes to throw things out of her ducky tub and then sit back and raise her hands in a question when we say "Where'd it go??". Then she picks up the toy and repeats the above action over and over and over.... She also likes to say "uh-oh", usually after we say it.

She loves her puppies and when we come home from daycare, she kicks all of her limbs at the first site of them. She cries when we let them outside and it looks like they are running away from her. She also cries if you shut a door that she wants to go through. It apparently hampers her exploration. She loves small stuffed animals that she can cuddle into the crook of her arm when she goes to bed. She still sleeps on her tummy with her butt in the air and her feet crossed over each other. She is a very warm-blooded child. She hates having a blanket on her and manages to kick it off any time we try. So even though she just wears t-shirt and shorts (pajamas) to bed, we don't even bother with a light blanket, she stays warm enough without it. She likes story time, but gets impatient and wants to turn the pages faster than you can read. She has started to "dance" a little with certain musical toys. Usually she will be holding herself up on the coffee table and just sway her hips back and forth, it's precious.
Alrighty, we could probably go on forever so we'll leave it at that for now. I think we got a good picture of "Taylor in a Nutshell" Version: 1 year.

Ok, back to the birthday weekend.

Friday evening, we drove up to Danbury, WI to spend the weekend at Joni's aunt and uncle's cabin (Ann and Joe). The weather couldn't have been more perfect, low 80s and sunny all weekend.

The people in attendance on Saturday for Taylor and Katrina's (Joni's sister and Taylor's Godmother) birthday were, Ann, Joe, Grandma & Grandpa (Joni's mom and dad), Katrina, Joan & Bryan (Joni's Godparents), and Donna & Wendell (long time family friends of Ann & Joe). Joni's cousin Deanna and her 2 daughters joined us on Sunday evening. We spent Saturday at the beach, then for dinner grilled steak. We ate a little early to make sure we could get to the festivities before the youngest birthday girl went to bed. My aunt Ann made Taylor a fantastic monkey cake in honor of our little monkey. It was so great! Taylor wasn't sure what to do with it at first, but once she got a taste of that frosting (and shared some with us), she was on board!

We took a ton of pictures of the whole weekend, but here are just a few. If you want to see the rest, I have a link at the bottom of this post.

The birthday girls having breakfast Saturday morning:

Naptime at the beach, we love those chubby thighs!

Mama with her baby girl:

The wonderful monkey cake from Aunt Ann:

Taylor sharing frosting with Al...before she even tried it herself:

Checking out her first present, she never did quite figure out what to do with it (or any of the gifts for that matter):

Helping daddy read her card:

Lounging before heading to the beach on Sunday morning:

Taylor loved her new crab floaty with her "Ba!":

Taylor with Joni's cousin's daughter, Benaysay (she turned 2 in May):

Taylor lounging after her lunch on Monday before she, Joni, and grandma headed back to Minneapolis. "Mom, I'm really done with performing" :

"OK! One more shot, but that's it, I'm done after this.":

Poor baby was not a fan of the life jacket we tried to make her wear. She couldn't even sit upright by herself:

So we swtiched life jackets and she was a happy camper. We love this shot of her on the boat for the first time:

Here is a quick video of Taylor watching Bianca and her friend tube, she really liked it!

When Taylor and Joni returned home on Monday evening (Al had come home Sunday night), we had another birthday celebration with just the three of us. We got a free 7 inch cake from one of the local grocery stores, and gave her the gift from us, plus the ones that had arrived from Al's mom and grandma, Samantha (her friend from Austin..Scott and Tanya's daughter) and our friend's Jon & Priya (the Irish soccer ball).

Birthday cake Round 2!

There are plenty of more cake eating and present opening pictures on the Ofoto link. Click here to see those.

It was a fabulous weekend and Taylor is so blessed to have so many wonderful and supportive people in her world. Thanks to everyone who made her first birthday an extra special one!

Another trip to Texas!

Sorry to keep everyone waiting for our latest post, there were some issues posting pictures a couple of days ago. Now I've finally had time to load them!
Our trip to Texas was a whirlwind as usual, but of course fun. We flew into Dallas because 1) we now have a handful of friends in the area and 2) it's SO much cheaper than flying into Austin now. Our first evening we were able to stay with one of Al's oldest friends (and now mine of course), Lora, and her husband, Parker. They have a beautiful baby girl, Presley who is 6 months now. It was so fun to see Taylor and her interact a little bit. Of course, Taylor seemed to be more impressed at times with their Jack Russell Terrier, Cady.

They LOVED each other! This is what she does with her own pups too...she loves those kisses:

Here is Al with the two little ladies. Presley is such a sweet little peanut, I'm so glad we finally got to meet her!

The next morning, we made a pit-stop in another Fort Worth suburb to see my old co-worker, Whitney, from my days at Guaranty Bank in Austin. She and her husband Shane have a very sweet and adorable 4 month old baby boy, Austin. Whitney is now one of my blogger buddies, we're both addicted!

Here are the proud mamas with their babies:

After stopping at the Lumpkins house, we started making our way to Dripping Springs to have a quick visit with Al's Mimi (Grandma) and Mawlene (Great Grandma). Taylor was a little fussy during the visit so we didn't get any group photos, but here is one with Mimi singing to her. It seemed to calm her down for a bit!

The rest of our time in Austin was great and filled with lots of friend time. We really miss everyone down there!

Here is a picture of Taylor with her Godfather Kolin:

We stayed at our usual place in Austin, Scott and Tanya's house. They have a beautiful 2.5 year old daughter, Samantha, who is such a doll. She was in love with Taylor and always wanted to lend a helping hand. Such a sweetie.

Here's a cute picture of the girls hanging around. Taylor with her classic wide open mouth smile:

Since our flight out of DFW was on Monday morning, we made the long drive back to Dallas on Sunday and stayed with our good friends, Suzanne and Keith. They had just gotten back from a week long vacation about 2 hours before we arrived so we were so appreciative of their wonderful hospitality! Plus, Taylor got to play with her boyfriend, Nicholas, who is 7 weeks (to the day) younger than her. They were so cute together. Of course both of them are on the move, so it was hard to get a great shot of them together.

Here's one of them playing with one of Nick's toys:

Now for some fun videos.

This one cracks me up. Suzanne is holding Nick and Al is holding Taylor. I love how Nick actually is able to walk towards Taylor while Taylor just stands there and watches.

Watch their version of "Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots":



This is Taylor going a little bonkers during the drive to Austin. I swear she goes through about 4 different emotions in about a minute! She's really trying to start babbling!

Seattle/Vancouver...finally!

Wow, I guess I wasn't kidding when I said we would get these pictures posted in July! I finally uploaded all of our pictures to Ofoto from our trip out to Seattle and Vancouver. We flew out Monday, May 19th the day after Taylor's baptism. Our old roommate (Taylor's godfather), Kolin was with us for the flight there. When we arrived, our other Texas friends, Delia and Jon were waiting for us at the airport. Jon's wife, Michelle, was stuck in California for work stuff and was flying out later that night. We all stayed in Seattle for a couple of days, then Delia and Kolin had to head back home. Jon, Michelle, Al, Taylor and I drove to Vancouver Wednesday morning. We toured downtown for a bit, saw some Totem Poles and then took a 90 minute ferry ride to Vancouver Island. On the island, we stayed in a small city (Sooke) where we rented a house tucked away in the middle of nowhere (or so it seemed to us). It was so relaxing and peaceful and it was awesome to stay in rental houses the whole trip. We won't do another long trip any other way. Especially when traveling with friends and/or kids!
Vancouver was beautiful and the weather cooperated for most of the time. We had a great place on the water with an outdoor hot tub and great deck. Many times we had dinner at the house and just hung out drinking wine and beer and playing Scrabble! We stayed there until Saturday, then took a ferry back to Vancouver and drove back to Seattle that night.
The trip was so relaxing and fun. Taylor was such a champ the whole time. She never showed any signs of being stressed out with the flights, car rides, constant sightseeing and new places. We were so proud of our little traveler! We also loved being able to spend some quality time with some wonderful friends. Can't wait to do it again!!

Here are some of our pictures from our trip.

Taylor and Kolin ready to land in Seattle:

Dinner the first night in Des Moines, WA. Kolin (behind the beer) and Delia:

The view from our main, upper deck at the rental house:

Here you can kind of see the mountains in the distance:

Famous fish throwing at the public market in Seattle:

Al, Jon and Taylor hanging out at the house:

Lunch time in Seattle - just look at those big blue eyes!:

Wednesday - driving into Vancouver:

Family picture in front of the Totem Poles:

Ferry ride with Al, Taylor, Michelle and Jon:

Taylor enjoying a meal at our house in Sooke. Beautiful view from the dining room:

3 Hour hike. Taylor was a champ and actually napped for about 30 minutes of it!:

Beautiful scenery on our hike. That's probably why it took 3 hours, we were constantly stopping to snap pictures and soak it all in. The first part of the trip was through the woods (see pic above), then the last half was coastal (below):

Al getting ready to jump in the hot tub....what a stud in his hiking boots. Yes, he's wearing a swimsuit under the robe:

Doing some sightseeing in Victoria, the capital of British Columbia (still on Vancouver Island):

One of the many purple starfish that we saw at our house in Sooke during low tide:

Group shot in front of the rental house.

To see the rest of the pictures from our trip, click here!

The Big 3-0!

Someday I may post some Vancouver pictures, but for now I wanted to share a couple of quick videos from this past week.

Backstory: Tuesday was my 30th birthday and the weekend prior, I had some events planned with my family. As far as I knew, Saturday was supposed to go like this....My mom, sister and I went to the Farmer's Market early in the morning to stock up on fruits and veggies. After that, we decided to hit MOA (Mall of America) and do some fun shopping. Which we did. The rest of the day's plans were to happen as follows. My sister and I were going to drop off my mom at her place around 1:00 so she could start prepping dinner for that evening (with my immediate family and godparents). Then K and I were going to go get a pedicure and come back around 5:00 for dinner. Instead, when we got back to my mom's around 1:00...well, you can see for yourself. Poor Taylor will be traumatized for life!

I was so confused when I walked into the house because all I could see was Al holding Taylor and a video camera and there were streamers everywhere. I thought, "Hmmm, surprise?... We're having dinner early??" Seriously, I could not figure out why he was filming me, then as you could see, everyone (extended family-aunts, uncles, cousins) came out from behind the streamers in the front living room and scared the *$&#*& out of me! And Taylor. Poor baby. You'll be happy to know that she fully recovered shortly after though. I don't know if it was the noise makers or me screaming that got her going. Probably both. It was so sad! She is definitely more aware of her surroundings nowadays and can get freaked out pretty easily by the oddest things. The latest has been with certain stuffed animals. So bizarre! I know it's just the age she's at though and is part of the many phases we'll go through!

Anyway, fast forward to Tuesday (my actual birthday). I had been instructed by Al that we needed to leave the house by 5:00pm. When we got in the car, he told me to put a blind-fold on and I had to wear it for the drive. That wasn't too much fun. ;)

When we stopped, he made me keep it on while he got something out of the trunk. I was able to take off the blind-fold when he got back in the car. When I did I immediately knew we were at my old ice skating arena in Edina. I had spent half my childhood there so I even recognize the dang parking lot. In the box (the WRAPPED box) were my old figure skates. Man, I was SO confused. We walk into the arena and he tells the kid at the office that we have an hour of ice time rented out. Just the two of us! It was the sweetest thing ever. Granted, I was still numb from confusion and then shortly after that, I was terrified since I hadn't touched the ice in almost 10 years! Taking that first step onto the ice was frightening. It's amazing that you can do something that is second nature for so long, but when you haven't done it for almost as long, your body takes some time to get used to it. I can't say it was "just like riding a bike", but after about 45 minutes, I got a little more comfortable. I think the days of me doing an axle are long gone, but I didn't look as horrendous as I thought I would!

Al took a video of a couple little "tricks" that seemed to impress him. ;) Oh, and he did a spin on his hockey skates at the end of the video which was almost more impressive. HA!

Next post I promise more pictures of Taylor. :)

Taylor's Baptism

Slowly but surely I will get our Blog updated with everything! Now we're onto the baptism which happened May 18th. Maybe by July I'll have our Vancouver trip posted! ;)
So here are some pictures from Taylor's baptism. Al's mom, Mimi, sister DeeDee and nephew Deidric made it up for the event. Our old roommate Kolin (Taylor's godfather) also made the trip! It was fun and very special to have everyone here.

Taylor and Kolin reunited after6 months:

Deidric, Taylor and aunt DeeDee at service before the Baptism:

Taylor in her pretty gown. She was such a good girl!

Al's mom and Mimi...Four generation photo:

Joni's family (minus sister Katrina):

The Godparents, Katrina and Kolin:

Joni and Taylor with Joni's Godparents Joan and Bryan:

The Patio!

I know we have a lot to catch you all up on (baptism, trip to Vancouver, etc.), but I wanted to share something that was house-related before we forgot. Sorry, no baby pics with this post.

Al and I finally decided to pay someone to put in a patio for us. We really hated our yard because there was nowhere to really hang out and enjoy the summer weather. Plus, we have very little time to do anything, so it would be a slow and tedious process for us to get it done ourselves. It was done in 2.5 days since we hired professionals! We are so excited to have the new patio and have used it a few times now. Unfortunately it has been a cold spring so we are anxious for some warm summer nights so that we can really start breaking it in!

Here are some pictures....


BEFORE (Al was in the process of digging up some stones from an old "garden"):

UPDATE - We took the "After" pictures Saturday morning and I'm so glad we did. Saturday evening we had a freak hail storm that showerd on us for 10 straight minutes (some of it golf ball size and knocking out power for 40 minutes) and basically shredded most of our wonderful new plants and flowers. The hanging baskets in the below pictures are destroyed and all of the hostas and a couple of hydrangea plants are shredded. Just when everything was finally blooming around here too!

AFTER (the patio furntiure has pads, but we brought them in due to rain Friday night):


It's actually made our yard feel a lot bigger surprisingly too. Probably because it's utilizing space that was ugly and destroyed by the dogs. Now we can't wait to work on all the other pockets in our yard. Especially the front!