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!

Updated with Pictures: Happy Mother's Day!

Sunday we had a beautiful, albeit chilly, Mother's Day. We began the day at church with my mom, dad and sister. Taylor did very well and was mesmerized by the colorful banners all over the ceiling, that is, when she wasn't snoozing. At one point she was actually snoring pretty loudly during the homily. It was pretty funny. Later that morning, we had brunch at a great restaurant west of the Twin Cities, followed by a fun game of putt-putt. This wasn't your run of the mill putt-putt either. The owner is actually an artist and each hole is it's own sculpture. Unfortunately our camera wasn't charged so I have to wait to get my mom's pictures before I can show you some of the cool scenery.

Here are some pictures:

Windy day!

The Mommies with Taylor!

One of the fun putt-putt holes:

I do have another treat for your viewing pleasure though. When we got back to the house, Al was finally able to give me my gift. After weeks of anticipation (ok, days) and being banned from the guest room (the closet in the guest room) I could finally see what all the fuss was about. When I found the gift (placed in Taylor's crib), it was the size of a cd. Hmmm, all this trouble for such a little package??

Well, see for yourself!

Here is the gift that Al made me for my first Mother's Day:

Quick tid-bits

Hey everyone, not much to report, but thought we would post a couple of pictures and a short quick video.
Taylor is growing up so fast. It's fun to see and witness, but at the same time it's a little sad that each stage comes and goes so quickly. We don't take any little moment for granted, that's for sure!
To give you a little update, she has a couple of little bottom teeth coming in. They're sharp! It's fun to see them poking through when she gives us that big smile of hers. She's also on the verge of crawling. Right now she will fall over (on purpose) when an object of desire it put in front of her and she will eventually inch-worm herself over to it. Most times the object is a cell phone or TV remote. Those items motivate her the most! She is also waving "bye-bye" when prompted. She had been doing a lot of arm waving before this, but in the last week we can tell that it is legitimate waving. I love seeing that little mind of her's at work! Such a little smartie. :)
Ok, it's late so I'm going to wrap it up with a couple of pictures...the stuff you really want to see anyway.

Tay and her buddy Chewy taking a nap:

Little stinker pulled herself up in her crib! She isn't able to do it from a lying down position yet, but it looks like it's time to lower her crib mattress.

Funny short video of Taylor riding in the Bjorn with daddy:

Taylor's first trip to D.C. - April 4-7

We're finally getting around to posting the photos (or some of them) from Taylor and Joni's trip to Virginia/D.C. to visit Libby and Lincoln. They went out there to fulfill the October birthday present that Joni gave Libby, a certificate good for one visit from Joni and Taylor in 2008! Taylor did pretty good on the flight and mom did pretty good traveling with Taylor by herself. Taylor was a bit crankier than her normal happy self all weekend, but I think it was due to her teething. Those stinkers are just taking their sweet time coming in! Overall, it was a fun and exhausting weekend!

Here are some highlights:

Taylor checking out the mini-pancake that Lincoln made for her. It was her first pancake!


I think she liked it!!

Libby and Taylor hanging out:

Taylor and Wiley meeting each other (the braver of the two cats). I don't know if Taylor understood what the two kitties were, but she sure was excited everytime she spotted one of them walking by. Maybe she missed her pups back home? Their other cat, Coyote, was not a fan of Taylor. She even hissed at Joni because she smelled like Taylor! Must have been all the weird noises that Taylor makes. Poor kitty was going to have a melt down, but luckily had a full recovery the day after we left!

Saturday was gorgeous so we took advantage of the weather (along with all the other tourists) and went to D.C. to see the Cherry Blossom trees.

Here's Taylor with some in her hair. And no, we did not pick it off a tree, we found some lying on the ground. :)

The whole crew - Joni, Lincoln, Libby and Taylor:

Taylor sporting her little bow and sylin' sunglasses. Notice Lincoln's hand holding her hand so she wouldn't rip them off before we got a picture. ;)

Sweet face waking up in mama's bed:

Everyone wore out from the weekend:

Here is a video not related to the trip, but we wanted to share it before we forgot about it. It highlights Taylor's vocal stylings to give you an idea of how she likes to "talk". We think she's scolding Chewy for getting in her space. For some reason he thought her lap was the best place to lie down. It gets even better when he tries to flip onto his back at the end and really is in her lap. She isn't sure what to make of it!

Happy Easter and St. Patrick's Day!

On Easter Sunday, Taylor, Al, my mom and I drove down to Rochester to see some family. The gathering was a little thin since some family members were sick and others out of town, but it was still a pretty big group. Especially with the 10 great-grandchildren that were present!

Taylor hanging out in her pretty Easter dress. Thankfully it was very warm in the room (too warm) so she could comfortably wear her dress. Outside it was in the 30s and snow on the ground. Gotta love MN in March!

Taylor and her great-aunt Joan (Joni's Godmother):

Family picture with great-Grandma:

Family photo...I honestly don't know if we've actually done this before:

Now to rewind one week to St. Pattie's Day!

Taylor in her pretty St. Patrick's Day dress from great-aunt Ann. Such a big girl sitting up tall!

Kiss me....

I DARE YOU!

We have a lot more to share so we decided to upload the rest to an Ofoto album. Here's a sampling of what you can see at the site:

6 Month Stats

We had Taylor's 6 month appointment this past Monday and have her most recents stats!

Head - 17.5in (90th %)

Weight - 17lb 6.5oz (75th%)

Length - 27.25in (95th%)

It was kind of funny because the nurse asked if Taylor's daddy was tall because of her length. Nope! Just average! Who knows where Taylor will really end up. Her appointment was very routine. She's growing great, eating solids like a champ and sleeping pretty good now. She's such a good baby, we couldn't be luckier!

Now for the fun stuff. Here are some pictures from her latest photo "shoot".

Latest Photos

Taylor just turned 6 months on Saturday, unbelievable! It truly is amazing how quickly time flies when you have a little one around. She is constantly surprising us with all that she learns and does. I swear she actually said "ma-ma" last weekend because the sound of the week was ma-ma-ma-ma-ma. She just happened to truncate it to ma-ma a couple of times. I have witnesses! Needless to say, it has now become more fun to say "ba-ba-ba-ba-ba" and she hasn't repeated the heart-melting "ma-ma" since. Oh well, I know the time will come when she will be chatting up a storm! She's such a little stinker too. I will look at her and say "Ma!" and she'll look at me and say "Ba!". As if she knows what she's doing. I love how much fun we have with her and I know it will keep getting better.

Here are some latest pictures.

Some rare tummy time. This doesn't happen too often, she really isn't a fan of being on her tummy and likes to roll over almost immediately. We keep trying though! You'll also notice this gap-mouthed face on her in a lot of pictures. She will be smiling away and the second she sees the camera, she will freeze up. For some reason, the camera really mesmerizes her right now!


Lobo hanging out with his buddy. This too is actually a rare occurrence as well!


Sweet baby just waking up from a quick nap. I love this look of bewilderment when she first wakes.

Happy Taylor watching mommy get ready for work:

Little birdy! She's a superstar at eating from a spoon now. We've moved on to peas, sweet potatoes and pears!

All bundled up with her monkey hat, on the way to visit great-grandma. It was cold that day!!

Making the face that daddy loves so much. She's been doing this since she was a couple months old.