Lunch at Liberty

Taylee and I drove to Salt Lake and met Necia, Hallie, and the fam for a fabulous Cafe Rio picnic lunch at Liberty Park. Hallie is my former primary from my days as a new nurse at PCMC. If you don't know her story, you can read it on http://www.helpinghallie.com/. Hallie continues to struggle, but was having a good day today. We were so happy to see her happy! Toughest little girl I know.

Two little ladybugs -

Taylee Bug and Hallie Bug

Party like a One Year Old!

We had Taylee's birthday party on the 24th of July.

If you're gonna have to share your party with a holiday,

at least you get fireworks, right?!

(For all you non-Utahns, the 24th of July is known as Pioneer Day,

celebrating the arrival of the Pioneers in Utah).

Her party was tons of fun, for adults and kids alike.

We barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs,

and while the kids played on the water slide and baby pool,

the adults chased the shade around the yard and tried to stay cool.

Taylee was a sweet little girl (isn't she always?!),

and was the birthday princess!

The water slide was a big hit!
(Thanks Mike, Shelly, Hunter, and Cody
for letting us borrow it!)

Taylee was not quite so impressed by the slide,

even in the safety of brother's arms.

Maybe next year . . .

I'm not so sure I would trust this guy either ;)

At one point, me and Uncle Mike were

talked into going down the slide.

I don't think it was intended for adults.

This is what happened . . .Fortunately, no adults were injured

in the making of this event

After barbecuing, it was cake time!

Taylee really got into her cake

and smeared it EVERYWHERE -

eyes, nose, hair . . .

She was too cute, and she had a blast!

And then the presents . . .

Oh the presents.

Can you say spoiled?!

After all the fun, she was exhausted . . .

But, alas, she did manage to catch a few of the fireworks.

What a trooper!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!!

One Year Stats

For posterities sake . . .

Taylee at one year and one day :
Height : 29 inches = 55%
Weight: 20 lbs 3.5 oz = 36%
OFC: 45 cm = 48%

Dr. Strasser was pleased with Taylee's development, impressed by her spunky personality, and thinks that overall she is doing great. We are ready to move to whole milk, and into a forward facing car seat. Big milestones! Only raincloud to report was Taylee's (possible) delay in speech. I'm not even sure this is a raincloud, because it means we get to have an evaluation with Early Intervention. Yes, to many this could be a bad thing, but to me it means that an expert in child development comes to my house and shows me the best ways to play with my daughter to help her to learn. I just hope she qualifies. Her (possible) delays include only saying one word at 1 year (just mama), not pointing or clapping - in other words, a possible delay in fine motor skills. None of these things are big red flags, but because our pediatrician in pro-active (and so am I), we are moving straight to early intervention. After her evaluation with the developmental therapist, they will decide if she needs intervention. If not, we will follow-up with her speech therapist at craniofacial clinic in September, if so, we will get regular visits from the Early Intervention specialists. All in all, her future's so bright, she's gotta wear shades!

Taylee Bug is One!!

Our sweets is one year old today! Whoa! How time flies. This first year of Taylee's life has been the best year of my life. I may not have adjusted to motherhood quite as quickly (or as easily!) as I anticipated, but now that I have found my way, I can't imagine anything in this world better than being Taylee's mama. She makes my world go round. And to see how much love her daddy and her brother, and her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins have for her . . . it's overwhelming how much this little girl is treasured. We are just so grateful to have her in our lives.

Taylee is pretty silly these days, and she has learned lots of new tricks!
At one year old she:

-Crawls like a champ (even over obstacles!)

-Loves to be chased or chase mommy, daddy, and brother

-Pulls to stand and cruises furniture

-Walks with her stroller walker

-Laughs more and more everyday

-Can blow a whistle

-Says Mama (usually mamamamama ;)

-Growls (yes, you read that right-growls!)

-Waves bye-bye

-Gives five

-Dances to music

-Hates wearing shoes

-HATES riding in the car!

-Loves yogurt, cereal puffs, and mac and cheese

-Thinks she is now too big for baby food

-Loves foods she can feed herself

-Loves, loves, loves, her mommy, daddy, and big brother (and we LOVE her too!)

Camping in the Uintas

Last weekend Kent and Skyler took a short camping trip up to Whitney Lake in the Uintas. They arrived mid-day Friday and did some fishing.

On Friday evening they feasted on tuna fish sandwiches (!) and chips. Easy camping fare, eh? Of course, they forgot the marshmallows, so they were without smores. :( I'm not sure if you can even consider it camping without toasting marshmallows!!

Saturday morning they got up early and hiked the Notch Mountain Trail. They report that the trail was pretty spectacular, and they passed several lakes.

They came home Saturday evening tired and smelly. The trip was short but sweet, and Taylee and I really missed them!

On the Go, Go, GO!

It seems like lately I never have good shots of Taylee to post. Ever since she started crawling, it has been tough to catch this little sweets on film. This little "photo shoot" lasted less than 10 minutes. As you can see, we were on the go, go, go!

We started at her little dinner table sing-along toy

Before she made it too far, I was able to snap this beauty.

She was lunging for the camera, but it turned out pretty good anyways.

Beautiful Baby Girl!

Ok, well, let's climb INTO the toy bin. That's fun!

Oh, spotted the cheetah. Must roll him on the tile.
And is that my Roll and Crawl Ball?!
Yes, yes it is!

Oh, look, it's another ball over here!

I think I will eat that. Yummy!

Life is busy at our house, but so much fun!

Dawson and Daphne

I just had to share this picture! Isn't a popsicle (or an otter pop?!) on the porch a perfect summer treat?! Dawson and Daphne are my VERY FAVORITE little neighborhood visitors. Jennika takes them for walks almost daily, and my house is a frequent stop. We LOVE it! Taylee and Daphne are going to grow up to be bestest friends! Daphne loves to visit her "Baby Tayee." Thanks for visiting guys, there will always be popsicles and fruit snacks waiting. ;)

igive.com

Hello all-
I found the coolest website, called iGive.com. It is a website which donates money to charities when you shop online. It's great because it doesn't cost any money to you and I, but a portion of our spending goes to our designated charity. It's like I have a whole new purpose to my shopping! UhOh, this could spell trouble (don't tell Kent!) So, I passed this on to Necia (Hallie's mom), and they joined up, and now HelpingHallie.com is registered with igive.com! Anyways - this is the e-mail I received from igive.com, with instructions about how to use the service. Check it out, and HelpHallie!

Hi there!I've found a cool way to raise money, every time I shop online or search the web, and I think you should check it out: http://www.iGive.com & http://www.iSearchiGive.comI'm using iGive.com to raise money for Helping Hallie, every time I shop online at any of their 787 participating stores. And when I search the web through iSearchiGive.com (a search engined powered by iGive!), I'm raising a penny or more for my cause every time.If you do happen to make a purchase through iGive within 45 days of joining, they'll donate an EXTRA $5 to your favorite cause! With 787 stores in the iGive Mall and the new iSearchiGive.com search engine, it's easy to find the things you need AND raise money for a good cause.HOW IT WORKS:1. Join iGive.com to support Helping Hallie. It's free, safe, and easy to join. Use this link: http://www.iGive.com/helpinghallie2. Shop through iGive.com's online mall~ OR ~Raise a penny search at iSearchiGive.comThe iGive Mall features over 700 trusted online retailers like Amazon.com, Staples, Nordstrom, JCPenney, eBay, Expedia.com, Barnes & Noble, QVC, & PETsMART to name just a few! You'll NEVER pay more when you reach these stores through iGive.com. And if you take advantage of the coupons and free shipping deals posted at iGive, you might even save a few bucks! And with iSearchiGive.com, each qualified search earns a penny (or more!) for your cause.3. Watch the $$ roll in for Helping Hallie!Up to 26% of EACH purchase through iGive benefits your cause, along with a penny (or more!) per qualified search at iSearchiGive.com. Make that first purchase within 45 days and get a bonus $5 donation, too!----------------------------------------------------Use this link to JOIN iGIVE FOR FREE and begin supportingHelping Hallie: http://www.iGive.com/helpinghallie----------------------------------------------------I hope to see you at iGive.com soon!
- NeciaP.S. iGive.com would like you to know that all the causes at iGive.com have been listed by members for their own and others' benefit. They don't endorse the causes, and the causes don't endorse them. But I DO! So, c'mon, click on that link above.

Fun in the 4th of July Sun!

We started off our 4th of July weekend with a little revisit to Father's Day. Although we travelled to Denver for the weekend, and my dad was there, we didn't get to see him on Father's day. And, truth be told, his gift hadn't exactly arrived yet. Well, the good news is, it was worth the wait, and he loved it!

The party really got going when Mike, Shelly, Cody, and Hunter showed up! We played bocce ball, croquet, golf croquet (!), and the kiddos went swimmin in Taylee's baby pool.

And although the ribs may have been slightly overcooked, the food was delicious. Good eatins' were had by all.

While we waited for the city fireworks to start, we did some fireworks of our own! Although the boys had a great time, I think the adults really had the best time!

Table food here we come!

Finally! She ate REAL food! As many of you know, Taylee has a gagging/texture issue. As soon as food (other than baby food - ie mush) hits her palate, she is gagging and retching and definitely NOT swallowing! She loves to suck on real food, like vegetables, pretzels, french fries, etc, but when she manages to free a chunk, it's ALL over. We recently had a fun incident at a very busy Subway, when she got a chunk of cucumber in her mouth. She was gagging and retching, and I thought she might barf. I had to dig the chunk out, and she was NOT pleased. As you can imagine, we had quite an audience! Well, in the past few days she has eaten (yes, swallowed!) baked beans, rice, black beans, and a little bite of a brownie. Yay Taylee Bug!

Muntz, Park, and Grimmer

The ENT's of Primary Children's . . . and Taylee's seen em' all. Dr. Muntz saw her pre-op (as well as for that little stridor issue several months ago), Dr. Park put the tubes in her ears, and Dr. Grimmer saw us post-op. Continuity of care it's not, but their schedule's aren't all that flexible, so we just see whoever we can. We went for her post-op follow up yesterday (she got tubes in her ears when her cleft palate was repaired), and she had a hearing screen as part of the appt. Good news - she can hear! As if we ever doubted ;). The left ear performed perfectly, and her right ear wouldn't cooperate - the probe wasn't fitting correctly, so we couldn't get a good reading. This doesn't mean she can't hear in her right ear, it was just a testing error. We tried repeatedly, but no luck. She did great in the sound booth though, turning around to find the source of random sounds. We will also follow up with audiology at the craniofacial clinic in September. Dr. Grimmer took a look in her ears and said the tubes are in, the fluid is gone, and all is well. We also talked a little about her palate repair (ENT's repair palates as well), and he actually mentioned that a little food/milk leakage post-op was fairly normal. The palate is initially very stiff and can allow a little food up behind it. Makes no sense to me, but I like hearing that it's (almost) normal. All in all, good news!

Siddiqi says . . .

Cleft is closed! Taylee saw Dr. Siddiqi on Tuesday, and he performed a fairly thorough examination of her repair. She really LOVED that! He reports that there is no hole in the repair, and he is not sure why food is sneaking up into her nose. We feel reassured, and frankly, grateful that nothing further needs to be done. We will be following up in September at the craniofacial clinic. And, fortunately, we haven't spotted any more food out the nose, which is even more reassuring! Whew.

No Baby Dentures for us!

We have a tooth! Bottom, front, right side, and proof that there are actually teeth lurking in those gums somewhere. I was worried (imagine that!), because my nurse's mind said, hey, maybe she has something else wrong in addition to her cleft palate. Like NO TEETH! Fortunately, with the arrival of this tooth, my mind is at ease. Now I will have to find the next thing to worry about. Hmmm . . .