Taylee in a Box

Now that she's getting more mobile, I had to think of a new way to contain Taylee . . .

Maybe I should start thinking OUTSIDE the box!

Halloween

Halloween was a quiet affair at our house last year. Skyler went out TRICK-OR-TREATING with his buddies. I know, 14 is a little old for trick-or-treating, but BOYS will be BOYS. Kent and I took Taylee to visit her grandparents, and her GIRAFFE costume was a hit. Then she helped us pass out CANDY to trick-or-treaters in the evening. It's amazing how a BABY makes everything so much more FUN!

Here we are practicing our Halloween look a couple days early.

Taylee was nearly abducted by Michael Myers with his scary knife. She looks terrified. Maybe she knows it's her big brother behind that mask?

Taylee also got to meet a giant pumpkin named Elle for Halloween!

Plus, we had a visit from two of Taylee's best friends, Dawson and Daphne!

Three Months

Man she was a cutie at three months! This is when her personality really began to shine. I could swear she was hamming it up for the camera. Enjoy!

Jamie

Many, many eons ago I had a best friend named Jamie. In high school Jamie and I were inseparable. We did everything together, and could always be seen zipping around town in her little blue Volkswagon beetle. When we were in high school Jamie got pregnant, and had baby Kameron in October of 1996. Kameron's dad wasn't involved, so I got to be his daddy! Here we are in 1997 at Olive Garden.
Over the years Jamie and I lost touch. She was living in Logan, while I stayed here. Then recently Jamie found me via our work e-mail and tada, here we are! She drives down from Logan to see us every so often, and she always comes bearing gifts for Taylee and Skyler, and treats for me and Kent. We are so lucky, and she is way too good to us! Here she is holding my little sweets.

And this is a photo of me holding Taylee, and that nearly grown young man sitting next to me? You guessed it- that's our Kameron! What a good kid he has grown up to be. I'm just so proud to be his daddy. ;)

BTW, Jamie is so talented at all things creative and cute! She did Taylee's birth announcement, she is responsible for my adorable blog background, she makes all sorts of cute invitations and such, and her cookie bouquets are better than the ones you can buy! I have been trying to get her to start her own business, but so far she's not buyin' it. If you ever have a need for any of these sorts of things, let me know. She's probably your gal! Love you Jai!

Snowboarding # 2

We made it out snowboarding as a family on Sunday. Grandpa Dave gave a quick lesson, and we were off! Things started a little rough, the boys were struggling, and so was I. It's been 8 or 9 years since I was on a snowboard. It took almost an hour to get down the first run. Did I mention it was the bunny hill? We took a long break, had some lunch, and headed back out again. Things improved drastically in the afternoon. The snow had softened up and we got our feet back under us. I finally remembered what in the world I was doing, and the boys caught back up to speed. Our afternoon was great!
The next best thing was playing with baby Taylee between runs. We took her with us and Grandma Deb stayed in the lodge with her while we were out boarding. She was a good girl and played nice almost all day long! Plus she got some fresh air and got to people watch. Her favorite pastime! Overall, it was a fabulous day. Can't wait to do it again!

Sleep Training Update

Here we are - three nights straight of sleeping through the night. If I had known it would be this easy, I would have done it a lot sooner! And her naps have improved too. AND, the binki is now almost non-existent in our world. Kent couldn't be happier. Oh yeah, me either. ;)
Thanks again Adrienne and Jessy for all your moral support during this entire adventure.

Sleep Training

The dreaded day has arrived. For months now I have been resisting the knowledge that we would someday have to "sleep train" Taylee. I just knew she wasn't going to magically start sleeping through the night on her own. She just isn't that kind of girl. =) For months things were pretty nice. She would get up one time, between 2 and 4 am to eat, then go easily back to bed. Not too bad. Then, recently she started fussing several times a night, needing her binki to go back to sleep. Kent and I were getting up 4,5,6 times a night. Things were getting out of hand!! Thus, sleep training. So, we picked a weekend when we could both be home for 3 nights straight. Thursday night was sleep training night one. Basically, we complete our bedtime "routine" (lotion, jammies, bottle, story), then we put her in her crib, no binki. The 1st night she cried for about 20 minutes, then fell asleep. We were off to a good start!! I thought she would cry for an hour or more! Don't get me wrong, it still sucked. She woke up a few times and cried for 5 minutes or so, but fell back asleep on her own. Not bad. Friday night she only cried for 10 minutes at bedtime. Yay! Then she got up at 11 . . . and cried for an hour and half. It sucked. And she got up again at 4 . . . and cried for an hour. It sucked again. We were a little discouraged on Saturday morning. By the time Saturday night rolled around I was pretty nervous. However, things went a little better. Taylee slept (for the first time in her 8 months of life) THROUGH THE NIGHT! Whoo Whoo! I, of course got up several times to check on her, and did not enjoy the opportunity to sleep myself. The other recent change to her sleep routine is that she will no longer sleep on her back AT ALL. She always goes to sleep on her tummy. Of course, this totally freaks me out, but as she can now roll herself over, I have lost control. Anyways, we are excited to be teaching our daughter good lifelong sleep habits (hopefully!). Stay tuned, I am sure there will be more to come!

Two Months

Some favorite two month shots of Taylee.

It sure was tough catching those first smiles on camera!

Taylee and Skyler were fast friends

Her favorite spot to be was sitting up between us on the couch What a cutie pie!

Faizi Siddiqi

Wondering about the name for this post?! Faizi Siddiqi (better known to us as Dr. Siddiqi) is Taylee's plastic surgeon. No, she's not having a nose job (but if she grows up to have a nose like her mommy's, she might want one!!). She is having her cleft palate repaired! We met with Dr. Siddiqi on Tuesday for her pre-op visit. Her surgery is scheduled for May 26th. Hopefully she will be first case that morning (apparently it goes in order of age - youngest first), because she won't be able to eat for several hours prior to surgery. Dr. Siddiqi said to plan on a 2 hour procedure. We will probably be staying in the hospital for 2-3 nights. Basically until Taylee is eating well. Since she hasn't EVER eaten well, we may never come home again! ;)

This is a picture of Taylee's cleft when she was just a few days old.


Here it is at 4 months. As you can see, it has grown with her.

We are hopeful that her verbal skills will start to improve after her palate is closed. She is not yet making any hard consonant sounds (ie dada, baba, etc). Dr. Siddiqi said this is most likely due to the cleft. She will see a speech therapist after her closure. We are excited to hear those first mama's and dada's. Here's hoping she doesn't fall too far behind!

Pizza Night!

Last night we made our first attempt at making homemade pizza. (If you count a package of pizza dough, a can of sauce, a bag of cheese, and a bag of pepperoni as homemade). But, hey, we put it together and cooked it ourselves. Pizza is one of Skyler's favorite foods, so we thought it would be a good family activity. The end product was pretty good, although I thought the crust left a little to be desired. Does anyone have a good pizza dough recipe?