Pumpkin Sneak-Peek!

Because we are headed to Denver this weekend, we had to carve our pumpkins a little early. Taylee wasn't sure what to think of it at first. She quickly caught on and began to enjoy pulling

the pumpkin seeds out. Then putting them back in! It became pretty frustrating for the rest of us after just a few minutes. ;)

She was a little freaked out by the pumpkins once they were carved. This is no surprise, as she has been terrified of any and all halloween decor that we have encountered this year. The witch on the neighbors porch, the vampire in the restaurant lobby, the halloween decor at Lowe's . . . It has been difficult to say the least. I'm not sure how trick-or-treating is going to go. Looks like it's Trunk-or-Treat for us!

Believe it or not, we took this photo in the dark, with only the candles for light. Oh, yeah, and the flash.

With a little chocolate bribery to persuade her, we finally got a photo of her with the finished product . . .

Babies for Babies

Taylee's fascination with baby dolls has reached an all new level recently. She is consumed by caring for her baby. She feeds it - cereal, crackers, yogurt - whatever Taylee is in the mood to eat (strange . . .). She styles the babies hair, or lack thereof, with bows, combs, and gel. She even tries to do "ponies" like mommy does in her hair. The problem now is that she has found a new, or should I say, old, babydoll to love and dote upon. While visiting nana's house Taylee found a babydoll from my childhood to play with. This babydoll is hideous. It has freaky eyes that are supposed to open and close, but are stuck in a creepy slit open stare. It has clothes, but Taylee likes to take them off (constantly!), so it's bright pink cloth skin highlights the gray cyanotic tone of it's plastic head. To top it off, I think it may be growing mold or something foreign on it's head. I have disinfected it, so at least it's clean mold. ;) When we tried to remove it from Taylee's care and replace it with her other babies she quickly shot us down. Why? Because she "wuvs her." Guess we're stuck with an ugly baby because our baby wuvs her.

Big Girl!

Taylee was so proud of herself for getting her dress on all by herself today!

Her 1950's hairdo, however, is just a little bedhead ;)

Poopy at Mimi's

Recently the discussion of potty training has been a frequent topic at our house. Taylee is showing signs that she is ready - alerting us to poopy, hiding when she does number two, asking for diaper changes. She LOVES to sit on the potty, but never actually goes. She sits for about 30 seconds then announces "done!" Unfortunately, when she really does have to go (as evidenced by her hiding in the corner and stiff-arming anybody who comes near her), she wants NOTHING to do with the potty. Not sure where to go with this dilemma . . .
But the funny part of this post is her ridiculous poopy behavior. A couple of
weeks ago Taylee was at Mimi's Cafe with her grandma and grandpa. Nana and Poppie arrived to pick her up, and it seemed nature was calling. The whole family got stuck in the lobby at Mimi's for 20 minutes while Taylee completed her business. Even better, she insisted on standing in the middle of the doorway, and stiff-armed anyone who approached. Umm, awkward?! She caught on to the fact that we found this amusing, and has been telling me "Poopy at Mimi's" ever since.
Sadly, we had a repeat event over the weekend. We were dining at Red Robin on Saturday night, and it seemed the poop monster was back for another visit. Because we were still at our table, Taylee made it her business to do her business in the middle of the aisle. No amount of coercion on our part would convince her to abandon her position. Despite our embarassment, it was pretty comical watching fellow customers, servers, and busboys making their way around Taylee while she pooped in the aisle. Here is another high quality photo from my phone, of Taylee in the act.

Like Mother Like Daughter and Other Random Thoughts . . .

Taylee is really taking after her mommy these days. She has developed quite an affinity for candy and chocolate. She knows that mommy often has chocolate in her purse, and she sees right through me when I try and deny it. Recently in the car she told me "mommy, chocolate please." I told her sorry Taylee, no chocolate. She replied "mommy- chocolate purse! Hand me Taylee!"
Anybody who knows me knows that I don't go anywhere without my iPod touch. I really like to play Words with Friends. Some might say I am a little obsessive. ;) Taylee finds it and says "mommy ah pod!" Now she has found a little pink calculator (the case on my iPod is pink), and she calls it Taylee's ah Pod. I'm sure she will be asking for an iPhone before first grade!
Her vocabulary is really growing, and she is speaking in sentences now. They don't always make sense, but they get her message across. "Taylee sit on de table. Watch Skyler, daddy." "Taylee pink football. Can't find it?!" It's nice to see that although her pronunciation is a bit lacking, she is progressing appropriately in her ability to communicate.
Each day brings fun new adventures to our home. We can't wait to see what the future holds!

Sophisticated

After 2 1/2 looong years my handsome son Skyler got his braces off today. We are thrilled with the results! His friends at school told him he looks 'Sophisticated.' What do you think?

Pre-braces

Today, before the BIG event

And the Grand Finale!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Well, it's actually just the good and the bad, but that is a much less intriguing title. So, it's the good, the bad, and the ugly! Taylee attended her second annual craniofacial clinic today.
So the good. All went well with Dr. Siddiqi, the plastic surgeon. He says that her palate looks good, it has a small furrow, but is intact and looking great. We next went to the orthodontist - who last year recommended that she have her upper frenulum (the tissue between your top gum and your upper lip) snipped the next time she was in the operating room. I was pleased to tell him that she has NOT been in the OR, and therefore has NOT had it snipped. I was even more pleased to find out that it is looking better, and no longer needs to be snipped! Wahoo! Not sure how that happens, but we are pleased none the less . . . We spent a few minutes with Dr. Muntz, the ENT. He poked and prodded her ears, nose, and throat (hence the name), and announced that her left tube is still intact, and her right tube has fallen out (this normally occurs 1-2 years after placement). Fortunately, she does NOT have fluid building up in that right ear, which is a very good sign. It is common in cleft palate kids to need tubes for up to 3 years or more. He just wants to take a peek in six months to see how the left tube is looking, and verify that no fluid is accumulating in either ear. If fluid accumulates we will probably need to replace the tubes, in order to make sure she can hear. Obviously, an inability to hear will greatly affect her speech development. Something which is high on our priority list. So, we will definitely be visiting Dr. Muntz this winter!
And the bad(ish). We finished up with the speech therapist, who was pleased with Taylee's speech. Yay! But, she can hear a nasal tone to her speech (so can we . . .), and other speech tones that make her strongly believe that she will eventually need a palate revision. So . . . more surgery. Boo. Obviously, it's not for sure, but certainly a sobering thought. We thought it was one and done, but maybe not. I guess we'll have to just wait and see.
So, after the bad, instead of the ugly, we will conclude with the adorable!

Monday Night Football!

Last weekend Kent and I had the opportunity to travel with our brother and sister in law Mark and Amber to Denver to watch the Broncos lose to the Raiders while sitting in the rain. How could we pass up such an amazing opportunity?! Well, in truth, this was the first game of the season, and during every off-season hope springs eternal, and we thought maybe, just maybe, we would be good again. ("We" meaning the Broncos). Alas, we are the same old Broncos . . . However, we managed to have a pretty darn good time despite their miserable performance.

We flew in on Sunday afternoon and headed straight for the RockBottom Brewery in downtown. We enjoyed good food, good drinks, and lots of football. Plus, we got to 'hang' (as in, watch from afar), with Trent Dilfer, former quarterback of the Bucs, Ravens, Seahawks, etc. Turns out he was in town to provide commentary for the Monday Night Football game. This is becoming a bit of a trend for us. We travel almost every year to Denver for a game, and we have now stayed in the same hotel as the Pittsburgh Steelers, last year we stayed in the same hotel as the New York Jets (even riding in the elevator with LaDanian Tomlinson!), and now this encounter with Trent Dilfer. I wonder what next year will bring?! After the brewery we headed over to Croc's bar and grill for more food, drinks, and football. After checking into our hotel, we headed over to Toby Keith's "I Love this Bar and Grill!" for the Sunday night football game and yet another round of food and drinks. By the time we were through for the night, we were completely overloaded with food, drinks, and quite possibly even football!

Monday was a beautiful fall day, so we took full advantage by travelling to Golden, Co. to tour the Coors Brewery. I expected to be wandering around with like 6 other tourists. Wow, was I wrong! There were at least 200 people there, and they just kept on coming! It was actually pretty fun and informative. We finished up the afternoon with lunch at Woody's Pizza, which was delicious. (Thanks for the recommendation, Ry!)
Soon it was time for the much anticipated football game! We headed over to the stadium early so we could enjoy some tailgating and spend some time in "the Barn." The Barn has free face painting, happy hours drink and burritos, and some fabulous music and entertainment. On our way in we ran into ROBO-Bronco. Could this be the next barrel man?!
Or maybe this leprechaun dude is the next barrel man? He certainly has some hot moves on the dance floor!

Amber was enticed to join the "Red Robin, Yumm!" competition. Which is just as it sounds - a competition for who can say "Red Robin, Yumm!" the best. Fortunately, Amber took second place, which worked out well because her prize was a sweatshirt and a hat. Gear which definitely came in handy while we sat through a deluge a couple hours later.

The pre-game festivities included a tribute to our great nation (it was the day after the ten year anniversary of 9/11 after all). It was beautiful and very touching. Possibly even better than the game . . .

Although we lost and got rained on, we still managed to have a pretty darn good time! Here's hoping the Broncos improve a little by the time we take Skyler in October . . .

Funny Kids

While uploading photos from this weekend, I stumbled across these pix I took a couple weeks ago of my silly kids. I love that Taylee is Skyler's mini me. Too cute.

And I was trying to teach Taylee the art of the self-portrait. Her attempts didn't work out so well . . .

To Top it all Off . . .

So, to end this weekend of fun, we headed to Park City on Monday and hit the Utah Olympic Park. Is anybody else amazed that it has been nearly 10 years since the 2002 Olympics here in SLC? ? Crazy!!
My mom, Aunt Tota, Skyler, Ryan, and Kaydence took a spin on the Alpine Slide. A first for both Skyler and Kaydence. Way fun!

After the Alpine Slide, the big kids (myself, Kent, Ryan, and Skyler), got to take a trip on the 'Extreme Zip Line!'

We finished off the day with dinner at Five Guys (and the neighboring Cafe Rio for me!). All in all, it was a perfect end to a great weekend! We should do this every year . . .