10 months

Double digits baby! Taylor continues to become more and more adventurous as she becomes an expert crawler/walker along furniture. She moves around this house so quickly that I think in the last month Mike and I have sat down for a total of one minute. The other morning we were all in the kitchen and Taylor crawled to the oven, grabbed the door handle, and lifted her feet off the floor, like she was doing a mini pull up! Even though the house is full of toys Taylor continues to have a fascination for things that aren't hers! Baby proofing is a constant project as we are amazed at the things she can get herself in to!

It has been really cute to see Taylor spend time with other children and become more and more social. She loves watching older kids play and as she warms up she wants to be right in the mix. She loves spending time with her cousins although I think they are slowly getting sick her of her pulling on them, hugging them, and trying to suck on them!

Taylor is developing a little sense of humor as she is starting to find things that does hysterical. She loves to make sure you have seen her when she accomplishes something and always claps at herself after she notices that you have seen her. She continues to work on her verbal skill/mouth noises and occasionally they are in context but for the most part they are random MaMa's, Da Da's, Ba Ba, and so one. Occasionally when I ask her a question she responds with a "yeah" but I think it is a fluke!

As I continue to say Taylor amazes us everyday... can't wait to see what the next month brings!

(we don't usually stand this close to the TV but I thought it was a special occassion!)

Spring??

While chasing Taylor away from Emma's bowls and dog toys has been a blast for the last several weeks...

We ALL needed to get out of the house and today was the perfect day! There was still some snow on the ground but it reached 50 degrees and sun was shinning. There is nothing more refreshing than a swing ride!

Snow baby

Today was the first real snow storm that we have had since Taylor has been born. I had to bundle her up and take her out to experience it. I tried to talk her into building a snowman but she was more intersted in just sitting and looking pretty... maybe next time.

Littlest Fan

I thought for the exciting occassion of the Eagles actually making it in to the playoffs I would buy Taylor her very own Westbrook jersey. At the time I was okay with the possibility that she may only get to wear this once however now I am feeling pretty confident that she will be sporting this on February 1st as well! Go Birds!

9 Months old

This was a big month for Taylor... her whole world changed as she became mobile! She loves her new found ability to explore the world that she has been observing for the last 9 months. She is so happy to go after anything that we had not previously handed her to play with... shoes, newspapers, cell phones, tv remotes, the lap top, etc. I have to imagine that she has been sitting back waiting for this day to come!

Taylor also had a very bad cold this month. She was sick for about 10 days which was horrible. We felt so bad for her and sleeping was basically impossible. She coughed most of the night and frequently threw up (gross). I am making a note of this because this led us to pick her up and rock her anytime she cried in the middle of the night. While this seemed like the right thing to do at the time and probably what I will do in the future it completely sent all of our "sleep training" right down the drain. We now have a horrible sleeper on our hands. This coupled with her learning to pull herself up and stand in her crib is sure to be our biggest challenge for the month to come. Yea for us.

On a positive note Taylor has learned to hug this month. I think this is my favorite development so far. One night Mike was playing with her in her bedroom and he handed her her doll, who he named Madeline, and she grabbed her and pulled her close to her. It was the cutest thing in the world and of course we had to do it a hundred more time just to be sure it wasn't a fluke. Now when Mike or I pick her up she grabs our neck and squeezes. It is just the best feeling and probably what will get us through the sleepless nights ahead!

Christmas

Santa (AKA - Maddie and Pop Pop/Grammy and Grandpop) was good to Taylor! We could benefit from a playroom at this point because our living room is no longer very livable! Most of Taylor's new toys light up, make noise, roll, bouncy, spin and do anything that one would think would be very appealing to a 9 month old...which makes it that much funnier when she completely ignores them for the rolled up piece of wrapping paper, cardboard box, or bow. We had a great day and are so thankful for our wonderful families. Here are some pictures...

Dinner out with the Krepps family... Pre Christmas Celebration

The Cousins

Christmas morning...The first of many things that kept Mike and I up until Midnight Christmas night untwisting twist ties.

Christmas morning with Maddie and Pop Pop

Way too excited to sit long enough to have her pants put back on

Loving Mommy

Daddy's prized possession... and Taylor

Christmas dinner at Grammy and Grandpop's

Loving Nolan

What a difference a year makes

Last year at this time we were talking about all of our Christmas's to come and how different it would be to have children to celebrate them with. We were so excited to begin our lives as parents yet we had little idea what we had in store for us... the challenges, excitement, and joy. This Christmas we have out little girl here and we can't wait to celebrate the day with her. There is no doubt that she will have a ball and certainly no doubt that it will be our best Christmas yet!