Skinny Dipper

Riddle me this: How does a baby girl HATE her bath-time, yet enjoy skinny dipping in the pool!? Is it the sunshine? Or maybe the thrill of being naked where you shouldn't be? It's a mystery to me, but we were very pleasantly surprised when Taylor tolerated (dare I say... enjoyed?) her first experience in the backyard pool. Hmmm, maybe we should move bath-time outdoors from now on!



Gotta love a naked baby!

Sleeping around the house!

Note to Taylor: If you fall asleep while mommy is putting on her makeup, then you will nap in the bathroom. If you fall asleep in your car seat, then there you will remain until you wake up. I gotta say, I'm so glad Taylor is one of those babies that can fall asleep anywhere and get a good snooze! So far, she just goes with the flow of our day without getting too worked up about anything. She's in the phase where every new place and new face is fascinating and she is content to just take in her surroundings. When daddy isn't home and I need to grab a shower, she is a perfect baby sitting in her bouncy seat in the bathroom. She hasn't spent a lot of time there, so for her it's like this new secret place in the house she's never been to before! ...And the stimulation of a new place makes for a good, hard nap later on!

Baby Pterodactyl

When I was pregnant and contracted the "swine flu" we joked that I was going to birth a little piggy. While she did not turn out to be a little piggy, I am now realizing that Taylor is part pterodactyl! I should have know by the constant flapping of her arms and legs while she plays. But this last week, her new behavior confirms it! Allllll day long Taylor shrieks and squeals as shown in this video. It's so cute to see her testing out the volume and quality of her voice. We think she has a perfect pterodactyl impression.

We remember

Today we took a trip to Tempe Town Lake (or more accurately tempe town mud puddle) to commemorate the 9th anniversary of 9/11. It was beautiful to see hundreds of flags, each with a yellow ribbon and card with the name of either a NY police officer or firefighter or the name of someone lost in the trade center attack. They placed teddy bears under flags denoting children who were lost, and boots under flags to recognize military servicemen and women. Today we honor those who lost their lives, and also those who continue to fight for our freedoms and safety. Taylor would like to give a special thanks to her Uncle David and Aunt Darcy for their service in the Army, and also to her daddy for his daily service and protection here in our community. We praise God for bestowing bravery upon the people who daily go about the business of keeping us safe and secure.

Sweet Potatoes!!

Tay had her 4 months check up this week. We've got a 15 pounder!!! She's up to the 75th percentile for height and weight. Grow, baby, grow! We got the go ahead to start some more baby foods in addition to rice cereal, so today Taylor had a few slurps of sweet potatoes! This also means mommy's shirt got some sweet potatoes, Riley got a whole new reason to lick the baby, and later we anticipate a sweet potato poo... I've heard we're in for a rude awakening when babies start adding variety to their diets. Tay seemed to really enjoy this new taste sensation, and I learned it's hard to get orange spit up off of clothes!

Puppy-sitter

We are so proud of Riley! She has really taken to Taylor. To err on the side of caution, I started putting Tay on the floor instead of the ottoman for playtime as she is starting to roll and shimmy around better. It took a few days of "Riley! Don't sit on the baby!" and "Riley, stop licking the baby!!" and even "Put that down, Riley, that's a baby toy, not a puppy toy!!" She's starting to be okay with sharing the floor space with Taylor, and Taylor seems to enjoy time with her puppy-sitter. I can't wait till Tay can crawl. I think they'll really keep each other busy then!

Daddy & Me

Tay has been keeping daddy busy as mama has returned to work (well, sort of... it's only been a few shifts so far). Daddy gets to experience a full 14 hour day of parenting alllllllll by himself. But, no worries, he does a great job playing and cooing with Tay (she's a very talkative baby), watching baseball games with her, and keeping her in fresh dry diapers! He even bought her a dozen beautiful pink roses yesterday (well, maybe a few were for mommy). I think she's got him wrapped around her finger...err maybe more like she's wrapped around his neck!