On the move!

Today marks Taylor's first successful attempt at crawling! She's been rocking back and forth on her hands and knees for weeks and she finally put it all together and got her hands and knees coordinated into a forward motion! She doesn't go far, only about a foot in length at a time, but it's a good start! We are so proud of her! And I can tell that she is very proud of herself, too!

Merry Christmas, baby!

Taylor's first Christmas was so much fun! Much more than I actually anticipated! She was just into everything! She touched all the wrapping paper, held every new toy, and put everything in her mouth! She was also very excited about Riley's toys and mommy and daddy's toys. We send a big thank you to Taylor's aunts, uncles, grandmas, grandpas (including the "greats") for such a special day! After opening all of her presents (... she made out like a bandit!) we went to Jill & Scott's for Christmas dinner and more Christmas celebrating. Taylor also really enjoyed the Christmas lights and all the tree ornaments. We put some lights up above the kitchen cabinets and she got very excited about them every time we walked into the kitchen and she caught a glimpse. Oh, and another cute little story: We went to Christmas eve service at church with some friends including their kids who are around 6-7ish years old. Afterwards, the kids were just itching to hold little Taylor in their laps. When it was Aeneas's turn to hold Taylor, he carefully gathered her up in his arms and commented "It's just like holding little baby Jesus!" I thought it was the cutest thing to say!

Just the way you are

Our long anticipated photo shoot with a co-worker and friend finally took place after months of anticipation. Rachael does such incredible work, and I am so happy to know her and to have her photograph Taylor. I admire her talent so much and I wish I could have her capture every precious moment of Taylor's life so beautifully! We had a lot of fun and can't wait to have her photograph Taylor when she's a little older. Enjoy this video showcase of our beautiful little girl. This is a popular song right now and every time I hear it I think of Taylor because there is not a thing I would change about her... she is perfect the way God made her!

It all started with "Baby Tay"

Taylor, being the big girl that she is, gets to join us for dinner at the table... although sometimes she thinks dinner IS the table. She's teething, there's no stopping her, we just go with it. I thought it'd be fun to write down some nicknames we have for Taylor... there are so many and they change all the time so I know I'll forget them as time goes on.
Let's see, it started with "Baby Tay" then there was...
Baby-sweet (from Grandma)
'T Double G' (if she ends up a rap artist and needs a cool name.. we can't take credit for this, a friend thought it up)
Babydoll
Sweet-Baboo (my dad used to call me this on occasion... I've caught him using it with Tay....awww)
Muff (I think this was short for muffin)
Sweetie-muff
Puff
Tater (from 2 1/2 yr old cousin, Kate)
Tater-puff
Cuddle-puff
Cuddle-monster
Chunky-monkey (Not in a mean way... She was a monkey for halloween)
Squeeker
Squeekerton
Squiggle
Squiggle-puff
Stinker (I think every baby gets this nickname at some point)
Tater-fish
Stinker-fish
Stinkerton

wow, I must sound crazy.

Will Santa find me at Aunt Kelly's????

Taylor was mesmerized with her first Christmas tree sighting, which happened to be at Aunt Kelly's house! All those sparkling lights were just awesome! I don't think Taylor wanted to leave that Christmas tree... and I think Santa still would've found her if she didn't. We got our Christmas tree up at home last weekend, and while not as impressive as Aunt Kelly's, it twinkles enough to hold her gaze. I'm glad she's not crawling yet because there are some pretty ornaments that surely would come down if Taylor could get to them.

Hi Ho! Hi Ho! it's off to work we go!

The time has finally come for mommy to return to the workforce. After taking some planned time off with Taylor, studying for my board exam, taking my board exam, job-hunting, then waiting and waiting for my license (whew!), mommy is back to work. It's a pretty good situation for all of us. Tuesday is "Daddy Day..." it's a whole day of one-on-one for the TG's. Then, Wednesday and 1/2 of Thursday Taylor goes to home-daycare. She is so good and has sooo much fun. I still get plenty of time in the mornings before work and the evenings after work to spend with her. Of course, I'm still adjusting to the idea of being away from my sweet girl all day, but we are blessed to be in a position where I can work part-time so I can dedicate most of my time to my most important job: Mommy. Jenni is so sweet to update me with pictures of Taylor during her time at daycare, these are a few. (And no, that's not crawling yet, just rocking back and forth on hands and knees)