Dinner at Cadin's house

Saturday night we went to Aunt Lisa, Uncle Danny, and Cadin's house for dinner. It was such an enjoyable evening we can't wait to do it again!

Taylor and Cadin were so amazingly wonderful; they played with each other all night, no fusses, copied what the other did, didn't get into any arguments over not sharing (except for right before bed), and were just so darn cute! Some of the fun moments included:
1. Cadin and Taylor playing at the easel together, on the oppostie side from where we were so all we could see were their cute four legs together.
2. Cadin and Taylor putting craft pom-poms onto the train table and "choo-choo"ing the trains through the ones they put on the bridge.
3. Cadin eating two bowls of macaroni-and-cheese!
4. Taylor squeezing glue so perfectly onto ALL of the Valentine hearts that Aunt Lisa had probably for Cadin to make art projects with. She then put pieces of tissue paper, gem sitckers that Cadin opened, and doilies onto the hearts. That art at school really pays off!
5. Taylor going potty on the "little potty" in the bathroom and Cadin going in to see her then sitting right in front of her with his legs stretched out around her potty, talking to her! Soooo cute!
6. Reading books together on Baby Julia's play mat.

The four of us adults were able to play Skip Bo, only interrupted by wanting to take pictures or videos of our adorable kids together! Our night flew by and we actually stayed until past midnight! Not only did we play Skip Bo (and were completely dominated by Lisa and Danny) but we also played a round of Mexican Train. Many bottles of wine later, we headed home happy that we had just had such a wonderful night with such awesome friends. We are so lucky!

Two years and one month old


Cadin closing the lid of the potty seat after Taylor went potty.




Taylor did "art" for sooooo long!


Cadin sharing gem stickers with Taylor


Way past their bedtime...trying to get in some last play time together.


Thanks for the fun night Lisa and Danny!!

Pink Eye!!!

Taylor has had an icky cough and runny nose for a few days now but today (Wednesday) she woke up with a crusted over eye!!! I immediately thought the worst, wiped it out, and considered her staying home for the day. I had tons of work appointments so BJ and I divided and conquered. I kept Taylor in the morning while my wonderful coworkers covered appointments for me and BJ took Taylor in the afternoon.

As the morning went on Taylor's eye ended up not being pink and she was in the best mood ever (still with a horrible cough and runny nose). I thought she fooled me!! I just didn't want to be THAT mom, sending her child to school with pink eye and getting every other kid sick. So, she stayed home and we went to our doc appointment at 11:00. Taylor was so excited to go see Dr. Julie. She calls her "My Dr. Julie, non mommy's Dr. Julie." It's so cute...she is so excited about going. I told her she would not get pokes today and she was even more excited (although I think she kind of wanted them, especially after she didn't get a lollipop because I told her that they are special treats for pokes). Dr. Julie confirmed the crust and said we caught it early; there were definite early signs of pink eye.

While I was at work daddy got Taylor's prescription filled, ready for me to pick up on my way home (an entire other post that I won't do just because it's annoying to rehash the horrible, unorganized process of CVS's pharmacy). After I got home from work, Taylor's eye was bright pink with goo coming out of it the rest of the night! Thank goodness for mommy radar and catching this icky thing early. She's on medication and hopefully ready for daycare tomorrow. Yay!

Here she is one day after...we had to keep her home and no daycare. :( Pink eye is in her right eye...hardly noticeable!

Taylor- starting off 2010

Taylor has started the year 2010 with so many amazing qualities, I couldn't help but share them with everyone.

Taylor's language always amazes us and at two years old she is talking in full sentences, using such big words for her age. It is truly amazing. The other night she pulled out the word "doesn't" which was so cool. She was unscrewing a lid on a water bottle and it got stuck so she said, "It doesn't open." Wow, so gramatically correct! Today I gave her a Danimals Yogurt (the ones you drink) and she said, "Don't spill it," and "Don't shake it." She used to say "No spill it," and "No shake it." I'm just so amazed at how the complicated English language is learned so easily by typically developing children. Amazing!!

Taylor also went through a "Leave me alone" or "Leave it alone" phase where whenever we would touch her or her toys when she didn't want us to she would pull out one of those phrases. The funny part was that she says her "L's" so well that she would really emphasize them and expand them out. So it would be like this: "Llllleave me allllone!" During the same phase she also loved the phrase "I do it!" That was a few weeks of constant "I do it" and "Leave me alone" but she has since relaxed with those phrases and uses them sporadically, or a little nicer.

She's very independent, as seen from above, and she likes to help and do many things all by herself. Brushing her teeth is one of the big ones. She likes to get the toothbrush head from the holder herself, put it on the handle by herself, we put our foot down about putting the toothpaste on, and she then likes to brush her whole mouth by herself. Of course, mommy and daddy have to take a turn after Taylor finishes. :) She likes to pick out her own clothes, get dressed by herself (undies, pants, socks and shoes...not yet the shirt), and even help et meals ready. I often make the joke that she is going to be ready to live on her own at 5 years old! Haha!

One proud moment to end this post. Taylor and I were watching the Tinker Bell movie (her absolute favorite!) and the Queen came on the screen. Taylor said, "That's Tinker Bell's mommy." She then scooted over to me on the couch, locked her arm in mine, put her head on my shoulder and said, "That's Taylor's mommy" in the sweetest voice ever. Ahhhh. My heart melted.

Big Bump on the Head

Today we went to mommy and me and when we got home we were walking in the house from the garage. I came in and held the door open for Taylor while I was turning off the alarm. All of a sudden I heard a thump and delayed whining. I turned around and Taylor was on her hands and knees winding up to scream. I picked her up, just thinking she tripped but immediately saw a huge indentation about 3 inches wide (like a horizontal slice)on her forehead. She had tripped most likely on the rug that lays over the stair and then her head flung forward and hit the metal strip that is at the bottom of the door jam. Ouch!

I immediatly started thinking the worst. I am taking a brain injury class at school and so my mind started to wander. I got her ice pack and opened my textbook to see what part of the brain would be damaged from injuries to the forehead. All my mind kept thinking was "brain injury is the biggest silent epidemic" and "brain injuries aren't identified in children until they are older when the delays are more apparent." The indentation slowly started to go away and the area of impact just turned red and blue. She was acting normal, could walk, count, and do all the things she normally could do. I decided to hold her until the babysitter got here to see how Taylor would react (Taylor LOVES Katherine, the babysitter). When Katherine got here, Taylor immediately said, "Tinker Bell movie with Katherine!" She was fine!

So, I left for work a little while later and Katherine just kept an eye on her throughout the day.

Below is a picture of her battle wound now (not too bad).


Here's Taylor playing at night having so much fun in mommy's heels.

Camping for New Year's Eve

This year we went camping in Anza Borrego State Park for New Year's Eve. Our friends Silas and Julia as well as Jeremy and Morgan joined us for our celebration.

On Friday, the day we were leaving, BJ was packing up the jeep and getting it ready to go and low and behold he found that the whole transfer case (I could be making up that word!), or the thing that holds the transmission in place, was cracked and hanging on by a thread basically. So, we called our friends and asked how bumpy the road to the campground was. We typically go to a spot that takes a somewhat offroad vehicle to get to (you have to climb over rocks and stuff). He said it was pretty flat with some sandy spots but a non-4x4 should make it. So, we threw everything into our Saturn Outlook and headed out. Sure enough, we made it and it was a wonderful place for Taylor to be, a very large open lake bed so all the cacti were up on the hills but not where we were camping. It was great! Below are some pictures of our fun time.

Here I am getting comfy in the tent and playing with mom's make-up. Mascara on the lips!!


Mommy climbed a big rock so of course I wanted to go up to her.


Taylor helping daddy put together glow-in-the-dark bocci balls.


Snacking with the ladies and...the dog without a name (Silas and Julia got her just a few days before!).


Jeremy playing washers


Taylor being oh-so-cute!


Taylor so cold in the morning before the sun came up.


One of the best things about the trip was that Taylor learned to go pee-pee behind the rocks (on the ground)! She squated and Iheld her under her arms and she thought it was the coolest thing. We have an official camper!

Taylor's 2009 Art Work

Here is a fun slideshow of all of Taylor's art work from daycare from the year 2009. Enjoy!!!