Smiles, Tears, and a Thumb Sucker??

I cannot believe Taylor is almost 3 months!! It’s a weird thing though, because as much as I can’t believe she’s 3 months old, it also feels like we’ve had her for WAY longer than that! She is growing so quickly. It makes me sad and excited all at the same time. I am trying really hard not to keep looking forward to things that are coming up for her (belly laughing, sitting up, eating solid food, etc), but to really enjoy where she’s at right now. I thought I LOVED the newborn stage, and I did, but I absolutely love where she’s at right now. She is the sweetest baby I could have ever hoped for. She has such a mellow personality. She is so smiley and talkative. She basically lets Eric and I do whatever we want to do, and she just is so happy to come along for the ride. For example, the other day we went to dinner and she was so good. Then, we went to the driving range (which I was horrible at—but am excited to learn) and she just sat in her stroller and didn’t make a peep the whole entire time. It was so fun. We have gone down to Vegas twice now and she has been an angel the whole time. We have only had to stop once each way to feed her. Anyway, here are just some little fun fact about her…mostly so I don’t forget!

*At her two month appointment she weighed 11 ½ pounds—the 53^rd percentile. She has gained almost 3 pounds since she was born.

*She was 23 ½ inches long—the 76^th percentile. She has grown 4 ½ inches since she was born.

*Her head was in the 37^th percentile.

*She smiles all the time. But, sometimes I will be trying to get her to smile for like 5 minutes, and she won’t, then she’ll catch a glimpse of the ceiling fan out of the corner of her eye and will give the biggest smile. I think sometimes she just gets a little tired of me!

*She does a cute little laugh. Not a full out laugh yet, but it’s still sooo precious.

*SHE ROLLED OVER. Yes, on Saturday she did her first roll, and has done it everyday since. So, now we are being better about putting her in her crib for nap time. This is a good and a bad thing. I am so excited that she did it, but then I have to be much more careful where I put her.

*She doesn’t mind being in her car seat at all. She usually falls asleep pretty fast in the car. This makes it nice for me, because I get nervous driving very far with just her and I. We did have one bad experience already which involved crying so hard she wasn’t breathing, and me nursing her on the side of the highway!! Oh so fun!

*She USUALLY sleeps through the night. But, she hasn’t totally mastered that, last night was evidence of that. She went to bed at 11, was up at 1, then 3:30, then 5, then 7:30! What the?!?! So really, I should be taking a nap now! Usually she sleeps from like 11-5, or 11-6. Not too bad.

*She takes pretty good naps during the day. We’re not on a schedule yet, because we’ve just been gone too much. Lately she’s just been napping on the go. But, she’s really easy going, so this doesn’t seem to bother her too much.

*She’s getting really good with her hands. Well, sort of good. She can pull her binky out with no problem, but she cannot seem to get it back in, unless she rolls on top of it, which she did this morning. I will be ecstatic when she figures out how to get that back in. She has started grabbing at my hair. She is really fascinated with her face, though. She pushes her cheeks in with both hands, it is so cute. She has also found her ears, and loves to grab and them and pull them. The first day she did this I thought for sure she had an ear infection. I called my mom and the doctor to see if they thought she did. Turns out she just found her ears!

*She sucks on her hands a lot. Only once did she ever suck her thumb. (See pic below)

*She spits up like crazy! (See picture below)

*She loves Eric. I swear she gets tired of seeing me. When he comes home she is all talky-talky to him. I love it!

*She loves to watch TV. Her and Eric will just sit and watch together…she definitely gets this from him—I’m not a big TV watcher.

*She loves when I read her stories. She gets really excited and really stares at the pictures.

*When she gets excited she pumps her arms and legs up and down really fast. Or, she looks like she is riding a bike.

*She LOVES her bath. The other day Eric gave her like a 20 minute bath, and she would have stayed in there much longer if we would let her. I’m excited to take her swimming, we’ll see if she likes it.

I love my little girl sooo much. She is such a great baby, and a huge blessing to Eric and I.

Baby Tay trying soo hard to hold those cheeks up! Yeah, I think she's not quite ready for this chair yet, but it was a good try!

Soo sweet. This is the one and only time she has found her thumb. It was precious.

This is her lovely spit up. Gotta love it.

Yes, it was tough to get a picture with her and I. This was right before she had to go get all her shots at the doctors. Poor thing.

I loved this picture. All so sleepy.

Taylor and Claire holding hands. I can't believe how much bigger Claire is than Taylor. They grow sooo fast!:(

Just a goofy picture of Spencer and baby Tay.

Great Grandma. This was at Grandma's 80th birthday party. I'm sure Taylor loves her, even though she's making a funny face!
So sweet. We appreciated this sleeping pose, her holding the bink and all.

**Also, funny/sad story about her 2 month doctor's appointment. I asked Sue (Eric's mom) to go with me to get her shots for some support, I just knew I would be a bawling mess. Well, Sue held her binky in while they gave the shots (5 of them!!), and I stood off to the side not watching. They handed her to me as soon as they put the band-aids on. She was soo sad, and was bawling like a champ. Anyway, I did alright. I was oh so sad for her, but no tears. But, Sue on the other had was a little bit of a crying mess. So much for the support!!:)

CUTIE HEAD!

Guess Who!

Alright, this is my Miss Mun's (or Nun's) pre-school class. Can anyone guess who all the people are?

P.S. Don't worry about the 2 bottom left girls, I ain't got a clue, but you win automatically if you can guess who they are. Good Luck!

Baby Eeevil

Mom has no idea I'm going to hold the world hostage for... ONE MILLION DOLLARS!

Is Your Baby This Smart?

Not to be too proud of our little genius, but Taylor is only 2 months old tomorrow and yet, she has learned seemingly spontaneously to follow my instructions word for word, first time out of the shoot, without any practice whatsoever. Notice how she doesn't even have to concentrate on what I'm saying, it's like she's not even listening to me, but with the expertize for which one searches in vain save in the Darold Treffert School For Savants, she follows my every command with hair splitting exactitude. "Hmm... what shall we do tomorrow baby Tay? Perhaps I'll teach you to drive the family car!

Random

First and foremost, Taylor slept for 7 HOURS LAST NIGHT!!! Then, woke up, ate, and slept for two more! That's right, I am one lucky mama. She is such a good baby, and I love her so much. She seems like she is getting SO big. The other day I visited my two friends' kids. One is 4 pounds, and the other is 6 1/2. Ever since then Taylor has seemed like a giant! Oh yeah, Taylor totally did the cutest giggle on Wednesday. She did it once for my dad, then again for Eric that night. But, she hasn't done it since. Also, she is becoming a champ at smiling, I just love it. Anyway, here are some random pictures that I love.

Oli holding baby Tay. She was so cute when she was holding her. She kept talking to her in the squeaky high pitched baby talk. She was saying, "Oh she so cute, I wuv hu", it was precious!

Taylor's cute swirly cowlick on the back of her head.

This was precious. We went to a friends house for a birthday party, and I was hanging out, chatting with the girls. We walked back into the livingroom to see what our hubby's were doing, and this is how we found them. Each holding their little baby! These babies were born May 5th, 10th, and 15th!! Check out the hair on the middle one...SOO CUTE!! I just love dads with their babies.
Taylor laying on my dad. She slept there for quite awhile!

Here we have smarty pants Nelson. I think this picture is hilarious! We put my sister Hannah's glasses on her, and basically she hated it...but I was cracking up. I'm such a mean mom!

Practicing her cute smile...I just LOVE IT!

She thinks Papa is just so funny!

My brother Curtis holding her.

Aunt Saren. She would sit and do this all day, every day if she could!

I also wanted to say HAPPY (early) FATHERS DAY to all you fathers. I have the best dad in the whole wide world. He is so easy to talk to, and has the best advice. He is never critical of me, and always shows me how much he loves me. I LOVE HIM! Also, Eric is the greatest dad. I'm sure if Taylor could talk she would agree. Anyway, happy fathers day!

Quick Question...

Ok, so in July my aunt, uncle and their three boys are coming into town. They will be spending 3-4 days here with us. But, they are flying in and out of Vegas, and will be spending a day there. We were going to look up some things to do while they were down in Vegas, but then I thought...I need to do a new blog anyway, so I'll ask them! So, what would you recommend doing in Vegas in one day?? What is the best kid stuff to do there? Their boys are ages 9, 6, and 3 (I think...somewhere around there). Also, if you have any suggestions about stuff in Utah county for kids, I would love to hear them.

A few things we've thought of in Utah county:
7 peaks waterpark
Thanksgiving Point petting zoo, Imax, and dinosaur museum
A "hike" and picnic in Provo Canyon (since they NEVER see the mountains in Missouri!)
Maybe a trip to Park City for the Alpine slides

I would love any ideas!

Also, we are blessing Taylor the last Sunday in June (the 28th). We will bless her in our old ward so my dad will be able to make it. Sacrament is at 9 (I know, early...sorry!). Let me know if you want directions. You're all welcome!!