44 Weeks Old!

This week in pictures will show you:

New Accomplishments:

Taylor is pulling herself up on the furniture.  You will even see our brave girl climbing her nap nanny effortlessly to get up on the couch.  Figured out how to roll over and out of her bouncy chair and use it as a walker.  

Loads of new foods:

Taylor likes oranges / tangelos. She likes a little something sweet. She loves to feed herself and is very excited to do so.  Taylor has learned to grab Cheerios out of the little snack cup. Taylor tried pesto pizza crust and loves it! She has quite the palate.  She tried some Mexican food with Grandpa and PF Changs chinese food with Grandma.  She also tried trout and shrimp. Yum yum!

Visitors & Trips:

We drove up to Sedona to saw my dad & Marilyn for a night.  Taylor enjoys playing with them and relaxing around their house.  Kelly Milner came in for a night before he and OZ headed out to Virginia. We were all able to have a nice dinner together.  Tonight we landed in Portland.  Off to spend more time with family.  We had dinner and hung out with OZ's Grandma Leona & Mom.  We are now at OZ's brother Walt & Hallie's and heading to Pendleton Oregon tomorrow to meet up with more family. 

Taylor was still feeling a little funky at the beginning of the week.  So there were extra snuggles in momma's bed for her in the morning.  Where she would proceed to fall back asleep.  She was also able to watch the big magic box (the t.v.) and zone out a little on some baby development channel.  It was cute how she would giggle at the peek-a-boo show. 

Off for another fun 7 more days. 

Click here for pictures from this week. 

Meg.

43 Weeks Old!

Taylor's 2 new tricks this week: Give kisses & High Five! 

This week Taylor:

• tried pizza & chocolate (loved both. ok... she licked chocolate and gnawed a little on the pizza crust, but it still counts right?)
• went to Flounder's draft & played with Tressie & Brock
• fed the turtle at Uncle Poppy's
• had dinner with Eddie & Ellen 
• had a bit of a growth spurt.

Taylor is becoming a quick little crawler.  She can really move from place to place I can walk into the kitchen, turn around and there she is following right behind me.  

She likes to talk (really loudly).  She likes to feed herself with both hands.  She uses her little pinchers to grab Cheerios and put them in her mouth.  She had her first fever this week, nothing too exciting, it just made her a little more cuddly and sleepy than usual.  She's back to her old self already.  I thought it might be teething, but still no teeth in sight.  She can high five on command, but we're not clapping on her own just yet.  She does love when you help her clap.  Patty-cake and peek-a-boo (where's Taylor) are 2 of her favorite games. When we talk to OZ on the phone. She smiles at his voice and in a whisper says, "dada", its very sweet. 

See you in 7 more days!  Click here for pictures from this week.

Meg.

42 Weeks Old!

As you can see morning yoga is paying off!  

Click here to see pictures from this week!

In this week's pictures you'll see Taylor:

• attended a double surprise party, a bridal shower and Thanksgiving. Last year we had an early surprise Thanksgiving for my sister before she left for London, so we decided to do the same thing this year and combine it with a surprise bridal shower for cousin Debra. 
• A quick stop in at Mesa Corporate to visit Uncle Poppy, Jonathan & Mrs. Amber.  As Mesa newest flight attendant, she sat through some serious training in Uncle Poppy's office. 
• helping everyone with their picks at her first fantasy football draft.  She donned her ASU cheerleading outfit for the first time! Lots of pictures of her helping everyone out.  
• out at Macayo's wishing Corbin a Happy Birthday & visiting with her favorite Wanstens, Matty & Amber. 
• eating chicken like a big girl. 
• hanging with cousin Kellen
• playing & saying good-bye to Aunt Fuzz.
• and girls lunch out with Ms TC. 

Taylor's newest thing is to crinkle her nose with a big cheesy smile.  She will often do it in response to us doing it to her. She took her first big tumble of our bed. Luckly landing right on a pillow.  She is a pretty tough girl. She likes being airplaned. She thinks it is hilarious if we hold her up and put her on top of our head.  It results in a guaranteed giggle. 

Click here to see pictures from this week of Taylor visiting with everyone. 

More to come next week.  
Meg. 

41 Weeks Old!

It was another great week with the family.  We all went to Sedona to surprise my dad for his birthday. 

Click here to see the pictures from this week.

It was a fantastic surprise and a wonderful weekend, filled games and good times.  The first annual All Pro Mikey's (mini) Golf tournament went off with out a hitch.  Taylor spent time going from arms to arms of everyone in the family.  She loved it.  She had a great time. She didn't want to miss a thing.  We spent time down by Oak Creek at  Tlaquepaque and lots of time just hanging out on the back porch playing Rummikub & Blokus. 
It was a quiet week back home.  We tried new foods, did I mention this girl loves avocado. She enjoying feeding herself.  It's a long process, but she really enjoys it.  She's drinking out of a sippy cup regularly.  Peek-a-boo is one of her favorite games. Throughout the day she happily sings her coos & makes her little talking sounds, and often quite load.  This girl wants to be heard.  She is moving at a pretty good pace and quite impressed with herself and her mobility.  If I don't buckle her into her bouncy chair on the floor, she will quickly turn over and crawl out legs first to the floor.  She's also pulling herself up on to her knees, not quite to her feet yet.  but soon I'm sure.  
Taylor enjoys her nightly bath, splish splashing and playing with her rubber ducky. Then off to bed.  

Now it's off to bed for me.  
Until next week. 

Meg.

40 Weeks Old!

Ok, I'm playing a little catch-up.  It's been a busy month.  Taylor had her 9 month check up last week.  She's a whopping 16 pounds.  Growing cuter with every pound!

Click here for lots of adorable pictures.

Last week we were in Enterprise, Oregon. We arrived in the middle of the night and Taylor was awoken in the morning by lots of cutie cousins. It was a house full of people at Papa Shaw's. 25 total, 23 staying there.  OZ's siblings, spouses & all their kids. There were people everywhere, but it was a ton of fun. 

Kristy brought tie-dye and all the kids made tie-dye shirts... (and a onesie for Taylor).   

We spent a couple of days at Wallowa Lake.

In the evening we walked down to Terminal Gravity, the brewery at the bottom of Papa Shaw's hill. Delicious eats and a great beers. They have tables outside and the weather was great. 

Back to the lake the next day for some canoeing, paddle boarding, floating and napping. 

Went to TG that evening with the Hermans, Played a bunch of Mexican Train dominos.

On the way home we stopped to see OZ's brother Joe & the kids. Then off to see his Grandparents and of course play some Pinochle!! Loved it.  Great Grandma & Grandpa love seeing Taylor.  Grandpa gets a big kick out of saying her name and her looking up at him.  

Taylor did great on her flights.  She's definitely becoming more active.  She scoots and moves all day.  She's starting to use her pincher finger to pick up cheerios and food, followed by grabbing her sippy cup for a drink of water to wash it down with. What a big girl. 

Until Next week... 

Meg. 

39 Weeks Old!

Click here for photos from this week.

So we're already on the road again an I haven't even posted the blog from last week.
Currently we are driving from Boise, ID to Enterprise, OR at 3:30am.  We'll be here for 5 days. But more to come on that next week. Back to Maryland ...
Last week ended with us arriving in Maryland for a long awaited visit with the Kules fam. Loved every minute of it. Soaking up all the amazing tid bits of information from the smooth running household of Operation Kules.

In the pictures you'll see Taylor:

Listening intently to Jillian reading her chapter books. 

Apparently the Olympics have the same affect on Ryan as they do on Taylor Poppy. 

A gaggle of kids skyping good morning to the Surakus'

Taylor trying to keep up with speedy Liv, dance party with Jillian & sharing a baby smooch with big boy Evan! 

We made our way back to PHX  made our way to the Harris's for some delicious ribs. (add that to Taylor's firsts.) While there Abby & Hanna taught Taylor the fun of dress-up. Very fun. 

Tried lemon sorbet with Papa, which by the way is also the first "word" Taylor understands. I can ask Taylor, "Where's Papa?" and she will look over at his picture. 

Spent time with Grandma showing her the new silly face Taylor likes to make by crinkling her nose. 

And lastly ending the week spending time with the Pappaioanous in from Carmel, Indy.  They love them some Taylor Poppy and she has no qualms about entertaining them with her endless smiles. 

Off we go. Until next week. 

Meg. 

38 Weeks Old!

Click here for this weeks photos!

This week Taylor:

• started the week with a belated family birthday party (super cute photos of Taylor and Kellen!  Taylor could not take her eyes off of Kellen- he made her laugh the whole time and she was quite smitten with him)
• attended Kenley's baby shower (Taylor loved hanging out with all the ladies.  We were very happy to spend time with Kenley, Artemis & Jamie- Taylor was soaking up all their love and always looks forward to spending time with these girls!)
• helped Momma and Papa celebrate our wedding anniversary (7 years!)
• fell asleep watching the Olympics with Daddy
• watched Mommy's first attempt at curling ribbon for making hair bows (I'm prepping in advance for when she finally grows more hair!!)
• tried meat for the first time (a trophy elk Daddy hunted out of the Kaibab National Forest! She has already developed a taste for backstrap and can't wait for more.  Good thing, because there's lots of elk in her future!!)
• went out to lunch with Grandma at Macayo's
• caught her 19th flight to Maryland to see our good friends the Kules.  (More photos to come next week of our fun here in the East!  We've only been here for one day, but Taylor is really enjoying watching the Kules kids (especially 13 month old Evan) and seems to think they are pretty cool!
• is expanding her sense of taste.  New foods (in addition to the elk!) are chicken, apple sauce, broccoli and a little bit of cheese sauce.

More to come in 7 days!  Have a great week!