BIG GIRL BED!

We converted Taylor's crib to a toddler bed yesterday.  We figured she was ready.  Plus, with us moving in a few months to Georgia, we didnt want her to have to worry about adjusting to a new house AND a new bed. 

She was ultra excited!  And did amazing in her new bed last night!

Daddy was hard at work, converting her bed

Someone was getting impatient

She was so excited to be able to get in and out of her bed!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from our family to yours.  We hope you all have a safe and enjoyable holiday season!

Bad Santa

Two nights ago, I realized we hadnt had a chance to take Taylor to see Santa.  We have been so busy in Toledo lately, it completely slipped my mind.  We were going to take her yesterday, but again...ran out of time.  So we woke up early this morning and took her.  The mall opened at 10, so we figured it'd be best to try to get there right when the mall opened and get it over with.  We got to the mall at 10:10 (Daddy's always late LOL) and it was packed!!  Thankfully, it was mostly shoppers and we beat the Santa rush. 

There were only about 4 or 5 people in front of us.  The sad part is Taylor was completely freaked out by Santa. Though she'd been spending the week pointing out Santa (in pictures, decorations, etc), she wanted nothing to do with him.  And this was even the same Santa she had seen the year before. So she cried. And yes, they snapped the picture when she was crying (I gave them to go-ahead).  Besides, it's a great memory and it'll be great to show it to her when she gets older. 

Bed Head!

So I've come to the conclusion that my kid will have horrible hair when she grows up.  She has horrible bed head...as in look below.  Yup, that's her "normal", everyday hair.  I've tried wetting it. I've tried anti-tangle sprays. I've tried bows, pony tails, clips, scrunchies (80s flashback HA)...nothing works.  So when you see pictures of Taylor and her hair's a mess....dont think she has parents that dont care.  Oh, we care.  There's just nothing we can do about it.

Banana-1; Mommy-0

This is her whole reason for waking up in the morning.  Not for mommy, not for daddy, not for kee kee.  But for "manana". 

Now you know why we call her "monkey".

Our first family Christmas.....

Since we will be traveling to Ohio for Christmas this year, we had decided to do our own mini-Christmas here at home with Taylor last night.  I put together her kitchen last night and Tim and I carried it up and put it in her playroom.  She also got to to open the rest of her gifts (a few sets of jammies, some books, a pair of shoes--she loves shoes, and one of those magnetic doodle etch a sketch type thingys).  She had a blast opening the presents (though it took her forever), but she's been enjoying playing with her kitchen and other toys.  I am looking forward to her opening more gifts. 

Two babies???

As most of you know, Tim had surgery today.  It actually went much more smoothly than I had originally thought it would. Tim was (and has been) awake, not in much pain, and doing fine.  Bad news is that since the surgery is on his foot, he's not able to walk around, etc.  So it's going to be like I'm taking care of two babies for the next few weeks.

So here I sit, as he plays video games on the computer....with the awful feeling this is going to be a long few weeks! 

Funny thing is the man's on crutches and can barely get around, but he made sure to hobble his way to the kitchen sink to wash his hands (the 100 times he does all day) HA HA

I have a feeling looking at this for a few more weeks is gonna get old. Ugh.  I've had enough after two days!

Monkeys, monkeys....everywhere!

For quite some time, I've been wanting to get a new guest bathroom set.  We've had the SAME palm tree set since 2004..when we were in Savannah, GA.  In all honesty, since we're so "anal", it's kept quite well and we've only had to change the inside shower curtains over the years.  Well, the time came when I figured I was going to get a new set.  Of course, money is always an issue with Tim so I asked for one for Christmas from my mom.  You know you're getting old when you ask for bathroom sets, kitchen dishes and things like that for Christmas.  Well, my birthday was last week, and my mom sent me birthday money (which she's been doing since forever), so I decided I was going to go buy my bathroom set. Then came the fun part, I really got to thinking...the guest bathroom is ultimately Taylor's bathroom, so why get something "nice and elegant" when I can get something fun.  Of course, it'd have to be gender neutral in case the next little one is a boy.  I saw the cutest set at my brother in law's house and decided it's perfect.  It was monkeys!!! Taylor LOVES monkeys and we've even called her "monkey" since she was a few months old because she would always make this "who who" sound in the car and she's OBSESSED with bananas.  So here it is, the cutest bathroom set for our little "Monkey".

The set came with a toothbrush holder, cup, soap dispenser and bar soap holder

So cute :)

The rugs really MAKE the room :)

And there's even a matching night light!

Check out the hooks holding the shower curtain!  They are little rubber monkeys

And I think THE BEST PART:  the trash can!  Hard part is that it's so heavy. It's not plastic, I think it's glass or porcelain.

Fastest 19 months of my life!

Gosh, I just realized today was December 4. Which means Taylor is 19 months old today!!  I just keep watching these numbers get higher and higher and just cant figure out where the last 19 months has gone! 

Here's the cutest kid, turned 19 months old today :)

Funny how time doesnt really seem like it's flying by, but then you wake up and realize your kid is going to be 2 years old in 5 short months (AHHHH!) Funny how things seem to cross your mind when you least expect it! 

And it's so funny how much she's grown, check out the stats:

**At birth, she was 8 pounds.  Now she's a whopping 29.2 lbs!  that's a 21.2 pound gain in 19 months.  Funny, it's the only time in her life when it'll be okay to gain that much weight! 

**At birth, she was 20 inches tall. Now she's 34.75 inches.  That's almost a 15 inch difference.  Over a foot tall in just 19 months!

**She now has a vocabulary of over 50 words and can communicate very well

**She still likes Moose and Zee, but has this new obsession with Dora the Explorer

**She's running, walking, jumping, climbing and all those good, fun things.

Christmas Time

Last year, Taylor was still in "the blob" stage. She was about 6-7 months old at Christmas time and was barely sitting up and pretty far from crawling.  She wasnt quite intrigued by the Christmas tree, she didnt understand opening presents, and was basically just my art canvas to dress in crazy clothes, santa outfits, uncomfortable dresses and reindeer slippers (which were a bust since she couldnt walk anyway).  This year I am beyond excited.  She's such a sponge, so she can start to understand things.  She can open presents (though she's still more interested in the wrapping paper than anything else), she can "wow" at the tree (and she really does, every night when we plug it in, she stands there and says "woooooow"), she loves looking at lights and we can start to teach her the reason for the season, which is our staple as a Catholic family.  I'm sure each year will get better and better, but this year is just so exciting.

Taylor staring at her tree!  She loves it!

And the tree in Taylor's bedroom!  She loved the big tree so much I just had to get her one for her room. 

Peek Boo

As I'm sure you're aware, Taylor does something cute every day.  Well, today she did something I JUST had to share...

While I was cooking her some lunch, Taylor was playing on the floor of her playroom, clanking together building blocks and throwing various puzzle pieces around the room.  All of a sudden, it got really quiet.  So I peeked in on her to see what she was doing.  I didnt see her in the middle of the playroom, so I turned my head to check both sides. Nothing.  So I went in the front room, where I was sure she'd be jumping on or climbing the couch.  Checked the front room, no Taylor.  So at this point, I started to get a bit nervous. I had been yelling her name and usually, by this point, she would answer or come running.  So I went back to her playroom and checked again, thinking she was in there and I missed something. No Taylor.  Went back to the front room, starting checking behind the couch, behind the chair. No Taylor.  I looked at the gates on the stairs, both were there and closed.  At this point, I'm freaking out just a tad and head back towards the playroom.  As I'm walking by the kitchen island, I happened to glance down at the stools and sure enough, there she was...curled up sitting on her legs in between (and partly behind one) of the stools.  No sooner than I had said, relieved, "there you are", she yells "PEEK BOO!".  I almost peed my pants laughing so hard at her!  The funniest thing about the whole thing is that for the whole 2 minutes or so it took me looking for her, frantically calling her name, she stayed in that spot, no movement and quiet as a mouse...until I found her.  Silly girl.

18 months old!

It's really hard to believe that 18 months ago at 6:45 pm, my little munchkin was taking her first breaths of air! Who'd have thunk it? I know at that moment, I was only thinking about her health, my health and how thirsty I was! After 9 hours in labor, I couldnt believe that beautiful, breathing human being was "mine" and I was going to get to take her home. What a joy!

Today my munchkin is 29.2 pounds (a WHOPPING 21.2 pound gain from birth) and 34.75 inches (almost 14 inches taller than when she was born!)

I just cant believe how big she has gotten! It just seems so surreal!

 
Here's the Taylor Tot playing INSIDE the basket where we keep her diapers. She's so funny sometimes!
 

I hope life slows down sometime soon....I dont want to miss anything!