Our Walking Wonder!

As of January 29th Taylor is officially walking on her own! About mid January she began to use her walker wagon, then she would take a few steps and fall. Now is off on her own walking all around the house, and we can barely keep up! Tay is so proud of herself, and she should be! She is very quick and she can get around the house before you even have the chance to wonder where she may be. It is amazing to see this tiny little 7 month size baby running around! Especially in her bare feet! She is also getting very good at climbing up the stairs! It takes her about 30 seconds to get all the way up the 14 stairs to the upper floor! I can hardly believe it!
As of Valentines Day Tay will be 15 months, and we will take her to the doctor for her check up. I will have a better update on her size and weight then, but for now, all I can tell you is that she is offically out of all clothes 3-6 month! She is even too big for the items which are 6 month!
Taylor is also drooling a lot! We have a bib on her whenever we can, and we are constantly wiping off drool. She is working on teeth number 7 and 8 and we believe they are molars since she is shoving everything into theback of her mouth. Tay is a little crankier than usual, but she is dealing with it very well. She loves to chew on ice! I cant get her to drink anything throughout the day, but ice cubes, she loves them!
Tay's naps are getting fewer and farther between. She has a good schedule that works well for me, she sleeps until 9 am or so, naps between 2 and 3pm, and is in bed around 9pm. I just wish that the naps lasted longer than 15 to 20 minutes! Oh well, I guess some things never change!
We have had a bunch of snow hit recently, about 12 inches just yesterday! Taylor loves it! We took her out sledding and to playing the snow and she just smiled and ate the snow! We walked around the lake on the ice, sledded down the hill in the backyard, and watched Daddy blow the snow off the lake so we could skate! I think we were out there for almost two hours!
Our little girl is growing so big, and we see something new everyday. Her newest word is bubble, which makes her able to say Kitty, Daddy, Doggie, Ducky, Bubble, Baby, Bye, Hi, and Thank you! She even knows what all of them even mean and when to say them! She has three words in sign, Please, More and Eat. These have come in tremendously! The other day I caught her "fedding" her duck! And she is beginning to interact with the other kids at Gymboree!

Taylor's Baptism

On January 13th, Taylor was Baptised at Anitoch Lutheran Church, the church where I grew up. We met with Pastor Chreiss the day before to go over the ceremony procedure and to meet with the other family who would also be having their daughter Baptised. We also found out that we had chosen a very special day to have Tay Baptised, as this was the day Jesus was Baptised! The ceremony was held on during normal service hours, as Taylor was welcomed into the Christian faith by the entire church family.

Many people came to celebrate with us. My mom, Gram, friends Marty, Bruce, Beth and Elyse, along with Tony's brother Keith and his three children Joshua, Kayla and Nicholas, all were there. Bethany and Keith are Taylor's Godparents, and they seemed very happy to be there.

Taylor did very well during the service, staying very quiet and playing with everyone! When we were at the altar, the only time Taylor cried was when Pastor Chreiss put the cross on her head with the blessed oil. After the Baptism, we proceeded with normal service and Taylor enjoyed being around everyone!

After the ceremony we went to the Family Buggy for lunch. We all had a great time. Tony, Taylor and I would like to send our Thanks to everyone who came out for the day and for all that everyone did. The following pictures were taken by our dear friend Marty, who is a genius with the camera!

Merry Christmas!

The Friday before the Christmas holiday, I took Taylor out into the snow and Jeff, our neighbor pulled her around in the sled! Here is a shot of Taylor enjoying the snow!




Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We all had a wonderful Christmas, spent with family and friends! We spent Christmas Eve at Tony's parents house and enjoyed the frigid weather as best we could. Taylor's Uncle Keith and cousins, Joshua, Kayla and Nick also came for dinner and presents. After the wonderful dinner of ham, sweet potatoes, tuna salad and rice pilaf, we opened presents... which the kids were very excited to do! We had a great time, and each received such wonderful gifts! Taylor got some clothes, a pull along doggie, some toddler cars, and stuffed animals. Grandpa also made her a beautiful wooden toy box! And that was just from Grandma and Grandpa! From Uncle Keith we got some clothes (which Tony loves - a shirt says "Daddy thinks he's in charge") and, of course a drum set!





We came home, visited with Jeff, Renee and Ashley for a little while, and then put Tay to bed. Later that night Santa must have visited because there were more presents than originally under the tree! Tony and I awoke around 8 am, but we let Tay sleep in an hour. We went and woke Tay up (she will sleep until 11am if we let her!) and opened presents! From us Taylor got a Little Peoples Barn and some Little People people. From Santa she received a beautiful overall dress and cowboy boots, along with a bucket of beads.







After opening presents at home we got ready for the day and went to Bushka's for breakfast. We made omelets and potatoes cakes. We then opened presents. From Bushka and Grandpa Mike Taylor got some clothes, a wooden sled (just her size) and a lion walker. She looks so precious on the lion! At about 4 pm we headed home and enjoyed the rest of our day.







Happy Holidays Everyone! Have a safe New Year!

Thanksgiving and Santa!

We awoke Thanksgiving morning to snow! Yep, 4 inches of the white stuff! Tay really loves to watch it fall! We enjoyed our morning and then we went to my Grandparents house for dinner. There Taylor was able to meet her Great Grandfather and her "PaPa." This was the first time either of them had met her. Overall Taylor did very well, and she really enjoyed the food! She was up all day with no nap and was very well behaved! Thanksgiving was a great day and it was proven to be so as Taylor FINALLY sat up on her own! A few days later she was off crawling all over the place. We are waiting for the day when she lets go of the furniture and walks away!


On December 9th we took Taylor to see Santa and give her the opprotunity to tell him what she wanted for Christmas. She sat with him and got her picture taken, but there was no smile... We are just happy that she wasn't screaming!


Now that we are getting ready for Christmas, Taylor is enjoying all the lights and the ornaments. We have to be very careful now so we are constantly watching her every move! Yesterday the gate went up on the stairs as Taylor finally figured out how to climb them!

Here is picture for you all... Taylor in all her glory!

Happy 1st Birthday Taylor!

On Taylor's birthday (November fourteenth) we took Taylor to get her one year pictures as well as her Christmas pictures! They turned out beautiful. As one of our gifts to Tay we went to Build-a-Bear and built her a bear. She named it "Ba Ba" and dressed it in a black skirt with a pink polka dot shirt. When we got home, my mom "Bushka" and Grandpa Mike, along with Renee, Jeff, Danielle, and Dominic came over for presents and cake. Taylor got a Leap Frog book, a winter coat (we need it!), some clothes, books, and a stuffed bunny. We then went into the kitchen for cake and ice cream! We sat Taylor in her highchair and all sang happy birthday. We waited for a mess... and waited... and waited. At first she only stuck her finger in. Then we gave her a taste and she began to dig in. Overall though, she was pretty mild. She made a small mess but it was rather easy to clean. She really liked the icing and the ice cream! Happy Birthday Baby! Taylor really enjoyed hanging out with "Bushka" and Grandpa Mike. She showed them all her new tricks, like clapping and waving and spitting!





Taylor had her one year check up on Friday! She is 26 inches and 1/4 long! And she weighs 14lbs. 14 ounces! She is still a peanut but it suits her well!

On Saturday the 17th we met Tony's family up at Frankenmuth to do some shopping and go to dinner. Taylor really enjoyed hanging out with her cousins! Even all bundled up she was in good spirits! We went to Zender's for dinner and afterwards we had cake! Everyone sang really loud and some people from other tables even joined in! We ate cake and then opened presents. Tay got a xylophone (thanks Uncle Keith!), a jewelry box, a phone, some clothes, and a gold cross. Everyone had a lot of fun and Taylor did very well for not getting a nap all day! Although Taylor did get loaded up on ice cream and cake, so that is probably what kept her going!




Today Tony had to help Jeff get his boat out of the water, so while he was outside Taylor watched hime through the sliding door. When she saw him she hit the glass and said "Daddy!" It was too cute!

And for Grandma and Grandpa Van Sant, Taylor has learned the cooing!