Having babies and being tired!

Well, it's been forever since my last post! Congrats again to Niki and Matt and yes, she's hot on our tails in this baby race :)

Sorry this is such a long post, but I tried to hit a few highlights over the last 6 months...first up being Taylor will be a big sister beginning of August! This was Matt's early Christmas present. We shared the fun news with our families at Christmas by giving them the picture of Taylor below (I won't mention who took the longest to figure out what it meant - yes, that would be Grammy, Janice, she apparently didn't take notice the first time we tried this trick :) The pregnancy is going well, except I've had lots of nausea this time around compounded by being sick (hazards of having a toddler), but I'm almost over this last cold and haven't thrown up or felt sick for 5 days straight so I'm optimistic that I'm over that stage. Taylor was inspecting my belly the other day and I told her that I had a baby in my belly. Taylor loves babies and thought this was nice and gave my belly a pat and a kiss! Hopefully this does not cause any confusion because she was then looking at her belly and talking about a baby...I was quick to tell her that only Mommy has a baby in her belly.


Going back a few months...Taylor celebrated her 1st birthday in August and had a great time! We had lots of family and friends join us for Taylor's Big Bird Bash, and thanks cousin Cassi for dressing to the theme :)

Taylor had her first taste of cake and it went something like this:

hmmm...what's this? Let me give it a lick! Delicious! Let's lick all this frosting off, give Sampson a taste and tada, it's all gone!

In September we visited Aunt Kelly and Uncle Paul and their dog, Lily. Lily and Taylor were fast friends...or let's say Taylor loved Lily when she was fast enough to catch her! We also got a chance to see great-Grandma and Grandpa on our trip. As you can see, Taylor can be a little squirmy for pics!

This October we went to the pumpkin patch with Matt's family. The day was cold, but Taylor had fun playing with Baleigh and picking out the perfect pumpkins!

November brought one last warm, sunny day, perfect for playing in leaves!

Thanksgiving was spent at Grammy and Granddad's (Ed & Janice) with Uncle Zac. Taylor posed for pictures and was captured by the baby highchair Grammy found for her. Grammy even found the old baby doll whose hair I cut one fateful visit at Grandma and Grandpa Stamp's for her to play with!

Grammy made a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, but unfortunately, Taylor was just too pooped to enjoy it!

Christmas was spent with Matt's family and Taylor partied 'til 9:30 that night! She got lots of gifts and some favorites were/are a shopping cart and play food and her big bouncy horse (her feet just barely reach the tops of the stirrups now, but that doesn't stop her from rocking the heck out of it!). Taylor also acknowledged baby cousin Landon for the first time that night and tended to him by sweetly wiping his mouth.

February has flown by and Taylor is 18 months now! Taylor and I made a quick visit to Grammy, Granddad and Uncle Zac in the beginning of February and had a nice little trip. Well, the actual trip getting there was, let's say "challenging," but once we were there we had a great time. Unfortunately, the weather was not so good that weekend so our trip began with flight delay, flight delay, Taylor's bedtime at takeoff, full, hot flight, squirming, crying (mostly Taylor), circling before landing (to clear off the runway) and the grand finale of Mommy puking! Yes, I was the pregnant lady flying with small, fussy child and throwing up on the plane...don't worry, I found the little bag in time :) Flip side, this was my worst travel experience and all the other can only be better! Taylor had fun reconnecting with her old pals, Michaela and Nick and I managed to snap one of her and Michaela both looking at the same time.

Taylor's been growing hair and I can just manage a little ponytail in back. She's the ultimate little girly girl and I have no idea where she got that from....must be Daddy :) She loves necklaces, rings, bows, sunglasses, babies and helping Mommy put on makeup.

Taylor has pretty much had a cold since Thanksgiving so her nose has looked like this for a while, but she keeps her sweetness even when she's sick and I can see the end with March coming!

Taylor is talking constantly now and I can't even count all of the words she has. She even has phrases and it's lots of 'Where's Daddy?', 'I poop', 'What doin?', 'I need cracker' and things like that. Her cutest new thing is giving Sampson (our dog) commands. He doesn't quite pick up on it, but I'll repeat it and it gives her such a thrill to see him comply! She still loves music and now loves to "sing" songs like "head, shoulders, knees and toes," "ABC" and "ring around the rosy." My favorite is when I sing the ABCs I also sign the letters so she sings and tries to sign as well, it's very cute!

I'll try to post some videos soon...Love, Elissa, Matt and Taylor