A Birthday Breakfast

Today our sweet baby girl turns 1 year old! And what better way to start the day off than with a pancake breakfast? This girl loves her pancakes even if it didn't have chocolate chips and whipped cream on top!

More fun to come throughout the day!

9 Month Check-up

Friday we had a morning visit to Dr. Robert's office for Miss T's 9-month check-up. He walked in the room smiling and said "Oh Taryn, short and skinny, that's just how you're going to be!" We thought she'd gotten really tall in the past few months because some of her pants got too short. But I guess when you still fit in to 3-6mos size pants they should be getting short! But to us, she's our tiny little princess and we love her to pieces!

Here's a breakdown of her stats:
Weight: 16lbs, 1oz (10%)
Height: 27 inches (15%)
Head: 17 1/4 cm (27%)

She's movin on up the growth chart which is great news!

We are long overdue for a photoshoot so maybe if I nag Evan enough we'll get some fun new photos to post soon!

0 to 60 in 3 Seconds

Okay so not quite THAT fast but pretty speedy in my opinion. And as a side note, I don't typically let my child run around in only a diaper but this was right before bath time and with no clothes on she thinks she can go even faster to try and get her hands on Lacy.

Who's Big Stuff Now?

This weekend Taryn had a few firsts that I captured on my phone...sorry for the poor quality pics, blame it on Apple :)

After almost tumbling over in her carseat and then almost knocking our table over by kicking it while still strapped in the carseat we decided she was ready for the big girl highchair at restaurants! I think her favorite part is banging on the table demanding more Cheerio's, I think we've created a monster!

And since she thinks she's a grownup we decided it was time to ride in the shopping cart like a big girl. Aunt Kel gave her this awesome shopping cart cover because she was born to shop and she rode in style around Target. Yes, we looked like idiots trying to figure out how it worked. Evan kept saying "Let's get out of the way and figure this out". But really he was saying "let's go down this aisle that no one ever goes down so people won't laugh at us." Who wouldn't love buying Pampers while sipping on some milk??

Austin Roadtrip

We took a quick trip down to Austin this weekend to visit some of our dearest friends, Lindsey and Jim. We had so much fun catching up and spending time together. The 4 of us hadn't been together since last summer and this was their first time to meet Taryn! Thankfully she was on her best behavior and loved her first roadtrip. Can't believe this was her first time to be in the car for more than 45 minutes at a time...I guess when Mama works for an airline you don't take many roadtrips.



Lindsey and I met on the first day of 5th grade when we were both starting a brand new school...wow...we've been friends for over 15 years! But don't we look young and beautiful :)


Charlie cat was the most laid back little guy and he even let Taryn get close. She didn't quite know what to do since she rarely gets to touch her own cats. She's used to Lacy and Syd running as fast as they can when they see her coming.


Aunt Lindsey you make an awesome highchair but sorry we kept getting your glass table all dirty!

Thanks Aunt Lindsey and Uncle Jim for a fun weekend, let's do it again soon!!

Chillin Poolside

Taryn heard big sunglasses are hip so she had to get herself a pair and sport them at the pool today! Good thing there weren't any little boys there because they would have been checkin her out...ha!

Dancing Alphabet Girl

I've been a terrible blogger but hopefully I'll get caught up soon because a lot has happened over the past month! Here's cute video of Miss Taryn learning to dance at the same time she's learning her ABCs. We sang ABCs so many times tonight that it won't stop playing in my head...ahhh!!

Start Your Engines

I'll let you take a look at these fun pictures and then I'll explain...

Go Faster Mommy, Faster!

I'll just close my eyes and hope she knows what she's doing

If you know my dad then you know he's a major car buff. His most recent purchase was an official Pace Car from the Brickyard 400 and as you can tell, the adult version of the car came with a matching go-cart that is supopsed to be for Miss T. We all know the likelihood of any of us ever getting to drive this little car is slim-to-none so I'm sure Gramps will have to buy a rough and tough go-cart once Taryn is old enough. RJ and I had one growing up and we had more fun than you could imagine. Dad put wood block on the pedals since our legs were too short to reach (hmmm...that might have been a sign that we were too young to drive)! And after an "incident" that resulted with me on the asphalt he even installed seat belts.

During our impromtu visit to Meme and Gramps we also took some time to play...

Toys at Meme's house are way more fun that at home

...even if they are from the 1980s

Supposedly avocado green high chairs are making a comeback

On the Move

I think we're about to have a crawler on our hands any day now!

Copycat

Taryn's new thing is to try and copy whatever we do. Here's a cute video of her playing around with Mommy!

Little Girl in a Big Chair

These pictures of Taryn in her big high chair were too hilarious not too share. For the past few months we've been feeding her in the Bumbo chair which fits her just right. Our friends, Rolando and Shandra, gave us this nice highchair so we thought we should get it out and start putting it to use.

And then Evan had a fish-eye type lens on his camera so the pictures were even funnier! I love how her little toes barely reach the end of the seat and she is almost resting her chin on the tray!

1st Pool Party

This weekend we went to our first pool party of the season! Our friends, Stan and Bekah, had a great pool put in the end of last summer and they invited a bunch of friends over to swim and grill out. Bekah gave Taryn a bikini before she was even born but its still way too big for her so we ran out on Saturday morning and got her this super cute suit. She loves baths but we weren't sure how she'd like the pool. In the beginning she wasn't quite sure what was going on but by the end of the evening she was kicking around under the water and making little splashes!

Gramps, if you read this Taryn told me to tell you she's ready for you to install a big pool (with a slide) at your house!!

We also have a few cute videos but we need to edit the size before we can post them...hopefully I'll get that done tomorrow night.

The "Before" Shot

Testing the waters...and a little surprised by this giant size bathtub

Floating with Daddy

Caleb and Michaela making a big splash

Ainsley sporting her Jackie-O shades

Amber, Ainsley, Taryn and Me

Vacation

Over the long Memorial Day weekend Evan and I got the chance to take our first vacation since Taryn joined the family. One thing we've learned recently from friends is there is a different between a vacation and a trip. A trip is when you take your kids and a vacation is when you get away without the kids. So this was a vacation! We spent 5 days in Lake Tahoe with RJ and Tiffani to celebrate RJ turning the big 3-0. I'll post pictures and more on our trip later. But while we were gone Taryn got to take her first overnight trip to Meme and Gramps by herself! As you can imagine she was spoiled rotten and loved every minute of it.

She finally got to try out her tree swing now that she's a big girl. Judging by this smile I think she liked it! Meme and Gramps have a few big trees with lots of birdhouses so in addition to swinging she'd wake up and enjoy her morning bottle on the patio listening to the birds chirping.

Anyone who knows Gramps knows you don't come to visit without spending some time in the shop tinkering with old cars. If you're like me you try to get in and get out of the shop real quick...nod a few times before going inside to help with dinner or whatever excuse pops to mind! Looks like this little girl is having fun though and she didn't even come home with grease under her fingernails.

From what I heard the first few days were a little hit and miss between Taryn and Gramps. Anytime he'd try to talk to her or get close she'd wrinkle up her face and start to cry. I think it's because she's not used to being around too many men other than her daddy. Thankfully this only lasted a few days and now these two are buddies.

To wrap up the day they'd make laps around the circle driveway in the shade. When it's nearly a hundred degrees outside you've got to ride in the umbrella stroller so your legs can get a little breeze.

Looks like Miss Taryn had just as much fun on vacation as we did! We missed her tons but with all the attention she got I'm not so sure she missed us!

6 Month Check-Up

We visited Dr. Robert last Thursday for Taryn's 6 Month check-up. She turned 7 months old on Wednesday so she thinks she's big stuff now! Despite a few tears from getting a shot and having the wax cleaned out of her ears she had a good check-up. As expected she's still on the petite side but even though she's small she's gaining weight and growing right along with the growth chart just on the very bottom! She's been eating lots of fruits and veggies and we got the go ahead to start her on meats so we'll probably try to do that within the next few weeks once we've finished rotating through all the veggies.

Here's a breakdown of her stats:
Weight: 13lbs, 8oz (below 5%)
Height: 26 inches (25%)
Head: 16 1/2 cm (20%)

I'll Pass on the Carrots

This week I thought I'd try making some homemade baby food so I started with something easy...carrots. So far Taryn's been eating peas, sweet potatoes, bananas and prunes (in moderations...ha) and she's liked everything, until tonight.

Cute Pics

And now time for a few of my favorite recent pictures :)















And a few not so fancy snap shots that were too precious not to share...

My 1st Mother's Day

I've been a terrible mommy blogger lately but I had to share a few pictures from my first Mother's Day! Every mom says this but I truly am the luckiest mom ever to have a precious little angel who makes me laugh and smile more than I could have ever imagine. And I don't know how I'd survive without such an amazing husband who puts up with me every single day...and trust me what I say that I give him a lot to put up with :). Plus he's the best daddy in the world to our princess!

We had a fun and relaxing day with just the 3 of us. We played hookie from church and lounged around and then went to have lunch and bum around town. I just love spending time as a family and it seems like with all the chaos and busy-ness lately we haven't dedicated nearly enough time to family fun!

My beautiful roses - Pink from Taryn and red from Evan

My first gift made by my baby at school

(and I'm showing it off at my desk at work)

Look What I Can Do...

...or maybe it should say look what I can ALMOST do! This week Taryn has finally been able to sit up for a little bit all on her own.

Happy Half Birthday!

Can you believe it, our little boss turned 6 months old on Sunday! How in the world has time gone so fast?!?!?! Every single day we are so thankful to have her in our lives and it's been such so fun to watch her little personality emerge. We love watching her face light up and seeing that gummy smile! Before Taryn was born we knew without a doubt we would love her to pieces but I can't even begin to describe how much we really LOVE her!

Even though she's 6 months old she's still a little squirt. She had to make a quick trip to the pediatrician this week so we found out she's weighing 12lbs 6oz. Because of her super sensative tummy we've waited to start her on solids, other than rice cereal and oatmeal. Until...today! I let her taste sweet peas last night and I packed them in her school bag today with a little warning that this is a new experience for her. Hopefully most of the peas will make it in her mouth instead of on her clothes!

Happy 6 Month Birthday sweet baby girl!!

Her hair is still as crazy as the day she was born

School Days

Taryn's coming up on 1 month of being in school and so far so good! I guess you could call it daycare but we don't like that word so we call it "school" (sounds much better, right?). Our munchkin is the youngest one in her class but she's doing great learning from some of the older babies and making friends fast. It's so cute when we take her in the mornings and set her carrier on the ground usually some of the babies come crawling up to say good morning and see her. She has 2 great teachers, Ms. Socorro and Ms. Mumtaz, who have both been at her school for over 5 years so we know she's being well taken care of when we can't be with her.

Another cute thing...we get periodic emails from Taryn while she's at school. Usually it's just a quick note letting us know she's having a good day and sending us a picture. My day at the office gets a little bit brighter every time I see an email from her!!!

Second day at school

Mis-matching bibs are all the rage right now

She loves the bouncer at school as much as her bouncer at home

Smiling with Ms. Coco

Time for Big Girl Toys

We pulled Taryn's exersaucer out of the closet a month or so ago thinking she'd be able to play in it but within about 5 seconds she was all hunched over and crying. So we put it away thought it was best to wait a while before we tried it again. For the past week she's been playing in the exersaucer at school so we got ours back out tonight. Here's a quick video of her checking things out. She gets really serious when she plays so I couldn't get any smiles out of her!

And sorry about Lacy's butt being in the shot, she's deprived of attention!

Weight Check

Yesterday I took Taryn for her weight check and I'm happy to report that she gained 1/2 pound in 2 weeks. She's made her way to a whopping 12lbs 3oz! Still on the small side but nothing wrong with that! And to prove that she's getting chunky here are a few recent snapshots I had on my phone.

All 12lbs 3oz of Miss Taryn - she's getting some thighs on her!

The awesome shirt from Aunt Tiff & Uncle RJ from their Ireland trip

Tummy time with her new toy