Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving this year was a bit different for us.  While I’d envisioned a cute “1st thanksgiving” onesie, tons of family, a happy 65th birthday party for my dad, and tons of food… our thanksgiving was a bit different. My dad did still turn 65 – HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY- but the rest played out a bit differently.  Nathan had been sick with a cold, a day or so of a low fever, but nothing major.  Well, Taylor got his cold, and his fever.  When a newborn has snotty congestion and runs a fever over 100.4 or in Taylor’s case 101.0, it’s standard procedure to put them here…

in the hospital, and that’s right where we ended up on Wednesday.  We questioned it for a while and fought it for a bit, but then Taylor’s doctor, who has been Nathan’s doc for 3 years, and whom I trust, reminded me that odds were, Taylor would be fine.  But in the off chance that this wasn’t a cold and was something like a UTI or meningitis, we’d be much better off in the hospital.  Reluctantly, but thankful for health care, we went.  Our neighbors kept Nathan Wednesday afternoon and evening till Chad got home.  Thursday, Nathan went with his Uncle Matt and Aunt Emily to visit family and eat tons of food.  Then he had a sleepover with them, sleeping like a big boy on the sofa!  They kept him all day Friday until we were discharged.  Nathan’s Thanksgiving was pretty awesome if you ask him!

 

Chad, Taylor, and I also enjoyed ours.  It was a bit more quiet than normal, there was no cooking, no cleaning, no preparing, just resting.  Within hours of admission, 2 pastors from our church had come by to check on us.  They stayed and fellowshipped a bit and brought a warmth to the hospital room.  Over those 3 days, TG and I never left the hospital and I never went stir crazy or felt alone.  Chad came and stayed when he could and we were both so glad to see him!    We had two friends bring us AMAZING thanksgiving dinners.  The nurses and docs were kind and so friendly.  I spent countless hours with my good friend Melissa who spent time every day with us in the hospital, holding Taylor so I could shower, bringing food, supplies, comic relief, and company.  Chad and I managed to sleep more in those 3 days than any thanksgiving in the past, and we lazily watched the Thanksgiving Day parades too.  All in all, it was a different sort of holiday, but a wonderful one nonetheless.  Little Taylor Grace never spiked another fever, had great blood and urine work, and avoided a spinal tap and IV thanks to great advice from my buddy Bethany.  Happy Thanksgiving 2010!  Let’s not make this a tradition baby Taylor!

Taylor - 6 weeks old

It's hard to believe she's six weeks old already! She's growing like a weed too! Some of the sleeves in her newborn sized clothes are getting short, but she's still got another month or so to fill them out. :) She's long and thin! 20 inches long in fact. She has hit the 8 pound mark too! Yay baby girl!
She continues to get stronger and more alert and aware of her surroundings. She's able to visually track objects from much farther away and is quick to turn her head to find familiar voices. She makes great eye contact too.
She has more established sleep and wake patterns now and 3 nights this last week she slept between 5 and 8 hours without interruption! She's going through a growth spurt and eating me out of house and home! :)
Taylor loves to be snuggled and is content to be held constantly if you'd do it. She loves skin to skin contact so we keep doing kangaroo care.
She started smiling this week!!! She's a little stingy with the smiles and I've yet to capture one on camera, but that'll come! Her smile is precious and her whole face lights up!! Oh such sweetness!
Hello cuteness!
This girlie is super strong. She's got great head control and doesn't mind being on her tummy. She's able to pick her head up and look around with little effort. She's also rolled over tummy to back several times. She's not "rolling over" in the sense of meeting a milestone, but rather when she is uncomfortable she's able to use her toes and feet to push her self over. Too funny!
We love you little girl!!! You are such a blessing to us all.

Wordless Wednesday

happy baby girl

She loves snuggly things… mama trait!

Nathan’s birthday!!!!!

Nathan had an awesome birthday!  We pretended that the 21st (party day) was his birthday and he didn’t know the difference so it worked out just great!  First up on Nathan’s list of great birthday things to do… build a new racetrack with daddy!

Next, open presents from mommy and daddy… to include a monster truck, a purple big rig, and a razor scooter!

Take a nap, wake up and PARTY!!! 

Caleb and Carson are good buddies!  They live right down the street and the boys all attend the same school! Nathan loves to play with them!  Other kiddos included Bert, Ben & Hailey, Izzy & Piper, Alaina, Evan, baby Cayden, and baby Taylor.  :)

I’m not sure if the kids or the parents had more fun in the foam pit… regardless it was fun!

Climbing the tire wall… Nathan has been doing this since he was 16 months old.  He’s much more skilled at it these days!  He climbed to the top with some help, turned around and jumped in without a moments hesitation. 

The tumble trak and trampoline were crowd pleasers too!

These days, no day is complete without Bob the Builder… and of course Bob on a cake is even better!

We didn’t have time for him to open bday gifts at his party, but at home, even though it was late, he opened and played with each one.  Thank you everyone for the gifts!  So sweet and thoughtful.  They were all loved and so appreciated!

        Happy Birthday Nathan!!!

5 weeks old!!!

 

Miss Taylor is doing fabulous!!!  She’s growing like a weed and starting to get some adorable chub on her legs!  I actually had to wash in between a couple rolls today!  She’s getting more hair and her eyes are still looking like they’ll be blue.  She’s able to see much farther now and is great at finding faces and tracking them.  She loves to be held, talked to, snuggled, and to be in the action.  She continues to be really laid back regarding how she’s fed… breast, bottle, little cup (hey desperate times call for desperate measure).  She’s super easy when it comes to that.  She loves to be swaddled to sleep and gets cold easy.  She has a voracious appetite but continues to eat on a pretty regular schedule, every 3 hours from 7a-11p and once between 4am and 5am.  She sleeps really well in the afternoon and at night.  I’m betting she’s close to 7 pounds 8 ounces.  She’s in all newborn clothes now and although none of the pants fit in the waist (she’s teeny), they are the right length.  Nathan is LOVING being a brother and so far has been nothing but sweet, gentle, and compassionate with Taylor Grace.  He looks for her, comforts her, includes her in play, holds her, sings to her, and looks out for her.  Tooooooo sweet!  Happy 5 week bday Taylor!  This family’s next big “birthday” is a little man turning 3!!! Stay tuned!

Wordless Wednesday

Taylor Grace’s newborn photo shoot with Lucy!

Lucy, our beloved babysitter, happens to be a photographer too!  We are so thankful that she’s in our lives and our kiddos lives!  Lucy took my maternity pics when I was preggo with Nathan… about 3.5 years ago.

 

 

 

  

 

Didn’t she do an awesome job?  Need pictures taken?  Check out her blog for more details!!!

Here are some of the hundreds of pics she recently took of baby Taylor… precious and priceless!

Aren’t they awesome!!!!!  You did a superb job Lucy!!!  If your interested in pictures by Lucy, check out her blog at http://lucyclementphotographyblog.com.