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Memorial Day Weekend: Sunday

Monday, May 31, 2010
We had a great time this weekend spending time with family, spending some down time alone at our house, and we even got the garage cleaned out!
On Sunday we went over to my parents' house to spend the day, when we were there my dad and John got rid of some of the excess leaves in their backyard.

Kate got to break in and try out the new swing that her Grandma picked out for her. The faster and higher she was pushed, the happier that she was. Chances are she's going to be a roller coaster enthusiast when she grows up!





Kate chilled for a while in the grass in front of Grandma and Grandpa's house, waiting for Grandma to get back from the store, lucky girl didn't get bit by one mosquito...can't say the same for us!
So Big!



Kate and her pal Darby, these two have always been very intrigued with eachother. I think that Kate likes Darby's bushy, long tail, and I'm pretty sure that Darby likes Kate because she likes to like the leftover food off of her face and hands. : )

Kate likes to remind us just how big she is! This is one of the first tricks that she pulls out of her repertiore when she meets new people, what a showoff!

It was a great and relaxing day, can't wait for another like it!

Kate's Nine Month Stats

Friday, May 28, 2010

Nine months in baby terms means another visit for a checkup to the doctor to make sure that everything is developing as it should be.

John brought Kate into her nine month appointment this morning (come to think of it I haven't been to one since I was on maternity leave).

She weighed in at 21 pounds which puts her in the 85th percentile for weight for her age.

She measured in at 30 inches long, which puts her in the 97th percentile for height for her age.

Everything else went as planned, and only one shot this time to finish up her hepatitis vaccination.

She's a happy, healthy, growing girl!

Mmmmm, Grilled Wrap

Thursday, May 27, 2010
Now with that title, it probably makes people think that I am talking about lunch-time food, right?

Nope, not right.

I am talking about breakfast.

I have the pleasure of working downtown in a very conveniently located building within minutes of walking distance from probably 30 restaurants and even more fast food restaurants.

My waistline though, must constantly fight this so called pleasure. : )

Anyways, one of my favorite breakfasts comes from Brueggers (besides a yummy Key's breakfast of course). It was something I fell in love with at my last job which again was conveniently located near a Brueggers.

They have a breakfast wrap that includes egg, ham (or bacon or sausage if you prefer), jalapeno cream cheese, and to top it off roasted red peppers.

This might not be an appetizing combination to you, but to me it is breakfast heaven. Warm and gooey, salty from the ham, smokey from the peppers, and with a little kick to get me going.

I don't get them very often, due to my fighting waistline, but I did this morning and found out that they just happened to make one of my favorite breakfasts even better!

Brueggers now grills its wraps. So add to the warm melted cream cheese with egg, salty ham, smokey peppers, and jalapeno kick...a crunchy but still softish wrap. Yum!

I can't wait to have another, but I better!

Reese and Kate

Monday, May 24, 2010
On Saturday we went to celebrate a very special day with one of Kate's best friends. Here is a video of Reese and Kate at Reese's house to celebrate Reese's first birthday.

Yay Reese, Happy Birthday!

Reese and Kate

Not Me Monday

Mckmama- Not Me Monday

I'm back again to spill my guts about all of the crazy, half-brained, last-minute, mix-ups that I encountered, and caused over these last two weeks.


To start it off, I didn't skip the "Not Me Monday" post last week becuase I couldn't remember anything that went awry the week before, there is always something that goes awry in the Taylor household.


I would never drive all the way to work, about 40 minutes, ignoring the fact that my cell phone was ringing, to finally call my husband back when at work to find out I took the carseat with me that morning. This would never serve as the perfect excuse to just take the day off...I never need those!


Staying on the cell phone topic, I would never neglect to check my phone for messages and miss a message from our daycare providor letting us know she would be closed the following day. This would not cause my husband to show up at the daycare mom's house only to find the door locked and everyone there still sleeping. And of course this would never lead to me begging Kate to "play quietly" until 11, at work, with me, so that I could get some stuff done before I, you guessed it, took another half day off.


Ah well, what good are kids for if not to get you out of working every once-in-a-while? : )

Bye Bye Swing

Friday, May 21, 2010
Last night we finally did the inevitable. We took down Kate's baby swing. This swing has been an integral part of our child-rearing success to this point, which is why both John and I were/are still a little nervous about it being gone.

Every morning after I get ready, I wake Kate up and get her ready (dressed, fed, time to say hello to our pets, etc.). Then just before leaving the house I bring her upstairs, buckle her into her swing, and turn it on. Sometimes she sits there and plays while it is rocking her gently, and sometimes the gentle rocking helps her to catch some more zzzz's.

Through the last nine months if there has been a night or day where she is extra fussy, the kind of fussiness that a bottle, diaper change, toys, or cuddle can't cure, the swing has always been our fail safe.

I looked up online (as we bought the swing second hand and did not have the instructions) to see what the weight limit was. This research was brought on by the fact that I now had to put the swing at the highest speed just to get it to rock my growing girl, oh and it was starting to sway (a little).

Online at Fisher Price the weight limit was 25 pounds. Now I'm not quite sure how much Kate currently weighs, her nine month appointment is next week, but I know that it has to be more than 20 pounds. That may be a little to close for comfort for me.

So I told her (not that I expected her to understand) that when these batteries ran out, that the swing was going to get put away.

That didn't happen.

Two days ago I bought batteries for a new toy that we had at the house, the wrong size. There was only one other item in the house that used that size of batteries...the swing.

So I ran up, grabbed out the batteries and made the switch, at least she likes the toy, right?

Yesterday morning I put her in the swing, no batteries, and she was fine with it.

Last night I thought of how silly that was.

So, swing retired, and now Kate is lucky enough to play in her pack and play in our bedroom (newly set up at the end of our bed) and will surely wake John up for work if his alarm doesn't do the trick!

Without A Seat

Thursday, May 20, 2010
Yesterday I got a call from my husband as I was walking through the parking ramp at work, I had taken the car seat to work with me.

At this point he was trying his best to install the convertible car seat into his car in a rear-facing position (we aren't ready to have her forward face yet).

I'm pretty sure he was a little miffed at me at this point! : )

I tried calling a friend who I knew could bring over a seat to use (her daughter just switched to the convertible). Of course, I couldn't get a hold of her.

So what did I do? I took the day off of course, what a perfect excuse!

Plus I didn't want to have to drive all the way back to work (about 40 minutes) after bringing the seat home to my husband.

Oh and when you walk in the door and she is so excited to see you, it makes it that much harder to turn around and leave again.

We ended up having a really fun day filled with no plans, and those don't happen too often!

What We Did Yesterday

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Updated Pictures of Kate

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Kate sure does lover her Beagle Puller! Puller just loves to cuddle!


Sick of all the times we try to see her teeth, Kate decided to give Puller a dental check (don't worry we made her stop doing this, we're teaching her to pet them "gentle").


Watch out here I come!



Kate is very interested in the camera, maybe she's a future photographer. Then again she's also really interested in the remote control, does that mean that she's a future couch potato? : )

Kate's sassy face, I'm pretty sure she wanted her breakfast at this point.
Boy are we in trouble!

Necklace

Monday, May 10, 2010
I just wanted to show off my absolutely perfect Mother's Day gift from Kate (my husband).
It was hand-made by the Etsy seller Sauce, whose jewelry is some of my favorites on the entire site!
The three flowers stand for our three family members. Fun huh?!?
Anyways, I love it!

"Not Me" Monday

This Monday I did not give up trying to get the "Not Me" button working after only two minutes and decide to 'cheat' by naming MckMama's Blog in this hyperlink instead! (By the way, she's just updated her entire blog which turned out really fun, you should check it out!)

I would never order pizza at a restaurant, that had lettuce on top, just because in my mind it was "healthier". And to top it off add some sour cream to the mix to make it even more "low-cal". Mmmm, taco pizza!

When staying in a hotel room, with my 8 1/2 month old daughter and my mom, would not wake up (wide awake) at 3am and not fall back asleep. I would then not quietly walk to the bathroom and proceed to take an hour long shower (to kill time), and then come out of the shower only to fall asleep until 5:30am. This would never cause me to be dead tired for the remainder of the weekend.

Finally, I would never think how much I would enjoy entire house naps on a Sunday (Mother's Day) afternoon. Kate napping in her crib, John snoozing on the chair, Nora and Puller catching some zzzz's under the table and on the footrest, Madeline and Riley catnapping upstairs on our bed, and me stretched out (probably snoring) on the couch. I enjoyed it so much I could probably have "napped" straight through to this morning. But unfortunately that did not happen. : )

Don't forget to check out what Mckmama didn't do last week as well as many others! It's pretty amazing how many other people like to slack off like you do! :)

No Dancing on Tables

Throughout life I am sure that Kate will get plenty of good advice from her parents, relatives, friends, etc.

Her most recent piece of advice she got from her daycare mom, Joyce.

Joyce likes to sit Kate down in the middle of the room, turn on the kiddie music loud, and watch her dance and wiggle away like crazy.

Then Joyce tells Kate, "You are such a good dancer Kate, just no dancing on tables!"

Thanks Joyce, hopefully she'll comply with that one! : )

Adventure

Friday, May 7, 2010
Today Kate and I are embarking on our first adventure together. We are heading to Kate's aunt's bridal shower about 4 hours north of where we live.

Making this voyage with us will be Kate's grandma. We even get to stay in a hotel room (another first) so that should be interesting.

Hopefully all goes well, she does really well in the car so that is not my worry. And she'll get to play in the pool so she'll be tired, so sleeping isn't my worry.

I am just worried that I forgot something and will not realize it until it is absolutely needed an unavailable, but I guess that's just how my mind rolls. It could be why we both have our own suitcases that are full for one overnight trip.

I know you are wondering, how does John put up with it? : )

Well he gets a night off that he will fill with processed cheese, Beagles, Tax Cut Coalitions, War Movies, Chips, Beer...and all that other fun stuff he doesn't get to do when Kate and I are home bugging him. In all reality though I bet he'll miss us, or at least her : ).

Propped

Wednesday, May 5, 2010
It's been a while since I have posted, over a week. I know, I know, how could I ever neglect blogging to this extent. : ) Ha ha.

We had a nice relaxing week and weekend just hanging around the house. We went to John's parents' house on Saturday night and grilled out. For a while I thought we may have to change our eating arrangements because of the huge gale-force winds (exaggeration) that were blowing through the metro area. But fear not, Grandpa Jim was still able to grill up those cheddarwursts to perfection. And boy were they good! There's nothing like the first grilled cheddarwurst of the season, especially when it is paired with spicy mustard and tuna noodle ring salad! Yum!

On Sunday I talked (not really) John into traveling over to Albertville. It was windier there and of course Kate was under dressed. What great parents we are. But her Grandma blanket (the blue one that was made by Grandma Barb when I thought she would be a boy) was with and it kept her all snuggly and warm. Unfortunately I didn't get anything, can you imagine my pouting face? : ) John snagged a new pair of shoes from the Adidas outlet and his little pumpkin did too. She won't be able to wear them for a while but it is hard to pass up $10 Adidas with pink stripes...just so cute!

We started propping Kate up in the crawling position this week. She kind of sits there looking at something that she wants and then either dives or collapses before grabbing for it. We were both surprised that she kept herself on her knees at all. Before when trying this she wouldn't keep them straight, but would just sit froggy leg style on her belly instead. We know that she is getting closer and that we are helping her, but what we don't know is why we are doing it. When she is finally mobile I would bet a million dollars on the fact that we will wish she is immobile again!

We're looking forward to celebrating two birthdays in the next couple of weeks. Both Reese and Peyton turn one, which means that Kate is right behind them.

Crazy how the time flies, I can't wait to hang out with both of those little girls! Oh and their mom's too I guess. : )