Memorial Day Weekend: Sunday

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!