Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Dear Bennett Grace (7 months)

Dear Bennett Grace,

Baby girl, what a difference a month makes! Sunday you were 7 months old. You have literally grown before our eyes this month. You seem to pick up a new thing every day and we cant believe you much you have learned.

-You want to grab and hold anything in your reach. we have to clear a six foot radius around you and you still manage to get into things you aren't supposed to.
-You easily go from the sitting position down to a laying position by putting your hands on the floor in front of you and walking your hands forward down to the floor.
-You are trying hard to crawl but you are not they yet so for now you rock and lunge back and forth on all fours.
-If you can't can't get to something by reaching, rocking and scooting, you flop onto your tummy or back and roll to get there.
-You still like to roll the hard way over your arm when it would be so much easier to just tuck your arm under. It cracks us up how determined you are to do it "the hard way".
-You are eating more and more solids. Now you generally eat fruit with your oat cereal in the morning and two veggies and sometimes more cereal or a fruit at night. So far you have tried apples, pears, peaches, banana, avocado, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, sweet peas and green beans. You have probably tried a few other things too because your Papa D is constantly getting busted trying to give you bites of things you aren't supposed to eat.
-You started trying a learner sippy cup this month with water and a little bit of apple juice for a treat here and there and you love it! We have started mixing less juice so that you will start to enjoy water by itself too.
- You are VERY ticklish. When you get excited you giggle so loud!
- You love to play games. You have started to play peep eye covering your own face when we change your diapers and it is so cute.
-You learned to play patty cake at the beginning of this month and every time you clap your hands together you have the biggest smile.
-Recently you have started to wave bye-bye but you hold your hand backwards and bye-bye yourself. It is so cute!
-You love to talk talk talk. You talk to your toys and everything and everyone around you. Your babbling is starting to sound more like "real words". Your latest sound is da-da-da-da and your daddy is convinced that you are trying to say daddy :)
- You are still pretty true to size- wearing mostly 6 to 9 month clothes and you are still wearing Size 2 Pampers.
-You recently went from eating 7 oz 4 times a day to eating 6 oz 4 times a day.
- You usually nap twice a day and if you are really tired sometimes you take another mini nap too.
-After your six month check up your doctor told us to start putting you in your crib awake instead of rocking you to sleep first. You would cry at first but now you just turn over and go right to sleep.
- Lately when you wake up in the morning you start talking to yourself and playing in your crib. When daddy or Gigi brings you in to see mommy when she is getting ready she says "good morning angel" and you give the biggest smile. You love to help mommy get ready in the morning by playing with her makeup :)
-You met your great grandfather "Grandy" this month and have seen him a few times since then. He says you are the prettiest baby he has ever seen!
-You also had your first Halloween this month and mommy made you a hot pink bath loofa costume. You looked so funny.
-we also had our first family photo session outside and you loved playing in the leaves.

Mommy and daddy can't wait to enjoy the holiday season with you. Last year we talked about how thankful we were to have you here for our next holidays and now you are here. It has been so amazing watching you grow the past 7 months. You are such a sweet baby girl and we just love you so much.

With love,

Mommy and Daddy.














Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Christmas Village and Confessions

Last weekend was a busy one for the Taylors!!! Saturday morning we had our family photo session and BGT did so good! I think she is holding a leaf in every frame because she was obsessed with the leaves but we will have to wait and see. If the rest are as good as the preview picture I think we will have trouble choosing the perfect picture for our Christmas card :)

Ahhhh and that brings me to Christmas! My FAVORITE TIME OF THE YEAR. Christmas Village is a huge indoor Christmas festival with tons of vendors from around the country selling everything you could think of and it is the "official" start of the Christmas season at the Taylor house. EVERY YEAR I drag Sean with me to get a little Christmas spirit (i.e. carry my packages). And EVERY year I come home and beg Sean to let me go ahead and put up my Christmas tree-which he refuses EVERY YEAR. It has become a sort of tradition for us :)

Last year, CV was the WEEK BEFORE WE FOUND OUT BGT WAS A GIRL. Talk about torture! I was so disappointed that I couldn't buy all the cuteness and I knew in my heart she was a girl but I just couldn't risk it. This year was a whole new ball game. Mimi went on Thursday and got BGT tons of cuteness for Christmas and Thanksgiving including a cute turkey outfit and a snow man outfit and a bunch of 1st Christmas stuff as well as accessories. We went after the pictures Saturday and took my sisters. I got a couple of diaper covers for BGT and Sean picked her out a cute little tiger crocheted hat. We also got monogrammed stockings and I am kind of having second thoughts about them but I'm hoping I change my mind when they get here after I see them (fingers crossed). I also picked up a bag of my FAVE cashew brittle which I may or may not have eaten (by myself) already. We all took turns carrying BGT mid way through because she was over her carseat by that point but she had been without a nap all day so it was to be expected. She fell asleep on Sean's shoulder and she looked so cute! I'm so glad we got to continue our tradition again this year!


Now- on to confessions. I HAVE A PROBLEM. Well, more than one.

Problem #1 Lets start with the worst offender: Halloween candy. I have NO SELF CONTROL PEOPLE. It is literally like I lose all common sense. This did not happen until I got pregnant with BGT and developed a sweet tooth. It is the strangest thing. I thought it would go away after pregnancy but no sir.

'tis the season for smocking
Problem #2: smocking. Holy smocked outfits batman. Our house has become invaded. I LOVE SMOCKING. I can't help myself. I am literally rendered helpless at the sight of a smocked pumpkin on a bishop dress. When I first got confirmation BGT was a girl my mind was immediately filled with thoughts of oversized headbands and smocked outfits. I have a problem. If I go missing, Sean has figured out how much I have spent on these tiny little suckers. I'm including a picture of the latest haul.

Problem #3- etsy. I previously posted a link to a shop where we got boots for BGT in brown and grey and it opened the door to the world of teeny hand made shoes and dresses. My cart is FULL of stuff that I'm just waiting for the right time (paydaaaaay) to buy. I recently got a precious chevron print monogrammed dress for BGT that I ordered, had made and delivered to my door in 48 hours. No joke! And tiny shoes- ohhhh the shoes. I have been looking for a pair of chocolate brown corduroy Mary Janes for BGT for a while now and this sweet chickee on etsy whipped up a pair to my specifications in a flash.
Trouble trouble. But it's all most Christmas so I can purchase under the guise of "presents". Ahahaha!

Hope everyone is having a great week!!



Thursday, November 1, 2012

Is it weekend yet?

Is it weekend yet??? This feels like the longest week in history!

Monday BGT had her 6 month check up. Stats: 25.5 inches long (30th percentile) and 16 lbs 7 oz (50th percentile)

Tuesday we went to Papa D and Gigi's house to eat spaghetti and meatballs and have cake for Gigi's birthday (10/31) and Morgan's birthday (11/1)

Wednesday we went to see friends and eat pizza at Joey and Stephanie's house and see all the kiddos in costume. My phone battery was dying and naturally I didn't think to grab my camera so I didn't get a pic of all the kids in costume. We did get a family picture before my battery died and i of course Sean's eyes were closed in picture of BGT smiling were she really looks like loofa. Oh well!

Saturday morning we have our first official family photo session so please pray that Sean gets over his cold without giving it to me, that the weather is nice and that BGT cooperates!