Lately...

...we've been busy, busy!! Lots of playdates, walks and new milestones have made this past week quite fun!! :-)  In less than two weeks, Taylor has rolled over, sat up on her own, and eaten cereal! It's been a fun week!

New shirt - all the way from Disney World

It even has all the signatures of the main characters on it :-)

Playing with Lucy and Molly (the sweetest girls that I used to babysit when they were little)

Playing with Brady

This is Taylor's excited face :-)

Moms and babies

A family picture (Taylor is sitting up on her own now! :-)

Bath time!!

This is for Ryan...

Since Ryan is gone all day at a softball tournament, I thought this mutts comic was appropriate. :-) It illustrates our two views of what "batter up" means. :-)

Video: Taylor Eating Rice Cereal!

Food!! :-)

Taylor, Ryan, and I all experienced something new this evening... rice cereal!  It was a new eating experience for Taylor, and it was a new adventure for Ryan and I as we tried to feed Taylor with a spoon for the first time. :-D  I think that it is quite fitting hat her first food was cereal (because cereal was a big part of my life when I was growing up...big fan of Tony the Tiger, although it will be a while before she has Frosted Flakes or Rice Krispies :-)).  

It went pretty well - she seemed very curious about what was going on, licked her lips a lot, and I think she actually swallowed some of it!  We only tried between 1-2 tablespoons, and will continue trying out this new routine tomorrow evening.  A fun new stage of this whole parenting thing! 

Lots of funny face pictures...

Oh, do we love this little girl!!! :-D

Camping with the Slagh Family!

This weekend we were able to take Taylor out to the campground for the annual Slagh Camp out!  She had a great time hanging out with her Grandpa and Grandma Slagh and the rest of the family!

 With Grandpa Slagh and Uncle Jason....

With Grandma Slagh, Uncle Jason and second cousin Jayme.

Taylor held by Great Aunt Elaine, with Grandma Slagh, Jayme, and Great Aunt Karen

With Great Grandma and Grandpa Slagh!

and with Grandpa Slagh and Great Uncle Dean!

Five Months - She's just a bundle of FUN!!

We hit the five month mark yesterday, and I have to say that this five month age is quite fun!! 

Here are some pics of our little cutie!!

Taking a bath... she is a big splasher now, and like to play with her little bath toys

Laying out by the lake...

Playing in her exersaucer...

At five months, Taylor is...

** Still wearing size 2 diapers

** Wearing at least 6 month clothes (some pj's and hoodies are 9 month sizes already!)

** Rolling over from her tummy to her back, and ALMOST from her back to her tummy

** Going to try her first "solid" food tonight - rice cereal, yum, yum! (pics to come for sure!)

** Laughing

** Smiling and cooing like crazy

** Grabbing, kicking, banging, dropping and chewing on her toys

** Very interested in watching me eat and drink 

** Getting up once or twice a night - going to sleep around 9:30pm, and getting up around 7:30am

** A very content kiddo during our runs with the baby jogger - we did our longest run together (6 miles) while we were up north last weekend

** Watching very intently when her daddy or I walk out of the room, and sometimes quickly announcing her displeasure at the prospect of being alone

** Starting to pay more attention when we read books - a few favorites include a touch and feel animal book, a Mirror Me book by Baby Einstein, and a introductory sign language book (usually the morning after breakfast is when we look at our stories)

** Continuing to bring her daddy and I lots of joy and reasons to laugh and smile every single day!!  

At one week old...

Five months old...

Video: Taylor Rolls Over!

 

Taylor rolled over 8 times today!  Here is a little video.....

(edit: the video appears to be uploading only about half the time - so check back or try refreshing your browser, if the video doesn't pop up!)

Another fantastic long weekend!

After our weekend up north over the 4th of July, we were headed back up three days later on Thursday for another long weekend with the family! It was just enough time to wash the beach towels, repack the bags, bake some goodies for the group, and be back on the road!

This second weekend was a little more crazy though - instead of 8 of us hanging out at the lake - we had the whole Parker side of the family there - 16 people in one house (Papa, Gaga, mem, dad, me, Ryan, Taylor, Jeff, Jen, Scott, Pam, Kayti, Adam, Stacey, Aaron and Miriam)! It was a family gathering to celebrate Papa's 80th birthday, and it was a lot of fun. :-D  All beds in the cottage were filled, and three tents were set up outside to accommodate the group.  I have a small family that is pretty well spread out, and we have not had all of us together in a long time! Taylor got to meet a lot of new people this weekend, and did so well with all the craziness!

There were a LOT of pictures taken, and it was hard to choose which ones to post! But here are a few of the fantastic weekend!!

Getting ready to have our family pictures taken...

Taylor was only looking at her uncle Jeff's camera while he was taking pictures...loving her uncle Jeffrey :-)

Gathering for professional pictures taken on our neighbor's beach...

Capturing our family pictures being taken...

Taylor was not very interested in smiling for the photographer - this is the family trying to get her to smile at the camera :-) (it didn't work :-))

At the 80th birthday celebration dinner at the Weathervane restaurant in Charlevoix, Papa with his cake

Taylor was great during dinner (and slept during a good part of it :-))

A busy cottage!

 Lots of bike riding occurred!! (my c-dale gets to hang in the garage next to dad's :-))

A busy lake! Boyne Thunder Poker Run was going on over the weekend... looking at all the boats the night before the poker run

Taylor fell asleep :-)

Mem and dad cruising in the corvette

Hanging out on the beach

Around the cottage...

It was a GREAT weekend!!

4th of July :-)

Beautiful, hot weather -
Crystal clear lake -
Sandy beach -
Family -
It was a fantastic 4th of July!

We did lots of swinging on the swing....

We squished sand between our toes...




We ate yummy food at The Landings...



Taylor was a busy girl! She rolled over from her tummy to her back, but only did it once and has yet to replicate it - we are still working on it though!

She also showed her patriotic side....


She sucked and gnawed on a few carrots (something she really seems to enjoy!)...


She laid in the sun (our little bathing beauty :-))...


And laid out on the boat...


Met a new friend - Mr. Duck (a talented duck that can quack 3 different songs :-))...


Took naps...


And she was loved by lots of family! :-)