10 months old

This post is a few days late because Taylor was miserable from her ear infection on the day she turned ten months old, and wasn't in the picture taking mood.

Taylor, at ten months, I asked your daddy what I should write down about you at this age, and the first word he said was, "playful". I would have to agree!!

At 10 months, here are a few things we want to remember about you at this age!

** You weigh 18 pounds, 10 ounces (slightly below 50th percentile) and are 28 inches long (50th)

** Wearing size 3 diapers and 12-18 month clothing

** You go to bed around 7:15-7:30, and wake up for the morning around 7:00. You still sometimes get up once during the night, but are not hard to get back to sleep (unless you are sick! We spent a lot of time rocking and walking together during the first two nights of your ear infection)

** You had your first ear infection

** You have half of one tooth on the bottom!

** You love, love, love to eat puffs and fruit

** Laughing, pulling up to your feet, climbing, crawling, clapping, smiling, hugs and kisses are things we get to enjoy every day with you

** Rides in the car can sometimes still be a little sad for you, but it is getting easier

** You got to meet Santa for the first time, and were very curious, but there were no tears :-)

** You love watching other kids play

** Two comments we frequently hear about you, "she has such big, beautiful, blue eyes" and "what a cute little nose" :-)

** Changing your diaper has become a challenge as you want to roll, roll, roll all the time

** You will sometimes "dance" - bobbing your head and body to the music

** We frequently catch you sitting on your knees

** You will flip through your books - usually turning the pages the right direction, which makes the teacher in me so proud! :-) You will have those concepts of print nailed down by the time you get to kindergarten... :-)

** When I am holding you and someone starts talking to you, you will sometimes turn and bury your face into my neck as if you are shy... silly girl

** You are very good at pulling up to your feet, and one of my favorite things is when I am washing dishes, you will crawl right up to me and pull up and stand between my legs - love that!

** You will sit and listen to as many as five or six books at a time, helping to turn the pages, and you know exactly where to touch in the touch and feel books...


...there are so many fun things about you right now! Christmas is going to be such a joy and I can't wait to see what new tricks you learn in the next month!

Pictures!!

At nine months old...

At ten months old...

 Eating puffs

Trying to capture you dancing

Playing with the ornaments from the tree

Drinking from your sippy cup (getting much better at this, which is good for when we start weaning you from bottles!)

Eating breakfast one morning...so sleepy! :-) 

We love you so much!

And so it begins!

There are many, many wonderful things about being a teacher. One of them is certainly the chance to have extra time off around the holidays - and so begins the holiday break until the new year!

It did not, however, start as we would have liked. Taylor spiked her first high fever and has her first ear infection. Other than being sick once during the summer, this is only the second time we have had to take her to the doctor because she doesn't feel well - and I am grateful for that. Taylor's "aunt" Liz and uncle Chris came to take care of Taylor while Ryan and I both had to work Friday morning. It was very hard to leave her when she wasn't feeling well, but we knew she would be in good hands, and was being cozily snuggled by Liz when we got home. Hopefully after 10 days of antibiotics (Amoxicillin - just the smell of that pink stuff brought back memories of when I was a kid!), some eardrops, and children's motrin, Taylor will be back to herself soon! She was already looking better this morning, but is still really sleepy - and has only been awake for about a half hour so far this morning.

A sad picture of our little girl - feeling miserable..

Rocking and reading with daddy...

Snuggles with grandma mem

After we got Taylor all her medicine, we tucked our sleepy girl into her car seat, and headed to my parent's house for a short visit and some Christmas cookie baking. One of my favorite holiday traditions is baking Christmas cookies with my mom - all the mixing, shaping, cookie cutting, icing, powder sugar dusting, and sprinkling is something I can remember doing lots of years just before Christmas. Next year, maybe Taylor will be able to help with the sprinkling and decorating, this year she just played with the cookie cutters. :-) 

Dad helping out with the sprinkling, while grandma mem played with Taylor in the living room

Speedo found his favorite spot to watch all the action...

Less than a week until Christmas!! :-D

Santa (and other fun December things)

We went to visit Santa this week - and Taylor did exactly as we had expected. :-)  When in unfamiliar situations, her most common response is to become very quiet, and simply watch what is going on around her. When she had her "school" pictures taken at daycare, she simply sat and stared, with a few little grins, and her visit with Santa was quite the same! We managed to capture a few little smiles, but her eyebrows gave away her slight uncertainty about this man with a white beard.

Getting ready to leave...

Sitting on Santa's lap! (I wonder, if Taylor could talk, what she would wish for this Christmas... :-))

It was a fun weekday outing!! :-)

December has been rather busy so far on the weekends. Last weekend we had a special visitor on Friday night! My grandpa flew up from the warm south to visit us in the cold north for a few days. My parents and uncle came up to visit as well!

Taylor did really well during our dinner out together - of course she will sit almost anywhere when there are yummy sweet potato puffs involved! :-)

We also celebrated graduation on Saturday - "uncle" Chris and "aunt" Liz graduated from college, and Taylor and I joined the crowd for dinner out afterward.

At this stage she seems to be doing really well with eating out! She has finally taken to a high chair a bit better (when she was younger, she wanted NOTHING to do with being strapped in a high chair). So excited!

And lastly, the big news in the Slagh household this week was Ryan's completion of his master's degree! I am very proud of him for being so dedicated and making it through all his classes! It was all online, so he had to be very self-motivated. Good job, Ry!!
For celebration, we got together with some friends for a surprise dinner out. :-)

Ten days until Christmas!! :-D

Sweatshirt, snow, and a little sweetie pie...

Did you know that there are only 19 (well really almost 18) days until Christmas?!! I LOVE this time of the year!! 
 A few random pictures to share...

First, I finally bought Taylor a little Gap sweatshirt.  There is nothing that I love more than a comfy hooded sweatshirt, and really wanted to get Taylor a little Gap one.
Here is my attempt to take her picture with it on - it is getting harder and harder to take a picture of her because she always wants to move (especially towards something fun to grab - like a camera :-)).

Silly girl...

Trying to get her to stand in one place... and if Taylor had words, I feel like she would be saying, "what mom? I just want to see the camera for a second..." :-)

Second, we are getting buried in snow right now!! If this is an indication of our winter season, we are in for a lot of the white stuff! News reports say 11.5 inches so far, but we definitely have much more than that in our yard/driveway!
The Christmas lights are completely covered in some areas

No snow blowers are used at this house... :-)

And lastly, my mom passed along a few dresses that I wore when I was little, and we tried one of the little ones on Taylor last night...little sweetie...

Max is checking things out from behind :-)

And here is a picture my mom sent me - wearing the same little dress (almost 30 years ago!)

December is going fast!!