Christmas!

Taylor's first Christmas was amazing! What a little doll she was for all of these hectic holiday events.  First she was just an angel for Santa and then would not stop talking and laughing all through Christmas Eve and then enjoyed all of her toys on Christmas morning....at least for a few minutes at a time. 

        

We had a Christmas Eve outfit for her and a Christmas outfit for her. She is going to hate us in about 15 years I'm sure! :o) But how cute!! 

        

Christmas Eve we spent with one of our best friends, Candy, and had a great dinner and dessert and opened stockings that Todd snuck out and put together for us a few days prior.  Taylor was having a great time as you can see from the video I posted in our last blog. 

What a Christmas her Grammy and Grandpa Smith and Auntie Amy gave our new little family!!!! My goodness, Todd is losing more and more closet space every day.  She has toys, books, clothes, shoes, headbands, piggy banks, savings accounts....it was absolutely incredible.  And there is no better gift for a new mommy than an amazing camera to take pictures and videos with.  I was blown away! 

I made Guilt Free Wheat Pancakes with fresh fruit and whip cream and some egg whites for breakfast and Todd made a sweet and sour dish for dinner that was soooo good.  Then we had low calorie pumpkin cheesecake for dessert that took me all day to make and had to sit in the fridge for 4 hours! We ate it around 11pm.  It's actually really fast and easy to make, I just had a ton of interruptions and Todd had to make a run to the store for a missing ingredient. 

What an amazing day!! 

A Christmas Eve Video

Here is as short video of Taylor and her Auntie Candy on Christmas Eve with her adorable little outfit on that her Grammy Smith and Auntie Amy got for her! 

Santa and Shots

Look at our baby girl with Santa! :o) We could not have been happier with how this turned out.  She is really the happiest in the mornings but Todd and I had so much to do that day that we didn't get to the mall until after 4:00 pm sometime.  We headed right for the family lounge and I gave her a snack and changed her bum and her outfit and we headed right for Santa's lap.  The coat was really annoying her but it was pretty easy to distract her with all that was going on in the mall. She loves looking at all the bright lights.  I couldn't take it off though, look how cute it is, I mean really! ;o) 

So we go from fun with Santa to shots this morning.  I really was not looking forward to it.  We got to the doctors office and as usual there was a problem with insurance.  She is almost two months overdue for her first shots, it's raining and 40 degrees outside and we've been taking her to Kids Klub at the gym.  There is no way in hell I was leaving that office without her shots. I had them call the insurance company and thankfully we straightened things out.  We headed back into the room and by this time we had been there an hour and it was almost her nap time.  I was almost in tears already just anticipating her tears.  She needed one oral vaccine and 3 shots in her little ham-hocks (legs!).  As soon as the first shot was in she was howling and my tears were flowing....and then the 2nd and then the 3rd.  Todd took her and the nurse gave me some tissue and then we had to wipe my tears off of Taylor's head.  Todd thought she was crying out her forehead.  She was pretty upset until we stuck the pacifier in her mouth and she was sleeping in a matter of minutes. 

They suggested we give her a warm bath and bundle her up when we got home so that's what we did. I gave her some Tylenol and she ate and then had a warm bath and took a nap.  So far she has been doing good. She is pretty fussy but sleeping a lot. Poor thing!! I'll give her a little baby massage tonight and some more Tylenol and hopefully she'll be fine by tomorrow. 

 

I love this shot with her little mohawk!

  

Here is another shot of her in her new chair!

 

Look, an outfit that isn't pink!!

17 Pounder

Nope, I'm not talking about our Thanksgiving turkey, I'm talking about our little Taylor.  She is officially 3 months as of December 7th.  We weighed and measured her and she is almost 17 pounds and 26 inches long. We couldn't believe it.  I of course had to look it up and sure enough she is in the 97th percentile for her age for both height and weight!! 

Here is a picture of her with her Auntie Amy! 

She has started to go to the gym with us as well.  We have an amazing deal with LA Fitness for her to spend time in the Kids Klub while we work out.  I was pretty nervous the first day and I couldn't stop thinking about her during my workout. I didn't even put my headphones on because I was scared I would miss the club calling me for something.  When 

I went in to grab her she was unfortunately sitting by herself with her bottle balancing on some blankets and she was struggling and in a panic to get it to hold still so she could eat. I was pretty fired up! I flew in there so fast and grabbed her bottle.  The next time we took her in I asked them to call me when it was time to feed her.  It was a different girl and when Todd went down she was playing with Taylor and making her smile and then fed her and burped her.  Whew! That was a good day. Since then it's been fine. She is the youngest in there so they usually just put her in the swing and she just takes in her surroundings.  Afterwards she naps a few more times then usual in the afternoons so I think she is getting some major stimulation.  

Here she is in her workout gear.  You like the little Jordan socks? So cute!! 

Her and daddy getting ready to workout!

As for me, I started back to work on Friday.  It was a short four hour shift to help fill in before a big Christmas party.  It was really good to be back to work and see all of my friends.  The guys that work in the pro shop bought me a chocolate cake! Mmmmm...doesn't help me lose the last 5 pounds of baby weight but I indulged!!  Todd did an absolutely amazing job taking care of Taylor! This was the longest that he has been alone with her.  He cleaned the entire house, took her for a walk, made me dinner, bought me my favorite dessert and left me a sweet card.  *sigh* I have the most amazing man in the entire world.  SuperDad!!! 

My friend Vanessa was so incredibly sweet and bought us one of the most amazing gifts for Taylor! It's a little seat for her now that she can hold her head up....well, she looks like a little bobble head but she is getting strong.  Here she is in her chair, so cute!! Do you see little Bella back there enjoying the box that it came in?! 

Our first family Thanksgiving!

 Look at our little turkey!  

We went on a pre-Thanksgiving stroll to grab some snacks and some holiday coffee treats. 

Our first family Thanksgiving was amazing.  An amazing 17 pound turkey and only one fire! Todd was the master chef of the day.  We took all of our recipes out of my Clean Eating magazine that I subscribe to so most everything we had was a low fat/calorie version of the normal dishes.  It was Todd's first time cooking Thanksgiving dinner and I can't believe how well it turned out!! My job was deviled eggs and dessert.  Well, unfortunately, the pumpkin cheesecake that I wanted to make called for a lot of ingredients we don't have including some expensive spices so instead of spending $40 on ingredients Todd decided to pick us up little individual pumpkin pies from the bakery. 

    

Taylor's Grammy Smith and Auntie Amy bought her the adorable Thanksgiving outfit and the hat that kept slipping up and looking like a wig was made by Grandma Dorothy. When worn right it looked adorable! 

                          

The fire came later in the evening when a wrong burner was turned on and the plate with turkey sitting on top of it caught fire! Thankfully the turkey was saved and the smoke alarm didn't go off.  Which was shocking since there were some pretty big flames! :o) 

2 Month Photoshoot

Our baby girl is getting so big.  She has already doubled her weight and added 5 inches to her long little legs.  Her newborn onsies are making her look like a little sausage.  It's time to move to the 3-6 month section of the closet! 

Taylor is definitely daddy's little girl.  She is a spitting image of Todd!!! We have an old picture of Todd when he was a baby and we put it up to a similar picture of Taylor and I'm telling you, just a spitting image.  I'll scan that in soon and show you the side by side comparison. 

This past month has been pretty fun.  She is so much more vocal and her facial expressions are a crack up.  She has really started to mimic different noises and will just talk and talk.  And we are finally getting some smiles out of her.  Whew! I thought for sure social services was going to be knocking on our door if I posted one more picture of her crying. 

We went in for her two month shoot about two weeks ago. This time the little princess decided it was my turn to get wet.  She was pretty hungry part way through the shoot and we were lucky enough to have time for me to feed her.  Well, soon after, it was all up on my shirt.  But she didn't stop there. We had just gotten her naked for her next shots and as we were cleaning the spit up off of my shoulder she decided to tinkle.  And by tinkle I mean my entire front was soaked.  We actually ended up getting a great shot of me holding her at that moment by accident.  We have an amazing shot of her and Todd but it won't post onto blogger for some reason. I've tried over a dozen times!! I'll keep working on it because it's an adorable daddy/daughter shot! 

So I went home from the shoot pretty wet and Todd had a big smile on his face since he was tinkled on twice at our last shoot!!! 

At the Pumpkin Patch

On Wednesday, Oct 22 Todd and I took little Taylor to the pumpkin patch in Woodland Hills. What an adventure. First of all, I've been looking for a little onesie that I saw weeks ago that say "My 1st Halloween".  Well, we go to find one and they are all gone and they are starting to put up Christmas stuff. I couldn't believe it. I did find her a cute little outfit with a matching hat.  Plus, her auntie Amy bought her these really cute halloween socks that matched perfectly! My sister Wendy sent a really cute mermaid outfit but it's HUGE.  She'll be able to wear it next year. 

 

The pumpkin patch was huge and had so many fun things for kids to do.  Taylor is going to love it when she gets older. So the plan was to get one shot of her amongst all of the pumpkins and one family shot. We headed to the pumpkins and saw that David and Victoria Beckham were gathering pumpkins with their kids too. We put Taylor down and got one shot of her before the tears came.  Every picture after that she was crying. We think it was the hat. The evil, evil hat! For some reason she HATED it!! 

I didn't want every picture we had of her in the cute little outfit to look like we beat her so we set up a little photo shoot at home. It turned out to be really cute AND we got the one picture of her smiling! SOOO CUTE!! 

Taylor's First Photo Shoot

Last Thursday Todd and I took Taylor to her first photo shoot! My friend Kate is an amazing photographer so I was really excited to take Taylor to her for her first shoot (http://www.katerochaphotography.com).  I found a picture that I wanted to duplicate and Kate went above and beyond to make it happen. 

Well, like any model before a big shoot, Taylor broke out. That's right, baby acne! I couldn't believe it. All over her little cheeks and chin. I was so upset but at the same time I know the magic of photoshop! Not only did we have the big shoot on Thursday but Taylor was meeting her Grandma and Grandpa for the first time on Friday.  Todd's parents were due Friday morning after the shoot. I seriously considered putting cover up on my one month old baby girl. 

We get to the shoot and Taylor was fed (I'm learning to nurse in public, and by public I mean the back of Todd's truck with my Hooter Hiders on) and awake and happy.  It was perfect timing. We set up and took Taylor's clothes off and got her ready for her first layout.  At that moment I see a perfect yellow stream flowing down Todd's shirt.  The princess piddled all over daddy. I, of course, thought this was hilarious!  Fast forward to another shot where Taylor was

 laying on Todd's legs and sure enough another tinkle. Where was it all coming from? 

We really wanted to get some shots of her sleeping as well but she was too excited to be in front of the camera. Overall I think she did really well. She's a natural! 

Enjoy the pictures!!

One Month Birthday

Yesterday was our little Taylor's one month birthday. What a month it has been.  She is growing before our eyes. I knew that she had gained some weight and my guess was around 2 pounds.  Well we go to the pediatrician last week and sure enough the little tiger gained exactly 2 pounds.  The pediatrician was shocked! Normally at that time babies just gain their original birth weight back. Not our hungry little monkey! :o) Apparently I have magic milk! She went from 7 pounds 5 oz to 9 pounds 5 oz in a little less then a month. Todd can't stop touching her chubby little cheeks. 

Overall she has been a really good baby.  She has 3 or 4 nights a week of colic so I'm really trying to watch my diet and make sure she is getting all the air out after her feedings.  Of course on the nights that daddy is home she is just an angel.  I'm not kidding! She will cry for 2 to 4 hours a night when he is at work and on his nights off she is napping or being all bright eyed and adorable. Ahhh, daddy's girl already! 

She has her first photo shoot tomorrow and we are so excited! One of my friends Kate is a professional photographer and offered us an amazing deal on a photo shoot with her.  Like any model she has broken out all over her little cheeks and chin. I think she might be nervous about her big day! ;o) I will hopefully have pictures as early as next week. 

Taylor's Birthday

Around 3:00 am Sunday, September 7th our baby girl (who had not been named at this time) decided that it was time to wake me up for more then our 10th bathroom break of the evening.  I wasn't exactly sure what was happening since I hadn't had any contractions yet so I grabbed my pregnancy bible, What To Expect When You're Expecting, and started to look up my symptoms when Todd came home from work.  I let him know that I was pretty sure I was in the early stages of labor.  I knew it could be hours and I wanted to stay at home as long as possible so I decided to try to sleep.  I curled up on the couch and a short while later I started to have contractions.  Around 9:00 am I got up and let Todd know that we were going to have our baby girl today.  That moment of realization was one that I will never forget.  

My contractions were getting closer but not close enough to make any calls.  As noon quickly approached my contractions became pretty far apart.  Todd and I decided it was going to be a while and headed out to breakfast at Good Earth, my favorite restaurant and one that Todd endures because I'm carrying his baby girl! :o) 

Around 4:00 pm the contractions were very random so I decided to give our doctor a call.  After describing all my symptoms he had us head into the hospital to get checked out.  At that time my phone decided to stop working.  I have a few choice words for Sprint that I will leave out.  I was not going to the hospital without my phone working so as we headed to the Sprint store it magically turned on and we quickly changed lanes and headed to the hospital. 

After getting checked in we learned that I was only 3 cm dilated.  I was so disappointed.  I was hoping for at least 7! Time flew by after that and soon we were in our room and it was nearing 8:00 pm.  I had called one of my best friends Stephanie who showed up just in time to see me have the worst and last contraction before the epidural.  Todd took the opportunity to run to the car and get our bags.  Soon after he left our baby girls heartbeat dropped to a dangerous pace.  I heard the nurse put in some code that alerted about 10 nurses to my room.  I had to be put on oxygen while they rolled me over and gave me a drug to stop my contractions in order to get the babies heartbeat back to normal.  Poor Todd walked in to this spectacle and had no idea what was going on.  I, of course, was in hysterics and could hardly breathe. 

Things calmed down and we learned that my contractions were so intense and lasting so long that even the healthiest of babies would not do well.  At this time we received a call from our doctor explaining that it would be best to perform a c-section in case this were to happen again.  Todd and I talked and agreed that it was the best option.  I was wheeled in and prepped for surgery minutes later.  It was around 8:30 pm at this time.  They doctors turned on the music and Todd held my hand as we waited.  I couldn't tell you what we were even talking about when all of a sudden we heard the first cries of our little girl.  The tears started flowing! I was obviously unable to move so I couldn't see her for what seemed like forever.  Todd was over watching and taking pictures as they cleaned her up.  Then they had him cut the umbilical cord.  

After she was cleaned and bundled he brought her over and we just stared at our little red headed princess!! She was perfect!! I unfortunately had to be taken to recovery so Todd went with her to the nursery.  As they wheeled her out my girlfriends Stephanie and Candy ran over, almost knocking people over so I'm told, to get the first peak at the princess. 

Recovery was long but I was soon wheeled into my room and around 2:00 am Taylor tried to have her first little meal.  Being the amazing baby that she is, she took right away and was able to have a small snack! 

The next five days in the hospital are some that I would like to forget.  I struggled to even move and was basically helpless without Todd. So Todd had a crash course in fatherhood and was changing diapers in no time! I think it was at this time that the switch flipped and he became a light sleeper! A baby girl will do that to you I think! 

The first night Taylor was home was long, very, very long! Apparently I didn't read the section of what NOT to eat while breast feeding and had consumed chocolate and almonds all that day.  Which unfortunately lead to four long hours of Taylor crying with a belly ache until around 4:00 am.  Since then we have only had a few nights like that, thank goodness!! 

Every day with her is amazing! She is already gaining weight and her little cheeks are filling out nicely.  Her hair is getting even more red too! Enjoy the pictures of Taylor's Birthday!