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)