Happy Halloween!

READY, SET, PUMPKIN PATCH!
The glow of a day at the pumpkin patch!

A few days before Halloween (Oct 28) we headed off to the pumpkin patch so Taylor could pick out her pumpkin this year. Unfortunately by the time we made it to the pumpkin patch that afternoon the wind really started to pick up and blow under the tents where the pumpkins were and none of us were dressed appropriately.

That didn't stop us from having a little fun though. Taylor was really into all the pumpkins and scooting around in the hay. She just loves being out and exploring the unknown. And as you can see, part of exploring means that she put everything in her mouth!

She picked out a pumpkin that was just her size!

They had a petting zoo there but as we walked over the wind really picked up and she was not having fun at all. We didn't think it would be a good idea to throw her in with a bunch of animals when she wasn't happy in the first place.

For Halloween Taylor and I spent the night at home just relaxing and reading books while Todd was at work. We don't live in a very kid friendly area so there really wasn't anything for us to do. We don't even get trick or treaters. :o( So no costume this year. I'm already looking forward to next year when we will live in a little neighborhood for her to go door to door. It may be a little colder in Olathe, Kansas but she is going to have so much more fun!

Here is a short little video from the pumpkin patch. She is wearing the cute little outfit that her Grandma, Grandpa and Auntie Amy got for her! The little socks are from her Auntie Vanessa!

Happy Birthday to Taylor!

Planning for this big day started about a month prior. I really wanted her to have an amazing first birthday so I decided that I was going to learn how to make a fancy two layered cake using fondant. I did research and visited a cake decorating store a few times and then started my tester cakes!! Todd and my friends didn't mind this process at all. I ended up learning how to make marshmallow fondant from scratch. It really wasn't that difficult but pretty messy and very tasty!!

We also had to buy my sister and my moms plane tickets and map out their activities for the weekend. I really wanted my mom to see a bit more of LA since the last time she was here Taylor was only a week old and we were stuck in the house the entire time.

Her very first bite of cake!

The day my mom and sister arrived we really didn't have much time and headed straight to Beverly Hills where we met up with Stephanie and all got our brows done at Anastasia's Salon. Unfortunately, my mother received absolutely horrible service and a bad brow job. I called them later that week and had very strong words for the manager and they ended up sending her an apology letter and some free product! :o)

The clean up crew in the Woodly sink!

Then we headed to LA Ink so my sister could get her husband a T-Shirt. We ended up getting Taylor the coolest black onsie with a skull on it!! With her red hair and green eyes it looks so cute!!

Mmmm, chocolate!

That night I spent over 6 hours trying to get Taylor's slideshow to burn to a disk. I had been working on her slideshow using a Mac program for over a month and for some reason it just would not burn. I was up until 4am working on it. They were all in order with witty captions and music to match. In the meantime, I was also baking four cakes so they could cool and be decorated the next day.

Aunt Wendy with the chocolate princess!

The next day we headed to the tattoo parlor where I got a giant dragon above my left shoulder. I thought it would be great for my modeling career! Oooo, gotcha! I'm just kidding. Actually, we went to a beauty tattoo artist and my mom had her brows tattooed on. They look absolutely amazing and she was very happy with them.

Back! Front!

After that we headed to Woodley to decorate the party room. That really didn't take long which was good because I had a very long night ahead of me. I still had to get the slideshow to burn and decorate the cake!! I worked on the cake first. It took a little over four hours and I was done around midnight. After that we discovered that the picture size was the problem with the slideshow. So I was up until 4am again, resizing and recreating the entire show. It finally burned and I was almost in tears from shear exhaustion!!

Cruising around on her own mingling with guests!

The next day was the big party! Things ran pretty smooth! I was very disappointed with the turnout and the lame excuses I got from friends but other then that it was great! The people that did show up were so very sweet and generous!! They really did make the day special. Taylor was actually really sick but you would have never known!! She was in and out of the car on Friday and we had a ton of fires down here. So between the smoke and going from cold to warm to cold over and over again I think it was just too much for the little birthday girl.

Uncle Frank taking the birthday girl for a walk!

She was so excited to be the center of attention though and you would have never guessed that she had been sick and up almost all night for the past two nights. Especially after she got her cake! I made her her own little chocolate cake to devour and did she! It was the first time that she has had chocolate or any real refined sugar so it was a real treat for her.

The best family picture we could get! Chocolate overload!

Her very own cake!

Grandma & Grandpa and Auntie Amy Visit!!! July 20, 2009

Grandpa and Taylor

We are having so much fun. Today Todd went and played golf with his dad and his sister and mom and Taylor and I went out and ran fun errands. We started off at Toys R Us and bought Taylor the cutest little car that she can sit on and use her feet to push around and then you flip it up and she can stand and push it around like a lawn mower looking thing. Very cute! We also got her a ne w book and some Baby Einstein videos that she watched tonight. Treats from under my hood! Then we went to CPK for lunch. We started off with some warm honey wheat pita bread and hummus. Taylor loved the pita bread! Then we walked over to Macy's to look at their perfume. I was trying to find the se three different kinds of perfume that smelled like my Escada that has been discontinued. They didn't have any of them and apparently they are hard to find. Great! So we went to a perfume store that was in the same mall and asked them. They didn't have them either. BUT they did have this one scent that I smelled a few weeks ago called Pink Sugar. Very warm and vanilla-ee and sweet. I really, really liked it. We smelled a million other ones first though. I told them that I loved warm, vanilla scents so they were pulling all of them. I still liked the Pink Sugar the best and Todd's mom bought me the big bottle for an early bday present. Soooo nice!! I love it! There was a See's candy shop in there and I said 'hey lets go get a sample of See's'. The girls didn't believe me about the magical free sample but when you're talking to a girl that just finished a competition and has an open diet, you must trust the wise dieting fitness model. If there is free chocolate I will find it!! :o) We ended up buying a few for the boys. Then we were off to Ikea so they could find some jars that they use to fill and decorate and make presents with. After that we were off to Yummy Cupcakes. This place is soooo amazing! Every kind of cupcake you can think of. They had a peanut butter and jelly cupcake!! I got the Smores, Todd got a Reeses Peanut butter and his mom got chocolate on chocolate and we got his dad chocolate with cream frosting. Aunt Amy is a tad bit crazy and doesn't like frosting!! Yup, we thought about cutting her out of the family but Taylor loves her too much! ;o) At breakfast with Grandpa! Todd cooked an amazing magnolian beef dish for dinner! After I cleaned up I dished out everyone's cupcakes. They were AMAZING! I only ate half mine and put the other half in the fridge for later. I did help Todd finish his though! There was an actual glob of real peanut butter in the middle. Mmmmm.... Auntie Amy & Taylor at Good Earth The next morning we went to one of our favorite breakfast spots. It's called Good Earth and it's actually the place I ate the day I was in labor. I was having labor pains while eating my egg white omelet! Ha! Taylor had fun drinking out of straws and trying new foods and getting spoiled going from lap to lap! Taylor & Grammy Smith at Breakfast Next we headed to Bank of America where Todd's parents set up an account for Taylor that they are going to contribute to! In fact, anyone can contribute so Todd and I are going to do our best to put as much money away for her as possible. It's tough these days but we are fine going without a few things if that means she doesn't have to struggle with debt in her future! After that we headed to our favorite little Tuesday Farmers Market. We loaded up on our favorite cookies from a few vendors as well as some toffee and a bunch of fruit. We did have one big scare while everyone was here for a visit! I gave Taylor a frozen banana to nibble on and when it got down to a dangerous size I reached to grab it away from her and as I'm going for it it slipped right down into her throat. I just grabbed her out of her booster seat and yelled 'she's choking' and flipped her over and started to hit her on the back. Todd ran over and grabbed her and gave her a good pound and it popped right out. She was soooo scared and cried for a little bit afterwards and then about 10 min later she was fine. I was very teary eyed. The next morning we relaxed and took pictures and tried to spend as much time together before they flew out in the early afternoon. We were very sad to see them go! :o( It is really hard not having family around for so many reasons. Hopefully we can all be together soon!

Aunt Wendy's Visit

About a month ago my sister Wendy came down from Oregon and met Taylor for the first time! They just adored each other from the start.

Taylor joined my sister and I on a weekend of beauty. I took her to Anastasia's Salon in Beverly Hills where I go to get my browns done before big competitions or photo shoots. They are AMAZING! I was so excited to take her there. Taylor was ohhh so very popular amongst the staff there (all female of course). And my brow lady Anita has a set of twins that are turning one soon so her and I have been through some pretty major changes since I started seeing her over 3 years ago.

After the brows were beautiful we went on a little walk around Beverly Hills and popped into some card shops and clothing stores for ourselves and Taylor. We mostly window shopped until we got to Sprinkles! Sprinkles is a very famous cupcake shop in the area. Wendy bought a couple of cupcakes for Todd since he was the one who made the trip happen in the first place!!!

The next day all four of us headed to Pasadena to get our hair cut. I've been getting my hair done at this amazing salon for a few years now and I knew that they would be able to give Wendy a new look that she was wanting. I was so excited for her. I was just getting a trim and a blow out. Since we were both going to be getting our hair done at the same time Todd joined us on this little outing and walked around with Taylor while we had a little sister time. My sisters hair turned out AMAZING!!!! It looked so good and she was so happy!

We braved heading to Mastros to see Todd one evening but unfortunately it turned out to be a disaster! Taylor was up way past her bedtime and was already a bit cranky before we left. Then we got upstairs to the lounge and the music is just so incredibly loud that Taylor was just in tears. We ended up moving downstairs and eating in a closed of section of the restaurant where Taylor eventually fell asleep and I was able to grab a bite to eat for the first time in hours!!

Here we are pre- Mastor's adventure!

We had a much more enjoyable trip to PF Changs where the baby girl has a few fans and it was in a nice bright quiet restaurant so she was happy! And so were mommy and daddy. It was amazing how much stress was lifting off of our shoulders from having an extra hand there to help us. Everyone was in such a good mood all weekend and Taylor was just all smiles. It makes Todd and I very sad that we are so far away from family!

We were all very sad to put my sister on the plane after such a fun trip. :o( The good news is her and my mom have already booked their flights to come and visit for Taylor's first birthday. I am so very excited! We are going to be doing a get together probably at the golf course that I work at. I'm planning on making her cake as well. I'm looking into a few cake decorating classes and I'm going to attempt a three layer cake with fondant. Eeeek!

Todd and I are both sad that his family won't be here for the big day BUUUTT the are going to be here in 21 days for a visit!!! None of us can wait! Coincidentally, they are flying in on the same day as my next competition! I am thrilled that they are going to see me compete. Todd is really excited as well because he'll have some helping hands so he can actually watch the show and take pictures.

I'll end this blog with a few more of my favorites from my sisters trip!

Almost 8 Months!!!

Our little tiger is going to be 8 months in just a few days! I can't believe it!! 

So far we've had three ear infections, two eye infections, a few bumps on the head, one fall off the couch, two teeth popping in and more diaper rashes then we care to count. It's been a busy month and a half! :o) 

She still isn't sleeping through the night so sleep is rare and amazing when gotten in more then two hour splits.  Every other mom I talk to tells me how great it is that their baby is sleeping for 7, 8 and sometimes 9 hours a night. Ummm, ya, I don't talk to those moms anymore. I would really like to pull their hair out.  

We are almost strictly formula and solids now so maybe that will help her sleep longer.  Since I've been dieting down for competition my milk supply has dwindled down to only a few ounces a day.  I was really hoping to breast feed for a year so hopefully after my next competition in a few weeks I'll be able to put on a few pounds and increase my milk supply until at least August which is when my next competition is. We'll see. 

 

Speaking of competitions, my first competition was this past Saturday, the Fitness America Pageant, Orange County. It was a blast! I weighed in at 121 pounds with an 8.8% body fat and competed in both the Bikini America division and the Fitness Modeling division.  I didn't place as high as I wanted to but I was very happy with my performance! There are a few things that I'm going to change for next time but not too many just yet. I really need to see the side to side comparisons before I really know what needs to be done. 

Todd and Taylor went with me and Todd put more points on his daddy of the year card! We were away from home for over 12 hours that day and he did amazing with her!  The music was way too loud in the theater so he had to take her out and then peek in or bring her in really quick while I was on stage. At one point he came down close to the stage and I looked over and blew kisses and waved and the crowd all turned and looked at my adorable little family and loved it!! Unfortunately, we didn't get any family pictures.  It was such a hectic day!  Here is the two shots that we captured of Taylor and I after the competition out at BJ's for a rewarding dinner of pizza! Mmmmm!! 

My next competition is on Muscle Beach in Venice on May 25.  I'm so excited. It's going to be outdoors on the beach and open free to the public. Since it's so close I should have some fans that will be able to make it.  I'll only be competing in the bikini round so it should be a pretty relaxing fun day! 

One other piece of pretty big news is that I'm going to be opening up my own day care in the next couple of months.  Sooner rather then later hopefully.  I have mandatory orientation tomorrow and then from there Todd and I have to go through background checks and fingerprinting.  After that we are going to baby proof the entire house and then we should be ready for inspections.  After that hopefully we'll have our license and I'll start advertising!!! It's going to be night time care focusing on parents in the service industry like Todd and I. I am really looking forward to this transition!! 

 

As far as milestones go we are working on them! Taylor is still trying to crawl but only manages to get her booty in the air and work her way backwards for a bit until she gets frustrated and

 starts hollering! Ha! She is all about lifting herself up to stand though! She loves to stand up and is so in

credibly strong!! It's amazing! I'm sure it's because of her little tree trunk thighs! So cute! I've decided to start charging people when they want to pinch, grab and nibble on my chunky monkey.  I think a dollar a squeeze should  be about right! 

Fun Videos!!! 

Uncle Frank and the Monkey

It's been a while since I've blogged.  So sorry!! With the economy being so bad we've had a lot on our plates.  I've been searching for a new job while setting up photoshoots in the hopes of the new shots landing me some modeling work.  

So with all of that going on our little Taylor gets and ear infection! I thought the poor thing just had a cold based on her symptoms but it turns out it was her ear.  She's been on antibiotics for four days now and has six more to go.  But she is already so much better.  She was waking up every hour just in tears.  Now it's the normal every 2-3 to have a snack. You heard right,  I still haven't figured out how to get her to sleep through the night. I'm working on it though. I am exhausted! 

Todd and I were planning on taking Taylor to Houston in May for my first competition of the year and to visit with Todd's family but unfortunately that has been put on hold for a while.  It looks like my first competition is going to be May 2 in Brea, CA.  It's a Muscle Mania event and sometimes those can be viewed online so I will keep you posted.  So far my new training schedule has been pretty light compared to what I used to do but I'm seeing results so that's promising.  I only have about 6 weeks to go so I'll start dieting down soon and hopefully be able to fit into my suit from last year....pre-babygirl! Yikes!! 

So with all the drama going on I thought it was time to laugh, and who better to help us out with that then Taylor.  A few weeks ago one of Todd's good friends Frank came to visit from Bakersfield and him and Taylor were inseparable for two days. She absolutely loved him.  We captured a few of the moments on video.  

Here they are, three fun filled videos of Taylor, her Monkey, Uncle Frank and Aunt Candy! 

Grammy Smiths Valentine's Day Visit!!

We had the most amazing Valentine's Day!! Todd's sister Amy is going to be heading back to Kansas in a few days because her work here in Semi Valley is all done. We are very, very sad! :o(   This prompted an earlier visit by Grammy Smith.  Todd's Mom flew in on Thursday night and joined us Friday morning with Amy before I headed off to work. 

Taylor has grown so much since she last saw her! She is over 20 pounds right now. 20.6 to be exact.  We are buying 9-12 month clothing for her and I'm constantly moving things into the 'can't wear' pile in the closet.  Of course Grammy came with Valentine's Day gifts for little Taylor and yummy treats for Todd and I. 

So I was off to work and Todd and all of his girls spent the day together.  After Todd left for work Grammy and Aunt Amy were on their own until I got home! They had so much fun.  Taylor has so much personality these days and is really becoming animated and VOCAL to say the least.  We often wonder if we brought home a loud bird from the hospital.  It's ear piercing sometimes. 

  

The entire weekend was so much fun! Todd and his mom were able to spend some time together and Grammy and Aunt Amy had so much fun baby sitting.  I didn't want them to leave! :o) Here is a fun video of Taylor and Grammy! 

 

We have also started to feed the little tiger some rice cereal.  The theory that it keeps them fuller longer and helps them sleep through the night is, to me, just a theory.  She has yet to sleep longer then four hours and is up every two to three hours after midnight.  And she's had a pretty bad cold the past few days so with the congestion she's up every hour.  I'm exhausted to say the least.  

Here are a few images of one of our first successful meals: