The Revival!!

Oh my gosh... SOOO much time has flown by!!

Taylor is 11 months old... almost a YEAR!  I can't believe it.  I don't think I have EVER wished time to slow down more than I have this past year.  She gets more fun EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. and I cannot believe it, but every night I realize I love her even more today than I did yesterday.

It's ridiculous.

So here's a rundown on our family as of now:

First off, we live in Idaho.  Yes.  I believe it's the Gem State... but a far cry from the Gem of the Foothills.  It's a pretty decent place (truth be told), and I think I'll keep liking it more and more every day.

This was taken the first weekend we moved here, before we went to the Cherry Festival

She was so tiny!

Eric is self-employed doing pest control and garbage can cleaning (yes, he is really gross.  He would love to spend all day every day with cockroaches and garbage.  Have I mentioned he is planning on purchasing 100 chickens to raise this spring??)

I stay home.  I keep toying with the idea of working part-time, but... I really don't want to miss

Taylor's first steps and words (or being able to take a nap 2X a day).

Taylor is still a big girl.  She's shrunk slightly from the 95% in weight to the 80%, but she's still pretty chubby.  Gosh, I just LOVE her big chubby cheeks and thighs...

She went through a little rough patch where she got REALLY chubby and lost almost all her hair (except the back, bottom section - think mullet) when she was about 5 months old, but now her hair is growing in, and she can wear clothes other than sweatpants (which, if we're honest, I think most of us can relate to having a sweatpants-only weight problem from time to time).

She has finally stopped growling!  For awhile we were worried maybe her vocal chords were damaged, but eventually we got some sweet, normal baby-girl sounds out of her.

She is very reserved with her smiles.  I think she believes she has a limited number to give out and wants to make sure she has enough for those big days when lots of photos will be taken:

Christmases, graduations, wedding(s)

In fact, sometimes, in public places, grandmas will be trying to coax a smile out of Taylor and they really pull out all the stops.  Meanwhile, Taylor just sits stone-faced.  I try to explain to them that she is the most serious baby in the world, and they shouldn't be offended b/c she NEVER smiles at strangers (I'm talking serious stranger danger with this girl, especially towards men, all men (except Eric).  She is horrified by them).  Anyway, the grandmas NEVER take my advice and simply tell me something like, "Ohhhh, I'm sure I can get one out of her... abuggaboo!  abuggagoo!" while pulling the most ridiculous faces and shenanigans.  Taylor just sits stone-faced and eventually puts her eyebrows together like "Seriously, what the hell is wrong with this lady?" and then looks up at me like "Are you seeing this crazy banshee??!!"  Then the grandma makes a halfhearted laugh and slowly just backs away.  It is really awkward.  I feel so bad for the sweet grandmas.

So in the past 11 months we've:

Done lots of sleeping.  Well, two family members have...

Been crawling

Waving

Watching Army Wives

Saying "uh-oh"

"Dancing"

Eating

Giggling (but like I said, NOT with strangers)

Watching Scandal

Standing

Walking along furniture

Emptying dryers, dishwashers, cupboards, drawers, shelves, purses, wet wipes, boxes, closets, backpacks, files, ziplocks, tissue boxes, laundry hampers, shoe racks, etc.

Watching Downton Abbey

Going up stairs

Playing in the bath

Growing lots of hair

Occasionally sleeping through the night

Watching Vampire Diaries

Visiting the family

Pulling hair

Eye gouging

Refusing to wean

I can't believe that in 11 months, she has gone from that tiny, squished baby with no coordination to THIS!

Ok, so this part of the post could get a little... uhmm... uncomfortable.  Especially if you're of the male variety and are not entirely comfortable with the whole nursing thing.  

Here's a test:  if I were to use the word "breastfeeding" instead of "nursing," do you secretly want to die inside?  If yes, stop reading the post, if no... continue at your own risk.

So my sister just had her second baby boy, Jonah.  He's perfect.

In anticipation of his birth, she and her husband Jeff went on a little trip and we got to watch Ezra (almost 3 years old) for a few days.

I love Ezra.  I love all my nieces and nephews.  It's almost bordering on an unhealthy infatuation (everyone said once I had my own slobber/poop bucket my love for them would wane, but I'm yet to notice any results).

So yeah, I LOVE Ezra.  And ya know what Ezra loves?

Taylor.

And the notion of breastfeeding 

(WATCHING, that is... not like... partaking sicko!).

So the whole time Ezra is here, he is just the SWEETEST thing EVER to "Baby TayTay."

Please note the evidence:

Anytime he is getting a toy, he brings one for Taylor, too.

If she is fussing he tells her, "It's ok TayTay, I'm here.  Ezra's here."

When she's saying, "momomomomom" (i.e. "mom") Ezra interrupts and tries to get her to say "Ez-ra, Ez-ra" and keeps repeating his name slowly for her.

He'll come right up to her and put his head down so she can pull his hair and doesn't get mad when she takes his stuff - he just keeps handing her even more toys.

She can crawl right over him and lay on his head and he just laughs and laughs "Ugh TayTay, you're squishing me!"

Honestly, NONE of this is exaggerated or made up.  So sweet!

The downfall of his sweetness?

His most favorite thing to do with Baby TayTay is help feed her.  He tries to feed her all sorts of stuff, and when it is time for her to nurse, he is just enthralled.  I tried to keep what was happening a secret, but even if I left the room and gave strict instructions that it was "time for Baby TayTay to go to sleep, so we have to be quiet and stay out of her room," he would always find his way in and silently tiptoe over until he was sitting on the armrest, absolutely silent, and just STARE at what was taking place.  After a few sessions he tried to be his helpful-self and was nonstop questions, observations and assistance.

Right before we'd leave for her room:

"Are you going to feed her nipple?"

Half-way through nursing:

"You feeding her? Feed her the other one."

One afternoon he overheard me tell a fussing Taylor to hold on, I'd feed her in a minute, and he zooms across the room until he's right in her face and exclaims, "It's ok TayTay!  Nipples are coming, nipples are coming!" in his most high-pitched, motherly voice.

And after a couple days I'm just nursing her in the front room when Ezra turns around from his toys to face me and says:

"I'll get the other one out for you."

I. ABOUT. DIED. RIGHT. THERE.

He is going to be the BEST big brother... and I feel bad for Jen. Bahahaha!

Anyway, my baby is about to be 1!  If anyone has weaning tips for a baby that refuses to drink from ANYTHING, I'd LOVE to hear them!

Oh Canada!

At Taylor's first doctor appointment, the receptionist was asking the usual questions to fill out her information.  She got to the question on ethnicity (mentioning I could choose up to 3 origins); I looked down at Taylor's milky-white skin and bright blue eyes and replied,

"Umm... White, Cracker."

I'm pretty sure she's about 50% German and 50% English.  She would have definitely survived the Holocaust (well, maybe not, because I'd hope she'd see the wisdom in her English side and realize how admirably Winston Churchill led his country in what appeared only a losing battle and then be a Jewish sympathizer and help them escape, but alas, I digress from the present topic).

Since Taylor lacks any cultural diversity, Eric and I decided to get started on exposing her to lots of different people and places early in life.

In her short life, she has already spent time in

Auburn, WA

Caldwell, ID

Lehi, UT

Newcastle, CA

Blackfoot, ID

and

Victoria, BC, CA

(Oh, what's that you say?  All of those hip destinations have as much racial and economic diversity as a vanilla waffer?  Hmmm.... next week = Compton.)

Anyway, our trip to Canada ended up being a complete disaster.  We didn't do much planning, so the mantra rang true, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."

So we spent about 4 hours in ferry rides and WAY too much money on a hotel in which we got NO sleep as I attempted to prevent any crying all night long. (I cannot imagine how disastrous the trip could have been without Neal and Michelle actually pointing us in the right direction.)

We drove an hour and half to Anacortes where we stayed the night.  We got up early the next morning and caught a 2 1/2 hour ferry to Victoria.  It was a pretty ride, but LONG.

Taylor just lying on the front seat during the ferry ride, listening to her Daddy talk.

Then, we get to Canada and Eric's passport is invalid so they arrest him - JUST KIDDING!

We drove around, looked at some stuff, ate lunch and then decided we'd better just catch another ferry back to Port Angeles after being in BC for only about an hour and a half.  See, the ferries were only running about once a day as it technically wasn't summer yet, so we either had to leave quickly the same day, or stay the night.  While we wanted to just stay (and then could have had a wonderful little vacation), we had bigger problems... and the only explanation I can fathom is this:  

Taylor has been instilled with too much patriotism (if there could even be such a thing) because she basically cried the WHOLE time we were in BC.

Seriously.

So no real pictures, and not a lot of fun for us, until we stepped over the threshold on to the ferry that would bring us home, and suddenly, she calmed down.  

Seriously. 

And then I could swear I kept hearing her briefly humming snippets of "America the Beautiful" (or was that me?).

 This is us on the ferry back to the land of the free and the home of the brave with beautiful Victoria behind us.

Eric and Tay took a little nap on the ferry home.  I'm pretty sure every fellow passenger that walked by stopped dead-in-their-tracks to just gaze at these two sleeping so peacefully, and then would tell me, "Awhhhh... that is SO sweet!" and point them out to everyone else in the vicinity.

While we're on this final ferry I keep asking Eric if he sees anyone official looking so I can ask how long until Port Angeles (because I'm 5 and can't just patiently wait for an undisclosed period of time, I need to know the end game).

Well, after a few minutes of waiting in our little booth, Eric says, "Oh, there's someone you could ask!" just as someone, with a ton of keys jingling from his pocket, zips by us into the next compartment.  I hardly got a look at him, and realize I'll never catch him, so I just settle back down.

Awhile later I see someone with similar jingling keys on the deck outside our window and ask Eric if that is indeed the Authority Figure he saw.  He confirms that this is, indeed, the person Eric views as a credible source of information. 

Behold:

No, your eyes do NOT deceive you.  This is a 13 year old boy on a school field trip.  Yes, you can see he does have a lot of keys jingling from his right pocket, but what you CAN'T see is the whoopee cushion he has in his left hand... NOT KIDDING. 

Moral of the story: if you want Eric to look up to you and view you as some kind of leader, carry keys... lots of keys.  Aside from that, you can do whatever you please.  He'll still respect you.

After that 1 1/2 hour ferry back, we still had about a 2 1/2 hour car ride home.  Seriously, we basically just lived in our car that day.

Needless to say, everyone was exhausted by the time we got home... and was still happy to keep sleeping the next morning...

Sometimes I wonder if Eric thinks time like this actually counts towards his care-taking hours...

So, to sum up, go to Victoria if you have a chance, just DON'T bring Taylor Teichert along... she bleeds red, white, and BLUE!

She's so Vain, She Probably Thinks this Post is About Her...

So it's better late than never...

It's important to let everyone know that we are completely self-absorbed.  As such, Taylor inherited this adorable quality and insisted on TWO newborn photo shoots, threatening that any less than 200 photos would result in the ultimate betrayal - 

registering as a democrat on her 18th birthday.

(kidding, Dana)

Of course we relented.

Here are some of our favorite shots -

Seriously, how did we get so lucky?  I feel so indebted to our Heavenly Father for blessing our family with such a perfectly-healthy, relatively-easy* baby.

*Although I definitely still feel overwhelmed 75% of the time and count a small personal victory if I get make-up on... and don't even get me started on whatever injustices Taylor thinks she experiences every night between 7 and 11 PM that make her entitled to hours of endless holding, bouncing and nursing.  But seriously, she's the BEST. THING. EVER.  I know we are blessed beyond our comprehension.)

2 Month Monster

Taylor is HUGE!  We took her in for her 2 month appointment and she's a whopping 10# 10 oz mammoth!

(We were expecting maybe a 10# even)

Well, here is what she's been up to:

At the blessing, 3 weeks ago, she was wearing newborn sized clothing.  Now, she is barely squeezing into her 3 month sizes.  IN 3 WEEKS!  I told her not to be depressed about going up in sizes.  I told her it's "normal."  She was concerned about accelerating through her wardrobe so quickly though (she really has some cute outfits she's only worn a couple times).  I tried to convince her that it's mostly muscle (using the "muscle weighs more than fat" approach) so that she won't be self-conscience.  This worked for a little while, but the other day, while I was changing her diaper, she noticed a new roll on her thigh, and since has insisted on an all liquid diet.  She was looking into a juice cleanse, but I convinced her we should do milk instead.

She likes to keep an eye on us now.  She'll follow me all around with her eyes (probably to make sure I don't eat fatty foods.  She keeps telling me "A moment on your lips, forever on MY hips!").  

She really does not like it when we're outside and I wear sunglasses.  Good thing we're in Seattle and I don't need them often. 

Sometimes we can get smiles out of her now!  She is most smiley in the morning after a good nights sleep... well... good for HER!

She always has this right hand up... Eric says it's b/c she'll be a basketball player and she's practicing her shot.

Look at this blanket Eric got me for Mother's Day!  I love it!

So Grandma Teichert brought this little bunny out when she came to visit during the bed rest stint.  Since then, it has been sitting on the corner of the pack n play and EVERY TIME I put Taylor in there she just stares, smiles, and talks to it.

 

In current news:

She got a shot at her last Dr appointment.  I had myself all prepared for weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth, etc.  I was all set to nurse her as soon as it was over and then had a day planned of cuddling and warm bath.  Well, as usual, Taylor completely surprised me.

When the nurse tried to give her the rotovirus (oral), Taylor just spit it out.  Over and over.  I'm pretty sure the nurse got about 1/4 of the vaccine in her.  Nothing she did could get Taylor to drink that stuff.  I'm amazed because it fit with her diet regimen (liquid)!

She has a delicate palette.

Then, when the nurse gave her the injection, TAYLOR DIDN'T EVEN FLINCH.  I'm pretty sure she didn't even know it happened.  So when the nurse asked if I was going to use the room to feed her I said, "I guess not..." and we left.

After I got done bragging to everyone about how AMAZING and TOUGH my daughter was, and took this picture to commemorate the day,

Taylor woke up from a nap and started

SCREAMING!!!

Every time she moved her little leg she just wailed and wailed.  It took all my calming techniques combined to get the tiny one to stop crying.  It was the saddest thing I've seen, yet.  She screamed until she was horse and then just screamed and screamed some more.  We had her on a steady regimen of Tylenol and held her all evening (making sure that leg did not move even a millimeter).

Eventually, after she settled a little (we told her the shot was actually part of the HCG diet), we gave her a deep, warm bubble bath and Daddy got in with her.  She kicked her little legs like crazy (which I thought was good, to get that stuff circulated out of her little thigh) and was pretty happy.  I noticed that Eric had a leg gently resting over her, and when I asked why, he told me it's because she is so buoyant now, it's hard to keep her under any amount of water to keep her warm.  I laughed, but stopped short because I'm pretty sure Taylor had one ear out of the water and heard what we were saying because she started fussing again.

We tried to tell her that this was going to be a good thing.  We're just getting prepared for Lake Powell this summer.  Ya know, just in case the worst-thing-in-the-world-happens and she doesn't have a vest on, she'd float.

She just mumbled something about "child protective services" and "incompetencies."

Utah!

A few weeks ago we all went to Utah for Eric's brother Jeff's wedding.  Of course I was stressing the whole time about taking my tiny infant on a germ-infested airplane, but we made it without incident!

Jeff and his wife, Brandi, got married in the Manti temple on April 27th.  It was an amazing sealing.  The Sealer was so cute and said some very sweet things.  We're so excited that Brandi is in the family!  I'm hoping that her and I will have lots of fun in Boise this summer.

At the temple.
We left Taylor in the foyer with some temple workers while we went in for the ceremony. She was so good and well cared for.  Before we had even left the entry way to head back to the sealing room, I turned around to find no less than 4 little ladies all circled around her just fawning over her.  They say she just kept her eyes open and looked all around the whole time.  I think that with all those kind ladies dressed in white surrounding her, she thought she was in Heaven again.  :)

Unfortunately, immediately after the ceremony, Taylor decided that she was STARVING and had to be fed THAT INSTANT!  We only got a few photos in with the photographer before I had to go feed her.  Hence, no pic of us with Jeff and Brandi.  :(

Since Eric's family was all in town, and we were staying at Jen's house in Lehi, we decided we should do Taylor's blessing that weekend.  

(Mormons bless new babies to have their names included on Church records.  The father also includes blessings upon the baby as the Spirit directs him)

Unfortunately, we decided this pretty last minute so not ALL my family could make it out... :/  We still got a pretty good turn out though... Grandaddy & Grammy Miller, Grandma & Grandpa Horrocks, Grandma Miller, Jen, Jeff, Ezra, Grandma & Papa Teichert, Aubrey + Kids, Kregg, Andrew, and Hannah.

Grandpa Horrocks with Taylor for the first time.  He kept saying, "I forgot they made them this small!"

We did the blessing at Jen's house on Sunday afternoon.  Eric said the sweetest little blessing for Taylor (she is very loved) and then Jen prepared a whole lunch for everyone.  Yes, Jen did everything... pretty much single-handedly... at the same time she has just started working full-time and has a husband with a broken hip.  Then, I decide to come stay at her house for a week, with a newborn, and then invite everyone I know over for a huge Sunday meal.  Seriously, in this sisterhood, she definitely got the short-end of the stick.  I really need to start pulling my weight...

Here are some pics of Taylor in her blessing dress:

We're so blessed to have such wonderful family and a healthy baby girl.

Life is good.

All About Taylor

Since Miss Taylor has consumed our whole life, it is only fitting that she consume the blog now, too.

(Although I'll be sure to continue writing anecdotes to embarrass Eric from time to time.)

Here's some of the things to love about Taylor:

She was born with LOTS of dark hair

She has FIVE birthmarks!  You can see two are on her little face (forehead and under nose).  The pediatrician says they should go away over time and probably be gone by the time she's two.  We think she's pretty cute with them.

She loves her daddy.  He spends lots of QUALITY time with her:

 

This is how tiny she was: 

 She's already told me how much she loves me:

She likes her binky,

 and loves her bath.

 

But nothing makes her happier than a warm glass of milk, of the human variety.

Our Little Love Bug's Arrival

This post is LONG overdue...

On Friday, March 9th I was allowed to stop taking the meds that were preventing the labor and begin trying to assimilate into society after my bed rest ostracizing.

The next Wednesday was when everything started happening...

I had just come home from a Primary Presidency meeting and was trying to help Eric cook some Cafe Rio inspired chicken salads.  It's probably around 7 PM.  I'm standing in the kitchen trying to contribute to our partnership when I just feel so tight and uncomfortable I HAVE to go lay down.

I'm laying there for a few minutes when I get up to use the restroom and feel something wet.  But it wasn't what you're thinking... it was:

BLOOD!

So I rush out of the restroom and tell Eric,

"We're going to the hospital, NOW!  Just take everything off the stove and I'll grab the bags."

A long story short-

I finally convince the on-call Dr that this bleeding is not normal (by displaying a disgusting trail of blood behind me wherever I go), and they admit me.

I cannot believe my belly was that huge!

Of course, they're trying to get the pain associated with the contractions I'm experiencing to stop, hoping that maybe it will stop the labor (I'm so at the end of my rope with always trying to "stop labor").

After they give me the morphine (yes, MORPHINE), things start to settle until suddenly,

Taylor kicks me so hard

I say to Eric "Whoa, that HURT" and then I feel something like a rubber-band snap inside me and

BAM
MY WATER BROKE!

I tell the nurse I want an epidural ASAP (I had no foolish notions about being a hero).  It's about 12 AM.

I have some of the worse pain imaginable before that epidural gets in, but as soon as it started working I was in such a state of bliss I could not thank the Drs enough.

After about an hour (1 AM) I'm at a 10 and we're pushing. It was very mellow and relaxed, my Dr was great.  Then, at 2:18 AM on Thursday, March 15th:

Taylor Rae Teichert

6 lb 4 oz