4 Month Update

So we've been really busy lately, but I wanted to give a 4 month update (even though it's a little late). Taylor is really becoming a lot of fun... she loves to play peek-a-boo and patty cake and also loves to play with Bailey. She will reach out for him and he lets her hold onto his fur. They also try to give each other kisses, which I initially freaked out about, but my doctor said to not worry about it. She is also rolling over a ton now... she will roll herself to where she wants to go! For this reason, we decided that we could not swaddle her anymore at night. She would roll over in her swaddle and sleep with her face planted into the mattress. We prepared ourselves for a bad night, but she actually did great! She slept for 12 solid hours... here she is waking up.

She has also started to play in her jumperoo. Here she is in it for the first time...

She still loves her swing and also loves to snuggle with either her giraffe or butterfly (or sometimes both) in it.

She LOVES her daddy... every time he comes home or enters the room she is all smiles (even if she was just fussing).

Here is Taylor at our church fall festival... she had a big time if you couldn't tell...


Taylor loves her next door neighbors...

Taylor was baptized a couple weeks ago... it was a very special time for our family. I don't have all the pictures yet (most are on my dad's camera), but here are a few. Taylor wore the gown that my mother made for me when I was a baby!


My amazing sister-in-law, Jen, thought it would be a good idea to throw a family lunch for Taylor after the baptism. Bill and Jennifer graciously provided their house and Jen did the cooking. The food was wonderful, and it was so nice to be able to visit with family and not worry about anything else. Thank you again Jen!!! And thank you to everyone who came into town for the baptism!

We had a quiet first Thanksgiving... we stayed at home and went to Bill and Jennifer's for a little bit. It was nice to have some much-needed family time with the 3 of us.

My mom also came into town to help me 2 weekends ago... we were going to have 40-50 people over to our house for one of the UT residency interview dinners. She came and cleaned my house and also watched Taylor so I could get a bunch of stuff done. It was wonderful... thank you again Mom!

We're so excited for Taylor's first Christmas... Merry Christmas everyone!

Job Update

Since I became pregnant, one of the top 3 questions I've received over and over was "So what are you going to do about work?" Well for those of you on the edge of your seat, I finally have an answer.

I personally think this is one of the hardest decisions a mom has to make. I knew that I would love to try to work, but knew that working full-time with Brett's schedule would be so much stress, especially with my "all or none" personality. And I just wasn't willing to sacrifice all that time with Taylor, but no one works part-time and from home in my department. As most of you know, I hate to make decisions, so Brett gave me some good advice. He asked what would be my perfect situation and then go for that.

So to make a long, long story short, my management created a new position for me that is part-time from home! It is a lateral move and I am changing from a device clinical trials to a pharmaceutical trial. I can work from home because the pharma trial is run by a CRO (Contract Research Organization) not in Memphis, so I can manage the CRO from home. I think I will actually love this job a lot more, because I am going back to project management instead of people management. The CRO deals with personnel issues, and I just make sure they are doing their job overall. And it will be fun and different to try pharma research. Initially, I will still need to go into the office 2 days a week, but hopefully can get down to 1 once I fully transition and learn my new job. For now, my mother-in-law, Jennifer, will watch Taylor 1 day a week and one of my sweet friends, Becca, has graciously agreed to watch her the other day.

The Lord continues to richly bless our lives... and I am so thankful to Him for perfectly working this out. I'll let you know how all of this goes!

Happy Halloween!

From our little ladybug...



This is for Callen, Mary, Claire, and Shannon... here we are at the zoo with Taylor. :)


We hope you have a fun day!

2 1/2 Month Update

Here's a quick update on what's been going on in the Davenport household... Taylor started sleeping through the night a couple weeks ago (the day of her 2 month check-up), so we're all very happy around here! The girl likes her sleep (like her mother) and usually sleeps from 10ish-8. I feel like a new person getting a full nights rest! Here's Taylor right before her first set of shots... sad.

We got a zoo membership last week and have already been twice. The Memphis zoo is actually really nice and the weather has been beautiful. We first went with Lauren and Jake, Jenny and Charlie, Katie and Sam, and Becca and Hunter. Poor Taylor is going to get used to being around all boys!


My mom (aka Marms) came in town this weekend and we went again on Sunday. We saw a baby giraffe that was only 48 hours old.



We went to church for the first time as a full family last weekend. Taylor went to the nursery and did just fine. Please notice her adorable dress that Callen's mom made! Afterward, Taylor got to see her friend across the street, Cate, for a very brief play date.



Taylor is a lot of fun to be around now... she smiles all the time! And today, she really started to reach out and grab toys...

They're singing...Go Cubs Go...

Go Cubs Go...Hey Chicago, what do you say? Cubs are gonna win today.

So maybe they didn't win last night, but tonight is going to be different. We had baseball night last night and watched the game while eating baseball park food... hot dogs, cheese dip, etc. It was a lot of fun, despite the outcome of the game.

Many of you may not know this about me, but I have been a Cubs fan since I was little. I would intensely watch the games and listen to Harry Caray and Steve Stone. I could recite the line-up forwards and backwards, and I was convinced that I would marry Mark Grace one day, even though Damon Berryhill was pretty handsome as well. Tough choice...
vs
But Ryne Sandberg was always my favorite and held a special place in my heart. He got an entire page devoted to him in my baseball card binder. I have been to Wrigley twice... the first time when I was little and Harry Caray still sung the seventh inning stretch. Then Brett and I got to go in 2004.


So here's the Cubs schedule for the rest of the games... Zambrano is pitching tonight so it should be a good one!!

Davenport Destin Trip

We went to Destin a couple weeks ago with Brett's family and had a great time. Fortunately, Taylor slept most of the way down to Florida and did great while we were there. I think she's going to love the beach! We went during the week of Hurricane Ike, but still had good weather for the most part. We had two really good beach days, and we set up a little kids tent under an umbrella, so Taylor could go down for a couple hours. I think the waves put her to sleep...




Tim and Jen and their two kids (Eady and Tucker) live in Jackson, Mississippi, so we really enjoyed spending a lot of time with them.

The cousins...

Taylor and Tucker spending some "tummy time" together...

Bill and Jennifer (Grammy and Papa) with Eady at dinner one night.


Bill and Jennifer watched the 3 kids one night and we went with Tim and Jen to the Red Bar for dinner. Yum!

Here is the start of one of Taylor's first real smiles... she now smiles all the time in response to your smile. It's really sweet.

We went down to take pictures at sunset on the last night.