The Davenport Family

Tay's 3rd Day of Ski School

2012-01-29T06:10:00.000-08:00

Here is Taylor's first time down the "mountain" all by herself... afterwards, she did it about 10 more times. We finally had to bribe her off the slopes with hot chocolate. Later, we found out that she had already had hot chocolate, a cupcake, and a popsicle at ski school for lunch. Lovely.

We are having the mildest winter so far in Vermont! People keep telling us how crazy it is. It felt like we were skiing during spring break yesterday... so warm and sunny. We are hoping for some major snow soon!

Christmas Catch-Up

2012-01-25T12:29:00.000-08:00

It's about time to catch-up on pictures from Christmas! We had a really busy Christmas season, and I feel like we are just now back to reality. One of Taylor's favorite activities is making baby Jesus His birthday cake... here are the kids Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning in Vermont!

After a big breakfast and some time playing with toys, we left for the airport that afternoon for a Tennessee Christmas visit.

We went to Mimi and Grandaddy's house first. Here we are the next morning...
Taylor loves to play in her pink car and this time, she let Will in for the fun.
Taylor showing off one of her favorite gifts... a Belle doll.

We then headed to Brentwood to Marms and Papa's house. Here's our Christmas morning there...

Nano gave me and my sweet cousins, Rachel and Alex, matching pj's again!

Dinner at Maggiano's... yum yum!!

I think dessert was the favorite for Taylor and Will...

Our last stop was Memphis!

We enjoyed spending time with Drew and his girlfriend, Elsbeth.

We took a day trip to Jackson to see Tim and Jen and crew.

The kids had a great time playing together!

We loved seeing our friends in Memphis... thanks to everyone who got together so last minute! Taylor loved seeing all of her friends, but especially her buddy, Lilley-Grace.

We had a wonderful Christmas vacation, but it was time to get back after 10 days. Will says it all in our plane ride back to Vermont. :)

Tay's 1st Day of Ski School

2012-01-09T12:31:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, Taylor had her first ski lesson. We were so blessed to have warm weather for her first day. She even told me that she got sweaty! :)

Dropping her off... I think I was more nervous than she was.

Brett and I went and did a couple runs and then snuck back to watch her first "run." She never saw us in all the ski gear. Peer pressure is a great thing at this age!

Brett and I had a lot of fun skiing the rest of the day by ourselves! We could get used to this...

Taylor's 1st Ski "Run"

2012-01-09T11:55:00.000-08:00

Snow Date

2011-12-23T08:27:00.001-08:00

Warning... kid free post! Rare these days... So last weekend, Brett and I had the best overnight date! It has been ridiculously long since we have been anywhere just the 2 of us. My mom came in town and babysat for us. We went up to Smugglers Notch resort, which is where we have season passes (and Taylor's ski school). We got there in the afternoon and tried out our new snow shoes. I never knew that snow shoes existed, but for my southern friends, it really makes it easy to walk in the snow. We are hoping to get some good exercise with them this winter.

Brett and I are randomly into playing Connect 4 right now. I know it sounds strange, but it was so fun to have a glass of wine and play Connect 4 in the condo before dinner. After, we put on our snow boots and walked to a delicious restaurant at the resort.

The next day, we went skiing! Can you tell it was COLD? We are right at the beginning of the season so all of the lifts weren't open, but we still had a great time. We are looking forward to lots of skiing this winter! :)

Our Thanksgiving Holiday

2011-11-29T12:44:00.000-08:00

We had a FULL Thanksgiving holiday! This was our first year without being with family, but we still wanted to do something special. We decided to have a Thanksgiving dinner at our house... we had around 20 adults and 7 kiddos come. Everyone brought a dish, and we had TONS of yummy food. This was my first year to wake up at 6am and put the turkey in. :)

So the day before Thanksgiving, we got our first snow! :) It melted within 2 days, and since then, it's been pretty warm. But it got us excited for what's to come! Well, everyone is excited except for Will. The poor child did not enjoy one minute in the snow. He couldn't walk with all of his snow attire on and it made him miserable. We will have to figure something out for him...

Meanwhile, Taylor loved the snow. She and Brett built a snowman together...

Making cornbread dressing the night before... another first!

The kids had lots of fun together on Thanksgiving...

After Thanksgiving, we decorated for Christmas... Taylor loved decorating our 2 trees (1 being a lovely pink one in her room).

To finish the weekend, Taylor and I went to see The Nutcracker. She was so excited to see the ballerinas and loved it! The only problem was that she kept wanting to stand up and dance in her chair. Luckily, lifesavers did the trick!

It's a ZOO around here...

2011-10-31T17:36:00.000-07:00

Taylor was very decisive when it came to her Halloween costume this year. I asked her what she wanted to be, and she came up with the idea herself. There was no talking her out of it... she wanted to be a zookeeper! I think she's been missing the Memphis zoo lately... that's the best rationale I can come up with. Anyways, Will was naturally a monkey, and she took her job very seriously of taking care of him.

We had a great time trick-or-treating in our neighborhood... everyone goes all out here! It was definitely a little chilly compared to our usual Southern Halloweens, but our sweet neighbors had some hot cider and chili waiting for us when we were finished. Happy Halloween!

More Fall Fun...

2011-10-25T19:36:00.000-07:00

So this was my view driving home from preschool today! I literally pulled the car over and took the picture sitting in my car... My kids think I'm crazy. :)

So we are enjoying our first fall here. It is gorgeous... the pictures really don't do it justice. I know we are still in the honeymoon phase with Vermont, so excuse the excessive pictures! We just really feel blessed to experience this amazing place God created. Come visit us!

Speaking of visits, we had a recent one from Mimi and Grandaddy last week. We went to the pumpkin patch one day, which made Will very happy. Will is obsessed with pumpkins. For the past month or so, he has been pointing to every single pumpkin whether it's driving along, in grocery stores, etc and says "a daaaa." Needless to say, he was beside himself at the pumpkin patch.

We also went to Shelburne Inn again for their yummy brunch. Here is Taylor enjoying a nice glass of apple cider by the fire. (Behind the picture, Mommy was enjoying her first apple cider mimosa... very tasty).

So this is a little nutty, I know. It was Bailey's 6th birthday a couple weeks ago, and the kids had a ball celebrating. We had a real, organic dog cake (that Taylor sampled), and Bailey was a good sport. He kept his hat on throughout the party.

Last Sunday, I went to let Bailey outside and saw that we had a huge double rainbow outside. Again, the pics don't do it justice, but it was HUGE and so bright. I tried a million different things, but this was the most I could get in a picture.

Brett and I will be married 9 years this March, and we've never carved a pumpkin together. Weird? Anyways, Taylor and Will loved every moment... until the end. We meticulously cleaned out the pumpkin, roasted the seeds, traced the face from a stencil, and carved it. Everyone was perfectly happy. Then, we turned out the lights and lit the candle. Will started screaming. He freaked Taylor out so much that she started screaming too. So much for the grand finale. We quickly blew out the candle and decided it was bedtime.

Vermont Fall Fun

2011-10-09T13:07:00.000-07:00

We've had a lot of fun this fall so far. Overall, it's been such a warm season (it was almost 80 degrees here today). The leaves have been slow to turn because it's been so warm, but they are starting change now. We've done a lot of fun things outside like...

Biking...

Fishing...

Apple picking...

Fall Harvest Festival at Shelburne Farms...

The pools filled with corn was a huge hit.

Brunch at Shelburne Inn...

MORE apple picking (Vermont takes their apples very seriously)... We had a field trip with Taylor's preschool class.

So beautiful... the trees are just loaded with apples.

We drove up to Stowe a few days ago... before long, it will be covered in snow! Hopefully, we will ease into winter slowly! :)

Will's First Steps

2011-09-30T12:31:00.000-07:00

First Day of Preschool & Ballet

2011-09-17T17:48:00.000-07:00

It was finally Taylor's first day of her new preschool here in Vermont. We've had lots of playgroups with her classmates, and her teacher, Mrs. Dawn, even came to our house to meet with Taylor. I am the treasurer for the school (it's a parent c0-op), so we've definitely gotten to know a lot of people. :) There was a special "orientation" night for the kids the night before their first day. We got a babysitter for Will, and Brett and I took Tay to her orientation and then to a special dinner. Here she is before we left!

She loves her preschool... there is so much to do!

After circle time...

Her baby, Lucy, came with us to dinner... Brett ordered a booster for her as well.

Going in to school the next morning...so exciting.

Next to her cubby...

When I dropped Taylor off, there were no tears. She couldn't care less that I was leaving. When I went to pick her up, she literally ran from me and said she didn't want to go home. That's a good thing, right?

The very next day, Taylor had her first day of ballet... here she is getting ready.

So serious after class...

We are glad to finally be on a schedule after a long summer!

A Visit from Memphis

2011-09-13T18:01:00.000-07:00

Grammy and Papa came to see us a couple weeks ago for a long weekend (they were here for Hurricane Irene, so it actually was a day longer than they planned). :) We still had plenty of good weather before, and were able to spend some time outdoors. Here we are at Shelburne Farms... a must-see for visitors!

We celebrated their big 6-0 birthdays and had a birthday picnic by the lake.

Taylor's threw rocks into this little pool the entire time.

This was the day they were stranded in Burlington... it's hard to believe the storm was the day before! We were really blessed and had no problems or damage... we didn't even lose power.

Thanks for visiting us! See you soon!

Will's 1st Birthday Party

2011-09-03T05:15:00.000-07:00

Yay for Will's giraffe birthday party!

So we had a small gathering (mainly family) and celebrated Will's first birthday with a giraffe theme. It was a perfect night for a cookout... beautiful weather.

Taylor's new friend, Robin, came over... they had a ball together. Please notice Will going to destroy the neatly arranged princesses while the girls are distracted.

For sweets, we had giraffe cupcakes, chocolate covered pretzels, and a smash cake.

Grammy and Papa were in town during the party... and my Uncle Barry and Aunt Brooke came over too.

Making the giraffe craft...

Singing to sweet Will...

He loved the cake... and fyi, fondant doesn't make nearly the mess. :)

And I went a little picture crazy... everyone but grandparents will get bored for the rest of this post...

This was his favorite pose...

Will... you are such a joy and a blessing to us. Since the moment you were born, you have been such a sweet, loving, content, happy boy. We can't believe a year has past since you were born, but we can't imagine our lives without you now! We love you and are so thankful to God for you.

Will is 1 today!

2011-08-16T05:47:00.001-07:00

This was my birthday boy this morning... he is ONE today!

Tay is three!

2011-08-03T19:43:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my baby girl is 3! With our big move recently, I had not planned on throwing a party. But like most 3-year olds, Taylor is obsessed with birthdays, and the guilt of not doing one was too much. :) So the weekend before her birthday, we threw a very last minute gymnastics party and invited her soon-to-be classmates in her new preschool. Yes, we invited total strangers and hoped for at least a few to show up...it turns out we sent 13 invitations and 15 kids came! We couldn't believe it.

I made this myself... just kidding. As far as princess cakes go, I have learned the tackier the better.

Will had a ball crawling and climbing.

The foam pit was the biggest hit...

The party was a lot of fun... and it turned out to be a great way to meet people!

First 3 Weeks in Vermont...

2011-07-18T12:47:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe this was what we were doing 3 weeks ago!

It has probably been the craziest 3 weeks of our lives, but we are doing really good. This is what Brett and my dad (and Bailey) drove all the way to Burlington after Brett's boards! If you look closely, you will see that we were literally shoving stuff in from the sunroof! Bill was fantastic at using every inch of space in our truck.

I flew up with the kiddos a day later... Linda helped a lot by flying with me. Taylor was so excited to ride on an airplane for the first time. Both Tay and Will did so well... they were polite, quiet, and even slept some!

We arrived at our new home and started unpacking. We LOVE our new house... it is really peaceful and there's so much space compared to our last home. The kiddos love their new playroom. It's kind of refreshing to just move into a home that's completely finished and not have to paint one wall or renovate anything. What a concept.

One of our first mornings eating breakfast outside... who knew July could be sunny and in the 70's?

Here we are on the Fourth of July... we went to my Aunt Brooke and Uncle Barry's home, who live in Vermont on Lake Champlain. Their home, garden, backyard, etc is beautiful!

Here is my cousin, Chelsea, and her husband, Darren, and her kiddos- Alexis and Braxton.

Here are Tay and Will at Lobster night at Aunt Brooke and Uncle Barry's...

Brooke has a HUGE beautiful garden with all kinds of flowers and vegetables...

Brett got a special fishing vest from Taylor... she had a little help from her Grandaddy.

Taylor and Brett went fishing after work one night and caught their first fish! Here she is before... she was so excited.

My mom came in town about 2 weeks ago and helped us unpack and get organized. She was a HUGE help... then Mike, Jarrett, Jordan, and Sam came in town to visit. It was great spending time with everyone! We went fishing again one night and had a picnic...

Next time, I will pack a swim suit for Tay. I didn't realize everyone would get in!

We went on the Ben and Jerry's tour in Waterbury... it was a lot of fun! Will had his first ice cream... he's spoiled for life. :)

Outside the Burlington aquarium...

My favorite thing so far has been Shelburne Farms... it is amazing. I think we will be back to visit many times. It is a 1,400-acre working farm and historic landmark with everything from huge gardens, a children's farmyard, cheesemaking, trails, tractor rides, etc.

This reminded Will of the Lewis' backyard! :) We miss our neighbors...

On the last night my family was in town, we had a mini birthday party for Taylor. I can't believe she will be 3 years old at the end of July! Taylor loves a good grilled cheese, and I got the idea of a grilled cheese bar from Martha... Vermont has such a huge variety of cheeses- it was tough to choose! We ended up with a Fontina, Apple Smoked Gruyere, Apple Smoked Gouda, Havarti with Jalapeno, Havarti with Dill, and a classic Extra Sharp Vermont cheddar. For toppings- tomato, spinach, arugula, granny smith apples, wasabi mustard, dijon mustard, pickles, and 3 different types of breads. Brett did a great job grilling them all up... yum yum!

Taylor's favorite... the cake... or rather, the icing.

We seriously can't thank our family and friends enough for all of your help and support with our move. It was truly a group effort! You know who you are!!! Truly, I can't express how loved we feel and how humbled we are by your willingness to help us in the biggest transition of our lives. We love and miss everyone! Come visit!!!

Our backyard... in Vermont

2011-07-10T19:09:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to say a quick hello and thanks to everyone who has been praying for us and thinking of us! We have loved getting all of the emails, phone calls, texts, etc... we will return them all soon. It's been a hectic 2 weeks, but we are getting settled and loving Vermont so far. It is so peaceful and beautiful. We will post more pics soon, but for now, we wanted to share what we wake up to every morning. :)

Last Months in Memphis

2011-06-20T06:22:00.000-07:00

We have 1 week left in Memphis... I can hardly believe it. Brett finished his last day of residency on Friday and takes his boards 1 week from today. Then, he is driving the Penske truck all the way up to Burlington with my dad. It's going to be a crazy 2 weeks!

I have hardly blogged this spring because we've been so busy with everything. I wanted to post the pictures from our last few months in Memphis!

In March, Taylor learned to ride her big girl bike... she has loved it! She can now ride all the way around the block by herself. I am getting some exercise pushing Will in the stroller behind her! She can go pretty fast... :)

Brett and Will spent some last days in his garage... Will loves his "da da." He says da da constantly!

We've been playing as much as possible on the swingset...

Here we are at our church's Easter egg hunt.

Gram had the Easter bunny come by and visit at her house... Will loved it!

We had some pictures taken at our church by one of my good friend's cousin, Christi. She did a great job working with our crazy family.

Taylor loves to give and receive haircuts... fortunately for her, Will has lots of good hair to work with. Poor Will!

On Mother's Day with my sweet ones...

Will is crawling now! He can get around fast... just in time for packing up the house! He's *very* helpful.

Brett's 31st birthday at Chickasaw... they really go all out on their candles!

First time in a swimming pool for Will...

Tay with LG... they are going to miss each other!

Tay's last day of Sunday school...

On Father's Day...

Here are the pictures from Brett's OB/GYN Awards reception. Brett got the REI award!

With his fellow residents...

As a joke, the 3rd year residents gave out "golden speculum" awards... love that OB/GYN humor!

Our sweet friends had a wonderful going away party (Bye Bye BBQ) for us... we had the BEST time. We are going to miss everyone so much!!

Facebook... finally

2011-05-17T06:24:00.000-07:00

I have finally given in to facebook... only because we are moving to Burlington! As many of you have politely suggested, this will help us stay connected to our friends here.

I hope Betty White's wrong, and it's not a huge waste of time!! :)

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T18:57:00.001-07:00

Sesame Street Live

2011-04-01T19:02:00.000-07:00

We went with the Adair family to Sesame Street Live last week. Honestly, it was worth every single penny... Taylor had the best time. It was hilarious to watch. Lilley Grace screamed like a teenage girl at a Justin Bieber concert.... and Taylor wouldn't stop dancing and watching intensely.

I made the girls matching Elmo dresses... they were so cute together!

Sandestin Spring Break

2011-03-29T12:09:00.000-07:00

We went back to Sandestin this year for spring break with Mimi and Grandaddy. The weather was beautiful... warm enough and sunny. We left Will in Memphis with Brett's mom (Grammy), and I think Taylor enjoyed all of the attention! She had a blast...

She loved the ocean, even though it was still freezing.
She did great in the pool too... for the first time, she swam around by herself with the swimmies. She made laps around the little island in the pool.
We had a lot of fun at the Bayside area... we ate a bunch of oysters for appetizers, let Taylor ride the merry-go-round, then ate crab legs.

Thanks again Grandaddy and Mimi!!

Will's Half Birthday

2011-02-20T13:43:00.000-08:00

Will is 6 months old now!

He is still such a sweetie... but he wants to be involved in everything! He is also becoming more vocal, which he is learning gets him more attention! Will loves to watch and "play" with Taylor... it's adorable.

So proud he can sit up!

And he loves to swing outside... we are enjoying the early spring weather right now.

At his 6 month check-up...

Played too hard and ate too much!

Here are some more pics I took on his 6 month birthday.

We love you, Will, and are so thankful for you!

Will's Baptism

2011-02-10T12:16:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics from Will's baptism a couple weeks ago... what a special time for our little family! I'm already getting sentimental about leaving our church here in Memphis... we love it so dearly.

I decided to make Will's gown at the last minute... I made it in about a week amongst getting our house on the market, Brett working nights, and potty training. It was a little crazy, but I'm glad I did it now!

We had a lunch at our house after the service for family.

Potty Training and Haircuts

2011-02-03T11:06:00.001-08:00

Taylor is officially potty-trained. Whew! We tried (unsuccessfully) to force the issue months ago, but once she decided she was ready, it was pretty easy. And a little bribery also helped! Going #1 was the easy part for us... it was the #2 that kind of had her freaked out. But we finally had a break-through after promise of these 2 items: 1.) Make pumpkin chocolate chip muffins 2.) Get a haircut. Those were the 2 things that really had her excited... so as promised, we made the muffins and we got a haircut. She enjoyed every single second of the haircut experience.

Will has needed a haircut for a while, but I've been too sad to do it- he's not even 6 months yet! He did so well...

All finished!

Christmas- Part 2

2011-02-03T09:00:00.000-08:00

Here are the rest of our Christmas pics... I know it's February, but I'm going to get caught up! We had Christmas with Grandaddy and Mimi first... we had a fun Christmas Eve with a big dinner and a shuffle board tournament.

Uncle Dave and Aunt Amanda

With Nana

Yummy dinner!

Making cookies... we had to take the icing away after a certain point.

We had another great Christmas Eve at Nano and Dado's house... poor Taylor was a little under the weather, but she still had fun. Everyone was very patient with her when she sang a lovely rendition of a never-ending "Away in a Manger." These are pictures that my cousin, Eric, took!

Taylor and Will both got hats ready for Vermont!

My cousins, Rachel and Alex... we love our new pj's!

Christmas Day at Marms and Papa's house...

We enjoyed our Nashville Christmas!

Christmas- Part 1

2011-01-17T12:29:00.000-08:00

So I'm a little behind on the blogging! We have had a lot on our plate recently, but I wanted to still put up some pictures from our Christmas season.

We celebrated with the Davenports the first week of December... the cousins had a lot of fun together!

Brett and I took the kiddos to the Enchanted Forest... Taylor loved the trains, and I think she wanted to take this snowman home with us.

For the first part of December, every time Tay would see Santa, she would say "Noah." So I'm not sure if she thought this was Santa or Noah... regardless, she loved it!

We had several baking projects throughout the season, and Taylor loved every minute. Cooking is one of her favorite things... or eating what we're making is her favorite thing. :)

Making a cake for Baby Jesus...

We celebrated our little family's Christmas on the 22nd before we went to Nashville... this was on our Christmas Eve before we went to eat Mexican (a tradition Brett and I began our first year of marriage)!

On our Christmas morning... this is the best we could do with the self-timer. Oh well! At least Bailey made it somewhat in the picture.

Will got an exersaucer and rice cereal in his stocking! He tried both of them for the first time and did great.

We then went to Nashville... We took Tay to Opryland Hotel and she had a blast running around. Love that natural smile of hers...

Throwing coins in the fountains... she said to us over and over, "I need more money." Don't we all?

Sweet Baby Will

2010-11-21T05:36:00.000-08:00

I can't believe Will is 3 months old now! He is the sweetest baby... it's the only way to describe him. He hardly cries and is constantly smiling and cooing at you. He lets Taylor "play" with him and is patient with her when she tries to cram a bottle down his throat. :) I think he got both Brett's looks and personality! :) We are so blessed to have him.

I wanted to get a few pictures of Will by himself... Brett was entertaining him and he loved it!

Halloween

2010-11-02T10:53:00.000-07:00

For Halloween, Taylor and Will went as a princess and a dragon. I thought it would be fun to make Taylor's costume this year, even though there are a million princess costumes to buy. I am glad I did it, although I don't think I will be making another princess costume for a long time. Working with the "sassy satin" (as it was called) along with 5 yards of nearly see-through sparkle tulle was not the most fun task! Luckily, Taylor absolutely loved it... you could tell she felt special in it (the jewelry also helped)!

And Will's costume came from Costco. :) He was okay with it being store-bought.
Taylor loved going trick-or-treating. We went with her buddy, Lilley-Grace, and they were hilarious together...

On another note, Will is now sitting in his bumbo... he likes being included at the dinner table now!

Fall Catch-up

2010-10-25T14:22:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics from the past 6 weeks or so... the best ones are of Will smiling now!

On his 2 month birthday...

Taylor helping me get Will to smile...

We stopped through Nashville and stayed with Mimi and Grandaddy on the way to one of Brett's interviews a while back... go Titans!

Several weeks ago, Marms, Papa, Nano, and Dado came to see us for the day. Here are some pics of that!

Taylor loves pumpkins this year... we notice each and every one on our way out of the neighborhood. As soon as we find one, Taylor says "Nother pumpkin. I need more pumpkin."

2010 Davenport Beach Trip

2010-10-19T17:49:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, we went to Destin with the Davenports. We had beautiful weather and enjoyed the trip, even with a 6 week old! Taylor had fun with her cousins this year...

Will enjoyed his bottles on the beach...

I think Brett was a little more excited than Tay to catch fish...

The guys chartered a boat one day to go fishing. We ate the fish that night and had enough to bring some home!

We went down to the beach on the last night to take some pictures... we actually got a really good one this year in about 2 minutes, despite 5 under the age of 4!

Brett and Will are looking identical...

We are moving...

2010-10-13T10:03:00.000-07:00

to this place...

We are moving to Burlington, Vermont! I am not even kidding. Brett matched into an REI (Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility) fellowship at the University of Vermont! We cannot believe it... I am so proud of him! I have to brag on him... There are only about 40 slots for this fellowship in the country and he got one of them. We are so thankful to God for this blessing! And I am trusting that He will help us through the adjustment of this new adventure.

We won't move until next summer and will be there for 3 years. I guess we will begin looking into some snow suits and snow tires. :)

Will at 1 month

2010-10-08T09:08:00.001-07:00

Even though Will is almost 2 months, here are some pictures I took of him on his 1 month birthday! I will post more updates soon...

First 2 Weeks with Will

2010-08-28T12:39:00.000-07:00

Will is almost 2 weeks old... so far, so good! Here are some pics from the past couple weeks.
1 week old pictures...

Playing on his play mat for the first time...

Looking at Daddy...

We haven't had a ton of family time with Brett traveling so much, but today, we decided to brave our first outing since we were all together (and it wasn't a million degrees). We went to one of Taylor's favorite spots... the zoo!

Having a snack by her favorite "mingos"

Tay went on the merry-go-round for the first time... she loved it.

And this is after the trip to the zoo... 1st outing with 2 kiddos=pooped.

Welcome Will!

2010-08-20T07:09:00.000-07:00

William Holeman Davenport was born on Monday, August 16th at 12:50pm! He weighed 8 pounds and was 21 inches long. We are all doing great and love having him here! So far, he has been the sweetest baby...

Right after the delivery...

After getting all cleaned up...

We took Will home on Wednesday, and here are some pictures of us right before we left the hospital. Taylor loves to hold him for brief spurts of time... then she'll shove him at you and say "hereyago."

We aren't sure what Tay is thinking here...

We feel so blessed and humbled to have Will with us... praise the Lord for such an amazing gift!

Big changes!

2010-08-10T11:06:00.000-07:00

Taylor has had some major changes lately... we got rid of the pacy and also converted her room from a nursery to a "big girl" room. She really has been wonderful about it all. We got rid of the pacy first... I explained to her that pacys are for babies and she's a big girl now. She then proceeded to throw her pacy at Bailey, and I went with it. I told her Bailey would take the pacy to little babies who needed them. I doubt that's in any parenting book, but it worked for us. Now she'll say, "Bailey... pacys... babies."

A few weeks later, we presented Tay with her very own big girl bed. We told her that she was getting a new bed with new special sheets several days in advance. She kept going "baaa baaaa" and we finally realized she thought we were saying "sheep" instead of sheets. Although it wasn't what she was expecting, she still loved her storytime sheets and has been doing great at staying in bed until we come get her. I have to admit I was a little emotional her last night in her crib. Here is Tay and her daddy rocking for the last time in her nursery.

Here's her new big girl room!

Onto the new nursery now...

We are being induced on the 16th! I think we're ready... for the most part!

Taylor is Two!

2010-07-30T18:48:00.001-07:00

I know everyone says this, but I really can't believe Taylor is two! We had a little pool/splash party for her in our backyard and I think all of the kids had a lot of fun!

Before the party late at night, Brett was thrilled to get to blow up 3 pools, 28 beach balls, 12 fish, 2 flamingos, and 1 sea horse. He couldn't find his ear plugs...

All finished and ready to go!

We didn't realize Taylor was standing right in front of the sprinkler part of the pool and when we turned it on, it pelted her in the face... not a good way to start a party!

The juice box always helps though...

With her buddy, CC.

Instead of cupcakes or a cake, I made these little sand bucket cakes. They were yellow cake on bottom, vanilla pudding, then crushed up graham cracker, then little chocolate shells.

Taylor trying to blow out the candle...

Daddy helped expedite the process...

Yum yum!

Taylor thoroughly enjoyed the birthday process... she is still going around the house singing, "Happy birthday to me" and blowing out fake candles. We love you, Tay Tay! You have been such a joy to us for the past two years!

Summer Catch-Up

2010-07-19T09:12:00.001-07:00

We've had a crazy, busy, hot summer so far, and I'm really behind on blogging! But here's a quick update of the beginning of our summer.
Tay and I on Mother's Day...

Father's Day (during Brett's "nights rotation look")

I loved this picture... this was during a week when Taylor had a virus. She was pitiful... she had everything she needed though to try to comfort her... Bailey, pacy, pretzels, and Elmo on TV.

We finally took Tay for her very first haircut! She did a great job... I think she loved all the attention. We just got a small trim... Brett was like, that's it?? The girl asks for "tails" every day, so Daddy just had to get over it.

Yay! All done!

Brett had a garden this year, and here is his first tomato... it is the craziest thing. The plant is completely dead, but it had this 1 great tomato growing on it. What in the world?

Our neighborhood has a great 4th of July parade every year. Tons of people come and there's a firetruck at the end that sprays all the kids. Taylor was definitely taking it all in, but had a good time.

Getting a hug from her buddy, Jake.

I couldn't make it around the block this year, so Brett went with Mitch.

More updates to come...

Taylored Threads!

2010-06-30T11:48:00.000-07:00

So I am loving to sew these days (and Taylor only needs so many outfits), and I've had several friends ask me to make them some baby shower gifts... so I've decided to start a small little business called Taylored Threads! It will mainly be baby gifts for now- just starting out with bibs and burp cloths, but I hope to also do bags soon... and then who knows what else! The bibs and burp cloths are backed with soft terry cloth, so they literally double as a "wash cloth." The burp cloths are large enough to double as a changing pad in a pinch. Everything is available at my shop on etsy at Taylored Threads (www.etsy.com/shop/tayloredthreads) and comes gift wrapped in tissue paper, coordinating ribbon and a hang tag. If you live in Memphis and would like to pick up, I will refund the shipping. Here are a few of the samples from my shop!
Hope you visit sometime... I'm having fun with it!

Brett's 30th!

2010-05-24T19:09:00.000-07:00

Brett turns the big 3-0 this week, and I wanted to do something special for him. He works so hard and rarely gets to relax and enjoy himself with friends. So we (Brett's parents and I) decided to throw him a surprise birthday party on Saturday night.

Prior to the party, Taylor and I made our special mint chocolate chip ice cream cake. I make it once a year for his birthday... this year, it was a little messier than normal and took twice as long. I can't imagine why...

We made sure everything tasted okay... over and over and over.

Here's Brett walking in on the surprise...

We had appetizers and drinks first, then an Italian dinner, then dessert!

Taylor and her cousins got to be there for the first part of the party and she had a blast.

Here she is jumping for joy after eating cake and playing in the fountain.

Brett with his parents and brothers...

Happy Birthday, B! We love you so much!

We love My Big Backyard!

2010-04-22T13:28:00.000-07:00

We just bought a membership to My Big Backyard at the Botanic Gardens, and I have a feeling we will be there about every week this spring/summer. Taylor loves playing there (and I'm excited about all the shaded areas for moms to sit in). Here are some pics from our trip today.

Just leave me alone and let me play...

Does Peek-a-boo ever get old?

Taylor climbed up the hill and went down this slide at least 20 times.

Sandestin Spring Break

2010-04-14T12:32:00.000-07:00

I'm a little behind on this one... in March, we went to Sandestin for 5 nights with my dad and Linda (Grandaddy and Mimi). We had a great time! I wasn't sure if Taylor would like the beach, but she loved it.

She also loved getting in the water, even though it was absolutely freezing. She is one tough cookie... tougher than any of us!

Taylor loved hiding her feet in the sand... we'd ask where her feet were and then she'd pop them up. We did this over and over and over...

We stayed at the Hilton, which had an indoor pool.

Off to the Red Bar for dinner... needless to say, we ate very well on this trip! I definitely took advantage of being pregnant! I am missing waking up to a full breakfast buffet with chocolate chip waffles.

Reading some books with Mimi...

Sweet...

We had a fun time... thanks again Grandaddy and Mimi!

Fun on the farm...

2010-04-11T15:32:00.000-07:00

We had such a fun day yesterday! The weather was beautiful and Brett had the day off. We decided to go to Brett's parents new "farm" out in Eads, which is about 25 minutes away. We had a picnic lunch, attempted fishing (no luck), went on a paddle boat, and saw some "horseys." Then we came home, and Taylor napped for almost 4 hours! Great day, all around!

Taylor is not afraid of anything... including this fish bait lizard thing.

Easter Weekend

2010-04-09T09:37:00.000-07:00

Taylor had a lot of fun Easter weekend... here are some pics from our weekend. On Friday, we went to an egg hunt at Chickasaw with Grammy. Taylor loved picking up the eggs... they were prize enough. I don't think she knew there was candy inside, and we didn't tell her!

She loved seeing the Easter bunny.

With Grammy

On Saturday, we went to our church's egg hunt, which was indoors due to bad weather. It was a lot of fun though! Here she is ready to go again...

Daddy got to leave the hospital long enough for the egg hunt.

Dancing and singing is her favorite...

But I think she liked this even better... we had to force her to stop after 3 times.

Our church had Chick-fil-a for lunch... this is how I feel about Chick-fil-a too.

Easter morning with Grandaddy and Mimi...

My mom made Taylor's dress... she did a beautiful job!

It's a... Boy!

2010-03-22T17:28:00.001-07:00

So we found out we're having a boy! We decided to do the whole envelope thing again and waited until we went to the beach to open it. Brett's facial expressions say it all... he's obviously thrilled. Here is Brett's (fake) smile before we opened it.

And here's Brett after we discovered the news...

And then, he looked like this the rest of the time...

We're excited and maybe a little nervous for new territory... but we can't wait to meet him.
So, I am a little behind on blogging. Here's some pics from the past 3 months...
A trip to the zoo to see the "raffe's"

This is during our big snow where we got about 4 inches or so...

Taylor loves to play dress-up and put on my shoes

Valentine's Day... this is how Taylor says "I love you"

Big Sister...

2010-01-28T11:48:00.000-08:00

So here's Taylor showing you a picture of her new baby sister (or brother).

We are excited to be expecting a new little one around August 20th!

It's a good thing that Taylor's favorite thing right now is taking care of her "baybee." She walks her around the house and around the neighborhood, feeds her, pats her back, and gives her kisses. It's hilarious.

Christmas 2009

2010-01-16T18:47:00.000-08:00

So I'm a little behind... but here are some of our favorite pictures from the Christmas season. Here we are playing outside while I played with my new lens from B. Thanks again B!

Our Christmas morning at home

Taylor hugging her new shopping cart

Christmas with Davenports

Our Christmas in Nashville

My cousin, Eric, is great at photography and took these pics... here's his blog.

First "Snow"

2010-01-08T08:57:00.000-08:00

Well, we got a light dusting of snow in Memphis, but we still had to go play in it.

So hard to walk in all this!

She didn't understand the mitten concept, but had a great time outside.

Nice and toasty inside...this is where Taylor is playing most of the time now. She got a new kitchen for Christmas.

Santa... Round 2

2009-12-11T07:14:00.000-08:00

We went to the Enchanted Forest last week and I didn't realize there was a Santa at the end. Taylor walked by and Santa started asking her what was in her cup. She then got a little closer and decided to share. I couldn't believe it.

A little bit closer...

All the sudden, Santa just picked her up, and she was totally fine with it! I guess it had to be on her terms...

She loved the Enchanted Forest... she walked around hugging everything.

But she wasn't crazy about being hugged...

We had fun with Eady and Tucker (even though Taylor's face looks mildly annoyed)!

'Tis the Season

2009-11-24T06:12:00.000-08:00

I thought I would share these photos to get you in the holiday spirit...

Latest Sewing Projects

2009-11-10T07:11:00.000-08:00

This post is mainly for interested family members... sorry if it bores most of you!

Here are some of the latest things I have made for Taylor...

Blue corduroy Children's Corner "Kitty"

My first attempt at applique

For Christmas:
Indygo Junction "Sister Smocks"

Red corduroy Children's Corner "Carol"

I have loved making baby gifts for some sweet friends...

Shopping cart/restaurant high chair covers

Halloween

2009-11-01T15:14:00.000-08:00

Paging Dr. Davenport...

Obviously, they both take their jobs seriously.

In the morning, we went to Jake's birthday party and had a lot of fun.

First donut...

That night, our neighbors organized a party for our street... it was a huge success! Tons of neighbors and friends came and enjoyed a fun night.

Pumpkin Patch!

2009-10-26T10:00:00.001-07:00

We took Taylor to the pumpkin patch with our friends, the Adairs. Taylor had a lot of fun, even though Brett thinks she would have had just as much fun walking around Kroger. Regardless, it was a beautiful, almost too-warm day and we are glad we made the trek down to Mississippi for it.

Taylor and Lilley Grace basically picked up everything except a pumpkin... rocks, hay, weird veggies, trash, etc.

Every time we'd ask Taylor where a pumpkin was, she would point to the pumpkins on her shirt!

The Adairs...

The big hit was the petting zoo and the singing chicken show... don't ask. :)

Summer Wrap-up

2009-09-28T08:43:00.000-07:00

We've had a fun, busy end of summer... here are a few things we've been up to.

Here we are at Charlie's birthday party... he had a petting zoo and Taylor loved it!

That same day, we had a Sunday school cook-out pool party and had a great time...

And this is after the birthday party and pool party...

Here's Tay and friends at the sprinkler park in Collierville... Taylor was the only girl but she was playing harder than most of the boys!

Our latest big development is that Taylor is walking! We've been pleading with her to walk (she could take 1-2 steps toward a person), but she decided to do it on her own in pursuit of a plate of tacos. I think we will share a love of Mexican food. So I left a plate of tacos on the coffee table to grab a drink in the kitchen. Next thing I know, Taylor is walking clear across the room to try to get my abandoned taco plate. Brett was home to see it, which was such a miracle! Once she realized she could do it, she started walking all around the house.

Taylor's latest thing is climbing and sitting in chairs. She thinks she is such a big girl when she can get up in a chair by herself.

Tay's favorite word right now is... "This?". She asks "this?" to nearly everything we see about 1000 times a day. I am constantly identifying objects all day long... that's a rock, that's a light switch, that's a drawer knob don't open that, that's a glass vase don't touch, and so on and so on. Taylor also likes playing with her baby doll, except she gets a little confused sometimes...

Fun outside...

Playing ball with Bailey...

Brett is going to be mad at me, but here are the pictures from his Briarcrest Sports Hall of Fame induction this past weekend. It was a nice ceremony and we're all proud of our hall of famer!

The best part was right here... they presented Brett with the award and then went on to read a very lengthy bio. Brett was so uncomfortable that he just kind of looked down at his award during it.

So here's hoping to Taylor inheriting her athletic side from her father!

2009 Davenport Destin Trip

2009-08-24T07:45:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pics from our recent Destin vacation with the Davenport clan. Taylor enjoyed the beach and the ocean (for 2 hour increments... that was about her limit).

Taylor loves to go up and down stairs, hills, etc. So her favorite spots were the top stair at the pool and the small hill where the waves come up.

We decided this would definitely be the LAST year we could all stay in a 3-bedroom condo. Tucker and Taylor slept in closets and here is Eady in her lush "cave" in a bedroom corner. She really did have a sleeping bag but somehow rolled off of it and ended up sleeping on the tile floor.

After a yummy seafood dinner...

We took some pictures on our last night...

Tim, Jen, Eady, and Tucker...

Bill and Jennifer with their favorite people...

After very brief pictures, we let the kiddos play one last time...

We had a great time!

Fun at the Beach...

2009-08-20T07:57:00.000-07:00

I was going through our recent beach trip pictures, and I had to post this one right away. Taylor and her cousin, Tucker, had a great time at the beach... no really, they did. We all have our moments, right?

My new hobby...

2009-08-14T07:34:00.000-07:00

Brett rarely shops, but when he does, he has some great luck. A couple months ago, he went to the Sears Outlet in search of a part for a weed-eater (that he found on the side of the road that he was trying to fix up...naturally). Anyways, he found an incredible deal ($47) on a really expensive sewing machine and brought this home to me as a surprise!

I didn't know I wanted a sewing machine, but I have loved having it! My mom was off for the summer and came down to Memphis a couple times and taught me a bunch. She is a great teacher... we would put Tay down for a nap and work, work, work! Here is the first thing we made (monogram courtesy of my neighbor, Lauren)...

My sister-in-law, Jen, has been sewing for a while, and she's taught me a lot as well. We went to the beach last week and sewed a ton during naps and at night. This is everything we accomplished in 5 days!

Here are some close-ups of some of the outfits I've made so far...

You can't tell, but this one is all tiny corduroy... and the covered buttons are so easy!

And this is what I was dealing with while I was trying to take pics of these outfits... Taylor has been without Bailey for 2 weeks and I think she missed him.

To get them out of my way, I opened the front door. Works every time...

Happy Birthday, Taylor!

2009-07-31T14:08:00.000-07:00

We can't believe it's been a year since our Taylor was born! We wanted to celebrate this special time with our family and friends who have been so supportive of us this past year. We threw a "Puppy Party" for Tay, since she LOVES dogs. Here we are getting ready for the party...

Our appetizer was puppy chow on all the tables outside.

Assembling the "pupcakes"

All finished!

The little ones got puppy ears to wear throughout the party.

My mom made Tay a smocked puppy party dress... it was so sweet. She did an incredible job.

All decorated inside...

And outside...

The crew from Nashville...

Fun at the party...

We had a yummy dinner... Gus' fried chicken (so so good), mashed potatoes, green beans, biscuits, fruit salad, pasta salad, and of course, pupcakes and ice cream.

Taylor loved her smash cake... she started digging in before we could sing to her. We finally took it away when a huge chunk was missing...

Here we are on her actual birthday... she finally gets to face forward in her car seat!

Some of her favorite gifts included her shopping cart, red wagon, and bitty baby American girl doll stuff.

Birthday dinner out...

Mary took the pic below... it is one of my all-time favorites from this year. Happy Birthday, Tay-Tay... you are such a joy to us and we are so thankful for you.

Summer Fun!

2009-06-29T14:05:00.000-07:00

We've had a fun, busy summer so far... here's a bunch of pics from the past few weeks. Taylor is loving the pool... she loves to splash. Here she is chilling with her daddy...

Grilling out...

Taylor gives "kisses" and also dances when you sing. She is starting to stand a lot and begin walking with someone holding on to her.

Mother's Day...

Father's Day...

Brett had to work a month of nights, so we went to Nashville for a week and my mom also came to Memphis to keep us company. We went out to lunch every day when my mom was in town and ran some errands so Brett could have a quiet house to sleep. At night, we watched Cubs games and mom taught me how to sew. We had some fun girl time! Here we are at Costco sampling some free food...

Here we are at Davis Kidd playing with the trains after lunch...

We went to the pool in Nashville in my dad's neighborhood... Taylor loved it!

With Grandaddy and Uncle Dave...

Dave and Amanda came over both nights for some yummy dinners...

We had a great time visiting family in Nashville... And I also got to see my favorite girls, Mary, Shannon, and Callen!

Chicago!

2009-06-11T12:35:00.000-07:00

So about 5 weeks ago, Brett and I went to Chicago for a long weekend. He had a poster presentation at a conference, so I decided to tag along. Taylor's Grandaddy and Mimi watched her for the first part, and then she went to stay with Grammy and Papa. We had great weather... hardly no rain and pretty warm for the season. We, of course, went back to Wrigley for another Cubs game... it's our favorite place to watch a game!

We ate at lots of delicious places, but this ended up being our favorite meal (and the cheapest)...

During the day, Brett would go to the medical conference, and I just walked around Michigan Avenue... it was wonderful. They had this special tulip season display going on, so there were literally thousands of tulips up and down Michigan. It was so pretty.

We went to the Palace Theater and saw the broadway musical, Mary Poppins. It was a really fun show.

Brett is going to be mad if he sees this, but doesn't he look so cute and professional?

Spring is here!

2009-04-30T12:46:00.001-07:00

We have been enjoying the beautiful weather lately! Taylor had some friends over last weekend (Lilley Grace and Jake). Brett almost threw Jake out of the back yard, but decided to give him a second chance after they had a long talk about his unacceptable behavior...

Lilley Grace and Taylor had a fun time in our back yard...

Brett had a few days off, and our back yard was in some major need of some tlc. We laid a bunch of sod and mulch for 2 solid days.
Before...

After...

We tried to keep Taylor as entertained as possible while we were working outside, but I think she enjoyed it.

Taylor does the exact same thing I used to do when I was concentrating while playing the piano. She sticks her tongue out when she's thinking extra hard!

Her life is just exhausting...

Taylor still loves to play with Bailey and can now follow him around the house while crawling.

We also went to the zoo on one of the days Brett was off... by the looks of Taylor's smile, I think she enjoyed being carried around by her dad!

We let her get down and crawl around for a little bit... she kept trying to eat the dirt and it was all over her face!

She also LOVED the donkey in the petting zoo... she laughed so so hard when he would come near her.

This is her new permanent smile... she scrunches her nose...

I can't believe she is already 9 months!

Easter Weekend

2009-04-13T17:18:00.001-07:00

Here are a bunch of pics from our Easter weekend. My mom came down on Thursday and brought Taylor's Easter dress that she smocked. She did an amazing job on her little bunny dress!

On Saturday, we went to our church's Easter egg hunt and had a picnic. It turned out to be a beautiful, sunny day.

We had several visitors come over and visit on our blanket... here are our neighbors, Mitch and Jake.

Taylor is already showing signs of becoming a dc girl.

My dad and Linda came into town on Saturday and spent Easter day with us.

We went out and played on the swing set in our backyard. Dad took lots of great shots of Taylor...

Here we are on Easter morning in our front yard before we went to church.

It was a struggle to get a decent picture of Taylor sitting by herself. She kept crawling away and digging her hands in the dirt!

We really enjoyed visiting with all of our families on such a special weekend!

Mexico Trip

2009-03-26T19:59:00.000-07:00

Last week, we went on a vacation to Mexico with Tim and Jen. We had a great, relaxing time... it seems like a dream now. I was, of course, a little nervous about leaving Taylor for the first time, but once we got there, I thoroughly enjoyed the break. Plus, Taylor was in extremely wonderful hands (Mom and Mike came down to Memphis for their spring break), so I knew I had nothing to worry about.

So we went to an all-inclusive resort south of Cancun called NH Riviera. It is brand-new, so we got an incredible deal on it... overall we loved it. They still have a few kinks to work out and need to hire a few more people, but it definitely exceeded our expectations. The facilities were beautiful...

During the day, we did nothing but sit by the pool, read, and eat. Brett and Tim couldn't sleep past 6, so needless to say, we got prime seats by the pool. Jen and I both have a love for hot dogs, so we'd usually get them from the pool grill and eat a huge pile of guacamole and pico with it for lunch. Classy, I know.

Brett should have given cheerleading a chance...

At night, we went to dinner, watched movies, and were usually in bed by 10. We tried the Asian, Mexican, International, and Italian restaurants.

We had a great time!!

6 Years!

2009-03-11T20:25:00.000-07:00

We had our 6 year anniversary last week... it's hard to believe! Taylor spent the night away for the first time with Brett's parents. We had a great time... Brett was in charge of appetizers and I just had to take a picture of it, because he did such a good job on the presentation...

Afterward, we went to Fleming's Steakhouse for a yummy dinner and then went to the Orpheum downtown to see Legally Blonde, the musical.

Here are some updated pics of Taylor at 7 months... she got her bottom two teeth, can hold her own bottle, and is very close to crawling.

And here's a pic of the finished built-in TV/fireplace/desk/entertainment center that Brett built in our den. He finished most of it before Christmas, but just put the finishing touches on it this week. Project time is over in our house...yay!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T07:25:00.000-08:00

Happy Half Birthday!

2009-01-29T06:20:00.000-08:00

It is hard to believe that Taylor turned 6 months old yesterday... she was all smiles on her half birthday.

We had a great day yesterday... here she is waking up from her 12 hour night sleep.

We had a surprise outside when we woke up...

We first headed to the doctor for a check-up and shots. Taylor loves the big mirror on the exam table. This is definitely prior to the shots...

Here's Taylor in her high chair for some lunch (peas). She wasn't wild about them but tolerated them okay.

We played the rest of the day away...

We went out to eat for dinner, but Taylor got peas again.

So I started to get a tiny bit sentimental last night, because I don't think it had sunk in that Taylor is quickly growing out of the little baby stage. I spent an hour rocking her before bed (and we never rock her to sleep), and then Brett was sweet to watch all the camcorder footage from the last 6 months with me. I think it's so easy to get wrapped up in the "survival" phase that it's hard to appreciate and enjoy every day with your little one. Taylor is an absolute joy to us and we are so thankful to the Lord for giving us such a rich blessing.

Taylor's First Christmas

2009-01-13T15:34:00.000-08:00

Taylor had a great first Christmas... we got to celebrate with all of our families. We went to Nashville a few days before Christmas and Taylor spent time with Grandaddy and Mimi. Mimi fixed a delicious Christmas dinner...

Here is Taylor sitting up all by herself! She really started sitting up on her own while we were opening presents.

Taylor's favorite toy from Grandaddy and Mimi was an exersaucer. Her Uncle Dave spent several hours putting it all together- thanks again Dave!!

We next spent some time with Marms and the whole clan... we had a delicious Christmas Eve dinner at Maggiano's and then spent Christmas day at Nano and Dado's.

We came back to Memphis the day after Christmas and spent the day with the Davenport's. Here is Taylor with her cousins Tucker and Eady.

The 3 of us got to spend some time together after Christmas. We had our own Christmas morning and made a big breakfast.

We ran some errands later in the day and it was so warm, we had to go to TCBY!

We ate Mexican food for dinner (Pancho's) and watched movies. It was a perfect, relaxing end to Taylor's first Christmas!

4 Month Update

2008-12-19T08:23:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-26T15:39:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-10-31T07:28:00.000-07:00

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!