Kevin & Meghan get hitched!

We helped celebrate 2 of our best friends marriage the weekend of July 9th and 10th.  Friday night we had the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.  The run through at the church went pretty smoothly and we were at the restaurant in no time.  The dinner was held at the Whitaker Road Aubree's in the back room.  We had a great time!

Saturday morning started bright and early for me!  I had to be in Dearborn by 8:00 am for my hair appointment.  We went to the salon in shifts, them back to the hotel suite for make-up.  We were running a little bit late, but still made it to the church in time!  It was a pretty hot day - about 85 and sunny.  Our dresses had several layers, which made for a hot dress! 

The ceremony was beautiful!  I always cry - I can't help it!  After the ceremony, we all hopped onto the party bus for pictures.  We stopped at Frog Island Park in Ypsi for pictures in the gazebo.  Little did we know that Elvis Fest was going on!  We had to get a security guard's permission to drive in on the bus and they let us in without paying.  We did a bunch of poses in the gazebo, and we even had some group shots with a couple of Elvis impersonators.  They were pretty gross!

Next, we went to Ford Field in Dearborn.  We took some shots on a bridge and some group shots in the field. 

After that, it was party time!  The reception was at the Hellenic Cultural Center in Westland.  Dinner was really good and the bar was doing its job!  They had a photo booth which was definitely a good time.  We had a great time dancing and hanging out with all of our friends. 

Their wedding night also marked the first time we left Taylor over night.  She spent the night at Grandma & Grandpa Ford's house while Mommy & Daddy stayed at the hotel.  It was really tough to leave her for the night, and I was reallly ready to see her by the time the morning came around.  She did fine - of course!

It was a great day/night and we were so honored to be a part of their special day :)

9 Month Update!

Taylor is 9 months!  She has now been with us as long as I was pregnant - doesn't seem real!  The pregnancy dragged on and on and I feel like these past 9 months have flown by!

We had her 9 month well-baby visit today with Dr. Waier.  All continues to be healthy!  We expressed our concern over her not seeming to want to stand up or crawl.  He told us not to worry quite yet - give it another 6 weeks.  We know she is constantly developing and learning new things, so hopefully she's just a little slow :)  There was only 1 shot today, but it still stunk!  He gave us the go-ahead to start introducing more table foods like yogurt, cheese, breads, etc. 

Here is a caption of Taylor's life at 9 months:

• She weights 22 lbs and is in the 90th percentile
• She is 28 1/2 inches tall and is in the 80th percentile
• Her head is big!  18" and the 90th percentile
• She can sit, clap, scoot, and is starting to wave bye-bye!
• She can still fit into most of her 9 month clothes, but 12 month is definitely better fitting.  It won't be long until the 9 mos. stuff will have to be put away :(
• She LOVES puffs!
• Some of her favorite toys include the red/white stripe rattle with the blue balls inside, her ring stacker, her security blankets, and her bath toys.
• Her daily routine:
• 8:30 am - wake up time!  She drinks an 8 oz. bottle
• 10:30 ish - nap time :)  Usually she naps for about an hour
• 11:30 ish - bowl of rice cereal and 1/2 container of fruit
• 1:30 ish - 2nd nap (most days) about 30 - 60 minutes
• 3:30 - 8 oz bottle
• 6:30 - Dinner time!  She will have a container of veggies and the other half of her fruit.  After she eats she gets a pile of puffs on her tray to practice picking food up and putting it in her mouth. 
• 7:30/8:00 - every other night - Bath time!  She loves it!
• 8:30 - 8 oz bottle and night-night!

We love our baby girl :)

Goin' Fishing....

I experienced yet another parenting first last night....a poop in the bathtub!

Taylor had not gone in 2 days so we knew something was up.  She spent her dinner time grunting, but no production.  Zack was working, so Mommy was flying solo on bathtime.  She wasn't in there for 30 seconds when the old familiar signs commensed, and soon, there were "little friends" in the tub with her :(

Being that I was alone, I didn't have many options for removal and sanitation.  I was able to fish it out (luckily, it was all intact if you catch my drift....), drain the water, and refill the tub so bathtime could continue.

I will spare the world from pictures of the incident....

Let's hope I don't have to do that again soon....or EVER!  Good thing she's cute!

8 (1/2) months!

I am a few weeks behind on this post!

Taylor is 8 months old already - I can't believe it!  It seems like just yesterday when I was pregnant with her and waiting to see her beautiful face for the first time.  Now she's 8 months and doing something new everyday!

Here is a run down of what our little girl is up to these days!

• She is eating more and more baby food.  She still has 3 - 8 oz bottles a day with rice cereal & 1/2 fruit for breakfast (around 11:30) and a veggie and 1/2 fruit for dinner (around 6:30).  Each meal is capped off with some Puffs - she loves those things!  She goes crazy if you just shake the little container.
• Sleeping - she is still a sleeping champ and we are still counting our blessings!  She is typically asleep around 8:30 pm and wakes up anywhere between 7:30 and 8:30.
• She is becoming more vocal and talks all the time - it's so cute!
• Still just the 2 teeth :)  But we think she is trying to cut her top tooth.
• Spends most of her time sitting up playing on her blanket in the living room with her basket of toys.  She also gets herself on her back and then rolls around all over the place.  Zack even found her straddling the blu-ray player, where she had pushed the open button and got the dvd out.
• She has learned to clap her hands and blow raspberries - soooo cute!

It is such an amazing feeling being a parent and watching your child grow and thrive.  

Here is a video of her raspberry blowing and a few pics.

 

Play date with Owen!

A perk of being on vacation was getting the chance to have a play date with Sherry & Owen!  We took the babies to the Imagination Station for some swinging, duck watching, and tridge walking.  They were both really good all day and enjoyed being outside.  It was cooler than usual that day - only about 65 or so in the morning.

Here are the babes enjoying the day!  Soooo fun!

Nate & Kristin 7.3.10

Saturday, July 3rd was Nate & Kristin's wedding.  And it was HOT!  The wedding took place at Kristin's parents property on Lake St. Helen.  We had decided to drive up and back in the same day - would have done it differently knowing what I know now!

It was a beautiful day, just about 92 degrees!  Taylor and I had to camp out under a tree in the shade in order to survive the ceremony :)

Here are a few highlights from the day:

• I tried to give Taylor a little bit of watermelon.  She projectile vomited all over the place.  What a mess!!!!
• Doug caught the garter....and got to put it on a heffer's wrist!  Haha!
• We got a cute photo booth picture with Mom, Taylor and me.
• Sucking down coffee to stay awake on the ride home - just T and me!
• Coming home to Daddy at the end of a loooonnnnggg day!

Here are a few pics from the day and Taylor's 1st wedding!

She even got her own placecard/cookie :)

Aussie Invasion!

I had a wonderful 10 day long vacation from work by taking the week of 6/28 off.  It started off to be just taking Tuesday the 29th because Dad would be in Vegas, then it turned into the whole week :)  The goal was to get stuff done around the house that we don't normally have time to do.  That didn't work out so well.....  We did manage to spend a few hours in the basement, but that was about it!  We spent our time going to the outlet mall, running errands, and just enjoying having the time together as a family.

Thursday July 1st we went to the airport to pick up Mom & Dad ---- AND the Australians!  The Briffa family came all the way from down under for a visit.  Their adventure actually started at the beginning of June with stops in Malta, Sicily, LA and Vegas before getting here (and stops in DC and NYC after MI).  Visiting on this trip were Tony & Rita; Michael, Cathy, Dean & Amanda; Mario, Lisa, Zoe and Emma.  10 in total :)  It was a great reunion at the airport and we were glad we could be there.  After the airport, we all went back to Mom & Dad's for a get-together. 

This began Zoe (6) and Emma (4)'s love affair with Taylor :)  They could not get enough of her, and she loved them too!  It was so amazing to see her interact with older kids.  It made her seem so grown up!  I really grew fond of those little girls too - they were so sweet and I could listen to their little accents all day.  It was neat to find out that they love Mickey Mouse Clubhouse over there too :)  Zoe could even do the "Goofy" dance for the Hot Dog song.  It was really cool! 

Friday night we had another party and a bon voyage for Doug (who got deployed to the Gulf of Mexico to help with the oil spill).  We were able to hang out with the whole gang for another great night!   Taylor even wore her "Me Love My Coastie" shirt to wish her Uncle Doug good luck.  Here's a great pic of the two of them! 

Saturday was spent mostly in the car - and attending Nate & Kristin's wedding.

Sunday, the 4th, we went back over to Mom & Dad's to hang out for a BBQ and some more QT with the group.  Zack really enjoyed hanging with the boys - Tony, Mario and Michael - and telling dirty jokes :)  We made it home just in time to watch the Whitmore Lake fireworks from our deck.

Tuesday was the last night in MI for 8 of them, so we went out to dinner at Outback to celebrate and say goodbye.  I was really sad to say bye to my new little buddies.  And I think Taylor will miss them too!

It was a great visit!  I feel very fortunate to have family a world away - it is such a neat experience.  And it definitely made me more than ready to go over there!!  I even looked up flights, too bad it is probably still a ways off....

Here are a few pics from Sunday the 4th of the kiddos!

Emma and Taylor

Taylor, Owen and Emma enjoying the pool!

Can't wait for them to come back!