Happy Halloween!!!

So today is the first Halloween with a child and it's only 3pm and I'm about ready to go to bed! Halloween has always been one of my favorite Halloweens. I think the dressing up, the candy and it kicks off the holiday season! The only bad thing about Halloween that I've discovered in the past 10 years is that it's that much closer to snowfall and by January, I can pretty much do without snow.

Anyway, we started off on Saturday with a trip to Boo with the Zoo with the Heath's and the Larsen's which was a ton of fun. There were about 3 random people who asked if they could take a picture of Taylor because they though she looked so darling. Nothing warms a mom's heart more than that!

Izzy and Dylan and cousins Tate and Bryson

Taylor and my cousin's daughter Emery

My sweet little chunk

The Fam

Today we met up with my mother in law who teaches at an Elementary School and Taylor met up with a few of her cousins and two of her aunts!Taylor loved the 2nd grade program. As they sang and recited Halloween poems she just smiled and cooed away.Bryson, Tate and Grandma Chris

Bryson is always making us laugh...

Next stop was for mom to run home and change into her Halloween costume so that we could head up to Dustin's work. They do a trick or treat through the building and then a big lunch for everyone which is always a lot of fun. Honestly, I always see some of the most amazing costumes when we go there. Dustin and I were a little behind on costumes this year so since Taylor was an elephant and it is election year, our little conservative family couldn't go wrong with this:

Sarah Palin, the Elephant and Joe the Plumber

Now I get to rest for a minute or two and then off to the Trunk or Treat and then tonight will be a relaxing night as we watch all of the neighborhood kids come around in their costumes and eat homemade clam chowder and caramel apples and snuggle up with our bundle of joy. I don't think it could be a better night!

#1 Question

So the number one question behind "how is Taylor doing" is "how is Quique handling everything?" It's been interesting. The first couple of weeks, she just ignored Taylor. I think it was the realization that "this thing" was staying, but also that it was messing with her life a bit. Especially since things were pretty crazy those first couple of weeks.

Since then, Quique has really come around. I still think that because Taylor is so small, she's not really sure exactly what she's doing yet, but Quique has acknowledged Taylor. When Taylor was just a couple of weeks old, Dustin took one of the late night feedings and while sitting on the couch (prior to the rocker) he was feeding Taylor. Quique jumped up on the couch, snuggled up next to Dustin and put her chin up on Taylor's legs. Quique always sleeps with her chin propped up either on Dustin or me or on one of her stuffed animals. Dustin said it was priceless.

With the visitors that have come by, Quique always thinks that everybody is there to see her so she wags her butt and licks people like crazy. I'm so glad she doesn't know otherwise...

Since then, she has discovered Taylor's toys. Not that she has a lot, but apparently she had more than I realized. Quique hit the jackpot when she found the bag with the few toys that she had. Quique has since inherited those toys which I know is not the way to handle it, but it was quite comical to see her squeaking one of Taylor's toys and a teething toy that no longer has the liquid inside.

But the most precious of all are the times when Taylor is in bed with us and Quique jumps up on the bed and snuggles up to Taylor and in between Dustin and I. Or the times when Taylor is screaming her head off because she's hungry. When I set her down in my lap and start feeding her the bottle, Quique will come right up and start licking her head to try and comfort her. I know that this has been a hard adjustment for Q, but once Taylor gets a little bit bigger, I know that they will be the best of friends.

I know that many see Quique as just a dog, but for Dustin and I, she has been and will continue to be so much more. She's only been a part of our family for the past 2 1/2 years, but she has been there for us through some dark times. Dustin and I truly believe that she has filled our lives in ways that no one or anything else could have. She has made us laugh so many times, she has comforted us in a way that only a dog can and she has filled our lives and our family in ways that so many couldn't even begin to understand. We love you Quique!

Daddy's two girls

A morning cuddle

Yes, that is Taylor's bottle in Quique's mouth.

And for a recent picture. She's hasn't quite found the camera yet... we're still working on that. But here she is after church on Sunday.

Cradle or Crib... or Cradle

I'll be perfectly honest, (I think I say that pretty often, but if you know me at all, I'm a pretty open book if you allow me to be) I am not one that does well when I'm sleep deprived. I love getting at least 8 hours of sleep. I know that is more than most anyone out there, but I do love my sleep which is almost comical seeing as how I come from a family of insomniacs. Anyway, before Taylor, I always thought that I would be one of those moms that would keep her baby in the cradle by her bed for 3 plus months. After week two of motherhood, I was ready for her to go in the other room! Surprisingly enough, Dustin wasn't, so I waited.


Now she's doing a lot better and pretty much wakes up between 2:30 and 3:30am and then again around 6:30 or 7am. Last week, I cleaned out some of the clothes and toys that had made their way into her crib so that I would be ready to start her in the crib. That was last week! I still haven't opened the baby monitor package as though it's an excuse that I haven't been able to put her in the crib yet. Honestly, when she starts to stir and fuss around 3am, I wait for a few minutes thinking that by some miracle she'll go back to sleep, knowing deep down that she won't. I get up to make her bottle and then when we sit in the glider (which my mom so graciously bought for us) in her room and I feed her and rock her back to sleep, it is some of the most precious moments of the day that we share together. I see now why my mom was so insistent on buying the rocker because the short time we have spent in that chair has already been very special. I love watching her suck on her bottle. She'll wiggle around, make noises while she eats and then close her eyes and raise her eyebrows while her eyes are closed. And then when I put her on my chest and rock her back to sleep, there is nothing more precious in the world than when she curls up into my chest and falls fast asleep. Then I place her back in her cradle which my grandfather made for my mom that both my sister and I slept in. Maybe it's the nostalgia of everything and I get to feel like my mom and grandparents are with me during this nightly routine, but I have finally begun to appreciate just how wonderful the nightly routine is even if it does deprive me of my precious sleep. So now, I'm kind of used to having the cradle right by my bed and I actually kind of like it! My selfish desires are slowing turning... who would have thought?

The cradle my grandpa made that both Ashley and I slept in...

Taylor always sleeps most comfortably with both arms above her head which is why the swaddling never worked too well for her unless her arms were out of it.

Also, we had a few visitors this week. Kristin, who I swam with growing up, lives in Salt Lake so she and her beautiful daughter Audrey came by to bring us dinner and catch up which was so awesome! Unfortunately my brain wasn't working and I completely forgot to take pictures. Kristin got a darling pic of Taylor and Audrey so I'll have to get a copy of it from her and post it. And her dinner was so good so if she ever offers to bring you dinner, definitely take her up on it!

I learned from Wednesday night's mistake and made sure to take a picture when my roommates (prior to being married) came by, Bobi and Keely! This is a picture of Bobi and Taylor since Keely refuses to be in any pictures... Bobi is now married to my cousin so I guess she's actually my cousin now! They got some cute gifts for Taylor and it was so fun to catch up and reminisce.

I'm so grateful for all of my many friends who have stopped by, brought dinner, called or emailed, sent gifts and been so supportive! I know I haven't always been the greatest friend in years past, but I am so grateful for the opportunities to catch up and reconnect with those I haven't seen for a while. Thanks to all of my friends out there who have been so great to me!!!! I promise to be better at returning the kind gestures!

A Week of Firsts

I'm probably not your typical first-time mom, in other words, I'm not a total germ-a-phobe and I can't stay locked up in a house for a couple months even with a tiny baby, so I dragged Taylor around with me this week. Dustin went out of town on Monday for a couple of days so this was my first experience without any daddy relief in the evenings. But I have to say, although we missed daddy a ton, we made it okay.

So this week I learned that Taylor loves noise. In fact, I think that it relaxes her. On Tuesday, I couldn't get anyone to watch her for a couple of hours so I took her to my work team outing and we went bowling. As loud and crazy as it was... she slept virtually the entire time. I was so proud of her. Here is a pic of her wearing what was required when you threw a gutter ball.

As if that wasn't enough for one day, our church youth group had a volleyball game that night. Since daddy wasn't around, Taylor came with. It was so loud and the girls were screaming and cheering because it came down to a tie-breaking game, but Taylor was as calm as could be and even slept through part of it.

This leads us to last night. Taylor attended her first college football game. I was sad to be so out of the loop this year, so since there was supposed to be nice weather, even though it was a 7pm game, and we were playing Oregon State who upset # 1 USC last week, I justified to myself and Dustin that she would be just fine. For any of you that follow Utah or Oregon State football, you will know that I couldn't have brought her to a more intense game. It was 2 minutes to go in the game and our offense had been playing like crap for most of the game. We were down by 8 and not only did it seem impossible to get a touchdown, but a 2 point conversion as well??? Apparently I'm a bad fan and underestimated our Utes. Not only did we get the touchdown and 2-point conversion (thanks to a PI call), our defense forced OSU a 3 and out and we got the ball back with a minute to go and were able to get ourselves in field goal range to clench the game. Here I am with a 1 month old baby, screaming my head off, the crowd is going nuts and I'm jumping up and down. I called my mom after the game so worried that I had scarred poor Taylor for life.

I was telling Dustin that who knows if I will eventually get pregnant or if we will adopt all of our kids, but one things for sure, together, with our genes, we could have never produced a baby as calm as Taylor. She didn't make a peep except for when she was hungry. She slept through the 1st half and totally let her mom and dad be wild and crazy fans without making a noise. Dustin and I could never be that calm. I think that she'll be our saving grace in the years to come.

Not our best picture, but our first family outing to a football game had to be captured...

Of course we had to make sure she was representing at the game. I don't think that people usually bring a baby as small as Taylor to the games, so even though these pajamas drowned her everyone thought she sure was cute! Here's our little Ute... maybe she'll be a gymnast for Utah. That would sure make her dad proud. :)

Here's to Taylor being 1 month today!!!! We couldn't be more blessed with such an amazing little girl!