Kevin, SueAnn, and Milo

A big owie...

2012-01-26T22:30:00.001-07:00

After a fun morning, our afternoon wasn't quite as fun. Sometimes when we go do fun things, it messes with Milo's nap schedule and then I pay the price. On the ride home from the Airspace Museum Milo fell asleep the last 20 minutes. Once that happens he can't be transferred from car to crib without waking up. Then he usually doesn't go back down. This put a real damper on my afternoon plans, which was to bake cookies for a get together tonight while he took a nap. I put him in the crib, and I actually naively thought he would go to sleep. Nope, a dirty diaper took care of that, and so I thought I would try again later. I already had the butter softened, so I put on Elmo's world so that I could make the cookies. That actually worked out well and I got them done and the cookie sheets full before Milo realized what I was doing and wanted to help.

I had already done 2 trays and was about to change out the third and put in another tray. Milo was in the kitchen with me and I always tell him to stay away from the oven it's hot. He is generally good and I can usually shield him with my body and keep him away from the oven. Not this time. I had just taken out the done tray and in the 10 seconds it took me to grab the other tray, he reached out and grabbed the wire shelf of the oven. I screamed "Milo Ryan!" and I think that scared him worse than the burn. He just looked at me with his sad face and started to cry. I grabbed his hand and placed it under cool tap water. It was instinctual, partly because I am first aid trained for work, and partly because my sister's burn story immediately came to mind. At 10 months old my sister pulled an electric fry pan of hot grease over her face and arm. My Dad put her face under cool water which helped it to not scar. I wasn't sure how bad it would be and his entire hand was bright red, so I couldn't see much.

I ran it under there until he wouldn't let me anymore, but as soon as I took it out of the water he was hurting and crying. I got an ice pack out of the freezer and let him put his hand on it and play with it. He liked that and wanted to snuggle me. I also gave him some ibuprofen to help with the pain. Once some of the redness went away I could see it was starting to blister. I know blisters are bad and usually mean 2nd degree burn. I didn't know if there was something more that I should do since it was blistering. I decided to call the pediatrician and see what he had to say.

I called, but Dr. Lindgren was out of the office for the day. I talked to the nurse about what had happened and I think I said some key words, oven and blister. She told me those generally mean 2nd degree burns and that she wanted me to watch it overnight and then have him come in tomorrow morning. She told me to cover it in gauze and then put a sock or something over it to keep the blisters from breaking. I wrapped him up, put his mittens on, and gave him an otter pop. About 5 minutes later I got a call back from the nurse telling me she had spoken with another doctor and he wanted to take a look at it today. She asked if I could be there in 20 minutes, so I loaded Milo up and we went in.

We had never seen Dr. Allred before, but he was super nice. We took off the mitten and gauze and he took a look at it and gave me a high five. He told me he honestly expected something much worse because of the high temperature. He said I must be a good Mom with good first aid skills and asked me if I had immediately put it in cool water. I told him I didn't feel like a good Mom for letting him get burned in the first place, but that I did put it under cool water immediately. Apparently lots of people put ice or ointments on it right when it happens and that can make it worse. Cool not cold water is the best and helps stop the burning the best. He told me to keep it clean, washing it twice a day, and keep it wrapped as much as he will tolerate to try to keep the blisters from breaking. He told me burns on the hand are bad, can cause serious nerve damage, and limit range of motion. I had no idea. He said a lot of times for those kind of burns kids have to wear a burn glove, so the scarring doesn't cause the above problems. He told me to just watch it and if the blisters break, put on neosporin, so that it won't get infected. He wants to see him again in 3 weeks to make sure everything is healing and there isn't significant scarring.

I hate to see Milo hurt, it is the worst, especially when it's my fault!! Here is a picture of the wound. If you can see it goes the entire length of his hand and the blisters are the most serious part. I don't know if it looks like much in this photo, but it is pretty bad looking.

I wish kids would understand we aren't trying to be mean, we are just trying to protect them. Learning lessons the hard way is NEVER a good idea!

Winter Bucket List: Hill Aerospace Museum

2012-01-26T22:01:00.000-07:00

We checked another item off our bucket list today and went to the Hill Aerospace Museum. My Dad spent a good chunk of his career working at Hill, so it was fun to go show Milo the airplanes. I remember growing up my Dad was able to look up in the sky at whatever plane was over head and tell us what kind of plane it was. We will definitely have to visit the museum again with Grandpa Bennett as our personal tour guide.

We were lucky enough to have our friends Brandi and Peter join us, the boys were really cute together. There are tons of planes outside, we need to come again when the weather is warmer so we can check them all out. It would be fun to have a picnic out there too. When I first pulled up to the museum Milo kept saying "whoa", he really liked all the planes.

The boys thought the planes with "monster" faces were cool.

I really love this picture! Milo and Pete look so cute!

This fighter jet and the fighter helicopter were both a little scary. I can't imagine seeing one of these flight over head.

For some reason the boys loved the stage. It took some convincing to get them to keep going.

Milo has really been into flags lately, so we checked out all the state flags.

This plane had Batman on it.

They have a fun kids center in the second hanger. The boys really enjoyed it. Milo liked this helmet.

Here they are flying a plane.

Milo is quite the artist, I think he is sticking with the abstract stuff.

The museum was a lot of fun. It is nice and open for the kids to run around. It was a quiet morning, not a lot of people there. You can't beat the price either, free! I am sure we will make another trip or two!

After the museum we headed to Warren's for lunch. It is an old fashion hamburger joint with the best lime rickeys ever! Anytime I am in Ogden or Roy I like to hit up Warren's and get one.

It was a fun morning, I wish I could say the same for our afternoon, that wasn't as fun. I don't know what we will do next week, either the church history museum or Cabela's, I guess it depends on what mood we are in!

Milo Lately....

2012-01-23T15:01:00.002-07:00

Milo is becoming more and more of a little boy, where did my baby go? He is becoming more independent daily and wants to do everything himself. He is 21 months and is saying more words everyday. Some new ones are "this", "that", "moon", "blue" and "bowl". He knows how to say almost all of the letters in the alphabet, but has a hard time with W, Q, and Y. He can recognize all 26 letters and will try to say each one when you play with them. He loves letters and has fun with his bath tub alphabet and our magnetic scrabble board. He can point out a few colors, red, yellow, green, and blue. He can actually say blue too which is fun. He loves to help when we are cooking and is our shadow, he wants to do whatever we are doing. He keeps us on our toes and we love him so much.

The other day I was getting ready for work when he hopped up on the bed and I found him like this....

He opened the IPAD right up and was trying to get to the Sesame Street Ebooks.

After we brush his teeth, he wants to do it himself, and he has to sit on the toilet and brush, just like Mom.

If I am on the computer during his waking hours this is what I get....

He can climb on anything. The top of the table, any of the stools, the counter, or even the bathroom sink.....

We now keep his bathroom locked at all times. The other day I jumped in the shower and Kevin was supposed to be watching him. I got out and heard him grunting. He was hanging off the sink, holding on just by the faucet, and Kevin was asleep.

I am going to certainly have my hands full in May!

Winter Bucket List: The Living Planet Aquarium

2012-01-22T15:32:00.001-07:00

Kevin was feeling a little left out about Milo and I's winter bucket list. Since I had the day off work on Saturday we decided to move back the Air Force Museum a week and go as a family to the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy. I am a seriously lucky girl, I worked on Friday night and came home to a sparkling clean house! Kevin is so thoughtful and wants me to enjoy the few Saturdays I have off instead of doing housework. I have the BEST husband!

We started the day off by going to the temple, and then decided to head to the Aquarium. With all the rain that morning, lots of people had the same idea, so it was a bit crowded, but we still had fun!

Milo loved the clown fish, Finding Nemo, is one of the only things other than Sesame Street that he will watch. That is not a bad thing! Every time he saw a clown fish he would say "Mo, Mo!"

Here he is checking out some fish....

Checking out the sting ray.

Milo thought he wanted to touch the sting ray, but he decided it was too weird, and he just wanted to splash in the water.

Here are some of the star fish.

Milo was too sure if he wanted to touch them either.

Here he is checking out the jelly fish.

The otters were cute, but they happened to be located next to the frog, and for some reason the frog was more interesting.

Here is a giant snake!

I am pretty sure Milo's favorite part of the aquarium was the free otter pop. He saw someone else with one and didn't want to do anything else but eat a Popsicle.

Some fish and frogs....

I didn't get a very good picture of the penguins. Milo was too hungry to want to see anything else. We will have to go back to see them.

For lunch we went to the China House Restaurant in Draper. It is just off the 12300 South exit, just west of the freeway, in a little strip mall, next to Beyond Glaze (best donuts ever!). I have a coworker who is always getting the General Tso's Chicken from there and I have been telling Kevin how amazing it is. It is the BEST I have EVER had. We got the chicken and an appetizer plate and everything was so fresh and yummy. Kev said it was one of the most fresh Chinese food he has ever had. For him it was a tie between there and David's Kitchen (off 3300 south). It is seriously amazing, next time you are at IKEA, stop by for dinner. I have only had the General Tso's, and I highly recommend it, but I am sure they have other great food as well.

We came home after lunch and all of us took a nap! It was so nice. We woke up to giant flakes of snow and since we haven't seen much this year, we decided to go out an enjoy it. Since it has been so dry, I haven't bothered to by Milo and snow clothes, and probably won't until next year. The snow was perfect snowman making snow, but we just made a little guy since we weren't really dressed for the occasion.

It was such a wonderful and much needed Saturday to spend together as a family. Today Kevin and I both spoke in church and my topic was about managing our time for the things that matter most. As we have spent some time together this weekend, it really is a testimony that spending time as a family is what matters most. Sure we still had to squeeze in time for homework, but it has been nice to enjoy our family. I sure do love my boys and this little girl too!

Half Way Update

2012-01-22T15:00:00.001-07:00

I am going to ignore the fact I look horrible in this picture and focus on the fact that I am just over half way through this pregnancy, all down hill from here! I really wish my nausea would go away, but that doesn't seem to be looking so good. I still have lovely pregnancy acne, which I thought was gone by this point last time. I look and feel HUGE, but at my Doctor's appointment last Monday he said my weight gain was right on. I know part of it is you just look bigger faster once you have had one, but I still feel like a blob. I haven't really popped yet either, so it just looks like extra chub, rather than a baby bump. At my 20 week ultrasound she was only measuring 4 days bigger, which gives me a tiny sliver of hope that she won't be as big (or bigger) than Milo was. At my 19 week ultra sound with Milo he measured 10 days bigger, so I should have know he would be a big baby. My Mom had small babies, so a tiny part of me holds on to the hope that maybe she will be smaller. Not likely though, so I am trying not to get my hope's up. I am starting my reading on the Bradley Method, most people I know who have done natural child birth have used parts from Bradley, so I think I will check it out. I am super excited about it! Kevin is a really good coach. I am trying to enjoy the ride this pregnancy and I feel like it is going by quick.

Milo's Meals

2012-01-22T14:00:00.000-07:00

I know no one really cares too much about what Milo is eating, these posts are just for me and my future reference. I like to know what works and what doesn't and some of them are fun to try to be creative.

Before: (I forgot an after picture of this one, but he ate most of it, leaving a tiny bit of quesadilla.)

Cutie orange, corn tortilla chips, sour cream/salsa mix

Peas, and both of the other tins are ham and cheese quesadilla.

Before:
Raisins, Pirate's Booty, Applesauce (With some sprinkles just for fun, he LOVED that!)
Heart shaped wheat toast, edemame, hard boiled egg.

After:
He did pretty good, I will never complain if the thing he leaves is the snacky item and he eats all the fruits and veggies.

In keeping with our current weather, we made a snowman sandwich. It was a peanut butter and apricot jelly sandwich on wheat bread, with raisin eyes and a carrot nose. Served with peas. I forgot an after picture with this one as well, but he ate everything except half of the carrot nose.

Milo really enjoys helping me make his lunches too. He loves to cut the bread into different shapes and often times when I am making the muffin tin meals he is eating them as we go!

Winter Bucket List: Planetarium

2012-01-12T14:44:00.001-07:00

Today we took our first adventure on our bucket list and we went to the Clark Planetarium at Gateway. We went with our friends Katie and Julian and it was a fun day! We spent the morning at the planetarium, grabbed some food, then ran some errands around the Gateway. The boys were good and it was a lot of fun for the mommies! I haven't realized how bad our cabin fever was until lately. We really have to go somewhere at least once a week. Milo had lots of fun at the planetarium, he especially liked all the "balls" everywhere, which in reality were planets.

This first "ball" was his favorite. He kept saying "whoa, ball!"

It was a giant globe with projections on it.

Here is Milo and I on the moon.

Kate and Julian are on Mars.

Milo liked looking at all the rockets.

He really enjoyed walking on the Moon and Mars.

It was a great way to wear him out. Next week we are going to hit up the Air Force Museum, I am excited to see how he will like the planes.

Are you in?

2012-01-07T14:02:00.002-07:00

Milo is a climber, he is constantly climbing on or more recently in something. Here are some funny pictures of what he has been climbing into lately.

An old diaper box.

An empty ice cream bucket.

A box from Costco.

What a funny boy. On a side note we had his hair cut last week. I told her to cut it short since hair cuts are torture, but it is too short. I miss his longer hair, so I won't be doing that again. Thankfully, his hair grows fast.

Santa brought Milo 100 balls to turn his pack and play into a ball pit and it is AWESOME! I saw the idea on Pinterest, and he loves it. He spent over an hour in there and that is saying something for Mr. Busy Body. He got really hyper and it helped get his wiggles out. Thank you Santa!

Yes I love technology, But not as much as you, you see

2012-01-05T10:13:00.002-07:00

Isn't it funny, how the smallest things can put you in the best mood? This morning I went for my 20 week ultrasound. (I am officially half way through as of tomorrow!) My main focus was to make sure the baby is healthy, and of course I was excited to see the what the ultra sound tech thought about the gender. I had to go to a different place because the place I went with Milo was no longer accepting our insurance. I was a little nervous, but I am so glad we went to a new place! They spent lots of time with us and we even got some 3D shots which are awesome.

I think ultrasounds are so amazing, they can tell you so much information. It is still looking like she is a girl, so now I guess I will keep my eye out for deals on girl clothes. From what we can see she looks healthy, YAY! All of her organs are there and seem to be working well. There are no guarantees, but it is looking really good.

Kevin was able to come with me and my nice friend Megan watched Milo for me so we didn't have to wrestle him. I think the ultrasound helped make it more real and helped us to bond with her a bit more. I feel bad for the second child, this pregnancy has went a lot faster and I haven't thought about it as much. That is due to the fact my world is consumed with my best bud Milo. When I saw the 3D image of her I couldn't help but cry a little, she is so amazing!

They gave us photos on a CD, which make it so awesome to just throw them up here on the blog!

Here it is, she is a girl!

I love this one, it totally looks like she is smiling!!

Here are the 3D photos, they are so awesome. Isn't she just the sweetest thing ever!?!

I seriously cannot believe I am half way through, it is crazy how time flies. I am still feeling nauseous, but it is a bit less intense. At least I have energy to do things. She is a wiggly girl, I have been able to feel movement since about 14 weeks and I love it. I try to slow down at least once a day and enjoy her movement.

We are super excited/nervous to meet her when the time comes. It will be so fun to see how Milo does with her, I think he is going to be a great big brother! He is so sweet with babies, I am sure it will be different when he is sharing his Mom, but I know he will love her!

Best Day of Work Ever!

2012-01-03T23:28:00.000-07:00

It's rare that I leave work on a high or feeling excited. I just want to be a stay at home mom so bad that nothing at work is very exciting and there seem to be a lot of bad days. Today was the opposite though, it was the BEST day! Traci text me while I was on my lunch break and let me know they were coming to IKEA. I had just clocked back in to work and a medical alert went off. There is a button in every handicap stall in each bathroom that people can press if they need assistance. It is almost always a child that pushes that big red button. We have to check out every one and reset them. I went down to the main entrance to reset it and the greeter told me a family just went in there. Then I heard my name, it was Randall, it was my family that just went in there! I reset the alarm and went to do a bunch of other duties. I met back up with them and we walked through the warehouse together. Just before we hit the check outs Randall was like "Dude, that is President Uchtdorf." I looked over and sure enough it was!

I love President Uchtdorf, his talks are my favorite. They seem to be just what I need to hear and speak right to me. I told Randall I was going to say hi and I didn't care if I looked dumb. He was like "whatever" because he knows I get crazy and star struck. I walked over to President Uchtdorf and told him I just wanted to say hi. He introduced me to his wife and daughter and asked my name and if I worked at IKEA. Then my pregnancy hormones took over and I started to cry. The spirit was so strong. I know this church is true and it was just reaffirming that. Randall, Traci, and Eli came over and said hi as well, and laughed at me for crying. :) They all thought Eli was so cute, how could you not, he is adorable! His wife asked me a price so I went and checked it for her. I came back and rambled some more and was star struck, I told him how much I love his talks. We said bye and the rest of the night I was in such a good mood. And also on the verge of tears. It was such an amazing experience to meet a prophet of God. I will never forget it.

Winter Bucket List

2012-01-02T08:00:00.002-07:00

Kevin is starting school today and that means long days for Milo and I without him. January is by far my least favorite month of the year. It is so long, cold, and gross! I am such a party pooper in the winter, I rarely want to leave the house. To help combat those long days and winter blues, I thought I would compile a winter bucket list for Milo and I.

I am going to do these activities on Wednesdays and Thursdays, since those are Kevin's long days and I am off work. I haven't decided if I am going to do activities weekly or bi-weekly, we will see how it goes. We will be going in the mornings, since Milo naps in the afternoon from 1-3. I wish I didn't have to plan around his naps, but if I don't he is a nightmare and we all pay the price.

If anyone is interested in joining us let me know and we can meet up! Also if you know of any other fun activities, please let me know so I can add them to my list.

Air Force Museum-FREE (Layton)
Clark Planetarium-FREE (Downtown)
Church History Museum-FREE (Downtown)
Cabela's-FREE (American Fork)
Discovery Gateway- $8.50 (Downtown) Is it worth it to pay that much?
Living Planet Aquarium- $9 adults, 2 and under FREE (Sandy)

There is always visits to the library too which are fun and free!

Zoo Lights!

2011-12-30T09:46:00.005-07:00

I received an extra fun surprise in a Christmas card, a $3 Thursday coupon for Zoo Lights! Thanks to Liv we were able to enjoy the fun. We decided to go last night, when it was nice and warm, and the last Thursday of the event. So did everyone else in Utah. Thankfully, we headed to the zoo as soon as Kevin got off work, scored a sweet parking spot, and although there were lots of people it was great! Milo loved seeing the lights and the few animals that were out and about. I had heard the commercials for Zoo Lights on the radio and in the commercials it says something about the animals being more lively at night. As we wandered most of the animals were sleeping and we were like "sure the animals are lively", then we saw the tigers. I think they were more lively now than when we went in the summer! 2 of them were fighting or playing, anyway, it resulted in a giant, kind of scary, ROAR! We enjoyed ourselves and made Milo do lots of walking to wear him out.

Thanks again Liv!

Milo's Muffin Tin Lunch

2011-12-29T13:23:00.001-07:00

Another one of Milo's lunches. He really enjoys eating them out of this muffin tin.

Before:

Top: Porcupine shaped wheat toast, smiley cheese (raisin eyes, cheerio mouth), cheddar bunnies.

Bottom: Hard boiled egg, cutie orange, carrots.

During:

After:

Raw carrots are still a work in progress. He loves cooked carrots, and always asks for raw ones when he sees me eating them. I think they are still to hard for him to chew, but anytime he asks I will give them to him. He devoured the oranges first, he LOVES them, they are like candy to him. I have to hide them otherwise he will just beg me for them all day!

Silly Boy!

2011-12-29T13:17:00.001-07:00

For some reason Milo has wanted to wear his ties lately. Last week he insisted on wearing a onesie, a tie, and slippers. This morning he walked over to the closet and asked for his tie. We put it on and then he wanted to complete the outfit with a beanie. Quite the fashion statement I must say!

What a cutie, we love him so much!

Christmas Weekend

2011-12-29T12:49:00.002-07:00

This year Christmas was wonderful as always. Since we were manning the video camera I didn't get any still shots, but Traci took a bunch, so I will have to do a photos post when I get them from her. We spent the weekend in St. George and it was so nice to get away from the inversion and see blue skies.

I was a little worried about Christmas at first since funds are super low, but we made it work! We kind of feel bad though, everyone spoiled us! We were lucky enough to sell Kevin's broken down Corolla and that gave us a tiny bit of money to work with. I also was lucky enough to regift some things, the majority of Milo's presents were from his first birthday, since he got so many. It worked out nice. We only bought him one thing, that I found for a great deal, and then Santa brought him a couple presents too. :) We got him this pirate ship. I had seen it around, but didn't want to pay $30 for it, then one day while browsing Costco I saw it for $18.50, which was right in line with my budget, he loves it! He was super spoiled this year between Grandparents, Aunts & Uncles, and cousins. His other favorite presents are a working drill, sesame street characters and his real working vacuum. Kevin and I were spoiled as well, we didn't spend much on each other, but so many nice people in our family gave us great gifts. I have never been big on black Friday until this year, we were able to get some good things for others for cheap. I even scored Kevin the first 4 Harry Potter movies he was missing for less than $4 each! My favorite present would be the one Kevin gave me, he turned all the posts from this blog into books and I love it! It is so much easier for me than a journal and I like having photos too. Although I need to be better about posting more often to keep up the books.

We went down to St. George on Thursday night. Randall, Traci, and Eli came down Friday afternoon.

Friday was spent running last minute errands to the grocery store and just hanging out. Kevin and I took full advantage of having a house full of people and on Friday night we decided to go to the dollar movie after putting Milo to bed. We went and saw Moneyball and had the BEST strawberry lemonade Icee ever! I am still craving it. The movie was really good, we both enjoyed it. The only downside to the evening is that we are getting old and a 9:45 movie was a bit too late for us. Ha ha!

Saturday morning we made mini quiches for breakfast, then we went with Eli to go see Santa. Milo had already seen him and it was nap time, so we left him at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Eli did great with Santa and they got super cute photos! After photos, Randall and Traci wanted to do sushi for lunch, and we are always up for sushi. We went to a really great sushi place called Osaka, hands down best all you can eat sushi ever! Most all you can eat isn't very good, this was so yummy. We ate and ate, then our Christmas Eve was ruined when we found out that was the last day they were open! OK, so it didn't ruin the day, but made us super sad. Dang St. George and its close minded people! The rest of our day was great. We read the Christmas story from the bible, and we Taylors carried on our tradition of opening PJ's on Christmas Eve. Kevin and I started that tradition with each other the first year we were married and it has been fun since. We watched Christmas Vacation, played games, and waited for Santa to arrive.

The next morning we slept until Milo woke us up around 7:30. We put breakfast in the oven and went to open presents. For breakfast I made Christmas Morning Rolls and Traci made a breakfast casserole, which I can't remember the name of now. I didn't have a bunt pan, so Kevin had picked up an angel food cake pan the day before. NOT A GOOD IDEA. The yummy parts slipped through the removable insert of the pan and onto the bottom of the oven. They still turned out OK, but made a giant mess in the oven. We opened presents and then got ready for church. We went to a great hour long sacrament meeting at my parents ward, filled with music and talks of the Savior. Milo did pretty well too, which was nice.

After church we munched on cheese-balls and other goodies, then decided to make dinner. I made a jello salad and my Mom's famous crescent rolls and Traci took care of the ham, potatoes, and carrots. She put them in the oven and after a bit went to check on them. Yeah the giant mess from the Christmas morning rolls had started on FIRE!!! She quickly took out the food, and thankfully my parents have an extinguisher in their kitchen, Kev was able to put out the fire in a hurry. It was pretty crazy, it filled the house with smoke, and all the smoke alarms were going off. We opened all the windows and doors and turned on fans to ventilate the house. Thankfully, it wasn't too cold, we hung out outside until the smoke was under control. The ham and potatoes were done, but the carrots and rolls weren't, and there was no way we were going to use the oven again until it was properly cleaned. It was Christmas and we laughed it off. Randall's friend Steve was staying with his parents, they were nice enough to let us cook the rolls at their house and we cooked the carrots in the toaster oven. They worked well and dinner was great! This will definitely be a Christmas we remember and laugh about! I am also going to be on the look out for a nice bunt pan.

We enjoyed relaxing the rest of the evening and then made the trek home on Monday afternoon. The roads were nice and clear and we got home quickly. It was an amazing weekend and a wonderful holiday season. It seems like he older Milo gets the more fun this time of year becomes and it is crazy to think next Christmas we will have 2 kids!

We are looking forward to lots of great things happening in 2012, graduation, a new baby, and I am sure many more fun memories!

Tis' The Season!

2011-12-20T13:29:00.000-07:00

We have had a fun filled December and we still haven't even hit Christmas! We started off the month having my Lake Street girls and their families over to our house for dinner. As I started to do this post I realized that I don't have any photos from all the fun we have been having, how lame! I love getting together with Jenica, Katie, and Kristin, they are so much fun and their families are too! We got to chat and eat, what more could you ask for!

We also got together with Kevin's friends and their families at the beginning of the month. We always end up laughing a lot and having a great time when we are with them.

On December 4th, IKEA hosted a complimentary breakfast with none other than Santa!! The food was great, we got to decorated a ginger bread house, we got to see Santa, and we even went home with a stuffed doggie. Milo wasn't too sure about Santa, but did a great job, no fussing or crying!

IKEA treats us so great, I got a 5 year anniversary gift, and a great Christmas present from them this year. I can't believe it has been 5 years, a lot has happened since I started there.

I think my favorite part about this month is that Kevin and I have been able to go on some free date nights that were much needed! We first were able to attend a fancy dinner at the Salt Lake Country Club that was hosted by the Utah Mechanical Contractors Association. Kevin's bosses couldn't go and had already reserved a seat, so we were able to attend. It was so much fun! We got to dress up and eat amazing food, all on someone else's dime! The food was a buffet of salads, fruits, veggies, seafood, fish, chicken, and prime rib. You better believe I ate my fair share of crab legs! After dinner there was a huge dessert bar and dancing. My mother in law was nice enough to watch Milo for us, so the only thing we paid for that night was the tip for the valet, it was so great! Especially since it has been a long time since we have had a real date night. Lack of money and hating to ask for babysitting makes date nights hard.

Last Thursday was Kevin's work party, another fun date night! Katie, Josh, and Julian were so nice to come over and watch Milo. They saved us, we had asked tons of people to babysit and no one was available. Kevin's party was held at a West Valley Golf Club. The dinner there was yummy too. Fruit, appetizers, salads, steak, fish, and veggies, can you tell I am starting to get my appetite back, yay! The dessert was assorted cakes and pies, I had the chocolate mousse cake, so yummy. And to think I am wondering why I am gaining weight, lol! His work had an awesome raffle, Kev had helped get a lot of the prizes donated and there was enough for every employee to win something. They gave away a TV, a tablet, digital camera, gifts cards, and a lot of other great prizes. We went home with an awesome fire pit we are super stoked, it will be so fun to use it in the summer, our favorite time of year! It was another fun night and we are really enjoying having Kev work for KHI.

On Friday night we decided to take an adventure downtown to see the lights at temple square. We went with Kevin's brother Jeff and his family and really enjoyed ourselves. We decided to ride TRAX, so we wouldn't have to deal with traffic and parking on a Friday night. I knew Milo would love it too, he has started to like trains lately since Grandma Taylor has her Christmas one set up in her basement. It was the Taylor girl's first ride too, and everyone enjoyed it. It really is the way to go, we got there quick, and even though it got a little crowded as we approached downtown, it was so nice! It was fun to see how City Creek has come along. Kev worked down there with Jacobsen and worked on a lot of the buildings. I am excited for it to open, Milo and I are probably going to be making more TRAX trips downtown.

Here are Milo and Daddy on the train, he loved it despite the look on his face.

The Taylor family, Jeff, Valisa, Sarah and Kinzlee. My camera didn't focus very well on this picture, boo!

Here is our little family. Don't mind me in my maternity coat, I am just a big marshmallow!

Sunday night we got together with Kevin's family on his Mom's side for the annual Bascom Family Christmas Party. It is always lots of fun to see everyone and catch up. Of course there was tons of yummy food, everyone in that family can cook/bake, here I go talking about food again! We played the traditional white elephant gift exchange and actually this year we weren't too upset with what we took home. Last year there was a live mouse, thankfully this year things were more mellow. We went home with a multi-colored stuffed animal cow that Milo loved, and a chia pet. Honestly, I am super excited about the chia. I know I am a dork, but I always wanted one when I was a kid, so I am stoked!

This week has lots of fun in store as well. Tonight I have my department Christmas party at work, although spouses aren't invited to this one, kinda sad. Then on Thursday we head down to sunny St. George to enjoy the rest of the Christmas holiday! I am excited to see my parents, and spend quality time with my family. Randall, Traci, and Eli are coming down too. We will have to take advantage of the nice weather and ride the Surrey.

We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and remembers the real reason for the season. We have been VERY blessed this holiday season by lots of people, especially those anonymous ones. We are so grateful for all of our friends and family and love you so much!

Pregnancy Post

2011-12-15T15:24:00.003-07:00

This photo is from last month, I need to get with the program and take one for this month. I also should have cropped it and edited it, I will get around to that eventually.

I am 17 weeks tomorrow. So far this pregnancy has been similar to my pregnancy with Milo, with a few new things along the way. I have been sick. WAY SICK. I don't know what it is, it could be a myriad of reasons. First, I was working more last time, second, I wasn't chasing a toddler and could actually get some sleep, and third, it is just different because pregnancy isn't the same every time around. I have heard you are more sick with girls, but my doctor says that is just an old wives tale. Who knows? By this time with Milo my nausea was completely gone. I still am nauseous everyday. I am hoping it will go away soon. I actually appreciate being sick. Now don't get too crazy, I didn't say I LIKE being sick, I just said I appreciate it. For me it is an extra comfort that my body is in full gear making a baby. I remember with my first pregnancy I was real sick for about 2 weeks, then wasn't so much, I lost that pregnancy.

Anyway, the first trimester was hard, the nausea and the exhaustion. Poor Milo, I would just lay on the sofa or the floor of his room and he would bring me books to read him. He watched WAY too much Sesame Street, but I was just SOOO TIRED. I would count down the minutes until nap time, and then I would take one too. I would go to bed early at night and wake up still so tired. Thankfully, that part is gone and I actually have a clean house, a happy son, and can do other things during nap time. I never threw up with Milo, but I have a handful of times with this pregnancy. And smells, I hate almost all smells. I hate the hot dog and cinnamon roll smells at work with a passion. It is starting to lighten up, I can change Milo's diapers without dry heaving at least.

I did really well the first trimester and didn't gain any weight. Then the last month I gained some, too much really, I about had a heart attack when I stepped on the scale. I really haven't been eating much because nothing ever sounds good and I did really well to not over eat at Thanksgiving, so where did all this dang weight come from! I still don't look pregnant, just like I have put on some holiday pounds. Heartburn has already started again, so I am eating Tums daily. I learned with my last pregnancy that regardless of what I ate I was going to have heartburn, so I just eat what I want and down the Tums or later use the prevacid.

I have been quite emotional, crying over everything. I can't watch anything on TV or I will cry. I hear a sweet story and I cry. Milo will look at me and start to sign "cry", sometimes I even get a kiss. I love him so much!

I guess that pretty much sums things up so far, I get another ultra sound in 3 weeks, and we will see what that says. Now I need to get on my 4 month photo!

We think....

2011-12-12T23:13:00.003-07:00

This is how we told my in laws that we are having a girl...we think. Oh yeah, BTW, I am pregnant. I haven't felt like filling my blog with my pregnancy woes, so I thought I would start the first pregnancy post with a fun one. Well I don't know how fun this one is, but I will do a pregnancy post in a few days, so that I have documentation of all that I have been experiencing so far.

Back to the subject at hand, we went in today for my 16 weeks appointment. My doctor does an ultra sound at 16 weeks and tells you the gender of your baby. It is super exciting and I look forward to it. With Milo, I had my appointment at 15 weeks and there was no doubt, it was a boy!! This time, for some reason, I am just not convinced it is a girl. Good thing I get the big ultra sound in a month, that should be a nice confirmation. Here is the story of what happened and why there is a seed of doubt in my mind.

We get to my appointment at 1pm. All of us, Kev took a long lunch, and we didn't have a sitter for Milo (not fun). As I check in, they tell me my doctor was delivering a baby across the street and would be about a half hour. They ask me if I want to reschedule or wait, and of course I wanted to wait, I was looking forward to finding out. We go to the waiting room and actually don't wait hardly at all, they call me back. They do the routine, then tell me they will have the midwife (who is a guy to avoid confusion) take a look. He comes in and starts off by saying that "it's really hard to tell at 16 weeks." Yeah I have heard that, but Dr. Y, is always super confident and is straight up. Already I am not excited. He starts to fiddle with the machine, and it is obvious he does not know how to work it. GREAT. He finally gets it to work and then takes a look. I see what I think could possibly be boy parts and ask "is it a boy?" He says "no, I think it is a girl." "well wait a second, maybe, I think maybe, it is a boy." THINK, MAYBE. This isn't what I want to hear. He keeps looking, the little guy is squirming, and he is showing me the bum and legs, but I am not seeing much of anything. I told him I would just wait for Dr. Y. He says "let's go look with the other machine." So we change rooms and take another look. I keep looking for boy parts, but now I am thinking what I thought were boy parts aren't showing up. I am confused and he says "Yeah I can't really tell." At this point I just want Dr. Y, so I tell him that, he leaves, I think I may have hurt his feelings.

I know it doesn't matter what gender my baby is, as long as it is healthy, and I am SO thankful to have a baby and a healthy pregnancy; but now I am more confused then when I walked in there. So I tell the nurse I will wait for Dr. Y. She says it could be awhile, that's fine with me. Milo is starting to grump and it is nap time, but I am curious now. The nurse has me go back into the waiting room and tells me that she will see if the other doctor could see me. That's fine, Kev was like "yeah a Dr. for Dr. sounds good." So we wait 5 more minutes and the nurse pokes her head out and says "good news Dr. Y is on his way back, come on back." YAHOO!

I LOVE my doctor, I trust him 100%, and really just wanted to see him. It is hard to see someone different than who you have seen for all your other visits and prior pregnancy. Dr. Y strolls in, sits down, puts the ultrasound on, and within minutes says "it's a girl." At this point I was so confused, I wanted to be sure before I start naming my belly. He says "yeah, but let's look at some different angles to show you." He puts the ultrasound right on the bum looking up and says, "see gravity is on our side, if there were boy parts they would hang down." I then ask "so if I were to go out tomorrow and by pink clothes, should I keep my receipt?" He said "here these are the girl parts" and shows me. Then Kev asks "so what percentage would you say that it is a girl." Dr. Y says "95%".

Had I not had the experience with the midwife, I would probably say with confidence that I am having a girl. But, he planted a seed of doubt, so now I am uncertain. Am I going to buy pink clothes. No. I will wait another month, but I do hate referring to the baby as "it", so I am going to start referring to the baby as "her". What do you think?

Pogs + Sour Cream = Hours of Fun!

2011-12-03T11:05:00.000-07:00

Milo has a piggy bank...sorta. I received one for a baby shower and it is a really nice one. It is ceramic and super cute and for sure cost a pretty penny. So, though it is Milo's, he doesn't really use it much. It sits on the highest shelf in his room and usually Kevin and I will fill it with loose change now and then. Recently, we have started to let Milo put change into it. He thinks it is the best thing ever! The problem is, he wants to do it over and over, and he wants to hold the piggy bank. Since he is a toddler, he doesn't really understand the concept of "soft", and since he breaks even unbreakable things (i.e. board books) I don't want him handling the beautiful piggy bank.

I hate winter, I think especially now that I have a child, staying inside all day everyday gets old fast. There are some activities that we can go do, like visiting Cabela's, but some days it is hard to want to leave the house when it is freezing outside or there is 90 MPH winds. I have been trying to think of fun activities to do indoors. I wanted to make a make shift piggy bank and started to rack my brain with what I could use as "money". I could use real money, but since it is filthy and most likely would end up in his mouth, I wanted to find a better option.

Then a light bulb went off! A few years ago my parents moved and down sized their home. This meant they could no longer store our ~~crap~~ memorable stuff, so my Mom gave me boxes of journals and toys. I remembered in one of these bins along with my collection of Troll dolls, there was a container of pogs...PERFECT! Granted I think the majority of the pogs were Randall's, let's just keep it on the DL. I found a clean, empty, sour cream container, cut a slit in the top and voila! A "poggy bank." Clever name huh!?

Milo has really enjoyed putting all the pogs into the container, over and over again. He can only play with them supervised, I don't want him destroying any pogs or slammers, those things are classic! I really think they need to make a comeback, they were so fun to collect and play with! Look at some of these beauties!

OK, so the one with the weird homeless dude is a little strange, but some of them are so fun! The shiny pirate flag slammer is my favorite.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

2011-11-27T11:33:00.000-07:00

This weekend has been tons of fun! Somehow, miraculously, I only had to work on Saturday, and it was a day shift! It has been so nice to spend lots of time with Kevin and Milo.

Thanksgiving was lovely as always. We celebrated with the Taylor family and had lots of yummy food! My sister in law and I decided to go to Target at midnight, it was fun, not too crazy, we didn't buy much though, a couple cheap DVD's and a couple cheap toys for Milo.

Friday we got in the Christmas spirit and decorated a tiny bit. I realized I don't have much when it comes to Christmas decor. Halloween has always been my favorite holiday. We also left a lot of things put away, like my nice nativity, I don't want to risk it getting broken this year. We decided to go with a mini tree, no ornaments, because Milo is just too wild right now. He has pulled over the mini tree already which made us 100% certain we made the right decision with the mini tree. I figure ornaments would be pointless, he would just pull them off and they would end up around the house. I think it will be fun to have a mini tree, we got a pre-lit one on sale on black Friday with multi-color lights. It will become the kid tree, we can have them pick out an ornament each year for it, and I can still have my nice tree.

Last year for Christmas Milo got this Little People Nativity set. It is so fun to see him with it this year. He lays on his belly playing with it, he especially loves baby Jesus, and carries him around the house.

Since we don't have a fireplace, stocking hung on a shelf with care will work.

Here is the mini tree. Do stores sell tree skirts for trees this size? I would like to get one, I may just have to recruit someone to make me one.

Here are some photos of the advent calendar Kevin and I made last year. I thought it would be a fun project to do together. I am pretty sure Kev wanted to punch me by the end, LOL. For being our first attempt at embroidery and amateurs at sewing, we did OK. My hope is that my kids won't know the difference and just think it is fun.

Here is the tree.

And the pockets.

Here it is with all the ornaments.

And a close up. Some of the ornaments are REALLY REALLY ugly!! As we add to our family, we can replace ornaments with named ones, and maybe just change them out. I really did enjoy the embroidery, once I got the hang of it. The only problem now is, it is pretty big and we don't really have a good place to hang it. Hopefully next year we will have some more room.

Lastly, here is Milo's advent calendar. One of my other SIL's gave it to us last year. Milo really enjoys playing with it.

It is funny how Christmas brings back that magical feeling again once you have kids. I am looking forward to the traditions we will develop through the coming years.

Gratitude

2011-11-16T23:35:00.001-07:00

President Thomas S. Monson “ A grateful heart then comes with expressing gratitude to our Heavenly Father for his blessings and to those around us for all they bring into our lives. This requires conscious effort, at least until we have truly learned and cultivated an attitude of gratitude.”

Don't get me wrong, Christmas is a wonderful holiday. It is such a fun season and remembering the real meaning of Christmas is wonderful. I often get peeved though that we (society) tend to jump right over the season of Thanksgiving and go straight to Christmas. The season of Thanksgiving is so important, it is such an important lesson to teach our children, gratitude. I want to make sure that in my home we are celebrating the season of Thanksgiving and have and attitude of gratitude, all year, but especially ponder it in this season. This year has been a rough one, we have had some bumps in our road, but we have so many many many blessings. In honor of November and the season of Thanksgiving, I am making a list of 30 things I am grateful for.

1: Jesus Christ, my Savior and Redeemer. Without Him and his atoning sacrifice I would be nothing.

2: His restored gospel. I am so grateful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It helps me be a better person each day and it brings me true happiness.

3: The prophet Joesph Smith. It is through him that we have the restored gospel in our lives.

4: My AMAZING husband Kevin. There is not a better match on this earth for me. He is truly the definition of a wonderful husband. He works full time, he goes to school full time, he is a full time (sometimes overtime!) husband and Father, and he is a worthy preisthood holder. There is nothing he wouldn't do for our family. I would be lost without him.

5: My sweet Milo. I can think of no greater blessing than being his Mother. He has brought me happiness that I never knew existed. He is the sweetest, happiest, most amazing little guy. I cannot put into words my love for him.

6: My family. I am overwhelmed by how amazing they are. There is not a thing they wouldn't do for us. My parents and siblings are the definition of service and love. I am so lucky to have such a great family.

7: Kevin's family. I am so lucky to have in laws that are willing to serve and help us. We are so blessed to have such amazing families on both sides.

8: My friends. I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the generosity and service my friends provide me. I have learned so much from them, there are so many of their attributes I want to have in my own life.

9: Kevin's internship at KHI. It has made him so happy to be doing a job he enjoys. It is building up his resume like crazy!

10: I am so grateful for an amazing extended family. Those of you who help bless us in so many ways, love, and support, including support with education.

11: I am grateful we have a warm home.

12: I am grateful we have food on our table daily.

13: This one may sound funny, but I am thankful for Sesame Street. On days I work, it is the only way I can get in the shower for 10 minutes.

14: I am thankful for my job. As much as I hate working, I just hate being a working Mom, I couldn't ask for a better company to work for. IKEA has amazing health insurance, tons of PTO, and really cares about its employees. They are great to working Mothers and really value their employees.

15: I am thankful for the law of tithing and the blessings it brings.

16: I am grateful that Kevin will be graduating in the spring! Finally, it seems like it has been forever.

17: I am grateful for sleep. I don't think you ever fully realize how much of a blessing that is until you are sleep deprived! :)

18: I am thankful for the plan of salvation. The knowledge I have that I will see my sister and brother again.

19: I am thankful for the temple.

20: I am thankful for modern prophets who give us guidance and receive revelation.

21: I an thankful for technology, it allows me to keep in contact with my family that is far away.

22: I am thankful for summer time. I always miss it when it's gone.

23: I am thankful for my dog. Sometimes. Maybe not right now, but when he plays with Milo it is cute.

24: I am thankful to live in America, with all the freedoms we enjoy.

25: I am thankful to all those who serve our country, because of them we can enjoy our freedoms.

26: I am thankful for the holiday season. It gives us the opportunity to spend time together as family and friends.

27: I am thankful for the generosity and service of strangers.

28: Hot water. Every fall when it starts to get cold and I am in the hot shower I think about how grateful I am for this amazing blessing. I don't know if I could survive without it.

29: I am grateful for prayer and its power.

30: I am grateful for all my other blessings, large and small, we are blessed daily in so many ways, this list could go on and on.

Milo's 18 month update.

2011-11-10T15:15:00.003-07:00

Here are a few fun pictures to share. The first is Milo and his baby monkey. Milo found one of his old swaddler blankets and I wrapped baby monkey in it. He loved it and wanted to be swaddled too! I was surprised he laid there long enough for me to snap a photo, too cute!

This is the reason I hate suckers. I let him have one from trick or treating. There was blue EVERYWHERE, including his hair.

Milo is 18 months old! He is so cute and drives me crazy at times.
We took him to his 18 month well check and here are his stats:
Weight: 26 pounds 11 ounces 60%
Length: 32.25 inches 45%
Head: 20.1 inches 99%

Healthy boy! The doctor loved him as always and think he is developing great. Here are some of the things he is doing/into at 18 months.

01: Climbing, ON EVERYTHING, ALL THE TIME. This one has been driving me crazy, especially when he opens the dishwasher and climbs up on it. Dr. Lindgren said not to worry too much, he is a boy, that is what they do, and they have tough heads. OY.

02: He is "saying" more words. I use that term loosely because though I understand what he says, many people may not. He says: Mom, Dad, Ni (Nixon), Mo (Elmo), cheese, bird, ball, dog, more, bath, and duck. There are probably a few I am forgetting. He also knows the animal sounds for a cow, pig, and sheep.

03: He knows all of his body parts and will show you. Head, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hair, arms, legs, fingers, toes, hands, feet, belly, and belly button.

04: He is starting to be curious about the potty, but still far off from potty training. He will point to his diaper when its stinky, flushes the potty, and wants to sit on it. We have put him on there a few times, nothing happens, but we figure it can't hurt to practice.

05: He understands everything you say to him. He knows when we don't want him to do something (ie: climb on the dog kennel), but wants to do what he wants to do!

06: He is starting to want to be independent. He wants to button his pants and put on his shoes, even if he doesn't know how.

07: He is still a bookworm. I can read him the same story 10 times in a row, he never gets tired of them. I do. I have most of his books memorized and we have a lot of books.

08: Milo can find the letter M in books. It is pretty cool! He also likes to knock on doors, it is cute.

09: He LOVES Sesame Street. We try to limit the TV watching, but he will find the remote and turn of the TV or DVD. He especially loves Elmo's World and anything with Cookie Monster. Why do kids love Elmo so much?

10: We took away the binky completely. Yeap we did it. I didn't think we were going to make it through, some days I still have my doubts, but there is no turning back now! At a year we went to binky only at night time and nap time. I knew at 18 months I wanted to go completely off, but I was scared. And it was rough, but after talking with Dr. Lindgren I am glad we did it. He says the longer they have it, the harder it is to get rid of it, and sometimes it can cause speech problems and delays among other things. The first night we tried to cut it, um yeah, NOT a good idea, he was just mad and wanted another one. He did not get what was wrong with it. So we gave him a good one and started the next night. We just did the cold turkey route, no binky at all. It was crappy and some days still is. It used to be put him in the crib with his blanket, silky, and binky and he would go to sleep with out a peep. Now it is put him in the crib with his blanket and baby monkey, and there is 5 to 10 minutes of crying and fussing, not all that bad, but still no fun. I threw them all away the other day, so I wouldn't be tempted.

He is so cute, even the days he tests my patience, I can't stay mad for long. Love him. We are looking forward to the holidays, spending time with family, and seeing what Milo thinks about everything this year.

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T10:18:00.001-06:00

Here in the Taylor home we had a fun Halloween weekend! Sunday I didn't work (for some reason I have been working a lot of Sundays lately), so we decided to have some good old family fun! We started off the evening with our traditional Halloween dinner and made some "scary tacos."

Then we carved our pumpkins from Wheeler farm. Though Milo may not look like me, he is definitely my child, he didn't want to get dirty. He didn't like the slimy of the pumpkins guts. He barely touched them and was done. We watched The Great Pumpkin while we carved, what a fun tradition.

Here is my scared pumpkin.

Kev went all out making a 3D skeleton sculpture. It turned out awesome. We got tired of carving, so we left the third pumpkin plain and Milo ripped off the stem.

Halloween night we stopped off to show Grandpa Taylor our costumes, Grandma Taylor was in Arizona with the cousins. Here is Grandpa and the dragon.

The dragon, the night, and the princess.

We went trick or treating up in the avenues with our friends the Schalls and with my friend Tracy and her little Simon who are in town from DC. Everyone in our neighborhood is moving and we wanted to go with some other kids. It was a lot of fun! Milo really started to catch on to the trick or treating and walked right up to many houses and helped himself to candy. He got way too much for an 18 month old, good think Daddy and Mommy will help him eat it! Here are the kids, Milo, Elsa, Peter, Olivia, and Simon.

After trick or treating, we headed up to Ogden to have a Halloween dinner with the Bennetts. They were a family of monsters, of course I didn't get out the camera, duh! Traci had made a yummy dinner of grilled cheese, tomato basil soup, guacamole, and butter beer. It was a really fun Halloween!

Gardner Village and Wheeler Farm

2011-10-26T22:42:00.000-06:00

I have been such a slacker this month. I had all of these fun things I wanted to do, and places I wanted to take Milo and we haven't done half of them! His ear infections and my cold were partly to blame though, you just don't feel like doing much when your sick. Monday I panicked, it was the last warm day of the year, so we went to see the witches at Gardner Village and check out the festivities at Wheeler Farm.

I made Milo stay in his stroller the majority of the time at Gardner Village, he is just so hard to manage otherwise! He did pretty well, then we saw his friend Linley, so we decided to let him out to say hi. He really enjoyed getting to see the witches up close. He has been really fun this year with the Halloween decorations. When he sees any Halloween decor I ask him if it is scary and he makes and "ooo" sound and puts his hands on his chest. It is too cute, I need to get it on video!

Monday evening we headed over to Wheeler Farm. They have a hay ride, hay maze, and a pumpkin patch, all of which are pretty ghetto, and the hay ride has no hay. It was still fun though. Randall, Tracy, and Eli came down and went with us.

It was a fun day, I wish I would have been better about getting out and about and enjoying this Halloween season. Oh well, there is always next year!

Milo's Muffin Tin Lunch

2011-10-26T22:33:00.000-06:00

I have run out of lunch ideas lately. I am totally burnt out on sandwiches and haven't felt creative enough to make much else. For me this isn't a huge deal, but I want Milo to be a good eater and like a variety of foods, so I feel bad if he is eating sandwiches everyday. I have seen "muffin tin meals" around the web, and a few months back I picked up this small blue muffin tin at Target's dollar spot. I decided to see how Milo would like a muffin tin lunch. Here is the before picture. Top L to R: 1 medium hard boiled egg, edemame, a Babybel cheese circle. Bottom L to R: Life cereal, 4 strawberries, black beans. I honestly thought he would go straight for the strawberries and devour them, but he surprised me.

Here is the during, I think he really enjoyed it!

And the after!!! Can you believe this? I was shocked! I thought he would eat a little of everything, but I did not think he would clear his plate. I think the key was getting foods he liked and doing small portions. The portions were just enough of each said thing. He did ask for more strawberries of course, then wanted some of my egg as I was eating it.

Overall, I say the muffin tin lunch was a success! We will be having these weekly from now on.

Sometimes It's Good to Be Paranoid...

2011-10-18T15:27:00.000-06:00

Being a first time parent is a constant guessing game. I don't want to worry about every little thing, but I don't want to over look something either. It's hard to know when to relax and when to worry.

Last Thursday evening, Milo was tired, super tired. He almost couldn't keep his eyes open. I chalked it up to playing at the park and a shorter than usual nap and we put him to bed early. He woke up a few times that night and was warm. He didn't have a fever, but he was warm enough for me to give him Tylenol. We were going to St. George the next day, so I was really hoping he wasn't coming down with something. Friday, he woke up, and for the most part seemed fine. I delayed his nap as long as possible, hoping that he would sleep during the car ride down south. We started our journey and stopped in Nephi to get some dinner. We got him a kid's meal at Arby's and he didn't want anything to do with the sandwich. He drank all the juice and I tried to give him the applesauce, he only took about 2 bites. I knew something had to be off, he usually downs applesauce. He whimpered most of the ride and I thought he may have a tummy ache.

We got to my parents that night and put him to bed. He slept fairly well, but was coughing a little at night. The next morning he woke up and was really hoarse. He sounded like he had junk it his throat and you could hear it when he was breathing. He took an extra long 2 hour nap that afternoon and when we woke up he was still making a wheezy type sound while he was breathing. That is when I started to become paranoid parent. His cousins had croup, and though he wasn't around them, he was at Grandma's and I didn't know if they were over there when he was. So, we decided to take him to the InstaCare in St. George.

He has never been a fan of the Doctor's Office, but since the broken nose incident, he really freaks out whenever anything is put in his nose or ears. The Doctor listened to him breathe and cry, and didn't think he had croup, yay! Then he looked into Milo's ears, both were infected, the left being really bad. He has never had an ear infection before, but that was the cause of the junk trying to drain. He put him on antibiotics, and I was glad we took him. The next day he was doing a lot better, and seems to be improving daily. Although I didn't want to "waste" money on a copay if he wasn't sick, I was so glad I took him, poor little guys ears were probably killing him! I also remembered in the car he was pulling on them, we just thought they were probably popping.

I guess I learned it is better to be safe than sorry!

Cuckoo bird!

2011-09-25T21:29:00.000-06:00

If you know my Dad, you know he calls everyone a cuckoo bird, I couldn't help but think of that when Milo did this today!

This morning my feet were cold, so I pulled out some of my warm fuzzy socks. Milo saw them and then sat on the floor holding his foot up begging me to put them on him. I put them on him and he loved it! He wore them all morning and part of the afternoon. What a weirdo!

This is his new thing lately too, he likes to climb through the stools. Sometimes he will push them together and line them up, then climb in and out of them. He will also sit underneath and push them around. He climbs on just about everything, it drives me crazy! He has learned how to climb up on the toilet. The other day he went into his bathroom and shut the door. I ran in there when I heard the door slam and in a matter of minutes he was standing on top of the toilet, pulling all the tissues out of the tissue box with the toilet paper roll holder in his mouth! What a stinker!

Parenthood is a funny roller coaster of surprises, you never know what tomorrow will bring.

One of these things is not like the other...

2011-09-15T09:06:00.000-06:00

I know my son does not look like me. He is a clone of his Father 100%. I am fine with that, it really does not bother me in the least. I know some Mom's get upset when you say their child looks just like their spouse. I am not one of those. He may have a Bennett feature or two, but overall, he looks like his Daddy, plain and simple, and that is absolutely fine.

One of my closest friends Katie had her sweet baby Julian on Tuesday night. My other friend Jenica and I went to visit them in the hospital yesterday. Before going to the hospital we stopped at Smith's Marketplace to pick up a small present for the new Mom. We got her a box of diapers and we were standing in line to pay. Jenica was holding Milo and I put the diapers on the belt. The cashier casually asked "Well who does this cute little guy belong to?" With his platinum hair, I honestly don't think she thought he belonged to either one of us, I think she thought we were just watching him or something. "He's mine." I replied casually. "Oh" she remarked. I told her how he looks just like his Daddy. I did give birth to him, but even if I hadn't and I had adopted him, I would still be his Mom. It was funny, I wasn't offended or anything, I just found it funny.

Here is the picture of the beautiful new Mom, her sweet baby, and my dear friend Jenica. I love these girls, I am bummed I didn't get a photo with them, but it was nap time, so we had to leave sooner than I would have liked. (Jenica I hope you don't mind I stole this off your blog!!)

4th Anniversary Weekend

2011-09-12T08:27:00.004-06:00

I tend to make my wedding anniversary a weekend long event. The reason is because it falls so close to Labor Day. Most people would probably say that is a good thing, when you work at IKEA, not so much. IKEA has a different shopping season than most stores, we really aren't that busy during the holidays. Our busy time starts at Kdrop or catalog drop, which falls the last week of July/first of August. When the catalog hits, it's like the Christmas shopping season for us, busy all day, everyday, with Labor Day being the "black Friday". I usually work that whole weekend, just like this year, I worked Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday night, Monday night, and Tuesday night. I wanted to fall over when I was done. With the exception of last year, I have made our anniversary a vacation after working so much. Last year we had a 4 month old and no money, so we just stayed home with a Redbox movie and pizza. That is what most of our date nights consist of lately. This year though we still have no money, we had some Groupons and a 16 month old, so we tried to have some family fun!

Our actual anniversary was on Thursday the 8th. Kevin worked until 5, then went straight to school until 10pm. Needless to say I spent my anniversary with another man. He is way cute with platinum blonde hair and killer blue eyes and we had fun. I love my Milo! We went to the Greek Festival with our friend Kate. I am bummed I forgot my camera! Milo loved the Greek dancers and really enjoyed baklava. I love Greek food, I wanted to try so much more, but my wallet and thighs were glad I didn't.

Friday night is when Kevin and I actually celebrated our anniversary. Grandma Taylor was kind enough to watch Milo while Kev and I went to Park City. We had a Groupon for The Flying Sumo sushi bar. It was pretty good, it was no Takashi, but the rolls were huge. 3 rolls about did us in. After dinner we went and window shopped the outlets, and actually picked up a couple work shirts for Kev, a wrap for me, and a couple fall onesies for Milo, all on SALE for super cheap, we were stoked. Park City is always a close, fun, "getaway". We came down to the valley and hit up The Sweet Tooth Fairy and had some cake bites. I love love love cake bites, a half dozen is the perfect amount for Kev and I to share.

On Saturday Kev and I woke up early and went to the temple. They asked us to do sealings which was really fun to do on our anniversary weekend. It was a good reminder and inspiration for the coming year. We are lucky our sweet upstairs neighbor offered to watch Milo, we really are blessed to have such great neighbors and friends. We don't get to the temple enough and need to be better about going once a month.

After the temple we used our Groupon to Tracy Aviary. Randall,Tracy, and Eli came down and went with us. Eli really liked the pelicans and Milo liked chasing the peacocks around! It was fun to see all the different kinds of birds. (Sorry Tracy K and Kristin L, you guys would NOT have had fun!) Afterward we went into the park to see if the rides were still open, we knew Milo would love them, and wanted to see what Eli thought. I don't think Eli really knew the difference, but Milo didn't want to get off any of the rides! He was a pro from Lagoon this summer and more recently he went to a birthday party at Airborne; he liked the trampolines, but LOVED the Bert and Ernie Fire Truck ride.

Here he is with Daddy on the carousel.

Driving the planes.

And riding the cars. He was seriously so mad when we left!

After the park we had some lunch, then went to visit Grandma Taylor at the Book Festival. Grandma Taylor works for the Governor's Commission on Literacy and was manning a booth at the festival. It was fun to go to all the different booths. We got free books, free smoothie samples, and got to see Clifford (the big red dog) and some other friends which Milo loved.

That evening it dumped rain, so we stayed in and kept our pizza tradition alive! Milo has started to "help" lately, it is so fun.

We finished off the weekend with a nice relaxing Sunday. It was a fabulous weekend!

10 Years Later

2011-09-11T11:04:00.001-06:00

September 11 is a hard day for many people and though I didn't know anyone personally that was a victim of the horrible terrorist attacks, it is still a very hard day for me. For the past 5 years I don't like to think about this day or my memory of it. I don't have any desire to watch the wonderful tributes they have on TV or listen to the memories of that awful day. Maybe I am selfish, but it hurts too much, and I would rather not hurt, so I just don't think about it. I do that a lot with my grief, I just ignore it and figure I will be fine, probably not the best. As much as I don't want to think about it, I also want to write down my account of what happened and honor all those who serve our country and who lost their lives that day. Thank you.

I was 19 years old, living on the central coast of California asleep on the pull out trundle bed that was my 2 nieces bunk bed. That is where I slept every night, it was my bed, in the room I shared with my nieces. I was living with my brother, his wife, and my 2 nieces in a small 2 bedroom apartment, trying to help out my pregnant sister in law with her 2 young girls while she was on bed rest with her third girl. It was early, really early, 6 something in the morning, when my brother came running in to wake me. I was asleep, and didn't really understand what he was saying about the planes crashing into the towers. I got out of bed and stumbled to the TV, the screen was a live shot of the first tower billowing with smoke. My brother Ryan was in the media and the news never stops, so he was already up and on the phone. I sat there in disbelief and moments later on that live shot of the first tower, the second plane came soaring through the air and into the second tower. I will NEVER forget that image. We were in disbelief. It was so scary, we got the call that the pentagon had been hit, and the rest of the day was a crazy haze, we were scared.

I had to work that day, I remember driving from Atascadero to San Luis Obispo, the usually crowded roads, were eerily empty. It was scary. I got to work at Cold Stone Creamery, my boss said we would be open so that people who needed a break could get ice cream. No one came, there were only a few customers that day and we closed early.

I remember my brother and I's conversation, about how the world was in turmoil, how we needed to be living our lives to meet the Savior. He was already there, I was not so much, I was still in those rebellious teenage years. It is a good thing he was there, 5 years later he was killed in a car crash. Looking back at that conversation it is crazy how I can apply what he said to his untimely death, it was like he knew.

That is the reason September 11 is so hard for me, not only do I remember the terrible attacks, I remember my brother, who is no longer here on earth. It hurts. I miss him.

The sun will come out tomorrow....

2011-09-09T10:37:00.000-06:00

The virtual world can ~~sometimes~~ most times be deceiving. Between FB updates and blogs you can either feel like- A: everyone's life is perfect all the time, there are never trials or problems, everyone eats bon bons all day in their golden house, with their perfect clothes, perfect kids, perfect husband with his perfect job and life is WONDERFUL 24/7. B: everyone's life sucks, everything always happens to them, they have the worst life ever; people are always jerks to them, nothing ever goes right, and it's never their fault.

I hope that I don't portray either of those scenarios, I know I tend to be over dramatic and a pessimist, but I know those are my weaknesses and I am working on it. We are going through a hard time right now, but WE ARE VERY BLESSED.

I talked in a previous post about Kevin accepting and internship. We prayed about it and felt it was the right thing to do. We still feel like it was the right thing to do. He loves it there, he is happy at his job almost every day, and it is amazing experience that he wouldn't have received by continuing to work in the field. But it has been hard, it was an extreme pay cut, we weren't in a good financial place before, and it has sent us into a worse situation.

I am still working, and I hate it. The late nights wear on me and my sleep, I am grumpy, and I would rather be at home playing with Milo, cleaning my house, and cooking meals. My job is fine, I have amazing coworkers, IKEA is a wonderful company, and we have AMAZING health benefits, but I just want to be at home. It has been hard, I was offered a position to work the same amount of hours for better pay (also more stress), but I just haven't felt good about taking it, something just doesn't seem right. I know it is crazy to turn down a "prefect" opportunity like that when we are in such a bad financial state, but I just don't feel 100% good about it.

We are selling our condo, hopefully it will sell quick, it has been up about 10 days and had 2 showings and our agent is great! We have been praying about an opportunity to be live in storage unit managers hopefully something will come of that. As if we didn't have enough going on with money, Kevin's Corolla decided to blow up on the way to Park City for work one day. It was completely beyond repair, so he drove his parents truck for a bit, but after putting $400 a month in gas, we decided a car payment would be just as good. We bought a 2005 Mazda Tribute, the buying process was HORRIBLE (don't ever go to Salt Lake Valley GMC!!!), but live and learn right? The car is nice, and more roomy for when we eventually have another child, and the payment is low.

So that is where we are with our trials. They are small and really as hard of a time as we are having I wouldn't trade them, no way. I know so many people that have it SO MUCH WORSE than we do, they are in our prayers. WE ARE SO BLESSED. Milo is so cute, fun, and healthy, he brings so much joy into our lives every day. I have a wonderful worthy priesthood holding husband. We have AMAZING families, who love us and help us. We have so many great friends and neighbors who serve in so many ways, especially with babysitting. Kevin has a great job in this horrible economy, and my work provides us with wonderful benefits. We are happy, healthy, and have the gospel in our lives. I have a long way to go when it comes to growing my testimony, having more faith, and relying on the Lord. He knows I need to learn patience and will give me lots of ways to learn it. "This too shall pass." We won't be in this situation forever, we are learning a lot, and know that Heavenly Father is mindful of us in our situation. We have faith that He will guide us.

Hopefully, I won't be either extreme, this is life, the good, the bad, and we love it!

August 2011 recap

2011-09-09T10:14:00.001-06:00

August was a fun month! I started off the month by weaning Milo. August 5, I woke up and decided it was time, now or never! 15 months old was a perfect age to wean, not too soon, not too late. I tried once at 14 months and it hurt, BAD. I thought, well maybe it won't hurt when he is ready to quit. It wasn't looking like he was going to tell me to quit anytime soon, so I just did it. We were down to just one morning feeding anyway. It still hurt, BAD. It was super painful, I didn't expect that at his age with only one feeding. Cutting out the other feedings had been OK. We suffered through, and after a week, I was alright. He still remembers though, sometimes he will still try to pull up my shirt and sign milk, glad we stopped when we did huh? He hasn't been great about drinking milk. Around 12 months his reflux got bad, we upped the dose of his medicine, but it was still bad, so we switched to almond milk. His reflux was GONE. No more medication. The only problem is, he doesn't drink much, maybe 4 ounces for the ENTIRE DAY. It worries me a little about his calcium intake, but he still eats yogurt and cheese, and what can I do, he will only drink what he'll drink.

August 25 my parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Aren't these pictures SO CUTE!!???

1961

2011

I planned a party for them, it turned out great! (There are a few photos HERE, courtesy of my friend Janey.) I had so many wonderful family members help make this party a success, thank you thank you! Many hands make light work! It was so fun to get together and celebrate such a great occasion.

Also in August, we went swimming a bunch, I worked A TON, and we tried to get BBQ's and outdoor movies in as much as possible. I am so sad the summer is already gone. Fall is fun, but I almost resent it, because it means horrible winter is on its way. I don't do well with snow and cold all the time.

September has started off fun, Milo has been to 2 birthday parties, both of which he had an absolute BLAST! We also are going to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary tonight. Kev and I are going to get some sushi in Park City (thank goodness for Groupon!) and maybe go to a movie while Grandma Taylor watches Milo. We were hoping to do a fun overnight adventure, but are not in the financial situation to do so right now. I can't believe it has been 4 years already, time flies when you're having fun!

Blogging

2011-09-09T09:54:00.001-06:00

Why am I blogging when I should be taking a nap? I DON'T KNOW. I have been thinking a lot lately about using my blog as my journal. (Go ahead make fun of me now, I know the stereotypes and I am OK with that.) There are a few reason why I am going to start blogging more and using it more for journal purposes. I am lazy, blogging is easy, I already have a blog, I don't have to set something else up, and it is easier to type than write. My friend Liv has a blog that she updates daily. I LOVE to read it for several reasons. I like hearing about day to day event in her life, we don't live super far, but not super close either. It is an easy way to keep in touch. She blogs about REAL things, everyday things, somethings I can relate to, others I can't. It is nice to hear things that I can relate to and empathize with. It is nice to hear things I can't relate to, it opens my mind, and makes me see things in a different light.

Reason #2 to blog, I can turn it into a book, instant journal with photos. Nice.

My family is spread out, it is nice for them to see what we're up to. It is also a good way to share my testimony.

The internet and social media aren't going to go away. I may as well use them to my advantage. There is a line though, I can't be idle on the internet, but I can use it positively. I need to be aware of what is out there and teach my kids how to be safe. Milo already loves our cell phones, and the I pad, and he is going to grow up using these things. We will be safe and limit our use of technology. I really like this idea of technology tickets. I want my kids outside playing and being a kid, like I experienced in my child hood, but they are going to want to play video games and be online, so we are going to find a system that works.

Overall, I am writing this post to warn you. You may not want to read all of my posts, they may not be important to you, and THAT'S OK. This blog is for me, and my family, not anyone else. If you want to read, great, if not, I will never know. I just wanted to warn you!

15 Month Update

2011-08-02T22:01:00.002-06:00

Milo is 15 months old, can you believe it? I can't. Before I get into his stats, I have to show this cute picture. Somebody really likes his new tent.

My neighbor and I swap kids twice a week, since we both work. She had a large tent for her 3 year old that Milo loved. I have casually kept my eye out for one, but hadn't seen anything I liked and didn't want to fork out too much for one. I am so glad I held out. We got this new circus tent at IKEA and it was only $20 (cheaper with my discount, woo woo!). He loves it, and I love it, I think it is so cute.

Moving on, here is Milo at his 15 month appointment. These next 3 pictures pretty much sum up Mr. T perfectly.

Running around like a wild man, I spend most of my days chasing him. I love him to pieces though.
Here are his stats:
Weight: 23.94 (so 24 pounds) 40 percentile
Height: 30.25 22 percentile
Head: 19.3 inches 91 percentile (still giant!)

I love love love our new pediatrician. He is so good with Milo, sits on the ground to talk and play with him, and we never feel rushed. He answers all my questions and spends plenty of time with us. He said that Milo is right on for development, very curious, social, and jabbering his way to language. It was a great visit, except the whole shots part, boo.

Here are some things Milo is up to lately.
01: Jabbering, all the time. He will hold a cell phone to his ear and talk away.
02: He actually does say 3 words. "Dadda" "Ball" and "Duck". He said "Mama" once because he really wanted me to hold him. Stinker.
03: He LOVES his Dadda, so it is no surprise he says Dadda. When he hears the door, he drops whatever he is doing and runs to greet his Dadda.
04: Walking and climbing everywhere. Not running yet, please stay that way for awhile.
05: He likes to put things together. He wants to buckle things, put things away, etc. He likes his ring stacker and likes to put crayons (or anything) into boxes. He puts his clothes in the hamper every morning and helps clean up his toys. It's nice.
06: He is a signing master. It helps so much to be able to communicate. He signs please, more, thank you, food, milk, all done, and book.
07: He knows where his ears, hair, nose, tongue, and toes are. And also if you ask him "how old are you Milo?" he will hold up 2 fingers and then 1. 1 is kind of hard.
08: He is Mr. Independent and wants to be a big boy. Every morning he wants to take Nixon out, holding the leash, by himself. If I try to help him he gets mad. He is constantly wanting to do thing himself, no help from Mom or Dad.
09: He loves our keys and cell phones. He knows that keys open things and is constantly trying to stick them into things. We got him his own keys that he can stick in his mouth or lose, but if he sees ours he wants them.
10: He is in the process of getting 4 molars. He is drooling and chewing on things worse than a puppy. It is driving me a little crazy!

He is a handful, but so fun! His cheesy grin will melt your heart. We love him so much and are so grateful to be his parents.

July 2011

2011-07-31T17:43:00.000-06:00

We love summer at our house, we wish it could be summer all year long! Since it can't we have been making the most of it spending lots and lots of time outdoors. We have gone to another round of swimming lessons, swimming at Grandma Taylor's house, and done 2 outdoor movies, Rango and The Sandlot. Since things are a little tight our annual Bear Lake trip was cancelled and we had somewhat of a staycation instead. We went to Lagoon and Milo got to go on a lot of rides. Some he loved, others (The Odyssey) not so much.

The other day we took our friend Jenica to lunch at Cafe Rio. I put Milo in his high chair and Jenica and I went to get our drinks. When we came back to the table Milo was eating something, we found this...

I have no idea how he reached that far! Here is a close up of the perfect bite. It was too funny not to get a picture of.

Milo attended his first birthday party this month as well. Aspen's birthday party was too fun! He had a great time, BBQ, fun in the sun, Popsicles, cupcakes, and hippos! To bad he was a crankster since he was tired. Aspen is like "Hey it's my birthday, no crying!"

We were in desperate need of a nap, so we stopped by Uncle Randall's house, and borrowed Eli's pack n' play. Afterwards Milo played the drums, can you tell he liked it?

This last picture may only be cute to me, but he looks like he just got off of a hard day's work! We took his tie off after church today and I thought he looked too cute.

If only it could be summer forever, we will make the most of it while we can!

Milo's Accident

2011-06-22T15:02:00.000-06:00

What a weekend in the Taylor home. Milo had his first (and I am PRAYING his last!!) major accident, and we had our first trip to the emergency room.

It was Saturday about noon. Kevin had just returned from taking a test at the Davis testing center, and I was trying to get ready for work at 2pm. I had just got out of the shower and got back into my PJ's; I don't like to get my shirt wet, so I wear my PJ's while I get ready. Kev had made him and I lunch and already fed Milo. He put a Seasame Street DVD on for Milo while we ate lunch in the same room. Milo likes to pull out the DVDs from our armoire and look at them. He had pulled out a bunch and they were on the floor. Since this is a occurs on a daily basis we don't pay much attention to it, WE SHOULD HAVE.

Milo stood up to walk, he has only been walking for about 2 weeks now, so he is not the most sturdy. He stepped on one of the DVD's and slipped. Babies don't brace themselves when they fall, so he went face first and hit the sharp edge of the armoire and let out a loud scream. Kev and I both flipped around and Kev ran over to pick him up. As he picked him up there was blood, TONS of blood, streaming down his face, we honestly couldn't tell what had happened and where all the blood was coming from. Kev ran him over to the sink and we were trying to clean up and stop the bleeding. I noticed it was coming out of his nose, Kev handed him to me to hold him, while he cleaned up the blood. It wasn't stopping, the blood was still gushing, and Milo was hysterical. Kevin said to me "I think his nose is broken." Since I was holding him facing Kevin, I hadn't noticed. I looked at his nose, it was about 4 times it's normal size, it was causing his eyes to look sunken in.

"Let's go to the ER, now" I said, I couldn't believe my baby was hurt. I ran into my bedroom and grabbed sandals, I ran out to the car, in my PJ's with wet hair. There was blood everywhere, Milo was still crying, and there was no way he was getting into his car seat. Thankfully, we only live about 6 blocks from St. Mark's Hospital, so i held him on my lap and Kev drove slowly and carefully with his hazards on and dropped me off at the ER. His nose was still bleeding, and the other patrons were so kind to let us go in front of them to check in. A nurse saw us and handed me gauze pads and told me to pinch the top of his nose to stop the bleeding. Kev was behind me at that point and I told him to do it. Milo was not having it, I am sure it hurt, he was screaming, and flailing. We kept trying to put the gauze on his nose and stop the bleeding, it was at least starting to trail off a bit.

It was our turn and the nurse took his weight and then took him back to the room. I am so grateful for Doctor's and Nurses, I could never do what they do, I am too squeamish. They are amazing people that deserve lots of credit for what an amazing job they do, day in and day out. They work weekends and holidays, and take care of us, and I am truly grateful. At this point, the bleeding was mostly contained, just a small trickle. We ran out of the house in such a hurry, we had forgot the diaper bag, his blanket, and binky. We knew Milo would need those for comfort, so Kev ran home to get them.

The nurse put a monitor on his toe and he freaked! He isn't very good about any of that stuff. Even at his well check visits he hates having his ears and nose looked at. I was of course crying at this point. I felt so bad I had let this happen, it is the worst thing in the world to see your child in pain. Of course I felt like it was all my fault, had I been a better parent this wouldn't have happened. I know that is silly, but I still felt like it. The nurse told me the doctor would be in soon, so we waited. We of course had to tell the story of how it happened several times. I was so afraid they were going to call CPS on us, I am sure a 13 month old with a broken nose could be suspicious.

As I sat and waited for the Doctor, I couldn't help but think of certain people in my life who have gone through similar or worse experiences than me. I had great admiration for them. First, was my parents. When my oldest sister was 10 months old, she pulled the cord of an electric fry pan, causing grease to fall on her face, arm, and leg. My Dad quickly put her face into cold water and rushed her to the hospital. She had 2nd degree burns and was in the hospital for 18 days. I just read my Mother's account of her accident, and we had similar feelings. She fully recovered with no scarring on her face or leg, and a little scarring on her arm. I was imagining how my parents must have felt during that ordeal. I also thought of my friend Cierra, whose son has an inherited disorder called CAH. They are constantly in and out of the ER, doing blood draws, and visiting Doctors. I have always admired her, but I was overwhelmed with admiration for what a strong and amazing Mother she is.

The Doctor came in and of course I started to cry again. He asked me what happened, then tried to check Milo out. Unfortunately, Kevin was not back with the blanket yet, which means I had to hold him down, kicking and screaming, so the Doctor could look up his nose and feel it. HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE. He said it didn't look out of place, he thought that it probably just cracked the bridge of his nose. Noses especially in babies, are mostly cartilage, so he didn't want to do an X-ray. He didn't think he had a concussion (that was one thing I was super concerned about) or any neurological damage, THANK GOODNESS. He had to call an ear/nose/throat specialist to consult with him, so we waited some more. Kev was back by this time, and Milo was glad to have his blanket, and especially his binky, since he only gets it at night and naps. He had calmed down and was starting to be his old self, wanting to walk around (giving Mom major anxiety), and trying to touch the computer in the room. The Doctor returned and said they wanted to give him some pain meds, Afrin, and suction out his nose of blood and clots. He said the ENT specialist wanted to see him Wednesday, once the swelling had gone down, to make sure things looked OK. Kevin got to hold Milo down for the suctioning, it was the WORST.

We then went home, Milo got a bath, a saline nasal spray, and took a nice long nap. I had to go into work (obviously late), I don't know if I have even had more anxiety in my life. It was such a long shift, I just wanted to be home with my baby, making sure he was OK. Kev said he was fine, back to his old self.

Here are some pictures from Day 2, the swelling had gone down about 100 times, since the first day.

Each day the bruising has become worse, from purple, to blue, to green. He has 2 black eyes and is a sad sight.

I took him to the specialist today, which meant more holding down, as people looked in and touched his tender nose. The specialist said everything feels in place, and looks OK so far, but wants to see him again in 2 weeks, once the swelling is gone, to make sure everything looks correct. Hopefully everything will be fine and there won't be any surgeries needed. The biggest concern was a hematoma that can cause breathing problems, and he definitely doesn't have that.

What an adventure and an experience. The Doctor said "he is a boy, this probably isn't your last visit to the ER." I am determined to prove him wrong! It was no fun and I do not want to have anything like that happen again!

Lately....

2011-06-17T15:37:00.001-06:00

I wanted to post about what has been happening in our family lately. I don't know why, but blogging is easier to me than writing a journal, and since I intend someday to have blog books, it works out well. Summer has started off chilly, I guess technically it is not officially summer until next week, but it is quite cool for this time of year. The creek is running high behind my in laws house, hopefully we will avoid any major flooding. Milo is walking all over now. Thankfully, he isn't running yet, but with his personality, I am doomed to have a runner soon. :) He is also getting into everything. The other day he got the cupboard under the counter open just enough to get himself out a treat. He really didn't even know what he had grabbed, I couldn't stop laughing.

Yeah that is a bag of chocolate chips. He didn't manage to eat any, the little stinker!

We started swimming lessons on Monday at the Murray Rec Center. Milo is in aquatots, which really isn't a ton of learning to actually swim. We sing songs, learn to move our legs and arms, and go under the water. Milo loves it and is a little fish! He really doesn't mind getting dunked. He takes great afternoon naps too BONUS! I am glad he likes the water, I want him to be comfortable in it and not a chicken. We can't wait for the weather to warm up so we can go swimming in Grandma Taylor's pool. Here he is eating some crackers on his way to lessons...

Milo and his friend Cole ready for class.

The other exciting news in our lives is that Kevin got an internship with KHI Mechanical. They work with HVAC and plumbing systems and Kev will be doing estimating, finally he can use the skills he is learning in school! Hopefully the internship will become permanent after the summer, he is going to work hard to make that happen. He starts Monday and I am so happy for him. I have already noticed a change in his attitude and demeanor. He is glad he will be working in an office setting and be using his college education. It was a hard decision for us though. We have been praying for months (actually, more like years, but Heavenly Father knows I need to learn patience. :)) for him to find a better career opportunity. We have constantly been searching job boards and websites, but to no avail. Kev decided he was just going to take it into his own hands and start calling companies. He saw a truck for KHI at a job site and felt like he should give them a call. One of the office guys called him back immediately and told him he has been trying to get in touch with Weber State about finding an intern. Kev went in for an interview last Friday and they offered him the job, the only thing is, it pays $4-6 dollars less and hour than he currently makes. We are barely making it now, so as you can imagine, we really were uncertain if taking the job would be the right thing to do. After prayer and thinking it over we both felt really good and calm about him taking the job. With the economy the way it is, these opportunities are few and far between, and most companies are looking for someone with experience. This is the perfect way to gain experience and hopefully grow with the company. We are definitely taking a giant leap of faith, but we feel like Heavenly Father will watch over and guide us. We are so thankful for all the prayers in our behalf, and for all of the support of our family and friends. We are hoping to work it out so that I won't have to take extra shifts at work, but that may be something I have to do. Our only dilemma is child care, it really wouldn't make sense to work just to pay a babysitter. Kev is still in school and has to drive to Weber State 2 nights a week, so it makes juggling my work and Milo a bit crazy. He only has 2 more semesters until he graduates and we will make it through. It will all work out, it has to!

That is what is going on with us lately, we are looking forward to a couple of St. George trips, 4th of July, and hopefully a camping trip or 2 this summer.

Thirteen Months

2011-05-26T11:00:00.001-06:00

Dear Father Time, SLOW DOWN!! Really though, I swear each month flies by a little faster. Each month also seems to get more difficult to take a picture, after like 10 shots, this is the best I got, and he still wanted to get away. This past month has been so fun, it seems like everyday Milo is doing something new. Motherhood is truly amazing. It is the hardest job I have ever had, but I absolutely LOVE it. The other day Milo and I were sitting on the kitchen floor, sharing a Popsicle and giggling like you would not believe. It was the best moment, I thought, this is what life is all about. Here is what Milo has been up to this month....

01: He is walking. CRAZY. It is not his primary mode of transportation by any means, but he will take up to 10 steps in a row.

02: He has started to dance. It is so stinkin' cute. It is mainly him sitting on the floor, kicking his legs, and moving his arms. The arm movement is the best part, it is so funny. I need to get it on video. He really like to dance to the songs his elephant ball shooter plays.

03: Tooth number 8 has broken the skin, it is slow coming, but you can see it.

04: He is getting into EVERYTHING. All the important stuff is child proof. At least 10 times I day I pick up bath toys, water storage, cookie sheets, his spoons, and our kitchen towels.

05: Milo has started to climb. Oy. He likes to help me with the laundry and yesterday I had the dryer open, while I ran into our room, for under a minute. When I came back, he was on the dryer lid, trying to climb into the dryer. He has also tried to climb on his table, and into Nixon's kennel.

06: He has mastered the sign for "please". Anytime he wants something he will sign please, now we just have to find out what he wants, which can be difficult sometimes. This has helped eliminate the screaming, thank goodness, my nerves couldn't take it anymore.

07: He has started being more picky with foods. Bummer. He doesn't really care for ham sandwiches or cottage cheese. He loves fruit, and will eat certain veggies, sometimes carrots, he loves corn and tomatoes. I figure I will keep trying all foods all the time, you never know.

08: We are starting to phase out the binky. He only has it for night time and naps. When he wakes up in the morning I say "no binkies", he usually grins with it in his mouth. I ask him for it and he will give it to me.

09: We are still nursing in the mornings, and every once and awhile at night. He demands it in the mornings and will have a melt down if I don't nurse him first thing. I think weaning completely is really going to be sad, I will really miss it.

10: He does the cutest face when he gets excited. If I ask him if he wants a bath, he will look at me, then at Kev, then make his mouth into the shape of an "o". Seriously adorable.

We are so blessed to be his parents, I love him so much. This summer is going to be a blast. We have swimming lessons in a few weeks and plan on spending lots of time outdoors and taking several field trips. Now if only it would actually warm up.

Farm Country

2011-05-14T21:43:00.000-06:00

Since I have the weekend off, we decided to play outside and enjoy this weather! Milo gets along with Nixon so well and we have new baby ducks at our condo that he has been enjoying, so we thought we would take him down to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point. He had a great time looking at all the animals and wanting to touch them!

A goat...

The llama didn't care about us since we didn't have food to give him. Milo still wanted to give him a hug though.

In Jail...

Checking out the bunnies.

He enjoyed the wagon ride too!

Here he is thinking he is a big boy driving a tractor.

He liked petting the animals.

I WISH we had our video camera out for this one. Right after we took this picture, the cow stuck it's head through the fence and licked Milo on the face!! It was so darn funny! The farm country director was standing right behind us when it happened and he said that the cow's tongue is rough. The look on Milo's face was priceless, he didn't know what to think, he was so surprised!! I had to scrub his cheek off with a baby wipe afterward.

This baby horse was soo cute. He really liked Milo too.

It was a fun day we all enjoyed it. I am sure we will do it again!

Milo's Birthday: Part 2

2011-05-03T11:17:00.003-06:00

Just a quick warning, this post is major photo overload! Since I am going to be making my blogs into blog books, I am trying to post lots of pictures.

I have always loved Sesame Street. When I was little I had a book called "Cookie Monster and the Cookie Tree" that was one of my favorites! I always hoped Milo would like Sesame Street, especially cookie monster, so before he was born I bought him a stuffed animal. Then when he was a few months old I bought him some Sesame Street books from the dollar spot at Target. They have them there from time to time. He was hooked! And he especially liked Elmo and yay Cookie Monster! For my brother Randall's first birthday my Mom made him a Cookie Monster cake, that cake was the inspiration for Milo's Cookie Monster themed first birthday party! I went overboard, but I loved every minute of it. Ok, maybe not the minutes of gluing favor tags, but almost every minute of it! I got super stressed as the weather forecast predicted snow, because I had planned the party at our condo pavilion. There was just no way the pavilion was going to work, it was just going to be too cold. My Mother in law was so nice to let us have the party last minute in her basement. It turned out great and I think everyone had a good time. I know Milo loved it, he has a big grin on his face looking at the pom poms and Cookie Monster balloon.

Here is the activity table for the kids. It had coloring pages, foam letter stickers, Sesame Street stickers, and Cookie Monster Stamps.

I saw this balloon at Fresh Market one day after the gym. It was perfect!

The favors were letter and number cookie cutters with a sugar cookie recipe in a milk crate. I made tags that said "brought to you by the letter M and the number 1."

We had everyone guess how many cookies were in the cookie jar. Milo's friend Olivia won, she was only off by 3!

Here is the buffet table. We had a milk and cookies buffet.

I made some super inexpensive decor, tissue paper pom poms and a felt circle garland.

My friend Bailee at work collected "milk" bottles for me. Her Mom works at Discover Card and they drink a lot of Starbucks. I removed the labels and spray painted the lids, the stripped straws were a fun touch too.

I found the idea for these cute cups on the hostess with the mostess blog.

I made all of the cookies, except the Oreos.

I made the smash cake and the birthday cake too!

Milo loved all his gifts! He got too spoiled, thank you!

He only wore the hat for a couple seconds, this is the best photo we got.

Happy Birthday, dear Milo.

He didn't care much about the cake, he just wanted to pick off and eat the cookies!

He stayed pretty clean, how funny!

We had a "photo booth" to document all of our friends and family that came. I wanted to post all the photos, but that would have been way too long. They are over on FB too. Here is Kate and Jenica.

Here is the cake, I am pretty proud of it. I made it from scratch and decorated it almost entirely by myself. My friend Megan came over and did the black mouth part for me. We even had cookies and cream and cookie dough ice cream to go with the cake.

I used my frames to display photos of the birthday boy that Heather took, with "cookie jars" and little Cookie Monster figurines.

I am so glad we had this photo here. 3 generations of Milo, Grandpa Milo, Kevin Milo, and Milo Ryan. Milo was named after his great grandpa and his Daddy.

The present table, I had all of Milo's monthly photos hanging.

Thanks again to all who came, it was so fun!

Milo's Birthday: Part 1.

2011-05-03T10:19:00.000-06:00

I know Milo won't remember his first birthday, but that didn't mean I didn't want to have some fun! It is funny how as you grow up, the magic of Christmas, Easter, and Birthdays slowly wears off. One of the most fun parts of having children is that magic comes back! You feel how magical that day is for them, and it is so fun to watch their little faces light up.

I decided Milo's birthday would be a day of fun, no work, no chores, just me and my little guy hanging out and having fun! I decided we would go to Southtowne Mall for lunch and to ride the carousel and the train. Grandma Taylor was able to come with us, so that made it even more fun! When we walked in and saw the carousel, Milo got a big smile on his face. We ate lunch, then went over to ride. At first he wasn't so sure of it. He was like "what am I doing on this horse?"

As it started to go round, he decided it was so much fun!!

He was loving it, and it was a pretty long ride!

We went downstairs, but we couldn't see the train engineer at first, so we went into the dinosaur area and played for a bit. Here is Grandma Taylor and Milo.

Once the engineer came back, we rode on the train. He loved looking at all the shops as we passed by and was pointing to things.

It was so much fun, I think we are going to make this our birthday tradition every year!

12 month well check visit.

2011-05-02T11:20:00.002-06:00

For Milo's twelve month well check appointment, I decided to go to a new doctor. I don't know why, I just wanted a second opinion on a few things like acid reflux, etc. Milo's old doctor is family practice and this new one is a pediatrician. I was worried with a bigger office feeling rushed, but it was great. We didn't wait super long and the new doctor is amazing! Kev was really impressed with how intelligent he is and how he really knows a ton about children. I feel a little bad for switching, but I think we made the right choice. Here are Milo's 12 month stats. It was funny, as we discussed the percentiles, the doctor made a comment about how weird the curve is. Milo is a very healthy boy, but if you just hear the percentiles it could be deceiving.

Weight: 21.8 pounds, 30th percentile

Height: 29.5 inches, 41st percentile

Head: 18.9 inches, 90th percentile (still huge, he he!)

We talked about starting cow's milk and his reflux. It seemed to get a little worse with the cow's milk, but as long as he takes his medicine he doesn't spit up. If I forget to give it though, I am doomed! He is doing great, eating everything. I am still nursing mornings and at nights too if I am home, but I have stopped pumping at work. It just takes too long, so if I am working he just has vitamin D milk. He is wearing size 3 diapers and 6-12 month clothes. Most 12-18 month are a bit big still. The doctor said he is looking very healthy and looks great developmentally. I am so glad we have a happy healthy boy!

STG Vacay!

2011-04-28T23:11:00.000-06:00

A couple years ago Kev and I decided every year we would spend Easter in St. George. It just makes sense to spend Easter in the sunshine, and that is not always the case here in Northern Utah. Milo and I decided we would make a week of it, so we went down the Monday before Easter. We LOVED every minute of it. We loved spending time with my parents, going on bike rides, the splash park, riding the Surrey, playing at the park, it was wonderful. It was 70's and 80's the entire week, and Milo wore shorts all week long. The first day back up north I put a long sleeve shirt on him and he pulled at the sleeves like "what the heck are these Mama, where are my short sleeves?" We were spoiled to say the least. We really enjoyed my parents and I really miss them.

I got a bike trailer for my birthday and we put it to good use. My parents live right next to the 3 rivers trail, it is beautiful. I think I rode an average of about 8 miles a day, it was great. If Milo wasn't napping I put him in the trailer and he would go to sleep.

Here is my favorite part of the trail. You go up a big hill and the view is amazing!!

My Dad rides his bike everywhere, which is great exercise and great for gas mileage. He hadn't filled up his car since February! I decided to take his lead, so Milo and I took our bikes to the splash park. The water was a little cold, but Milo liked it. I think he would've enjoyed it more if it had been warmer.

Every year over Easter weekend they hold the Art's Festival. I love going and looking at all the Southwestern art. Not my style, but still interesting. D'Angelo Vickers would LOVE it! Randall, Traci, and Eli were on their way to California, but went to the fest with us. Milo enjoyed it and even got a balloon animal that he later tried to eat.

Cousins having fun!

Eli wasn't sure he wanted his picture taken.

Since Milo has entered into the "stranger danger" phase, he was a bit weary of Grandma and Grandpa at first, but he warmed right up to them. He loved spending time with them and gave them lots of hugs and kisses.

Kev flew into Vegas on Saturday morning. His flight was only $60. We went to pick him up and do a little shopping. I forgot to hit up Trader Joe's though, ugh. Milo enjoyed all there was to see in the casinos, but he wasn't to keen on the shopping, so we didn't actually get to do much.

It was a great trip, posting this really makes me miss it. Hopefully, we will get down there again soon!

TWELVE months.

2011-04-26T10:59:00.000-06:00

I still cannot believe he is a year old, where did my baby go? I have lots of catch up posts to do, and a couple different birthday posts, but I wanted to do his monthly post first. Without further ado, here are the 10 things about Milo this month.

01: Started to scream. Not loving this at all. Anytime he wants something he lets out a large ear piercing scream. We have tried with the baby sign language, but he seems to prefer the screaming. OY.

02: Still eating like a champ. He eat an entire banana and piece of toast in one sitting, then if you are eating still begs for your food. He doesn't like anything bland. I made him a cheese quesadilla and he would not touch it until I smothered it in salsa, then gobbled it right up! His birthday was his first taste of the white sugar, he liked it, but didn't go as crazy as I thought he would.

03: The past few days he has started to point. I made some pom poms for his birthday decorations and when he saw them he pointed to them.

04: As you can see by his shirt he loves Cookie Monster. He has for quite awhile, and that combined with an old photo launched his birthday theme. Whenever he sees Cookie he giggles, points, and kind of talks to him, melty.

05: He is close to walking, which is good and bad. He is pushing everything around (the highchair, and old box, etc.) to walk, and even got a cute push walker for his birthday that he loves. I am kind of excited to not have to lug him around, but the bad part is the extra mobility causes for the ability to get into everything!

06: He got a new tooth this month. That brings his total to 7.

07: He loves the outdoors, we got lots of time in the sunshine while visiting Grandpa and Grandma Bennett in St. George. He still doesn't like the grass though. He loves stroller walks, bike rides, swings, and likes to play in the water as long as it is warm.

08: Milo is really starting to jabber. No real words yet, but he will sit for 20 minutes straight jabbering to his toys or reading a book.

09: Milo and Nixon are more BFF than ever! They have really started to play together and it is cute. Nixon is so good with Milo, letting him grab his fur and pull his ears.

10: He has started to have stranger danger this month. He wants Mom or Dad and it takes him a bit to warm up to new people, or even familiar people that he hasn't seen for a bit. He will still smile and reach for you though, but then realizes he wants Mom.

LOVE him so much, what a fast year! Stay tuned for catch up posts featuring our St. George trip, Easter, birthday part 1 and 2, and his 12 month doctor visit stats.

One.

2011-04-26T09:27:00.000-06:00

Just thinking about writing this post makes me so emotional. I cannot believe this first year has flown by. There have been many tears, sleepless nights, giggles, and endless joy. We love our boy more than I can express in words. His birth day is still fresh in my mind. After having contractions for weeks we knew he would come early. We were "prepared" for him to arrive. Honestly, nothing can prepare you for parenthood. The day before was a beautiful, sunny spring day. We went on a walk, we celebrated birthdays, I was in lots of pain from the contractions, that night we went to the hospital. A year ago, at this moment, I laid on my hospital bed with anticipation to meet my sweet boy. Though his birth was delayed a bit, I will never forget when they placed him on my chest and I saw him for the first time. Tears ran down my cheeks as I gazed at my chunky boy with his head full of blonde hair!

We love him more and more each day and feel absolutely blessed to have him in our lives. He has the most amazing personality and infectious smile.

Happy first birthday my dear sweet boy! We love you more than you know!

Easter

2011-04-24T09:50:00.000-06:00

Easter weekend was lots of fun! The weather was perfect for dying and hunting eggs. We were going to go to the Easter egg hunt put on by the city, but then decided to just have one of our own. Here is Milo picking up the eggs.

Cousin Preston is on the hunt...

Brandon and Jessica were finding the eggs with their initial on them while Grandpa and Grandma watched.

Easter morning the Easter bunny was nice to us all, he even brought treats for Grandpa and Grandma.

Here is Milo's first Easter basket, he got lots of fun stuff!

He did NOT want to wear the ears, the pics are super blurry because i was trying to get him to leave them on.

Here he is diving into his basket. He liked his toys, books, and treats from the Easter bunny.

Another blurry one, even with active child mode on, he is still too wiggly!

Here is our Easter Morning family photo, what a beautiful day! Too bad I don't know how to pose decent.

Our picture with Grandma and Grandpa, we love them SO MUCH!

Here is Milo in his Easter outfit, what a sharped dress little man!

Happy Easter!

Family Photos

2011-04-15T09:59:00.008-06:00

We got our family photos taken over conference weekend by Heather of Heather Telford Photography she also did Milo's newborn photos a year ago. She is amazing, she managed to make us look good even with Kev's sunburn and my HORRIBLE roots (I am trying to grow my hair out and not color it anymore.) Even though Milo hadn't taken a good nap, he looks adorable as usual. Thanks again, Heather!

Happy Birthday Kev!

2011-04-07T09:35:00.003-06:00

Happy Birthday to an amazing father and husband, my dear Kevin! Kev works so hard at a full time job, while being a full time student, and a full time husband and father. He is an amazing man with a tender heart who is always thinking of others first. He is always willing to drop everything to help someone in need. He is the best Daddy to Milo, and Milo loves him so much. When he sees him, he crawls as fast as he can to get to him with a big grin on his face. He wants to sit on his lap whatever he is doing, homework, playing the piano or guitar, or whatever else his Dad is doing. We want to tell him how much we love him and let everyone know how lucky we are! We are going to celebrate with some Brazilian food and cupcakes! We are so blessed to have such a magnificent man in our lives. We LOVE you Kevin!

Love Always,

SueAnn and Milo

Eleven Months.

2011-03-26T16:58:00.002-06:00

I know I am biased, but I am pretty sure this is one of the cutest babies in the entire world. Eleven months, I cannot believe it. The time is flying by! I cannot believe my sweet baby will be one next month! I have a rockin' party planned, hopefully it will be a lot of fun. Here is the low down with Milo this month.

01: Not walking yet, but he is pulling himself up and walking around on furniture. We finally caved and bought him a walker, which he likes for limited amounts of time. We don't like getting our feet run over though. :(

02: Eats just about anything. He did decide though that he does not care for squash anymore, bummer. Anything we are eating he wants some. I still haven't given him any sugar, not until his bday.

03: He helps us dress him. He will lift up his feet to put on his pants and socks, and put his arms through his sleeves.

04: He follows me around the house. He is constantly wanting to be where the action is.

05: Likes to take rides in his stroller, as long as we are moving. If I stop too long he gets impatient.

06: Still loves the outdoors, this summer is going to be a blast! He is warming up to the grass, he did hate it, but now he will touch it and check it out.

07: He is having lots of fun with Nixon. He chases him around and likes to open and close the kennel. He has tried to crawl in once, yuck. He also ate a big ol' bite of his food....gross.

08: Jabbering constantly. I am pretty sure he knows "Mama" and "Dada" and what they mean. He will also sign and say "mah" or "more".

09: HATES having his face wiped, even though we do it every time he eats. He acts as if we are torturing him. He also hates having his nose wiped.

10: He is a very social baby and likes other kids, babies, and people. He will cheese for the camera and reach for people.

We love him so much! These past 11 months have been the toughest and best!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

2011-03-17T18:12:00.006-06:00

Wishing you a very Happy St. Patrick's Day from this little leprechaun....
Don't even think about touching his pot of gold.

We hope you had a fun holiday! We ate a fun St. Patrick's Day dinner with Kate, Traci, Eli, Aspen, Liv, and Kevin Taylor (Liv's Kevin Taylor, not my Kevin, although my Kev was there too, how confusing!) We enjoyed ourselves. Our little leprechaun got lots of kisses today too!

10 Months Old...With A Cold. :(

2011-02-26T11:38:00.002-07:00

Doesn't his face break your heart? Milo is experiencing his first cold and it is NO FUN! He has a super runny nose and a cough. Did you know that wiping his nose is a form of torture? He sure thinks so, you would think you were the cruelest person on earth when you wipe his nose. Of course the only time he has been sick happens to be the same week his new cousin Eli was born, what a bummer! Though this last week has been rough, the month has been fun, here is what Milo has been up to this month.

01: He learned how to crawl!! For real this time, no more of the worm stuff. He has been doing the worm and getting around quite well since 6 months, but on Super bowl Sunday he decided that real crawling is much faster.

02: He learned to wave! We were hanging out in St. George with his new friend Cash at Target when it was time to say goodbye. We told Cash and his Mommy goodbye and Milo waved to them! So cute!

03: He knows what signs means and will sign "more". He hasn't got the actual sign down, it is a little tricky to get your hands that way, but if he wants more, he will look at you and put his hands together. He also know what it means if I sign "milk". We are now working on "book" and "please."

04: He got another hair cut, can you believe 2 hair cuts in his short life? Daddy did this one, and did a good job, just don't look around his ears. ;)

05: He is starting to walk around things. He really started doing this while in St. George at Grandma's house. He will hold on and walk around.

06: Once in standing position he finally figured out how to get down. He is quite the mover these days.

07: He has figured out how to drink out of his Camelbak water bottle. He always wants to chew on mine, and a couple months ago Target had them on sale, so I got him his own. It has a straw in it with a soft top and he loves drinking water out of it. He hasn't figured out a straw by itself yet though.

08: All four of his top teeth FINALLY broke through. They are about half way down now, he now has 6 teeth total.

09: He is starting to lose the baby fat, kind of sad. He still has a little double chin, but his chubby arms and legs are thinning out. I am going to miss that chub.

10: He is still LOVING books. He will choose books over toys any day. He can sit for hours looking at books or having you read with him. He is going to be a smarty pants!

We sure hope this cold passes quickly, so he can get back to his happy self and start sleeping better at night again.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

2011-02-14T07:45:00.001-07:00

The results are in...

2011-02-02T12:49:00.002-07:00

Why did I plan Milo's 9 month appointment on the coldest day of the year?? So though he still seems like a chunk, he is an average chunk.

Here are his 9 month stats:

Height: 28.5 inches (he grew 1.5 inches since his 6 months visit!). He is in the 50th percentile.

Weight: 21 pounds 3 ounces, again 50th percentile.

Head: He still has a giant one, 18.5 inches, but it isn't growing super fast and hasn't changed much since last visit. It is still in the 90th percentile though.

He is looking good, reaching all his milestones appropriately, and the Doctor can't get over how cute he is! Last week when I did his monthly post, I said he hadn't clapped yet, well later that day he did it! All on his own, right before I went to work, I was so happy!! Now if he is in the right mood and you say "YAY" he will start clapping. His clap is kind of funny though, he just holds his left hand still and claps his right to his left. He is also now "giving fives", which is super cute!

If only his top 4 teeth would just finish coming in, 2 have broken the skin, I just want some sleep with out having to medicate him. All the tricks that worked on his bottom teeth are not helping, only Tylenol does the trick.

LOVE THIS BOY!

9 Months!

2011-01-26T09:40:00.009-07:00

Milo is 9 months old today!!! He is officially 39 weeks, which means he has been out in the world for as long as he was in my belly! I can't believe how fast my sweet baby went from this....
To this...

I was 38 weeks and 7 days pregnant when I went into the hospital and had him the next day at 39 weeks. I don't even want to think about how huge he would've been had I gone another week. It is so crazy how much faster the 9 months outside the womb goes than the 9 months you are carrying around a little person with their head stuck in your pelvis! I don't know if I ever posted his birth story, maybe I should. I love him so much, but I am not going to lie to you, it has been a crazy year and a half! Here are the 10 facts about Milo for this month, they may be a little long, I have a lot on my mind. I won't know/be offended if you just skip them and look at his cute photos.

01: He has learned a new trick and thinks he is the cooler than cool (ice cold!). As fun as it is to see your baby learn something new, this one is doing a number on me. Milo has learned to pull himself up and wants to do this all day everyday, when he gets up, he smiles and is SO PROUD of himself. This is rough on Mom for 2 reasons. Reason 1: He loves to stand up, but has no idea how to get down, so he grunts and cries until someone comes and puts him down, then 2 minutes later it is the same thing all over again. Reason 2: He has found his favorite place to practice this new trick is his crib. We have moved his mattress to the lowest setting, but he has still figured it out. This has made an already difficult nap time routine even more so. Also, in the middle of the night last night, he was awake standing up in his crib on multiple occasions. The past few days I feel like I am taking crazy pills!!

02: He has started to jabber. I mean really jabber. It is so stinking cute. He is picky about when he wants to talk though. He is saying "Dada", but I am not sure he know what that means. The other night he said "dog", but again I don't know if he was really saying it or not. We kept repeating "dog, dog" and he repeated it a couple times.

03: He has perfected the pincher grip! We have started to eat finger foods at least once a day and he is picking up peas like a pro. He is a big fan of Cheerios too.

04: Milo has tried some new foods this month, including Hummus and Pirate's Booty. I had given him these Gerber Veggie things, which are basically Cheetos for babies, but they made his breath stink so bad! Pirate's Booty is basically the same thing with no nasty breath, so he tried them and loves them. He likes most foods, but isn't a huge fan of regular mashed potatoes and has to be in the right mood for green beans. Some times I puree his foods, other times it's finger foods, just whatever mood he is in.

05: He is still doing the worm crawl, but has become quick at it. Yesterday though, he was doing the real crawl for a couple steps, but then when he saw me he resorted to worm time again. He is for sure a mover though, he is always wiggling and doesn't want to sit still for long. I am in a lot of trouble.

06: He needs another hair cut, his hair is too long again.

07: We are trying to teach him to clap and wave, but he has yet to do it on his own. He gets a big grin when I help him do it, but then just watches me with a smirk.

08: I am thinking his top 4 teeth are just about ready to break through. I can feel they are really low, but he will barely let me stick my clean fingers in there to check. He also has been having nose issues, which accompanied the bottom 2 teeth when they came through.

09: He still wakes and eats once a night. I have been saying I need to wean him for awhile now, but something always comes up. Teething, standing up in the crib, and I just want to get him sleeping through the night without any other issues, then I will wean. The other thing is I don't know how to do it without dying from the pain and/or getting a clog.

10: He loves Sesame Street. His Sesame Street books are his favorites and he if we go to the store and he sees Elmo or Cookie Monster he gets super excited and kicks his legs with a big grin on his face. He will crawl over to his book shelf and out of all the books, find his Sesame Street ones and pull them out. It's crazy.

Though there are hard times, the good times outnumber them and are wonderful. He is such a cute baby, we can't get over how much we love him. I can believe in a few months he will be a year old, CRAZY. He goes for his 9 month well check next week, so I will post his stats then. I am interested to see how chunky he is these days!

8 months!

2010-12-26T16:30:00.003-07:00

Another month gone by and my baby boy is getting bigger too fast! I was going to take his monthly photo in just a onesie every month, but I haven't been consistent. Is this not the CUTEST picture you have ever seen!! I know I am biased, but seriously, how cute is he?!? He is wearing his hounds-tooth tie just for Aunt Traci! Here is the update for month 8.

01: He isn't truly crawling yet, but he can do the worm to get wherever he needs to go. He is getting pretty fast too. The other day I put him in his room while I got ready and in 5 minutes he was in the bathroom getting into the garbage. I am kind of glad he hasn't really figured it out yet, when he does, he will be into everything.

02: He gives kisses now, it is pretty much the most adorable thing ever. You can say "Milo give me kisses" and then do a kiss face and he will lean forward and give you a big, drool covered, open mouth kiss. He usually goes for your nose. It will melt your heart for sure.

03: He is getting the hang of a sippy cup. We put a little water in it and he has the motion of sucking on it down, he just doesn't quite get the tilting yet. If you tilt it or lay him down he can get a drink though.

04: He wants whatever you are eating. He opens his mouth and flails his arms. We have started giving him pieces of table foods and he likes almost everything. He LOVED the little bits of leftover ham we gave him today.

05: Milo is still working on the fine motor skills. He did really well today pinching the ham and getting it to his mouth, but a lot of times he grabs food with his entire hand, then doesn't know how to open his hand and get the food in his mouth.

06: His hair is getting long again, it's almost time for another hair cut.

07: He loves things with a "crunchy" texture. Bags, wipes, and a half empty bag of craisins are some of his favorites. Grandma Bennett got him an owl for Christmas with "crunchy" wings, he loves it.

08: Milo is getting pretty vocal, he is making all kinds of sounds. He has a fake cough that he does a lot, I have no idea why he does it. It is funny.

09: Things scare him now. Certain sounds we make or noises will put him in tears. We are mean parents, but it can be kind of funny.

10: He has found his feet. He likes to eat them and sometimes suck on his toes. Yuck! :)

We are so in love with him and love each stage he is in. I wish he didn't grow so fast though, before you know it he won't be a baby anymore.

Milo's First Christmas!

2010-12-26T15:45:00.005-07:00

It has been a great weekend! The best part about this holiday weekend for me though, is the fact that I didn't work and I got to stay home and spend lots of time with my family! Milo's first Christmas was a lot of fun. On Christmas Eve we spent time with our own little family. We made scones, read the Christmas story from the bible, and opened Christmas PJ's. I don't know what it is with me, but I am really bad at getting photos and videos, if I have the video camera out, I forget to take still pictures. Does anyone else have that problem? I don't really have many pictures of the weekends events, but I do have some great videos. Milo did well opening is presents, he grabbed the paper, then ate it, then opened the presents. He got spoiled of course from parents, grandparents, and Santa. Santa brought him a fun Little People Nativity, I really like it and I think it will be fun for him to play with in years to come. I also hope it will distract from my nice nativity set. Christmas Day Milo woke up at the usual 7 am, so we opened presents, he took a nap, then we headed over to spend the day at Grandpa & Grandma Taylor's house. We had crepes and quiche for breakfast, opened presents, had lots of yummy stuff with ham for dinner, watched movies, and played games. It was a fun time. Today I taught a lesson on gratitude in Relife Society and I am so grateful for the MANY MANY blessings we have. We have the gospel, wonderful families, great friends, and good health. I am so grateful for my Savior and am glad we celebrate his birth every year. I really hope to teach Milo the true meaning of Christmas in years to come. Here are the very few photos from the day.

Milo in his Christmas PJ's, he is so excited to play with all his presents.
Playing with his new toys, of course Santa brought him a tool bench.
Here he is getting ready to head to Grandma's house in his cute "Baby's first Christmas" onesie.
I hope you all had an amazing weekend!

Christmas in St. George

2010-12-21T09:16:00.007-07:00

We went down to St. George this past weekend to celebrate Christmas with my parents. It is everyone's off year, so we thought the weekend before would be a good time to go. We went down along with Randall & Traci, Rick and his family, and my 2 nieces Rachel & Katelyn. It is always so nice to go down there and visit my parents, and all of us don't get together very often, so it is nice to see everyone. We had a Christmas dinner (delicious, my Mom is the best cook!!) and we opened presents. I am mad that I didn't take more pictures, but I had the video camera out, so I forgot to take stills.

No trip to St. G would be complete without a ride on Grandpa's Surry bike, Milo LOVED it this time, especially since he could sit up in the front. It was rainy, so we didn't get too many rides, next time though. Here we are on the Surry, Me, Rachel, Grandpa, Milo & Preston.
Here are the presents before opening them. My Mom goes with a small tree these days, it's easier.
Here is Milo before the presents, he did pretty good with unwrapping them. He got a fun owl from Grandpa & Grandma, he really likes the "crunchy" wings.
After dinner we watched Elf and baked gingerbread cookies, this was store bought dough, and it was really hard to work with. I need to find a good home made recipe that makes yummy soft cookies. If you look at the cookie on the far left, Brandon was making sure he had lots of hair.
Katelyn didn't like her Christmas tree, I thought it was great!
Jessica & Brandon decorating.
It was a great weekend, we had a lot of fun. It was nice to celebrate Christmas and get in the spirit of things. We get to do it again this weekend with the Taylors.

Ogden's Christmas Village

2010-12-16T09:14:00.008-07:00

Tuesday night we headed up to Ogden's Christmas Village, so Milo could meet Santa and see all the fun lights and houses. We went up with Kevin's Mom, sister Karen and Karen's kids. We met Randall & Traci, and Liv & Aspen who live in Ogden at Christmas Village. It was a lot of fun, it seems like there were more lights than last year, maybe just because there wasn't snow. It started to rain on us, but we stopped at the little cafe on the corner for hot chocolate, roasting marshmallows, and to hid out under the awning.

Here is a picture of Santa's little elf ready to go meet Santa!
Milo & Grace were all bundled up with their binkies ready to go.
Here is our Family picture in front of Santa's house, man I look horrible, and the look on Milo's face is funny.
Inside Santa's house he has a collection of Santa figurines from around the world. Of course you knew Brasil would be Kevin's favorite.
Here is Milo meeting Santa! I know he doesn't look super excited, but at least he didn't cry!
Here is Milo's new friend Aspen meeting Santa. She did a good job and no tears either! Aspen's Daddy is also named Kevin Taylor, how crazy is that??
Mrs. Clause tried to get Milo to smile, but he wasn't so sure about that.
We love Ogden's Christmas Village and go ever year. It is fun to see Santa and Mrs. Clause too. Once it started to really rain we headed over to Randall & Traci's house to feed babies and feed ourselves. I LOVE that Randall lives here now. It is so much fun to hang out with him and Traci. It will be lots of fun when Milo's new cousin is born in a couple months too. They will be pretty close in age, only about 9 or 10 months apart, how fun! Milo had fun with Aspen, even if he did try to eat the buttons on her shirt, she didn't seem to mind too much though. This weekend we are headed to St. George and are really excited!

A bookworm.

2010-12-14T09:38:00.003-07:00

Although Milo may not be able to REALLY crawl yet, he can definitely get where he wants to go. It is a worm like motion, where he goes up on his knees, down on his tummy, and inches forward. So it can be a slow process, but don't worry, he is quite determined, so he can go places. Every morning while I take out the dog and eat breakfast, I put Milo in the center of his room, on his ocean play mat, and give him a bunch of toys to keep him entertained for those 20 minutes. Lately, he is usually in a different spot when I come in, but yesterday I came in to find this....
He had made his way all the way over to the EXPEDIT shelving unit, and wanted all of his books!! I know I have mentioned it before, he LOVES TO READ! It was too cute and funny, but the monkey bookend is kind of heavy, so I may have to rethink that. Don't worry the EXPEDIT is bolted to the wall, so we don't have to worry about that. What a funny little bookworm. We love him!

Parties & Temple Square

2010-12-14T09:22:00.006-07:00

Last weekend was a really fun one for our family! We went to the Bascom Family Christmas Party, which is Kevin's extended family on his Mom's side. There was lots of good food, and a crazy white elephant gift exchange in which someone received a live mouse! Here is a couple picture of Milo and his cousin Braelyn. Milo & Braelyn are only about 3 weeks apart (even though he looks huge sitting next to her!) and they LOVE each other! Brae would get excited and Milo would give her kisses, it was too cute!

We also went out to dinner and to Temple Square with our friends, Josh & Katie. Here is Milo & Katie as the hoodie twins!
It is a little nerve racking to take your baby around in the cold, so we really geared him up, and he was fine! He was only awake for about 5 minutes, so he must have been plenty cozy. Here he is all geared up and ready to see the lights!
Doesn't he look thrilled at the lights???
Milo & Mommy.
Apparently, we are Santa snobs, because we have decided that Milo can only visit the REAL Santa, you know the one with the real beard?? When we were at dinner at Trolley Square, Santa was there with no line, but we decided to pass because he was a fake beard. A fake beard was also at the Ward Party, so he was a no go as well. We are going to Ogden's Christmas Village this week, and I know that Santa is there, so Milo will visit him in his Christmas house. We are having a fun December so far, and more fun this weekend with a trip to visit Grandpa & Grandma in St. George. Stay tuned for more fun pictures!!

Photos of Milo

2010-12-07T15:44:00.005-07:00

Janey requested some pictures of Milo on the blog, I need to be better about posting them. Here is a few from the last couple months....

Milo and his buddy Peter.

Cute cousins, Milo and Katelyn!
Say Cheese!
In his cute sweater Aunt Lynn made him.
I will be taking lots this month at all of our fun activities, so stay tuned!

7 Months!

2010-11-26T18:16:00.004-07:00

My sweet babe is 7 months! I really can't believe it, this year has just flown by! Thanksgiving already and now full swing into Christmas. Milo is so much fun, we love him to pieces! Here is the 7 month update!

01: He has 2 teeth! The 2 bottom middle came in, one right after another. He wasn't sleeping, he had a HORRIBLE runny nose, and then one morning I felt a sharp tooth poking through. About a week later, the second one came in. Razor sharp teeth has a whole new meaning when you are nursing...ouch.

02: His sleeping patterns are crazy, and I am constantly tired, it is kinda rough.

03: He knows his name and will turn and look at you when you say it.

04: He is almost crawling. It will be any day now. He gets up and rocks back and forth, he just hasn't figured out that you have to move your knees. At first he was doing push ups, standing on his toes and scooting backward. I am a little nervous about the challenges mobility will bring.

05: He is loving solid food, and 9 times out of 10 will cry when the food is gone. No wonder he's so chubby. :)

06: Milo LOVES books. He loves to be read to. I have to hid the books sometimes after I have read them 5 times, if he sees them he will cry until you read them to him.

07: He is really vocal. Lots of squeals and noises. He does this weird fake cough thing when he wants something, it's cute.

08: He LOVES bath time. He giggles and kicks for a good 5 minutes when we put him in the tub.

09: Milo really wants to be friends with Nixon, but Nixon isn't so interested. He will watch him and squeal and try to pet him. He does have a death grip, so I am sure that is why the dog is a little cautious. Also, since Milo can't throw his ball, Nixon doesn't see the fun in playing.

10: He can sit up like a pro now! He has figured it out and likes it. It is really nice for grocery shopping, he is more content, and I don't have to lug around a 19 pound baby in a carrier.

I absolutely adore being a Mother. It is the best job, and though I run on little to no sleep, I love it. Kevin really enjoys being a Dad, and does a great job with Milo. This next month should be lots of fun with all of the Christmas festivities.

The Wonderful Woman SueAnn

2010-11-02T21:32:00.002-06:00

I just wanted to get on here and post about my wonderful wife SueAnn. I hope that all our readers know how great of a person she is. Knowing her has changed my entire life. She has changed the way I look at life.

SueAnn is a selfless person, she is always worried about other people.
SueAnn is ambitious and goal oriented, ask her employees and coworkers.
SueAnn is a great mother for Milo. From making her own homemade baby food, to waking up during the night to calm a screaming child.
SueAnn is a great homemaker. If you don't believe me you should check out her other blog: www.alilbird.blogspot.com
SueAnn is meticulously neat and organized. She even helps me organize my disheveled life.
SueAnn is supportive. Whether it's helping me remember to get my homework done, or continuing to be a working mother so we can pay the bills. She's wonderful.

I love her so much. I am grateful for all that she does for me and Milo.

-Kevin

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T15:36:00.002-06:00

6 Months Old!

2010-10-26T08:55:00.003-06:00

Here we are and another month has flown by. Milo is 6 months old, I can't believe it! He is so fun and we are really seeing his little personality show. I know I am in trouble though, he is already a busy body. Here is what he has been up to in month 6.

01: Chewing on EVERYTHING. We took him to his checkup yesterday and the doctor thinks one of these next few days we will see a tooth. All of his toys are drenched in drool and he has to wear a bib all waking hours.

02: Speaking of his checkup, here are his stats. 18.8 pounds, 75th percentile. 18 inch head, still 95th percentile, and 27 inches long 65th percentile. Still a very healthy boy. He had some more shots, ugh how I hate those. Kev and I also got our flu shots, and Kev a whooping cough shot. I had mine at the hospital when he was born. Have you had yours? If not, you may have to steer clear of Milo, our doctor has already had 2 cases in his office and we have all heard about California right?

03: He is quite the talker. He is constantly jabbering away, laughing, and cooing. I love it, its too cute.

04: He is starting to widen his diet. He has now had rice cereal, oatmeal, peaches, carrots, avocados and bananas. I am planning on making a trip to the Farmer's Market on friday to pick up some sweet potatoes and squash. I really enjoy making baby food, it's easy and more nutritious.

05: Nixon and Milo are really starting to enjoy each other. Nixon will come sit right on me and Milo's lap, and snuggle up to Milo. Milo thinks he is funny and will giggle and likes to pet him. It is hard to teach a 6 month old with a death grip to be soft, but even so, Nixon has been so good with him.

06: He can sit up decent by himself. He is still quite wobbly, but can sit unassisted for a bit. Still not a big fan of the Bumbo, but he at least isn't arching his back trying to get out every time you put him in it.

07: He is quite mobile, we are afraid crawling is in the near future. I am trying to prolong it, while his Dad is trying to encourage it. He has the rest of his life to be mobile, he can just stay a baby for now. He pushes up on his arms and on his toes and can scoot backward. He has made it to his knees a few times. Between this and rolling he doesn't stay in one spot long.

08: He can say "Mom". So he may not realize that he is saying it, but he totally does. Kev will agree, when he gets super upset he will say, "Mom" or "Mama". Yesterday, I picked up my niece from school and he was fussing and did it, and my niece said "He said Mama." I swear I am not making it up!

09: When he is really excited about something he kicks his legs and breathes heavy. It is adorable.

10: Milo LOVES to read. He has such a great attention span and will sit on your lap and listen and look at the pictures. He seems to prefer the Sesame Street books, I think because they are so colorful. I have some church books I have been reading on Sundays, but he isn't so excited about those ones. He will smile at the books and likes to play with and chew on them. I only give him the super durable one to chew on though.

Every stage has been so much fun, we are really enjoying this boy. Sleep has been really really rough lately, he went from being an all night sleeper to waking up a couple times a night. Our Doctor says the mobility and teething are to blame. It has been rough for everyone. We are excited to celebrate Milo's first Halloween, he is going to be a dalmatian, and we plan on showing him off at a couple houses. We look forward to all the fun the holiday season brings, there will be a lot more firsts in the next couple months.

Family Photos

2010-10-13T22:36:00.005-06:00

My amazing friend Jenica took some family photos for us today. Finances are pretty tight at the Taylor house these days, thankfully Jenica does photography as her hobby, and we are SUPER lucky she will work for food. We fed her and Doug some home made pizza, and they were nice enough to take our photos over at Wheeler Farm. We are trying to pick one for a Christmas card and have narrowed it down to these few. We want your vote!! Which one do you like best?Obviously number 2 is out because Milo isn't looking at the camera, which stinks, I really liked that one! A photo shoot with a baby is a whole new experience!

Milo's First Haircut

2010-09-29T12:35:00.005-06:00

Before:Look how long! His hair was a good 3 1/2 inches!

After:
Thanks to Brooke for be willing to cut a wiggly babies hair!

5 months.

2010-09-26T15:32:00.003-06:00

Can you believe my baby is 5 months old already? I can't, I know I say this every month, but seriously September has flown by! Here are Milo's ten tidbits, in no particular order.

01: Milo is a talker. He loves to talk to his blanky and cookie monster. He likes to jabber and squeal, it is too cute.

02: He will be having his first haircut on Tuesday. It is too long to do anything with. It goes over his ears and is quite long in the back, despite the bald spot. It should be interesting to say the least, he is very wiggly.

03: He has tried a couple of solid foods. He has had rice cereal and peaches. He liked them both, why peaches? Well someone gave us some that were perfect for turning into baby food, so I did. I posted about it on alilbird, so check it out HERE.

04: He weighs a little over 16 pounds and has lots of chub.

05: Naps are now in the crib, yahoo! It still isn't as smooth of a process as at night time, but at least we are sleeping in there.

06: Night time, well that has been rough on both of us since I started back at work. He has been waking up a few times a night lately, which stinks since he was sleeping through the night so well. I can't figure out why either.

07: He has a very short attention span right now. It is hard to keep him entertained. He wants to do whatever your doing and have you hold him.

08: He is enjoying Nixon. He likes to watch him and will laugh if Nixon sniffs him.

09: He loves his Daddy and Daddy can make him laugh. He is always so smiley when he sees him.

10: He likes to stand and has really strong legs. We tried the Johnny Jump Up, but he couldn't figure it out.

We love him to pieces. Work still is very hard, we are hanging in there.

Nine-Eight-Seven

2010-09-08T12:48:00.003-06:00

Three years ago today, on September 8, 2007, I married my best friend in the Salt Lake Temple for time and all eternity. The time has flown by, and I have been enjoying every minute. I thought I was so in love then, but it grows each day as my husband works so hard at work and school to support our family. He is such a wonderful husband, and really puts up with all my crazy quirks. He is an amazing father, changing countless diapers, feeding, bathing, and putting our baby to sleep each night. I am so blessed to have found and married such a wonderful man. Happy Anniversary Kevin!

4 months.

2010-08-26T09:29:00.004-06:00

My baby is already 4 months, seriously where does the time go! This was a short photo shoot, about 5 seconds after this photo there was projectile spit up, so that was that. This was the best photo we got! We swear this boy is going to be a boxer, he always has his hands up by his face like that. Here are the 10 facts about Milo at month 4.

01: He went to his 4 month checkup on Monday with Daddy. (That means no tears from Mommy with the shots.) He is leveling out on the weight. He now weighs 15.5 pounds which is the 50 percentile, just average chubbiness. He is still pretty tall at 26 inches, 75 percentile. He has a huge head, 17 inches which is the 90 percentile. To quote one of my brother's favorite movies, "It's like an orange on a toothpick!"

02: He is starting to use his feet. He hasn't figured out how to get them to his mouth yet, but he likes to grab things with them. He will sit in his bouncer and grab the itsy bitsy spiders with his feet.

03: I am afraid to say this out loud for fear of jinxing it, but I *think* his goopy eyes have cleared up. It has been almost a week of little to no goop, which is nice for everyone. He was sick of having them cleaned multiple times a day and I was sick of people asking if his eyes were infected. Really people, have you never heard of clogged tear ducts?

04: He likes silky things, especially his silky blankets.

05: Crib napping is not the most fun. He sleeps wonderfully all night in his crib, but naps are a different story. I know I can't have a 2 year old who naps in a swing, but with my work schedule being so inconstant, the swing works better. It is a bit of familiarity when he isn't at home.

06: He is starting to laugh. He has been laughing for about a month now, but we are figuring out how to make him do it. Tickle him, blow on his tummy, make weird sounds, you will get a cute high pitched squeal.

07: He has rubbed off a small bald spot on the back of his head. His top hair is still so long it covers it mostly. The hair on the top of his head is too long for the faux hawk. I really need to get him a hair cut.

08: He loves to cuddle his cookie monster. It helps him sleep too.

09: He has mastered rolling over in both directions. He is also quite the mover. He will roll and move his legs to get where he wants to be.

10: He still loves to be outside, he is always so content outside. I am scared for winter, what are we going to do?

I love being a mommy. Milo is the best little thing ever! Being a working Mom official stinks. My boss is great, my coworkers are great (especially since I spend a good hour when all is said and done pumping at work), but I want to be home with my bebe. Someday, right? It has been good for Kevin and Milo to get some major Daddy/Baby bonding time. We are so lucky and blessed to have this sweet baby in our lives.

Private

2010-08-24T09:40:00.002-06:00

I know going private is totally lame, but it looks like we are going to have to! We have recently been getting some creepers commenting on our blog, and with it now being mostly about Milo, it is time to go private. Please email me at SueAnnBennett@yahoo.com and I will send you an invite. Thanks!

New Blog

2010-08-16T09:20:00.003-06:00

My sister-in-laws and I are starting a new blog called "A Lil Bird Told Me." It is a place where we will be posting all of our hobbies, we figured it would be better to have a blog dedicated to that, instead of posting it on our personal blogs. We will be posting daily, so make sure to become a follower, so you don't miss anything!

A special thanks to Cierra who designed it for us, it looks amazing!

Milo Likes Packing Tape

2010-08-10T22:46:00.004-06:00

The other night I was taping up a box and found that Milo really liked the noise the packing tape made. I am sorry about the video it was difficult recording myself and taping up the box.

World Breastfeeding Week

2010-08-04T12:26:00.010-06:00

This week is World Breastfeeding Week and I wanted to post about how much breastfeeding means to me! I LOVE IT! I really do, it is so easy and convenient, but it didn't start off that way. Here is my story and the reasons I LOVE breastfeeding.

Ever since I can remember I have wanted to nurse my children. It was something that was never a question, I was just going to do it. My Mom did, my sisters, I didn't ever think about it twice. When Kevin and I started talking about having kids he said "You're going to breast feed right?" "Of Course" was my answer, he was relieved his Mom and sisters too had all breast fed. We both knew it was the best thing for our baby, and I was so glad to have him on board. Then when I was pregnant and had stepped down at work it was even more set in stone, we couldn't afford not to. I had read a little here and there, and Kevin's sister prepped him saying how much it hurts at first and how hard it can be. We never got the chance to take our breast feeding class at the hospital, too many things came up and then Milo arrived early.

Before Milo was born and as I was in labor, they brought in a packet of papers, one of which was a birth plan type sheet stating what I wanted to happen with my baby regarding his first bath, breast feeding, ect.. I checked the box that said I did not want him supplemented with formula at all, I was going to exclusively breast feed. After talking over the paper with the nurse she told me that right after he was born I could try nursing and then continue as they took me up to my room.

He was born and after he was clean and wrapped I gave breast feeding it's first try...it did not go well. He didn't seem interested at all and wouldn't latch. I wasn't too nervous at that point because he had just been through a pretty intense experience, being born and all, it wasn't until he hadn't and wouldn't eat after 6 hours when I started to become stressed. They would bring him in every 2 hours and I would try again, but he wasn't interested. Kevin was so good at trying to help me, tickling his cheek, making sure we were tummy to tummy, but it wasn't working, he wasn't latching. I remember my doctor saying the only time he recommended supplementing was in the hospital. He said your milk hasn't come in and if there was ever a time it would be OK it was then. So much to my dismay I gave him a little formula, he hadn't eaten since he was born, and we tried to trick him, give him an ounce and then try to nurse. He really didn't do well, but ate a little formula, and I was freaking out at this point. What if I couldn't nurse? We can't afford formula! If you have ever seen the episode of The Office where Pam has the baby, that is what I felt like.

Sometime in the middle of the night, around 3 or 4 am they brought him in to try again. At this point every nurse had tried to help me and I was distraught. Just as the nurse went to hand him to me he coughed and massive amounts of amniotic fluid came out of his nose and mouth, all over me and him. It was so scary! The nurse said she would go suction out his stomach and then bring him back. When he came back everything changed. She handed him to me and he latched perfectly! He was nursing away and I could feel contractions, so I knew he was doing it right! The lactation nurse came by the next 2 days and I talked to her about everything. She said he probably wasn't interested because his tummy was full of fluid. Then we went home. I had no idea what I was in for.

It took 2 days for my milk to come in and when it did, it was SO painful. Engorgement was the longest 2 days ever! I used lots of ice packs and hot showers to relieve the pain.

The first month was brutal. I didn't know what to do. I wanted to nurse so bad, but it was so hard. So painful every time he latched, so painful to pump,engorgement, and I wasn't sleeping. I think that was the kicker, I didn't have my sanity because I wasn't sleeping. I cried, A LOT. I talked to my Mom and sister, they were encouraging, but it was so hard. I called a few friends, and talking with Courtney was the best thing I did. She gave me such good advice, she kept saying "I promise it will get better, you can do it." She was right, when he turned a month, the pain went away. He was getting chunky, which made me feel good, we were getting the hang of it.

At six weeks it went from better to LOVE! I loved the time I got to spend with him. He had started to eat at the same times day and night. I loved to take time out to relax, sit in my rocking chair and nurse. The bonding time is awesome.

I know I am only 3 1/2 months into it now, and there will still be challenges along the way, but I can say it is awesome, I think everyone should try it and here are my reasons why.

-It is the best food for your baby. The proof is out there, there is no better food for your baby then breast milk. It is full of antibodies and it's completely organic and natural.

-It's convenient. I hate washing bottles. I hate pumping because of all the washing required after wards (oh how I wish I didn't have to work :)). I can go anywhere at any time and if he gets hungry its available in the right amount at the right temperature.

-It burns calories. I may do it forever, for that reason, it has helped me lose weight.

I don't want this to sound negative toward those who choose not to breastfeed. That is your choice and no one should judge you. I just want everyone to give it a fair try. I am SO glad I did. Stick with it, you can do it. Call me day or night and I will help support you. I really like Courtney's post he re on breast feeding. Set goals, it helps, here are a few of mine.

Short Term:

-Get through the first month of nursing, through the pain.

-Maintain it when I go back to work.

-Make it through the teething months.

Long Term:

-Make it at least a year before weaning.

It takes a lot of work and it is a big commitment, but it is 100% worth it. Also the Lactation Station is a fantastic resource, check it out here. Happy World Breastfeeding Week everyone!

Three Months!

2010-07-26T10:34:00.003-06:00

Milo is 3 months old today! I stole this idea from Cierra, she has photographed her baby in the same chair on the same day every month. At IKEA they say "steal with pride", I just hope she doesn't mind, but imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, right? I wish I was half as good as a photographer as she is, but my point and shoot will have to do. She really is amazing, check out her work here and here.

Here are some fun facts about Milo at 3 months old:

01: Milo is sleeping through the night! I didn't know if I should say this out loud for fear of jinxing it, but for the last 4 nights he has basically slept from 10pm-7:30am, then eats and goes back to sleep for an hour.

02: He is mobile...sort of. He can roll over from tummy to back and alMOST from back to tummy. He gets on his side and is alMOST there, those darn little arms get in the way and he hasn't figured out how to get past them. He will scoot around on his back too, you will put him down in the center of a blanket and next thing you know he is on the complete other end.

03: He has the sweetest little laugh. It is high pitched and almost a gasp and will just come out of nowhere! We haven't figured out how to make him laugh, but he will be talking away and then all of the sudden a loud giggle!

04: He likes to cuddle stuffed animals. He will grab them and put them right next to his face. It kind of scares me, so I am always watching when he does it.

05: He likes water, IF it is warm. He loves baths and we took him swimming at Grandma Taylor's house this past weekend and he loved it.

06: He is a chubby baby! Already wearing size 2 diapers and has been in 3-6 months clothes for about a month now.

07: He is getting good at grabbing things. He will grab blankets, stuffed animals, rattles, your finger, pretty much anything you put in front of him.

08: He is loving the Baby Bjorn, he liked to go everywhere and see everything.

09: His hair is so long! He hasn't lost any and has a rat tail in the back! It is getting so long on top, it won't stand in a faux hawk any more.

10: Tummy troubles are gone! He is really good at burping now, thank goodness!

I go back to work today. I have never had so much anxiety before. I am so sad that I don't get to spend all day with my baby. I am sure I will cry, I will let you know how it goes. I wish I could just work 12 hours instead of 24. IKEA is so great to working mothers, with a lactation room and flexible hours. The insurance is amazing and the people I work with are great, I just am done with that part of my life. I want to be a mommy...full time. I wish there was a way we could afford for me to quit, but right now there is not. Hopefully, we will be able to tighten up our wallet, budget better, and then we will see. Thankfully Milo will be in good hands, a few hours with Grandma Taylor and then evenings with Daddy. I wish I could put into words how much I love my sweet baby boy, happy 3 months Milo!

Annual Bear Lake Trip

2010-07-19T14:08:00.005-06:00

This past weekend we went on the Taylors annual Bear Lake trip. Honestly, I was quite nervous this year since I had a 2 1/2 month old baby, but it went better than I thought! We had to pack half our house, I swear the smaller the baby, the more stuff you need. We went up on Wednesday night and stayed until Sunday. We had lots of fun days at the beach, bike rides, and walks. We had 2 days of boating and I enjoyed a leisurely tube ride and Kevin got some wake boarding in. We did a little skim boarding, although the lake was too deep in most parts. We had good food and fun with family. I didn't take too many pictures this year, probably because I was stressed out about making sure Milo wasn't in the sun. We did take him swimming for about 5 minutes since the pool was warm, he liked it, but I didn't want him in the sun and he was not liking his hat. It is a fun tradition that we look forward to every year!

Here is Milo hanging out on the beach in his chair...

Milo and Kevin testing out the water...

Milo's Nursery

2010-07-09T10:16:00.006-06:00

I should have posted about this forever ago, it has been done for months, but I was lazy about posting the pictures. I have always loved earth tones and when we found out we were having a boy I thought it would be fun to have an earth tone theme. I have lots of ideas, but am not very artistic when it comes right down to it. Thankfully, I married someone very artistic and a carpenter at that, so Milo's nursery turned out amazing thanks to Kevin's hard work. I made him a deal, I would worry about having a baby and doing all of that work and he could do the work in the nursery. :) As much as there were times he HATED it, when the end result was finished, we both loved it! We sent the photos into one of my favorite websites, Apartment Therapy's, Ohdeedoh , which features nurserys among other things. I love looking at them and getting inspiration. All of Kevin's hard work was featured today on Ohdeedoh! So check it out here and tell us what you think!

***A special thanks to Jenica for taking the photos! You're the best, we love you!

Fun weekend!

2010-07-07T10:54:00.006-06:00

Last weekend was a fun filled weekend for our family. Not only was it a holiday, but we decided to bless Milo as well. We had lots of family in town for the blessing. My sister Shauna and her family came out from Colorado, my brother Randall from California, my parents from St. George, Kevin's sister from Arizona, and then all the rest of the families from Northern Utah. My parents came up on Thursday and helped get things ready. Saturday morning we started the morning out by going to the Murray City Parade. This is an annual Taylor tradition and it was Milo's first parade.

That afternoon we got together with the Bennett's to celebrate my brother Randall's birthday. We went to Tucano's Brazilian Grill (Randall picked it, Kevin didn't even have to convince him) and it was so great to see all of my family. Since everyone is so spread out across 3 different states, we are unable to all get together very often. The last time we were all together was 3 years ago at our wedding! Randall had got married, my nephews had returned from missions and one got married, so there were a lot of people in my immediate family that met for the first time! Pretty crazy. It was such a fun time and afterward we went to our condo for cake and ice cream.

Sunday was Milo's blessing and Kevin did a great job. It was so wonderful to have our families there and to see the power of the priesthood in blessing our little baby. We had quite a large circle with all of our family members there and the spirit was so strong. I am so thankful to have the gospel in our lives, to know that families are forever and to have the power of the priesthood in our home. I know that Sherilynn and Ryan were there as well.

Finally, on Monday we went to celebrate our niece, Kinzlee's Birthday. She had a swim party at Kevin's parent's house, so we got Milo all ready to swim. We had his swimsuit, rash guard shirt, flip flops, sunglasses, and hat (all of which he wasn't too happy about), but the pool was too cold. We put his little feet in, but he did not like the cold water. Maybe when it warms up we can try again.

Thanks to all of you that traveled and all that attended. It really meant a lot to us! We had a great weekend.

Two Months!

2010-06-26T13:43:00.003-06:00

My sweet baby is already 2 months old! I can't believe how time flies. This is our one and only smiling picture, captured by Jenica.

Here are the details for month 2...
- We took him to his 2 month check up and he is a chubby boy! He weighs 12 pounds 15 ounces which is the 75th percentile. He is 24 inches long which is also the 75th percentile and his head is off the charts! He had to get shots, it was so sad, I almost cried.
-He is sleeping in his crib! It was bittersweet, sad to have him so far away (in the next room, LOL), but he really sleeps better in the crib. I think he was getting too big for the bassinet, he would touch the sides and wake himself up. It has also been good for him to teach himself how to get to sleep. He has even gone some pretty long stretches up to 7 hours, and he is starting to sleep until 7:30 or 8am, instead of wanting to be up at 6.
-Milo really is starting to pay attention to toys. After he eats we put him in the "ocean" which is his play mat and he swings and kicks at the toys. He will coo at them too, it is really cute. He likes his Cookie Monster stuffed animal I think because it is bright blue, we have a video of him with it to be posted later. He also likes his soft red hippo, he will grab its fur.
-He HATES tummy time! It is so sad, I am lucky if I can get him to do it for 5 minutes at a time. He does better with the Boppy, but the Doctor said he has to learn to do it on the floor also to get strong. Any tips?
-He still has tummy aches, but they do seem to be less. Hopefully he will grow out of it soon.

Milo is such a fun little boy, we are so blessed to have him in our family. We have lots of fun planned for July, and then I have to go back to work at the end of the month, boo! :(

Happy Father's Day!

2010-06-20T21:37:00.003-06:00

Happy first Father's Day to my wonderful husband! He works so hard at his job and school for our family! Milo and I love you soooo much. Happy Father's Day to my wonderul Dad who is always willing to help out his kids, and to my Father-in-law, we love you!

Smile!

2010-06-14T12:13:00.007-06:00

Milo is 7 weeks today, I can't believe how the time is flying by. He is a pretty serious baby, he makes this face where he scrunches his eyebrows together when he looks at you. It is really funny for a little baby. I have been trying to get him to smile for about a week now and all I get is the serious face. Finally, yesterday I got him to smile! We tried to capture it on camera and of course, he didn't want to cooperate. We just got a lot of this face.....

Kevin did manage to get a semi close smiling one, and even a close up!

People always say he looks older, I guess I can see it in this picture, he looks like a little boy, not a baby! He is so cute, we love him soooo much. Here are some random facts about our sweet baby Milo.

- He likes his Binky....upside down. Don't try to put it in right side up, he won't have it. He only likes the one kind and he likes you to hold it in for him. Sometimes he will wrap both of his little arms around your arm when you are holding it in. I need to get a picture, it is really cute.

- He is a good eater. He had a rash, so I took him to the doctor at 5 weeks and he already weighed 11 pounds 4 ounces!!

- His tummy troubles are getting a little better. We have tried everything I swear! Mylocon drops, Gripe water, putting him in the swing after eating, playing DDR while holding him, and every burping position known to man, but he still doesn't burp all that well. He is getting better though, not as many days with hours of screaming due to a belly ache.

- His sleeping is still pretty rough. Most nights he does about 9:30-2:30, but then it's all down hill after 3am. He wakes up again at 5:30 to eat and thinks it is time to be up for the day. I, however, am in no way ready to start the day at 5:30 and wish he could just go until 7:30. If I could get rid of the 5:30 feeding and have him go from 3-7:30, that would be ideal.

- He is strong. He can almost hold his head up on his own and he kicks and punched a lot. Sometimes those little punches can hurt if he gets you right in the eye. Maybe he will take after his Uncle Ryan and get into MMA.

We love him so much and are so thankful to be his parents! He has blessed our lives and we are enjoying every minute.

One month and a wedding!

2010-05-27T10:35:00.006-06:00

Yesterday was one month since Milo was born! It was also my nephew Alex's wedding, I can't believe he is married, it is very weird! It was an exhausting, but amazing day! We started out the day at the Salt Lake Temple and watched Alex and Ashley be sealed for eternity. I love sealings, it is such a nice reminder that families are forever. We then went to the luncheon in Bountiful at Eldridge Manor and finally headed up to Perry for the reception at the Maddox Lodge. We had lots of fun with family, most of them met Milo for the first time, by the end of the day though we were absolutely drained. Who knew a tiny person could take so much energy? We went through 3 outfits, lots of feedings and naps. Congrats to Alex and Ashley, we love you!

Cute!

2010-05-18T18:36:00.003-06:00

This is Milo at 2 weeks old, I am a little behind, he is 3 weeks now and super cute! This video is for Gpa and Gma Bennett in St. George.

We went to the doctor today and they did his check up, he has gained a pound since birth and is now 9 pounds 10 ounces. He has only grown 1/2 an inch longer and is at 20 1/2 inches.

He is too cute and anywhere we go, people can't get over all the blonde hair. We sure love him!

Due Date

2010-05-03T15:40:00.005-06:00

Today is my official due date! It is kind of amazing that with my first baby I didn't make it to my due date. Instead of a GIANT belly picture (believe me I was HUGE) I will give you the picture I took today, my due date. Pretty cute at 40 weeks!

Milo Ryan Taylor

2010-04-27T13:54:00.002-06:00

We are very happy to welcome Milo Ryan Taylor, our first baby, and first boy, into the world. We went through a few hours of labor, most of the time was spent waiting for our very busy doctor to come in and deliver him. He was born April 26th 2010, weighing a whopping 8 pounds 10 ounces, he was 20 inches long. He has long blonde hair, that the nurses wasted no time styling into a faux hawk like his dad's. We are blessed to have a happy healthy baby boy.