Prayer Request Update.....

Thank you all for your prayers for my boss and his son who is battling cancer. The experimental chemo is really working and has lowered his white blood cell count to 2.2 from 60,000. This is great news! My boss told me today that he is coherent and getting stronger every day now. This afternoon he was asking to go home which is a great sign!

Never underestimate the power of prayer! God is good and works miracles.

Please keep them in your prayers and I will keep yall updated.

Grandma and Uncle Zach are in town!

My brother flew into Houston this past weekend to stay with my parents for a week. Zach lives in Washington D.C. and works for the State Department. He is leaving for Moldova for a two year tour in less than a month, so this is probably our last time to see him for two years. Nathan leaves for Tahoe in the morning for work meetings (it's a hard life!), so mom was going to come up and stay with me while he was gone and Zach just happened to come down at the same time, so now we get to spend all week with him.




Zach hasn't seen Taylor since Christmas when she was 6 months old. He can't believe how much she has changed and that she is walking. He likes this age so much better now that she can actually 'do stuff' (those are his words).



Grandma takes Taylor for a ride down the stairs! Taylor is in for a week of pure pampering with Grandma and Uncle Zach.

Taylor's lullaby

Taylor just woke up crying which is unusual for her. She may wake up once or twice a month at night to let out one single cry, but that is it. She just woke up and wouldn't stop crying, so I went in to get her. I picked her up and her hair was completely soaked from sweat I guess. She wouldn't stop crying so I sang her her lullaby. Her lullaby always seems to calm her down no matter what. I held her in my arms against me, sang her lullaby and rocked her. I don't think I have rocked her since she was 3 or 4 months old. She just laid there and let me love her. I laid her back down in her crib after about 10 minutes and she rolled over and is probably already asleep again.

Here is the story of Taylor's lullaby. When I was pregnant with her, I wanted a to be able to sing her a lullaby like moms do with their babies in the movies. I don't know if my mom sang me a lullaby, but I really wanted something special to sing to Taylor. I had no idea where to begin to find a lullaby. Well, Taylor arrived and I still hadn't found a lullaby. When I bought Taylor's bedding, the mobile came with it and we turn it on every night to help her go to sleep. Some nights I would sit in her room and wait for her to fall asleep while her mobile played. One day I just started singing this lullaby to her before she went to bed. I have sung the same lullaby to her every time she gets upset or gets hurt and sometimes before bed to calm her down. The lullaby hasn't failed me yet and I hope it never will. I love it because it is special between Taylor and me since no one else sings it to her. A few days ago I realized where I got my lullaby - from her mobile. I had never put the two together. It's funny how things work out without you even knowing it!

Piggies!! Piggies!! Piggies!!

Taylor's hair is just barely long enough to make little baby pigtails. Since the moment I found out we were having a girl, I've been waiting for the day I could put pigtails in her hair. Taylor is in dire need of a hair cut, but we are waiting till next month. We are going to Oregon in August for a week to see some of my family. My cousin is a hair dresser and I think it would be really special for her to give Taylor her first hair cut.




You can only see one side of her pigtails in this picture. They are so little, I couldn't get a picture with both piggies in it.

Prayer Request

I wasn't sure if I should write about this, but the more prayers, the better. My boss, has 3 sons and his oldest son who is 27 years old (my age) was diagnosed with cancer about a year ago. I don't remember where it originated, but it went into remission for 6 months. It came back worse then before and is now in his spinal column and his blood. My boss told us this week that he was given about a 10% chance of living. Wednesday he had an allergic reaction to something and went into the hospital with trouble breathing and was put into ICU. He has started a new round of experimental chemo that seems to be working. His white blood cell count was at 60,000 last week and within 48 hours of receiving the new chemo, his white blood cell count dropped to 12,000. According to my boss, this is great news! They are praying that this experimental chemo will kill off all the cancers and he will go into remission again. It has been touch and go for the last week, but this new chemo is giving them hope. My boss made the comment last week that it would take a Miracle to save him and it looks like God was listening and has provided this "experimental" chemo.

I just want to ask each of you to pray for my boss Dallas and his son Dallas. Thank you and God Bless.

Growth Spurt

I'm pretty sure we are in the midst of a growth spurt. Taylor had only gained 1 pound from her 9 month check up and her 12 month check up, so I think she is making up for it now. Taylor is eating like a horse and sleeps about 4 hours during the day and her usual 12 hours at night. I cleaned out her closet yesterday because most of her 12 month sized clothes are getting too tight. I'm glad I stopped buying 12 month stuff a few months ago and started buying 18 month stuff or she wouldn't have anything to wear. The problem is, I have a really big problem of buying her clothes far in advance ( I have some 4T clothes already), so all the 18 month winter clothes are probably not going to fit her this winter. Maybe she will slow down soon................

My new purse

Nana, Taylor and I went to Sam Moon on friday to do a little shopping. We walked in the door and Taylor spotted a little blue jean purse that was just precious. Nana handed it to her and she carried it the whole time we were in the store. Nana and I decided that she had to have it!

Signs, signs, everywhere signs......

It is good to be home! I got home yesterday afternoon from Natchitoches around noon. When I got to the house, Taylor was having lunch with her Nana. Taylor was waiting for another bite of food and started putting her fingers together to make the "more" sign. I couldn't believe it. Charlotte (Nathan's mom and Nana) said that Nathan did it the other night when he was feeding Taylor and she has done it every time since then. Okay, that's awesome, but I've been doing the "more" sign for 12 months now and Nathan does it once and she picks it up - oh well, at least she is doing it! She is also making the "eat" sign and then she giggles. Too cute!

It is amazing how you leave for 3 days and you come home and your child has completely reached a new developmental stage. She is walking more and more by herself too. This is so much fun! I like this age the best so far!

Working in Louisiana

I've been in Natchitoches, Louisiana this week for work. I've been in the field from 7am to 6pm playing in the dirt. Natchitoches is beautiful, but it's hotter than the sun! I think I have sweated off 20 lbs in the last two days. I'm driving home in the morning and I can't wait to see little Taylor. Nathan said she has been looking for me and she blew me a kiss this afternoon when I talked to her on the phone.

Here is a picture of what I'm working next to. This picture is of the "Blue Hole" which isn't even blue.

First Ouchy

I failed as a mother today. I should of known better. Taylor was stading in the kitchen this afternoon while I was packing her diaper bag. I gave her her sippy cup (while she was standing) and then she fell over - flat on her face with the sippy cup in her mouth. She started crying and screaming a cry I have never heard before. I picked her up immediately and blood was coming out of her mouth. I completely freaked out and started crying and ran into the bathroom with Taylor. I had no idea what to do, and the more I cried the more she cried. I was afraid she had busted her two top teeth or the top pallete of her mouth. The blood finally stopped and once I stopped crying, she stopped crying. I couldn't see anything wrong in her mouth, so hopefully everything is okay. She does have a bruise on the side of her mouth though.

Kindermusik Class

This morning we met our friends April and Abigail at a free Kindermusik class at Babies R' Us. Taylor and Abigail seemed to love it. They sang songs, shook shakers, rang bells and danced with thier mothers. Taylor sat and watched the other kids for the first part of the class and then started to get into it. She loved shaking the shakers and the ringing the bells.

The official "First Steps"

Nathan and I decided this morning that today is the day of Taylors 'first steps'. This morning she took about 8 steps at once - I would say that is walking! She did it several times, so I think we can consider her a 'walker' now. Granted we have to prompt her to walk, but she is getting better and better.

Oh how they grow up so fast.

Taylor in her 'Baylor Princess' onesie. We have a little Baylor Bear in our midst!

"First steps" or not?

Taylor is trying her hardest to walk without help. A few days ago Taylor took 2 steps by herself and today she took 3 steps by herself and then she falls. I think I get so excited that I scare her and make her fall over. When do you say it was her "first steps"? Does her 2 steps count or do you count it when she takes a few steps and keeps on walking? I kind of hope it isn't the 2 steps she already took, because then I have missed the coveted "first step" video and pictures - this would be tragic!

Bootcamp.......enough said!

I started bootcamp monday with a friend. We were going to do the Coppell Bootcamp, but my work schedule wasn't going to work with their schedule. So, we found a website that has free bootcamp workouts and they are awesome. It is only the third day, but everything hurts! I guess that means it's working or at least I hope that is what it means. The bootcamp is a month long, so I'll let you know how it goes!

Climbing the stairs like a champ!

Taylor finally found the staircase the other day. For the longest time, she would always crawl past the stairs and not even pay attention to them. Well, that changed one day last week when Nathan and I were busy doing other stuff and realized Taylor was on the third step of the stairs! I stood behind her and she took off up the stairs. Now, every time she gets near the stairs we are right there and she goes straight up them. Beaux (our mini beagle) likes to get a few steps infront of her and howl or give her kisses. She just giggles and climbs faster trying to get him.

She is trying really hard to walk by herself right now. I'll let you know when she has mastered it!

Well, I've given in.....I was against blogging because I didn't think I had time to keep up with the blog.....we'll see. I enjoy reading our friends blogs, so I thought I would try it. I'm making no promises with this blog, but here we go.


I am going to start with Taylor's First Birthday. Taylor turned 1 on June 14th and we celebrated with a luau birthday party. Our dear friends and family got to witness Taylor devour her enourmous piece of birthday cake. Taylor loved having all the kids here to play with and the cake and ice cream! We have learned that you better have something else to feed Taylor when the cake and ice cream run out - she's not happy when the cake and ice cream run out!


We had a wonderful 4th of July weekend starting off watching the fireworks at the Coppell fireworks and celebration thursday night. Taylor did make it till 9:30 when the fireworks started with the help of Puffs. She was ready to go to bed, but once the fireworks started, she never took her eyes off the skies. She would clap the louder the fireworks got. The fireworks were amazing and beautiful. It doesn't matter how many years you've seen a fireworks show, they are amazing to watch every year. Your never to old (or young) to watch fireworks. The next morning we walked in the Coppell parade with our friend Courtney's float. Courtney has started a photography business and we passed out fliers for her company. By the way -- she takes awesome photographs. After the super hot and sweaty parade, we went over the Christians for a fabulous BBQ. Saturday a wonderful friend, Bethany Schneider, from Houston stopped by for lunch and then hung out for a while. It was so great to see her and get to talk with her.