Looking Forward to 2010

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Tiger Who????

Here are a few short videos of our family golf outing this morning. Watch out Phil and Tiger, here comes Taylor CW!

Sugar Cookies for Santa

The stockings are all hung by the fire,

the Christmas tree and the front yard is all decorated,

the Christmas cards have all been sent out,

the presents are all wrapped (I think...?),

all the Santa books have been read,

we've listened to lots of holiday music,

we've attempted to watch Rudolph and Frosty (still to young to fully appreciate),

"Chip" our Elf on the Shelf has made his yearly appearance,

and finally cookies for Santa have been made with lots of love in anticipation that

SANTA WILL BE HERE SOON!

Vote for Brown Eyes!!!!

Our super talented photographer, Brandy Lewis, that shot our family photos this summer is having a contest on her blog! She has posted her favorite photos from the year and is asking her readers to vote on their favorite one. The owner of the winning photo will be awarded an 8x10 canvas of the print! Taylor's picture above is in the contest and I would love to have your help. Head over to Brandy's blog and leave a comment voting for Taylor's picture titled 'Brown Eyes'. You have until Friday at midnight to vote! Thanks!!

"G" is for Gingerbread...

Houses

Cookies

and Reading Gingerbread Baby!

Would you like some? What little bakers they were this week! I think Taylor would have been content on licking the icing all day... that's all he wanted to talk about! Thanks Heather for another fun holiday week:)

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Ever since the day after Thanksgiving Taylor has known something different was in the air. First it was the house down the street with their colored twinkly lights, reindeer, and Christmas trees. Then it was the cold weather and all the Christmas books mommy kept bringing home. Next it was getting the Christmas decorations down from our attic. The excitement of running around the house and finding somewhere to put a decoration was priceless. Or was it the sound he makes when we turn the indoor and outdoor Christmas lights on... ohhhhhhhh, pursed lips and all! Finally, the understanding that we are giving presents away and that it's a "secret until they open it". They're little sponges and they remember everything you say!

So when Friday came and the chance of snow flurries was in the forecast, we couldn't have been more excited. This would be the first time that Taylor has ever seen snow! With the golf course closed for a "snow day", Andrew was home with Taylor, armed with a camera (his new Blackberry cell phone, which was not what mommy was thinking), waiting patiently for snow to fall. When you don't ever get snow it's like waiting for water to boil... it just can't happen fast enough! Gosh, how great is it to be a kid and run around in the cold, cold weather while pure white snowflakes hit you in the face! The hard freeze was just as much fun the morning after.

Waiting 30 minutes at the Thanksgiving table for dinner to start!

The snow finally started falling during first grade recess! If you weren't there, you probably wouldn't believe that it truely did snow. Only lasted an hour and then the sun came out... only in TEXAS folks!

Tis' The Season

Saturday night we took Taylor to see the early Christmas festivities at the Domain. Macy's had a 40 foot lighted Christmas tree and fireworks! We enjoyed getting a heads start on Christmas, even though we haven't even celebrated Thanksgiving yet! Here's to crowded malls, no parking to be found, bargain shopping deals, crazy drivers, overworked and underpaid sales staff, hot cocoa & "spiked" lattes not "spiced" (how else do you shop in the madness), and loving being a kid all over again through the eyes of a toddler!

Halloween Road-Trip + A Weeks Worth of Pumpkins

On Saturday morning, Taylor and I left for Houston for some Halloween fun with the Johnsons (Andrew's sister's family). Andrew had to stay behind because he was in charge of a golf tournament on Sunday morning-bummer!! Although we hated to be away on a holiday, we had a blast visiting a new neighborhood for Halloween.

I was a little worried (what's new) about driving 2 and a half hours with a potty-training-toddler, but all went well-I actually had to go more often then him. He seems to surprise me every time! He was so excited to get to "Aunt Vikki's" house so that he could go trick-or-treating with his cousins Megan and Garrett-that's all he kept saying. We listened to the radio, pointed out all the horses, cows, goats, tractors, and hay bales we could find along 290, ate snacks, and watched a little Tom & Jerry at the end.

Later that night when the kids were dressed and ready it was hard to explain to Taylor that we had to wait until it was DARK to start trick-or-treating. After a nice warm dinner of Frito-pie, we were ready for the night to officially begin. Some of the houses in the neighborhood are on acre lots, so most of the kids ride on decorated trailers in order to get from house to house and to maximise the candy consumption. It was a chilly October night for once, and we all snuggled under blankets on the trailer. While crossing one huge lawn, Taylor bit it on the driveway and tripped over a stake that was holding up a pumpkin decoration-all within l minute of each other. He's a trooper and kept on going! After that Taylor was perfectly content with a Tootsie-Pop from the third or fourth house and decided to just sit with me on the trailer eating it and watching all the girls dance, sing, and run from house to house in the dark.

By the end of the night he had a bag full of goodies and didn't want it to end. When we got back to Aunt Vikki's and Taylor was stripping off his clothes for bed he said, "that was fun mommy"! The trip by ourselves was SO worth it! The funniest part was trying to share a bed with a hyped up 2 1/2 year old on Halloween night. He truly didn't want it to end...

It's a Pumpkin Patch Party

Sweetberry Farms in Marble Falls, Texas is truly an amazing place for kids. They have pumpkin festivals in the fall, strawberry picking in the spring, and blackberries in the summer. Andrew, Taylor, and I made the car trip out to the hill country on Saturday to do some pumpkin picking ourselves. They had every kind and size you could possibly think of. With so many to choose from it was had to select a few to bring back home. I think Taylor was a little overwhelmed with the whole experience. The farm was as busy as I've ever seen it and there were people and pumpkins everywhere! We picked out our pumpkins, drank fresh strawberry lemonade, painted a pumpkin with Taylor, fed the goats, saw the horses, ate popcorn, and played underneath the hay bales. What more could you ask for on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in October.

We are officially ready for Fall and for Halloween!

Adventures in Potty Training Part 2...

What do these three things have in common?

Taylor likes the book Everyone Poops,

Reily our cat poops in the kitty box,

And now Taylor has offically tried to poop in the kitty box too...

YES IT IS TRUE! Luckily, his bottom didn't fit through the opening!

Too much time alone in the bathroom = TROUBLE!

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words!

You got to LOVE dads and uncles!

Adventures in Potty Training Photo#1

When you gotta-go, you gotta-go!

YOU SAY RAIN, I SAY POTTY TRAINING!!!!

I've been pondering back and forth now for a while about when to really get down to business with Potty Training Taylor. Around two he seemed pretty interested in going pee-pee in the potty, but as of late NO interest at all. Well, with the weather report calling for our first rainy weekend in MONTHS, I decided to seize the moment and bunker down inside armed with: new toddler underpants, the Potty, Clorox Wipes, more underwear, and paper towels!

I decided to go with a gut feeling of just sliding on real underwear (no pull-ups) and seeing what would happen. Of course, I was hoping for a few initial accidents, but once he figured out he didn't like being wet we would be on our way. Believe me, I was very skeptical because I've heard all the stories about boys being harder to train and that they usually don't take to it until closer to 3 years old. Also, I have our pediatrician voice in my head saying, "you'll know when he's ready...he'll tell you he doesn't want diapers anymore. Since that really didn't seem to be happening anytime soon, I decided to give something new a try.

We've had the new underpants in the house for a while now and Taylor has heard us talk about them and show them to him. On Saturday morning, I told Taylor that he was going to wear underpants today. He was excited and was anxiously trying to figure out which color he wanted to wear first. He eagerly put them on and started playing around the house. We made several early pit stops to the restroom to reinforce what we were doing... nothing at first but then he finally went just a little. I made a big deal out of it (anything is something) and he was super excited and proud of himself. Right after that trip to the restroom, Taylor was standing at the fridge and had his first accident. Taylor was a little shocked and not knowing exactly what just happened. I explained what happened and then we cleaned up the mess together (something I read you should do-have them clean up their own accidents). With pair #2 on we were ready to play some more and eat a snack (what was I getting myself into)! A few more trips to "try" in the potty and a lot of books read sitting there but nothing more than a "little bit". Same scenario, right after a pit-stop we were playing and whoops... another accident this time on the hardwood floors. After the clean up was finished I took him back to the potty to try again and get him all changed up. Before he even got pair #3 on he was out of the bathroom running to the front door to see the rain pouring down. And well wouldn't you know it... our 3rd accident of the morning. The thing that kept me going that this was going to work was the fact that he was trying and was super excited about all of it. After that 3rd accident, he told me the rest of the morning when he needed to go and he went every single time in the Potty!

Now my biggest fear was that he would be able to figure out the peeing in the potty pretty quickly but what about pooping?? I kept waiting for those signals and finally after lunch it happened. I saw the familiar face, I heard the familiar groans, I saw the familiar crouch. He said to me, "I need a diaper so that I can go potty". I scooped him up and ran to the bathroom, pulled his little underpants down, and plopped him on the potty. He made the funniest face I've ever seen and scrunched up his fists and told me to go in his room (he's a very private pooper). I stood just on the other side of the door and listened to him talk to himself, and proudly announce "I'm done Mommy"! I heard a flush before I was actually able to get a visual confirmation that he did go. But Taylor insisted that it was a "big one" and his little rear-end did need some cleaning up. This was so huge!! He has never gone poop in the potty and to actually do it all by himself, I was completely amazed!

After his nap came a new set of circumstances...playing outside. I figured we would probably have a least one accident outside because he was being distracted with other things. We tried to remind him to come in and "try" but with no luck he said he didn't have to go and threw a fit. Dinner came and went and still no "trying" so I knew it was going to happen sooner or later. About five minutes outside after dinner, Andrew and I heard crys. Taylor was just standing there with his golf club in one hand trying to figure out what to do next. I took him inside to try to finish and got him all cleaned up again.

Day #1 of potty training was a huge success and very rewarding for everyone. I prepared myself for Day #2, thinking that he would want nothing to do with it or something like that, but to my amazement that's the first thing he wanted to do when he woke up... "where are my underwear", "which ones am I going to wear today"? This morning we've had zero accidents and we even ventured out for a walk and played outside a lot. The same scenario unfolded after lunch, and Taylor successfully went poop in the potty again! For now it seems that we are on our way into full potty training mode and are only using diapers for naps and bedtime! Boy what a weekend:)

Taylor's Ultrasound Update...

Barley visible today (just a little swelling in the middle of the back of his knee).

The ultrasound today confirmed that Taylor does in fact have a Baker Cyst and nothing worse than that. Thank goodness!!! It clearly showed a "fluid" filled sac behind his right knee. Supposedly what is happening (more common in boys-the radiologist conducting the exam has one too!) is that the regular fluid sac in the knee is being forced between the knee muscle and the tendon, making the fluid pouch behind the knee. Obviously, with different physical activities it will swell and get larger and maybe more painful. It's our job now to figure out exactly which activities those are: running, jumping, hiking, walking long distances,...? It unfortunately wont go away (he has it for life) and until it causes him lots of pain there really isn't any treatment. If at some point in his life it gets to be too much, then it can be removed with surgery. Luckily, they also said that it does not predispose him to arthritis, which is good news too!

BUBBLES MAKE ME HAPPY VIDEO!

Baker Cyst

About a month ago Taylor woke up one morning and said his leg hurt around the back of his knee. I couldn't really see anything at the time but he was also limping a little. After about 45mins. of normal playing he seemed fine and the limp was gone. Well two weeks ago the symptoms reappeared. Taylor said his right leg hurt again, accompanied with the limp again, and this time a small roundish bump was clearly noticeable under the skin (about the size of a quarter). It looked like something was swollen but what-it seemed to come and go?? So later that week we took him to see his doctor to find out exactly what was going on. Well the doctor confirmed what we had researched on the internet... it's a Baker Cyst on the back of his right knee. A Baker cyst is swelling caused by fluid from the knee joint protruding to the back of the knee. When an excess of knee joint fluid is compressed by the body weight between the bones of the knee joint, it can become trapped and separate from the joint to form the fluid-filled sac of a Baker cyst. The doctor also checked Taylor's lymph nods and temperature to make sure that it wasn't a tumor or some other kind of infection (nothing there). The most likely causes of a Baker cyst are arthritis or some type of a knee injury. Well, anyone who knows Taylor knows how active of a boy he is and some form of a knee injury is quite possible but I have no idea when it could have occurred. He falls down at least 5-10 times a day with regular playing. Luckily, most Baker cysts heal and disappear with time but we will just have to wait and see.

To confirm that it is in fact a Baker cyst we are being sent to get an ultrasound of the back of his knee. We want to make sure that in fact it is a FLUID filled sac and not a SOLID filled sac which would be something else like a tumor. Our ultrasound is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon so I'm sure we'll get many more answers to our curious questions.

The Culprit and the Remains (an update)...

Both of these pictures were taken the day after the first blog post! This bunny doesn't mess around! Sorry about the crazy "eye" is was almost dusk.

GONE... nothing but a few stems which have now all been eaten too!

Wildlife Rescue?

Since Friday, Taylor and I have noticed a baby bird living around our backyard flower bed. I thought that he had probably fallen out of the nest and would be on his way when he was ready. Well today is Monday and our little feathered friend is still roaming the back garden. I decided to call the wildlife rescue to see what I should do. They suggested just waiting it out a bit longer since he seems to be healthy-mommy bird must be feeding him from somewhere (some birds can hang around up to a week before they decide to try and fly away). You learn something new everyday! Taylor has affectionately named him: froggy, grass, net... name still to be decided.
Large nest up in the tree above where our baby bird is hanging out.

Besides baby birds hanging out in our backyard, we have a hungry bunny rabbit that has found my newly planted sweet potato plant! I've only had it a month and it was doing great (I'm not a green thumb so this was a huge success for me) but I guess our animal guests had other plans. Take a look at my poor plant now... leafless and helpless! Maybe we can blame that on the drought too and not my string of bad luck with plants?

Just stocks... must have been yummy!

More Pictures!

I LOVE professional photography- the colors are always so beautiful, bright and clear! We are so happy with how these pictures turned out. Our little baby is certainly turning into quite the little man!

Brandy Lewis Thank You! There really are so many good ones that I can't share them all:)