Spring Things...

HAPPY SPRING

(Here's what we were up to this weekend)

Sailing on the Lake

Grandpa (my dad) and Grandma came for a visit this week all the way from Seal Rock, Oregon. We lucked out with 2 days of awesome weather, 1 very windy day, and 1 rainy day-gotta love Spring in Texas! On Thursday evening (sunset) we took a 2 hour sailing cruise on Lake Travis. Andrew was the only one who had been on a sailboat before, so it was all new and very exciting for the rest of us. There was enough wind for awhile to sail with the sails up and the rest of the time we just motored around. Taylor's favorite thing was walking up and down the steps to the galley below. My favorite thing was watching our captain "tac" the boat to change directions (lots of ropes and switches-better stay out of the way!). I think my dad's favortite part was actually getting to drive the boat!

Skivies(noun):another name for underware

The word "milestones" comes to mind quite frequently in ones life. The dictionary defines it as a significant point in development. Early on as parents we recognize "milestones" and highlight them in pictures, videos, baby books, and nowadays internet blogs. Our child's development and well-being means the world to us and reaching these early achievements means that everything is "okay" and "right on tract". Since Taylor turned 2 last year those milestones have slowed down from big things like: crawling, walking, talking to smaller things like moving from a crib to a big bed or jumping up and down on one foot. We've recently reached a new milestone geared for 3 year olds-getting dressed by yourself. Socks were an early struggle but now that seems easy as pie. Here is a video of our "milestone maker" and me using the word "skivies" which Taylor had never heard before and now won't stop saying-of course!

You Are My Sunshine, My Only Sunshine...

You make me happy when sky's are blue,

you'll never know dear how much I love you,

Please don't take my sunshine away!

Reily

" Little Old Man" - "Fat Boy"

It's with a very heavy heart that I have to write this post. On Thursday evening our beloved cat Reily was put to sleep. After 2 days at the vet, after a frightening night of super low blood sugar levels, we decided that it would be better for Reily to be put to sleep. All within 2 days, he became blind from the diabetes, unresponsive to certain things like he had had a stroke or thrown a blood cot, was not eating or drinking, and had lost mobility in his back legs. Reily was only 12 years old (got him and his sister when I was in college), but he was an awesomely (if that's even a word) cool cat!! We will miss both Abigail (April o9') and Reily (March 10') dearly.

The Love of Books

Between one and a half and two, Taylor loved sitting in our laps to read books before bedtime, the more books we read the happier he was. When Taylor turned 2 years old he really didn't want to read any books before going to bed. We went through a period of 4 months when all he wanted to do was play, play, play before bed. Well slowly but surely we have been inching our way back to "the love of books". At one point we had to actually move the books out of his headboard bookcase because he wouldn't go to sleep-just sat in the dark looking and talking about books by himself for an hour. Ever since Taylor turned 3, we've been reading books curled up in his bed before bedtime, and everyone in the family is loving it. At this time he can't seem to get enough! He also takes 2-3 books to bed with him and reads to himself and then quietly falls asleep when he's done reading-such a drastic change from 6 months ago. It's so funny how he even remembers the little extra parts that we add into his books. I'm sure that Taylor is probably just going through a language boost and that the pendulum can swing back at any moment, but boy are we enjoying this second round of LOVING books and learning letters!!