My Champion Swimmer!

These pictures are from Nevaeh's Swim Graduation/Last Day of Swim Lessons. She did wonderful! The only thing holding her back is her lack of confidence. We are hoping to build that up with lots and lots of swimming at Pop Pop and MaMa's house :-)

Floating

Rolling Over

Getting her medal and ribbon from her swim teacher.

Yay for Nevaeh!!!

We love you, little Champion Swimmer! You do a great job!

4th of July

So, to all my faithful readers (Aunt Kathy and Jen), please don't hate me.....but I have no pictures from the 4th of July. None. Zip.

In my defense, I was on my own the entire day. Kaleb had to work nights, so he slept all day and then had to leave for work in the evening. I, single-handedly, packed up snacks, diapers, wipes, snugglies, extra clothes, bathing suits, sunscreen, towels, sippy cups, toys, books, etc. and took the girls to the Shaver cabin where my mom, dad, and Ally had been the whole weekend. They were lucky enough to stand out on the balcony and watch the fireworks over the lake the night before! So, we took the girls out on the houseboat. Nevaeh loves driving with Pop Pop. Taylor, on the other hand, was not too pleased with her life-jacket. It is an older one, and not comfy. She was pretty upset, and letting us know it, until she started enjoying the motion and wind from going fast...then she was asleep.

After the boat ride we went back to the cabin where Nevaeh went on hikes with Mama and Pop Pop, trying to find all the "pineapples". Don't worry, by the time we left we learned that they were pinecones. :-) After a yummy dinner we drove home. Lucky for me, both girls fell asleep for most of it. We got home and went to an old friend's house for fireworks (Luke's house, Jen) with Ash-shey (My good friend Ashley Brannan). The girls had a blast, even though the fireworks startled and frightened Taylor at first. Nevaeh was lovin' it. When we got home it was WAY past bedtime so Taylor zonked after a good "way-too-tired-cry" but I didn't have the heart to tell Nevaeh that fireworks were all done. I got her into her jammies and we went outside and did a few ourselves, just ones with long wicks, as this was my first time ever really lighting fireworks, aside from Sparklers.

We had fun! But even after our own fireworks show, Nevaeh wanted to keep going. But, her eyes were closed as soon as her heard hit the pillow, even though there were still tears on her cheeks from not continuing with the fireworks...

All in all, a fun holiday....but a very busy one. :-)

GRADUATION

No, not mine.....TAYLOR'S!!! She graduated from Jan Thomas Swim School's Mommy N Me class. She did very well, especially for being so young. Here are some pics from that day!!!

Proud Big Sister!

Taylor getting ready for her ceremony by relaxing and watching Nevaeh's swim lesson. Go Sis!

What's this? For me?!

Taylor wasn't quite sure about sitting on the step in front of everyone cheering. I didn't get pictures but MaMa, Pop Pop and Auntie Ally all came to celebrate. We recorded it for Daddy because he had to work. (Someone has to PAY for these lessons, you know!)

Taylor is in the front on the bottom. These are all the other cute kiddos in her class. We are so proud of our littlest swimmer. Check back soon for pics from Nevaeh's graduation (it's next week!!!)

Little Bear Cub

I hope you can tell from these pictures how Baby Taylor has decided to handle the tile that is throughout our house. I was thrilled that at first it seemed to act as a barrier, keeping her in whichever room I set her. This was effective when I was busy in the kitchen, or wanted the girls to stay in the playroom for a few "Mommy minutes alone" with my coffee. Taylor, however, had a different idea and a few days ago she started doing this bear crawl to get over the tile without having the discomfort of it on her knees and legs. Very funny, but very inconvenient. Unlike Nevaeh who was content in the small living room of our rental house, Taylor has made it her mission to navigate her way throughout the entire house, making her way under tables and chairs and into bedrooms and bathrooms. She is a very busy bee, and is keeping her mommy on her toes. But I'm loving every bit of it, especially this signature crawl and the victorious smile after she has explored a new area (preferrably unsupervised).

:-) I promise to learn to post video on here soon. You just have to see this in action!

Operations.

We have reached a couple milestones...time to let Taylor cry herself back to sleep because at 10 months she is still waking up many times during the night, and time to convert Nevaeh's crib to a toddler bed. Leave it up to Kaleb and I to attack both of these at the same time! (I don't recommend it.) But we pride ourselves at being a little brave (although some might say a little stupid). Anyway, the first night of Operation Tay was horrible. She screamed, not cried, for over two hours, starting a little after 11PM when she first woke up. Finally around 2 she fell asleep and slept until 5:30AM, when I fed her thinking we should tackle one wake-up session at a time. The next night was a million times better. She started crying, I gave her her boppy, and she went back to sleep, waking up for good at almost 8AM. Best night of rest for Mommy in over 10 months!!! YAY! That was a positive answer to prayer because it also took place on the same night as Operation Toddler Bed, which could have gone either way. It was a real gamble doing them so close together. I have to say, if you never thought Nevaeh was an angel-child before, you will now. She went to bed in her toddler bed without getting up once! And in the morning when she woke up, she stayed in bed talking and singing to herself until I came and got her. AND....no pee-pee accident either. Here are some pics from that miraculous night (which was just last night, so we may face a challenge with it yet...who knows. I'm just grateful the first night went so well!).

It looks so funny with the toddler rail. My little baby is growing up too fast!

Play Time!!!

I've taken another break from my thesis. Don't worry, I promise to get back to it in the near future. My first "break" was to read the Twilight series and see what all the fuss was about. I ended up hooked, and had to finish them (don't worry, this little hiatus only took about 5 days). But then, I've taken a longer break for this...

We love our playroom, and are so thankful that we found a home with a special room just to have tons of fun in!

While Taylor was sleeping, Mommy set up some paper and paints and let our little artist go for it! Ah, what a blessing out patio is. I didn't have to worry about messes or spills at all!

Can you tell Nevaeh is very serious about her artwork, and she is about most activities.

Taylor has discovered that life is so much more fun when you are mobile and can finally get to those toys that Sister is playing with!

Nevaeh loves to make goofy smiley faces, probably because Mommy asks her for just one nice one! Rebellious already!

So you see, you can't really blame me from taking a break from my boring, boring paper that I've been working on for years, now can you?!?!

New.

Why is Taylor so proud of herself in this picture???

Because she just crawled over to the pens! Yes, I said CRAWLED!!! Finally our petite little baby learned to hoist herself up and MOVE. We're thrilled...except when she gets into Mommy's books and magazines. We are definitely adjusting to having a very different little girl from our first! Taylor won't sleep, but she will get into EVERYTHING!

What a silly, joke-y girl Nevaeh is turning into! Also, she is asking the standard toddler/pre-schooler questions: "What are you doing?" "What is that?" and, my personal favorite, "Why?"