Taylor and Rialto

With my sister, Jen, living in Texas, and other family members all over the country, I decided to come back to this blog I had started earlier this year. I thought that with two little girls I'd be too busy for a blog, but now I realize that this might be the easiest, and quickest way to keep everyone updated.

So, here it goes...

In the past couple of months we have undergone great changes. We bought a house that was a forclosure. 4 bedrooms and a playroom made it the perfect size and layout for our stedily growing family. Right after we closed escrow on the house we had our second little girl, Taylor Jean. She was born August 1, 2008 at 1:01pm. She was 7lbs 10oz, and 20 in. long. She was born with, and still has my mom's dark eyes and dark brown hair. So, with a newborn we proceeded to rip out all the flooring in the house, paint the whole inside, install new carpet and tile, and replace most of the light fixtures. Kaleb is definitely becoming the "handy man" since becoming a homeowner. But, we couldn't have done it without the help of family and some wonderful friends.

Now the inside of our house looks great, we are just working on organizing the garage, and saving money to landscape the backyard, and fix the landscaping in the front yard. It is definitely a lot more work than we imagined, but it is also a lot more rewarding seeing the girls comfortable in their first home.

Here are some pictures of the tile being installed in the entry, and down part of the hallway, and the kitchen...




Before that could be done, though, we had to rip out all the old flooring, scrub the walls, and paint. Here are some of our wonderful helpers getting it ready. This is the living room on the left, dining room straight ahead, and kitchen on the right.

My friend, Sarah and her mom painted Taylor and Nevaeh's rooms. The blue one is Nevie's, the green one is Taylor's.

Soon after that work was done, this little darling made her appearance. Here are some of her first pics with Mommy and Daddy.

Hope you all stay tuned through our adventures and I hope this blog serves to minimize the miles between us all.

Love,

Corie

My smart little girl

It is getting to the point where every day I am more and more amazed with my little girl. Nevaeh learns new things so quickly. She knows all kinds of words in baby sign language (Mommy, Daddy, eat, all done, ball, more, please, thank you, drink); she knows lots of her body parts and can point to them (head, hair, eyes, nose, mouth, tongue, ears, knees, hands, fingers, toes, foot, bottom, tummy); she knows and can imitate animal sounds (dog, cat, horse, cow); and she can actually say some words too (Mama, Dada and Daddy, Pop-pop for her grandpa, uh-oh). It just seems like I can't keep up with her sometimes. I'm so excited that she is so smart and fun, but more and more she doesn't seem like my little baby anymore. She's this toddler with a mind and will of her own who is just starting to really demonstrate that. It is still a comfort that she still needs me though. Whenever she falls and gets hurt, or when she is tired, or when she wants to read a book, she still comes over to her Mommy and cuddles up with me. I treasure the moments when she rests her head on my shoulder and sits quietly with me. I wouldn't trade one of those precious moments for anything in the world.

Nevaeh knows where Mommy's tummy is, (it is getting more and more difficult not to notice it) and she knows that there is a baby in Mommy's tummy. Sometimes she leans over and kisses my tummy. She's going to make such a good, loving Big Sister. August 10th seems to be just around the corner. :-)