Taylor's Three Major Milestones

Rebecca really amazes me sometimes.  I don't tell her enough.

For a multitude of reasons, I had three items on my task list in regard to Taylor.


Bottle - Judge us if you'd like, but Taylor never took a bottle while breastfeeding.  She got her mommy milk al naturale until she turned fifteen months old.  From that point forward, sippy cups were an issue and she would take juice and milk via the bottle.  Avery came, and it just wasn't high on the priority list; that is until she turned two and we agreed it was time to make the transition to a sippy cup (which blogger wants to rename "zippy cup").  It was much smoother than we had expected.  We left it in the car in Savannah a few weeks ago and couldn't use it with her going to bed that night.  Lest you think I'm a completely lazy father for not to going to get it, I'll mention the car was valet parked because it was the only option (space in downtown Savannah) and it would have been an act of Congress to get the car at that time of night.  Becca seized the opportunity.  Taylor asked for it once or twice throughout the trip, and has asked for it once or twice since we have been home.  No major fuss though.  I think this battle is over.  Mark one down for the home team.


Potty Training - Who wants to clean poop off of a 30 lb kid?  You do?  Well you can come over to my house and do it.  Believe it or not, work hasn't given me a raise specifically because we added another baby to the picture, and those diapers get expensive.  Those two things combined (hassle, cost) led to the decision to get on the potty training train (you see what I did there?).  You may not agree with this method, but we chose was to let Tay run around with no panties on an close off the rooms that would present a problem (carpet, etc.).  It worked pretty well. I was amazed at how quickly she caught on and started using the big girl potty.  It was a question Rebecca and I asked 300x/day and it received a yes response about 3% of the time (that's 9 times a day for those of you who didn't ace the Math portion of the ACT).  That was until . . .

I'm in the kitchen putting away dishes.  Rebecca is in the laundry room with Avery.  Taylor has been watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the iPad alone in the living room for no more than 5 minutes.  She comes around the corner running like a wild woman to the laundry room.  She slips (not that uncommon), falls, and cries.  I rush over to her and scoop her up, asking her what is wrong.  She responds that she "hurts" and that she "pee peed in the floor next to her kitchen".  Uh. . . I check the kitchen area.  No pee!  I glance over to see the pee glimmering off the hardwood floor next to the coffee table.  Not just a little of it either.  It's obvious that she just stood there while pee ran down her leg and let it fly.  Nice!  While I am cleaning that up, Becca does the good parental duty of explaining that we use the potty chair when we need to go pee and poo.  She's into about the third sentence when she looks over and sees it.  It!  Poo.  In the floor.  A turd.  In the floor!  What the . . . Who takes a crap in the floor?  Who takes a crap in the floor after crapping exclusively on the potty chair for four days?  How do I resolve this discrepancy in my mind?

Since then she's been doing pretty well with an accident here or there.  It's progress.  We're about mid-way through week two and I'm happy with how that's progressing.  Mark another one down for the home team.  

Co-Sleeping - You see that word to the left there?  It sounds so wonderful doesn't it?  You probably don't know what it means, but it involves "sleeping" and that's always good.  Then there's "co" and you start to come to the realization that it means sleeping with someone else.  Ok, that's good you think.  I can definitely get on board with this.  That is until you realize you don't get to make up definitions and you go to m-w.com (that's merriam-webster dictionary online for you super nerds) and discover that it means that your kid sleeps in the bed with you.  That sound sweet until the first time you get slapped in the face from a dead sleep at 2 AM.  Then a 3 AM.  Then at 4 AM.  Every night, tossing and turning.  Getting scrunched off of the bed.  Waking up to find you are left with a razor thin strip of mattress to call your own while the kid has approximately 4 feet of room.

I know why it happened.  If you've been following this blog, you know why it happened too.  It was all about comfort and protection of our little girl who had been through a premature birth and five week hospital stay and ensuring that she kept breathing through the night and . . . But now?  Now I am tired of getting hit in the face and I have expressed my disgust with the situation.  Tomorrow night, I am installing bed rails on Taylor's bed and we have SERIOUSLY talked up having a "big girl bed".  Taylor is expecting fairies with lollipops to pop out of the mattress to wish her sweet dreams.  Let's hope I can say one week from now that this is another win for the home team.

If Becca can pull off these three monumental tasks (in the span of a month or two), she at least deserves a spa day, right?

Savannah

It is rare that I have an opportunity to take the family on a work trip (in fact, this is the first time since Taylor has been born), but I was blessed to be able to do so this time.  We loaded up in the car on a Tuesday and drove 7 hours to Savannah, GA.  I spent parts of the next three days doing work stuff (let's pretend I was doing something awesome like learning how to be a ninja or sailing an ocean freighter), but was still able to spend a lot of good family time with the Laney ladies.

Becca was super excited about eating a Paula Deen's restaurant, Lady and Sons.  We did.  It was excellent.  The fried chicken really is something to write home about.

In fact, eating is what we did best of all in Savannah.  The food was great.  In case you were wondering, we ate at the aforementioned, Uncle Bubba's, Tubby's, and Fannie's on the Beach.  The latter was in Tybee island and although I am getting out of order, here are some pictures from the beach.  It was cold as . . . well something inappropriate about witches and bras, but I wanted to take the girls to see the Atlantic Ocean since we were so close.

Now, back to what we did in the middle of the trip. We toured Savannah.  River Street was pretty cool.  Next to the river (obviously with the name of River Street).  Cobblestones, old buildings, cool restaurants and bars, etc.

The Spanish Moss was beautiful.

We also drove around Forsythe Park.  The city has something like thirteen squares, which are awesome to tourists like us, but must be a huge hassle for residents actually trying to get somewhere in a reasonable amount of time.

Daddy wanted to see some forts, but that wasn't meant to be. Residents of Savannah, huddle up!  You've got to get your act together on closing times.  Restaurants and shopping closing at 8:00 PM?  Forts closing at 5:00 PM?  You are a flipping fort.  You withstood the Civil War.  You can handle darkness.  

Here are some other pics of the girls from the trip:

View from our hotel room:

I'm really glad we had an opportunity to experience Savannah as a family. 

Terrible Blogger . . . Better Father

Ok, so I haven't blogged about Taylor and Avery in two months.  When my kids are wiping my butt sixty years from now and I am reminiscing about raising them, I'll have to depend on my memory and the pictures we take instead of this blog.  But I have an excellent excuse.  Rebecca and I have been busy taking care of them.  Since the last time I blogged, Avery experienced her first Thanksgiving and Taylor had her second Christmas (the first she could really understand).  We went to the beach with Gammy and PawPaw Jody over New Years.  Taylor enjoys "running around naked"before bath time and made her first big steps towards potty training today.  Our little girls are growing up!

Avery is a Blessing

Rebecca and I were just talking the other day about how we are thankful Avery is such a good baby.  Nothing against our sweet Taylor bug, but she wasn't the easiest baby to take care of in the first several months.  Rebecca and I recalled night after night of "shift work" trying to share the burden (although I will admit Rebecca endured most of it) of trying to sooth a baby that decided sleeping at 2 AM wasn't a great idea.

Avery, on the other hand, only gets out of sorts when she is getting clothes put on or getting in her carseat or . . . now that I come to think of it, really any time you are messing with her.  She is perfectly content in just about every situation.  Here are some pictures of Avery in her first two months of life.

Taylor's Two!

I know it is cliche, but holy crap!  I have a two year old daughter?  It seems like just yesterday we were spending every night holding her hand at UAB while she was clinging to life.  Today, she's living it up.

We made the decision to go to Chuck E. Cheese for her second birthday party.  It was 3 hours of pure madness, but Taylor and her friends had fun and that's what mattered.  Below are a few pictures from the party.  Enjoy!


The cakes:

 This pizza was in various bellies 5 minutes after this shot.

Becca was pretty excited.

Mommy helping Taylor blow out her candles.

Taylor was really liking Chuck E Cheese.

Trust me, she really did like him.  You can't tell from this photo though.

Sweet birthday girl!

Opening presents.

Caden scaring the rest of the children.

She doesn't hide emotion well.

Look at the play kitchen Mommy and Daddy got Taylor!

The Fair

Let's face it.  Mommy needed a break from the madness that is providing care for two kids under the age of two for a month solid.  So, when Becca suggested we take Taylor to the fair, I happily agreed.  

The sun was setting when we arrived at the fairgrounds.

We stopped at the carnie food shack to get our cotton candy fix right away.

Taylor had been on the Merry Go Round with Gammy and PawPaw Jody before, but this one went at light speed.  Becca was almost dizzy as she stumbled off the archaic machine.

Next, it was over to the barn to see the animals.  We expected their to be a petting zoo setup for the kids, but we got cows.  Taylor was enthused, but I was hoping for something better.  Maybe a kangaroo...

The ferris wheel looked ominous.  When I asked Taylor if she wanted to go for a ride, I received a flat, "No".

Taylor actually rode a ride by herself.  It wasn't that scary; just mini cars and trucks rolling around a 20' diameter track, but still. . . it almost brought a tear to our eyes.  Our little girl is growing up.

To cap off the evening, Daddy attempted to win Taylor a ridiculously large stuffed animal by throwing darts.  I was given 7 darts and was supposed to pop 4 balloons to win a prize.  I think the lady felt sorry for me when I only popped 2 balloons.  She looked into Taylor's eyes, felt pity, and handed over a Hello Kitty stuffed animal.  Thank you random carnie lady with a Russian accent.

Welcome Avery!

Yesterday, the Laney family welcomed a new addition, Avery Grace!

Date: 8/26/2011
Time: 5:13 PM
Weight: 6 lbs, 7 oz
Length: 20"
Status: Beautiful!

Thursday night, August 25, 2011, Rebecca and I came into the hospital at 11 PM so Dr. Short could induce labor.  Although Rebecca had a considerably better pregnancy than last time, the midnight throwing up and extra frontal baggage were getting too much to handle.  She actually started contracting before we came into the hospital.  The "thinning" medication did its job and her water was broken at 8:15 AM.  The contractions came hard and fast and Rebecca did a wonderful job of pushing through them, but it finally came time to have an epidural.  It worked amazingly for about an hour and then. . . pain, EXTREME pain.  The contractions kept coming harder and faster than the pain continued worsening.  Dr. Hall did her epidural again and this time kicked up the dose.  It did the trick!  After almost 9 hours of active labor, Avery came at 5:13 PM with only 2 1/2 pushes.  Dr. Short told Rebecca to hold off on pushing for a second while Dr. Short tied a bow in Avery's hair.  It was a sweet gesture, but the bow came up quickly. Here is that baby, mad at the poking and prodding, shortly after birth.

Taylor has been a great big sister so far.   I dont' think she fully realizes that Avery will be coming home with us, but she does already love her.  She has kissed her several times and we have let her hold Avery (with a little help).

Girls, I just know you are going to be great friends!