I guess she needed a laugh

Taylor grabbed the Comics section of the newspaper off of the table after her dinner tonight. I guess she needed a good laugh. She does have a good sense of humor and loves to laugh. Plus, she's super smart and can already read, so I'm sure she knew exactly what she was doing. :)

Another one bites the dust

This is what I was greeted with as I opened the blinds in the dining room Monday morning. Thanks Fay. It could have been MUCH worse. The tree could have fallen another direction and very easily fallen on the house or the neighbors' fence/yard. This is the THIRD tree that has fallen in our backyard in the 5 months that we've lived here! What?! The first two were dead and fell on a beautiful sunny day. This tree, on the other hand, appears to be very much alive, so I guess the ground got so wet that it just got uprooted. It is wedged in the large oak tree and for now that is where it will stay. Too bad we're not in the tree felling business. Just another adventure to welcome us to home ownership.

Pleeeeeeease...

Take this kitty! She is so sweet and just wants to be loved! Long story short, I volunteered to find a home for kitty because our former neighbors from our old neigborhood found her a few days before they were moving out of state. I know that many of you are saying to yourself right now something like "I'm not a cat person" or "I hate cats" or "Cats are snobs and they don't snuggle like dogs" etc. Well let me tell you that you're wrong. This cat is much like our late cat, Jack, which means she's very snuggly and wants to be in your lap and just wants you to pet her. So why don't we want to keep her, you might ask? A few reasons, but mainly because we just bought a house and don't need any other expenses. So, please, someone give this kitty a good home.

Got Milk?

I took this picture this morning while Nick and Taylor were drinking their morning milk. Aren't they cute? Taylor was glued to the TV watching her girls Misty May-Treanor and Kerry Walsh put the smack down on the Chinese in some beach volleyball. We taped it last night because we can't stay up that late on a school night. Yep, I said "taped", not "Tivo". We still use a VHS tape and we're still cool. You can laugh at us, we don't care. We don't feel the need to keep up with the Joneses. A few months ago I was talking to a lady and I said something about not having Tivo and she (with much shock in her voice and on her face) said, "Y'all don't have Tivo?" like she was asking, "Y'all don't have electricity?" I thought it was quite humorous.

Mama's Little Monkey

Taylor loves bananas. She gets real excited and makes this funny little noise when she sees one. I don't usually cut them up for her anymore because she's gotten good at holding it by herself. And this is the result...a mess! She is a messy little thing.

Olympics

Business as usual shuts down at the Villacampa house for two weeks during the Olympics. I (Nick) have loved the Olympics ever since Seoul in '88 and it's been my mission to get Robyn to like it a fraction as much as I do. We've stayed up every night this week to watch it on tv. In fact it's pretty much all we've watched since last Friday night. We just watched Michael Phelps win by .01 seconds (we can't believe he did it) and we just got excited to see Dara Torres win her semifinal heat. We like her. Taylor has become a fan too. Seriously. When she's in here with us and hears the people on tv clap, she stops whatever she's doing and starts clapping. Taylor is especially excited that the track & field is about to start. Well, ok, maybe that's just me.

On another sports-related note, we've got a bunch of tickets to the Mobile Bay Bears game next Friday night (Aug 22). So if anyone wants to go with us, just let us know.

Props to my thoughtful hubby

Today Nick called to see if I was home and said, "Good, cause I'm bringing you a prize. I bid on something for you at the SHRM meeting and won it!" I do love presents so I was excited to see what it was. By the way, SHRM is pronounced sherm, which for some reason makes me laugh. I like to make this funny face when I say it and it tickles me every time. Anyway, back to the point. Taylor and I went outside to greet him and he gets out of the car with a painting of a crab. It was a neat painting but probably nothing I would pick out to purchase. Then he starts to hand me a piece of paper and I got really excited because it was all coming together and I knew exactly what it was! It was a gift certificate (two, actually) for this place in town called Paint and Pals that I was very excitedly telling him about just the other night. I told him that I really, really wanted to go sometime. I guess his memory was jogged at the silent auction and he bid. So, thanks to my thoughtful husband for bidding and I'm sooo glad you won!

And here is a picture of Taylor, because as my friend Hillary says, "Posts with pictures are more fun."

SIKE!

I just turned Taylor's new carseat around to be rear-facing again. It seems that the new recommendations say to leave them rear-facing as long as their carseat allows them to be. Her new carseat is convertible and can be rear-facing up to 33 pounds, so I'll leave it like that at least for a little bit longer. So I faked her out by letting her ride forward-facing for 2 days. I hope she doesn't mind. For more information on the new recommendation, go to http://babyproducts.about.com/od/carseats/qt/rear_facing.htm

12 Month Check-up

I'm a litte late posting this but Taylor had her 12 month appt the day after her birthday. Here are her stats: weight - 20lbs 15oz (50th percentile), height - 28 inches (25th), and head circumference - I can't find the measurement but she's in the 50th percentile. I know that it can change, but based on this it looks like she's going to be a shorty like her mama. She got 3 vaccinations and everything else looked great. She can now have whole milk (we actually started this 1 week before her birthday) and honey. I haven't given her any honey yet but judging by her track record I'm sure she'll like it. We'll go back again at 15 months - maybe she'll be walking by then.

got a monkey on my back

Taylor got this cute little monkey backpack from her Aunt Mel, Uncle David, and cousin Kaitlyn. I put it on Tay the other day and it didn't even phase her. She played for a long time with it on her back and would occasionally turn around and try to look at it. But it didn't bother her at all.

Reuben

This past weekend Taylor finally got to meet Reuben, one of Nick's best friends. He said she was awesome and she seemed to like him alot, too. She especially liked that he let her play with his phone, which looks just like her Mama's - so I think she thought she was getting away with something. We forgot to get a posed picture of the two of them, but here are a few candid shots.

I'm A Big Girl Now

Taylor turned 1 and has been acting like such a big girl! Here she is with a couple of the toys she got for her birthday. No she did not get a waste basket for her b-day, that pic is just for fun. She just recently started pulling up on the window sill and trying to look out. And she loves to reach up to the piano keys and make music. When she plays with her phone she puts it up to her ear and usually says, "da da." And most every time I'm on the phone with Nick she says "da da" then, too. Saturday I put together the walking/riding toy we got her and she loved it! She got behind it and immediately started walking like she had done it before. It was so funny. She was a little slow and wobbly but she did well. Earlier today I changed it into a riding toy and put her on it just to see what she'd do, and she liked it. I changed it back into a walking toy so she can practice.

A New View From The Vue

Yesterday I installed Taylor's big girl carseat in my car and she seems to love it! Now that she's 1 year old and 20 pounds she can move a forward-facing carseat. So not only does she get to be in a new seat, she gets a new view! I wonder what she'll think about seeing where we're going rather than from where we just came. A huge thanks to the Rubles who gave us this carseat. On one hand she looks like a big girl in this seat, but on the other hand she looks so small. We ran a couple of errands last night and I kept turning around to look at her (don't worry, Nick was driving) and she thought it was funny. She looked so proud to be in her new carseat.