Scooting to Independence

The days are numbered. Mitch is so close to crawling it's scary. I have no idea how to child-proof my apartment, and silly me thought it an unnecessary procedure, as I am right by my child 24/7.

No, no, this is not so. Mike's friend was staying with us this past week, and left his laptop on the floor. At this point Mitch could only scoot around in circles, but this particular day he decided to move past his brightly colored toys on to more dangerous ventures. I was on the phone, cleaning the kitchen, turned around and Mitch was gnawing on said friend's computer cord. Nice. Remind me not to parent and talk on the phone at the same time. For that matter, lets not clean the kitchen and parent either. Bwha ha ha ha......

I really like Mitchell's crawling technique though. He thinks he knows how it's done.... push up on his arms....start kicking his legs so ferociously you'd think he'd want to go somewhere..... then a take off motion with his arms, like a mighty eagle. Can you see this? It looks like an imitation of a motorized bird. Maybe he thinks he can fly?

Overall, I'm sensing he's a pretty independant child. He enjoys grabing the spoon from my grasp while I'm trying to feed him. I guess he can do a better job. A better job of missing his mouth and getting it all over his hair, clothes, feet, high chair, floor, my clothes, my hair- you name it. And while all of this is going on, he becomes aware that if he pulls hard enough at his bib, fast enough, no one can stop him from wearing it as a hat.

And he thinks he can make his own bedtime. He has learned that if after dinner, bath, books, songs, he kicks his legs and keeps his eyes open long enough, mom will give up and let him play. And most of the time, he's right. Ah... life.

And the whole binky thing. He can take it out of his mouth, hold it in his hand, and then whine till someone helps him put it back in. This makes for long, long, sleepless nights. Just one more reason I don't really like binkies. But he loves it so much, why stop now? I think when he sees all the other kids in Jr. High that don't use one, he'll stop. I'm sure of it.

Happy Birthday

That's right folks, today is the day. .5 years old. That's what I'm going to say when people ask how old Mitchell is, "He's .5!" Maybe then, they will spare the other questions that follow. i.e. where did he get all that hair?

Also, coincidentally, he had his 6 month check up. Diagnosis? Healthy. Head size? Up one percentile. (that makes it the 99th people) This was also the checkup where I think I asked the dumbest questions ever (and, I might add, it is hard to beat past appointments) I was really, and kind of still am, confused about feeding solids. I just want to do everything right, okay? And for some reason no one was understanding me.... sob sob sob.

"So...when is a good time to add veggies to his diet"
"last month"
"great. so.... do you substitute it for rice cereal or...?"
"you can mix them together....if you....want..to... most people would add water....it has to be a thin consistency remember."
"Wait, I don't mean making your own baby food."
"Actually, I would recommend buying it from a jar first, and then after you know his allergies you can puree your own....with adding water or milk"
"Okay, clearly this is not working. I give the baby rice cereal AND veggies, right?"
"If you want to. It's all up to you. You can make your own decisions."
"Okay, listen stinky doctor. How much rice cereal should I give the baby!?"
"2 servings a day."
"That's really all I wanted to know. Can I give him water?"
"um... yeah, you can add water to the veggies when you are blending them, instead of milk"
"no I mean like actual water, from a cup.... if he gets...thirsty...during....the vegetables?"
"are you retarded?"
actually that's what he was thinking, I am sure. He really said "sure. like 4 oz. or so."

Okay fine! I don't know why I don't do some internet research on stupid questions. Live and learn I guess.

In other news, I started scrapbooking, thanks to Mike and all my new paper from Christmas, and it's so cute! I love it. And now I'm out of pictures. Not that it means I'm caught up, no no. Still haven't made it to our wedding. And no, before anyone asks, the cake fight pictures will not be printed. Walmart here we come!

Hm....is that it? How boring. I did find some random old C.D.'s.... Ella Enchanted anyone?

Holiday Bliss

As dear old Mikey and I sit here, enjoying the bliss of nighttime routines, and the last of Santa candy, we thought we relay to you our fantastic holiday season (we thrive on political correctness, here at the Taylor household). And, as an added bonus, after much request (....maybe...), we're switching paragraphs!!! Mike here will continue in the following paragraph, and I the next, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera!

So we went down to Draper, UT to visit Meagan's parents for Christmas this year. We headed down there the 23rd because we wanted to surprise her mom and show up a day early without telling her, it turned out to be amazing. We walked in the door, and she started crying because she loves me more than Meagan and I walked in the door first. She said, "Oh Mike I have been so excited to see you", she proceeded to kiss my feet and rub them for hours (I wish meagan gave me the same treatment when I came home from work, rude.)

Geez, men are ARROGANT. And Mike forgot to mention we walked in during the middle of the prayer, that was awkward. But it was good to see family. And the nativity was lovely. And Mitch got his first grandma book, or great-grandma book, as the case is- a darling little board book about sheep, jeeps, leaps, and heaps. Mitch was also spoiled during the real Christmas eve, with another grandma book, about fingers, toes, and babies. I think this is a fantastic tradition for my little bookworm.

Well, now that Meagan summarized our whole vacation in one paragraph, I will proceed to talk about some other stuff. So that next day was christmas eve. We got up late, which felt amaziing, and we played board games all morning long. I was dominant, obviously. We then opened pajamas at 4 o'clock. My personal favorite were Thomas's Wii pajamas which he wore to impress Tabitha on their first date together, way to go Thomas. We won't discuss what she wore. Meagan got some felt pajamas from Old Navy and I got a shirt which was too tight and pants that were too big. SO LAME. Mitch got a one-z pajama set from mom and dad with animals on it.

Hm.... felt pajamas, and one-z pajamas. HA! I'd also like to mention that Mike picked out his own pajamas, any differing in size is his own fault. Conserning Christmas Eve, we ate Chinese, and we're really proud of mom for not blending it up..... it's all one step closer to hearty steak and juju fruits. Christmas morning was magical. Mitch got loaded, thanks to Santa, who definitely likes to spoil perfect children. Mitch got a jumper, and lots of fun little toys, and plenty of books. I guess the year to buy more books over toys is the first. Ten years from now, books might not be such a big hit, but we hope so.

I might add that Thomas and I went to get the chinese food, and the lady working there didn't know a lick of english and it literally took us a half hour to order the food. Christmas overall was fun. I was hard for me to leave Meagan for five days after christmas for the holidays so that her mom could see Mitch. We ended up spending new years with her family too which was fun, especially Kristi's hogies which were really good. It was too bad we all got strep throat and thanks to Paul we're all healed now because of his drugs which he let us have.

Okay, wait! First, Mike came back to New Years with strep throat, and I, having not seen him for 5 days, kissed him....dang it. But we are lucky for Paul, that is true. It was fun for me to spend some time with my mom and family, and a nice break too- between mom, Em, and Madee, all I have to do is feed Mitch. And yes, that includes stinky diapers.

And since Mike, being a man, thinks the story is finished, I guess I'll take over..... the New Year's Eve party was so much fun, the sandwichs were amazing, as usual, and I dare say this was the funniest White Elephant yet. We ended up with a lazor gun and a robot that walks I think....

The best part was seeing all the people we love....

Happy New Year!!!