The Bowlings Plus One

We've moved!

2012-02-12T21:30:00.000-06:00

You can find the new blog here!

http://bringingupbowling.blogspot.com/

Pictures, Videos and news!

2012-02-02T20:12:00.000-06:00

It's a BOY! We had our 16 week scan today and learned that baby is 100% BOY! We are so very excited, one of each is going to be SO fun! We let Taylor come along because she has been asking to see the baby. Actually, HER baby that's in my tummy, according to her. She loved it. First, she was disturbed by the gel the doctor squirted on my belly, but then she saw her brother on the screen and her face lit up. He lifted his hand up at one point and the doctor clicked back and forth between two frames and made it look like he was waving at her. The girl was grinning from ear to ear, and leaned over to tell Daddy that he was waving at her. So sweet!

Here she is before the appointment, excited!

A couple of quick videos... this first one cracks.me.up. She was SO excited at the beginning, you can see it in her face. But, as soon as the doctor squirted that gel all over my belly, her face is priceless. She actually didn't even see the baby at first, she was so worried about what was going on my belly and how I was going to get it off.

Then she finally saw him. So sweet <3

Here's one of me, at 16 weeks (Baby is currently measuring 6 days ahead)

And finally, a few profile pictures of baby BROTHER!!

Waving

Close up profile of head and tummy

And last but not least, since we will no longer be "The Bowlings Plus One", we obviously need a new blog name! I am working with Jumping Jax designs for a cute new blog design and name. Of course, I'll let you know as soon as it's ready!

A few pictures

2012-01-20T20:06:00.000-06:00

I have been SO bad about taking pictures lately. Between the 1st Trimester exhaustion, working full time, taking care of one sweet girl, I'm tired. Here are a few from the last month or so. And now that I'm officially in the 2nd Trimester (how did that happen so fast?!), and feeling better, hopefully my picture taking will get better. Hopefully. For now, enjoy these.

Look at that fake smile! But she looked so cute for our New Year's Eve dinner out at a Hibachi restaurant

Yes, Michael likes to ruin pictures.

As soon as we got home it was dress up time for the girls

And this is how we spend New Year's Eve these days!

A couple of weeks ago, it was in the 70s! This has been a crazy (non) winter! We took full advantage and had a picnic at the park, and enjoyed the playground.

Baby Bowling 2.0!

2012-01-06T18:05:00.001-06:00

Want the details on how this happened? Okay, not the details, but I will say it wasn’t the traditional manner, and this is truly a miracle baby! Here’s the short and sweet. Not really, it will be very long, but it has been a crazy few months!

Let’s back up a little. Many months ago, we had FINALLY decided we would try and give Taylor a brother or sister. At this point we were of the mindset that if we got pregnant, great but if not, it’s okay because we have one amazing, perfect little girl. Little did we know what was ahead of us.

A few months went by, and nothing. I get that I’m older, but we got pregnant with Taylor during our first cycle, so I started to wonder. Then a couple of months after nothing, I began having random cramping and spotting - weird times of the month, as in not during my normal cycle. I immediately decided to make an appointment to see my OB, who I adore.   She is so on top of things, we immediately started the standard testing. As a part of that testing, we did an ultrasound to check things out. That’s when we discovered I had a large cyst on my ovaries. Three of them, in fact.   She did not think the cysts would resolve themselves, so true to her form, we decided to go ahead and get the Laparoscopic surgery scheduled to remove them, right away. Really, it wouldn’t be (shouldn’t have been!) a big deal. An out-patient surgery, tiny incision, and I would be off work a few days to a week at most. I mean, I’m not getting any younger, so let’s do this. Let’s get on with it.

The surgery was scheduled for one week later, on August 18th. Michael and I got up to the hospital bright and early, I got my happy meds and was wheeled away to surgery.   When I woke up, I was disoriented, in a lot of pain, and recognized that I was in a regular hospital room, not a recovery room. I was in the same type of room I was in after I gave birth to Taylor. Something was wrong, something happened, but my brain couldn’t function long enough to figure it out. Finally, Michael appeared. He asked if I was ok, and all I could ask is “what happened??” He proceeded to tell me things were bad, and I had to have major surgery, not just Laparoscopic surgery - okay, that’s what the pain and inablity to move was. I had major abdominal surgery, a 5 inch incision (like a c-section) to be exact. He said I would be in the hospital for 2 or maybe 3 nights. He then said that I lost my right tube, he said Dr T would explain but it had to be done. Okay. I still didn’t understand the gravity.

Later, once I was more with it and settled, had a few visitors and some food, Dr T came to check on me. She explained that the cyst was huge, as in the size of a grapefruit! It was so large the Lap surgery would never had worked, hence the large incision. It had actually grown since the week before, at my ultrasound. She had no idea how I hadn’t had any symptoms, how I wasn’t in pain constantly. I also learned that along with these cysts, I had Stage 3 Endometriosis. My right tube was so damaged from the Endo, it had to go. She “cleaned up” the rest of it as much as possible, but basically my tubes, ovaries, entire reproductive system is covered in scar tissue and damaged from the Endometriosis. She couldn’t believe that I haven’t had significant pain. My cycles have always been painful, so I just thought that it was normal.

So here I am, in the hospital, less one tube, Stage 3 Endometriosis, and facing weeks off work.   I was released from the hospital, healed for a few weeks, and went back to work. After my post-op check-up, Dr T said we could start trying again, right away. I was anxious to get started, but then I started reading, researching, and understanding how bad all of this was, especially with my age (ugh!). We didn’t really have any time to waste, and Dr T suggested that if we weren’t pregnant within 3 months, to go see a Fertility Specialist. What?! A fertility specialist? We had NO problems conceiving Taylor or with the pregnancy itself. I couldn’t fathom how I had gotten here. Then Dr T dropped a bomb. She said that likely our best chances for having another baby would be IVF. Invitro Fertilization. Holy crap. I couldn’t even think about it, we immediately said we didn’t think we could do that. Injections, shots, hormones, it was just... too much.

However, I will say my attitude towards having baby #2 TOTALLY changed. I went from “if it happens, it happens” to I REALLY want another baby, now. I guess it was my body telling me I CAN’T that made me more determined to beat those odds. I never knew how badly I wanted another baby until my body said no.

Instead of waiting 3 months to see a fertility specialist, I made an appointment right away. We got started right away with the standard tests. The most important test was the HSG. This would tell us whether or not my remaining tube was open or blocked. If it was blocked, then IVF was our ONLY option to have another baby. If it was clear, we *could* get pregnant but the fact of having one tube, Stage 3 Endometriosis, and my age, our chances were very slim. The HSG revealed that my remaining tube was partially blocked. Great. But really that kind of sealed the deal for me. After several weeks of tears, researching, worrying, stressing, we decided to go for it. IVF here we come.

I'll spare you the details on the process, but I will just say that it was tough. I had to inject myself in the stomach with hormones up to 3 times a day for 11 days, there was a giant needle inserted in my ovaries to retrieve the eggs. There was the actual Transfer (which was a piece of cake in hindsight) And after that? If I got pregnant, there would be 10 (TEN!) weeks of daily intramuscular injections, with a BIG, giant needle.     No fun, not fun at all. There were tons of hormones, bloating, needles, discomfort, needles, and more needles.

Then, there was the biggest decision we struggled with. How many embryos to transfer back. The doctor recommended 2-3 for someone my age. Um, no. We wanted a baby, but we wanted ONE baby. He explained that at my age it was unlikely that both would stick. He said that it was likely none of them would stick. How the heck were we supposed to decide what to do? I had been through so much, and what if it didn't work? How could I put myself through all of that, all the emotional and physical stuff, and have it not work. It was SO hard, probably one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make.

On the Transfer day, we had two “beautiful, perfect embryos” according to the embryologist. They were all set to for the transfer, and they were really encouraging us to transfer both. We just couldn’t do it. I just had a feeling/intuition that if we transferred both, both would stick and there we would be with twins. Obviously, we would have adjusted and made it work but, we really wanted only ONE more baby. My doc encouraged us to re-think our decision, but we stuck to our guns. The odds were TOTALLY against us. I kept reading the stats for someone my age, especially transferring only one embryo, and really my hopefulness faded. And I can tell you more than once, I thought “what the hell am I doing?”

Ultimately we had to do what we were most comfortable with. And we were most comfortable with transferring one “beautiful, perfect embryo”, so that’s what we did.

Want to see something totally amazing?

This is our “beautiful, perfect” embryo:

And this is our "beautiful, perfect" baby!:

7 weeks

12 weeks

I’m 12 weeks pregnant, and SO happy we took the chance. After months of injections, hormones, emotions, worry and stress, I can’t believe it worked. I still can’t believe I’m pregnant. We beat the odds, when everything was totally against us.

Baby Bowling 2.0 coming, July 2012!

Christmas 2011!

2011-12-28T17:45:00.004-06:00

We had an amazing Christmas, complete with a trip to Oklahoma, and SIX celebrations! We had a wonderful time but now are completely exhausted! Taylor is a loved little girl and got so much great stuff from friends and family. I'll include it all in one giant post, because I'm too lazy and really pictures is all everyone cares about, right?

Getting ready to go to celebrate with Pa-Pa and Grandma and family!

Listening and watching the music box like last year

We did a Dirty Santa gift exchange, and bless her heart, she got #10 (out of 10) which is great but she didn't understand. All she wanted was to open a NEW present not steal. She took the last one and it was a pair of earrings. In the end, she traded and got some Veggie Tales puppets.

Happy

Being silly with Daddy!

Christmas Eve morning at Gramma & Grampa's house!

Trying out all of her gear. Tutu, new purse, Vreader, baby doll, you name it!

Matching jammies!

All dressed and ready to go to Great Grandma's!

The three great grandaughters

Giant Sock Money from Aunt Carol & Uncle John!

And finally, Christmas morning at home!

Santa finished the cookies & milk!

Daddy & Daphne

Even Daph got presents!

Later that morning, Mimi, Larry, Beavis, Jason & Uncle Charles came over

Her new princess wardrobe!

Her face when she saw it :)

And just a couple from Christmas at Granny & Papa Lou's

Frosty the Snowman

2011-12-26T18:11:00.000-06:00

sings the girl who just asked for more Christmas (after celebrating 5 times!)

Party girl!

2011-12-11T17:49:00.000-06:00

This weekend we had a Christmas party, and two birthday parties. I swear this girl has a busier social schedule than we do! We had a busy, exhausting and fun weekend!

Just hanging out

Boys at one table

Girls at the other

They made ornaments!

Best Buddies!

Then it was on to Laney's birthday. We had a great time, and I just took a few iPhone pictures.

Cookie decorating!

There was lots of sugar consumed that day!

The girls had a blast playing with the balloons. It's the small things.

Finally, today we went to another birthday party at Chucke Cheese. Fun times, if you can imagine!

A picture of their "sketch" :)

Thanksgiving Weekend!

2011-11-26T15:20:00.000-06:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! We have so much to be thankful for this year, most importantly, our families! Per usual, we went to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving. We spent the weekend cooking, baking, eating and shopping and hanging out with family. I don't think it could get any better! We're getting ready for round #2 back here in Texas, but since we're all stuffed full of Thanksgiving food - we're doing it Italian style! Here are few pictures from our weekend. Enjoy!

LOL, it looks like she is running from something

Hailey was not interested in posing for pictures

Pretty girl!

It's tough being three

Later we went to Great Grandma's for our Thanksgiving feast!

Beautiful girl with crazy hair!

Reflecting? With Gramma and Aunt Jennifer

That evening we went by to see Grandma & Pa-pa for his birthday!

And finally, when we got home, we decorated for Christmas. Hooray!

Thanksgiving Project

2011-11-05T19:55:00.001-05:00

Taylor loves doing "Projecks", and after she kept asking over and over, when we were going to "Uncle Homa" (Oklahoma) for Thanksgiving, I decided a paper chain would be fun so she can countdown the days. She was so excited this morning. As we drove to Hobby Lobby, she asked me who Hobby Lobby was, lol. I explained that is where we buy our stuff for our projects. We picked out some fun paper, and came home to get to work.
Eighteen days to go!

Saturday fun

2011-10-23T10:00:00.000-05:00

We had a super busy Saturday, but what a great day! We started the day with a 1st birthday party at a park, complete with a train ride. It was a beautiful day, and she had a blast!

Train ride with her buddy Ella

On to the next partay!

And next was Family Day/Fall Festival at my work. They really went all out. There was a train ride, bounce houses, slides, games, pony rides, a petting zoo, dance stage, face painting, games, lots of yummy food, and a Haunted House for the adults. And since she goes to daycare at my work, many of her friends and teachers were there. She had a blast, and it was tons of fun!

First stop, pizza naturally. We were hungry!

I think she liked it :)

Come on ride the train...

Pony ride!

Shooting hoops with Daddy

This was seriously the cutest thing she has ever done. The girl runs her mouth 24-7, unless she is around adults, and she clams up and becomes so shy and quiet. I swear she barely said a word to any of my friends. As we were walking by the stage, they were getting ready to start a kids "dance party". I asked her if she wanted to go dance and she marched right up to the stage by herself, even with the audience. She was beyond adorable! She was initially the smallest one up there, definitely not the most coordinated, and she was about 3 steps behind everyone else. But watching her watch the big kids and mimmick their every move? PRECIOUS. It was seriously the cutest thing EVER. I love this kid!!

Grinning from ear to ear when she saw us all watching her!

Her friend Henry joined her!

State Fair of Texas!

2011-10-17T18:13:00.000-05:00

We took of on Monday and took our annual trip to the State Fair. Beavis and Jason joined us as well. We had a great time, ate a ton of fried food, and Taylor played games and rode rides.

Something was ewww but I don't remember what :)

Ferris Wheel!

LOL, I think this expression was at the Zebra

The Pumpkin Patch!

2011-10-16T21:17:00.000-05:00

Today we took Taylor for our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch. I was really hoping for some cooler weather, but we made it work, even though it was 90 degrees out! I found this adorable dress on Zulily a while back, so threw that on with some boots and we were off!

I thought we were in trouble when it started off like this

But things got better, quickly!

Mooom!

She is owning that corn dog!

How pretty is my girl? <3

Bounce house fun!

Checking out the horses

Sassy pants

She was pumped to see Brobee

And Foofa

What we've been up to

2011-10-09T14:29:00.000-05:00

I've been so bad about blogging and taking pictures. I need to get back into my picture taking craze so I can share with y'all how big the girl has gotten. Three is tough, with the constant need to do everything "by myself!" to not listening, to whining, to not listening, to having an opinion on EVERYTHING, to not napping, to not listening... You get the idea. But it's also awesome. She's a sweet, funny, charming little person, one you can have real conversations with. She laughs and giggles, tells jokes, dances, sings, she's just an angel. When she's not being a terror. Anyway, I haven't been good about taking pictures but here are a few iphone pictures so you can see how big and pretty our girl is getting! I'll try to get better, promise. (coming soon: Pumpkin Patch pictures!)

A couple of weeks ago we went to Ang & Randall's house to celebrate Granny's birthday. The girls had a great time as usual! I have two whole pictures for you. :)

Last Saturday, we went to Beavis and Jason's house to watch the Rangers game. Taylor and Jason were comparing their Ranger shirts.

Shirt comparisons

Showing Jason how to do the Claw

Doing the Claw together

And Jason doing the "duck" or "cobra' or who knows, while T does the Antlers!

Last Wednesday, they had Pajama Day at school, and read the Llama, Llama Red Pajama book. And as a special treat (?) they had a llama at school. Exciting times, people.

Yesterday we went over to Frankie & Allison's to watch OU crush Texas in the annual OU-TX game. Boomer! We made homemade frito pie, queso, and dessert. And maybe a few adult drinks as well. Again, I didn't take many pictures but here are a few.

Seriously, how cute is this girl?!

And finally, today before a trip to Chucke Cheese with Mimi.

The Rangers are in the playoffs!

2011-09-30T20:06:00.000-05:00

Sadly the first game didn't go so well. But there's always this:

Fun day!

2011-09-17T21:27:00.000-05:00

What a fun day we had today. We had a little surprised planned for Taylor and Hailey. My Gym, the place where they both had their birthday parties (and have been to numerous parties) was having a special Open House event and the characters from Yo Gabba Gabba were going to be there. Now, Taylor has pretty much outgrown YGG, but I knew she would love it still because it was her absolute favorite show for a very long time. We didn't tell the girls what they were going to do this morning, but just met up there about 10 am this morning.

Well, it's a good thing we didn't build this up so much. They had one character. One. And possibly the most annoying one of the group, Brobee. And it wasn't even a cool legit costume either. Wanna see? Here's the real Brobee:

See the cute little green guy? That's Brobee. Here's what was at My Gym:

Seriously (wtf?)!

Anyway, no harm done, and the girls still had a great time. I'll back up and share some pictures from the day. Also, after we were done, we drove home to meet Gramma! Yay! We had a fun day of lunch, playing, shopping, and more playing. We had a great day, despite scary Brobee.

She look so big :(

Sweet girls!

Scary! Especially when she likes to just let go when she's done

Waiting so patiently

Hailey was actually pretty pumped to see scary Brobee. T is wondering what the heck is going on.

OMG

Hailey goes in for the hug

Taylor does too, very hesitantly though. Then she ran the other direction. Fast.

And Sophia showed up! So exciting!

So happy!

Once we learned there were no more scary YGG characters to be seen, we decided to head out. We had to get home to meet Gramma!

Post lunch ice cream! Also sporting their new personalized aprons from Gramma <3

The Zoo!

2011-09-10T17:01:00.000-05:00

The weather has been so nice lately, we decided to take this opportunity to take Taylor to the zoo. We haven't been since last year, and I have to say this is the perfect age. She did amazing and we had a great time. We brought a stroller just in case, but we ended up renting a wagon thingy that she could hop in and out of easily. It was perfect. We had an awesome day!

Sweet hugs for Daddy

Group shot!

Break for lunch

The highlight of our trip! She got to feed the Giraffe! "Katie" who is 3, "just like me!"

Cooling off

Nothing better than a Carousel ride (or two)!

Grandparents Day

2011-09-10T16:10:00.001-05:00

Friday was Grandparents Day at school. All Grandparents and parents were invited down to make cookies, have story time and they got a special gift. I was excited about it, but I'll be honest, Taylor was being quite a toot that day. Not sure if it was just because she just woke up from her nap or what. Just not interested in pretty much all of it. She did make sure Mimi got her jar of cookie ingredients, so they could make cookies next time she is at her house. I forgot my camera, of course, but I got a few (blurry) iPhone pics.

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-05T17:59:00.000-05:00

We started the weekend without many plans, but ended up having a a full busy weekend all the way through. On Friday, Taylor spent the night with Mimi, and Michael and I went out for some adult time. On Saturday, Allison, Frankie, and Hailey came over. We cooked out and swam and then my great friend Cathy came in town from Oklahoma to hang out too.

She refused to smile at first.

There it is!

Sweet cousins

They were dancing

Sunday afternoon we ventured out and took Taylor bowling for the first time! It was... interesting. I don't think she is quite ready for it but we had a good time anyway.

Gloating?

lol

Victory dance!

and High Fives

She was mad that Michael helped her push her ball

Towards the end we got this contraption which helped tremendously!

And today... it was in the low 80s* people!! It was heavenly. We went to the park and had a picnic. It was fabulous.

Cheeto face!

Princess

2011-08-31T17:26:00.000-05:00

This past week the Disney store had their Princess nightgowns on sale. Daddy bought Taylor three of them, her choice. They came in the mail today, and after she opened them up, she came running out like this:

Yep, the little stinker is wearing all three at once. I love this kid! (sorry for the blurry iphone pics)

Fun weekend - lots of pictures!

2011-08-14T10:59:00.000-05:00

On Friday, we found out last minute that Pa-pa was in town for work, so we all met up for dinner. I didn't get many pics but her are a few of the girls playing before we left.

Most importantly, we got RAIN this weekend, rain people! While we may have fallen short of the record for number of days over 100 degrees, the rain was much needed. I don't think we even hit 90* on Saturday! We spent the morning playing outside. It was glorious. And she got to bust out her rain boots and umbrella.

Let's play ball!

The girl is hilarious these days. She has the funniest expressions. She'll ask a question or make a statement, and do this. I love her.

That night we went over to cousin Hailey's house. We made some yummy food and the girls played until 10:45pm without missing a beat.

Having some chips & salsa

3 year pictures!

2011-08-01T22:11:00.002-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, Taylor and I braved the heat and went out to Nash Farm in Grapevine for her 3 year pictures with Alyssa Maisano. The girl was totally eating it up, posing, smiling, laughing, you name it. These are by far the best pictures we've ever gotten of her! You can see a few in the new blog header, a few of my favorites below, and the rest here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/30143492@N08/sets/72157627201858805/.

Enjoy!

Summa Time

2011-07-24T19:43:00.000-05:00

It's summer. It's hot. Really HOT. We're doing what we can to stay cool. Here are a few pictures showing what we have been up to.

Sweet cousins!

Hailey and her Daddy

They had a blast throwing ice from the cooler into the pool

Even Daph is annoyed with the heat

Except when her boyfriend comes to visit

Watching him swim, lol

Filling her piggy bank with TONS of quarters - Thanks Uncle Charles!

Seriously, it's ridiculous

Swimming with Grandpa Dave in Oklahoma

Back float

Being silly at Great Grandma's house!

4th of July

2011-07-04T18:26:00.000-05:00

It's starting to become a tradition - going to the lake at Shirley's house for some sun, great food and fireworks. This year was no exception. The water was so low, that we weren't really able to enjoy the lake as much, but Mimi bought Taylor a pool and she loved that. The food was fantastic, and a great time was had by all!

This girl LOVES her Uncle Jason!

Independence Day Parade

2011-07-01T17:19:00.000-05:00

Today Taylor's school had a parade in honor of Independence Day. The kiddos made shirts this week, and decorated their scooters, bikes, tricycles, etc. They were unbelievably cute! Check out the parade!

All ready!

Here comes her class!

She was flying down that hill!

Somehow she was always going against traffic, lol.

Swimming & Hailey's Birthday!

2011-06-28T20:07:00.000-05:00

Just catching up a little... a couple of weekends ago Mimi and Larry came over. We had an awesome lunch then went swimming.

This past weekend was Hailey's 2nd Birthday! I cannot believe my sweet baby niece is no longer a baby. We had a great time at her party!

No hands!

Motorcycle ride for the birthday girl!

Besties!

Gramma and her girls <3

Just Because

2011-06-17T23:01:00.000-05:00

Gramma bought this adorable outfit for Taylor while we were in Florida. How cute???

Jack's Birthday!

2011-06-17T22:55:00.000-05:00

Last weekend was Taylor's friend Jack's birthday. He had an awesome shark-themed outdoor "splash" party. She was a little shy at first, but quickly warmed up and was sopping wet in no time. Happy Birthday, Jack!

haha

Rosco!

Big Big Girl bed

2011-06-17T22:45:00.000-05:00

Shortly after Taylor turned two, we converted her crib to a toddler bed. She did great but before we knew it, it seemed as if she was already growing out of it. After her third birthday, we made the transition to a really big girl bed. She loves it.

We also got her a fish. It's a male. She named him "Sister". I think she's trying to tell us something. Thankfully, by day two she had changed his name to Dorrie (like from Nemo) Cute.

Dorrie aka "Sister"

Just because

Meet the newest member of the family.

2011-06-11T22:47:00.000-05:00

This is Taylor's new fish. He's a boy. She named him "Sister".

The aftermath

2011-06-06T17:00:00.000-05:00

Sunday we spent the day unpacking, putting together and playing with all of her new toys. A couple of her favorites? A t-ball set, and a new Princess scooter (thanks Pa-pa and Grandma)! We played outside for a little while, then jumped in the pool to cool off. After that we stayed inside to play with her inside toys :)

Her first attempt was funny

Some coaching from Daddy

Much better!

Time for a drink!

And birthday evening!

2011-06-05T19:01:00.000-05:00

The party didn't end after My Gym. That afternoon we had family over for presents, pizza and swimming. The girl stayed up until almost 10pm! She had a fantastic day, and even slept until 10:30am the next morning! Everyone was so generous and she got so many fun toys that we can't wait to play with!

New jewelry + jewelry box from Hailey

She really studied all of her cards, too cute

She seriously pulled the card out, shrieked, and said "a card!!!" like she had been dreaming of that, lol

Bubbles!

Her Ariel nightgown from Sophia. I don't think she'll ever take it off :)

Birthday Party!

2011-06-05T18:10:00.000-05:00

After the mini celebration that morning, it was time to head over to My Gym to party like a THREE year old! We've been to several birthday parties there and the kids just love it. Fun music, toys, things to climb on - really can't be beat. And we're not outside in 100+ degree weather. Taylor had an absolute blast. Thanks so much to everyone for coming and helping Taylor celebrate her special day!

In the ball pit with Jack

Jump, jump, jump around!

Zipline bucket rides!

Motocycle ride for the birthday girl!

She got to swing while everyone sang Happy Birthday

Hangin' with her bestie, Sophia!

Climbing the rock wall with the help of Sophia's Daddy :)

Bubble time!

Birthday morning...

2011-06-05T17:47:00.000-05:00

We started off the Birthday girl's morning with a birthday donut! Then she opened her gifts from us. She got a couple of Princess dress up costumes, a kids camera (that takes real pictures!), a building toy set, some clothes, swimsuit and new pool floats.

Girl chowed on her birthday donut!

Three.

2011-06-05T08:46:00.000-05:00

I cannot believe my baby is 3! This year flew by, and my sweet baby girl is turning into such a sweet big girl. Taylor is learning so much these days, and is so smart, kind, funny, sweet, and all around just the best girl ever. She loves her friends, her family, and school. She recently (as in last week) transitioned into Pre-school! Pre-school, people! She's doing so great so far, and I cannot wait to see how much she grows and learns in her new class.

Her favorite shows are Dora, Minnie, and she still loves some Yo Gabba Gabba. She loves all of her babies, stuffed animals, purses, jewelry, Minnie Mouse and all things Princess. Given the chance to eat anything she wants, she will always, I mean always, choose Chicken Nuggets and French Fries.

Our sweet girl has changed our world, and we wouldn't have it any other way. The last three years have been the best years of our lives. It's hard to put into words how much we love her and are beyond proud of her. Here's to another fabulous year with the best girl ever!

Happy Birthday sweet angel - we love you so much!

June 2010

July

August

September

October

November

December

January

February

March

April

May

June 2011

Happy 3rd Birthday!!

Splash Day!

2011-06-03T20:42:00.000-05:00

I know I've said this a million times, but I absolutely LOVE having Taylor at the daycare at work. It is so awesome to grab her for lunch, snack, or go down and watch whatever fun activity they may be doing. Today (and every Friday in the Summer) they have Splash Day in the morning. Needless to say the girl loved it. And she was so happy to see me too :) I got a few iPhone pictures. Enjoy!

With her buddy Noah. Don't tell her Daddy, but I think she's a bit sweet on him.

Vacation! (part 4) The End.

2011-05-29T20:46:00.000-05:00

Friday was our last full day - so we decided to skip all naps (eek!) and spend the day at the beach and pool. It was another fantastic day!

My picky eater who barely eats a thing was chowing on some Salmon Jerky!

Love these girls so much!

Sweetest cousins

Our little family <3

Ramirez family <3

We took a break for lunch then went back out for round 2!

Time to go to the ocean!

"Mommy, I don't have any feet!"

I love her expression in this picture. Too bad our hair is blocking it!

Wait up guys!

I tried. She wanted to lick the shell.

Vacation! (part 3)

2011-05-29T20:12:00.000-05:00

Wednesday evening we took the girls for a walk to the park next to our condo. It was all fun and games for a while...

Until *someone threw a fit and decided to pull her pants down. Well, time to go.

By Thursday, we were all a bit sunburned and thought that would be a great day to explore St. Augustine. What a fun place! I wish we would have had more time there, maybe even without the kiddos. So many fun shops, bars, restaurants, sights - and I would have loved to have gone to the beach there as well. What can I say, I can't get enough of the beach! I need to live closer to one.

Here we go again.

Snacks make it better.

Lunch!

Taylor and Gramma

Me and my girl

Showing off their new shell rings

Then we found this awesome park

And more swimming after we got back to the Condo

Vacation! (part 2)

2011-05-29T19:42:00.000-05:00

Wednesday was pretty much the same thing, different day, put it was perfect.

Taking it all in

And, she's off!

She loved searching for "she" shells

Walking around like she owned the beach :)

Later that evening, after getting the girls (mostly) to bed, Frankie, Allison, Michael and I walked to a local sports bar called Sneakers. Aside from one other couple from Dallas, we were the only ones in the place cheering on the Mavs - or watching the game for that matter. But it was fun, and we'll never forget that place because that's where we watched the Mavs make the finals! Michael randomly said that if we won he was taking his shirt off (LOL), and they did. We couldn't quit laughing at them. Apparently we were the only Mavs fans in Jacksonville Beach.

Crazy boys.

Vacation! (part 1)

2011-05-29T18:08:00.002-05:00

Instead of making one big, giant, long post - I figured I'll break it down by day or two at a time. After all, I did take over 900 pictures! Last November, we started talking about taking Taylor to Disney World. The more I started planning, we realized how expensive it would be, and really at this age, she probably wouldn't remember it. However, during my research, I found an awesome deal on round trip flights to Florida - so we decided to make a trip to the beach instead. And to make it even better, Gramma, Allison, Frankie and Hailey joined us too!

We booked our tickets so long ago, and it seemed forever away, it was hard to believe it was already here - and now, already over. We had an awesome time. There were challenges - after all we were traveling with an almost 2 year old and an almost 3 year old. Traveling with two kids is MUCH more difficult than one. But for the most part, it was awesome The girls had a blast, and so did we. I'll save you all the reading and get to the good part - pictures!

At the airport - not starting out so well

Better :)

Afternoon 1 - the BEACH!

Hailey wasn't sure at first

Taylor however, had no fear. Girl LOVES the ocean!

"The Claw"

Testing out her new awesome travel bed! (highly recommend!)

And that evening, it was time to get serious - the Mavs in the Playoffs!

Watching the Mavs in the playoffs

WIN!

We were all exhausted that evening, but woke up bright and early to hit the pool and beach the next day! Some of these were taken with my point and shoot camera - zoomed in so not the best quality but you get the idea :)

Standing under her umbrella

Run run run!

Running with Gramma

I got some stuff, Mom

Helicopter!

And finally, Tuesday evening, we met up with my awesome sister Mindi (who lives there) for great seafood at Seafood Kitchen, and then went to her house to visit her new puppies! Eight Golden Retriever pups. SO hard to resist not taking one home!

Cookout and Friends!

2011-05-15T17:29:00.000-05:00

Taylor is such a trooper - no way would a measly little trip to the ER interfere with her party plans! She attended her cousin Ethan's birthday party that afternoon, and then that evening we had friends and family over and enjoyed the awesome weather. Taylor loves her cousin Hailey, and her bestie Sophia so much - those girls are beyond sweet together!

Before the party...

Helping Hailey blow bubbles <3

Second trip to the ER

2011-05-15T17:13:00.001-05:00

Saturday I was on my way to my hair appointment when Michael called and said we need to go to the hospital - NOW. I immediately turned around and met them at the ER. Taylor fell just right, and hit her ear on the corner of the coffee table. There was lots of blood, however by the time I saw her, the tears were dried up. She ended up with a scraped ear canal, and a few stitches and is now as good as new. She was SUCH a trooper - I'm so proud of her.

We will go back to her Pediatrician on Thursday to get the stitches removed. Just in time for "The Wedding" and our trip to the beach!

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T19:26:00.001-05:00

I am still on a high from last night, but I also had an amazing Mother's Day! My mom was here (which was a huge surprise), and we took Michael's Mom to lunch today. We had a great time. This afternoon Taylor and I took a glorious 2 hour nap together, and then I took some pictures with my new lens! Mom and Jennifer bought me the portrait lens that has been on my wish list for-ever! I took a few pictures of Taylor this afternoon. I love it!

I am so proud to be the Mommy of this beautiful little girl!

SURPRISE! For me!

2011-05-08T19:09:00.000-05:00

This weekend was probably one of my most favorite. EVER. I love surprises, love them. Even though I'm such a planner, I love nothing more than to be surprised - and this weekend I was BLOWN AWAY.

Let's back up to Saturday night. Mimi and Larry picked up Taylor for the evening and off we went. We were going out to celebrate Allison's birthday, and I thought we would do something for mine next weekend. Generally we celebrate together, but thought that this year we would do it separately since it is a "big" one for me. So. We show up at Cape Buffalo - the place Allison had decided she wanted to go to celebrate her birthday. As we walk in the room, I hear the biggest, loudest "SURPRISE!!!"

OMG, I was floored. So much so, I ran out of the room and came back with tears in my eyes. The room was filled with over 30 of my family and friends. My mom was there! My sister Jennifer was there - Cathy, Kelly, Sarah, Dana - from Oklahoma! All these people were there, for me! I was beyond overwhelmed, I really couldn't move for a few minutes. I was trying to take it in, and honestly I still don't think it has all set in.

Michael, Beavis and Allison OUTDID themselves. Apparently they had been planning this since December. They are veeery sneaky, and GOOD. There were cupcakes, pink/black/white balloons, tons of gifts, hot pink chandelier invitations, two entire rooms reserved, food - all of this, for little ol' me! It was all so me. It was perfect. I feel beyond loved, and seriously it was the best night ever. I think I am still glowing, albeit a bit hungover :)

I am so happy and feel more loved than I ever have. I missed my dad and Katha, and Dave, and others who couldn't make it, but was (and still am) overflowing with happiness.

Michael, Beavis, Jason, Allison, Frankie, Teresa, Larry, Taylor, Mom, Jennifer, Gigi, Eric, Sarah, Dana, Kelly, Cathy, Jenn, Adam, Fruitdog, Shirley, Louis, Debbie, Ang, Randall, Darren, Mel, Bo, Katie, James, Gabby, JC, Alex, Lauren, (missed you Brandon!). WOW!

Unfortunately I didn't take a ton of pictures, but I got a few. Hopefully all my friends will share there's so I will always be able to remember this amazing, fantastic night. I'll share more pictures as I get them.

Thank you ALL so much for coming, and making my night so special. This girl feels LOVED.

This pretty much sums up the night. Note the flourescent green frog sticker - Taylor passed them out :)

Love her so much.

2011-04-29T22:44:00.000-05:00

Easter Weekend

2011-04-24T21:32:00.000-05:00

Per our annual tradition, we packed up and drove to Oklahoma Saturday morning to spend Easter with my family. We arrived around noon on Saturday, and Mom and Taylor quickly got to work making Banana Pudding! Shortly after that, Allison, Frankie and Hailey arrived. The girls got their Easter baskets from Gramma and Grampa, then we had an Egg Hunt!

That evening we went over to Pa-pa and Grandma's house and joined our other cousins for yummy food and playing outside. The weather was gorgeous!

Sunday morning we woke up bright and early, and checked out what the Easter Bunny had left. They were both excited! Finally we got dressed up in our Easter clothes, and went to Great-Grandma and Pup-up's house. We had the best meal ever, but unfortunately it was rainy and cold today, so no egg hunts, luckily we got them in the day before!

Cousins!

Eggs!

SO exciting!

Yummmm

She definitely needs one of these "starter" scooters for her Birthday. She loved it!

and got the hang of it quickly!

Bed head & Easter Bunny gifts!

Sweetest girls

Easter at Mimi's

2011-04-10T21:27:00.000-05:00

Last but not least, we went over to Mimi's to celebrate Easter since we will be in Oklahoma for Easter weekend. We had a big lunch followed by another Easter Egg Hunt!

Then we made cake pops! It was so fun decorating them but even more fun, eating them!

Bluebonnets!

2011-04-10T21:04:00.000-05:00

We have been beyond busy lately so I didn't think we were going to get to do our Bluebonnet pics. Luckily we were able squeeze a few in today. We missed them when they were in full bloom and they'll be gone soon, but I'm glad we at least got a few.

Easter Egg Hunt!

2011-04-10T20:52:00.000-05:00

Today we had our annual Easter Egg Hunt with all of our friends and kiddos. It's amazing how much they have grown and changed. It was a little windy but still pretty (so nice compared to last year!), and the kids had a blast. Check out how cute they are. Ahhhh

my new favorite!

Getting ready...

Checking out the goods

Attempt at a group shot

Toy Story on Ice!

2011-04-03T20:33:00.000-05:00

Sunday was a girls day. Gigi, Sophia, Taylor and I started the day by having lunch, then hopped on the train for downtown - for Toy Story on Ice! This was our first time taking the train and it was so much fun! Not to mention that it dropped us off right in front of the AAC - no traffic, so that was perfect. The girls loved riding the train and had a blast at the show. We had such a fun day!

At the train station

So excited!

BFF!

It was WINDY. We were afraid they were going to blow off!

Jessie wands!

For someone who was all smiles, ALL day - she wouldn't smile for anything. Stinker!

We had such a fun day, and honestly I think the Mommies were more worn out then the girls! They giggled and laughed and mimicked each other the whole train ride home!