Kisses

No kissy picture, but still a cute one hanging out with Daddy.

Tacy has begun giving kisses.  Lately when she is tired she gets really slap happy (yes she gets that from me).  She will laugh at anything and sometimes nothing at all.  Then she will grab your face (by your hair if you have long hair like I do), pull herself to you, and plant kisses all over.  Her kisses consist of an open mouth and sometimes a wiggly tongue - she loves this because it makes me laugh.  When I'm putting her to bed and I have finished singing to her she will do this and then we just kiss each other over and over again resulting in both of us giggling.  It's so cute.  Luckily, she usually goes to sleep pretty quickly after I lay her down, so I can enjoy her cute giggles and kisses.  

Today Tacy's cousin, Grant, was over and her grandma was holding both of them.  It was nap time for Tacy and she started cracking up at who knows what.  Grant just kinda looked at her.  Then she started reaching over to him and doing her lean.  She got to touching his face and that's when I knew she was trying to plant kisses on him (they were each on one of their Grandma's knees).  So Grandma Taylor helped Tacy to get close enough to Grant and she planted a kiss on his cheek.  I wish I had my camera cause it was so cute, even though Grant was still looking at her funny (most likely cause he just woke up from a nap). 

Tacy loves playing with her sippy cup, not really drinking from it

Other than her kisses, Tacy has taken to always having her tongue hanging out of her mouth.  Gosh, I sure hope this tooth (teeth) pop out soon!  Tacy still only really does stationary rolling begrudgingly   She is never happy when we leave her to roll herself off of her tummy.  Oh well.  

I took my comprehensive final and got a good solid 86% so not too bad, granted there were some I argued about (like that diabetes is not a sudden onset disease).  Oh well, but after taking it I was ready to just go take the NCLEX and get this thing over with....but I have to wait until May when we have finished OB/Pediatrics.  

We started OB/Peds last week and I do like it a lot.  Granted, it making me seriously contemplate if I will ever have another kid....somethings are just better to not learn about.  Oh well.  It is entertaining and fun. 

Brad and I are getting ready to sign up for a few summer classes (I need a dumb psych 101 class for my RN and he needs another chem and physics class for grad school).  Yay, and I love that the cost of 3 classes is more than my entire LPN year of nursing.  Ain't that just wrong.  

having fun in the cart at Sam's club

In the mean time, I'm excited for Easter this weekend because we are going up to Vernal to spend it with some friends and get away.  I'm slightly nervous as to how the road trip and sleeping away from home will go for Tacy....so it might be a LONG weekend, but we have got to get ready for a California trip the first weekend in May (might as well try a shorter trip first).

I keep trying to actually make things I see on Pinterest, but lately my problem is that I cannot find the stuff I need to do a craft, like the right wreath or the right color lace trim...lame.

I have made one t-shirt headband for Tacy this weekend, I read 4 books the past week, and I wrote 2 papers this weekend as well.  So not to shabby for being a mom and full-time nursing student. 

Severe bedhead - this is what happens when you sleep too close to your crib bumper!

The Face Eater

Tacy has taken on a new favorite thing to do: eat mom's face.  Typically she does this when she is really hungry and I'm having a hard time deciding if she is fussy because she is tired, hungry, or wants to move.  By this time I have usually put her on my lap to try and console her and she turns to look at me, grabs my face, pulls herself close to me so we are face-to-face and either eats my face or my hair.  It's a good attention grabber that's for sure, not to mention really funny.

She's not teething at all

Other than eating faces, Tacy says Dada all the time now: while playing, when she wakes up, when she is supposed be going to sleep, etc.  It is cute and really funny.  

Finally, Tacy has discovered her feet and loves to grab them and try to eat them.  It can be helpful when I am changing her diaper.  But she now pulls her socks off and is really showing off her flexibility to mom and dad.

This girl cracks me up so much.  We keep trying to work on getting her to drink out of her sippy cups, but she does not like water, even with a little juice mixed in!  She is so stubborn!  Talk about major payback for me (although I still believe she gets some of it from her Dad too!)

Having fun on a ladder at Joanns with Dad

Teething fun

7 month photo shoot!

Tacy is officially 7 months today!  I can't believe it.  She is getting bigger every day (in my opinion at least).  At her 6 month appointment she was 16 lbs 7 oz and 26 3/4 inches long.  That puts her at about the 50% for both weight and height.  I feel like she has gained a lot of weight since this appointment.  Tacy is now having food twice a day.  She loves bananas, apples, strawberries, pears, peas, carrots  and green beans.  

Poor Tacy is definitely teething now.  She has always been a drooler, but now she is like a fountain.  Drool just pours out of her mouth each time she opens it.  She puts everything in her mouth or always has fingers in there pushing on her gums.  She also loves to feel everything now.  What I mean is that whatever we put her down on to sit, she feels the material (ie: her play mat, the chair, the carpet, the blanket, her crib sheet..)  You hear this funny scratching sounds from her closing and opening her fists on the fabric.  It's pretty funny especially when she is supposed to be sleeping.  

Now that she is sitting so good, she gets to ride in carts and she loves it!

Tacy loves paper, table paper, mail, envelopes, mom's homework, etc.  She is an excellent sitter now.  She only falls very occasionally.  Now if only she would roll over when she falls/tips over then we would be great.  She keeps trying to reach for everything, so she has a pretty far reach.  She has had to develop this skill because she is good at throwing her toys too far away from her.  It's funny to watch her play with something, and get so into shaking it all over, and then have it fling behind her/too the side/ too far in front etc.  She then tries to stretch to get it or moves on to another toy that is closer to her.

Tacy still loves standing and will take steps.  In the walker she now will go forward (before she only would push herself backwards).  Rolling and crawling are still not something she is interested in.  She will move her legs on her tummy and stretch her arms out, but she won't put weight on her arms or try to coordinate to get herself somewhere.  Overall, she can play independently for a while, until all of her toys are without her reach.

I have 2 tests this next week for adult health and then we start OB/Peds and I'm excited.  Granted I am in end of semester mode and really would love a break...but oh well.  

I love the days I have off and can just play/spend time with Tacy.  I love watching her play and seeing all of her smiles, hearing her baby babble, etc.  I love her so much!  We are working on drinking from sippy cups. Tacy can get the liquid to her mouth, but then she typically spits it out, making her even more wet then she was from her drool.  So we have been going through a lot of bibs, thank goodness for water proof ones.

loving some naked time

I get to have another root canal (this will be #4).  I told the dentist how much I hate my teeth and how hard I try to keep them clean.  He told me that I have great teeth but he thinks it's my funky roots that are causing the problems.  He showed me that my roots don't go straight down but go to the side, which is what he thinks is causing all issues.  Fantastic.  Thank goodness for a nice tax refund to help pay for this tooth.  I'm ready to pull them all.

The sun is finally coming out and the snow is melted!  Too bad all the grass looks horrible and it reaks of mud.  But at least Spring is almost here!  I'm so excited and so is Tacy!  I keep telling her that soon she will get to see pretty flowers and her grandpa's big garden.  I'm looking forward to it!

Tacy's new passion: piano playing!  She pulls her self up from sitting to play

I can't believe it's been 6 months!

Tacy Lou is officially 6 months old!  I feel like that flew by so fast!  As for new things with Tacy:

- She can now say dada, granted she doesn't know what it means, but her cousin Grant says it all the time so now she does too, it's pretty cute

- She sits up great as long as something is in front of her to play with/keep her attention, however she will lean backward and flop over to see something behind/to the side of her

-She still does not roll from her tummy to back very often but she is constantly rolling from her back to her tummy

- She loves loves loves to stand and walk (take steps while holding onto Mom or Dad).  This is another things that could be attributed to watching her cousin because he walks all over the place on his own

- She loves bananas and apples, carrotts are okay 

- She can reach pretty far when she really wants something, such as reaching for the keyboard or to get things she is not supposed to

- If she is grumpy, give her something with an electronic screen and she is happy again (ie: phone, tablet, computer, or tv).  She loves touch screens and watching Brad play games on the tablet

- Tacy loves basketball, or at least watching her dad play which is really cute

- She has learned how to fake cough from her cousin, it's funny and so cute how much she tries to mimic/learns from Grant

Tacy loves to hold on to her toes now

That is all that I can think of right now.  We just love Tacy.  She makes us laugh all the time and we love doing anything to see her smile or hear her laugh.

Helping Mom study

Brad is still trudging along with work.  He doesn't love it, but it pays the bills.  I'm surviving nursing school somehow, even if my tests aren't going exactly as I would love them to.  We now have tickets to fly out to California in May for my sister's wedding and we are so excited!

Sitting up!

Speaking of weddings, we had a crazy last week of January/first week of February.  Brad's grandpa had a stroke and passed away a week later.  His funeral was on 1/31.  Then his sister, Kimber got married on February 2nd.  So it was a busy week for his family.  It was nice to see everyone, sad to see Grandpa Steven's go, but we know he is much happier now.

Laughing good while Daddy tickles her

The craziness begins again

This is actually the snow as of this morning

Well, Christmas here was WHITE!  It snowed Christmas Eve and then the day after christmas.  Needless to say, Tacy and I did not go anywhere and just looked at the snow from the inside.  We did go for a walk on Christmas to kill some time waiting for family, but other than that brisk walk, we were inside.

Christmas Day was good.  We opened presents in the morning, just the 3 of us.  Tacy was much too interested in the wrapping paper and still working on coordination of ripping things, but she enjoyed the balls she got.  

Christmas morning

We had breakfast with Brad's parents, Skyped with Brad's sister, Christine, who is on a mission in New Jersey.  That was fun because she got to see how big Tacy and our nephew has gotten.  Then we opened stockings.  The fun part was waiting for the whole family to come back to open family gifts.  I am not a patient waiter especially when we are told a time and an hour later everyone still isn't there.  Hence, Tacy and my walk.  Dinner was yummy, but due to late presents, I had to put Tacy to bed in the middle of dinner. But then we played some games.  Christmas also marked 3 years since my grandpa died, so Tacy and I talked about Grandpa Cramer for a bit.

Apple beanie thanks to Aunt Christine

Tacy became a sleeping champ.  She slept through the night for a week, but now she wakes up once at about 3 or 4am to eat, then she sleeps till 7-7:30.  She takes 3 naps a day usually, although their length varies.  Since school started again and she hardly sees Brad or I, her naps when one of us is home are short and the naps she takes when her Aunt is watching her are long.  Oh well I guess.

My parents and sister were able to come visit us the weekend after Christmas (Dec 28-30).  It was nice to spend time with them.  My mom spoiled Tacy with lots of toys.  Now Tacy has so many she doesn't know what to do.  But we went to Temple Square and had a good time.  The last time my Dad and sister visited my Dad's car had to get a new battery, which was quite the fiasco   Well, right before heading to Temple Square, my parents van wouldn't start.  We tried jumping it, because it was getting no power.  But that didn't work.  So my dad and Brad dinked around for a bit and then Brad discovered the the battery terminals were pretty corroded   So he got that cleaned up and sure enough, the van turned on.  

Mom, Robyn, and Me at Temple Square

  Then I started school on Jan 2nd.  I have already had one test and 3 quizes.  It should be 2 tests, but with the snow storm yesterday, school was cancelled today.  So I might be taking 2 tests on Monday.  The stress is starting to kick in because as much as I was hoping Tacy being older and more self-sufficient so she would be easier to do homework/study with, that is not the case.  I love spending 3 weeks with her during break, but now she really loves all the attention she can get from her parents.  So I'm trying to figure out how to balance Tacy and school once again.

Tacy has become quite the roller, at least from her back to her tummy.  She also is officially too big for 3 month clothes and wearing 6 month clothes.  She is also much better at eating cereal so we might start apples and bananas soon.

A Tacy smile for you

94 Percent and Sagas of Sleep Training

Well it's official, Tacy and I are awesome!  I had my final evaluation with all my instructors on the 14th where we talked about how I did for the semester.  They all think that I am awesome and have done a great job.  I got one b+ (89%) and then 92% and 94.5%.  So all in all not bad!

I took Tacy with me and everyone loved her.  She just sat on my lap and did her shy smile.  She is so funny in new places because she can't eat well because she is too distracted by all of the things to look at.  This is funny until she gets really grumpy because her tummy is empty.  

Monday, Dec. 17th, Tacy had her 4-month appointment.  She is 26 inches long (94th percentile) and weighs 15 lbs 8 oz (70th percentile) and her head is in the 25th percentile at 40 cm (but the doctor says she is fine because her head has always been in the 20th percentile).  Tacy was given a clean bill of health and got more shots.  Even though the visit interfered with her nap time, so she was pretty grumpy, she did manage to smile a little for the doctor.  And we were told that Tacy can start to have baby food! 

Not too happy about rice cereal

Since being home all day with Tacy I have learned some funny things about her.  For instance, Tacy loves to talk, but she really loves talking to things like the ceiling fan and the mobile of her swing, especially when they slow down or stop spinning.  It can make eating breakfast or getting ready take a little longer when I have to keep getting up to turn them on again, but it's worth it to see her smile and laugh.  Plus it is so funny to hear her carry on what sounds like whole conversations while the mobile. 

Tacy also loves staring at lights, whether they are on or off.  She has talked some to the light in her room or just stared at it.  I lay her on the floor in her room in the morning while I get ready so she can stare at the light and watch her mobile spin.  

We went to IKEA this weekend to look for things to try and baby proof our stuff.  Well Tacy LOVED IKEA.  There were so many lights to look at, people, and bright colors.  She could not turn her head fast enough.  It was a little hard to hold her when she is kicking and squirming so much because she was so happy and excited. Brad and I had to take turns holding her.  I also got a few funny looks when she would do her back bend to look at the lights above us or things behind us.  Yup, that's my daughter.

Tacy holds her bottle every now and then, but this weekend she got so hungry (during our errand run) that while I was mixing the bottle, she grabbed it out of my hands and shoved it in her mouth.  She held the bottle the whole time until she was done (that was a first because typically she gets tired of holding it after a while). It made me laugh so hard.

Tacy is still working on being able to sit up unsupported.  She has the foldover down (this is where she leans so far forward when sitting that her face is practically touching her toes) but she still wobbles sometimes when sitting up straight.  Today she had a whole body shake that made her pop backwards.  She has also started doing this funny scoot/crawl.  Tacy is not the best at reaching with her arms when she is on her tummy (particularly her left arm).  So to get something she uses her mouth and when her mouth is not close to what she wants she will kick and push with her legs.  She really gets her legs going and gets them right under her.  If only she started using her arms she would be crawling.  Instead she scoots and gets rug burns on her elbows, but she eventually gets what she wants.  It's really funny to watch.  One day I will try and get pictures of it but I'm usually too busy trying to help her move her arms.

the "foldover"

We have also been working on standing.  Tacy likes standing.  Sometimes I will pull her up to sit but she keeps her legs straight so she stands instead of sitting.  She has taken 3 steps (kinda).  I am always holding her up and am helping to lean her to one side and trying to encourage her to move a leg.  But 3 steps is all we get then she sits down.

I started sleep training Tacy last week because she had started waking up 3 times during the night and was not napping well.  After a very fussy and unfun day with a tired baby, we started.  I put her down to sleep when she started rubbing her eyes.  As long as her diaper was dry and her tummy was relatively full, she did not fight too hard.  The first night she slept 7-8 hours straight.  Her naps were getting better because I did not wait for her to fall asleep but put her down when she was tired and let her cry/talk herself to sleep.  We have had a few nights where she did need some help, like classical music, but she is getting so good.  She took 4 naps yesterday and slept 13 hours last night.  Now if we can just get her to nap during church, we would be great, cause this past Sunday was a nightmare because she would not sleep so she was grumpy and fussy the whole time no matter what I did.

The 5 generation shot: Tacy, headband made by Mom, onsie made by Grandma Cramer, blanket made by Great-Grandma Bennett, and sweater made by Great-Great Grandma Rottman

5 years and 4 months

Well Brad and I had our 5th year anniversary last month.  So crazy that we have been married that long, but at the same time I feel like single life was forever ago.  I will be on facebook and see friend's posts and then think "how do I know them again?" That's when I have to hunt through the cobwebs of my brain to remember people from my first two years of college!  It makes me laugh when I hear some of the girls at school talk about how long ago high school was for them only to hear that they graduated from high school in 2009 or 2010.  Yup, I feel old.  

In review of our 5 years of married life, here are some of the big things that happened to us:

We were married on 11/24/2007

We went on a cruise with Brad's family Jan 2008 (my first cruise) and Pres. Hinckley died on our drive back.

Obama came into office as our first African American President 2008.

Christmas was in Connecticut and NY with my family to meet my new cousin.

I graduated from BYU April 2009, we went on a cruise with friends, swine flu hit and instead of going to mexico we floated in the ocean for a few days.

We moved to a house by campus and I started working full-time as a medical assistant.

We moved again to a nice apartment south of campus.

I was rear-ended on my way to work (Oct. 2010), our car was totaled, and we bought a Civic.

Brad graduated in Dec 2010 and we moved in with his parents (thank you Obamacare and a car payment)

Brad started working full-time in Feb. 2011.

We went on a cruise with friends in April 2011.

We went on a christmas cruise with my family 2011.

We found out I was pregnant, and then I found out that I got into nursing school.

After 3 years and 8 months, I quit my job, went to the hospital and had our beautiful daughter.  5 days later I started nursing school.

I have now survived my first semester, Tacy is huge, and Brad is still working and waiting to hear about PA school.

Basically we moved a lot, went on a few cruises, both got our bachelors and are trying to actually get degrees that will get us decent paying jobs, and we have a baby.

As for the baby, Tacy just turned 4 months on Saturday.  New things with her:

She has taken up crying for attention and then laughing once you check on her.  Very cute, except when you are trying to get things done.

She loves to stand up so we practice sitting and standing a lot.  She is still working on her core muscles so she doesn't tip over when she sits or fling herself backward.

She loves to look at anything that has an electronic screen (TV, computer, tablet, cell phone, etc.)  They all calm her down and she gets unhappy when you turn her around so she can't see them.

Tacy loves to lean WAY back to see behind or above her.  You have to be careful if you are holding her or she might topple out of her arms when she does this.  The girl throws her head back with force.  It's pretty funny to watch because she will just lean back forever to look at ceiling lights or people behind her.

She still loves putting everything in her mouth and enjoys taking her binkie out of her mouth but she is not so good at getting it back in the right way so then she gets mad.

  

We love our little girl.  She is adorable and fun.  She loves to smile and laugh and tell all sorts of stories.