Party in Park City

Today is my last day of summer.  My RN year starts tomorrow.  Part of me is excited to start school again and have something to do during the day (not that I don't love spending all day with Tacy).  The rest of me wishes I could just stay home with Tacy.  But I just have to get through to April and then I will have a new degree (ASN - Associates of Nursing) and then make it through the RN board exam (yuck).  I can do it.  

Thinking about getting through school makes me think of Dory.  I love Disney movies and Finding Nemo is one of my all time favs.  Whenever Tacy is throwing a fit because I won't let her play with something she wants I pick her up and start to sing "Hey mister grumpy gills.  You know what you need to do?  Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, etc"  I think that is so much better than the little engine that could.  As great as "I think I can" is, "Just keep swimming" seems like such a better motto to get through hard times.

As this was my last weekend before school, we decided to do one more trip and went up to Park City with our friends, Sean and Ashley.  We went up Saturday and went to the Tanger Outlets.  I was so excited because we found Tacy a little pink Adidas track outfit for only $25 and we had a 20% off coupon.  Score! Tacy was getting fussy with the shopping because she was hungry so we went to McDonalds and she downed a yogurt parfait, some french fries, some bun, and bits of cookies.  Then we went and checked into our condo (thank you KSL deals).  The place looked kinda scary on the outside but our condo was so nice!  We got a 2 bedroom and it had a kitchen, a huge living area, table, big tvs, and the master bedroom was huge.  There was plenty of room for the 5 of us.  After Tacy took a nice nap we went to a mexican restaurant for dinner.  Tacy ate lots of black beans, rice, and some green peppers.  Sean said that food was pretty authentic mexican (probably why it didn't thrill my guts - I love sour cream and flour tortillas).  

modeling her track jacket

After dinner we went back to our condo and went swimming in the indoor-outdoor pool.  Tacy has never swam in a real pool before so we were excited.  It was 8pm by this time but Tacy was wide awake.  It had rained/thunderstormed earlier so it was a little chilly.  The pool wasn't too cold (but it also wasn't as warm as I would have liked).  Brad held Tacy in the pool and swam around with her.  She looked cold after a few minutes so we got out and wrapped her up.  I held her while I put my feet in the jacuzzi and everyone else sat in it.  Tacy was still smiling and laughing.  Once she was warm, Brad and Sean took her back into the pool and swam back and forth with her.  She was laughing so much.  If I hadn't been in the pool/spa myself I would have taken pictures.  Oh well.

dancing in the wicker chair before heading down to the pool

After baths/showers Tacy went to bed.  Then the rest of us watched "Mud".  Brad had a free redbox movie code and had read something about this movie and thought it sounded good.  Well it was a drama.  So it was interesting/depressing.  I will not watch it again.  It reminded me a lot of "Four Feathers".  Sean made all of us some yummy peach shakes to eat while we watched the movie so that was nice.

In the morning Tacy was up at 7:30 as usual.  So, Brad and I got up with her and fed her some banana.  Then I started to make breakfast for the rest of us.  Sean got up and cut up the rest of the peaches and some nectarines.  We ate those with yogurt and bananas.  I fried up some sausage and we also had cinnamon raisin english muffins.  Nothing too fancy but yummy.  After breakfast we cleaned up and packed up.  As soon as Tacy woke up from a nap we left.  Brad and I have never done much in Park City except to go up for the Alpine Slides or the Outlets.  So Ashley insisted we needed to walk down Main Street.  Main Street has lots of little shops along it and Park Silly was going on (basically a giant street market).  So we walked through.  It was an interesting experience.  We let Tacy play/crawl around in some grass by the Park City Lift because she was getting restless.  Then we drove back home.

enjoying the breeze while watching the Lift

It was fun to get away for a day/night.  Even though we didn't do much, it was still nice.  And we got a great deal on the room we stayed in.  Sean and Ashley loved playing with Tacy.  And now Sean and I get to start school again.  Woo hoo!

Welcome to Toddlerhood!

Tacy is officially one now!  Can you believe it?  It is so crazy that she was born a year ago.  I made a book of my favorite pictures of her over the year and it is crazy to see how much she has changed.  Watching her day to day it doesn't seem like much but looking at all those pictures you really realize all the changes from her hair (how much, how long, and color) to the shape of her face and her funny faces she makes.  

Brad had a final for his chem class the morning of her birthday, so he worked for a few hours, took his test, then came home early to spend the day with us.  We went to Cafe Rio (hello free quesadilla) and Tacy all of a sudden decided to start standing on her own.  She will now stand up from sitting (or kneeling as she loves to do).  She does it long enough that I have been able to get pictures of it.  That is saying something since before she only stood when she was distracted and did not realize she wasn't holding onto anything. 

We had a little family party on her birthday.  Aunt Jody and Grant(Uncle Eric had to work), Aunt Kimber and Uncle Sam, Aunt Melissa and Uncle Barry, Grandma and Grandpa Taylor, Great-Grandma Taylor (Great-Grandpa was working), and Great-Grandma Stevens all came.  Tacy loves seeing family, especially her aunts and Grant of course.  Tacy was a little tired (to say the least) because she refused to take an afternoon nap.  So when it came to opening presents, Tacy was kinda out of it and struggling to cope.  So I had to help a lot.  I told her that her next birthday she is on her own (jk but seriously I sure hope she wants to tear everything open by then).  Grant kept trying to come and open all her presents for her.  I should've let him.  Ha ha oh well.  She got lots of cute clothes, 2 books, a pull telephone, some shapes, and we gave her an elephant that spits balls up out of it's trunk.  Aunt Christine mailed Tacy some cute clothes.  The day before her b-day my Aunt Carolyn mailed Tacy a card and baby puzzle.  

I made some raspberry filled white cupcakes with raspberry cream cheese frosting (thank you pinterest).  I worked all morning on them and they tasted delicious!  I made a lot (47) cause I wanted to make sure there were enough.  Well everyone loved them (except Tacy) so they were gone pretty quick.  Tacy as it turns out is not a big fan of cake.  It could have been that she was so tired.  She tried the frosting but made a face when I put cake in her mouth.  Tacy does not tear into cake.  Aunt Kimber took pictures for her bday a few weeks earlier and I made Tacy a big cake for that.  All she did was poke at the frosting and eat it, so I cut some cake out for her and she ate some of it but had more fun just dipping her finger in the frosting and licking it.  Oh well.

As for Tacy's updates:

She officially weighs 19.5 lbs (47%) and is 30 inches long (81%).  This is why 12 month clothes are baggy on her and 9 month fit perfect (and she can still wear some 6 month onsies).

Tacy loves graham crackers!  If you give her cheerios and graham crackers, she will find all the graham crackers and eat them all first before even touching the cheerios.

Tacy still only has 2 teeth.  Her doctor said that most likely the rest will all come in together.  

Tacy now tries to get into everything - especially drawers.  

Tacy has become fascinated with her baby car seat.  Since we have it sitting in a corner of our living area, she will crawl over to it and climb on in.  Then she will sit there, drink water, dance and sing, and then try to come up onto of it to get to the bookcase behind it.  Now there is a basketball in the car seat to deter this.

Tacy can say Dadda, Momma, Mom, Dad, Hi, Whoa, Oh wow, and sometimes dog.  Hi is one she says sometimes (typically she says "hi dad").  We are working on helping her learn more words.

Tacy still loves bread and ice cream.  She also loves pasta.  Eggs were okay.  She still likes refried beans.  She still is not a big fan of gold fish.

We just love this little girl.  She has made us so happy and it is so fun to watch her learn new things. 

Ladder ball, Scones, and BANG!!

So my parents came to visit us on their way up to pick my younger sister, Robyn, up from BYU-I.  They got here on Saturday and took us out to dinner at a mexican restruant (La Cantina) that has lots of salsa and chips.  We also took them over to Nielsen's Frozen Custard and opened their eyes to the amazing creamy goodness of frozen custard.  During this expedition Tacy ate lots of refried beans, became enchanted by a boy playing the guitar and serenading us during during, and ate her share of frozen custard.  Now we know, watch out for those singing/guitar playing boys when she is older!  

Sunday was nice because I actually got to go to church!  For 3 weeks I have worked every sunday and it has sucked, so it was so nice to be able to go and be able to spend the day with my family.  Tacy charmed my parents and was her cute funny self for them with all her adorable laughs, giggles, and growls.  After dinner we played ladder ball with Brad's heavy duty homemade set.  We kept switching up pairs and found the most equal pairing was Dad and I vs. Brad and Mom.  I am not a consistent player and i'm not very good, but I had a great run where I got all 3 of my balls on each of the bars (doubling my score) which was awesome!  I danced but didn't get a picture of it.  Dad and I managed to beat Mom and Brad twice, which is saying something because Brad is pretty consistently good.  We also had a god game of Dummy Rummy and my mom was very to happy to beat us all while Dad was the beetle bomb.  

Monday, while Brad went to work, Mom, Dad, Tacy, and I went to Sill's for breakfast.  My family loves breakfast food so I knew my parents needed to try this place.  Dad got pancakes, which were yummy, mom got french toast which is good (not as good as my Dad's though) and I got a scone!  Their scones are HUGE and delicious.  Dad ordered another one so we all had plenty.  Tacy sampled everything.  If it is bread, she loves it.  After breakfast, Dad was put in charge of napping Tacy and Mom and I went and got pedicures.  It was nice to relax and get a back massage from the massage chair.  After our pedicures Mom and Dad wanted to get Tacy stuff for her birthday.  So we went to Riverdale and they got Tacy some clothes and some fun squeezable blocks.  Brad got home from work so he, Dad, and Mom went out to get fireworks (cause this was the weekend before the 24th of July) and snow cones while I stayed home with napping Tacy.  Mom and Dad loves the snow cone shack down the road and Dad and Brad went crazy with fireworks.  Once it was dark they set off the fireworks.  Mom stood way back by the house while I stood by the cars.  Some of the fireworks are really loud but they are fun to watch.  Then one of the big boxes tipped over after two shots and shot one across the street at the neighbor's house and then other back to our next-door neighbor's house and another up over our house.  That was scary!  I really thought a fire was going to start!  Mom was in the garage for that firework.  Luckily no fires started.  The last few big ones were not quite so terrifying.  Needless to say my parents ended their quick visit with a BANG.  Tacy really loved seeing them and warmed right up to them.  My mom painted Tacy an adorable onsie with Boo from Monsters Inc on it, but Boo has strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes like Tacy.  

Tuesday night (July 23rd) we actually went up to Brad's grandma's house who lives up on the Bountiful bench to watch Bountiful's fireworks from her house.  She has a great view and we were a nice safe distance away.  Tacy was a tired girl staying up so late but she loves spending all the time with her aunts and uncles.  The fireworks did not scare her at all thank goodness.  

Fireworks are fun, but i'm glad it is past the holiday now so people can't shoot them off anymore because it sure makes it hard for Tacy to sleep when you hear these big loud fireworks exploding behind the house.  Oh well, we survived with no fires and now we just get to celebrate Tacy's birthday in one week!

Our little Monster is 11 months!

I don't think I've said it before, but Tacy is a monster.  A very cute little monster.  She absolutely loves to make monster noises.  Sometimes it's growling, other times it's a roar (in a deep gurtaly voice) and then there are just her random low monster noises.  She sounds like a bear, a dinosaur, a...monster.  So Tacy is our little monster.  It's even funnier because she usually makes these noises when she is really happy.  So she is crawling after Daddy making monster noises and laughing, or she is playing with toys and smiling really big, etc.  It's really cute.

I have been wanting to make Tacy a tutu her whole life but I have a hard time trying to pick which color(s) of tulle I would use.  So with her monster noises, I decided to do turquoise blue and purple (like Sully from Monsters Inc.).  It seems so fitting for her and her noises, plus turquoise and purple look really good on her. So I finally bought the tulle and made her tutu today (my goal was by her 1st birthday because I want to get birthday pictures with her wearing it).  I'm happy with how it has turned out and that it fits her well.  Now I just need to make a matching headband.  I really would like to make a onsie with a cute little purple and turquoise blue monster on it, but I'm not skilled at small paint details and puffy paint doesn't last very long.  

trying out the new tutu

Along with her monster tutu and monster noises, I told Brad we should do a Monsters Inc. themed birthday party for her.  Only thing is, Tacy is only turning 1, so games are a little too old for her and her party will probably just have family members.  But I do want to do raspberry filled cupcakes (maybe a cake) since raspberries are purple and they sound really yummy.  Maybe I will dye the cake blue....

As other new things about Tacy:

She loves to squat.  She will pull herself up with furniture, a box, a chair, mom/dad, etc. and then squat down and then stand up, squat down, over and over again.  She will also squat instead of sitting down all the ways sometimes.  

Tacy is going to be a cautious walker.  She cruises along furniture and still loves to walk holding onto mom/dad's fingers (one finger per hand) but if you let go of one hand or both she will slowly squat down until she is sitting.  Sometimes she will stand for a second or two before starting to sink to the ground, but it is all done in a very cautious manner.  When I walk outside with her and she sees a leaf she wants to pick up, she will let go of me with one hand, pick up the leaf, and then raise that hand up again for me to give her a finger before she will start to walk again.  Very cautious.  Too much like her Mommy I guess.

Tacy loves to throw things.  Yup fun stage.  She has broken a bottle we used to mix her formula for cereal and a sippy cup from dropping them on the kitchen floor.  On a good note though, she loves to throw her little balls Brad got her for Christmas.  She will hold it in her hand and sometime actually throw it, other times just drop it, or squeeze it till it pops out of her hand.  Then she looks at you as it rolls away and says "Woah" and sometimes "Oh wow!"  Very cute.  I love this game.

Tacy is now staying up later.  She will talk in her crib, cry, and then start carrying on more conversations with her toys in her room I guess until we get her.  For the past week she doesn't go to bed until 8ish.  This might be normal for most kids her age, but Tacy starts sucking her thumb and acting tired at 5:30 still.  Oh well, she is sleeping in until 7-8 now so that's nice.

Tacy crawls up stairs by using one knee and then getting her other leg right up on the stair and pushing herself up to the next one.  So one knee and one foot each step.  When she gets in this flow she moves pretty fast.  Hence why we have to put the gait up to keep her from getting to the stairs because she can move fast.

Tacy loves to bang toys together.  She has these little different shaped blocks that fit into a house and she loves to hold two of them and bang them together.  This is sometimes the only thing that keeps her still long enough to change her diaper.

Tacy still loves the bath.  She crawls so fast into the bathroom if she notices you didn't close the door all the way.  Once in she goes straight for the bathtub, pulls herself up, and walks into the corner between the tub and the toilet where she then grabs her body wash and shampoo and pushes them into the tub and laughs.  Then she turns around and bangs on the toilet and will walk over to the trashcan (on the other side of the toilet).  

Trash cans are really becoming a problem because Tacy loves going through them now.

We are trying to teach Tacy the word "dog".  Sometimes she will point to a dog when you say dog, other times not so much.

Tacy is good at parroting.  Sometimes she will repeat what you say.  Brad got her to say Tacy today.  She also said Papa (what everyone calls Grandpa Taylor now) when Grandma said it.  She doesn't do it all of the time, but frequently she will repeat something that you say.

Tacy is on the "see Mom eat food" diet.  Sometimes she will do it with Daddy too.  But if I'm eating something, she will crawl right over, pull herself up on my legs, and stare at me and more importantly what I am eating.  Tonight she stared down my tacos.  So Tacy now eats whatever I'm eating (within reason).

Tacy still only has her two bottom teeth.  She has been drooling like crazy for the past week.  But I feel like I have been hoping for more teeth for an eternity cause more teeth = more food she can eat and the sooner she will be done drooling.  Oh well. 

Tacy loves cheerios and graham crackers, but she makes faces whenever she eats a goldfish.  She can be picky about cheese.  She also likes tortillas, quesadillas, chewy bars, and ice cream.

How Tacy eats her chewy bars - through the wrapper

We love our Tacy Lou.  I can't believe in one month she will be one year old.  

Life of a Worker Bee

Well I have officially been working as a nurse for 2 weeks now!  Originally I was told that I would have to orient for 3 weeks before I would work on my own, but after one week, Clearfield told me that they thought just one more week of orienting would be enough for me because all the nurses I was training with said that I was doing an amazing job.  As for West Valley, I guess the DON/ADON (directors of nursing) got the same feedback so after two weekend shifts there, this weekend they had me work on my own!  Craziness!  

Orienting was kind of interesting.  Basically I would work with a nurse and help/follow them while they showed me what they did and tried to teach me about charting, policies etc.  Some of the nurses it really felt like I was in clinicals again because they didn't have me do to much but watch.  Other nurses would ask me to do all of their charting (which isn't easy when I don't know the patients).  Some nurses work so slow and others work really fast.  But I had some really awesome nurses that I worked with, helped me learn a lot and were great teachers. 

So at Clearfield I had talked with the DON about working short shifts (6pm-midnight) but they just did their July schedule and all but one of my shifts is a full night shift (6pm-6am).  So I oriented 2 night shifts.  I survived, but it definitely will take some getting used to.  Thank goodness Tacy has been taking some really long morning naps.  Friday night (6/29) was my last orienting and I worked with one of my favorite nurse co-workers.  She let me do everything and helped me with what I was unsure about.  I got home Saturday at 7am.  West Valley asked me if I could work there from 2-10pm on Saturday and 6am-6pm Sunday (on my own).  I agreed.  So I slept for 5 hours Saturday morning, then got up, got ready, saw Tacy for 15 minutes and went to work at West valley.  My first shift alone (I worked half of another nurses 16 hour shift) was a little hard.  West Valley does things a little different than Clearfield (even though they are the same company). But I survived and was so ready to go home and go to sleep.  I got home at 11:15pm (2315 to me now) and got ready for bed.  I was able to sleep about 4.5 hours before I had to get up and go back to West Valley for the day shift.  That shift went a little better, although at 8:00am a patient did fall/roll out of her bed onto the mat next to her bed.  So I had to learn how to fill out an incident report.  It definitely is interesting/nerve wracking now that I'm the nurse so when anything happens, everyone turns to me.  I had so many residents trying to ask me about billing, how to discharge, and the fall of course.  So I had to really take charge, be calm with assessing the fall patient and help direct the billing questions to the right people.  All in all I feel that I did well for my first 20 hours on my own.  

Needless to say, by the time I got home on Sunday at 7pm I was tired.  Tacy was still up so I got to put her to bed.  So over the weekend I saw my baby for maybe 30 minutes.  Not fun, but the paycheck will be nice. Brad has been really great this weekend allowing me to sleep when I can while he watched Tacy and being supper Daddy keeping her happy, doing the laundry, and going grocery shopping.  

Now I get to relax a little because I don't work again until Tuesday night (for a full night shift) but at least it is at Clearfield (I really do like that facility the most, plus they have a well working AC).

It has been in the 100s for the past 3-4 days, which has made even walking outside to the car miserable.  With our one car having no working AC, driving is no fun (whoever is with Tacy gets the AC).  Even with AC in a car, it can take a while to actually start to feel cold again and we show up everywhere pink faced.  Poor Tacy still has to sit backwards so getting cold air to her is a challenge because the whole car has to cool down first.  Good thing she is such a tough little girl.

After my long weekend, we are taking a few days off to go up to Island Park, Idaho to relax and enjoy a bit cooler temperature.  Just our little family will be up there so it will be fun to have a family vacation, to relax, and try to avoid mosquito bites.  

Blessings

This week has been an amazing week of blessings.  All weekend I was so nervous and worried about my nursing boards.  Everyone in my class who had taken them heard within 24 hours that they had passed.  24 hours after I took my test, my name was not posted.  Then it was the weekend.  I prayed, I tried to stay positive, but oh man I was so worried I failed.  After all, it was the hardest test I have ever taken, the test shut off after the minimum questions (it is a smart test that evaluates how you are doing after each question and either gives you a harder one or an easier one and then stops the test when you have answered enough to pass or fail), and I really was counting on getting my license to help get a better job to pay our bills.  Basically all of my self-esteem was put into this test and my balloon of self-esteem was quickly deflating the more days that passed.  

Sunday, Brad pointed out that DOPL said they last updated 6-5-13 (the day before I took the test).  We both breathed a little easier.  Then Monday morning came around, DOPL said they were updated to 6-10-13 and my name was not up.  I did my best to stay positive, tell myself that I am smart, that life would go on, that we would make things work.  I said lots of prayers, read lots of scriptures, and hugged Tacy.  Then Tuesday morning came.  Tacy and I slept in.  I had worked late and she had gone to bed late because she went to her Daddy's softball game.  Brad called me and asked if I had checked online yet.  I had just woken up so that answer was no.  Tacy was waking up so I got her all ready for the morning, looked at the computer, and sat down to check.  My name was there stating that I was officially a licensed practical nurse as of 6-10-13.  As to why it took them 4 days to process my test, I really can only guess.  But I was so happy I could have cried.  Instead I just hugged Tacy.  Miracle number 1!

The week I took my boards, I had met with the director of nursing at the facility Brad works at.  She went ahead an offered me a job working PRN (as needed).  I met with HR the day before my test and filled out all the paperwork and was told to call them once I found out I passed so they could get me scheduled.  It was definitely a relief to not have to apply for jobs and already be offered one, but also added to my nervousness at the long wait for my results.  So I happily called them tuesday and set up to start orienting/training this saturday.  Miracle number 2

Miracle number 3 came Wednesday.  I met with a nursing facility in Clearfield (much closer to home).  They are part of the same company as the other facility I worked with, so the DON I had talked with in West Valley talked with this DON in clearfield and I was basically just going to meet her and get to know her.  The plan was for the two facilities to share me (since I'm working PRN).  Well this DON was really nice.  I loved the 10-15 minute drive.  She asked me how much I was offered at West Valley and when I told her, she gave me a questioning look and told me that she had to decide if she wanted to pay me the same amount.  To me this meant she was thinking of paying me less.  I told her that whatever she could offer would be fine (let's face it, anything is better than what I'm making at Ross).  She then told me that she would offer me $1.50 more an hour and that they paid $1.50 more an hour for night shifts.  She then told me that they had short night shifts that go from 6pm to midnight and asked if I would be interested.  I'm sure my jaw was on the ground by this time.  I was so happy and told her that would be great.  I just had to sign two papers as the wages were different and got set up to start training there next week.  She told me that they are full to capacity and could use me as much as I would like.  "I don't want to steal you from West Valley...but I guess we will just wait to see what they offer you for time and go from there."  

Great week indeed!  Tacy and I danced a lot.  My re-down root canal was over and we now have a clear way to pay for it. 

Last miracle would be that I finally got all the paperwork Weber State needed to process my FAFSA application done.  I had one form left that needed to be signed and was having a hard time catching someone in the nursing office.  I finally got in contact with one of the head Nursing Administrators and he told me to just email him the form, that he would finish it, sign it, and give it to the scholarship office for me so I didn't have to drive up to Ogden.  Considering a lot of people say that this particular guy is not very helpful, I was so happy.  He got it all done within an hour of me emailing him.  

We are all very happy.  I just had to count my big blessings from this week so far.  I quit my Ross job (they aren't too happy, but as Brad and I decided it was better for our family that I start making more money as soon as I can then waiting 2 weeks while making minimum wage at Ross).  Tacy is eating a ton more now, probably because she moves so much now.  She also says Mama a lot and I love it!  

10 months

Well life has felt a little crazy these past few weeks.  Brad has been studying for the GRE, I was studying for my NCLEX (nursing boards) and Tacy keeps getting more and more mobile.  On top of all that, I have been working part-time at Ross (yup living the life) in the evenings and on weekends, so we don't get a whole lot of family time with all three of us together.  I was able to go to ALL of church yesterday and it was wonderful.  I feel like that hardly ever happens anymore between Tacy and work.  But I didn't have to work at all and when Tacy got tired, starving, etc. Brad took her home to sleep (she had refused to nap before church).  It was weird not having Tacy with me, but I was actually able to listen to the lessons and relief society was a great lesson about pruning/trials.  I feel like we have our fair share of trials, but they keep on coming and I keep getting discouraged/disappointed etc.  So this lesson was awesome as it reminded me that we all have trials to help us grow and that I need to stop dwelling on the trials and what I don't have but focus on what I can learn and how I can improve.

Tacy officially turned 10 months on Saturday.  I can't believe that in less than 2 months she will be one!  But Brad and I are so glad to have her in our lives and so blessed to have such a fun and adorable little handful.

Tacy now crawls like a champ.  Sometimes she crawls slowly, other times super fast.

She loves to climb up everything: chairs, boxes, mom and dad, the stairs, poles, etc

Trying to get to the computer past Mommy's leg

Tacy loves poles.  It's funny but everytime we walk past a pole she has to reach out and grab it.  I think it is because they are easy for her to grip but trying to get her to not grab them and walk away is near impossible.

 Tacy still loves to walk.  She has also learned how to stop, as in when she is walking with mom or dad, when she wants to stop to look at something she will spread out her legs and turn her feet so you really can't make her keep walking without picking her up.  She is a smart little cookie.

With Tacy being so mobile now nothing is safe and we have been struggling to keep her out of things.  We have 2 bookcases that sit low on the floor and she now loves to go over to them and start pulling everything off of the shelves.  Plus they are great for her to pull herself up with.  We now have to keep the bathroom door closed and our bedroom door (she loves finding cords, keys, etc).  We have now "creatively" child proofed our main room using pillows, blankets, and balloons.  Tacy is afraid of balloons.  So right now a balloon is protecting the movies and Harry Potter.

Brad made her a pillow fort

Tacy still only has 2 teeth and continues to drool like a dog.

Tacy loves the bath, she crawls straight for it as soon as she is naked and laughs the whole way there.  She also loves splashing in the kiddie pool.

Tacy can climb the stairs pretty well now.  She will get distracted halfway up and try to go back down, so we have to redirect her attention, but we always clap when she gets all the way up and she smiles so big.

climbing Mommy to get to the camera

Tacy seems to have a better understanding for "mama" and "dada" as she seems to say them more when she is around mom or dad.  

Her attention span is maybe 2 minutes so when a toy keeps her busy for 10 minutes we are happy.   

Example of our baby proofing

 Now that we are feeding her more table food, if you are eating something she will crawl right over to you and whine until you give her some (even if she just finished eating her own food).  Tacy likes wheat bread more than white bread (smart girl).  

first time eating yogurt

Tacy has a "cheese" face that she loves to make when she is silly.  I think she learned it from her Daddy.  It's cute, funny, and goofy.

Taking pictures of Tacy is now near impossible without her turning into a blob so most of the best pictures I get of her, she is in her high chair.  Oh well.

Brad is just waiting on one more letter of recommendation and then he can submit his applications to PA schools.  He did pretty well on the GRE (granted we aren't sure how his scores to compare to everyone else yet but I still think he did well).  We are waiting to hear about if I passed my boards yet.  If I didn't then I will study more and retake them and keep focusing on how I can improve (not on everyone else and how they did).