Taylor Family Christmas

For our last Christmas we headed to Oklahoma City for the Taylor family Christmas. We left on Friday December 26 and came home on Sunday. It was Izabella's first out of state trip! This was the longest car ride she has had to date and did fairly well. We did, however, by a portable DVD player for the trip home so she could watch her new Veggie Tale CDs. What a GREAT purchase! :)

Except for the fact that I was sick almost the entire trip, it was a nice visit. I had never been to Oklahoma City either, but now I can say I have been! I wish we would have had more time to do a little but of sight seeing, but I didn't really feel like it at the time!

Nanny Taylor is Izabella's only living Great-Grandmother so I was glad we were able to get some four generation pictures. Izabella had a blast on Saturday. Allen and Cindy's grandson kept her entertained for a long while. She was laughing so hard at one point in the day, that she spit up! Her laugh is SO STINKING CUTE!!! And contagious! She finally had had it though and feel asleep on her daddy's shoulders!

All of our Christmas trips were nice and it was great to see and visit with everyone.....but boy were we glad to be home again! I LOVE Christmas, but I am so glad that it only comes once a year! I don't think I would have the strength to have it any more!

Christmas at our house!

When we got back home from Stephenville, Santa had arrived with Izabella's present. It was a beautiful, perfect for her size, horse! It sings a song and nays! She wasn't sure what to think about it at first, but soon enjoyed it! Santa is so good! :)

The McConal Family Christmas

Our next Christmas was for the McConal family. We spent both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in Stephenville. Sadly, Izabella and I had to head south early on Christmas Eve morning. My Aunt Alene passed away earlier that week, so she and I went with Natasha's family to her funeral in Goldthwaite that day. Chris came down that night since he had to work that day.

We came home after the funeral and hurriedly got dressed for church that night. We dressed Izabella up in one of her "Santa" suits for the church service. Boy did she look adorable! Of course what else would you expect?! She even left her hat on for most of the night! Such a good baby we have!

After church, we were letting her play on the floor. And she kept crawling backwards like she had been doing for over a week. She got stuck under dad’s foot rest at one point. But then, she looked at me and took her first "CRAWL"!! It was only a few but hey, she finally mastered it after only being able to go backwards for over a week! How exciting!! On Christmas day, she did a little better trying to "unwrap" the gifts, but still not as amazed as I thought she would be. I know, I know, just wait until next year! :)

We had to come home on Christmas night since we were heading out again the next day. It was a great Christmas with lots of good food. Started off sad, but ended wonderfully with all of our family together, including Aunt Merle!

The Erwin Christmas

Well, Christmas has come and gone. All in all, we had a nice Christmas. But boy was it hectic! Not only was it so much fun having Izabella's first Chrismas, but through the holiday's, she achieved so many milestones. While we were at Terry's house, she started getting herself to the sitting position ALL BY HERSELF! How exciting! She is growing like a weed. It is just going by to fast for us!!

Our Christmas started out with the weekend before Christmas for the Erwin family Christmas in Wichita Falls. We headed up on Thursday and came home on Saturday night. We took the RV so we would be assured a place to sleep while we were there!

The house was full on Saturday and it was so nice to see everyone and spend time with everyone. It was Izabella's "first" Christmas and she wasn't near as impressed with the paper as I thought she might be. But of course there were about 12 kids there that she was more interested in and they her! I think her favorite item was Grandpa Terry's fiber optic reindeer! It was just the right size for her!!

Christmas and Santa

Santa's Little Helper!

That ornament felt good on her gums!


Izabella's first Christmas! What fun!! It is so hard for me to believe that she is already 6 months old! So much fun to look forward to a child's first Christmas. I am so excited! Although we really didn't go all out for presents since we know that she will be more interested in the paper and boxes than she will the actual presents....at least for that moment anyway!

Izabella did get to have her first meeting with Santa. They had a Santa come up to the hospital and since Chris was working, we got to meet him at the back door before he went in with all the other kiddos. I was so excited for her first Santa picture! She however, wasn't. She did not like Santa AT ALL!! Not even with Chris holding her next to Santa! The picture is a classic!

Santa!

It is going to be a hectic Christmas trying to get to every family, and having our own, all in a week! But all the scurrying around will be worth it! We have two Santa outfits that she looks so adorable in! Christmas is such a joyful season and this year we have our little sweetheart to be even more joyous about!

She rolled under there and couldn't figure out how to get out!

Family Trip & Bella's First Teeth!

After several long, hard working months, Chris took some time off. We were able to get a week with our timeshare down in New Braunfels. We used the time to try and get our Christmas shopping done, which we won't try again! We were spending so much time being worried about getting all the presents we needed, that we really didn't sit back, relax and enjoy ourselves. But it was nice to get away all the same. We were able to hit the outlet malls on Sunday, Fredericksburg on Monday, and San Antonio on Tuesday. We had to head back home on Wednesday since Chris had to work on Thursday. It is always nice to get down to the Hill Country. Looking forward to our next trip south!

Our friend Sandra and her daughter came to stay with us on Saturday night. I was thrilled that they were able to come stay with us. It was so good to see her! Wish she lived closer!! On that Sunday Kaylee, Sandra's daughter, let Bella chew on her finger. She kept saying "OUCH! That hurt! She has teeth!" We adults kept saying, "Not yet, but she soon will!" Well, I guess Kaylee knew more than we gave her credit for! That night I looked in Bella's mouth......low and behold there was a tooth! Within a few days, the she had her two front bottom teeth! Guess we should have listened to Kaylee a little bit better!

More Pictures of Bella at 5 months

Our little girl is getting so big TOOOO fast! She is such a sweet baby and we are so lucky! She had her first Thanksgiving and what a great day it was! Both Chris's and my parents were able to come spend the afternoon with us. Jordan was here to which made it an even nicer day. I couldn't have asked for a better day! We have so much to be thankful for!!

Bella is 5 Months Old!!

Bella is 5 months old!

How cute am I?!

Our sweet baby is 5 months old! I truly can't believe how fast she is growing and much time is flying by! When I think back to my "younger years" I think about how slow time seemed to go by. But the older you get the faster it goes! And when you have a child, it seems like it goes even faster!

Look at those pretty blues!

Bella is learning something new every day. She is now rolling from her back to her belly! When we put her on the floor she often times ends up rolling all over the place! It is not going to be long before she is crawling either! She can get up on her hands and knees, but isn't so sure what to do from there. She gets so excited when she gets everything off the floor but her bellybutton and "flies"! It is pretty cute!!

I'm flying!!

She is still a pretty happy baby. We are so very blessed! I am looking forward to her first Christmas. Although I am sure she will be more interested in putting the paper in her mouth than anything!! :)

I am SOOO cool!

More pictures of Bella 4 Months old

Bella's First Halloween

Bella the Strawberry!


Bella got to experience her very first Halloween! She was the cutest little strawberry you every have seen!! It was a fun day other than the fact that her outfit would have been better suited for a nice cool October day. But since we live in Texas, we had a hot one!! She sweltered but we managed anyway.

We first visited her daddy at work in Mineral Wells where she received her first pieces of candy! Then we were off to Farm Bureau to visit everyone I worked with last year. After leaving there we headed south to Stephenville. Her cousin Jadie wanted her to come to the Trick-or-Treating on the square. Since Chris was working, I decided to do just that. Natasha, Ross and Jadie were all handing out candy so we sat with them and watched everyone walk by all dressed up. Bella just sat there and took it all in. She is so alert and observant! Of course she had SEVERAL comments on how cute she was....but did you expect anything less?! :)

All in all is was a fun first Halloween!

Have you ever seen a cuter strawberry?!

Bella with Mommy

Bella with her Aunt Tash

Bella with her cousins Ross and Jadie

Bella is 4 months old!

Bella is 4 months old!

We had another doctor's visit on Oct 8. This was Bella's 4 month check-up. I still can't believe she is already this old! When the nurse came in Bella just smiled and talked to her. The nurse asked us if she was always this happy, and what a wonderful feeling to honestly reply, yes she is. Most of the time she even wakes up with a smile on her face, which of course could melt anyone's heart! Anyway, she weighted 14 pounds 7 ounces and was 24 inches long. So she has gained about 2 pounds and 3/4 of an inch since her last visit two months ago. The doctor said she was in the 75 percentile for her age. She is growing like a weed!! He was impressed with her weight gain and made a comment about how alert she was. She has been either early or on target for all of her milestones. So he was pleased with her growth. To bad we had to end it on a bad note with those nasty shots! She of course cried a new cry that broke my heart! At least it will be another two months before she has another one! We were just glad to hear how well she is thriving. She is so healthy (she has rolls to prove it) and happy! How truly God has blessed our family!

What a wonderful face to wake up to!

Supporting my cousin Ross!

Daddy and his two girls!

What a pretty smile and beautiful eyes!

I LOVE to laugh! HAHAHAHA!

More of Bella at 3 months

Below is a video of Bella gettin' "got" by her Aunt Tash. What a contagious laugh Bella has!

Rolling over!

I still can't believe how fast our sweet baby girl is growing! She is learning something new every single day. She just amazes me and I can't help but to smile at her constantly! Being a mom is BY FAR the best possible job in the world!

With everything she is learning, on September 30, while I was talking to my mother on the phone, Bella ROLLED OVER! She had been trying for several days, but her arm kept getting in the way. But that day, she had just raised herself up, then kicked her leg up, and slowly but surely she rolled over. I was so excited! (Amazing what excites you after you have a baby!) She actually rolled over about 5 times that day and I was lucky enough to catch one on video. I think it was her third time to do it. She hasn't done it that much since, but at least we know she can!

Check Bella out!

Bella is growing so fast!

First Hunting Trip

Oh how our sweet baby is growing! I want her to stay small and oh so lovable! Three months came and went by so fast. It is almost scary just how fast it zoomed by! She gets more and more fun each and every day. Chris and I have truly been blessed with such a good baby. She is such a HONEY!!

She went on her first "hunting" trip with her daddy and I. Well, actually only Chris hunted while Bella and I hung out at the RV. we did however sport our camo so we could atleast look the part! :) She and I were pretty much forced to stay inside because the mosquitos were HUGE and looking for fresh meat! But she and I enjoyed ourselves while we were waiting on Chris to bring back all those dove......ok I think he only brought back 10. And that was between 3 people hunting! Oh well, maybe next year will be better.

Pictures: Bella 2 to 3 months

How blessed we are!!

I have realize how absolutely blessed we are to have been given the miracle of a baby. Every day all I have to do is look at Bella and I can't help but to smile. She is so precious and really is a good baby. This past week I have realized even more how lucky we are. About two or three weeks ago Bella started sleeping from about 10:30 or 11:00 until about 4:00 or 5:00, but for the past week she has been going down around 10ish and sleeping until 6ish! I hope I am not speaking to soon, but I have been really surprised at how well she is sleeping through the night! How lucky we are!! I keep talking to people with more than one child, and I hear over and over again, "If I would have had my second child first I would have never had two kids!" I wonder if God makes the first one so wonderful so that we WILL want to have more? Who knows, but I feel so blessed with my little angel. She is growing like a weed and I am enjoying every minute of it!!

First Family Trip Pictures

First Family Trip

My sweet husband has been working so many hours at three different hospitals so we can afford me staying home with our sweet little angel. Words cannot express my appreciation of him for working so hard for our family. I am a lucky woman to have married such a giving husband! He has worked anywhere from 5 to 12 days straight! I don't know how he does it, but he does.

He finally decided to take some time off the first of August. The time off was much needed for him and it was nice to finally spend time as a family. It was our first family trip/vacation. We loaded up the RV and headed down to the hill country. We left on a Thursday night and returned on a Sunday night. Those few days were so enjoyable! I wasn't ready to come home!

We ended up parking the RV at an RV park in between Johnson City and Blanco. It was such a nice little park. It would have been prettier if the creek it was built around would have been flowing. But with this dry summer we had, it was as dry as a bone!! But it was pretty all the same. We parked where we did thinking we would go to go to Fredericksburg one day, and head toward New Braunsfel the next. Where we parked was about half way in between. By the end of the weekend we wished we would have parked closer to Fredericksburg because that was the only place we went!

On the streets of Fredericksburg


The few days we were able to get away were wonderful and I was so thankful we were able to get away. We slept late (as late as Bella would let us anyway!), read our books, and took our time getting up and going. If we would have been home, Chris would have been busy the entire three days finding what all he "needed" to do around the house. I think I enjoyed seeing him relax more than anything that weekend!

We went to Fredericksburg both Friday and Saturday to walk the streets. We did quite a bit of window shopping and a little bit of real shopping! There was so much we wanted to do but didn't get there in enough time to get it all done. That is what sleeping late does to a trip! After we left on Fredericksburg on Saturday night we made a detour down to Luckenbach. Chris had never been and wanted to see what the hype was all about. I had been a twice to Willie Nelson's 4th of July Picnic, but had never been when it wasn't overloaded with people. It was interesting to see it when it was so vacant! There is still a dance hall, the general store, a hat shop and I think MAYBE 3 houses! We made sure we brought home some souvenirs to show that "Everybody is Somebody in Luckenback!" :)

In front of Luckenbach's General Store


Bella was so good the entire weekend. On that Saturday night we must have really wore her out because she slept for at least 7 hours. We have truly been blessed with a wonderful baby!

Bella was WORN out!


We headed home on Sunday with a detour to see Mama Sue. It was the first time for her to see Bella. We had a good visit and it was great to see her. It was such a wonderful weekend and I truly hated to see it come to an end. Almost hated seeing the Mineral Wells city limit sign because I knew it was back to the grindstone for Chris. At least he go to relax for a short time anyway!

Bella and Mama Sue