Our birthday girl

For Taya' Birthday we went to the zoo. This is in the butterfly pavillion. Taya was too overwhelmed to smile, but I think she enjoyed it...

Mr. Turtle in the aquarium. We hadn't seen him before.

Stopping at the penguins; there is a little smile behind that hand :)

Since Taya turned one, she can now have her car seat facing forward. She loves being able to see everything that's going on.

Grammy, my grandma Cena, and niece Jayden came to visit for Taya's birthday. We went out to eat one night. Taya was not very thrilled with her birthday hat or having her 'evening routine' messed up.

We had Taya's party on Saturday the 8th. She had her first bite of cake the weekend before because we had some professional pictures taken of her. Her reaction was about the same both times...she really didn't know what to think and she wasn't that excited about it. She loved the watermelon so much more.

Papa Les taught Taya how to do "fish face". She is really good at sucking in those kissable cheeks!

Jayden was our party mascot. Taya had a blast playing with her big cousin.

This was taken two days ago. Taya absolutely love to swim. I don't get a lot of pictures of her smiling (she usually smiles right after the camera flashes) but this proves that she does smile and she is a VERY happy baby.

Taya is looking at me holding a new "toy". You will see the "toy" in the following pictures. Guess what it is...

We have had a busy few weeks preparing for and recovering from Taya's party. She has been "busy" playing with all of her toys, especially her new ones. We will hear her just jabbering away and she is starting to mimic what we say. Her current fave is saying "one...two...THREE". She can't really say it but she does the voice fluctuation that Ethan and I do. It's very neat to see her grow and develop.

Speaking of growing, she was 20 lbs 4 oz and 29 inches long at her 1 year appointment yesterday. She is developing right on track (and maybe a little ahead of the standard).

Next weekend we have uncle Wade's wedding and I have two presentations to do at work so it will be busy.

God Bless!

On August 6, 2008 at 10:05 p.m. God blessed us with our first child, our little baby girl Taya Jo. She was 7 lbs, 3 oz and 18.5 inches long. She has filled our lives with more love than was ever imaginable when Ethan and I first met.
We love you Taya Jo...Happy 1st Birthday!!!

Taya's birth day

Taya at ~3 months. This was one of my favorite onesies...it was just a Carter's basic, but it was pink and said Love Bug. Taya's room decor is 'love bug'.

A few weeks before Christmas. She was just starting to hold her head up. This ended up as a Christmas card photo. I love this pic.

A nice day in the spring but I am unsure when. She still loves going for walks.

First Easter (April). I couldn't quite get her to smile, but she just woke up from sleeping through Mass. She doesn't do that anymore... Pretty girl in vacation mode with dad-o. This was in Connecticut for Memorial Day.

Below are the latest pics I have. They are from Tuesday morning. Taya is now interested in the cupboards; luckily the plastic containers are located in her reach, rather than sharp knives :). She entertained herself for at least 30 minutes.

Tonight Taya was a big girl. She ate her first full meal without any supplemental baby food. I tried a Gerber Graduates meal...macaroni and cheese and peas/carrots. She ate about half of each item. She then had almost a full piece of toast and a whole container of yogurt. She also tried a new sippy cup (with dad's help), so we can use a less messy one!

I have her birthday cake made (strawberry with pink frosting), so we are all set for tomorrow. We are hosting her big party on Saturday with friends and family. Tomorrow we hope to get some Taya-time just the three of us.

A weekend away and a mess

We made a spontaneous trip to Grammy's this past weekend. It was actually our best weekend away with Taya. She did really well in the car, slept all night, and had a blast playing with her big cousin, Jayden.
While we were in Ogallala, Santa was in town.

We are working with Taya on eating more "big girl" foods and feeding herself. She ended up making a mess her lasagna and yogurt tonight. Here is the proof.

We are quickly approaching Taya's 1st birthday. Be sure to watch the Channel 6 news on the morning of the 6th.

Baby steps

What a crazy week!
Taya got a new tooth (next to the right front tooth).
Taya discovered the Kleenex box. She HATES getting her nose wiped. This was her revenge.
Taya took her first step last night! It was one small baby step, one giant step toward wearing me out even more! She has taken a few other steps this evening, but she usually flops right down after the small step.
Taya discovered Nima's dog door a few weeks ago and I finally took a picture of her playing with it the other day. She enjoys looking outside and screaming at Nima :).
*Just a side note, a few of these pictures are a little fuzzy. It's not your eyes, it's my photography.

Is that a camera? Give it to me!

This is a common view of Taya from my eyes. She always crawls to me and starts to pull herself up on my legs. She rarely lets me out of her sight and she is VERY fast and can find me nearly anywhere in the house (yes, I know our house is small).

Drinking her milk before we headed to the mall. All three of us got something this weekend.

We love Keith Urban

On Thursday, we treated ourselves to a night out with our friends, the Kruse's. Actually, we've had our concert tickets since February. We went to Keith Urban last year and since then I knew I wanted to see him in concert again. We had a VERY exciting night, as you will see below. One of my good friends, Katie Metz, watched Taya for us so it was easy for me to leave her for the evening.


Maria and I enjoying our view from the top. It was Maria's 27th birthday. I have known her for 26.5 years!
A view of opening act Jason Aldean. This is with full zoom on my little camera.

Through a series of events, Maria's husband, Chad, ended up knowing one of the security guards who got us up next to the stage for Keith. It was AWESOME. Here I am next to one of the speakers. Yes it was loud but I thought it would be worse.

Although we were close enough to see Keith, here is a picture of him on the screens. He went out to the middle of the Qwest for about 3 songs and this was during that time. Below this is a picture of Keith up close.

This was his main bass player. He is my "bud". He mainly worked our side of the stage. Keith's band is amazing so it was just as cool to watch them play as it was to watch Keith himself. I ended up getting a guitar pick thrown at me from Jerry. He also saw me plugging my ears at one point, just to reiterate how close we were to the stage.

I love my husband. We had a great time!!

ENCORE!