First Haricut

Well, today I finally caved to Jody's ribbings about our child having a mullet. In truth, it was not a mullet at all, but more of a rat-tail type of style. Anyhoo, poor Taylor's hair, now that it's finally started coming in, was definitely looking as if it had never been touched by scissors. I must admit, I've been reluctant to even trim it a little because we have waited so long just for her to have the little bit of hair that she has, it seemed a little ungrateful to start chopping on it so soon. But, it grows back, right? So today after she finished her lunch we decided it was time to bust out the home-haircut kit (no assholes, I don't have a flo-bee), and see what we could do. Needless to say, it was a mission that had to be carried out very quickly, and with at least some precision so that she didn't look like Van Gogh afterward. Fortunately, we managed to even up (sort of) her hair with no injuries, and even managed to recover most of the clippings for the scrapbook.

Yeah, see how blurry she is? That's because she would NOT sit still at all.

Looking to Thumper (her security blanket) for moral support.

Ok, this isn't so terrible.

All done! Now let me comb your hair Dad!

Trampoline

This past weekend in Lockney Taylor was introduced to one of the greatest childhood pastimes ever - the trampoline. I cannot tell you how many ridiculous Evel Kneival styled stunts we pulled growing up (ok, so maybe I was just the weenie who sat on the springs and watched everyone else play daredevil), and how many injuries were had at the hands of this wonderful invention. Just like I always did, Taylor really had a blast bouncing with Jody, at first anyway. After about 15 minutes, I'm not sure if she laughed too hard or he started getting a little rough with the bouncing, but she decided she was pretty much cooked.

Holy crap! This is SO AWESOME!!!!

Whoa, little high there Dad........

Ugh, ok, so maybe that wasn't as awesome as I thought. Feeling a little seasick now.

Yeah, I'm ready to get off this thing.

Not so fast! Aaaargh! Daddy comes in for the tackle!

Child Abuse

Sometimes, the biggest perk you have to being a parent is the goofy things you can do to your kid without their realizing it. I must admit, I take full advantage of this right, and for the benefit of everyone else, I totally take pics and post them on the internet! Enjoy!

Pants on your head! Pants on your head! Lookin' like a fool with yo pants on your head!

The funniest part is that she HATES bows, hats, headbands etc. But she totally didn't even bat an eye over having a pair of shorts on her head, just continued to go on picking out her books.

Raaaaaaar!!!!!!!

Eleven Months

Wow! So we are on our last month of "babyhood" per se :*( I can't believe that in just a few weeks we'll be having my baby's first birthday party (yeah, I should probably start planning that.....). Taylor is getting so big, she just started wearing 24 month size clothes. As predicted, during her stay with her aunt Tracy she started taking a few steps on her own. She is still not super-confident in herself and rarely takes the initiative to walk on her own without holding on to someone/something for balance; but I'm confident that she will take off on her own any day now. I'm also happy to report that Jody and I prevailed in the Bottle Wars of 2010, Taylor is now taking all liquids from a sippy cup and we trashed all the bottles, hooray! She has also taken an avid interest in her books, so thank you to everyone who has bought her books as gifts, I promise you they are getting a full workout these days. So much so in fact, that I had to buy a couple of new ones today to save myself from going nuts reading the same thing over and over. She has also finally learned how to pet the cats without ripping large handfuls of their hair out, and as a result Alice now enjoys being around her somewhat. Every day she continues to amaze me, it just feels like it's going so fast!

Who doesn't love a ruffle butt swimsuit?

The doodle-butt sleep position. It cracks me up that this is how she sleeps EVERY night.

Taylor and some really hot guy with a goatee. Oh wait, that's my husband!

Zombied out with the cheap knockoff version of Baby Einstein. I think this one's called "Baby Genius."

Float Time

Hooray! It's finally summer, and Stacy and Frank decided that they needed a mighty-pool so that we can have a float time-tastic summer! Taylor was a wee bit young to have any water fun last summer, but this year it was on like Donkey Kong. I was so excited to get my child in the water, that our first attempt may have been on a day where the water hadn't quite had time to come up to a tolerable temperature for a small child. And this attempt may have also ended with my child crying and clinging to me hysterically. But you know how the saying goes, "if at first you don't succeed...." So a week later we returned to Casa de Hereford and had ourselves a do-over. With a little coaxing (note the coasters that she was not letting go of for anything), and a goldfish floaty Taylor discovered what the rest of us have known all along, float time is awesome!

No honey, the water's just right! Ignore the ice crystals you see floating along the top.

Yeah, she wasn't buying it. And no, I'm not trying to emulate Sissy from Urban Cowboy, my super cheesy hat is to protect me from the freckle-stache of years past from our friend the sun.

Lounging with Stacy after our failed attempt. That's a go to hell look if I've ever seen one.

Do-over! This time Taylor has her coasters and is ready to go.

Yeah, this is the life.

Amarillo Again

Sorry it's been so long since I've been able to update, but hey, we did move 500 miles! We finally made it back to Amarillo in one piece over Memorial weekend. Since then it's been a whirlwind of changes. Jody and I have been in house hell, we unknowingly wound up leasing a complete shit-hole (pardon the language, but sometimes you have to call a spade a spade). And we've been running around trying to get ourselves settled in ever since. Lets just say we've had MAJOR plumbing issues, my dishwasher threatens to give me tetanus every time I even peep inside (obviously I'm not using it at all), and our landlord decided that a towel rack would be a suitable replacement for the handle that's missing off the oven door. And I'm not even going to tell you about the roaches (no shit). But we did survive, and finally we got back online last week. In an unfortunate turn of events, one of our boxes turned up completely missing. So far we've pinpointed that its contents included my keyboard and mouse (that's why it took me so long to get updated people), a giant jar of change, two external hard drives with all of our photos and whatnot on them, and one of Taylor's bow hangers. Swell. Nonetheless, we are plowing through, and have survived yet another move. Just pray for our sanity in the meantime ;)

Yeah, this house sucks, so I think I'm just gonna live in this box instead, m'kay?

See? We keep finding random children in boxes, but my keyboard is gone forever.

Severe Torture

Unfortunately this week has been one of severe torture for all three of us. Since Jody and Taylor left I've been bored off my ass, and can't believe this used to be the crew - me, Alice and Cleo. I had forgotten how those two aren't really much for conversation. Plus I've learned that although I complain about the lack of free time motherhood affords a gal, I find that I'm actually BORED not having 18 different things constantly going. But not to fear, I did get mildly productive this past weekend and got most of the apartment boxed up - after which I promptly plopped my butt on the couch and haven't really felt the urge to do much else!

Jody's torture is in that of single-dad/nomad. Poor guy is experiencing the joys of parenting solo this week. Not to say that he hasn't had a lot of fantastic help from family and friends, but he does take his role as a parent VERY seriously and I think the weight of the fact that he is ultimately responsible for Taylor is starting to wear on him a bit. Plus I think the idea of not having a permanent place to call home for the time being is wearing us both down.

And last, but certainly not least, we have poor Taylor. As you can see from the pictures taken at Stacy's house over the last couple of days she has been under severe duress and it's a miracle she's holding herself together as well as she is. That coupled with all of the playing she had to do with her cousins earlier in the week has surely made for such unbelievable living circumstances, I can only hope no one will turn us in to CPS for such cruelty.

*In case you weren't 100% on that last paragraph, I'm being TOTALLY sarcastic. I'm pretty sure Taylor has already forgotten who I am and traded me in for all the cool people she is playing with these days.

Yes, she was forced to watch the Smurfs on a ridiculously large TV.

And she was made to chew on coasters during the viewing! Oh the humanity!

Then, she had to eat horrific meals like ravioli. It's a testament to her character that she is persevering so well.