9 months and a weight check...

I can't believe our little girl is 9 months old. She is growing and growing so fast we can hardly believe it. There have been many moments in the last week we have just stepped back and admired Taegan and what she is right now. We are amazed at how lucky we are to have such a special little girl in our lives. What a blessing she has been to us!
She continues to be on the move all the time and as Miss Jeanette likes to put it "gets into everything"! She has recently become quite a handful and loves to find new treasures anywhere she is not supposed to. What would a day be without her finding something that we were sure was in a "safe" spot? Those are the moments we step back and laugh because she is going to be just like Justin and I!!! We can't wait. She has recently decided she would like to try and get herself to stand up and is coming very close to accomplishing her goal:

She will stand if you put her standing and give her anything to hold onto. She will not stand without holding onto things. Her new walker has been a lot of fun to see her stand and want to push it and take a step-but not quite yet. She will stand with it and let one hand go and twist around and then switch hands, but won't walk forward. We will keep working on those leg muscles. I am not ready for her to walk yet, so that is fine!

She has also discovered that the dogs have toys they play with and maybe, just maybe, they could be her toys too!!! The other night she decided she would try to take it away from Jewels, she did not succeed at all. Gave it a good try though.

This was the first time I got her to stand without anyone being behind her or around her! Once she realized she was alone she started pounding her hands down on the footstool and wanted to dance. That landed her on her tush...

This is what our living room floor looks like every Sunday when she gets done "reading" the paper. I go through it and then give her a stack of papers and she loves to make a mess all around her. It is quite funny watching her pick each one up and look at the pages!!!

We had her 9 month pictures taken last week and you can see them online if you would like to go take a peak at them. They turned out AWESOME! She was in a super mood that night so we were excited to see them.

www.joleespencer.net

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Justin and I are still doing our weight challenge and working out. We knew that this week would be a little tougher because we went out of town on Friday and had a little more than we usually do. Thursday morning was weigh in and frankly I was a bit nervous. I knew that whatever the outcome I would have to be happy....and I was!! I lost 1.5 pounds and he did too! What a great week it was. I have worked out everyday since Sunday and have felt great. Something paid off this week, now I need to just continue on this path!

Have a good weekend, we are hoping to visit the zoo tomorrow because it is supposed to be around 50 here:)

A little better...and GREAT news!

Thank you for all the support and kind words, emails, and phone calls last week. I am not really sure why I had such a breakdown, but I think I am back at it again and ready to tackle this hurdle in front of me. Justin and I were so lucky this weekend to have a short getaway together. On Friday night we decided to head to Kansas City for dinner and a night together in a hotel. Lucky for us, my mom was more than willing to watch Taegan. We had a lot of fun, ate dinner at Jack Stack, drove around for a bit, got some cocktails for the hotel room and settled in for a night of relaxing. Woke up the next morning and did some shopping and headed home to get our little girl. It was a much needed break for us and we were so glad to have those hours to ourselves. I must say that I did not do too bad with the eating, but I know that this week will not be that great either-but I know why this week. We spent some time yesterday doing the Wii and I have somehow pulled/pinched a muscle in my calf so that has made walking interesting!

Now for the GREAT news part-it is official that I get to be a stay at home mom next year!!! I told my staff on Friday and turned in my letter this morning!!!! I am beyond excited and can't wait to be able to share all that time with Taegan. I am lucky though because I will still be able to sub two days a week. My mom will take her one day and his mom will take her another day. So really I get the best of both worlds. I am so looking forward to this chance.

I will leave you with a few photos from the past week-

First time sitting like a big girl in a cart-she LOVES it.
This is her baby doll that she can't go anywhere without...
She found a new place to play!
Her new "Ariel Car" that sings...she loves dancing with it!

A little discouraged...

Well, today was weigh in day! Not a good day at all. Justin of course steps on first and drops two pounds...I cheer and congratulate him! I was so happy for him because he has worked so hard and it is paying off for him! I step on and the opposite happens I gain back two!! What a tough day right now...I feel like I have given up so much and have been working so hard that I don't understand why I gained 2 of the 4 back I have lost. Justin has now lost 9 total and I am sitting at 2!! This is hard. I am eating SOOOO much better and exercising(which I was not doing) so what is going on? It is like if I look at food I gain weight-this is hard. Doesn't help that I am just in a funk and this adds to it. I am not giving up at all, but it sure makes it real hard when Justin and I are working together doing the same stuff and it falls off of him and goes back on me.

I will leave you with something a little more uplifting:)

Getting in shape....

Justin and I have continued working hard in the diet and exercise area. We have finally come to a common ground on working out together. Although it involves competition-we have a ball at it. It goes by the name: Wii Fit!! I am pretty mad that I did not invent this myself...I would be RICH!!! It is so much fun, we are having a great time competing which is helping us lose weight and get back in shape. This has to be one of the best Christmas gifts we got this year.

Taegan is finally back at daycare and feeling great. We are now having the opposite problem with no dirty diapers. We just can't win right now....oh well! I put Karo syrup in her bottle this morning so that should help a ton. It has always helped loosen her up in the past! She also had her 9 month pictures taken last night and she was such a HAM! I can't believe how happy she was for them and how much fun she had. I am so eager to see the proofs. She will be 9 months old next Wednesday, but we did them a week early so we can get them back quicker.

She continues to crawl all over the place and pulls up to her knees like it is the easiest thing in the world. Last night she was standing holding onto a chair and looked like she wanted to take a step, but quickly fell down. She is getting very quick at moving with her little push to walk car-kneeling! She can slow down this growing and changing thing anytime now:)

Feeling a little better...

I think we might be over the worst of it...the diapers are starting to get more solid and I think she is getting better. Her nose won't stop running, but the diapers have to be a good sign! She has missed daycare all week-which is a bummer because we have to pay even when she doesn't go. Justin has stayed home two days with her and my mom has had her for two days. I have Monday off-so I am hoping by Tuesday she should be as good as new. A nice long weekend at home should help. We don't have any big plans this weekend either, just some Wii Fit and Guitar Hero I think!!!

An update on our diets we started two weeks ago......we are doing GREAT! Justin is down 7 pounds and I am down 4 pounds. So far, so good. It hasn't been easy and we have slipped up some, but we are doing great helping each other out. I have learned to each MUCH slower and it seems to be helping a ton. I am also drinking tons of water which fills me up. I will leave you with a picture of Peanut:)

Two viruses....

The doctor determined she is battling a virus similar to the stomach flu, but it is diarrhea and she is battling an upper respitory cold/cough. So there you have it-we are waiting and really praying for a solid diaper. She can't return to daycare until we have one. And right now we are running out of people who can watch her...Justin was with her yesterday, my mom is with her today, and well tomorrow we are waiting to see the diapers today. She is still having 4 a day, but she has not had one yet today, so maybe it is slowing down??? I hope so, we are on day 5 of this. Yikes, her poor bottom. We are keeping it covered with stuff and it seems to be doing okay so far. Otherwise, she is her normal self. More cuddly and sleeping a lot, but does not seem unhappy. She cries right before a diaper!!

Keep your fingers crossed.

Yucky cough, runny nose, dirty diapers that won't stop....

Yep-you guessed it. Taegan is sick. We are headed to the doctor this afternoon to see what we can do for her. She really has not been feeling the best since Christmas, but I kept thinking it was a cold. She gets better and then worse, well she has been having blowout diapers since Thursday and I thought I better call and get in. So off we go this afternoon. She is not on any food right now, just Pedialyte to see if that helps her. We will see if the doctor has any other suggestions. Hopefully something-I am doing lots of laundry!!!!

A quick funny...

Every Wednesday night Justin has class from 6-9:30 so it is just little girl and I. As a part time job I clean a salon three times a week to make some extra money. I clean on Wednesday nights and depending on the time that I can clean(depends on when they are all done) sometimes my mom comes over to stay home with Taegan while I run and clean for an hour. It is much easier to clean without her especially if it is bedtime. So last night mom came over to help me out just a little bit so I could run and clean. I got home right as it was time for bathtime and was getting ready to put Taegan in the tub. Mom was hanging out talking to me and we were playing with her bath toys and laughing. It was time for her to get out so I told Mom to grab her towel and I would pass her off to her-here comes the funny part!!! I am singing and laughing with Taegan as I pull her out of the tub and am swinging around to the towel for the handoff. I get her handed off and look down to find that Taegan has peed all over the bathroom rug on the hand off! Are you kidding me...it was like 10 seconds! Man can that girl pee!! Mom and I start laughing so hard and are laughing and laughing to the point I am crossed legged and about to pee on the floor myself. I ended up not, but it was a close call!!!

Never a dull moment with an 8 month old...I love you Taegan!

Catching up....on pictures

Okay-I have them loaded and ready today. On a side note-we are trying to transition Taegan from her bottle to a sippy cup for her formula so that she is off the bottle by one year old. She loves drinking out of her sippy with juice-but as soon as you put the formula in there she wants nothing to do with it. She is very thirsty-but will not drink it out of there. Any advice? I know we are starting early with this, but I am glad now because she is throwing quite a fit when it comes time for this!!! All dressed up for Christmas church!

Family Christmas picture
Kyle, Melissa and Taegan(Justin's brother and sister in law)
Garret and Taegan(Justin's brother)

Grandma, Grandpa, and Taegan(Justin's parents)
She LOVES this talking puppy!! Her favorite toy of the holiday.

This is "Dino" and she loves to rock on him.
Showing off all her new bath toys...she would play in there for hours!

Slacker....

No I don't have any pictures:( Happy New Year to everyone though. I am so sorry I have been slacking lately on updating here about Taegan. I am trying to get back in the swing of things with me back to work, Justin working and school, and Taegan at daycare. Needless to say, I am getting there slowly.

I hope everyone had a safe and fun New Years...as for us??? Well, we went to dinner just the two of us at Texas Roadhouse(yummy) and then went to Kansas City with my parents to get some Krispy Kreme donuts!!! It was a fun short trip. We were home by 10:30 and I was asleep before the ball dropped:) Justin did wake me up to tell me Happy New Year! That was the fun of our night....maybe next year will be more eventful!

I have a few goals that I have set for myself for this new year that I am going to share in hopes that it will hold me to them more! For starters I am going to blog much more since this is a keepsake for Taegan I want to update it more so she will have something to look back on! This should be an attainable goal-I just have to make the time. The other one will be much harder-get healthy! I am still carrying around quite a bit of weight from having little Miss Taegan and I would like to say goodbye to it. Justin and I have made a pledge to each other to help the other one become healthier and slimmer. This will be very hard for us, but we are looking at it as though we have no choice. We are going to eat at home and eat much better! We started this yesterday and are doing well so far-I know we are on day two!!!! The Biggest Loser couples starts tonight and we are going to be watching that and building on their confidence! Wish us luck...

As far as Taegan-she is doing super! We could not ask for a better 2008....we had our daughter join our lives. We are hoping for a super fun 2009 with her!!!

Here is to helping everyone hold their own on their resolutions....