Happy Birthday Mawmaw!

Grandmas hold our tiny hands for just a little while, but our hearts forever. ~ Author Unknown

It is not often that one gets to witness a person turn 100 years old. To be a witness to such an event is a true honor. But when it is a celebration for someone who has been the heartbeat of your entire family for longer than you've been alive, it is more than an honor ~ it is an immeasurable gift.

I have said this before and I will say it again. I will strive to never, ever take for granted the blessings I have been given from the Lord. I know so many people who have never had the opportunity to meet their grandparents, to have them at their weddings, to have them witness the birth of their own children. For me ~ I have been blessed. Not only do I have grandparents who have witnessed these treasured moments with me, but I have a great-grandmother who has celebrated with me as well. And let me be clear, when you are 95 years-old and dancing to Brick House at your great-granddaughter's wedding, you are still a force to be reckoned with! Oh, how very grateful I am for that memory ~ it is a memory that will live in my heart forever and one that never fails to bring a smile to my face.

So Mawmaw, for 100 years and counting, you have blessed this earth with your smile, your love, your joy, your heart, your life. You have instilled wisdom, taught recipes, shared in life's up and downs, laughed with us and wiped our tears. You have truly made this world a better place. It is an honor to be your great-granddaughter. And it is an even bigger honor to share my precious Sophie with you. Thank you for being the heartbeat of our family! You are loved more than you could ever, ever know.

Let the celebration begin!

Five Generations! Is this a crowd or what?!

The Great-Great Grandkids (Missing two + A Bun in the Oven ~ provided I didn't accidentally leave someone out of the count.)

The Great-Grandkids (Missing two ~ same disclaimer as above.)

Grandkids

Forever Friends

Cake Time!

Still able to cut her own cake! Watch out ~ told you she's a force to be reckoned with :)

Mawmaw & Sophia Grace

Holly, Me, Paisley and Sophie

Cousins! Paisley loved the "baby"...

And the "baby" loved Paisley's shoes :)

Somehow I think this fascination with shoes is going to haunt my life for oh, another 18 years!

Added another cousin :)

Autumn, Paisley and Sophie

And yet, more cousins!

Aiden, Autumn, Alice and Sophie

Papa John and Sophie

(Can you tell how exhausted she is?! Such a trooper my kiddo!)

I love my family! It was a great time for an even greater occasion. Happy 100th Birthday Mawmaw!!! We love you!

That OTHER Place...

Normally, Austin would not be among my top favorite places and we all know why that is! That place is covered in burnt orange ~ yuck!!! But every once in a while, you have to overlook certain faults and enjoy what a place has to offer :)

And it just so happens that Austin turned out to be the perfect location for a much needed Labor Day girls' weekend! I won't lie and say I wasn't a little nervous and maybe more than a little sad about leaving my sweet girl overnight, but I knew she was in good hands with her Daddy. Surprisingly, I actually handled the overnight away pretty well ~ I didn't even bombard Kevin with texts and phone calls!!! Seriously, that is an accomplishment worth noting! By the way, thanks Honey for agreeing to keep Peanut so I could go have a relaxing and fun weekend :)

I am very blessed to have such great friends ~ friends who are willing to escape "life" with me, friends who love each other, can joke around, laugh, share secrets, ask anything and get an honest answer, encourage trying new things and most importantly will be there no matter what. (Including flying home to Texas from Virginia! Holly you are amazing!!!)

Holly and Logan flew in on Thursday evening and stayed with us until we left Saturday morning. Sophie seemed pretty entertained by precious Logan ~ I can just imagine her thinking, "How does he walk around like that?" And if you know my sweet girl, she is bound and determined to surpass every milestone as soon as possible in the mobility department. By the time Holly and Logan come in for Christmas, she might very well be giving that kid a run for his money (even if it's only on all fours)!

Saturday morning we left around 8:30 to pick up Jaime (and make a Jamba Juice run). We had a great ride up to Austin and thankfully Logan is a pro at car rides! Once we met up with Khyle, we went to Chuy's for lunch ~ how I do love me some Mexican food :)

From there, we went to attempt to kayak ~ remember how I said friends who encourage each other to do new things? This would be one of those things! Is it bad when you aren't even sure you can get in the kayak without falling overboard? Because seriously, this was one of my greatest fears! But mission accomplished, and we all set out to tackle our fabulous kayaking skills :) Ok, fabulous might be a tad bit of a stretch, but we did actually do pretty well, even if I do say so myself. I wish we would have had more time so we could have relaxed a little more, but I wasn't about to miss our pedicure appointment! What would a girls' weekend be without pedicures??? Oh, and one more thing, I'll admit it ~ Jaime was right! We totally should have worn swimsuits, but we convinced her that we weren't going to get wet. I mean we are in a boat right? Barring falling overboard, why would we be wet? Um, yeah. Not so much! For future reference, one should definitely wear swimsuits or at least fast drying clothes when kayaking!

As for the pedicures, ahhhh, imagine a sigh of contsentment. After being out in the heat, working out (yes, kayaking is a workout!), and getting lost only a few times, our pedicures were pure bliss. We went to this cute little place and got our feet and toes all pretty! I think we all picked shades in the same family ~ we were trying to go for a little more of a fall color palette ~ even if it was still 100+ degrees outside. Wishful thinking perhaps :)

After our pedicures, we went and dropped Khyle off so she could head back home to College Station and her sweet Cayson. Originally the plan was to go to The Oasis for dinner. It is supposed to have an amazing view of the sunset over Lake Travis. However, while we were getting our pedicures, the ladies there unanimously agreed that the food was NOT GOOD! Apparantly, you don't go to The Oasis for the food but rather the view and experience. Well, while I appreciate a good view and God's creation a great deal, the three of us remaining girls were tired and in no mood to get dressed up and go to dinner, especially knowing we wouldn't even like the food. So the next best option? Relaxing in the whirlpool spa at the hotel, going down the block to Zax for carry out, and back to the hotel to eat in our room and talk about everything under the sun. Oh, and then we just had to order desserts from the hotel restaurant. Yes, I said dessertS, plural, as in more than one! What can we say? It was girls' weekend :)

Sunday we slept in, if you can call it that. I don't think "sleeping in" is actually a fair representation seeing as how we didn't go to sleep until Sunday morning anyway! Anyway, we leisurely got ready and then headed back to "real life."

While I was quite thrilled to return home and see my little Peanut (and Kevin too of course), I also realized how very important it is to get away on occassion and just reconnect with friends. While I love being a Mommy, I wouldn't trade our girls' weekend for anything and I'd be more than happy to do it again :) Hint, hint girls!

To my girls, thank you for a wonderful weekend! I love you all very much :) I couldn't ask for a better group of girls to share my life with ~ you are all amazing women who I cherish dearly. Here's to girls' weekend round two!!!

Rewind...

Normally it bugs me when I don't post everything in chronologic order (can we say OCDish), but such is life. And so for now, I am going to do a little bit of a rewind post just to catch everyone up on the craziness that exists in the Taliaferro household.  (Of course, there will be some extended belated posts as well ~ Labor Day for instance).   

First, can I just say, I have one of the sweetest husbands ever.  I am so blessed to have someone who supports me in what I want to do for myself and has been so very willing to pick up the slack I leave behind.  I've been doing bootcamp since August and love it ~ yes, I'm probably crazy, but it's a nice hour of my day that is just for me!  I just started my second session this week and I know it adds a few kinks to the morning routine, but it's something I've committed to doing for myself, which for me is an area that is difficult. I'd rather do for others than myself, but sometimes you have to step back and allow yourself some "me" time.  So for an hour three days a week, I work my hiney off, sweat it out, enjoy the stars in the sky, and spend some time in prayer (and for the sake of being honest, yes, sometimes this prayer is "Lord, please just give me the strength to get through this workout!").   Now please know, the fact that I enjoy my workouts doesn't mean I like getting up at 4:30 in the morning but in the end I am always glad I did :)

So as a breakdown, here is my morning routine three days out of the work week.  The other two days my sweet husband gets a bit of a break and I get to catch up on a little sleep (hey, 5:15am instead of 4:30am makes a world of difference!).

4:30 ~ Up and dressed for bootcamp.
4:40 ~ Take Annie out and make bottles for daycare.
4:55 ~ Leave for bootcamp.
5:15 ~ Bootcamp for an hour.
6:30 ~ Get home, feed the dogs, make the morning bottle, shower and get dressed for work.
7:00 ~ Leave for work (Somehow I have mastered getting dressed that quickly!)

Here is why I love my husband (well, one of many reasons) ~ he tolerates this insane schedule! And while I get myself dressed, he gets Sophie up, fed and ready for daycare.  And then, he does daycare drop off since I am not apt to work as late as he is and therefore, in charge of pickup.  (Yes, I am the lucky one who gets to rescue her everyday!)

And last week, I added even more to our insane lives by starting to train for a 5k.  Luckily, I can take Sophie with me since it is with a local mom's group I am a part of.  She loves being outside and seems to really enjoy riding in the jogging stroller ~ and the best part of the whole thing for me is that I get to see her smile, hear her laughter and just know she is genuinely having fun! 

Since I've been back to work, every minute I get with her is so much more cherished than before, which is why I workout in the mornings.  I'd rather work out while she is sleeping than in the evenings ~ because the truth is, if it cut into my time with her, I simply wouldn't go.  I hate that I don't get to stay home with her all day, but I also know that she enjoys daycare (or school as we like to call it ~ sounds more official that way!).  The fact that she has adjusted so well has been such a relief for all three of us!  Everything happens for a reason and sometimes we don't understand why.  I wish I could be a stay at home mom, but right now that's not what the Lord has for us.  So it is my ultimate goal to make every second our family has together, the best it can possibly be and as long as she knows she is loved, everything will be just fine :)

On another note, Kevin has been out of town all week :( which means I am in charge of both drop-off and pick-up duties. (However, thanks to my wonderful brother, I have had help since Tuesday evening, which has also allowed me to go to my workout classes in the morning!)  Add in a crazy work week, a deadline, a minor wreck (not my fault and thankfully it was before I picked up Sophie) and an annoying insurance issue from the c-section and let's just say, I am ready for this week to be over! 

And that my friends, is our lives in a nutshell!  But you know what, I wouldn't trade one minute of the craziness that is.  I love my life and I have the greatest friends and family in the world!  What more could one ask for?

Fabulous 5!

My dear sweet baby turned FIVE months old yesterday.  Ummm...That's a whole hand!!!!  And as my dear friend, Debbie pointed out ~ one month shy of HALF A YEAR OLD!  I understand now why people refer to their toddlers in months ~ "oh he/she's 18 months" ~ because that makes you feel SOOOOO much better than a year and a half. 

Truly, I sit back and don't know where the time went...

This kid is my life, my heart, my soul.  She is the best thing to wake up to.  Her smile will melt your heart and turn any bad day into the best day of your life.  And her laugh ~ well, let's just say I will do just about anything, no matter how ridiculous I may look, just to hear that laugh.  Absolutely pure joy!

While it breaks my heart that she is growing up so fast, I am so incredibly proud of her.  So very blessed to be her Mommy.  I couldn't ask for a greater gift in this world ~ because, this, being a mommy, her mommy ~ is all my dreams come true.

So my little Peanut, here is what you are up to at a whopping FIVE months old!!!

• Officially mastered rolling!  Now yes, you've been doing this for a while now.  But you have increased the speed of this to what must be an abnormal level.  I sit you down and in a split second you've flipped one way or the other.  There is simply no stopping you!  By the way, this has made diaper changes MUCH more difficult.
• Working on sitting up unassisted.  You can sit up unassisted for a split second ~ and then you reach for something or move your head too far one way and topple over.  Thankfully, the toppling doesn't seem to bother you.  Hey, you have a lot of brains up there!  I'm sure that head is pretty heavy :) 
• Attempting to learn to crawl.  Oh the crawling...dear me.  Boy, do we have a temper in there.  You understand the crawling concept and have mastered what I refer to as scooting, though maybe scooching is a little better description.  Let's just say you remind me of an inch worm :)  Your knees come up, you support yourself on your arms, and kick your feet out.  Now sometimes this works and other times it results in screaming ~ usually for one of two reasons: 1) you aren't getting to the toy fast enough or 2) you kick so hard you roll over, which obviously is not what you were attempting to do.  I don't think it will be long though before you are mobile ~ all puppies beware!
• Eat most baby foods though we are not a fan of rice.  You will take it in a bottle but otherwise, you are not at all interested.  You love carrots, sweet potatoes and squash.  Like apples and pears.  Hate bananas.  And peas ~ well, we don't know about this one yet because honestly, I simply can't bring myself to give it to you.  It just looks disgusting. 
• Take five bottles a day (6 oz).  One in the morning at home, three at daycare, and an evening bottle before bed.
• Go to sleep around 8:00 and sleep until somewhere between 6:00 and 6:30.  On the weekends it's even later since we don't have to get you up for daycare.  Please never doubt how much we appreciate this wonderful gift.  We certainly do not take one minute of our sleep for granted :)
• Are teething ~ enough said about that.
• Love the pups.  I'm so glad you got over your initial dislike of kisses because they sure do love you!
• Adore going outside which is great for our running group.  It must be nice to have Mommy do all the work while you go for a nice ride ;)
• Do very well at daycare and enjoy playtime with your friends, puppets, singing songs, reading books and signing.  Certainly seems to me you have a jam-packed day!
• Still love cuddling ~ oh bless you child!  I love you :)
• Are still infatuated with Sesame Street and now The Wiggles have joined the list.  We don't watch often but if you are refusing to nap, the swing + video works every time!
• Enjoy errands ~ I don't know why nor do I really care.  All I know is that it makes Mommy's life much easier.
• Can still wear your 3-month clothes though 6-months shirts do pretty well and are only slightly too big.  The pants ~ well, that's a story in itself.  You need 6-month pants so you don't look like Urkel but they are so huge in the waist that I can't keep them up.  Oh the dilemma...
• Just graduated to Size 2 diapers.
• Don't like the jumperoo anymore though you do bounce in your exersaucer.  I can't seem to understand this ~ you are jumping in one but if we move you to the actual jumperoo you cry.  Could you please enlighten your mother as to why this is???
• Still enjoy soaking in your tub.  Pretty soon you won't even need your baby tub :(
• Don't at all understand the purpose of a pack-n-play and DO NOT like being put in it.  It is kind of boring I suppose...
• Do perfectly in the car.  Again, Mommy and Daddy are more appreciative than you will ever know.
• Have officially been entered in the Gerber Generation contest ~ though we are WAY behind in the vote count :(
• Wake up with a smile on your face.
• And last but not least, and I'm sure I'm leaving out a million and one things, ARE ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE!

We love you sweet girl!

Always and forever,
Mommy

Can you tell...

Can you tell I've officially gone back to work???  Yes, I've neglected the blog, but I seriously have NO time!  And what little time I do have in the evenings is solely devoted to me sweet girl.

So here's a quick rundown of our lives the last couple weeks ~ more details to come this weekend (hopefully)!

• Sophie loves daycare but is terrified of strangers.
• She is teething and trying to learn to scoot and sit-up unassisted.
• I completed my first bootcamp.  Second bootcamp starts this coming Monday.
• Running group started this evening.  Sophie loves it!  (Unfortunately it ends right at bedtime...)
• Sophie and her Daddy had their first overnight stay without Mommy last Saturday.  Mommy was in Austin with some WONDERFUL friends!  Much needed girl time :)
• Kevin leaves for A WEEK on Sunday.  This during my deadline week.  Yes, I'm panicking!
• Work is terribly busy (but I'm reminding myself to be thankful I have a job).  
• I've order Sophie's 6-month and Halloween outfits for our upcoming photo session in October.
• Photography class with Jaime this Saturday.  Mimi is coming to watch Sophie so Daddy can also have a well deserved break.
• My kid loves carrots and sweet potatoes, tolerates squash, likes apples and pears, and detests bananas.
• My dog has decided she might like to walk again.  Yea Annie!  I don't know why this is, but I am loving it while it lasts. 

I'm exhausted and that's all I can manage for now.  Those were in no particular order and yes, I was rambling.  This is how tired I am.

Good night.