On January 9th, Taylor turned 9 months!! Where did 9 months go?!?!
Her bottom two teeth are in and her top two teeth are about halfway in. She does the cutest little smile to showcase all of her new pearly whites...
She weighs 18.9 lbs.
Her sleeping habits continue to be all over the place! One night sleeps through (rarely), one night she wakes up once, last night she woke up three times! I think her second ear infection last week and teething have contributed to her sleep regression...she was such a great sleeping newborn but I try to look at all of the night time snuggles as more time together since I work all day! She is pretty funny when she wakes up at night and stands up in her crib crying and beating on the crib rail until someone picks her up. She will then eat or just lie on your shoulder and fall right back asleep...she likes to be held!! But she also likes her independence during the day...she will let you know what she wants ;)
She is practically running behind her push toys now. It's only a matter of time before she begins walking...
The month of December was so wonderful. Taylor's first Christmas was sweet and so much fun with friends and family. We enjoyed every second of our break together and had fun traveling and celebrating:
Taylor visited Santa and loved him!
We drove through the 2nd annual live nativity to begin teaching Taylor the real meaning of Christmas!
On Dec 20th, something we have all waiting a VERY long time for actually happened...Mckenzie & Ansel got engaged!!!! We are so excited for them and are happy to welcome Ansel into the family! He did it simply at their house with an absolutely gorgeous ring! Of course, I had to drive to Columbia immediately and congratulate them so we took them out to brunch on Saturday morning at Di Prato's and began talking all things wedding :)
We celebrated with Joseph's Mom's family at Aunt Jane's house on Dec 21st: Taylor had fun playing with her cousin, Ella, who is only 1 month younger than she is!
We celebrated with Amy, Jonathan, and Macy since they were unable to make it back for Christmas day. They had some exciting news to share: Baby #2 will be joining the family in August 2014!!
We went to Sumter on Christmas Eve to celebrate with Taylor, Caroline, Wells, Sis, and Benj! We attended the Christmas Eve service at their church (I stayed in the nursery with Taylor after she screamed for some time and they came to get me out of the service). We then went back to the Motley's for chili and presents. The kids loved ALL of their gifts...they got a lot!
Christmas morning, Dodi & Bob Bob came over and we had fun reading the Christmas story in the Bible and opening gifts.
We headed back to the beach to open presents with our immediate family before heading over to Joseph's parents to have Christmas dinner and gifts with them.
The day after Christmas is Joseph's birthday. He has never liked his birthday but he has never talked about how much he dislikes his birthday until this year. I knew I had to plan something! I talked to some of our closest friends here at the beach and we made a plan to surprise him. Mckenzie was in town (to begin wedding planning) so she was the babysitter for the night while I took Joseph to see a movie. However, when we got there I led him over to the bowling ally where his parents, brother, and our friends already had a table! He was completely surprised :) And he was happy to see Mckenzie walk in with Taylor a little while later. It was a fun night celebrating Joseph's 29th!!
The next night (Dec 27th), we went to Carolina Forest to Bonnie & Shonn's to celebrate Christmas with the Powells. It was a fun night of the tradition Bingo game and food. Afterwards, Joseph left to go hunting in Florence for the weekend so Kenzie, Taylor, Hippy, & I packed up and headed to Sumter for the night so we could go to Evelyn's the next day to buy Mckenzie's wedding dress!!!
Mckenzie actually found her wedding dress on the 26th at a store in Murrells Inlet. However, we knew that Evelyn offers 20% off if you pay in full at the time of purchase and they had the same dress! It is absolutely beautiful and she is going to be a stunning bride :) Mom found her dress at Evelyn's also...it is adorable! And we found the bridesmaids dresses and color also...a cornflower blue, which will be great in June. June 28th is the date! Once we started planning, we haven't stopped. She has planned pretty much everything. Church, Reception, Band, Flowers, Invitations, Dress, Cake, etc. I'm so excited and I've had so much fun pretending to be her personal wedding planner!! You learn a lot after you plan your own!
To end a fabulous...the best year yet...we had friends over to Joseph's parents house while they were in the Keys. Kyle, Lauren, & Miller Grace Hawleys, Kim, Zach, Emmie, & Ellen Nobles, Jessica & Charlotte Benson, and Chad & Leigh Anna Mitchell all joined us for a fun evening of babies and night of fun :) We had oysters and apps until the babies went to bed (everyone stayed) and then had adult cocktails as we rang in the New Year!! It was a perfect ending to the year :) I pray that 2014 will be just as wonderful as we celebrate more fun times like Taylor's 1st birthday, Mckenzie's wedding, other friends' weddings, Joseph's 30th, and much more!! Happy New Year!!
Thank you, Lord, for such a fabulous year :)
