young love

Our friends Carrie and Hunter have a little boy, Ethan, who is 3 weeks older than Saylor. We took some pictures of them sitting on the couch together this weekend...pretty funny. Think he must have liked her...notice how he put his arm around her! :)

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my dad's 61st birthday. (Hopefully he doesn't mind me announcing his age so publicly...sorry dad)!

Last year, when he turned 60, our family made a list of the "top 60 things we love about dad." Here were a few of mine from that list:

1.That he is not afraid to pick up and try new things (learning to play tennis, teaching English classes, etc.).
2.That I can always, no matter what, count on him. I know that no matter what, he will be there for me or do anything for me, without question.
3. How smart he is. He knows a lot of stuff about a lot of things!
4. That when he doesn’t know exactly he still makes it up sometimes. :)
5. How open-minded and thoughtful he is
6. That he is quick to listen and slow to speak
7. All that he has taught me (how to ride a bike, write a paper, think first of others)
8. How he has always encouraged me to excel in whatever I do, whatever I enjoy, but loved me even when I fail

My dad is just hands down one of a kind. I have learned so much from him and am so thankful for all that he has done to be a wonderful father to me and Ellen (and Matt too).

One more thing I love that I would add to the list this year is watching him interact with Saylor. He is so great with her - he talks to her and sings to her and is very patient with her, which comes as no surprise because I think he is the most patient person I know.

Love you, dad. Happy Birthday!

Sleeping blunders

I find stories of things people do and say in their sleep to be pretty amusing. Especially when they are mine or Matt's, since these are the ones I personally experience. For example:

Me: You're hogging the covers babe! Give them back! (as I yank on them because they are ALL on his side of the bed in a tangled, sweaty, heap. This happens pretty much nightly).

Matt (in a mumbled, disoriented voice): What? Ok. Ok. Yes, I will be there for the meeting.

OR: What? Oh sorry. I need them to add it to the compost.

Or something along that vein. On several occasions I have laughed out loud at 2 a.m. at what he has said in his sleep while having NO awareness that it is making no sense. I'm sure many couples have similar stories.

But last night he was the one laughing at me.

I got ready for and into bed at about 11. Matt was working, but he told me he would be in in a minute. I got in bed but realized I didn't have any water to take my pills. Rather than yelling across the house to ask him if he could bring me some water (which I do many nights and he very sweetly does) and risk waking Saylor, I decided to text him. Sort of ridiculous, I know. But I did. Anyways - I sat in bed waiting for him to come, but quickly became very sleepy. I remember being perplexed by the question of what to do with my pills while I waited. I somehow thought placing them on the nightstand was very dangerous because Morty could eat them and get sick. So, apparently, the next best thing was to unscrew my tub of auqaphor and put the pills in there until Matt brought me the water. Next thing I knew it was 3 a.m. and Matt was finally coming to bed and had my water (yes, he is insane but often does stay up that late working). He handed me the glass and asked where the pills were, to which I replied, annoyed, "in the aquaphor." It seemed perfectly logical to me. He started laughing which just further annoyed me. I grabbed the water and unscrewed the top of the tub, only to pull out two grease covered pills. Now Matt was laughing harder and I was just mad. I dramatically threw the tub on the nightstand and myself back on the pillows and (rudely I am sure) requested (ok, probably more like demanded) two new pills. I really thought it was his fault for taking so long with the water, and I could NOT understand why he thought it was so funny.

Needless to say, I did some apologizing this morning. He still thought it was pretty funny, but at least this time I was laughing with him. :)

Top ten rules for giving me a bottle (compliments of Saylor)

Some of you know that our current "challenge" with Saylor is that she really doesn't like taking a bottle. At all. Yes, we introduced it at 3 weeks like they told us, and yes, she took it perfectly for about a month. Then suddenly it was as if we were absolutely torturing her to get her to eat from it, and it has pretty much been a nightly battle ever since. Though breastfeeding is going great, it is important to us that she DOES figure this out so that I can go back to work a little bit and have a night out here and there. So, every night we keep trying.

Along our journey we have learned a few tricks. If you do ALL of these things and the stars line up just right, you may be in luck.

So here you have it - the top ten rules for giving Saylor a bottle...from her POV of course.

1. I will not take a bottle from mom. Period. Don't even try it.
2. I will only drink from the Adiri "breast" bottle. None of the other fourteen kinds you have tried are to my liking.
3. My milk must be heated to the perfect temperature. Not too hot or too cold.
4. Do not sit down while you are feeding me. Duh.
5. Do not stop walking around as you are feeding me. I know I am about 13 lbs. and getting heavy, but I really don't care about that.
6. At the beginning of the feeding, I need to be at 45 degree angle to the ground. Once we near the end of the feeding, it is ok if you lower me so I am slightly more parallel, but not until the end.
7. Once I finally do start to eat, DO NOT stop for anything (to burp me, scratch your nose, or put out a fire) or I will not start again.
8. Don't expect me to be timely about this. I like to take my time, play with the nipple, and chill out for a few minutes. I don't care if you have other things to do.
9. It helps if mom plays Beethoven loudly on the piano while you feed me.
10. Don't get too comfortable with this - just when you think I've got it down I'll refuse you again!

And there you have it...our daughter is high maintenance! Well, really she is not at all except for this one issue...I mean, the kid has got this sleeping thing down, which we are VERY thankful for. Guess making light of this helps me maintain my sanity.

Anyone want to come babysit?

A few new pictures

We got a couple cute photos this weekend around the house and hanging out with friends...


Visiting D, Gary, and baby Gavin



Wearing her hat a lot since it has been cold and rainy all week!




After a bath - all wrapped up



Hanging out with Mae and Caroline at supper club (we missed James!)

Saylor's new friend!

Our good friends Corby and Lauren had their baby today! Harper Ann is PRECIOUS and we were so excited to finally meet her tonight at the hospital. Lauren was a champ during delivery and Harper is beautiful! Matt and I are so excited to walk through parenting with such great friends and that our daughters are so close in age. Here are some pictures from our first time getting to meet her.


Isn't she cute!?


Proud Dads


BFF's...they just don't know it yet.

Sunday afternoon

Yesterday afternoon was beautiful! So we...



Went for a stroll





Sat down to play




and rolled in some grass!

2 Months Old!

It's hard to believe Saylor's two month birthday was yesterday...my how time flies! We are having so much fun with her and love watching her little personality develop a little more each day. She had a good check up at the Pediatrician's office today (except for the shots which she HATED, poor thing). She is obviously growing fine, as you can see...she's in the 90th percentile for height and 85th for weight. She is communicating more through a variety of facial expressions, our favorite of course being her big smiles. She can hold her head up really well and seems to look much more intently and purposefully at something across the room or in the mirror. She is also eating great and sleeping like a champ (from about 10-7 most nights) which we are very thankful for. She is cooing a lot too which at times is quite funny to listen to. Recently she put it together that if she hits the monkey dangling in her bouncy seat she hears music...endless entertainment! She still gets the hiccups almost daily which are so loud and really do sound like she has swallowed a squeaky toy. We've thought about trying to scare them out of her, but decided against it. :) (Kidding, of course).

Saylor and I went to Houston for a visit this week while Matt was in San Diego for work. She did great in the car both ways - although the way home Aunt Ellen came with us so it was much easier for me to handle both Harry and Saylor by myself. (Thanks, Ellen)! It was very busy week but fun to see so many people. I was terrible about taking pictures, but did get one of her meeting a very important person for the first time - our best friend Mark!



Saylor was having a little bit of a meltdown while he came to visit, hence the reason she is not facing the camera. She has also started drooling quite a bit recently - she left both Mark and our pediatrician today and nice big wet spot on their shoulder. :)

Of course we missed Matt a ton and were glad to be back in Dallas together yesterday evening. We are so thankful for our healthy little girl!