Super Surgery, VIP Visitors, and "Egg"-cellent Easter Happenings

On Maggie's 10 month birthday, we woke her early (around 6 am) to head to the Carolina Surgical Center here in Rock Hill to have her first-ever (and hopefully last...for a really, really long time) surgery.  She got tubes put in her ears by Dr. Abrams at 7:30 am.  Even though the surgery itself only lasted 5-10 minutes, we were pretty nervous to have her experience anesthesia.  She recovered from it beautifully though and by 7:50, we had our little angel back in our arms. She was quite hungry, so she sucked down her bottle (in addition to the 2 units of Pedialyte that the nurses gave her in recovery). As far as we could tell, she was back to her happy, smiling self. Here she is texting all her friends that she is out of surgery and ready to head home to see Grandmama and Riley! 

 Maggie experienced her first Easter just a few days before her surgery.  The Easter Bunny brought her and Riley several toys, candy-filled eggs, and plush bunnies. It was so much fun watching them play together. Riley got a big kick out the Mr. and Mrs. Potato heads and has played with them every day so far. Riley became quite the "egg"-cellent egg hunter this year. Here he is finding eggs hidden by Grandmama and Papa on Easter, but he had more practice inside finding eggs earlier in the week with Nan and Pap and the day before Easter, he participated in an Easter Egg Hunt at church.  He shakes everyone to see if there is a "special" surprise in it and can barely contain his enthusiasm to sit down and start eating them.

Riley and Maggie (and Chris and I) had to say goodbye to Mr. Marc as he headed up to Massachusetts for a new job. We sure are going to miss having their godfather and our special friend around, but we know he'll continue to be a part of their lives as they grow and we wish him the very best!

This action-packed week also held a visit from Nan and Pap! Riley and Maggie had a great time going out to eat, bouncing at Baxter's Bunch, checking out the animals at the museum, and dying eggs together as well as many more fun-filled moments. Riley asked them every night if they were going to sleep here and he and Maggie both loved the extra love and attention! Not to mention the sweet treats (like the cupcakes Pap brought home from the store)! :)

Beautiful Baptism and More "Mag"-nificent Memories with "Mobile Maggie"

 Every time I turn around, my precious little girl is another month older. Here she is at 9 months starting to crawl (still a little Army-style using her arms more than her hands and her right leg more than her left, but it gets her where she wants to go) and she can push herself back up into a sitting position. This little cutie is saying "Uh Oh" all the time now, in addition to her "Da Da".  She is clapping her hands and our favorite trick of hers to watch now is her spontaneous dance breaks where she rocks her torso back and forth when she hears music.  We LOVE it!!

At her 9 month check-up, she weighed 18 lbs. 7 oz. and was 28 inches tall which were all in about the 50th percentile.  Her head circumference is a little small now, so we just have to keep an eye on that development. Unfortunately, Maggie had another double ear infection at this well-check up (which means she's had one just about every month for the past 6 months).  She had to get a more aggressive antibiotic treatment that was given as a shot over the course of 3 days. She goes back in another week to get her ears checked again. If they haven't cleared or if she gets another ear infection this spring, than the doctor recommended seeing an ear, nose, and throat specialist to pursue tubes.  So we'll see what happens. I just want her healthy!

 Here we are this past Sunday, March 10th at our church (Philadelphia United Methodist) getting Maggie ready for her big baptism.  Godfather Marc and his fiance, Krista, were able to come up and participate in the service as sponsors. Carson was sick at home and couldn't attend, but sent her love. Grandmama, Mommaw and Poppaw, Aunt Jeannie, and our Sunday school group (including our friends and neighbors, the Casons) were also able to be there for this special day.

 Maggie was a little confused by her sprinkling, but didn't cry at all! She was the perfect little angel and it means so much to us to be surrounded by so many people who love her and promise to support her spiritually as she grows.

My Funny Valentines and Sweet Snow Bunnies

 Valentine's Day this year was filled with lots of love, candy, cards, and homemade fondue dinner. It sure was a delightful Thursday evening with my family!

 About a week later, on Feb. 23rd, we got our 2nd snowfall of the year and this one Riley actually was well enough to enjoy.  He and his buddy, Callahan, got to take sled rides down hills in the park and throw snowballs. We even made a miniature snowman.  We were going to try and make "snow-cream", but after naps the sun had come out and warmed up the ground so much that there was hardly any snow on the ground at all. We were thankful for the little bit that we had though to play in!

 I can't conclude without a few of my favorite Riley moments that have occurred lately.

• I made the comment one day that Riley was wearing camouflage  pants, and he quickly corrected me and said, "There's no camels on it, there's snakes on it!"
• Riley is really taking to reading books on his own now and he read The Very Hungry Caterpillar almost word for word the other night. The one confusing part was when the caterpillar made his "raccoon", instead of cocoon in the tree. :)

On the way to school each morning, Riley likes to tell dad all kinds of stories. Here's one--                               Driving past the apartment complex on Celanese near our house:

RILES:  When I get bigger and bigger, I want to go to that village.  They have wild animals in there.  They have polar bears, giant giraffes, and lions.  They will show their yellow eyes and their terrible teeth and their claws.

DAD:  Oh my goodness!  Their yellow eyes and terrible teeth?!  Will they say “Roar”?

RILES:  No.  They will say “Thank you” to me.  They are nice. 

The story went on from there, of course, but I was still knocked out by his description of the wild animals.  Smart little booger! 

•  "Watch this trick!" When Riley says this phrase, you never know what you might see next from diving headfirst over the arm of the couch to trying to do a flip to jumping over items on the floor.
• Playing with his toy cash register and putting money in his pocket is a new game Riley loves. He'll check all his pockets and when he finds one that's empty, he'll say, "There's no anything in my poke-ket." 

Maggie Milestones and Riley Rewordings

 Our Two Little Loves!  These darling kids are growing closer every day! Riley makes sure to give "Mags" (as he calls her all the time now) a kiss good night and he's even getting pretty good about sharing toys and including her in his games. He's becoming more independent now (if that's possible) and wants to do and get everything himself. For example, when he has a "bless you" (a.k.a. sneeze), he runs and gets a tissue. He loved getting them so much that the other day, he went through about 12 of them in a 2 minute time period before we finally had to put an end to it. Crazy kid! :)  Another Riley rewording occurs when we ask Riley why he had a frowny face or okay face instead of a smiley face day at school (the new behavior system they've started doing at CPA) and he'll respond, "Because I do."  We investigate a little further and try to use the information we gather as teachable moments during dinner.

Maggie turned 8 months old on February 2nd! She's playing very well and able to entertain herself quite a bit now. We also just discovered that she knows exactly how to hold a bottle and has had us fooled for over a month now! :) Today, she fed herself the entire bottle with absolutely no help.  Just this week, she cut her first top tooth.  This brings the grand total to 3 little chompers now. 

 She's been putting all three of them to work trying new foods. This is a funny picture of Maggie trying Puffs (baby puffed cereal) snacks for the first time. So far, Maggie has had bananas, pears, apples, peas, green beans, squash, sweet potatoes, and rice and oatmeal cereal. In addition to her usual 4 bottles of formula a day, she also eats cereal/fruit mixture in the morning, vegetable near lunch time, and some sort of cereal/fruit/vegetable serving at supper. 

 Riley has let his imagination really start taking him places! For example, it was his idea to create this "train" out of pillows and make sure he went and got his conductor hat so that he could ride on it correctly! How cute. Pictured below, he's giving the green guy a haircut.

Holiday Ha Ha Ha

So I've been collecting more funny Riley sayings. Here's his most recent holiday edition:

• While driving to McAdenville, we were listening to a Michael Buble CD.  Riley's been very interested in Christmas music this season and always asks us, "What's that song?".  We responded with it's a Michael Buble song. A few minutes later, he makes the comment "I like this Microwave song."
• Some of his other favorite Christmas songs that we could recognize right off the bat are "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" (to which he'll shake his hips and move his arms back and forth as he dances), "Little Drummer Boy" (where he air drums when he hears it play), "Away in a Manger" (he also has precise motions he learned for this and if you don't do them exactly right, he'll let you know), and "Let it Snow" (or because he can't pronounce his "s" sound all the time, it's more like "Let it 'Now").  
• In the car, especially on long drives, Riley has 2 games he likes to play. One that can get old really fast is when he likes to repeat over and over the phrase, "I want you".  As in, he wants us to hold him.  Our best method for ending this game is to distract him with another one. He likes us to think of silly things for him to eat or pretend to be.  This is a game he's loved since he was little. We'll name all kinds of things and he'll laugh and when we pause and don't say anything for awhile, he says..."Think about it!".  
• Riley got a doctor kit for one of his gifts from Santa and immediately started playing with it. He knew just about what every instrument did, but didn't have the exact language down pat yet. He holds up the pretend otoscope and says it's an "eye lash" and wants to look in your eyes, nose, and ears.  He learned to look and see if there are any "taters" in people's ears from his Pap.  While looking in his dad's nose one day, Riley commented, "Ooh Daddy, you have a 'boo'-ger!" One of the cutest misunderstandings so far is when he uses the stethoscope to check our heart"beep"!
• Riley usually wakes up every morning and typically states that he's ready for breakfast. However, the day after Christmas I go in to pick him up out of his bed and carry him downstairs (because he's still my baby) and he remarks without a moment of hesitation, "MORE PRESENTS PLEASE!"

Sweet and Smiley at Seven Months, our little Social Butterfly

 Maggie and Riley got an extra special visit from Godfather Marc and Krista on New Year's Eve. Riley is still a little camera-shy, but as you can see Maggie has no problem "cheesing" for every photo!  Mr. Marc is also so thoughtful and brings Christmas and birthday presents.  This year he got Riley and Maggie some coordinating track suits as well as some Eric Carle books for Maggie and math dominoes for Riley.  We are so thankful to have such positive influences in our kids' lives to help us raise these precious kiddos!

 Our sweet pea turned 7 months yesterday! We can hardly believe how fast time seems to be flying!! I find myself trying to memorize the feeling of holding Maggie's little body because I know she'll never be that small again.  And since I'm pretty sure she's our last one, it makes it all the more bitter-sweet to watch her grow and change so fast.  Both of her bottom teeth have come through and she didn't fuss at all with either one!  She is already sitting up for extended periods and is babbling with all kinds of sounds and "ga ga ga" phrases. Her hands start going crazy as she holds them up by her shoulders and opens and shuts them and turns and twists them. She is becoming very social and lights up when we interact with her. She gives the best smiles and her laugh is so stinkin' cute! It sounds like it starts in her belly and just rolls right out! Riley knows just how to make her laugh the most.  We think Maggie is pretty much infatuated with her big brother and hangs on every word and action he does. What a treat to see such love and devotion at an early age!

 Speaking of being a social butterfly, we decided to redecorate Maggie's room to give it a more girlish look. With help from both sets of grandparents at Christmas, we were able to get all kinds of decor and accessories. Now our ray of sunshine has a room that reflects even more of her personality!

The Taylors 'Tis the Season Together

 After we finished our own family Christmas celebration, we headed over to Grandmama and Papa's for a very scrumptious lunch together with Aunt Kelly, Uncle Joel, and Mommaw and Poppaw.  Grandmama outdid herself again by whipping up a feast of roast, dressing, sweet potato casserole, collards, corn, and broccoli salad (not to mention the infamous 7 Layer Coconut Cake and all the sweets and treats....my favorite of course, being the date balls!). Once our bellies recovered and we were able to move again, we managed to open a few gifts. I tried to get a little crafty this year and use some ideas that I had found online on Pinterest. I made several framed gifts including "The Fruit of the Spirit" for Mom and Dad, and word collages for everyone that described each person according to the traits/characteristics I believed they possessed. Can you guess who in our family was the "Suspicious-Noise Maker" or "Resourceful" (enough to dumpster-dive for leftovers), or the Noodle-"Dancer"? I also made some mugs that read, "Have I told you lately that I love you?".  We were able to Skype with Edward and Amanda and open some of these gifts together. So even though they weren't physically with us, we were still able to share a few laughs and feel each other's presence!

 Here's Joel opening his "Pot of Gold" chocolate candy that had some cash stashed away in it.
 And below we captured Riley and Papa putting on a rock concert with the PaperJamz guitar from Uncle Edward and Aunt Amanda.

One of the favorite gifts of the year was Chaucer, Joel's new puppy.  Maggie especially was fascinated with this little guy, probably because there was finally someone smaller than her around! 

 Poppaw and Mommaw enjoyed figuring out how to work their new Keurig coffee maker and one of Riley's highlights of the day included getting his very own step stool!

 It was a perfect ending to a perfect day! As we drove home that night, I couldn't help but thank God for all the amazing blessings he has placed in my life!