5 months old!

Technically we still have two days to go until the real "5 months" day, but since I have time today to sit down uninterrupted, this is probably the best time to update. It is so crazy to think that Taylor is already 5 months old! She is getting so big! I never realized before I had my own baby, how much can literally change day-by-day. She can roll over (when she feels it is necessary) both ways, but prefers to do so from laying on her back onto her belly. She has already begun throwing her head back quite dramatically when she is upset. This means daddy is in trouble... since mommy knows this trick! She, like any child at this age, loves to chew. Especially her own fingers, but for the past week or so, she is more aware of where she is and looks for things around her to grab on to! It is too funny! She loves to stare at the color red, no matter what it is on. All these changes just make me realize how precious our time is! Just a few stats: at our last appointment, Taylor weighed 14.8 lbs, and was 25 in long. Very strong and healthy little girl! Here she is on Valentine's day:

Taylor has become a little more cooperative in picture taking, so I decided to do a photo shoot the other day! Here are a few of the pictures that came about. We still have a problem of looking around at anything that moves, and not smiling as soon as the camera clicks. They are still cute though! Finally got to use the tu-tu!!

February 2011

Well as usual it has been a little bit since I have posted! Hopefully I will do better! Well since we last updated, our poor house has been through the ringer on sickness! First Taylor and I got the stomach virus, then I had a kidney stone, and then all three of us had colds. We were happy to see February! This month has been wonderful so far! The first weekend in February, Kappy and Tay had a date! My mother offered to keep Taylor for a night away while mommy and daddy had a date night too! We went to our most favorite restaurant Texas de Brazil, and as usual, had to roll ourselves home. We sure missed Miss Taylor-bug. This was the second night Taylor had spent away from home. Mommy did much better the second time around. We are just trying to gear up for being away from her for a few days when we get a much needed beach vacation this summer! This weekend has proved to be equally as exciting. Taylor ate rice cereal for the first time! We think she loved it! It was awkward at first, of course, but the more she ate it, the more she wanted it! She even began trying to grab the spoon herself! It was too cute! Here are some pictures of that adventure....

She was just too cute! (Of course we are a little partial!!) Now we are gearing up for Valentine's day! What do you get a 5 month old you ask? Hmmm... baby puffs and of course a toy! I can't wait until she can taste chocolate though! If she is anything like her daddy, I won't be able to keep it away from her! Here she is getting ready for a day of love! Not that this child has lacked in that department a day in her life :) She is our cute little lovebug! As you can see, she's already showing signs of being a BIG daddy's girl!!

We are looking forward to the coming months, watching this precious miracle continue to grow and learn something new everyday! God has truly blessed us!

Holidays 2010

Well Christmas has come and gone for the McMillen family. As suspected, Taylor was very much spoiled! She seemed to sleep every time we opened gifts, but stared in wonder after her daddy and me fought the boxes to get her toys out to play. Her new favorite things are light up gadgets. She just sits in wonder at what is happening; it is tooo cute!! Holidays were a fun time for mommy too. :) I got to play dress up with my little model, and had a blast doing so! Little girls just have it all these days in terms of clothes and shoes! Pictures to prove it so that you can agree :). Taylor also had her first white Christmas! As we went to Batesville Christmas morning, a beautiful dusting of snow covered the ground. It is now January 6, and as of last night, I FINALLY was able to finish taking down the Christmas decor. Poor baby Taylor had the stomach virus this week, and caring for her trumped our ability to clean up! When we took her to the doctor on Tuesday, she weighed 14 lbs and 4 oz! My oh my she is a grower! She also "rolled over" this week. I say that in quotations since it was not a total rolling maneuver. She did go from back to front, but has yet to figure out what to do with her arm that tends to get stuck under her! SO needless to say, as soon as she rolled, she rolled back, but we are well on our way! She has gotten so good at grabbing things that get her attention. So far, most things make it to the mouth, but she quickly drops the product and simply gnaws on her hands. Yaya says they taste like ice-cream ha ha. I guess this plus the snotty nose means this baby girl is starting the teething process! Oh where has the time gone! Even with that in mind, we are looking forward to the coming months and watching this little wonder astound us further.

11 weeks old!

Today Taylor is 11 weeks old! In some ways it feels like she has been around forever, and others that she just arrived yesterday! I can't believe she is almost 3 months old! She is really starting to get active these days! If you know Taylor, you know she is a mover and a shaker. ALL the time. This explains so much of my pregnancy...haha. Now, she is moving with purpose though. As of last week, she is seeing things and trying to reach and touch them! Her favorite is a butterfly on her carrier. She swats at it and makes it rattle. It is too funny watching her face in concentration! I can't wait until she is reaching things and just grabbing them in her little hands! At Taylor's last appointment (2 month) she weighed 11 lbs and 14 oz and was measuring 23 in long. At birth, she was 9.6 lbs, and 21 3/4 in. So, our little peanut has been doing some serious growing! She is such a happy baby and has the prettiest smile I've ever seen! (Although I may be partial :) ) It makes any day better watching her laugh and giggle at me! I try to capture some of these moments, but thus far have been quite unsuccessful. I will try to post what I do have though very soon!

Catch up

Well a lot has happened in the past 10 weeks, and even more before that. So, I believe I will play a little bit of catch up in our story. If you haven't seen us in a while, Caleb and I got married on March 24, 2007. It was an amazing day that I wish I could repeat often! At the time, Caleb was still active in the Marine Corps. So, I moved to North Carolina with him. I went to the University of North Carolina-Wilmington and graduated Cum Laude in Business Administration-Marketing. Caleb deployed one more time to Iraq, and once he returned, he had one more year in the Corps. In May of 2009, I took a job in Southaven, MS, and Caleb shortly followed in June. FINALLY out of the Marine Corps. I will always be grateful for that time away from everything I had ever known. I made some amazing friends that I still keep up with and had some very life-changing experiences. We bought a house in September of 2009, and exactly one year later had our precious daughter Taylor. That is the jist of our lives for the past few years, so now you know! From now on, I will try to just update as we go, but as in any story, you always need to understand the beginning to really understand the core of the plot. For us, our lives now revolve around this precious wonder God chose to bless us with! If you ever wanted to meet some lucky people, you are reading her blog now. In addition to "our addition" this year, God chose to bless us with 3 NIECES within 3 months!  My sister, Jenny and her husband Ross welcomed Gracie on August 5, Caleb's sister Sarah Kate welcomed Nora-Kate on September 11, and Suzanne and Trent (our "might as well be family" friends) welcomed Callaway on October 25. As you can see, we have the workings of a girls softball team already! :) This year has been very exciting for our family, and so far holidays have proved quite interesting! We are so ready for Christmas to spoil these princesses even more!

First blog ever!

Well, I thought I would escape the madness that is blogging. However, as I have noticed since having a child, there is more of a necessity to write things down and take more pictures than ever before! So here I am, trying to keep myself and those around me informed of all the things we are doing these days! I will try my best to keep this up as much as possible, but I will not promise anything! Hopefully Taylor will appreciate me putting effort into this if I can!