The Time You Spent Your First Week Away from Mommy

As mentioned previously, mommy had to go back to Austin after a fun family weekend in Houston to enjoy Uncle Quinn's Farewell Talk at church. You stayed in Houston with daddy as several family members were in town to visit with Uncle Quinn before he leaves on his mission to Brazil. Some of these family members had met you before and some had not yet. Daddy also wanted to stay home and spend some quality time with your uncles before Uncle Quinn is gone for the next two years. Unfortunately, mommy had to be back in Austin for another long work week - and it was - many late nights. I managed to get a little extra sleep and some packing done but mostly I just missed you guys. I was afraid that you wouldn't notice I was gone and that you would forget me when I came back. Of course, I wanted you to have fun and not be sad and miserable without me - frankly, I guess, if you had just not noticed my absence, I suppose that would have been for the best - BUT there was still a small part of me that wanted to feel validated as mommy that you missed me and needed me. I was told you had tons of fun throughout the week with family - swimming and going on all kinds of adventures. I heard you were cheesing it up with your cute new face all of the time and that everyone loved you very much. Daddy tried to do Skype with us multiple times but as there were so many people in Houston using the Taylor's internet, it was very choppy and poor image quality. It was almost a tease that I would rather not have done - as I could see you poorly and lagging and it just reminded me how much I missed you. I finally got to come back to Houston the following weekend. My coworker allowed me to sneak out very early so that I made it to Houston just shortly after when I would have otherwise been just leaving work. You were already asleep at it was about 11:30PM. Daddy and I stayed up visiting with family that I hadn't seen in years then we snuck into the room about 1:30AM. Due to the number of family members crashing at the Taylor's home, we all had to share a room and as memory serves from your earlier months - sharing a room with Delilah in the pack-n-play does not go well. If we happen to wake the baby dragon and she sets her sights on you then all heck breaks loose and until you are snuggled between us nursing you cannot be soothed. Needless to say this was what happened. As quiet as we tried to be within a minute you woke up and saw us and cried until you were picked up. Selfishly, I was excited because this meant that I would not have to wait until the morning to say hello to you after a whole week apart. BUT THEN... you initially immediately clung on to me and laid your head down in the darkness, but you abruptly pulled back and tried hard to stare at my face in the subtle light gleaming in from the hallway through the cracked door. You had this face of confusion and possible concern. You didn't seem to recognize me or you were shocked that it was me and not daddy soothing you as it had been for the past few days. Fortunately, it seemed that you accommodated quickly to the return of mommy and you laid your head back on my shoulder. I sat down on the bed with you and nursed you to your tummy's content - and boy must you have missed the real stuff over the formula this week or maybe just the comfort but it was a long session. THEN... another blow to mommy. After you had your fill, you snuggled in between us to sleep but suddenly got up and crawled over to daddy and daddy, half asleep, put out his arm like it was routine and you settled on top of him and fell asleep. If this was not the cutest scene I had every seen, I would have started crying. Obviously, daddy has been your knight in shining armor this week valiantly taking care of you and you've developed an extra special bond that I hope continues to bloom throughout your life. I felt like a piece of our relationship had ended or diminished though and that was tough. Not to worry though, the next morning, it was back to normal and the entire family vented frustration that with mommy in town, Delilah wasn't as much fun because you never wanted to play with anyone or would focus on anything unless it's me. *Selfishly excited* It also made me feel a little sad though. I was a bit frightened thinking that you cried relentlessly as I walked out of the room each time thinking that I would leave you for another week. Wow, was I between a rock and a hard place. I tried to take full advantage of every moment with you, and I tried to be more aware of experiencing each moment with you. We never know how many moments we get or how many moments we will miss. I'm so happy to have had and to continue to make new memories with you ... and I'm sorry but we are about to experience yet another week apart as daddy goes back to Houston in a few weeks to wish Uncle Quinn a real farewell. Have fun... don't miss me too much! ;)





You also got to meet Uncle Quinn's lady friend, Emi. She enjoyed you very much and she was a pretty funny addition to the general Taylor family fun.

The Time You Turned 11 Months

It amazes me how time has flown by so rapidly this year. You are now 11 months old - SO close to one year and I just can't fathom how we've come so far so fast. You are in every way amazing, talented, and frankly genius. We feel that you are very advanced and obviously the cutest baby in the world - no bias here. Today also happens to be your first 4th of July celebration as well. Unfortunately, I did not get to spend it with you as you were in Houston with daddy and mommy was working in Austin (see next post for that devastation growing experience). I think you knew that I felt bad about not being there though as I heard from several sources that you slept through fireworks.








Beautiful as always ... toothless as always. This photo was just before you unceremoniously ripped the flower headband from your head with annoyance. We have a huge box of headbands and hair accessories but you remain fairly hairless and you have always hated wearing anything on your head for more than 2.5 seconds - so in the box they will remain until you forget you don't like them.

Below... you showing mommy and daddy how easy it now is for you to climb up on top (and then over - if we aren't super proactive about your safety) on the couches in the living room in the baby arena.

It's become a thing for you to eating your monthly sticker. You've become quite adept at it. I usually am able to salvage most of it and at the very least get it out of your month, but I'll admit - your poor mommy may have not been the mommy of the year this month and you probably did end up digesting a bit of your sticker this time. I couldn't seem to keep it away from you. It probably didn't help that I couldn't find a white onesie so I just stuck the sticker to your tummy instead for your photo op. 

Oh and the cheesy-face. You started doing the cutest (the new cutest) thing this month. When you are smiling, you scrunch up your face - eyes, nose, and eyebrow - and put on a huge grin. This is now your signature response to things that make you laugh or smile - perhaps even times when you smell something gross or at least that's what it looks like. The first time you did it, the face was few and far between then after visiting Houston and entertaining everyone with it... you started doing it frequently and nonstop. The praise and laughter associated with the face I'm sure encouraged the continuation of this adorable new expression.

You have accomplished a lot this month. You have taken great strides - literally - in your walking proficiency. You can now get up from sitting without furniture and get just about anywhere relatively fast walking. You still crawl for expedited travel but not often. You can climb up and over everything - including our baby arena (the living room) that has been specifically arranged to contain you. You can say puppy - softly in a whisper - and you can chastise the puppies in a loud babble. You can say Mama and Dad sometimes dada more discriminately but you won't do it on command - only sporadically when you feel the urge to surprise and excite us. You still primarily indiscriminately make the mama and dada sounds particularly mama when you are hungry or sad or crying. You very much have us wrapped around your pretty little fingers. I can't stand to hear you cry still and now much less when I think you are intentionally calling our my name "mama" in order to stop the heartache and pain of whatever devastation you are processing such as being confined to the living room and your current inability to vault the ottoman or your confinement to the pack-n-play so heaven-forbid mommy can take two seconds to change while she knows you are in a safe space. But your mind games work wonders because I pick you up, I hold you, I love you and I avoid setting you down in confining environments as often as possible. You little stinker! But you have daddy too. As always, he can still handle the cries better than mommy which has saved us a few 3am full-scale wake ups as daddy encourages mommy to "wait just one more minute" then ah alas you were only startled for a moment and have gone back to sleep by yourself. But, I've seen daddy cave to your will occasionally too... a few extra puffs, pull you onto the other side of the ottoman, throw in a cookie, or just open his arm and let you crawl on into his cozy nook and cuddle in to sleep on daddy a little longer in the morning. You've got our number girlfriend and you use it! But we are happy and proud to serve our little princess.