Happy Birthday Taylor!

I remember growing up my mom always made my birthday’s so very special.  I wanted to make sure that my children always have that memory.  It took me a little while to think of what I could do to make sure they would feel special every time, so I came up with the perfect idea.  Taylor may not remember it this year, but I will have pictures to show him that every year, starting on his first birthday, his room was filled with balloons, so when he woke up on the morning of his birthday, he would be excited. 

So, last night, Casey and I blew up 60 balloons and quietly put them in his room.  He was so excited when he woke up!

I’m not entirely sure why this picture is fuzzy, but oh well.  We took him out of his crib, and he had so much fun just playing with the balloons, he hit them and threw them.  It was wonderful to see.  It made me think of all the birthdays to come.  I’m sure there will come a point where he will think we are weird, but I’m also sure he will secretly love it every year!

 

We had a little breakfast celebration this morning with pancakes, sausage, and a candle.  He also still went to daycare this morning.  I was going to keep him home, but his friends at daycare wanted to bake him a cake.  He loves his friends at daycare, and they all love him so much, I thought, why not?  Well, I hope that everyone enjoys this very special day in our hearts and smiles for T-Man, because honestly, who doesn’t love balloons?

1 year ago…

One year ago at 5:25 pm, Casey and I welcomed the most precious baby boy into our lives.  In that instant we were a family.  I will never forget that feeling of becoming a mom. Forever and always I am a mom and Casey is a dad.  It is amazing how quickly time goes by, I remember his first month like it was yesterday.  His little orange face, his tiny fingers, his long toes.  I remember sitting in the hospital holding him in front of me saying, “We have a son!” 

I would be lying if I said this past year was easy.  It hasn’t been, but every hard moment has been worth getting to see Taylor’s face everyday.  Every 2:30 am wakeup, the teething process, the nap less days have all been endured and weirdly cherished now that he is 1 year.  Thank you to all of our family and friends who have helped us when times were a little more difficult that we had anticipated. Like the car ride back from Big Sandy when Taylor wouldn’t stop screaming. I will always remember that moment.  We broke all the rules and took him out of that car seat in the back of the suburban, me crying because I didn’t know what else to do. 

Taylor has learned a lot over the past year.  He crawls forward and backwards. He LOVES Aspen.  He calls us dada, and mamama. He throws balls. He stacks blocks. He blows kisses.  He claps when we say “Go Gators.”  As much as he has learned, he has taught us many things as well.  He taught us that it may be okay if the house isn’t always clean.  He taught us that sleeping is overrated.  He taught us that screaming can be funny.  The greatest thing that he has taught us has been that we can love him so very much that there is nothing in the world that matters more. We love you so much Taylor Ryan Smith!

Happy Birthday!

Christmas Time

Well, I seemed to have missed Thanksgiving, as well as our trip to Florida, and all of the other events that seem to be quickly passing us by.  However, I was not going to miss this! 

Since as long as I can remember, I have ALWAYS wanted to go cut my own Christmas tree. Last year, we just wanted to get the tree up, thank goodness we did, since someone decided to grace us with his presence a little early, but this year we were doing it right!!  That means going out in the cold and chopping that oh-so-perfect tree down!  We had to get all bundled up as it was rather chilly outside.  Yes, all you Floridians! It was actually cold! As in just over freezing, C-O-L-D!

  This is just a small portion of all of the trees we had to choose from…

I was so happy it snowed the night before.  It couldn’t have looked more beautiful.  If you thought it was difficult to choose a tree in a tree lot at Lowe’s, you haven’t seen this place!  There were so many trees!  Big ones, small ones, fat ones, skinny ones, Charlie Brown ones…

We probably walked around these 5 lots for a god 45 minutes before we found THE TREE!  It was standing all by it’s lonesome.

 

Casey knocked all of the snow off before I could get a picture, but here he is sawing it down.  It is full on all sides, and HUGE!  Casey was very excited that we found such a great tree.  Real Christmas trees are very important in this household.  It puts us right in the holiday spirit.  I’m so happy that we were able to take our little one this year.  As much as I would love to live closer to family, this is one perk I am a little reluctant to give up!  We attempted to get some pictures of T-Man, but he wasn’t very cooperative, as he was in a little bit of a “mommy” mood.

 

As our tree was getting bundled up and trimmed, we took a ride on the pony!  That’s right, there was a pony at this farm, and Taylor LOVED it.  He wasn’t in the best of moods, but once he sat on that pony, he was all smiles.  I wish we captured it on video, but he was laughing the whole time, probably one of my favorite moments with him.

 

Excuse my pointing in this one, but his face was too precious! 

 

I hope everyone is staying warm, and enjoying the start of the holiday season.  It may be a little while before we are all together again, but we are making the best of where we are!

 

Happy Holiday Season!!