18 Months

Bits & pieces of Taylie Mae at
18 Months

Likes:

tea parties
Barney
galloping
playing with baby dolls
reading books in her crib during the day
knowing where Mom is at all times
her sisters
wrestling with her Daddy
doing front flips off the couch
dancing to Lady Gaga and Michael Jackson
trying to go potty on her toilet
suckers
looking at photo albums
Little People
her snacks in a tea cup


Sleeps 6:30pm-6:30am (will wake up at 5:30 many mornings and I bring her into the hallway and show her it's still dark and that everyone is sleeping, then lay her back down and she usually goes back to sleep for another hour)

Down to one nap most days around noon-1:30

Mostly uses one word at a time still. Once in awhile I've heard her say things like:
"Daddy...bye bye" (as Jason leaves)
"dance...Gaga" (I want to dance to Lady Gaga)
"Kel-kel par-e" (I want to do tea party with Kelsey)
I will try to get a video of her talking on here sometime soon.

She keeps me busy and needs a lot of feedback throughout the day. She needs to know what's going on and why it's happening. I kinda fear the day she can talk well because I'm sure I will be hearing it all day long!

She has an opinion about everything and knows what she wants; from the type of diaper she wants on to the exact place she wants us to sit to read books together.

She just gave up nursing in the last month.

We struggle with her eating and gaining weight like before. She is a tiny little thing and I would LOVE for her to have some more meat on those bones, but right now she is as big as Taylie Mae wants to be, which is 17 lbs 14 oz (below the growth chart)

She is 30 1/2 inches tall (30th pecentile)

She prefers to use a fork and spoon now over using her fingers.

Her top two molars are currently popping through and look ouchy. Besides those, she has four top front teeth and four on the bottom.


Foods she WILL eat:

"Ooo Ooo ahh ahh" drinks (Danimal yogurt drinks that have a monkey on them)
cheese
oatmeal and toast
banana muffins
pizza
mandarin oranges, pears, peaches
crackers
and that's about it!

This little girl is definitely loved by her whole family and gets plenty of attention by us ALL :)

More everyday life

Elizabeth and I flip flop kids so we can each
volunteer weekly in the kid's classrooms. We like having Eliza over!

Kelsey painted a tooth fairy.

and a picture of me!

Taylie painted with a paintbrush for the first time.

And liked it!

Taylie THOUGHT she was ready to potty train and insists on going in the toilet and has been successful, but after two very small potty accidents in 5 hours, I already gave up hope on her. Sorry Taylie, you'll have to try and convince me again in a few months.

This sweet boy, Oliver, turned ONE today so we threw him a party here!

9 kids and 5 moms

We had a lot going on!

But had fun!

Everyday Life

I'm trying to take more pictures of our "everyday" life. More of the not perfect pictures, messes, laughter, kids being kids, and also happy times together. These are the things I'm going to miss when they get older. So here's some to start.

Jason and Mace had a snow day on Friday!

Can you see both girls on top of him?

It's a heavy load to run with...trust me I've tried it, therefore I am always glad

when he's up for going outside!

Plus their dad is a bit more "fun" outside than me.

Macey and Kelsey's idea: "Let's see how many

puzzles we can do while Dad's at basketball

practice and surprise him when he gets home!"

Lots of snuggle time during Christmas break. It was a

nice relaxing two weeks all together at home.

Girls got into my preschool stuff while I was making

dinner one night. Always nice to have them

kept busy at that time of day :)

Mace reading to Taylie.

Candyland is a favorite these days.

These two love babies.

and playing tea party together.

Whoops!

Christmas Eve Day

Tradition changed up a bit this year for Christmas Eve. Usually we come into Holland and go to church at 6pm then to my dad's to do gifts, food, etc. But since my girls normally go to bed at 6:30 and we still have to travel to Dorr that night, it has been all a bit too rushed in the past. This year, we got to Holland by 11am and did half of the presents, then ate lunch, opened more presents, and relaxed! We got to actually see what we opened and enjoy some of them. We took the girls to go see Grandpa, the guys watched football, and snacked all day. Not sure if this tradition will stay or not, but it was definitely more relaxing and less rushed!

Brenda's famous Christmas cookies (just like Grandma's!)

Macey eyeing the presents and trying to be patient.

Watching the dogs outside...she liked them more from a distance, that's for sure.

Excited about the blanket Aunt Brenda made.

More watching the dogs.

Annual family picture.

The bottle JUST dropped! Whoops!

"Thanks Aunt Brenda!"

Buff Brenda!

Very excited about a new hat.

"Yes! It twirls!"

Trying out the new nail polish. A good job for Aunt Brenda.

Can you tell my girls get a bit spoiled from their Aunt Brenda and Bumpa? :) I tell them EVERY year, "The girls don't need much at all!"

Christmas Day

Christmas morning, we wake up at Jason's parents' house where his mom goes overboard with setting this up! We eat a delicious breakfast and wait for everyone to show up to open presents.

Making sure the new dress twirls.

Notice how Mace had to wear her new winter jacket and how Barney joined them as well :)

Kels got some new extensions!

Macey's words, "Mom, don't move these crayons away

from me because they are my favorite gift of all." Not often will you find her without a book or crayon in her hand.

Besides from Kelsey being up most the night coughing (whom Grammy took care of!), and Taylie awake from 4am on since she hates sleeping away from home, and Merek having the stomach bug, it was a nice day! Thank you to Jason's family for making it such a special day for us and especially our girls. They are so very lucky!

At night we headed to my Aunt Rachel and Uncle Jim's house in Holland to celebrate the Nykerk extended family Christmas. We enjoyed MORE food, pictionary, and BINGO. (side note: If anyone has a picture of my girls and grandpa, could you email me a copy? Thanks!) Sorry no pictures since the camera got left back in Dorr. Taylie was beyond tired and quite fussy most of the night, but little did we know she ended up spiking a 103.5 fever a few hours later and was up most the night screaming. Once we got her fever under control she was good to go and a trip to the urgent in the morning said it was just teething or a virus so nothing serious :)

Christmas morning

Here's some pictures from "our" Christmas morning.

Taylie got a baby doll and highchair.

Kels asked Santa for a Tangled dress, but the

doll that came with it was her favorite!

Mace wrote Santa a letter this year since she didn't want

to sit on his lap when we saw him. She asked him for a Lalaloopsy Doll!

Along with their "Santa" gift, Jason and I get them a few small gifts as well. I took each of the bigger girls shopping alone this year to pick out something for $5 for the other. They were so excited to exchange their gifts. Mace got Kels a My Little Pony and Kels picked out a Lalaloopsy book for Mace.

Taylie loves this Santa and insists he always needs a diaper on.

It was fun day with lots of excitement and hugs for saying "Thank You" :)