I'm hoping to make a Taylor post every Tuesday and title it "TaylorTuesday," so here is today's inaugural post.

Taylor woke so happy this morning.  He was running around in his diaper and climbing his cube and laughing laughing laughing.  We had fun playing, "How big is Taylor?  Soooo Big!!!"  This made him laugh and fling his arms around my neck and hit me with a big kiss.

When we returned home from work and daycare today, as we walked down the driveway, Taylor ran over to our bench and managed to climb onto it on his own!  He was so happy and proud of himself!  He then managed to climb down on his own.  Bob and I sat on the bench while Taylor climbed up and down, up and down.  He enjoyed walking away and waving and saying "Bah Bahye!"  Then he came back to us and climbed up again.

From playing on the bench and in the driveway, Taylor then ran into the garage and grabbed the Swiffer mop.  Bob adjusted it down to make it 'Taylor-sized,' and then he proceeded to Swiffer the driveway and the yard.  It was just too cute!

And that's all I have for TaylorTuesday.

Things are going well for us, but this week has been so busy, it's hard to believe it's only Tuesday.  We're making big efforts to use our time in the evenings to really wind down and recharge.  Hope everyone else is taking time to recharge for themselves!

This week has just flown by!  I've been super busy working and writing, Bob's been super busy with one of their colleagues in from Los Alamos, and the Wee has been super busy growing and playing and teething!

That's right, he's got two more teethers coming in, which has resulted in just a little bit of restlessness, but overall he has been very happy this week.

That's an accomplishment, too, considering that we found this week that his right ear is still infected.  He is now taking an oral antibiotic, so wouldn't you know, we've already had one outfit-changing-poopy and a bath this morning.  Fun times!

We went out to dinner with some of Bob's work colleagues last night, and Taylor was so so good.  He ate and played and stayed very patient the whole time.  He is just a super sweet baby.

Right now Sigmund, our crazy cardinal is pecking right at the window where Taylor is standing on his chair.  The two are sort of looking at each other and I am reminded of the On the Night You Were Born book that says, "if a bird comes to sit at your window a while, it's because it wants to see you smile."  This bird's in luck, because my Pea has many smiles and he is very generous with them.

As I type this we are enjoying the effects of a peaceful, rainy Sunday. 

Yesterday there was a moment where I sat typing while the whole house around me slept, and I'm feeling very much in that moment now.  Currently I have chocolate puppy snoozing next to me, keeping my side warm, and the hubby is reading through the Sunday paper.

Tater P. has had an excellent weekend.  He is finally 100% healthy and has awoken each day with smiles and laughter.  He's been eating well and sleeping well, and we've spent so much time playing this weekend.  He's been playing with all of his toys, especially enjoying the balls, his dump truck, and an old crayola paint box that he loves to carry around the room.  This morning he climbed to the first landing of our staircase (with daddy by his side, of course).  He also enjoyed turkey sausage for the first time!  The boy turns his nose up at pb&j, chicken nuggets, and almost any other meat we've offered him (including the little Gerber meat sticks), but he wolfs down turkey sausage.  Go figure!

And he's really had a very happy, easy, enjoyable week.  He missed his daddy, since Bob was out of town, but I think he was so happy to be over his recent stomach bug that he was just very happy each day.

We are all very happy to be reunited, and he and Bob have been enjoying spending time together.  He loves to run up to Bob and throw his arms around him.

The weather outside has been rainy and cold all weekend, but we really haven't minded.  I spent most of yesterday in my jammies, getting a chance to write while Taylor slept.  We've been enjoying coffee and tea, comfy clothes, the fireplace, and TiVo'd American Idol.  Last night we made a warm Chicken Vindaloo for dinner and tonight is Crock Pot Beef Roast.  Nothing like enjoying the last vestiges of winter!

I hope everyone else out there is staying warm!

Had to post this --

Taylor just did this last night:  He climbed onto the plush cube in our great room and stood up on top of it!  He then proceeded to fling himself towards the arm rest of the love seat, such that his upper body was clinging to the love seat and his lower body was still perched on the cube.  From there he clung for dear life.  Or at least tried to eat the seat and then sort of slid off of the cube.

And then he tried to do it all over again!  He had so much fun climbing and "surfing" the cube.  He laughed and laughed.  Too funny!

This week is flying by fast (as most weeks do).  Some of Taylor's accomplishments this week:
* He climbed 6 steps on our staircase!
* He's woken every morning in a great mood, babbling away
* He babbled with his mouth full of bread one evening.  I didn't know it could sound so cute to hear a little one making gibberish with his mouth full.
* He's been very lovey and cuddly
* He has enjoyed playing outside.  He toddles around the driveway and yard.  He puts a lot of the nature in his mouth, but he seems to know that it's yucky and spits it out pretty quickly.

Better run!

So this is my first blog post on this site, which is why I chose the title of "First Birthday."  I also chose this title because this blog is meant to be a bit of a gift for Taylor for his first birthday, which passed two weeks ago.

It's my intent to post here at least once a week to record all of the sweet, funny, confusing, stressful, and almost always entertaining things that Taylor is doing lately.  I also plan to write about and reflect on the different events and emotions that are occurring within my family on any given day (or month).  I'm not saying we do anything particularly noteworthy, but these are our lives, for all of their joy, anxiety, tediousness, pleasure, and sorrow: these are our little wonders.