So yesterday (Saturday) was a lovely day.  The weather was nice, we got a bunch of stuff done, I went to a lovely bridal shower for a dear friend.  Bob and I had a nice romantic dinner yesterday evening.  Yes, it was lovely.

Today, not so much.  Perhaps as a result from allergies leftover from Saturday, Bob spent much of the morning in bed, fighting off a fever.

The Pea was in great spirits for almost all of the day.  Very sweet, playful, and lovey.

But, it was raining and yucky all day.  Not so good when we'd been planning to spend the afternoon planting some yummy vegetables and herbs.  The bad weather left me feeling a little disappointed and blue.

Then we ended our day with Taylor throwing up all over me.  Definitely not the best way to end the weekend.  We think it was brought on by him having a coughing spell and just sort of gagging himself (he's been known to do this).

But the thing with illness, I'm learning, is that there is just so much grey area.  And so much guilt, too.  Illness often first appears as just one minor change in a usual pattern.  And with that minor change (a cough, a gag, some spit up, some throw up, a longer than usual nap), I start questioning all of my responses.  So I'm left wondering if this is just one of his little coughing/gagging spells or if something more troublesome is approaching.  It seems that with many of his past illnesses my first approach is to write it off and attribute it to something innocuous.  Then, the next day, when he wakes with a fever, it occurs to me that he might actually be sick!

So who knows what's going on.  I truly hope this is just a little bump in the road.  I am planning to make him a follow-up ear check-up, so I guess I'll learn more then.  In the meantime, I hope he stays healthy.

I have to say, I have this feeling that our family is just not healthy right now.  I'm the last one standing today, and right now I smell like puke.

I'm going to go scrub myself.  Please keep your fingers crossed that we all stay healthy!

Couldn't this blog title be more interesting or creative?!  Oh well.

We are so busy right now, it's just a miracle I'm writing here at all.  I've been thinking a lot lately about how I need to write more.  Just have to take that one day at a time.  Of course, it doesn't help when Bob reminds me of this as we are laying down in bed.  Yes, good idea to remind the girl who obsesses over things about her need to update her blog right before bed.  He's lucky I wasn't up writing all night.  As it was, though, I did have a hard time falling asleep.  Oh well.

So, yes, things have been super busy lately.  Work, for both of us, is its typical deluge of meetings and deadlines and urgencies that crop up demanding our attention.

Taylor seems to be growing by leaps and bounds.  I do believe he has a molar coming in on one side, and the other side's molar might also be peeping its way through.

He is thoroughly enjoying climbing these days.  About a week ago he managed to climb from his high chair onto the kitchen table, and then he proceeded to try to crawl across the table.  We've since started moving his chair farther away from the table.  Now he also likes to climb from his green cube to the love seat, and of course he had to climb from that onto the changing table.  Yes, so that has now been moved as well.

He seems to know that Bob is Da Da.  Sometimes I think he says something like "Dog!" when he sees pictures of dogs.  It still makes my heart melt to hear him say "Ma Ma."  And these days he likes to shake his head from side to side and chant "Neh Neh Neh!"

He has been very generous with his affection lately.  He'll give us big hugs, running into our arms and wrapping his around us tightly.  He loves to love on Scuba.  He likes to pet her as she's laying down, and then he'll straddle her and try to sit on her, or he'll try to use her as leverage to climb onto something.  She never seems to mind, as long as he passes a crumb or two on to her as he's playing.

He is, as always, our every day's joy.  There is something about his smile that fuels all of my energy.  I live to feel his arms around my chest and his hot little baby breath against my neck.  As his chubby little fingers graze my cheek, I ignore the knowledge that he is merely searching for my glasses, to wrench them from my face, and instead savor those brief moments of physical connection.

In other news, we had a lovely siblings weekend, although we dearly missed Bob and Family.  Still, it was great to visit with Chris and Leah, and we're looking forward to seeing them again soon.

The other night I made the Carbonera reciple from one of the Rachel Ray cookbooks Chris gave me, and let me tell you, it is delicious!  It was quite easy to make, so I'll definitely be making it again and again.  Hopefully I'll even stop to take a picture next time, before I devour it.

So I'm really going to make an effort to write more and to find more of my voice in this space of public writing.  I've had this sense for a while now of how incredibly fast time is passing us by, and it is my hope that pausing to write here and reflect more on the simple day-to-day occurences will help me slow time down just a bit and think more about everything that is going on in our lives.

This feeling of time moving too fast is one of the many changes that has occured with the arrival of Taylor into our lives, and it's still something I'm trying to wrap my head around.  Perhaps one day I'll succeed.  But not today.  Oh well :)

Well, it certainly has been a little while since I last posted.  We've passed one (make that two) Taylor Tuesday(s), and we are on our second weekend.  Time goes by too fast!!

Last weekend we enjoyed a lovely visit with Grandma and Grandpa Snyder and Auntie Leah.  We were hoping to see the kites on Washington's Mall, but, unfortunately, the weather prevented us from really enjoying the Kite Festival.  Even though we were unable to get out and walk around the festival, we still drove down, saw some kites, and walked along a little park and waterway.  We were able to go out to  lunch and visit one of Bob's Northern Virginia friends.  Most of the weekend, though, was really just about visiting and playing with Taylor.  It was great to have the family together.

*****
I'm currently updating this post and have realized that we are now in our third weekend! 

Since I started writing this post, Taylor has had a bit of illness in the form of a cold, ear infection, and fever.  Poor little guy!  He really hasn't been himself lately, but has turned the corner, I think, yesterday and today.

What's new in the world of Taylor? 
* He is putting big legos together all by himself
* I think he may have seen our chocolate lab calendar and shouted "dog!" (this could also just be in my head)
* We went to the playground today and he climbed up a bunch of stairs and went down the slide in Mommy's lap.  He also spent some time swinging in the baby swing and sitting on Mommy's lap in the big kid swing.
* He's finally getting back to his happy, laughy, gibberishing self.

Last night Bob and I got a sitter and had a nice romantic date.  We ate at our favorite restaurant (Poor Billy's) and had all of our favorite dishes!  We then saw the movie I Love You, Man, which is a pretty funny comedy.  I would definitely recommend it to friends, especially if you're putting it on your list for online movie rentals.

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!

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!

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.