Taylor's First Christmas

Going after the paper! Who needs presents when you have paper!


The Christmas of 2006, Taylor's first of many. This one was spent in WI and was spread out over many a celebrations, most of which Taylor embraced, although sick as a dog. Taylor was hit with the crud and hard, but she was a trooper! Santa was good to her as were all our wonderful family. Thank you everyone for making Taylor's first Christmas so special.

Santa brought her a walker, Nana and gaga: oodles and oodles of toys, Nina and Papa and the Toson crew: memories, clothes, toys and more. What a week :)

They're back...

The pictures and new posts that is. The Toson family has been BOMBARDED with viruses, which included a computer one that took us offline for awhile, but we're all on the mend so the pictures will roll out again. Please be patient as we've done SO MANY fun things lately, so I have a lot of catch up to do!

We made it!

Well the girls and I made it safe and sound and they did great- until arriving on the homeland soil that is.... the flight was wonderful. Ana happily sang along while Rudolph saved Christmas on the portable, LIFE SAVING, DVD player and Taylor slept peacefully in my arms.

But peaceful has been FAR FAR from our itinerary since arriving. We spent Tuesday in the ER with Ana for a fever and other not so pleasant "girl" symptoms getting a catheter urine sample and other scary and sad tests, and Taylor has the FULL BLOWN WI flu CRUD! So much for that flu shot that we got before coming home!

Needless to say, while it's been great being home, we're not getting around to see many folks, as we've been in quarantined lock down here at the Rehnstrom house.

Poor girls!

On a VERY VERY exciting note...Ana is sleeping in a big girl twin bed and LOVING it! She is asking for bed and crawling in all by herself. Now I don't even get to cuddle and carry her to bed...where is my baby going?????? Next thing I know she'll be waving bye to me from her car door, duffle in hand, heading back to "her place"... NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

(BTW our computer crashed so picture are on hold....)

Hiking the North Carolina Falls

Bye Bye Foothills hello Smokies!! On one last pre-holiday road trip we took the girls into the mountains. Ana loved yelling out at all the mountains and Taylor was mesmorized by the falls. This particular hike took us right under the falls!!! It was a great day :)

6 Months

Taylor is sleeping away soundly after her 6 immunizations....why couldn't they have done this right before bedtime tonight?

Here are her 6 mo. Stats:
Weight: 19 lbs. 15 oz (off the chart) (for perspective...Ana currently ways only 5 pounds more)
Height: 27 1/2 inches (95%)
Head: 16 3/4 inches (50%)

So..for those of you whom doubted my entry of 18 mo clothes, here you have it. My little Taya IS the size of a 1.5 year old!!!!!!!!!! Bye, bye bin #4....only one more to go until the girls can share a closet!

Overall she is doing great and has met all milestones. He was really impressed by her interactivness and talking, as well as how quickly she could shift her emotions from laughing, smiling and talking, to screaming, crying and shaking (she turned on him b.c he moved her while she was happily playing with her toes). Let's just say not once did he suggest "crying it out" after that. And so, his reccomendations to my ONE MAJOR concern....sleep... was quite simply, "patience!" THANKS- big help!

Therefore, Justin and I will continue with our every hour tending to our precious Tay Tay, with strong hopes that one day, in the not so distant future, she figures out the joy of night time sleep. Until then, we continue to be amazed at how interested she is at the world around her, and how desperately she wants to be a part of everything around her! Such a buzy little body.

It's COLD

It's a high of 49 here today and I'm FREEZING. You would think I was in the arctic! Time to pull out those hats, scarfs, mittens and boots! What is my thin blood going to do in WI? Can y'all (ha, ha) work on warming up that weather before the 17th when the girls and I arrive. If you recall, Taya really likes to be HOT, not cold!

Reese, Gwen, Lucy, Jack...

New names in our house as Ana lovingly takes to naming her dolls now. It's quite cute. You now can hear her making her dolls have conversations, calling each other by name, playing games, doing each other's hair, feeding each other, ...

She also has independently taught herself lefts and rights. The other day (about a month or more ago now) she was repeatedly kicking her foot proclaiming something in a sing song voice. I didn't think much of it, but this "game" became a favorite all day, for days in a row. Finally I figured it out. She was raising her left foot singing, "left foot, left foot." When I asked her to show me her left foot, she excitedly raised it and then replied with a, "and this is my right foot. This my left hand, that's my right hand." raising each with complete accuracy! She hasn't missed a beat yet! (arms, legs, eyes, ears, elbows, and shoulders have been included now too)

The best part is that she now uses these descriptors to explain which part of hers, ours, her dolls.... body is hurt, stuck, needing help, needing kisses or explaining where to find something (which we can also use, answering her "mom where is ____", with a "It's next to/behind/... your ___ hand or foot"). It has come in quite handy.... more words=less tantrums! There is a light at the end of the toddler tunnel. I wonder if adolescence will prove to be this methodic?

She also thinks she's so funny adding "eeee" to the end of EVERYTHING. Nana is now Nani, Gaga- Gagi. Milk- Milky, Doll-Dolly, juice- juicy, Taylor- Tayee, eat- eatee, play-playee, paint-paintee .... I mean EVERYTHING!

OK, SERIOUSLY...

...I was kidding about Taylor not being in 12 mo anymore for the holidays, but sure enough.....we're packing away more and more "too tight or too short" 12 mo clothes and pulling out 18 mo clothes, which are fitting quite comfortably (this time there is some room to grow though, PHEW). The good thing is that we have 2 full bins, all seasons, of 18 mo clothes to go through, so we won't be short on clothes.

This girl is INCREDIBLE! 5.5 mo/18 mo.

We have her 6 mo check up in 2 weeks. I'm very curious to see some actual measurments.