following the crowd

I think for the safety of our family I am going to make our blog private.  The internet is a very scary place and I want to protect our little one.  If you would like to read about our happenings, please leave a comment with your email address. 

I know there are lots of people that I don't know very well or know through a friend that I like to keep up on.  If you do the same thing, don't be afraid to leave your email, you are welcome to keep reading! 

 

I will moderate comments so that your email is not out for everyone to see.  Thanks for understanding!

Last week we had the lovebirds staying at our house.  It reminded Chase and I of our engagement...its hard to remember being that mushy.  ;-) We had fun though.  Their wedding is less than a month away! Jalene took some "groomals" while they were here.  We've only seen a few so far but WOW is all I can say.  Gorgeous couple, gorgeous pictures. 

Beck's latest obbsession is his toes...and it is oh so cute!

We traveled up to Boise for Kaela's bridal shower for Pioneer weekend. 

Beck got lots of good snuggle/play time in with Mimi and Papa

We also witnessed another beautiful sunset. I LOVE the view from our house-"The Estate" as we like to call it.

Back deck view

front yard view

When I was pregnant I always told Chase that I hoped Beck was a snuggly baby. 

Chase assured me that he would be.  I'm so glad he was right!

As always, the trip to visit family wasn't quite long enough, but we sure enjoyed it.  I love being around my Mom and Dad.  They are such great examples to me.   Jade is adorably 7 months pregnant with her second, Tayler is as cute as any two year old ever was, and its always so much fun to be around my brother Kyle. Good thing its only 3 weeks until we get to go back! 

for all you grammas and granpas out there!

Life lately:

Preston and Quinn came back from Oklahoma for EFY and YASI. We had a fun couple of weekends with them!

Beck's first time swimming in Lincoln and Jalene's pool.

It was evening so it was a little chilly.  Beck still loved the water. We even blew on his face and dunked him quickly a few times and he loved it!

love these guys!  Thanks for the fun time Preston and Quinn! We can't wait to see you again soon!

Beck played himself right to sleep. (adorable outfit contributed by Aunt Tiffini and Uncle John)

Every weekend in July (and some weeknights too) we have had guests staying with us for one reason or another.  Over the course of the past weekendwe had eight guests in addition to Chase, me, Abby and Beck.  Luckily never ALL at once, but it was still always a busy house with so many people coming and going. We have loved hosting so many people that we love. 

We had a bunch of members of our NuSkin Team (One Linked Team) down for a Nuskin Conference on Fri and Sat.  (MORE ON THIS LATER! Let me just mention-we are SO excited about what we've been doing lately) We didn't know what else to do with him so Beck came along.  I was worried he would be disruptive at first but he was an angel!  Everyone loved him all weekend and I was able to sit in the back and feed him whenever I needed.  I'd say two 10 hour days in a row would tucker a little guy out! 

On Friday night at Preston's performance he was exhausted but wouldn't actually fall asleep.

Sweet little guy.   

This was just a quick glimpse of what life has been like lately!  Busier than ever and loving it.

"Baby Beck's" Four month check up

My adorable niece Tayler never says just Beck. To her, his name is "Baby Beck".  It is absolutely adorable.  She adores him and loves to give him kisses on the head.  He watches her intently as she plays near him.  I can tell they are going to be great friends when they are old enough!  I got the cutest picture of them playing together this past weekend but its on my Mom's camera so I will post that soon. 

Here are Beck's Four Month Stats:

Height:  25.5 inches 70th percentile
Weight:  14 lb 6 oz 25th percentile
Head:  16.25 25th percentile

He is growing at the exact same rate as before, which is great.  Still a tall skinny boy :)

Believe it or not, Beck is Four months old!  (Well, almost 2 weeks ago technically).  I guess that means I have been slacking in posting since the last real post was about Beck at three months.  Gotta work on that...

Beck and beautiful Aunt Abby

Beck is such a joy.  He is getting more and more personality and he just brightens the mood with his big grins and giggles.  I often glance at him and realize he has been staring at me for awhile, waiting to give a huge smile as soon as we make eye contact.  He has a very good natured, calm personality.  He's so curious about his surroundings and when he is somewhere new he is totally content watching everything around him.  He is super easy to take around town.  I don't think it would be good for me to run errands all day, everyday because when we are out-and-about he never asks to nurse.  He watches the world quietly or sleeps until I am settled down and ready to feed him.  What a patient little sweetheart. 

Mimi (My mom) gave him his "Softee" blanket.  It is the perfect size and Beck is so comforted by it. 

Isn't it cute that Beck named his blanket his "Softee" ?  ;-) 

Naps have always been Beck's tough spot but this last week we've turned a corner!  I never gave up trying to get him to go down in his crib, without me rocking him completely to sleep, and I never got him up when he wakes after too short of a nap (if I know he's still tired) Finally that consistency is paying off.  This week he has been napping for much longer periods of time.  Rather than the normal 40 min-1 hour of me trying to coax him to sleep over and over again, he is now putting himself to sleep when I lay him down.  Let me just say, it has been delightful!

Beck loves his baths. He also loves to eat his hands all day.

 

Mr. Independent in his bumbo

We love reading with Daddy!

We love our baby Beck.  Each little smile, roll over, or scoot is so exciting.  I can't wait to watch him grow. Also, I wish he would freeze and be my baby forever. Its a hard decision. 

recap in pictures

What a whirlwind! June really was the craziest month ever. It started out with Jalene and Lincoln's wedding. (Which was a blast by the way, what a great couple!) The next few weeks were spent packing up the Taylor's house, packing up our apartment, cleaning cleaning  cleaning, and moving all our stuff. I am SO sick of moving. 

Here are a few picture recaps

Lincoln and Jalene got married on June 5.  It was a party!

The handsome brothers

Leah, Beck, Quinn, Preston, Abby

Happy family at the wedding dinner

just being cute

My wonderful in-laws and brother Preston and Quinn left for Oklahoma City, OK to serve as mission presidents at the end of June.  They will be greatly missed over the next three years. 

photo by Jalene

Beck is gonna really miss his uncles. (and so are we!!)

Here are all the missionary tags from the Taylor side. What a great family tradition to serve missions of God!

Left to right descriptions:

Nolan served in Belguim when he was 19 years old. 

Nolan served as a State Missionary as an adult

Chase served in Venezueala at age 19

Lincoln served in Poland at age 19

Currently Nolan and Rhonda are presiding over a group of about 110 full time missionaries  in Oklahoma City, OK

The mini missionary nametag says "Future missionary" (that one is for Beck)

best pals

The 4th of July weekend was TONS of fun.  My parents, Kaela, Kyle, Jade and Tayler all came to vist. Oh yes, and their dogs.  I was too busy trying to be a good host that I didn't get any pictures of the weekend.  Not to mention that my camera charger is packed up in a box somewhere and my camera is almost out of battery. Nevertheless, it was a wonderful weekend filled with BBQ's, kite flying (or trying), cousins playing, family games, and of course fireworks.

A tale of woe and warning

Once upon a time there was a boy and girl who got married and had a really cute baby boy.  They loved him so much.  He was so cute that his mom took pictures of him all day long. Pictures laying on the ground kicking, sleeping pictures, making silly faces, smiling, giggling, pictures of how he grew and changed every day, and esspecially pictures with those who love him who live (and are going to live) far away...etc. etc. One day her computer froze.  The next day she was told that her hard drive crashed.  She was in denial that this meant anything that bad.  Until he told her all the data on the computer is lost and that it would be about $1500-$3000 to recover it.  (...something about a "circuit" crash, rather than a regular crash) This is when she started to cry- a lot.  LOST.  All the pictures of their baby.  LOST.  All the pictures of their last couple years of marriage. LOST. 

Moral of the story.  BACK UP YOUR PICTURES!!! I am talking to YOU!  It WILL happen to you so do it.  NOW! 

3 months old!

photos by Jalene

I can't believe its been 3 months since this little guy came into our lives, although I hardly remember life before him! This picture is how I will always remember my baby.  Huge grin, lit up eyes, and kicking his feet and waving his arms.  Beck is such a fun little man.  He LOVES bathtime.  He kicks and kicks until he splashes all the water out of his little tub.  His first laugh was at abut 11 weeks and it was in the tub.  It was the sweetest sound I had ever heard! Chase and I were SO excited to hear that giggle.  It took a few days before he did it again but he's gradually laughing more and more over the last few weeks. 

Beck still loves to cuddle.  He loves morning naps with his Mom and afternoon naps with Daddy.  Besides snuggle naps, he doesn't like napping at all.  It takes me an hour to get him to go to sleep on his own and by the time he's finally out for good he wakes up soon after because he's ready to eat again!

We are pretty lucky at nighttime.  He sleeps until 6:30 most mornings and then goes to sleep for another 3-4 hours after eating.  Beck is fascinated with the world around him.  He loves shopping because he gets to see new things. 

I have this little magic trick that works like a charm with Beck.  It doesn't matter how mad or upset he is.  He instantly changes from  full-on screaming to happy with his eyes closed if I let him suck on my thumb. I don't know what it is.  A binky doesn't do the same trick. I try to only use it if he is super upset though because I hate the thought of my germy thumb being in his mouth.  It normally only takes 5 seconds of him sucking on it that I can pull it out and pop in a binky or start feeding him-or he falls asleep like in the picture.

We just love this little guy and can't believe how much he changes every day.  He is pretty interactive at this age and will give anyone who looks at him huge grins.  He also makes the funniest expressions.  We just love him to death!!!

photos ranging from 10 weeks to 12 weeks old