The Silver Lining

Sure, it's cold. There's inversion. Everyone's fat and tired from the holidays. The economy's in the crapper. But we are HAPPY! What's more fun than bubble baths? And 6-month-olds learning to eat and loving their old-fashioned doorway bouncer?! The inauguration. Hope. That's what 2009 is all about. Hope.

We hosted a Superbowl party which was really fun. We had kids and dogs everywhere, more Cardinal fans than Steelers fans, one person (Tiffany) who hogged all the winnings in the pool, a little man who decided to have a melt down for the entire 3rd quarter, and ended up with entirely too much food - but what an awesome game!!

Since mommy and daddy got a new dining room set and new bedroom furniture, Tagg graduated from the bumbo to a high chair. It's the only safe place to let him eat biter biscuits (thanks for turning me on to those, Aunt Nicole!). Those are a nasty mess but he sure likes them and they seem to help with the teething.

We got to spend some fun time with Grandma and favorite cousin Ashley on her 2nd birthday in January. If you haven't seen the "sliding" post from the last entry, check it out!

Tagg is definitely getting tall. Mommy is soooo not worried that he's going to be taller than her. ;-) He loves to stand up, with some help, and is sitting up all by him self. He loves almost all of his food, although sometimes he makes some pretty "yuk" faces when he starts eating! Scott keeps trying to convince him that veggies suck, but he's not buying it. Tagg has been very interested in grabbing lately: hair, earrings, noses, noses, dad's face ... anything he can get his hands on and inspect!

Tagg got into his fancy duds so he could hang out with Papa and the fam at the boat show. How cool is that hat (please, do not say anything about Newsies!). Scott had a good show, relatively speaking. The industry isn't what it used to be but he is always a success. His passion and hard work always serve him well.

Tagg is enjoying things like "flying" (what's with the hair that looks read and like it's shaved in a mohawk?! in real life, blond, blond! but still kind of looks like a mohawk) and the toss game. He is - as his shirt says - 100% Boy! He likes to sleep like a little frog (so cute) and finally, at the ripe old age of 6 months, got his first cold. He is loving his baths and the super cute ducky slippers that Kris and Amy and the family bought him. Can't believe January is over already and it's almost Valentine's Day. -sigh- Must start blogging faster!

Birthday Fun

A little video of Tagg at his cousin Ashley's 2nd birthday party, where he decided he liked fish and slides and ball pits. We like to call their basement the "Harmer Chuck E Cheeze" because they have so much fun stuff! We were happy that he was happy because he had 6-month shots on Tuesday and was not feeling well for a day or so. His stats: 27 inches, 17.25 lbs. We think something's fishy because he's grown out of pants by many, many inches since his last visit but the numbers are pretty much the same. A half inch?! We don't think so! Plus, he's way bigger than his buddy Porter who is a month older. Hee hee.

A Christmas Story, Part 1

That smile pretty much sums up Tagg's first Christmas! All laughs and joy and even though you can't see it, his shirt says "Best Gift Ever." Ain't that the truth?! It's so amazing to see the holidays through a child's eyes, in spite of the fact that he's too young to get Santa and presents and thought that a silver bow was about the coolest present of the day.

Tagg really had a haul of gifts and we are so grateful for everyone's generosity. The gifts were awesome but knowing that they represent so much love for our little man is really heart warming. Tagg now has a loot of new clothes which he actually needs because he's growing like a weed! He got a very cool WVU outfit from his birth family, and a pair of cute little bath slippers and a Santa hat from Aunt Kris and Uncle Hank. He got a bunch of fun new books that we're starting to read and new toys to play with. Mommy and Daddy got a jogging stroller, bike trailer, a Flip video camera to record all the big moments to come, and a Wii so those gifts will all be fun for him too.

Tagg's birth family sent him a ton of sweet gifts, including a copy of The Night Before Christmas which is one of their family traditions that we'll share with Tagg and a Baby's First Christmas ornament which he promptly stuck in his mouth and started chewing on! We feel so blessed that their family has so much love for him and that we're able to have them as part of our lives. It's very special.

We got to go to Grama's church choir program and spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with both families, eating way too much and playing games and oohing and aahing over the baby. Tagg really had fun with his grandparents, aunts and uncles, and all of his cousins. He's like a magnet for the kids! Ashley says "baby, baby, baby" over and over and tries to feed him her dolly's bottle. And Hunter and Bailey literally fought over who got to help change him and feed him and ride in the car with him. Pretty cute! Tagg impressed us with his first tooth (bottom left) and his first roll over from back to front. He's very advanced! So advanced apparently that his father decided they needed matching tattoos. Mom was not thrilled, but you have to admit - that's pretty dang cute! And with a little baby oil, all gone!

Kris, Hank, Amy, Bailey and Hunter arrived from California with about a foot of snow to greet them. The kids loved it and Scott built snow forts and spearheaded a snowball fight. We all went sledding, although Tagg had to watch from the sidelines. He probably would have been fine with all the padding in his snowsuit (poor little guy could hardly put his arms down, but at least he was warm!). Scott and Lisa took the fam snowboarding on Sunday and those adventurous, quick-study, first-timers bombed some pretty hard blue runs with us...with only minor injuries to show for it! Scott is a great teacher, for the kids and Amy! He has so much patience and a great sense of humor. If he ever decides to quit selling boats...nah!

Instead of exchanging gifts this year, we all decided to donate to our favorite charities and help those less fortunate this year. It was a really good decision, and helped us put the focus back on the important things...family and friends, sharing and joy.

Overall, it was the perfect first Christmas to spend with Tagg. Everything we always dreamed that it would be. We look forward to many more early Christmas mornings and snowy holidays! We'll have more pictures and video for part 2. Happy holidays everyone! We love you all!

Happy Holidays!

We kicked off the holiday season (which, judging by the appearance of Christmas music and wrapping paper the day after Halloween has been going on for some time now) with a slight variation on our normal Thanksgiving tradition. Scott's parents went to visit the Seattle family so we had turkey dinner the week before with them and then on Thursday with Lisa's family. It was great to not eat Thanksgiving dinner twice in one day - for the first time in almost 10 years! This year we were especially appreciative of all we have to be thankful for: Tagg, Tagg, Tagg!, our families, Tagg's birth family, our friends, our health, our good fortune in these difficult times. We are very, very blessed in every way.

We headed down to Lake Powell for our final trip of the year on Friday. The weather was beautiful!! Lisa had a nasty cold which Tagg managed to avoid - there's something else to be thankful for!

Tagg is growing like a weed! At his 4 month check up, he was 26.5 inches (96th percentile!) and almost 16 pounds (70th percentile) so tall and thin. He's incredibly healthy and active. One of our big goals in life is to get him to smile so we can see the cute dimple in his cheek! The Christmas tree with all of its lights are a new favorite of his. Tagg is rolling over and loves to stand up (with a little help from whoever is around!). He's started playing in his jumpers, which he loves. Even though he's pretty tall he does need a little help from the yellow pages so he can get a real good push off. He's even learning to drive the boat...he seems to have quite a natural knack for it! ;-)

Lisa and Tiffany and our friend Anneli just completed their first half-marathon (13.1 miles!) in Las Vegas on December 7th. It was a really fun race, if you can believe that!, complete with fireworks, jogging Elvises and a run-through wedding chapel. These are not our running outfits but we look a lot cuter in this picture than we did at the end of the race where we looked sweaty and kind of like we'd been run over by a tractor trailer!

Trick or Treat!!

With Tagg, it's always a treat! Our Little Monster-Alligator-Dragon (depending on who you asked) had a great first Halloween. Kind of. It's really not as much fun, apparently, when people keep putting you in a hot dragon outfit that you've almost grown out of (note the highwater sleeves!) and dragging you around town so people can see how cute you are, stopping only for 8 million photo opportunities that you refuse to smile for. Hah! Take that, mom and dad! I'm no show pony - or show dragon. Maybe he'll like it more next year, when he can actually appreciate the fact that everyone we know is giving away FREE CANDY!

We went to our friend's annual Halloween party as a prince and princess (Tagg was the little dragon who slayed us...get it? he didn't get to go to the party - past his bedtime!). Scott's outfit was notably missing a big giant sword. And armor. Alright! It was technically a Muskateer outfit but hey! At least he didn't have to cart a stapler around all night like I did, just to keep my top together. Thank goodness for the lifelike wig, which really made the outfit. And makes me want to grow my hair! There were so many great costumes, but my favorites were Marc & Becky's beer maiden and the keg, the Wizard of Oz group, and Tiff's Lara Croft - the cheapest costume ever!

Since my costume failed to survive party #1, I ended up throwing together a Hippie Love Child costume for actual Halloween day - out of stuff in my closet. Sad but true. Now Tagg is...you guessed it, "Puff the Magic Dragon." How cute is that?! We couldn't find Scott any decent hippie clothes although I really tried to talk him into fro-ing his hair and growing out a cheesy 70s moustache. No dice. The best part? I went to vote in that outfit! You should have seen the looks! One woman actually asked if it was my real hair. Uh yeah. And I often put flowers in my hair and wear flip flops when it's 45 degrees out just to cause a stir!

Three for Three

Three months old, three trips to Lake Powell! We went to Powell last week to celebrate Scott's birthday (October 23rd). The weather was absolutely gorgeous and we had a great beach on a little island all to ourselves.

We built sandcastles for Tagg (he is not into them yet, but we had fun!) and decided we better test out his cute little board shorts before he grows out of them. Scott was such a proud papa! This picture is now his screensaver. So dang cute!






Tagg has been an awesome boy, as always. He loves to play songs for mommy on his puppy playyard. He'll play with it for hours and his little arms and legs just get going like he's doing crazy jumping jacks. He's getting really good at rolling over on his side and pushing up on his hands when he's on his belly. He took to sleeping in his crib like a champ and usually goes 6 to 8 hours at a stretch. Although Friday night he had his first sleepover at Gramma and Bompa's house so mommy and daddy could have a date night. They were all excited to play with him - so of course he sacked out at 7:45, slept till 3am and then went right back to bed till 8! That makes it easy to take care of him for sure!

Tagg went to his first Jazz game with us last week. He slept through most of it, which was pretty impressive considering they won. We're getting excited for Halloween to get here. It's going to be a squeaker if he can still fit in the costume we got for him! Look for pix next week!

A Blast From the Past

When Tagg was 6 weeks old, our fabulous friend Chery who is an incredibly talented photographer did a little photo shoot for us. We finally hooked up this week to get the pictures and it's amazing how much he's changed in the past month!! More fat rolls. More dimples. More chins. Not more hair.


Look at that form...he's a natural!

That was the only day he got to wear his little baseball outfit - which says "Dad's Team" on the front. He grew right out of it!

Not only was Chery sweet enough to do all these fabulous photos for us, she and Shawn even fed us dinner. You don't get that kind of treatment at Kiddie Kandids and we think the pictures are way better! We are so fortunate to have such generous, talented and loving friends!

Of course, not every shot was perfect. ;-) Usually when Tagg's pulling faces, it's more like Elvis, not Groucho Marx!

What you don't see are the behind-the-scene shots. The ones where our patient little man had a binkie stuffed in his mouth long enough to calm him down, mommy yanks it out, - snap! - , quick! put it back in before he gets really mad. And sometimes we just weren't fast enough.

He was really good the whole couple of hours, even though we were changing his outfits and blinding him with the flash! He didn't even pee during the naked shots, and believe you me... that is unusual!


You are an awesome guy, Tagg! We love you!!

(Sorry about the bum shot...kind of.)