One Step at a Time

How could I have failed to mention this a month ago???

Joshua took his first steps on his own on June 27, 2009!!!!!!!!!

The most he took that day was 5 steps. He's been practicing ever since but still prefers to crawl most of the time. For a while we had to be standing there coaxing him to come to us to get him to walk on his own, but lately he's gotten braver and has started stepping out on his own. He's getting pretty good at it, so we'll see when he takes up walking full time. We love our baby boy! I guess soon enough I'll have to start calling him our toddler as he will be toddling all over the place!

12 Month Stats

I took Joshua to see his doctor for his 12 month well baby check up on July 14th. This was definitely his least favorite visit to date as he seemed to be so much more aware of what was going on. He did awesome though, while getting his finger pricked/squeezed and while getting three shots. Poor guy. Babies go through a lot. He was still a healthy little (or should I say big) guy, and for that we are so so thankful! He's reaching all of his milestones and growing up so fast! Here are his stats at 12 months:

Weight: 22 lbs 2 oz (48th percentile)

Height: 30.5 in (75th percentile....yay!! he's staying up there.....I'm hoping I didn't make him short)

Head Circumference: 18.25 in (49th percentile...although I think he has a big head and that percentile should be higher since his hats don't fit him so well!)

Thank you Lord for our healthy, growing, happy baby boy! He is such a joy!

Joshua's Birthday Party

Joshua opening his first gift on his birthday

Joshua's first birthday party was tons of fun! We had it on his actual birthday on July 12th at our neighborhood picnic shelter. It was a hot day, but it wasn't as hot as we were thinking it would be thank goodness! We had hotdogs and hamburgers and enjoyed hanging out with family and friends. Joshua seemed to have a ball! Overall there were a little over 30 people there...crazy! He received so many awesome gifts....including a super cool wagon, LOTS of books (yay!!!!!), some clothes, tons of new toys, and a handmade blanket from Granny (my grandmother). He sure is a loved little boy!!

Joshua and his buddy Ayden in his new wagon

My best friend Johanna lives in Texas and obviously wasn't able to come to his party, so she volunteered to make his invitations for him! They were SO CUTE!!! I sent her a picture of the plates and napkins, and she used that as a guide. All of his decorations had big colorful polka dots and were really cute! My friend Trica volunteered to make Joshua's cake, and let me tell you, it was the cutest cake EVER!! She certainly has a talent! She made it look exactly like his plates. Thank you so much Johanna and Tricia for blessing us with your talents and time! We love you girls!

Joshua DEVOURED the cake!

I was worried about how Joshua would be since the party was scheduled during one of his regular nap times (nice planning on my part...ha), but we tweaked his schedule that day and he did great! He was so worn out from all of the fun that it was all we could do to get him to stay up until 7:00 that night. He slept so hard and slept 12.5 hours that night! It had been a long time since he slept 12 hours at night. He usually only gives us about 11 at the most. I think his whole birthday was a success! It's still hard to believe that he is a year old!

There were so many pictures taken that day, and they won't all fit on the blog. Go check them out on our flickr page.

Keown Wedding

On Saturday, July 11th, we had the pleasure of celebrating with Billy and Bethany at their wedding. The reception was fun, and Joshua seemed to enjoy it as much as we did. There were quite a few people there we hadn't seen in a long time, so that made it even more fun! Congratulations Billy and Bethany Keown!

Taylor Family Beach Trip 2009

On Friday, July 3rd, we headed to Oak Island to spend a week with Derek's family. Our friends Kara and Christopher went down with us for the first weekend. We spent a lot of time playing on the beach! The night of the 4th we took our niece Taylor to the July 4th celebration and fireworks at Southport while Derek's parents babysat and put our little man to bed. It was a great weekend!

On Sunday night we left to go spend the night in Albemarle on our way to Concord for Uncle Linn's funeral on Monday. We went and celebrated his life, and late Monday afternoon we started our trek back to the beach. My sister Angel rode along with us for most of the way. She was going down to Garden City to stay with her friend Angela and her family for the week, so Angela met us part of the way and picked Angel up. It was nice having her with us because she was able to entertain Joshua for us. It made for a much easier trip!

On Tuesday we left yet again to drive down to North Myrtle Beach to see my friend Holly and her family. We stopped by the outlets there before we headed back to Oak Island to finish out our vacation. Wednesday was another fun filled day on the beach with Derek's mom and our niece Taylor. Then Wednesday night his sister Tabitha, her husband Ben, and our other niece Riley got there. We were so glad to get to spend a little time with them as it had been a while. We had a little birthday celebration before the kids went to bed to celebrate Riley and Joshua's birthdays. We weren't able to go to Riley's birthday party at the end of June, and they weren't able to come to Joshua's birthday party. Once the kids went to bed the "big kids" went crabbing! I had never been before, and we actually caught a crab!

It rained most of Thursday, so we just hung out at the house. We packed up and headed home that night because Derek had to work on Friday. It was a whirlwind trip, but it was oh so fun! We look forward to having David, Pamela, Hudson, and Katy join us next year since they will be home from Thailand July 31st!!

**The flickr page is LOADED with pictures from our trip, so take a look!

Uncle Linn

My uncle, Linn, left this world for a better one on July 2nd. He was a sweet sweet man and will leave an emptiness in our family. He was the man who stepped up to walk me down the isle when my dad passed away during mine and Derek's engagement. He has been there for my sisters and me since that awful day in November 2004. We miss him, but we know that he is not in anymore pain and are thankful for that. It was a blessing that he got to be a part of Joshua's life, even if it was only for a short time. He loved our sweet boy so so much!

(June 4, 2005)

(Thanksgiving 2008)

Linley Roland Miller, Jr.

September 29, 1952 - July 2, 2009

We miss you Uncle Linn!

When Nichole is Away....

....Grandma comes to play! Nichole (our friend and childcare provider) and her family went on vacation at the end of June. Derek's mom graciously agreed to come stay with us for the week to keep Joshua for us. They had loads of fun. She took him on lots of walks to the neighborhood playground, and let him splash around in his pool in our backyard every day. Thanks a ton, Grandma!

Clark Wedding

At the end of June we went to Matt and Kate Clark's wedding in Pittsboro. It was great fun, and we got to see some faces we hadn't seen in a while! Congratulations guys!

Happy First Birthday Baby Boy

One year ago today Joshua Philip Taylor entered this world! He has been such a joy and blessing in our lives. I never got a chance to share his birth story on here last year, so I'm going to do that now.

Joshua's due date was July 15, 2008. For about the last four weeks of my pregnancy I had plenty of braxton hicks contractions. At 37 weeks I was dilated 3cm and effaced 80%. I stayed the same at my 38 an 39 week appointments. The night before he was born Derek and I went over to a friend's house for dinner. We made plans with our friends Nichole and Greg to get breakfast the next morning. I joked about calling them to let them know we weren't going to make it because I was in labor but never thought that would actually happen.

At 3:40 that morning I woke up with a painful contraction but didn't think much of it because that had been happening for weeks. I got up to use the restroom since I was already awake to see if I could relieve the pain. After getting back in bed I couldn't go back to sleep because I was so uncomfortable and still having contractions. (The contractions I had been having for weeks were sporatic and lasted for what seemed like an hour). Derek noticed my tossing and turning and woke up to see if I was okay. I told him the contractions were coming pretty often and were different than what I had been experiencing. He started timing them, and they were about 10 minutes apart. They went down to 7 minutes apart, so we decided to get up and get ready just in case. By 6:15 we were getting our showers. Derek was still timing them and was able to tell me when I was getting ready to have another contraction and could tell me when it would end since they were about one minute in length. While I was taking my shower (which seemed like it took forever because I kept having to stop for each contraction) we realized that my contractions were not 7 minutes apart anymore but instead were 3.5 minutes apart. I would have one and then have another half way between, and Derek would tell me that it wasn't possible that I was having another one because they were 7 minutes apart. So he just decided I was having two sets of contractions that were 7 minutes apart. I informed him that no, I was having contractions 3.5 minutes apart. I think it took me 20 minutes to finish my shower. After I finished my shower I decided to go downstairs to finish getting ready and Derek informed me that I may not want to as I was about to have another contraction. He was right because right about that time I had another painful contraction and was not about to be able to walk down the stairs. Derek called my doctor's office to see if we needed to go to the hospital. I was disappointed to find out that the doctor on call was the one doctor I didn't want to deliver my baby. I think I may have even cried. (We ended up having a great experience with her, and I wouldn't mind one bit if she delivers all of my babies.) The doctor asked us to head to the hospital to get checked out. Side note....while Derek was loading the car I proceeded to pick up around the house and make our bed. I wasn't about to have company come to my house when it was messy. He fussed at me about this because I was getting ready to give birth to a baby and that was all that mattered at that moment. What can I say? I'm a people pleaser, and I'm stubborn. We left for the hospital around 7:00 am. We had been trying to call my mom for about an hour to warn her the baby might be coming since she was planning to leave for the beach that morning. We finally reached my sister Angel's cell phone on our way to the hospital so that she could tell my mom.

We arrived at the hospital and were checking in by about 7:15. I was taken to a labor and delivery room by 7:30 to be checked. I was 6 cm dilated already and 100% effaced! Crazy! The nurse hooked my up to the monitors which revealed that my contractions were 2 to 4 minutes apart. They started me on an IV antibiotic for Group B Strep and started giving me fluid for an epidural. The nurse also asked if I wanted something to "take the edge off" before I could get an epidural. I said yes but later regretted this decision. They had given me Stadol, and it made me feel so loopy. I couldn't hold my eyes open or focus on anything. The lights in the room were terrible. It made me feel so icky and yucky -- NEVER AGAIN will I agree to something to "take the edge off." I absolutely hated it, and I don't think it even helped with the pain. Sorry baby boy. Luckily it was out of my system and I was back to normal in less than two hours. Sometime around 10:00 am I got my epidural! I was finally able to relax and get some rest. It made me so cold, though. I had to cover up with several blankets. While I was relaxed and resting Derek's parents came in to visit, and Derek continued to call/text/email our friends and family to tell them I was in labor. I switched sides while I was resting to help labor progress. The doctor broke my water when I was 8cm - I think it was around 10:30 am, shortly after my epidural. I was checked around 12:00 pm and was 10cm, so at about 12:10 pm I started pushing with the help of Derek and my nurse. They had to tell me when to push since I couldn't feel my contractions. That was the biggest downside to having an epidural - I was never able to feel the natural urge to push. Dr. Stephenson came in a little later to deliver Joshua. I was having difficulty getting him out. He would get all the way to edge and then go back up. My muscle just wouldn't give; it wasn't budging and I had already torn a little bit. The doctor asked if she could do an episiotomy since my muscle was so tight. She said she never does them but felt I really needed it. I agreed and as soon as she did it I gave another push and Joshua slid right on out at 1:04 pm on July 12, 2008! He was BEAUTIFUL and SO CUTE and immediately began to scream! Derek cut the umbilical cord and then I got to hold my sweet baby boy before he was taken to be measured, weighed, and checked out. He weighed 6 lbs 11.5 oz (was rounded to 12) and was 19 inches long. And most importantly he was healthy!! My mom made it to the hospital right before he was born. Derek went out to the lobby to tell everyone that Joshua Philip Taylor was here!!!!

I still can't believe that was a year ago. It seems like it hasn't been that long. This has been a wonderful year, though!

Happy first birthday sweet baby boy! Your daddy and I love you more than anything! Thank you for bringing us such joy every day!