Portraits of My Heart: Taylor's Fourth of July Weekend Fun

Well, I'm sorry to say I didn't take a single picture this fourth of July weekend. Bed rest has kept me down, but little miss Taylor certainly had some fun. She went to the parade with Mami Bella and Grandpapa and couldn't stop talking about it..."I saw Cosmo and princesses and a band with instr-ments and it was very loud and we had so much fun!"

She then got to go swimming with Mami Bella, Aunt Katie, and the twins while the guys went golfing. She was so excited to come back and tell me how she had splashed and splashed and Blake said it was hard to get her to leave :) Her hair was curly from the pool, her cheeks were pink from the sun, and she had a huge smile on her face as she told me about her day...what a cutie!

My brother Dan and his wife Heather are in town with their kids (Andrew 6, Forrest 5, Addi 2) so Taylor has had a blast playing with them. They have been gone a bit this weekend to be with Heather's family for a family reunion, so whenever we go to my parent's house and they aren't there, Taylor asks, "Where are my cousins?" She loves playing "with" (next to, really) Addi. They sure are cute together!

As far as fireworks go, I was surprised to see that Taylor was scared of them. She wouldn't come too close to the sparklers ("sprinklers" as she later called them) and certainly wouldn't hold one. She also wanted to be held and cuddled during the stadium of fire fireworks show that we watched from my parent's backyard. The loud noises seemed to intimidate her at first, but she did warm up a little by the end, telling me about the pretty colors in the sky.

Overall, she seemed to really love the Fourth of July weekend. I only wish I could have participated in more of it with her. I hate to admit it, but I had kind of planned on having these last few weeks of pregnancy as a "spoil Taylor" time, where I'd cram in every fun summer experience that I wanted to have with her before her little sister comes in to steal the show for a while. Being put on bed rest certainly put a damper on those plans.

Luckily, Taylor has taken it all in stride and, although she has wanted me to hold her more lately, she has had lots of fun with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and especially daddy, so I'm trying not to worry about her too much. The worst is when she comes up and asks me to do something for her or chase her around and looks at me expectantly with those big baby blues and the only answer I can give her is "Go ask daddy." It breaks my heart to have to start the process of "you're not the only little person on my radar anymore" routine with her already...I wasn't mentally prepared for that. She's still my baby, too.

Well, only a few more days of bed rest...then let the real chaos begin! Until then, I'll leave you with some pictures from a few months ago, when we went to the tulip gardens at Thanksgiving Point with Mike, Rachel, Sammy, and Mami Bella...probably the last time I really took pictures.