14 months old

Yesterday was Taylor’s 14 month birthday. Yes, YESTERDAY. And do you want to know what I was doing that I was so busy I couldn’t post her monthly milestones? Momma was recovering from a long night of boogying at Tuesday’s sold-out Phish show. That right, Momma and Daddy can still have fun. Lots and lots of fun.

So, other than being a negligent-blogger mother for a day, this past month has been pretty remarkable for the Amys clan. And busy. Saying goodbye to Ryan Amys, taking a beach vacation with my family and extended family, Chris starting a new career, surprising my 30-year old husband with a visit from his college roommate and his wife, going to Dylan and Katie’s wedding, having Libba, Dirk and their two pups stay with us and then attending the show-of-all-shows earlier this week. Holy cow! That’s more action than we’ve seen in the last 14-months combined.

So, yes, busy. But so much fun. And the major reason everything’s more fun is because Taylor is about at cute and entertaining as she’s ever been right now. Our days are, for the most part, spent watching our daughter smile, laugh, say, Cheese!, and doing the arm-swinging, squealing dance. It’s heaven.

And another major reason we’re in such a good place right now is that Chris is home so much more. I can’t even begin to explain how wonderful it is to send him off to work at 8:15 and KNOW that he’ll be home at 5:10. And even though we’ve only had him home for two weekends, they’ve been the best weekends we’ve ever had. And not to mention he’s absolutely loving his new job. LOVES it. SO excited about it. And I’m crazy about the new dress code – Not only am I off the hook for pleating golf pants, but he looks so hot in his suits we’ve been greeting him in the driveway when he gets home.

But don’t get me wrong, month 13 wasn’t ALL Twinkies and beach sunsets. Taylor entered the Cling-all-over-your-Momma stage, resulting in many dramatic YMCA Child Watch episodes, three babysitter freak-outs and a vacation where I had a permanent baby-appendage on me. And every other mother I know that has children older than Taylor all chimed in saying, It’s normal. It’s just a phase. Well, How LONG does this last? Because it’s really hard to walk when you have a giant baby with a kung-fu grip around your knees.

And even though she was attached to me for the majority of my family’s beach vacation, it was still so wonderful for us to spend time with her in the sand and surf. I, like Chris, have so many priceless memories from our own coastal vacations, and we were so excited to carry that on with our daughter.

And, after this month, I feel like I have to stop referring to Taylor as my Baby, and now as my, Little Girl. Because that’s what she turned into this month. We’ve outgrown all of our size-4 shoes. She’s eating mostly adult food. She would rather walk than ride or be held. And, with a lot of help from Aunt Libba, she has finally let me turn that baby-mullet into pigtails.

She’s now a bona-fide toddler. A little girl with a funny, sweet personality, who her father and I love more than anything else in this entire world. And as much fun as we had grooving last night to the amazing Loving Cup encore, we both agree it’s even more fun to watch HER do the airplane-propeller, exotic bird dance in our living room.