Patricia's Birthday Weekend!

Last weekend, Praetorian and I went to Maryland with my Mom, Janmarie, and Nick for Patricia's 26th birthday. We hadn't planned on going and at the last minute I changed my mind. It was definitely worth it to see everyone, including Anna and Ella, Nancy, and Angela and Leigh. I think Patricia enjoyed us as her birthday surprise, mostly Praetorian. :) Ella and Praetorian seemed to really enjoy each other too. Ella was so sweet with him and was trying to help in any way she could. Praetorian enjoyed having someone to play with. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

8 Months Old

Praetorian turned 8 months old on January 23rd. I wasn't able to get his picture taken until this past weekend, close enough though. He wasn't very cooperative then either. He is wearing his dress-up outfit that Jan bought him for Christmas, which I forgot at Christmas. So, I thought he should wear it before it's too small. This is the best shot I could get! Just to update everyone, he is now standing up with the help of furniture. We were sitting on the couch one day a couple of weeks ago and his little head just popped up from behind the coffee table. It's still a little strange to walk into the room and see him standing. He also has started walking around the table and has even attempted to go from one piece of furniture to another. My Mom also said that this week he discovered their stairs and was trying to go up!

Newest Pictures of the Taylor Family

Group Pictures

Here is the 4 Generation Picture we took while in Indiana. Below is a picture of everyone at Grandma Jean's for Christmas Eve.

Christmas in Indiana

Praetorian's 1st Christmas outfit from Lindsay and Nick with his Christmas socks from Nana.


Opening presents on Christmas morning.

New Skinny Chris and his Mom with Praetorian's new boy baby doll:)

Eating Uncle Andy's tags - one of his favorite parts of the trip.

Praetorian also loved his Aunt Jaime. She has a special touch:)

Praetorian, Aunt Jaime, and cousin Emma.

Praetorian and Grandma Taylor with his Christmas bib.

Praetorian with his Great Grandma Jean.

This year, we traveled to Indiana for Christmas to see Chris' family. We had a lot of fun and are definitely glad we went. We were fortunate enough to stay with Chris' cousin Lindsay, her husband Nick, and their daughter Emma. THANK YOU! We had such a good time with them and wished so much that we lived closer to one another. It was fun to see Emma and Praetorian interact. She wasn't so sure about him at first, especially since he was grabbing at her within the first 5 minutes of being there. She seemed to warm up though and it was good practice for her new brother Calvin who will be here any day (hopefully sooner than later for Lindsay's sake):) We were also very happy to see Chris' brother Andy since it has been a few years and was his first time meeting Praetorian. Praetorian definitely loved his Uncle Andy. Grandma and Grandpa Taylor were happy as always to see Praetorian and it was hard to leave when the time came. Here are some pictures from our trip.

First Christmas - Rivenbark Family

Taylor Family


Rivenbark Kids and Dogs Plus Praetorian


Nana and Grandpa Rivenbark (We are still working on a name for my Dad - I may have to edit this later because I'm not sure what was final!) :)

Praetorian opening a box of clothes from the Rivenbarks! It seems like he knows what he's doing, doesn't it? hahaha:)

This year was Praetorian's 1st Christmas (obviously). We first had Christmas with the Rivenbark family at the end of December before we left for Indiana. Praetorian was more interested in eating the paper than anything, but it was fun anyways. Thanks everyone for our presents, we love them all! Here are a few pictures from the Rivenbark Christmas.

SEVEN MONTHS

Praetorian turned seven months old on the 23rd of December. We were in Indiana visiting Chris' relatives for Christmas, so we took his 7th month picture at his Grandma's. He now seems to understand that he needs to smile for the camera. Those weird faces he was making in pictures before are no more. I think it's pretty amazing that a 7 month old can understand smile for the camera. He also started sticking his tongue out a lot more and making a lot of sounds with his mouth this month. He just started pulling himself up on things too. And he's got the Military Crawl down pat and he is fast too. He just brings so much happiness to Chris and I, it's hard to believe he's ours sometimes. :)