Merry Christmas!

Twas the night before Christmas and in the Horrell house,
Not a creature was stirring, not Erwin, not a mouse
Our stocking were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that Starbucks gift cards were waiting in there

Taylor was nestled all snug in her crib
While dreaming of pacifiers and a brand new bib
She wore PJs with snowflakes, on front and on back,
And slept through the night for a really long nap

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
Brian jumped from the bed to see what was the matter
Away to the door he flew like a flash,
Then tripped over Erwin and fell with a crash

And then, in a twinkling, Kelly heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of big noisy hoofs
She knew they weren’t Erwin’s, because he was asleep
He doesn’t get up for the doorbell, or a knock or a beep

Brian found Santa eating a cookie Kelly had made
And a glass of milk with one of her lactaids
Santa spoke not a word but kept eating that cookie
And sent an elf to put the presents under the tree

He ran outside to his sleigh and let out a whistle
Because Kelly forgot to weed the garden, and he stepped on a thistle
But we heard him exclaim and he flew out of sight
“Happy Christmas Horrell Family, have a good night!”

Merry Christmas!

Love,

Brian, Kelly, Taylor and Erwin

Legion Christmas Party 2011

Hello Everyone!

This weekend we were lucky enough to sneak out of the house for a while and go down to the Legion that Rich (Kelly's Dad) belongs to and take part in their Christmas party!

This is something that Kelly and her sister grew up doing, so it was very special to be able to start that tradition with our family now. Here are some more pictures from that day, Taylor met Santa for the first time!

Santa!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Taylor met Santa for the first time today and it was instant love! It was such a special Santa surprise!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Someone's Feeling Better!

Well, we survived Taylor's first cold and it lasted over a week. Just as she is starting to feel better now we are sick. Hopefully Taylor will take good care of us!

Happy Monday!

The sign of a good weekend!

WHAT???

The weekend is over already?!?

Kisses!

Kisses from Daddy!

Yummy

Trying out some toys!

6 Month Check-up

Taylor had her 6 month check-up just a few days ago and is doing so great! Her doctor is very impressed with the muscle tone she has been able to develop and how well she can support her head and sit up.

 

Taylor is really growing by leaps and bounds too. She is now 27i long and weighs 13lbs 14oz. Her weight is tracking on a pretty consistent curve from her last few check-ups, but her length made a huge jump! This puts her above average for weight and in the 90^th percentile for height, meaning only about 10 percent of babies with Down Syndrome are taller than her.

When compared to children without Down Syndrome she is in the 9^th percentile for her weight and in the 82^nd percentile for her height. So no matter which way you look at it she is really tall!

 

 

Pumpkin Butt

A little treat for you before Halloween!

A Fathers Oath

A Fathers Oath

Taylor, I write this to you on your sixth month birthday. For six months you have now blessed our lives, it is impossible to imagine what my life was, or would have been, without you. This is my oath to you as your Father, let any who read this hold me to it.

I have, do and always will Love you. Life would be so easy, so simple if that alone was enough. I know you will need much more from me.

You, as part of my family is what is most important. I will not let my intentions of doing what is best get in the way of what is most important.

I will help you grow and learn by teaching you what I can, and learning from you what I don't.

I will help you reach every goal and dream you have, even if it means letting you stumble along the way.

I will be your friend. But not at the expense of being your father.

I will be there for you whenever you need me, Lord give me the wisdom to hear her call.

I will fail at things. But I will never give up on you. Even if you give up on me.

I will give you a life filled with hope and happiness.

I will teach you about Love, Faith, Hope and all the other wonderful things about life. I will also teach you of ignorance, hatred, jealousy  and greed, fore if I don't the world would.

I will protect you, you will always be safe with me.

I Love you Taylor Lynn Horrell. Now and forever. This is my Oath

Fall Happenings

We can hardly believe that it is fall already and it is starting to cool off outside. BUT cooler weather means introducing Taylor to our fall traditions!

Our little pumpkin has already made a cameo at Edwards Apple Orchard and even though she didn't get to sip on any cider, she got lots of ooohs and aaahs from many people for being the cutest baby in the world!

This weekend we will have an autumn photo shoot shot by my oh so amazingly talented sister Stephanie. I CANNOT WAIT FOR YOU TO SEE THE PICTURES!!!! Here is a little hint of what we are going to do: Brian and I are going to buy a pumpkin and measure it against Taylor. Stumped? You will just have to wait and see what genius and adorably cute idea we have.

Taylor has Halloween costume ready and Erwin has already made his pumpkin costume debut around the house! What a pair they are going to make!

We hope you are enjoying Fall as much as we are!

Cuteness

Ahhh! Cuteness Overload!

Taylor's Checkup

We haven't done one of these in a while. Taylor had another check up today! She is weighing in at 12lbs 7oz and 24in!

During her last check up she was tracking in the bottom 5% for size,meaning 95 percent of other babies her age were larger than her. This is not all that unexpected, babies w/ Down Syndrome are usually smaller than babies w/out. Today she is tracking in the 25% range, such a huge jump! We knew our little one has been growing but not this much!

She got her next round of shots today too, so she was really happy about that. Other than that, everything else looked great!

Next check-up is at 6 months. More to come then!

Don't cha?

Thanks Schwinger!

Who is a happy baby?

Who is a happy baby?! Taylor is full of smiles and giggles!

Cuddle!

The Horrell Family weekend plan: Cuddle!

And we are off!

And we are off! Taylor is already living the high life with her first airplane ride to Missouri. We will be visiting Grandma and Grandpa Horrell for their annual Labor Day party. Taylor will get to meet so many more family members and friends! We will keep you posted and please wish us a safe and happy flight with our favorite 4 month old!

chatty

Someone is chatty tonight!

Cute

Taylor knows just how cute she is!

Family Time

Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone

Never Fear New Posts Are Almost Here!

We will have some new videos posted by this weekend and some pretty cute pictures too!!!

Talking with Daddy

Having a Sunday afternoon chat with my Daughter.

Johnson Creations

This weekend we went down to Richards to hang out by the pool and let Laurie, Morgan, Stephanie and Carter get some quality Taylor Time. While we were there a couple fantastic things happened. First of all Taylor went for her first swim in a pool! As you can imagine she was doing laps very quickly, even if it was in her mom's arms. Pictures to come (thank you Steph!).

Also while we were there, Carter had something very special to give Taylor. Before you watch the video below here is a little background. Carter came up to Stephanie and told her she wanted to make a book for Taylor. On Saturday when Carter gave Taylor the book, she sat down and read it to her! The video here is one that Stephanie shot at her house before coming over. Great job Steph and Carter!

Catching up

The last few weeks have been very busy for our little family. I apoligize for not updating the blog and please bear with me as I create several updates today.

The Horrell family made the treck up from Missouri to come and see Taylor. Ken and Melanie were here for 2 weeks, Melanie here the whole time, Ken had to still travel for work. We were then joined by Kevin, Ashley and Chris for a couple of days. They all went home on the 10th. It was sure good to have the whole Horrell clan up here. This is the first time they have all been up here at the same time. Taylor got lots of lovin' and experienced her first boat ride! We did a lot of visiting, showing them some of our favorite things to do in Milwaukee and were able to spend one of the days at Lake Geneva to enjoy the perfect weather we were having.

As if that was not enough going on. Kelly went back to work on Monday! Taylor is now spending her days with Kim, our daycare person that does daycare out of her home. Taylor is taking it better than her parents are. We are still trying to get used to her not being home with Kelly durring the day. Taylor has also started sleeping in her crib (she has been in the bassanet). Again, the seperation anxiety is all on the parents side :).

More updates to come, but Taylor is hungry and I have to go feed her. Shocking I know.

Spread the word

There is a world wide campaign to raise awareness about the hurtful use of the r-word. I have made my pledge here, will you?

4th of July

Well Taylor made it through her first 4^th of July w/ flying colors!

We spent the day relaxing with beautiful weather. Ken and Melanie were still in town and were able to celebrate with us. We went down to the Waukesha Parade, found some shade for Taylor, and spent a few hours down there. Then we came home and Ken grilled everyone some outstanding ribs.

No fireworks this year as we figured it would be just a bit too loud for the little one’s ears. Maybe next year!

Well said

I would like to share an article that Rich (Kelly's Father) shared w/ us. While I don't always agree with her as a politician, and would probably never vote for her, I am impressed with her message here.
Take a look!

Holy Time Warp Batman!

Today marks Taylors 2 month birthday. I can't believe that it has been 2 months already! While it is already difficult to remember what life was like BT (before Taylor) it still seems like we brought her home just a few weeks ago!

Taylor has not exactly been idle these last 2 months either. She is doing very well mastering her exercises, and it really shows on her muscle tone. I swear she gets stronger everyday. Soon we will have to start testing her formula for steroids or creatine.She is also growing like a weed! She is already at 9lbs and 22i long! Her other accomplishments include looking cute as hell, the ability to make complete strangers coo at her, filling diapers at lightning speeds and developing a pen pal in Germany.

This weekend we are very happy to welcome Ken and Melanie back to our house. They will be staying with us for the next couple weeks to get some quality Taylor Time (seeing us is just an added bonus). On the 7th we will also be joined by Chris, Kevin and Ashley who will come up to see Taylor for the first time!

Time is sure flying, seems like we learn something new everyday about Taylor and ourselves and what it means to be parents. Before I know it we will be writing this update for her 2nd birthday!

Fathers Day

Today marks my first of many Fathers Days to come. I am currently sitting in my living room, watching the news as my daughter sleeps in my lap. It seems unreal that my life could have changed this much since this time last year.

While I am looking forward to the years that Taylor will help me celebrate this day, I couldn't think of a better way to start my first Father's Day. Last night, I was thinking about what I would write today, and came up with some witty sayings and was determined to find some great quotes. However, nothing I could come up with or find online could truly express the fierce Love, gratitude, and humility that I feel today.

So I will just leave it at this. Happy Fathers day to all the Fathers out there. May you live up to your title as protector, champion and hero of your children.

I'm A Big Girl Now

When did our baby girl get so big? Taylor is now 8 pounds, 3 ounces! Goodbye newborn clothes, hello size 0 to 3 months.

We were guessing that she has been going through a growth spurt when she started to eat every other hour and fuss a little more often.

You would think that eating all the time would keep us up all of the night, but...Taylor is sleeping pretty much through the night! We are only waking up once in the middle of the night to feed her and it is fantastic! Erwin is pretty happy about it too since he wakes up every time we get up to feed her.

Tears

Today I cried happy tears.

It is the first time since Taylor has been born that the tears have been out of joy.

There have been tears of fear from hearing her heart rate drop during labor.

Scared tears after finding out that I was going to have an unexpected c-section.

Tears of utter grief after learning immediately that Taylor has Down Syndrome.

Tears that ripped my heart out from thinking about all the dreams and hope that we had for her were going to change.

Tears of heartache thinking that people might look at her differently instead of just a normal baby.

There have been the tears of frustration because I was tired from waking up in the middle of the night.

Tears of feeling like I wasn’t doing a good enough job.

There were just so many tears.

But today, they were happy tears.

Because I realized just how many people love her.

Because she amazes me every day with how much she can already do.

Because I love her more than I can ever put into words.

Because when she looks at me, I feel like this is what my life was meant for. To be her mommy.

Because my life feels so much more complete.

Because she is so beautiful.

Because my hopes and dreams for her haven’t really changed, just tweaked a little bit.

Because I get to spend the rest of my life being in utter and complete love with Brian and Taylor.

Good to Know People

It is great having such a wonderful photographer in the family - Thank you Steph!

Holiday Weekend

Taylor celebrated her first Holiday Weekend in style! We all went down to Beloit to help celebrate Carter’s 5^th birthday (can’t believe she is 5 already!) and they were able to spend some quality time together. You know Taylor is small when she still looks tiny in a 5 year old’s arms!

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

Good Evening Everyone!

Taylor is showing off her improved skills from all the tummy time and exercises we have been doing. Durring today's tummy time she rolled over 3 times! We were able to catch the last one on video. Take a look!



Birth to three update

Hello all!

Friday we were visited by a rep from the birth to three program. This program will follow Taylor until she is three, then set us up with the school coordinator who will take over until Taylor is 21.

Fridays visit was from the person that will be overseeing all the people that get assigned to Taylor, kind of like a regional manager. She spent about an hour at the house with Kelly, Taylor and Julie. She asked Kelly a ton of questions and then did some tests to determine Taylor’s current development level. This series of questions and tests are for children up to 2mo old. So it was expected that Taylor would not be able to do everything yet. With that being said, she did very well! The rep was very impressed with how Taylor has been doing so far. This is really great news because it affirms everything that we have been doing.

From here the rep will go back to the office and assign a case manager to Taylor according to the amount of help she will need. That case manager will then be our point person for her care. The case manager will coordinate all the efforts of the different therapists and other specialists that will be meeting with Taylor. She will truly be invaluable, because Taylor will be seen by several people a week!

The more we learn about this program the more we are grateful it is here for us. It will be our link to all the specialized care Taylor needs and our gateway into the different support networks and organizations.

Bustin' A Move

During today's tummy time Taylor decided to share her sweet breakdancing moves with everyone!

Erwin decided that he didn't want to be left out and shared his version of tummy time too!!!

Checking in

Hello All!

Hopefully removing the requirement to sign in has helped everyone stay current with the blog. I have enjoyed writing it probably more than you have enjoyed reading it!

Tomorrow is one of the first steps in getting Taylor specialized care. We will be visited in our home by a rep from the Birth-to-Three program. She will be assessing Taylor for the first time and going over an initial consultation with us. Sadly Brian will not be able to get away from work for this meeting, however, Julie has been gracious enough to be present with Kelly. Erwin will be going to work with Brian, it is about time that dog earns his keep.

We will surely have updates after tomorrow and will be sure to keep everything current here.

Thank you all for your continued support, well wishes and prayers! We couldn’t do this without all of you.

We are now public

Kelly and I talked about it and we have decided to take the blog public. You will no longer need to sign in or create google accounts in order to view the blog. I think this was discouraging some people from coming out and taking a look at it. So please feel free to share the link to anyone you like!

http://www.taylorlynnhorrell.blogspot.com/

Thanks!

2:02 am.

It's 2:02am. Three weeks ago today, Taylor Lynn Horrell was brought into our lives. This day, I shall never forget. It was a day full of elation and grief, joy and confusion, but overwellimgly a day of love, affection and total commitment to my little girl.

Three weeks old and she has already shaken my life to its core. She has changed me in ways I never thougt possible in so little time. She has made me a much stonger, compassionate, understanding and focused man. All for being her father. I always knew, and looked forward to teaching Taylor and shaping her into the wonderful woman I know she will be. What I was unprepared for is how much she has taught me and changed me for the better.

Happy 3 week birthday little one. I can't wait to see how we will grow together tomorrow.

Bath Time

After a rather aggressive diaper changing session, that felt more like a battle than a routine event, we determined that it was time for her to have another bath.

Now we have a clean baby