When the pandemic struck and I was struggling to blog or memory keep with any regularity, I started adding to a note in my phone. I jotted down all of the funny things Polly says when we aren't expecting it and I regularly read through them when I need a good laugh. It's almost time to celebrate her third birthday and start a new note for her fourth year of life (WHAT IN THE WORLD?!). Maybe I'll transfer those to her baby book at some point, but the blog is as good as it gets today. Here are some of my favorite things Polly has said in the last year: I'm not a camel, I'm a kitty cat! Let's go to my castle! (When riding the golf cart towards our house.) Cut my tails (toenails), please. (When Gran gets on to her) -- I want to go home and see my family. (When Gran says "We are your ...
Polly
A Gran Camp Christmas
When is the last time you attempted to get five toddlers to stand still and look at the camera at the same time? My mom keeps a group of the cutest kids ever and she loves buying them matching pajamas to wear during the Christmas holidays. She invited me over to snap a photograph to gift to their parents and this was seriously the best we got. I think I took 150+ photos and there were very few where the girls were all looking in the same direction! Polly's face right her perfectly articulates how I was feeling. Now that I'm working from home, Polly stays at home with me a day or two a week, but it has been so helpful to have my keep her the other three to four. She looks forward to walking to Gran Camp each morning and if given the choice, always leaves me home alone. If I'm not ...
The Bookend Birthday Party
If there was one terrible mistake I made during the pandemic, it was hosting a pretty big birthday party for two. At the time, the numbers were steady and our families were all healthy and being careful and the news had encouraged us to make outdoor activities a priority. No one got sick and our two girls loved being celebrated, but in hindsight I feel guilty for the potential exposure and a little gross for flaunting our get together on social media. As we reflect on the previous year, there aren't many things I would do differently, but this is something I might would have reconsidered (written in December 2020). We arbitrarily decided, long ago, to only do big birthdays while the girls were in elementary school. Golden birthdays and milestone birthdays are the exception, but we ...
Sixteen Months With Polly
I haven't written an update post for Polly since her birthday, and even though I don't intend to write monthly posts about her development, she has changed and grown so much in the last few months that I couldn't not write a bit about her. In the six weeks between our New York trip and the New Year, she grew up so much! She learned so many new words, became so confident and independent, and gained quite the sense of humor. She was at home sick on Friday -- hence the serious face -- and we took an afternoon walk to visit the cat and check on my dad's newfound (second) retirement. It was a good opportunity to snap a few pictures to show just how big she is! Height + Weight: We saw the pediatrician earlier this month and Polly was right under 22 pounds -- bigger than Sophie at this ...
Tree Tent Adventure
For pretty much our entire marriage, we've loaded up on the morning after Thanksgiving to pick out our Christmas tree. The girls look forward to this day for weeks and by Thursday afternoon, they couldn't stop talking about it. We alternate between a few of our favorite breakfast places, stuff ourselves full of pancakes, and then pick out the biggest tree we can fit inside our house. This was the year we discovered that Polly doesn't like pancakes, french toast OR waffles (unless slathered in nut butter), so I was patting myself on the back for feeding her something before we left. She did eat a scrambled egg, a few bites of bacon, and a green pea squeezie, but I'm hoping we can convince her that IHOP breakfasts are a rare delicacy. This was also the year of mostly blurry ...
You Are My Sunshine | Polly’s Party Recap
I debated waiting to post until I have all of the photos from Polly's birthday party, but I wanted to share how we were feeling on her big day and how much fun everything was, long before we talk about how pretty it all was (but it was so pretty!). I used to pride myself on being wholly unsentimental (and, yes, I realize how ridiculous that sounds). I didn't get super emotional on "first days" with the big girls and I never felt sad to leave stages behind -- it has always been so fun for me to watch the girls grow up and it's hard to be sad about things they are so excited about themselves. I don't know what changed with the birth of our third baby girl -- hello, midlife crisis -- but I'm having a harder time watching the days go by than I ever have before. This milestone was ...
Polly’s Guide to Baby Led Weaning
Affiliate links appear in this post. Any purchases made using these links will earn Taz + Belly a small commission. You can read more about our affiliate relationships here. I've said this many times, but almost everything about my last pregnancy and the first year of Polly's life, has been so very different from the big girls. I can't quite put my finger on why, but I think my age and plenty of life experience has something to do with it. I'm more sentimental than ever, but also completely relaxed. We really have let Polly lead in all things, including how we introduced solids. I followed the advice of my pediatrician the first two times -- we started cereal around four months and introduced traditional baby food shortly thereafter. We tried fruits and veggies and gross ...
One Year With Polly
Today is Polly's birthday. I knew it would happen -- I mean it has to, right? -- but I didn't expect to dread it quite so much. I am excited. I'm thrilled we survived the first year, I'm glad I kept us all alive, I'm so excited to watch her grow and learn and become this adorable little person. I'm also so overwhelmed with knowing that we'll never get this first year back. I know how fast it goes, but I've never lamented a year's passing as much as this one. I'm not ready. I want to hold her tiny, squishy body forever and never let it go. twelve months on september 5, 2019 Height + Weight: We don't go to the doctor until next Tuesday morning, so these are iffy. I'm going to guess 22 pounds, but I'll report back with actual stats, once I have them. Clothes: Polly is still wearing a ...