THE TABOR TIMES

On June 8, Kendall turned 11 months old.  How in the world do we have an 11-month old? Good grief, I feel like this year has just flown by. It has at times been difficult, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. The past year has been SO much fun and we are SO in love with our little girl. This past month was a fun and at times challenging month. Unfortunately, Kendall was diagnosed with a double ear infection and hand, foot, and mouth disease. Poor thing came down with a fever on a Saturday and didn't start acting like herself again until Monday during the day. We are very grateful that Kendall never showed any of the outward signs of hand, foot, and mouth. However, because she had been diagnosed, we kept her out of daycare all week to prevent the spreading of germs! So Mimi and Papa (Ryan's parents) were SO gracious to come into town and stay with Kendall for 3 days. Kendall loved her time with them! This month has also been a fun, exciting time too. K-bug has sta...

When Ryan and I first started having discussions about kids, it didn't always go so well. I was usually much more enthused about the idea than he was. He would always tell me, "I mean, I'm just not much of a kid person. But I have no doubt I'll love my own kids!" This would give me a glimmer of hope that at some point we would be on the same page. Fast forward several years to November of 2010. Our niece, Genevieve, had just been born and Uncle Ryan was totally smitten. I could see it in his eyes at the hospital that he was beginning to understand the love he was going to have for his own kids. When we got home from seeing Genevieve at the hospital, Ryan told me that as much as he already loved his niece, he couldn't even imagine how much he was going to love his own children. Two days after meeting Genevieve, we found out that we were expecting our own little one! After the initial shock wore off, Ryan immediately went into protective mode. Since he ha...

My sister and I are both independent girls. But Lauren definitely beats me as the most independent of the two of us. She likes her space and does not shy away from alone time. She once told me that she didn't understand how you could ever want to spend every day with someone. So when she started dating Abraham and started spending a whole lot of time with him, I knew that this time it was going to be different. I saw that she was starting to understand what it felt like to want to hang out with someone every day. A couple months after they started dating, Lauren told me that she was 100% sure that she was going to marry Abraham. And knowing Lauren, I knew that it was a good thing. Because if there was any uncertainty in her mind about him, there would have been NO way she would have been talking marriage. And sure enough, they announced they were engaged a few months later. Lauren and Abraham were married in a small ceremony in Blue Ridge on May 19. We are so excited for them a...

Ryan and I have always spent a great deal of time at the pool and lake each summer. We both love the water, so we want Kendall to be comfortable in the water as well. We found a place near us that offers year-round swim lessons. Their infant/toddler class is for kids from 6 months - 3 years old and is for the kids and a parent. We knew that Kendall would be too young to really understand the skills they were teaching her but that Ryan and I could learn different skills to continue teaching her in the water. We all had a really good time. She enjoyed the water, and we got more comfortable with her in the pool. "1..2..3..Bubbles!"  Kendall learning how to blow bubbles with her swim lesson teacher Learning how to "scoop" the water with her hands  Trying on swim goggles - which she absolutely hated! Singing "The wheels on the bus go round and round" Blowing bubbles with dad In the pool with Mom Taking a break for a pi...

Thanks to my husband's prodding, I'm finally getting back around to blogging. So I'm going to be playing a little bit of catch up over the next few days. Apparently not being in school means I've been going to bed earlier. Or just staying off of the computer more at night. So look out over the next few days or so for what's been going on with us the past month and a half! You're welcome Ryan! Ha.

Kendall turned 10 months old on May 8th. It's possible I've said this for the past several months, but I'm not exaggerating when I say that this month was the most fun month so far! My goodness, we have such a fun, silly, smart girl. But no bias, right? She has learned SO much this month and is such a joy. She loves to laugh and will start giggling whenever she hears me and Ryan laughing. The best is when we're riding in the car and Ryan and I start laughing about something. She'll just start cracking up like she knows what we're talking about. It's so cute! So I know these details may not be interesting to everyone, but it's mostly so that I can recall the little (and big) milestones later on down the road. So here are a few of the things Kendall started doing this month. - Pulling up to her knees while holding onto furniture - Sitting up from a crawling position - Learned how to give a "high-five" - Learned how to do "touchdown...

Our church has a wonderful program called Baby Dedication. It's not intended to be a baby baptism or christening, but instead, it's a special time with family where we commit to raising Kendall in a Christian home where she learns about God's love. It's also a time to ask our family to come alongside us in this and keep us accountable in our actions and in our walks with the Lord. We could only invite immediate family because of space constraints, but it was such a great time of asking our parents, siblings, and their significant others to come around us and hold us accountable as we raise Kendall. Before the dedication, we had to do a little bit of "homework". There were several messages we listened to about parenting, marriage, and raising little ones to know Christ. We were then asked us to come up with five values and two habits that we want to make a priority in our home. Ryan and I really enjoyed completing this task. In fact, I think we're go...