The Bakes

Here's your Christmas Card!

2011-12-21T13:25:00.000-08:00

Rather than pick a favorite picture to send to people in a card we figured we'd just post a bunch with an update on our life here in Vegas for everyone to see.

Natalie is growing up fast, as all babies do. She still loves to read, often waking us in the morning with a book and falling asleep with a stack of them in her bed. She recently came to love her new helmet and bike seat and enjoys rides with her mommy, when it's not too cold. She's still really tall and super skinny. She also has a ridiculous vocabulary and can really enunciate her words quite well. She's starting to form sentences and will repeat ANY word you ask her to. She still gets to spend most of her days with her grandma and grandpa. She also has days with her new friend Aubrey at a ward member's home. She can count to twelve, knows her colors very well, and is learning her letters fast. She can now recognize her name. She can be a two-year-old sometimes, but overall she's still a sweet girl.

She wore her helmet around a lot when she first got it.

Natalie loves being silly. Once you get her going she'll laugh all night.

She's still obsessed with the camera and will throw a fit if you try to stop the pictures and videos once you've started.

Jackie has been working as a permanent substitute at a school here in Las Vegas. She is the reading specialist lady there and is now in a good position to come on in the next school year if she wants to. She started teaching piano to a little boy and is enjoying that a lot. She still loves to run and gets out regularly for it, even when she has to get up at five and run in the cold. She's ready for baby number two and is anxious for her family to grow. For now, she's got her hands full with Natalie pulling her in all directions at once. She has some new friends between work and school and still enjoys having her family close by. She stays plenty busy holding this nutty family together.

Here's the family at Kyle's wedding, on Natalie's birthday.

She was making Jackie lay down and rubbing her face as we drove home late.

Two years old!

Nate is still dressing up like a cowboy at Sheplers. He enjoys the quiet, warm environment more than his past retail positions and hopes he can move up within the company. In the meantime, however, he's still looking to branch out and get into a marketing/advertising position in the future. Really, he just wants to run his own little business. He loves sharing his latest ideas with Jackie at the end of the day. He still gets out to play every now and then, recently enjoying a few days with John and James in Joshua Tree. He's a sucker for playing with Natalie and giving in to her demands. He can often be found half asleep in her room under a pile of her things. He's been writing a lot more, lately, and hopes he can publish a kid's book or two and some short stories as well.

This says it all.

Exploring the Christmas tree.

Sandy is fat, according to her vet. She's been grudgingly eating smaller portions and snagging less scraps from Natalie. She's getting older, but still absolutely loves a good run or rope-pull. When she hasn't been rolling in things she's still a beautiful dog and gets complimented frequently on her good looks and sweet nature. She's looking forward to nature runs next spring.

Here we are in our new snow suit, ready to visit Grammy and Papa!

Natalie made this house with her new sitter/teacher Jennifer. She always brings home fun projects, but this is probably her favorite so far, as she can eat the treats.

Merry Christmas, everyone. We miss you, wherever you are and hope to see you soon. May the new year bring you more joy and happy memories!

Summer Time

2011-10-30T13:40:00.000-07:00

Natalie got to enjoy her second Fourth of July celebration. We had a lot of fun with the sparklers, at least until we warned her about the end being hot. She, of course, was then curious to see for herself and discovered that it was indeed very hot. She then wanted nothing to do with them, but we still had fun watching all the fireworks on the block.

We got quite a bit of rain this summer. It gave us a few chances to get out and enjoy it. This was the first time Natalie had really been in the rain. She loved it and so did her hair, which we discovered gets really curly when allowed to dry on its own.

Nate and Jackie got away for a few days of their wedding anniversary. They left Natalie with Grandma Taylor and headed to the LA area for some fun.

Here they are visiting an arboretum near Jackie's aunt's house. There were all sorts of plant habitats, from wetlands to desert.

This is a Silk Floss Tree, native to the area where Nathan served his mission. It's his favorite tree. In Argentina they're called Palo Borracho, 'Drunk Wood', because of their swollen trunks, and as you can see, they're covered with big spikes that collect the so-called floss.

They also spent a day at Six Flags. It was a lot of fun until they realized that their bodies just don't enjoy all the twists and turns as much as they used to.

Finally, before leaving, they stopped in at the LA Temple. It was a neat, older temple with multiple rooms and very ornate murals. It was an enjoyable way to wrap up the weekend.

Natalie also got a fun visit toward the end of July from her cousins. She absolutely loved playing with the boys. They had a sleepover in her room and she kept them up for at least an hour, trying to talk to them from her crib. It was a memorable visit that she stills brings up to this day.

In August Natalie got a new best friend, Oliver. She loves him and the other babies she sees. For the most part she's pretty gentle and understanding. She likes to bring Oliver his pacifiers or bottles, even when he doesn't need it, and she often disturbs his sleep because she likes to talk to him and play.

August also was the unofficial union of Amy and Chris. They had a gay marriage so that they could share his benefits. The real wedding will be in the spring, next year.

We took a trip to Fallon as well. Natalie loved seeing all her cousins and being able to play out in the open.

We made visit to see Stephen and Susan as well. We got to spend some time at the beach at Lake Tahoe. Natalie didn't enjoy the cold water.

She did, however, love throwing rocks in the water with Susan and chasing seagulls around the shore.

Natalie absolutely loves Grammy's dolls and girly toys. She had a nice tea party with Sarah and Grammy as well.

Nate was able to spend a couple of days working on the barbecue he's building. The families also got together and made stepping stones with their feet imprinted on them, aside from the usual games and visiting.

Natalie loves the animals. She kept trying to take us outside to see the horses or cows throughout the day. She was a little overwhelmed when we got up close to the horses, but she has since overcome that initial fear. The cows were actually her favorite and we all went out and fed them some watermelon rinds and corn cobs at the end of the day.

Here she is with Josh, Sarah, and Ben. The cousins all had a blast running around the yard with Jackie. Natalie just adores her cousins and keeps a picture of them all in her room.

We had a busy, fun summer and were sad to see it end. Of course, here in Las Vegas the summer weather continues almost year-round, but we're always sad to see the trips and visits come to an end.

2011-10-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

Here's the rest of June!

We attended Katie's graduation. It was unique, to say the least. She went to an arts academy, so we got to see dancing, singing, and all sorts of entertaining people before she finally crossed the stage.

We enjoyed a trip to see Janet and Levi. Natalie really had a lot of fun, playing with them and their puppies especially.

We tried to go camping, but didn't plan well and found all the sites were reserved due to some deal the parks offered for the first weekend of summer. We made a fire in a secluded picnic area and had fun anyway.

Afterwards, we camped in their backyard. Not the most outdoorsy experience, especially with the neighborhood noise, but still very enjoyable.

While we were in Salt Lake City, we also got to visit Nate's childhood friend, Russell. We all met up at a local petting zoo/farm. Natalie really enjoyed seeing and naming all the different animals, especially the ducks she ended up chasing around.

Toward the end of our stay, we visited with some of Levi's family. We discovered that Natalie absolutely loves corn, especially right on the cob. She ate more than one and then hoarded some sausages for dessert.

We had a really good time visiting and Natalie was disappointed when we finally had to leave.

2011-06-12T16:25:00.000-07:00

Well, it appears we have waited the appropriate amount of time between posts, as usual, so we are due for an update.

Nate had his annual trip to Moab with James and friends in March. He is doing his best to mountain bike more this year (and climb more, too). He rides around Red Rock Canyon whenever he has time and hopes to ride in the Salt Lake, St. George, and southern California areas later this year. Now that his good friend Aaron and his wife live in Las Vegas, they can hopefully start going climbing on a regular basis, as well.

Nate is still with Shepler's. He enjoys the customers and loves his co-workers. He is also waiting to hear back about a Jr. Copywriter position for Peter Lik. Otherwise, he will probably end up running one of the new stores his company is opening. No school yet, but he is prepared to finish up his associates as soon as he can test out of his Spanish courses. In the meantime, he keeps busy with his projects. The latest was a couple deck chairs he built from cheap lumber.

Jackie works with KinderCare still, but also started subbing for Clark County this year. Despite the challenges of her job, she is enjoying it more and more, especially the time it allows her to have with Natalie. No exciting bike trips or anything for her, just a few shopping sprees down on the strip. She still loves to go running and swimming, though, and does so almost everyday. No immediate plans for baby number two, but it can't be too far off. She also stays busy making sure Nate keeps up with his garden and then in making delicious salads and what not from their plants.

Then, of course, there is Miss Natalie. She has been super busy trying to grow up. She's still ridiculously tall and skinny. She knows so many words for her age, too! She's still honing in on her spoon and fork skills, but she's got drinking from a cup down perfect. Basically, she too cute, and she knows it. We just have to wait for that hair to finish growing in.

Baby Steps

2010-11-07T14:16:00.000-08:00

Before you get all excited, no Natalie hasn't started to walk on her own, although she's not far off. Actually, we're the ones that have been taking baby steps. It's been almost two years that we've been living here and we're finally ready to move out! Everything has really been falling into place for us and we feel that now is the right time. We're excited to have our own space and to share that with Natalie and Sandy as well.

Natalie and Sandy share a symbiotic relationship. Natalie keeps Sandy well fed then Sandy cleans Natalie up afterward. This is when she first discovered that the dogs would eat things she dropped, and it has since become a great annoyance to her parents as she is more interested in them than in feeding herself. She is already quite sneaky about it. She'll watch us, then slowly move whatever she's holding over the edge, wait, and quietly drop it, returning to her own food.

Natalie can do all sorts of things on her own now. She sings and talks a mile a minute. Some words have become very clear, like Dada, Mama, Sandy, baba, hi, Eeyore, baby, or eh eh eh (when you're in trouble). Others she is now working on are lion, Jesus, dog, Papa, bye, and a bunch of indistinguishable ones. She loves to be walked around, especially when you run and jump. She knows how to drink from a cup and often chokes in the bath when she tries to drink from the bathing cup. She blows kisses, dances, shakes side to side when she's feeling wild, loves to scream and yell, cuddles with Sandy, reads and/or sings... The list goes on and on, but basically she is absolutely adorable almost all the time.

Here she is with her little bald head. She has some more in the back, but either way she's stuck wearing pink and bows to distinguish her from the boys.

These are our Halloween costumes. Nate was Billy the Kid, Jackie was a ladybug, and Natalie was a pumpkin.

Nate's job is going really well. He is hoping to one day take over as the store manager. Till then he is quite content being a cowboy and working with his great coworkers. Jackie will soon take over for the Kindergarten teacher at Kindercare. Grandma will watch Natalie when she can, otherwise Natalie will probably go to work with Mommy. Either way, it will help us with money without changing things entirely for baby.

We're happy and well, and look forward to seeing all the family for Thanksgiving.

2010-02-02T16:37:00.000-08:00

A typical look from baby Natalie.

It has been quite a while since we updated our blog for everyone to enjoy. Natalie is doing very well now. The doctors are still monitoring her heart for irregularities and we still have to dilate her anus, but otherwise she is a very strong and healthy little girl. She can practically stand on her own, she is very talkative, and she loves to smile and laugh with you. Jackie has been enjoying staying with her at home while Nathan is still working at Shepler's and attending UNLV. We don't get out as much as we used to and we're still living with Jackie's family, but we are content with life and feel blessed with all that we have. Below are a few recent pictures and a video of Natalie talking and squealing.

Jackie and Nathan enjoying the snow at Mt. Charleston. Natalie didn't seem to care much about it all, but Sandy had a blast chasing everyone down in the deep snow.

Best buddies.

This was taken when Natalie first started to smile on a regular basis. She was trying to talk to her aunt Amy.

Family photo, taken after Natalie's baby blessing.

Natalie Mae

2009-11-15T17:09:00.000-08:00

Here's Jackie as we went inside to be induced. This is the last fat photo! We were supposed to go in at 4am, but they called as we were about to leave and told us to wait till they called back. They had one baby delivered the day before and apparently too many on Tuesday. They called back at about 8am and we headed in only to find out that yet another mom had come in before we got there, so we waited a couple more hours. When Jackie was finally in a room, had an I.V. going, and they started her induction drugs it was just after 11:30.

Here we are in the waiting area, watching the same news over and over. This is also a pretty good picture of Nathan's Bell's Palsy face. (It has now come back almost all the way!)

Below is Jackie getting settled into her bed, for the next 14 hours.

It took quite a while for the drugs to really do their job. After the first few contractions Jackie wimped out (who could blame her) and got the epidural put in. Good thing, considering how long the whole thing took. She was dilating about a centimeter per hour, but the cervix was very thick until almost the end when she went from about 60 to 5%. Once that was thinned out she had no trouble going from a 6 to a 10 in a little over an hour. When it finally came time to push she only needed a couple practice runs. She got it down pretty quick and the next thing you know we could see Natalie's scalp on its way out. The nurse got her close, called the doctor, and then the hard part, waiting. Once Dr. Liu was there it only took two contractions or so to deliver. It was amazing to see her little body come out and hear her little cry.

Daddy got to cut the cord and then Grandma Taylor took her to a little table to clean her and suck out her airways, etc. She was born at 2:06am on Wednesday, November 11th and weighed in at 7 lbs and 1 ounce and was 19 inches long. She also had quite the cone head, but that was pretty much gone by the next day.

Mom got to hold her first (not counting Grandma). The whole thing was very exciting and emotional. Mom and Dad both cried more than the baby. Then, Grandma took her down to the nursery to get her warm and pink (she was very pale when she first came out) while mom got cleaned up and dad tried to get a little rest.

It was while they were giving her injections and cleaning her up that they noticed a problem with her anus. She had what is called an imperforate anus. Hers was a very mild case; she had a working anus right next to her vagina but the rectal muscles were back where they should be. The whole thing was a bit scary at first, but once the doctors explained things we realized she would only need a simple surgery (mostly cosmetic) to put things where they should be so she could lead a normal life in the future and still have children of her own. With a lot of faith and prayers we slept easier.

The next morning (after a couple hours of sleep) everyone started to stop by to say hello. She picked up on nursing immediately, with zero hesitation, and was doing very well, including pooping from her misplaced anus, proving to everyone that she was more well than initially thought.

Here we have Grandma and Grandpa Taylor.

Below is Aunt Kate who cuddled her for almost an hour before dad finally took baby away for himself.

As nice as it was to get to go home in less than 24 hours, we were a little sad that we had to go without our baby, but at least we got that extra sleep.

On Thursday we came in to find Natalie in the NICU, already hooked up to her life machines and getting ready to go downstairs for her operation. She was very calm and sweet the whole time.

This picture below caught her in the box just before going. She opened her eyes and looked at us with this sort of sad, pathetic face. It made it a little harder to let her go.

We ran some errands while she was being operated on (to keep ourselves from worrying) and came back to find she had done extremely well. They were able to close her misplaced hole and pull the tube back to the rectal muscles that should have housed it originally. She now has a very normal looking bum which started working that night! We know that all the prayers in her behalf really helped and were answered. She was still pretty out of it so they held off eating till the next day. That night, we again got a lot of sleep, especially Jackie who was really worn out and sore (even though she didn't have to feel all those contractions she still had to feel the aftermath).

Friday morning we rushed in to see her before daddy had to go to work. They took out her air tube because she had started breathing on her own again and put just a little nose oxygen thing to back her up. When they weighed her she had only gained .1 ounces, but that afternoon she got some of mom's pumped milk and throughout the day worked her way up, drinking more and more as her stomach adjusted again.

Overnight she continued to awe the nurses and doctors. On Saturday she started breast feeding again and just couldn't get enough. She had to be given more from a bottle a few minutes afterward. She was also freed from all her tubes and what not, except the I.V. where they gave her the medicine she needed.

Sunday was Stake Conference, so while Nathan went to the priesthood session Jackie visited and fed baby. By the time Nate was home Jackie was calling to tell him that Natalie was coming home right then! He brought her clothes and went to get her and mom with Grandma.

You can see in the above picture that hungry little face. She can be quite forceful when she's hungry, snapping and screaming at everything near her face. You can also see that she's already getting chunkier. She'll probably end up a chubby bald baby like her dad was. We've figured out that she definitely has her mom's nose and chin and probably her dad's mouth. What do you all think?

We're so happy to have her home with us now. She eats all the time and has the sweetest girly voice when she yells. We've heard nothing but 'she's absolutely perfect, beautiful, pretty'... She really is, too. She's our precious little angel. Oh, and Sandy really loves her too. She can't stay away from her, always sniffing her head and licking her feet. She'll figure it out soon enough. Thanks to everyone for all your help and prayers and comfort. We'll see you all soon.

Just a lazy Sunday

2009-10-18T17:07:00.001-07:00

Today, we enjoyed what could easily be our last peaceful Sunday for a while. We took Sandy out to the Red Rock area and had an easy hike, enjoying the changing colors and the cooler breezes.Nate also took some time to make some onesies for the coming baby; she's all set for the holiday season. It was just a nice day to relax, take a nap, and/or read a book.

Baby shower and boys play date

2009-10-10T22:18:00.001-07:00

Today Jackie had a whole bunch of cousins, aunts, and friends come over to shower her with baby gifts. We got lots of goodies, only one double, and the girls all had a really fun time. (There will be more on this, hopefully, later.) Meanwhile, the men were shuffled out the door, so they had to come up with something fun to do, too. They enjoyed their day out in Nelson, NV, where a family friend owns an old mine and has restored a fair amount of it, including the tunnels themselves. The boys had a good time and learned a lot about the neat little ghost town.

The old mine entrance and mill.

Hanging out at the secret entrance.

Some of the restored buildings, and also the sight where a plane was blown up for the movie "3000 Miles to Graceland".

2009-09-07T18:28:00.000-07:00

Last week marked Sandy's first visit to the ER. We went to the park on Monday night and while she was playing chase with another fun dog, she got nipped on her right side. It caught the skin and tore it back a little, so she ended up with five stitches and this dorky cone. I call her the flower girl.

Since everyone had Labor Day off, we decided to go to Logandale, NV and have a little fun. Not all quads are created equal; neither are all riders. We had a few minor problems, getting stuck, hitting things, but it was all a lot of fun.

This was our baby's first ride. Jackie is definitely showing these days. We're almost there!

New Life in Vegas

2009-07-23T19:08:00.000-07:00

Well, we are in Las Vegas now. Jackie is pregnant with our little girl and is due November 8, 2009. I'm doing electrical work at the prisons here for James while Jackie is working at a daycare. We are looking forward to our new bundle of joy! Just wanted to update everyone on what's going on with us.

Well, it's about time!

2008-05-24T11:17:00.000-07:00

We finally got on board and set up a blog for everyone to see. Now you can all know what your favorite people are up to. Just to catch up on our news, Jackie just graduated (sort of) and when she finishes another class she can do her student teaching, and then we can go wherever we want, and maybe start a family. Till then, we got ourselves a puppy named Sandy. She's a pretty mix of Australian Shepherd and Springer Spaniel and she's full of energy. Nathan just quit his job at Anchor Blue and is helping James with fencing and handling stock at Victoria's Secret. We are about to move into Jackie's parent's house in Reno. Everything is going well and we're as happy and healthy as can be.