Dylan's Bike Tricks

Dylan's newest passion...riding his bike. Up to this point he has had difficulty pedaling anything with wheels. I thought it would be a few years before he started riding his bike but last week he started riding and now he won't stop. The first thing he asks in the morning is if he can go out and ride his bike. He has been averaging 2 hours of riding a day. He loves it!!! His latest thing is to show us his tricks. This video highests some of his favorite tricks. It is too cute!!! I'm glad we missed video taping when I asked him to try taking both hands off the handle bar. It didn't end too well =).

The Obsession Continues...One Year Later

It was a little over a year since Dylan's fireman obsession started. It all started when I Bryan and I were in D.C. visiting Jeff and Tracy and Dylan was staying with Grandma and Grandpa. He watched a video at their house about firemen and fire trucks and he has been obsessed from that point on. Dylan talks about firemen all the time and how he is going to be one when he grows up. He asks me if I will visit him at the fire house when he is a fireman. When I say "yes, I would love to visit you" he tells me that he will give me fireman badge sticker and he will let me sit in the fire truck and ambulance. It is super cute! He can't wait till the day he can drive a fire truck. I've told him that he has to drive a car for 2 years before he can drive a fire truck (I'm assuming you can't be a firemen until you are 18) and he is totally bummed.

Today we went to a water day at the Issaquah Community Center. A fire truck came and sprayed water out of the pumper truck. Dylan was in awe and he had a lot of fun running through the water. The firemen stayed for while to talk with the kids and Dylan totally clammed up. He thinks they are so cool, but he just stares at them and doesn't say anything. It is so funny!

Liz and Eric's Wedding

We had a great time at Auntie Lizzy and Uncle Eric's wedding in July. It was awesome to have so many friends and family in town and to introduce the two newest members of the family.

Taylor and Andrew really seemed to hit it off and it was fun to watch them get to know each other. They also seemed to enjoy all the attention they were getting from their grandparents and great grandmothers.

Dylan was the ring bearer and did a great job. He even stood at the altar with the rest of the wedding party for at least 20 minutes! He didn't really stand still, and there may have been a destroyed boutonniere involved, but what can you expect :-)

Dylan meets his sister and Taylor first visitor

Dylan was really excited to meet his sister. He was so sweet with her and really enjoyed her.



Taylor gave Dylan and awesome rescue truck.



Dylan struck up quite a friendship with the nurses who cared for Taylor. He was their little helper.



Grandpa meeting Taylor


Auntie Lizzy and Taylor


Aunt Lana and Brenna with Taylor


The Harris family with Taylor. The girls are going to be great big sisters in July!

Taylor Grace Schmit

Our precious little girl, Taylor Grace was born on January 11th 2010 at 12:58am. We are so in love with her and we feel so blessed to have her in our lives!



Here is the story of Taylor's birth. I started getting contractions on January 10th (my due date) around 7:30pm. They weren't painful at first but they were regular and I could tell that labor was beginning. We called my parents around 8:30 and told them that we better have Dylan stay at their place so we wouldn't have to have them come over in the middle of the night. At first I said that we would drive him over to their place, but I could tell that labor was starting to pick up and it might not be a good idea. My parents came and took Dylan. By this point my labor was starting to painful and my contractions were not very consistent. Sometimes they would be 12 minutes apart and them 8 minutes and then 15 minutes. I could feel pressure and could tell that we should head to the hospital soon. We called the on call doctor at 10:30pm and she said that we should head down. We went to triage and they hooked me up the machine that checks my contractions. They nurse said she would come back 10 minutes later to look at my contractions. I knew I was dialited a lot and I just wanted her to check me and get me into my room, but I didn't speak up. She came in 10 minutes later and checked me and was surprised that I was already at 7cm. She called the on call doctor and told her I was ready for a room. She also told me that she didn't think I should get an epidural since I was doing so well and I was already at a 7. They moved me to my room around 12:15am and they found that Taylor was facing down. It is more difficult for babies to come out if they are facing down and they wanted her to face up. They had me lay on my side to try and flip her. I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted an epidural and the nurses weren't even sure it would kick in in time for delivery. They gave me a little pain reliever in my IV and it dulled the pain a little while I made my decision. Our Dr. came in and told me that she was going to be in a c-section for the next 45 minutes and that if I had the baby she during that time I would have another Dr. from another practice delivery me. I wasn't too concerned and I knew that they trusted this Dr. so I would be in good hands. Laying on my side was really uncomfortable because the contractions were getting really strong. I started feeling a lot of pressure and I told the nurse that I felt like I had to push. She asked me to roll unto my back when the contraction let up and it never let up. I told her I really had to push and she forced me to move to my back so she could check me. I was at a 10 and she called for the Dr. and extra set of hands ASAP. The Dr. from the other practice came in and I pushed for 5 minutes and Taylor was born. It was the most painful few minutes of my life, but definitely worth it. Since I hadn't practiced any techniques for dealing with the pain I just wanted to curl up into a ball but I couldn't. Finally the nurse said, "Karen I need you to focus on me" and Bryan said that I just turned into a different person after that and totally focused on her and what she told me to do. Luckily Taylor was born quickly. Here are some pics of our precious little girl.







We called my parents and Bryan's parents when we got into our room. My mom said that she would head down right away. Bryan's parents said they wanted to come, but we told them not to rush because we didn't think she would come that fast. Even though my mom left right away she still missed Taylors birth. She walked in our room and was shocked to see that Taylor had already arrived. Bryan's parents arrived around 2:30am. It was a really different experience from when Dylan arrived. He came close to 7pm and everyone had been in the waiting room for a few hours. This time it happened in the middle of the night and it was really quiet. Here are our first visitors.

December 2009

December started off with our annual trip to visit Santa at Nordstroms downtown. I grew up going to see the Nordstroms/Fredrick & Nelson Santa and it is fun to keep the tradition going. Dylan looked so handsome and he looked like such a little man! He is definitely turning into a kid and not my little baby. He was tentative walking up to Santa, but Santa gave him a high five and then took Dylan on his lap. Whenever Dylan is around someone he thinks is really cool (Santa, firemen, etc.) he clams up and doesn't say much. He did finally tell Santa that he wanted a bean bag for Christmas. We got a really cute picture with him smiling so our visit to Santa was a success.


After visiting Santa we went on the carousel and saw the trains in the Macy's window. My mom took Dylan down to Pike Place Market and while they were there they saw a fire truck parked on the street. There was firemen inside and Dylan got to get up in the truck and put on all the gear. It was a great day!!!!




Dylan enjoyed decorating cookies to give to our neighbors. He wanted to help mix the food coloring into the cookies, but it was just an excuse to stick his fingers in the frosting and eat it. (Don't worry friends - we didn't deliver any cookies with frosting that Dylan helped mix =)). We also went to Snowflake Lane at Bellevue Square. Dylan thought the drummer guys were cool and he enjoyed chatting with Rudolph. His favorite part was definitely the candy cane lollipop. He has such a sweet tooth!


Christmas Eve we went to church and then had dinner at Aunt Lana and Uncle Mike's. Santa Claus showed up and surprised Dylan. Dylan is always very curious where the reindeer and Mrs. Claus are. We did hear the reindeer on roof while Santa was inside. It was pretty special.



Dylan got to bed late on Christmas eve and he didn't wake up until 8am on Christmas morning. He got out of bed and said, "can I be awake now". He came out and checked to see if the cookies were gone and if the reindeer ate the carrots. He helped Santa finish up the crumbs of the cookies (he also helped him eat one of the cookies he set out for Santa the night before too). I bought organic carrots to give the reindeer because they still had the green stems of them. Dylan was a little upset that the reindeer didn't eat the entire carrot and left the green stalks. Maybe next year the reindeer will eat the whole carrot =)



Santa brought Dylan the bean bag he asked for, but Dylan decided that he wanted a little bean bag and was a little confused about the size. He has since grown to enjoy it and he loves jumping on it or having daddy toss it in the air so it will land on top of them.



His two favorite gifts from Christmas were from a firehouse and kitchen. The firehouse has already given him hours of entertainment and so the fireman obsession continues. Dylan is great at making us interesting meals from his kitchen. He likes to pretend that we are the kids and he is the mommy. He bring us food and says, "here you go kids". It is really funny! I have been busy picking up all the little pieces that go along with having a new firehouse and kitchen. You've got to love new toys!

November 2009

October started out with Gramp's 89th birthday. As with every birthday in our family, Dylan was a great helper and blew out the candles with him. We are so glad that Gramps lives here so we can spend so much time with him.



Dylan loves hanging out in his sister's room. When dad was painting her room he really wanted to help. He did a pretty good job and didn't even get any on the carpet! He also enjoys playing with his sister's headbands. Most of the time they aren't on his head because he puts them right under his nose and pretends they are his fireman oxygen mask. Everything in our house turns into some type of fireman tool or a fire truck.


Thanksgiving was full of family and fun. Nana and Papa hosted 19 people and we enjoyed a yummy dinner and watching Dylan run around, play pool and golf. Papa still lets Dylan get on the pool table and I don't know if he will ever be able to say no to Dylan. Hopefully he wont ruin the felt!

Our friends the Cones and Giacomonis threw us a baby shower the weekend after Thanksgiving. We had so much fun and enjoyed a special night with friends. We played men vs. women baby pictionary and the men totally dominated. Who knew they could draw an episiotomy better than the girls =)