My Story

 My name is Meradee and I am twenty-one years old. I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California by a single mother with two sisters. I met my Fiancee, Brian through friends (Funny story: Our friend Katie set us up because he liked her at the time and she didn't reciprocate his feelings so she introduced us hoping to get him to leave her alone and it worked because we hit it off!) and we started dating on October 30, 2010. We had a rocky start but all that changed on March 10, 2011 when we found out we were pregnant. It wasn't planned but it was the best surprise ever. We got engaged on October 12, 2011 at Disneyland and are hoping to be marred in December 2013.

Here we are when we got engaged

My pregnancy definitely had it's ups and downs (well a lot of 'downs' since I was placed on modified bed rest on August 17 at 26 weeks pregnant but we spent the time getting closer and falling more and more in love. Brian wasn't thrilled when I told him of the pregnancy but he quickly changed his tune. He was a great 'daddy' and spent lots of time kissing her and talk to her in my tummy. Ever since the night I thought I might be pregnant I knew it was a girl and that I wanted to name her Caitlyn Marie well a few days before our anatomy scan where we would find out the gender for sure we discovered that Brian's six-year-old cousin was named Kaitlyn Marie and everyone teased us for stealing her name so we started thinking of new names. I knew I wanted to keep Marie because that was in honor of my grandmother, Helen Marie, who passed away March 1, 2011. We settled on Taylor after we got the wonderful news that she was in fact a girl and we celebrated by going out and buying her coming home outfit and a picture frame to old the ultrasound picture.

Some pictures of me while pregnant!

 I was induced on November 20, 2011 at 41 weeks exactly. I wont go into detail about the horror that was my delivery but I will say it was 15 hours of induced labor with 1.5 hours of pushing with a failed epidural (They placed it incorrectly because I am short and didn't believe me that something was wrong in time to fix it.) but none of that mattered because at 1:34 pm on November 21, 2011 Taylor Marie was born! 8lbs 4oz and 20 in of absolute perfection.

Isn't she perfect?

I on the other hand was a mess with a fractured tail-bone, three second-degree tears, and excessive bleeding but they finally let us leave the hospital two days later on November 23, 2011 just in time for Thanksgiving. I couldn't wait to get home but once we were on our way I freaked out that we couldn't do it on our own and begged Brian to turn around and go back but once we were home I was glad. Turns out hospital beds are the worst for fractured tail-bones! It worked out great because since it was the night before Thanksgiving lots of Brian's family was at our house and able to greet their newest member.

My turkey butt on her first Thanksgiving!

 Unfortunately her early months were a blur of feeding issues and post-partum depression (more about this later) Breast-feeding wasn't working from us from the start, she didn't eat a drop while in the hospital and at eight days old I threw in the towel and we switched to formula thinking our troubles were solved. Well it wasn't quite that easy but after months of bottle and formula changed we finally found a combination that worked for us. Though it was never diagnosed I suspect she has a milk protein allergy and acid reflux. Because of these her early days didn't happen the way I envisioned but we are making up for it now!

A few of the pictures I do have

One Month Old (December 21, 2011)
 Month one wasn't much different from her early newborn days we were still struggling with feeding and finding the right formula. She spend most her time sleeping especially on my chest in what Brian referred to as the baby koala position. She slept right through her first Christmas morning and most other Christmas activities lol, though we did manage to get a great family picture with Santa and she got to meet Pat, Chaye, Lori, Annie, and the rest for the first time. But the most amazing thing happened on December 31..she started smiling on purpose!

One month old: Smiles!

 Two Months Old (January 21, 2012) 
Her second month was much like her first. We had finally found a bottle that worked for us but were still testing out formula's. She wasn't eating much and was spitting-up most of what she was eating. We had her first well baby check-up and she got her first vaccinations, which was heart-breaking. She continued smiling more and more and started 'coo-ing' except hers are more like 'goos' which just melt everyone's heart.

Two months old!

Three Months Old (February 21, 2011)
At three months old we got her pictures taken professionally for the first time. It was so exciting! She did great with them and acted just like a little model smiling and posing for the camera. The photographer couldn't believe how easy she was but she is just such a naturally happy baby and she LOVES attention. I think it was around this time that she started laughing which is the best sound in the world by far.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Four Months Old (March 21, 2011)
At four months old we decided to start feeding her solid food. She seemed really ready she was obsessed with our food and anytime we would eat she would demand a bottle even if she wasn't really hungry. Also, we hoped it would help with her reflux which it did. She took to it right away and LOVED it. We started with oatmeal cereal and she had it all up, didn't waste a drop. After the cereal we moved onto peas which remain one of her favorites. It is so cute to feed her, as soon as she sees the bowl coming she opens her mouth like a little bird! We also introduced her to a monkey lovie and she took to it right away. Once we gave it to her she pretty much didn't let go of it all weekend. We also started doing a bedtime routine consisting of dinner, bath, bottle and stories, and then bed. And the most exciting thing from this month..I finally got a camera! I love being able to take her picture whenever I want. 

Four months old!

Five Months Old (April 21, 2011)
By five months old she was getting better at sitting and started going short times on her own. My PPD finally started going away and I was finally really enjoying her. We started trying to take her more places and do more things with her. We took her swimming for the first time (it got hot early here this year) and she LOVED it. She is such a little fish and loves all things water related. We also took her to the park for the first time and she really liked the swing. She wasn't so sure about the slide though. She was eating more foods and loving every one of them. She drank out of my cup one day. She was taking a nap on my lap and I was holding some water. She woke up, saw my water, grabbed my cup, and drank it before I could even realize what was going on. She drank out of it like she had been doing it all her life! I am trying to get her to use a sippy but she much prefers my cup.

Five months old!

 Six Months Old (May 21, 2011) 
Gah I can't believe she is already half a year old! It went so fast. She is getting so big! She can now sit up on her own fully and we finally were able to get rid of the sling in the bathtub and she loves sitting up and playing with her toys. I started giving her a few 'finger foods'. So far I have only given her banana and avocado slices and gerber puffs. The banana and avocado slices she likes but they frustrate her because they are so slippery and hard to hold onto. The puffs she LOVES. When I first gave them to her she didn't even try to eat them she just moved them around her high chair tray but now as soon as I put them down she grabs them and shoves them in her mouth. It is so cute. She has also started sharing her bottle and pacifier with us and her monkey it is adorable! We got more pictures done and they turned out really great even though I didn't like this photographer as much as the last one. My mom and I made her a tutu and headband and they look really good. The studio even asked us if they could use the images in their store/website and had us sign a model release and people are always asking me where I got the tutu and headband because they want one. I thought about making them and selling them but I am not sure how to go about that or how much work it would be so I am still thinking about it.

6 Months old!