A make-do baby pen!

Now that Ava is scooting around the house, it makes it hard for us to sometimes keep track of her. Well, we were trying to clean the house, and Ava was getting into all sorts of trouble, so we improvised. What we discovered was a box (preferably plastic, as Ava would eat cardboard!) is a great way to keep Ava under wraps. Throw in a few toys, and bam, baby control! This, of course, was Dad's idea. Well, about five minutes into the box, and Ava decides to try and stand up. When she did, she fell and hit her mouth on the top edge, and cut her mouth. We heard her scream, ran over there, and saw blood all over in her mouth. This freaked us out a little bit, but after calming her down (a daunting task) and rinsing out her mouth and discovering the damage wasn't too bad, we were able to move on with the day. Next time, we'll opt for the cardboard box, even if she eats her way out of it!

Ava talking ... sort of!

Ava is constantly making noise ... or talking, I guess. Here's a sampling of what she sounds like a good part of the day. That is to say, she's talking when she isn't squealing at the top of her lungs!

Humidity is HORRIBLE!

Funny story ... one of my coworkers went to the zoo where they had a rainforest exhibit. Outside the "rainforest" was a warning sign that said, "WARNING. Hot Temperatures and High Humidity. Be Advised." However, upon leaving the exhibit, my coworker realized it was actually more comfortable inside the exhibit than outside in Washington, D.C.!

Now, why that story matters. It's been very hot, humid, and muggy! My buddy at church went to Florida for a week. When he came back he said the temperatures and humidity were worse in DC than in Florida. Yes, it's true, it's not a good idea to visit us in the summer if you don't like to sweat all day long.

Now, whey this story really matters to me! My A/C in my car doesn't work. Now, I know this isn't Arizona heat, but when it's 95 degrees and the humidity is over 90% ... well, you can imagine. When I drive to work I carry a hankerchief with me to wipe of the condensation (aka sweat) from my face. And every day when I get home from work, I have to shower from the drive home from work because I'm so hot! (Of course, Adele would claim it's because I'm all worked up with road rage from the heavy traffic and bad cab drivers, which may very likely be the case!) Regardless, days like what we've had lately makes the cold, windy Idaho weather seem a little more enviable.

We're bloggers!

Ok, so we thought sending out emails was a great way to stay in touch ... only problem was we never sent out emails with pictures of us in Washington, D.C., so in an effort to be better connected, we're setting up this blog. Our objective is to find a better way to share pictures and stories with family, and fortunately for us, blogger.com is hooking us up. So here's our first little attempt to share some info.

We'll be working on putting more pictures and stories on this blog in the next few weeks. We hope that this website becomes a frequent stop for many of you ... and we hope you find something new and exciting each time you visit. Our deepest desires (if you can call it that) is that each family will set up their own blogs so that we can all keep in touch. Anyhow, this post is just a test run. Hopefully we'll be able to get lots and lots of info on this site so that we can share what's going on with the Taylors in DC!