Taylor is Biking!

Fast forward two years later... Taylor is a big 4 and a half years old now and can ride her bike without training wheels!

Last week out of the blue, Taylor asks me if I can take off her training wheels because she says she is a big girl now, and would like to give it a try.  She hasn't been biking much at all lately, maybe a couple times in our backyard.  Keep in mind this is a California backyard, not a whole lot of space back there. So yesterday after work I nonchalantly asked her if she wanted to learn to ride a bike today?  She excitedly erupted out of the couch and said yes!  I told her to go put on some jeans and a long sleeve shirt, and of course like any curious kid would, she asked why?  I didn't want to scare her and tell her it was to protect against her fall.  Conveniently it was a little chilly out, so I went with that story.

I recalled when my dad taught me how to ride a bike and all the cuts and bruises that I went through at the age of 5.  I was then thinking how Taylor would react to her first fall and if she would get right back on the bike?

Taylor looked so confident as she strapped on her helmet.  She grabbed her bike next without any trepidation.   This really caught me by surprise because I remember the butterflies going through my stomach on my first time.  My daughter just looked so anxious to overcome this next step in her life as if this was her right of passage way to graduate to "big" girl status.

Like any dad, I thoroughly inspected her bike, making sure there was enough air in the tires and all the nuts and bolts were all tighten up.  Her training wheels were off and all systems go.

I ran over some basic instructions on steering and  keeping her eyes straight.  I told her I will start out guiding her with my hands and let go when she starts pedaling fast but will catch her should she fall over.  So after 10 minutes of guiding her up and down our cup-de-sac I let her go solo....

To my amazement she started biking on her own!  This was such a proud dad moment, I just couldn't believe she did it.  I started to cheer, but then realized she does not know how to stop.   So I ran alongside her to make sure I would catch her before she fell.   Her bike got squirrely and she tipped over.  She was a little shooken up, but got right back on and said she wanted to do it again!

Taylor turns a whopping TWO years old today! I feel so blessed to have such an amazing daughter in my life. Watching her grow has been such a rich and proud experience.

She is talking up a storm these days, and just loves repeating every word she hears. She recognizes letters, shapes, and numbers. The other day I had on a Colorado sweatshirt, and was holding her in my arms, and she starts pointing at the letters and spelling out C O L O R A D O. That was a proud dad moment.

I always thought it was tacky to brag about your kids, but being a parent, I finally realize that you get this overwhelming proudness when your baby accomplishes a simple task, that you just want to shout it out to the world.

I've been getting ALOT of those moments these days, just to name a few:

1. Holds her crayons in proper form, and can draw happy faces... to the point that we had two elementary teachers come up to us during dinner at a restaurant and told us that Taylor is extremely advance and was astonished.

2. Goes on the big kid slides at the park by herself and doesn't ask for a scoot anymore.

3. Puts her toys away when asked.

4. Has created several different distinguishable dance moves, and does it anytime music is playing.

The funny thing about all this is, every kid can do all of the above, but there's just something about seeing your own kid do it that you automatically assume your kid is the next Einstein. Don't get me wrong... Taylor is really a genius ;)

Where does the time go? Taylor Grace is TEN months already!!! We are so proud of her, she reached an amazing milestone of taking her first steps. There is an old adage, "Every hen thinks they laid the perfect egg". We are definitely guilty of that and then some. Taylor seems to keep on amazing us everyday with her development. Although it is very prideful and exciting to see her reach different stages, it also saddens us that she is growing up too fast!

Taylor at 10 months has accomplished:

-taking her first steps

-eating solids

-learned baby basic swim lessons

-clap her hands (learned this during Lakers playoffs)

-can point to her head

-give high fives

-growls like a dog

-understands Vietnamese

-stacking blocks

-rolling ball

-laughing at funnies

-becoming vocal when she needs something

-dances to music

-play nice with other babies

-say "dada"

-traveled 5 states (New York, Colorado, Texas, Utah, and Nevada)

Parenthood... where to begin? We are almost 8 weeks in, and still alive! Honestly, Taylor has been such a blessing. She is like all babies you ever heard of, eats, sleeps, and poohs. She is growing like a weed, and developing ahead of the curve. Our Pediatrician was amazed that she was able to move her head side to side at 1 week old, and says this is very rare. Taylor was batting at her toys at 2 weeks. At 4 weeks, Taylor started to hold her head up on her own and is able to smile. I know, I am a little bit bias since I am her father, but I kid you not, I think I saw her flying around the other day with a red cape. (haha)

Taylor's first Christmas and New Year's was real special. She received so many presents from her family and friends. Thank you so much for your good heart and generosity.

As for the parents sanity, Angel and I are doing well. Life has definitely changed, but we are enjoying this new chapter in our life. We couldn't imagine our life without Taylor... pretty scriptic response, I know. No seriously, parenthood has been very good. It's hard to explain, but just seeing your characteristics in your own baby, makes the experience very personal and surreal. It seems as though your animal instincts takes over naturally, and you innately are trying to protect your baby every second, and triple checking yourself. We always seem to be asking ourselves, "do you think Taylor is warm enough?", "do you think she is still hungry?", and "when was the last time you changed her diaper?". Like Jerry Maguire, having Taylor has definitely completed us. Life seems to make sense now, and have more of a purpose.

Taylor Grace Nguyen
Born Novermber 15, 2008 at 10:20am
6pounds, 19inches

Well after many series of Braxton Hicks (false labor contractions) starting on Tuesday, Angel was finally admited to the hospital at 11:45pm Friday night. Angel was so calm and collective at arrival, that the nurse was very shocked to find that she was dialated at a 5 (to be admitted, you need to be at a 4, and a 10 indicates ready to be delivered). The nurse thought for sure that she would be sending Angel home.

Angel chose to go the au naturale route (no epidural). After finding out that Angel was at a 5, the nurse said it typically takes one hour for every cm dialated. We estimated with that theory, the baby would be delivering around 5am. I coached Angel for 5 hours, with controlled breathing techniques we learned through our baby hypnobirthing classes. This was no easy task by any means, but I was able to get Angel to focus and take her to her "happy place", with Jack Johnson's help of course.

By the time 5am rolled around, the nurse checked Angel again to see how far she was along, and found that she was at 7cm dialated. The nurse told us through her experience that Angel was not too far away, judging by her breathing groans and eye focus during conontractions.

So 9am rolls by, and the delivery doctor checks Angel again, and finds that she has stalled at 7cm dialated, and started to recommend artificially breaking her water or giving her a epidural, to speed along the birthing process. At this point, my ego started to kick in. I was not totally opposed to Angel getting an epidural, but since we came in the hospital with a baby plan goal of going natural, I was not going to let Angel give in that easy after coaching her for 9 hours without sleeping. Angel got very distracted by the bad news of being stalled at a 7, so I had to get her to refocus. I could see Angel's body language was tensing up, and she started looking at me for direction.

At this point I turned to the one person that has always provided me with guidance, I quickly prayed to God for a sign. No joke, the Lord answered my prayer in a matter of minutes! Angel's water broke like a falling bucket of water straight on to the floor. I quickly told Angel this is a sign, we are delivering this baby natural! We were not in the clear just yet though, the nurse told us we still need to be at a 10 for Angel to begin pushing. This seemed to be impossible, since only 7 minutes ago, Angel was at a seven.

Angel then started to feel that she desperately had to start pushing, and told the nurse she was ready. The nurse told her no way, that is not possible, because she was just checked at a 7 by the doctor. Angel agressively insisted that it was "go time", and the nurse said, ok, let me check you again. The nurse checked and asked us what our favorite number was... Angel yelled out, "TEN!". Indeed, Angel by the grace of God, was at a 10, and was ready to push!

Only 10 minutes of controlled breathing and pushing, our beautiful baby girl, Taylor Grace was born!!!

Well today is the big expected due date, exactly 40 weeks! Angel is at 80% effacement and 1.5cm dialated. The baby is just feeling too comfortable inside Angel's uterus and not wanting to come out just yet. We have our bags packed all ready to go, and our "Baby Plan" in place.

In preparation for delivering the baby, I have our hospital routes mapped out, checked rush hour times, reserved a police car, and have a helicopter on standby, just in case! Ok, maybe mapping out the hospital is a bit much. lol

A big thanks to our friend Jory, who flew from Colorado last week to teach us Hypno Birthing. We had a 3 day crash course, and are feeling well prepared. I have noticed Angel practicing the relaxation breathing and stretching techniques everytime I turn the corner.

The stork should be making the big drop off soon!

Angel is 70% effaced and 1/2 centimeter dialated. Baby is facing down ready to meet the world!!! The home stretch has been occupied with many baby care classes, and the instruction manual seems to get bigger by the day. Nesting period has definitely begun. Angel and I have been finding ourselves baby proofing, cleaning, and organizing alot these days. The baby's body parts are just bulging out of Angel's stomach. We have our names narrowed down a bit, but nothing locked in yet. Only 20 more days to go, and both of us are getting very anxious!