Cute things from this week

Part of the purpose of keeping this journal is to keep track of the cute things that kids say. Well, I have fallen off of that mark lately. I know that Sydney said a couple of things this week that now for the life of me I can't remember. Hopefully it will come to me later.

On Friday we took Jason for his speech assessment & I took Sydney with me. Although we had the talk before we went in that Mommy needed to talk to this woman & Sydney would need to play on her own, she kept asking me over & over to read a Curious George book. I felt so bad for saying 'no' and we never got a chance to read it when the session was over either.

As for Jason, he did pretty good showing her what he was supposed to show her. I was fearful that we would go in & he would just sit beside me the whole time. Fortunately she had some pretty good toys. She noted that he doesn't have very many different sounds, which makes it difficult to have a lot of words. She said his comprehension is very good, so good that we will need to be careful that we work hard to break our speech down into short phrases. Talking in normal sentences with him does not give him the chance to model words back to us. So, if you are around us & you hear us saying the same thing to Jason over & over again, you will know why. She also stated that his personality (stubborn) will make it even more difficult to see changes. He will do things in his own time- don't we know it!!!

So, Brad & I will be taking a Parent Course that will give us tools to help him & have a few sessions to monitor his progress. Let's just hope the time they call us for the group will work!

This weekend we are kid-free. Sydney & Jason are with Aunt Kim, Uncle Peter, Nana & Regan while Brad & I are putting the kitchen floor down & painting- will update you on that later.

Grace & Maddie Stolen Image

Robb & Michele have their own site for Grace & Maddie- not blogger mind you. Brad told me to check it out this morning for updates & saw this picture, so I had to steal it. I requested the video, but will have to see if they will give it to me (Grace is sucking on Maddie's head). It really is too cute not to share & the site they chose will not post videos (I will link to the site in the future if they say it is OK).

Gracie & Maddie

Due to the back-to-back illnesses in our family over the last month, I saw the twins for the first time since the hospital this weekend. Their proud Mommy & Daddy say they are doing very well, but I think Mommy is wishing for some more sleep.

I really need to think about their names because to me "Gracie" is a fair haired little girl & "Madeline" is a dark haired little girl- but these two are named the opposite!

Jason was amazingly cool with the little ones. He was very curious to see them & did not freak at all when I would hold one of them- although he was very close by. Sydney was surprisingly not very curious- I think that she may get the fact that more little girls in the house means more sharing of everyone's attention. :)

Grace

Madeline

MS Walk

Thank you to everyone who supported me on the WALK today. Thanks to your generosity I raised over $800! That is double what my goal was, but it means that next year I am going to shoot big & try to raise $1000.


Since Miss Sydney is sick, only Jason & I went but we had fun. I wore my jacket that I earned last year for my fundraising, so I put the shirt on Jason. He got some pretty big smiles from a lot of people. To keep him occupied, I set him up in the Chariot with books & a drink. He was really good for me & managed to stay awake until the last 10 minutes before he fell asleep.

Keep bring the nicer weather

Bikes & scooters are great Christmas gifts, but it is hard when you need to wait 4 months to be able to use them!

Mini Daycare

For the past 3 weeks I have watched my friend Tara's little girls on the Friday morning. Since I already had 2 extra, I figured I would make play dates out of it too. I must say things went remarkably well- but I will not be setting up my own daycare anytime soon!

Pretend "nap time"

For Julia's birthday I made cupcakes & the kids got to decorate their own.
The mess was not nearly as bad as I expected it to be.

I think I could have just saved time with the cupcakes & given Julia the icing & decorations.

Happy Birthday Julia!!!!

104.4

The theme of our household for the past two weekends??? 104.4 degrees. Last weekend, that was Jason's temperature & now this weekend it is Sydney's. The last month at the Taylor household has not been a healthy one. Brad luckily is still missing out, but it has not been a fun week for me. Many days I am working with little voice, but it seems to be getting better now.


This bleary eyed stare is all you saw of Jason last weekend & it is now replicated on Sydney's face. In a way I am thankful that they get the worst of it on the weekend, because then it does not affect work- but it does not make for a very fun weekend. Tomorrow I have to go to Montreal for the day, so I am not too thrilled that I won't see Sydney at all since she will be asleep when I leave & asleep when I get back. She will be with Brad's parents so at least I know she will be in good hands.

Last weekend Sydney helped her dad to make breakfast, this weekend she is just lying around. At least she is not "demanding" when she is sick (unlike her sibling). She wants to do stuff, just can't.

Now, The Taylors 5

Today we welcomed 2 more nieces to our family. Grace Isabelle was born at 8:53 am this morning and weighed 5 lbs 12 oz. She was soon followed a few minutes later by her sister Madeline Olivia who weighed 5 lbs 4 oz. It is amazing to see the difference 8 oz makes when someone is so small.

Grace is currently in the neonatal unit because she hasn't quite learned how to breathe outside of the womb yet, so they are forcing natural air through her nose. Hopefully over the next day she will learn how to breathe from her lungs and not her tummy. The neonatal nurses say that it is really rare that they see the larger twin in their unit, it is usually the small twin. Aside from the tubes and wires connected to her, she looks great.

Madeline (Ma-de-line, not Madelyn) aka Maddy(ie?) is doing well, but she also needed to add some excitement to the delivery. She was tucked nicely under Michele's hip bone & wasn't too interested in making it too easy for anyone. Michele was quite ready for these girls to come out and join the world, but it seems both of them were quite snug in their little home.

Mommy Michele is doing well and Daddy Robb is definitely the proud Daddy. He was busy carting everyone (2 sets of grandparents, 1 son, 1 aunt & 1 uncle) over to see Gracie. Mr. Max still seems overwhelmed by the whole experience & really who could blame the poor little guy. His world has changed drastically & although I am sure he will love his sisters dearly- I believe he is going to have a tough time adjusting to how busy Daddy & especially his Mommy are now going to be. I think Max will need to have a few sleepovers at our house when we get it back in order. Give him some time on his own.

Here are the pictures that I am sure you want to see.

Grace Isabelle Taylor
"Gracie"

Madeline Olivia Taylor
"Maddy"

Big Brother Max & Maddy

Proud family with Maddy