Happy New Year

I do believe I can officially say that I have overcome my New Year's curse. Starting in highschool I had many consecutive years where "something" happened on NYE that you do not want to happen at any time. A few examples: getting lost, friends (yes, friends) making a disaster of your house, burning your upper lip prior to a big dance, breaking up with your boyfriend, the list goes on. As a result of this consecutive chain of events I am not a big "lover" of the NYE hype. I would be just as happy to treat it as any other night & be in bed by midnight. But my husband won't let me...so you need to get creative to find ways to enjoy it. Also, the curse has not hit since Brad & I have been together. Coincidence? Probably not.
Well, this year I loved New Years. Since it was our year to host the house party I suggested to Brad that we have a kid friendly party as well as an adult party. So, yesterday afternoon we had a "play date", then a pot luck dinner & then in the evening Brad's single or child-free friends arrived. Can you imagine they did not want to be amongst the squealing kids?
I think everyone had a good time, but if you were to show up at our house around 5pm...it was crazy! We had 16 adults and 8 kids under the age of 4, plus 2 infants (3 weeks & 5 weeks). I think both kids & parents had a good time.
These pictures don't get all the kids at once, but you get the idea of the craziness.
There were some definite favourites for the kids & they were...
Rice Krispie squares, as good on your face as in your mouth;
tearing through the room on the gliding horse;
the star-shaped glasses, to reduce the glare of course;
Sydney's evil cabana (it's a tent/mobile thing), although Matthew managed to get himself quite stuck in the windows...so parental supervision advised;
Peek-a-boo, the timeless favourite;
Sydney's new learning mat, aka the dance mat- I know you are wondering what it up with Sydney's tongue- well it was out all day, she must be getting another tooth;
& playing toss with Daddy or talking with Mommy, also two timeless favourites.









Sydney was quite curious about the new baby in the room (3 weeks old), but did not get upset when Mommy was holding her. I think she was just curious about this little thing that looks remarkably like her dolly, but moves. As you can see in this picture, Katelyn has a very strong rooting instinct- can't misread this cue. It was time to hand her off to her Mommy.
Katelyn was much contented with a full belly, but really this little baby seems to be content all the time. Looks like Wendy & Jason are going to be lucky to have another dream baby, just like...
Katelyn's big sister, Ellie.
Evelyn was the first to head home to bed, but did not leave without a goodnight kiss. We were wondering how successful we were going to be getting Sydney to bed as the picture below was taken at the exact time that she is normally going to bed.
But, alas, all good things must come to an end & all little girls must get their beauty sleep so Sydney was in bed (not willingly at first) by 8pm & thankfully didn't wake up before her usual time this morning. With her, the later you put her to bed, usually the earlier she will wake up. It will take a couple of days to get her back on track now...today was not a good nap day!

Brooke & Bailey

This week we had our nieces Brooke & Bailey spend a couple of days with us. It is the first time they have spent this much time with us & our first time having them overnight. I am happy to report that all went well & I returned them to my brother unscarred.
Bailey loves dogs & Logan was not too impressed with our little house guests, especially when she was required to pose for pictures. Sydney also enjoyed having her cousins stay, to an extent. We saw the beginnings of an unwillingness to share emerging. It seemed that Sydney wanted to play with her toy (any toy) only after it was being used by someone else. The worst part about this now is that she has a renewed interest in her gliding horse, but will only stay on for about 20 seconds at a time. Up, down, up, down.During Sydney's afternoon nap, Brad took the girls to an indoor playground that we heard about. Since we heard that it wasn't really appropriate for Sydney's age, she missed out- the twins had a blast. They have a huge jungle gym with slides & battery operated motorcycles. I can hardly wait until Sydney is old enough to go. Hopefully it will still be around. Here are some pictures from their fun (Bailey is in pink & Brooke is in stripes).
During this trip, Brad got to learn some valuable parenting skills. The main one? Using the flip a coin method results in less tears & pouting than the turn-taking option.

Christmas is a wonderful time of year

Well another Christmas has come and gone in the blink of an eye. Every year it always seems that it goes by so fast in comparison to all the time you spend preparing for it. This year seemed especially fast for me. One of the things I always love about Christmas is getting together with my extended family. However, this year I feel like I hardly spoke to them. When you have a little one, it seems that you don't have the same opportunity to get into any deep conversations about how things are going. Mind you, I would not trade it for the world. The joy you get from watching your child interact with family, new toys, and new experiences overshadows anything else you might be missing. I also know that in a few years Sydney will not care where Mom & Dad are & will just want to be left alone to play with her cousins.
We spent Christmas Eve with the Taylor's and between Sydney & Max we heard the songs for the dancing snowmen countless times (not one snowman, but two)! It's a decoration that is great to have at Grandma & Grandpa's to entertain them rather than at home. This is Max's play with the snowman.
Christmas morning we were actually waiting for the kids to wake up instead of the other way around. I am sure that there won't be many more years that we can say that! Santa brought Sydney a little sled which I think was one of her favourite gifts. However, we will have to see how much she likes it when we put her in it to pull in the snow. She seemed to think it was more of a jungle gym to climb in and out of for the bulk of the morning.After Santa presents, then came the opening of the other presents & with the stack we were thinking we might be there for hours. Amazingly we completed this task in just over an hour. It seems that Sydney's favourite gift from this stack was her cousin Max's cell phone. Which since this post has taken me 5 days to complete I can now advise that Grandma & Grandpa went out to get one for Sydney in the Boxing Day sales...spoiled or what?
Our trip to my family's Christmas was much better than our last trip where Sydney cried to whole way...the Nap God was present for the drive. Sydney kissed & made up with G.G. since the last time we tried to get a picture, Sydney cried. Our family always does a pot luck for lunch & this year the "young girls" (that's me & my cousins) were responsible for dessert. Well, I don't think my Aunt Lois will make that assignment again. We had NO PIES!!! There were a lot of great desserts, but they all had whip cream. I have decided that I can no longer put off my pastry making lesson with Brad's Mom. The next time I am assigned dessert, I want to be sure there is a pie! The day was filled with family, fun, and presents. Sydney enjoyed her day with her cousins & had minimal injuries (stepped on a tractor in her bare feet & has a little wee bruise). Our final travel destination for Christmas was to my sisters. Since we were the first to arrive (because the chances of Craig ever beating us are slim) we got the official showing of Regan's gifts. Her parents actually chose to give her a toy electric guitar...can you imagine? That is one noise making toy that does not need to be handed down to Sydney. Regan asked Uncle Brad to play UNO with her, but he got ditched as soon as the twins showed up & Regan informed him that she had to go becuase "her friends are here!" Poor Uncle Brad.Regan is crazy about horses. I've never seen anything like it. Her Mom & Dad got her this "pillow" to lie/sit on the floor, but Sydney seemed to like it too. Not only do all Regan's gifts have a horse theme, but the gifts she chooses for others do too. (However, Tyler seemed to be spared from this present theme.) The twins got My Little Pony & Sydney got a Little People horse stable. Which turned out to be a nice match to the farm she got from Grandma & Grandpa. Nana gave Sydney this Leap Frog toy "Tad" which I learned that you need to record stuff that is specialized to Sydney...still need to improve this feature.
It's fun to see how some of the old favourites from when we were kids are still around. The girls got Kerplunk (spelling?), but we learned that the game is not well suited to be played by 3 very excited 4 year olds.Finally, this is the picture that some of you received in your Christmas card, but most of you did not. Brad liked one with her smiling better. I like this one because I think Sydney looks like she is singing & Logan is looking at her like..."are you ever going to be quiet?", which I think closely resembles Logan's thoughts towards her sister. So with this, I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas & have a safe & happy new year.

Took the wind right out of my sails

The content of this Blog has been removed by Brad.

Who can figure them out???

Last week, Sydney was grumpy in the morning & grumpy in the evening. On the weekend we assumed it was due to teeth and/or the shots she had gotten on the Friday. By Thursday night, I was beginning to worry that there was maybe something wrong with her. She had really been Miss Cranky with us all week. Then Friday I didn't work & got to spend some real quality time with her & it seemed that magically we had our happy little girl back again. Could it be that all she wanted was some "Mommy time"? I'd love to flatter myself to think so & allow my heart to swell with love for her...but if that's what she needed, why did she go running to Grandma when it was time to leave on both Monday & Wednesday??? Who knows what goes on in their pretty little heads sometimes. This picture taken Friday afternoon, is definitely not the little girl we had all week. Besides playing with the layout of this website (Brad, not me- I don't think he could accept that there is more you could do with this site than I had done...without trying to fix it), yesterday we really introduced Sydney to the snow. We bundled her up in her one piece snowsuit & headed outside to play in the snow. It's amazing that she can move in this thing as she looks as wide as she is tall. Her interest in snow angels was non-existent, wasn't even impressed with Daddy's snow angel. The only thing that seemed to entertain her was the throwing of snowballs, so she dug right in & tried to help out.Today is a lazy day for Sydney & I. Brad is helping Robb & Michele move into their new house after spending the last couple weekends painting...hopefully they can be settled before Christmas to have the chance to enjoy their new home. So, Sydney & I spent the morning playing & are heading out to see Grandma when she gets up from her nap. Sydney spent most of the morning playing with her little ride on truck. I say playing with rather than playing on, because she tries to carry it as much as she tries to ride it...mostly backwards.

Happy Birthday GG!!!

This week my Grandma, Sydney's GG, turns 83. At 83 she still lives on her own, drives her own car, has quite an active social life, and still enjoys her crafts. I think that's pretty good for an "old girl" and hope to see it continue for years to come.
Our drive to the "birthday brunch" was not one of the highlights of the day. I was considering turning around when Sydney was still crying 45 minutes into our drive. I honestly do not know how people do it when their kids always cry in the car. We were pretty sure we knew why she was crying & knew we couldn't do much to help her, but it did not make it any easier. She currently has two teeth cutting through (possibly 3) & was not a happy camper to be strapped into the car seat. I prayed to the Nap God to come help her (us) have a happier trip, but no deal. We stopped part way to give her some Motrin, but still no relief (for her or us).
Things improved once we got to Aunt Debbie's, but there were still moments of tears. The picture shown above was not the first picture taken, this was....
Don't take it personally GG, it really had nothing to do with you! Happy Birthday!

Also, thank you Nap God for overtaking our daughter for the ride home.

Little girls & their dollies

It's fun to watch the different stages that kids go through & how they play with their toys. Sydney was by no means a cuddly baby, but over the last month she has gotten very affectionate & likes to snuggle (on her terms of course). In the last week, this display of affection has extended to her toys. She has started to snuggle with a doll that she got for her first birthday & I think it cute enough to share. However, if in a year she is like her cousin Regan & wanting all the "accessories" that they now sell for dolls- I may not find it as cute anymore!

What about Brad?

I was accused today of not including the other half of the Taylor family in my update earlier this week. Last weekend while Sydney & I were visiting Nana, Brad had a sleepover pal. Max came to stay with Uncle Brad for the night & Brad put a lot of thought & care into his time with Max. Before Max got there, Brad built a fort out of a bunch of old boxes. Brad says that he thought that Max would love it & they would have a great time...well Max couldn't have cared less. He really wanted nothing to do with the fort, so unfortunately Brad did not get to play. It makes me wonder, was the fort for Max to play in or an excuse for Brad to act like a little boy again? Hmm. Sorry, no picture to post because I had the camera & there is no way that Brad would want to leave all that "clutter" around for the fun of it!

Catching up with old friends...

You know there is something to be said about friends who you can see only a couple times a year & still be able to pick up right from where you left off the last time you saw one another. This past weekend was our "Girls Christmas Dinner". We also used to have a "Girls Weekend" together every summer, but the last couple of years we did not have that weekend of bonding. Now that we all live in separate cities/towns, have kids and/or careers, getting together is not as easy as it once was. However, you know that you have a true friend when you can turn to them when you need them and not worry about when the last time was you spoke. I guess that is one of the good things about getting older. Of course, some things never change. We reminisced about silly stories from when we were young, talked about our kids, work & gay ex-husbands (not kidding, really happened to someone in real life, not TV). We also talked about our high school's upcoming 125th anniversary/reunion. It's funny how people can get so freaked about seeing people that they have not seen in so many years (for me it will be 16 years...wow).
While I was out playing with my friends, Sydney was hanging out at Nana's and having a grand old time with her cousins.
On Sunday before heading home, Sydney and I visited my "second mom", Jean. When I worked in Stratford I became very close with one of my client's Mom & affectionately will refer to her as my second Mom. My Mom actually gave her the title, not me. When Dad died & Jean came to the funeral it was the first time my Mom met her & when Jean introduced herself, Mom said "Oh, you are Kelly's second Mom". I think Jean was quite touched by that and I was quite pleased that my Mom understood our relationship. Since leaving Stratford it is hard to see Jean as much as I like, but she is definitely close to my heart & never far from my thoughts. Sydney got the benefit of a playdate for the visit when Jean's grandson, Christopher, came over. Carrie, think Liam's hair will get this red?

Happy Birthday Julia!

On Saturday, Sydney attended a birthday party for her friend Julia. Personally, I think Aaron & Allison deserve a pat on the back for braving a birthday party for their two-year-old hosting six other children that are all 2 & under plus the parents!
The look of wonder in Julia's eye is due to the ice cream cake that her mom is carrying towards her. A little girl after my own heart! Would rather have anything but a regular birthday cake! Sydney was one of the "big" kids and got to sit at the picnic table to eat her lunch. Good job Sydney!!!

Baby News! Baby News! Baby News!!!

Grab your attention??? Well, it is not our baby news that we are talking about. We learned this week that cousins on each side of the family are having a baby in May 2006- congratulations Stephanie & Mike and Scott & Jill! Steph & Mike came to see us this spring & I had feeling after they left that baby news would be within their not too distant future. Scott & Jill's news however, surprised us. Them too I think as Jack only JUST turned one. We also had 2 new babies born into our circle of friends. Ian & Rachelle had a baby boy, Brandon James, on November 24th. Laura & Patrick had another baby girl, Marley Lauren Ilona, on November 25th. Congratulations to all the new parents & you too Morgan...you are a big sister now!

The week of November 20th has been an interesting one...
On Sunday we had a social outing at Noreen & Shawn's. Will isn't even three months old and they are throwing themselves into entertaining already! Way to go guys! We had a good time & Sydney spent her time running around with a little boy named Cole. Should I be concerned that she is already choosing the boys rather than the girls to play with??? I was so busy stuffing my face with the yummy food, I didn't get a shot of them. I do however have one of Will.

Very early Monday morning I was picked up for the airport & did my first out of town trip since Sydney's arrival to our life. She was left in the very capable hands of Daddy, Grandma & Grandpa during my absence. I'm not even sure she noticed I was gone, but I was happy to be greeted with her smile on my return. I really love Chicago & typically love any excuse to go, but this time...I really just wanted to be home in my bed. The Thursday before my departure I started to come down with a cold & over the past week I have been feeling like varying degrees of crap. By the time I arrived home, I was exhausted & did not stray too far from the couch for the entire day on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday were a little better, I at least lasted through the day before the couch called to me. However, no matter how bad you feel, bathtime can always bring a smile when you've got a happy, little girl who loves to ham it up.

This weekend was spent partying (Julia's birthday party), shopping, and vistiting with Santa. After the birthday party Sydney was a little too wound up too sleep, so I ended up bundling her back up, putting her in the car, and heading back to the mall. As luck would have it there was not too many kids in line so we go the picture with Santa done & out of the way. Sydney did a great job (as did the photographer's assistant) and we did not have any tears or any yanking of Santa's beard!

Well, we missed Santa

Yesterday we did not make it to the Santa Claus parade. Miss Sydney has quite the cold & we figured sacrificing a nap to go stand in the cold (although it was a sunny day) waiting for a parade that we were not sure if she would be interested in, just wasn't worth it. Good call by Mom & Dad, Sydney had a 2.5 hour nap in the afternoon which is quite a rare accomplishment for her at home- yes she does it at Nola's, but not at home.
After her nap we went over to some friends that we made during my maternity leave. Tara & John have a little girl, Evelyn, who is 3 weeks older than Sydney.
Sydney & Evelyn are quite cute together, but I was caught without my camera...so I had to have Tara send me a couple. Although the kids look a little dozey, I think they did have a good time.

Brad's Going to Send Me Back to Work....

Last week on our Friday together Sydney & I hosted a play date with her friend Ellie. We have not seen Ellie since before I went back to work & it was neat to see them interact with one another after so long. You couldn't really say that they played "with" one another, but I do believe they enjoyed each others company.

Ellie is very tall for her age & is often mistaken for a two-year old. Sydney is bordering on average for her age (but really she is kinda short), so next to Ellie I am becoming convinced that Sydney too will struggle with the "pant" dilemma. Any cool pair of pants she wants will need hemmed & well, let's face it...I'm not too great at that. My mom would concur since she has probably given me 3 lessons now on my sewing machine. The machine is a relic that with the proper user (like my Grandma- its previous owner) could do great things...but with me, I procrastinate so long that when I sit down again to finish a project, I need a lesson all over again to remember how to use it. However, if Sydney is going to be on the shorter side- I am going to have to figure it out, because I don't want her to be ridiculed because her pants are way too long, have a terrible cuff, or were just cut off.

Last week's day off was fun & cheap. This week's Friday off will probably result in Brad banning me from the mall or from going alone. I had a few items to return & ended up coming home with twice as much as what I went there with. But all of the items were "needed" items in a girl's life. Since there are two separate Christmas dinners to go to one day after the other...well she needs two Christmas dresses & the second one was found on sale- so you must take advantage of an opportunity when it presents itself, right? We also found some shoes for her Christmas dresses. Red patent leather- no only match both her dresses, but are very cool! How could I resist these? Sydney also has a birthday party to attend next week & needed to have something cool to wear to it! Velvet pants- she'll probably kill me in 15 years, but they really are cute! I don't think she will be able to wear her new shoes though...not a good fashion statement!

Well...Miss Sydney is waking up (much earlier than I hoped!) & now we are off to see Noreen & Baby Will. This time I must remember to take a photo! We hope to go to the Santa Clause Parade tomorrow...so hopefully I will have some pictures to share.

Happy Anniversary to the Taylors

Within the last week, everyone in Brad's immediate family have celebrated an anniversary. Robb & Michele celebrated their 6th anniversary on October 30th. We do nothing special to celebrate each other's anniversaries...just say "happy anniversary" if we see/talk to one another.

Brad & I celebrated our 3rd anniversary last Wednesday. Actually, to be truthful I went out with the girls for our monthly "Mom's Night Out" on Brad & I's anniversary. I don't feel guilty about that either, since it is a Wednesday night thing & it was just the way the day fell that it happened to be our anniversary. If Monday had been our anniversary, I am quite certain that Brad would not have missed hockey to spend it home with me. Brad took Friday off work & we spent the day in Niagara-on-the-Lake. We went for breakfast, browsed in the shops, hung out by the water, & visited a couple of wineries. Although windy, it was warm & sunny and a very nice day.

The big anniversary was today...and boy did we mess it up. Brad's parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary today & we nearly missed doing anything to commemorate it. We knew it was their anniversary, but did not realize until this morning that it was their 40th. So after a rushed call to Robb to find out what him & Michele did ...we had to plan what we were going to do & put all four heads together. We knew Graham & Dale were going to the theatre, so we planned to deliver flowers, wine, chocolates, and bubble bath while they were gone. Well guess what? We timed it wrong & they were still there! I don't think they were too upset to ruin our surprise because they got to see all of us (but we really know it was Sydney & Max they were really happy to see) & say the typically "you guys didn't need to do this!"

Although Brad & I are still rookies with only 3 years of marriage under our belts, I do know that marriage does take work & doesn't always come easy. I am, by nature, a planner and I was horrified today to realize that I had not "planned" something more to celebrate Graham & Dale's anniversary. Forty years is a long time to spend with one person & deserves admiration, acknowledgement & celebration. I often watch the way Brad's parents are with one another and I hope that Brad & I are still that connected & in love after so many years together. So I say, thank you Graham & Dale for setting a good example for us of what a happily married couple looks like after 40 years. Happy Anniversary, love your family xoxo

Here are some pictures from our day in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

You have to love the fall in Ontario. I wish the leaves had still been on the trees on our wedding day.






We obviously need to work on our timer shots. Brad almost lost his head.