Dear Sandi...

Sydney opening up her Valentines in her mailbox.

Sandi, I read your blog yesterday where you wondered if your Valentine's Days will change when you become married. Well, truthfully they will always be what you & Curt choose them to be.

If you are anything like me, once you have kids you will be planning the day as much for them (maybe more) as you are for your husband. If you read Carrie's entry, you probably saw that the same applied to her "plans".

Taylor Valentine's Recap

Brad & I have not bought gifts for Valentine's Day for a few years. Really, what do we need on Valentine's Day that we shouldn't be getting any day of the year to show how much we love each other? We do however make a point of going out for dinner- but not on Valentine's Day. On this particular holiday the restaurants are too busy & often have a "special" menu that you can't order whatever you want anyway. Now that we have kids, this also creates another hiccup in going out. Who do you get to watch the kids on a "school night"?

Romantic dinner set for three.

So, in planning for Valentine's Day I figured we would have a special meal at home. Since we are going out on the weekend, I wanted the meal to be something special for Sydney too. Rather than waiting until the kids went to bed to have a nice meal together, I opted to plan on us all eating together. I figure for as long as the kids will permit it & not think it is too corny, we will have a dinner lit by candlelight. We all really like crab legs, so for the occasion I figured this is what we would have. I should have remembered that I am usually eating dinner with Jason on my lap since he is often very tired at this point in the day & never lasts through our meal on his own. Since crab legs cannot be eaten with one hand, it was not a very relaxing dinner.

When scooping with your finger is too slow, stick your whole head in the bowl.

For dessert, a heart-shaped chocolate brownie with ice cream was on the menu. When Sydney got up from her nap she helped me make it. As you can see, she was very interested in taste testing the product before it went in the oven. Since the pan would fit I thought I would bake it in the toaster oven & then I didn't need to worry about Sydney getting to close to the hot oven. Unfortunately I learned that the toaster oven is not the best place to bake something & our heart broke coming out of the pan.

Broken heart on Valentine's Day

Brad & I did wait until the kids were in bed to exchange our cards & have our dessert. We did need to have some time alone to celebrate the "romantic" holiday. However, to top off the evening, I went to bed early because the wine we drank at dinner gave me a headache. Poor Brad.

I tried to get a nice picture of Sydney & Jason. Jason was cooperating with a smile, but Sydney was too tuned into DORA. It was a longer episode about Friendship bracelets. I am assuming it was because of Valentine's Day.

Winter Wonderland

Sydney & I did not make it out to shovel yesterday afternoon, but I did go out to take a picture to show how much snow we have. Before "the storm" hit, we maybe had a foot of snow on our front lawn. Well, that has all changed.

I don't think I will be getting into the passenger side of the van for awhile.

Happy Valentine's Day

Well, it sure is a winter wonderland outside. Perfect weather to cuddle up before a roaring fire & spend the evening with your Valentine. Problem is we don't have a fire, but I am sure we can make do with something else. Although, Lost is on tonight. Would it be terribly unromantic if we cuddled up with a glass of wine & watched Lost?

Sydney went to daycare this morning, but I picked her up before lunch. While Jason was napping I shovelled the driveway & sidewalk. Even though Brad had shovelled only two hours before there was another 4 inches of snow. I wanted to get a couple of things at the grocery store for our Valentine's dinner & figured I was only going to clear the way & bundle Jason up once to go out. I don't think Sydney minded coming home early & thankfully was well behaved & Jason also seemed thrilled to have her home to entertain him too. They are both in their rooms right now & hopefully will each have a decent nap so that our afternoon goes as smoothly as our morning did.

I think Jason is cutting teeth again. He has woken up a couple of times in the last two nights. I looked at his top gums & think I see something white under the surface. Although, I may "want" to see it so that I have a reason in my head for why he is waking up again. I guess we will have to wait & see if anything pops out in the next couple of weeks.

I told Sydney that after her nap we would go outside & shovel the snow...AGAIN! However, I think I better go now & remind Sydney that we are only going outside after she has had a nap. I can hear her moving around upstairs & not working too hard at going to sleep. When I picked her up at Jo's she looked like she could go to sleep right then, but of course when I put her down for a nap she decides to play. GRRR!

If we make it outside, I will post some pictures later of our winter wonderland.

A Day at the Mall

On Saturday we met Kim, Pete, & Regan at Upper Canada Mall for lunch. Since we knew we were going to be spending the afternoon at the mall we were trying to coordinate our travel with Jason having a nap. Of course, Murphy's Law, he had a long nap in the morning & we knew that putting him in the van an hour after he got up was not going to result in a nap on the way to Newmarket. So we called Kim & Pete and asked if we could meet up an hour later.

On the way home from Newmarket we were going to stop at a furniture store to look at one more option for Sydney's big girl bed before making our final decision. So to be sure that we still had time to do it we decided to stop on the way. After the furniture store we were going to find a Tim Horton's (not a difficult task in the Golden Horseshoe) so that we could feed Jason before heading out for Newmarket.

Well, our little pit stop turned out to take a little longer than planned. Miss Sydney was drinking her milk & tipped it a little too far resulting in a spill that mainly landed on her pants. She of course started to freak, because this is what she does when she gets her clothes wet (unless of course she is playing with water in the sink). Brad took her into the bathroom to see if he could get them a little dryer using the hand blowers, but of course that was pretty much a wasted effort. When he brought her back out to the table she was still upset about the state of her pants & proceeded to try & take them off! Thankfully her Pull-up provided some resistance so she did not get them down before we could explain to her that she can't take her pants off in public. I thought this little "obsession" only applied to wet socks, but apparently it is all clothing. We told her that when we got to the van we would take her pants off & Mommy would hold them over the vent during our drive so that they would be dry by the time we got to Newmarket. Thankfully this worked.

Our little drama put us behind schedule & we had a couple patches of freaky weather that slowed down the driving- therefore we arrived late. I don't think Kim & Pete minded too much except that Regan was getting rather impatient for her cousins to arrive. We had a very nice lunch (although the service wasn't impressive), I got to exchange some Christmas presents, found something for Jason to wear for his 6 month portrait, and Sydney & Regan had fun playing on the indoor playground. The Dads also put the girls on the mechanical rides that they have for kids & we learned that those rides "soak" you even more now than when we were kids. It was a loonie per ride & the ride lasted for maybe 45 seconds. Brutal!

But, all in all, it was a nice day at the mall with family.

Picnic in February

Sometimes you need to do things to remind you of nicer weather. Although today was not the blistering cold that we have been experiencing lately, it was still winter & made you wish for warm, sunny days. On warm, sunny days it is nice to go on a picnic so why not pretend & have a picnic indoors with your friends?

Sharing of the horse has resulted in tears before, but not today! No Sydney is not wearing a belly shirt, she just doesn't have her pants pulled high enough.
Although, the sweater could be a little longer.

Today had its trying moments with Sydney, but thankfully she played well with her friends, shared her toys, & did not cry once (during their stay). Jason had a great day & made me almost forget the fussy days he has had of late.

Since it wasn't too cold we made sure we got outside for a little bit & did Sydney's favourite outdoor task...shovelling.

Jason watching Sydney & I shovelling.

Off to pick up the mail.

First Pearly Whites

Well Jason has cut his first teeth & they have not come quietly. Like his sister, the bottom two teeth have cut at the same time. Unlike his sister, he has not handled them coming in that easily. The last few days with Jason have not been a treat. He has either been OK or the very opposite of OK. I don't think that I can think of a time in the last three days where I would describe him as "happy" for a length of time greater than 20 minutes, but he has not always been miserable either. When he is miserable, you are constantly being his taxi & it doesn't necessarily do much to improve his mood.

Surprisingly enough though he did not wake to be fed until 5:55am this morning!!! He woke up about 3 or 4 times through the night, but I would hear him just talking to himself & then either he or I fell asleep after about 10 minutes. So maybe there is hope that by 7 months he will be going through the night consistently. I talked to the doctor yesterday about his night feeding & she said that until 9 months it is normal...so hopefully he drops it before then.

He was weighed & measured for his 6 month visit yesterday & weighs in at 17 lbs 4 oz and is 67 cm long (approx 26.5 inches). I am not confident in the length being correct since we wouldn't straighten his legs out for the nurse.

Content may not be suitable for all readers

The last week has been a trying one in the Taylor household. The week started with Sydney's fever last Monday & she just wasn't herself all week. Jason treated us (me- I seem to be the only one who cannot sleep through it) to three nights in a row of an hour's crying around 1am. I am thinking that his pain tolerance is not what his sister's was & the teeth that are starting to push up were causing him some discomfort.

On Friday, Sydney finally had a physical symptom that confirmed our beliefs that she just wasn't feeling well. Diarrhea. Brad unfortunately learned of this condition the hard way. This is the scene, I am in the kitchen getting dinner ready, Brad is in our room changing his clothes & Sydney starts crying out in the bathroom. Brad yells from the bedroom for Sydney to use her words to tell him what is wrong. Meanwhile he has finished getting dressed & heading to the bathroom to see firsthand what is the matter. Sydney had to go to the bathroom, but didn't quite make it & he found a foot diameter of poop on the floor (not counting the splatter as he would tell you).

She had done so well all day getting to the bathroom in time, but this one time she just wasn't quick enough & Daddy was the lucky one to help her out. I was really impressed with how well she did Friday, because with that nasty condition it can be difficult for an adult to make it there in time let alone a little girl. Saturday she was a bit better, but she essentially laid around all day & would eat nothing but dairy products. Therefore, when she went to the bathroom last night & had a banana-shaped poop (her words, not mine) it was also the colour of a banana. I have never seen something so disgusting.

You probably didn't really want to hear about that, but I thought it was at least humourous enough to share. When you have kids, your topics of conversation often change. However, I know of many guys that have poop conversations well into their...adulthood.

Six Months

Well that time is here, the halfway point in your first year. Although you have had many milestones already, the next six months will include changes that will give you more control in your environment. You will become a more active member of our family- hope we are ready for it!

The midpoint of your first year is bittersweet. Although I anticipate each milestone to come, I also know that as each day goes by my return to work is also getting closer. Six months from now I will be back to work, you will be at daycare (probably being smothered by your sister), and we all will be adjusting to having less time together. I truly look forward to going back to work, but leaving you in the hands of someone else to "raise" you 8 hours a day is hard. Hopefully you will adjust as easily as your sister did & will love going to Jo's to spend time with her and the other kids.

In the last month you have gained a lot of strength. You are very strong on your legs & your back has gotten very strong. Although you cannot sit on your own, I think you would be capable of doing it if you chose to work on it. You are such a wiggle worm that you do not sit still or move slow enough to master any skill of balance.

You have been rolling over onto your tummy for the last few weeks & you can now master getting back onto your back. However, you can only roll one way. Therefore, once you meet a barrier in your journey you cry out in frustration. The meaning of our efforts to show you that you can go in multiply directions has not yet registered.

Last week you treated us to a couple of full night's sleep. You were in bed by your usual time of 7pm & slept through until 5am one morning (although I think it was your sister that woke you) and 6:15am the next morning. This was very exciting for Mommy, but you have not done it again since. I am hoping to see more repeat performances of this over the next month so that hopefully by your next "month's" birthday it is a common occurrence. You are still a little tricky on napping as well. For your morning nap, you started waking up after only 20 minutes so we had to do a couple of days of "tough love". Now you are back to napping 30-45 minutes in the morning & about an hour and a half in the afternoon. You need a nap in the late afternoon, but that does not always happen & when it does you hardly ever go longer than 20 minutes. Therefore, you are more than ready for your bed by 7pm. You typically sleep until 3:30 to 4:30 & then wake up for a quick feeding before going back to sleep until 7:15am. One of the best changes in the last month has been that you almost always wake up in the morning & just chat to yourself for awhile. It's nice to be woken up in the morning to the sound of your chatter, rather than your cry.

Another welcome improvement over the last month is travelling with you in the car & shopping. You no longer cry as soon as you are put in the car seat & when I watch you in the back of the van, you are just looking around at your surroundings. Same goes for when we are shopping. It took almost six months, but we finally made it. If you are tired though, we are still treated to quite the cry. You are definitely a little boy with very little patience. When you get it in your head that you want something, you want it NOW!

On the weekend we started giving you cereal & although you were not sure at first, you definitely love it now. This is also an area where you have very little patience. It is not always wise for me to put you in the high chair BEFORE I have your food ready for you. The other day I had to get you out & walk you around to settle you down before I could feed you. You get SO upset. You have now had rice cereal, sweet potatoes & today we tried green beans. You didn't really want the beans, so we will need to try those again to see if it was a timing problem.

On Monday we went to Diaperfit for the first time. This was your first time in the pool & I think you did great. During the exercise class you float in a duck & you seemed content enough for at least half an hour. After that you had enough & wanted out. Again, tiredness &/or hunger could have been the problem. We will have to try again and see how it goes.

You are becoming freer with your smiles. When we are out, you are a more social little boy. You will look around at people & reward them with a smile when they talk with you. However, you are always very aware of where Mommy is & will often fuss for me to hold you when someone else has you. There are lots of people out there besides Mommy who would like to get to know you better, so give them a chance!

Happy Birthday Brad

On your birthday you should be able to come home and relax, put your feet up & be catered to. Well, if this is what Brad was hoping for he sure didn't get it.

Sydney is running a fever of 102 & is a little out of sorts. Although she had not been crying before, she cried for reasons unknown for about 5 minutes after Brad got home. He did get the joy of her running to him & giving him a hug & starting to sing "Happy Birthday", but somewhere in the middle of the song things changed for her. She did not eat any dinner (however did ask if she could have some cake) & was in bed by 7:10pm.

Jason had a great day (we finally made it to Diaperfit! Yeah!), but was pretty tired by suppertime & had a 5 minute crying fit before he ate his dinner. Thankfully we got the picture taken before he decided to have his mini meltdown. Jason was already in bed when we had cake on Saturday night, so I wanted to be sure we got the picture tonight. Jason was in bed by 7pm. So although things were not exactly smooth from 5:30pm to 6:30pm, the kids are in bed early & it is quiet. Very quiet actually, because the birthday boy is out the door to hockey.

Hopefully his game is more relaxing than his supper hour was.

(In case you are wondering, no I did not make the cake. Brad's mom is still in charge of cakes- thank God- and each cake has to have a theme. This year's them was "When pigs fly" and had the Leafs winning the Stanley Cup)

At last, real food!!!

Last night Jason slept through the whole night. He was asleep by 7:30pm & slept through until 6:15am. The night before he may have done the same if his sister hadn't cried out at 4:50am & woken him up. To celebrate these mini victories we thought that we would give Jason his first taste of cereal. It was a very amusing affair.

We remember Sydney making some funny faces the first time she was given cereal, but she definitely was not as animated as Jason.

At first he was leaning away from me not sure what was going on, but once he realized that there was food on that spoon he was trying to grab it away from me & feed himself. Sydney of course also was a good big sister & helped us during the big event. At the end of the bowl, Jason started to cry because he was not happy it was all gone.

Black-eyed Sydney

The swelling is gone, but the colour is in. Most of the bruising is on her eyelid, so when her eye is open you can't see it as much. I tried to have her close her eye so I could take a picture, but of course that means she is squinting. Therefore, I had to get her to lie on the steps and look at me. That was the best vantage point for the picture.

We did not make it to the Y today because Jason was having a weird nap, so I didn't have to worry about a bunch of strangers looking at me like I beat my daughter.

Our happy girl seems to be back

Obviously this picture is from the weekend prior to the fall.
Her brother is snuggling up with her on the couch.

For about 2 months before Christmas Sydney was not her usual happy self. We would have "happy" days here & there, but nothing consecutive. However, I have noticed a shift over the last few weeks & last night I said to Brad that it is nice to have happy, smiley, chatty Sydney back again.

Who knows the reason why she was the way she was, there are so many possibilities. Top three being: little baby in the house to share spotlight with, little baby in the house interrupting her sleep, or she may have been just demonstrating typical 2-year-old behaviour. We still have days where she is overly "sensitive" & she is still not as social in a crowd as she once was, but there is a definite improvement.

Her eye doesn't seem to be bothering her too much now, but it is definitely a dark shade of purple. When she has her eye open you don't notice it too much because most of the bruising is on the eyelid. Tomorrow morning we are going to go to a playgroup at the local Y, & I am sure that she will cause a few heads to turn when they see her. Hopefully no one calls the authorities.

Hopefully Sydney is still interested in showing things to Jason when he starts to swipe them away. We keep telling her that Jason loves to watch everything his big sister does & that there is lots for her to teach him!

On the move, but it's a one way street

Jason has figured out how to get from back to tummy & tummy to back, however he has not yet mastered the art. This skill of his only goes one way. Therefore he is travelling, but only in a straight line until he meets a barrier.

We are still wedging him in the crib to be sure that Jason & the rest of the house get some sleep. I am sure that if I now took the wedges away & he got himself pressed up against the rails of the crib, he would figure out how to get back sooner. However, last night for an unknown reason he had me (& probably Brad & Sydney) up for almost an hour so I am still not ready to take my security wedges away from him.

You would think that after being awake from 1:45 to 2:30 he would then sleep through his 3:30am feeding, right? Wrong. He woke up at 3:30am chatting away & was pretty bright-eyed when I was feeding him & fretting that I was not going to be able to get him to go back to bed. It took a little extra rocking, but he was back in bed by 4:15am.

Eye Update
The swelling is still not gone on Sydney's eye, but the shiner is definitely starting to develop.

Flashback

Remember this bruise???

Well I am sure it will have nothing on the shiner Sydney is about to have have on her eye once the swelling goes down. Yesterday at Grandma & Papa's Sydney was running & fell on the diaper genie. Of course her eye hit right where the latch is to open it up, so not only did she hit something hard but sharp as well. Thankfully she hit just under her eyebrow & not directly on her eye or we could have bigger problems today.



She does not seem too bothered by it, but it breaks my heart to look at her eye.

Thank You Nana

On Saturday Mom came down to stay with the kids so that Brad & I could go out as an early celebration of his birthday. This is the first time that we have left anyone in charge of putting both kids to bed. This is a task that Brad & I have not even yet attempted alone, so to ask someone else to do something you haven't even tried seems a little unfair. But, Mom was up for the challenge & to make it easier we told Sydney she could watch a video while Nana gave Jason a bath & his bedtime bottle.

I think overall the evening went well, although suppertime with Jason is typically a challenge because he is often very tired & I spend most evenings eating my dinner with him on my lap. I believe that this too is how Nana ate her dinner because Jason didn't really nap in the late afternoon & was Mr. Grouchy. Sydney of course enjoys any opportunity to watch t.v., so she was content to watch her video while Nana tended to Jason. Sydney also did not nap in the afternoon, but she went to bed quite easily for Nana & not a peep heard afterwards. We did not set Nana up to have an overtired girl. We put Sydney down for a nap, but she was in her room for over an hour & never went to sleep. We could hear her on the monitor chatting away to Baby, singing songs & just making noises.

Brad & I had a very nice dinner out & went to see the James Bond movie. This movie was not on my list of want-to-sees, but since we were going out for his birthday I guess he really should get to see what he wants to see. I will say though that I did enjoy the movie- Daniel Craig as Bond was very good.

Finally Some Snowy Days

Last year we bought Sydney a little sled for Christmas, but there was only one day that we actually got to take her out for a ride in it. And on that day we were really pushing it for there to be enough snow to justify the effort. Well, in the last week we have finally gotten enough snow on the ground that you can "play" in the snow.

At the park near our house there are some VERY tiny hills that we thought we could introduce the idea of sledding to Sydney. However, yesterday when Brad said that he would take Sydney to the park to play with her sled we again learned that Sydney interprets our words literally. Therefore, when Brad went over to the park with her she wanted nothing to do with the sled. To her it really meant that she was playing on the slide & swings at the park. Obviously we are going to have to "position" it differently if we want her to give sledding a fair shake.


She did embrace the idea of snow angels, but truly to play outside you are making her happy as a clam to just give her a shovel. Let's see if she is as eager to shovel the snow when she is old enough to do it as a "chore".

Moments Like These...

There are moments in being a parent when you are very proud of your child. I have obviously used this word with Sydney in relation to her potty training, because it is one of her new favourite phrases. She will quite often say, "Mommy is very proud of me." She has also started to say that Jason is proud of her too, which I am sure would be true if he understood that emotion.

Sydney is in big girl underwear now, her favourite of course being her Cinderella underwear, and it is not usually a problem. However, there are still moments when she is very involved in what she is doing & does not want to stop to go to the bathroom (i.e. play doh, reading, watching T.V, etc.). Like in this picture she is reading her Barnyard Boogie book to her brother & as I am walking up the stairs I can see a little puddle behind her. As soon as I ask her if she has had an accident she is off & running to the bathroom to "do it myself!". At least this accident happened on the ceramic tile & not the couch or carpet which we had earlier in the weekend.


Last week at dinner we had another priceless Sydney moment. Brad was standing behind my chair at the dinner table & out of nowhere Sydney says, "Daddy, you are the king of the castle." I ask Sydney if I am the queen of the castle & she informs me that no, she is. I said that Mommy was the queen & Sydney was the princess. She then states with great authority, "No Mommy, you are the dirty rascal!" Well of course Brad & I burst out laughing so she was quite proud of herself yet again for obtaining such a reaction.


Jason too has given me moments of pride over the last couple of weeks. Only when looking back at all of them do I realize how he changing. Individually they may seem like minor accomplishments, but when looked at together it makes me realize that he is quickly becoming a little person who is becoming more interested in the world around him. First he started to roll over. At first, this action was only taken because he could. Now he is starting to roll over to get a better look at something & does not always immediately start to whine that he is in a position that he does not know how to reverse. Lately Logan has been the greatest incentive to Jason. When Jason is on the floor, Logan is usually close by because she wants to lick an any drool he leaves behind.


Jason has also gained a new interest in the "activity centres" that we have for him. In the activity gym he will reach around for stuff & he has started to like the exersaucer more. I am thankful for this for the main reason that it is pretty portable & an easy place to put him while I want to get something done. Like the other day, he sat in the exersaucer & watched a Baby Einstein video while I was chipping away at the inch of ice on the van. I kept peeking in through our front window to be sure he was OK, but there did not seem to be a problem & this is the mood he was in when I returned from my task.


Similar to the exersaucer we borrowed a friend's Jumperoo. Jason seems to really like it, but he can only be in it for a short time before he gets exhausted from jumping around so much. The other day I had him in it while I finished some ironing & was more than happy to quit my task early because he was fussing.


Finally, Jason appears to be getting closer to sitting on his own. This is demonstrated best by the pictures of him with Dylan. This is a milestone that I cannot wait for him to achieve. So many things become so much easier when they can sit on their own. We will be starting him on solids in the next couple of weeks & I would love it for him to be able to sit in the high chair while we have dinner. I think he is physically strong enough to sit on his own, but he is such a wiggle worm that he has no concept of balance. We did not use a harness in the high chair for Sydney, but I am not going to take my chances with Jason. I either will be making a trip to the Baby Saftey Superstore to purchase a harness or will be ordering one through their website. Even when Jason is capable of balancing himself in a sitting position, I am not confident that he will choose to sit there nice and calm like Sydney did.

Impromptu Visit

This morning I received a call from my friend Nadine asking if I had plans today. She wasn't working & was thinking of making the drive my way. She lives in Barrie, so this is no minor suggestion. Of course I was thrilled for her to come & visit with her little guy Adam.

Adam is 6 months older than Sydney & is a BUSY little guy. He demonstrated to me what I have heard about little boys & what they can be like. He was in to everything, but stayed with no one thing for more than 5 minutes. After an hour ALL the toys were out & he was looking for more stuff to get into. If Sydney had been home, she would have been having a FIT!

Nadine of course tried to straighten up the toys before they left, but I had to do a complete clean-up of Sydney's kitchen & her baby stuff to be sure that all was where Sydney left it. Lord knows that she would notice any error when she comes home.

Jason was happy to have visitors two days in a row for entertainment. Adam was quite interested in Jason, but wasn't too cooperative for picture taking. This is the best I could get before he would move onto the next thing.

Jason's First Official Playdate

Last week I called my friend Allison whom I had not spoke for awhile to see if we could get together for a playdate. Her little guy is 3 months older than Jason & we have not seen them since last fall. I have moments of guilt because if I look at my time spent with Jason, it does not seem to be as "social" as my time spent with Sydney by this point in her life. We have been around other kids, but it is always girls and those girls are the younger siblings of Sydney's little friends.

When I called Allison she was happy to hear from me because apparently she has had the same pangs of guilt with Dylan. The kids are at an age when they will actually interact with one another so it was fun to watch them "play" with one another- which really just means they watch what the other is doing. But still it was fun for Jason to be around another boy his age. Hopefully we can ensure that they get more opportunities over the next few months before Allison has to return to work.

Shopping Two Weekends in a Row!!!

I learned over the holidays that friends of ours go shopping about twice a month. When I say shopping I mean browsing through a mall or other similar experience. It is also my understanding that her husband does this willingly. Brad is not a shopper & tends to avoid the experience whenever possible. Well, we are currently on our search for a new bed for Sydney (which will eventually go to Jason's room) & Brad is obviously not willing to leave the decision to me. As a result the poor man has been on 3 separate shopping excursions since last Saturday. Our goal is to find a mate's bed (the beds with storage drawers underneath) because Jason's room is not very big & think that any extra storage will be much needed. However, we are discovering that there is a huge variance of quality out there. Before we are done our search, there are three other stores that I have found for us to visit. Of course two are in Oakville (nowhere close together) & the other is near Stoney Creek- so there is a lot of driving that still needs to be done.

I think maybe Jason & I will try to hit the two in Oakville this week to see if there is anything worth dragging Brad to for a second review. The one store had models you could review on the website, but no prices of course. I may even try to make it to the one near Stoney Creek, but I am not making any promises. Of course, while we are bed shopping we also have our eye out for a new chair for our living room. I am finally ready to get rid of my dad's old recliner because it is just too big. However, I would still like to have a recliner in the living room- I just don't want it to look like a recliner. This search may never end, because I am getting the definite impression that Brad & I are not going to agree on a chair. I also plan for there to be a new couch in our far future (when the kitchen is redone & the kids are older), so the chair that we get now needs to be at least workable with new furniture in our future. I think that Brad's willingness to shop will run out far before we find a chair that we can agree on.

Could Winter Be Coming???

The weather this "winter" has been more like an extended fall. Actually, I think our winter weather has been nicer than our fall. After an unsuccessful nap, due to again landing on his tummy & not being happy about it, Jason & I went out this morning. It was definitely crisp & I think there is now the promise of winter in the air. Hopefully "when" it does come it knows that it is suppose to only stay until mid-March before leaving us again for a long time.

Some accomplishments have their price

I know parents often preen over the new accomplishments of their children, but Jason has just accomplished something that is coming at a cost. He has learned to roll from his back to his tummy, but cannot master the reverse. What does this mean??? Lack of sleep. He has done it in his sleep & then cries because he is stuck. Last night was not a peaceful night. Going & rolling him over is pointless for two reasons: 1- he learns nothing by it & 2- he rolls right back over a few minutes later anyway & you go through it all over again.

I do not remember the pain of this accomplishment with Sydney, but was reminded by a friend when I called her this morning for advice. Although I do not remember this problem with Sydney, I did remember my friend having this issue with her little guy. She told me that I told her that it took Sydney three nights to sort it out. I trust her to be remembering correctly, but was not happy to hear this news. Sydney adjusted to most things at night quicker than Jason has, therefore I am now preparing to be dealing with this issue for quite a few nights to come. Naps today have not been very peaceful, because he is having the same problem in the day. I think tonight we might return to the wedges we used when he was a newborn to see if that does anything to prevent the problem.

All I know is that yet again the Taylor household will not be having peaceful nights.

Welcome 2007

We marked New Year's Eve with yet another toddler party. We were not the hosting party this year, our friends Kate & Rick were- thank you Kate & Rick. I was a little nervous about how things might go. Two year olds are not really known for their patience, calm demeanor, or ability to share & I was wondering how it might go when we put 6 of them in a room together during a typical "witching hour" (supper hour). But, it actually went very well. Again between watching Sydney & taking care of Jason, I did not take any pictures. The only picture I managed to take was of Tyler holding Jason.

New Year's Eve marked a first since before Jason was born. Brad & I have not been out without the kids in the evening since July. We actually have only been out one other time without kids & that was a lunch for our anniversary. Tyler was kind enough to come stay with the kids once we put them to bed & Brad & I went to Ed & Becky's for the annual sit, eat & drink. Although we definitely seem to do more of the eating these days than the drinking. We have come to the conclusion that we are a bunch of old fuddy duddies.

Although I enjoyed my time out, I did not enjoy the minimal sleep I got that night. I was only in bed for an hour and a half before Jason woke to be fed & was then up with him for almost an hour. He then only slept for another couple hours before waking at 5:30am, so needless to say I was not very bright eyed for much of New Year's Day. Although I have a sneaking suspicion that although I was very tired, my host from the night before was also suffering. Not just from a lack of sleep, but also some over indulging.

Now, we are in 2007 & it so far is a very bizarre January- although I can't say that I terribly miss the blizzards & enjoy the sunny weather. Brad is back to work, Sydney is back to daycare for a couple of days & I am trying to return Jason & I to our regular routine. Next week I hope to introduce Jason to the water, because he is now old enough for us to go to Diaperfit. Lord knows I need the exercise (especially when I pulled a muscle yesterday...WALKING!) & I really am hoping that Jason takes to the water like his sister did!