19th week update

Between yesterday and last Friday I have spent 3 1/2 hours lying on my back to take pictures of baby T2. On the 17th we went for our 19 week ultrasound where they measure all the baby's anatomy. Since the little one was not being very cooperative, they took a LONG time getting all the measurements (and I still need to go back for more). Typically it takes about 45 minutes, but this time it was an hour & 10 minutes! Brad was sitting in the waiting room all this time- for this ultrasound they don't get him until they have got all the details they are looking for. So, he waited for over an hour to get to see his developing child for 5 minutes. He never completely said it was worth the wait.
Here is a picture of Baby T2 at 18weeks, 5 days. Rather alien-like photo-since I am the mother, I am allowed to make such a comment. They couldn't get a profile picture because the the baby was constantly moving.
Yesterday I had an appointment for them to do an echo of the baby's heart to check for any congenital defects. This appointment was 2 HOURS! I must say the first hour flew by though, because I fell asleep. In my defense, the room is dark and very warm. After an hour, the technician went to review the pictures with the cardiologist who then came back in to take another look that lasted another 45 minutes. I was trying very hard not to freak out when they were very intently looking at the screen. Finally she says that there are no "major" concerns, but that she cannot see the pulmonary arteries. She assured me that this is not uncommon since they are such small structures in an already small fetus, but said that she will want to do a follow-up after the baby is born.
So, needless to say I like all mother's will be waiting with bated breath to hear that "cry" when the baby is born to be reassured that baby is breathing well!

Sleepovers

Well Sydney went to her first "sleepover" last night. Uncle Robb & Aunt Michele watched Sydney for us while we went out for dinner & to a friend's Stag & Doe. Since it was going to be a "late" night (I use that term loosely since the definition is now much different than it was a few years ago) they kept Sydney overnight. Although Sydney has stayed overnight at Grandma & Grandpa's many times, this in my mind was her first "sleepover". To me part of the definition of a sleepover includes kids talking long into the night when they should be sleeping. Well, apparently Max & Sydney fit this requirement. When the kids went to bed last night they were chirpping at one another through the walls for quite awhile before they went to sleep. Definitely fits within the "sleepover" definition, don't you think? I think both Sydney & Max survived it, but Max seemed a lot more excited when we came to pick her up this morning than he was yesterday when he awoke from his nap to find her there. See how happy he is now that he knows we are going home?
Although Sydney looked like a walking zombie this morning, we went to a play date at a friend's. Sydney fell asleep in the car on the way there & since she was snoring, I figured I better let her catch a few zzz's. The good thing about a sunroof is that you can sit inside & see her sleeping in the back, so that as soon as those pretty little eyes opened...back outside I went to get her.
Glad I stayed & waited for her to wake up, her and Evelyn had a nice play together. Although it was maybe a good thing that Sydney's words still are not very clear, or Evelyn would have had her first exposure to the "MINE!" demand. Tara and John are lucky that they are not dealing with that one yet!

Happy Birthday Regan!

Today Miss Regan turns five years old. We visited her on the weekend to bring our wishes to her in person. Regan turning 5 makes me realize how quickly the time will go with our kids. It seems like yesterday when we all rushed to Kim & Pete's to meet the perfect little baby that they had waited so long for. Our lives have never been the same since- this child has spunk! If you spend any time at all around Regan you are bound to come away from your visit with a story that will make you smile & laugh. It is hard to believe that she is in school already, but it all happened in a blink of an eye.
Regan is giving serious thought to what her wish will be...you don't want to be wasteful. She did well & didn't tell us what it was, but I would bet money it had something to do with horses!
Regan, I sure hope your wish comes true! We are looking forward to taking you riding when the weather gets nicer.
Happy Birthday Regan, love Aunt Kelly, Uncle Brad, Sydney & Logan. xoxo

Remember the rule, "No running in the house!"?

It's funny how you will let "little" kids get away with things that you won't let "big" kids do. Last weekend we had Max for the weekend & during that time Max & Sydney "ran" around the living room & kitchen quite a few times. We let them too. Why? Because their "run" really is not that fast & it was cute to listen to them giggling away while they were having fun.
Well, the same thing happened yesterday. We went to visit Regan to wish her a happy birthday which is tomorrow. Regan had some balloons & her and Sydney had a grand olde time running around the kitchen-dining-living room. Again, we let them because it was fun for us to watch them having fun.Sometime soon I am sure the day will come that we say, "NO RUNNING IN THE HOUSE!". And because we let them do it before they will look at us, get mad, and try to do it anyway. Who can blame them, right? We let them do it before, surely we must be joking this time. Well, I guess that's why there's the phrase, "start as you mean to go". I have heard this a thousand times from my mother-in-law. Advice that I have also seen her preach & not practice.I am not going to share the "birthday girl picture" until tomorrow, so you will have to wait. But I will share the picture of Sydney's first piece of real cake that she got to eat all on her own- minus cake & icing. Of course, she loved it. It gave her the extra steam to complete her short run track race around the kitchen-dining room-living room.

For you, Miriam & Jack

I was going back through the pictures from the "Gold Medal Party" to see if I had a better picture of Jack. Originally the only one I thought I had was this one, & since you were in it I didn't think you would appreciate it. Jack was so much on the go practicing his new "walking" skill (with the intent of getting his hands all the way down to his sides) he was hard to catch at a good angle. But, he finally did stop for a minute & I got a shot of him & Sydney. Jack truthfully should have been the star shot, since he was the only one to be see with a Team Canada jersey that morning.

Gold Medal Party

A couple of weeks ago friends of ours sent out an email inviting us to a "Gold Medal Party". Of course at that time there was the assumption that the men's team would make it to not only the medal round, but the Gold medal game. What a disappointment that was! Looks like the party should have been set up to watch the women's game. The women ROCKED the Olympics!
Well, being the good sports that Wendy & Jason are- they still welcomed us into their home at 8am on Sunday morning- why not? We are all up at that time anyways.
Well, it was a good game even though it did not include Canada. The company was great & the hosts were fantastic! Although, next time you have a breakfast party- remind me to bring my coffee maker (ha ha)!
Hayden didn't like all the ref's calls. Sydney doesn't know the game that well, she has no idea what Hayden is talking about.






But she sure remembers how to say "CHEEESE!!!". Evelyn chooses to ignore her when she is showboating.
I think Ellie enjoyed having the kids around to play, but she mostly sat back and watched all the action. The kids will have to watch out for this one! She has so many words, she can put them to shame.

Mr. Max

Last night we babysat Max while Robb & Michele when to some African drumming thing in Toronto. We had a great time with Max & I had to take the picture that him & Sydney will be cursing me for when they get older....the tub picture!!! And Max taught Sydney how to say "CHEEEESE!!!"

Places to go, friends to see...

The past week was busy going here & going there. The bad thing about so many of your friends living in other towns is that it is often a challenge to coordinate schedules to allow for a good visit. The good thing about it is that you have many opportunities to get away from home for a bit.
Last weekend we went to visit Kim & Pete to go out for Brad & Pete's "birthday dinner & a movie". It was an overnight visit that gave Nana the perfect opportunity to babysit. I am sure that Regan & Sydney were perfect angels for her. Prior to us going out they were playing in Regan's room & their faces were the picture of innocence, even though they were just caught jumping on the bed.
The next day was a visit to see Monica. This is one of my friends who is MOST difficult to coordinate with- the woman keeps herself much too busy. We had a great visit & enjoyed meeting their little guy, Max (6 months). Jim had Max stylishly dressed in a Ramones t-shirt & I had to admit that was the neatest shirt I had seen on a little baby. For Monica & I's mutual friends...here are some pictures of Max and his proud parents.

I never seemed to capture just the right shot of him, but he is definitely a happy, smiley baby. Although, I am not sure what pose he is striking here with Sydney.
Our last jaunt out of town was on Friday to go meet Laura, Morgan, and Marley. Probably the 2nd hardest person to tie down for a visit. Although I realized that if we leave Patrick & Brad out of the equation, it is much easier to coordinate- sorry guys. Morgan is 2 1/2 years old & Marley is 3 months old. I think Morgan was really excited to play with Sydney & then was quite disappointed when Sydney was happiest playing alone in Morgan's kitchen- sorry Brad, but one of these things is going to be coming to our house sometime in the future. Sydney loved it!
Next was "snack time" and although Morgan's little table is perfect for her, Sydney has too many ants in her pants to be sitting at these little tables yet. She nearly flipped herself too many times.
And of course the other people that we were there to see...Laura & Marley. Again, Sydney picked up a little dolly anytime that I was holding the baby. I can live with that- at least she lets me hold one!

Jealousy may be setting in...

Yesterday we had a couple of visitors, Noreen & her little guy Will. I think I have said before that Sydney is quite facinated with babies right now. Well, she was quite interested in Will yesterday & was showing Noreen where his belly is, his nose, and his eyes. The problem is that her little finger is not always gentle when she wants to point these features out. Hence the frown (which is a common expression of hers these days) when she is directed away from his face.
Will was happy enough for her to be playing with his belly, but a little curious about why she is so interested in this game. When she couldn't play with Will's nose, she had to show us where Logan's nose is- who is becoming increasingly tolerant of her. Good girl Logan.As is typically the case when around a toddler for any length of time, things did not go well for the whole visit. Noreen stayed to have supper with us & I held Will so that she could get her food. Well, although it was OK for me to hold Will earlier- it was not OK to be holding him while Sydney was being put in her highchair by her daddy. Although you don't want to give in to them & their demands, I have to admit that once Noreen had her food I did hand Will back to her hoping that Little Miss would sit down in her chair and have her supper. It was the first time that we experienced "jealousy" & hope not to see too much of it in the future.
Well I am not sure if it is related to yesterday, but this morning I was not allowed to sleep in. Brad got Sydney out of bed & thought they were going downstairs for breakfast, but someone pushed open the door & came over to get into bed with me. Then wanted nothing to do with Daddy. She expected Mommy to get out of bed & come for breakfast. So when you have been jumped on & pulled on, who's going to get more sleep? So, what did I do? Got out of bed & went downstairs. So that now makes 2 wins for Sydney.

Special Delivery Expected....

Well it looks like Sydney is going to become a big sister this summer. She of course doesn't know this yet, but hopefully in the months to come she will start to understand & be happy about the concept. My prediction is that Sydney will adjust to another baby in the house much better than Logan will.
The official due date is August 14th, but I personally will be aiming for the first week of August- especially if it is a hot summer! For those of you who like to make fun of my obsessive planning nature- I am on track to fulfill one of my "life plans". I wanted to have all my children before turning 35 & if things go well I will acheive that goal- although I am cutting it close.
Here is a picture of our ultrasound done today. It did not scan as clear as I hoped, but I think you can see enough to know it is a baby. Currently she (just a guess) is 67mm long and has a heartbeat of around 140 bpm.

Husband Swap?

Michele & I truly love our respective husbands and love that they are the father of our children. As we are each very different from one another we have chosen the right brother to spend our lives with. However, it is a little eerie that each of our children have a striking resemblance to their uncles. More so than to their own mother or father. You be the judge.

It was only recently that we identified Sydney's resemblance to her Uncle Robb. After pulling out Robb's baby picture, it could not be denied.
No offense intended to Robb, but I sure hope the next one looks like me.

Happy Birthday Brad

Today Bradley came one year closer to forty. It is interesting that I seem to remember his age correctly, but continue to forget that I am no longer 32. Ah, but what's in a number? As you will note from the picture, birthday cakes are still a tradition in the Taylor family. Gone are the days of Spiderman cakes (although, Robb would probably like to see his Spiderman cake return), but each cake has to have a theme. Since Bradley is a huge "24" fan, this year his cake (made by his Mom- don't confuse to whom the credit goes) was in honour of Jack Bauer. I believe Michele was the creative brains behind the idea & Dale was the baking & decorating talent.
Sydney would not nap this afternoon, so we decided to get the Daddy/Daughter picture done before we left in case we had a sleeping or cranky little girl after dinner. Of course we were really wanting her to nap because we were going out to a restaurant for dinner, The Mandarin. It was pretty good. Since it is also the Chinese New Year, they had more items out on the buffet. Of course that also means that it was very busy. Sydney & Max liked the fish & I think if we didn't hold onto Sydney she would have tried to get right in there with them. Not surprisingly she crashed in the car on the way to Grandma's & Grandpa's and went right to bed when we got there. So Max stepped in for the photo opportunity & blowing of the candles.
My Mom also came down yesterday to spend the night with us & to provide free babysitting so that we could go out to dinner & to a hockey game with friends, Paul & Janet. I think Sydney had fun with Nana and she has gotten quite good at saying "Nana". She also had the best sleep she has had in about a week, so Nana definitely did something right. Our time out was fun...the food was good, the company was fun, but honestly the game was boring. The Bulldogs just didn't cut the mustard. Thankfully Janet shared my lack of enthusiasm so that I had someone else to talk to instead of continually bugging Brad. The most interesting part of the game is when the "Whistleblower" (she was actually wearing a pin to say that's what she was) came and gave me crap for having my feet up on the seat. She really appeared quite angry with me too...I guess she expected more out of an adult.

Sydney's developing language skills....
On Friday Sydney & I went shopping for Daddy's birthday present & when we were in a store she saw a bin of balls & pointed at them and said "ball!". I was so happy, excited & proud...I bought one for her. Brad is just thankful she didn't say "horse" (he thinks he's funny) It's neat, in the last couple of days Sydney has actually added a bunch of words to her vocabulary. Finally. She now says dada, mama, hat, ball, Nana, bye bye, night night, milk, more, ba ba (which is Grandma/Grandpa) and dog. I am sure that there are more that we have not even realized yet too. She is also trying to say more words when we ask her to repeat them. I find it quite exciting & can't wait for her to say more. I am sure I will be eating those words in my future though.

Yesterday was my kind of January

I realize that when we have a winter like we have had so far we usually pay to some degree in the spring or summer. But I was not thinking about that yesterday when we were playing at the park in fall jackets!!!
Wendy, Ellie, & Katie came over to play for a bit before we ventured out to the park. Katie is now 6 weeks old & it was a good reminder of how much time it takes to get organized to get out of the house with a newborn. Add 2 toddlers to the mix & you are definitely spending as much time getting ready to go out as you are actually spending being out. Since Katelyn is a little young for swings & slides, she wasn't as keen to stay at the park as the other two girls.Below is Sydney's sign for please. Wendy is in the background getting Katie ready for the walk home, but Sydney has other things on her mind. "More slides please Mommy?"

Could tantrums be starting already???

I realize I have not posted since New Years & no nothing is wrong. There just hasn't been anything too eventful to report. Last weekend we took Sydney for a sleigh ride in her sleigh that she got for Christmas- we had a bit of snow, so we thought we should take advantage. However, I did not take a picture to mark the event so there is nothing to share. Then on Sunday night, Brad's parents took us all out to Outback for dinner to celebrate THEIR anniversary (which was way back in November). We never figured out the logic of them paying, but they would not take the money & with the service we received there is no way we were leaving any extra money on the table. Let's just say, none of us will rush back.
Now for the title of this entry...tantrums. In the last week, Sydney on a couple of occassions has gotten very upset for reasons that are not immediately apparent to me. Two times it has been during the supper-prep hour so I just stacked it up to her being tired & wanting more attention than I could give her at that exact moment. Well, yesterday was not one of my proud Mommy moments. We were at a play date at a friend of mine's & it was my first time meeting her neighbours. There were two other children around Sydney's age & the others were young babies. Well, a little boy had brought his Magna-Doodle type toy. Sydney started off by playing "OK" with him & then decided she wanted to walk around with the toy. When I told her "no" it resulted in a crying fit like I have never seen...I'm thinking who is this kid? I had to take her out of the room & let her calm down. Nothing I did was working & she just kept walking backwards in any direction that was away from me until she backed herself into a corner. If I made any motion towards her she would start thrashing about & crying more. So, I just sat on the steps & waited her out. Well finally, she came running to me & put her head on my shoulder and whimpered a little more until she was done. To me it felt like about 20 minutes, according to my friend it was not even close to that long. All I know is that if this is a "stage" we are entering into...I hope it is short!
Since I have no new pictures to report, I thought I would post a couple to show what Sydney looked like a year ago. Oh baby, how you have grown. For anyone that comments on her cheeks now, they are nothing compared to a year ago!
Maybe should go...sounds like another fit is starting. I think we are definitely entering the stage of independence and "my way or no way". No fit- all is well already. But, she does want her way! But then again, what girl doesn't?

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!