Siblings

I came across this photo the other day and it made me laugh. These are my siblings...all three of them. And while I'm sure they'll so appreciate me sharing this photo (um, not), it's one of my all time favorite pictures. I think because it captures them, who they are, so well in just one shot. There's Missy over there on the left, the sassy one. Then there's Emily in the middle, the jokester. And Doug who just sort of good-naturedly goes along with it all. Makes me smile to think about them and remember all the shenanigans we got into as kids, the four of us. Oh we had our fights, but overall we got along fine and I wouldn't do without one of them..they made my childhood fun and to this day no one makes me laugh like they do.

Makes me wonder about Bree and Noah. I stare at them and wonder how well they'll get along, how they'll relate to each other as they get older, if they'll be close as adults, etc. I really look forward to seeing that relationship develop and hope they will lean on each other as they grow, the tiny Taylor twosome.

Grumpy

We had kind of a rough morning today. Sometimes Bree just wakes up in a major mood and immediately begins whining. You know, the breakfast I give her is not the one she wanted, and then the second thing I try to serve isn't good either...come to find out what she wants is pudding. (Like that's gonna happen.) And it just makes her more mad when she decides she's cold and wants a blanket and I can't immediately throw a blanket over her, even though she can walk and the blanket is only about 5 feet away. Then when she doesn't hear what Daddy said to her as he's leaving for work, instead of asking him "what?" she bursts into tears. It's just one of those days. And it reminded me that I have a new favorite song for these kinds of days... It's my new parenting theme song. :) Take a listen:

Grumpy Song

It's off a kids CD and you can tell the guy has had kids, and perhaps wrote it when he had a toddler/preschooler because it's a great song for the parents.

Double Trouble

Another attempt to get a good shot of both younguns. It turned out pretty cute:

Bree started out by giving Noah a pep talk.

(Okay, not really but doesn't it look like she's giving him some kind of advice like, "Look, our parents are obsessed, they take a million pictures. But, it's okay, just smile and go with it...)

Say cheese! Well, Brianna is anyways. Noah is staring at his good buddy, the ceiling fan.

Bree still saying cheese and Noah ...still staring at the ceiling fan.

Brianna still cheesing and finally Noah is looking at something other than the ceiling fan.

Eureka! They're both looking at me, Bree is cheesing and Noah is even smirking a little.

After awhile though I think poor Brianna's "cheese" got worn out a bit. Isn't this a super cute serious shot though?

Sharing a little kiss.

How's this for showing how similiar they look...virually the same expressions on their faces even. An expression that says "Gee Mom are we about done with this already?"

Yep, thats my two! I think I'll keep 'em.

Mommy of Two Syndrome

Well, it's official..I'm a "Mommy of Two." If I didn't fully realize it before I'm starting to now...maybe it's the fact that I consider showering, or sleeping for that matter, a luxury. Or what clued me in could be that most days I'm just getting out of my PJ's at noon. (Between making breakfast for Bree, nursing Noah, getting both kids dressed, morning snack for Bree, diaper changes for both, nursing Noah again, etc...) With one, it was possible to sort of keep up the pretenses of having a clean house and other snobby things like, you know, combing your hair. These days even if I manage to get dressed by noon, I tend to get into sweats and a t-shirt, my new official Mommy uniform. (Perhaps partially due to the fact that I'm in the awkward "I'm not pregnant and not wearing maternity clothes but I don't quite fit into my pre-pregnancy skinny clothes" stage and therefore don't have a huge wardrobe to choose from.) The "mommy uniform" is usually accompanied by my un-made up face and also my hair pulled back into a pony-tail. (Unless I'm actually going to see other people, then I do get dressed and do my hair and such, I mean, a girls got her pride and all.) But you know, when it's just me and the kids at home, I find I'm doing what's easy and fast and comfortable.

Now, I suppose there are some women out there who are mothers of two or more and may manage to pull off the June Cleaver act and if so, hats off to you! And, I might get a little better at it as I get more adjusted to the routine of two youngin's. Until then though, I look forward with great longing to the day when I can once again take a shower that doesn't end with me hopping out hurriedly to the sound of frantic hungry baby screaming and/or finding myself in the company of a naked 3 yr. old who has decided to join me unannounced. Not that either of those situation doesn't also have their positives. Although a long shower all to myself sounds great, until that day arrives I try to savor those shower interruptions and take it all with a healthy sense of humor.

The Mirror Has a Million Faces

Brianna is a delightful little gal. She's talkative, bright, fun and also...somewhat of a drama queen. She has a wide range of emotions and isn't afraid to show them. And some days, like many 3 yr. olds, she expresses quite a lot of them and runs through them successively. :) She could be an actress with all her many facial expressions. And, with her dad being the shutterbug that he is, I think we have managed to capture most of them. I was looking through some of the recent photos and noticed all the varied faces we've gotten on film and thought you might enjoy. So here they are, the many faces of Brianna:

Delighted

Conspiratorial

Determined

Happy

Courtesy Smile

Content

Stubborn

Mischievious

Shocked

Sly

Smug

Loud

Joyful

Pleased

Aggressive

Disgusted

Silly

Angelic

Peaceful

Exuberant

Whiny

Thoughtful

Rebellious

Dreamy

And finally, after all that.....ASLEEP!

Noah News

At 5 weeks old Noah is already starting to fill out (yeah, that's an understatement), become more alert and has started showing a little personality. In the past few days he's hit an early milestone and has begun to smile as well, really smiling big smiles with his whole face. (And no, it's not gas, that's such a stupid idea anyways. Whoever came up with that idea, that babies smile when they have gas? Actually Noah seems to think having gas, burping, or any other bodily function regarding the intestinal tract is a major production and he grunts, groans, grimaces, cries, and generally gets cranky about it.) Course he's good natured anyways and seems to often have a little smirky face, like he knows a funny secret. But now, the kid's been really smiling. And, who do you think he smiles at most? That's right, he'll lovingly gaze up and smile beautifully at....the ceiling fan. Yep, apparently him and the ceiling fan are best buds because the kid smiles at it quite often. Who knows why? I mean, he'll also smile at Mom, Dad, or big sis every now and then but he loves the ceiling fan the best.

The other bit of news about Noah is that he's learned a trick..an amazing trick! Every now and then, just for fun, when he spits up he makes milk come out his nose..ta-da! Cool huh? He'll be so popular in the elementary school cafeteria some day. Actually, poor kid, he doesn't like when this happens and it makes him cough and sputter and the first time it happened I was like, "What the...?" But now it's just run of the mill stuff. You know, the kid smiles at the ceiling fan and squirts milk out his nose...that's just how he rolls.

Poster Boy

Wanted to share a few more photos of Noah. We had ourselves a little photo shoot the other day when he was looking cute...and he hammed it up...

This is his "pin-up" shot. Watch out ladies!

A close up of Mr. GQ...

check out that "Oh yeah, I'm cool" hand behind the head action. :)


Don't you just love the shirt?

Between the smile...

...the big blue eyes and the pinchable cheeks, Mommy thinks he's the poster boy for adorableness! (Not biased at all am I?)

Aawww...what a pair. Aren't I lucky?

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Some new one-liners from Bree that have tickled our funny bone around here:

• After opening up a can of yellow play doh..."Ew! This looks like baby poop!" ('Cause for those of you who don't know. Nursing babies' poo is often a yellow color..aren't you glad you know that now?!)



• When Noah stopped nursing a minute to stare up at his big sister sitting next to us, "Hey, why did he let go of his milk?"



• Upon being asked how her corndog tasted her response was, "Corndoggy" (Like duh! I wonder when she figured out you can add a y to the end of some words and turn them into adjectives.)



• After seeing Daddy's new haircut, pointing, laughing and going "Haha! Look at Daddy's crazy hair!"

• "Holy Guacamole!" (Her new favorite expression, from one of her favorite books Skippyjon Jones.)

• "I don't want a brother I want a sister!"

Mini Me's

It's so interesting, as you have children, to sit and stare at them and find your own features staring back at you. When Brianna was born everyone said, "Oh, she looks just like you!" and my family said, "She looks just like your baby pictures!" It's true...she does resemble me pretty strongly in a lot of ways. But then Noah came along and in a kind of funny way he almost looks more like me than Bree does. I think it's in the nose mainly. Bree's got a more Taylor nose and Noah got mine. It's not just me who thinks so either. We've had visitors come see Noah and immediately say, "Oh, he's got your nose Beth."(Actually we've gotten alot of this too, "He's such a boy. He's just all boy. Beth, he looks just like you!" Which I suppose I could decide to take offense to but instead just amuses the heck out of me.) So, anyways, to amuse myself I dug up some of my baby pictures to compare to my kids. Judge for yourself!

Okay, this is me at around 2.

and Bree.

Me again... (as if you can't tell from the dress and background. Groovy baby!)

Bree.

Now for the Noah comparisons:

Here's me at 2 months or so....

..and Noah at 1 month old.

Me...

And Noah. Now you tell me, who does my son look like? :)

This is me and my baby brother...

And now Brianna with Noah.

Okay, they're not carbon copies, they are their own people, but they're my children for sure! This is not to imply that Travis made no genetic contribution but since I have way less baby pictures of him to use for comparison, and since I write the blog then I get to have all the fun.