Announcing....

Noah Travis Taylor
born Friday July 13, 2007 at 1:08 pm
6 lbs. 4 oz.
20 inches long

Here we are at the hospital at the very beginning of my labor. (You can tell it's the beginning since I'm still smiling.) Around 4 hours of unsmiling labor later though....

...here came Noah! 6 lbs and 4 oz and 20 inches long. That's a whole 2 oz. and 1 and 1/2 inches bigger than his big sister, but still a relatively dinky kid. I guess I just have small babies. (Whew!) Anyways, this is Grandma with him just a few minutes after he was born.

Noah hanging with Mom...

and here studying Trav and thinking, "So....you're my Daddy."

Aren't they cute together?

Then is was time for Noah to meet the big sister.

Bree's eyes say it all here..."Whoa! This isn't what I thought you meant when you said I was getting a little brother!"

"...Hmmm. Well, maybe this isn't SO bad."

"Allright. He seems okay. I'll just kiss the kid to humor Mom and Dad anyways."

The proud Papa with both his kiddos. I find it so weird that I can now refer to "my kids" plural.

(Bree stole Noah's little knit cap to wear. She apparently thought it quite sporty. Actually after she put it on she was hopping around the hospital room pretending it was Christmas. I guess she thought it looked like a winter cap??)

And look, Travis can already make him smile for the camera!

Our new little guy. I know I'm biased but I think he's adorable!

When I was a Born Baby

With my due date only 2 weeks away now, we had our hospital tour the other day to familiarize us with the hospital layout, the labor and delivery rooms, etc. We took Brianna with us so that when she comes to visit me in the hospital she'll have seen it all before and won't feel too threatened and so on. Actually she was pretty cute about it. She took a look around the L & D room, pointed to the bed and then said, "Mom, is that where you're gonna lay?" (Don't ask me HOW she knew that!) We also saw some new babies who were crying whereupon Brianna was promptly asking "Why is that baby whining?" (We're working on NOT whining and bursting into immediate tears with Bree at this particular stage but asking things in a normal voice instead.) Then at the end of our tour Bree pulled on my pantleg and said, "Mom, I have to tell you something." So, I leaned down and she whispered in my ear, "I'm gonna teach my baby brother how to run, and jump, and play..." and the list went on. It was about the cutest thing ever!


So, naturally with the arrival of baby brother looming imminent on the horizon for us, besides our tour there's been a lot of talk around here about babies...how they cry a lot and how they don't eat people food yet and etc. We'll say, "Newborn babies..." and then start off with some explanation regarding newborn babies. Brianna seems to take it all pretty well so far. Although, I think she's already starting to feel a little left out with all the newborn talk. So, to get herself back into the discussion her newest phrase is "When I was a born baby..." and then she'll launch off into some story about what she did when she was a "born baby." Apparently she had quite the adventures in her first few months including having hummingbirds land on her, walking, talking, etc. Some amazing things for a newborn to do really. The other thing she's quite sure of is that she used bottles when she was a "born baby." In reality, she never used even a one, she hated the things and refused to take milk from an artificial nipple. We tried to tell her that she didn't like them but to no avail, she remembers it better than me apparently.... :)

Summer Fun

Just thought I'd take a minute to share a few shots of some of the classic summer moments around here:

Of course, it wouldn't be summer without lots of watermelon! Bree loves the stuff and I'm sure, if we let her, she could polish off a whole watermelon just to herself. As it is, she likes her pieces to be big ones.

Judging by this expression, some of the best things in life are the simplest. Pure watermelon joy.

Can't say I blame the kid though, who doesn't like watermelon? I'm not above enjoying a cool, crisp slice myself. Although, I mostly included this one so you all can see my "shelf" there..I'm getting pretty wide!

There's been a whole lot of bike riding around here too. Brianna is much improved in her technique since she got the bike a few weeks ago and can now be seen happily pedaling around the driveway and nearbye sidewalks.

Of course, you have to stop and investigate any interesting bugs on the sidewalk (Daddy's influence, naturally).

There's nothing like a nice swim in the summer as well. We have a little blow up pool we can set up in the backyard that Bree loves to splash in on hot days. She usually starts out in a bathing suit but for some reason seems to wind up in just her swim diaper by the end. Here she's also modeling an old pair of her daddy's goggles she found that she thinks are quite the swimming accesory.

She does look quite stunning in them. :)

And, if a swim doesn't cool you off Bree has no issues hosing you down with a squirt gun, she's got a gun and she's not afraid to use it. (Obviously, look at her little mischievious face, she's gotten me pretty good several times.) Her and Daddy like to have squirt gun fights quite often.

Puppy Love

Last weekend Grammy Deb and Poppa Roger came to visit us for the first time since we've moved into the house. We had a lot of fun showing them all our progress around the house and hanging out. Rog and Trav managed to build some garage shelves and get in a good dose of fishing as well while us girls did some shopping and so on. But the highlight of the whole trip for Bree was probably the fact that the grandparents brought their dog, Deja, with them. It was a serious case of puppy love on Bree's part. She really wants her own dog and even though we're not considering it right now, figuring that having a newborn will be an adventure enough for this summer, it is a little tempting when you see just how much fun one little girl can have with a dog...

Ah yes, puppy love as they stare deep into each other's eyes.

Forget about teaching the dog tricks, Brianna learned a few new ones from the dog! Like this little charmer, scratching your face with your hind leg. Monkey see monkey do...

Then there was the pant off...It was a close call but I'm pretty sure the Deja won that one!

And there was a whole lot of chasing and running games as well...

Ready....Set...GO!

After all that, they had to take a rest together. Aaww...so cute!

Teamwork

One of Bree's favorite shows right now is Wonder Pets. Which, I actually don't mind because it's a fairly harmless little show and it emphasizes working together as well. They even sing a little song, "What's gonna work? TEAMWORK!"

Well, this has apparently rubbed off a bit on Brianna. Not that she means to, and not that I'm complaining, but Bree's a preschooler so usually she's more making a mess than helping clean one or she's getting in the way while you try to do whatever it is you're trying to do. This was not the case the other day however when I came home with some bags of groceries. It was the end of the day, I'd left to shop after Travis had gotten home, and so I was tired and wasn't even really going to unload the bags all right that minute. But, just then Bree got bitten by the helpful bug and immediately began rummaging through the sacks, finding things that she knew where they go, and putting them away, in the right spot! For example, if we have apples I usually keep them in a bowl on the table or counter. So, Bree spotted the apples and said, "I'm gonna put these apples in the apple bowl, that's where they live!" Then she put some canned goods into the pantry...And all the while she was singing "What's gonna work? TEAMWORK!"

Let's hope this is going to be a new trend! :)

Mommies Can't Leave without their Daughters

The other day we were feeling kind of lazy about cooking dinner and so Travis suggested I go pick up a Papa Murphy's pizza for us. I was up for that and called it in and then a few minutes later headed out to grab it, an errand that takes me a total of 15 minutes even counting the driving. Well, Brianna decided she wanted to come with me on this little errand. I tried my best to dissuade her considering it seemed just more trouble than it was worth to wait for her to put some pants and shoes on, get herself strapped into her carseat (since she refuses to let anyone else do it for her), and then go throught the whole in and out of the car thing at the pizza place. "I'll be really quick, I'll be right back before you can even put your shoes on!" I assured her. But she was insistent..."Mommies can't go out by themselves," she told me, "They have to wait for their daughters. Mommies can't leave without their daughters." Well, that convinced me. It kind of impressed me, I'd never heard her use the word daughter before, and even in the correct context but mostly it was just so sweet that I had to take her. :)

Electric Chef

As I've mentioned, Bree LOVES to cook. And she's pretty good at it. I just measure out the flour, or milk, or whatever and let her go dump it in the bowl and then mix it with a spoon. I even let her crack the eggs into the bowl, which is, I think, her favorite part. (In fact, she likes it so well and my mom was so impressed with this trick, esp. the part where she doesn't even get any shell inside the bowl, that Grammy Dee-Dee let her crack more than a dozen eggs into a bowl during our visit, all the while calling different family members in to see it. We had a nice big batch of scrambled eggs for breakfast that day...) At least, cracking eggs WAS her favorite part until recently when we made Travis a rhubarb pie (his favorite) for a Father's Day treat. As usual Bree was up on her stepping stool helping out when I pulled out the mixer to make the crust. Apparently we've never used the mixer together since we've started this whole buddy baking thing. You should have seen her little eyes light up. She was saying, "I'm gonna help you Mom!" before I could even plug it in and had her little itchy trigger finger on the button right away. So, with each of us having one hand on the mixer I started it up. Oh the power trip for a preschooler! She was thrilled and was screaming like a crazed banshee the entire time..."Wheeee! Dad! Look at me! Look at us! See what we're doing!" Oy...I think I may have created a monster....

Fireworks!

I'm not real sure why, but for some reason our town was setting off fireworks last night at the high school. Naturally, they didn't start until after dark, after Bree was supposed to be sleeping. But, considering we only live 2 blocks from the high school she wasn't sleeping for long, it sounded like we were being bombed at our house. So we all marched into the backyard and decided we might as well enjoy the show. It was pretty cool actually to be able to sit in our own backyard and enjoy them. Bree didn't get to see any big ones last year so she thought it was neat. Of course, it was a bit of a shock when our own automatic sprinklers came on in the middle of the show and soaked us, causing us to jump up like crazy people and run to a safer, and dryer, part of the yard. By the time they stopped shooting them off, at 11 pm, we were all damp and pretty tired but at least we didn't have far to go to get to bed. :)

(Although, I have to say that seeing any kind of fireworks in the sky like that only makes me realize how soon this new baby is coming! AACK!)

Happy Birthday Brianna!

On June 16th Brianna Rose turned 3 years old! Can you believe it? Everyone always tells you how fast it goes but it's hard to really KNOW until you're actually going through it.

Since we were in Idaho the weekend before her birthday, we went ahead and had her major birthday party there, where most of her family and friends are. It was a pretty wild scene, family and tiny tots everywhere!

And of course she got plenty of presents and was pretty much spoiled rotten as usual.

This was her major present though, you know, the one you pull out of the closet at the last minute, after all the rest have been opened? This year her big present was a "pedaling bicycle" as she calls it, complete with basket, bell, and tassels. She was just ready for a big girl trike. And, it's taken her a little while but just in the past few days she's really started to get the hang of the whole pedaling thing, although it frustrated the heck out of her at first. Some of the other big hits of the day were her "Woody" doll from Toy Story and a new movie, "The Rescue-skeevers" (The Rescuers).

The highlight of the party though, at least for the kids, was the lighting and then eating of the cupcake tower.

This year Brianna even helped to make her own cupcakes since she loves to cook so much, and then she decorated them herself...they had LOTS of multi-colored sprinkles. It was a very special day!

The next weekend, for Bree's actual birthday we kept it low key. (Well, we HAD a gift we were going to give her but the little spy eyes found it early (a Jesse (from Toy Story) doll) and we went ahead and gave it to her then. So no presents for her on the 16th. So, we just spent a quiet day together, enjoying each other's company and reminiscing.

Can you believe that she's gone from this:

to this:

in just 3 short years. (sniff) Crazy! (Isn't she cute in her little Birthday Princess crown and clip on ear rings?)

Weekend Trip to Idaho

First off, I apologize again for the tardiness of this post...but I posted lots of pix for you to make up for it! :)

We headed off last weekend (June 9-10) to Idaho to help celebrate my Great Grandpa's 90th Birthday. Here's what happened....

We got into town Friday night and headed off the next morning we were off to Grandpa's Birthday party.

Happy 90th Birthday Grandpa!

Here's a 5 generation shot...of course, I managed not to be looking at the camera...oh well!

The Birthday Boy! And no, that's not me next to him (I wish). That's my gorgeous baby sister, Melissa. Don't hate her because she's beautiful people, but feel free to resent her. :P

Here's Bree in her party dress and looking sullen about it. :)

While we were in town, and since Bree's actual birthday was only a week away, we went ahead and celebrated her birthday the next day as well. More on that though in the next post....

In between everything else we even managed to squeeze in a visit to some old friends. Here's me and the wife of one of Trav's best high school buddies comparing bellies. She's due only a week after me!

Then it was on the road again....

Check out those mountains! These are the Sawtooths in Idaho.

We took our time on the way home, making lots of stops to enjoy the scenery. Here Brianna insisted on taking a break to pick some wildflowers. Can't blame her, they are pretty.

We saw A LOT of wildlife on the way home...this was one of our first sightings though. I guess when they post those deer crossing signs they really mean it! Good thing we spotted this one and were safely pulled off the side of the road when it decided to dash across the highway.

Just on the other side of the Idaho-Montana divide we spotted these guys. They're mountain goats! This was the first time I've actually seen them in the wild like this. Pretty neat...

About 20 minutes before we finally drove into our own driveway we spotted this guy...a buck with his horns in velvet. Actually, he was with a buddy, there were two of them, just standing there by the side of the road. So, this was our last stop along the way before we chugged into our garage, unloaded the car as fast as we could and passed out.

It was fun and crazy as usual...and definitely our last long road trip before the new baby arrives!

A Pity Post

Yep, it's just what it sounds like...I realize it's been awhile here since I've updated this here thing and although I'm still not quite ready to do a "quality" entry I'm just zipping something off to placate all the raving masses who have been patiently waiting for their update. :)

Actually it's been 2 weeks (2 weeks!) since I've posted which is pretty much a no-no for me. I really try to do it much more frequently but here's my lame excuses:
1) I was out of town for awhile there.
2) At 8 months pregnant I'm feeling pretty exhausted at virtually all moments of the day and haven't even felt like I had enough energy to drag myself over to the computer and make an entry.
3) At 8 months pregnant my whole nesting thing has kicked in really strongly making me spend whatever free time and energy I have doing things around the house like deciding where all the pictures should hang on the wall and then getting wishy-washy about it so they're still not hung up, or endlessly re-arranging all the tiny newborn socks in their tiny newborn sock drawer, which then leads you back up to excuse #2.....

Well, now that my lame excuses are out of the way I'll let you know what's been going on around here. We were in Idaho last weekend to help celebrate my Great Grandpa turning 90! While we were in town we also went ahead and celebrated Bree's 3rd Birthday with all our friends and family there. (There, now you're updated... So maybe it hasn't been THAT busy here but it's a 7 hr. drive one way to Boise and I'm still not recovered from the trip so there! I think that's gonna be my LAST major trip before giving birth.)

Our other big event was that Brianna's birthday was actually yesterday! She's three! Holy cow! She's practically old already! I guess now we officially have to stop calling her a toddler and must refer to her as a "pre-schooler." We kept it pretty low key yesterday though since we'd already had her main stuff go on last weekend. Just spend the day enjoying some quality time with her and remembering when she was born and how fast it's gone..and how soon I'm gonna be doing all that again! Guess I need to update the ol' birthday ticker up there as well. I have lots of pix to share from the trip and birthday so I'll do a better post later with those.

Until then I leave you with a few more Bree-isms to enjoy:

- "grand new!" the "Bree-ism" for "brand new." All her birthday gifts are all "grand new!"

- "I notice..." Which seems to be her new way of asking if she can do something. I guess she heard someone say it and thought it was neat because now she'll say things like, "I notice you want to go to the play park with me?" or "I notice I want a popsicle."

Phrase of the Day

I'm noticing that I used to blog alot about the cute little things that Brianna was saying. Every new word or phrase was funny to me...and now I seem to do it less. I guess she's getting older and I'm getting used to her talking like a normal person, in full blown sentences and all. But, she still says some pretty outrageous things. And, even if what she says isn't that outrageous when she starts saying a "grown up" phrase it still cracks me up. Here are a few of my favorite new little things she's been saying:

• "Of course!" She says this a lot which I find kind of funny in and of itself but even more funny when she answers her own question with it. Like this, "Mom, can I have a snack?" and without waiting to hear my answer, "Of course I can!" Or, "Mom, do you want to play dollhouse with me?...Of course you do!" I guess we must say this alot to her.
• "You betcha!" This is a phrase she got directly from her daddy. She's just started incorporating it into her everyday conversation but it's super funny to ask her a question and have her answer, "You betcha!"
• "Refreshing water!" This is a "Grammy-ism," or in other words, something she picked up from my mom. Seems like my whole family delights in teaching Brianna odd little phrases or humongous words that she wouldn't know otherwise. If you recall, last time my mom visited she had Bree going on about "glorious cheese." This time around, every time Grammy was drinking a glass of water she'd smack her lips and go, "Yum. I just love a drink of nice refreshing water!" So often that now Bree can't seem to talk about water at all without adding "refreshing" to the front.
• "Wouldn't you love to?" Okay well this was actually more of a one-time thing but just goes to show you how much Brianna is really listening to everything you say. It was at one point during Grammy Dee-Dee's visit and Brianna walked up to her and said, "Grammy would you hold my hand?" Grammy said, "I would love to!" and then she took the offered hand. Well, a few minutes later they had let go so Bree walked back up to Grammy and said again, "Would you hold my hand?" So, this time Grammy said, "Sure!" and took her hand. Then Bree looked up at her and asked her, "Well, wouldn't you love to?" Hee hee!

A Mix of Pix

For those of you who've already gotten the link to Trav's monthly photo album these are going to look pretty familiar. I actually meant to post these quite awhile ago, some I had planned to post as long as two weeks ago but just never got around to doing it since life has been a bit hectic and my blog posting has gotten kind of sporadic as of late (every day, every other day, twice a week, once a week, who knows?). Then it was so close to the end of the month I knew Travis would be sending the pix out with the album and I didn't want to steal his thunder by sharing them before he got a chance (for once! :D) So here they finally are...my favorite shots from this month's album with my own personal commentary added in. I did promise more pix coming about 5 or 6 posts ago so... Better late then never huh? Sort of a collage of recent life, hope you enjoy!

This was another trip to Como Lake. Here's Bree being "Queen of the Rock" and looking quite smug about it too. :)

A super cute close up (before the bang chopping incident obviously). Something about her expression in this one makes me think you can almost tell what she'll look like at 12 or something...she just is looking more grown up all the time!

These are her "bug-looking" eyes. Daddy told her to hold her hands up there like binoculars and look for insects at the lake. I guess they worked since she actually did find him a new beetle to collect shortly thereafter. (Well, at least they're spending time together right?) My favorite part is the messy face though. :)

Aww...



Just one of many hiking shots in this month's collection of photos. We've been hiking around a lot lately since it's just too easy to find beautiful places to walk around in the evenings here. This was a trail along a creek we found. Notice Bree's little walking stick there....




And here we are marching along the trail in our matching pony tails.




Brianna the wood sprite! Just another cute shot I couldn't resist.

Yet another hiking adventure. This time Bree rode in the backpack though. And there's me, looking super outdoorsy sexy in my camo hat. Oh yeah...

Apparently, Brianna really loves hiking! Doesn't it show?

This is the way she "hikes" just about every time, passed out in the backpack. Something about being strapped to Daddy's warm back while he walks back and forth just puts her right out.

Bathing Beauty....

Or Sassy Fairy, she's cute either way!

(She ran around with just the wings strapped on one day after her bath for quite awhile.)

Here Bree's helping our neighbor, Scott, mow his lawn. He's got an old fashioned push mower and Brianna finds it fascinating, along with Scott himself....she adores him for some reason! He's a bachelor but is really nice about letting our kid hang off him. :)

Classic...enjoying a windmill on a windy day. Love the expression.

You gotta really hold it up to get the good wind. (Yep, we're actually considering trying to power the whole house that way, gotta have a few more kids first to really get enough juice though.) Although, I'm not real sure how well she can enjoy the whole experience with her eyes closed. Doesn't she look like if the Statue of Liberty was holding a windmill instead of a torch? Hee hee!