Our weekend

We had a wonderful weekend! The weather was awesome!
Yesterday Mike and Jean Ann came and we all went to the ISU basketball game. It was so much fun and it was a great game. Tate loved it, but towards the end he started to get sleepy. Pretty soon he crawled up on my lap and crashed. It was so loud in there. Everyone around us was shocked that he was sleeping through all the noise!
After the game, Nana Jean and Papa came over to the house and played for a bit. Of course, Tate had to play basketball with them.

 

 

 

 

 

This morning we went to church and then came home to have a big breakfast. After Tate's nap this afternoon, we played outside. It was beautiful! We rode bikes, played with the neighbors, went to the park, and went on a couple walks. Now I'm officially ready for spring!

Baby Taylor is doing great! We are about 27 weeks! It's going so fast.  I'm feeling very large! :) Baby Girl is growing! :)

Baby Taylor Update

On Friday, I decided to take Taterbean with me to a doctor's appointment. We were heading to a play date afterwards, so I thought I'd be brave and give it a try. He did really well, and I know that Dr. Gessner loved seeing him. She even made him come into her office for some candy and explained to him that she was the first one to ever hold him!

Baby is great and I feel great! It was about a a five minute routine check. Her heart rate was in the 140s.  Tate covered his ears the whole time when we were listening to her heart beat. He said, "That is too loud." haha! I disagree…I think it's the best sound in the world!

We are currently 23 weeks along. We don't have a name yet, but have a very LONG list. We can't seem to agree on too many. The joy of being teachers- every time one of us mentions a name it's sparks a memory of a student one of us had in a previous teaching year. It's funny how one school year with a feisty student can make you dislike a name. Isn't that terrible of me? But on the flip side, I got Tate's name from a first grade student I had during student teaching. So it isn't all bad.

Anyways, we have a little time to figure out a name! In the meantime, I'm going try to avoid giving into the temptation of buying pink. I have this addiction to Etsy and can't stop searching for girly things! I'll probably end up with the biggest tom boy ever. I'm ok with that, I remember tromping around the farm in pigtails and rubber boots, and I still wore pink every now and then.

:)

Let's go Broncos BABY!

Well, today is the Superbowl and I have a very nervous hubby! :) We are having some neighbors over for a small party. The basement is all rearranged and ready to go for a Broncos party. We even had to move the couch from upstairs down there so we had plenty of room for people to sit.

I'm excited for an evening with friends and lots of munching. 

Anyways, I decided that it was probably time to put a baby bump picture on here. Today I am almost 22 weeks! I feel great! Baby Girl is starting to get more active and I feel like I'm growing like crazy! 

 Let's go Broncos, Baby! :) 

3 Year Stats

We had Tate's three year appointment and pictures this past week! His appointment went well, and luckily he didn't need any shots! He is 34 3/4 inches tall and weights 24.2 pounds. He's in the 0 percentile for weight and height. The good part is that he grew three inches from last year. Dr. Nau was very happy about that!
On Saturday, we got his pictures taken. We even decided to do a family shot since it will be the last time as a family of three! They turned out ok. He was a wild man, so I'm glad we got a few keepers! :)

We are having the hardest time getting this little man to eat supper at night. I think we've tried everything. Tonight he was at the table for almost an hour before he finally gave in and ate a little bit. The little stinker has turned into a garbage gut. He wants everything that's NOT healthy! At least he eats pretty well for Deb at daycare. Thankfully, he still drinks milk and loves fruit, yogurt, and cheese. He likes his dairy! :)

Here are a few pics from the weekend:

 

 

A 3-Year-Old

I can't believe that our Taterbean is three!! How is it possible? We had such a fun time this year celebrating. On the Saturday before his birthday, we had a small family birthday party. He picked the theme this year and went with John Deere. It was pretty cute- a perfect theme for a little boy!
He had such a blast and was spoiled like crazy.

Playing tractors with Kayson

Cora taking Tate for a spin

Impossible to get a good family picture, but this one is pretty funny

Godparents

Tate the referee

Getting spoiled

On Tate's real birthday the three of us celebrated by going to his favorite restaurant, Hickory Park. How could he not love it? Grilled cheese, ice cream, and they sing to him! :)

Hickory Park birthday treat

We have his three year appointment this week and I can't wait to see how much he's grown.
 But for now, this is what's Tate's been up to:

-LOVES tractors of all kinds and has farm shows daily. The sweetest part about it is that he always mentions Papa Dick when he plays with his farm things. So precious.
-Is also into Disney Cars and Planes. He loves watching the movies.
-Has been working on letters and sounds but sometimes he's just not interested.
-LOVES books. Some nights we read for an hour before bed. He is such a good listener!
-Has been very into his daddy. In the month of December, Blair was less busy because of winter break from his classes. Tate took advantage of this, and now usually chooses Dad over Mom.
-LOVES to sing and dance. If it involves music, he's hooked. I love riding in the car listening to him sing his little heart out.
-Is getting used to the idea of have a little sister. He often talks about her, and asks when she's going to get here. When we ask him what we should name her he always replies, "Baby Tate." I always tell him that I can't have two Baby Tates and he just says that he's not the baby anymore! :)
-Is obsessed with his cousin, Kayson. It's funny because he wants to do everything like Kayson, but sometimes when they're together they fight like crazy. Most of the time they play pretty well together though.
-Is excited that we visited a preschool. He will most likely go to preschool two days a week in the fall. The only problem is- he thinks he's going to ride a bus. I don't know how we're going to break it to him that there won't be a bus quite yet! ha!

Christmas AND some very exciting NEWS! :)

The last month has been like a whirl wind, and I've completely lost track of time. I have lots to blog about so I better get right to it! :)

First I'm going to share our EXCITING news! Tate is going to be a BIG brother! We are expecting Baby Taylor #2 on June 4, 2014! Today we found out that IT'S a GIRL!
We couldn't be happier, and I'm feeling so blessed!!  How amazing!

We brought home PINK cupcakes to share the news with Tate. He knew right away that he was having a sister when he opened the box. It was such a fun way to share the news with  him!

 

 

 

 

Ok, so now I have to move on to Christmas. Before Christmas we had a major scare. As we were getting ready to go to school on December 20, I got a call from my mom saying that my dad was being rushed to Mason City because they found some blood on his brain. Without knowing the severity of the situation, we got right in the car and headed for the hospital.

He was put in the ICU. The doctor had said that the bleed wasn't too large and that it wouldn't require surgery, but  later in the day things started to go down hill and it was determined that the bleed had tripled in size. The situation became critical at that point, and he was taken in for a craniotomy to help relieve the pressure and remove the blood from his brain. The surgery went well. Dad was able to come home on Christmas Eve. What a blessing! He does have a long recovery ahead of him, but he's strong and Mom has already seen improvements. He continues to receive daily therapy at home.  He has some vision loss and won't be able to drive for quite some time. Poor guy. I pray that God gives him the patience to get better and not get too down. I know this hard on Mom too because she's the one that deals with it all day in and day out.

 

On Saturday the 21st, I stayed at the hospital with Dad but Tate and Blair headed to the big Taylor family Christmas. I didn't want them to miss it, and I know they had a great time! I know that this year was a bit different without Grandpa Dick.

 

Our Taylor family!

Tate, Cora, and Kayson with Great Grandma Janis.

 

ALL the cousins!

 

 

On Sunday the 22nd, I met the boys back at our house in Nevada and we had our own little Christmas before we headed back to the hospital on Monday. It was nice to have our own little time and open gifts between the three of us.

 

Tate and Daddy!

 

 

We were so thankful that we were able to be with Dad on Christmas so we spent the whole week of Christmas at my parents in Emmetsburg. It was wonderful. Tate was thrilled because Santa knew to come to Nana and Papa's to find him! We had a nice time and did lots of relaxing. Tate was spoiled by Nana and Papa of course!

 

Tate and Nana Dawn looking for Santa!

 

KD and Tate putting milk and cookies out for Santa (and carrots for the reindeer).

 

Tate and Papa Tim

Santa came! Tate got all new John Deere things!

 

On Friday the 27th, we left Emmetsburg and headed to Creston to Blair's parents. We went out for supper Friday night, and then Saturday Ryan, Janelle, and the kiddos came! We had a blast. The kids played so hard. We opened gifts from Nana and Papa and everyone else. Again, we were all spoiled! 

 

Papa Mike and his Grandkids!

Our family of 3

 

The boys playing with the new kitchen set from Nana and Papa!

Janelle and I got each other the same shirt. Funny! I guess great minds do think alike.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





A Wonderful Thanksgiving!

I can't believe that it's already the 1st of December! Where did November go?
It's Sunday evening we we're just getting settled back in from a very busy, fun Thanksgiving break. We've done a lot of traveling in the last five days, but it was all worth it!

We left Nevada on Wednesday and headed to Emmetsburg. We were excited to get back to see Uncle Marc and meet his girl friend, Amanda. It was so great to finally meet her. It was great to see KD, Marc's dog too. :) Mom and Dad had a wonderful supper for us. They even babysat for us so we could meet up with a few friends.
On Thursday, we headed to my Aunt Danita and Uncle John's house. The food was amazing! It was so great to see some of my mom's side of the family. Tate loved it too because they have lots of John Deere tractors! He was in heaven!
On Friday morning, our best family friends, Emily and Keegan came out to Mom and Dad's. Tate and Keegan had a blast.

 

 

Later in the day on Friday we headed three hours to Creston to Mike and Jean Ann's. When we got to town, we stopped and  saw some of Blair's friends and caught up with them for a little bit.
Blair requested A&G pizza for supper and we just played for the evening and went to bed early to prepare for another day of travels.

On Saturday, we left Creston and headed to St. Joe to see Aunt Maagie and the gang. We were actually celebrating Christmas, and it was a great first one of the season. We had Aunt Maagie's favorite fried chicken and then played at her house for the afternoon. Even the adults had fun as we played several games of Rumikub. It brought back lots of memories. Susan, Ashlei, and Baby Ali were there. We finally got to meet Ali. She is so adorable and such a happy baby. Later Jim and Diana came and joined in on the fun! :) It was a great day!
On the way back to Creston, we stopped at Grandma Janis' house for a quick visit. We were there long enough for Tate to drag out all of Papa D's farm toys and to enjoy some of Grandma's left over turkey.

 

 

 

This morning we got packed up and before we headed out of town we had a quick breakfast. We were home by 12:30 and had a busy day of unpacking, laundry, and a little Christmas decorating. This is the first time in several years that we put up an artificial tree. At breakfast this morning, we were discussing how we were going to stop and pick up our tree. Jean Ann told us that they had a tree that they were no longer using and said we could take it. We did! We put it up today and it looks pretty good! I was impressed. So after putting it all together and propping it up on a box, I have to say that I love it! \It feels like Christmas at this Taylor house! :)

And tomorrow we start The Elf on the Shelf tradition with Tate. Tonight we read the book and talked about what we're going to name him. Tate wanted to call him Roller-Coaster" (haha Random), but we settled on Bronco. So Bronco the Elf will arrive tomorrow morning! He was excited when he went to bed, so we'll see! :)

Now, I know I'm a bit crazy but BRING ON THE SNOW! :)