Some choice pics

Baby Boy Arrives!

On September 12, we welcomed Jeremiah Jr. into our family. He has two very proud big sisters!

My husband loves me

The flowers AND the clean kitchen. I knew I married right. :)

Sarah's Prayer

Sarah's prayer: "Heavenly Father, thank you for helping me. I still need some more help."
Then to me: "That's all I had to said."

I think that pretty much sums it up, actually!

Playing Catch-up Part Two: Lily's Blessing

So the reason why the cousins came to play was for Lily's blessing two weekends ago. It was a bittersweet day because we learned that morning that Grandpa Bill passed away. We felt that he was very close to us that day. We celebrated one loved one so recently come and mourned another so recently gone. It gave us a sort of broader look at mortal life and we felt as though neither side of the veil was very far away.

Mommies Don't Get Sick Days

So in an attempt to avoid unnecessary pain during future pregnancies, I had my gallbladder out last week. It's a same-day surgery, and they say recovery should be three weeks. I'm halfway there.

The title of this post is only mostly true-- I got a few days mostly off with tons of help from Jerry and my mom. But three weeks is a long time! And I got a nasty sore throat this week to boot! The bottom line is, I thought motherhood was exhausting when I was well! I have no idea how people do it who are chronically ill! The other reason I shouldn't be complaining is that many wonderful people have offered to watch my kids for me. I came close to calling one of them once this week, but then I remembered when my grandma was sweet enough to take Sarah for an afternoon right after Lily was born and as soon as they left I burst into tears. Plus, Lily's nursing. . . frequently. Our babies need us and we need them, I guess.

Thankfully, I am feeling much better. I'm getting there. But I've decided that as soon as I can, I'm going to start exercising hard core. Having so little energy has made me want the exact opposite, and I know that's how I can feel when I make the time to exercise. So even though mommies don't get days off, hopefully it won't matter as much. ;)

Playing Catch-up Part One: The Cousins Come to Play

Well, I have no idea where to start. . . Lily's blessing, Grandpa Bill's passing, cousin visits, gallbladder surgery. . . our days have been full, and our laundry in large piles. I guess I'll start with our adventures with our darling cousins Lexie and Lizzy, because I believe I captured some of those youthful emotions we all wish we had more of (good thing we've got our kids)!
The amazing Mr. Bubbles
Anticipating Mr. Bubbles' magic
Creating art (poll: who's having more fun-- Sarah or Aubree?)
Lizzy LOVED baby Lily-- other goings on meant little if the baby was nearby!
Mickey Mouse pancakes, courtesy Uncle Willie. (p.s. Sarah also started calling her dad Uncle Willie.)

We also took our first trip (and surely not our last) to Thanksgiving Point's Farmland. It was the perfect size for a toddler's attention span, featured all the most exciting animals, which the little ones were allowed to pet and hold, and most of all. . . there were ponies!

The Cuddle Bugs

St. Patty's Dinner

Jerry insisted on taking a picture of our St. Patrick's Day dinner. Having kids makes me feel like observing every holiday, and this was the only thing I could think of! A healthier celebration than most holidays, no?

Playing with Annie

Check out the girls! Sarah loved playing with Annie Saturday night-- that is, after she overcame a vicious territorial streak. Annie doesn't look convincing, but she had a blast, too. And we determined that she takes after her mom on the obsession with hair thing.

The bad mommy thing.

The other morning I really wanted a donut for breakfast. Ever since the pregnancy gallbladder no-fat diet, when I have the craving I just indulge! So I did a very bad mommy thing and took Sarah to the store and bought us fresh donuts with chocolate frosting and sprinkles. She loved me. And she ate the whole thing. For breakfast. But not before she prayed, of course. "Heavenly Father, bless our donut. Bless our daddy. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen." Daddy's top two! I told you she's a daddy's girl!

The Chubs

Are you kidding me?

Mommy: "Lily, smile for the camera!"

Lily:

Welcome Lily Grace!

Our little Lily Grace was born January 26 (Grandma Jean's birthday!) and weighed in at 9lbs. 1oz.! What an angel baby she is! Sarah loves her baby sister!

Christmas with the Taylors!

The best Christmas recital ever!

Here's a big shout out to all the awesome students I teach! We had our Christmas recital tonight and enjoyed 18 superb performances! It made me grateful that I get to be a part of these kids' lives and also thankful for the gift of music-- a little piece of heaven on earth! I have to share just a few choice moments with you. One little boy forgot his piece about halfway through. He tried a couple of times and it just wasn't coming. Finally he cried out, "I just can't remember it!" and his sister (who was all the way across the room) yelled, "You just don't do that at a recital!" Everyone was a little uncomfortable at that point, not least of all the little boy! So I quickly ran over and whispered to him to start over and that I knew he could do it. He tenaciously began again and sure enough, he pulled it off without a wrinkle! (There's nothing like a little sisterly encouragement!) So here's to everyone who's brave enough to share their talents, even when they're not perfect yet!

Happy Birthday, Mommy!

On Monday Sarah officially learned her first song all the way through. "Happy birthday, Mommy!" She was like a little radio wishing me a happy birthday over and over all day-- it was so cute! My amazing husband made it one of the best days ever! Since it was his day off, we got to be together all day-- french toast breakfast, trip to see Gram and Grandpa Ivan and Betty, perfect presents, lots of ice cream, dinner at Tucanos, and a fun celebration with my parents and siblings. It doesn't get much better!

Flood!

So last Monday I decided to do laundry. . . and it was a good thing! I noticed some water leaking into the drain next to the water heater. "No way is our water heater leaking again," I think, "we just replaced it!" Sure enough, it wasn't our water heater. The water was leaking in through the opposite wall of one of the bedrooms-- and apparently had been for a couple of days. The stop & waste valve (which happens to be inconveniently located just a few feet from the house) broke. So we've been busy. And grateful to know some very smart people. After tearing out a couple of feet of drywall, we discovered that the electrical work in those rooms was done very poorly and we are lucky that it was a few inches of water instead of a fire! So. . . moral of the story? Turn off your sprinklers before your home warranty expires. . . or, (more seasonally appropriate) just count your blessings!

She must be growing!

I just thought a little log of what Sarah has been eating for breakfast (in one sitting) might be interesting.

Yesterday:
nine grain cereal (2 servings)
half of a large pear
a large avocado
a bowl of applesauce
apples and peanut butter
milk

Today:
2 eggs, scrambled
milk
cottage cheese
canned peaches
2 servings of life/wheat chex with milk

Go Sarah baby!

Fabulous Fall!

"Trick or Treat!" and "Happy Halloween!" were two of the new phrases of last weekend. Sarah couldn't have been more excited about the ward's "trunk or treat" and made a very convincing leopard! "raarr!" We've also been enjoying the unseasonably warm weather and trying to keep up with the raking. Sarah is an incredible little helper-- she specializes in smashing the leaves down in the garbage can. :)