It's a five candle day!

Dear Riley,
I can't believe you are 5 today. It seems like we just brought you home, and now you converse with us like you are 30, and amaze me with the amount of knowledge you carry around.
You know everything there is to know about dinosaurs, StarWars, Ironman, and elephants. You yell at your dad and I when we say bad words and tell on us to the other when we do something naughty. You are the pickiest eater ever. Your favorite foods are fettuchini Alfredo, tacos, cheese crisps and popcorn chicken. Healthy I know. If it doesn't include cheese you can bet you don't like it. You requested cupcakes with no frosting for your birthday treat.....no frosting??
You will try anything but get easily frustrated when you can't do it perfectly on the first try, (wonder where he gets that from?) You love to sing, and you remember more songs than me probably. You are wicked smart at school. You are inquisitive. If you don't know what a word means you ask, and you never forget what we tell you. Infact you never forget anything. I have never met any other kid who is such a sponge.
You make me laugh every day. You are witty and always have to have the last word. You are kind and loving. You are such a good big brother. You can see how much you love your sister by the way you talk to her. You are tender hearted and don't like to see others in pain. Your listening skills could use some work, but when it comes to your thinking skills you are a pro.
I hope you know how much you are loved. You are at the center of our family. You are smart and strong and cute and funny and awesome in so many ways it would take me all night to tell you about it. Keep being yourself and dream bigger than big. You are my sunshine now and forever. Love you up to the moon and back!
Mom

Please pray for Raegan

Our sweet baby girl was hospitalized tonight with meningitis. Please pray for her and our family, that her recovery will be quick and she can come home soon. I know she has many guardian angels looking over her here on earth and in heaven. We are so grateful to all our family and friends for your help with Riley and for all you do for us. We are so blessed. I know we will make it through this but it makes it easier knowing we have all of you.

Raegan has a boyfriend.

I am pretty sure Shannon and I are destined to be not only fab friends, but in-laws as well. These two little cuties had their first meeting earlier this week. I could eat both of them right up.....no really I could. Raegan slept through all of the meeting, and Fisch was happily awake and enjoying being the star of the party. Cutest Kids Ever!!! I think so, and I am always right. Just ask me.

Raegan Lynnlee

Our little girl is Finally here.
Raegan Lynnlee Taylor
Born: November 9th 2010 at 7:52 am
Weighing 6lbs 3oz and 18 1/2 inches long.
We had a rough few days in the NICU trying to get her glucose levels where they needed to be, and close monitoring of her oxygen. We are all home now and doing great. Riley absolutely adores her. He helps with making her bottles, getting diapers and wipes, throwing out some of the less smelly diapers and giving her plenty of hugs and kisses.
Mat and I are a little sleep deprived, but with all the time it took to get her here a little less sleep seems a small price to pay. Its official- Taylor and Co Established 1999 is complete.

The bun in the oven is done!

No it has not been 20 days since my last post, but due to some technical difficulties, our princess is coming tomorrow.

20 days and counting!

To say we are on the countdown is an understatement. We have made a chain that we take a link off every night before bed to give Riley and idea of how close we really are to Raegan getting here. I have my nesting list that I happily cross a few items off each day. The Nursery is all but complete, and my Braxton Hicks contractions (which I did not have with Riley) send me into fits of pain at least 12 times a day. This kiddo can't get here soon enough, but for the sake of my planned baby sitters and Mat's time off I will consent to hoping she holds out for November 15th.
We haven't had any family pictures taken for a long time. Here are some recent ones so we can remember this special time as a family of three, patiently waiting for our fourth (and final) to arrive. Enjoy

Too much information

Riley has been fixated with helping Mat do everything in the babies room from painting to hanging the blinds and the ceiling fan. He has his own Handy Manny tools that he carts around the house and he is constantly asking if Handy Riley can fix anything for you. Last night we were watching T.V. and down he comes asking Handy Dad if he needs anything fixed. Mat pointed at me and told Riley that baby Raegan was kicking the crap out of me, and to see if I needed any help. So what does Riley do? He whips out his plastic saw and begins to preform a C-Section on me. To be perfectly honest my first reaction was one of shock. He has asked questions about how the baby will get out of my belly and I have tried to be as truthful as possible without scaring the you know what out of him, but I was nowhere prepared for this reenactment! After the initial shock wore off I looked at Mat and we just busted up laughing...what else can you do. After Raegan was safely extracted he used his handy pliers to sew me back up. It amazes me sometimes what a sponge he is. One thing is for sure he keeps us laughing all the time.

Thank you can I have another?

Rain falling outside + a cozy couch + a warm blanket + snuggling with my favorite 4 year old while watching a movie = a perfect afternoon.

From the mouth of babes.

Today when I picked Riley up from preschool we got the weekly news letter. Mrs Suzan wanted me to be sure and notice the quote on the side bar from none other than Ry Guy. It read.
Mrs Suzan, When I grow up I am going to marry Chantel. She is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.
Apparently Riley made said declaration with his hands to his heart in his most sincere voice. Chantel is a darling girl (woman) who is in his class this year. She was also in his class last year. She was in my group when we went on a field trip last year to the dinosaur museum, and I must say, he has good taste. He has to wait at least a few years though before we will let him mdate!

My funny kid

I have been meaning to type this on here for a while but I keep forgetting.
Mat had to take a trip to Long Island a few weeks ago and he always brings Riley back a surprise when he travels. While he was in Long Island he didn't have time to shop for a toy so he told Riley he would take him to get a toy when he got home. Riley was waiting eagerly by the door when Mat got home so he could march him right back out the door and to the store.
Riley is really into Star Wars right now. He has a light saber, and watches the movies constantly. When they got to the store he had his heart set on a storm trooper dart gun. Luckily they had one left and it was in the clearance bin (score) so they proceeded to the checkout to buy the coveted item. This is the conversation between Riley and the checkout clerk
Riley- hey lady, I have a light saber gun at home.
Clerk- Really? That's pretty cool. What color is it.
Riley- Its blue. And now I get a dart gun too.
Clerk- Your mom and dad must like you a lot.
Riley- Did you know I can cut off your head with my light saber?
Clerk- If you did that, it would be really hard for me to do my job.
Riley- Geez lady, it wouldn't really cut your head off, its just pretend.

Yep that's my kid. Luckily the clerk thought he was hilarious and didn't turn us in to the proper authorities. He is a crack up.

A few quick updates

My gallbladder surgery went really well. I am still in a little more pain than I would like to be, but at my follow up appointment yesterday Dr Peterson said the incision in my belly button is a little bigger than normal due to the size of my gall stones. But me and Raegan came through with flying colors and she was my main concern. And I can eat again which is awesome. I was getting a little tired of pudding, yogurt, toast and ice-cream. Nutritious I know.

On a lighter note Riley informed me yesterday that he doesn't want to watch Mickey Mouse Club House anymore because Mickey is always asking him to do stuff, like look for things and make noises. He told me it's his show he should already know where everything is. I laughed so hard. I know they say laughter is the best medicine, however, it is not super helpful with the pain in my stomach. But the good laugh was worth it. He is such a nut.

My sweet son.

So I am having gallbladder surgery tomorrow and after we did our bed time ritual I was in reading in bed when Riley appeared at my door. He brought me in his special Winnie the Pooh to sleep with so I wouldn't be worried about the surgery tomorrow. Sometimes he simply amazes me at what a giving little soul he is.
Love you up to the moon and back ever Riley Joe.
Love,
Mommy

Baby update

It has been a busy week at the Taylor household. We stared off with a visit to the Emergency Room on Sunday night to confirm what we already know, that I have gallstones. Luckily I already have an appointment scheduled with a surgeon on wednesday and they will hopefully take it out here in the next few days.
As for my second ultrasound, things for baby Raegan look good. She has a calcium deposit on her heart which the Dr. said might be a reason for concern but everything else looks good so they seemed fairly confident that everything was fine. They are going to continue to monitor the baby with ultrasounds once a month due to my high blood pressure and the fact that I had pre-eclampsia with Riley and had to be induced early with him.
We got some more great ultrasound pictures of the baby. At one point her mouth was opening and closing just like she was talking to us. If she is anything like Riley we will have a chatty Cathy on our hands :). Her brain and organs all look great and her bones are measuring perfectly. She has gained 3 oz since my appointment last Tuesday which is a great indicator that my blood pressure is not affecting her growth.
I would just like to say thank you to all our wonderful family and friends. We are so very blessed to be surrounded by such great people.

Love you all,
Amy

PS we will keep you updated on the gallbladder situation after we know more tomorrow.

My Friend Raegan

I have had a lot of people ask me where the name Raegan came from. I met this wonderful woman about 17 years ago. She died from a long courageous fight with cancer earlier this year. Copy and paste the Vimeo link below in your browser if you would like to know more about her

In Memory of Raegan Rampton

http://vimeo.com/8919528

Our big news!

We are so excited to tell you all that we are having a girl. We had our ultrasound today to confirm what I already knew in my heart. Everything looks good. She does have a small spot on her heart (the name the technician gave us was so long there were no hopes of me remembering what it is called) so we will have another ultrasound next Tuesday with a high risk Dr. to make sure he doesn't think anything is wrong. I guess what she has is pretty common and on the outside would be like having a freckle. So we are not panicked. Raegan Lynnlee will be her name.
In other news, the pain I have been having is in fact my gallbladder so I am seeing another Dr about that in the morning. But we are so happy about baby Raegan that it's hard to worry about that.
I will try and post the ultrasound Picts later today.

Xoxoxoxoxo

Ames

Great books

if any of you are looking for a GREAT book pick up the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.....You won't be sorry. The second book is Catching Fire and the third one comes out in August. Best books I have read in a long time.

One, Two, Three Go!

It's official! Crunchy the Lobster (AKA the baby in my belly) is officially moving!!! This is by far my FAVORITE part of being preggers :)

My list

I must preface this post by saying that I am truly glad to be pregnant. I know you feel the "but" already escaping my mouth. But I certainly have a few things I could do without. So in the fashion of my favorite radio station here is my list of things that must go while being pregnant.

1- Waking up in a pool of sweat. I have done this the last 3 nights in a row. My sheets can't take the abuse for another 5+ months. It's just not natural.

2- Having to use the bathroom every hour on the hour! I realize I brought this on myself by getting pregnant in the first place but it is annoying none the less.

3- Having people look at me at this stage and know they are wondering if I am just really over weight or pregnant. No offense to anyone who may have one of these shirts, but I don't own a shirt that says pregnant with an arrow pointing to my belly, nor do I want one, but there are days when I can see their advantages.

4- Hair popping up in unwanted places. As if the hot flashes are not bad enough.

5- Stretchmarks! Enough said

6- Heartburn. Why is that all the food I love and crave later makes me wish I was on a strictly water and tums diet?

7- Insomnia. I either can't sleep or I do sleep and then have to get up to pee hourly.

8- Dry hair, dry skin, dry mouth. I am constantly drinking and I am constantly thirsty. I use lotion everyday more than once day. I condition my hair every time I wash it and it looks like a dry bail of head growing out of my scalp. Thank goodness I have Aubree to make my hair look beautiful every 8 weeks. My skin and mouth problems I will have to figure out on my own.

9- The moodswinsgs. Some days I am happy as can be and others I want to burn down the world. For anyone who comes in contact with me, I am sorry if I am less than pleasant.

10- My Spider Man sense of smell. Everything stinks. My fridge, my car, my house, my husband, my child, etc. The list really could go on and on.

I think I am going to stop now. Item number 2 is at it again.

Xoxoxo
Ames

One down, two to go

So our first trimester is officially complete. Everything is looking good and we are so excited about this new baby. it is such a happy time for our family and we can't wait to find out if this little one is a girl or a boy. We should find out the week of the 4th of July so we will keep you all posted. I want to thank all my dear family and friends for checking on me often and offering such love and support. We are so filled with gratitude for all the things happening in our lives. God has truly blessed our lives and we are so excited to welcome the next Taylor baby
Into this world.

With much love and appreciation to you all,
Brother Mark, Sister North, and Riley Joe Taylor Beck North
Aka Mat, Amy, and Riley

Funny kid

This is the conversation that Riley and I had in the car yesterday. He was pretending to talk to me on a cell phone
Riley- sure mom, I can come and pick you up.
Me- thanks I really appreciate it
Riley- mom you are so sweet
Me- thanks. I think you are sweet too.
Riley- oh thanks mom. I think you are so cute
Me- thanks Riley I think you are cute too.
Riley- Thanks. Mom I think you are beautiful.
Me- and I think you are very handsome.
Riley- oh you do?
Me- I do
Riley- mom how come you're the crazy pregnant lady?

And we were doing so well......what a turkey

Happy Mothers Day to me!!

Happy Mothers Day



How does a Riley show his mama his love, and remind her, he is her favorite gift from above

He tries to be kind and always to care, and try’s to show others how she taught him to share

At times the kindness and sharing gets derailed, and punching at preschool might get him expelled

He will try a new food even though he is picky, as long as it isn’t too runny or sticky

If the food is not good he is quick to throw up and dad will run away leaving mom to clean up.

He will crawl on the floor without a care, while his mom asks how many jeans can you tear

Zooming cars in his jeans can be such a blast, it isn’t his fault the knees don’t last

He will ask you to do things on the schedule he has set, if his schedule is broken he might throw a fit

If a fit does happen do not fret, next time do it his way and you’ll have no regret.

These things I have listed might sound pretty bad, but she always see progress and for that mom is glad

At times he will say things so sweet or so funny he can make moms cloudy days seem very sunny

And on days when it seems all has gone wrong, he will say I can’t go to bed without a hug and a song

A hug and a kiss and a whisper good night and suddenly mom’s bad days all seem alright

And when mom is at her wits end, a smile and I love you can put her nerves on the mend

Sweet and funny and amazingly bright, if he would just stay in his bed every night

He thinks he is luckier then all the other kids, because his mom is the bestest there is

On mothers day don’t forget never, that he loves you up to the moon and back up to the moon and back ever

Duck, Duck, Carp?

For Riley's latest school field trip we went to Valtek to feed the ducks. The only problem was that most of the ducks were already full even at 10:00 in the morning so I think the Carp enjoyed way more food than the ducks. The kids however had a great time and that was the important thing, right!

Happy Birthday Riley and Sadie

We celebrated Riley's Birthday in April this year along side Sadie. They had a fun day on Monday with Grandma Sherry going to Build A Bear and then out to lunch at Lacasita. Then on Thursday we took the kids to Pirates Island for games and Karaoke night. Talk about funny. Sadie and Brynlee belted The Best of Both Worlds by Hannah Montana and Cassidy got up there and sang The Giant Purple People Eater. All in all it was a successful night between the awesome Spider Man Cake Aunt Mandi brought the needless games of skeet ball and watching the kids playing and dancing on the stage. Come to find out Riley has secretly been practicing Michael Jackson break dancing moves. Who Knew? Happy Birthday you two. We love you lots!

Week 10! We made it!!!

We had our 10 week Dr Appointment yesterday with the fabulous Dr Judd and his amazing staff. I don't know what it is about knowing you are pregnant but having it actually fully sink in when you see that little peanut on the monitor and hear the heart beat. Is there any sound in the world that is cooler than that? Everything looks great. We are right on the money as far as the due date is concerned and since I will have a C-Section they will take her as early as November 15Th. Now I know I said 'Her" and although we don't know for sure that's what this little nugget is yet I have a feeling that our dear friend Raegan who passed away right around the time I got pregnant has sent us another Raegan to bless this earth with. So anyhow we are all so happy and excited to share this news with all of you. Thank you for all the well wishes and love and support we have received from all our friends and family.

XOXOXOXO
Ames

WHAT???

We just wanted to share our exciting news. We were going to wait until after my first DR appointment, but I guess good new travels fast. I am Pregnant and due November 22. We have been trying for quite some time now, and it is amazing to see how God has been working in my life since I got let go at the bank. Something that seemed like the end of the world has brought our family a plethora of blessings. Gods will for me is Perfect Happiness and I am seeing it more and more every day!!

Love you all
Ames

Sleepover's are fun.

Friday night we had my two darling nieces Sadie, and Kinley for an overnight adventure so Justin and Mandi could spend an evening away at the Anniversary Inn.
We have had Sadie sleep over before and it was fun. The kids had a great time and this evening was was no exception other than the slight drama we had in the middle of the night.
The beginning of the evening was pretty uneventful. We took the kids to McDonald's for dinner for a Happy meal. Kinley who is only one, ate more than Riley and Sadie put together I think. She was stealing chicken Nuggets from Mat, Sadie and Riley. We watcher the Little Mermaid 2 and Enchanted and all evening Sadie wanted to Play Ni Hao Kai-Lan and Vegas. We played Zingo (thanks Lacy) and Kinley chased the two older kids around all night long.
About 10:00 we tried to put Kinley to bed. We set up our playpen in Riley's room and she was none to happy about being laid down, mostly because we forgot that she sleeps with a Binky. Finally after about 10 minutes of screaming until she was blue in the face I remembered that she has a Binky so after we got that problem solved she went to bed with no fuss
Mat thought it would be fun to set up a tent in the living room for Sadie and Riley. They both got new sleeping bags for Christmas, so we set up their beds and they went to bed around 11:00. Mat Slept downstairs with the kids and I slept upstairs so I could hear Kinely if she woke up.
Around 1:00 in the morning Mat comes barreling into the bedroom and tells me he needs my help now. Apparently Sadie had thrown up all over in the tent and she didn't even wake up. Now everyone knows Mat is a sympathy puker so guess who gets puke clean up duty...yep me. There was throw-up everywhere. All over the sleeping bags the pillows, a cute white bear Sadie had brought with her, her pajamas. It was sad.
So we are trying to wake the kids up to get them out of the tent, Mat is all but dry heaving, and I am wondering what in the heck I am going to do with all this stuff to get it washed. We get Sadie out of her night gown and I run upstairs to my bedroom to find a tee shirt or something for Sadie to sleep in, and what do I do? Step on my poor dog who in turn bites me and leaves a nice bloody gaping hole in the top of my foot.
The throw up is still all over the place downstairs so I find a shirt go down and get Sadie changed who is still half asleep Riley has still never waken up, which is also a good thing because he too is a sympathy puker. So after getting all said puke cleaned out of the tent and it all Lysoled and cleaned up and chucked in the garage by Mat for airing out I get everything in the wash that I could fit in there. I was exhausted, and my foot hurt like HELL!!! (and it still does)
So we clean my foot and go to bed. Riley never woke up, Kinley never woke up and I think Sadie sleep walked through the whole thing.
Justin was nice enough to take the kids sleeping bags to the launder mat and get them washed. They all woke up around 8:00 and you would have never known anything had happened. And to answer Justin and Mandi's question. Yes we will let the girls sleep oer again. Whats a little puke among family right....Until our next super adventure....
Later Dudes.