a day in the life

Ten quick letters

1. Dear Charlie,
I promise to finish your letter that I started two weeks ago. Soon. And maybe take some pictures of you. Sorry about that kid.

2. Dear Poor neglected blog,
I am so sorry for all the drafts lately. I know you are bored with me.

3. Dear Juliette,
You are so stinking cute I can hardly stand it.

4. Dear Mother nature,
I really wanted to have a moving sale today, but you rained it out. Could you please be pleasant next weekend?

5. Dear B,
(as sung to the Spiderman theme song)
Super B, Super B
On the go now, Super B
Has two sisters M and G
Where'd she go now Super B
Look out!
Here comes the Super B

6. Dear Charlie,
I am ok that you are a tiny little peanut, but could you please stop losing weight? That would be great and make your Mama much happier.

7. Dear Lily,
Since when did you turn into a 35 year old? Just wondering.

8. Dear Craft room,
Please stop overwhelming me with your over flowing stuff. I am trying to organize you but instead I seem to turn around scratching my head at a loss for what to do next.

9. Dear Katherine,
You know that purple office chair you had in High School? Well it finally bit the dust. And I am STILL using it. Broken leg and all.

10. Dear Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert,
Thanks for some much needed laughter this week. You boys are hilarious.

love, Marie/Mama

Ten on Tuesday er Wednesday

1. I am still here. Really. We have just been really, really busy around here.
2. Last week in a TORRENTIAL downpour, our basement flooded. The only thing I could think is "THERE'S A HOLE IN MY BUCKET! THERE'S A HOLE IN MY BUCKET!"
3. It was the same day that we got our first offer on the house (a really, really bad, ridiculously low offer.)
4. We countered and they accepted. So it looks like we are one step closer to leaving. Again.
5. Enough about that, I did have a FAB.U.LOUS. day on Monday because I did this with SUSIE! (and Katy and Missy)
6. Tomorrow is Lily's birthday. THREE YEARS OLD. I don't think I am quite ready for that reality. More on that tomorrow.
7. I got a haircut today...bangs. We shall see if they were a good idea or not.
8. I just accidentally typed idear. For the record I do not say idear.
9. Lily talked to her Aunt KaFFrine on the phone today about the fact she is going to be FREE tomorrow. Is this a stage or is this something else she may have to have speech therapy for? (She also has a minor tongue thrust so she will already be going)
10. While we were hanging out at Katy's house Missy and I had the babies on blankets on the floor. Charlie slowly but surely made his way on to his friend's blanket. Uh oh. (you can see Charlie's blanket behind him...that kid can travel if he wants too)

26:39 and other important numbers

1. 3 months. 2. 1,000,000,000 reasons why this photo is SO inappropriate. This is Charlie posing while on our yearly wine tour with my church choir.
3. 1985. Lily recently stayed at Nonnie & Bapa's house while we went to New York. Bj asked if we should bring over some toys. I said "No, my mom got some out of the basement." Bj said "Oh so she went shopping in 1985 again?" We even still have the ORIGINAL box. And yes, she is an Ebay dream...
4. 26 minutes, 39 seconds or the time it took me to walk my very first 3k race.  5. 123 decibels X 30 fire engines. Yes, that is actually very loud and always starts our parade, so Charlie and I were hiding in the back to get away from the sound. And yes, I realize how dark this photo is. Oh well...I still love it. 6. 6 men who make me teary every year.  
7. 3. The number of showings we thought we had in the past two days.
8. 2. The number of showings we actually had as ANOTHER Realtor canceled without telling us...during naptime. THANKS.
9. 2. The number of times Charlie turned over yesterday. YEA!
10. 5. The number of days ago I started this post...sigh.

Ten on Tuesday

1. Lily now says all the time "Would I like some raisins? Would I like to read a book?" I don't know honey, would you like to read a book? I think it is so much cute than "Gimme somethin' Mama." Ok she said that today too...
2. Lily also asked about 150 times today if it was peanut butter jelly time. That's what happens when you wake up at 6:30am child. You have to wait a really, really long time for lunch.
3. I had a pretty unbelievably fun Memorial Day weekend. We went to the zoo, we made a homemade pizza and watched Curious George, I went to a MOVIE (yea for Harrison Ford,) I had some chai, did a photo shoot, saw my dear friend Jodi, went to a parade, had a cook out with my parents, and had TWO naps. Needless to say I got zero scrapping done this weekend.
4. We also had a little fun in the backyard. 5. Lily also had a blast throwing around this frisbee (E did you leave this or was this M&D's?) Doesn't it look like she is checking to see if it is made in China? And yes, I am aware of how badly she needs a haircut...
6. I am really getting tired of living in limbo. We still haven't sold the house and it is getting OLD.
7. Homemade mac & cheese is even yummier when you add some cream cheese to the recipe. Hey I had it laying around so I thought why not...diet scmiet.
8. I reorganized my kitchen for about the 200 time today. There is just no space (I mean it's wonderful! You will love the kitchen if you buy our house!!!!) Today I created a shelf for all of Lily's art supplies and some of her millions of puzzles.
9. Charlie may be a peanut, but he is one strong baby. He can already sit in his bumbo chair for short periods of time. He is looking at his sister in this shot. She was acting pretty silly. And yes, Grandpa is his hero :)
10. I walked to Missy's house today. Yes it is close, but it is a whole lot farther than I thought. I really need to get moving if I am going to be able to do this 4K on the 4th of July!
 

A beautiful day at the park...and more

Yesterday we got together with some old friends for a day at the park. Something tells me there is a layout coming of this outing. I don't know if it was the static on the slide or  the velocity of which Lily was going down the slide, but she really wasn't going that fast...
Lily has officially graduated to the big kid swing which I must say causes not just a little fear and dread for her Mama. Especially since moments before this photo she managed to jump or fall off (not quite sure which) and land perfectly on her feet. She turned around as if to say "What? I totally meant to do that." as our friend Ben and I stood with mouths wide open. After some swing set time we all walked over to the pond to look at the ducks. Missy and I were walking behind and immediately started snapping pictures of this cute photo op. The girls and their daddies. Just priceless.Ok, ok, we maybe switched them around so the girls were holding hands too (instead of making the daddies hold hands ;) but for the most part it is not staged.

Poor Charlie did not get a single picture taken of him as he was strapped to me in the Bjorn, so here are some more from our photoshoot the other day. photo by Bj Taylor (and yes, I know-he is getting good!!)I love my little family.

One month old

Somehow, without our permission, Charlie turned one month old. I must say that this time (at least after I felt a little better) flew by. It was different this time as we could just bask in his loveliness instead of, well, freaking out about this new person we had to take care of. It has been so much fun getting to know him, getting to know Lily as a big sister, and adjusting to our new family of four.

Charlie is definitely a sweet, sweet baby. Such a good sleeper (well, most of the time,) and when he is awake, he is AWAKE! ALERT! ALIVE! ENTHUSIASTIC! And yes, I know I have said it before, but GOSH those sneeze noises about melt my heart. Seriously. So cute. He also has some pretty cute grunting and snicker noises like his sister, but he also has the added squeaks that sound pretty much like a baby elephant. The hair on his ears still hasn't gone away, but (shhh, neither has poor Lily's back hair) I'm sure there is time for that...or a personal groomer in his future. Here he is perfecting his party trick that will sure to impress in a few years

I am happy to report that Lily is absolutely enamored with her brother and is such a good helper. She is totally happy to put his binky back in for him, play peek-a-boo, get the boppy for Mama, or point out that the burp cloth Mama couldn't find was actually on Mama's shoulder.

And another trick to get photos of Lily? Simply HAVE A BABY AND TRY TO TAKE PICTURES OF HIM. If only I would have known that sooner. I would have...known that sooner.

Three weeks ago today

I can't believe it has only been three weeks.

Before we get too far, I wanted to share a little homecoming recap. Complete with pictures :)

Although I had just had major surgery and I have to walk up FIVE steps to get into my house, I had my camera around my neck ready for the picture taking opportunities.

Lily opened the door, warily as she had not seen her Mama and Daddy much in the last few days and hadn't even met her...brother. Charlie was waiting rather impatiently to meet his sister, or get out of this darn carseat. Some of the things Lily said during this first meeting were..."Is that my brother Charlie, Mama? Is that my brother Charlie, Daddy?" "It's my brother Charlie!" "He's a cute little baby!" and  "He's got feet!""Baby says wha! wha! wha!" and  "He's got a bottom!""He has a fuzzy head, Daddy!"Ok. Enough of this baby brother stuff. I am going to wear the boppy on my head now.

Introducing Charles Oscar Taylor

As many of you may have heard, Charlie is here :)
Charles Oscar Taylor
born March 26, 2008 12:14 pm
7 pounds 13 ounces, 19 inches long and absolutely, completely adorable.

picture by Heather Taylor I will be back soon to show more pictures-poor kid has already had to endure multiple photo shoots :) Thanks so much for all your thoughts dear internet family. You are truly wonderful.