The kids and I are busy enjoying a WHOLE week with Dan home from work so I’m not taking time to write much of a post. But I will give you a small glimpse of our Christmas vacation up North, and a funny one at that.
The “kids” spent some time using Mom and Dad Taylor’s Wii, and we even convinced Dan and Bob to a “Just Dance” brother face-off. Bob, as the more experienced video gamer was dominating and then…
This.
(Wait for it).
Well, my friends, it is finally that time. The time of year for your favorite blog post and mine. The blog post written by yours truly, Mr. Christmas Moose. (in case you are new to our family’s Christmas letter, you may read my short bio here).
It has been a sweet, happy, wonderful, and always eventful year in the Taylor home. We started the year trying to lie low and take it easy, as Justine was pregnant with Baby #3 and everyone was urging him to stay put for a few more months. Fur Rondy came and went and I was packed away in my hibernation box along with the stockings and ornaments. I was so excited to meet the new little Taylor that I had a hard time falling asleep! But fall asleep, I did, until just a few weeks ago when I woke up to meet the adorable Little Man.
Paul Moose…er…I mean…Kerry Taylor was born on March 16. You can read all about that here. He was quite the Little Man from birth and has stollen everybody’s hearts, but especially the Mommy’s as she still frequently cuddles him close singing her Little Man song.
Paul, aka, Little Man, Big Guy, and the Rascal of the house, has already surpased his sisters in: number of days in Mommy’s belly, size at birth, age to crawl and sit up, and number of times helping Dad fix the boiler. Looks like he might have picked up on some of that Taylor competitive spirit.
In April, the Taylor family said a sad goodbye to Dan’s Grampa Dexter as he passed away and is now in heaven with Jesus. Of course, they are thinking of and missing him extra this Christmas season.
Spring was a whirlwind taking care of the new baby, but soon summer arrived and with it, Lydia (or Lidnacious, Lydster, or Munchkin Number One) turned four.
She memorialized her fifth year as a human by swallowing a nail during one of the Taylor’s trips up North and spending the entire afternoon in the Emergency Room. I don’t really blame her as she’s just a little tyke still and even Moose Calves have been known to eat strange things.
It doesn’t take many weeks out of your hibernation box to realize that Lydia is a fireball. She loves glitter and dresses, dancing and wrestling (with Daddy), giggling and laughing and singing. She never stops talking until the moment she’s asleep, unless you cave in and read her a book. But even then she’ll interupt with fifteen million questions and comments. She’s quirky and energetic and loves to snuggle with a passion that cannot be satisfied. Ya gotta love the kid!
OH! And I almost forgot, but the Biggest Kiddo is learning. She knows all the letters of the alphabet now (if you round up) and will soon be learning to read. Soon she’ll be writing her own blog posts at the rate she’s going! Here’s a sampling of her handiwork:
This summer the Taylors took their first real family vacation up North. It’s beautiful up there…the water, the forests, the trees, the perfect Moose homes…but I’m digressing. They loved their vacation and proved to the world that Abby is indeed the second child by spoiling her with treats Lydia wasn’t allowed to touch until…well…this year.
The family time was priceless. But, no, they didn’t take Christmas Moose. (I know you were all wondering) They didn’t even say goodbye. Sometimes I think they might forget I’m in there (in my box under the stairs, visitors are welcome). Ah well, maybe next year. Anyway, vacation:
Dan and Justine celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary this year, and I must say, they must love each other more than ever because there have probably been more date nights this year than the previous four combined. Not that anyone is counting (I think Justine might be).
Dan started a new job as a quality engineer this summer and the family has made quite the transition to switch to his early mornings. But they love having him home earlier in the afternoons too. There was plenty of baseball this year (not enough, according to the Men in the house), plenty of home repair (far too much, according to the Men in the house), and lots of time wrestling and running around outside. As for Justine, well, she’s always on the verge of being overwhelmed by her Munchkins and the Rascal, but she wouldn’t trade it for the world. Dan keeps her in check as far as her priorities (spend more time with the Moose), doing too much (but please, do dust the fireplace mantel where the Moose sits!), and getting plenty of fresh air (feel free to bring the Moose along).
As summer ended, Abby (Abigus, Abster, and Munchkin Number Two, sometimes also referred to as Goobmaster for her ability to maintain a runny nose for WEEKS on end) turned two.
Abby is the epitome of sweetness and a child of extremes. She is either the happiest kid on earth, madder than you would believe, passed-out-exhausted, or sicker than a dog. But mostly she is just sweeter than sugar with plenty of hugs and kisses to share.
Fall sure seemed short this year for the Taylors, just chugging along at their respective tasks. Before anyone knew what hit them, it was time for Gobbles (my friend, the ceramic Turkey) to go back in his box and me to come out of mine. Since that celebratory day, the lights have been strung and Christmas carols play daily. This year Justine even attempted Christmas cookies, failed her third attempt to healthify her favorite toffee bars, and roasted chestnuts in the oven. Talk about festive.
We are in full swing of celebrating the birth of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. So, on behalf of the Taylors, I would like to wish you a blessed Christmas. May you know more of the love and grace of God in the year to come.
Sincerely,
C. Moose.
PS – If you want to stop by for a visit, I’ll be out until Fur Rondy. And if you’re in the area, you should check it out! I hear there’s a little Taylor Rascal who just may be making an appearance.
Three quarters of a year, already! Paul is getting so big, so fast. During the past month he hit half a billion milestones and is cuter than ever.
We can start off with the one area where our Little Man is not winning our hearts: his sleep habits. Getting up three times a night is usual, four isn’t unheard of, and there’s a rumor that he got up five times in one night (but who can think clearly enough to count THAT high in the middle of the night?). We’re working on this (and someone may be moving out of Mommy and Daddy’s room a little earlier than his sisters). Moving on.
Paul is so cute. And he’s doing new things. All in the same week, he started sitting up, army crawling, clapping, and babbling. We have definitely heard him say, “baba” and “mama”. Dan claims he has also heard “dada”, but that hasn’t been confirmed. 😉 We just love it when he talks to us. His laugh is contagious. And boy, can he get around! It has conveniently worked out this year that our baby became mobile within a week of our setting up the Christmas tree, so that makes for some exciting times. His sisters do a great job watching him when we ask, playing with him occasionally, and warning us if he tries to pull the tree down or chew the lights.
Paul has started to enjoy his solid foods more this month too. He, for a while, would glue his lips shut when we tried to feed him. We recently figured out that he will eagerly eat up his food as long as he gets to be the one to feed himself. So meal times are a little messier now, but everyone is a little happier. And we aren’t too concerned that most of his food ends up on the floor since he’s still gaining weight like a champ: nineteen pounds exactly at nine months old.
Paul still loves Mom and Dad, but isn’t afraid to go with others either. Mostly he just wants attention and the chance to move around. Even when he’s being held or sitting, his arms never stop waving and his feet never stop wiggling. But my favorite is when Dan has him in the other room at Bible study, church, or even at home and Paul starts to get tired. If I come into his line of vision he’ll stop fussing and watch me, and if I step away he’ll start crying. Then I come back, scoop him up and watch him grin, happy to be back in Mommy’s arms.
Last week our family had a restful and happy Thanksgiving Day. It was so good, I didn’t even think to take pictures, as crazy as that may sound. And, though Thanksgiving has passed for this year, I wanted to share my “thankful” for the year. This is what I shared at our church’s Thanksgiving service, so if you heard me there you can go ahead and return to your Facebook feed. 🙂
A little over two years ago, our second daughter was born. At that time, my doctor told me I would probably never carry a baby past 32 weeks.
The months preceding Abby’s birth and the year following her birth were full of trials. It seemed like one trial after another. We did our best to press on, obey God, and trust Jesus that He was sovereign and using everything for our good and His glory. But it was a struggle. Toward the end of last summer, we found out we were expecting Baby Paul. Because we hadn’t moved into our new house yet (or even put in an offer), and because we were anticipating another 12 weeks in the hospital with a preemie, the news was a little overwhelming. I was praying one day about Baby Paul and felt God saying to my heart, “This is a reward”.
I had stayed up late one night researching possible medical interventions that could help Paul make it further along. That was overwhelming too. Operations, procedures, limitations, bed rest, risks, medicine, hormones…it was all overwhelming and I didn’t know what course we should take. I prayed again and God reminded me of Proverbs 3:5-6
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
So, over the next several months, we did our best to Trust in the Lord, seek His direction in all our decisions with Baby, and acknowledge Him. Right away, many came along side us and began to pray for Baby. There were at least two women from my Bible study who really carried our burden every single day.
From early in the pregnancy Dan and I started praying that Baby would not be born until after our church’s annual Fur Rondy talent show.
He did.
We also started praying that Baby would not be breach. He had been breach through most of the pregnancy. At our 20-week ultrasound he was still breach and it was around that time that I became convinced that he would not flip. Though I asked our Bible study prayer group and my husband to pray that Baby would flip, I eventually resigned myself to the likely possibility of another breach baby, which would mean another c-section baby. I prayed about it one last time and fully surrendered it to God. A couple of nights later, Baby flipped and stayed head down for the rest of the pregnancy.
Baby was not a c-section baby. He was not even early enough for me to be stuck on magnesium or antibiotics. In fact, in answer to many, many prayers, Paul was born completely naturally. All the hospital did was provide ice chips, a birthing ball, and someone to catch Baby. (They even offered to let me do that, but I was a little distracted at the time).
My last big prayer request was that I would be able to hold Baby right when he was born. I didn’t think that was ever going to happen, but I prayed anyway, and asked everyone else to pray too. I didn’t get to hold Lydia until she was one day old. I didn’t get to hold Abby until she was three days old. Words cannot describe how badly I wanted this. The closest I can come is “desire of my heart” (see Psalm 37:4). Words also cannot describe how happy I was the moment the picture below was taken. Or any time I see this picture. I know I’ve shared it before. I will probably share it again. This was one of the happiest moments EVER.
God is so kind.
Paul was born at 35 weeks.
He came home with us from the hospital without spending a single day in the NICU. Our transition to having a baby at home was the easiest we’ve had yet and Paul has continued to be such a content, sweet, cuddly, cute, precious baby boy. He really feels like a reward. 🙂
I am so thankful that God is so kind. That he leads us when we seek Him and He blesses us when we obey.
Paul woke me up early this morning so I tip-toed downstairs with my Bible and had a nice quiet time in front of the fireplace before taking the turkey out to rest. By the time Dan came downstairs, morning prep was almost finished and we enjoyed some nice snuggle time with Lydia before the others got up.
Now the kids are fed and running around to burn off their breakfasts before our big turkey dinner. They’re excited for the turkey (only because we’ve hyped it up so much), the dessert (because every tooth in each of their little mouths is sweet), but mostly for the friends we’ll be seeing today and that Daddy has the day off from work.
We are looking forward to a day together to rejoice and reflect on all that God has done for us in the past year. He has been so kind. Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving Day and the blessings of the Lord on your day, your meal, and your year ahead.
A year and a half ago I started a project that I called “One Year of Thankful”. It was so good. Every day I chose one thing that I was thankful for, and I took a picture. I kept those pictures in an album on my Facebook page and still look through it to remember what went on that year. It was hard to believe when the year ended (on my 27th birthday) and I didn’t “have to” keep taking pictures.
Day 366 I told Dan, “Do you know what I’m thankful for today? I’m thankful that I don’t have to edit or upload any more pictures!”
Yes, the project was great, but the uploading pictures was so time consuming that I couldn’t keep it going.
Well, November hit and suddenly everyone was talking about Thanksgiving. I love hearing what people are thankful for. I love it even more when there are pictures. And, as wonderful as this season is, I don’t want to limit my thanksgiving for this month alone.
Seven months have passed since “One Year of Thankful” ended and some things have changed. Namely, I have a smartphone. I’m so old-school I’ve never even had texting, much less a phone that doesn’t flip or slide open! But I recently discovered a new phone plan that cut my bill in half and with it I got my first smart phone. So I set myself up an Instagram account and I’m taking advantage of my new technology to launch a new thankfulness project, #thankful365. Starting on Thanksgiving Day, I’ll be back to posting my thankful pictures (almost) every day. I’m not committing to every day right now because, well, life happens, and I’m going to go ahead and let life take it’s priority over blog projects. Also, I’m not putting a one-year limit on this one. AND, I’m not necessarily going to try to do this alone.
I’m inviting you to join me. Post what you’re thankful for and give it the #thankful365. I’d have so much fun seeing your pictures too.
So here we go, one more week until Thanksgiving day with all it’s goodies, and one more week before I start another journey of becoming more thankful. Will you join me?
You guys. I feel like I just did an update on Paul. Where does the time go?
Although my last post was late, and this one is early, so I guess it’s my own fault. But still. Where does the time go? How is our baby already 9 months old? That’s three quarters of a year…a whole year. Nevertheless, here is an update on our almost-nine-month-old with several pictures so you can enjoy both his latest antics and his adorable face.
Little man is as cute and cuddly as ever. This month he has shown more of his personality and insisted on snuggling with his Mommy every night at 3 in the morning. We’re working on that.
Paul likes broccoli and peas. Sweet potato and avocado are alright. Sweet corn is not his thing and he all but refuses to eat oatmeal. I’m sure he’ll grow into it, I mean, who doesn’t like corn? And you cannot survive in this family if you won’t eat oatmeal. 🙂 He’s not the biggest fan of solid foods yet, but we’re easing him into them with tiny hopes that they might just help him sleep better at night.
After getting up several times each night for several nights in a row, I finally admitted that this wasn’t just a six-month-growth-spurt. A couple of nights ago I decided to just hold Paul instead of feeding him. In just two days he’s down to getting up twice a night: once to eat and once to snuggle. And, speaking of snuggling, Paul loves to snuggle with Mommy. Often he enjoys being held by anyone, but sometimes he just wants me (yay!). He also likes it when I sing to him. I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this yet. When Paul is sleepy and grumpy in the evenings, he’ll fuss and cry and stop instantly if I start singing “Jesus Loves Me” to him. He goes into a daze and starts sucking on the middle and ring fingers of his left hand. If I switch into “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands”, Paul will resume fussing, but “Jesus Loves the Little Children” keeps the daze going.
Paul doesn’t like noise. Yelling, large groups of people singing together in a small space, and sharp rebukes to misbehaving toddlers will bring tears to his eyes and cause him to stick out his lower lip. One Sunday Paul spent an entire church baseball game snuggled in the arms of one of the ladies from church. Just once she cheered for someone on the field and he started crying. He likes quiet and peace. He also doesn’t like being cold. Normally he’s a smiley guy but put him in a coat in the stroller these days and he’s super serious. Bring him in, take off the coat, and set him down, and he’s back to his smiley self.
Paul likes books. A few days ago we accidentally left Lydia’s “F” flashcard on the floor and when I found it later it was in shreds. The next day we forgot to pick up the library books and found a quarter of a page gone and the rest of the book covered in drool. We’re learning to be more careful about leaving paper on the floor, but we’re happy that Paul already has an appetite for reading. 😉
Paul is up to 18 pounds now (probably more, we need to weight him again). He’s getting stronger, but still not sitting up or crawling. He rolls, pivots, and can make it from one side of the living room to the other if there’s something tempting enough. His favorite items to maneuver toward (besides books) are shoes, blankets, and articles of clothing. His favorite real toys are his tiny stuffed elephant with polka dots, and the red animal that we’ve named “The Monkow” because it seems to have the head of a monkey and the body of a cow.
Paul is the perfect age for Thanksgiving and Christmas and we cannot wait for him to meet the Christmas Moose in just a few weeks.
Lydia is getting old enough now to have discussions with us. We had one recently at breakfast about “treats”. She has come to associate treats with dessert and I was trying to explain to her that a treat doesn’t have to be a small, sweet, edible snack.
A treat is anything that you enjoy, that you don’t get very often.
We listed some examples of treats and went on with our day. Since it’s November, I thought the conversation was pretty fitting. It’s fun to focus and watch other people focus on things for which we are thankful.
Of course, one of the things I’m grateful for, well three of the things that I’m thankful for are my kids. Today for your own little treat, I’m going to share some of the cute things the girls have been saying.
Abby doesn’t say much yet. At least, not enough to get a quote from. But she does have one quoteable moment from the past week. After breakfast we were having our daily “Bible time”. I asked the girls, as I always do, what they were thankful for that day. Lydia has a handful of items she often repeats: bubbles, bread, seeing friends, and Grandma. Abby always says the same thing: Pizza (which sounds more like “Pita”). But one morning Abby surprised me with a new one, “Anju”. I asked her if she meant her friend from church and she nodded.
“Aww, Abby, that’s so sweet”. And she added “and Jesus.”
Now that it’s harder to sneak treats without sharing with Lydia, our family has learned that she also has inherited our sweet tooth. One night when we had finished dinner and were getting ready for Bible study, Lydia informed us that she wanted a “sweet treat” and when she didn’t think we had understood her, she insisted she wanted “a little somethin’ somethin’.”
After our vacation last month, we had some leftover apple cider sitting in our fridge. Lydia consistently asked for some hot cider every single day. One evening when it looked like she wasn’t going to get any she walked up to Dan, who was sitting in the living room. She very gently put her hand on his arm, lay her head on his shoulder and looked up at him with the biggest eyes imaginable as she cooed, “I love you Daddy…” She probably did get some hot apple cider that night.
Several weeks ago I was sitting in the living room. Lydia was on the floor playing with a doll when she looked up at me and asked, “Mom, did God, like, put glue on my head and put my hair on?”
The other day I was having a comical conversation with Lydia trying to ask her to do something and she was not following. “Lydia,” I insisted, “use your brain.” She responded cheerfully, “Ok, but I don’t know where my brain is.”
Daily Bread. It’s a phrase I’ve heard so many times that I hardly think about it anymore. However, yesterday as I was reading to the girls, I was struck anew with an ancient truth.
So there we were, sitting around the breakfast table, when I pulled out the giant story Bible we’ve been reading. The title of the story for the day was “Manna from Heaven”. In case you don’t know, or don’t remember the story, you can look it up in Exodus 16. God’s people are wandering in the wilderness and they’re hungry. They complain and God gives Moses the plan for what’s to happen next. He sends bread from heaven with the morning dew. Each day the people are supposed to collect enough food for the day, no more and no less. The next day God sends the bread again. And again. On the sixth day, the people are told to gather twice as much as they need for one day, because the next day is a day of rest and there won’t be any new manna. Some people do as they are told, but some don’t trust God. They gather more than enough manna (or they gather just enough but don’t eat it all) and they save some for the next day. In the morning it stinks and it’s full of worms. Then Day Six rolls around and, again, some of the people do as they are supposed to and others disobey and only collect enough for one day. The seventh day comes and those who didn’t collect extra just don’t have any food. The ones who saved their extra overnight wake up to find it not stinking and not full of worms this time. When I read this story I often wonder if it’s the same people who disobey God in each incident or if it’s different people – the ones who don’t trust God to provide again, the ones who don’t trust God to keep His word, or maybe some who are just bad at listening to directions.
God still provides for His people. Sometimes it’s money. He provides enough for everything He wants us to have, no more, no less. When Dan was in school we didn’t have a lot of money. We lived on what we had and God took care of us. When He got his first “real” job, we were so excited about the huge increase in our income. Then we had to move out of cheap, subsidized, campus housing and into a condo in Ann Arbor. That hurt the freshly filled bank account. Then came medical bills with our second baby. That hurt too. For a while I was a little down about that.
“Just when we start making a little more, then all these bills come in and it’s all gone.”
But God showed me differently. He had provided two days worth of manna for the time when we would need it. “Just before the bills came in, God gave us more so that we would be able to pay them.”
It has happened again and again in our lives, and not just with money. Sometimes it’s other material things. Sometimes it’s feeling God’s presence or getting time alone with Dan or having some peace in our home before something crazy happens. No matter what, He just wants us to trust that He will provide what we need, when we need it, but no more and no less. And, at least in my experience, He tends to provide in such a way and in such timing that keep me dependent on Him.
If God is truly the God of our lives, our time, our bodies, and our bank accounts, it’s also important that we ask Him how to be spending these things.
A couple of months ago Paul was about to run out of clothes. He was getting bigger and we just didn’t have any bigger boy clothes. Most of our baby clothes (we have half a room full right now!) are pink and purple with bows and ruffles. We could have run straight to the store and picked out some really cute baseball-themed pajamas, but one of us had the idea to pray and ask God first. So we did, We prayed something like, “God, our money is yours. If you want us to go buy clothes for Paul we are happy to do so, but if you want us to use this money for something else, please provide the clothing he needs”. Then we waited.
A couple of weeks later we took a trip up North. Dan’s mom surprised us with a dozen like-new garage sale outfits for Paul, in the right sizes. My mom surprised me with a trip to Kohl’s and treated the kids and me to a new outfit each. On our way home, one of our dear friends handed over two diaper boxes full of little boy clothes. The picture up above is of Paul on our walk this morning, decked out entirely in clothing that was given to us by a family from church, my mom, Dan’s mom, and one of our friends.
I used to think that God only provided for people who didn’t have enough. I thought that anyone who had a large enough income was already provided for by their job, that they should thank God for their job and budget away. I have recently been realizing that there is far greater blessing in asking God how we should use our resources and then being obedient. Then He will provide the manna we need for one day, or two days, but no more and no less.
In the midst of our vacation and other end-of-summer activities (and trying to keep up with my three busy little Munchkins) I missed Paul’s 6-month update.
But that is most certainly not because we were failing to enjoy Paul’s sixth month! Little Man is getting close to sitting up (already?!?) and can push himself up higher and higher with those arms. The most fun part of this month, though, was that Paul started learning to express his opinion.
One evening, I was sitting on the floor holding Paul in my lap and playing with a couple of baby toys. He’s learning to grab and he would reach out and try to get his fingers around the toys as I moved them around. Suddenly he started crying a little and I realized that I had set down one of the toys which he obviously preferred. It’s so fun to see him pick his favorites now and let his voice be heard. He especially likes things that crinkle and grabbing people’s feet.
I had gotten into the habit of letting Paul play in his exersaucer (we just call it the Standing Toy around here) during lunch. One day, without really thinking about it, I put him in his Bouncy Seat (it’s actually a rocking infant seat but we still call it the bouncy seat…even though it doesn’t bounce) and, to my surprise, he started crying. I was puzzled at first, but then wondered, “he couldn’t possibly want to be in his Standing Toy, could he?” Yes, he could. As soon as I moved him he smiled away and started playing. I guess you just don’t mess with the Big Guy’s routine.
Paul is a little night-owl and, sadly, has started waking up during the nights again. It’s usually just once or twice, and we’re all surviving for now. He also doesn’t like to go to bed at night. Most evenings I’ll tuck him in and he’ll go to sleep only to wake up half an hour later. Dan will run upstairs to get him and come down with Paul, wide awake and smiling. He just loves to party with Mom and Dad after the girls go to bed. Some nights we find ourselves, tired and ready for bed, sitting up with a perky baby waiting and waiting for him to get sleepy enough to finally call it a night.
Oh, and for the record, Paul came in at 16 pounds and 3 ounces at six months old. Big Guy.
By month seven, Paul was up to 17 pounds and 12 ounces (gotta keep these weights on here for the Baby book!). He’s huge. Also, he made this the most monumental month by far with two major achievements: first solid food and first two teeth!
Paul loves to eat. What he really wants is bacon, or at least a burger, but we haven’t introduced those just yet. 😉 Avocado and peas don’t quite do it for him, but he still slurps them down as well as a new eater can. He never looks particularly interested in the food at hand until we stop feeding it to him, then he whimpers like a puppy and pulls the bowl, our arm, the spoon, or anything else he can reach, toward his face. He will be a much more content little boy when he can figure out how to properly chew and swallow, or maybe more importantly, use his own fingers to put the food in his mouth.
Also, Paul got his first two teeth. He drools like a faucet and has for several weeks. We even invested in some better waterproof bibs that snap on so he can keep them on to catch all that drool anywhere we go. He loves to chew and suck, and so far teething hasn’t been a problem in any way (other than the endless drool).
He’s sticking to his easy-baby reputation in the second half of his first year. Our only complaint is that it’s going by too fast. Many evenings I think or even tell Paul that I just want to hold him while he sleeps a few more times before he really gets squirmy. So far he’s been agreeable, often falling asleep in my arms at church or Bible study. So I snuggle him while I can and enjoy the not-quite-toothless grin whenever he is awake, even if it is late at night when we should really all be sleeping.
