Constipated

This morning while Emma was struggling to get her coat on to go to school I hear her,"Grr, argh," and then some more whining because she couldn't get her zipper just right.

Sammy is in the other room and responds, "Emma, are you CONSIPATED?"

Happy Birthday Sammy!

And so we celebrated the third birthday of little Sam with dairy-free, egg-free, orange number 3 cake! It was actually delicious...

Lost in the forest

Bathing with baby brother

maybe it's time for separate bath times...

Emma and Sam usually bathe together at night. Emma recently learned how to swim underwater in her pre-school and practices this skill in the bath. The other night she is practicing her underwater swimming, pops up and says:

"mom, get me my goggles, I need to see sammy's heine better from under the water."

Trick or treat!

The verizonman

So we had the verizon man out to the house this morning to get the FIOS working in Yoly's room and Emma saw his truck and said,

"Who's truck is that?"
I said, "The verizonman"
"Is he the one that pulls a hose out of his truck and sprays water on the house in case of an emergency?"
Me, "No, that's the fireman"

verizonman, fireman..it's all the same

Welcome Yoly!!!

A new phase in our lives I'd like to call "after the au pair"...

So we decided that we needed an extra set of hands all the time and an occasional babysitter, that we still would be home with the kids for the most part. After a lengthy process we welcomed Yoly into our home last week. She is 24 years old, the oldest of 5 children, studying language in Columbia and wanting a new experience and to sharpen her English. She is perfect for us! Wonderful and sweet with the kids, in love with the baby, honest and respectful and really a pleasure to have in our home. We have invited her to become part of our family for a year to ease the burden a bit (she helps with daily chores, kids meals/laundry/lunch packing) and to help us enjoy the chaos of these young years. She holds the baby and bathes him, while I take Emma and Sam to the food store, she plays with Emma and Sam outside while I make dinner and take care of Logan. It is an amazing experience, both culturally and personally. I am starting to think in Spanish and I think her English has significantly improved.

Some of the few funny comments so far from the kids:

Emma: "yoly, how do you say brother in chinese?"

At the food store, I had emma and sam in one cart and Yoly had Logan in the other and we were looking for her. Emma asked a stranger, "Have you seen our Yoly?" The woman, "What's a Yoly?"

Sweet and Sassy Sammy

Cute comments

Emma and Sam were playing on the back porch and I hear this:

Emma: "Buddy, if you don't listen and don't behave, you're gonna go live with nana and papa!"




Our neighbors have a son emma's age that she loves to play with, and I was talking about him the other day with her. "Emma, someday would you like to marry brendan?"

Emma: "MOM-MY, first I need a ring"




We were eating dinner last night and I gave them spaghetti. Sam pushed his plate away and said, "I not eat anymore getti because my belly button is too full."

Fun in the front yard!

Sam's talking!

So Sammy has recently become quite verbal and it is so amusing to finally hear what has been going on in his little head. Yesterday we were in the front yard eating ice pops and I had finished mine and threw the stick in the garbage pail. Sam was standing right in front of me just staring up at me looking quite perplexed, apparently he didn't see me throw my stick away b/c after a few minutes he said, "MOM, you eat your stick?"

Thoughts from Emma

Today we were sitting on the back porch and emma seemed grumpy:

me "What's the matter?"

Emma: "I'm bored with summer - I can't go swimming because the pool is too cold, I can't play soccer because the grass is too long, I can't catch butterflies because I don't have a net, I can't run fast because my legs are too short, I can't hit a ball because sammy is always in my way...hmm..I think winter must be better."

I think she may be a glass is half empty kind of girl!

Taylor Family Reunion

new pictures

We took the kids to Great Wolfe Lodge for one night. Emma had a great time. I can't say it was exactly fun. Piece of advice, don't take 3 small children who can't swim and one that can't walk to a waterpark...

On picking noses...

I asked sam what he was doing with his finger up his nose and he said:

"I putting my boogie back in there, it fell out."

Hmm...reverse nose picking.

Logan!

Breastfeeding babies!

So I decided to combine all the posts that would require the use of the word "boobie" as to not offend more than once. As you can imagine nursing an infant in front of a 4 and 2 year old would come with it's fair share of amusing comments. Here are some of them (please forgive me if this offends you, but hopefully you'll laugh as much as we did):

Emma (noticing wet spots on my shirt) "Mommy, your boobies are melting."

Sam: "You feed that baby Logan boobie?"

Emma: "Mommy, your boobies make milk for Logan and mine make apple juice."

Daddy daycare

One advantage to working is that ben gets a lot of quality time with the kids. While I can't always say he does things the way I would do them, he gets them done! I usually come home to a new invention involving a way to occupy one or more of the kids...note above the "chase the robot vacuum" game going on in the kitchen and the "baby beanie" as I call it.

Smothered with love

I keep thinking it is a good thing Logan is big b/c the other two can't keep their hands off of him! Sam at least asks me, this is what I hear all day long...

"I kiss that baby Logan?"

"I bite that baby logan's feet?"

"I hit that baby Logan with my juice cup?"

"I feed that baby bacon?"

Big Baby!!

The top baby is Emma at about 2 months getting a bath, then Sammy at 2 months, then you see big chubby Logan getting his bath!! I had to post some old pictures of my other 2 at his age, they were so tiny. Logan weighs over 10 lbs right now and Emma was 10 lbs at 6 months. I can't get over it.