The New Normal

We are finally done. Done moving and vacationing. Done with the holidays. And finally back into normal. Jason had his first real day of work at Cooper Norman today - and, of course, he loved it! He is in his element when he starts doing all things accounting and it was nice that, after he came home from a long day of work, he was happy and fulfilled.

Today was also Kenzie's first day at her new preschool. I worried that she would be nervous or scared, but the girl always surprises me. She never acts the way that I think she will. She walked in holding my hand, shy for the first few minutes, and then saw the play house and ran off with out a second thought. I had to dig her out of the play house just to get her to give me a kiss good bye. She, of course, rolled her eyes and said "Bye Mom. You can go now." I felt loved.

We spent the rest of the day cleaning, organizing and just plain settling into our new life. The kids are monumentally grumpy. Their sleeping is off and the adjustment is a real pain. Hopefully, as we roll back into our usual routine they will start sleeping better again.

Kenzie is per usual 4 going on 16. She got settled into her new CTR 4 class and made a new friend, which was very exciting. She spells Mom, Dad, Cat and Dog now. She knows all her letters and is constantly pointing them out to me. She is so sweet with her siblings. She completely mothers them and packs them around for all the games, which is quite the feat since she's pretty petite.

Haylie has discovered fashion. She has a jacket that she requires that she wears 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. She'll take it off for a few moments, like to get in the tub or to change to her PJs. But as soon as she possibly can she'll drag the jacket over to me and screech until I put it back on her. She also goes through her dresser drawers and finds items that she likes and requires that these be included in all her outfits. It's the funniest thing to watch this little 15 month old girl take control of what she wears.

Jase is talking like crazy! He adds several new words to his vocabulary daily. He will scream out "Oh Toodles" with Mickey on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, his favorite show. He loves the Hot Dog song and dance and regularly through the day I'll hear him say "Hot Dog!" and do a little dance whenever he's happy. The other day he was in the hall and I called for him to come to me in the living room for a diaper change and I heard his reply, "Hold On!"

Both babies are picking up quite the vocab. They are also really good at doing all the motions to the song "Happy and You Know it" and can both say "hurray!" We also started doing 'Ring around the Rosies' and I noticed they were both yelling along with  "Ashes! Ashes!" In fact, when they want to play the game, they'll run up to me saying "Ashes! Ashes!" 

Back again...

Wow, it has been a really long time. I won't even attempt to catch up since its literally been three years. But...I was thinking that I should start blogging again, just in the hope that I could keep something of a journal for the sake of my children. So here goes... Jason: Jason is in the last year of his business degree. He's double majoring in accounting and finance while working at Mr. Mower part time, tutoring and volunteering for vita doing taxes for low income families for free. Ya, he's pretty busy, but he still makes time to regularly play Legos, star wars and princesses with Kenzie. Kenzie: Yep, that's what we call our little Mac now...Kenzie. She doesn't really even acknowledge that her name is Mackenzie. She's just Kenzie Taylor, but the name fits her so well I don't mind a bit. Kenzie is now 3 1/2 years old. She is soon much fun. I'm really loving this stage. She talks, no chatters, at a constant rate and she says the cutest and funniest things. She constantly makes me laugh. The other day she walked up to me and told me that bigger is better. Haha we think she picked it up from an AT&T commercial. Aunt Sara came over tonight and played with her for a while and before she left Kenzie told us that Sara is super fun, she wanted to play with her for her whole life and Sara needed to spend the night. Haha it was so cute. She talks really well, especially for her age. But she has trouble with her Ls. Hello sounds more like "hewhoa" it's the cutest thing I've ever heard and I'll be sad when she finally masters her Ls and I don't hear her say it any more. She is taking dance classes this year and she has the best memory. She comes home and any, literally any time she hears music she breaks out in the cutest dance moves. The girl can really shake her little hips, much better than her momma. I think she inherited her dad's dance abilities. And when we go to dance class I watch her through the window and recognize the same moves are in her routines. She knows how to count really well and can even count in her head. I asked her to count something for me and she turned looked at it and spit out a number. I thought she was just guessing and made a point to count the items out loud and counted them right to the number she had given me. I couldn't believe it, so I tested her and sure enough the girl was counting things correctly and quickly in her head. She likes to do puzzles and read books. And the biggest thing is that we are now in the princess stage. She wears at almost all times a big,poofy princess dress. Her grandparents bill and katherine always buy her the dresses and I can barely get them off her long enough the actually wash them. She is good in them too, running around holding them up with one hand so that she doesn't step on them. She knows her shapes, most of her letters and can recognize her name. We are working on learning to write her name. She draws well and loves to do it and she is the best big sister. She constantly helps me and wants to hold her siblings. She makes friends with people every where she goes and she is so much fun to be around. There's never a dull moment with her around and she always keeps us smiling. Haylie: Surprise, surprise. There are more. We didn't think we were going to be able to have any more children and were even on the waiting list to adopt when we found a Dr who specializes in minimal stimulation IVF which is about half the cost of traditional IVF and much less taxing. And let me tell you what...it's plenty taxing. I can't imagine doing traditional, minimal was hard enough!! But last January we ran into it and the stars aligned. We knew we had to do it. So...we did. It cost us all of our savings and we walked away pregnant...with twins!!! It was a hard pregnancy and a hard year for all of us but in September, a few hours after Sara's wedding we welcomed our precious Haylie and Jase into the world!! Haylie came out first at 11:31 p.m. She was beautiful and weighed in at 4 lbs. They were born at 34 weeks. She gave us a little scare and had to be on oxygen right away, but after a few hours she bounced right back and only spent a total of 11 days in the NICU before coming home. When they were in my belly, I always thought that Jase was the active twin kicking the crap out of me, but in reality it was Haylie. The girl is ACTIVE!! To say the least. She is a little over 4 months old right now and boy the girl can move. She rolled over at 2 1/2 months and any time she gets down on the floor she moves and moves so much that she wiggles herself all over the floor. Shes really social always smiling at every body and sometimes just at herself. She's always soo happy. She loves to look around and she is always observing everything. So much so that in order to get her to sleep we have to bundle her up so that she can't move! She's laid back and always willing to go with the flow as long as she can see what's happening. She's light, she weighs in at 10 lbs. 7 oz. she has the sweetest smile and she talks every time some one makes eye contact with her. One of my favorite things is that she laughs in her sleep. She's always laughing in her sleep and I think it's because she is just content all the time. Jase: Jason Lynn Taylor Jr. arrived exactly one minute after his sister at 11:32 p.m. He weighed 4 lbs. 2 oz. He's always weighs more than his sister except now it's 2 pounds instead of 2 oz. of difference. He was in the NICU for 10 days before coming home. He's my sensitive momma's boy. He loves to be held and snuggled. He's really sweet and sensitive and honestly kind of passive. When we lay him in the blanket for tummy time, moves for a while and then just lays down and goes to sleep. He's so funny. He rolled over this week at 4 months. He smiles every time any one talks to him and giggles like crazy any times his Belly gets tickled. He always has his hands in his mouth. I can't hardly keep them out even during feeding times. He's always worried about Haylie and when she cries he cries too. They hold each others hands and talk to each other all the time. Jase has terrible acid reflux and so he doesn't feel good very often. He loves to look around and see what's going in but if he had the option to be snuggled that's all he wants. And he really wants it to be me he's snuggling. He's a major momma's boy. I love it! He's just happy where he is and moves a little slower than haylie but he develops right along with her usually accomplishing the same feats within a few days of her. Hes so sweet and will crack up any time I act even the slightest bit silly. He got his dads dimples which is honestly a dream come true. I'm so glad at least one of my kids got Jason's dimples. Ashlie: I don't know what to say about me...I'm 27. I can't even believe it. I'm a stay at home mom of three kids and I drive a mini van. And I'm completely happy. I am madly on love with my husband and kids. I'm completely content with my busy but fun life and I couldn't ask for more. All my dreams have come true and some times Im not sure where to go with from here. But I just keep loving up my family and enjoying each day. Well, that's where we are. I am going to try to blog more for the sake of a journal and just a note I'm writing this on my iPad so excuse the sometimes weird grammar...autocorrect. Good night!

Gotta Remember...

Ya ya, I never post. In fact I'm pretty sure no one is reading my blog by now but...oh well. I was trying to remember today when Kenzie first started cutting her teeth and I was struggling. So, here I am trying to get some of the important stuff down before I forget it. She cut her teeth at 9 months by the way. She started walking by herself at 8 1/2. She started saying hi and momma shortly after the walking.

We just celebrated her first birthday and I just can't believe how quickly the time has flown. We made her a little grocery set complete with a stand, felt food, a cash register and a shopping cart. She loves it, especially the cart. She loves to push it all over the house, but she gets so frustrated with the cart, because she can't figure out how to get it completely turned around so she can continue to walk. She will usually grump at it for a few minutes then desert it and go find something else to play with. It's pretty comical. She got some other great presents: a life jacket from aunt sara, some bows from aunt chelsie and uncle keith, a car from grandma and grandpa kelly, a vaccuum from grandma and grandpa taylor, a cute outfit from uncle nick and aunt jenny and a bunch of stuffed animals from aunt lizzie. She loves all of her presents but the car has completely stolen her heart. It is one of those cars that she can sit in and we can push her around. It even has a seat belt and a working horn. Kenz sits in it every time she sees it. We have to take it for a drive around the block several times a day she likes it so much.

Kenzie is a total animals girl. She loves animals. She loves our new puppy Sammy. Every time Jason takes Sammy out Kenzie will cry at the door if Jason doesn't take her with him. She loves stuffed animals and packs at least one if not more, around at all times. She also loves water. I can't keep her out of it. Today she discovered the hose and we spent several minutes getting soaked while she figured out just exactly what it can do.

She has become a mimic. I can hear her mimicking the tone and inflection of a lot of the words I say and sometimes she will even say the same words. Apple is one she can get out pretty clear. But not only does she mimic words she mimics actions. One day while I was getting ready she watched me put on my bronzer and as soon as i set it down, she picked it up and perfectly mimicked the way i put it on. I couldn't believe it. One of her funniest mimics is that one day while we were at the store visiting my dad, she started walking around with her hands interlocked behind her back. No one could figure out where she had picked it up until my dad walked by the same way. She had seen him doing it and figured it out herself. Today while I was singing Popcorn Popping on the apricot tree, she started mimicking the popcorn motion that is a part of the song. It wasn't perfect, but I knew she was trying to do it as well.

Every time she hears clapping, she starts to clap and yells hurray! It's so cute. Last sunday in relief society, some one said "yay" and kenz started clapping and cheering. it was the cutest thing. She is as smart as a whip. She really keeps me on my toes. She has figured out how to take her diaper off. Any time she has access to the tape on her diaper, the diaper is on the ground and kenz is making a break for it. We have to keep a onesie on her and keep the onesie buttoned completely. She is so independent, she likes to walk every where and comb her hair and she goes all the time. She won't settle down. She will walk around struggling to keep her eyes open and we have to stop her and help her settle down and go to sleep.

She is perfect. I can't believe how smart and wonderful she is. I'm so blessed to have her in my life.

Just call me Cookie Monster

 

It Began like this. 

 

And Became this....

 

Just her Cookie Monster. Mackenzie LOVES oreos.

6+ Months

Mackenzie has grown so much lately. It seems like every time I'm not looking she grows! She has the sweetest personality. Every morning she wakes up and just lies there in bed, playing with the bedding and waiting for us to come get her. As soon as she sees us she greets us with a big smile and a little giggle. It definitely makes mornings sooo much better. She is my little ray of sunshine.

She is a total momma's girl, which I absolutely LOVE! She wants to be where I am and doing what I'm doing no matter what it is. So I've gotten pretty good at doing dishes and laundry one handed. She even makes me pack her while I vacuum. We've also written a lot of papers for school together. When I go to school, once she realizes I have left she cries for me saying, "momommoma" It breaks my heart but it's soo cute! And ANYTHING I'm eating she wants to eat too. Every time I take a drink of something, she reaches out for a turn. The other day I was eating a PB&J sandwich and Mac wanted a taste, so I let her get a little taste of the jam. She like it so much she wouldn't let me have the sandwich back. She sunk her little fingers in and wouldn't let go. We have had to start giving her a little baby food while we eat so that she won't come after our dinner.

She flips from back to front and front to back, rolling all over the house and she tries to get herself up by putting her hands down and then pushing up with her legs like she's getting ready to do a sommersault. Mac loves Baby Einstein. It entertains her forever and when she's throwing a tantrum because I left her to go to school, it's one of the only things Jason can do to get her to calm down.

She is sooo smart. She loves to read books and when she reads on them she focuses on the letters first. She runs her little fingers over the letters like she's trying to sound them out. Yesterday I was sitting on the floor next to the coffee table holding her and she found the handle for the drawer and went crazy flipping it up and down and pulling on it with all her might.

She talks all the time. She always lets her opinion by known. So much so that I when she's just being quiet, I get worried that something is wrong. I think to myself, 'what's wrong? Why isn't she talking?' and then i have to remind myself that she doesn't actually ever talk.

Even though she's a momma's girl she loves her daddy. The other night she got finished eating and turned to him like 'ok dad. i'm ready to play now.' Jason scooped her up and off they went playing, both of them giggling like crazy. It's the best sound in the world, the two of them laughing together.

Mackenzie is sooo much fun and keeps getting funner every day. I love her so much!

Going Private

I think we are going to go private, even though I almost never post. I keep getting weird comments from people I don't know. If you want to be invited send me your emails!
Thanks

Christmas

We had a great but hectic Christmas this year. We moved back to Idaho from North Carolina for good and made it home just a few days before Christmas. It was still wonderful to have our family all together for Christmas. Not only was Mackenzie here for Christmas this year, so was Jason.

We got to spend Christmas Morning at our house as a family. It was so much fun and I am so thankful for the time we had together!