6 month (+ 1 month) pictures

I am a horrible mother......how could I forget to get Ben's 6 month pictures done.  I got them done just last week (hence, the title of this blog) so he was actually 7 months old!

Josh, Mike, Luke.....all had 6 months pictures done.  But not Ben.  Poor kid.  This may scar him for life.  He may have to go to counseling about this someday.  Oh, the inhumanity of it all.......

But, they did turn out FANTASTIC.....

He is FREAKING adorable........

Maybe he will survive my oversight.

What do you think?

Time Flies

I never thought too much about the saying "time flies" until I had children.... and it seemed like in the blink of an eye Josh went from being a loud, stubborn 1 year old to a loud, stubborn almost 12 year old.

And then, after Luke passed, the saying "time stands still" came into play, or maybe I just wanted it to stand still.  I didn't want anything to change.  I wanted to hold onto what we had.......

This past month, I think I have had time standing still while flying by (yea, figure that one out).

We got to celebrate Ben's first Christmas.  We enjoyed playing Creationary (the boys got it for Christmas) and sipping hot chocolate.  We watched movies and ate popcorn.  And the time really flew.

And then by week two of Christmas vacation, time slowed down, trickling ever so slowly, until it eventually came to a screeching halt, and I didn't think I would make it until they went back to school (isn't sending them to school heavenly?  I think we should go year round.....who's with me?!?!). 

Here are some of our most memorable times:

Okay, now let's talk about this cuteness:

Ben is over 22 lbs. and is in 9-12 month clothes already.  He is sitting up wonderfully well.  He is almost crawling......he can go scoot backwards as far as the room will allow, so we are working on his forward motion.  He is LOUD and proud.  If you don't pay enough attention to him, he will yell until you do.  He has found his toes and loves to try to suck on them!!!  He still wakes up 2-3 times a night, but we are going to start curbing that!  His favorite foods are sweet potatoes and peach cobbler, but he is starting to want our food more than his own.  He loves his brothers, something I hope will last a lifetime.  He finds them just hilarious.  And he is stinkin' adorable!!!

Breaking News

I have some Breaking News here at the Taylor Chronicle.....a 6 month old baby named Benjamin can answer questions when asked directly.

Impossible you say......it has never been seen before......you just can't believe it......

Well, we have video proof......



He is a baby GENIUS!!!!  And he is SUPER cute.  Just as an added update, at his 6 month appointment, Benjamin weighed 20 lbs. 8 oz. and was 27.5 inches long.  He is a tank and we love it (maybe his weight has something to do with his ginormous brain?!?!).

As Plain As The Nose On My Face

I have ALWAYS been, shall we say, aware of my nose.  Let's be honest....it is, well, of a more portly nature.....it is vertically challenged.....it is stoutly built........it has more cushion for the pushin'.....it is BIG.

I was made fun of my entire childhood because of it, but as I got older, the jokes stopped, not because my nose got smaller, but because adults don't make fun.  I kind of forgot my nose was big......until.......

My all time favorite comment on my nose was made just 6 years ago by a young boy in our ward.  We were practicing for the primary program and I was sitting with my son's class.  A boy in his class turned around and looked at me and said "Your nose looks like a witch's!"  How do you respond to something like that?

Ah, what was a girl to do?  My husband seeing my unhappiness decided to talk to a surgeon at work who suggested I come in for a consult.

So, 6 years ago he and I went and talked to the ENT doc about my nose.  I found out there was more wrong with it than I thought.....a horrible deviated septum, big turbinates, and a high bridge (i.e. one heck of a big hump). 

The solution to those problems.......A NOSE JOB.  But, shortly after talking to him, I got pregnant with Luke and by the time I had him and met our deductible, there was no time to have the surgery.

Until this year.......

But before I reveal the NEW nose, let's review the OLD one.  Let's go back.....

Okay, maybe this is too far back, but seriously, I had a cute nose!

Crusin' forward.....and.....STOP!

Not bad from the front, but look out......BAM.....from the side!!!!

So here are the pictures in succession of the AFTER:

Day 1



 

 

Day 2  Post Op

 

Day 3 Post Op

    

Day 4 Post Op

Day 5 Post Op





Today- Day 6 Post Op Front

Day 6 Post Op Side

NO MORE BUMP!!!!!

The recovery hasn't been as bad as I expected. The pain is minimal, it is more just uncomfortable. But I do have a great support system--great husband, and great friends who have helped me so much!!!!! I am still pretty swollen, but don't worry......I will post more pictures when the swelling goes down some more and maybe I will even put on a little make-up!!!

Five is Fun

I have this book called "So You Want To Raise A Boy" (I got this after having Mike, and for obvious reasons, has been a great resource for me!).  It is a fabulous guide on how to raise boys by their age. 

The title of the chapter for a five year old  is "Five is Fun".  It says that 5 marks a happy new plateau of maturity.....five is alive, five is fun. A five year old is still a "mama's boy" and depends upon her for his comfort and companionship in most situations.  It describes a five year old boy at having two qualities that compete with each other--gabbing and grubbing.  As a result, it is common to see a boy of this age trying to talk at top speed while eating a huge plate of potatoes and gravy.  The life of a 5 year old boy is happy and lovable.

See what I have to look forward too........

Holding to my tradition, here is the story of Luke's birth. My labor started at around 1:00 in the morning. Brian and I had a party we went to the night before that I helped with and we suspect that is what put me into labor. We went to the hospital and I was dilated to a 3. So they wanted me to walk around and they even had me sit in a warm tub to see if I would dilate so more. After an hour, I was almost a 4 so they decided to admit me and get things going. And then the waiting began. We waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. I just wasn't progressing. The doctor finally checked me and discovered that Luke was trying to come out the wrong way; he was face up. So he tried to turn him four times so he was coming out the right way, and he just wouldn't stay. So the doc said that I would just have to get Luke out that way. So I pushed and pushed and pushed and he finally came into the world at around 4 o'clock.  He was a little squirt at just 6 lbs. 6 oz., but we were thrilled to have him here!

And we are still thrilled to have Luke in our family forever!


Happy 5th Birthday our Cookie Lukey!  We love you and miss you more than words can express!!

Oh My, How You Grow

So Benjamin hit 20lbs. this week.....yea, he's a BIG boy!  I wanted to know when my other boys hit that weight, so I pulled out all the baby books.....he are the results:

Josh:  6 1/2 months

Mike:  6 months

Luke:  13 months

Ben:  5 months 1 week

All this reminiscing got me thinking that if Dr. Seus wrote a book about growing up, it may go a little like this:

Oh My, How You Grow

Look!

You have grown today.

An inch.....a foot.....a yard

You're off and away!

You can sit on your bum,

You can roll over too.

You can eat pureed plums,

and bananas, it's true.

Oh my, how you grow!

You're on your way up!

Before you know it,

You'll drink from a cup.

And then, oh then,

the things you will do.

Like walking and talking,

And, probably, stumbling too.

Who'll be there to catch you?

Why, ME of course!

No matter the size

That your body gets to,

I will always be there.....

The one who will love YOU!

                                               Super cute, right?!?!





Dancing With a Limp

“You will lose someone you can’t live without,and your heart will be badly broken, and the bad news is that you never completely get over the loss of your beloved. But this is also the good news. They live forever in your broken heart that doesn’t seal back up. And you come through. It’s like having a broken leg that never heals perfectly—that still hurts when the weather gets cold, but you learn to dance with the limp.”
― Anne Lamott  

It has been 3 years now since our Luke passed.....and we are continuing to learn how to deal with the grief and pain.  It is a lot like dancing with a limp. 

 

This is the very last picture we took of Luke 3 years ago....

 

 

Halloween Night......he was so cute.  He said "Thank You" to everyone who put a candy in his pumpkin.

The next night, he learned to crawl out of his crib. 

The morning of November 3rd, he crawled out of his crib, and knocked on his brothers' bedroom door to wake

 them up. 

By 4:30 P.M., he was gone.

“Grief can be a burden, but also an anchor. You get used to the weight, how it holds you in place.”

                               ― Sarah Dessen

Our grief has anchored us in a way I did not think possible. There is no more time to second guess what I know......I need.........want.........and will get back to him!

And so, this is this Halloween. 

We just keep dancing.

There are things that we don't want to happen but have to accept, things we don't want to know but have to learn, and people we can't live without but have to let go.

~ Author Unknown