Our September 26th Arrival

The doctor's appointment on Tuesday morning went well. Sorry it took so long to post a picture, but I had to scan the print and then figure out how to convert it to a postable file format. So, here they are.

The two light white circles are the thigh bones. The baby's bummy is pointed towards the top left of the picture. If that doesn't give you the answer, look at the title of the picture at the bottom of the image....

Woohoo!! I was on Amazon.com putting camping gear on my wishlist Tuesday night.

Sonograms of baby faces always look a little creepy. I guess our skulls do too without any flesh on them. Still, I was glad to see there weren't any red eyes glaring out at us.

Boy or Girl?

Stephanie and I asked the girls tonight if they thought the new baby was going to be a boy or a girl. Eden says boy and Britta says girl. Steph is going with boy, I'm thinking girl. If it's a girl, those that went with boy have to give the winners a backrub and vice versa. We'll let you know when we get back from the doctor's office tomorrow morning!

6 muffins = 1 hour of sleep

While I was out Saturday running errands I had a stroke of parenting genius. The girls are in the habit of waking up before dawn and coming into our room. Often they climb in our bed to snuggle with us, but this is often short lived. Very soon the moans of "I'm hungry", and "I want breakfast" commence. They are as regular as an alarm clock and more persuasive. On school days we have to agree that it's time to get the day started, but weekends are a different matter.

My stroke of genius hit me when I was passing the bakery at the grocery store while picking up a few items for Sunday's meals. I filled a box with a half dozen muffins. Before going to sleep, I put the muffins on the kitchen table. Sunday morning we actually slept in until 7:30 before being woken up by the girls! This was a breakthrough! We found Avery at the table with chocolate crumbs all around her. She explained that she was having "cake" for breakfast. The chocolate-chocolate chip muffin had been decimated. Steph and I grinned at each other. We couldn't believe that we could buy an extra hour of sleep so cheaply.

Butterflies, Ladybugs, & Ants

This past Saturday I took the girls out to the park. Britta brought her bug catching kit which she had been waiting to try out and Eden brought the butterfly net. We had seen some butterflies earlier in the day zooming around the grass. By the time we got back, the birds had chased off the butterflies. Fortunately, we had noticed a particular stretch of grass on a hillside that usually had a few ladybugs crawling around on the blades of grass. We found three ladybugs, but everytime we opened the lid to add one, the previous one got away. The girls wanted to keep the ladybug, of course, but I explained that they ate aphids, not grass. So, we ended up letting the one ladybug go on our patio strawberry plants. (At least I know where to go to get more.)

Saturday afternoon I noticed that we had ant problems in the house. The ants had formed a line from the front door to the kitchen and were attempting to carry off the cat food. I got some ant traps at Lowe's that night which kept the girls fascinated for most of Sunday morning. These traps are clear plastic with a liquid bait inside, so the girls watched the ants crawl in and carry the bait back to their home. It's fun to see the world through your kids eyes and remember what it was like to see everything for the first time.

Driving Us Up the Wall (in our van drawing)

A couple of weeks ago I called home during my lunch hour at work to talk to my family. Britta and Avery are usually home with Stephanie all day, and Stephanie noticed some drawing on the wall. "It looks like someone drew a bus on the playroom wall." Britta could be heard in the background to say, "No, it's a van." I asked to speak to Britta, and she told me that someone had been drawing our 'van' on the wall in the playroom. I asked if she had been the one who had been drawing on the wall to which she replied "We don't know who did it!" Hmmmm. I asked her more directly "Britta, did you draw on the wall?" Britta quickly said "Gotta go Dad!" and got off the phone. Any questions?

I relayed my part of the story to Steph who had been occupied with Avery during my conversation with Britta. We both chuckled and then I asked to speak to Britta again. After a couple more coaxing questions I finally got Britta to admit she had drawn the 'van' on the wall. I thanked her for finally telling me the truth and informed her that her consequence was to clean the drawing off the wall. She seemed to perk up when she realized all she had to do was remove the offending drawing.

Family Home "Feats of Strength" Evening

Three weeks without a blog entry is too long. Having requests for more entries is flattering, but the pressure is also on. Will we be able to satisfy the curiosity and meet the expectations?

Tonight we had a singing family home evening. Basically, this is when mom and dad (Steph and Ben) don't plan an actual lesson and we end up singing every song the girls want to out of the children's songbook. Dancing is welcomed, and free expression is encouraged. After half an hour, there was more dancing and acrobatics than singing. It was at this point when I started to wonder if I could still do a handstand. Yes. Yes, I still can. But the pressure to my head was enough to keep it to a 5 second feat.

The girls were not to be left out on this one. Britta did suspended situps (she wraps her legs around my waist and I support her lower back while she lowers her head to the ground and sits all the way up). That girl is tough! She did two sets of three with no hands! Eden was determined to work on her cartwheels. I acted as spotter and helped her get the feel of it. Still needs some work, but she's got the enthusiasm to see it through. To round off the evening, Stephanie challenged everyone in the room to arm wrestle with her. She was soundly beaten by Eden and Britta working together.

I think we inadvertantly added another dimension to FHE. Now, in addition to the opening and closing prayers and songs, lesson, scripture reading, activity, and refreshments, we now will be including a 'feats of strength' segment. Stephanie and I starting considering taking a break from the girls dance lessons during the summer and enrolling them in gymnastics for few months to see if they take to it. We'll keep you posted.

Dis-ENCHANTED

Last weekend I had a meeting at the church for a couple of hours, so Steph and the girls decided to have a girls night in. Steph rented Disney's Enchanted to watch with the girls. When I got home I asked how the girls like the movie. Steph said they only made it through the first fifteen minutes. It went something like this...

BRITTA: "Who is that girl?"
"Why is she holding the diamonds in front of her eyes?"
"Why is the Ogre chasing her?"
"It that horse a girl or a boy horse?"
"What is the horse's name?"
(at the end of the first song) "Is the movie over?"
"Why is she running? Is she late?"
"Is she getting married? Who is she going to marry?"
"Who is that man?"
"Why is that old lady pushing her?"
AVERY (laughing): "Oh no."
BRITTA: "Where did she fall?"
"What is that sparkly stuff sticking to her?"
"Where is she going?"
AVERY (laughing): "Oh no."
BRITTA: "Why aren't they cartoons anymore?"
"Why are those people pushing her?"
"Why won't anyone help her?"
"Why is she crying?"

(15 minutes into the movie...)

STEPHANIE: "Who wants to watch Barbie Mermadia?"
GIRLS: "YEAH!!!!"


Stephanie and I watched the movie after the girls went to bed. We got a good laugh out of a few parts, but we weren't so interested that we'd watch it again. This isn't a movie that appeals to young kids, maybe more to the tweeners and some teens. We weren't feeling the Disney magic with this one. However, Amy Adams did a great job portraying a Disney princess in real life. I think she pegged the performance.

Cat Update: 2 1/2 months later

I think it's safe to say that the cats have completely acclimated to us. I was woken up several times last night by Piper pacing on my chest and poking my nose with his. He has become very affectionate and loves being pet, even at 2 am. Aside from the interrupted sleep, he hasn't been a bother.

Pepper finally stood still to let me pet him yesterday. He doesn't seem to have the temperment of Piper and often won't sit still for long. He seems to prefer exploring things on his own or stalking Piper. Piper still gets very anxious around evening when Pepper seems to be the most agressive. It reminds me of Calvin & Hobbes.

Both of the cats enjoy napping at the foot of our bed. Eden is especially tickled when she finds out Pepper has slept the night on her bed. The cats also love lounging in front of the screen at the sliding glass door. We have a large stand of bamboo just 40 feet from our apartment that at least a hundred birds nest in every day. The cats love to sit in front of the screen and listen to the cacaphony of bird calls we are treated to as they begin to roost each evening.

Taking our blog private...

For our peace of mind and to protect our daughters we have decided to make our blog private. We've decided that this is especially a good move since we've posted pictures of our girls and alluded to our geographical location in our posts.

What this means is that we can specify who we allow to see our blog. We'll add family members and friends by email addresses. If we somehow miss someone you know that would like to view our blog, email us at ben_jaymin@hotmail.com and we'll add them!

Ben & Stephanie Taylor

Different and Special

Eden loves to pose for pictures. It's very hard to get a candid shot of her once she sees the camera is out. Eden is reading above a first grade level and so is very inquisitive as she learns about everything around her. Lately she has been writing her own mini-books and creating her own paper dolls. Eden is mischievious, fashionable, and quick to laugh.

Britta is a girl after my own heart. She is the human equivalent of sunshine, and she loves good food! I think this particular smile was a result of chocolate pudding. Britta gives great bear hugs and is always up for cuddles. Britta is tender-hearted, affectionate, and inquisitive.

Avery is the cutest little darling! I don't know what it was she was counting here, but it looks like she made it to one. Avery has fetishes for shoes, purses, and beads. The world is Avery's classroom; she rarely misses a chance to have a book read, to get outside, to help with chores, or to experiment with whatever she can get her hands on (lately, Stephanie's make up bag!).