TWO Years Old!!

On December 18th, Taylor turned TWO YEARS OLD!! I can't believe it! Time has gone by so fast!

My sisters-in-law are all very artsy and creative, and I don't know if they are rubbing off on me or if I feel the need to TRY to keep up with them (which will never happen!), but I wanted to make a cake for Taylor this year... something with a little more than just icing and candles. I decided to do Minnie Mouse because I figured it would be creative yet still a little on the easy side. I just used a 9" round pan for the face and two cupcakes for the ears and then drew on the face with icing. Jared helped me cut and shape the chin (even he is more artsy than I am) because I was afraid I would just mess it up. Then, I cut a sugar cookie in the shape of a bow and put icing on that. I think it turned out pretty darn good if I do say so myself!! My problem is going to be when Taylor gets old enough to request a certain type of cake that will be way more advanced!

We got Taylor a little Fisher Price picnic table, a soccer ball, and a training potty. She really loves the table. She feels like such a big girl when she gets to sit at it, and I know it will come in very handy when we have company over. She already likes to kick the soccer ball around, but she'll get a lot more use out of it when the weather gets warmer. We haven't started working on the potty training yet and will probably wait about another month or so before even attempting it. Grandma got her a toy puppy dog (Jared says that's the best kind!) that's electronic and talks and even grows. She also got her a Little People Nativity set that I love and have used to coax Taylor away from touching my Willow Tree nativity set, and she got her a Dora the Explorer cell phone (again, I try to coax her away from playing with MY cell phone since we keep getting several dollars worth of 411 charges on our bill!)

Taylor shares her birthday with a very special person- Grandpa Mayfield- so we wish him a Happy Birthday as well!!

Taylor has really grown so much. She can definitely be shy at times, but mostly I think she is very sociable. She talks a lot and will even say "Hey!" to perfect strangers in the grocery store. I think she has a pretty large vocabulary for a two-year-old. Her favorite words are all commands, of course- sit down, stand up, come on, that's mine, help me, no, and many more- but she also is very good at saying please ("weeeez!") and thank you ("day tu!"), and she'll say "bye! have a nice day!" She's not always cooperative with saying prayers, but she's getting better and will usually fold her arms and will sometimes even mumble "thank you for this day" (I guess we say that a lot!) and "Amen."

She is very active and loves to get into everything. She loves running, and she loves to dance. Anytime she hears music on the TV, she will yell "Dance!" and start dancing, especially if it's Diego, and usually tries to make us stand up and dance with her. She has started jumping, and it's so cute because it's like she's trying to jump so high but only gets like an inch off the ground. She LOVES "babies." She calls every stuffed animal "baby" and usually can't leave the house without one- or two. She even calls most people "baby" which can offend other toddlers because they are definitely not babies! ;-) She also does silly things like put all of my ponytail holders on her arm and wear them around or put mine or Jared's socks on which really end up looking more like leg warmers on her. There are times when she will even call me Debbie instead of Mama.

We had her two year old check up appointment with her doctor last week, and she was in the 75th percentile on her height and 15th on her weight. (I believe she's 23 lbs and 35 in. tall)

She has started the terrible two phase and will whine and yell no if she doesn't get her way about something, and we've found her worst punishment is having to sit in the corner. Spankings don't do much for her, and she's got too many toys in her room for putting her in her room to really be a punishement (although we do threaten her that she'll have to go "night night" and that works pretty well, too). She has her moments, but all in all, I love everything about my little girl! I love her so much that it has actually made me a little nervous about having another baby (not that I have much choice at this point.. haha) I remember when my sis-in-law, Alisha, was pregnant with her youngest, Kena, that she said she had fears of not being able to love this baby as much as her other kids. I totally didn't understand that at the time because I thought of course you would love all of your children the same- it's just natural, but now, I understand where she was coming from. I love Taylor so much, and it's hard to imagine that love not being divided but multiplying!

Taylor is going to be a great big sister!

pictures with Santa

At our church Christmas party, Taylor was able to meet Santa and get some pictures made. She was very skeptical, but sitting on his lap was a small price she had to pay to get some candy canes :-)

Fall on Monte Sano

My favorite season of the year is fall. I just love the weather and all the beautiful colors and everything else that goes along with it. This year, we didn't seem to have much true fall weather. It seemed to skip from really hot to cold with no real in between. My sisters- and mother-in-law and I have continued doing our Garden Club days on Thursdays each week although we've pretty much stopped gardening for the last several months and do crafts, just visit, or whatever else the host for that week has planned. In early November, we had a beautiful day with actual fall weather, and my sister-in-law Cari had the brilliant idea for us to all go have a picnic on Monte Sano mountain. It was just gorgeous up there, and the kids had a blast.

I have a great story to tell about something that happened that day after our picnic that I haven't shared with many people because I've been meaning to blog about it for almost two months now....

After lunch, I needed to go to Wal-Mart to pick up some things. We get to Wal-Mart, and I parked where I usually try to park- right next to a grocery cart return area so I can get a cart right away to put Taylor in, and then it's very convenient when unloading groceries as well. Well, I get out and go to put Taylor in a cart with my keys still in hand, and I drop my keys. I then realize that right below this shopping cart is one of those huge drains that they have in the parking lot. At this point, everything is happening in slow motion, and I have so many thoughts running through my mind- "Oh my gosh! My keys are going to fall in the drain..." "No, surely they will land on the bottom of the cart or on one of the drain bars..." However, my fears were confirmed, and my keys fell through every crack there was and straight into this drain. A slight bit of panic starts to immediately set in. How in the world am I gonna get my keys out of the drain?! So, I look down the drain. It's not that deep, and I can actually see my keys. So, I relax a little (but just a little), and I go inside to the customer service desk to see if they have a hanger that I could use to possibly dangle down there with some string to get my keys. Well, all they had was the thick plastic hangers, so that wouldn't work. The lady at the desk went and found a couple of guys that load up the shopping carts and asked them to help me. So, I take them to the drain, and the two of them try pulling on the drain as hard as they can, and it wasn't budging. One of the guys ran to see if he could find something that we could use, and I was thinking that I was going to need to call AAA to see if they could come do something. In the meantime, the other guy continues pulling on the drain and gets it to lift up a little, but it's so heavy that he can't lift it himself. I immediately flag down a random man in the parking lot and ask him to come help us, and thankfully, he did. So, they lifted the drain lid, and the man held it while the Wal-Mart employee jumped down into the drain, grabbed my keys, and saved the day!!! All in all, it probably didn't take more than 20 minutes, but I thought for sure that I was going to be stuck there forever trying to get my keys out of that drain! Thank goodness that Heavenly Father is looking out for me and that there are people out there willing to lend a helping hand!!

Halloween

I know, I know.. I'm still way behind.

This year, we were able to go to Tate Farms again. It was much warmer than last year, and Taylor was able to enjoy it a lot more now that she's older. She wanted to do everything the big kids were doing. Climb on the tires, swing on the swings, ride the tricycles (she got very upset that she couldn't reach the pedals), go down the slide, play in the corn, etc. She loved getting to run through the pumpkin patch and was not happy when we had to get back on the tractor to leave.

For Halloween, Taylor was Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. Last year we got her costume from Party City, and I absolutely loved it, so I figured I would run by there the weekend before Halloween and pick her up a costume, and it would be easy. Yeah, that wasn't the case. I went by there, and I didn't really like anything they had. All of the infant costumes were the same as last year, and of course, I had already gotten the cutest one. So, I went home and tried brainstorming on some ideas of what she could be. I originally thought about Minnie Mouse or Darby from My Friends Tigger and Pooh. Our church had a ward Trunk-or-Treat the next Wednesday, so Tuesday night (at the last minute of course!), I went searching for a costume. I went to Wal-Mart, Babies R Us, Target, a Halloween store close to Target, Party City, and back to Target. I finally decided on the Dorothy costume that I found at Target. They also happened to be selling red glittery shoes that went perfectly with the costume although they were too big for her feet and really didn't stay on most of the time. I also bought her a little basket and stuffed dog to carry around which I ended up just carrying around :-)

As I was getting her ready for the Trunk-or-Treat, I actually took the time to braid her little pigtails, and she looked so cute, but she had the ribbons and braids pulled out in less than five minutes, so I gave up on that. I did manage to get her to keep pigtails in most of the night- just without the braids and ribbons.

On Halloween, we did our usual and went over to James and Sarah's house, ate chili and hot dogs, and then went trick-or-treating around their neighborhood. Taylor was really cute and even managed to say "treat!" when we went up to houses and then "thank you" after she got candy.

I'd probably have to say that the award for most original costume went to my nephew, Christian, who dressed up as a toilet ;-)

Beach trips

Ok, so after starting back to work in July and then going on two beach trips within 3 weeks of each other, I got way behind on my medical transcription work. I've made a resolution that I will not stay up until all hours of the night blogging anymore (I'm not saying that I don't still stay up late... just not blogging). Combine that with Taylor not taking naps as long as she usually does and everything else, and I, as you can tell from my lack of posts, almost never have time to blog or read blogs. :-( Luckily, I am caught up on my work and have no big vacations planned for a long time, so I should be able to find a day or two here or there for blogging :-)


Our first beach trip was in September, and we went to Orange Beach with my mom and my brother's family. Jared's boss was very generous and let us stay at his condo, and we only had to pay the cleaning fees!! We went down there the week that Hurricane Ike hit Texas, so it was extremely windy, and the waves were HUGE!! We drove down Friday night, and as soon as we stepped out of the car, the wind about blew us away. I had to chase one of Taylor's crocs across the whole parking lot. It was a beautiful condo. We were all the way up on the 16th floor! Yeah, if you're not scared of heights, try looking off a balcony from 16 floors up!


Taylor learned how to crawl out of her pack-n-play while we were there, so she was always awake bright and early-- thanks to my mom for watching her so Jared and I could get a few extra minutes of sleep. Taylor was a bigger fan of the swimming pools there than the beach, and she had a blast. My nephew Bryson caught some little crabs on the beach and literally loved them to death ;-) Jared, Taylor, and I also went to eat at Lambert's Cafe, Home of the Throwed Rolls, while we were there, and it sure was good! We came back the following Tuesday, so it was a short trip, but we had a lot of fun!

Our second beach trip was with Jared's family for our annual Mayfield Family Reunion. Even though we all live in the Huntsville/Madison area, it's really hard to get all 30+ of us together at any given time, so we plan a trip once a year where we can all be together. This year, Jared and I were in charge. Jared found a beach house in Destin probably a year ago and booked it. The guy that we were renting it from turned out to be kind of shady, and Jared always had a hard time trying to get in touch with him to ask him questions and stuff. Well, about 3 days before we were supposed to leave for the beach, the guy calls Jared and says there's been some damage to the house (he didn't specify what) and that it was definitely not rentable. Talk about freaking out!! The guy started calling around to other places, and Jared started looking online for other places himself. Jared found a place that actually had one more bedroom than the one that we were going to be renting for about the same price, and he booked it right away. The guy transferred the money we had paid him to the other rental company, and everything was taken care of probably within just a few hours... but man, those few hours were stressful!

This was the longest trip that we've been on for family reunion. In the past, we've only gone for about 4 days or so. There's always a guys' day and a girls' day. The girls' went shopping, of course, and the guys went to the driving range, rode waverunners, and went fishing. We had a night where the adults went out to eat together while the older kids watched all of the younger ones at the beach house. Then, afterward, some of the adults went to see a movie called Fireproof (low budget, not so good acting, but really good storyline- check it out!) All in all, we had a good trip, but the weather was less than desirable while we were there. It rained several days, and the few days that it didn't rain were very overcast, so somehow I managed to come away from two beach trips with pretty much no tan!! I also found out that I am much more moody and irritable with this pregnancy... haha Thanks to everyone who prepared meals and helped clean and do your part while we were there!!

Our little bean

Well, if you haven't already heard.... Jared and I are expecting our second baby! I'm due May 7th, so I'm about 8 weeks pregnant. I had my first doctor's appointment last week, and they did this ultrasound. I was surprised they did one this early. I think I was 9 or 10 weeks pregnant when they did the first one with Taylor, so she was a little bit bigger. I thought she looked like a little mouse then. This one looks more like a bean or grain of rice ;-) In case you haven't looked at many ultrasounds, do you see the dark little oval spot to the right side? Yeah, the "bean" is the little white spot inside of that.

I'm starting to get pretty nauseous, and it's pretty much an all-the-time thing. I remember feeling that way with Taylor, but I don't remember if I was so HUNGRY all the time. It seems like with her that I was just nauseous, so I didn't feel like eating, but I knew that I needed to eat, so I forced myself. Right now, I am just starving all the time- but nauseous at the same time-- so when I do eat, nothing ever quite hits the spot. On top of that, I have a cold right now-- there's nothing like gagging on a little phlegm when you're already nauseous. I'm pretty sure it's only going to get worse from here, too, because I can't be like most women who feel better after their first trimester. Nope, with Taylor, I actually felt sicker during my second trimester and threw up just about every day.

Sorry to sound like I'm complaining, but there's nothing wrong with venting a little bit every now and then, right? I made it through the first pregnancy, and I have the most beautiful and adorable little girl to show for it! So it'll be worth it in the end. I definitely look forward to seeing how Taylor will react to her new little brother/sister.

Check out the "Oh the joys of pregnancy" banner at the bottom of the webpage. It has some humorous little quotes about pregnancy that changes from week to week. It also lets you know exactly how far along I am.

Oh yeah, my sister-in-law Cari is pregnant also. Taylor and Cari's son, Noah, are almost 4 months apart. Cari is due at the beginning of January, so our kids will be about 4 months apart again-- only hers will be the older one this time! I thought that was funny. Also, she just found out they are having a girl, so maybe we'll swap it up and have a boy this time :-)

NOT For Sale

Well, it has been six months since we first put our house on the market. Everything seemed to be going great. We consistently had people coming to look at the house, and everyone had great things to say about it. We got an offer on the house after it had only been on the market for three months, but since that fell through, things have not gone well. We've only had a couple of people come look since June-- one of which we were told by their realtor that they were going to make us an offer, but they ended up not doing it. So, we had a decision to make and decided to take our house off the market. Our realtor, Jayne, came by today and picked up the sign and lockbox, so it's official. We were just kind of over the process and have already started thinking of plans to improve the house, such as building a deck, so we just wanted to move forward. So, for now, we'll be sticking around Old RR Bed for a while. I'm really not upset about it. Like I said before, we like our house- the main issue was being on a busy road, and it would be nice to be closer to town with gas prices being so high. I know that Heavenly Father plays a role in everything, and He knows what is best for us. The timing just wasn't right. I've said before that we wanted to try to find a house in our same ward. We've made so many good friends, but now, one couple is going to be moving soon, and another one just put their house up for sale. So, if everyone keeps moving away, we definitely won't be limiting our options to just our ward. So, Dawn, your hope is still alive- I know Jared would love to be in South Huntsville so he could be closer to work. Anyway, I know everything will work out in the end.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Wow! It has been a long time since I've posted something. I guess I should fill everyone in on what's been going on in our busy lives.

The biggest thing is that I started back to work at the hospital in the ER. When I had Taylor, I had originally planned to go back to work after my maternity leave and just work PRN (which means I sign up to work shifts that they need extra nurses for, and I'm only required to work 36 hours a month). Well, by the end of my maternity leave, I just wasn't ready to leave Taylor, so I decided to become a stay-at-home mom and just continue to do my medical transcription work at home. It's definitely not a decision that I regret. I love the fact that I've been able to be there for Taylor through all of her milestones- smiling, cooing, rolling over, sitting up, crawling, talking, walking, everything!- and I'm grateful for the bond that we have developed.

Around the time that she was about 8-9 months, I started having the strong desire to go back to work. It was strange because that was really the time that I loved being with her the most because she had started to become so playful and fun. I guess I mostly just feared losing all of my nursing skills and knowledge as opposed to just really having the desire to go to work. So, I guess the last year has been a big roller coaster because I went through phases of wanting to go back to work and then deciding that I really just wanted to be at home.

Well, over the 4th of July weekend, Jared suggested that I think about going back to work. It caught me off guard because I was finally comfortable with just being at home and knew that I could reacquire my nursing skills, but I couldn't get back time with Taylor. We just finally realized that we needed the extra money. Sure- we could make ends meet and were doing fine, but we weren't able to save any money at all, and we weren't comfortable with that. So, that weekend, I sent out an email to my old nurse manager from the ER and asked if they had any PRN positions available. She said yes and that they would love to have me back, so I put in an application a couple of days later. She told me that someone from the ER would call to set up an appointment for me to come interview with her. Towards the end of the week, I still hadn't heard anything, but by that Friday, the nurse recruiter from the hospital called me and offered me the position without me ever having interviewed at all (sweet! I HATE interviews!). So, I was excited about that and also excited about the pay that they were offering. The starting pay for nurses is higher now than when I started, plus I have a year of experience so that's more, plus PRN nurses get a 20% differential which ended up being about $4/hr more!! Way more than I expected! She told me that an orientation started the following Monday, but that meant that I would have to come in that same day (Friday) for drug testing to be able to start on Monday. The next orientation wouldn't start for two weeks later. I was ready to start and get orientation over with, so I went that day and had my drug testing done and then started on Monday. So, as you can see, everything happened very quickly.

Unfortunately, since it had been over a year since I worked at the hospital, I had to go through boring hospital orientation classes for a week which was just sitting in a classroom M-F 8-4:30. I also had to take a test the second day of orientation which meant I was studying all that weekend-- something I haven't done in a while! That week was really rough. I hated being away from Taylor every day and realized that there was no way that I could go back to working full time. I especially could not work a M-F job where I was away from her all day and then only had a couple of hours to spend with her before she had to go to bed. It was rough on her, too. We started having a lot more trouble getting her to take naps and to go to sleep at night. The week after hospital orientation, I was just going to work two 12 hour shifts in the ER on Monday and Tuesday. There are a couple of classes that I'm supposed to be certified in to work- one being basic CPR, or BLS, and the other being an advanced cardiac class, or ACLS. Well, my CPR had already expired a year ago, and my ACLS was going to expire this month. So, on Wednesday, I looked up when the next classes were and there was an ACLS class the very next day that I needed to take. So, it was a big scramble because I'm really not supposed to take ACLS without being up-to-date on BLS, so I had to email my ER educator, and then he had to email the instructor that was over ACLS. She gave me the okay to go ahead, so I signed up for the class last minute and got some of my sisters-in-law to watch Taylor at the last minute. So, I went to ACLS on Thursday, and the instructor offered to go ahead and certify me in BLS if I could come back the next day. Yes, it seemed very inconvenient to have to take another class last minute the next day, but she really did me a huge favor. Since my CPR had expired, I would have had to take the whole class over again- 8 hours worth!- instead of taking the shorter class to recertify. So, I went back the next day, and she had me taken care of in just a few hours (and it only took that long because she was working me in around some other classes that she was teaching that day).

I know that's a lot of info, but I just wanted to give you all an idea of how hectic that first couple of weeks was. Basically, since then, I've been working two days a week. I'm still on orientation, which means that they pair me up with another nurse until I get the hang of things. At first, I felt like I was starting all over again because since I had Taylor a new ER has been built, so everything is different, and they are doing computer documentation now that we weren't doing before. Luckily, I've been able to pick things up pretty quickly, and the ER educator has been great about being flexible and basically letting me pick my own days to work. I plan to stay on orientation up through the first week of September because that's when the new work scheduling period starts (we do our schedule a month in advance for a 4-week period, so we just started scheduling for Sept. 7-Oct. 4).

Once I'm on my own, the plan is to work about once a week. To make things even more complicated, Jared is coaching a U-16 soccer team this fall (today is his first practice), so he will have practice on Tuesdays and Thursday and then games on Saturdays, and then I have Activity Days at church the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month, so that really only leaves me a few days that I could work- if they even need more nurses that day! It will work out fine though. I think what I'm going to try to do is work Monday and Friday of one week, then have the whole next week off, then work Monday and Friday the next week, and then a week off. Of course, I can change that if things come up (like our two beach trips coming up in September in October-- yay!!).

I am just very grateful to have a nursing degree so that I can get a job with such ease and I can be so flexible with my hours. I think this will really work out great. I will still get to spend most of my time with Taylor and Jared, but at the same time, I will be able to keep up my nursing skills and make some extra income for our family. Above all, I am extremely grateful for my family. My mom, mother-in-law, and sisters-in-law have all been amazing and extremely supportive. I am grateful for everyone who has babysit Taylor so far but also grateful knowing that everyone is willing to help out in any way that they can at any time that are asked. I am extremely blessed to have such a wonderful family!

Another Year Older...

... and wiser too! ;-)

My birthday was last week, and although I don't feel any different (even though Jared told me that I should feel OLD!), I did have a really good day.

Taylor and I spent the day at home, and I took the day off from my medical transcription work. Then, later in the afternoon after Jared got off work, we went over to my mom's house to go swimming and have dinner. Taylor loves the pool and loves my mom's kittens (and so does my nephew, Bryson- notice in the collage how he kept wrapping the kittens up like they're babies.. haha.. poor kitties!) Of course, there was a giant cookie cake which always makes me happy! Taylor was cracking me up because when everyone started singing "Happy Birthday to You!" she got the biggest smile on her face... like they were singing just for her ;-)

My mom and Jared got me an exercise bike (which I have used every day this week... yay for me!), and Neal and Sarah got me the new Jewel CD and the books Twilight (which I have already finished and am just getting started on the next!) and New Moon. My mom went way overboard as usual and also got me one of those really nice KitchenAid stand mixers (I'm so excited! I've wanted one of those forever!), a Mother & Daughter Willow Tree figurine, a dry erase calendar board, and a bookmark. I didn't expect to rack up so well on my 26th birthday! All of my presents are going to get a lot of good use out of them. Thanks to all of my family and thank you to Sherry & Danny for being there to celebrate with us!!! I love you all!

Dave & Jess

I don't think I've announced this on my blog before, but Jared's younger brother, David (the youngest of all the Mayfields) is getting married in a couple of weeks. I went with Alisha when she took the engagement pictures for him and his fiancee, Jessica. Alisha did a great job! I think she could really be a professional photographer. She edited a lot of the pictures and put some of the best ones on her blog. There were so many cute and playful ones that I wanted to post a few more here (she used my camera, so I have them all on my computer) :-) Okay, so I'm posting a lot more... there's just so many to choose from! (All of the ones that I'm posting are pre-editing)

I just love the pictures where Jess is cutting her eyes up towards David.

I think they had a really great selection of pictures and lots of background choices. This is the picture that they chose to send out with their wedding announcements.

(I had to scan this one because I don't have the edited pics on my computer)

On June 21st, we had an engagement party for them at their new home. I wish I had gotten a picture of the house, but it probably would have been hard to do with all of the cars that were parked around the house anyway. We grilled out pot-luck style and just hung out and enjoyed each other's company. Alisha graciously allowed me to cut some flowers out of her garden, and then Jess put them into some beautiful arrangements.

Noah's eyes look so amazing in this picture that I had to post it all by itself and not in the collage. We told Noah to say "cheese" when I was taking his picture, and I was very surprised when he actually said it!! (Notice Sarah's reaction in the collage- far right, second row from the bottom).. hehe

We tried to get him to say it again so we could catch it on video, but he was being stubborn.

Congrats, David & Jessica!!

Father's Day

Last Father's Day, I started a special scrapbook for Jared that I plan on adding to each year as part of his Father's Day present. Now, I am not very experienced at scrapbooking at all. Last May, my sil, Alisha, and I started getting together twice a month to work on crafts, and I started with making this scrapbook for Jared. I pretty much never got anything done though because it would take me forever to figure out how I wanted the layout to be, what paper to use, etc, and by that time, Taylor would be awake and ready to eat. I literally would stay at Alisha's house for like 5-6 hours and get maybe one page done. By the time fall rolled around, we were both pretty busy and stopped having our craft days on a regular basis. So, I haven't done any scrapbooking (part of it has to do with the fact that we're trying to sell our house, and I have to try to keep the house from being a complete disaster).

Well, less than a week before Father's Day, I knew I had some work to do if I wanted to get things done. So, I took advantage of one of those great naps Taylor has been taking, and I finished 4 whole pages just in the time while she was asleep! Well, I just got the layout of all the pictures done and added the words a couple of days later, but that was a major feat for me! Like I said, I'm not very experienced, but I was pretty happy with the way it turned out.









I also got Jared a book about flipping houses, and I let him go golfing later in the week (haha... I would have let him go anyway, but I'll still include that as part of my gift)

On the last page, I put a quote from one of our church magazines, the Friend, that says, "When a father's family is happy, it helps him to become a better kind of person." We are so very blessed to have Jared in our lives, and he definitely makes us VERY happy! :-) We love you, Jared!

Meet Tide & Tiger

My family always had cats growing up. Most of them died or "ran away" and didn't last very long, but in 1994, we got two orange tabby kittens- one boy and one girl- from the same litter. They turned out to be the best cats we had ever had!! Seth and Beth- I don't really remember how the names came about. I probably was just trying to think of something that rhymed. I remember how they would always sleep at the foot of my bed, and I loved how they would chase my feet and jump on them as I moved them under the covers. Beth eventually got very sick and died in, I think, 2002. It was very tragic for me because I was very emotionally attached to her, and I was home alone that day and watched her die. Well, my mom is now living on her own, and Seth has been such a good companion for her. He used to be very fiesty and would hunt a lot, but after Beth died, he became much more of an indoor cat. Sadly, about a month ago, he left home and never came back. It's hard because we're not really sure what happened to him, and we didn't really get to say goodbye, but he was 14 years old, so we're pretty sure he's not coming back.

So... now for the happy part! For my mom's birthday, my sis-in-law and I searched everywhere to try to find kittens for my mom. One day, I just happened to hear my niece Savannah say that her neighbor's cat had just had kittens, and I about jumped out of my chair. We have always been very fond of the orange tabby cats, so I asked if there were any of those in the litter. She said there was one, and I immediately said, "I want it!" Later that day, we went to look at the kittens, and there was another one that I fell in love with, too. I showed pictures to my mom, and she said she wanted both of them. We figured out with Seth and Beth that they are much happier when they have company and tend not to stray as much.

Once the kittens were weaned, Jared picked them up and brought them over to our house. Taylor fell in love, too! She hasn't been around cats that much. She sees a lot of dogs around our neighbors' houses and loves them-- from a distance; she's not so fond of touching them, and she definitely doesn't want them jumping on her and licking her (is that genetic??) but when Jared brought these kittens home, she immediately wanted to pet them and hold them and kiss them.

Notice how she always manages to get them backed into a corner.. haha.. and I had to make sure she didn't LOVE them too much by squeezing their necks.

That night, we went over to my mom's house and surprised her with the kittens. They are so sweet and playful, and she said they were potty-trained right away! The first time she showed them the litter box, they immediately used the bathroom in it. Jared is not a cat person, but I think even he enjoyed them a little.

Savannah had already given the kittens nicknames but she graciously said that we could name them whatever we wanted ;-) The next day, my sil Sarah and my nephews Bryson & Rylan went to my mom's to check out the new kitties, and they, too, fell in love. Each of the boys claimed which kitten was theirs. Mom said the black and brown one looked like a tiger with her stripes, so she thought they should name her Tiger. Bryson said, "No, Grandma. Tigers are for Auburn!" So, they tossed around some different ideas. They thought about Tide. Then, I think one was going to be Ala and the other was going to be Bama, but now, they have settled on Tide AND Tiger. Mom said to tell Jared that now she, too, has a House Divided!! haha

It's been a long time since we've had little baby kittens (do you see how I'm talking about them like they're MINE? haha). We just love them to death already, and I'm so grateful that my mom has some more kittens to keep her company. Thank you Dawn and Savannah- and tell your neighbors thank you as well!!!

18 months!

My baby is 18 months old today!! I must say that the last six months have been completely different from the first year-- in very good ways!! Although I have always thought Taylor was the most beautiful baby and have loved her with all of my heart, the first year was VERY rough for me. Taylor NEVER slept! She woke up every 2-3 hours during the night for just about the whole year with some rare miraculous times when she would sleep a little bit longer, and she didn't take good naps during the day either. She would take several 30 minute naps, but it wasn't easy to get her to go to sleep, so a lot of time was spent trying to get her to fall asleep. Yes, we tried letting her just cry herself to sleep, but she would cry and cry and cry until she threw up, and then, we couldn't just let her lie there in throw up, so it just ended up not being worth it. So, she didn't take good naps, and when she was awake, she demanded all of my attention, so I never got anything done during the day. Thus, since she never slept, I never slept. I was so sleep deprived that I often felt very stressed, nervous, impatient, and there were several days that I literally thought I was going to go insane!!

NOW, I couldn't be happier! She sleeps through the night now, and she usually takes 2 1/2-3 hour long naps, and we don't have to wait until she is completely asleep before we lay her down. We just lay her down and walk out of the room, and she goes to sleep (sometimes she will cry for just a few minutes). The other night, Jared put her in bed, and he said, "She's getting so big" because she's basically starting to put herself to sleep. She almost always does the same thing every night. We get her a small cup of milk, go to her room, sit in the rocking chair, she drinks the milk, throws the cup down, we lay her down, and she goes to sleep. Sometimes she will even run to her room when she is ready for bed. These are long awaited for blessings! It is totally amazing what having a full night's worth of sleep can do for you!! She is still pretty demanding for my attention, but since she takes such good naps, I can usually spend all of the time that she is awake with her and then do my work when she is asleep. It's so easy! I just feel so much more relaxed. I feel like I'm able to accomplish more. I feel better mentally, and I really just enjoy every minute with her.

(dancing while David Archuleta is singing)

Don't get me wrong, she still has those terrible toddler moments when "No" is just a funny word to say, but every time she smiles and looks at me with those eyes, she melts my heart. She usually really is a sweetheart. She says, "tay tu" (thank you) a lot, which makes me very happy. Now if we could just get her to say please! Oh and she LOOOVES to give kisses. There are many times when she will give me several kisses in a row and not just little pecks- she really lays them on me! MUAH! (she does the sound effect too) and they're not slobbery either so that's a plus.. haha She loves to dance and will twirl in circles. She is so smart. She is really trying to talk more and mimic everything that she hears. She started saying "Aww... man!" last week, and I had no idea where she got it from until my sil's told me that they say it on Dora the Explorer, which she hasn't watched a lot; she just happened to watch it the day that she started saying it. She doesn't say "mama" much anymore; she usually says, "MOOOOM!" Daddy, Doggie, and Duckie all sound the same- "dada" She was watching a cartoon one day, and they said, "Say azul" which is Spanish for blue. I was in another room, and I heard her say "asu" It sounded very similar to when she says, "Achoo!" but I was amazed that she was trying to say what they said. She loves to be outdoors, but she is ALL girl. If I'm sitting on the floor, she will come up to me and push me down and "wrestle" with me (I wonder who she gets that from!) I love when she laughs, and she makes me laugh all the time. She is so silly and goofy. It cracks her up when I give her nose kisses, but when she tries to give them back, she shakes her head violently, and I'm afraid she's going to headbutt me.. haha She does this thing where she bites her own hand when she's excited. I'm told that her Uncle Nate had a similar habit. I wish I could list every single thing that I love about her, but this post is getting way too long.. haha I guess I can save some stuff for future posts as I think of them.

(dancing to Under the Sea)

I am so in love with my little girl!!

So crazy!

What's That in Our Yard??

So, tonight we went to Decatur and had a nice dinner with our friends the Hatchers and the Merrells at Big Bob Gibson's BBQ. When we got home, we saw something long and black lying in the grass near our front steps. Jared said, "What's that in our yard?" We always have stuff blown in our yard or have neighborhood dogs carrying stuff in our yard, so I didn't think much of it, and jokingly, I said, "It's a snake!" I leaned a little closer to get a better look (I was still standing on the driveway though), and when I realized there was a little head on the end of that long black thing, the fear immediately spread over me as I said, "It really is a snake!" At that point, being on the driveway still seemed too close for comfort to me.



Jared went inside to unlock the garage (there was no way I was getting near those front steps while that snake was there!) and came out with a shovel. I was thinking, "Oh good. He's going to chop its head off and kill it!" but no, he walks over to it and lays the shovel beside the snake so he can take a picture of it and everyone will be able to tell how long it is!! (Longer than our shovel!) The snake never moved the whole time. So, we got some pictures, and I was thinking, "Okay, now he'll chop his head off.." but no.... We have a big field behind our house and then woods behind the field. He wanted to carry the snake to the woods and let it go because "it's not humane" to kill it!! Not humane? What's not humane is me being scared to take Taylor outside to play anymore because I'm afraid there will be snakes in the yard!! (Anybody have any ideas what type of snake this is??)


Still, he insisted, so he went inside and put on a thick gardening glove and then a leather glove on top of that. Then he proceeded to pretend like he was Jeff Corwin, used a golf club to pin the snake's head down, and then grabbed the snakes head. He then had me go get a garbage bag, and I had to hold the garbage bag for him to put the snake inside. I was seriously about to start crying I was so scared! I HATE snakes!


Then, the snake really started moving, and I was afraid the snake was going to bite Jared through that little plastic garbage bag. He twisted the top of the bag around so the snake's head couldn't get all the way to the top, and I got a box for him to lay the snake in. Then, he walked to the woods, let the snake go, and survived it all! He really hates snakes, too, so this was a big deal for him, and he said, "Now you have something to blog about!" haha Our hero!! (although I think I still would have preferred if he killed it!)

On a brighter note, our daylillies are finally blooming!! We didn't realize they were going to be so tall and trimmed back the leaves earlier this spring (because they just looked like big, out of control bushes) which may be one reason why it took so long for them to bloom.



They sure are beautiful now!



Anyway, I guess we'll keep the snake tamer around a little longer. At least we know he's good for something ;-) hehe

Chattanooga Aquarium

Last Thursday, Taylor and I went to the Chattanooga Aquarium with my mom, Neal & Sarah, and Bryson & Rylan. My mom called me the day before and said, "Hey, we're all going to the aquarium tomorrow. I'll pay for the tickets, and Neal is getting a demo vehicle from work that will fit us all and his work pays for gas, so all you have to do is pay for your lunch. Wanna come?" Heck yeah!

The trip to Chattanooga went well. The kids munched on snacks and watched DVD's the whole way there. I had never been to the Chattanooga aquarium before and was very surprised at how huge it is. It's two big buildings that are each four stories high. One is the Ocean Aquarium and the other is the River Aquarium.

This is a collage from the Ocean. I'm pretty sure the sharks were the highlight for the kids. I kept Taylor in her stroller most of the time to try to keep her contained. I got her out of the stroller several times so she could stand next to the glass. Every now and then, something would really catch her eye, but mostly, whenever she was out of the stroller, she just wanted to run around and be free! Our trip through the Ocean Aquarium seemed to go pretty quickly, and then, we went to eat lunch at the Big River Grille.

With our tummies full and our bodies reenergized, we headed to the River Aquarium. I was surprised at how long it took us to get through this one! I don't think some of the displays actually classified as "river." I know one of them was displaying the Gulf of Mexico. We were relieved that the creatures swimming in there weren't actually in our rivers! haha I had to make sure that some of the rivers/bodies of water were nowhere near us because the fish were so big (and ugly and scary) that I definitely did not want to be swimming in the same waters as them!! Ever heard of a beluga sturgeon? Yeah, those things are exactly what I'm talking about- big (can grow up to 19 feet and live over 100 years!), scary, and uuuuuugly! We saw lots of different species of sea horses and sea dragons. The boys especially loved seeing the alligators. There was one part where you could stick your hand in a "pet" the fish (I don't remember what they were; pretty sure they weren't piranhas though). Taylor was all about sticking her hands in the water but was very shocked and screamed when a fish swam towards her hand. She didn't know that was part of the deal.. haha

I didn't get any good pictures of the otters because they were way too fast!

After we made it through the River Aquarium, we took the kids outside, and there were places where they could play in the water. We figured it was safe for them to get wet since we were about to leave anyway. Sarah brought some of Rylan's old clothes for Taylor to change into. (This was already her second change of clothes for the day since Taylor threw up on herself on the way to Neal and Sarah's that morning!) We got some pictures of the kids playing on Sarah's camera because I forgot to charge my camera battery, and it was completely dead by that point. It was probably around 3:30 or so before we headed home... way past the kids' naptimes, so luckily, they all passed out in the car on the way home. Rylan was asleep before we even pulled out of the parking lot.

I didn't realize how many tourist attractions Chattanooga has. There was also a huge Children's Museum there. That would probably be a cool city to go to for a few days to go see all of the attractions, but for a one day trip, the drive wasn't bad at all, and we all had a fun time. All in all, it was a very fun day! Thanks, Mom, Neal, and Sarah!!

The Timing is Just Not Right

So, I previously posted about our house FINALLY selling... Well, it's back on the market. Many of you have already heard me venting my frustrations about this, but for those of you who haven't, I will vent a little more... ;-)

About a week and a half ago, we had the inspection done on the house. The inspector picked out every little nit-picky thing that was wrong with the house. A couple of days later, the "buyers" gave us a long list of things that they wanted us to fix. Most of it was stupid little stuff, but we said, whatever- we'll fix it. Well, the big thing was that they asked us to put new vinyl siding on the WHOLE house!! I was furious! I mean, I don't think I would even consider asking someone to do that. This house is not a brand new house, and they should not be expecting to get a brand new house. Our realtor was even surprised that they asked us to do this. She thought maybe they were just trying to get us to come down on the price, so she called their realtor to try to find out what the real deal was and what they were really expecting. Their realtor said that they DID want the siding replaced. (Another thing that upset me is that the inspector put on his report that there was too much stuff in the garage so he couldn't access the attic to inspect it, and inspectors aren't allowed to move personal possessions. Well, I was at home at the time he did the inspection!! So, all he had to do was come ask me to move some stuff so he could get the ladder down. He just wanted to get paid to have to come back out to inspect the attic!)

So, Jared got together with our realtor one day after work, and they went over some options. He came home and said Jayne (our realtor) had already set up for a couple of siding companies to come out and give us an estimate on the siding. So, one option was that we could see if there were only certain parts of the siding that needed to be replaced, and we could pay to have that replaced and maybe put a cap on how much we would spend at $1000. Another option was that we could lower the selling price $1000 for them to put towards having the siding replaced themselves. As Jared went over the options with me, I just got more and more upset, and I didn't feel right about any of it.

Unfortunately, I feel that I've been a little judgmental about this couple that I don't even know. I know that they are a really young couple- 19 and 20 years old. I know that the inspector knows the girl's father. When the couple came to look at our house the second time and brought their whole family, our neighbor's mom was being nosey and noticed that one of the parents was driving a Mercedes. So, I just started thinking that this was a young couple, they dont' know anything about buying a house, they're probably spoiled and expect to get everything they want.... yada yada yada Yeah, I'm not very proud that I've been judgmental and had these feelings, but this house is very sentimental to me, and I'm being very defensive about it.

So, anyway, our decision was that we were not going to budge. We said we would fix everything else on the list, but we were not going to replace the siding, and we didn't offer to lower the price. Luckily, we're not in a huge hurry to leave this house. We haven't found another house that we want to buy yet, so we haven't put ourselves in a position where we have to be out of the house by a certain time. So, our realtor told them that we felt that our house was a good deal- we had already lowered our asking price by $2500, we were covering closing costs up to $2500, we gave them a one-year home warranty, all appliances were staying (which are all a couple of years old or less), the air conditioning is just over a year old- and she said we would be happy to put our house back on the market if they did not wish to proceed. They came back a couple of days later and said that they wanted to terminate the contract, so we signed the paperwork today, and our house is back on the market.

I've really had mixed feelings about it. As you can tell, there has been some anger and frustration. I was actually a little bit glad they decided not to buy it because by this point I didn't want them living in MY house anyway ;-) I also felt a little discouraged just because when we were looking for a house that we wanted to buy all of the houses that were the size we need and in the area we wanted seemed to be out of our price range. Then, I started to question whether we could actually afford a higher house payment than what we're paying now, and I just really started wondering if our timing was right. It really felt right when we first put the house on the market. I just want all of this to be over! The whole thing is so stressful! Jared and I are wanting to start trying to have another baby pretty soon, and I had hoped that our house would be sold before then. Pregnancy is stressful enough, I think, and I don't want to have to worry about having to have a clean house ALL of the time and trying to sell our house on top of that.

Anyway, I think I've vented enough. Just wanted to update everyone on how the house selling is going- or NOT going. Fortunately, I know that our Heavenly Father has a plan for us. I know that He knows what is best for us, and when the timing is right, everything will fall into place. We just have to be patient and trust in Him.

Nursery

So, Taylor still has nine more days until she turns 18 months, but a couple of weeks ago, I was talking to some of the nursery leaders and telling them how ready I was for Taylor to be in nursery. They told me to go ahead and bring her in to nursery just to see how she does, and if she did well, she could go ahead and start coming to nursery each week. Well, last Sunday was her first time. I took her in to nursery and snuck out of the room, but they brought her to me shortly after because she had a poopy diaper. I changed her diaper and then went to take her back, but she was being a little fussy. I figured that she was probably hungry and thirsty because she's used to me just giving her snacks the whole time we're at church to keep her occupied. I knew it was almost time for them to have snack, so I waited until she was distracted and then snuck out again. I went back a little bit later just to peek in the window and see how she was doing. I saw that they were eating snack, and I figured she was doing just fine then. When I went to pick her up after church, they said she ate really well at snack time and then had fun and played the rest of the time.

This is the first picture Taylor "colored" in nursery. Isn't she amazing?!! haha If you look closely, there are a couple of lines at the top right corner. I'm sure that's all she really did. That's usually how it is when I try to get her to color at home. She does a couple of little scribbles, and then I color the rest.




Yesterday, she ate a whole bunch of goldfish during sacrament meeting (the first hour of church), so she did a lot better in nursery. When I went to pick her up, she was holding a baby doll and had the baby's bottle in her own mouth. She used her death grip and screamed when I tried to take them away from her... haha.. but I reassured her that her baby would be waiting for her when we got home. One of the nursery leaders, who also happens to be a good friend of ours, said, "Your daughter is the sweetest little girl!" So yesterday must have been a much better day for her.

Jared decided that nursery is a gift from Heaven. It really has been a lot better for her and us to have her in nursery. She gets to play and learn with other kids her age (or closer to it), and we get to focus on our Primary class. Yay for nursery!!

What A Silly Girl!

Taylor has started making this really goofy face where she stretches her mouth really wide and then kind of strains her neck. It's hard to explain-- you just have to see it in person to really see how hilarious it is! Hopefully you can see it in this video (please excuse the vacuuming in the background). This day she kept doing it over and over again, and I was laughing so hard I was crying!

One night, Jared asked me to pop his back, so he layed on the floor, and I tried to pop his back. Then, I walked on his back, and then, Taylor decided that SHE needed to walk on his back. She thought it was very entertaining!

The night that Grandma Mayfield & fam came over for dinner, we had chicken casserole, macaroni & cheese, and steamed veggies. I had Activity Day that night, so I had to leave right after dinner to go to church. Jared plays soccer at church on Wednesday nights, so he watches Taylor while I'm at Activity Day and then hands her back over to me when I'm done. Well, this night, he showed up at the church as Activity Day was ending, and when he handed her to me, I said, "What is all over her eye?" She had dried cheese covering her right eye! He said, "I didn't see it! Her hair was covering her eye!" haha.. it was pretty funny! Then, A&N, two of my Activity Day girls (I love these girls!), shared some M&M's with Taylor, and she helped herself to several. She had stuff all over her face and kept running from me as I was trying to take pictures to capture the moment!




Taylor's hair is finally long enough to put in a ponytail (at least the back; the sides aren't quite long enough yet). Unfortunately, Taylor does NOT like for me to mess with her hair, so I don't get to do ponytails, pigtails, or anything very often, so I really treasure the moments when I do get to do something with her hair. She's got fabulous hair no matter what though!

After Garden Club at Granny's house, Taylor and I went by Wal-Mart on the way home to pick up a few groceries. I forgot that Wal-Mart had fish, so when I saw the fish tanks, I took Taylor over to them. Initially, I thought she was really excited to see the fish (and maybe she was... initially), but then, I realized that she was probably more interested in picking at the paper labels at the bottom of the tanks, so we didn't stick around too long.



I love posting some of the little everyday things that go on in our lives. I just want to be able to always remember all of the adorable things she did at this age!