The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Where to begin? I've been sitting here for a few minutes trying to decide how to start this blog. This Christmas was probably one of the best we've ever had. Lilly finally understood that Santa was coming and what that meant for her, it was so much fun. It was also the first Christmas ever that Bryan's parents had both of their kids, spouses and grand kids together. But, this Christmas began with sadness and loss for the Traylor family.
Nine days before Christmas Bryan's Granddad, Jack Traylor, lost his hard fought battle with cancer at the age of 88. Bryan made the trip to Kentucky for the memorial services alone, spent four days with his entire extended family reminiscing and mourning, and then returned with his parents, his sister and her family in tow.
The whole fam made the trip here this year since Jack is still too little to travel. We all gathered at our house for a traditional family Christmas complete with dinner, napping, presents and snow.
Lilly opening a gift. She was a little slow at first, but after a little practice she was really tearing into them. Jack lucked out. With Aunt Cammie, Uncle Ed, two cousins, a Grandma and Granddad he rarely had to sleep in his bed. We let Cammie take a nap without making her get in her bed too.

Matthew and Lilly playing in the snow. The layer of ice made snowman building impossible, but with a little help from Matthew Lilly was able to make a snow angel. She didn't weigh enough to break through the ice layer by herself so Matthew had to push on her to break the surface.

Bryan's family headed back to KY on Thursday. The next day was Christmas Eve and we spent the day relaxing. This relaxing led to laziness and laziness led to what will, I hope, become a new Christmas Eve tradition for our family: carry out sushi for dinner.

On Christmas Eve Lilly and I also made some cookies for Santa. She was very excited to leave the cookies and some milk out for Santa and a few carrots for the reindeer. This excitement turned to confusion in the morning when only a few bites of each were left on the plate. The confusion switched back to excitement when she realized she could eat the bites of cookie that were left on the plate. At 9:00 in the morning.

This was the most fun I've had on Christmas morning since I was a kid myself. I think Bryan and I were even more excited that Lilly. After she woke up and asked, "Is Santa here?", she heard Bryan in the kitchen and whispered to me, "I think he's in the kitchen." Bryan had already explained in detail how Santa would come down the chimney, eat the cookies and then leave presents under the tree. He did not, however, explain to her how Santa would leave. After explaining that Santa didn't stick around for breakfast we steered her towards the cookies to point out that they had been eaten. Then we could hardly wait while she remembered on her own that if Santa had eaten the cookies he had probably left some things under the tree. We followed her eagerly into the living room and didn't even take any pictures as she saw everything that had been left. She looked through all of her new things and didn't know what to play with first. Then, while looking through the trunk of dress up dresses she looked up at Bryan and asked, "Is Santa still working on the blue dress?" Oops. When Lilly sat on Santa's lap she told him that she'd like to have a purple dress and a blue dress to play in. The dress up trunk came with a purple dress and several others, along with accessories, tiaras, heels and jewelry. But, the lack of a blue dress did not escape Lilly's notice. Santa fail.

Lilly spending a little time with Jack on one of his Christmas gifts, while wearing one of hers. We spent quite a bit of time on Christmas morning taking Lilly in and out of dress up dresses, but not a blue one.

After spending some time on Christmas day playing with all of Lilly's new things we made our way to my mom and dad's house, along with Wes and Kristy to have dinner.

A rarity: A picture with both me, my mom and Kristy in it. We are usually the ones taking the pictures, but in a rare event Wes got behind the camera and snapped a few. Too bad he didn't tell Kristy we were posing.

The day after Christmas was a great day for sleeping in. But, after the sleeping in was over we met Wes and Kristy at my parents' house for some sledding.

After all the Christmas excitement poor Jack was just worn out.

Its Jammie Time

I have no new blog material and I have also been pretty lax in my picture taking. So, I thought I'd share a cute picture of everyone in their jammies. Well...maybe not everyone. I prefer not to be photographed in my jammies...and Bryan doesn't wear any so you don't want to see that either.
I took this picture while Bryan was out of town and sent it to him with the caption, "Good Morning, Daddy". It made his day, so I did it the next day too. The first day Lilly was excited to hold Jack and I got a smile out of her and was able to get him to look at the camera. The next day, not so much. Lilly was annoyed and about thirty seconds after I propped Jack against her she said, "Um, I'm done holding him. Can you please take him now?"

No jammies here, but I just had to post this picture of Jack's little bottom in the air while he was sleeping.

What a Difference a Month Makes

Jack is one month old today. He's already changed so much, I can't believe it. When Lilly was an infant every day was like an eternity, but Jack's first month seems to have slipped right by me.

He is a good baby and a sweet little boy. He is still sleeping good at night and naps good during the day. All he seems to want is to be rocked to sleep, a clean diaper and to something to eat. And boy does he eat! Jack weighs a whopping 10 lbs 9 ozs. For all of you math majors that is an almost three pound weight gain in just four short weeks.

Newborn picture from the hospital. 7 lbs 13 ozs

About two weeks old.

Three weeks.

One month. 10 lbs 9 ozs

Wonderful Winter Weekend

Again, I am putting my preplanned blog on hold to bring you news of Lilly's big weekend. Play date on Friday night. Parade, Santa visit and Christmas tree shopping and decorating on Saturday. Sunday was Uncle Wes's birthday so there was a cake to make and a party to go to.
Lilly had a great time at Christmas in the Village. She loves a parade and nothing says Christmas Parade like a fresh dusting of snow that is still falling.
Lilly had a blast and enjoyed the parade more than anyone. She was so obviously happy that a shop owner took her picture, Santa waved at her and the United Way singled her out with a special stuffed animal.
Jack and I sat the parade out, but Bryan and Lilly came home after and picked us up so that we could all go back together to see Santa. Lilly wasn't shy at all, although she was a little confused about what to do. She walked up to Santa, stood about three feet away and shouted 'doll house' at him as if she were placing an order at a drive thru. We explained the procedure a little more clearly. She then sat on Santa's lap and had a more respectful conversation. After saying 'good bye' to Santa we made a quick stop for dog food and then headed to the Christmas tree farm.
On Friday I was thrilled to slip into my pre pregnancy jeans and find that they fit. So, I packed up all my maternity clothes and got the boxes ready for storage. In an ironic twist, only a day after doing this I was digging through the boxes for my maternity coat because just for old times sakes Jack and I both wanted to wear it at the Christmas tree farm. It was snowing and cold so I put him in the carrier and put the coat on over both of us. Oddly enough it fit perfect like that. Genius!
After naps, we all took one when we got home, Bryan brought the tree in. He and Lilly trimmed it a little to even it up...unfortunately, they got a little carried away and the tree had to be turned to hide the bare spot they made.
After putting on the lights Lilly helped with the ornaments. Mostly, she took off the ones that Bryan had put on and asked him a million questions about them. Now, she takes off the ones she can reach and plays with them. In two days most of our ornaments that were hung on the bottom have made their way to the higher part of the tree.Sunday was my brother's birthday and birthday cake baking is traditionally my responsibility. Over the last year Lilly has appointed herself as assistant. Nothing makes her happier than dragging a kitchen chair over to the counter and helping make something. She pours in the ingredients, or 'green ants' as she calls them, and then does the stirring. She refers to her apron as her 'cake making clothes'.
Lilly was very proud of her cake. After I frosted it she decorated it with chocolate sprinkles...most of which were piled in the one spot just off the center of the cake. She helped Kristy put the candles on and then clapped after the singing when Wes blew them out. Birthdays around here have changed a little. We've always celebrated each person's birthday with a family dinner, but now it seems that everyone's birthday is less about his or her actual birthday and more about Lilly celebrating that birthday. She even helped Wes open his gifts. He was pretty happy with his gifts, but she was disappointed that he got a couple sweaters, a dress shirt and a gift card instead of play doh, barbies or blocks. Since there were no new birthday toys to play with Lilly had to make due with her favorite playthings: Daddy, Papaw and Uncle Wes. She ruled that they were all horses and spent the hour after dinner leading them, in turn, from room to room with the ribbon from one of the gifts and having them sit in their 'stables' to wait for further instruction. I have to point out that all of this went on while the Colts were in overtime with the Cowboys, but Lilly's horses gladly followed her around and one, the show pony, even wore birthday ribbon on his head.

Pardon the Interuption

I have a great blog started. I need to finish downloading the pictures and edit the content, but its going to be a good one. I have been working on it for quite some time. But, I've put that on hold for a few days because it can wait and today something wonderful happened. It snowed!

Lilly was very excited and has been waiting for this day since the flowers in the back yard started to die. This fall she asked Bryan where all the flowers had gone. He explained that we have flowers in the summer, the leaves fall in autumn and then there will be snow. She sat on a stump and made a sad face, "I'm just gonna wait here for the snow." She said.

Jack didn't play in the snow, but he was prepared for the cold just the same.

Daddy/Daughter Day of Disaster

Bryan is in a bowling league that bowls every Friday night in the fall and winter months. This Friday he accidentally left his debit card at the bowling alley and needed to go and get it on Saturday morning. What started as a quick and annoying errand quickly escalated into a great idea for a Daddy/Daughter Day. We thought it would be fun for Lilly to go with Bryan and then bowl a game. Even better, he invited good friends Nathan and Avery to join them.
Then the whole plan seemed to crumble.
Disaster One: At the last minute Lilly changed her mind and didn't want to go. She cried and needed quite a bit of persuasion to get into the car, this is when Bryan mentioned the bowling shoes. She was back on board.
Disaster Two: On the way to the bowling alley Bryan heard from Nathan, who was already there, the bowling alley was closed due to a power outage.
Disaster Three: It was decided, after a consultation with the moms, that the outing would be moved to Chuck E Cheese. Mom approval was required due to the disgusting nature of Chuck E Cheese and the number of germs that two little girls can pick up there and bring back to their baby brothers.
The disasters were put on hold for a couple of hours while everyone had a great time at Chuck E Cheese. The girls played, the dads won brownie points and the moms and baby brothers relaxed at home.
On the carousel.
Riding with Stewart Little.

Trying to call mom for help.

Disaster Four: Avery falls flat on her nose. Bryan says her little nose instantly began to blacken up and latest reports from her parents are that the nose is still bruised.

Disaster Five:Leaving. When told that it was time to go Lilly collapsed on the floor in tears and Avery stopped where she stood and sobbed. Then Bryan got stuck in traffic with a screaming toddler. She was asleep when he pulled in the driveway.

Disaster Six: Lilly is now sick. I don't think she caught something at Chuck E Cheese, Bryan insists that she sneezed while there. Ironic isn't it? I don't want Lilly at Chuck E Cheese because people take sick kids there...people like Bryan and I.

No disaster here, but I thought some of you might like to see Jack with his eyes open. This is very rare as he sleeps soundly and in his bed most of the time. The only problem is that this picture was taken at about 11pm.

Lillyrella

Last week while Bryan and I were in the hospital with Jack, Lilly spent that time at her country home north of town where she maintains a staff of two. While there she didn't miss us at all. She was too busy dressing up like Cinderella, watching 'Cinderella', playing outside and having a picnic at the park with one of her favorite playmates-Papaw.
Lilly is obsessed with Cinderella. As a special treat for the new big sister my mom got her this dress and gave it to her during her stay with them. It came with a crown and magic wand. She rarely wants to wear anything else.
Here she is casting a spell. She will curl her nose, point the wand at you and say "Bipity Bopety Boo". That's when you know that you have been turned into a frog, horse or most likely a kitty cat. Please notice the shoes. She calls them her 'fancy dancin' shoes'.

Here is Lilly having her picnic lunch at the park. We were all astonished to learn that a two and a half year old can sit this close to slides, swings and a jungle gym and still eat an entire peanut butter and jelly sandwich. But, eventually she found her way to the slides.

Thanks Grandma and Papaw! It was a load off my mind while in the hospital to know that Lilly was not only being taken care of, but having a great time too.

Jack Pot!!

Tuesday November 9 started like any other day. Everyone in our little family of three got up, ate breakfast and I started a load of laundry while Bryan headed off to work. Then Lilly and I got cleaned up and ventured out to run a few errands before heading out to take a walk and enjoy some fresh air at my parents' house (Please see previous blog).
Tuesday November 9, however, did not end like any other day. By midnight Lilly was asleep, my mom was on our couch and Bryan and I were at the hospital. At 10:02am on Wednesday, November 10 we welcomed David Jack Traylor and became a family of four. At 7lbs 13.5ozs and almost 22 inches long he was bigger than his big sister, but still seemed tiny to us.
Jack doing his favorite thing: sleeping. He eats good, sleeps well and cries only when he needs something. He may look a lot like his big sis, but their personalities seem night and day already.

Lilly so proud of her baby brother. She was so excited to hold him and then became obsessed with his feet. You can't tell, but she is wearing her 'Big Sister' t-shirt.

My mom told her to be careful of his soft spot and she later told Bryan, "Be careful, he has a bad spot." Notice her little hand is on his foot, did I mention she was obsessed with his feet? Jack with his new kitty. Grandma and Papaw stopped on the way to the hospital so Lilly could bring a gift to her new baby brother. Grandma helped her pick out a blue hippo and they were ready to pay when Papaw pointed out the basket of kitties, Lilly's favorite. So now, Jack has a cute black kitty with a pink nose and ears. I think he likes it though.

Jack having some 'tree frog' time with Daddy after lunch. They can't wait to watch the Colt's game together on Sunday!

Lazy Little Luther

Lazy little Luther seems happy and comfortable with the status quo and shows no signs of voluntarily abandoning his current situation and greeting the world. Since it was a nice day Lilly and I decided that we would spend an afternoon at my parents' house walking in the woods to try and encourage him to leave on his own and maintain a little dignity before being forcibly evicted on Saturday morning.
As I have chosen to refrain from appearing in pictures and/or videos until further notice I have included in this blog a couple videos of Lilly enjoying the beautiful weather and great outdoors.
Lilly on the mountain. *Please note* No actual injury of any kind was sustained during the filming of this clip.




Lilly the biker.

Oktober Fest

I love fall and contrary to what he might say, Bryan sure seems to enjoy this season too. It just seems like everything people do in the fall is more fun. Even the chores are better...splitting wood when its 62 degrees is much more fun than mowing the grass when its 108 or shoveling snow when its negative two. The holidays are better too...Halloween and Thanksgiving are more fun than Easter and New Year's Eve. Here is the evidence to support my claim.
Remember my blog a few a few months ago when I revealed Lilly's German dress and promised you that you'd see it again? Well, here it is. The dress is too cute and Lilly liked wearing it so much that we had to build a Halloween costume around it. Luckily for us, it wasn't really that hard. After a little bit of a shock when I googled 'milkmaid' without being specific that I was looking for a child's costume, it was pretty easy to figure out what we needed to add to the dress. All we needed to make Lilly look like an authentic German milkmaid was a button hat and a milk bucket. We found a silver bucket, wrote 'MILK' on it and I channeled my inner Martha Stewart (and called my grandma for help) to make Lilly the button hat. She was the cutest little milkmaid ever.
So cute in fact, that she took Honorable Mention at the Boone Village Halloween Party costume contest. We think Lilly should have beat the (store bought) pirate and fireman, but Woody's mom deserved that trophy. His entire costume was home made.
Two days later Lilly and Grandma left some apples out for the deer that pass through this time of year. They looked for them today and found they had been eaten! Very exciting. Lilly thought she should play on the wood pile while it was still there. (see below)

Splitting wood (when you have a splitter) is a really fun fall chore. Bryan complained when we were done that his back hurt, but I didn't find it hard at all. I stood, and later sat, in the same place for three hours and operated the splitter while Bryan lugged the logs over, maneuvered them into position and then stacked the split wood.

Lilly checked on her apples and then played in the sandbox. She spent the morning mentally preparing for trick or treating that same night.

Lilly had a great time trick or treating. We left early and made a few visits that required a car ride then came home to set out around the neighborhood. Tiki and Papaw joined Lilly, Bryan and I for trick or treating while Grandma made dinner and Wes handed out candy at our house. This worked out great, everyone got to see Lilly in her costume (without us having to drive all around and make ten stops) and we came home from trick or treating to find meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy ready to eat.

Lilly's favorite part of Halloween was ringing doorbells. She loved running onto the porch and pushing the button. We were very proud that she said "trick or treat" and "thank you" loud and clear at each house we visited. There was one house where things didn't go as planned. We couldn't help but laugh when Lilly approached the house, rang the bell and smiled at the woman who opened the door. Then, instead of saying "trick or treat" Lilly politely asked the woman if she could please come in and see the kitty that she had spotted just inside.

The Great Pumpkin

It just wouldn't be October, Halloween, or childhood, for that matter, without carving a pumpkin. Lilly like any other kid was eager, and a little confused, to carve her very first pumpkin.
Lilly drawing a face on the pumpkin. This is where the confusion set in. She kept asking for other colors. I think she thought she was just coloring on the pumpkin, not drawing something that was to be cut out.
Waiting with excitement while Daddy removes the 'lid'.

First experience with pumpkin goop. She called the seeds 'beans'.

Really getting into it now.

Me outlining the face while Lilly tries on her sunglasses.

Bryan cutting out the face while Lilly eats a cookie.

Lilly and her pumpkin. While I was taking this picture she coached the pumpkin by saying, "Say cheese, punkin!"