Taylor family

Summer Adventures

2009-10-02T16:08:00.016-04:00

Some Summer Pic's

2009-07-14T20:57:00.012-04:00

The swings at Centre Island are great! We managed to take an adventure to Toronto Island on father's day - didn't realize it was the last day the ferries were running before the city strike. No one told me there were snacks in this bag!

Driving with Daddy.

Mummy swan with baby swans....so cute

Oh.....no one told me I was supposed to take my shoes off first.

Happy Canada day with my cousin Zachary....matching sweaters and face tatoos.

My new "cheese" face

Hello camera - what's inside there?

L0ok at my great big bucket of hail...Nathan's keeping it in the freezer, so we can pull it out and show it to everyone :)

Whoops - managed to fall off the step onto his face - hasn't figured out to break a fall by putting out his hands to protect the noggin'

But a little face scrape isn't going to stop me from playing hockey with my golf balls!

The Brooklin Fair

2009-06-08T07:33:00.011-04:00

First Pony Ride - was very serious and focused the whole time....better not fall off this horse!

Got to ride on the merry go round too - faster, faster!

Hi Mr. Goat

Collingwood and the Zoo

2009-06-03T13:25:00.012-04:00

Funny Pic's

2009-02-24T15:39:00.010-05:00

Check out this great umbrella - you never know when it's going to rain in this house. I've even got my Dutch shoes on just in case.

There's nothing better than watching a bit of TV, in your PJ's, with your teddy when you're sick.
Okay - I'm better now - time to do some cooking - first I'm going to re-arrange these cupboards here
Could you give me a bit of privacy!?
Who needs toys when there is a never ending supply of toilet paper?

What do you mean I can't use the whole roll?

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!

2009-01-13T08:53:00.020-05:00

Another Christmas has come and gone, and Santa was once again very generous to Nathan. He still seemed a bit confused with the whole present thing, but was quite happy to play with all his new toys. We've been undergoing a bathroom renovation, and there have been tools everywhere in the house, so it was no wonder that Nathan was drawn to his own new tool bench.

Christmas dinner with the Taylor crew - nice hats!
Toys, toys everywhere - and Nathan and Zachary decide to hang out in the laundry basket! Here's Zachary giving his best "cheese"!

Annual Kramer family photo - couldn't quite get the kids to smile at the camera for the autoflash

Thanks auntie Jill for my brand new hat - I love it!

Nathan got another set of tools from his cousin Alexis - she looks like she would have rather kept them for herself

Ha ha - I took the wrench when you weren't looking - now i'm going to snuggle up for a nap with my wrench in my new sleeping bag

Here's Nathan enjoying a Dutch new year's eve treat - oleibollen dipped in icing sugar....didn't take long for him to figure out how it's done...yum

Introducing our new upstairs bathroom - opa did a great job!!

...only problem is, the leak in the wall downstairs WASN'T coming from the bathroom upstairs!! there was a leak in a pipe behind the wall downstairs....so now opa is busy repairing the downstairs bathroom....what would we do without our favourite fix-it guy?!?!

anyone want a bath in the sink?

2008-12-21T18:20:00.011-05:00

We're currently renovating our bathroom, (thanks Opa!!) - but where are we going to give Nathan a bath? He thought the kitchen sink was a good idea.

I think it's going to be a white Christmas

We've put a gate at our living room entrance - try to keep the chaos and Nathan in one room - we affectionately call it "baby jail"

Where are you going Nathan? Who left the gate open?!

Oh oh! Jail Break!

Winter Wonderland

2008-12-10T20:33:00.014-05:00

A few fun pictures of Nathan in his winter warmest - hamming it up for the camera. Are you sure this hat is supposed to go on my head?!

Ha ha - just kidding, I'll leave it on my head!

Now lets see if the sled works outside in the snow

Mummy - this snow tastes really cold....brrrr

Faster daddy! Faster!!!

I love having Daddy home for a snow day

Our little snow monkey

Happy First Birthday Nathan!!!

2008-11-02T13:17:00.015-05:00

Trick or Treat

What a cool cake!!

Some of the party animals

Just what every little boy with poor hand-eye coordination needs - a hockey stick!

Get your own piece of cake - this is mine!

No officer - I swear, I haven't been eating any sugar...

Matching outfits

Good - now that all the people are gone I can eat my candy apple

No thank you mum, I don't think I need a bath tonight:

Pumpkins, Pumpkins Everywhere!

2008-10-14T10:22:00.018-04:00

Nathan, look at all those pumpkins, do you think we should buy any?
How 'bout two? Maybe a few more?

Four? - that's a lot of pumpkins!

Five?!?.....who's going to carry them to the car?!

Hanging out with my buddy Timo at Whittamore's Farm:

Spending some time with my baby friends

Spending some time at Knoxx's Pumpkin farm with mummy and daddy

Didn't mind the wagon ride, I think Nathan was thinking "okay, do we not have a car anymore?"

Fall

2008-10-09T08:35:00.026-04:00

Nathan doesn't stop to sit much, here he is finishing off his morning coffee
I can't crawl and hold stuff - I'll just put this block in my mouth

Good - Now that the fleshy kitten is gone, I can take a snooze in his comfy chair

yum....this spaghetti tastes delicious, and it feels great on my face!

Who's messy? I'm messy!!! (we eat pasta when daddy's at work)

I guess it's been a while since I've updated the blog 'cus here's some pictures from the Labour day long weekend! Nathan and I drove to Windsor to visit our friends Jen, Scott and doggie Sophie. Nathan and Sophie quickly became best friends (I think Sophie figured out if she hung out near Nathan, food would magically appear on the floor....I love this baby!)

We took a trip to the local country fair near Windsor - wow those are some big pumpkins!

These cows were huge - and you could just walk up and pet one....of course Nathan needed to pet the cows....

And pet the sheep.....

And ride the tractor......

We spent this summer watching the Olympics, and of course you couldn't miss Micheal Phelps rock the pool....maybe Nathan will be a swimmer one day?

Some pictures out on the grass on a sunny day

We recently went on a dinner cruise in the Toronto harbour - the theme was classic movie characters - can you guess who we were?

Now that it's getting a bit cool outside, we went looking for an indoor play area - this neat place has all kinds of kid friendly toys, like basketball:

and some climbing toys:

And a great jumping castle:

Alexis - does your daddy ride the fire truck with his leg hanging out the side?

Another fun birthday party - this time for Nathan's cousin Zach - check out the great cake that auntie Jenn made - that girl is talented!

Uncle Paul and Michel having a deep conversation about Ben 10 and Transformers

Playing hard - parties are fun!

The birthday boy "Happy birthday to you, you live in the zoo, you look like a monkey....and smell like one too!"

Petting Zoo

2008-08-27T21:29:00.007-04:00

Today we checked out a petting zoo near Alexis' house - she was a bit sceptical of the whole animal thing, but Nathan was quite happy to stick his hands into every cage - maybe not the wisest plan, as he got a little peck from the chickens! Nathan's favourite farm animal seemed to be this baby goat - "come here baby goat so I can pet you!"

"Would you like some apple?"

Who's in a cage now?

Who exactly is driving this car, and why are the steering wheels in the back seat?

Summer Fun

2008-08-26T10:38:00.019-04:00

I have been delinquent in my picture posting recently - here's some fun pictures from our summer adventures - BBQ with cousins Michel and Zachary, hanging out at the cottage in Wasaga beach, and partying hard at Michel's birthday....whew I'm tired!!

who needs two shirts, when daddy and I can share his?

oh yeah - I stand now....and I climb stairs, and want to put my hands in the toilet, take the garbage out of the can, and cause general chaos...gotta keep mummy busy!

I wonder what Uncle Ed keeps in there?

What kind of baby goop are you eating today?

Uncle Paul is cool!

there's a new mayor of grumpy town - and he goes by the name of Nathonator

Partying hard with nanny at Michel's birthday party

poor snickers got a hair cut

Nathan's First Camping Adventure

2008-07-20T20:09:00.030-04:00

We've just returned from our camping adventure at Killbear park - and a true adventure it was! A few people thought we were crazy to camp with a baby, but Nathan was the easiest part of the trip - he seemed to love it all.

When we arrived Thursday afternoon Nathan did a great job of supervising daddy putting the tent up - Nathan, is he doing it right?
Nathan's first campfire - did you know your daddy is a pyromaniac? fire, fire, fire...(look at all of those bags of woods - we had the big fire after the baby went to bed)

When we awoke Friday morning, it was a bit damp, so we decided to go to Parry Sound and pick up a dining tent, and grab some breakfast (much easier on me....no cooking!). On our way back from town we had a crazy thunderstorm - so bad we had to pull off to the side of the road and just sit it out for more than 30 minutes.

Upon our return we found our campsite had turned into a small pond - our tent was sitting in at least 2 inches of water. When we went to the office to find a shovel we also found out that there had been three (3!) bears in the park the night before, in fact the car at the campsite two sites up had their car window broken by a hungry bear - it's a beautiful day for a picnic!

Here's Paul digging a large trench to drain all that extra unwanted water.

Once all the water cleared we headed back to town to find a laundromat and dry all our clothes and start afresh - luckily the rest of the weekend was sunny, warm and lots o' fun. The dining tent was a great addition to our camping gear - Nathan's favourite spot was right on top of the picnic table, sitting in his Bumbo chair.

Some shots at the beach early Saturday morning.

This kid is so cool he needs shades

" Take me to your leader"

Nathan loved the beach - he played in the sand (tried to put it in his mouth), played with his beach toys (tried to put them in his mouth), went for a swim in lake (tried to put it in his mouth)...it's a wonder there was any sand or water left.

All that swimming makes me sleepy.

We saw a couple deer at Killbear - this one was just down the road from our campsite, it was walking thru the forest eating some dinner, seemed very relaxed - we even had time to walk back to our site, grab the camera, and get a couple pictures. All this deer watching makes me sleepy!

So all and all it was quite an adventure - lots of fun - Nathan seemed to enjoy it all - although I think he was a bit confused about the whole thing (let me get this straight - you want me to sleep in a tent in the middle of the woods? ....okay)

He seemed very happy to be home again - safe and dry, happy to see that we still have a house, where the only wildlife is our pet cat Snickers!

We're going to the Zoo Zoo Zoo

2008-07-01T08:30:00.021-04:00

We've been enjoying our Canada Day long weekend - and we kicked off our break by taking a trip to the zoo. It's hard to say if Nathan even noticed the animals - you can see from the pictures below that he looks a bit confused as to what direction he was supposed to be looking

This kitty is a bit bigger than Snickers

This whole zoo thing makes me sleepy

Okay - I'm ready for some more animals...can we take this one home?
Lately Nathan has been waking up ready to play at 6:30am (!!!) Needless to say coffee has become my friend - and it looks like Nathan needs a fix too
Now I'm ready to play some more.....really fast......why does my hand keep twitching?

Nathan continues to be a very adventurous eater - he seems to like most things I serve: some cereal with banana and yogurt for breakfast, chicken and rice with veggies for lunch, and his favourite: beef barley with squash for dinner....He did let me know that he's not a huge fan of pasta with broccoli and cheese:

Finding Nemo....I mean Finding Nathan....check out this fun swimming pool - the only problem is when we left it outside overnight all of the toys were tossed out of the pool, and there was a bit of dirt on the bottom - could it be that the local raccoons had a midnight swimming party in Nathan's pool??!

Hanging out with Oma, Opa and uncle Ed

Party, Party, Party!

2008-06-06T08:53:00.017-04:00

We recently attending a birthday party for Gail, a family friend....Nathan just couldn't lay off the bottle...(I don't think Oma's going to like this picture:)

Aliyah was happy to hang out with Nathan for a while

Parties can be dangerous adventures....Michel took one for the team with this knee scrape
Does this playpen look a little small?

Okay, party's over, time to do some work on my blackberry....
Nathan's fingers are still a bit stubby, so he finds he can type better with his teeth

"...hello China? When are the Olympics? LOL"

Oh, I didn't realize, we're supposed to put things IN the basket?

We took a drive to Nanny's house recently....Nathan looks a bit perturbed that we're interrupting his conversation to take a pesky picture

Oh, oh....Where's the rest of your face?!

A beautiful day to hang out on the lawn

And I thought Nathan is growing fast - here are our baby birds - they're already as big as mom, and out of the nest. Maybe we'll see momma bird again next spring

visit to TO

2008-05-20T09:18:00.006-04:00

These pic's are a few weeks old - Nathan and I went downtown to visit daddy, and to smile at all he ladies. Here's Nathan hanging out with Li, one of Paul's co-workers.

Nathan was very happy to show Andie all of his tricks: "roll over", "shark attack" & "stand upright"
Some shots from swimming lessons. Here Nathan is practicing jumping into the water from the side of the pool....problem is, Nathan much prefers to stand, I had the hardest time convincing him to bend at the waist and sit on the edge of the pool.

Mover over Exersaucer

2008-05-19T18:52:00.004-04:00

Nathan has discovered the joy of bouncing - what a funny little man!

Blueberries, Birds and Books.....Oh My!

2008-05-15T09:48:00.007-04:00

Nathan has become an adventurous "eater" - from beef barley soup to blueberries and bananas. Although he's tried everything I've offered, he does seem to be just like his father....a meat eater! Here's a shot after a blueberry feast.

We have a morning dove who has built her nest in the tree along our front pathway. We've been keeping track of her baby progress - and I'm proud to announce she had two little birdie babies hatch last week. Paul's been offering her slices of bread to keep her energy up....babies are a lot of work :)

Here we're enjoying one of our new books - it's quite high tech, there are buttons along the side that make all the different noises that you hear around town - a police siren, a digger, and crowded cafe...I think it gets two thumbs up from Nathan.

We drove up to Peterborough for Mother's day (& Nanny's birthday - both on the same day). We went out for brunch at a local restaurant, they managed to find an amazing table for us - it was a fully contained booth - almost like a playpen - Nathan was too small for the highchair, but managed to spend some time on each of our laps.
Nathan has been enjoying his swimming lessons - he even managed to "swim" thru a submerged hoop this week - the pool is nice and close, so he managed to take a snooze in the stroller on the walk home.

Couldn't resist adding this cute shot of my boys just chillin

Bananacado! and a whole lot of other firsts

2008-04-27T20:31:00.022-04:00

After waiting patiently for the last few months, and a bit impatiently for the last few weeks, Nathan has finally starting eating real food. I was planning on giving him bananas for his first meal, but they were taking too long to ripen (okay, I just bought them that morning) so we started with some steamed and blended pears.

At first Nathan fought very aggressively to take the spoon and shove it in his mouth, but after the first bite he just kind of sat there with a concerned look of "are you sure you're supposed to be doing this?!"

We've since tried bananas and avocado, and even a mixture of the two of them together, for a new favourite aka "banacado"

Nathan is not crawling yet, but he does get around....mainly backwards. The other night he managed to squirm completely underneath the coffee table....silly baby.
Last week when the weather was so nice and warm, we took Nathan out on the back porch with only his diaper on...we've learned a naked baby is a happy baby!

We hosted a few of our baby friends over at our house for a book party (look at all those cute babies!). Nathan quickly gave up the books to pick up the chicks.

We've also been treated to some interesting compositions on Nathan's baby grand piano....don't tell him, but it doesn't sound much like music just yet.

Today we took Nathan to the park and he had his first ride in the swings - although he seemed to like the swings, I think he equally like looking at all the other kids at the park. We can see that he's taking it all in, just planning for the time when he can run around too. We still can't believe how fast he's growing, almost 6 months already! He even has his first tooth peeking thru his lower gums...it's still too small to capture with the camera, but Nathan gave Paul a good chomp on his finger already.

Yeah Spring!!

2008-04-18T09:28:00.010-04:00

Up until this point Nathan has really only known winter...so Paul was really excited to take Nathan on a tour of the back yard once the snow melted. Nathan responded by sticking out his tongue!

Nathan looks pretty cool with his collar up, hanging out in his high chair These pictures are from a few weeks ago, when we spent an afternoon at nanny's house. Nathan got into all kinds of high jinks with his cousins...Zach is super cool with his shades on.

Michel on the other hand enjoys wearing his pants up to his arm pits....I guess he's practicing for when he's 90. Who's not wearing any clothes?! Nathan and Zachary!!!

I think cats and baby's have the same interest in colourful toys that make noise. What's more fun than putting the baby in the cat tunnel?

Whole Face Smiles

2008-03-20T20:49:00.008-04:00

Now that I'm back to work a few afternoons a week, my mom (aka "Oma") has been spending the afternoons with Nathan - they look like they have lots of fun when I'm not around.

Nathan's cousins just came back from Florida - and they brought back this Mickey Mouse hat. I swear, he's the one who moved it sideways "yo yo ....what's up Dawg?"

Alexis was very nice to lend Nathan her "Bumbo" chair - Nathan seems to like sitting around in it, and hanging out with me in the kitchen. We've even placed him in it at dinner time, and he sits on our dining room table like a cute centrepiece

I couldn't resist adding this shot of mummy and Nathan

Baby in a Basket

2008-03-17T20:55:00.010-04:00

We've been having some more fun with our new camera. "Let me get this straight - you want me to sit in a basket, so you can take some pictures....okay, I guess so"

The funny thing about this picture is our guest cat Jake was hiding under the blanket, and kept on batting at Nathan's feet - but I don't even think Nathan really noticed.

Just in case you thought that Nathan never cries - here's my boys having a rough night. "No more pictures!!"

Lamaze reunion

2008-03-04T21:39:00.012-05:00

This past weekend we had a reunion with the couples from our Lamaze class - it was so nice to see all of the "graduates". We tried to get them all smiling at the same time - what were we thinking?! I don't know how Anne Geddes does it. Here you can see Nathan with a couple of his buddies - they are both interested in what Regina is doing - Nathan just looks perplexed - "I'm just not buying this!"

This is about as close as we could get to all of them being happy at the same time - we probably took 10 shots - in every other shot one of the babies was having a "baby breakdown"

Here's a few fun shots of Nathan - he's such a poser - maybe one day you'll see him in the Sears catalogue

Nathan the fish

2008-02-28T20:58:00.012-05:00

Nathan went on his first swimming adventure this week with Oma, auntie Suzanne and Alexis. The pool we went to had these great floating seats for the babies to sit in, but Nathan was more content to sit in my lap, and play with a ball. We were having a great time until I decided to dunk his head under water - he wasn't a huge fan of that move! I'll have him swimming laps in no time.

Here's my new favourite picture! Nathan wearing uncle Steve's fireman's hat - notice how it matches the fire truck on his sweater. Maybe we can submit this picture for the next fireman's hottie calendar - I think the chicks would go for this cutie.
Last week it was Paul's birthday - I even dressed Nathan in a special shirt for the day which says "my daddy loves me!". I bet Paul never thought he'd be getting the Jungle Book DVD for his birthday - Nathan picked out that present.

There's a whole story behind this shot - in the evenings we have a regular bedtime routine: when Nathan starts getting crabby we take him upstairs for a bath, and afterwards he sits with Paul at the computer and listens to some music and watches the abstract screen saver. Nathan currently has a crush on Christine Aguilera - whenever she's singing he is absolutely mesmerized - try as we might, he will not look away from the screen!

Daddy and Nathan

2008-02-20T22:46:00.006-05:00

This is Nathan's newest favourite seat - he seems very pleased to see the world from a whole new vantage point!
Nathan has discovered the joy of his exersaucer - he is happy to spin around in a circle, talking to and playing with each toy. You can see in his smile how much fun he is having.

Mover and a Shaker

2008-02-09T20:07:00.000-05:00

Nathan is definitely a "mover and a shaker" - we frequently do "tummy time" on the change table so I can get down to his eye level and talk and sing with him. You can imagine my surprise when one day he really started moving!

Nathan has definitely figured out he's got hands, and is starting to get the concept of toys. Doesn't have great hand eye co-ordination yet...but he's getting there! I gotta be sneaky when taking videos, because as soon as he sees the camera, he stops what he's doing... to have a look at what I'm doing.

Our little man

2008-02-09T12:04:00.000-05:00

It's been brought to my attention that I haven't updated the blog for while...whoops.

We've noticed that Nathan's emotions can go from one extreme to the other within moments. He has really become very expressive, and there is nothing better than getting a "whole face" SMILE

Nathan is now sleeping in his crib at night, and the bassinett has just been sitting in the hallway - look how big he looks inside, it's hard to believe he once looked so small in there. Snickers still tends to stay out of Nathan's way, but I think she's getting a bit more comfortable around him.

I love how small he looks in the glider - he likes sitting there while I fold laundry, and tidy up his room

This picture is a bit blurry, but cute. Nathan has been hanging out in the carrier a bit more lately. We even vacuumed the house together the other day. The last time I turned the vacuum cleaner on, he freaked out and it took at least 5 minutes to calm him down again - this time he didn't seem to mind at all...

Nathan is getting a lot better at napping in his crib during the day, but he's still at his most comfortable sleeping in my arms - these are the moments I cherish the most, as I'm sure there will be a time when he won't fit in my arms

Awesome smiles!

2008-01-16T15:34:00.000-05:00

Nathan is becoming a smile monster, and I'm convinced he's going to start giggling this week (Paul thinks he's going to start talking and driving the following week!) Here he is hanging out at Oma and Opa's house.Visiting Opa at work - a baby break is better than a coffee break
Nanny came over for a visit...and at that very moment Nathan realized he had hands...."holy cow, these are awesome!" Currently he's slightly obsessed with getting both of them in his mouth at the same time Here they are telling stories to each other Nathan is starting to enjoy bath time. When he first came home he hated being naked, and did NOT like the water.....now he LOVES being naked, and thinks water is pretty neat. We find it's a great way to calm him down in the evenings after a busy day of learning and exploring.

Santa brought Nathan an exersaucer for Christmas. The box says that it's for ages 4 months +, but Paul figures that Nathan is already in 6 month pj's....so he's gotta be ready for the toy. I was a little sceptical, but sure enough Nathan loves it....he just looks so tiny in it!!

I've realized that babies come with lots of laundry...he's like a little Celine Dion - 4 outfit changes a day (gotta loves those poos that travel up between the shoulder blades and out the neck hole...how does he do that?!)

It's so unfair that babies are born with a head that's half their entire body weight (or something like that) - but Nathan is becoming less of a bobble head, and is working out his neck muscles daily - here he is showing off during "tummy time"

First Christmas!

2007-12-30T21:54:00.000-05:00

Wow - what an exciting Christmas this year. We were all spoiled terribly, especially Nathan. We started our activities with a family Christmas at the Kramer house. Nathan got to meet his uncle Paul and Aunt Jill who live in Columbus Ohio. He immediately fell fast asleep in Aunt Jill's arms - you can tell he loves them already.

We managed to get the whole gang together for a family shot

Oma bought Alexis and Nathan matching Christmas sleepers - we tried to get a shot of both of them smiling at the same time...what were we thinking! Alexis thought Nathan was a great moving toy, and kept on trying to touch his face and eyes. Was is wrong that we kept on laughing at them? Here Nathan is acting as the official score-keeper for the scrabble game between aunt Jeanette and Oma - I don't know how wise that was, as his only word right now is "Ugh"
Santa was very generous to Nathan this year - I think his favourite toy is an aqurium for his crib - it even has lights and bubbles....and a remote control!! (so we can turn it on, without even being in the room - do you think Paul had anything to do with this high tech gift?!)
Our good friends Andie and Steve spent some quality time with their little friend - he had lots of things to say to them, and was very content to sit and socialize.
After a couple quiet days at home, we had our Taylor family get together at Nanny's house in Peterborough. There was lots of activity with Nathan's older cousins, there was wrapping paper everywhere!

Auntie Jenn managed to grab Nathan for some cuddles - doesn't he look a lot like Michel and Zachary? The three musketteers.

Check out this cute outfit from Nanny - it's nice and big - I can't believe how fast Nathan is growing, he's already outgrown a number of clothes - he's currently sleeping in size 6 month sleepers - slow down Nathan!

Here are a couple of my favourite shots from the last couple weeks. Here's Nathan in an outfit he got from Nanny - he kind of looks like a teddy bear, all snuggly and warm.

Doesn't he look so proud of himself? sitting up like a big boy?

....another week

2007-12-14T16:11:00.000-05:00

Our best present this year - a baby under the tree!

we finally got a picture of Nathan's great smile!

That is one sleepy baby!

Nathan doesn't seem to mind uncle Ed playing with his face

Who's having more fun - Nathan or Opa?

This picture cracks me up - who knew a yawn could look so funny!

5 weeks old!

2007-12-05T13:34:00.000-05:00

I can't believe Nathan is already 5 weeks old! He's been giving us lots of smiles, and has started to tell us lots of stories (although he only knows one word: "oooh", and we don't really know what it means)

I wasn't prepared for winter to come so early this year, but Nathan doesn't seem to mind the snow, in fact, he kind of blends right in with his white snowsuit on.

Aliyah came over for an afternoon for some one-on-one baby time with Nathan - he was nice enough to share is play mat with her. Afterwards Michel had a nice visit with his cousin too.
Nathan has a new favourite chair (and it's my new favourite chair too!) - he spends time in it hanging out with me while I'm in the kitchen making dinner, and it's his favourite place for an afternoon nap - he looks pretty comfortable to me.

Nathan continues to travel well in the car, he mainly just sleeps. This past week I've been trying to get out and do some Christmas shopping. Unfortunately, once the car ride is over, and we're in a store, Nathan tends to wake up and cry - and of course I get the inevitable comment from the ladies in the store "what's wrong with your baby?" I just tell them "he's a boy...he doesn't like shopping!.

I have to give a big thank you to Bily and Brian for the mobile they bought Nathan - it's like an "off" switch for Nathan when he's fussy or crying - we just put him in his crib and turn on the mobile, and it seems to give us instant happy baby time.

More Adventures

2007-11-28T13:22:00.001-05:00

Nathan continues to be world traveller (or maybe we should say "GTA traveller") - last week we drove downtown to visit daddy at work. It was -6 degrees, so I bundled Nathan up in the nice cozy bunting bag we got from Anna - he can't even move his arms :)

Here's Nathan showing off to the ladies at Hollinger - he was on his best behaviour that day Yesterday we took a trip to my work - once again Nathan was nice to all the ladies - is this going to be something we're going to have to worry about when he's a teenager?
And a couple pictures of Nathan's room. He hasn't exactly slept in there yet, but we spend lots of time in the rocking chair - especially in the middle of the night, it's a good thing it's a comfortable glider!

Of course I've also been taking a few pictures at home - in the last couple weeks Nathan has been cooing and smiling.

We drove to Stouffville to visit Aunt Suzanne and Alexis - this picture is just too funny, they don't seem exactly friendly yet.

Baby Shower

2007-11-19T11:17:00.000-05:00

Nathan had a very exciting day yesterday at his very first party...a baby shower in his honour...too bad he couldn't eat any of the cake (the rest of us enjoyed it for him). He pretty much slept thru the whole event - but a sleeping baby is better than a crying baby! We think he is a very handsome baby boy, and he was surrounded by lots of ladies who all wanted to hug and kiss him. Thank you to everyone for your very generous gifts of clothes and toys, he is going to be the best dressed baby on the block. A HUGE thank you to Andie for her party planning expertise

Aliyah - the "baby whisperer" - she made a couple creative pages for Nathan's scrapbook, and we're looking forward to her spending an afternoon as a "mom's helper/babysitter"Here's a few shots of the guests - Lynne "the baby pro" - Nathan slept in her arms for at least half an hour - not even a peep!

Kelly looks like a natural....Craig, can you hear her maternal clock ticking??!!

Jen was able to come down on Saturday and spend some quality one-on-one time with Nathan...oh yeah, and me too.

Alexis enjoyed spending some time with her cousin...but I think she was more interested in trying to eat his feet!

Check out this amazing cake! I felt bad cutting into it - but let's be honest, cake is made to be eaten.

And here's just a few other pictures from this past week - Snickers has been good up until now at leaving Nathan's things alone, and she's been pretty indifferent to him in general. Paul woke up the other morning, and noticed a little head pop up out of the bassinet - but it wasn't Nathan, it was Snickers! Jen suggested putting aluminum foil in the bed when Nathan isn't in there, I guess cats don't like the foil

Nathan and I took a trip to Oma and Opa's house last week when Paul was working late - Nathan looks very comfortable taking a nap on Oma's chest - so cute.

First week at home

2007-11-11T11:35:00.000-05:00

We've had a pretty calm and quiet first week at home - a real week of "firsts" - first outing in the car

first bath at home

first walk in the stroller...it's an exciting new world out there for Nathan to explore.

We've also had a few more visitors drop by to meet Nathan - Peter, Paul's godfather (...we've figured he's now a "greatgodfather" to Nathan?)

Maysoon - our other midwife visited last Saturday - Nathan's already gained back some of the weight he lost since birth (born 9,11 he was 9,2 when we left the hospital and he's back up to 9,5 again...what a hungry boy!)
Uncle Ed came by to check out his new nephew - I think they bonded

James spent the afternoon, and I don't think he put Nathan down the whole time - he's definitely a baby pro with two kids of his own

Nathan's cousins came for a visit - Aliyah, Michel and Zachary - Aliyah can't wait to babysit!

Nanny Taylor and John spent some time - Nathan spent some quiet time in Nanny's lap Oma and Opa Kramer also came to visit with their newest grandchild. Opa was happy to hold Nathan for quite a while - but he gave him up pretty fast when Nathan filled his diaper (...I guess that's the best part of being a grandparent...less diaper changes!) We've also just had a fun time taking lots of pictures - everyone tells me they grow up so fast, so we're just enjoying Nathan while he's this little and precious

Introducing Nathan Terence Taylor!!

2007-11-04T18:43:00.000-05:00

After 9 months + 4 days of waiting, we are so happy to finally meet our little baby boy - Nathan Terence Taylor! And what an amazing adventure it has been getting here. On Monday night at around 9:30pm I started feeling some cramping - but having never been in labour before I had no idea if they were the real thing or not. After feeling this same cramping every 10 minutes or so, I figured this must be it. Paul was napping on the couch, and at around 10:30, I brought down a cup of tea for us, and proceeded to tell him that I thought I was in labour - I've never seen Paul wake up so fast!

By midnight things were getting pretty intense, and our midwife Sandra came over around 2am to see how things were progressing. By 3am I was in lots of pain, and ready to head to the hospital - but when Sandra called Markham Stouffville they had no beds available. She also tried Ajax Pickering, but they were also full, so we managed to find a spot at Oshawa General. Unfortunately, Sandra doesn't have privileges there, but she came along for support. By 5:30am my water broke, and Nathan was born at 7:05am - 9lbs 11 oz, 23 inches long. Paul was an amazing coach and cheerleader, and was very proud to cut the cord.

We were lucky enough to get a private room, and lots of visitors. Both sets of grandparents were there right at the start of visiting hours at 11am to meet their newest grandchild.
Here's a picture of Nathan with his Nanny (Paul's mum) and Oma (my mom)Here's my sister Suzanne and Nathan's cousin Alexis - I'm sure they will have lots of adventures together.

Later that night Paul's sister Jenn and her family arrived (...I don't think we got any pics...whoops) Aliyah, Michel and Zachery were very excited to meet their new cousin. Afterwards Andie and Steve popped by and gave Nathan his first hockey jersey - they are the official hockey consultants for Nathan, as neither Paul nor I know anything about the sport.

Paul was able to spend the night on a cot in the room - here's my boys having some cuddles before bedtime - we were all pretty pooped by Tuesday night.

By Wednesday at around noon we were ready and anxious to come home - Nathan looks pretty excited too! The pediatrician checked Nathan out, and we were very happy to hear that he is negative for the FyA antigen, which was what my body had antibodies against (I had frequent blood tests throughout my pregnancy to make sure the antibodies didn't increase and attack the baby's blood cells) - what a relief, and answer to prayer.

The next day Sandra came over and checked both myself and Nathan - he's breastfeeding like a champ, and I'm already feeling close to my regular self again. He's sleeping in 3 hour stretches, and then lets us know that it's time for a feed and a diaper change. Paul has already become a diaper changing machine.

Nathan's eyes are dark blue, and he has just a light dusting of blond hair - what a cutie!

5 month update

2007-07-01T09:00:00.000-04:00

I thought I'd take Suzanne's lead, and start a blog to post some of our "growing" pregnancy news. I am now 23 weeks (just over 5 months) and I'm happy to say I still feel great. I was lying in bed last night, and my belly was doing a bit of a dance...either baby was doing some exercises, or I had too many pickles for dinner!

I've been having some good baby practice with my new niece Alexis...it's hard to believe we'll have a little cousin for her in just a few months. Suzanne's been keeping a bit of a running list of things she's already found invaluable... so I've been busy sewing a bunch of receiving blankets, and burp cloths (which I hear are also good at catching all that pee that seems to leak out of baby when there's no diaper on!)

We've been reading in those ubiquitous baby books that by now the baby can start hearing voices, so Paul's been talking to my belly almost daily - his current words of wisdom are "hello baby Taylor, this is your father"....except he says in in a tone that sounds like Darth Vader....our poor baby is going to be so confused!