Catch Up Part 3: Double Feature

Well, now that I'm all caught up with all of our travels, there are two more nuggets of information that the Taylors need to share. First of all, we are expecting a little brother or sister for Aidan at the end of January! Aidan and T2 (As my sister Erin has named the new little one) will be 17 months a apart and will hopefully be very good friends. We are very excited and can wait to meet T2 and see if this one will also have crazy, Kevin Bacon hair like his or her big brother. (I promise that is the scan of T2 and not Aidan!)

The other giant piece of news for us is that Al has been transferred back to New York! He has been offered an amazing opportunity in New York on a new desk that is going to be revamped and restructured and the New York guys wanted him to be on it. I am so happy for Al and he is excited to get started in his new role. It will also be great to be back in New York and closer to our friends and family but we will be leaving behind a lot of friends in London who have become our family over the past five years! It is truly a bittersweet move and will most likely happen at the end of August. So lots of exciting changes for our growing family.

Here is Aidan not handling the two days of hot weather we had in London very well. The kid is in for a rude awakening next summer! And yes, his father brought him to the park in his pajamas.

Here is Aidan enjoying his remaining time in London taxis. Al is trying to decide what kind of car to get in the US...I think a London Taxi would be a good option cause I can just pop the stroller right in!

Catching Up Part 2: Chicago

The next part of our trip brought us to Chicago! We stayed with my parents in Willow Springs and had a very busy week. Al left on July 3rd and then Aidan and I had a bonus week by ourselves. We had so much fun and it was nice for Aidan to enjoy Chicago in the summertime!

We were so lucky that our trip overlapped with Stephanie and Gracen's trip and they came over with Erin for a little mini-play date. I obviously look a little travel-weary...yikes!

Aidan and his Great Grandma Shirley (GG) got along great. She taught him all sorts of fun tricks and he showed her that her cane could also be used as a dancing pole.

One of our big field trips was to the Shedd Aquarium. I was shocked at how much Aidan like it. He seemed entertained by the different colors floating by but I think his favorite thing was his own reflection!

It was a gorgeous day when we went and Aunty Erin even joined us too! Thanks to Mom for becoming a member...I know we'll definitely be back at Shedd again soon!

We were also able to visit my Aunt Maureen in her chambers and courtroom. Luckily my Aunt is on the up-an-up with the security guys and we were allowed to bring our cameras in for some photo ops! Grantie Maureen also invited us to spend the night at her most beautiful summer house in Grand Beach, Michigan. We went swimming and got to hang out with Aunt Jane and Uncle Frannie. We had a great dinner and a super restful visit.

Aidan fell right at home in a courtroom. Perhaps he'll stray from the family business of Wall Street!

Marian is still living in Chicago and joined us for dinner at the Fireplace Inn and then whisked Aidan away so that the rest of us could enjoy a great show at The Second City. The show was awesome and Aidan loved spending time with his Great Aunt Marian!

Al and I checked into the Mogensen house for a one night stay and of course had to have dinner at one of Al's favorite spots...The Twin Anchors. The next day we used the second set of Cubs tickets we got from Al's friend Chris and saw them win again! How about that?

Aunty Erin completely spoiled Aidan while we were home. She got to see him almost everyday and Aidan got to see his Uncle Mark a lot too...Uncle Mark seemed to be the only one to think that Aidan wasn't super heavy. I think he's had some good training holding Mogy babies!

A big first for Aidan while in Chicago...shoes! His Grandma and Grandpa treating him to his first (three!) pairs of shoes. Here he is sporting his sandals and learning how to operate the Velcro.

Thank you to everyone in Chicago for showing us such a good time. We had so much fun and so many laughs. It's always tough to leave but at least we know we'll be back for Brigid and Joe's wedding in September!

For all the pictures from both New York and Chicago, click this link:

http://gallery.me.com/nora.taylor#100176

for some reason they are all out of order...sorry!

Catch Up Part 1: New York

We recently spent about three weeks in the US and our first stop was New York. As usual we stayed quite busy...here is a little "greatest hits" of our trip to the Empire State:

Here's Aidan on the Airplane...he was pretty good on the flight, but verrrry curious.

Part of our trip was to celebrate Pat and Bob's 40th Wedding Anniversary! It was a great night and great food. It was nice to be able to celebrate such a great couple.

We also got to welcome Sadie Tallarico in the Catholic Church! The Christening was so great and we were so excited we got to be there to celebrate with everyone. Sadie is adorable and so sweet...it was nice to see a baby girl!

Al was very excited to hit up some of his favorite spots in the Hamptons...one of which was Cyril's. Here are the boys post-BBCs (Banana Baileys Coolatas)

Aidan had a great time getting reacquainted with his cousin Ryan. Aidan was in awe of Ryan when he'd run around and make him laugh.

We spent one afternoon in Manhattan and even though it was a hot one...we had a great time. I got to have lunch with my friend Cristin, Al brought Aidan to Steve's office to learn more about Sales Trading and then Aidan and I met up with Stephanie and Gracen for a music class and then a little outside picnic/swim play date with Gracen's friend Ethan. We capped the day off with a super tasty dinner from Duke's with Nate and Sharon.

Rob was able to get us AMAZING seats for the Mets game. Al and I were very excited to be able to see a game at the new Citi Field...

...unfortunately the game was rain-delayed so we left. But we had a nice train ride and were able to enjoy some hotdogs and beers at the ball park.

Thanks to all our New York "peeps" for making our trip so special and so much fun!

Al's 30th Birth-Month!

Al's 30th Birthday was May 6th and the celebrations have just come to an end. We started things out by celebrating his cumpleanos in Marbella, Spain. The hotel we stayed at was gorgeous and they couldn't have been nicer...

we even got upgraded!

Here are Aidan and Al on the actual day!

We took a day trip to Gibraltar which was interesting...sort of like if Spain and England had a baby. Yikes.

Tangier, Morocco was also on our to do list and it was very cool. Here we are with our Rug Salesman who knew Al's name but decided to call him Abdoul instead. Here is a little scene of how it went...

NORA: (whispering) Al do you want to buy a rug?

AL: (not quite whispering) Absolutely not.

NORA: Ok, that's fine with me.

TWENTY MINUTES LATER

AL: I think we got a pretty good deal on this rug and tablecloth.

NORA: (Patting Al's back) Yes, yes we did.

The weather was good but a little too chilly to swim outside, so Aidan did a lot of indoor swimming. He seemed ok with it though!

We got back to London on Monday May 10th and unbeknownst to Al, his brothers and parents arrived on Thursday the 13th for Al's Surprise Party the next night! So, Aidan and I spent a couple days with them dodging Al's (MANY) text messages and then on Friday night we were able to surprise him at his favorite pub...Mulligans of Mayfair!

Al was SO surprised he had no idea about the party OR that his family was in town!

Al quickly made the most of it and The Taylors were all over London... Borough Market, Covent Garden, Assagi, Dukes Meadow and Bumpkin. Here are the Taylor Bros outside of The Windsor Castle.

And Aidan loved spending time with his Uncles and Grandparents!

Here is the link to more pictures from our trip:

http://gallery.me.com/nora.taylor#100160

And Al's surprise party weekend:

http://gallery.me.com/nora.taylor#100168

Nora Versus the Volcano!

I decided to take a quick trip back to Chicago to see my family and to be inducted into my High School's new Fine Arts Hall of Fame. It was great to be back at Nazareth and see some old friends and teachers. It was supposed to be a 4 day trip but it was extended due to the eruption of Mt. Eyiafjallojokull in Iceland. I ended up getting back to London four days late on Thursday the 22nd but managed to make the most of my extra time in Chicago by going to the Comic Book show, the gym and doing some extra shopping! Al was more than amazing back in London taking care of Aidan. Unfortunately for him I now have no worries about leaving him alone with Aidan again! Although after this experience, I think it will be a while before I have any more Aidan-less travel.

Before I left for Chicago, my cousin Katie came to visit on her way to St. Petersburg for a work trip...and yes, she was stuck in Russia because of the volcano!

My two boys stayed very busy while I was away. Here is Aidan helping Al at work. Aidan promises he did not sell any mortgaged backed securities, make any proprietary trades or sell short.

It wasn't all work though...Aidan brought Al to the park with him to hang out with his friends Liam and Mia. Funny that Liam and Mia are in winter coats and hats and Aidan is in a hoodie. Hmmmmm.

Aidan's friend Mia turned 1 while I was away so he brought Al with him to her Birthday party. This is Aidan and Mia at one of their dinner dates while I was gone.

Aidan turned 8 months old while I was away. He is getting SO big and has a lot of personality. He is moving around like crazy and laughs a lot. Here is a video of him on the swings this past weekend. Warning: the videography is a bit wobbly for those of you who get motion sick.

http://gallery.me.com/nora.taylor/100152

Easter and Pat & Bob's Visit

I hope that everyone had a Happy Easter! Our's was made very happy by Pat and Bob who came to visit. They stopped in London on their way back to New York after a two week trip through Jordan and Israel. Here were are at lunch on Easter Sunday.

Thanks to my friend Stephanie, Aidan was appropriately kitted out with a little duck coat...although we think he looked like a Peep! Don't let the stunned look fool you, he loved it!

Here are the boys in the back of the taxi. Aidan is starting to get a little stir crazy in his pram. I'm hoping this is just a phase.

Aidan has also been busy perfecting some new tricks. He can hold his own bottle now and has quite a grip. God forbid you try to stop him halfway through!

Although he has no teeth yet, he likes to brush his "teeth" when I brush mine in the morning. Just because he was born in England doesn't mean he should have English teeth!

Aidan is getting much better at sitting up. This is him sitting at the Starbucks on High Street Ken enjoying a carrot flavored corn puff (it is not a Cheeto)... apparently they are organic and good for little people. He is getting better at finger foods and is developing quite an appetite! I also like this picture because I think he looks like he is sitting in an office smoking a cigar...like he's a big shot newspaper editor!

Viva La France!

Just like every baby, Aidan spent his 7 month Birthday in France. We went with our good friends Brian and Jess O'Hagen and their 11 month old, Mia. We just kind of wandered around the city for the weekend and Aidan got to experience all of the typical Parisian things...

The Drinks...

The Food...

The love!

Other than our trip to Paris, Aidan has been really fun this past month. He laughs a ton and is still loving his weekly swim class. I'm also working very hard to get him to sit up on his own. He's doing OK but has had some face plant moments. Al and I are perfecting our "your fine" facial expression and tone. Here is a picture of one of his more successful attempts.

If you want to see more pictures from our trip to Paris, here is the link:

http://gallery.me.com/nora.taylor/100144