February...so far

Aidan is a year and a half and Rory is one month! These past four weeks have flown by faster than any other four weeks I've ever lived! Aidan has started saying more words now. His repertoire includes: Ice, Abby, Apple, Mommy (finally!), Boppy, GG, Car and Ball. Rory is doing well too. He's just shy of 10lbs and every once in a while will give us 5 hours at night!

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures from February:

This is one of the professional pictures we had done by my friend Mary. They turned out more amazing then I thought. I'm pretty sure this one is my favorite!

Here is Rory enjoying a few moments on the floor in his "rain forest" while Aidan is napping and the living room is safe!

Aidan had his 4th haircut! Just in time for his 4th tooth that is poking through!

Here is Aidan picking out a monologue. Perhaps he could give me a few pointers.

Rory James Taylor!

T2 has a name and it is Rory James Taylor! He arrived one week early on Saturday, January 22nd at 9:36am. Al and I arrived at the hospital around 9:05am so it was another speedy delivery! He is amazing and it is so fun to already see how different he is from his big brother.

A big thanks to Judie, Pat and Bob who looked after Aidan while Al, Rory and I had our two nights in the hospital. I was so thankful to Al who got us a private room and stayed with us for both nights.

So far Aidan and Rory are getting along well. Aidan likes to point at him and say "baby" and grab his feet, hands and nose and Rory doesn't seem to mind. It was also great that my Mom and Dad came for a week to provide Aidan with 24/7 attention and taught him some new "tricks".

Rory came into this world 40 hours after his cousin Grace Elizabeth Mogensen! My sister and Mark welcomed the little lady two weeks early and she is adorable. Al and I are so excited to have a niece and I can't wait to shop in the girls section!

Gracie is the cutest little thing and I can't wait to get her and Rory together for their big joint Baptism in March!

For pictures from Rory's first week, click here:

http://gallery.me.com/nora.taylor#100230

Countdown to T2

T2's arrival is getting closer and closer and I've been lucky to spend some alone time with both my boys.

Pat and Bob took Aidan for three nights and Al and I spent one night at a beautiful Bed & Breakfast in Bedford, NY. It was so warm and cosy and we pretty much ate and slept the whole time...it was great!

It was a snowy drive but the next day was beautiful. Here is Al on our way to breakfast.

Here it is, the Bedford Post Inn.

Saturday night we lived like it was 2004! Taking the subway, walking up and down stairs and escalators and having no schedule just walking around the city. It was great!

Being careful not to play favorites with my two boys, Aidan and I were lucky enough to be asked to help our new friend Mary. Mary has been working hard developing her photography company--Tears of Joy Photography and was interested in taking pictures of us to show samples of how she could do a maternity shoot. The pictures turned out better than I ever thought. Especially since Aidan was on nap strike on Tuesday and wasn't at his best. Here is the link to Mary's blog and website. If you are in the New York/New Jersey area, I HIGHLY recommend using her.

http://www.tearsofjoyphotography.com/2011/01/12/maternity-njnyc-photographer-getting-ready-in-tribeca/

Happy New Year!

I cannot believe it is 2011! The craziest thing for us is that T2 will be born not only this year but this month! I am due January 29th but as my doctor said yesterday, "If you go into labor now there really is no reason to stop you." Wow! Of course Aidan is counting the days to being a big brother and sharing the spotlight. Here is a wrap up of our 2010/2011 weekend...

Pat and Bob were super-Grandparents and watched both Ryan and Aidan on New Year's Eve. Rob and Beth went to a black-tie wedding and Al and I went to Chili's and saw True Grit. As you can see...Pat and Bob had a rockin' night with their two Grandsons!

The best part of the weekend was seeing our friends Jess and Brian O'Hagen and their two kids Mia and Luke. They were in town for the holidays visiting Brian's family and we were able to squeeze in a visit. Here is Al with Luke and Mia practicing having two kids and Aidan is sweeping.

Aidan and Mia picked up where they left off and Luke is a little angel and just chilled. Here is Aidan making a run for it after stealing his pacifier from his diaper bag and Mia trying to "borrow" it.

Mia is amazing! She is talking so much and is so cute. Jess asked her to give Aidan a hug and she went for it!

She REALLY went for it!

I believe there was a similar scene when Jess met Brian.

Aidan wasn't completely innocent though.

Now taking a little rest. It was so fun to see them together again but really made me miss London and all of our London friends.

So...Happy New Year again and I hope that 2011 is treating all of you well!

Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas from The Taylors!

Our Christmas 2010 began with another haircut for Aidan at Doodle Doos with Lisa. (Haircuts: 3/Teeth: 3 by the way!) We are calling this one his Christmas/Big Brother haircut since T2 is expected in a little over a month! Which is so exciting but also a bit hard to believe.

On Christmas Eve we started the day Skyping and opening presents with my parents. It wasn't the same as being there in person, but it was great to open gifts with each other.

After Christmas Eve Mass at St. Agnes we had a delicious dinner at Dario's in Rockville Centre. Here is Aidan with his Aunt Beth.

Christmas morning Bob treated us to his famous pancakes! Aidan LOVED them! I think he had about 3 of his own and 2 of his cousin Ryan's.

Aidan got his Boppy a new pancake pen and it was a hit!

After breakfast it was present-mania! Aidan ended up needing a nap and missing most of it, but the rest of us must have been very good this year because the gifts never seemed to stop!

Chris and Alex had 19 of us over Christmas night and it was so much fun and the food was delicious. In this picture we have Bob on the keyboard with Aidan treating us to a little Christmas dance.

Sadie looked absolutely adorable on her First Christmas. You have to give her a lot of credit for trying to keep up fashion-wise with her Mom!

It was a great weekend and truly a Merry Christmas!

Catch-Up!

We have been busy! First we headed to Chicago and had an amazing (and tasty!) Thanksgiving. My Mom cooked up quite a fest and we were all sufficiently stuffed! Unfortunately Aidan caught a cold while we were there and then passed it along to most of the rest of us just in time for our arrival to Orlando.

Here is a little photo round up of our two week trip:

A big first for Aidan on this trip to Chicago was his first trip to Snackville Junction! This is one of my Dad's favorite spots on the Southside and the two of them had a great time. I was so thankful to my cousin Megan who invited us to go along with her and her girls.

All the food is delivered via train that is on a track all along the counter. Aidan LOVED it!

Clare, Aunt Maun, Megan, Nora, Uncle Bob and Aidan after a tasty meal at Snackville Junction!

Speaking of tasty meals...my Mom out-did herself this year! Our Thanksgiving meal was so delicious and so fun. Aidan liked the turkey and was a good sport despite having a cold.

Me and Grandma!

One of my favorite pictures of the trip of my three favorite guys!

We were lucky to have great weather in Florida which allowed the boys to test out the water rides. Poor Mark tended to get the most soaked!

Aidan quickly got into the Disney spirit.

My Aunt Maureen was happy to have a Mickey Bar Wingman this year.

I was pleasantly surprised by how many rides were Aidan and pregnancy friendly.

A huge thank you to my Mom for sharing her Birthday gift with all of us and to my Dad for providing it all!

For more pictures from November, Click Here:

http://gallery.me.com/nora.taylor/100195

For more pictures from our Disney trip, Click Here:

http://gallery.me.com/nora.taylor#100204

Hide Your Daughters!

That's right! A warning to any 15-month old girls out there...this blog posting may get a little too steamy for you. You all know that one of Aidan's most favorite things is his Raceway. Everything gets put into it. Well, the other night Aidan was enjoying his second favorite thing right before bath time and decided to combine the two. So we have the naked Raceway photo shoot...

He looks so crazy in this picture. I thought about deleting it but it's just too funny. It looks like he could be Quasimodo's fill in to ring the bells at Notre Dame!

Tomorrow Aidan and I are off to Chicago and Al will meet us on Thanksgiving morning. It will be my first Chicago Thanksgiving since 2005 and Al and Aidan's first EVER! We are all very excited. And then even more exciting is that the whole Ryan, Taylor, Mogensen families and Aunt Maureen will be off to Disney World for a week in a belated celebration for my Mom's Birthday! It'll be a great time and I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures to post when we get back in December. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!