Easter

We had such a Happy Easter this year. So happy that we celebrated it over two weekends!

First we celebrated the week before with Pat, Bob, Rob, Beth and Ryan at The Rockville Links for an Easter Brunch. We had a great time and Aidan did pretty well at his first Easter Egg Hunt with some help from his cousin Ryan.

Erin, Gracie and Sean came to New York for Easter weekend and we had the best time! Rory and Gracie picked up right where they left off and I think having a lady in the house had a softening affect on Aidan!

Aidan was so excited to see his Uncle Sean again!

Rory and Gracie were beyond excited to see each other again!

Gracie felt right at home in New York City! She loved her first subway ride.

Because of the rain, we headed up town to The Children's Museum of Manhattan.

Aidan loved dying Easter Eggs!

We had a really nice brunch after Easter Mass at Landmarc in Tribeca.

Dressed up in their Easter best!

I had to put this picture in because Gracie looks so darn cute!

Little Easter bunnies!

Uncle Sean reading to Aidan about Chicago.

For more pictures of brunch, click here:

http://gallery.me.com/nora.taylor#100287

For pictures from April (including Easter) click here:

http://gallery.me.com/nora.taylor#100303

Spring Round-Up

Aidan will be 20 months old tomorrow, April 19th and Rory will be 3 months on the 22nd...I really cannot believe it. This may have been the fastest three months of my life...here is a little round-up:

On March 5th, Grace Elizabeth Mogensen (my Goddaughter!) and Rory James Taylor (Erin Mogensen and Rob Taylor are his Godparents) were Baptized together at Nativity of Our Lord Church in Chicago.

It was so great to have the Ryan (Taylor/Mogensen) cousins together. Aidan behaved pretty well with his new cousin and little brother.

My parents could not be happier!

My Aunt Maureen flew back to New York with us and stayed for a week! She is amazing and we had such a great time with Maur Maur (what Aidan has started calling her!).

Al ran the Manhattan Half Marathon (in a record time of 1:36 minutes!) although Rory was born in 30 minutes so I don't really know how impressive that time is. :) What is impressive though is that he raised over $8,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation!

One of the highlights of the Spring was Matt and Suzie's wedding! The ceremony and reception were held at The Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island and it was as beautiful as it was fun! A BIG thanks to my Mom who flew to New York to stay with Aidan while we were celebrating in Florida.

The next generation of Taylor/Tallaricos!

Most recently we celebrated Bob's 65th Birthday! Pat cooked a delicious meal and we had such a great night celebrating Bob!

For more Taylor Family pics:

March Pics

http://gallery.me.com/nora.taylor#100248

Baptism Pics:

http://gallery.me.com/nora.taylor#100257

Matt & Suzie's Wedding

http://gallery.me.com/nora.taylor#100273

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!