Luke Patrick Kirby

I'd like to introduce the most perfect, precious baby in the world, my new nephew Luke!

Isn't he beautiful?? This little chunker was born last night, March 28. He is a whopping 8 lbs 11 oz. That's probably a big baby for most families... remember we're accustomed to 3 pounders... this guy is HUGE! Did you notice his chubby cheeks? How about his chubby arms? Look again. Precious.

He looks like such an angel... but this "little" guy gave my poor sister quite a hard time! After 14 hours of labor, and 2 hours of pushing (can you imagine??) Maureen had a C-Section. That wasn't an easy decision... and it wasn't an easy C-Section. The poor girl had quite a few complications. Very painful for her... and very stressful for her family! She is one tough mommy though! Little Luke is doing great and Maureen is recovering well.

Here is a picture of the happy family.


Grandpa loving his new little buddy.


Grammy and Luke


Luke and his favorite aunt :) Largely because I overfeed the little chunker! Maureen let me give him a bottle and I was so proud that I got him to suck it right down! No one told me he was only allowed to have HALF a bottle. My boys were only allowed 5 ccs when they were first born... I have no idea what an average newborn eats! 53 ccs later I declared Luke a great eater and watched my sister turn pale... oops!

Mini-Me

...actually Mini-Grandpa would be more accurate. I've always thought the twins look a LOT like Brian's dad. Everyone says they look like Brian but I can never see it... there is some Taylor in these boys though! There is NO denying it in this silly picture of Matt and Grandpa Don!

Keeping Busy

I am learning that the boys are at an age where they need to be kept busy. I mean they NEED to be busy... my sanity depends on it!

So I've started pulling out some of my "old tricks" from teaching pre-k. The boys are LOVING the new ideas.

Here they are playing nicely with their new water tub.


(I am not going to post the picture where they take off their clothes and climb INTO the water tub... I'm going to pretend it went off without a hitch.)

Here is my Danny. I love this picture because you can ALMOST see the freckles on his nose. Look closely. See them? Use your imagination... (I need a better camera.)

After lunch the boys got to "clean" their high chairs by playing with shaving cream. They loved the feeling on their little fingers. I couldn't resist posting this picture...

Is that not the most precious thing you've ever seen? I love those chubby little fingers more than anyone could ever know.

Seriously?

I leave the boys for ONE MINUTE... they were eating their breakfast. Perfectly content... and this is what I come back to...


Monkey Matt at his best

1 Little, 2 Little, 3 Little Red Heads

Last weekend Uncle Greg, Aunt Amber, and Allison came to visit. It is so much fun to see the cousins together... and I know it's been almost 2 years but I just can't get over the matching hair color! I've always loved Allison's red hair. It was quite a surprise when the twins had the EXACT same shade of red!

I couldn't get a picture to REALLY show it off... it's impossible to get 3 toddlers looking the same direction! This is the best I could do:



It was a beautiful day so we took a Taylor family field trip to Crescent Lake Park. We had a great time on the playground. (My boys practically LIVE at the playground these days... I take them EVERY day. I need them in a climbing environment!)

Here is a shot of me and my Danny

Danny enjoying Allison's sweet ride :)


We really wanted a picture of all the cousins together. Danny was NOT feeling cooperative. It just was not going to happen... so I jumped in and held him tight :)



Danny loves birds. Seriously. He LOVES birds. We thought it would be quite a thrill for him to feed the ducks at the lake. I didn't think about the "seagull factor"... the poor ducks did not get ANY food but seagulls are birds too... so Danny was thrilled. I can see him thinking "I TOTALLY fed that bird! That rocked..." in this picture.

Here is Matt enjoying the view.

The boys definitely ate more than they threw to the birds, Allison followed Kirsten around all day, and we had an awesome time!

Here's the Deal About My Deals

...So several of you have asked about my free diapers. AWESOME right? That was my best haul yet. It is a little complicated and you have to wait for the right sale; but it is totally do-able. This particular deal took 3 transferred prescriptions, 30 coupons, and 6 trips to Walgreen's. I know it sounds crazy BUT I got 700 diapers, 4 12 packs of Diet Coke, 6 deodorants, 1500 wipes, 2 gallons of milk, 6 air fresheners, 2 nail care kits, 2 rolls of wrapping paper, 12 rolls of toilet paper, and 9 Fructis styling products for the price of my prescriptions only... so basically everything was FREE! That makes it very worth it to me :)
This is part of my haul!



If you are interested in joining me in my coupon compulsion please let me know! I'd love to help you get started. I highly recommend subscribing to Money Saving Mom and Southern Savers. These ladies have saved me A LOT of money this year! There are some other great sites too but I find these to be the best for getting started. These ladies will give you specific hints and directions, lay out the deals for you, match-up coupons for you, and make the whole process easy and fun!

I'll let the experts I named above teach you the ins and outs... but here are a few basics that I've learned that will help you get started!

-Start collecting coupons NOW. I take the coupon inserts from each Sunday's paper and file them in labeled manila folders. The sites named above will tell you exactly where to find the coupon you need so you just have to collect them!

-Collect multiple inserts on good coupon weeks. The first Sunday of the month tends to be a big coupon week. I always make sure to have at least 6 papers that day. I find it important to have at least 2 papers each Sunday. **If you are here in Tampa Bay be aware that the TBT is only .50 for a Sunday paper and the SPT is $1**

-Always save your coupons to use on items that are already on sale

-Use 2 coupons for items on sale as "Buy 1 Get 1 Free". For example, if Ragu is on sale B1G1 for $2.19 you can use TWO $1 off coupons (1 on each item). So you get 2 bottles of Ragu for .19! (This is why you want to have at least 2 papers each week.)

-You can use a store coupon plus a manufacturers coupon on each item. For example, last week Fructis styling products were on sale at Walgreen's for $2.99. I used a Walgreen's $2 off coupon PLUS a manufacturers $1 off coupon to get each product for FREE!

-Stock up on items when you can get them for free (or almost free). Then you can wait for another great deal to purchase more. I have not paid for toothpaste, shampoo, razors, soap, or styling products in over 6 months. I ALWAYS get these items for free now :)

I'm sure this seems crazy to many people. However, I have enough diapers to get us through almost 3 months (and these are Huggies! The "good" diapers!). By that time I should be able to find another great deal. This makes a HUGE difference in our budget.

T.G.I.F

I've been "down" recently. I hate feeling like this. I am usually a pretty optimistic, happy person. This week has been much better than last week... I'm pulling myself out of my slump. Time to focus on the positive! Here's what I'm thankful for this week...

- Matt's dimples
- The huge hole that Kirsten's lost tooth left in her mouth
- Danny's voice
- The 700 free diapers that I scored this week (I am the Coupon QUEEN!)
- Beautiful spring weather
- The wonderful woman I met at the park who told me life with her twins got "easy again" as soon as they turned 2
- The freckles on the twins' noses... They each have about a dozen and I adore each one of them!
- The fact that we live so close to my parents (and Brian's)
- My family

When Irish Eyes Are Smiling...

What a fun St. Patrick's Day! Once again the leprechauns visited our home. Kirsten woke up to find a trail of gold candy leading her to the refridgerator. She was shocked with what she found there! Those mischevious little leprechauns played quite the trick on us this year!

Danny very much enjoyed a cup of green milk with his Irish Soda Bread!

Kirsten was so, so, so excited this morning! It was just precious. She was delighted with the leprechaun footprints we found on the patio and especially with the treats they left her! Here is my girl heading out for school.

My Matty D. This picture just makes me want to snuggle him!

Isn't this picture of Daniel's eyes beautiful? I can't stop staring at those Baby Blues!


Here are two pictures of my gang. I just love them. (The pictures and the kids!) I usually have such a hard time getting all 3 kids in one shot (much less smiling!). For some reason they all sat down, giggling, and yelling "cheese!". It was adorable and I know I'll cherish these pictures for a long, long time!

Peace AND Quiet!

The boys are always trying to get into Kirsten's playdough stash. This morning was no different. I wasn't in the mood for tantrums so I decided to try to teach them how to use the playdough. They did GREAT! They sat quietly playing for 15 minutes! It was awesome :)
Mr. Matt full of concentration...

"CHEESE!"

...I know this picture is blurry but I love it. My Danny and his sweet smile :)

Searching For Smiles (The Longest Post Ever)

It has been a ROUGH week for Team Taylor. Rough isn't really the right word... it's just been awful. We've been struggling with sicknesses forever now and this week it all just became too much. Kirsten is doing great (Thank God!). She's been sweet and helpful and my sunshine.

...My boys. Ugh. I don't know exactly what happened this week... they might be suffering with their sinuses again... they might be cutting molars... or it could be something totally unrealated... I'm too tired to figure it out.

It started last Sunday night when bedtime came and the boys REFUSED to go to bed. They can climb out of their cribs now (which is a another story...) and at bedtime they just SCREAM and cry and climb out of bed and refuse to rest. It's been getting worse each day since Sunday. Monday they stopped napping and continued to fight going to bed at night. They are still waking up at 1:30 and 4 am each night. By Wednesday things were getting bad. The sleep deprivation was getting to everyone. Danny has become EXTREMELY clingly. He wants me to hold him all day (and all night). If I put him down, for even a moment, he screams hysterically.

Wednesday the tantrums started in full force. We've had some minor toddler behavior "stuff" before... but nothing like this. Danny screams "No!" at me about 100x a day. Matt throws himself on the floor kicking and screaming if you ask him to do anything.

Thursday afternoon everything fell apart. Danny bit Matt, kicked me a dozen times, and hit me HARD in the face. MY sweet boy! Thursday night Matt had his first set of Night Terrors. (Kirsten used to have these quite a bit and they are usually brought on when the child is very overtired.) Then Danny had me up 5 times between 11:30 pm and 2:30 am. At 2:30 I took him upstairs with me to let him sleep in my lap on the couch. The ONLY way he sleeps is if I am holding him. If I try to move him an inch he wakes up screaming.

So... by Friday morning we were all in tears. I have never been a person who does well without sleep... and I am getting NO sleep. On top of the exhaustion, I've been very worried and I feel like everything I try to do for them is the wrong thing. I'm feeling tremendously guilty because I have NO patience left and I'm just generally down. Friday I was just plain sad.

So at lunchtime I decided we HAD to get out and do something fun (no matter how difficult it might be). I decided to pick up Kirsten from school and take all 3 kids straight to the beach. This is the first decision I've made this week that I feel good about. The fresh air and change of scenery was just what we all needed!


Before going to the playgroud I put the boys in the jogging stroller (while Kirsten rode her bike) and went jogging (and walking) for about 2 miles.

Kirsten was really excited to see this cool sand sculpture.

After our excercise we went to the beach playground for about an hour. The kids had a lot of fun and played so nicely. There was not one tear or tantrum the entire time!

Kirsten and Danny

Matt

Danny

Here is Kirsten being a great big sis spotting the monkey (aka Matty)

Danny


I'm still not sure what is going on with the little ones (It's more Danny than Matt...). However, the beach wore them out yesterday so they didn't fight going to sleep as much. We'll have to see how the weekend goes and decide if we need to go back to the doctor... I am just SO glad that we got out and "found our happiness" as Kirsten said.

We did lose it on the way home though... Danny was very cranky in the car and Kirsten kept trying to entertain him. Apparently at some point she gave him a piece of paper and a marker (which he tried to eat). He was NOT happy when she took it away from him. This is what I found when we got home.

My Little Cowboys

Remember how much fun it was to go to a friend's house and play with all the new toys when you were a kid? Well, Matt and Danny had a GREAT time playing with all of Dylan and Isaac's toys last Wednesday. I didn't even bring a camera but Tiffany sent me these great pictures. I love them!


Here are the boys checking out Dylan's new horse

Cowboy Matt

...And Cowboy Danny (He looks a little crazy here. This picture makes me laugh really hard!)

"Giddie Up horsey!"



Thanks for all the fun Dylan and Isaac!

Sweeter Than Sweet

My little Brownie worked at a Cookie Booth this morning. She had so much fun and was sweeter than any of the cookies that were offered :)

Aren't these the sweetest little girls ever?

Mostly sweet... and a little silly :)

A Face Only A Mother Could Love

...Danny enjoying... I mean REALLY enjoying his yogart.



Can you tell it's in his hair and his ears from this photo? It is. Trust me.


...Matt loves yogart too :)

They Keep Going and Going and Going...

...the sinus infections that won't die. Yup the boys are sick again (or still sick actually). So far they are still avoiding Kirsten's Croup and Influenza (I'm still keeping my fingers crossed!). They finished the evil Augmenten last week and, as always, within 5 days of coming off the meds the infections are back.

I'm sooooooooo sick of talking about this. I wasn't going to post this update but I figured someday I'd want to remember (maybe).

So the twins are now on a combination of two different antibiotics for ANOTHER 20 days. After they finish this round of meds they'll each have a CAT scan of their sinuses to see if the infection is 100% gone... and then we'll go from there. Ugh.

I'm so thankful it's not something more serious then sinus infections. The boys NEVER sleep anymore and Danny is a HANDFUL today. My heart breaks for families that have "real" problems. I can't imagine how painful it must be to know that your child has a critical illness. So... focusing on the positive!