Its been a wild few months. Lots going on. Good things, bad things, stressful thing, exciting things. I am not going to get into all of it right now, but here are a few notes on the Taynor family happenings.
- We are trying to sell our Coolidge house. The renters are ready to move out, and keeping it is not a great long term investment, so we hope to sell it soon. It has been on the market for 2 weeks and had lots of showings and one offer we are currently negotiating with. I am hopeful we can get it sold quickly and move on. The goal is to use the money from that house to buy another home in North Carolina. The NC can be an investment home or a home for us to live in if we decide we are heading South. That is a conversation for another day. Owning three homes and being landlords has been a fun yet challenging new business venture we have started the past couple years.
-We are actively debating whether we should settle in here in NJ or make the move to NC like so many others have. Lots of pros in both directions. I have kind of thrown my hand up in the air, I pray every night, and I am asking God to take the wheel on this whole process.
-As usual I am debating my job situation. My bridal hair business is growing and I am happy with the progress I have made. I do hope it continues to grow and allows me the ability to leave the office job. I am also looking into other options of what I can do from home to supplement my income if I decide to the leave the office. The balance of babysitters and office hours has become very difficult, especially for how little I make and if we plan to have another child (lots of prayers for this too) then this problem will not go away anytime soon. So its the constant battle of being home a lot, taking care of my family, and still making enough money to contribute to our monthly finances. One option I am considering and in the process of working on is a travel agent. I figure I love planning, I am very organized, and like my previous post states I am travel obsessed these days, so it might be a good fit along with the bridal business.
-Mike and I were training for a half marathon. Unfortunately I was sidelined at the last minute (tough look after training for 3 months, I didn't even get to run the race), but Mike ran with my sister and they did awesome. We are hoping to keep it up because we do enjoy running together.
-We have been doing lots of work on our house. Some little projects, some big projects, but slowly but surely we are making changes. I'll do a post with pictures soon, but its nice to see some progress. But I will admit, when I look around this house I still just see work. A big property that needs lots of love, a basement I would love to finish, these ugly counter tops that I dream about changing... so while we wait and save to do it, I just watch a whole lot of HGTV and dream.
-Ryan is officially registered for kindergarten. It makes me so sad and proud at the same time. I can't imagine him leaving at 9am and not coming home til 4pm every single day! I am going to miss him like crazy and am getting ready to buckle in for a rocky year.
-We are getting ready for wedding season. We have another 5 weddings this year! I thought I was too old for his!
I think those are the hot topics as of right now! Look at me catching up on lots of blog posts. Still to come- Disney re-cap, birthday party details, ADHD discussion, and home improvements update.
The Taynors
Thursday, May 5, 2016
Travel Dreaming
Traveling has become my passion. It is what gets me excited, makes me want to save money, how I spend my free time (haha). I love having a trip on the calendar and am always planning the next one. We just got home from an amazing Disney vacation. I really loved it and so did the boys. We hope to have many Disney trips over the years, but I also really want to travel all of the world. There are so many places to go and amazing places out in the world, I want to do my best to see a lot of them. Luckily it appears Ryan has my travel bug and interest in seeing the most interesting places.
One day I asked him where he wants to go on our next vacation, and this is the list he came up with:
-Himalayan Mountains
-Nepal
-Great Barrier Reef
-The Grand Canyon
-Alaska
-Whale Watching
-Noah's House (North Carolina, I love that this was on his list)
-On a cruise
-Swimming with the dolphins
-Hawaii
I love this list! I love that this is how his brain works. I can't wait to take him to some of these places! And lucky for me, some of these trips are on my list too.
I will go pretty much anywhere, but here is my list of the top places I want to travel:
-Aruba
-Turks and Caicos
-Atlantis (we can swim with the dolphins here!)
-Florida Keys
-Disney Cruise
-Nashville
-Niagara Falls
-Grand Canyon
-Zion National Park
-Skiing out West
-Spa Resort in Arizona
-Spain
-France
-Ireland
-London
-Alaska Cruise
-River cruise through Europe
-Bora Bora
This list is not all inclusive- if an offer or a new idea pops into my mine, I'll try it! Luckily I have a couples vacation coming up in a couple weeks to Myrtle Beach (golf for the guys, beach for the girls). Then we are in the works of planning a friends vacation for next summer, so I have some things on my radar.
One day I asked him where he wants to go on our next vacation, and this is the list he came up with:
-Himalayan Mountains
-Nepal
-Great Barrier Reef
-The Grand Canyon
-Alaska
-Whale Watching
-Noah's House (North Carolina, I love that this was on his list)
-On a cruise
-Swimming with the dolphins
-Hawaii
I love this list! I love that this is how his brain works. I can't wait to take him to some of these places! And lucky for me, some of these trips are on my list too.
I will go pretty much anywhere, but here is my list of the top places I want to travel:
-Aruba
-Turks and Caicos
-Atlantis (we can swim with the dolphins here!)
-Florida Keys
-Disney Cruise
-Nashville
-Niagara Falls
-Grand Canyon
-Zion National Park
-Skiing out West
-Spa Resort in Arizona
-Spain
-France
-Ireland
-London
-Alaska Cruise
-River cruise through Europe
-Bora Bora
This list is not all inclusive- if an offer or a new idea pops into my mine, I'll try it! Luckily I have a couples vacation coming up in a couple weeks to Myrtle Beach (golf for the guys, beach for the girls). Then we are in the works of planning a friends vacation for next summer, so I have some things on my radar.
The Taynor Brothers
As usual, I haven't blogged in forever. I missed Patrick's 2 year old birthday update and party details, and I missed Ryan's 5th birthday update and party details. Life is busy, blogging slips down on the priority list. So instead of trying to back track, here is my post about my precious boys. Hopefully I will still get to posting about their parties. I had a lot of fun planning all the details and would love to share.
So as of today- Ryan is 5 years 3 months old and Patrick is 2 years 4 months old.
Patrick-
-His personality makes us laugh and shakes our heads all day. He is funny, charming, moody, a trouble maker, and super cuddly.
-Patrick is the type that will do something wrong, know he is about do get in trouble, so he will do something really super cute immediately after so that everyone laughs and smiles and suddenly he is no longer in trouble (my brother was very good at this trick too, I know it well).
-He is still sleeping in his crib and in diapers, but we plan to start transitioning both things this summer.
-He occasionally goes on the potty, and when he does we have to have a big celebration
- Patrick can be a bit of a couch potato (he gets it from his Daddy). Umizomi, Little Einsteins, and Paw Patrol are current favorites.
-Talking is coming slow for him, just like his brother. But he is a very good communicator and the words are slowly catching up.
-He calls his brother Yaya and he is in love with him!
-Sleep habits are pretty routine- in bed around 7-7:30, sleeps til anytime between 6-7am and takes a 48 minute nap (I'm serious, all naps are exactly the same length, we have still never gotten a nap over 1 hour).
-He is in the "I do" stage which I kind of love. He wants to try to do everything himself and he is determined to keep up with his big brother.
-We registered Patrick for school, so he will be starting preschool 3 mornings a week in the fall (ahhhh!)
-Patrick can be stubborn. He know what he wants and that's it. If he doesn't get it, tempers flare. But luckily the tantrums never last long.
- He is a picky eater. By time we get to dinner he pretty much eats nothing. I am a mean mom. I make one dinner for the family, he eats it if he wants, or he eats nothing for dinner. I am not starting the bad habit of multiple meals or eating junk for dinner. I am not overly concerned because he eats a great breakfast, a decent lunch, and has lots of healthy snacks all day... so I know the kid won't starve. He will start eating dinner again when he is ready.
-On the food topics- his favorite foods are pouches, bananas, avocado, yogurt, veggie straws, waffles with sun butter, and pasta.
-He finally has his own friend. Up to this point its been all Ryan's friends or his cousins. But now he has play dates with his little buddy Rex and they have a lot of fun together. Its very cute.
-My favorite part of the day is Partick cuddles. He loves to hug and kiss and cuddle up in my lap. I think he would curl back inside the womb if it was possible.
-Patrick's the kind of kid that everyone loves. He is cute, he puts on a show for everyone, he is a social butterfly, people just love him.
Ryan-
-Ryan brings me all the greatest parts of my day and all the hardest parts of my day! He is a lot of love, personality, emotions, and energy every single day.
-Recently Ryan has been blowing us away with his knowledge and questions and quests to learn about all these fascinating topics. He is obsessed with whales, sharks, underwater life, scuba diving, dinosaurs, and traveling around the world. And the obsession is not just about playing with these kind of toys. He wants to read books (like real encyclopedia style books), watch documentaries, and tell everyone about what he is learning.
-When you ask Ryan what he wants to be when he grows up he says "a scuba diver that can take pictures and videos of whales and sharks and use to it do research to learn more about them and teach kids" or to work at a rescue center for sea animals that have been injured.
-He also has become very artistic. His teachers always pull me aside to tell me how great his imagination and art skills are. We are looking into an art summer camp for him.
-He loves people, all people, all the time. Everyone he meets he wants to become friends with. He has invited many grocery store clerks or target employees to our house for dinner.
-Ryan is currently enjoying playing soccer on Saturday mornings and going to his gymnastics class. He is doing much better with following the structure and improving his skills.
- We are working everyday with his ADHD behavior needs and his sensory issues. Its been a tough few months. He goes to OT once a week and I am constantly doing research, going to seminars, watching webinars, to find out more about what I can do about helping him. As he gets older, we are encountering new more challenging issues with his ADHD and compulsive behavior. Its a lot of work to keep up with but we are trucking along. I hope to do a separate post about this soon, I don't want my Ryan update to be all about his disability.
-Ryan is very very emotional- from the highest highs to the lowest lows. When he is excited he is barely able to contain his joy, and when he is upset he cries to the point of throwing up and not breathing. The pendulum can swing from one emotion to the next in just seconds. He keeps me on my toes.
-This kid is LOUD, like really loud all the time. I didn't realize how loud he was until he wasn't around for a few days and the house was eerily quiet. He talks loud, laughs loud, cries loud, plays loud.
-Just like I was saying about Patrick, Ryan is full of love. Lots of cuddling, hugs, kisses all the time. Many days the boys fight over who gets to cuddle with mom- I don't mind this at all!
-Ryan loves to be outside, exploring in the woods, doing yard work with Daddy, swinging on the swings. He is very excited for summer to be outside all the time.
Now lets take a quick peak at their relationship as brothers.
-They love each other so much, its very sweet.
-Ryan loves to protect Patrick, he gets very worried about him and making sure he is safe all the time. But at the same time he can totally body slam him in a wrestling match and not thing twice about it.
-Ryan wants to be just like Mike, and Patrick wants to be just like Ryan, so this leads to a lot of following each other around and fighting over toys. When they all play together, Ryan wants to do whatever Mike is doing, and Patrick then wants what Ryan wants, so even though we have a room full of toys, all three boys are fighting over the same sword (or dinosaur, or truck, or lego piece). It is an odd dynamic because their love for each other and want to play together leads to lots of fighting and tears on a daily basis.
-Both boys are very boyish boys. They are loud, like to get dirty, wrestle a lot, play with bugs, constantly on the move. The activity level in our house is always very high from the minute their eyes open until they fall asleep at night.
-We have reached the fighting and tattling stage. Its tough and I don't think its going away anytime soon. Like I said they fight over toys ALL OF THE TIME, and we get a lot of "Patrick hit me" or "Yaya gave me boo boo". We have a lot of lessons in sharing and keeping your hands to yourself in our future.
-But they can't leave the room without giving each other hugs and kisses and saying I love you, 100 times a day.
I am sure I could go on and on about the little things that make me smile every day, or the little things that make me want to pull my hair out (like Patrick's habit to poop in the bath tub or Ryan's ability to leave a mess wherever he goes) but at least I got some of their little personality traits down on paper!
Seriously I need to get better at posting more often, then I don't want to worry about getting it all down at one time.
So as of today- Ryan is 5 years 3 months old and Patrick is 2 years 4 months old.
Patrick-
-His personality makes us laugh and shakes our heads all day. He is funny, charming, moody, a trouble maker, and super cuddly.
-Patrick is the type that will do something wrong, know he is about do get in trouble, so he will do something really super cute immediately after so that everyone laughs and smiles and suddenly he is no longer in trouble (my brother was very good at this trick too, I know it well).
-He is still sleeping in his crib and in diapers, but we plan to start transitioning both things this summer.
-He occasionally goes on the potty, and when he does we have to have a big celebration
- Patrick can be a bit of a couch potato (he gets it from his Daddy). Umizomi, Little Einsteins, and Paw Patrol are current favorites.
-Talking is coming slow for him, just like his brother. But he is a very good communicator and the words are slowly catching up.
-He calls his brother Yaya and he is in love with him!
-Sleep habits are pretty routine- in bed around 7-7:30, sleeps til anytime between 6-7am and takes a 48 minute nap (I'm serious, all naps are exactly the same length, we have still never gotten a nap over 1 hour).
-He is in the "I do" stage which I kind of love. He wants to try to do everything himself and he is determined to keep up with his big brother.
-We registered Patrick for school, so he will be starting preschool 3 mornings a week in the fall (ahhhh!)
-Patrick can be stubborn. He know what he wants and that's it. If he doesn't get it, tempers flare. But luckily the tantrums never last long.
- He is a picky eater. By time we get to dinner he pretty much eats nothing. I am a mean mom. I make one dinner for the family, he eats it if he wants, or he eats nothing for dinner. I am not starting the bad habit of multiple meals or eating junk for dinner. I am not overly concerned because he eats a great breakfast, a decent lunch, and has lots of healthy snacks all day... so I know the kid won't starve. He will start eating dinner again when he is ready.
-On the food topics- his favorite foods are pouches, bananas, avocado, yogurt, veggie straws, waffles with sun butter, and pasta.
-He finally has his own friend. Up to this point its been all Ryan's friends or his cousins. But now he has play dates with his little buddy Rex and they have a lot of fun together. Its very cute.
-My favorite part of the day is Partick cuddles. He loves to hug and kiss and cuddle up in my lap. I think he would curl back inside the womb if it was possible.
-Patrick's the kind of kid that everyone loves. He is cute, he puts on a show for everyone, he is a social butterfly, people just love him.
Ryan-
-Ryan brings me all the greatest parts of my day and all the hardest parts of my day! He is a lot of love, personality, emotions, and energy every single day.
-Recently Ryan has been blowing us away with his knowledge and questions and quests to learn about all these fascinating topics. He is obsessed with whales, sharks, underwater life, scuba diving, dinosaurs, and traveling around the world. And the obsession is not just about playing with these kind of toys. He wants to read books (like real encyclopedia style books), watch documentaries, and tell everyone about what he is learning.
-When you ask Ryan what he wants to be when he grows up he says "a scuba diver that can take pictures and videos of whales and sharks and use to it do research to learn more about them and teach kids" or to work at a rescue center for sea animals that have been injured.
-He also has become very artistic. His teachers always pull me aside to tell me how great his imagination and art skills are. We are looking into an art summer camp for him.
-He loves people, all people, all the time. Everyone he meets he wants to become friends with. He has invited many grocery store clerks or target employees to our house for dinner.
-Ryan is currently enjoying playing soccer on Saturday mornings and going to his gymnastics class. He is doing much better with following the structure and improving his skills.
- We are working everyday with his ADHD behavior needs and his sensory issues. Its been a tough few months. He goes to OT once a week and I am constantly doing research, going to seminars, watching webinars, to find out more about what I can do about helping him. As he gets older, we are encountering new more challenging issues with his ADHD and compulsive behavior. Its a lot of work to keep up with but we are trucking along. I hope to do a separate post about this soon, I don't want my Ryan update to be all about his disability.
-Ryan is very very emotional- from the highest highs to the lowest lows. When he is excited he is barely able to contain his joy, and when he is upset he cries to the point of throwing up and not breathing. The pendulum can swing from one emotion to the next in just seconds. He keeps me on my toes.
-This kid is LOUD, like really loud all the time. I didn't realize how loud he was until he wasn't around for a few days and the house was eerily quiet. He talks loud, laughs loud, cries loud, plays loud.
-Just like I was saying about Patrick, Ryan is full of love. Lots of cuddling, hugs, kisses all the time. Many days the boys fight over who gets to cuddle with mom- I don't mind this at all!
-Ryan loves to be outside, exploring in the woods, doing yard work with Daddy, swinging on the swings. He is very excited for summer to be outside all the time.
Now lets take a quick peak at their relationship as brothers.
-They love each other so much, its very sweet.
-Ryan loves to protect Patrick, he gets very worried about him and making sure he is safe all the time. But at the same time he can totally body slam him in a wrestling match and not thing twice about it.
-Ryan wants to be just like Mike, and Patrick wants to be just like Ryan, so this leads to a lot of following each other around and fighting over toys. When they all play together, Ryan wants to do whatever Mike is doing, and Patrick then wants what Ryan wants, so even though we have a room full of toys, all three boys are fighting over the same sword (or dinosaur, or truck, or lego piece). It is an odd dynamic because their love for each other and want to play together leads to lots of fighting and tears on a daily basis.
-Both boys are very boyish boys. They are loud, like to get dirty, wrestle a lot, play with bugs, constantly on the move. The activity level in our house is always very high from the minute their eyes open until they fall asleep at night.
-We have reached the fighting and tattling stage. Its tough and I don't think its going away anytime soon. Like I said they fight over toys ALL OF THE TIME, and we get a lot of "Patrick hit me" or "Yaya gave me boo boo". We have a lot of lessons in sharing and keeping your hands to yourself in our future.
-But they can't leave the room without giving each other hugs and kisses and saying I love you, 100 times a day.
I am sure I could go on and on about the little things that make me smile every day, or the little things that make me want to pull my hair out (like Patrick's habit to poop in the bath tub or Ryan's ability to leave a mess wherever he goes) but at least I got some of their little personality traits down on paper!
Seriously I need to get better at posting more often, then I don't want to worry about getting it all down at one time.
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