Taylor Baird

Tomorrow will be the three week mark since I woke up early in the morning, knowing that I was going to have this baby. The night before we had gone to the adult session of District Conference and I started having some contractions, but they were on average 10-15 minutes apart. Nothing close enough to get my hopes up. We went out to dinner after and either they stopped, or I just wasn't paying enough attention to notice them. So we came home and went to bed. The next morning, I woke up at 5:40am, with a very distinct feeling that today was the day. I hopped in the shower and had 5 contractions in the 15 minutes that I was in there. They were now 2-3 minutes apart and pretty uncomfortable. I woke Justin up and told him that if he wanted to shower, he better hurry because we need to head to the hospital! I threw some stuff together in a bag (not sure why I hadn't packed a bag yet!) and called my friend Hollie to come over while the kids were still sleeping. By the time we got to the hospital, my contractions were getting more painful but a little farther apart. I started to worry that they were going to send me home and tell me that it was false labor. But when they checked me, I was almost at a 5 and they admitted me with no problems. Yay! I had been dreading the unknown of when to go to the hospital, or my water breaking somewhere embarrassing, or thinking I was in labor and having the hospital send me home. I had been induced with my other two boys, but they won't induce you here until you are between 41 and 42 weeks! That sounds dreadful. So once I was actually in my hospital room and my epidural was on it's way, I had a huge sense of relief and gratitude that everything up to that point had gone so smooth. I was extremely surprised that he was coming 6 days early though! Excited beyond belief that my pregnancy was about to be over, but super surprised that it was going to end almost a week early. Justin and I kept saying to each other that we couldn't believe it was actually happening and that we were really going to see our baby! It didn't feel real and didn't really sink in until after he was born.

We got to the hospital at 7am. I got my epidural by 9. They broke my water at about 12:45, and by 1:45, they were getting ready for his arrival. I pushed for a total of 7 minutes, through 3 contractions and he was here by 2pm! He got tangled in his cord on his way out and was bright blue, which scared us half to death, but luckily he was fine and pinked up after a few minutes. Right away, we could tell that he looked a little bigger than our other two. Especially Anderson. He already looked a little chunky! Imagine if I would have had him at 42 weeks, instead of 39 weeks.

Welcome Taylor!

Born on Sunday, November 17 at 2pm.

8 lbs and 21 inches long.

He was perfect. 10 fingers, 10 toes and the cutest little puffy face we'd seen.

Look at that chunky face!

The boys were pretty excited to come and see him. Anderson kept saying, "Oh you cute little baby Taylor!" "Look at his teeny toes and his teeny fingers!" When they were getting ready to leave Justin told Jack to come and give his brother a kiss before they left. Jack looked at him rather surprised and said, "Dad, I just met him!" Obviously you don't kiss people that you hardly know. :) 

The hospital stay was good and the doctor and nurses were awesome. Plus we had a great view of the ocean out our window.

The boys came back right before we were ready to leave the hospital. They have been so funny during the whole pregnancy asking all sorts of questions that I wasn't quite ready to answer. Jack was only 2 when Anderson was born and he wasn't old enough to care how the baby comes out and all of those awesome questions that I'm not really good at answering. I was nursing Taylor under a blanket and Jack naturally wanted to know what I was doing and why he couldn't see Taylor at the moment. After I explained it to him, he looked at me with an awkward face and said, "That is SO....weird!" I got a good laugh. Then a couple days later, I had just finished pumping and Jack looked at the bottles and asked where I got the milk from. I explained yet again and he said, "That's even weirder than him eating from your chest!" You know what? You're right bud....it is a little weird!

Even though I look super scary in these pictures, they are our first pictures as a family of 5. Crazy! 

Here he is, ready to go home! Chunky face and all.

Our first week with him home was so relaxing. Justin was home with me, we had dinner brought to us, and our kids were invited to one place after another with all of our wonderful friends. Even though I felt like I sat in a chair feeding Taylor for a week straight, I loved every minute of it. They change so fast and I wanted to soak up every second of this teeny baby that would be changing almost daily. They grow up too fast!! Tomorrow he will be three weeks old and I want to cry my eyes out. Where have the past three weeks gone?! Before I know it he will be big like his brothers and be in to all kinds of trouble. I told him that he has to stop growing, but he won't listen. So in the mean time, I will be loving every minute I have while he's still little. 

Halloween

This year for Halloween, the boys went back and forth for months trying to decide what to be. Jack eventually settled on a bat, and Anderson wanted to wear the pumpkin costume that he wore last year. Easy enough for me! I cut a piece of black fabric and pinned it to Jack's black shirt for the wings. I found the glasses at the BX and the ears at the 100 yen store. I think it cost me a total of $8. Justin and I did not dress up this year. My 9 month pregnant belly put a damper on that. It was a little rainy that night, but luckily they made it around our neighborhood before it started dumping down. We have the perfect trick-or-treating neighborhood. This year they let a big group of Japanese people on base to trick-or-treat and it was hilarious to hear them say it. "Twick oh tweat!" It's always fun when the moms want to take a picture with you and their kids too. I love the Japanese!

Fukuoka and Sasebo

We took a weekend trip up to mainland Japan to visit the other branch in our church district. We are in a military district which includes all of Okinawa and a small branch up in Sasebo. Justin works with the youth in the district and we came out to visit them and hold a big activity and fireside. We flew in to Fukuoka, where we stayed the night. 

We stopped at our hotel room to change before heading to the Fukuoka temple and immediately cracked up when we walked in the room. This picture does not do it justice, but our rooms were miniature! Everything in Japan is made smaller, even the hotel rooms! 

After the hotel, we walked a few blocks to the Fukuoka LDS temple. It was beautiful! I love going to different temples and this was our first time seeing a temple in Japan. 

The next day we took the hour and a half bus ride to Sasebo. Sasebo is a very small Navy base in a beautiful part of Japan. 

I could have stayed at this view point all day.

The last part of our trip was in Nagasaki, where they dropped the atomic bomb in WWII. It was a very sobering place to visit. I really enjoy learning about history, but couldn't help leaving there with a sad feeling inside for all of the terrible things that happened in the war.

These were caves that they would hide in while under attack.

This spot right here is exactly where the bomb landed. They had before and after ariel shots that were unreal. 

After Nagasaki, we went back to Sasebo for the activity and fireside. The branch there is really small so there aren't very many youth. They are a tight knit group and have amazing testimonies of the gospel. It made me hope that my boys are as strong in the gospel when they are teenagers. I spent a lot of time asking one of the moms how they did it and suggestions that she has. We came home with some good goals for our family!

Soccer

 Jack signed up for soccer this year and has enjoyed every minute of it. I was a little worried at first, because he really doesn't like running, which is 75% of soccer. But during practice and games, he loved  it. It's fun to go and watch, especially when he gets so excited about it.

 Isn't it crazy how kids the same age can be such different heights?? Those little guys on the left could barely keep their shorts on!

 Anderson was a good little cheer leader. He has already informed me that he wants to sign up for soccer next year.

Go Fireballs!

Anderson's 4th!

 

October 2, was Anderson's 4th birthday. He had been counting down the days until his birthday for what seemed like forever. "How many days til my birthday now?" He was extra excited to be turning 4, and rightfully so. 4 is a great number!

 He woke up to the usual presents and birthday bucket. I'm not sure if he was more excited about the presents or the Lucky Charms. Either way, he had a grin from ear to ear.

 He asked for a "marvle machine" and a big bag of "marvles". He has played with that marble machine every day since he got it. It was money well spent!

 He was extremely easy to please this year. I asked him if he wanted to have a birthday party, and he said no. He just wanted to eat dinner at the food court, ride on the ferris wheel and bring his friend Jaydon with us. So to the food court and ferris wheel we went! Easy enough for me. I didn't have to do anything!

 We drive by this ferris wheel almost every day, and I will admit, I was not too excited to go on it. It's so high! But, we all made it through alive and Anderson loved every second of it. I just had to look out, and not down. I'm a huge chicken and I couldn't handle seeing how high we actually were. It's pretty sad when two four year olds and a six year old are braver than you are! Oh well, I did it for Anderson and now it's over. :)

 We happened to be on there just as the sun was going down. It made for a beautiful view!

 We went back home and had donuts for the cake. Another request from Anderson that made his birthday super easy this year.

 This little boy has been cracking us up lately. He is so full of personality and we say every day that we wish we could freeze him, just like this. He is so funny and everything he says makes your heart melt. Of course he has a little sassy side, but for the majority of the time, he is pure cuteness. I told him the other day that he needed to stop growing because it makes me want to cry my eyes out. He looked at me and said, "Don't do that Mom! Then you won't have any eyes!!"

 At 4 years old, he loves dressing up as Batman, anything else that involves superheroes, Toy Story 3, money, or as he would say "coinies", finding out how old everyone is, riding bikes and scooters, his dog Winston, gymnastics class, helping me make bread, and going to his play date on Thursdays. Every time he gets dressed he looks at the tag to see if it's a 4T. Size 4T is way cooler than 3T, in case you didn't know that.

He bought this helmet with some money from his grandma and grandpa and it was just enough motivation to start riding his balance bike that he got for his birthday LAST year. He has refused to ride it until now. I guess you have to be 4 to ride a balance bike.

Happy Birthday Anderson!

We love you!