Sunday, January 12

Waiting for baby

Well, hello old friends. Here's a needed update from the Taylor clan. Life in Oklahoma is grand. We’ve had a typically crazy week of weather.  We started out the week frigid, with Monday morning having windchills around -8.  Then today it was 73.  There’s definitely nothing boring about winter in Oklahoma.  Well I suppose Spring and Fall are just as crazy and of course summer you just want to die.

Evelyn has been herself this week.  A few stories worth repeating from the week—tonight before bed Will read to her an alphabet book.  At the end, it has all the letters on a single page.  He would point to the letters and she’d say them.  He was going through in order from A-Z, and she was doing awesome. We were a little skeptical, however, but our skepticism was confirmed when she said (as He pointed to letters), “j, k, l, emeno” (he had just pointed to the “M”).  We decided to go backwards and she did fairly well still. She's learning! We're teaching her how to play the piano. We're not pushing it, but she is interested. We made some colored notes to stick to the keys to help and she's doing pretty well. She knows the name of the notes and that they repeat. We're teaching her how to play Twinkle, Twinkle and "I Love to See the Temple."  She’s now a Sunbeam and loving primary.  The chorister said she sings better than most. She’s really excited for the baby.  She still insists that she has a baby in her tummy too.  Oftentimes when she eats something she’ll inform us that “baby brother likes this” (since we’ve explained that I eat and baby brother gets it).  She really is 3 going on 17.  She’s so independent and so stubborn.  And she speaks very well (today she used the word “either” properly in a sentence).  Although she did argue with me the other day over the correct past-tense to the word “blow”.  I think she was talking about the wind, and she said “the wind blowed” and I said, “no, the wind blew” to which she said something along the lines of “no, the wind blowed.  Blue is a color”.  I think she ended up winning the argument in the end.  One thing Will and I were reflecting on is that although she’s a handful in some ways, we’ve been really blessed in other ways.  For example, since she’s started sleeping without diapers (when she was2) , we can count 3 times she’s wet the bed (although only one time officially counts).  In case you’re curious-The first time was when we were visiting my sister, Amy.  We think she might have wet the bed, but we weren’t sure.  She went to bed right after taking a bath, so she was still a bit wet, which was why we weren’t sure the reason the bed was wet because it wasn't soaked but just damp.  The second time was in Minnesota.  She was sharing a bed with Amy. She woke up in the middle of the night and told Amy she had to pee.  Amy, too tired,  told her to go back to sleep.  And you can imagine the results.  The third time (which doesn’t really count since it wasn’t in bed), we forgot to have her pee before going to bed, and she got up in the middle of the night, and only made it to the bathroom door before, well, it was too late.  Also, she is basically never sick.  I can remember one time when she threw up (other than spitting up as an infant).  She’s had a fever a few times, and a runny nose a few times, and one time had a pretty bad cough, but that’s it.  Another thing that makes us very happy is how well she eats.  We are constantly amazed at what she'll eat.  She eats anything we put in front of her really.  She loves vegetables and even ate the liver from the Christmas turkey.  She wasn't a big fan of the liver, but she ate it. CRAZY! She likes food I don't even like.  Perhaps this is compensation for the fact that she quit taking naps way before other kids quit taking naps.

This week was the week of being Sooner fans.  Monday we got an email saying we could get discounted tickets to Saturday’s game against Iowa State because Evelyn is a member of the Sooner Junior Kids Club (we won a membership).  We figured this would be one of our last chances to go to a game, since going with 2 kids is way more difficult than going with one, and we’d never been to one before, so what the heck.  So, we bought tickets on Tuesday afternoon.  Well, about 30 minutes after I had bought the tickets, I saw on Facebook that one of our friends had 3 tickets to that nights OU-Kansas game he was giving away.  I mentioned it to Will (it was about 5:15, and the game started at 6). We decided it sounded fun, so texted our friend and an hour later we were watching the Sooners and the Jayhawks battle it out on the hardwood for free.  Evelyn wasn’t that interested in the game (she was interested in the OU mascot), but it was still pretty fun.  OU lost, but that was not too surprising since Kansas is, well, Kansas.  Plus they’ve got a player who potentially could be the number 1 draft pick in the NBA (him or Jabari Parker, an LDS guy at Duke who also might be the number one draft pick EVEN IF he decides to go on a mission. We were a little bit nerdy after the game and did some reading). Friday night I went to a book club with friends, but Will took Evelyn to a gymnastics meet (it’s free for him and her since she’s part of that club).  She loves gymnastics, but apparently she loves face painting more.  They had free face painting there, and she kept asking about getting her face painted (we went to a baseball game last year where she got her face painted).  So, they waited in line for 45 minutes to get her face painted.  She also got a balloon animal along the way.  She apparently does not have the same indecisive gene that Will and I have.  When Will asked her what she wanted for her balloon animal, without even thinking about it she said she wanted a lady bug. (She wears her ladybug costume from Halloween almost every other day.)
Saturday, as I mentioned, we had gotten tickets to the Iowa State game.  They were undefeated on the season and ranked somewhere between 7th and 9th (depending on the rating system).  It was a pretty exciting game, and we came out victorious, which was cool. We had a fun time together.  I doubt we’ll go to any more basketball games this season, but it was cool to go to a couple.  I've never been in to sports, but it's been fun to experience OU sports. I even watched half the sugar bowl! I left at the half to put E to bed. But it was exciting! We hope to make it to at least one football game while we’re here in Norman and a Thunder game in OKC, but those tickets aren't as cheap.  Well, I guess you can find some cheap Thunder seats but they are like up in space they are so far away...but knowing OKC fans it would still be fun.  Plus I just love Kevin Durant!

 The baby and I are doing well.  13 more days give or take. This pregnancy has been nothing like Ev's. My only complaint with her was back pain and being tired. This one has had so many aches and pains...oy! This week was actually a lot better than the past few.  How many of you knew pregnancy can cause carpal tunnel? Yeah...not fun. I have small wrists and so the swelling (I didnt swell at all with E) pushes on the nerve and it has been bad. Like worse than just the tingling sensation...like pain and I can't get dressed and do other things because my wrists hurt so bad. I bought some braces to help stabilize them and that has helped, but not much. I had a blessing last week because of all the pain and a bad headache that worried me and my wrists have felt better and my contractions have gotten much more infrequent.  I'm by no means comfortable, but I've been more patient in waiting for our little man.  I know he's learning all he needs to, and I want him to come when he's ready and prepared. I'm sure he's being taught some important things and my mom is probably warning him about my imperfect ways. I know when he comes it will be because he's ready and not because I was impatient and begging for him to come sooner....although I still pray he does!  I'll be sure to keep you updated! We're planning another natural delivery. This time we're using the Bradley Method. If you want to know more, ask! I love to talk babies and labor....

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