Starting to feel better...

about my garden.

Spring is my favorite time of the year, and I love seeing things bloom that I planted.  Makes me feel accomplished.  Even though I just stuck the thing in the ground, and the blooming plant does the rest.

Stephen and I have done some yard work this weekend, like trimming the bushes, putting down new pinestraw, pulling up weeds, planting flowers in pots, etc. 

Check out the latest pics:

16 months!

Taylor is 16 months old!

She has had a month full of huge leaps in the direction of becoming a "big girl".  Check them out:

• This has been the month of communication... Taylor has started talking so much!  She started saying:
• "uh oh, spaghettio!" (although it's more like "uh oh, spehgjhgkjhg")
• "Baby"
• "Yeah"
• "Hey" and "Hi"
• "More"
• "Eye" (and she'll point to it)
• "Shoe" but it's more like "shhhh"
• Stephen's heard her say "thank you" (or "ta ku") a couple of times.
• "Ball"
• "Ba Ba" as in bottles you drink out of (water, powerade, etc)
• She has started using gestures/sign language lots more.  A lot of waving (every time a car goes by!), the signs for "more" and "please", pointing at so many things that we ask for.  Her favorite thing to point at/find is Elmo.
• She'll go and get things we ask for.  She's really starting to show she understands what we're saying.
• This girl is strong.  She carries things around the house that are heavy- her little car she rides on, mommy's work bag, tables/chairs... but the kicker was- Taylor's class rides in these buggy things to go outside.  The buggy seats 8.  When I went to pick her up, the buggy was packed with 8 kids, and Taylor was pushing it and that girl moved that buggy a good 5 feet across the room!  That had to have been well over 200 pounds.
• We have officially turned her car seat around!  She was getting so scrunched up sitting backwards.  This was seriously the BEST present we could've given her.
• Climbing on EVERYTHING.  She literally climbed and fell into the (empty) bathtub; climbing on every chair she can reach; climbing into drawers; etc.
• She started walking up the stairs by herself, holding onto the railing.
• Participated in her first Easter egg hunt.

Here are some pics from month 16!

Sydney feeding her sister goldfish.  Is this the correct serving size?

This was her first ride, turned- around.  This smile was on her face the entire time.

Headed to Peter & Jamie's in Roswell for St. Patty's Day... she was resting up for the excitement.

Back off...

Easter Fun

Sydney had an Easter egg hunt at her school on Friday, which I sadly had to miss... but was able to share in some of the candy. :)  Saturday morning, Stephen's work put on their annual Easter party, which is great for young kids.  They do a fun job of providing all sorts of activities for kids of all ages, including coloring cookies, beanbag tosses, musical chairs, balloon animals, pictures with the Easter Bunny, more arts and crafts, and, of course, an Easter egg hunt.

Sydney and Taylor had fun.  They served lunch, we took a picture with the Easter bunny (all four of us included, and guess which 2 were crying?), we did arts and crafts, got 2 balloon animals (after the puppy dog on the leash popped in the parking lot, we had to go back for seconds). 

The Easter Egg hunt was for kids 4 and under, and there were so many kids that neither Sydney nor Taylor got a bunch of eggs.  Sydney got a few and wanted more, but Taylor was completely satisfied with the two she found (ahem, were handed to her).  She kept one in each hand and just stood in the middle of the egg hunt area the whole time.

Very fun day.  Here are some pictures from our morning.

This was Taylor's cookie.

Bubbles, anyone?

Pretty day + bubbles + a 3 year-old = fun.

The Sweetest Surprise

Stephen and I are such planners that it's almost annoying.  Of course, we plan how to save and spend our money.  We plan our dinners out a week ahead of time.  We plan when we will go on certain trips, when we will purchase certain big ticket items, when we would have kids and how far apart they would be.  We planned baby names and nursery themes well ahead of time.  We plan outfits out for the week at one time. (well, by "we", I mean "me". ;)  We plan about our kids' schooling, sports, the future, etc.  You get the point.  I suppose we like to feel that we have some sort of control over things in our lives.

But, let's face it, sometimes something comes along that wasn't planned.  And it catches you off guard.  It's not necessarily a bad thing... it's just an unexpected thing.  And, as big of planners that Stephen and I are, we are not the most flexibly-minded folks when it comes to something off our "plan" list.  This is probably how I look when this happens:

Sometimes God has a different plan for you.  Sometimes you have to know that, as much "control" as you'd like to have in your life, someone else is really in control.  And He wouldn't give you something you couldn't handle.  In fact, God probably finds lots of humor when he throws such annoying planners off their course.  :)

So, now that we are well beyond our state of shock, and somewhat behind my state of nauseousness, I present to you our "sweetest surprise"...

Baby K #3, due October 4, 2012!

Chattanooga

This past weekend, the whole Sherry crew took over Chattanooga.  My brother and his family live near Nashville, TN, while the rest of us reside in GA.  Chattanooga is a happy middle ground to meet, play, and explore.  And that we did!

We got up there Saturday morning, checked into the hotel, grabbed a bite to eat at Cracker Barrel, and then headed downtown to see the Chattanooga Choo Choo.  After a fun little ride on a trolley, we headed to an area with shops, a little park, a merry-go-round, ice cream parlor... need I say more?

The weather started becoming iffy mid-afternoon, with chilly winds and rain.  We decided to head back to the hotel, get dinner to go, swim in the pool, and hang out until an hour that was way too late for a certain 3 year-old (and her mama!).

D-Dad and four of his girls

Madeline, Olivia, and Sydney

Merry-go-round

This was great entertainment for almost 2 hours.

Sunday morning promised to bring with it some better weather.  We headed to a fun go-cart place down the road from the hotel.  All the kids enjoyed that.  Taylor preferred to climb on the games in the game room.

Then, we headed to Rock City!  My favorite part of the trip.  I hadn't been here in years, and if you haven't either, I would highly recommend it!  Especially for kids... although maybe not for kids in strollers (see below for how Taylor made it around the 250 steps).  We spent a couple of hours here, enjoying the beauty of the southeast. 

After Rock City, we ate a great Sunday brunch and then we all headed to our prospective houses.  It was a great trip!

Next time, I want to see Rock City like this.

The wobbly bridge. 



Taylor the Tornado, Part 2

Let me just give you a glimpse into 5 minutes of Taylor's evening today.

As I got her out of the bath to put her diaper and her PJs on, she was squirming all around on the changing table.  She turned herself around, stuck her finger in the diaper rash cream, and put it in her mouth.  (Luckily, I think I caught it in time, and proceeded to wipe her mouth out with baby wipes).

Then, I put her down to get Sydney dressed.  Taylor manages to walk into the bathroom, stand up on Sydney's stool, grab her rinse cup (which had about 1 inch of water in it), and pour it all over her.

Then, she walks over to the gate on our stairs and climbs up so she is standing on the rungs.  Something her big sister taught her this past weekend.  And something we are trying to prevent.  Then she starts sticking her legs through the banisters on the top of our staircase.

Then, to top it all off, we all go into Sydney's room, and as I'm finishing getting her ready for bed, Taylor pulls the bottom drawer out of its socket, pulls it onto the floor, throws all of Sydney's jeans out of it and onto the floor, and then climbs into the drawer to sit.  And chill.  Smiling all the way.

Then, I picked her up, gave her a kiss, laid her in her crib, and she went right to sleep.  She never made a peep.

Sigh... she is my ultimate sweet, loving, silly MESS!