A few of his Favorite things...

Kyle loves walking/running, taking baths, and eating spaghetti with his hands!

Houston Ballet

For one of my Christmas presents George took me to the Houston Ballet to see The Nutcracker. It was so nice! He took me to a ritzy restaurant to eat prior to the Ballet and then afterwards we went to a Jazz club. We had a great time and it was fun to get all dressed up!

Christmas 2007

We had a great Christmas Season! Our Christmas' started on Dec.22nd and didn't end until Jan. 2nd! This was because we attended Christmas with all of our families and drove all over the place! It was fast and furious, but fun. The best part was getting to have our "first" Christmas as a family (just the three of us). Kyle was too little to really have it seem like Christmas last year. George and I had a great time playing the role of "Santa" and we stayed up until 1:00 am putting stuff together and playing. Before putting Kyle to bed George read us The Night Before Christmas and then we were going to read the story of Jesus' birth in the Bible all together, but Kyle passed out before the end of the first book. So, just George and I read it together. It is so awesome to have our own little family and be able to make our own traditions. It was/is a dream come true for us. I hope one day Kyle will think of our family and all our little "traditions" we had even when he is all grown up with his own family. I know I still think aobut it every year.

Kyle's First Birthday

We celebrated Kyle's first birthday on December 15th and we had a fun party! Of course whats a party though without a little drama......right? It was a construction themed party. The cakes and cupcakes were beautiful (ok, cute, whatever you say for a boy's party) and we had lots of family and friends show up. I was holding Kyles cake near his highchair and everyone one was singing happy birthday and then.... to make a long story short Kyle's hand got near the flame of the candle (because I had turned my head when someone called my name) and everyone (ok most of the older people) screamed "OH MY GOSH" which in turn scared Kyle and he began to cry. Then he proceded to throw a fit and wouldn't touch his cake, and then I had to go into another room because I started crying because I felt like I had just showcased to the world how horrible of a Mother I was by letting my child get burned. WHEW! Anyways, when we reviewed the video tape at home we saw that his hand was no where near the candle and he didn't have a mark on his hand anywhere. But, we later discovered that Kyle doesn't like cake anyway. We tried it again at home later when it was just the three of us and he just didn't seem to like the taste of icing or cake. SO.....we didn't have any cute pictures of him with cake all over the place, but it turned out ok. I learned my lesson though, I don't really think big parties are the way to go, atleast until he is older.

The Holidays are here!

Things at the Taylor household have been going great. Kyle hasn't been sick (knock on wood) since his surgery. He started a new "school" this week and so far is doing really well there. He is just a little socialite, must get it from his Daddy. We had a great Thanksgiving. We got to see all sides of the family and it was nice. George is still doing great on his diet and has now lost 49 lbs in the 8 weeks he has been on the program! We are so proud of him. I am enjoying my new job, but quickly found out that all jobs have stress, just different kinds.....anyway, thats another story in itself! We worked at our Church Christmas Bazaar this weekend and had a good time. Kyle got to meet Santa for the first time and he seemed to really not know what to think about him. He never cried, but he kept making a funny face and holding his arms out to us to come pick him up. We also took a pic with a longhorn! I know, I know, how could we do that? Well you will just have to look closely at the picture to see...hehe! George and I are busy this week! We are playing in a softball tournament on Saturday benefitting the Toys for Tots Foundation and then one Sunday it will be Kyle's first birthday party!! Yay! We are so excited!

Recent Pics

Post Surgery

Kyle is doing ok after surgery on Monday. Thanks to everyone for the prayers. I stayed home with him today and he was a very kranky little man. He didn't want to sleep and kept rubbing his nose and ears. His left ear was bleeding a little bit and he vomited this evening, so I decided to stay home with him again tomorrow. George's Dad is going to the hospital in the morning to have cardioversion to try and get his hear rhythm back to normal. So again, asking for prayers. I will post some of the most recent pics of Kyle........sorry so bad at keeping up lately!

Keeping up with the Taylors...

Well....again I haven't been staying up to date on things. Football season is over for us. We won two district games this season. George will be coaching powerlifting next and he is looking forward to it. He already set up a league and is planning meets. I think the meets will start in January. He is also doing great on his lifestyle change! He has now lost 22 lbs in 6 weeks. He exercises daily and makes much healthier food choices, which is rubbing off on me too! We are very proud of him.

I have been working two jobs for about two months now. I have been working full time at the hospital and part time for a home health agency in Anahuac. I finally was offered the home health job full time and I am very excited about it! So, I will be working regular hours with no holidays for the first time ever! I can't wait. Also, the office is only a couple blocks away from our house and a few blocks from Kyle's daycare. I even get a lunch hour! SO AWESOME!

Kyle has been so sick lately. He keeps ear infections and no antibiotics were working for him! We had to take him for Rocephin shots the last two weeks to try and clear up the infections, so we were referred to a ENT. We took him to see the ENT on Tuesday and after a hearing test that wasn't wonderful and taking a look at his ears and his history he scheduled Kyle for surgery on Monday, November 12th. He will be getting tubes in his ears and possibly having his adenoids removed also. We are very nervous to know our little man is going to have to go under anethesia and be intubated and have an IV, etc...but, we are hoping it will help in the long run. Please pray for us this week. Kyle is still a sweetie, even when he is sick! He is trying so hard to walk and has taken about 5 or 6 steps alone. But, he is very off balance due to the fluid in his ears, so he falls easliy. WEll, now we are caught up for a while. I will try to post some pics soon!

Gatorfest 2007

Gatorfest was this past weekend and Kyle had a blast! George had to work in the morning and I took Kyle early so it wasn't too hot for him. Then, about 2pm George and the other coaches got to judge to gator cook off contest. My mom and Vince came down and so did Jimmy and Natalie and our friends Matt and Kim and their son Preston. Here are a few pics.....it was a fun time.

Prayers Please

Just wanted to write a quick blog to ask for your prayers. My father-in-law George had cardiac bypass this past Monday. He had a triple bypass and a defibrillator with a pacemaker put in. He is currently in ICU recovery and still on a ventilator and aortic balloon pump. He is responding though and we are hoping to get him off the ventilator by Friday.

Curious Kyle

We don't have a baby anymore!! He has suddenly become this busy, always on the move little boy that is into everything. He amazes us daily. We love to sit back and watch as he discovers what things are and how they work. Who knew how entertaining an 8 month old could be! Here are some pics to help you see my point...You'll notice in some of them that his onesies are not buttoned at the bottom. This is because we usually can't hold him down long enough after a diaper change to get them buttoned again before he takes off.

Oh Happy Day!

On August 19th George and Kyle were baptized and we all became members of the First United Methodist Church of Anahuac. I am very proud of my husband for setting such a great example for our son. We are excited to now have our own "church family" to be a part of and to have such a wonderful place to help support us as we try to raise Kyle in the way that God intends.

My Awful Beautiful Life

I am so blessed! Have you ever had one of those days??...Well, I was having one. I spent the whole day cleaning house and trying to keep watch over a fussy teething baby. I asked George to watch him while I ran to the store to get a few things to cook for supper. Well, when I walked in the house after being gone only about 15 minutes this is what I saw!! Was I mad about the mess you ask....how could I be?? That was all I needed to make my day much better and realize how extremely blessed I really am!

BUSY BUSY TAYLORS!!

Ok, Ok. So, I have been falling way behind on the blog front! Sorry. So much has been going on! It seems every weekend we have either been out of town or I have been working. My other excuse is that now that Kyle is so mobile I have to watch him 24/7 at home. He is now crawling (the correct way), pulling up, bear crawling, and can even stand some on his own for a few moments and then will fall. He got his first bloody lip last night after a bad fall and his head seems to stay bruised!! I feel so terrible about it, but really he is just so fast and into EVERYTHING! It is so much fun though. I love watching his little brain work. See his totsite for more updates on him and new pics (as soon as I get home I will do it I promise!)

George and I celebrated our 3 year wedding Anniversary on July 10th. George surprised me by calling my boss and getting me off of work and taking me to San Antonio for the weekend. He even lined up his Mom to babysit. It was a great time. The weekend before that we were in College Station for a Ferrarra family reunion. We had a great time there also and saw alot of family we haven't seen, or in Kyle and George's case had never even met. George's Dad was going to have cardiac bypass two weeks ago and it ended up getting called off for about 6 weeks until he gets over an infection, so please try to remember him and our family in your prayers. Oh, we also got great news! Brent and Kelley are pregnant! This is their first baby and they are due sometime in Feburary. We are so excited to welcome another little Taylor into the world.

What else....hmmm.... I am still working on the Pedi/Surgical floor at San Jacinto Methodist for now. It seems to be getting better, that or I am just getting used to it. But, I do have a job lead in the Anahuac area doing home health care and I am going to start doing that part time to see if I like it. George is still LOVING being a coach. He is excited about his new staff and he just got back yesterday from Coaching School in Forth Worth. He had a great time and we are all optimistic about the coming panther football seaon. They will start two a days on the 6th. School starts August 27th. Oh, and we have a big day coming up. George and Kyle are going to be getting baptised on August 19th and we are all going to join the church. This is a big decision we have been praying about and finally feel ready to make this step! Yay! I will officially be a Methodist now.

This weekend Kyle and I will be traveling to Brownwood to see Mom, Vince, and Heidi. George has to stay behind to work. Well, that catches you up for now on our fast and crazy lives. With football season and school starting things should be slowing down soon, or atleast all the traveling will. God Bless!
~The Taylors

A First Father's Day

I think George really had a good first Father's day. He celebrated early with Kyle on Friday, because we went out of town to New Braunsfels for our annual Coaches Outreach Marriage Conference. Kyle got George some black Crocks and a new comedy CD (both things he had asked for). We had a great time on our weekend and it was nice to focus on us and our marriage for awhile. I hadn't realized how much "us" had become centered around the baby. We want to be good role models for him and one thing we have to do is to remember to take time for us. It was difficult being away from Kyle for two nights, but he was with people we trusted (both sets of grandparents), so we didn't have to worry. Plus, two nights of uninterrupted sleep was a Godsend for Mommy. That is probably the best I have slept in like 10 months! Here are some pics from the weekend.

Our cute boy! Just had to post some of these.....

More pics from Vacation...

Here we are on our deck off the back of the condo. You can't really see it, but the bay was right behind us. We had a good time fishing off the pier and I even jumped in the bay on a float and let the waves carry me back. It was a very needed getaway for us!

Our Vacation

We just got back from taking a family vacation to Rockport, Tx. When I say family I mean my whole family....there was 18 of us. This was my Mom's side of the family. We got a condo on the bay and we had a great time! Kyle loved it. He wanted to be in the water 24/7. This was the first time he had ever been to the beach and of course, he loved it. He thought the waves were fun and would splash his little arms up and down everytime a wave would come. He also enjoyed the sand and I had a tough time keeping it out of his mouth! He is getting so big so fast! We can't believe he will be six months old on the 15th of this month! Check out his totsite if you wanna see more pics of him and learn more about what he is doing these days. Here are some pics from vacation....

Oh...The life of a Coach

Heres an update for ya! George and I went to Diboll and met with Coach Martell. He recruited us hard and we were really impressed. The town was georgeous, the jobs sounded wonderful (especially the school nursing job), the house market was in our range, the people were nice, it sounded to good to be true. Then.....ba ba buuummmm.... we talked numbers. I knew going from a hospital nurse to school nursing would be a cut, but this was ridiculous. Both of us would have been taking pay cuts, which would be a total of about 20K less a year! We prayed and crunched numbers as much as we could, but in the end we just didn't think we could afford to do it.

So, what are we gonna do now? We aren't sure. We have many options still to play out. George has interviews at Spring ISD and Austin High School, and he has applications at Conroe ISD and College Station Middle School. So, I guess we will see what we get offered and go from there. There is always the option to stay here also. This would give us more equity in our house and we wouldn't have to move (something I don't love to do). This is just risky because we don't know what kind of AD might be coming in and what he might decide to assign George to.

Also, I really really really want to get out of hospital nursing unless I can get back into my love-working on the postpartum, L&D, Nursery, or the NICU floor. My grand plan is to for sure be out of hospital nursing by the time Kyle starts school. Working holidays and weekends is really getting old already and I don't plan to miss important times with my family. Plus, I feel I am already experiencing some signs of nurse burnout and I don't want to become one of those "old, mean, eat your young" nurses. I guess the main thing is for us to just let go and let God...something I am working on trying to get better at. Just please keep our family in your prayers as we try to make these important decisions that affect our futures. Thanks!!!!
~The Taylors