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Taylor in Georgia

Darling daughter is at Mimi & Papa’s house for the week. My mom’s keeping her busy and my wonderful niece is helping entertain her.

Taylor is really getting into the whole technology thing and, because of her time on our iPhones and on her cousin’s iPod Touch, she’s really pushing hard for one of her own. But she’s SEVEN, so no. Not yet anyway.

She already knows how to text from our phones and has texted both of us. She had my phone one Saturday morning when she got up before me and Brian. Brian got a text message from my phone telling us to get up – she was hungry. I replied back telling her where the bread was and to help herself to cheese toast (her favorite thing that she can make and is thrilled that she can make). Mean, mean mama, I know.

This week, Brian & I both have been getting texts from her and one thing is apparent. She needs to learn patience. She texted me while I was at a doctor appointment and when I was able to check my phone, I had this:

hi mommy

mama mama
mamamamamamama
maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaammaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Then about 20 minutes later, this:

mama i miss you talk please

mamaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa i am cring (translation: crying)

Then she called me. By this time, though, I was trying to respond but didn’t have a signal. Which means I also missed the call. I did get the voicemail she left, though. Being a dutiful mommy, I called her back. And she didn’t answer. I called their house phone and talked to my mom.
Me: “Hey – my daughter has your phone.”
Mom: “She does?” LOL

Come to find out, mom’s had to charge her phone every morning before the girls get up. This is the most use its gotten… ever, I think. Alyssa and Taylor will even text each other while they’re side by side in the den – crazy kids…

The story I got today, to me, was the best yet.

Mom was doing laundry and asked Taylor to please gather all her clothes that needed to be washed. Her response: “They’re all on the floor.” Mom: “Well, I’m not going to pick them up.” Her: “Oh, yeah.” Alyssa: “Nice try, Taylor.” Taylor smiled and said, “Never hurts to test.”

July 23, 2010, 1:51 pm | No Comments »

It’s official: Baby 2.0 is a boy

It’s official: Baby 2.0 is a boy., originally uploaded by Brian & Elizabeth McAlister.

Meet the next Mr. McAlister. We’ve gotten some great name suggestions (*ahem* thanks for those, Lauren) but we’re sticking with Baby 2.0 for now. Here’s his ultrasound pic — looks just like me, don’t you think?

May 13, 2010, 1:23 pm | No Comments »

Baby 2.0 – Ultrasound alpha release 1

Yesterday, we had our first ultrasound appointment for Baby 2.0 (our working title at the moment). We have pictures, of course, which will be posted as soon as we can make the scanner work. Printers and scanners remain my technological kryptonite.

Mark your calendars now: Baby 2.0 release date is scheduled for September 26. All looks fine and dandy at this point. Thankfully, we only have one heartbeat. Baby 2.0 is the cutest 2 centimeter blurry grey blob we’ve ever seen on a computer screen.

February 18, 2010, 8:19 pm | 6 Comments »

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for!

After asking and begging and pleading and praying for about 3-4 years now, we have FINALLY given in and Taylor is getting a baby brother or sister.

We found out the weekend of Taylor’s birthday party (Jan 23) which also just happened to be close to Brian’s birthday – so they both got a late birthday present!

Unbeknownst to Brian, I bought a 3-pack of tests on Friday night so I could test Saturday morning (morning’s best for these things, they say). It was weird. I had two dreams back to back in which I had gotten up, taken the test, and the results were positive. Then I’d realize it was a dream and be disappointed, so after the second dream, I said to myself, “Ah, forget it – go do it!” So I did. The results showed fairly quickly and even though I had the picture on the box to compare it to, I still had to look at it back and forth several times before I believed it.

Of course, I had to tell Brian. Immediately. He asked me what time it was and I told him “About 5.” Turns out I actually woke him up a little after 4. On a Saturday. Neither of us could go back to sleep for awhile. We’re excited and we’re scared to death.

We told our parents over breakfast. Brian’s parents choked on their coffee (Remember how, when you were a kid, you could get milk to come out through your nose? Yeah, apparently it works with coffee too.) and they cried. My dad just stared at me. Fork poised midway from mouth to plate. I thought for awhile there that I was going to have to remind him that I was not a teenager and that I was, in fact, married and already had one other kid. My mom was thrilled of course! She actually found out after Brian. She was with me when I bought the tests. We suspect she plans to move in about a month or so before the due date.

I went to the doctor’s office the following week to confirm the results and the nurse put a little drop of, um, sample on the test that they have and the fact that the results showed up *immediately* must’ve been significant because she seemed surprised and said, “Oh yeah! You’re pregnant alright – results showed immediately!”

We told Taylor last week (video to come) and she is BEYOND thrilled. She’s referring to me as “the two of you” and will give me and the baby a hug and kiss. She was also quick to tell us she will NOT be changing diapers. She’ll help, though. Maybe. I guess I shouldn’t have told her about some of hers we changed…

So! Due date is Sept 26 (yes, another Sept baby for the Gohman clan). We go for an ultrasound on the 17th, we’re 6 weeks along and the baby is currently the size of a lentil bean:

Anybody need two unused / unopened pregnancy tests?

February 4, 2010, 2:30 pm | 3 Comments »

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Yesterday was… interesting. There’ve been a few things at our daughter’s current daycare that we’ve not been terribly happy about (multiple helpings of junk, watching movies & playing video games all day). Well, after getting some wise counsel from my supervisor (She asked, “What could they do – right now – to make you stay?”) and talking to my darling husband, we decided to go ahead and change daycares. Brian thought Taylor would be fine with it. I believed she’d be upset (considering how sentimental she is over the silliest things sometimes). We told her about it Friday on our way home and… she got upset. Didn’t want to leave her daycare, she loved it, she loved the afternoon teacher, she loved a particularly favorite ball (see??).

I was off work yesterday and decided to take her to the new place to let her see it and to drop off the paperwork and registration fee. The secretary showed us around b/c the directors were in a staff meeting. Taylor was still nervous at this point. Then we got to the room. There were about a dozen kids playing in one of four different centers (play-doh, ribbons/beading, dolls, blocks) and she knew at least 3 of the kids. As the teacher and I were talking, we noticed that Taylor had started inching her way inside the room, glancing back at us with each shuffle (and we laughed about it – quietly, of course). They suggested letting her stay and play while I finished up paperwork. She LOVED it. In fact, she wanted me to leave her there – pay the $25 drop-in fee and GO. She wanted to start today! Tons more kids (and she knows some of them), structured program that encourages imagination and creativity, homework time that’s not optional, devotional time. Basically, her current daycare’s preschool program is structured and we like it a lot – they need to apply that structure to their afterschool program and until they do, I believe it’s going to continue to suffer.

The director was nice enough to agree to one week notice instead of the “required” two week notice (I was hoping she would – we’ve been there 5 years, were late paying once, and since we had already paid this week, I’m glad she was agreeable!). Taylor starts the new place on Monday!

January 19, 2010, 3:01 pm | No Comments »