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Taylor Story & The Joy of Home Ownership

First, the Taylor story - I know that's all you really read this blog for! Taylor & daddy were "hiding" under her stars blanket. I started singing, "Oh where oh where oh where is sleepy Taylor?..." (from Bear in the Big Blue House - he sings it to find Shadow so she'll tell a story). From underneath the blanket, Brian asked, "Are you sleepy Taylor?" I saw her shake her head. He asked, "Who are you?" And she said, "Taylor McAister." (I intentionally left the L out b/c she didn't pronounce the L). We were very impressed and gave her high praises! That's the first time she's said that to us without it being her repeating after us.

And now, the joy of home ownership. After Katrina, Brian & his dad went poking around the top of the house and put a couple of shingles back on. They also noticed a saggy spot right above the master bedroom. Looking in the attic they discovered a crack where two rafters join to support the roof. We called the insurance company, they sent out someone. They walked around up top and he said he didn't see that anything hit it and Brian asked, "Would you like to look underneath?" He saw the crack and said, "Wow. Um. I haven't seen that before." I think it's a bad thing when an insurance inspector looks at something and says, "Wow. Um. I haven't seen that before." He talked to his manager and a structural engineer came out today to look at it and was impressed. I don't think that's a good thing either.

There was the one crack we knew about. The insurance inspector (and Brian & his dad) found that one. The structural engineer found more smaller ones and will be sending Brian copies of the pictures he took. He's writing up his report and State Farm will have it by middle of next week. From what he's saying, they may have to take the whole roof off that end of the house and rebuild it. Where will we stay? Dunno. That'll be a question I'll ask State Farm after they get the structural engineer's report. And believe me, waiting is not something I do well.

Just so you know, we have been told that it's not just going to collapse out of the blue. It might could with snow or enough rain, though. So maybe on rainy nights we'll all pile in the guest room. :)

Fun weekend

This weekend was fun. First we found out about an Oktoberfest that was at a church up the road from us. German food, big inflatable Noah's Ark and slide, yard sale, and car show. I got Taylor some books and a pink tutu (that she hasn't seen yet. I'll let you know reaction!). On the inflatable things... did she show favoritism for the relatively safe looking Noah's Ark? Of course not! She preferred the slide. We got her off of it a couple of times as big kids invaded now and then. The food was really good too.

We left from there and she got about an hour nap before we had to get her up and on the way to a classmate's birthday party (her 2nd one this month!). We're actually quite proud of ourselves. While I was changing her diaper before nap, Brian spoke it and I thought it, "Why don't we go ahead and put her party clothes on her." :) The birthday party was at Rickwood Caverns State Park and the kids enjoyed the food but mostly the playground. It was neat. The theme was Spongebob Squarepants. The mama had Hardee's slammers labeled "Crabby Patties"... there was Squidworth Sea Punch and I can't remember what the chips were called. It was cute. And there was a special appearance by Spongebob himself! Taylor never warmed up to him... the others eventually hugged or high-5'd him. I think we know what we're going to do for Taylor's 3rd birthday, but I'm not telling yet! For starters, the moms there suggested not to tell others so the idea doesn't get "stolen" (I don't honestly care) but the bigger reason is that I want to be sure she's still into this particular thing and who knows in 3 months if she will or not (OMG! 3 more months???? *sigh*)

Brian twisted my arm and we went out for dinner that night (Taylor wanted rice and cheese - Habaneros, in other words. Cheese quesadilla w/ rice & beans, though she doesn't eat the beans and changed her mind when we got there and had chicken fingers & french fries instead. Brian still got his margarita and that's really what he wanted).

Church Sunday was a thrill. We learned why we really should leave at 8 to get to a 9 a.m. service. We left a little after 8:30 and almost didn't have a place to sit! And I'm sure there are people out there who balk at going to church at 9 a.m., but I must say, it's really really nice to be able to go to church and Sunday School AND be on the way home at 11. :)

All this apparently wore Taylor out - she was very very nice to us and slept from 1 until almost 5 when the rain woke her up. Surprisingly enough, she didn't put up much of a fight after dinner with bath and bedtime.

All in all, a good weekend was had by all!

Taylor stories

I've got two stories for you that happened this past week.

First, Taylor's going on her first airplane ride on October 20th. She saw a plane in the sky and pointed it out to me and I took the opportunity to tell her she was going to ride in one soon - told her it would be mommy, daddy, grandma, grandpa, and Taylor. She repeated the names back to me and I said, "Yes." She said, "We need to hold on." (I wonder if they're watching Flintstones in her daycare class...)

Second happened on the way to a church thing Wed. evening. There was a young guy jogging along the sidewalk - no shirt, bright orange knee length shorts. Soon after I noticed him, I heard Taylor giggle and say, "He naked." I laughed and said, "No honey, he's not naked. He has shorts on."

Say a prayer for us in October! Oct 14-16, Brian & I will be going to Camp McDowell without Taylor. My parents are coming up to watch her while we're there. It's not our first weekend away from her, but it is our first with BOTH of us away from her. I had a weekend home while Brian took her to Huntsville and I took her to Huntsville for a couple of days during Hurricane Ivan last year. After that, we come home for a couple days then fly up to Amherst, MA for a few days. Taylor's finally going to meet her Gigi (G-G, you know, Great Grandma!).

Potty training update

Well, big girl panties are being postponed. We went to the doctor this past Friday with a urine sample (that was oh so fun to get) and should get the results back today. The in-office test didn't show anything, but we'll see.

Basically, she'd go in the potty then go again in her pants 10-15 minutes later. We also decided to keep up with it yesterday - she went 5 times in just over an hour. We don't know if she's got an infection or (and this could be the over-reactive mama talking) if it's related to her problems at birth (her first teetee and poopoo were a day or 2 after her birth and the teetee came after they gave her a shot to give her kidneys a little kick).

Anyway, that's the update.