Tuesday, February 10, 2015

TW 7months

Townes Wesley, you are 7 months old!

we are just smitten with you and can not seem to grasp the idea that you are 7 months old already.

you are a definite little charmer and have everyone at your beck and call. 
you are still rather fond of the snuggle
and are pretty content to just hang out close to me
although, you are becoming more and more curious 
you can get pretty much anywhere that you please
by way of a quick and rather impressive army crawl
you can get up on your hands and knees, but haven't quite figured out how to get them to work together to form a crawl.
i have a feeling that it's coming rather quickly.
you are enjoying the drivers seat of the grocery store buggy
i can't speak for your brother

you just adore him, by the way 
seeing him is a sure fire way to get a smile out of you 
you have learned to confiscate things from him, much to his dismay
and he has learned how to photobomb our photo sessions

your smile is incredibly contagious


you are still sleeping really well at night and are even sleeping a bit later in the mornings (holler!)
you nap 2-3 times per day, but really love 3...always sneaking in a car nap if you're only able to take 2 naps at home for the day
you love to have a taste of what we are eating
you always eat breakfast with me and your brother. typically oatmeal for the both of you and a smoothie and coffee for me
you LOVE mum-mums

you still preferred to be held. all of the time.

when you see something exciting, your whole body tenses up and shakes while you raise your eyebrows and make a little "O" with your mouth.
you are very easy to make laugh 

you love to just wallow on our bed, especially at night before you go to sleep
you are a little guy and i just love your little body
and your beautiful blue eyes

oh, how i wish that you could stay this age forever...it's just the best
i could eat you up, i love you so

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Newlywed lesson: expectations

(this has been in "draft" mode for a bit...)

i think that i have identified the primary source of our (mine & GTs) major and minor disagreements.
unmet expectations

e.g.
we were going to a late movie at 8:45pm.
like i said- late.
in between getting the boys to bed, we got dressed and ready for the movie at different times.
when we finally said, "ok, let's go", our attire did not match up and we gave each other a double-take.
GT was in some old work pants, a hoodie and a "pull-through ponytail" (i put that in quotes because those are his words).
i am dressed as if we were going on a date...a casual one, but still... no hoodie.

that's where it started. 
i made a little quip about his clothing choice and his driving on the way to the theatre.
he got aggravated (rightfully so) and i got my feelings hurt.
a great start to a rare movie date.

we drive along in silence for a few minutes and i softly mutter out an "i'm sorry"
he starts telling me why he got frustrated and said, "we're going to a late movie, i want to be comfortable and you come out wearing lipstick and short boots".

different expectations about the evening

luckily, we've both learned a few things in our few years of marriage and were holding hands as a team once the movie started. 


when i think back on all of our arguments, disagreements, fights-however you want to label them-there have been a few....clear throat. 
the root, most always, is unspoken and therefore unmet expectations.
whether it be me expecting him to get my honey-do list completed in a day and him planning it out for the following weekend (or 6 months. let's be real)
or 
him expecting a calm, quiet saturday morning at home and i plan a days worth of activities

if we don't voice our expectations upfront...they're very likely to be unmet or unsatisfied.
and it's not that we don't want to meet each others expectations.
on the contrary, we both delight in taking care of one another.
but, we are two completely different people and sometimes, our plans and thoughts just don't match up.

i think we all seem to get upset when our expectations are unmet:
we expect people to comment on what we're wearing and tell us how great we look and no one even notices.
we expect to love a new hamburger at Wendys and it has too much mayonnaise
we expect our best friend to show up to a birthday party and they forgot.
we expect our children to nap and they ate too much sugar at Mothers Day Out and can't settle down and just keep doing flips in their bed and talking to their stuffed animals (not that this is happening as i type)
we expect our husband to wake up with the baby in the middle of the night and he never hears them crying
we expect our wife to wife to cook healthy meals when you're trying to lose weight and she just keeps using butter
you get the point.
unmet expectations leave us feeling tired, frustrated, angry, irritated, sad, you name it- usually not a positive feeling.
i suppose you could just have lower or more realistic expectations.
or you can work on your maturity and emotional stability, so that when your expectations aren't met, you don't have an emotional breakdown.
just some suggestions.

more deeply rooted, are the expectations we have for the roles within the family as typically defined by our family growing up.
how involved is a husband and father with the children?
does he expect his wife to cook a meal every night and clean afterwards?
or does she expect the man to do the dishes?
what does he expect of a wife in regards to working outside the home?
what does she expect of her husband when it comes to doing laundry, handling finances, buying cars, etc, etc, etc?
what do we expect?

our expectations arise from various sources
what we saw in our own family, from watching our parents
or from movies, television or books
our own dreams

no matter what we expect to happen or how we expect someone else to act, in a marriage relationship i think it is incredibly important to vocalize this to our spouses.
and to have realistic expectations
even with the little things.
communicate ahead of time.

marriage 101...communication, right?
we're still working on it.

and i strongly suspect we will still be working on it in 10 years and even in 50 years.

(thanks again to Stephen for our lovely photos)

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

my people on the web: round 3

1. It's here!
this is the week of the 1st Heart to Home Conference!!!
are you going to be there?
if you can't be there...click here: http://www.HeartToHomeSimulcast.com/ for the simulcast so you make sure not to miss this awesome event!

2. the Taylors have a fantasy football league: the Troy Aikman league
and i think i might be the only Taylor not involved.
i have no reason for this. it is my own doing.
probably has something to do with GT being in 5 (5!) different leagues when we got married.
this overindulgence in fantasy football is the likely culprit of my aversion to joining a league.
he's down to 2 leagues now
anyways... my brother in law, Ty, writes a weekly wrap up for the family.
this, i do join in on. it's good stuff.
his re-caps of the games and rivalries are hilarious 
luckily, he started a blog and it does not disappoint.
a witty little read for your week
even if you're not a sports fan, it's a fun read.

3. my friend, Rachel, is a contributor for a darling magazine called Darling
she does a wonderful job and i love all of her articles!
Darling is a magazine for women
and it has beautiful images with inspiring words
i love to follow their instagram account, too.

i noticed yesterday, that one of my besties sister-in-law was on the home page and instagram account!
pretty awesome. way to go Jenna!

another story about Darling...
when i was in LA a few months ago, my cousin Korie went to a lunch interview.
when we picked her up, walking out with her was Sarah Dubbeldam, the founder of the magazine and Kories lunch meeting.
i should have asked to meet her, but i was too busy acting cool about the whole thing.


happy Wednesday
get to reading!
and i'll see you on Friday at the conference!

Monday, February 2, 2015

photos by Stephen Jerkins

i am so thankful to Stephen Jerkins for capturing our family in this stage of life.
the two boys, ages 6 months and 26 months, never sitting still and hardly ever smiling at the same time.

it's a crazy stage of life, never a dull moment and rarely quiet and very rarely clean.
but it is so full. 
full of open-mouth kisses, animals, dirt, playing on the floor, snuggles, tears and belly laughs.
i'm so thankful to have these images that capture just where we are. right now.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


we had a fun and relaxed morning with Stephen, who was easy to be with and was patient with the boys (and me)
his wife, Amanda, and son, Reason, came out after we took the photos so that we could visit and the boys could play. 
their excitement knew no bounds.
seriously, they had a lot of fun!
(i hi-jacked this photo from Amandas instagram. thanks!)

Amanda and I grew up on the same street and I just love the woman that she is today. 
a good family, those Jerkins.
and immensely talented, to boot.
Amanda is also an interior and floral designer and her work is stunning.
check her out here: www.amandajerkinsdesign.com
Amanda also is half of the duo behind whoa.wait.Walmart on instagram
and you can see Stephens beautiful photos here: www.stephenjerkins.com
like is said, quite the artistic duo

as much as i love taking dozens of pictures on my phone on the daily, it sure is nice to have professional photos taken every so often. 
and i'm thankful that we know some incredibly talented people that are nice to be with...a lovely combination.