This one's for Taylor

This is one post that is long overdue. Taylor turned three right before Christmas! I just can't believe how big he is and how much he has grown and learned this past year. Taylor is such a thoughtful, sweet little guy. He is very considerate. The other day we went out to eat at a buffet place and Taylor was sitting next to Justin in the booths. Justin said he needed to go and get some more food and without being asked Taylor got off his seat so that Justin could go get some more food. This is such a simple example, but he does little things like this everday. I have to admit that whenever there was silence while Corbin was playing, I would get a little nervous and I had to go see what he was up to. With Taylor, he is usually playing quietly with his animals or else looking through one of his books.

I wanted to post some of my favorite picture of him throughout this past year.

Taylor loves, loves, loves his milk!

This is the year that Taylor became a big brother! He is such a natural and has been such a big help with Levi. Sometimes he gets a little too excited about Levi and he wants to lay right on him so he can be even closer. Of course I move him and Levi starts to cry, Taylor tells him, "ohh, it's okay, it's okay" Sweet guy.

To sum up this past year, it has been all about Superman!! He loves to be my hero and tell me that I am his princess and Levi is his baby princess. He is always running around saying, "Superman, da na na na" and then stops and puts his hands on his hips and stands there with his chest held high! I don't know where he gets it from, but I love it!

Taylor was so excited to learn to jump off of things this year. Now he is just as daring as Corbin!

Taylor definately belongs to his Grandma Packer. This is his other passion in life. He has a little stick horse that he rides everyday and it's name is usually Ritz or Sassy. Recently, we watched Return to Snowy River and Black Beauty. They are his favorites right now! It is really interesting to me how different children can be and how they just naturally have their own interests. We never pushed either of them into liking certain things. Corbin just loved Tractors and tools and Taylor just loves Superman and Horses. The nice thing is they both support each others interests and will play with each other, but when it comes down to it, they both love very different things.

Taylor, we love you so, so much and we are very excited to see what this year holds in store for you!!!

I'm back and better than ever!

Oh it feels so good to have life back to normal! For those of you who didn't know, I was sick for pretty much the whole month of December give or take a few good days. It started out with some kind of a flu, then I got better for a while and then I got strep throat...oh yuck. After that I thought I was done and had my share of sickness for a season. Then the Sunday before Christmas I started getting flu-like symptons again and then it turned into a terrible migraine for a couple of days, I seriously thought I was going to die. By Wednesday I couldn't handle it any more, so Justin took me to the ER..ugh..the ER, I hate the ER. They asked tons of questions and with my history of headaches they diagnosed it as a migraine and gave me an IV and pumped me full of fluids and some different medicines. One of them was the weirdest thing I have ever had, it made me so agitated and restless and all I could think of was Levi at home trying to take a bottle and probably not doing so well. Oh, I was dying! Luckily after a while my body calmed down and Justin talked to Alisa and the boys were doing well. Okay, I could calm down and we could go home pretty soon. I had been so cold and shaking a lot, so Justin piled lots of blankets on me, it felt so good. Until the doctor looked at me and said I look really hot, so they took my temperature and I had a fever. Now the doctor was worried about meningitis, so I got to do a spinal tap. Justin does not do well with needles and blood and such, so the doctor made him go in the waiting room so that he didn't have another patient. I did pretty well with it and I think I now know what it would be like to have an epidural! Well, I didn't have meningitis, but I did get a side effect from the tap...a headache. Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose?

I finally got to go home and spend Christmas on the couch. The hardest thing about this, was that I couldn't give my family the Christmas they deserved. I know they still had a good time, but it was so hard to just lay there and watch and not be totally involved and not be able to make a yummy breakfast or play with the new toys. I was devistated that I missed my family's Christmas Eve dinner, the first time in 25 years! I was so sad that I couldn't enjoy when Justin's family came over on Christmas. I was depressed. But, then I remembered what Christmas is about...our Savior. I was given so much comfort by knowing that my Savior really knew just what I was going through, he has suffered this and much, much more. I was going to be just fine!

After one more week of this sickness, I am feeling like a brand new person. It is amazing how sickness can make you have a whole new outlook on life. I want to be better, I want to enjoy each day that I have!!

Thank you to all of my family who was there for me, those of you who gave me a call, or left me a loving message, and prayed for me, it means more to me than you will ever know. I have the best family in the whole world!!! I love you all and hope to see you soon! But the most wonderful person through this whole thing has been Justin. He took such great care of me and the boys, he never complained even though he was exhausted! He would wake up in the middle of the night to feed Levi, feed the two older boys, play with the boys, bring me my medicine, made sure that I drank plenty of water, he missed several days of work without pay, and he was just there for me...you are the best, Justin! I love you so much!!!

Now, I'm back and better than ever....by the way HAPPY NEW YEAR..2009!!!