Taylor is 10 months and Brianna is 4 years in this picture taken back in February.

Gosh! I can't believe it has been almost year since I last blogged! Guess that tells you how busy we've been! I just wanted to put a quick picture and blurb out here for now and will update with more info and pictures soon! Sorry it's been so long!!

She's Here!

Taylor Marie Isbell
7 lbs
19 1/4 inches
Born 4/25/2009 @ 7:30am

Hello everyone! I hope you're all having a great weekend! As you can see, ours has been super blessed with our beautiful new daughter Taylor. Yesterday morning was a whirlwind delivery (literally!), but it went smoothly and Taylor arrived safely into the world. I started with contractions at around 4:15am at 8 mins apart. Got to the hospital at 5:30 am with them at 2 mins apart and had Taylor by 7:30am. I truly think this has to be some sort of record breaking delivery time! I almost didn't make it in time to get my epidural and you all know how MAD that would have made me! :) We got the epidural even though only half of it took, I was glad to have some relief. Everything else went off without a hitch.

Brianna is so excited to have her new baby sister here finally. She came to the hospital to see her for the first time yesterday and would NOT let anyone else hold her. She had to hold her baby sister and no one else could touch her. Thankfully, Gramma had some special plans (not sure what) and was able to coax her to leave for the afternoon to let the rest of the visitors hold Taylor. Bri is such a sweetheart and can't wait to help Mommy take care of Taylor.

Daddy and Taylor

WHERE DID THAT RED HAIR COME FROM?

Oh...yeah, Papa has red hair as does Granny!

Will Taylor keep it??? We sure hope so!!

Time Flies!

I can't believe there are now 13 days until my official due date! As of last week, we are officially full-term and are playing the waiting game. Waiting for Taylor to make her grand entrance! The dr. said last Wednesday that I was about 2 cm dialated and 50% effaced. She offered to schedule an induction for April 29th which we have taken her up on. She will be on call that day, so we will be garaunteed to have her there as well as able to plan for where Brianna will be a little better. Now, that's not to say that Taylor won't decide to come sooner than next Wednesday, but at least we have a definite end date in mind.

I've had two showers and am so greatful for the wonderful co-workers, friends and family for their generosity. Everyone has been so nice and supportive and we feel very very blessed to have you all in our lives.

This is my latest picture as of last Saturday where I'm 38 weeks. Everyone says I'm all belly, but it feels like so much more!

Here are the beautiful shower cakes. The pink one was made by Pam from work and the purple was made by Mamma Tedder. Both were YUMMY! Thank you ladies!!!

She Did It!

WE DID IT!

We have "bye bye binky" success!!! As of yesterday, we have been without binky and without much resistance! Brianna threw her binkies (ALL OF THEM) into the big gross trash can outside yesterday afternoon and then we went to Toys R Us to get her a pink Leapster! She was so excited to get the Leapster that I'm not sure she realized what we were really doing until it got to be around bedtime. She only had one breakdown and a few whiney spells for it, but she fell asleep fine without it. I honestly think it was way harder for me to watch her throw her binkies in the trash than it was for her to actually do it. I had to scoop her up and hug her for a good minute to keep her from seeing me cry! I was so sad to see my baby girl really grow up to be a big girl! She keeps telling me she is now my big girl and that Baby Taylor will be my baby girl. She's such a sweetie!!

Good Job Brianna!!!

WHAT!

I have less than 100 days to be pregnant!!! I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going. I'm already in my third trimester and getting bigger by the day! Let me tell you how busy and crazy this kid is! She moves so much more than I ever remember Brianna moving. We are moving along with getting the nursery ready, slow but sure. I'm getting anxious since I really only do have like 3 months left and still quite a bit left to do to get stuff ready. It'll be ok...I'm going to make it! On top of it all, I turned the big 3-0 back on January 23rd. I can't beleive I'm no longer in my twenties! Sadness...

Decision Made

After some long contemplation and debate over names with my husband and others we have finally settled on the name Taylor Marie. Yes, I know...the initials will be TMI and everyone will think we named her after Taylor Swift, but oh well. People will get over it. I think its a cute name for a girl and she will be named after both me and Jason that way. Taylor is also Jason's Granny's maiden name, so there is a little more history to that name than just Jason. I went round and round thinking about using Addison, but after going to the hospital the other day to visit my precious twin nieces and noticing that there was an Addison in the nursery I realized that "Addison" is going to be a very popular name in the next couple years and I didn't want to jump on that bandwagon. It's an adorable name, but we'll let others use it.

Taylor is #10 on the Babycenter.com list of names. It is of English origin and means "Tailor". This is Jason's middle name.

Marie is # 450 on the Babycenter.com list, but I think that's a first name list. If it were a middle name list I'm sure it would be #1! :) It is of Hebrew origin and is a form of "Mary" meaning "bitter". This is my middle name.

So, the verdict is officially....

Taylor Marie Isbell

Thanks to everyone for your comments and suggestions!!!

Twins are here safe and sound!

I went to see my precious new twin nieces this morning. They were born yesterday at 4:50pm. Jenna weighed in a 5.25 lbs while Kallie weighed 5.07lbs. They are both so teeny tiny, but oh so cute. It's hard to tell them apart just yet as they both just look like newborn babies. We think once they start filling out we'll be able to tell the difference somehow...we hope! :) Mom and Dad are doing great. The boys just couldn't wait to hold their new baby sisters. Brianna loves her new little cousins too! I will post some pictures as soon as I get them uploaded.

Baby Name Drama continues

Well, I thought I'd have this wonderful update for you guys as to what name we finally picked, but we still haven't decided on one yet. Jason is starting to come around to Taylor Marie, but I just don't know about that one anymore. I like it...I like that it's a name after both of us, but then again...Brianna isn't named after either of us. I don't want her to feel shafted. Is that dumb??? I also am still not so sure about the initials 'TMI' or that Taylor is also the name of a huge 18 year old country star that I'm not so crazy about (Taylor Swift). I just don't know. This is a hard one! Jason keeps saying he really likes Brittney, but I just don't know. I have always liked that name, but it is also the name of some chick he used to hang out with in High School. I can't help but think he'll think about her every time he says his daughter's name. I'm just a dork I guess. I also know that we can't use Addison Brooke as that is the name of a friend of mine's daughter. We could do Addison Marie instead though...

So, all that to say that we haven't decided yet. For those that know me well, you know it is killing me to not have this name yet! I am such a planner and dang if I can't even plan what we're going to call our baby!!!

Ok, I'm ok. Maybe after the holidays I'll have an epiphany and have it all figured out.

BABY NAME HELP

We need help choosing a name for our new little girl on the way. Jason keeps shooting down all my ideas, so I thought I'd post some of them and get comments from you guys. What do YOU think about these???

• Addison Brooke
• Camryn Taylor
• Taylor Marie
• Emily Brooke
• Brooke [middle name not chosen]
• Riley [middle name not chosen]
• Madison [middle name not chosen]

I'm almost certain Jason will not like Camryn because he can't spell it. He's already told me he didn't like Taylor for a girl either (it's his middle name and Marie is my middle name). Brianna brought up the name Emily the other day and I kind of liked it. Addison is the only name that Jason said he actually liked (I think it's because he likes Addison on Private Practice). I honestly really like Sydney (chick from the show Alias), but unfortunately it has been taken by my parents' dog. :( Too bad Prison Break or 24 didn't have any good girl names! :)

There you go...make your comments PUUULLLLEEEAAASSSSSSEEE!

Stressful

Yet another stressful week at work. The last REALLY stressful week was back in May. Today was another stressful "May week". Management finally completed their "delayering" of management and peons and announced all of it today. Some were put into a talent pool where they sit until someone plucks them out for a job inside the company or they leave the company January 16th. Some were offered new positions and some kept the same positions with different managers. I ended up with the latter...I was able to keep my current position and just switch managers. WHEW! Talk about scary stuff right before Christmas. I have some friends who were actually put in the pool and are now having to look for jobs during this holiday season. I can't even imagine! Although, I'm glad it's over! Now I can get my Christmas shopping done and enjoy it with family.

Baby Girl on the way!

Today we went to the doctor for the ultrasound to find out what we're having. Verdict is that we have a very active child that was not wanting to cooperate! Finally the ultrasound lady was able to catch a glimpse of the "right part" to tell us we're having a baby girl! She may be a girl, but I'm thinking she's gonna be a fiesty one!! Should be a whole new adventure!!

Here is a picture I took of me today...I've packed on the belly since the last time I took a picture 4 weeks go.

Oh...and here's a picture of Brianna showing us her baby belly! So cute!!

"CANNON BALL!"

Which is what my daughter insisted on doing as soon as her new big girl bed was put up in her bedroom! She had to do cannon balls and "Super jumps" for quite awhile before deciding maybe she should use it to SLEEP in! :)

Dora Party!!

Brianna turned 3 last Friday and we had her Dora birthday party on Saturday. I can't believe my little sweetie is getting so big!!! Her and all her friends had a blast at the birthday party which included a yummy homemade Dora cake (courtesy of Pam) and a Dora pinata!

Brianna wasn't so sure about that pinata, but Tony knew exactly what to do!!

Merry Christmas!

I know I know...Christmas is still a little ways away, but let me be the first to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! :) I made my blog all wintery and pretty just for you guys! We put up all of our Christmas decorations in the house this weekend. Brianna just loves it! She can't wait for Daddy to do the lights outside on the house too. She asks me every night when we pass other lights if we can do ours. I just tell her to ask her Daddy. Jason says I'm scheming on him! haha! I will post some new pictures of Brianna and the family soon. We had them taken at Portrait Innovations last weekend and they turned out great. I just haven't had time to get them on the computer. Stay tuned!!!

Superhero Fever!

We now have 4 superheros in our family. As of Friday night, we had Wolverine, Batman, Supergirl and Ninja! All out to save the world and get some candy of course!!

All the kids came to our house to trick-or-treat through the neighborhood. I think they were so wore out by the end of the night that they were delirious! Plus that, they probably had a pretty good belly ache from all that candy they ate!! They had a blast!

I'm gonna have two nieces!!!

Kristie found out today that her twins due in February are both baby GIRLS!!! We are all so excited and can't wait to start buying cute matching dresses for the girlies! I know Kristie is just thrilled!!! Makes me want to know what mine is all that much more, but I know I have to wait until December to find out. I'll just need to have some super patience and enjoy the fact that I'm getting two more neices! The girls are gonna out number the boys for a change!!! That'll be a HUGE change for Brianna!!!

Shocked!

I really DO still have blog readers out there! Thanks to everyone for your comments. I'll try to keep things up to date (as I've said before) just for you!!! :)

Love you all!!!

Good News!!!

I have great news for the whole 2 people who might still be reading my blog!!! We found out yesterday that we are expecting another little bundle of joy due May 6th! We're so excited...well, I'm so excited and Jason is just happy. :) It took us a total of ONE whole month to get pregnant! Talk about fertile!!! I guess the baby cycle is striking again between me and Kristie. Danielle just had hers in June, so we'll have lots of little ones again soon!

Destin Trip

I'm finally back into the swing of things after a week off at the beach. This is the first free time I've had since being back last Saturday! We've just been on the go and trying to get back into the schedules. I wanted to post some pictures of the awesome trip! We had so much fun we've decided to make Destin an annual trip for us! The kids had a blast in the sand (little ones didn't like the water much) and at the pool. We all relaxed and had a great time visiting. I'll let the pictures say the rest...

This first picture is of Brianna enjoying some bubbles at a family get together in MS. We stopped off in Petal, MS to pick up Jason's Mamaw. She endured a week long vacation in a beach house with all of us crazy folks. From what we heard, she seemed to have a good time! :)

One of the days in Destin we went on this dolphin cruise. These are pictures of all the kids getting to be the captain of our glass bottom boat! They all enjoyed that! Brianna didn't want to give the boat back to the real captain!!!

OH! And we really did see lots of dolphins!

FUN IN THE SAND!!!

MY MASTERPIECE

I have to say one of the highlights of the entire trip would have to be the big water fight at the house pool! All of us were in the pool except for Gramma and Gaga (video taping) who were sitting beside the pool and Mamaw who very smartly sat halfway up the deck stairs. I only have one picture from the very end of the fight.

Let's just say that Gramma ended up getting in the pool socks and all!!!

This was an awesome family trip and I think everyone had a blast.

VACATION IS COMING!

That's right people! It's just about time for me to leave the cyber world for ONE WHOLE ENTIRE WEEK! I don't think I'll be able to check email or anything! What will I ever do with myself? Let me answer that for you...I will be spending time with family at the beach enjoying some wonderful margaritas and much needed down time! That's right! We're headed to MS this Saturday with Jason's family to pick up Mamaw and head to Destin, FL for four nights in a massive awesome beach house with it's own pool and a gazillion bedrooms!!! I'm so excited!!! The only thing I will have to worry about is keep off this weight I've lost the past 8 weeks!!! Wish me luck and I'll blog when we return!!! :)