Bits of Taylor Randomness from the last several days...

It's a miracle...one that likely won't last long, but both of my girls are napping so despite having uploaded these pictures beginning yesterday and going into today, I'll now try to put words with them. Hey, you do what you gotta do - right?

The sweet family that I nannied for in college sent a present in the mail and we received it at the end of last week. Check out this precious wrap job:

Just when Kennedy thought the "big sister" gifts had stopped coming. Oh contrare!

I want you to know I searched forever before Avery was born for a gender neutral picture frame that said big sister. I COULD NOT find one, but lo and behold somehow Sharon found one and I'm thrilled because it's so cute and will match the nursery perfectly!

The other item I've looked hard for since Avery was born are matching outfits for the girls. I thought that would be super easy to find but I was wrong. Unless I want to spend a lot of $$, they are hard to come by. Especially since Kennedy is in toddler size and Avery is in infant. Sharon managed to find these sweet little matching outfits for the girls and sent those too. Seriously - despite not talking nearly as much as I wished and being separated by such distance, she clearly knows me well because these gifts couldn't have been more suited for my little girls! 

Another gift that Avery received from Abby & Jonathan are these little baby legs. Aren't they precious? They make the diaper easily accessible (which is nice at this stage) while still keeping her little legs warm....and stylish too. ;)

I loved this little onesie when Kennedy wore it and I still love it now. It's so crazy to see outfits "re-ran". It makes me nostalgic on a daily basis. Ha!

Avery fell asleep in my arms while I was pushing Kennedy in the swing on Sunday and I was able to lay her down in her crib. When I started to walk away I saw how peaceful she looked and I HAD to get a picture. Doesn't she look like a little Anne Geddis baby?

Avery is still nursing a lot so Kennedy often gets creative in finding things to busy herself. I walked around the corner into the playroom the other day and found her doing this:

Lucky Sylvester, right?

On Sunday we'd planned to go for a family walk in our (drum roll please) used but new to us BOB double jogging stroller. Many hours were spent looking for a BOB jogger that we could afford. I have always heard awesome stuff about the brand as a whole and you can snap an infant car seat into them (bonus!). After using our single jogger on a daily basis after Kennedy was born I knew we'd use a double just as much. The issue with my single (non BOB brand) was - it wasn't easy to maneuver, it was a bit heavy and ultimately I ended up with carpal tunnel after using it so much. The carpal tunnel went away with therapy but I always feel it "flare up" each time I use it. So...ultimately I wanted to be brand specific this go round knowing this stroller would clearly be even heavier..I wanted it to be easily operable and maneuverable...enter BOB brand. I finally found this one on Craigs List in NC (close to my sister) for $250. That is the best price I had seen because they retail for @ $350-$500 depending on the "specs" but the lowest I ever saw them on Craigs List for was $350 used. I contacted the seller right away and quickly made arrangements for my sister to go and get it. I had talked to BOB owners, researched types on their website and I felt this was a STEAL of a DEAL. Fast forward to Sunday when we were getting ready to install our infant car seat adapter. Tim was having problems because there didn't seem to be the middle bar in the stroller that was necessary to connect the adapter. Well, long story short - this stroller was produced pre-2006 which means it isn't COMPATIBLE with the infant adapter. Are you kidding me? That's 60% of the reason I wanted the flipping thing. What followed was lots of internet research, lots of not nice words, an almost emotional breakdown and then silence. It was such a blow...I know some of you are thinking: "it's just a stroller" but to me it was more - it was a way to get out on Tuesdays and Thursdays when I'm here with both girls. A way to get active again in my few weeks left of leave before returning to work. I knew we couldn't afford a new one and I knew finding another one that would be compatible could take months more of research and searching on the internet. By then Avery could potentially hold her head up and use the one we have. Ugh! What now?

Enter this clever little invention by JJ Cole. 

We purchased it as a last ditch effort to get the functionality out of our stroller and lucky for us...it totally works -she is reclined and totally supported meaning we can still use our stroller. Praise the Lord! Here are my girls all bundled up for a walk today. To say I'm thrilled - total understatement! Avery...not so thrilled. *I would like for you to know that after I got them all positioned and buckled and had gone down my mental checklist: water - check, phone - check, camera - check, keys - check I realized the stroller WOULDN'T FIT THROUGH THE DOOR!

her displeasure didn't last long - thankfully. Kennedy's not sleeping, she just has a flair for the drahhhmatic.....she's a cute little poser though, right?

The walk clearly wore this little girl out - snug as  a bug in a rug!

Before we solved our BOB dilemma we wanted to get out in the beautiful weather on Sunday so I wore Avery in the front pack and Tim pushed Kennedy in the single jogger. (We could seriously run our own stroller shop around here!) Kennedy wanted to "hike" the Arboretum nature trail on her own. Here we are stopped for a quick pic:

She likes to explore...she gets it from her Daddy!

Apparently physical fitness (though it takes no effort of her own) wears this little one out because she stayed like this for quite a while after we got home from our Arboretum trip.

Kennedy got these nifty little wall decals from Courtney before we had Avery and she's been begging me to hang them on her walls. I keep intending to make time for that and then I forget. Well....today was the day. I'm not a huge fan of the princess paraphernalia, but I am about letting your kiddo's indulge in things they like (within reason). For example - if Kennedy picks out rainbow socks and a fluorescent shirt when she's in junior high - I plan to let her wear it. Now...get back to me later and see if I stuck to that but right now I intend to. Having said that - this girl LOVES all things princes and she COULD NOT WAIT to get these on her wall. I was happy that it excited her so much and so I let her choose where she wanted them and helped her apply them. Note that she chose to hang Snow White above the porcelain plastic throne. Poor Snow White.

Thanks Courtney! My room is now Princesslicious!