A year ago today...

I was in the hospital recovering from giving birth to our little angel Jacob! He was born at 1:01 am, weighed 7.1 lbs and was 19 inches long. Since I had a temperature of 104 degrees during labor, we fully expected poor little Jacob to have a temperature too. What we didn't expect was that it would be 104 degrees as well, so after letting us hold him long enough for us to take a couple of pictures...they whisked him away to the NICU. He had to be given some breathing treatments as well, because he struggled to breath when he was first born.
We were told we could go visit him in 5 hours and to get some sleep...so after a few minutes of cleaning and clearing up the room, Randy and I were left alone. You can imagine how emotional we both were at that time. I had just given birth to our perfect little boy, but at the same time we weren't allowed to be with him. We were so scared something else would be found wrong, or his temperature wouldn't go down...or even worse, that his temperature would keep rising causing brain damage etc... I just remember Randy walking over to me in the bed and we both just held each other and had a good cry. We didn't know what to expect, we couldn't sleep knowing the life of our new-born son was so uncertain. We said a prayer (still crying) and tried to get some sleep. A few hours later we had a change of nurse, and she informed us we could go see our little Jacob! They gave us new hospital bracelets and we had one of the NICU nurses escort us to the NICU. We were shocked to see Jacob was all wired and monitored. He had a heart, temperature, and breath monitor, and on his little head he had an IV tube for the antibiotics. Since all his veins were too small everywhere else they had to give him the antibiotics through a vein in his head. He was there for 10 days. Needless to say those 10 days felt like the longest 10 days of my life!
It was really hard to come home empty-handed, but it was even harder to know our little guy was being given some very strong antibiotics. Most of us have been on antibiotics and we know that they are hard on our bodies. We visited Jacob everyday, and I tried to nurse him at least a couple of times a day while he was there. The nurses were so helpful, but at the same time they had a job to do. So when I had been holding him for over an hour they would come and let me know it was time to 'put him back' as they said. It was so hard for me, because I felt like I only had a couple of hours a day to bond with my baby. But we made it though! And we brought him home on July 3rd 2007! It was such a wonderful day! My mom, my sister Priscila and my father in law Kevin were all here at the house. We were so grateful to have them here supporting us, and so grateful we could finally bring our little Jacob home. He has been perfectly healthy ever since, and for that I am eternally thankful! He hasn't had any side effects from the antibiotics(hearing loss was a serious possibility), and he has been growing and developing completely healthy and on target.

Throughout this year, and during those long 10 days we had much needed support from our friends and family. Thank you so much to all of you who called us and wrote us, or texted us and calmed our fears. Thank you all who listened and comforted, to all those who made us laugh, and to those who went out of their way to help us. Thank you all who put our names in the temple, to those who prayed for us, and fasted for us. Thank you so much for your love, support and strength.

I could not imagine my life without Jacob. He has brought me more joy and more love than I ever thought possible. He has taught me about unconditional love, he has taught me to laugh, he has taught me how to be silly and not care what people think. As with any baby, he has taught me patience, and most of all, he has taught me, or rather reminded me that I have a heavenly father who loves me. I feel so inadequate most days, but with Heavenly father's help, we have come so far!

I am so blessed to have such a worthy priesthood holder as a husband. Through all we went through when Jacob was born, Randy was such a steady, calm, and loving force. He is the best dad! He changed Jacob's first diaper, and that is just the type of dad he is. He is not afraid to help, he's not afraid to take care of Jacob or of me.

I just want to end by saying I am grateful for everything we went through, because not only did it bring us closer together as a family, it made us stronger spiritually. It helped us to realize how precious our lives are, and how every minute really does count. I hope we can teach those things to Jacob, and I hope we are able to raise a grateful, thoughtful, loving child. I have a feeling he already is those things naturally, we just have to remind him of that when he's a teenager ;)

Happy Birthday Jacob! We love you so much!

Happy Birthday Randy!

It was Randy's 27th Birthday on June 5th. He had the day off on the 4th so we started celebrating early on Wednesday! Kevin came over after work and watched Jacob while Randy and I went to watch 'Iron Man' It was a great movie. We both loved it and were entertained by it. The best part is that we had free passes and a gift card, so it was free! We had some horrible food though :( Next time we'll stick to pizza or something...The Mayan Express must cook their rice and beans in the morning and then just keep warming it up...we should have known. Oh well, it was still fun, especially because it was just the 2 of us. It's so nice to go on a date once in a while. I think we need that as a couple, and hopefully we can keep finding ways to keep going on regular dates. It was so much fun.
On Thursday Jacob and I surprised Randy at work with cake (his favorite, spice cake), ice cream, and balloons. Jacob had never seen nor been around balloons so he was a bit scared of them at first. But after being around them for a couple of days he loved them, and talked to them! After Randy came home from work on Thursday we went to Chilli's for dinner. It was fun to go with Jacob...he ate like we had been starving him for days! And we took his sippy cup and he kept tilting his head while he was drinking...it looked like he was drinking shots! We had a delicious dinner at Chilli's...although it's not Randy's favorite restaurant. His favorite is the Cracker Barrel in Layton. I have to admit it's one of my favorite too. Elisabeth and Mark gave us a gift card to go eat there...THANKS GUYS! That was very thoughtful of you! We really love the food and service at the Cracker Barrel. They have the best breakfast too! That's what Randy usually orders...and they serve breakfast all day every day. We're going to have to make a trip there soon, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.
After dinner on Thursday we came home and Randy opened his gifts! I don't know how he went all day without opening them. I opened my family's package like a week before my birthday! I let it sit unopened for half a day and when Randy came home from work I couldn't wait any longer and opened it! Anyway, we came home and Jacob helped Randy open his gifts. By this time Jacob was tired, and when he's tired everything is funny. He started laughing at the sound of ripping paper! So we got it on video...it's a nervous laugh too which makes it funnier.
So I hope Randy had a wonderful birthday. We love him so much and are so grateful for the wonderful husband, and dad he is. He works so hard for our little family, and we love and appreciate everything he does. Te queremos mucho mi amor! :)







-A day after Randy's birthday...Jacob is warming up to the balloons-

Are you a professional?

That is the question I asked my sister in law Michelle. She made our kitchen curtains and they look fabulous! It has been about a year since she first offered to make them for us....but with all of us (the 3 Taylor wives lol) being pregnant at the same time, and then with all of us having brand new babies, I thought it would be too much to ask. So when she offered again in April I decided I better have her make them. It took me longer to decide what shape, color and fabric, than the time it took her to make them! She also has a baby who is a month younger than Jacob...so I really don't know how she found the time to get them done in about a week! She is super talented...I tell her she should start her own business because she's so good at what she does. Not only sewing but decorating, renovating, painting, refinishing cabinets...she has endless talents! The best part about her services was that she came over, after having ironed the newly made custom curtains, and she hung them! She is fearless with a drill! She did such a good job! She is like Martha Stewart I tell her...but she's way too modest to take credit for that. I love Michelle! I am so grateful she made the time to help us out with our curtains. We have been living here for 2 years now and have only recently started to actually make our home feel more put together. I guess when we were both working full time jobs, at the end of the day we just wanted to relax, and not worry about anything else. Now that I have been home more I notice all the little and big things that need to be done, changed, decorated etc. It has been fun I must say. (For me anyway...I don't know about Randy, he has done most of the work) So here are the before and after pictures of our kitchen windows...