Category: Family

Mediocre Coffee Days

January 23, 2020 January 31, 2020by Taylor

My husband and I drove to pick up coffee together before work a few days ago. This hasn't been our usual morning flow lately, but it was dreary outside and we had a couple of gift cards from Christmas, so we thought it would be a nice way to start the day together. The coffee shop nearest to us doesn't have a drive through, so we ended up going to a further location that does. It really doesn't save any time, but does save us from having to unbuckle and re-buckle a squirmy, under-the-weather toddler who REALLY wants to be free from the car seat. The coffee was too hot to drink immediately, so I waited to drink it until I got home. The venture was poorly planned, which seems to have become the "norm" for any spontaneous outing we've attempted since having our son. There was a long line, we hit construction traffic, and my husband ended up running late to work; but we had a good conversation and had a little bit of quiet time before the day really started. Even by the time we got home, the coffee was still too hot, so I set it on the TV console and carried on with parenting duties. I didn't think about it again for another hour, when I was trapped nursing my son in the next room, trying to get him to take a nap while simultaneously falling asleep myself. My coffee, still sitting on the console, was likely at a drinkable temperature by that point, and may have even needed reheating. Desperately hopeful, I started to rush into the nap by moving through the motions - read the book, nurse the baby, and lay him in his bed - so that I could enjoy what was sure…

2019 Midyear Updates

July 24, 2019 July 24, 2019by Taylor

2018 has come and gone, as has half of 2019. I currently have 10 drafted posts, in various stages of completion; and instead of working on one of those, I am starting a new post from scratch. It is what it is! So here I am, in the middle of my messy, beautiful life. I'm meeting myself where I am, starting over, and hoping for the best on another fresh start. This is the first night in over eight months that I've dedicated to writing, and I feel overwhelmed with everything that I want to say in such a short amount of time. Update 1: I had a baby! You read that right! Our little guy was born in November. It feels like yesterday and also a hundred years ago! He's amazing and wonderful, and he's also incredibly busy. Does anyone remember what it's like to sleep an entire night anymore? I sure don't. We're a little over eight months into parenthood, and it has been a whir and blur of love, emotions, stress, and absolute joy. Some days are amazing, and some days I count the seconds until I'm able to drag my body into bed. Today has been a little more of the latter. I'm sure that my future posts will be very baby-centric, and I'm excited to share an entirely new part of my life with you! Update 2: I'm on a career hiatus I've been really nervous about posting publicly that I have decided to put my technical writing career on hold. Admitting it to the world (even just the small portion of the world that happens to read this post) made it more "real" to me. The fact is, I ended my last writing contract just before becoming pregnant. I didn't intend for SAHM (stay-at-home…

Oh, Baby!

May 24, 2018 June 29, 2018by Taylor

We have announced to friends and family, and we thought it was about time to announce the good news to the rest of the world: We're having a baby! Project Baby has begun: The Yellow Rosebud is getting a new content creator, and our family is growing by two tiny feet! On Easter, we gave each of our families a card with a picture of the ultrasound inside of it. Each of our family members reacted in the way we expected - My mom cried, and John's mom literally jumped for joy, but my dad had the best reaction of all: "What kind of gift card is that?" Baby is due in the middle of November, according to doctor's projections! So we should be celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas with a tiny human this year! Gender Reveal: We're 20 weeks along with a little..... BOY! Over Memorial Day weekend, we had a gender reveal party with our friends and family. John and I were able to find out that baby was a boy about three or four weeks beforehand - we couldn't wait until the party to find out, and I'm so glad we knew going in! As much as I love the idea of surprises, I really don't enjoy being surprised. We got a lot of unwanted opinions for being the only ones at the party to know the gender, but in the end, my anxiety was lessened by having an intimate gender reveal with John ahead of time. Last week, we had an ultrasound done, and we were able to see our little guy in action! (And yep, he's still a boy!) During the ultrasound, he was yawning, hiccuping, and moving his hands all over. It's a really strange feeling to know that there is a little person growing…

My First Thanksgiving Without My Brother

November 22, 2017by Taylor

Tomorrow we'll celebrate Thanksgiving, and I've had a hard time coming up with many things to be thankful for this year. Losing my sibling, my only sibling, has thrown off the balance of my life in more ways than I could have ever imagined. There is a nuance of grief in my daily routine, and most people, even those close to me, are not privy to my everyday sadness. This isn't the first holiday season that my family has experienced an unexpected loss, and I know it won't be the last. Experience, unfortunately, doesn't make this particular undertaking any easier. Three years ago, I lost both of my grandfathers and one of my uncles within three months. My family was hit month after month after month with new grief, and there was no alleviation of the constant emotional weight of the year. By the end of the year, I think most of us had checked out emotionally. As emotional as that year was, no grief could have adequately prepared me for losing my brother. The thought of celebrating and enjoying a big family get together without him feels so wrong. There is a very strong part of me that wants to curl up in a ball and avoid all social situations, but at the same time, I want to be able to live a normal life without allowing grief to overtake every element of every day. I think that, especially throughout the first year of a major loss, it's important to create new traditions and to break from the normal routine of the yearly celebration. It's also equally important to listen to your own emotional needs and to be gentle with yourself and others grieving around you. This year, we are starting our Thanksgiving by running a 5K with a…

How I Met My Husband

September 14, 2016 July 7, 2017by Taylor

John and I have had a "whirlwind romance" of sorts. The timing of our meeting wasn't perfect on paper, but it was the perfect time for us. We met on September 12, 2014, and were married exactly one year later. This week, John and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary! - How We Met - In 2014, I was working at a tech company that was building a new website. My boss and I were heading the project, and we had been interviewing outside companies and web developers to see if we could find the right fit for our needs. In September, my boss and I were introduced to a small, local company, that would eventually be the company we hired for the project. On our second meeting with the company, they brought in one of their developers (John). We had several projects going on that day, so I was not supposed to be in this particular meeting. My boss ended up bringing me in to the meeting after about an hour because the developer was asking some higher-level questions about the web server. When I walked into the room, seeing John for the first time, my first thought was, "Dang, this guy is cute!" So I sat next to him, ready to answer any and all of his questions. We ended up talking through the project for about three more hours, and I gave him my business card at the end of the meeting. I never expected to hear from him or see him again, except possibly for project meetings. The meeting had been on a Friday, and the following Monday I received a friend request from John on Facebook. I nervously debated whether or not to accept it, texting friends for advice and consulting my employee handbook about the…

Gone to the Dogs

September 8, 2016 July 7, 2017by Taylor

The very best part of working from home is getting to have my dogs with me all day, but some days, they are more distraction than help. Today, I spent the majority of the day taking care of my mini-schnauzer mix, Lucy. She has some sort of stomach bug, and she's pretty pitiful when she's sick. All day, Lucy has been right by my feet (normal Lucy behavior), but she keeps sighing and passing me long, mournful glances (not normal Lucy behavior). My corgi-mix, Sophie, couldn't understand why Lucy didn't want to play today, and has made several failed attempts to get Lucy to chase her or play tug-of-war. I hope her sickness passes soon. In the meantime, here are some pictures of my dogs! Both of our dogs came from an amazing rescue shelter called Operation Kindness. The shelter is the largest no-kill shelter in North Texas. They pull animals from high-kill shelters to give them a better chance, and they are funded fully by generous volunteers and donors. Go check them out! Lucy November 2015: four months old, first picture. Five months old. Always by my side. July 2016. Sophie February 2016: Six months old, first picture, hogging all the toys. Puppucino-stache. Mid-yawn. July 2016. Lucy & Sophie = Best Friends This picture is from when we first got Sophie. She is so tiny in comparison to Lucy here, but they are only 25 days apart in age! Tug-of-War. Car rides are life. Last day in our rental house, July 2016. Happy zen days in our new backyard, August 2016.