Taber Tapestry

New Resolutions

2012-01-02T09:03:00.022-05:00

So, we (Chris and Isabelle, really) have decided that we should update and post frequently on our blog. This may appear to be a "New Year's Resolution" but I prefer to think of it as a change for the better. As many of us, I don't tend to do well with resolutions set at the beginning of a new calendar year, but rather the beginning of a school year or just when there is a schedule change in general - it's easy to add in something new. This blog thing, however just happens to coincide with the new year. So now that I've rambled on about that, here's an update on our life:

Isabelle turned 11 in September and has begun the countdown to entering the Young Women's program at church. She is frequently noting her lasts: "this is my last year in Primary," "this is my last time performing in the Primary Program," "this is my last Stake Achievement Day Activity." Entering the Young Women's Program means she'll have a whole new set of goals to work on (Personal Progress), she'll get to hang out with all the youth on a regular basis (ages 12-18) and within just a few months she'll be able to enter the Temple and do baptisms for the dead. You may or may not know, but we are anticipating the building of the Philadelphia Temple and Isabelle has calculated that she will already be 12 or 13 years old by the time it is dedicated.

http://lds.org/church/temples/philadelphia-pennsylvania?lang=eng#

In school, Isabelle is in 5th grade. This is her third year playing cello and she just recently began private lessons. She has a good ear and enjoys piano, cello and singing. She was even going to sing with us in our local performance of Handel's Messiah, but she had such a bad cough that just would not go away despite the rest she got and the many gallons of water she drank that she had to bow out gracefully. She was sad when she missed the dress rehearsal and I reminded her that we are Tabers; Her dad and I have been attending and singing in performances of the Messiah since long before she was born and we will likely be singing the Messiah every year for the rest of our lives, so not to fret as she will have plenty of opportunity in the future to participate.

Now that Izzy is in 5th grade she was eligible to try out for the school play. She did and she was given the part of Ethel in The Music Man (she's the character that starts out the Pickalittle, Talkalittle song). She is so excited she can hardly stand it. She was also one of 150 children chosen in the entire school district to be a member of the District Chorus. So it seems, her career in musical dance theater and performance has begun...

Chase is 8 1/2 years old and ever the daredevil. His latest endeavor is mastering his skills as a skater. The neighbor kid across the street is a couple of years older than Chase and happy to show him the ropes. He has a grinding rail and several ramps and has been teaching Chase how to make all the necessary adjustments to his board to help him increase his skills (bow hunting skills, nun-chuck skills...).

In school, Chase has taken up violin and seems to really be enjoying it. I am enjoying the relationship it is nurturing between Isabelle and Chase. She will often help him tune his instrument and sometimes they practice together. I love strings and what a treat for me to hear my children play them in my own home (I know, I know, it probably sounds like their swinging cats, but they both try really hard to follow their teachers' instructions and play properly). So for Christmas we stole Izzy's iPod and put a Yo Yo Ma album on it and wrapped it up and gave it to her. And Chase found a CD of Itzhak Perlman in his stocking that we'd had in our collection.

Both Isabelle and Chase are avid readers and have already read all of Rick Riordan's books, the Harry Potter Series and the Hunger Games. Chase is nearly finished with the Chronicles of Narnia, Izzy loves books by Shannon Hale and Jessica Day George, and both children have read The Invention of Hugo Cabret. It is hard to get them to turn lights out and go to sleep at night or even to keep enough books around for them to have something to read!

Chase is becoming a brick artist (Lego builder). He is always coming up with new and interesting things and has made a goal for himself to tell several scripture stories through Legos. See youtube link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXFTFlUbmX0

He is also enjoying Cub Scouts. Over Christmas break his pack went caroling to a nursing home, which he really enjoyed.

Heather. What can I say about Heather. She is ever with a smile, even when she's being naughty. She is now 3 and learning to write her name (well, the letter H, anyway). She is still great friends with Dora but has branched out and now loves to play board games with anyone that will give her the time of day. She is the most social of the three children in that she is not interested in playing with toys unless there is someone there to play with her. In which case, she plays kitchen, babies, Barbies, Build-a-bear or make-up (which really means going into Isabelle's room and trying to get away with going through Izzy's things). She eats all day long, and her first choice is string cheese, but usually we can get her to eat other heathy snacks too, so I guess it's not so bad. She is affectionate and keeps us laughing. She is as fearless a risk-taker as is Chase, but she hasn't figured out she has limits yet, so it will be interesting to see who, between Heather and Chase, will hold the record for World Parkour Champion first.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEeqHj3Nj2c

http://www.hulu.com/watch/96406/the-office-gossip

Chris is teaching seminary this year and loving it. It has been a bit of an adjustment for a night owl to get up early every morning, but the seminary kids seem to like him and we are seeing many blessing in our family as a result.

Chris is especially happy that he is still married to his trophy wife. In fact, they just celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary in August. How can that be! She doesn't look a day over 30! (Neither does he...)

I am ward organist and 2nd Counselor in Young Women, which means I work most directly with the 14-15 year-olds. We have a great youth group in our area and I feel really lucky to get to work with them. I kind of thought I might be called into YW once Izzy's turned 12, but I guess the Lord had other plans (or needed to prep me a little more).

I have developed several health issues over the last couple of years, but I have a great team of doctors and really supportive family so I am working out the kinks of managing RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis), Type 1 Diabetes, Hypothyroidism, and Bunions (no more pretty heels...). But that's a whole other blog in itself so suffice it to say that while I am taking a myriad of meds and learning to balance my "let's do everything big" mentality with my lesser amount of energy, my health issues are not my identity. I am still a little coo coo, love to embarrass my children, go on day trips and road trips, date my husband, sing in my car like I'm a rock star and I'm trying to figure out how to get famous so I can be on Dancing with the Stars.

We've had a fun and adventurous Christmas break, watching movies, playing Wii, playing with friends and taking trips to Harrisburg and Hershey. We just finished reading the Book of Mormon as a family and we are grateful for the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ and for our knowledge and relationship with Him. It is because of Him that families can be together forever. And it is because of Him that we can find joy in this life as well as the next.

Happy New Year and may you find ways to love and serve and recognize the many blessings in your life throughout 2012.

With love from the Tabers.

Springtime for Hulk and Germany...

2010-03-21T18:41:00.004-04:00

This afternoon the sun was shining such that's it's invitation to come outside could not be turned down. So we broke out all the bikes, strapped on the helmets and went on a bike ride. Heather was a little more tolerant of her helmet this time, though would holler at us whenever we stopped, as if to say, "If you're gonna make me wear this stinkin' thing, the least you could do is keep moving so I'm entertained!" The nickname Hulk seems to suit her more and more each day. Fortunately, she is hilarious and sweet and loving enough to make us all forget when she is Hulkish.

Family Member Updates

Chris has left Burlington Coat Factory to start a new position at a pharma company called Ikaria. He starts tomorrow. He is serving in our ward as Young Men's President, so he is often with the youth, camping with them, calling them, checking up on them on Facebook, coming up with crazy schemes for weekly activities. He is training for a 1/2 marathon in Queens on April 3rd. Go El Tabitur!

Anne (that's me) is serving in our ward as the 2nd Counselor in the Relief Society. So I also come up with crazy schemes, but for grown women. Last week we celebrated the Relief Society's birthday and held a service auction. I am looking forward to Spring Break. We hope to see some cherry blossoms in DC this year since we missed them every year for the 7 years we lived in NJ!

Isabelle (9 yrs) is in 3rd grade. She plays the cello in school and is taking piano lessons once a week. She just played When You Wish Upon a Star in her first school Variety Show. We thought we lost her music, but it turned she had practiced it so well it was memorized! We purchased a complete set of the Harry Potter books for Christmas and she is already on the 7th.

Chase (7 yrs) is in 1st grade. He is taking karate and is about to earn his yellow belt. He has his first tournament coming up. We hope we wins one of those awesome 5 foot trophies. He is also taking piano lessons and also participated in the school Variety Show. He is on the 4th Harry Potter book.

Heather is now 18 months, which means she is now allowed to attend Nursery at church. This may seem like a small thing to some of you, but if you've ever battled a toddler through 3 hours of church then you'll be cheering with us. She only says about 5 words, and not very well. But she signs a few (please, thank you, more) and hollers a lot. Don't let her fool you, she understands every word you say to her! (Cheeky) She tries to do everything the bigger kids do, including carrying a backpack when we leave the house - despite the fact that it is as big as she is. She does a little karate, she loves dogs, and isn't even afraid of the ones that are twice her size, but screams in terror when we turn on the vacuum cleaner. She eats like Scooby and Shaggy. She sings and she dances. And we all can't wait to see what she has up her sleeve next.

Spring 2009

Spring 2010

We are trying (again) to sell our house in Texas, so if you could include us in your prayers or send any potential buyers our way, that would be great. We are praying for the people of Haiti and the people of Chile and for expediency of the building of the Philadelphia Temple.

Joyeux Noel!

2008-12-25T14:00:00.000-05:00

True to Taber Tradition we are moving again. We loved our time in London and wish it could have been longer, but it is time to move on to our next adventure. Fortunately, Chris had earned enough hotel & Eurostar points that we decided spend Christmas in Paris before crossing over the pond (again).

We only have free internet access in the lobby of the hotel, so this will be a short entry but we wanted to make sure you knew we were thinking of you and are grateful during this season for a loving Heavenly Father who sent his son as a newborn babe to be our Saviour. May we keep Christmas all year long in our hearts through our actions and efforts, striving always to follow His perfect example.

With love from from Chris, Anne, Isabelle, Chase & Heather

Lights on the Champs Elysees

Taken from the top of the North Tower at Notre Dame Cathedral just outside the bell tower

(255 steps up a narrow spiral staircase after which, we climbed another 120 steps up an even narrower spiral staircase to the very top)

I Like My Birthdays

2008-10-12T15:49:00.017-04:00

Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin' into the future...

Sorry (again) for the lengthy spaces of time between blog entries. I guess better late than never; As of a week ago (11 Oct) Heather is 1 month old. I can't believe how quickly the time has passed. She is becoming much more alert and stays awake for longer periods of time, esp when the other children are getting out of school. She occasionally thinks about smiling, but still only offers a real smile when she is sleeping and dreaming with her eyes open (creepy...). Her eyes are still blue but they seem to look a little darker everyday, so I'm secretly hoping they turn brown.

Isabelle turned 8 years old a couple of weeks ago (25 Sept). I made Funfetti cupcakes from an American mix and took them into her class at the end of the school day. Her teacher Mr. Underhill led the class in a chorus of Happy Birthday and four "Hip Hip Hoorays" which made Isabelle grin and blush. Isabelle requested a family dinner at China Buffet (all you can eat for £5.99), so we had planned to celebrate. She had gone there with a friend for her birthday a few months ago, loved the food and has been talking it up ever since. Unfortunately, when we got there there were signs in the window indicating that they were closed for renovations, "Sorry for any inconvenience." Evidently Chase was looking forward to it as much or more than Isabelle because he burst into tears. I don't think he understood exactly what "renovation" means because he thought the restaurant had closed for good and therefore lost his opportunity to eat there. He got over it though, as soon as I explained it to him. So, then we opted to go to our favorite restaurant on the high street, Creperie Parisienne. However, when we got there (opposite end of Chiswick) it had already closed for the day. So we finally ended up at Pizza Express. Isabelle was disappointed despite her hunger and two strikes against her, but she enjoyed her birthday dinner anyway, and the promise of presents to open at home lifted her spirits.

All of her gifts were a hit; perfume & lip gloss from Chase, books and movies from Grandma, a Barbie CD rom, and a new bike from Mommy & Daddy and DeeDee & Grandpa.

"Want some lipgloss? It's Turkish Delight Flavoured."

A couple of days later was Heather's "Welcome to the World" gathering at Carluccio's hosted by friends Laurel and Trina. It was a beautiful autumn day and Heather and I enjoyed a "girls' day out" for a few hours.

The following is a bit of randomness, but hopefully it will bring a smile or a laugh.

Isabelle loaned Heather her Webkinz bunny.

When I first told the children we were having a girl, we took a trip to Baby Gap.

Chase picked out the track suit trousers for his baby sista:

Happy Halloween (thanks for the dental work, Becky!)

Even though I haven't called her "Baby Girl Hulk" in a long time,

Heather has her moments. I found a costume for her at the store, but unfortunately it doesn't come in her size:

But this one does...

Here's the photo we used for Heather's passport (Only 4 weeks old. Isabelle was at least 8 weeks old when we got hers!):

This photo makes me laugh.

DeeDee bought (sight unseen) this little sweater and blanket for Heather.

This is what she looks like when we leave for school in the mornings:

The many faces of Heather:

I'm sure you can tell we are enjoying Heather. Our family just wouldn't be complete without her. Can't wait for you to meet her...

A Few Days of Heather...

2008-09-15T13:15:00.000-04:00

When the world was created, the hillsides were bare, and it was decided that a plant was needed to beautify the slopes

The giant Oak, strongest of all trees, was asked but he declined saying that the soil was too shallow for him to take root and flourish

Then the yellow-flowered Honeysuckle was asked if she would spread her beauty and fragrance throughout the hills. She, too, refused because there was nothing in the inhospitable terrain against which she could grow.

The Rose, sweetest of all the flowers, was the next choice. However, she explained that she would not be able to survive the hillside’s bitter winds and driving rain.

Then a small low lying green shrub with tiny petals, some purple, some white, some pink, was chanced upon.

It was Heather!

The Heather was asked, "Will you grow up on the hillside to make them more beautiful?"

The Heather reflected on the poor soil and harsh climate and was not sure whether she could do the job; but to the delight of all, she replied that if they wanted her to try, she would do her very best.

They were all so pleased with the Heather that they decided to bestow three gifts upon her.
The strength of the Oak – the bark of the Heather is stronger than that of any other tree or shrub

The fragrance of the Honeysuckle – the Heather’s gentle fragrance is used to
perfume soaps, potpourris, and cosmetics.

The sweetness of the Rose – the sweetness of the Heather makes her one of the bee’s favorite flowers
And to this day Heather is renowned for these three gifts as she fulfills her task.

I have been wanting to post more photos and descriptions of things as they have happened since the labor, delivery and birth of Heather, but we've had a few hiccups along the way. Now that it's Monday, things are a little calmer, so here are some new photos and videos of Heather, Chase & Isabelle...

A few hours after Heather's birth Chris picked up the children from friend Trina's house and brought them to the hospital to meet their new sister.

When babies are born to diabetic mothers there is risk of low blood sugars, which was the case with Heather. After breastfeeding her, waiting awhile to see if her sugars would go up and determining that they weren't going to, the midwives tried to give her a "top-up"* of formula from a bottle. She was not having it. After trying several times to get her to drink the formula, the pediatrician said it would be necessary to use a feeding tube. She didn't much like that either and fought (with Hulk-like strength) against their attempts to get the tube in. After two tries, two different midwives, Mommy lying in bed trying to pretend it wasn't happening, Daddy closely supervising the midwives, and big brother and big sister patiently (and calmly) standing out of the way, they finally managed to get the tube in.

It really wasn't so bad -it's a tiny tube, and it did get her blood sugars up. And by the middle of the night the tube was out (I swear I didn't pull it out on purspose - really, it was an accident) and she was maintaining her blood sugars on Mommy's milk alone. This is one of the first times I saw her with her eyes open and looking around.

While Mommy took a shower and tried to make herself look like a real person again, Daddy gave Heather her first bath and styled her hair, "Oooh, that's feels goooood."

"Whew! My spa day was really exhausting!"

Isabelle and Chase missed school on Thursday so they could meet their new sis, but Friday Daddy took them to school and picked them up again (of all the school uniforms in the world, wouldn't you choose these colors first? Gryffindor of Hogwarts it is not!)

When it was Chase's turn to hold Heather he began singing Hush Little Baby and Chris managed to capture it on video. He told me later that on Thursday before coming to see the baby for the first time, Chase and Isabelle went home and listened to the song on Isabelle's iPod until they had every word memorized (including the additional verse of humming at the end). Chase has now been enlisted as the official soothe-by-singing technician when Mommy needs a minute or two before she can nurse the baby.

The Girls waiting for the cab to pick us up from the hospital to go home.

Daddy and Heather watching football.

Warning: the video is probably only cute to watch if you are the mom, the dad, or one of the grandparents. Otherwise you may get slightly bored. It is filmed in real time and has not been slowed down.

Mommy's little baby.

Baby number 1 (Isabelle) only cared about eating every 4-6 hours and even then we had to strip her down to get her out of her warm comfy-cozy zone before she would wake up to eat. (DeeDee prayed she would outgrow that habit by Prom. I think we're out of the woods on that one). Baby number 2 (Chase) ate about every 4 hours, though did not need quite as much coaxing. This one thinks she needs to eat every 2 hours, but then she falls asleep two minutes into it and then gets mad if mom "closes the kitchen." So, Sunday afternoon, we decided to try giving her a pacifier to see if we could hold her off long enough to build up a better appetite so that feeding her was more productive.

Hmmm, I think she likes it!

Don't you just love those little fingers?

Bath time!

Daddy quote, "Oh! That's not cute at all!"

DeeDee, notice the soft cushy knitted blanket Heather likes to sleep on in the push chair.* Grandma, notice the redwork on the cloth.

*Noun 1. top-up - an amount needed to restore something to its former level

*Noun, British, Push chair - a small folding chair on wheels in which a small child can be wheeled around: escalators are difficult with pushchairs

Heather Londyn Taber

2008-09-11T15:31:00.017-04:00

Please join us in welcoming Heather Londyn Taber to our family.

Heather Londyn Taber

I'll let Anne post the rest of the details tomorrow or Saturday, but for now, here are the basics along with a few photos.

Name: Heather Londyn Taber - We had originally been leaning towards Londyn Heather, but everyone, from Chris down to Chase said when they held her that she just seemed more like a "Heather Londyn" than a "Londyn Heather"

Born: 3:50 am on 11 September 2008. After a 24 hour delay due to no beds available at the hospital (first 12 hours of delay), then not enough doctors available if Anne's labor progressed quickly (ha! not this time! - second 12 hours of delay), Anne got started at 7:30 am and labored until almost 1:00am. Thankfully, she got an epidural at about 6:00pm and had a much better time of it after that. I'll leave the rest of the details for one of Anne's posts

Weight: 4.514 kg, or 9 lbs 15 ozs. For those keeping score at home, this is slightly larger than Isabelle (9 lbs 6 ozs) and much more than Chase (6 lbs 15 ozs).

Length: 22 inches. This is an unofficial measurement, since they don't measure length for babies born in the UK - they measure the circumference of the head - which I suspect most Moms would find a more useful measurement than length, but what do I know? (Of course, I forgot to write down the circumference measurement, so I'll leave that to Anne to share)

Hair: Yes. Lots of dark brown hair, similar to Isabelle when she was born. In fact, see if you can tell which is which from the photos below...

Eyes: Dark brown, though Chase and Isabelle are convinced they are dark blue. I will say that the light in the room where we were when the children came to visit was not the greatest, so this "stat" should also be considered unofficial.

Now a few FAQs from some of the emails and Facebook responses I've been getting from people over the past few hours, so I don't lose track of who asked which question when:

How is Anne doing? She's doing well - exhausted, but well. I took the children over to visit from 10:30 or so this morning until about 4:00, and then left for the day so that Anne could get some much-needed rest. I then fell asleep on the bus several times and Isabelle and Chase had to keep waking me up to ask if we had missed our stop - we hadn't. I'll go back in the morning after taking the children to school (they didn't go today) and hopefully they'll be able to come home then.

What was it like giving birth in the UK vs. the US? I'll let Anne give more details if she likes, but overall I think Anne had a fairly positive experience, though being far from family and not having any of them here this week meant that we had to rely on our extended ward family to help us out with taking Isabelle & Chase to school, letting them stay overnight, etc. - even laundering their school uniforms when we they had to stay a night longer than expected. They were absolute lifesavers!

What's the standard of care like in the NHS? Again, Anne can share her opinions, but one thing we were really grateful for was to be able to deliver in the newer Queen Charlotte's & Chelsea hospital rather than the older Hammersmith hospital which adjoins it(and we're talking WWII-era and looks like it hasn't been updated or cleaned since then). Probably one of the biggest adjustments was adjusting to the different names and terminology used. Anne's diabetes management had to switch meter readings from mg/deciliter to mmol/liter, two totally different scales where the adjustment factor between the two is to multiply the latter by about 18 to get the former, so lots of mental math involved. Diapers are nappies. Finger sticks (to check blood sugar levels) are referred to as BMs...took me awhile to figure out why they kept asking about that once an hour or so. Not all "doctors" are referred to as "Dr." So-and-so, but some are "Mr." or "Mrs.", while others are "Dr."... The doctors refer to the midwives as Sister So-and-so, even though this was not a Catholic hospital.

How do British and American hospitals differ in their philosophies on childbirth. Agin, my male-oriented observations only at this point, but it seemed to me that this time around, Anne was really encouraged to take things as slowly as possible, whereas in the States, sometimes it seemed like "OK, we need you to move along now, so we're just gonna do this with your medications, etc."

Will the baby have dual US-UK citizenship? Most likely not. Everything I've read seems to indicate that since 1983, the UK does not automatically grant citizenship (or the right to dual citizenship) to babies born here. In order to claim dual citizenship, we'd have to either show that the baby's grandparents were British Citizens or that we had a reasonable expectation to remain in the UK indefinitely, neither of which are true (though my father's mother was born and raised here)

I think that covers the most frequent questions we've been getting, so if I missed one, leave a comment and I'll try to respond.

Back to School

2008-09-06T12:16:00.013-04:00

So now that the school year has officially started, I was thinking it would be appropriate to fill in what we've been doing since I last bothered to update our blog:

Today was the first day of the new school year. Isabelle is now in Year 3 and Chase in Year 1. They must have been excited because they asked me to make routine charts for them again (which we haven't done since we lived in Texas) and this morning when the alarm went off, I opened my eyes to Chase standing right next to my side of the bed fully dressed in his school uniform. "Are you excited to start school today?" "Yeah..."

By the way, Chase did his own hair...it's a faux-hawk:

Shortly after the last entry, we travelled to New York for Drew & Polina's wedding. All the guests were dressed in white as well as the bridal party. The event took place on a beach in Brooklyn, with a light breeze and blue sky (despite the several days it had been forcasting rain). The men sang Iz's version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow as they escorted the women in. Then the two Dads walked together, followed shortly by the bride escorted by her mother. Polina was dressed in a flowing gown the color of sunshine, which was beautifully backdropped by the blue and white of the sky, sand, bridal party and guests. It was a joyous occasion and hopefully, everything Drew & Polina had hoped for.

So, if Isabelle's eyes were open this would be a nice family photo:

Anne & Aunt Katie:

The weekend went much too quickly with not nearly enough time to spend with family, but the time we did get to spend together was memorable and a lot of fun. Katie had never been to NYC before, so on the last day some of us went sight seeing together and then branched off; Uncle Mark, Aunt Katie, Isabelle & I enjoyed roasted nuts from a street vendor and walking down 5th Ave and through Rockefeller Center. Uncle Carson took Chase to Central Park and Lincoln Center and enjoyed authentic NYC hotdogs for dinner. It was a fun day and a great way to end the trip.

Uncle Mark & Isabelle near Central Park NYC:

A couple of weeks after we got home, Isabelle and I had a "girls day out" and saw the stage production of "High School Musical." We speculated before it started about whether or not it would be with American or English accents - they were American. It was a lot of fun and Isabelle got a notebook that looks like a letterman's jacket.

To make things fair (of course), Daddy and Chase also got an outing: they saw Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. It was many days after that we heard Grandpa would be in our neck of the woods, so (at Isabelle's suggestion) Daddy and Chase took the train to Paris to spend a couple of days with Grandpa. (As generous as Isabelle may sound, I think it was a self-serving motive so she could have some Grandma-time all to herself!) The report we got upon their return home was that Chase loved Paris and wants me and Isabelle to go, and we got several etiquette lessons and reminders - esp when it comes to table manners. One of the highlights of the trip - aside from seeing Grandpa, of course - was trying escargot for the first time. "So how was it?" I asked. "It's only my favorite food in the whole world!" was Chase's response. How weird is that? Isabelle's favorite food is shrimp and Chase's is snails!

Coincidentally, Grandma Colleen arrived in London for a two-week visit around the same time Grandpa arrived in Paris. The children planned most of the places they wanted her to see and highlights included the Butterfly Exhibit at the Natural History Museum, the chocolate room and sweet shop at Harrods, and of course Hamley's Toy Shop. Grandma and I also worked on Redwork embroidery squares for a quilt for the baby. We found an alphabet by British illustrator Kate Greenaway (1846-1901) which has little children playing around each of the letters. The quilt is turning out to be even cuter than I was hoping! Just have to get to work on piecing it together.

Butterfly Exhibit, Natural History Museum:

A Midsummer Night's Dream, Open Air Theatre, Regents Park:

Inside the Secret Garden, Regents Park:

Picadilly Circus:

Inside the London Eye:Redwork letter for baby quilt:

Which leads us to the present: I am scheduled to be induced, unless she decides to show up even earlier, the baby will be born 09/09/08, which means we are down to the very last few days! We spent last weekend getting the house cleaned and everything washed and put away, and today Chris took the kids to a "Helping Hands" service project at a park in North London. Our church has challenged all the members living in London to do 10 hours of community service this year, with an overall goal of 10,000 hours of service, so they spent two hours today pulling weeds, pruning trees, planting blue bells and primroses, and raking and bagging up leaves. When they got back, Chase announced to Mom "yeah, Dad wore me out today..."

...which is what you probably all are with how long we go between blog posts - we'll try to do better. Chris will post photos and news of our new arrival next week when she arrives, so stay tuned!

April and May

2008-05-13T16:37:00.022-04:00

Number Three

Okay, so I admit it. And here it is in writing: I was wrong. I've been anxiously awaiting my 21st week of pregnancy so that I could go to my ultrasound and find out for certain whether baby Taber is a boy or a girl. I have been convinced for a number of reasons that it is a boy, but evidently child number 3 is a stinker and has a cunning sense of humor. For over a month now, I have tried to look at both boy and girl clothes, and the second I look at girl clothes I've felt this child say, "Nope. Not gonna wear that." For over a month now, I've been testing out a name (one that cannot go either way, i.e. is stricly a boy's name) and this little spirit keeps telling me, "Yup, that's it!" So, today I went in for my long-awaited ultrasound and was shown (and it was quite clear) that it is a little girl. I even made the sonographer check again. She's a girl. Don't get me wrong, I am quite happy to have another girl. I am just stumped by her choice of practical joke. It isn't even April Fool's (or maybe that's when this all started and I just didn't get it). Is this a telling sign? Will all of my historically successful parenting tactics blow up in my face? I am almost certain that the answer is a resounding YES! Great. Just what I was hoping for. (Spoken in a monotone voice:) I am so pleased to be faced with this new challenge.

Anyway, here's a photo of the little stinker:

I may still call her "Hulk" - just to get back at her.

Living in London

As for the last few weeks, I am finally able to say I am enjoying living in London. I am at a good place in my pregnancy, and the sun has been shining everyday for over a week now, so as a result I have been out on more outings lately and visiting with more friends.

Primary trip with Isabelle and Chase to the London Temple:

Visiting the "secret garden" and Queen Mary's Gardens at Regents Park:

Family Reunions

We will eventually post some photos and video from Alan's 60th Birthday weekend, but until then suffice it to say that we had a wonderful time with family and friends. DeeDee was a wonderful hostess. Auntie Lynn (Alan's 1st cousin) and Uncle Russ visiting from Australia brought yummy sweets and flattered us with flip flops. Aunt Katie coutured our coiffs and Aunt Polina helped Isabelle host the First Annual Taber-Extended-Family Olympic Obstacle Course. Participants inlcuded Daddy (Chris), all the Uncles (Mark, Drew & Carson), Aunt Katie, Grandpa (Alan) and surprise couple-contestants Uncle John and Aunt Pam (Alan's sis). Video highlights to be posted...well, eventually.

Before the rest of the family flew in Chris, Isabelle and Chase and I spent a day in Morgan Hill and Gilroy shopping at the outlets, eating Mexican food and visiting with old friends - all luxuries we miss when we're in London. We definitely have some very fond memories of the time we lived in Morgan Hill.

And before traveling up to the Bay Area, the children and I enjoyed visiting with family on the Turner side. We stayed with Uncle Eric and Aunt Cindy and their children (Spenser, Corbin, Chandler & Kadyn) and enjoyed sunny weather and family fun with them (and Mexican food and A&W rootbeer - another luxury we just can't get in London for under $40!). Grandma Colleen joined us for a few days and we also enjoyed an afternoon of food and fun with Uncle Craig and Aunt Robin and their four boys (Nathan, Evan, Ryan, and Darren). Aunt Robin delighted the nieces with girly gifts. Eric and I learned some creative parenting tricks from Craig* , I enjoyed catching up with everyone (Althea was there too and Aunt Esther phoned).

*Parenting by Craig and Robin

Behavioral consequence: "You owe me two squares." Craig showed us a two foot square he'd made of PVC to be placed in the garden and said, "That's how much he has to weed." Brilliant!

Friendly reminder or warning: "Wanna owe me another square?"

And, "Go sit in the tub." No angry tone. No water. Fully dressed. Just "go sit in the tub until we're ready to talk to you."

If only I could get my kids to hear me when I speak with a soft tone...

What we did last weekend

2008-04-03T02:08:00.008-04:00

Hi - Chris here...posting on our family blog...

The children like to ride their bikes to school and we're perfectly happy to oblige them in that regard. It means less "I can't walk anymore...I'm too tired...can you PLEASE carry me?"

It is a bit difficult, however, for Chase to ride with his training wheels on the sidewalk (or "pavement" as they say here) because the paving stones are often uneven, and riding over the cracks and bumps causes him to lose his balance when using his training wheels. So, he's been asking for us to teach him to ride without training wheels for several weeks now. Plus, his cousin in California, who is 4 days older than him, sent us video of her riding her two wheeler without training wheels over a month ago, so that was a litttle bit of extra motivation for Chase.

We first tried a few weeks ago by taking Chase to a park and having me run along side him while he tried to get the hang of it, but there were too many people on the pathways that day and it was still a little too cold, so he was pretty frustrated. Now that we've been having some warmer weather more consistently, he was starting to pester again...

So finally, this past Saturday, we went out to a dead-end road near our house to try again. We did once up and back with only one training wheel, but then he insisted he was ready. So, just like Isabelle did when she learned, I took the second training wheel off, and away he went. Luckily, I had Isabelle filming using my phone. We took a few more videos with my phone, but when we got home, we realized they were really poor quality, so we decided to go back out with the better camera and take some more. When I got back, I had a little fun with the video editing software, but I think the results are pretty fun...

Easter 2008

2008-03-23T17:17:00.022-04:00

Easter is a major holiday in the UK - a four day "bank holiday" weekend, which means no school or work on Good Friday or "Easter Monday". We have taken advantage of the extra down time to get caught up...on sleep, housework, and family photos!

On Friday, we all spent several hours doing "spring cleaning" type activities: dusting, vacuuming, cleaning, laundry, mopping floors, and just general all-round tidying up. You'd think with a much smaller house it would be a much faster task, but no, it still takes most of the day. Besides the obvious motivation of wanting to have the house look nicer, we had extra motivation this time: our flat has been invaded over the past few days by mice - eek! (You can read about it on Chris' blog - no need to spend time in our Easter post talking about mice)

On Saturday, we all went to a movie and enjoyed hearing Jim Carrey remind us that "a person's a person, no matter how small" in Horton Hears a Who! We also spent several hours decorating Easter eggs and putting up Easter decorations around the house. Because we like to focus on Easter itself on Easter Sunday, we also did Easter baskets for the children on Saturday morning. Here's a picture of some of our Easter eggs and other crafts. Especially note the eggs on the right, which were painted by hand by Chase at school this week. Oh, and of course, that's his Superman Easter basket in the background!

Here are some chicks and a bunny that the kids glued together. The cards in the background were also one of the crafts we did together. The egg cups were one of Isabelle's Christmas gifts last year.

Today, Easter Sunday, we had to be at Church extra early to rehearse with the choir. Getting to church early is a challenge for us on a good day, but this morning, it was extra fun because it started to snow as we were walking out the door! Luckily, we managed to catch a bus that was being driven by a Formula 1 race car driver moonlighting as a bus driver, and made it to South Kensington in record time and only five minutes late (which in Mormon standard time is like twenty minutes early!)

While we were singing, Isabelle and Chase got out the crayons and began drawing. Isabelle drew a really nice picture of Mary Magdalene kneeling at the empty tomb, but when we sat down to write this blog entry, we couldn't find the drawing. If we find it in the next few days, we'll add it here, but below are two of Chase's drawings. The first is a drawing of Jesus with Chase (note Jesus' red sash) and the second is a picture of the Hyde Park church building where we attend church.

Monday morning update: We found Isabelle's drawing. If you can't read the speech bubble, it says "My Saviour. He is gone!"

And of course, after church, we had to make sure we captured everyone's Easter Sunday outfits. Isabelle had a new teal dress and crocheted cardigan that we found on Oxford Street after looking through five or six different stores. Chase got a new tan linen vest and trousers from Marks & Spencer, but decided he liked it better when he just wore the trousers (you can't call them "pants" here, because that means "underpants") with a pink polo and his navy blue blazer. Mom and dad dressed to match. Anne with a teal blouse and white skirt, and Chris with tan slacks, pink tie, and navy blazer.

Isabelle's Schoolwork

2008-03-16T17:06:00.001-04:00

Isabelle is in Year 2 at school. Since the school system is completely different from the school system in the States, she isn't really in the equivalant of either first or second grade, but she does seem to be in just the right place. She is a good student and has a teacher who keeps her sufficiently challenged.

Half Term Research Paper

Over the half term break the students were given an assignment to write a research paper on a famous person such as Christopher Columbus, Florence Nightingale or Henry the VIII. Isabelle began researching Florence Nightingale, but changed her mind at the last minute and asked us if she could write her paper on Joseph Smith. We told her she could, and offered a little guidance to keep it appropriately factual (vs. spiritual):

She ended up writing a page more than was required and was mentioned (among two other students) in front of the class. Her teacher was impressed with her quality of work and told us in her our parent/teacher meeting that she was happy to read something she hadn't already read a million times before.

Note the clipart of Joseph Smith - one of the lessons they had in school was how to use Google to search for images, then cut and paste those images into Word. (Sorry Mom, we'll have to show her how to use Yahoo! to do the same thing, but for now she uses Google.)

Katie Morag

Katie Morag Island Stories is a book that they've been studying in Year 2. The children have recently been writing their own stories about Katie Morag. There is a weekly assembly for years 1-6 where some of the best work done is shared in front of everyone. Last week Isabelle's story about Katie Morag was read in front of the school. The next day, I was at the school for a literacy event they were holding after school. Both her teacher and the Year 4 teacher told me they were very impressed with her composition. In fact, the Year 4 teacher told Isabelle that he went back to his classroom and told his students in amazement, "Class, we just heard a paper from a student in Year 2!" and they responded with, "I know! It was amazing!"

I've been told that I will get a copy of it, so as soon as it is sent home, I will post it. (I can hardly wait!)

Parent/Teacher Meeting

We recently met with her teacher for parent/teacher conferences, where we were pleased to hear a long list of Isabelle's admirable qualities. We were told that Isabelle...:

...gets along with everyone
...fits in with the other students as though she's been here all school year, even though she's only been here a little over two months
...is persistent in finding the answers even when something is difficult (her teacher explained that often students will shy away from a challenge and stick to their strengths)
...asks questions as needed until she understands
...chooses to work with other students who are focussed when given a choice of students with whom to work, rather than just choose her friends as most kids will do
...is extremely creative and does quality work (we were shown a beautifully painted Chinese mask, which has also been shown in the schoolwide "good work" assembly)

We are so proud of Isabelle. She often surprises us with her maturity and discipline when it comes to her education.

Note: We are using this blog not only as a way to keep family and friends up to date on our busy lives but also as a way to keep a journal. We aren't posting stuff about our kids to initiate (or respond to) any "my kid's better than your kid" blog wars! :-)

Newest Thread

2008-03-09T15:58:00.025-04:00

So clearly, I'm not the best blogger on the internet, or rather consistent blogging has not yet risen to the top ten of my priority list. We have had, however, some fun things happen over the last few weeks;

Chris's brother, Mark and his fiance Katie were married on the Carnival Triumph on January 19 and then kindly allowed the entire Taber Clan to join them on their honeymoon cruise in the Eastern Carribean. We all had a lot of fun and I especially enjoyed having new sisters-in-law to pal around with. Andrew (another Taber brother) is engaged to Polina and their wedding is set for June 22 in New York. 9-10 hours on an airplane with a 5 hour time change is a lot on either end of such a trip, so we all spent a day and half sleeping before we sent the children back to school - what's one more day in the life of a kindergartener or a 2nd grader? So the next day Chris went back to work, the children went back to school, and I went back to bed...for hours. For some reason, I could not keep my eyes open. As it turns out, there was a very good reason. The newest thread in the Taber Tapestry is child number 3!

So I've heard number 3 is the hardest. So far this seems to be true as far as the pregnancy is concerned; I have had to sleep more, and whoever named it "morning sickness" probably was never actually pregnant. The nausea seems to be all day long and the hormones have turned me into crazy person. Fortunately, my family still likes me and Chris says they already new I was crazy, and we've made it through the first 12 weeks. And we are all looking forward to the middle trimester. Not that anyone's asked my opinion, but I think aside from the first time 'round, pregnancy should only consist of the middle trimester. The time when you are typically past the morning sickness, have grown enough to start wearing clothes that are meant for a pregnant body (rather than just making due with what you've got), and are past the narcolepsy and generally you are feeling pretty good and enjoy that new Mommy glow.

Anyway, I recently had my first ultrasound and met with my new health care team (midwife, endocrinologist, etc) at the hospital where the baby will be delivered, and everything seems to be developing as it should.

It's been fun involving the children now that they're really old enough to understand what's going on. When we first sat them down to tell them why mommy had such a short fuse and was taking 3 hour naps everyday, they were both really excited. Isabelle's immediate response was,

"I knew that's what you were going to say!"

"Oh really? How did you know?"

"I prayed about it," she responded matter-of-factly. Ahh, the faith of a child... Since then Isabelle has kept us updated on the weekly developments as outlined in Your Pregnancy Week By Week and Chase has recommendations for names on a daily basis. The first he came up with (supposing it might be twins) was "Batman and Robin." One might think he was just being a cute 4-year-old, but those of us who know Chase recognize that he already has a quick wit! Daddy and I added, "or Kate and Duplicate if it's girls! Or Pete and Repeat!" (in honor of Pete from the cruise) All in all, he actually has come up with some nice names as well, but I think we will wait until we have more of an idea of whether it's going to be a boy or a girl.

Speaking of Batman, Chase just turned 5 on Monday and we threw him a Batman/Superheros party yesterday. He came up with his own guest list including, friends, neighbors, schoolmates, a teenager and some grown ups. We played musical chairs (to the Batman TV show theme), pin the mask on Batman, decorated and ate cupcakes and Chris led the procession outside for some Superhero poses and poppers that shoot streamers. Oh, and Chris had printed out several choices of Superhero symbols for the children to wear - hence the need for Superhero poses. We all had a great time and I am grateful that Chase is 5!

Our next adventure will be another trip to the States in April to celebrate Grandpa's (Alan's) 60th birthday? (Think I should bring the pin the mask on Batman game?)

Merry Christmas! 2007

2007-12-27T15:00:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas to you all with a bright and cheerful call
Merry Christmas to you all with a bright and cheerful call
High Ho, let it bring an echo ring
High Ho, Merry Christmas to you all!

So we’ve officially become jet setters and have most recently landed in London. We will be here for two years and just enjoyed our first Christmas "across the pond." We've only been in our new place a short time, but we all worked hard to make it home before Christmas. Christmas Eve Isabelle and Chase got to play Mary and Joseph for the play put on by the kids at a friends' party. Christmas Day was filled with nothing but family togetherness, eating a big breakfast, and playing with our new toys, and of course, listening (and singing along to) Handel's Messiah:

"For unto us a child is born,
a son is given,
and His name shall be called,
"Wonderful,
Counselor,
the Mighty God,
the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace."

May we all find peace and joy throughout the coming year.
We love and miss you and hope you'll keep in touch.

"In London, Baby!"
Chris has been on a project in the UK for several months now working in Oliver Wyman’s retail practice (formerly Mercer Management Consulting) so when the opportunity for the rest of us presented itself, we jumped at it. So the travelogue for 2007 includes (in chronological order - if you have a short attention span, scroll to the bottom of this post for the most current info):

Denver, Colorado USA - February
Visited Uncle Mark and fiancé Katie and took the children skiing and sledding at friend Shane’s B&B. Anne tried out snowboarding and did pretty well on the first day, but after a boring lesson of nothingness taught by a pot-smoking 50 yr old, on day 2 she broke her wrist (will she ever play the piano again?... dun dun dun!). Uncle Carson also joined us for the fun.

Spamalot Weekend in London - March

Chris was unable to fly home for one of his weekends, so Anne flew out to join him in London for a few days. While there, they went to the original Hard Rock Cafe, took in a show (Spamalot - funniest show ever and includes "19.5 songs not in any other show in the West End"). Only regret was that we didn't purchase the Black Knight, complete with detachable bloody limbs.

New York, New York USA - June
Anne and friend Becky spent a week staying in the Big Apple for a week. For some of the time we also enjoyed the company of friend Chris and friend Malissa. Highlights include seeing show after show after show, seeing the Site of the World Trade Center, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, Times Square and of course shopping. Did you know there’s a giant karaoke jumbotron in Times Square? We went, but apparently you have to be drunk to have the nerve to perform so we just watched the show.

Kauai, Hawaii - June / July
Chris flew from London to LAX and met up with the rest of us for a trip to the Islands with Eric & Cindy and their children. Did you know that if you challenge a 13 year old to run across a place where there’s potential to fall into the muddy water that she will in fact try it - even without a swim suit, towel, or change of clothes!? Especially when challenged by fun loving Uncle Chris? Yep. Will try it and succeed (at getting wet and muddy with no towel or change of clothes). Trip highlights include outings with extended family, Anne’s first SCUBA experience, Kemps with the cousins (new card game courtesy of friends from Chris & Anne’s 10th anniversary cruise last year), and of course, lots & lots of Hawaii shave ice.

Cupertino, California - July

On our way back from Hawaii, we went to see DeeDee & Grandpa, the Taber grandparents, in Cupertino for the Fourth of July. We enjoyed fireworks and lots of swimming. Isabelle earned money by swimming laps (her first laps in a full length pool) and also taught herself to dive. Chase is also doing very well with swimming - very independent. We celebrated DeeDee & Grandpa's wedding anniversary at the Melting Pot - great fun for the whole family - thanks for getting married DeeDee & Grandpa!

Moab, Utah - July

Anne flew to Utah to drive back to Texas with friend Becky. Though they both grew up in Utah, neither one had ever been to Arches. So they hiked up to Delicate Arch in time to catch the sunset, camped overnight in Moab and spent the next day hiking and climbing around more of the arches. Why have we never done this before!? It was amazing. Highlights of the trip include the iPod Karaoke Game. To play, choose a song for your friend to sing, give her (or him) the earphones, turn it way up and enjoy the comedy and or entertainment of your own live show! Tip: You must sing what is chosen, and you must sing as though you were by yourself, i.e., no inhibitions. Almost as much fun as playing Guitar Hero (which was also one of the highlights of the trip).

London, England UK - August
Anne, Isabelle and Chase took the 9 hour flight to meet up with Chris for two weeks in the UK. (Break into Clash song: London Calling…) We stayed at Le Meridian in Piccadilly Circus. While Chris was at work Anne and the children spent the first day at Hamley’s. It is a giant FAO Schwartz-style toy store in London including 5 stories of toys and its own kid-friendly eatery and sweet shop. Mary Poppins (the musical) was playing in the West End so we took the children. One of our favorite things was seeing all the street performers in Covent Garden. Chase recently asked how all the statues were able to move. I explained that they were street performers with a really good paint job (light bulb moment!).
This trip is when we introduced to Isabelle and Chase the idea of moving to London. When asked where they wanted to live, Isabelle said Piccadilly Circus and Chase wanted to go up to Leeds – probably because there’s a talking elevator in Chris’ building there. Other highlights of the trip included seeing Leeds Castle and getting lost in the giant hedge maze on the grounds. We also went on the London Eye and saw the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace (or at least saw the backs of all 10,000 people watching the Changing of the Guard!)

Princeton, New Jersey & NYC, New York - November
Once we decided to move to London, and before the kids got started in British schools, we decided to stop and spend a few days visiting our friends in our first home in Princeton, NJ. Friends Derick & Malissa generously allowed us to stay with them. Chase and Gibson had fun playing cars, K’Nex and Dress-up while Isabelle had fun playing big sister or babysitter to Delaney (note: a seven year-old is not old enough to independently babysit an 18-month old!). On our last day we packed up all the children and spent the day in New York. We rode the Ferris Wheel in Toys R Us in Times Square, enjoyed hotdogs and roasted nuts from street vendors, and hit the Build-a-Bear and American Girl stores.

Chiswick, London, England UK - Present Day
We began our stay in London staying in corporate housing while waiting for our overseas shipment to arrive. After two day's worth of searching, this is the place we chose and tried to rent. But we don't live there. We had such difficulties negotiating the contract that we decided to begin the search again.
So here it is. Our new home for the next two years! I've haven't captured a photo on a sunny day yet, but you can see it's a converted Victorian flat. It has two bedrooms and an open kitchen/dining room/living room with two sets of French doors that open onto the back garden. So far, it has been very comfortable. After living out of suitcases for over a month it is nice to have our own things, and to make a home for ourselves.