Bunch of Paynes

My sister had her baby! I'm an auntie!! Aubyn was due on the 28th, and her little girl became part of the 3% of babies who are actually born on their due dates! Evelynn Kaye McTaggart was born at 10:22pm on Tuesday, October 28th, and she weighed 8 lbs. 10 oz. Mom and Baby are doing really well and will hopefully come home from the hospital today. Meet my beautiful niece . . .

My mom flew to Seattle from London on Tuesday. Aubyn started having a few contractions Tuesday morning and things progressed very quickly, so when I picked my mom up from the airport, she was surprised to hear that we were going straight to Canada! Unfortunately, Evelynn was too excited and couldn't wait until we got there to be born, but we made it to the hospital just an hour later.

Despite living in different countries, it has been a blessing to be with my mom and sister for both Evelynn's birth . . .

. . . and Rooke's birth.

And here he is nine months later, hanging out in his cousin's hospital room. He has done great so far, although isn't that interested in Evelynn yet. My wonderful husband skipped class on Wednesday and drove up to help with Rooke and to meet our new niece.

After church on Sunday, we headed to The Farm (that's really what it's called!). I'd been last year with some girls when I was pregnant, but it was much more fun to go with Rooke in person! It was an absolutely perfect fall day - sunny, clear blue skies, and a chill in the air. It was a great family afternoon.

The biggest pumpkins we'd ever seen!

Our little walker . . . he would do this all day if we let him. He's ready to walk on his own, he just doesn't know it yet!

Rooke loved the animals!

He said he wanted to wheel the pumpkins back to the car, so we let him give it a try . . .

We call Rooke the Destructor when it comes to pulling books off the shelf. But recently, instead of moving on to another victim after all his books have been thrown on the floor, he's started to actually look at them! He's learning how to turn the pages and will babble his own words. You'll notice that he already knows how to read upside-down. Brilliant.

This is one of my favorite books because he really does respond to what he sees on the pages . . .

I realize I am posting a lot of pictures of our oh-so-lovely brown cabinets, but lately we are spending a lot of our play time in the kitchen, so here we go again . . .


While talking to my Nana on the phone recently, she asked if Rooke had figured out how to bang the pots and pans together. During our conversation, he hadn't. The next day, he ventured away from the Tupperware cabinet to find these new treasures!

I was teaching him that he could only open the bottom drawer and not the one above it. Being the curious boy that he is, he obeyed, but decided to go for the next one up.

"I want what's in this cup!"
(Am I crazy, or there a resemblance to Aubyn in this picture?!)

"If my forehead weren't so big, I could get my mouth down in there . . ."

My brother works for OBU and gave me this shirt on a recent visit. Now all we need is Aunt Sara to come teach Rooke how to say Ka-rip!

Ryan was home with Rooke earlier this week and captured these pictures just after Rooke had woken up from his nap. He will usually play by himself for 15 or 20 minutes after he wakes up, but Ryan can't stand to miss out on the fun! (Notice the new crib)

"Yes, I know. I'm cute."

And the photo shoot is over

Before you watch the video, look at the pictures and see if you can hear how much fun we were having. This night has made the top ten list of memories with Rooke. He was in rare form and we were loving it!

We were supposed to be winding down for bed, but it was hard to stop when we were having so much fun! This went on for at least ten minutes!

Today is Ryan's birthday!! Ryan loves these new pictures, so I'm posting them just for him. Rooke has found a new love. The books are still fun to pull off the shelf (see the previous post), but the Tupperware cabinet is almost as exciting. The organized side of me finds this a little annoying, since I have the cabinet organized so everything fits just right, and I can't allow myself to just throw everything back in, even though I know Rooke is going to pull it all out again! At least it keeps him entertained long enough for me to empty the dishwasher.

from this . . .

. . . to this

Rooke is staying busy these days with walking (no, not by himself yet!) and pulling books off the shelf!



He would do this all day if I let him

The "sibling reunion" weekend was, in large part, planned around a Sigur Ros concert. Our dear friends volunteered to watch Rooke for us and we headed out for an even-better-than-expected triple date.

Our seats were in the sixth row! Happy Birthday to Ryan!

Piles of confetti collected during the last big song of the night. It was so much fun, and since we were sitting under the confetti shooters, we were wading in it! I'm still finding little pieces around the apartment.

Yes, those are drumsticks. Yes, they were used by the drummer during the show. Yes, I almost lost my life while Ryan was trying to grab one. Ok, so that last line may be an exaggeration, but Ryan put up a good fight with the guy sitting behind us, who was also going for the stick after the drummer threw it in our direction. My husband won. What a man! I was so proud and would take the giant bruise on my thigh all over again for the same outcome. To make the story even better, after the show was over, the same guy (the loser!) discovered he had lost his cell phone in the brawl . . . er . . . shuffle. We were helping him look for it in the piles of confetti (it was the least we could do since, after all, he had lost the fight for the stick). I bent down to feel on the ground in front of me, and what did I discover hidden in the confetti? The second drum stick!!! It was just laying there! I discreetly picked it up, showed it to Ryan, and we started cracking up. I then quickly passed it off to Scott, who is much bigger fan of Sigur Ros than I am. It was an awesome way to end an already great night.

Ryan, Me, Scott, Aubyn, my niece/nephew, Tana, Konnor.
I love my siblings!

This past weekend was so much fun! We had a "sibling reunion" here in Seattle. My brother, Konnor, and his wife, Tana, flew up from Oklahoma and Aubyn & Scott came down from Canada. Our time together was complete with lots of laughing, tons of food, good conversation, an excellent concert, a surprise baby shower, three birthday celebrations, and a little bit of sleeping.


We met Ryan for lunch in the middle of his school/work day. Rooke was having fun with Uncle Konnor and the chopsticks!

Later, we headed downtown for a little shopping.

Aubyn & Scott are fun with their music . . . they're always making up some song, and Rooke loves it when Uncle Scott plays the guitar.


Hanging out playing games and watching videos after Rooke was in bed.

Tana, Scott, and Ryan's birthdays are all in the first part of October, so Saturday was "Birthday Day". We braved the chilly weather and headed to a nearby park for a picnic lunch.

Books from the parents for their birthdays.

Since Saturday was officially Tana's birthday, she got the first piece of cake. Nice choice!