Sidon Kent Taylor

Maryann and I have liked the name "Sidon" for some time. In the scriptures there is a wonderful story of a great battle which took place at the River Sidon. The good guys were completely outnumbered and they had a lot to lose, including their homes, liberties, wives, children, etc. But they put their trust in God, were strengthened and pulled out a win. I like this story because many of us today are fighting to preserve those same cherished blessings. It is my hope that our little Sidon will remember to ask God for help when things get tough so that he too can pull out a win. And "Kent" happens to be my father's middle name (Timothy Kent Taylor). Sidon currently is the lone "Taylor" heir.

Maryann's water broke last night around midnightish. Our dear friends, Mark and Aupreille, came to our house in the middle of the night to be there when our children awoke. We hung out in the Methodist Hospital luxury birthing suite waiting for Maryann to contract. As usual, she needed some wonderdrugs to get it all going. The picture below is Maryann watching her contractions on the monitor and wondering why the heck the anesthesiologist hadn't given her the epidural.



Apparently he had been tied up with back-to-back cesareans in the OR and was too busy to get her started. He finally did show up about 30 minutes before the baby. He went ahead and tried the epidural but only managed to numb the one side of Maryann. The meds had just started to work when the baby came.

Our sweet doctor had me gown up and help deliver Sidon. He was my very first delivery and I feel especially lucky to have been able to welcome my first son into the world this way.



Mom and baby are doing great. Both appear to have made it through the ordeal without any significant problems.



Interestingly, he's the blondest baby we've made yet. Sigh. His eyelashes are nearly white.



Sidon has his own look. It's very much a "man look". I told the nurse that it's a good thing he's a boy because he sure would make an ugly girl.








Thanks for all your prayers. We are exceedingly blessed!

fun in fall

Here we are again: another fall in Des Moines, another mess of leaves to bag up, another gigantic 9-month-along pregnant wife, another season of holiday fun.

Maryann hasn't let being 9 months pregnant slow her down any. This morning after hours of laundering random objects, she reported that she was nearly through for the day. Some 5 hours later I came in to find her still going at it, this time scrubbing the kitchen floor with alcohol wipes. She finally sat down around 9:30 tonight and took to knitting a baby hat.












The girls both carved their own pumpkins this year. We never did get pictures of the pumpkins they carved themselves. Rivers had all the skills of a knife wielding serial killer. I was jabbed about a dozen times. Good thing those knives are so dull.





These pictures are from our most recent yard cleanup. Cumorah demonstrated to Rivers the sport of "leaf tossin". When we got through the yard looked great... at least for about a day. You've got to love the Iowa wind.



The girls have been preparing for their baby brother's arrival for many months now. I've inserted a little video footage of them in action.