Thursday, November 30, 2006

Our Little Hawk!

 
 
Tate wore his Hawkeye sweatshirt today and he just looked SO cute in it! It's his first Hawkeye attire he's been able to fit into, so we were very excited to get it on him! Even though it may not look like it, Tate is smiling in the first picture...not crying. :) Posted by Picasa

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Looking Back...


This afternoon I was doing a lot of thinking about the last 7 1/2 weeks. I just cannot believe that Sean and I have been so blessed to receive Tate! We love Tate so much and cherish every moment with him. I decided to look back and see if I had posted on my blog on the day Tate was born. This is the post that I put on my blog on the day Tate was born, but we had not found out about him yet. We would hear about Tate less than 24 hours after I posted this...it gave me chills when I read it again:

A Mother's Prayer

She's in my thoughts, each day I wake,

I wonder how she feels.

I pray for her, with all my heart

God please, do help her heal.

Hold her close & help her Lord,

their love will never part.

Please help her heal & help her smile,

for this will break her heart.

Help her know how much she means,

to a family whose hope was lost.

God, help her know with all our joy,

we'll not forget her loss.

Please give her love & bless her heart,

and help her through each day.

Dry her tears & heal her soul

...for this Dear Lord I pray.




"I found this poem tonight and although it's written by an adoptive parent who already has their child, I still can relate to these feelings. I pray everyday for the birthmother of our child. God knows who she is and we know he listens to our prayers. I can only imagine how much gratitude I will have for our baby's birthmother once we receive our baby. I am sure it will be beyond any gratitude we imagined we would have, but our thoughts and prayers are with her everyday even though we have yet to meet her or know who she is. I just really loved this poem and thought I would share it with all of you!"


It is amazing to me that my son was born and Brandon and Maggie were looking at our profile at possibly the very moment I was writing this post. I remember vividly how I was feeling when I posted this poem...I remember crying as I typed it and truly feeling the words of the poem. I had no idea how deep those feelings would be in less than 24 hours after posting that. I had no clue what emotions were shortly following. Reading the poem now, it stands even more true than before...I feel those words more deep in my heart than the day I first read it. Now we realize the gratitude that we have for Tate's birthmother is beyond any words, but also we have that same gratitude for Tate's birthfather...that was something we never expected. For some reason, we just assumed that the birthfather wouldn't be in the mother or child's life...that's what we heard "most situations" were like. We were so blessed to have a situation that wasn't like "most situations"! I know I seem to type the same types of things each time I write about how grateful and blessed we are, and I probably will continue to do so. I just can't find any other words...it seems that words diminish the amount of gratitude we are feeling. Every day when I look at Tate, my perfect little son, my heart is so full it feels like it hurts...I love him SO MUCH it hurts! I feel as though I can't take a breath. If I wasn't able to control myself, I would be in a puddle of tears (tears of JOY!) every time I looked at him! Everyone tells you that you cannot describe a mother's love...it's a love that you never knew existed, and I now COMPLETELY understand that. I want to be able to write how it feels, but words could never describe it! I know that all of you mothers out there know what I mean. I am so happy that I am able to experience this joy called motherhood...I have no one to thank, but God. He is the one who brought Maggie and Brandon to us. He is the one who gave Tate to us. Every ounce of my being knows that God created Tate just for us from the moment Tate was conceived. No part of me feels like Tate is not completely, 100%, our son. God made Sean and I adoptive parents, and we are SO GRATEFUL for that!

Friday, November 24, 2006

Tate's First Swim

 
 
 

When we checked in to our hotel room, we were pleasantly surprised to hear that we had been upgraded to a suite!!! WOOHOO! In our suite there was a jacuzzi tub, so Tate was able to take his first swim! He was a natural and was quickly swimming laps! We are so excited that we won't have to worry about watching Tate by the pool in Florida in a few weeks. He's such a quick learner! :) Ha. Actually Tate really liked being in the water, but that might have had something to do with the fact that it was bath water temperature. We'll see how he does in cold water in a few weeks when we're in Florida. Posted by Picasa

Tate's First Thanksgiving!

 
 
 
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Our Little Turkey

 
 
This was Tate's Thanksgiving outfit...he was so cute! Although he didn't want to sleep much for his first Thanksgiving, he was very good! It was great spending time with the "Burback side" of the family...dinner was great and we had so much fun just hanging out! Thank you to the Burbacks for including us in their family holiday and making Tate's first Thanksgiving wonderfully memorable! We are so thankful for all of you! Posted by Picasa

Praise Baby!

 
I just had to post this picture because it is the first time Tate has sat for any length of time to watch his "Praise Baby: God of Wonders" DVD (or any DVD for that matter) without crying. I was SO HAPPY to have him entertained for almost 20 minutes while I got a little bit done. Okay, not that much because I just watched him watching the DVD, but I managed to load the dishwasher! Posted by Picasa

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Happy Thanksgiving

Just wanted to wish everyone out there a Happy Thanksgiving! We are heading up to Storm Lake in the morning to spend Thanksgiving with all of the Burbacks. We are looking forward to our first Thanksgiving with Tate and have SO MUCH to be thankful for this year! We are so blessed with such wonderful friends and family and we wish the best for you all this holiday season. We love you all and want to thank you for being a part of our lives!

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

I know, I know...

 
 
 

You are probably all sick of the same close up pictures of Tate smiling that I keep putting on here. I CAN'T HELP IT!!!! He's just soooo cute and today he has been so animated, I have been NUTS with the camera! Plus, he has such a cute John Deere outfit on that Aunt Cassie got him! Thanks Cassie...he had the hat on that goes with it earlier, but he got hot. It's soooo cute on him! Posted by Picasa

Monday, November 20, 2006

Aunt Kay Visits

 
Kay came and visited again and got to spend time with Tate. He finds her very intriguing...as many people do! She is great with him and he is so blessed to have so many people in his life that love him! Thanks, Kay for coming to visit...it's always so great spending time with you! I love you! Posted by Picasa

Happy Birthday Delaney!

 
Delaney's birthday is in a couple of weeks and Sean and I are unfortunately going to miss it. We got her her first pair of rollerskates and she did a pretty good job with them. This is a picture of her in them! Posted by Picasa

Impossible

 
Try to get a good picture of 2 10 month olds, a six week old, 2 grandparents and six parents; everyone with their eyes open, looking and the camera and with a nice smile...impossible! This was our effort which I found quite funny! Posted by Picasa

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Our Happy Boy!

 
 
 
 
Tate is smiling more and more frequently with every day that passes! We LOVE it! Today especially, Tate decided he was just going to smile all morning! Of course, Mommy knew that those smiles made for a PERFECT photo opportunity! I bet he's just extra happy today because it's his 6 week birthday! :) Here are my favorite photos I captured! Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

SMILING!

I thought I was going to capture his smiling face in this picture, but no luck...caught just the tail end of it!
 


FINALLY in this one, I DID IT! I captured his smile on camera...he held on with this smile for long enough for Mommy's delay on her camera!
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Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Time with family!

 
 
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Our weekend

 
 
 
 

We went to Sean's cousin's wedding this weekend and got to see several of Sean's family that hadn't seen Tate yet. Tate finally got to meet Great Grandma Oetker and got to spend time with his cousins too! It was a great weekend, although Tate didn't sleep well at Nana and Papa's. He is used to his usual surroundings and I think recognized that he wasn't at home. It was a great time and we were so glad to see family! Posted by Picasa

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Just Hangin' Out

 
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Tonight we went out to eat Mexican and it was YUMMY! It was the first time we brought Tate out to dinner with us. He was great of course! He slept the whole time and we had a nice, relaxing dinner. Then we went for a drive and then came home and watched some television. It was just a nice leisurely evening with my babies! I loved it!

Nap Time

Daddy decided it was time for a nap...as you can see, Tate didn't feel the same way...
 
Oh, look how sleepy the Tater is!!!
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