The Stick

Tate loved playing with this stick like it was a sword. Not really the safest toy ever, but fun none the less! I don't know what it is about pictures of him looking at me out of the corner of his eye...it just cracks me up!

And then we took the stick away...

Tate loves visiting Nana and Papa's house...

Nana and Papa P. have such a nice, large yard that Tate can run and play in. We cannot wait to have a larger yard someday for Tate to play! In the meantime, we will just visit Nana and Papa P. whenever we can!

Hands on the hips

Tate has recently been putting his hands on his hips. It cracks me up!

Nightmares

Tate has nightmares so bad. I feel terrible for him, but don't know how to do anything to help him. He wakes up in the night on a regular basis crying and shaking and saying he's scared. He will babble on about what he dreamed about and because he's usually so out of it and half asleep, I can't understand 3/4 of what he's saying. I sometimes get bits and pieces, but one that he has all the time is that a tiger is chasing him and then eating him. I know...scary. He will wake up crying and then say, "the tiger is eating me, the tiger is eating me!" Last night he said, "monster chase me, I run away, monster get me! I scared mommy!" It breaks my heart!

It doesn't help that he is kind of a timid child anyway and that he is nervous about a lot of things that children his age wouldn't typically be nervous about or scared of. I just wish there were something I could do...

NOT the best day today...

I possibly had the worst day ever at work today. I am so ready for some time off...a loooong time off would be nice, but that's not going to happen anytime soon so I will just plug along. Our big project we've been working on is coming to an end...thank goodness! I am longing for Labor Day Weekend already!

A couple of new things about Tate...

I know this is super late seeing as he's almost 3, but he is officially able to drink out of a regular cup without us having to worry that he's going to spill everywhere. He did accidentally spill his water tonight, but it happens. :)

Tate has been showing a bit more interest in in the potty these last couple of days. He hasn't gone on it yet, but at least he'll sit on it and has even asked to sit on it once or twice. I am hoping he'll have at least gone once on the potty by the time he's 3! I was hoping he would have been fully potty trained by 3, but that's not looking very promising.

Also, Tate used Shampoo for the first time tonight. I know, I know...this is extremely exciting stuff! We decided it was time he graduate from the baby soap for his body/hair to shampoo for his hair, but still the baby soap for his body. Anyway, the biggest part of this is that his shampoo is Kids Suave. Most of you who know me know that I DO NOT buy Suave. In fact, one might call me 'anti-Suave', but I couldn't bare to spend a lot of money on shampoo for Tate, so I decided to suck it up and just buy the Suave. I am sure he (and his hair) will survive. I can assure you that MY hair will never smell of Suave!!!

And that's all for tonight.

Tate ate a penny tonight...

...then he said, "Mommy, I ate a penny and now I'm full!" I was nervous at first when I heard he was kind of choking on it a bit, but he got it down and apparently now there's nothing to worry about. It is kind of frustrating though that our almost 3 year old even put the penny in his mouth! I would say he's old enough to know not to do that! Ugh.

3rd Person

Tate refers to himself in 3rd person all the time. He says things like, "Tate is tired" and "Tate is hungy" or "Tate wants to play outside". Is this normal?

Front Yard Picnic

We had such a fantastic evening!

We had plans to grill burgers and eat chips. While Sean was grilling, we had Tate playing in the baby pool out front. Since he was having so much fun and we didn't want to make him get out, we decided to lay a blanket down out front and have a picnic. Tate thought it was so fun.

After dinner we ate icey pops...

and then Tate got back in to swim some more.

After he swam for a while longer, we headed in for a bath and more icey pops!
I love evenings like this!

He LOVES sunglasses...

So why wouldn't he wear them in the bathtub?

The art of eating an icey pop...

Tate's mastered it...

A fleeting moment...

I have moments with Tate sometimes where I think, "I can't imagine having any more children because there is NO WAY I could love another child as much as I love Tate". Those moments are fleeting because we DEFINITELY want more children and siblings for Tate, but last night I had one of those moments...

Tate had been in bed for over an hour when I heard him yelp out so I went to check on him and found that he very possibly hadn't even gone to sleep yet. He had all his stuffed animals and his stuffed Manny lined up perfectly, covered with a blanket and 'tucked in' nicely and was sitting up in the middle of his bed tending to them not appearing that he had been sleeping any time recently. This was our conversation:

Me: "Tate, you need to lay down and go to sleep...it's late!"

Tate: "Okay Mommy, you lay with me."

Me: "Okay, I will for a few minutes."

I lay down and he gets all snuggled in and it facing me with his face about 2 inches from mine...

Tate: sigh "this is better Mommy, thank you."

Me: "oh, I love you so much sweetie!"

Tate: "I love you too, Mommy."

silence...I start to act like I'm sleeping and Tate is just laying there with his eyes open, staring at me. He yawns and starts to rub my arm...

Tate: "I love your arm, Mommy"

I still act like I'm sleeping and another minute or two passes as Tate yawns several times...he now thinks I am asleep.
Tate rubs across my hair and down my cheek and says in a whisper...

Tate: "I love you, Mommy so much"

Then he grabs each side of my face and comes in and kisses me on the middle of my forehead, turns over and goes sound asleep.

Oh.My.Heart.

How did I ever deserve such a sweet, amazing little boy!
I had my moment right then and there. I thought, "there is no way I could love any child more than this one." Seriously, I was bursting with love so much that it almost hurt.

I know that's not true, I know I will love ALL of my 5 (ahem...okay Sean, MAYBE I'll settle for 3) children as deeply as I love Tate! It's just hard to imagine right now.

Dancing Machine

Sometimes when I cook, I like to turn on the Contemporary Christian music station on our TV and listen while I am making dinner. Sean and Tate were outside playing while I made dinner tonight so I turned the music on. When they came in for dinner, we left the music on and Tate grooved during dinner. He couldn't wait to get done with dinner and go in the "ninningroom" (livingroom) and dance. So that's what we did. At first we were dancing to the Christian station and then the music got a little slow in tempo to groove to so we turned it to "Party Favorites". I had to disclose that because the song in the first video isn't terribly appropriate.


Dancing Machine


I like Michael Jackson!!!

We were dancing and Tate was saying, "thith ith tho cool!" and "thith ith awthum!!!" It was honestly melting my heart! Those comments literally made my entire day! I love those moments with Tate when he thinks that what we are doing is the most fun thing in the entire world! Oh how I love him!!!!

I posted this picture a year ago today...

Today is the 1st day of the Iowa State Fair. This is a very big deal in these neck of the woods!

1 year ago today, Sean and I brought Tate to the fair and he had a blast. He ate delicious food, rode a big slide, checked out all the animals, rode in the Sky Tram. It was a fun time. We are unsure if we'll go this year or not. Tate isn't as easily contained these days as he no longer rides in a stroller because he's a "big boy" now. :) Also, it's just so expensive! Looking back at my post from our State Fair trip last year makes me want to go though! Last year, we were given free food tickets and admission for Wells Fargo Days at the Fair and they opted to not do that this year. :( BOO!!!! We'll have to see if we can go. I know it would be so fun for Tate so we'll probably try to go on a weekday evening when it's 1/2 price admission.

Itty Bitty Baby...

Tate has been going through a phase where he will 'pretend' that he's a baby. He'll say things like, "I need a bottle, Mommy" and "I'm a baby!"

After his bath last night, we swaddled him up in his towel and were saying, "coochy coochy coo!" and rocking him like a baby. He thought it was so funny that when I went to unswaddle him, he said, "no mommy...I a baby! I need my bottle."

Since I don't have any bottles accessible, I dug deep into a cabinet in a baggy back in the corner and found his old pacifiers and gave him one. It's so funny how he used to suck on this thing like crazy, but last night he was practically gagging on it and didn't understand how it worked.

Our Itty Bitty Baby...

popcorn and a movie

After Tate's SUPER long nap today, we decided to have movie and popcorn night. We had plans to go to the discount theater in Ames to watch Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs today, but Tate's sleepiness and super long nap didn't allow for that. That was okay...we made our own theater, popped popcorn and watched Bolt. It was a really cute movie and Tate sat and didn't flinch while he watched the whole thing, so he definitely enjoyed it!

I'm not ready for the week to start again. I have enjoyed my family so much this weekend and though we just kind of hung out all weekend, it was a great one and I'm not ready for it to end.

On multiple occasions this weekend, unprompted, Tate looked at me and said, "I wuv you, Mommy" with the sweetest smile on his face. There's nothing like that in the world. It is the sweetest thing my ears have ever heard.

a lazy Sunday at home

Tate had a LATE night last night. We went over to my coworker Jenny's house last night and had a fun filled evening of hanging out, game playing and eating delicious food. Tate stayed up super late though and then was a bit messed up and didn't have a great night of sleep, waking up in the middle of the night a couple of times and then finally waking up this morning to a nightmare saying the "the tiger is eating me!" Poor thing.

So today was a lazy day, we never got out of our pj's. We played with toys, Play-Do, layed around and relaxed all day. It was a fun day at home.

And Tate started today doing the fake smile for pictures. Oh great.

He played so hard, he decided to fall asleep on the couch while hugging a HUGE cup of pop.
Nice.

He slept until 6:30 pm when I finally had to go in his room and wake him up.

Rashy

Whenever Tate eats tomato sauce or salsa, he gets this rash around his mouth. Not sure what it is, but it doesn't seem to bother him. His face looks dirty in this picture and you may not see it very well, but it's actually rashy from eating salsa.
Weird...

Cilantro

It took a bit longer for my cilantro to grow than it did for my basil, but it's looking good now!

Blessed by so many...

I am not sure what triggered my thoughts today to focus on all of my blessings, but I am happy I have. I have been thinking a lot today about all of the amazing people in our lives. It's just so incredible the amazing relationships we have.

Just last week, Sean went on vacation for a week with my side of the family and had an amazing time. He felt at home with my parents and my whole side of the family. While he was gone, Sean's parents watched Tate for the week. Of course I missed him terribly so I went up to Colo to visit in the middle of the week. I stayed the night at his parents' house and ate dinner with his mom and Tate and then stayed up until 11pm with her just drinking wine and chatting. I feel at home with them, they are my family. Unfortunately, there are so many people out there who don't have that with their in laws.

And just because he's the most handsome boy in the world...look at him!!!

In addition to the relationships we have with each others parents, we both have that close relationship with our sister and brother-in-laws too! We have both been blessed to add several more siblings into our lives when we joined in marriage.

And our nieces and nephews...well there are no words to describe the love we have for each of them. And the love Tate has for them is deep as well. He talks about one or all of them every single day.

Then there is Tate's birth family. Again, it's hard to put into words the love we have for each of them. They are family. Brandon along with Tate's Grandma and Grandpa Shingledecker are an amazing blessing. Their deep love for Tate is so very special. Our love for them runs deep as well. The fact that Tate has a father's love from 2 men is a true blessing and that he is able to feel it first hand each time he spends time with Brandon is something that SO MANY adopted children never get to experience. In addition, he gets to have an extra set of grandparents! Who wouldn't want that?!?!!!!
Wow.

As you can see below, Tate is one HAPPY boy! He has every reason to be. He is so very loved and deserves every ounce of it. Oh how I wish there was a word to describe how I feel for this little boy. Verbalizing (or writing) my true feelings is impossible. He is simply the most amazing thing in the world to me...to us. I caught him mid belly laugh in the picture below.

Tate's new talent...
blowing bubbles between his lips with his saliva. I don't know where or how he learned this, but he is P-R-O-U-D! He thinks he is super talented and will squeel with delight when he gets a big bubble and loves to show me. You can't really tell in the picture below, but he is in mid bubble blowing...

Back to the amazing people in our lives...

Our friends.
We have incredible friends. Friends who we have spent days on end with on vacation, friends who have given us the honor of being able to help them to adopt their first child, friends who we've stood up with at their weddings, friends who have been in our lives for over 20 years as well as friends who have been in our lives for only a couple of years, but each of them are so dear to us. We can count on them whenever we are in need and would be there for them as well. They love our son and supported us as we waited for him and went through the struggles of infertility and then the joys of adoption. They are friends we will have for the rest of our lives no matter where life takes us.

And Tate loves each of them and thier kids as well.
To be surrounded by such amazing people and to be able to call so many of them family is a blessing beyond words.

Aside from all of our extended family and friends, we have this angelic little man who we get to love on every single day. He is a blessing beyond anything we ever dreamed. I could burst with love every single day. And the only way I can describe this love I have for him is a love that makes me ache...I love him so much it sometimes physically hurts. I know that all you mothers out there know exactly what I mean. It's amazing...truly amazing.

Soon Sean and I will be celebrating 5 years of marriage. He is the love of my life and I am blessed that God brought him to me to call my husband every day and to raise our children with. His role as a father is something he takes seriously and he is good at it.

Recognizing all of these blessings in my life is something I wish I remembered to do every minute of every day. Getting caught up in the chaos of work and the exaustion of just being a working mother of a fiesty 2 year old makes me faulter. I am so guilty of taking my blessings for granted.

Lord, help me to recognize daily these blessings in my life.
Thank you for bringing each of these amazing people into my life.

Welcome Home Snuggles

It didn't take long for Tate to insist on laying by Daddy on the couch.Now that Daddy's home, everything just feels 'right'.

I sort of odd tradition...

Shark Week on the Discovery Channel

We look forward to it every summer.
We watch all of the shows in the evenings.
Shark Week started on Sunday evening and we've been glued to the TV at night and will continue to be all week.
We will be sad when it's over.
We love Shark Week!

Tate likes butter

not necessarily on things...though he enjoys that too. I made sweet corn on Friday evening and set stick of butter out on a plate for Lora and I to roll our corn on the cob in. I turned my back from it for about 10 seconds and when I turned back around, it was gone. I am immediately confused. I happen to look over into the doorway leading to our living room to see Tate holding the stick of butter and taking a bite off of the end of it. Gross. Seriously, I am on the verge of gagging just typing about it. No picture...sorry.

We missed you so much, Daddy!

Sean was gone for a week in Florida. This is the longest I have been completely alone since Tate was born. Tate was in Colo and I was home ALL alone! I enjoyed the peace in certain moments, but for the most part, I hope I never have to be away from my boys for that long ever again! Tate was ecstatic when Sean came down the escalator at the airport when we picked him up today. He ran into his arms and gave him a hug and kiss and said, "You're here!!!!!!"
So sweet!

I love these 2 boys.
I love watching their love for each other!

Splash Pad

We spent a couple of hours at the splash pad today. The kids had a blast! It was the perfect day for it...mid 80's, sunny and a light breeze!

The were quite possibly the 2 whitest children there! :)

Hug & Kiss

Lora and Ava Visit

Lora and Ava arrived on Friday evening in time for dinner. We just hung out and the kids played and played. It's always so cute to watch them together!

They had so much fun and so did Lora and I! It is always so special to spend time with Lora. We connect on so many levels and can just sit and talk for HOURS!

We did just that...we stayed up until around 1:30a.m on Friday night and until 4:00a.m on Saturday night!!! I don't remember the last time I stayed up until 4:00a.m! It was worth it though to be able to just sit and talk and talk with Lora.

Thank you Lora and Ava for coming to visit! We love you so much!

A little popcorn and a movie before bed...

mmmm...chocolate.

It was so cute...Ava organized all of the Manny tools and put all of the matching ones together...

We decided to cut Ava's hair into a little bob kind of on a whim. It turned out so cute!

Bath time...

This picture cracks me up! Tate wanted the pop he was reaching for and I had said no. He just looked at me with this sad look and reached his hand out like he is here and kept it there and just stared at me.

Snuggling in for a show before bedtime...

Thank You Nana and Papa P!!!

Tate had such a great time with Nana and Papa this last week. He loved all of the one on one attention with them I am sure. I think his favorite part of each day was when he got to go outside and water the plants with Nana. He's been talking about it every since. He keeps pretending to water the plants.

Watering the plants...