And it continued...

I thought I was on the mend from my stomach bug when I woke up late on Friday night, but I was WRONG!!! After sleeping all day Friday, I slept until 9:00 Saturday morning and was back in bed feeling TERRIBLE by 11:00. I slept all day Saturday until about 3:00. At 3:30, our cable went out and we panicked a bit with the upcoming Hawkeye game starting in a few hours. I felt like I was on the mend again and even though I was under the weather, I wanted to watch the game. SO, Sean and I decided to pack up and head to his parents' house...they were out of town for the weekend and had an empty house and working cable! I thought that if I started feeling icky again, I'd be able to go to bed and that way we could put Tate to bed at his bedtime too. I just kept feeling better and better as the hours passed and was able to watch the whole Hawkeye game...which was AMAZING and was able to even stay up later passed that! I was able to eat my first real meal in 2 days and Tate went to bed at a decent time. Thank you Pat and Linda yet again for being generous and letting us use your house!

I have to say that Sean is an amazing nurse! He was so good to me and took such good care of me for the 2 days while I was sick. I am lucky to have him! Tate took this picture of us...I'm still not 100%, but feeling much better than the last 2 days. We got the cable guy to come hook our cable back up and we are laying low today and hoping I am feeling back to normal tomorrow.

What?!?!?!

This is what we woke up to on Saturday morning. And as weird as it is, I was kind of giddy about it! Just for a minute though. I really an NOT ready for snow yet!

Tate was pretty excited though!

duplex living

So when you live in a duplex and your neighbor doesn't pay his cable bill...there's a chance you could get disconnected too. Yup...even when it's Saturday in the midst of watching college football with the big Hawkeye game starting in a couple of hours. Can you say frustrating?!?!?!

sick

I woke up Friday morning feeling tired, but okay. I got ready, went to work and when I got there I sat down at my desk and felt a little light headed. About 15 minutes later it hit me like a ton of bricks...nausea, headache, achy. I felt terrible. I thought it would pass at first. Nope. At 9:45 I decided I HAD to go home. I spent the next 1/2 hour getting some things done that I needed to get done and was out the door by 10:15. When I got home, I went directly to bed and fell asleep immediately and slept HARD until about 4:45 pm when I woke up for about 45 minutes to take some Ibuprofin and drink some Sprite and tried to eat some toast. I still felt terrible so I went back to sleep and just woke up again and it's almost 1AM! I literally slept all day! I am feeling so much better!!! I hope it has passed and I continue to feel like I do right now. Now I just hope after sleeping for over 12 hours today that I'll still be able t sleep tonight!

Tate's 3 Year Well Child Checkup

He is in the 50th percentile for height and weight.
He weighs 33 lbs.
He is 37 inches tall.
The doctor said, "he's perfect".
We think so!
He got some blood work to check to see if he's anemic and also got the Flu Mist instead of the shot.
It was a good appointment and we have a happy, healthy boy.

Birthday Tradition

When I was a kid, my mom would wake me up in the morning on my birthday by bringing me a gift. I loved it, I'll always remember it. I wanted to continue this with my kids. This is the first year I felt really 'got' the idea of opening gifts. So this is the first year I started this tradition. It was also not how I imagined or planned it in my head...what really ends up working out the way you always thought anyway, right?!! Ha. So Tate had a terrible night the night before his birthday...TERRIBLE! He had a night terror and was screaming bloody murder and was completely inconsolable. It was awful...so bad that I started crying because I didn't know what to do to calm him down. Long story short, we ended up in the living room...Tate on the love seat, me on the couch. So he awoke on the couch the morning of his birthday.

Here he is getting his gift about 1 minute after he woke up...

Later in the afternoon, we gave him a couple of other gifts. We only had Christmas wrapping paper, so that's what he got...he didn't know the difference!

He was excited about his monster bean bag toss game...

He also loved his big box of "fake food"...

Tate is such an Iowa boy...eatin' (fake) corn on the cob and dawning his Hawkey sweatshirt...

It was a pretty low key birthday at home, but we had a great time!
I cannot believe our son is 3!

Meeting Our Son...3 years ago today!

There is no way to describe the feelings from the moment we met Tate.
The only thing I can think of is "surreal".
I couldn't believe it was happening...I couldn't believe this perfect little child was ours!
We had to pull the car over after driving away because we were both such emotional wrecks, so much that Sean couldn't even drive and I couldn't even speak.
I remember calling my mom and sister just sobbing while trying to tell them how beautiful Tate was.
It was so overwhelming...so unbelievably incredible.

The first 2 pictures below were taken within the first 5 minutes of meeting Tate...3 years ago today.

The first time I saw Sean as a Daddy.
What a moment!

It didn't take long...Sean and I fell fast and hard.
These next 2 pictures were taken about 4 hours after we met Tate.

This day is just as special to us as Tate's birthday.
Many in the adoptive world call this day "Gotcha Day".
October 7th, 2006...our "Gotcha Day".
This day, 3 years ago, changed our lives in a moment.
One look at our son and we were no longer priority.
From that day forward, all that mattered was Tate...his safety, his health, his happiness.
Nothing else on this earth mattered to us.
Our love for Tate grows with every day.

3 years later, we still look at Tate and can hardly believe he is our son.
What a blessing adoption is...it has fulfilled us more than we ever dreamed!

A day we will never forget...

3 years ago TODAY was one of the most memorable days of our lives...that is up until 3 years ago tomorrow! 3 years ago today, we found out we had a son!

Here's a recap of the story...

I was planning on going to a local place called What's for Dinner where you prepare several meals for the month to freeze and our friends The Knutsons were coming down so that Sara and I could go together and the guys could hang out with their kids. I will never forget, we had our appointment at What's For Dinner at 5pm and at 4 pm, I got a call from a number I didn't recognize. I immediately thought, "what if it's Bethany Christian Services!" This time, it was. The director was on the other end and said, "Hi Jennie, are you busy?" I of course said, "No, why?" She proceeded to tell me that they had a situation where a baby had been born the day before and the birth parents had selected us, but the birth father wanted to meet us first before they made a final decision and asked if we could be in Cedar Rapids by 7pm. She said that we would need to have our carseat in the car and a diaper bag. I couldn't even think. I was a mess! I told her that I wasn't sure we could be there that early, but I asked if 8 pm would be okay. I asked her if it is a boy or a girl and she responded with, "oh my goodness...I will have to call the social worker and ask, I am unsure." Honestly though, I didn't care. She gave me a quick overview of the birth mother and father and their story. I was overwhelmed to say the least. Sean was at work. As soon as I got off of the phone, I called him and said, "I think we have a baby! I don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet, but you need to come home right now...we have to be in Cedar Rapids by 8 pm to meet the birth father!" He was very calm, but overwhelmed as well. He came right home and did all of the thinking for me as far as what we needed to bring because I couldn't even breathe, let alone think!

We drove to Cedar Rapids and talked about what we thought it would be like to meet the birth father, what we will ask, what we thought he would ask. We were so nervous! I could go on forever about the very special first meeting we had with Brandon, but it was a moment created by God, it was the right place we were supposed to be, I felt a calm and a comfort, we just knew that God was with us and felt Him with every moment we spent with Brandon. At the end of our meeting, Brandon let us know that he and Maggie wanted us to be their son's Mommy and Daddy. They had named him Hunter Kenneth, but Brandon so graciously said, "he is your son, you can name him whatever you would like." We wanted to discuss this with him though, so we all agreed on Tate for his first name and Sean and I wanted to keep Kenneth for his middle name as it was the part of the name that Maggie had chosen and we wanted to honor her by keeping that name.

We left our meeting with a sense of peace and felt as though this would all go through. The social workers did indicate that we should 'guard our hearts' because there was still a chance they could change their minds. It felt a bit too late at this point to guard our hearts. We stayed up all night praying. We were going to get to meet our son the next day!!!

Read my post I wrote from 3 years ago today HERE.

3 Years Ago Today...

3 years ago today we were completely in the dark that our son was born. I went about my day with thoughts of when we would get "the call". I prayed constantly for my child and his/her birth parents. I knew that God had already chosen a child for Sean and I to raise, I just didn't know if He had created him/her yet. I especially had no idea that he would be entering the world that very day!

I'm not going to lie...it makes me so sad that I missed even a second of Tate's life. I wish I would have been there to see him enter the world, to see his first breath, to hear his first cry. However, I am not sad that Maggie and Brandon were the ones who got to witness all of that, who loved on him and soaked up the short time with him while he was 'just theirs'. They needed that time alone with him and I am so thankful for the love they showed him during that time. We have only heard stories of how those 2 days were for them and we will never ever understand what they were feeling, but we know that Tate has never lacked for people loving him. He was instantly loved with that deep love that only a mother, father, grandmas and grandpas know. He was shown that love every moment of his life from his first breath. Though we weren't the ones to show that love to him for the first 2 days of his life...we couldn't be happier that we didn't NEED to be the ones to show it to him. His birth mother, father and grandparents are the ones who were supposed to show that love to him for those 2 days.

I've said it before and I'll say it again...the time that has passed has not caused our feelings of gratitude to diminish at all! It's the most amazing feeling of gratitude you have when you are an adoptive parent. There are no words. I love being Tate's mommy, I love that he has the love of his birth family, I love being an adoptive mother. It's where I was meant to be.

3 years ago today, our son entered this world to an amazingly loving, selfless and courageous mother and father. Only 2 days later, he would be handed over to Sean and I so we could be his mother and father. There are just no words.

(I wish I had a picture to post of Tate from 3 years ago today. Read HERE the post I wrote the day Tate was born. We wouldn't know about him until the next day.)

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!!!

Our "baby" is 3 today! I am one of those Mommies that gets emotional with every birthday that passes. I feel like it was just yesterday that we got "the call" that we had a son. I still get the chills when I think about it. I never knew how amazing motherhood would be, how exhausting it would be, how consuming it would be, how rewarding it would be and how much love I had in me! I can find more love for this little man every single day that passes. He is our pride and joy.

We love you Tate and are so honored to be your Mommy and Daddy. You bring us joy like we never knew we could feel. We pray you always feel how much love we have for you and always feel how much love God has for you. You are an answer to our prayers every single day. We love you more than any words could describe. Happy Happy Birthday...no matter how many years pass, you will always be our Tater Tot!!!

Birthday Party or Daycare Center?

We couldn't have asked for a better setting for Tate's party! It would have been nice if the weather had been another 10 degrees warmer, but aside from that, it was great! The sun ended up coming out, which we didn't expect and everyone seemed to have a great time. It was quite overwhelming with the amount of kids that were there. I felt like I was constantly saying, "where's...?" and "has anyone seen...?" or "is....in there with you?" I just felt like I couldn't keep track of them all! All of the kids were taken care of and had a great time though.

Those of you who know me, know I am a fan of "themes". Tate's been really into Super Heros lately, so what else would we have, but a Super Hero Birthday Party! :)

We played football, soccer and ran around outside for much of the afternoon...

just had to slip a picture of this little sweetie in...

I think Evan thought she was a sweetie too...check out this smooch!!!

Sara and Ty...

Tate was so excited about ALL of his gifts!

My attempt at a picture of all of the Peakin Grandkids...

For and activity at the party, I made Super Hero Capes for all of the kids and had fabric markers so everyone could decorate one. It was quite the hit...the kids seemed to LOVE them!

Our BEAUTIFUL niece, Leah showing off her Super Hero Cape...

The Peakin Grandkids all looking at the camera at the same time!!!
So cute in their Super Hero Capes!
(if only Tate was smiling! At least he wasn't holding his hand up yelling, "DON'T CHEESE ME!")

It was a FANTASTIC party!

A couple gifts...

Tate got a TON of amazing gifts. To prevent him from being completely overwhelmed, we'll probably gradually take them out of the boxes...maybe a couple a day over the next week or so. He wanted his Handy Manny Laptop out of the box stat. He has been perched in front of it all day. There's a good chance that he witnesses Mommy and Daddy perched in front of their laptop so much that he wants to be like us. He still loves his laptop he got this spring, but I have a feeling he may be using his Manny one more often now! He spent every other free moment punching his new Spiderman Bop Bag with his huge boxing gloves. He genuinely LOVES each and every one of his gifts he got! Thank you to everyone...you all did way too much!

Just Cute

Sunday

Sean, Brigg, Lani, Ayla, Tate and I stayed in Colo last night. We were all exhausted by the time our heads had hit the pillows. Sean's parents bought cinnamon rolls for breakfast that were delicious and then we hung out and packed everything up into the van before we headed back to Des Moines. We had a low key afternoon and then headed to the park to get out of the house for a bit before we met up with Cassie so she could pick up the kids around 5:00.

Everything went perfectly this weekend! This kids were all terrific and Tate had a blast! I don't know what could have made it go more smoothly. I HUGE thank you to Pat and Linda for EVERYTHING they did to help us this weekend. Honestly, we wish there was so much more we could do to thank them. They are amazing and we are so blessed to have them and Tate is so blessed to have them as his Nana and Papa. They let us trash their garage, helped entertain a large group and helped clean up until late amongst many other things. Honestly, I could go on and on about there generosity. Thank you is not enough!

Ayla was also very helpful...she helped blow up his bop bag. She really took this job seriously...

And I turned around to look at the kids on the way home and saw Tate and Ayla holding hands.
Seriously...about the cutest thing I've seen!

Everything about her is so cute...be prepared for lots of Ayla pictures!

Tate and Lani watched a movie in our bed after lunch...they were tired!

Sean may have been a bit large for this slide...

I loved cuddling up to this little angel all weekend!!!

Brigg and Lani, as usual, were terrific. We had so much fun keeping these 3 all weekend!
Wish we could do it more often.

He actually WANTED me to take these!!!

He said, "Mommy, cheese me!"
You don't have to ask me twice!
You get to see both of these pictures because it's just so hard to get pictures of him smiling these days!

Picking up where they left off...

There has always been an undeniable bond between Tate and his birth father, Brandon. It's something that is so special to witness. He is comfortable around Brandon and when he shies away from nearly anyone he doesn't see on a regular basis, he gravitates to Brandon. He knows that Brandon is special to him.

Tate has not seen Brandon since December and so I didn't know if due to the long time since he'd seen Brandon if that bond wouldn't maybe be as apparent. I was wrong! He immediately started spending his time with Brandon. He played with Brandon, he sat by him while eating and fed Brandon some of his food, he rode on his shoulders and when it was time for Brandon to go, he gave him a hug and kiss and then decided he wanted one more before he left and pulled his face over for another kiss. I just can't express how special their bond is and how unbelievable blessed Tate (and Sean and I!) is to have Brandon in his life! We love you Brandon!!!

Look at them! They look so much alike!!!

Brandon flying Tate around like a Super Hero...

It's not easy to say goodbye...

"Hey, I want another kiss!"

The Cake

I have made 3 cakes with fondant in the last year. I think my first one was the best. Then, my second was more simple, so it turned out okay. This most recent one was Tate's 3rd Birthday cake this weekend. It's actually kind of embarrassing. It's supposed to be a burning building with Spiderman climbing on it. I did a layer cake and did blue and red layers like the Spiderman colors. The building ended up being almost the same height as Spiderman and looks kind of like a spaceship. Oh well, Tate seemed to be impressed with it so that's all that matters.

Friday night...a success!!!

We have 4 kids this weekend. We are keeping Brigg, Lani and Ayla this weekend. In addition to that, I am trying to do way too much for Tater's birthday party. Really, I need to learn how to NOT do a fancy cake and just buy a HyVee cake. However, we managed to have a fun filled evening, all the kids were tucked into bed without a peep by 9:30 (Ayla and Tate earlier) and I decided I would decorate Tate's cake tonight instead of tomorrow morning. Iam SO happy I decided to do that...it will make tomorrow morning a lot less stressful. Lani and I made the frosting and fondant, after the kids went to bed I dyed the fondant and put it on the cake. I hope it holds up until the party tomorrow. I do have some little details to add to the cake tomorrow, but it will be so much less stressful than having to do everything tomorrow. I was right though, I bit off a little bit more than I could chew this year. I took on a cake that was probably a bit too difficult for my lack of experience and skill. It looks kind of funny, but it will do. Hopefully it at least tastes good!

Anyway, the kiddos were angels...seriously, they are such great kids! We are so happy that we have them this weekend and know it is going to be so much fun!

Tate has a small room...

I've always known that, but tonight I know it even more! His room is ALL BED right now. Not kidding...there is almost no floor to speak of. Brigg and Lani are sleeping on an air mattress in his room. His full sized bed practically takes up his whole room as it is...add an air mattress to that and well, there's no floor. Ha. All the kids are sound asleep. I am going to be soon I hope! :)

Baking Tate's Cakes = Fiasco

I baked the cakes for Tate's birthday party last night and then froze them. I don't have time to elaborate on what a fiasco it was...just trust me. I mean, I can't even count how many cakes I've baked in my life, but you would have never known that last night! In the end, they got done how I wanted them to be done...not after another trip to the store for more ingredients after throwing away the batter from my first attempt. Plus, I didn't even start making them until around 9pm AND I stayed up and waited for them to be cooled before I put them away to freeze them. All I have to say is that I was up late yet another night and I am tired yet another day at work. I will say that Sean was of great help to me during the cake baking deboccle last night. I would have given up and bought a cake at HyVee and been done with it if it weren't for him. He has been super helpful and amazing this week. I literally have a list on the fridge that says "HONEY DO" and has a section for every day this week with a list of things I need him to do each day. He hasn't complained once and has always had every item on the list completed by the time I've arrived home from work.

I am expecting another late night tonight. When I get off work, we are heading up to Colo to drop some items off for the birthday party and also to drop Sean's car off to be fixed (some wiring issue we think). Once we get home after dropping things off and eating supper in Colo, I still need to check 3 items off of my list. Sean's list for today is looooong, so he will be busy! I am looking forward to having a fun weekend with family and friends and hope that Tate's party goes off without a hitch. I must say, I am a bit concerned about how his cake will turn out...I may have been a little brave when I made the decision to make the cake I decided to make. Ugh. I will post pictures once the party is over.