I stole this from another blog....

‘A Cherokee elder sitting with his grandchildren told them, “In every life there is a terrible fight–a fight between two wolves. One is evil; he is fear, anger, envy, greed, arrogance, self-pity, resentment, and deceit. The other is good: joy, serenity, humility, confidence, generosity, truth, gentleness, and compassion.” A child asked, “Grandfather, which wolf will win?” The elder looked him in the eye. “The one you feed.”‘
(Cherokee Proverb)

Checking off of my list

I have a list today that I have already checked 2 things off of! This is quite the accomplishment for me...especially at 9:45 in the morning!

I was complaining in my last post about how cold our house is and yesterday I even turned the temperature up on the thermostat and wondered why I was still cold. Well, Sean informed me that he was going to turn the heat on this morning! I am such a ditz! It's always a good idea to have the heat on before it can be warm! So this morning, I am actually warm and cozy with the heat on! :) Tate is taking his morning nap and I am longing for a nap myself, but I will not give in to the temptation of my soft, warm bed...I have a list!

Mom and Dad are coming to town tomorrow morning and we plan to hang out at their hotel and possibly do some swimming. Otherwise, we don't have any big plans for this weekend. It should be pretty low key. Maybe I'll actually get some laundry done on Sunday! :) Which reminds me...laundry is on my list for today...better get back to checking things off.

Random Thoughts

So the night time diapers worked like a charm! Tate woke up with dry pj's for the first time today in a loooooong time! Woohoo!

Tate took another step today...maybe yesterday's step wasn't a fluke after all! We will have to see!

I ate 3 Snickers today (the mini ones) that were leftover from trick or treaters that never came to our door! Ugh...

Tate started saying "peez" (please) today which was pretty cute!

I swear that our house is like -20 degrees in the morning! I was so freezing this morning...my nose was like an ice cube and I could barely feel my feet! Sean had the fan on in our bedroom and also in the living room...he's nuts!

I have no clean pj pants so I have been wearing pj capri length pants which might have something to do with the fact that I am freezing when I wake up...I seriously need to do laundry!

Sean shaved his goatee and seems to think that Tate doesn't recognize him now. He's so paranoid! The cause of this thought was because he was holding Tate and Tate leaned over to reach for me. Seriously, I would bet that Tate doesn't even notice that he doesn't have a goatee anymore!

Tate had a severe diaper rash yesterday (well, the most severe one he's ever had) and he would scream every time we would wipe him. We put Desitin on it since it appeared (4 diaper changes ago) and it was completely gone this evening! That stuff is amazing! Not even 24 hours to clear up! I love Desitin!

I saw Ramen Noodles at the grocery store yesterday and thought I would buy a few containers of them. I ate them in the past and they're only $.26! I thought, "why not?!". Well, now I know 'why not'...I tried to stomach the nasty taste, but only got through 1/3 of the container. I guess the wasted money was less than $1.00 so I don't feel so bad.

I think I was born to be nocturnal. I am tired all day long and then as soon as it gets dark, I perk up. My tiredness goes away and I don't know how to get it back! I don't understand how I can lay down and fall asleep at the drop of a hat at anytime during the day, but I can't drag myself to bed before midnight and then I lay in bed awake for sometimes hours before I can go to sleep!

So...I am off to go lay awake in bed.

What's New...

Just thought I would post about all of the new things Tate has been up to...

Tate is changing so much with every day! He is becoming quite the Momma's Boy which may have something to do with the fact that he's been teething again! I swear this teething stuff is never going to end! He's been a drooling mess and chewing on anything in sight these last few days. He has been drinking out of a sippy cup for a while now although he would much rather just play with it and throw it around! He is chatty all day long. He constantly says, "what's that?!" with a wide eyed look and when he sees someone, he says, "who's that?!" with that same wide eyed, excited expression. It's pretty cute! He can (if he's in the mood!) say what a cow, dog and lion say the sound an airplane makes ("WHHHHISHHHHHH") and he knows where his nose and mouth are located on his face. He HATES getting his diaper changed and isn't too fond of holding still in general! He's always on the go and is into EVERYTHING! He can climb stairs and walks around anything he can stand up to. He can stand on his own for several seconds and even more than that when he doesn't realize he's doing it! Today he even took a step on his own!!! I think it was quite the accident, but still pretty exciting. He's really not going to be walking anytime in the next month we don't anticipate, but hopefully in the next couple of months he'll get the hang of it. We are fine with him crawling for now...we know that as soon as he walks, he'll be into even more things! He loves his baths and mealtime. He eats like a champ and we are amazed at some of the things he likes. He really isn't too fond of drinking water yet, but can chug a sippy cup of milk with the best of 'em! :) He is still a HUGE Mickey Mouse Clubhouse fan and also LOVES his Praise Baby DVD's. For fun, he plays with his Little People, trucks, play kitchen, books, balls, DVD cases, balloons, stuffed animals, rocking octopus, push/ride toys, anything with buttons he can push that light up or make noise and loves to play peek-a-boo. He is a dancing machine and we believe he already has rhythm! He definitely jigs to the beat quite well for a nearly 13 month old! He says, "Ipoop" (yes...as one word), "ah done", "guck" (duck), "mik" (milk), "daddy", "dad", "mama", "mommmmm", "ouch", "HIIIIII", "nan you" (thank you) and all of the other words he knew before. Oh, and we can't forget one of his favorite words to say..."NO" and sometimes even "NO NO". That's not our favorite of all of the words! Although we may be a bit biased...we think he's pretty amazing! :)

Here's a little video of him playing, "Where's Tate?!" tonight...

Where's Tate?!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

We had a great day today. Sean got out of school this morning an hour early, so it was almost like he had the day completely off! When Tate woke up from his morning nap we ate lunch and got ready for the day. We decided to head to Jordan Creek Mall and let Tate play at the play area. They have the best one in the Des Moines area, but it's usually jam packed! Today, we were pleasantly surprised when we got there that there were only about 7 other kids playing! Tate was able to crawl all over without having to worry about getting trampled, stepped on, pushed or bit! After about 45 minutes there, we headed to Wal-Mart to buy some Nighttime diapers for Tate along with some other odds and ends. We headed home and spent the rest of the afternoon playing on the floor with Tate. He would play peek-a-boo with us all day if we let him! We ate dinner and Tate was EXHAUSTED so we put him to bed shortly there after. It was a much needed family day! Sean informed me today that he only has 6 weeks of this semester left!!! WOOHOO! It's going to be nice to have him around a bit more during his Christmas break! Tomorrow starts the another work week (or weekend I guess in Sean's case) for Sean. This weekend we look forward to seeing Nana and Papa S. as they will be in town to attend a wedding. Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Bummed!

I bought 3 bags of candy, put our pumpkins out on the front porch, turned the light on, placed my bowl full of candy by the front door, told Tate about all of the fun people in costumes he was going to see and then we waited.......and waited.....and waited. Guess how many trick-or-treaters we got? None, zip, zilch, zero!!!!! Oh great...now guess whose going to eat all of the candy?!

Tip Tuesday

With the removal of Infant/Children's Cold Medicines from the shelves, I thought this tip could be helpful for many. I have not yet tried it, but got an email about it that says it works "100% of the time", so I am willing to try it! :)

When your baby/child (or even you!) has a cough that keeps him up coughing at night, just rub a generous amount of Vicks Vapo Rub on the bottoms of your child's feet and put socks on them before they go to bed. The cough will stop within 5 minutes and will allow for your child to have several hours of cough free sleep.

Tate the Turtle

We put Tate in his turtle costume tonight and took him over to Balderson's to visit. Tate had the time of his life playing with all of the 'new' things at their house. Ellie (Cathy and Steve's dog) and Tate were quite amused with each other as well! It was nice to get out of the house and have a change of scenery and just sit and chat. Tate always loves going to new places that he can crawl around and explore. Thanks Cathy and Steve for having us over and letting Tate destroy your living room!

They did it!

Red Sox swept the World Series! We helped to cheer them onto victory last night!

Night Eyes

Last night Tate and I joined Chris, Brenda, Bode and the Poleys at Night Eyes at Blank Park Zoo. It was pretty fun to see the animals and all of the decorations they had set up at the zoo. Many of the animals weren't out, but lots of them were. The kids had a blast and I think the adults had a pretty good time too! :)

Tate the turtle...

Tate was pretty expressionless all night...

He still had a great time!

The Stewarts...

Landon "spraying" his stink on Bode...

Mommy and her little turtle...

Heading home...

Bode enjoyed candy for dinner...

Hawkeye Fan

Tate showed his Hawkeye pride on Saturday by cheering the Hawks to victory in his Hawkeye attire.

Relaxing

The other day, I changed Tate's diaper in the living room and when I was done, he realized that he was pretty comfortable, so he stayed laying there while he watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. This is unheard of - Tate staying in one spot, let alone laying down...so I had to document it with a picture!

A Question

I have a problem...

Tate wakes up SUPER wet every morning. He's almost always wet completely through. It's driving my nuts! If he's not wet completely through, he's always wet out at least a little onto his pj's. What should I do?

His diapers are plenty big, he's in size 4. He never leaks during the day. I change him within a 1/2 hour before he goes to bed every night. I change him first thing when he wakes up. I don't give him a bottle at night before bed or anything. He drinks at supper, but not excessively by any means. He usually only sleeps about 10-11 hours at night, so it's not like he's sleeping forever without a diaper change. He doesn't drink water at night at all.

I need help!

Soaking it up

Today was a crazy day. Tate was a little sweetie all day, he hardly whined at all. This is a rarity lately...he has been acting not like himself for the past week. The lack of whining may be because if he wasn't eating or sleeping (he napped FOREVER), he was right by my side or in the car en route to somewhere that he would end up right in front of me sitting in a cart. He seems to be content as long as he's within arms reach of me...at least these last few days. He's not always been this way.

Well, we went grocery shopping and when we got home, I decided to put him in the living room on the floor with his toys while I unloaded the car and put away the groceries. Me in the kitchen while he was in the living room did not go over well with him at all! I wasn't in his sight, let alone in arms reach! So the screaming began. I had cold items in the car, so I couldn't leave them in the car or even leave them to put away later. I continued while Tate stood by the gate and screamed and screamed and screamed. I started getting irritated because I knew that he was just fine and he just wanted me...that's all. I let him cry and finished what I was doing. He didn't ease up at all. I was thinking, "why can't he just play alone for a few minutes without me? The fact that he always needs me by his side makes everything I do so much more difficult. I hate that I can't put him down and leave a room for a second without him crying!"

When I was done putting the groceries away, I went into the living room and picked Tate up. With tears rolling down his cheeks, he finally stopped crying. I wiped away his tears and his runny nose and sat down on the couch with him. He put his head on my chest and snuggled in close and was calm. I felt guilty. Guilty for ever feeling irritated that this little angel loves me so much that he wants me to always be near and is comforted simply by my presence. Guilty that for even a moment I wouldn't want that. I realized in that moment that I want to soak up this time while I can because it won't be long when he will want me to leave him alone, he will rather be playing ball with Daddy or will push me away when I try to hug and kiss him. I don't ever want that day to come!

I do understand that it is important for him to be able to be away from me. He does fine when I leave him in the childcare at church or leave him in someone else's care, but when he knows I am available, he wants my hugs, my kisses, my lap, my cuddles, my attention and my time. I want to give him all of those things as much as possible before he no longer wants them! I never want to forget the feeling I have when he's snuggled in my arms...it's the best feeling in the world! I love being Tate's Mommy on good days AND bad days...it's a feeling that words cannot describe!

I needed a change...

As you can see, I changed my blog's template. I think it needed a change. I like it, but need to live with it for a few days to make sure it's the change I needed! :) So bear with me, I may change it again in the next couple of days, we'll see.

A Crazy Morning

Well, the weekend is in full swing. Sean is working and Tate and I are home and I am still in pj's. I did not want to get out of my warm bed this morning! I woke up to Tate jabbering in his room and when I went in to get him up, I found one wet little boy! He had peed through his diaper and soaked his pj's and sheets...so the day begins. I change my screaming child into his Hawkeye gear...gotta support our team! :) Then about 45 minutes into the morning, I am fed up with pulling up his falling down pants for the 100th time, so I decide to change his clothes. When I walk over to him to get him, I smell something disgustingly familiar. He's poopy...and so is down his legs and on his pants. YUCK! So again, I change a screaming child...he gets poop everywhere! Now he has poop on his hands and stomach and who knows where else! Way to dirty an outfit in 45 minutes flat, Tate! He is a pro at that. So we strip down and get a bath...now there is poop all over my perfectly warm and cozy pj's. I have to change. :( We get out of the bath and Tate NEEDS a nap. OOPS, I forgot to change the sheets that have pee all over them! UGH! I plop Tate onto the floor in his bedroom and begin to change his sheets, soon I hear a crash and then crying. Tate's pulled the cord on his lamp until it fell on the floor...not broken thank goodness! I put the lamp up on the table and continue changing the sheets. Soon a slam and scream...what now?! Tate has opened his dresser drawer and closed his finger in it. Okay, I am still not done getting the new sheet on. I stop again, comfort my screaming, tired child and then sit him down again. I finally finish putting the sheet on and when I turn around I see that when the lamp fell off of the table, the kleenex box must have fallen with it and I didn't notice. Now there's kleenexes strewn all over the room as well as one in Tate's mouth. I clean up the mess, put the kleenex box up and FINALLY get Tate down for his nap. WHEW! All this before 10 in the morning. Anxious to see what the rest of the day will hold!

Being Together

Before Sean started school, I really took for granted the times that we had together. I didn't realize how blessed I was until that time was limited. Today was WONDERFUL! I cannot even express how needed this time was...not only for me, but for Sean and Tate. I will say that Tate is ordinarily quite the Momma's boy, but today he wanted Daddy. He had so much fun in Daddy's arms and looks at him so adoringly. It melts my heart!

We went to a pumpkin patch to pick our own pumpkins today. It was a really neat pumpkin patch - one unlike any other I have been to. You picked your own pumpkins in this HUGE field. They were spread all over and you had to 'hunt' for them. Many of them were amidst a bunch of bushes and several of them you had to break right off of the vine. It truly was interesting to have to hunt for so long in such an expansive area to find the perfect pumpkin. Sometimes you could walk for 20 or 30 feet and there wouldn't be a pumpkin anywhere in sight and then you could push away a bunch of brush and reveal a bright orange pumpkin...or even a grouping of a few. It was really fun and Tate kept saying, "oooooooo" the whole time! He was so excited about it! :) Also, there was a hay bail maze and a petting zoo. Tate was a bit nervous with the animals at first, but eventually he warmed up to the horse and even petted it. I am a horse lover too, so I was fine spending most of my time petting the horse! We got some really great pumpkins and some really great pictures too. The weather couldn't have been more perfect!

After the pumpkin patch, we headed up to Knutson's in Nevada and ate dinner and chatted the evening away with them. We headed home around 8:45 and Tate is sound asleep in bed and I am looking forward to be sleeping here shortly as well. It was a great day and I am feeling refreshed and blessed tonight!

The rest of the week...

I was wrong about this week. When I posted earlier that I was so looking forward to spending time with my husband on his days off, I had forgotten that he had the Iowa Student Nursing Association conference yesterday and today. He was part of a group in one of his classes last semester that created a resolution which proposed that all coaches in the state of Iowa should be required to be certified in CPR. Well, he was called upon several weeks ago to see if he could get his group back together because their resolution had been selected to be presented to the Iowa Student Nursing Board in hopes of it passing and actually going all of the way through the motions and presented to the Iowa State Legislature to become a law in Iowa. It was pretty exciting for him as he was the 'main spokesperson' for his group and if passed, this all could be a very good thing to help him in the future for jobs and getting into anesthesia school. Well today the resolution passed with NO opposition! There are several more steps it will need to go through to become a state law, but it is on its way. Sean was thrilled. He was nervous because he had to help present it today in front of hundreds of people, but it all went well. I am so proud of him.

So anyway, we didn't see him much this week. Today he got home at 3:45 and had to be at work by 5:00. He's only working for 2 hours, so we'll see him tonight and then once he's done with class tomorrow at 11:00, he has NOTHING to do for work or school tomorrow! We actually have plans as a family! When Tate gets up from his nap, we are going to go to a pumpkin patch and get our pumpkins. Then we are heading up to Nevada to spend some time with the Knutsons. We miss them and now that we aren't in Colo anymore (only 6 miles from them!), we don't see them as much as we'd like. In addition to that, both of our husbands are working full time and also furthering their education. Life is just so busy.

After tomorrow, we'll be back into the work week for Sean. Next week looks less busy for him so it will be nice to get some family time in on his days off. Maybe we'll actually get our pumpkins carved BEFORE Halloween! Ha. Hopefully we'll do that on Friday or Saturday night. We'll see. Sometime next week we will be putting Tate in his turtle costume and taking him "trick or treating" to friends and families' houses...I am such a bad mom, I am not even sure when Beggars Night is! I am sure I will have plenty of pictures of our little turtle! :)

A Prayer

I stole this from someone else's blog...I love it!

May God bless you with discomfort
at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships,
so that you may live deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger
at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.
May God bless you with tears
to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war,
so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them
and turn their pain into joy.
And may God bless you with enough foolishness
to believe that you can make a difference in the world,
so that you can do what others claim cannot be done,
to bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.
AMEN

Dreading the day...

It will be a sad day when I have to throw away Tate's birthday balloons. He will probably be lost without them. He plays with them probably more than anything else! I think he may be confused the first time I bring him downstairs and he sees that they are gone...I am dreading the day! I have a feeling that day is almost here! :(