The other night

Tate was playing with his Lego bucket and using it as a hat...he thought that was pretty funny! He gets pretty into playing with his toys sometimes, it's amazing the little things that can excite him! In the last picture, he was having such a great time playing with a ribbon that is (still!) tied onto his push truck from his birthday!

It went well

My first day of work went well. I missed Tate terribly, but I did fine. Tate had a good day as well. He had his 15 month appointment and got shots though. :( He weighed 26 lbs. on the nose and was in the 60% for weight and height and the 90% for head...shocker! I am off to work!

Pitter Patter

...was the sound coming from my heart when I woke up this morning and saw the two loves of my life cuddled up on the couch watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!

Where did my baby go? He looks so grown up to me!

Remembering to Listen

So tomorrow is the big day...the day that I enter back into the working world. If I am being completely honest, I have to say that I am not looking forward to this change. Really, I can't seem to be ok with it. I will have to be, I know this. Tate will have fun at daycare and he really won't be there all that much since Sean will be picking him up after he gets out of his morning classes on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Tate will only be there for a whole day on Thursdays and Fridays. I will miss him so much! I will also miss Sean so much! It seems like we don't see each other much as it is, and now I will be gone much of the time that I used to see him. This is only temporary...I need to remember that. I am just praying that I enjoy my job...I know that will make the adjustment seem a lot easier. I will survive and so will Tate and Sean...even though it seems impossible for them to survive without me! Ha. :) I will be missing Tate's 15 month appointment tomorrow. Sean is taking him to that at 4:00...this I am not too disappointed about since Tate will be getting shots and I am happy I will get to miss that!

I am trying to remain positive about the whole change that is to come...I know that there is a reason this change is occurring in our life and that God has great plans for our family, plans that we may have never expected, so I am 'Remembering to Listen' to Him this evening as he is shouting at me while I feel this pain of having to leave my baby tomorrow.

Lids

Tate is obsessed with them! He loves to take them off of containers and put them back on, but also, he's happy just playing with the lid. I don't know what it is about them. When I take the lid off of his yogurt or one of his ravioli containers and he sees it sitting on the counter, he will completely freak out crying with huge tears rolling down his cheeks and won't eat until I give it to him. So I have to sneak the lids off of containers and hide them so he can't see them while I am feeding him. He also has a crying fit if he sees me throw a lid away! I mean, he thinks I am crazy for throwing away something so precious to him!

It went well at daycare...

...for Tate, that is. I was sad. I actually did ok. I didn't cry...got that out of my system last night with a serious melt down! Tate had fun and never even shed a single tear! There is another little boy there that is 2 weeks older than Tate that Kris (the daycare provider) said Tate played well with him the whole time. When I got there, Tate was on the floor playing with a toy and seemed very content. He was excited to see me though and ran up to me with his arms up for me to pick him up. As soon as I picked him up, he wanted down and ran off to play again. He is such a good boy! :)

Selfish

Tomorrow is Tate's 1st day at daycare. I am sad, nervous, nauseas, worried and scared. He's never been cared for by anyone he didn't know. He is kind of sensitive (or maybe I am just the sensitive one) and gets nervous around strangers. He is shy and quite attached to Sean and I, so I just plain don't want him to go. I don't...I am not ready. I will never be ready. He will be fine, it will be good for him...I know these things. I don't care. I want him with me. I am very comfortable with the daycare provider, I know someone who takes their child there, I called ALL of the mothers of the children that go there and asked them a never ending list of questions. I have not heard a bad thing about her. She's just what I would want in a caregiver for my child. None of that matters. She will be the one who gets to spend all day with my precious baby. She will be the one that will wipe his tears and comfort him when he's hurt or sad. She will be the one that makes him giggle and gets to play with him all day...not me. I want to do those things with him. It makes me sad to think that he will be nervous or wonder where I am or not feel comfortable. I know that he will probably have so much fun there and enjoy playing with all of the other kids and doing all kinds of fun and different activities, but for some reason, it doesn't make me feel any better. I am selfish.

He will only be there for about 2 1/2 hours tomorrow and Friday. Next week, he will be there for 5 1/2 hours on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and then all day on Thursday and Friday.

I am so afraid that I won't be able to do it, that I won't be able to walk out of her door and leave him there. I am going to be a mess!

We officially did it...

We left Tate for the night...officially for the first time on New Year's Eve. We left him in Colo with Nana and Papa P. and he had a great time! We left him around 7:30 pm and they put him to bed around 9:00 and then Nana got up with him in the morning too. We did end up going back to Colo to sleep for the night, but didn't get there until almost 3:00 a.m., so I am counting it! I don't even think he missed us! When we were loading up to leave this morning to go to Knutson's, we told him to say, "bye bye" to Nana and Papa. Nana was holding him and he looked at us and waved and said, "bye!". He thought we were leaving him again and was totally fine with it! Then, later in the day, Nana stopped by Knutson's to drop off Tate's bib that we had left and Sean went to the door holding Tate and he almost jumped out of Sean's arms reaching and trying to get to Nana! Thank you so much Nana and Papa, for watching Tate for us and letting Sean and I sleep in this morning too! We appreciate you both so much!

Happy 2008!

We brought in 2008 with some great friends, the Knutsons. It was a fun night, just us adults. We played Phase 10 and Catch Phrase and danced our booties off! Sean has forbidden me to blog the video of him and Jeremie dancing (not together), but I am tempted to post it anyway, because it is HILARIOUS! I am an obedient wife though, so more than likely none of you will ever see it. This is unfortunate, you are definitely missing out! :) We had so much fun and it makes us wish we could spend more time together. Because of this, there was a Florida trip plotted (for MUCH later) and is going to include our friends the DeCooks as well (I know this is the first you are hearing of this Lora and James, but just know that you do not have a choice in the matter...you will be forced to go...SURPRISE!). :-) THANK YOU to the Knutsons for hosting such a great gathering!

I swear, we can make Sean and Jeremie do ANYTHING! Ha.

Our men have some hip moves!

Sara, Jeremie and the yiyun...don't ask.

Tate was SO worn out after all of the fun he had at Nana and Papa's on New Years Eve and at Knutson's on New Years Day that he fell asleep for the night in the car on the way home at 7:00!

Oh my cuteness...

Tate loves stocking caps...especially Daddy's.

A little blurry, but still oh so cute!

A New Year, A New Look

I will not be getting an entirely new blog, the address remains the same, but I decided it was time for a whole new look for my 2008 blog. Many things will be changing in the next year, so why not change my blog as well?! :) I hope everyone has a great start to 2008! Happy New Year!

This was a first!

Tonight before Tate went to bed, he was contently playing with his toys in the living room and I looked at the time and realized that it was time for him to go to bed. I said, "Tate, it's time to go to bed, okay?" He spotted his taggie (his security item that he ALWAYS sleeps with), walked over and grabbed it and then walked up to me and reached his arms up for me. I picked him up and he layed his head on me and put a tag in his mouth while I walked him to his bedroom. I layed him down and he waved at me and said, "bye" and rolled over as I closed the door. I haven't heard a peep out of him! What a little sweetie! He's never done that!

Staying home...finally!

I think after being out and about so much over Christmas, I needed to just be home for a day. So that day is today. I took a shower this morning and put my pj's back on and I am loving not doing anything! I am actually not feeling too great today, hopefully not a relapse from my pneumonia or bronchitis! We ran a TON of errands yesterday and I felt satisfied with all of the things we got accomplished. Sean went back to work today after having 5 days off and neither of us were ready for him to go back. :( I miss him...Tate does too. My house is a mess, the tree is still up, I have dirty dishes in the sink and my bathroom desperately needs a cleaning, but non of that will get done today because I just plain don't feel like doing it. Tate is having a blast playing with all of his toys new and old! I think he is enjoying staying home today just as much, if not more than I am! I just wish Sean was here with us.

Christmas with the Stewarts

My side of the family gathered for an early Christmas celebration on Friday. Cassie, Paul and the kids went to the Burback side of the family for Christmas this year in Storm Lake. To break up their trip, they came through Des Moines on Friday to celebrate with all of us here and stayed the night and then headed to Storm Lake on Saturday morning. We had a great time and ate sushi, Italian beef, pickle wraps, spinach artichoke dip and LOTS of sweets! The kids opened gifts and had a ball! After the kids went to bed, we adults did our gift exchange and hung out and chatted. We had a great night, but by the time we went home, we were exhausted!

I wish this picture wasn't blurry...I love it! :(

Tate got the Little People Nativity Scene and he LOVED it!

He also got a HUGE stuffed crocodile!

Ayla practically slept the entire time! We were glad to be a part of her 1st Christmas!

Sean jumped all over some cuddle time with Ayla. He says he just can't get over how little and sweet she is! Uh oh..you think he's ready for another?! ;)

Christmas in Colo

Christmas in Colo with the Peakin side of the family was great. It's always so fun to have Tyler, Leah and Tate all together...especially now that Tate can kind of be a part of the fun since he's a bit older now and mobile! Aside from the fact that I had not yet gone to the doctor and I had a case of pneumonia and bronchitis brewing and didn't feel great, things went perfectly! After the kids went to bed, the adults stayed up and played Trivial Pursuit. We got beat badly by Pat and Linda and then headed to bed. The next day, I woke up even more miserable than the day before and we decided that I should go to the doctor instead of to our Christmas gathering with Sean's Dad's side of the family in Ames. I was feeling horrible and also didn't think it was a good idea to expose more people to my illness. Because it was Sunday, I had to go to the Urgent Care in Ankeny on the way home and we were there FOREVER! I think it was about 2 1/2 hours after arriving there that we were finally leaving. I was happy to get some strong cough medicine and antibiotic and couldn't wait to get home to get some sleep! We were sad to have missed the Christmas gathering, but it was definitely the right choice for me to go to the doctor since it turned out that I had pneumonia and bronchitis! It's amazing how the medicine worked so quickly because I was feeling so much better in a matter of only 36 hours! Here are some pictures from our Christmas in Colo...

Tate loved the ornaments on Nana and Papa's Christmas Tree!

Tate was such a great helper distributing all of the gifts to everyone! :)

Tate with Aunt Sarah

Photo sessions with several young children can be unpredictable to say the least! We attempted to get a good photo of all three of Nana and Papa P's grandkids...things started out pretty well...

then things started to go downhill...

Tate was not into the photo session.

"Mommy, please stop taking pictures of me!"

It just went from bad to worse when Tyler joined in on the crying!

Tate with Nana and Papa P.

Christmas Eve at the Baldersons'

I didn't get many pictures from Christmas Eve, but I really love this one of Sean and Tate! I love my boys!Bode got an Elmo backpack with Sesame Street card games in it. While Bode was playing with the cards, we put the backpack on Tate's back...he looked like such a big boy wearing a backpack!

Christmas Day 2007

We had a great Christmas Day. We headed over to Chris and Brenda's at 7:30 a.m to make sure we would be there when Tate woke up since he stayed over night there. Well, we got there PLENTY early because Tate ended up staying asleep until almost 9:30! When he woke up, the poor thing had blood all over his lips from his lips being so dry and cracked and his nose had green, crusted over snot all over it so he could barely breath! The little sweetie was still excited to dig into his stocking! After getting our stockings, we ate yummy egg casserole and Tate ate banana bread. We then headed home and spent the rest of the morning laying around, ate lunch and then all took naps! I slept for 2 hours...it was nice! After we were all awake, we got ready for the day and headed to Marshalltown to celebrate Christmas at Sean's Grandma's house with Sean's Mom's side of the family. We headed home from there around 8:30 p.m and Tate fell asleep in the car, so we put him down right when we got home. It has been and extremely busy and wonderful Christmas and aside from a little bit of pneumonia, bronchitis, snotty noses, bloody lips, a case of shingles (poor Cassie!), and some sore throats, sniffles and coughs, it has been a fantastic Christmas! :) Merry Christmas everyone!

Tate's HUGE stocking!

Tate sees his stocking for the first time...

he realizes that there are lots of things in there that he likes!

Here Tate is just basking in the glory of all of his gifts from Santa! :)

You can kind of see his bloody lips and snotty nose in this one...poor thing!

MMMMM...yummy banana bread!

Hanging out in Marshalltown playing with his new Hot Wheels!

Christmas Eve

I think I am on my way back to health. I probably shouldn't post this too quickly and jinx myself, but today I have been feeling much better than I did these last 2 days. I am still definitely not well, but at least I have gone without a fever today and my coughing isn't as bad as it has been these last 2 days. Hopefully I will just continue to get better and will be feeling like my normal self in a few days!

We had a wonderful Christmas gathering with my extended family today. We went over to Baldersons' house and gathered with many family members, chatted, ate lots of soup and other goodies, watched the kids play and just enjoyed some family time. Tate was pretty tired around 9:00 and so was Bode, so we decided to head over to Chris and Brenda's and put Tate down in a pack and play over there so that we could hang out a while longer and play some games. It was a good time and at about midnight, we decided to head home. For the first time EVER, we opted to NOT take Tate with us!!!! We just couldn't bear to get him up and take him home in the cold weather when we were going to go back over to Chris and Brenda's as soon as he woke up tomorrow so that we could have Christmas breakfast...we kind felt like that was pointless. Nonetheless, this is huge for us as we have never been away from him for a single night! I am not sure that it counts as 'officially' leaving him over night though because we were the ones that put him down, we will be back there by the time he wakes up in the morning and we are only about 5 miles away from him. We know that all he is going to do is sleep, so we're not too worried. I am counting it though...we waited almost 15 months to leave him with someone for the night! I must say though, it feels weird not having him in the house tonight...kind of empty. Call me crazy, but I really do kind of miss him even though I wouldn't be spending time with him if he were here anyway since he'd just be sleeping.

Tomorrow morning, Tate will get to dig into his Christmas stocking and see what Santa brought him! I am looking forward to seeing him do that since he was way too little to understand what anything was that Santa brought him last year!

Pneumonia and Bronchitis

Saw a doctor today, got blood work and x-rays and she told me I have them both. Ugh!

And so it begins...

Today we have Christmas with my immediate family over at Chris and Brenda's. Mom, Dad, Cassie, Paul, the kids, Chris, Brenda, Bode, Sean, Tate and I will all gather to celebrate.

Tomorrow we head up to Colo to celebrate Christmas with Sean's immediate family. Pat, Linda, Sara, Travis, Tyler, Sarah, Mike, Leah, Sean, Tate and I will all be staying the night at Sean's parents' house.

Sunday morning we will wake up and head over to Ames to celebrate Christmas with Sean's Dad's side of the family. Tons of people will be there. It will be nice to see several family members that we don't see very often.

Monday Mom and Dad will be back and we'll be heading over to Balderson's to celebrate Christmas with my Mom's side of the family. Many family members will be there and we'll gather until that night.

Tuesday we will go back to Balderson's for a Christmas meal during the day and then we'll be heading up to Marshalltown to celebrate Christmas with Sean's Mom's side of the family. Again, it will be nice to see several family members that we rarely see.

Wednesday I am sure we will lounge and relax at home all day and be happy to not leave the house!

It will be a busy next several days, but we are looking forward to seeing all of the family and celebrating Christmas with those we love. We love this time of year!