More from Florida!

Well, we are halfway through our trip and it is FLYING by! We've done a TON of swimming, relaxing, eating, laughing, shopping and just chatting. The kids have been fabulous and had a lot of fun. They are exhausted by the end of the day! Tate has been sleeping great and has had so much fun in the pool and just watching all of the things are going on. The weather has been absolutely perfect...no clouds or rain, just a ton of sun! It will be sad to head home, but I will be excited to see my husband and I know he will be so excited to see Tate. I'll post one more time before we leave. Check out Cassie's blog (cassica.wordpress.com) for more pictures!

Lani the photographer

Lani really wanted to take some pictures the other day, so I let her. These were the pics she took. She is too funny.

For my hubby...

Tate LOVES the water!!! He could stay in the pool all day if we let him. He kicks and splashes and doesn't even care if he gets water on his face. I even put him under twice.

He has been so smiley all trip...he loves Florida! He was a little cuddle bug with Nana this morning.

Tate cut his second tooth the day we left for Florida...you can kind of see both teeth in this picture.

He has this really cool contraption that you can put foods in and when they chew on it the food squishes through the mesh. He loves it! He had his first taste of pineapple and banana in it the other day. He's not going to be fed fruits yet, but he has enjoyed them as a little treat in his mesh baby feeder! :)

Sean is missing Tate so much, this is the longest he's been away from him by far. He told me that last night he was missing him, so he was looking through pictures of him on our computer, so I thought I would post some from the trip so he can see what Tate's been up to! :)

Cute pics...

Here are some cute pics from the first couple of days in sunny Florida! It's been great, it's been mid 80's and it is 89 degrees right now. There's not a cloud in the sky and the kids are being great!

For Cassie

We have Lani and Cassie misses her so much and so I thought I would post these ADORABLE pictures of Lani so that she can see her! Lani is so cute and so hilarious, she is having the time of her life down here! She's gotten make-up put on every day and even some perfume. She gets her hair done and hangs out with the big girls and helps us watch Tate. She is such a doll!

Our Flight to Florida

Sorry, this first pic is blurry, but it shows how happy Tate was on the flight...he did great!

The kids did great on the flights to Florida! Lani was a perfect angel! The first flight wasn't very full, so we were able to put Tate in his carrier and have him in the seat next to me...that was WONDERFUL! Tate and I both slept fo the entire flight. The next flight was pretty short, only about an hour, so it went very well also. Lani fell asleep about 5 minutes before we landed and was dead to the world and could not be woke up for anything, so we had to carry her. After being exhausted from carrying a 30 lb child through the airport along with a thousand carry on bags and 3 checked bags, we made it to the car and were off to the house. We were pretty tired by the time we got home and Tate was confused because he would have ordinarilly been sleeping for hours by that time, so he was a little crabby. Finally, I got him down and was able to get to sleep around 2 in the morning. Tate was bright eyed and bushy tailed by 7:30 our time and I was not ready to get up! I managed though and he is doing much better sleeping now. We've had a great day and a half and can't wait for Cassie and Brigg to arrive tomorrow! Then Dad will be coming for the last couple of days. I'll post pics from our first day and a half.

Florida here we come!!!

Well, we are heading out for Florida tomorrow and we are so excited! I am sad to leave Sean for a week, but know that he's a big boy and will be fine. :) Tate and I both have colds so hopefully those will clear up soon. I got some medicine for both of us today. Tate was in bed by 8 tonight, so I am sure he'll be getting up early in the morning. I still have several items of my list of "things to do" before we head out, but hopefully I'll get those done in the morning and will be able to be on the road headed to Muscatine by 9 in the morning! We'll see, but that's the plan! I plan on posting pictures and blogging from Florida, so you can all see how our trip is going! I am sure it will be great! See you all soon!

Sorry...I just had to!

Sorry if this disgusts any of you out there, but I just couldn't resist!

First of all, I can't believe that this much snot can come out of such a small person! It seems like just as I am done wiping off Tate's face from a big snotty sneeze, I look over and he's got snot all over his face again. He decided this morning that he was going to have fun with it and started blowing snot bubbles. Seriously, this kid may have a special talent! I was impressed!

Too early!

Tate went to bed at 7 pm last night...I was excited to be able to go to bed early too!

Tate woke up at 5 this morning with dried snot and smiles all over his face...I was not excited to wake up that early!

I got it!

If you look closely, you can see Tate's tooth! It's not the greatest picture, but at least you can see it!

Family Fun

It's been so much fun around our house this weekend. We have had nothing to do except enjoy Tate and our family time! I feel so blessed to have such a fabulous, loving, hard working husband and an adorable, happy, healthy little boy! I am actually kind of feeling sad about leaving for Florida for 8 days. I feel bad leaving Sean here! I know it will be such a great time and Sean will be just fine, but I know he'll miss Tate so much and Tate will miss him too! They have been trying to soak up as much Daddy and Son time as possible before our departure!

Drool

Do you see the constant stream of drool coming from Tate's mouth...it's become a permanent accessory on him! I can see his 2nd bottom tooth through the skin. I can't imagine it won't cut through sometime in the next couple of days!

I tried...

In my attempt to get a picture of Tate's tooth, all I managed to get was a couple of adorable pictures of the little guy...darn! :)

Time Flies!!!

I swear that yesterday was Monday! I can't believe it's already Friday! I am so happy. Only 4 1/2 more days and we'll be heading to Florida! Tate and I will miss Sean though and I know that Sean isn't looking forward to our departure as much as we are! I am sure that our week in Florida will fly by just as quickly as every week seems to fly by here!

I woke up this morning with a fever, a headache and an indescribable urge to blow chunks. I thought I was starting to feel better when Sean came in and told me he had just put Tate down and was going to work. I knew that I would have to try to get out of bed and function so that I could take care of Tate when he woke up. By this time my fever had gone and there was just a tiny trace of my headache left. So I got out of bed and tried to function for a while when I realized that I was going to be sick. I got rid of whatever was in my stomach that was making me feel sick because I truly feel great now! Maybe if I had thrown up hours ago, I would have felt better quicker! It's been over an hour since I got sick and I still feel great. Weird!

We actually have NO PLANS for the weekend at all. This is an odd occurance in our household. Sean is planning on studying for his finals which are Monday and Tuesday and I plan on relaxing and playing with Tate all weekend! I honestly thing that this will be the first weekend since Tate arrived that we have had absolutely NOTHING planned for any day of the weekend and we could just be together as a family and do nothing! I can't wait!

Everybody's Doin' It

I can never have too many: nieces and nephews (hint hint!)

I can never have enough: sleep

There’s always room for one more: vacation

I probably still need a few more: children

I am still searching for the perfect: weightloss plan

I can’t resist: Tate's smile

I am fiercely loyal to: my family and the Hawkeyes

I am happy that I’ve found: blogs

I can’t get through my day without: checking email and blogs

I could probably do without: eating leftover Easter candy

I need to get rid of: the dust in my house

3 Tips for Tuesday

1. Getting Play-Doh off the couch:
Let it dry overnight, then loosen with a stiff brush and vacuum.

2. Markers of clothes:
Rinse the fabric under cool water. Add a little rubbing alcohol, then launder.

3. Never let your husband dress your child!

Pride

Sean and I got in a little tiff a couple of weeks ago because he was mad that I didn't want him to dress Tate. I wanted to do it...I am kind of picky about what he wears. Anyway, Sean came back by saying, "why don't you let me...I take pride in doing that!" So fine, I let him. I went into the livingroom and when he brought Tate out, I hoped he wasn't proud of what he had put Tate in. He had on a thermal that was blue and then sweatpants that were also blue, but not the same blue...it totally clashed! It was bad, really. Sean even knew it. He was like, "well, I wanted him to be comfortable."
So tonight, Sean put Tate's pajamas on. I don't even know how in an entire drawer of like 12 pairs of pajamas, he picked out the one pair that's too small and I must have not seen when cleaning out Tate's too small pajamas out of his drawer. So poor Tate is in seriously skin tight pj's that would barely button and when you pick him up, the buttons pop open. Really, Tate was wearing these pjs before Christmas...he was like 2 1/2 months before Christmas!!! He's almost 7 months old! Sean is funny...

Beautiful Day

Today was such a beautiful day that we were able to get so much done. Sean and I cleaned out our cars and Sean cut some broken branches off of a tree in front of our house and cut down a dead vine. I was able to get a lot of stuff done inside, but still enjoyed the nice weather because we had the windows open. :) In the middle of it all, I decided that we should take Tate on a walk in the stroller. He's never been in the stroller except when he was in his carrier placed in the stroller. He LOVED it. He was such a little trend setter sporting his new sunglasses (which he didn't seem to even notice were on) and he just jabbered and looked around the whole time. He had so much fun! He loves the outdoors and it's so nice that we are able to take him outside to enjoy them now that it's warming up a bit. It will be so fun to take him on walks in Florida next week! Our baby boy seems to be growing up SO fast!

Hangin' Out

We were just hanging out at home the other night and Sean was holding Tate up to the table when he realized that he wasn't really holding him that much, so he let go and Tate stood there long enough for me to get a picture. He wouldn't look at me, he was too into the television, but at least I captured that first time he's held himself up to a piece of furniture while standing. The other picture I just thought was cute. :)

Big Boy Bath

We used a seat in the bath for the first time today since Tate is sitting up a little better. He loved it! Tate loves the water, so I thought he would like the seat since I can make the water higher and he can splash and play. I was right...he cried when I took him out. He loves his baths and doesn't even mind when I pour water over his head, although I guess I've poured water over his head for so long that he's just used to it. Usually he's laying back though, so it doesn't pour down his face, but he still didn't seem to mind so that's good. I can't wait to take him to Florida and take him swimming...he's going to love it!

Our Blue Eyes

I just thought his eyes looked so pretty and blue in this picture...too cute!