Gearing up for a fun weekend!

We are celebrating my grandpa's 90th birthday this weekend and much of our family will be getting together. We are really looking forward to seeing everyone and being together. Tomorrow (Saturday) we plan to just hang out at a hotel and probably do some swimming and socializing with the family. Then on Sunday we will be celebrating at Cathy and Steve's place. It should be a great time! It looks like the weather is going to be perfect this weekend!

Next week we will be celebrating the 4th of July. This year it will be different than any other year now that we have Tate. We would love for him to see the fireworks, but assume he'll be in bed by then. We still don't know where we're going to be for the 4th, but plan on doing something.

Then, the next few weekends will be full of fun! Next weekend, we celebrate Bode's 2nd birthday! I can't believe that he's already going to be 2! Then, the next weekend, we will be celebrating Brigg's 6th birthday! That's even more crazy! It seems like just yesterday that he was born! Also, that Saturday, Sean and I are going to be speaking about our personal adoption story at a class at Bethany Christian Services. Then, the next weekend, we leave for Florida! We have so many fun things planned that will surely keep us busy! After we get back from our Florida trip, we'll already be into August. The summer always flies by so fast, but this one feels like it's going faster than any other ever has! In 3 short months, we'll be celebrating Tate's 1st birthday!

Well, that's what's on the agenda for us. I am sure I will fit blogging into my schedule frequently! :)

The Flu

I had the flu today...I woke up at 5 a.m with a fever, headache and severe nausea. I broke my fever late morning and then it came back in the afternoon. I have had a continuous headache all day and my stomach hurts from getting sick. Poor Sean had to take care of me and Tate all day. He was great! I didn't want to get near Tate because I didn't want him to catch my bug. I have just started feeling better these last couple of hours, so I think it was just a 24 hour bug. YUCK...I HATE the flu! At least I got it out of my system so hopefully I won't get it again for another year or two. I am glad it happened now so that I can enjoy our upcoming weekend with the family getting together to celebrate my grandpa's 90th birthday! Hopefully Tate or Sean won't get it! I am heading to bed now.

Reading...

FYI...in the next several posts, Tate has the same PJ's on. I did not take all of these photos in a matter of a short span of time...he just wore the same pj's 2 nights in a row, so some of these pictures were taken 2 nights ago in the evening and some in the mornings. He's actually sitting in the same spot in several of them too! :) He must like that spot! Just thought I would clarify so you all didn't think that I sat Tate down with props for a photo session!


Tate LOVES books. On Father's Day weekend, Tate got a new book from his Aunt Sara and Uncle Travis. He loves it so much and wants to prop it up and look at it all the time. He turns the pages and points at the objects and gets SO excited! It is so fun for us to see Tate getting into new things...he's growing so fast! Also, Tate got his name officially, completely changed today when we went to get his SSN this afternoon! No more paperwork or changing of anything...everything is DONE!!!! :)

Red Face!

I was taking pictures of Tate tonight (as usual! :)) and he was being his usual smiley self and then he decided that he needed to take care of some "business". Sorry for disgusting any of you out there, but it was pretty amazing how red his face got and I think the picture's hilarious! When looking at just the red faced picture, you can't quite understand how red his face really looked, so that's why I posted a normal picture so that you could really see the difference! He is so funny!

Mad!

When Tate gets mad and cries, he sticks out his bottom lip so far! He has done this since we got him. Whenever he does it and someone sees, they always comment on it. I have never seen a child stick their bottom lip out so far! My mom said that I needed to capture it on camera sometime, but the problem with that is that we have such a little poser! Even if Tate is crying, I can get out the camera and he will smile...even through tears. It's pretty unbelievable! Today he was mad and doing the lip thing so I got out the camera and tried to capture it. He had tears and everything, but still, as soon as he saw the camera, he'd smile! FINALLY, I captured the lip! He has several variations of the lip, but this is the one I got, so it will have to do! Notice how he has tears and a red face in the smiling picture...that's because he was in the midst of crying, but had to smile for his photo! Ha! I probably look like the meanest mom ever for taking pictures of my crying son, but honestly, I only took pictures for about 15 seconds and then as soon as I picked him up, he was happy as a lark! Little stinker!

Comparing

So I am constantly getting things in the mail or reading things in my Parents magazine about what your child should and might be able to do at certain ages. Tate will be 9 months on the 5th of July. I am by no means worried about his development in the way that I think something is wrong, but I am finding it hard not to compare him to other babies his age. I know that you are not supposed to compare babies because every baby is different, but it's hard not to. I don't think that Tate is delayed in any areas other than the fact that he's not crawling yet. I mean, I have things that say that he should start pulling himself up to things and be crawling and he hasn't seemed to be interested in doing either. So I called Cassie today and was telling her my concerns which she assured me I should not be concerned at all! I was telling her that it doesn't seem like Tate is even close to crawling because he hasn't even gotten up on his hands and knees or anything yet! She still said that I have no reason to be concerned and that it's not a big deal. So about 10 minutes after I got off of the phone, I looked over at Tate and he was on his hands and knees! So funny that it happened right after I was talking about it. About 3 seconds after I saw him on his hands and knees, he plopped down onto his belly and he hasn't had any desire to get back into that position, but at least I have a little hope that my child may actually crawl sometime! :) I should probably enjoy this immobile time while I can because soon I'll be chasing after him and wishing he was not so mobile!

A Little Turkey

Today Tate ate meat for the first time! I took a video of the occasion. He really seemed to like it! I know, it's really not that big of a deal, but I like to document all of his "firsts" if at all possible. So, this video isn't all that exciting, but for me, Tate's sweet smile at the end makes it worth watching!


A Little Turkey

Goofball

It could be possible that Tate is realizing that he can make funny faces at the camera instead of just smiling...or these pictures could just be a coincidence. This is another one of his new things...he loves his tongue!

Maybe I am a bit obsessed...

I know that I already posted a video of Tate's First Word, but I have heard from more than one person that you can't hear his saying it in that video. So, I wanted to prove that he really does say "hot", so here is a video that I think you'll be able to hear him in. I can't get enough of him saying it...his little voice is so cute! Now, after he says it, he almost immediately claps. He's started saying, "yeah" when he claps sometimes...I wonder where he gets that from! :) Also, he's started another new thing that I call, "E.T phone home". You'll see that at the end of this video.


"HOT"

Soft Ball

We had a good time this evening. Sean got a call this afternoon to see if he could fill in for someone on his friend's soft ball league. He said he would, so Tate and I packed up a blanket, some toys and Tate's new bubble machine and sat on the blanket to watch Daddy play soft ball. It was so cute...Tate clapped almost the entire time. He always clapped whenever anyone else did. When people were yelling and cheering, he'd squeel and laugh. He loved it! Sean played well, despite the fact that he was a bit rusty. He hasn't played soft ball since he quit his league 3 years ago! It was fun for him and I think he'd like to get back into it, but it just doesn't fit in these days. Hopefully he'll get to fill in again sometime and Tate and I can go watch him play again. It was perfect weather and a lot of stimulation for Tate! Here is a picture of the boys when we got home from the game!

John Deere

Tate was hammin' it up for pictures this evening! I thought he looked so cute in his camo outfit! He loves his John Deere Hat, which by the way is a 2T-3T and fits quite well! He has lately been obsessed with clapping and also says "hot" about 3,000,000 times a day. Right after he says "hot", he'll look at Sean or I and smile really big and clap his hands! It is too funny. It seems like he's learning something new everyday! I love this age!

Visit to the Mann's

We visited the Mann's and Pam on Saturday morning. Tate had a great time playing with all of their toys and playing in Noelle's daycare. They are so cute! Thanks Matt and Noelle for having us over! Here is a picture of the boys!

A Mother's Decisions

I stole this from someone's blog, I loved it. After being a mom for only a short 8 1/2 months, I still find it SO TRUE!

“In her daily experience with a child, a mother’s time is not her own. She has to respond constantly to unclear verbal and preverbal demands from her child. Often she has no idea what to do, many times no good solution is available, so she’ll suffer guilt and anxiety no matter what she does. The child constantly explores the boundaries of her patience and power. When the child’s control lapses, her own control is required. She must consider using force on a helpless human being who sometimes invades her bodily privacy and psychological integrity like a monstrous, consuming enemy. She deals with the world of child rearing, where hundreds of experts give contradictory advice; the outcome can’t be measured for fifteen to twenty years. She has to process this advice through her intuition and a constant stream of her own childhood memories dredged up by her child’s dilemmas. And she must do all this with others - mother, mother-in-law, neighbors and school teachers - looking over her shoulder, marking her report card, measuring her against their own standards. Though it would be a relief to give up and follow some set of packaged rules, she must dare to be different - the fate of her child depends on her decisions. Besides, no set of rules seems exactly right.”

-Roger Gould, MD

Feelings...

I can't sleep. I decided to look back at my posts from October when we got Tate. I am a puddle here at my computer now. I cannot even believe that it has already been almost 9 months since we got "the call" and we began our adventure of parenthood. It has been so amazing and hard and tiring and wonderful all at the same time. I look at the pictures of Tate from the day we got him and I almost can't remember him being that small! I miss it, but also am enjoying all of the new things he is doing! I definitely don't miss the lack of sleep! Less than a year ago, Sean and I were two very different people with very different priorities than we have now. We had no idea how wonderful and yet how hard parenthood would be! We had no idea of the constant worries we would have with this new little life that was so indescribably important to us! I wish that there was a word that described how I feel for Tate...love is not enough. I know that all of the mothers and fathers out there know what I am talking about. I am so amazed with these feelings still today. I am overwhelmed with gratitude and love. The feelings of gratitude that I felt for Tate's birth parents have only grown stronger these last 9 months. We have had the honor of growing our relationship with Tate's birth father to the point where he has become an important part of our family. It truly is still so surreal that we have been so blessed to have been given this little miracle who we think couldn't be more perfect!!! I still melt every time I look at Tate. I cannot imagine our life without him! What's more amazing is that with each day that passes, this love that we didn't think could be any stronger, manages to grow even more! I remember someone I know saying once that sometimes when they look at their child, they love them so much that it hurts. I didn't completely understand that until Tate was placed in our arms and in our lives. I now know exactly what that feels like, you truly do love them so much that it hurts! I am going to bed tonight feeling so blessed! I just need to remember to cherish every single second because these last 8 1/2 months have flown by and I don't want to miss a thing!

Our Little Genius!!!

So I may be a bit biased (okay, I definitely am! :)), but our son could possibly be a genius! In the last 24 hours, he's learned 3 new things. He now knows how to clap at the appropriate time. He's known the clapping motion, but he just did it randomly, not when we were cheering at him for doing something good. He didn't really understand that whole concept until today. Also, he said his first word and his second word today! Well, the second one isn't really a word I guess, but I am counting it! His first word was "hot" and his second word was "boo". When we say, "Tate, say...hot", he repeats (sometimes) "hot". When we say, "boo" to him, he repeats back, "boo"...and then we get all excited and he claps and cheers with us. It is so cute! He doesn't know what hot means, but who cares, I am counting it as his first word! :) Also, tonight he ate Puffs for the first time. He picked it up and bit it in half and sucked on it and then ate the other half after that! I know, I may be getting overly excited about these accomplishments, but I can't help it, I had to share! I have to give credit to Cathy for teaching Tate how to say, "boo" though. It was all her doing! Thanks Cathy!

Click on the link below to watch Tate saying his first word and clapping! Listen closely, or you may miss it! It's possible that all you'll hear is me saying, "YEAH...GOOD JOB!!!" I was obviously pretty excited :)


Tate's First Word

Tate's Many Faces

So the other day, we had a little photo session. We were trying to get the perfect picture of Tate for his Father's Day gift for each of his papas. He had on a plain white onesie that I wrote in big letters on "I LOVE MY PAPA". Ist definitely wasn't a challange getting him to smile, but it was a bit of a challenge getting him into the perfect position so that you could read the writing on his onesie and also had a cute smile. The ones that he was bending over so that you couldn't read his onesie, I cropped into just head shots. I was looking through them tonight and just cracking up at all of his funny smiles and expressions, so I thought I would share the many faces of our sweet Tate! Notice, most of his many faces are smiles, but he manages to have a serious look every now and again!

Weekend with the Stewarts!!!!

The BFF's and their children! :)

Bode, Brigg and Lani observing a volley ball game at Duckey's

Tate with one of his 4 favorite aunts!

Proud Papa S. with his 4 grandkids on Father's Day!

We thought about putting Tate in the tub with the other kids, but realized that there was a good chance he may get trampled and drowned...maybe when he's a bit older! :)

Following the great time we had with the Peakins on Friday and Saturday morning, we headed to Muscatine to spend the rest of the weekend with the Stewart side of the family! Again, we had a wonderful time! We went to Duckey's and ate dinner on Saturday and the kids (minus Tate) played in the sand and played volleyball. Then on Sunday the guys and Brigg golfed and we hung out with the kids. They played in the baby pool and ran through the sprinkler. We had a great meal and then all crashed. On Monday, Cassie and Mom watched Tate much of the day so that Sean and I could go car shopping. We found a vehicle and are happy that we were able to get something with low miles and a bit newer. I will post pics of the new ride here in the next day or so! Thanks to both of our families for a fabulous weekend! We are so blessed to have such amazing parents, siblings, in-laws, nieces and nephews! We love you all!

Happy Father's Day, Sean!

Sean had a great Father's Day weekend. He got to spend time with all of his family and on Father's Day he got to spend time cuddling with Tate, golf and eat...all of his favorite things to do!

I love you Sean...you are an amazing father and Tate is SO BLESSED to be able to call you "DADA"! :)

Swinging...

I know when I write this I am going to look like the worst mother ever, but until this last weekend, Tate had never been on a swing. Seriously, I have driven by several parks looking for a free infant swing and I have never had any luck. So when we were in Waverly this weekend with the family, we went to the park (it's practically right in Mike and Sarah's back yard) and Tate, at the age of 8 1/2 months, got to swing for the first time! He loved it of course! Here are some photos and a short video from this momentous occasion! :)


Tate swinging

Weekend with the Peakins!!!

One of my many attempts to get a picture with all of the kids, this is the best of the bunch!

Tate playing with Uncle Mike!

Tate loves his Papa and Nana!

Tate and Nana P match!

Just happy to be spending time with family!

Tate loves his cousin Tyler!

Tate having fun with Papa P.

We had such a great time with the Peakin side of the family on Friday! It is always SO GREAT when we can all get together. It's so fun watching the kids together and just hanging out. Thank you so much Mike and Sarah for hosting this gathering. Everything was wonderful from the nice big house to stay in to the yummy food! The kids were so cute and fun to watch! Click on the link below to watch a video of Leah with Tate...it's so sweet!

Leah and Tate

Our Weekend...

Well, we have another busy weekend planned. We head up to Waverly tomorrow morning to spend some time with the family (Sean's side) at Mike and Sarah's new house. We are really looking forward to being able to spend some quality time with the family and have Tate spend some quality time with his cousins Tyler and Leah. We plan on playing outside and having the kids in the baby pool and just having a good, relaxing time. Then on Saturday afternoon we are heading to Muscatine to spend time with my side of the family. We were not originally planning on going to Muscatine too, but the whole family was going to be there and we just decided we didn't want to miss out on the fun. We will probably head to the aquatic center with the kids and just hang out. We will be delivering several items to Cassie for when the new baby arrives! We have packed away all of the baby items and now will be able to loan them to Cassie and Paul for their new bundle until we need them back for our next bundle or until Chris and Brenda need them for their next bundle! :) I am sure the guys will get some golfing in as well. Sean and I plan to try and buy a vehicle while we're down there as well...Happy Father's Day to Sean! :) Ha. I don't know if we'll end up finding what we want, but we are going to try. Then, we are heading back home on Monday. I am sure I will have plenty of pictures to post of the weekend when we get home. Happy Father's Day!!!!!

10 Ways To Tell That Summer Has Arrived...

1. My already white child, looks albino with the addition of a thick layer of sunscreen.
2. The constant hummmmm of our ceiling fans rings in my head.
3. The froggy baby pool sitting in our front yard.
4. The potted plants on my front porch.
5. The permanent sunburn on my nose.
6. Late dinners because it stays light for so long that I lose track of time!
7. There is never anything good on TV in the evenings and I don't care because I'd rather not be inside confined to my couch! :)
8. All of the flip flops sitting by the front door.
9. Every single major road in Des Moines is under construction!
10.The addition of beach towels and swim suits in my dirty laundry.

Tate's Favorite Toy

Tate seriously has to have a thousand toys, but his favorite toy is a disposable SOLO cup. He loves breathing and talking into it because it makes an echo sound and when he squeezes it it makes noise too. He loves all types of cups for some reason, but this one is definitely his favorite. He plays with it all the time while all of his other toys seem to get pushed to the wayside!


Tate's Cup

Bath Time

Bath Time

Tate LOVES his baths! He is completely content in the bath and would sit and play with his cup in the tub for hours if I would let him! Click on the link and watch him in his bath today! :)

Seriously...

I really think that we could have the most smiley child in the world! At least when I get the camera out, or when he's taking a bath.

Fun in the sun!

It was an absolutely beautiful day today! Tate took the longest nap ever (for him) and when I woke him up after about 3 1/2 hours, he was as happy as could be. The other day Sean and I purchased a fun little froggy baby pool that has a little sprinkler on it and since it was so hot out today, we filled it up and let the sun warm it up so that we could use it. It was still really cold when we got in, but Tate LOVED it. I swear I could toss him in ice cold water and he wouldn't flinch, he loves the water so much that he'll deal with whatever temperature it is! Bode and Brenda came over and joined us for a while and Bode was hilarious as usual. Tate splashed and played in the water for an hour and then sat out on his towel and played for another 45 minutes or so. He is definitely an outdoors lover! It was a great time and we decided that the pool was a good purchase and we plan to get plenty of use out of it.

Tickle Tickle Tickle

Tate is so ticklish...Daddy loves making him giggle!