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! :(

Red Sox WIN!

Sean and I had another 'date night' tonight. We watched the Red Sox win and just enjoyed each other's company. I miss him all of the time! I wish every night would be like tonight!

I thought this picture I captured on our TV right after the Red Sox won was hilarious...and kind of scary too! It's the pitcher celebrating.

I love this man!

A month late, but just as sincere!

I got a late birthday gift from my hubby today! I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new purse and wallet. I have honestly been looking for a new wallet for 2 years! I am really picky about my wallets and mine was getting ripped and worn and dirty as of about 2 years ago and I could not for the life of me find just the right one to replace it. Well the one I got today is perfect, it has all of the features I want in a wallet AND a really awesome purse to match! I may now have the best purse in town!!!! Thank you Sean, I love you!

GO RED SOX!

Tonight the Red Sox play the Indians to see who will be going to the World Series. We will be watching and cheering tonight. If the game wasn't so late (8:00 pm), I would definitely have Tate sporting his Red Sox jersey, but unfortunately he'll be in bed. When the Red Sox play in the World Series, we'll make sure to get a picture of Tate supporting his team in his jersey! :)

Visit to Daddy's work!

Today Tate and I decided to go visit Daddy at work during his lunch break. It was really fun for Tate to go there because the break room is HUGE and there is lots of open space for Tate to crawl around. Of course it took Tate about 2.8 seconds to spot some balloons in the corner and he immediately got down on the ground to speed crawl over to play with them. He was pretty excited! Sean and Tate were really happy to see each other and got to hang out for about 45 minutes, so that was nice. I love watching my boys together!

This can't be good...

The television in our playroom/basement/office/family room is too low. When I put on a DVD for Tate, he can way too easily put his nose right up to the television...he prefers to watch it that way. Is this going to hurt his eyes?

Tate is in heaven when we're downstairs...his favorite things to do are to push the same buttons on his toys over and over and over and over and over, he also likes to play with his learning kitchen. He likes to push the same buttons over and over and over and over on that too. It's amazing the things you can learn to block out when you become a mother! :)

Here he is pushing a button over and over and over...I swear he does in intentionally to drive me nuts. He looks right at me just like he's looking at me in the picture and pushes the same button a thousand times. Then he stops and moves to another toy that he can do that with.

Here he is playing with his learning kitchen. This is actually a really great toy! He loves it and it is actually quite educational. He'll be cooking dinner and doing dishes in no time! :)

I don't know...

I don't know if I can do this 1 nap thing. Tate is miserable in the mornings from about 9:15 until I put him down at 11:15. He just can't wait until 11:15...he doesn't eat lunch well because he's so tired and whiny. I think I am going to have to keep with the 2 naps for a while. I just hope that his whining before his afternoon nap was just a fluke and he'll go back to taking more than 25 minutes in the afternoons. I really don't think he's ready for only 1 nap. I just don't feel right keeping him up when he's that tired. My doctor said that it was a bit early to switch to 1 nap when I went to his 1 year appointment. He said that most kids still take 2 naps for a few months after their 1st birthday and that Tate would let me know when he was ready to go down to 1 nap. So, I think we're going to go back to 2 naps for a while.

Our night

Tate did pretty well this evening considering it was his first day having only 1 nap. He was in bed and sleeping by 8:00 pm which is only a 1/2 hour earlier than usual. He is not feeling too great though. Like I said in a previous post, he threw up this morning and then he had a couple pretty out of the ordinary bad diapers. I think he must have a little bug. Today he ate probably a quarter of the amount of food that he usually eats in a day and didn't want a lot to do with his milk either. He hasn't been feverish though, but now I am feeling like since he has a bug, I should be letting him sleep as much as possible. We'll see how tomorrow goes.

Sean and I decided to wait to eat dinner after Tate was in bed, so it was a late dinner for us. We had yummy chili and watched The Pursuit of Happiness. It was a little 'date night' for us and it was nice to just relax on the couch with my hubby. The movie was so touching and I sobbed. It made me really feel grateful for what I have and also made me realize how good I really have it. Not that I thought I had it bad, but it's nice to be reminded that even when things aren't always how I would like them to be, it could be much worse!

Tomorrow is church and housework for me. Sean works until 9:00 pm tomorrow night and then he is off the next 3 days. He still has class, but will at least be home by noon everyday. I am looking forward to having him around more these next few days and I know he has been having a rough time being away as well. This work/school schedule is really wearing on him (and me too!) and we are looking forward to his Christmas break so that we can have some much needed 'family time' that doesn't have to be interrupted by studying, class, studying, studying and more studying. I know this is all temporary, but it is so hard! Only 3 more semesters to go! Then we'll have a year break or so before Sean starts anesthesia school. Once that starts, it will be another 30 months before he will be done with school forever! I don't even want to think about that. I just want to get through these next 3 semesters! The other day I said to him, "are you sure you want to go to anesthesia school? Why don't you consider just being a nurse and forgetting about the whole anesthesia school idea?" It was kind of a joke, but I think deep down I hoped he would say, "you know, I was kind of thinking I might not want to go to anesthesia school anymore." YA RIGHT! He did NOT say that! Really, I just want him to be happy and I know that he wants so badly to be an Anesthetist, so that is what I want for him. He is doing a great job and I am SO PROUD of him and all of his hard work while still being a dedicated father and husband! I am so blessed!

2 Hours and 20 minutes...

That's how long Tate slept. Pretty good for him actually. Hoping the rest of the day goes well.

We didn't make it

I tried...I tried so hard, but I felt bad for the little guy. He was SO TIRED! His head was bobbing during lunch. He could barely keep his eyes open! He ate lunch at 11 and was down and sleeping by 11:15. He could barely even eat he was so tired. I am baffled. I don't know what to do. I guess I'll just see how he does this afternoon and evening. I have a feeling we'll be making his bedtime a bit earlier tonight. If he does well this afternoon and evening then I will still keep with the 1 nap and just put him down around 11:15 I guess and then eventually try to push it back another hour once he gets used to being up all morning. Maybe he'll sleep for like 3 hours!!! That's unheard of for Tate...I could count on 1 hand the amount of times he's taken a nap for longer than 2 1/2 hours in his life! We'll see.

Sick?

Tate threw up this morning. It was pretty nasty...and stinky. So I immediately stripped him down and plopped him in the bath. He was happy as a lark! He was splashing and giggling and not acting sick AT ALL! I don't know what caused him to throw up, but he definitely doesn't seem sick.

Facing Forward

Tate used to hate getting put in his car seat. Now that he is a "big boy" and gets to face forward, he laughs and jabbers and squeels the whole time he's in it! He loves being able to see the world from a different angel.

It's 9:00 a.m...

Tate is doing ok. He's rubbing his eyes and threw up all over himself and I about 30 minutes ago. I put him in the bath because he had puke all over him and he was splashing and happy. I don't know why he threw up, but he is acting fine otherwise. Aside from the eye rubbing, he is playing and not acting whiny or tired yet. We're going to try to make it until at least 11:30 or 12:00 before I put him down...only 2 1/2 or 3 hours to go! Hoping it goes well.

Nap Issues

So today I decided that Tate may be ready to just take 1 nap a day. I think we may try it tomorrow and Sunday and see how it works. Currently Tate wakes up around 7:00 in the morning and goes back down for a morning nap around 9:00 and sleeps for 2 hours, then he goes down for an afternoon nap around 3:00 and sleeps for about an hour and a half and he's good until bedtime at 8:30. Lately though he has not seemed tired at his morning nap time. He rubs his eyes, but isn't whiny or anything, but he always goes down without any fight and sleeps for 2 hours. The afternoon nap has always been a little bit more of a struggle. He tends to cry or sometimes just talk himself to sleep. He's been known to be awake for a half hour sometimes before he finally goes to sleep for his afternoon nap. Well, these last 2 days have been difficult. Yesterday he was so tired and almost fell asleep in the car right before his nap. He was yawning and rubbing his eyes like crazy, but when I layed him down he cried for about 20 minutes before he went to sleep and then only slept for 25 minutes! So I thought I would leave him in there for a bit to see if he went back to sleep, but that just wasn't happening. I got him up and he did fine until bedtime. Today, was a similar situation. He slept great during his morning nap, then when I put him down (which he seemed obviously tired) for his afternoon nap, he cried and cried and cried and finally went to sleep. He was sawing logs...I could hear through the monitor. He slept for 25 minutes again! Then he was awake and rearing to go. I got him up and again, he was fine until bedtime. Does this mean that I should push back his morning nap and just have him take one nap? I am hesitant to do that because he takes such a great morning nap and always goes right to sleep so I hate to push it back another several hours. I don't know, this parenting stuff isn't as easy as it looks! :) Ha. We'll see how it goes these next couple of days.

I FOUND IT!!! :-)

Today is a happy day...I found my camera! On it was only one picture - a picture from when I met Brandon in Coralville and we let Tate play at the play area in the mall. So I added a couple of random pictures to it from this morning. After breakfast and a morning nap, we got ready and went to Jordan Creek Mall so that I could get a couple of items and Tate could play at the play area there for a bit. The play area there always seems to be extra busy and filled with extra naughty children, but I decided to see how Tate handled it. We did great! He got kicked in the head a few times, knocked over, hugged by strange children, pushed, hit and even bit on the hand by a little girl, but he had a blast. He could have cared less that he was getting beat up. He kept chasing all the kids around and laughing and jabbering. It was pretty fun to watch. One of the parents that was sitting by me even said, "he's a tough little boy!" This is not a word I would ordinarily use to describe Tate, but he was being pretty tough. He even pushed a couple of little kids away when they got too close. Aside from that and being completely infatuated with a little girl's pacifier which he kept crawling over and pulling out of her mouth, he was an angel. After that, we headed to Cathy's and I cut Brent's hair while Cathy entertained Tate. Now we're home and Tate is napping. I think we'll be staying in the rest of the evening...it's rainy and icky out. :( I am getting pretty tired of all of this rain...we need some sun!

Tate at the play area in Coralville

Just being his smiley self at breakfast this morning

Getting his daily dose of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

MIA

My camera that is! This is a big deal! I can't seem to find it anywhere which I am sure you could all tell by the lack of pictures on my posts! This just proves how messy my house is. Really, I think it's time for a deep cleaning! Although, I don't know how it's possible to deep clean a house with a little 12 month old getting into everything and messing it up right behind me! I have one mission today...it's to find my camera. As soon as I do, I promise to take lots of pictures and post them ASAP!

Cozy...

Today Tate and I headed to church (Sean had to work) and then on the way home Nana and Papa P. called to tell us they were in Des Moines and wanted to stop by. Instead we decided to eat lunch at Fazolis and chat. It was a good, but quick lunch as Tate NEEDED to take a nap, he was tired! It had been dreary and rainy all morning and didn't look like it was going to change so when we got home, we BOTH put on our cozy pj's and Tate went down for a 2 hour nap while I covered up on the couch with a cozy blanket, opened the shades by the couch so I could see out the window and just relaxed. It was so nice to sit in the silence and think and do nothing else! I was able to have a couple of uninterrupted phone conversations as well. When Tate got up, we sat on the floor and read a ton of books and then played with toys and laughed and had a great time. We sat and ate dinner and now Tate is crawling around playing with his toys like a wild man! :) It was a cozy day and aside from the fact that my hubby wasn't here, it was great!

Quick Trip

Tate and I made a quick trip to Muscatine on Wednesday and just returned this afternoon. It was a great time. We attended Cassie's baby shower where she received LOTS of pink and then just hung out and relaxed. Today, Tate and I stopped in Coralville on the way home and met with Brandon for lunch and some fun at the play area. Tate had the time of his life crawling from toy to toy and walking around all of the cool things! We had a great lunch at Bennigan's and then Tate slept on the drive home.

Sean had a busy week with mid terms so he is relieved to have that over with. Tonight we plan to do some grocery shopping and relaxing...pretty low key. Tomorrow I am going to do a friend's hair during the day and tomorrow night we will be hanging out at Chris and Brenda's house for dinner and some fun and games. I am looking forward to this weekend. I love that the weather is feeling a lot more like fall these days. Time for soup dinners!!!! MMMMMM!!!

Tate's 1 Year Well Baby Check Up

Tate did great at his check up today. His doctor said that he looks fantastic and is growing and developing just perfectly. He is in the 60th percentile for head and height and the 50th for weight. Apparently the last time he was weighed, it was not correct because they said he weighed 25 lbs. 4 oz. and today he weighed 23 lbs. 4 oz.. So who knows what happened there. He got 3 shots and got his blood taken. He didn't enjoy any of that one bit, but as soon as it was done and we picked him up, he was back to his smiley, giggly self. He is sleeping like a log now and I am sure he will be for a while. He tends to sleep a lot after getting shots.

The rest of the day is going to include me getting our house picked up and Sean studying for his mid terms. Tomorrow Tate and I are heading to Muscatine for a couple of days! We just get settled in and then we seem to have to go somewhere! :) We're looking forward to the trip though because we will be attending an I LOVE AYLA party on Thursday morning and then just hanging out with Nana and Papa S., Cassie, Paul and the kids. It will be fun! We will be coming home on Friday evening. It'll be a quick trip and we don't have any plans to be going on anymore trips in the near future. Not until Ayla is born and we head to Muscatine to greet her!!! :)

BAAAAZZZ

When Tate woke up this morning and I went into his room, the first thing he said with a big smile on his face as he pointed at the door was, "BAAAAAZZZ!" (balloons). Uh oh, he's going to have quite the disappointment one day when the balloons deflate!

Tate's 1st Birthday Party!

Well the party was quite a success, I must say! It was so much fun and Tate is SO BLESSED! He is loved by so many and got way too many fabulous gifts! We gathered with many of our wonderful family and friends to eat, mingle, swim, eat, laugh, eat some more and most importantly...celebrate Tate's 1st birthday! What a year it has been! It has flown by! It was definitely an emotional day for many (me included!) and a very memorable, special day as well! After celebrating and having so much fun, the day was topped off when we found out that we are going to be welcoming a new niece or nephew into our family at the end of April! :) YAY! We were SO EXCITED to get the news that Mike and Sarah are expecting baby number 2!

Tate with his many gifts. Tate was truly excited when he opened his gifts!

I don't think he could believe that the gifts were all for him!

He was especially excited about the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse card from Nana and Papa P.!

Tate's 1st Birthday Party

Check Cassie's blog at cassica.wordpress.com for more great pictures from Tate's birthday!