It's Cooling Off

This was the sky on Saturday night.  It was awesome.

That's right.  It is finally starting to cool off.  We haven't used our fan for 2 days, which is the longest we've gone without it since we got it.  It has served us well.  I can feel Fall coming.  I love Fall.  It is probably my favorite season.  And I love Provo in the Fall (well I love Provo every season, but especially in Fall).  I love the leaves on the trees, the cool weather, the excitement that comes with a new school year and football games.  It's the best.

The other day I went jogging with Tate...yes jogging with him in the stroller!  It's so nice to have it back.  It started to drizzle a little and I used an awesome feature I haven't needed up to this point.  A clear tarp that fits to the stroller.  It was great!  Tate looked so funny.  Like he was in a clear egg thing.  And he was completely dry and cozy and warm (well I don't know if he was cozy, but he was dry and warm).  He was wearing some hipster jeans and a hoodie.  The pictures don't do the jeans justice.

I am listening to this book called Iron War while I run.  I listen to a podcast called Another Mother Runner (or something like that).  It's just two ladies who talk about running and related topics.  One episode they talk about their favorite books and this was one of them.  Because I listen, I was able to get a free audible download from audilbe.com.  So that's where I got Iron War.  I really like it.  It is about Iron Man runners Mark Allen and Dave Scott and their race at the world championships in 1989. It has made me seriously consider doing a triathlon.  I will probably never do an ironman, but a triathlon sounds exciting.  We'll see how that goes.

Josh and I revamped our budget last night for FHE.  It got me really excited to save money!  I like having it because I feel accountable and we are saving for things to keep us motivated (like a trip to San Diego next summer with the Fab Four).

Tate is crawling all over the place these days.  He has now broken the crawling barrier and can go from room to room, and from one surface to another.  It's a big deal.  He can also sit!  Yesterday I was facetiming with my mom and she asked if he could sit.  I was telling her he can but he needs to support himself with his hand, and I looked over and he was sitting with out supporting himself!  It was great.  He is so adventurous and curious about everything.  His favorite things right now are his little piano, the door stopper (he likes to flick it), my sandals/jogging shoes and Josh's shoelaces, and his brush.  He loves the bathtub and can make some pretty good splashes.  I always get a little wet.

 Feeding him is always an adventure.  He loves pears, apples, and sometimes his rice cereal.  Last night we gave him some avocado.  He didn't really like it.  By the end he would cry if we brought anything close to his mouth.  But then a few minutes later he was able to eat some things he likes.  Josh is way more adventurous than me, I am always afraid he is choking.  But he is only gagging because of the taste.

Tate is so funny.  He makes me laugh.  He can get so hyper sometimes and all he wants to do is play and play and play!  Sometimes Tate will do something and Josh and I will laugh and laugh because he is so funny.  Our monitor is video and so sometimes we watch Tate put himself to sleep.  He is starting to notice the monitor and the lights and he tries to grab it.

I rearranged some things in on our apartment.  Very minor adjustments, but I think it has made a difference.  Doing that has gotten me in decorating and change mode.  I want to paint our room and get more pictures up and just make our apartment look and feel nicer.  So we'll see how all of this goes.

Our neighbors Phil and Laurel are moving.  I am so sad.  They have been the best neighbors we could have ever asked for.  They have been so gracious and kind with all of Tate's crying.  They are seriously the nicest people.  Laurel is by far one of the nicest people I know.  She is always so nice and makes everyone feel like a VIP.  I am really going to miss having them next door.

Last night I was feeding Tate and he was not having a good time.  He was crying and didn't want to eat (I tried to give him carrots and that made him really upset).  Sharon was downstairs looking at Nathan and Sarah's new paint.  She came up and Tate looked at her and smiled and cried at the same time.  It was like he was saying, "you can help me!"  It was so funny and kinda sad.  So Tate was saved for the time being.  It was great because once everyone left and we started eating again he did great.

This morning I gave Tate some banana in one of those mesh things attached to a ring.  You put the banana in a mesh container and it attaches to a ring.  Tate really liked it.  He actually ate it.  I tried avocado again and he did all right, but by the end he would cry if it touched his mouth like last time.  He was a mess!  So he had a mini shower under the bathtub faucet.

One of Tate's favorite games is called "Let's Scare Tate."  I hide and then pop out and scare him.  He loves it.

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A Pleasant Surprise

I got an email yesterday from a photography studio.  They go to hospitals and take pictures of newborns and their families.  When I had Tate I didn't know they did that, and the day we left the hospital (as we were walking out) someone asked if we wanted to have pictures taken.  To be honest, I remember thinking I didn't, because I was a mess, I was tired, and I was emotional (I didn't enjoy my stay at the hospital) and I wanted to go home as quick as possible.  But I figured I would regret not doing it, so I said yes.  Tate had on a goofy hat and outfit, but he looked so precious.  Josh had on nice clothes and looked great.  I looked greasy and chubby, haha.  

In order to get the pictures, we had to order them by a certain time.  I didn't order them and my code to view the pictures stopped working, so I assumed they were gone.  But last night the email said I could view them and buy them.  So I went to their website and bought them!  There are some really great pictures.

These are so special because I lost almost all of my photos of Tate when he was first born (which of course I cried about for a few days).  So I am so happy we have these.  I can't believe how small he was...

 

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A Wonderful (Almost) Perfect Day

Yesterday was a day I thought I would never have.  Tate slept wonderfully and ate beautifully all day. He slept 2 hours his first nap and 1.5 hours his second.  He ate well and was happy all day.  We found out he loves pears.  Josh loves pears too, so it makes sense.  He ate a whole container at lunch!  He loves it!  So yesterday was wonderful!  He got really tired at night and I still need to figure out when to feed him so that he will get all he needs, but it was a step in the right direction.

Monday we did something I have wanted to do for a long time.  We went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and bought a mop!  These are the things that get me excited these days...Tate's eating and sleeping and cleaning supplies.  We ended up buying a few other things because we were using gift cards (from our wedding!) and we had a coupon.  We bought a bigger (and of course better) colander and a food chopper.  I really don't like cutting up vegetables.  I can't stand it and it prevents me from trying out a lot of recipes.  Now I have a food chopper and we are going to eat like royalty.  Anyway, we had fun at BB&B...maybe a little too much fun.  We started taking pictures.  At one point there was a lady behind us and I'm sure she was confused, annoyed, and concerned all at the same time.  But we were having fun.  I haven't tried out the mop yet, but I am excited to give it a spin.

I did a training session at Doug's practice and I realized I miss coaching.  I don't miss everything about coaching (like hate emails, parents yelling at me, and tons of pressure), but I do miss being out with my team and running a practice.  But I guess I don't miss it that much, or else I would've kept doing it.

Tate is getting more and more mobile.  He is pretty good at crawling (I think) and he is grabbing everything.  He has a weird obsession with my jogging shoes, the grossest things on this planet.  It doesn't matter what toy is in front of him, if he sees my shoes he goes for them.  He also likes my sandals, which are almost equally disgusting.  And he likes the wheels on the stroller, which are also pretty gross.  So, Tate pretty much loves gross stuff.

Here are pictures from our adventures at Bed, Bath, and Beyond...

Here's Tate's face up close.  Josh and I agree this is what Tate would look like if he was a cat.

Tate was confused by the massage chair

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It's a Miracle

Doug got Tate a hat in Europe

First, I have amazing news...someone returned my jogging stroller!  Saturday Josh had a soccer practice he coached and when he come home, he opened the door and had the stroller with him.  My first thought was that he bought a new one that looked like my old one.  Then I saw the head rest I put on it and I knew it was mine.  Josh parked the car and the stroller was just sitting outside of our shed (because now we have a lock on it).  I honestly stood there and looked at it for a few minutes.  I couldn't believe it.  I am so happy and grateful!  I don't know who stole it, and I don't know who returned it, but my faith in the human race has been restored.  So thank you whoever you are!

Friday Josh, Tate, and I went up to Salt Lake for a reception of a friend from my home ward (we call our local church congregations wards) in Georgia.  I was debating whether we should go or not because we had tickets to the BYU women's soccer game v Haiti.  The reception started at 6 and the game in Provo started at 7.  So I figured we could get to the reception at 6, leave, and get back to Provo around 7:15.  It was a great plan.  Unfortunately, we used an app I have on my phone for directions and it lead us to who knows where in Salt Lake and we had to call my parents in Georgia to look up directions on their computer because my 3G wasn't working.  It took us a long time to get there.  But the reception was lovely and we got food.  By the time we left it was close to 8, so we gave up hope of seeing the game.  As we were leaving SLC, Josh thought he had found a shortcut to the freeway, and we ended up at the train station.  At that point Josh grabbed the steering wheel and yelled "Get my out of here!"  We were glad to be on our way home.  We found out that the game started late, so we headed over there and made it for most of the second half.  I saw a lot of friends and little girls I used to coach, so it was fun to be there.  

Today before Church, Tate graced us with his music.  It really prepared us to be reverent.

Today we also went to my grandparents' house for dinner.  It was fun.  After dinner Josh and I went outside and put Tate on the grass.  He was so funny.  He stayed up on his hands and toes like he did not want to touch the grass.  Then he fell to his side and he wouldn't move a muscle.  He just laid there with his head up off the ground.  When he finally did move, he put his head down into the grass, but that tickled his face and he quickly lifted his head up again.  He did that for a while.  Then he went on his stomach and, of course, started licking the grass.  We also blew some bubbles and he would watch them intently has they floated past him.  

This is a typical scene when Josh gets home from work.  

Nathan (Josh's brother) and Sarah (Nathan's wife) are back from living in California over the summer.  I am happy they are back!  Sarah is having a baby girl in November!  I am excited for them.  I hope we haven't made them scared of parenthood.  Tate had a rough beginning and cried a lot and then we tried to sleep train and he cried even more.  But now things are great.  Well, we are still working on the naps and eating and sleeping at night, but he is so happy all the time it makes it okay. He laughs and smiles so easily.  He is so curious about everything.  He wants to touch everything!  We put him down for a few seconds and he reaches for somethings immediately and puts it into his mouth. He can hold something and look at it and put it in his mouth for a long time.  He is a thinker. 

Here are a ton of pictures we took in Georgia.  Believe it or not, these are just a fraction of all the pictures we took during our photo shoot.  Props to my sister-in-law Chelsea for taking all of these.

I love the next two.  

Tate is upset Emma isn't taking this seriously

Tate and I were not on the same page for this picture

I love Tate's smile in this picture.  Claire's is good too.  And Emma.

Almost everyone has a picture kissing Tate 

It got too hot for shirts

Tate and Emma were pretty bored by this point

 I love these next ones.  Tate's smile gets bigger and bigger

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