Happy St. Patrick's Day

3/17
Today Tate and I were playing Ring Around the Rosie and when it was time for us to fall down I fell down and laid all the way down.  Tate kind of looked at me, walked over, and sat on my face.  Total bum to the face.

Gwen and Heather came over.  First, when Tate saw Heather he walked over and gave her a hug.  Then when he saw Gwen he walked over, crouched low, and said "dee dee dee."  A few minutes later he started petting and patting her head.  After that all of their interactions were mostly Tate screaming if Gwen touched a toy he wanted.  He made Gwen almost cry a few times.  And I made a sandwich for Tate and Gwen ate almost the whole thing, but it's okay because Tate ate almost all of her goldfish.  Whenever it's the four of us, Gwen and Tate run/crawl wild while Heather and I talk.  We must talk pretty loudly, because at one point I noticed whenever Heather and I started talking, Tate and Gwen would yell and fake laugh.  Trying to be just like us, loud and funny.

Saturday Josh and I went a saw three apartments.  One of the apartments I had to text the owner a few times, and every time she would put an exclamation point at the end of her sentences.  So I thought she must be pretty nice, since most people I text about their apartments are guys and don't add happy punctuation.  When we got to her apartment, she opened the door and it was a girl from my major!  We just looked at each other and started laughing, because really what are the odds I would look at her apartment?  I told her I knew she was nice because she sent nicely punctuated texts.

Yesterday at the Jacksons, Doug was talking to Josh and I and Tate was playing with Sharon.  Tate randomly started pointing and talking and talking, going on a long, loud rant.  We think he was copying Doug, because he was kind of pointing when he was talking.  We all thought it was really funny, and Tate seemed pleased to have everyone's attention.

This morning Tate and I went for a walk, and these days our walks are both of us walking, not me pushing Tate in the stroller.  On our walk, a lady that lives close by came up to us with her dog.  Tate starting say "woo woo" for "woof woof."  He pet the dog and then the dog licked his mouth.  I thought it was kind of disgusting, but Tate was happy.

After I put Tate down for his nap this afternoon I started doing stuff in the kitchen and I noticed he was laughing.  So I went to the door and listened and Tate would talk a little bit and then start laughing.  I'm not sure what was so funny, but it was really cute to hear him entertain himself.  He probably was playing with something he had stashed away under his mattress.

I forgot until just now that it is St. Patrick's Day.  I didn't wear green, but so far no pinches.  I don't think Josh remembered either.

Yesterday I was holding Tate getting ready for his nap and he said "nah nah," meaning "nose" and he stuck his finger up my nose.  I started laughing and took it out and he did it again on the other nostril.  So be wary when Tate wants to show you where your nose is.

3/19
This morning Tate and I went swimming.  We were the only ones in the kid area, so it was just us, the lifeguards, and the people doing water aerobics.  Water aerobics looks awesome.  It is all older people in the class.  They blast music I wouldn't think people that age would like and the instructor yells and counts the reps and stuff.  Tate watched them for a while.  Then some people walk around in the lazy river and Tate liked watching them go around.  One guy waved every time and learned his name and gave Tate high fives.  When I told him what Tate's name is, he looked a little confused so I spelled out "T-A-T-E."  Then he kind of thought about it and said, "my friend had that as a last nae.  Tate, I like it."  After that they were friends. 

3/21
Yesterday was a rough day.  It started out beautifully.  Then I started making a gift online for my Dad's birthday.  I started when Tate was asleep during his nap, thinking I would be able to finish.  5 hours later I finally finished.  The internet totally died.  Thankfully my neighbor came over and somehow got it to work.  Mostly the website I was using was driving me crazy.  It was being really frustrating.  Once I was done I called Josh and asked him to come home early.  He did and we went to the park.  That made everything better.  We played a game with Tate where I would hold him and run and Josh would chase us.  Tate loved it!  Unfortunately, it is hard to run with Tate, so we couldn't play for very long.

Tate has been funny today.  We went for a walk this morning and he was exploring every little thing.  He would walk from one thing to the next, squatting and looking at twigs and dipping his block (which he takes every where) in the dirt and licking it.

I have wonderful news.  My computer is working so I can post pictures!  Our stuff has an amazing ability to miraculously heal itself (that's an awkward sentence).  So here are pictures!

Is this not the greatest picture you have ever seen?  No Tate isn't crying, and no he didn't turn into a vampire, he was just being funny.

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The Search Continues

Toothless Tate.  You gotta love it.

Josh and I are on a search.  For an apartment.  I have been looking for a few months and we have seen a lot of places.  I actually don't mind looking and going to see different places.  I think it's kind of fun to see how people live (creepy?).  On Wednesday we went and saw a townhouse I was really excited about.  It was $625 (which is pretty cheap for 2 bedrooms) and it was a "luxury" townhouse, which I figured meant it was really nice.  I was so excited to see it.  We drove up and it was really nice looking, which made me even more excited.  I was sure this was the place we would move to.  We knocked on the door and the girl opened the door and I asked "should we take our shoes off?"  She said we didn't have to then, but when we went downstairs we should.  I thought that was a little weird, since it was carpet on the main floor, so I just took them off.  Then she saw Tate and commented that we have a baby.  I noticed a car seat by the door and I said, "oh do you have a baby too?"  She said no, but the people upstairs did.  And by upstairs she meant upstairs, not in an upper apartment.  She explained that one couple lives in the upstairs and they live in the basement and they share the middle floor (kitchen and family room).  That's why rent is so cheap, because it's actually 1200/month.  Makes sense.  Well, Josh and I mentally decided this wasn't the place for us, but we felt obligated to continue with the tour.  And it turns out the basement isn't even really 2 bedrooms.  I felt tricked.  And really bummed.  So the search continues.

Tate found a new love.  He loves to push his little car around outside.  We walked a few 5 or 6 blocks yesterday.  He loves it.  All he does is push it, but he thinks it's awesome.

This morning (after we went and saw two apartments-we seriously see apartments every day) we were all in Tate's crib.  I don't really know why but Tate thought it was funny.  Josh got out and then Tate started lifting the mattress up on one end.  We thought that was funny.  He kept lifting it up and then he lifted it further back and one of his blankets was underneath the mattress.  He picked it up and put it in his mouth.  Tate is hoarding his stuff under his mattress.  We thought that was hilarious.  What other things is he hiding in there?

Tate's been kind of moody lately.  And when I say "kind of" I mean extremely haha.  I think he just has emotions and doesn't really know how to express them, so he screams and throws himself on the floor.  It probably is frustrating for him, since he can't really tell me what he wants or feels.  So for now we will keep trying to understand the screams.

We went to the park this week with some of the other moms in our ward.  Tate loves the park.  We sat in the wood chips for probably 45 minutes.  Tate would pick up and handful of wood chips and then drop them.  Over and over and over.  My friend has 2 boys and one of them likes to run away.  So while she was chasing him, I was watching Tate and her youngest.  Tate was eating his vegetables and started feeding them to Zac.  It was so cute.  Then the container fell and they both started eating them off the ground.  Whatever works.

Josh and I watched a documentary last night on netflix.  It is called "Linsanity."  It is about Jeremy Lin, the NBA player who currently plays for the Rockets, and his rapid rise to fame.  I loved it.  It might be one of my favorite documentaries.  It's so good because he is a really religious person and is very Christ-centered.  It made me want to be a better person.  And I got caught up in the linsane period a few years ago.

I have been so bad at taking pictures and videos lately.  I never thought I would ever say that, because usually I take too many.  So here's one video we took a few days ago. 

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New Carseat and a Dream Come True

Tate got a new carseat and we installed it in the car and he loves it.  The first time he went in it he was smiling and laughing.  We were looking at each other in the rear view mirror.  He looks so big.  He looks like a little boy when he's sitting in his big boy chair (that's what we call it).  So that was big news today.

Also, we got a washer and dryer!!  Well, we didn't, but Doug got it and someone installed it.  I used it this past week and it was awesome!  I'm still trying to figure out how many clothes fit in each load and how to best use the dryer and so forth.  But it was really awesome and I am so grateful!!  That's my dream come true.

This week my friend Jenny got married.  It was great to see her so happy and see her be sealed.  It is crazy how fast time has gone.  Jenny and I were roommates freshman year and we roomed together until I got married.  I'm so happy she got married!

I also had some friends come to town this week.  Noelle came for Jenny's wedding it was so fun to see her.  Her son Miles is so cute!  And my friend Lo came just to visit and she has an adorable son Daniel.  It was so good to see them both!  And it made me realize how much I miss them!  So I think they should move back to Provo.

Tate is doing more and more every day.  He can kind of go down stairs.  Yesterday he was trying to go forward down some stairs (that are shallower than normal stairs) and we kept stopping him and saying "oh," which is what we say when he does something not good.  He would pout and cry and want to be held.  So we kept doing that and then later on he did it all by himself when Kenzie was watching him.  He was probably getting annoyed that we kept stopping him, because he knew he could do it.  Unfortunately, he thinks he can do it on steep stairs, which he can't.

Tate loves other babies his size.  Whenever we see one he stops and stares at them and tries to talk to them.  It's really funny. 

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Super Sunday

My computer is struggling lately so I can't load my pictures onto my blog, because I use iphoto on my computer to do it.  And uploading videos is getting difficult, so this is just a post with words.  Boring, I know.
And I still have more vids and pics that are for my previous post, so I'll get those up soon.
3/2
Today was an amazingly beautiful day!  After church we went on a really long walk.  It was so nice outside.  And we discovered that Tate loves cooked carrot sticks.  He loves them and pounds them down.  He ate a lot of carrots on our walk.  He also likes green beans, who knew?  When we would see a dog (and we saw a few) Tate would make his "woof woof" noise.

Yesterday we went to the men's volleyball game with our friends Stacy/Andrew and Megan/Matt.  It was fun and they won!  Afterward Stacy invited us to go out to dinner with them and Andrew's family (Andrew's brother is on the team, so they were in town).  Josh and I discussed whether we should go or not for a long time, and we were going somewhere semi-cheap.  That's how into our budget I am.  Eventually we decided we would go and on the way there I was nervous about spending the money for dinner.  But when we got there Andrew's uncle paid for everyone.  I was so grateful!  When we have more money, I want to do things like that.  But until then, I guess I'll take the free dinner.

Tate had an adorable outfit on at church today.  He looked like a little boy, which was so crazy!  I think I've probably said that 100 times, but it's true.

3/4
Yesterday at breakfast Tate was eating and I was eating and then all of a sudden he started laughing.  And it was a legitimate laugh.  It kind of was weird at first because he kept going and going, but then I just started laughing too.  I don't know what was so funny.  And yesterday I put him in his crib for his nap and then I was trying to find my debit card in our armoire in our room. I expected to turn around and see him standing up looking at me.  But when I did he was already in his sleeping position, which the best way to describe it is that he fell asleep praying.  He was so so cute.  He was holding on to his blanket and his little bum was in the air.  This morning the same thing happened, but he was kind of talking to himself.

Yesterday we were walking and we saw a cat and Tate said "woof woof."  I tried to teach him cats say "meow."

We got his new car seat today!  It's intense.  I was reading the instruction manual and I had no idea what they were talking about most of the time.  I'm not really sure how to install it, so I will have Josh take a look at it.  There are a bunch of random straps and hooks and I'm not sure what they're for. 

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Science

2/16

We have given Tate to science.  Well, not really, but kind of.  I went in for Tate's one-year check up and this lady came in and explained that there is currently only one provider in the US for the MMR vaccine, and it's not good to only have one and it is kind of running out.  So they are doing studies to get another one that is used in 101 other countries licensed in the US.  But they need to try it on US babies.  So that is where Tate comes in.  We put Tate into the study for the greater good.  So you are welcome future America for the MMR vaccine.  Tate had to get his blood drawn, which was really sad.  But he did get a sucker, which he LOVED and he was SO sticky.  Then they gave him his vaccines, which he really did not like.  And now we have to take his temperature for 45 days and log his irritability, sleepiness, and appetite.  Unfortunately, we are getting Tate to eat more "normal" food and that is making him irritable and lose his appetite.  So poor Tate.  Sacrificing for the greater good.

I got released from my calling today.  It is always so interesting being released from a calling, because it is so sudden.  It is bitter/sweet.  We will have so much time on Sundays to be with each other!

Oh!  Valentine's Day!  How could I forget?  It was the best Valentines ever!  Josh came home from work early and we went to Gwen's birthday party (she was born on Valentines).  It was a great party.  Gwen loved her cake and Tate liked the pizza, until he threw up.  But then he got to go shirtless, because he threw up all over his shirt.  Tate and Gwen played and we decided if they are going to get married, Gwen needs to start sticking up for herself against Tate's beatings.  Then after that, Tate went down for a nap and when he woke up we went for a walk.  We walked to a lawn at BYU and Tate found a tree he LOVED.  Seriously, we tried to take him somewhere else and he started crying.  He had a piece of bark that he kept touching the tree with.  We played there for a while and then went home.  On our way home, we stopped by Bombay house and signed up for a time to eat.  Nathan and Kenzie watched Tate and we ate AMAZING indian food.  It was so so so good.  I guess while we were gone, Tate took our keys and was trying to unlock the door with them.  He's so smart.

2/18

This morning I was reading to Tate and we were reading a book titled "Babies."  It's all about babies and different things they do.  The first page says "Look at what these babies do, are these the things that you do to?"  And I realized that they were!  Tate can do all the things the babies in the book can do, like sit, crawl, walk, play with toys, gets stuff out of a purse, and do a mini head stand.  That's the newest addition to Tate's repertoire of skills.  Last night we had some friends over for dinner and Tate was doing his "head stand" for a long, long time.  He just kept going.  It's not an actual head stand, he just puts his hands and head on the ground and looks back in between his legs (that's a lot harder to explain than I thought).  I'll get a picture at some point.  He first did it with Kenzie and he is starting to do it more often.  Last night Tate was being funny in a lot of other ways too.  I was feeing him yogurt and he was out of his chair and he would take a bite and spin around and then take another bite and spin and so on.  He loves putting things into containers and taking them out, over and over and over.

I don't know if this is a normal phenomena of your baby turning one, but Tate has been really cranky lately.  He is like a ticking bomb.  The smallest things make him drop to the floor and cry.  And he has learned to add screaming to his cries, which is very pleasant and I'm sure everyone in the house appreciates.  He is starting to do a little (and when I say little, I mean little) bit better eating.  We are also giving him less milk in the bottle, hoping that will help/force him to eat more food.  Tate also wants to be held a lot more than usual.  I actually don't mind holding him, but I want to avoid him expecting getting held 24/7.  He is almost 25 lbs after all.  Oh yes, at his 1 year appointment he was 24 lbs 2 oz and 30.5 inches long, around the 75%.  And his head is in the 40-something percentile.  So he has a small head, but that's okay.  He is starting to get hair, like a lot of hair (compared to how it was before). A girl at church even commented on it.  She said something like "He has hair!  When did that happen?" 

I got released from my calling on Sunday.  So I'm excited to get a new one!

Last night before Tate went to bed, Josh was cleaning the dishes from our dinner with our friends (and it was a lot of dishes!).  And I was getting Tate in his PJs.  Tate and I started playing a peek-a-boo game where he would run away and turn around I would hide behind his pajama shirt and say peek-a-boo and then he would come back and I would grab him and he would laugh really hard.  Then I'd let him go and we'd do it again.  Then after I let him go I started holding his pants so he couldn't walk and he thought that was so funny.  Then I would let him go and grab him back and let him go and grab him back and he was laughing so hard.  And I was laughing so hard.  We were having a blast.  Tate is just so funny.

This morning we went to the library and Tate helped me push the stroller, but he would stop every few feet and look at something on the ground or at a plant and say "oooo."  He loves pushing the crosswalk buttons.  Every time we get to a cross walk, he holds out his index finger to push the button.  He is so proud of himself when he pushes it and it makes a sound.  I love it!

2/25

Tate is becoming more of a little boy and less of a baby every day.  It is hard to believe.  Sunday morning we left the door open, because we made curry the night before and the house still reeked, and we forgot to lock the screen door.  So Tate went to push against it and it opened and Tate fell out of the house and down the step, onto his face.  Josh and I were in the back getting ready for Church and we heard him scream and Josh ran out and got him.  It was sad, he was just in his diaper, lying on the porch.  He was bleeding.  He scraped up his face and cut his nose and got a little bruise under his eye.  He looked like Frankenstein in a bowtie at church.  So that was the big event of Sunday.

Yesterday we were in the front room and there was a streak of sunlight coming from the window.  Have you ever noticed that sometimes you can see dust or some small particles floating around in the sun?  Well, Tate noticed and he spent a while reaching out to try to grab them.  He was so happy about it.  He would try to grab one and then start laughing.

The weather has been unbelievable!  Tate and I have been spending a majority of our days outside.  Yesterday we went to the park with Josh and Tate loved playing on the slide.  He would try to crawl or walk up it and then let himself fall down and he'd slide down.  He cracks me up.  And he cracks himself up.  He says "dadada" and starts laughing like he said something funny.

At church someone told me they were at their friends out with a few other couples and they were playing charades and someone wrote down Tate.  When someone got up there they said "the cute baby in the ward" and everyone said Tate.  I wasn't sure if I should be flattered or concerned that someone wrote down Tate's name.

Tate is learning so much.  When we read together I tell him "go get a book and we'll read," and he'll go over and get a book.  Or one day I said "go get your shoe," and he walked over and picked up his shoe and brought it back.  How crazy is that!

Tate loves the garbage truck.  I know I've talked about this before, but I'm just reminded of it every Tuesday morning when the garbage truck drives by our side door.  Tate loves looking at it.

Tate picked out Emma's birthday present

2/28

Today Tate and I went outside and we took his little car with us.  He loved pushing it around on the sidewalk.  He was having a blast.  Then I saw Brooke and Charlie walking home from Smiths so I said/yelled hi to her and she came over and we talked for a while.  Charlie was asleep in the stroller and stayed asleep until the very end when they were leaving.  So Brooke got him out and he was so funny.  He was SO wobbly, like his legs were made of jello and he kept falling.  Finally, he got his footing and he wanted to give Tate a hug.  He slowly approached him and gave him a hug, but then he lost his balance and fell on top of him.  Luckily they were on the grass.  It was so funny!  We were laughing so hard.  Charlie just hopped up like it was no big deal, but Tate looked worried.  Right after they fell, he looked at me and made a pouty face.  It was great.  

Feeding Tate has been so hard the past few days.  Dinner two nights ago, he refused to eat and screamed incredibly loud for a really long time.  So we just put him to bed.  Then lunch the next day he did the same thing.  I decided a big problem was that he knew he didn't really need to eat because he would get his bottle and get semi-full.  I didn't give him his bottle yesterday before his morning nap and he was kind of upset, but he ate well at lunch and I didn't give him his bottle again and he did really well at dinner.  And today he's eaten pretty well.  It may have been because we had left over pizza for lunch.  But he ate well at dinner.  So this has been a big step for Tate...no more bottle!  He's done well.  

I was sweeping the kitchen and Tate always wants to hold the broom.  Instead, I gave him the little broom that you use to sweep everything into the little collector thing (this shows how much I use these things, I don't even know their names).  He took the mini-broom and started sweeping the floor with me.  So he is my little helper.  

Yesterday morning I was getting ready in the bathroom and Tate was in there with me and his bathtub was still out.  He got in the tub and looked so happy.  I thought he looked funny because he was in all his clothes and had a spoon.  Random.

I had a very sad thing happen this week.  Well, it's not that sad, but it is to me.  We lost our intramural game and so we are out of the tournament.  I have never not won an intramural championship.  I was actually so mad after the game.  I won't go into details, because I've already let it go, but I was so mad and sad.  But Josh and I are going to play on our ward team, so it's okay.  

Josh and I are looking for a new apartment.  I have been looking on KSL and craigslist for a long time everyday.  Today I was looking and I was almost crying, because I actually don't want to move out of our apartment.  It is a perfect place to live.  And we have so many amazing and happy memories here.  This is our home!  I know, I sound cheesy, but it really does make me sad.  I need to have a more positive attitude about change, but I think nothing can be as good as what we have.  But I was thinking about it today and almost every new thing in my life has turned out to be better than what I had. 

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