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.