Will ~ 10 Months

Oh geez, it's killing me to type 10 months. Can't believe it. Guess I'll be saying that over and over the next few months.

Sweet Will just gets sweeter and sweeter. Surely I'm allowed to say that about my own child, right? But he really does. Anyone that watches him says he is such a happy baby. It is just his personality. I love it!

Some big events from the past month:

• I only got my act together halfway with the table food. I haven't made as much progress as I had hoped, but we've at least started. He will still eat almost any baby food he's given (except green beans), and then he will also eat Cheerios, mushed-up bananas, he's had a few very small bites of pasta, loves to gnaw on bread rolls, eats/spits out peas, loves yogurt, and he's had a few small pieces of chicken. So random, I know. Hoping to really get a plan together to get him on table food soon.
• Will has found his little voice. Or his not-so-little voice. He has figured out how to screech. And he's quite amused by it. Seems like he comes up with a new sound each day and says that throughout the day. He did finally make the ma-ma sound. Music to my ears!
• We thought Tate loved his bath, but this kiddo super LOVES his bath. You can just say "wanna take a bath," and he get's so excited. Then after the bath, he loves playing peek-a-boo on the changing table.
• He has learned the fun trick of throwing his pacis out of the crib. Fun for him, not so fun for me.
• And soon after that, he started getting into the sitting position in his crib. The first time I found him like that was pretty cute as he started giggling so much. And that trick has made the "throw your paci" game even more fun. :)
• He still isn't in a full-blown crawl yet. But he does the army crawl, reach, creep, twist, roll and gets where he wants. We went in for a PT follow-up for the tortecollis. That is looking good, and the PT therapist agrees that he's got the ability to crawl, now he just needs a little more motivation. He still LOVES to stand and hold on to things.
• He loves to clap and wave. And he gets so excited when he sees Mommy, Daddy, Tate, or Macy. He does this screech-inhaling noise and laugh and kicks and flaps. Hilarious.
• He's funny in that anytime we change a location, you can tell that he gets serious and really has to scope it out and look around. Then once he gets the lay of the land, he's back to his smiley self.
• The reflux is slowly getting better. Still some spit-up but not near as much or as often. Poor guy is still sporting the bib most days.
• He seems to still be pretty easy-going handling transitions well with babysitters or the nursery at church.

They Have My Heart Today & Every Day

Stock Show ~ Yee-haw!

I haven't been to the Fort Worth Stock Show since I was a kid. And if I'm brutally honest, I think I know why. Wow, that place smells. I really am not a livestock kind of girl. But oh the things we do for our kids. :) And this group of kiddos we were with could've cared less how bad things smelled or how gross it was to see layers of manure on the wheels of your stroller.

After all, where else can you go that has quite possibly 800 bunnies all in the same room?

Or cows the size of cars just lounging around as you stroll by?
These kiddos sure didn't mind.
A quick break in the livestock, for a football toss.
High fives!
And no trip to a Stock Show is complete without a pony ride.


Tate & Noah have some serious fun when they are together.
And Spencer may have been the cutest 17-month-old cowboy there!
Sweet Annie was completely outnumbered by boys on this little adventure. She was a trooper, though.
The only picture I got of baby brother. Wish I would remember to take the bib off before the pictures.
And the only picture I got of sweet Asher.
Clearly this was at the end of the day. Can you tell that Annie has just about had it with the shenanigans of a certain boy with a brown cowboy hat and red/white/blue shirt?

Overall, it was fun and amoosing! :)

Super Tate

It's a bird. It's a plane. No, it's Super Tate. The one and only Super Tate was one excited boy...I mean super hero...heading to preschool on the official Super Hero Day.

And a big thank you to our special friend since it will be "our little secret" that Tate borrowed her tights for the day. :)

The Ice & Snow of 2011

Pretty sure this will be one ice and snow storm we won't forget. The crazy part is that the Friday before, we were enjoying a beautiful sunny 75 degree day at the Stock Show. I may have even sweat a little. But in Texas, things can change fast.

By Monday night, schools had already been cancelled for Tuesday. We were way overdue for a trip to the grocery store, so I headed out that night to do some shopping. I was kind of rolling my eyes and laughing as all of the shelves of bread and milk were practically empty. Crazy people...little did I know, they were smart people!

So it started at about 3:00 am on Tuesday (Day #1) with a serious sleet storm and "thunder snow" (thanks for the new term weather people). It was loud, and there was a TON of sleet and 30 mph winds. By the time we all woke up, there was a couple inches of ice everywhere with a dusting of snow on top. That does not make for good driving conditions.

So DFW pretty much shut down.

Wade & Tate braved the cold -1 wind chill temperatures for some ice sledding and sliding/riding around on the ice in the Gator. They could only stay outside for about 20 minutes at a time because it was so cold.

So we hunkered down with some good movies, food, and family togetherness. :) And then we woke on Wednesday (Day #2) to find conditions just as bad considering it never got above 20 degrees. That morning, we experienced our first-ever rolling black out. Two actually. The really stinky part is that after the electricity came back on, our internet and TV were no longer working. Good times.

And this is also when I reminded myself that 99% of the year, it is a true blessing that Wade only works 10 miles from our house. Well this week fell in the 1% when I was bummed that his office was close enough for him to brave the roads and go to work each day. Although, I'm very thankful for safe driving each time!

Day #3 came and went as well. No school again. We headed to bed that night hearing that there was a chance of maybe 1 inch of snow in the morning. But we awoke to another day of school closings (Day #4) and almost 5 inches of snow!

Now this is a snow day...SO much more fun to enjoy! Wade stuck around most of the morning, and we all 4 enjoyed the snow complete with more sledding, snow angels, and snowball fights. I was quite shocked to see that even Will enjoyed it. I learned the hard way with Tate not to put a baby right on the snow (his reaction here), so Will sat in the Bumbo and loved it...even when Big Brother "accidentally" threw a snowball on him!

It was a fun way to end 4 DAYS of being stuck and homebound. As the temperature crept to a whopping 30 degrees today, it was funny that it actually felt so much warmer. And I was THRILLED to hear the wonderful sounds of icicles melting and dripping.

Our Basketball Lovin' Tater TOT

Still behind on blogs, but here's one before I forget. This is the first year that Tate has been participating in an afterschool program at his preschool once a week called TOTs. They don't play on teams or compete but learn basketball handling skills with educational components. He has absolutely LOVED it!

I love that he loves it. And I love that it's an opportunity for him to get some energy out (there's plenty there) while focusing and learning.

There was a mid-year performance at a local high school basketball game a few weeks ago, and the TOTs group was the halftime show. I know I'm biased, but these kids were all pretty adorable. It was hilarious and chaotic at times but seriously cute! We were so proud of our Tater TOT! You can tell that the big court and all of the people were a lot to take in. I think he was quite in awe. :)

But he did great. And it's pretty funny when you could tell he could see his fan club on the other side of the gym. Poppy, Mo Mere, Uncle Ford, Aunt Tisha, Trip, & Mary Tish all came to cheer him on.

Way to go Tate, and we can't wait to watch you again in a few more months at the end-of-year show!