New pics!!!

We finally put all of our pictures on the computer! I know some of you are waiting (not so patiently... :) so here are a few recent photos of the family!

Still Alive

Yes, we are still here and kicking.

Apparently it has been eons since we last blogged. I don't know what the deal is, other than the usual happenings that keep us busy.

We still haven't put any new pictures on the computer. We have about 1300 on the SLR, and another 600 on the point and shoot. Yep, about 200 pictures from this summer and fall just sitting on memory cards in the cameras. Seriously, one of these days we should try to put some pictures on here, just so everyone can see how they are doing. At this point, though, there probably isn't anyone even reading after our 4 month hiatus.

Update on the kids - Avery is enjoying preschool these days. She loves going, and is fitting in well socially, which has always been our biggest concern. Academically, she's learning to read. She has some short phonics stories that she can read by herself, which is a great start. Beyond that, she is having fun being Tate's big sister.

Tate is also doing well. He continues to army crawl everywhere, but he has shown a willingness to get into a four-point crawl position. Additionally, he is able to stand up while bracing himself against objects for extended periods of time now. He'll pull himself up on the coffee table, couch, or bathtub, and just hang out. His favorite thing is trying to get into the tub, whether there is water in there or not. He is also improving his vocabulary as well. I personally can't understand more than a couple words/phrases he says, but Early Intervention has a list of words he says. It's pretty exciting to hear. He's making fantastic progress all around, including in the weight department. I don't know his most recent figures, but he has to be over 30 lbs, so plenty heavy enough.

Liz and I are doing well. We just got back from a mini-vacation. My cousin got married last weekend, so we went out to see him. It was a beautiful wedding/reception. We had a ton of fun, and truly enjoyed our couple days away from the kids. It was nice to get back, though, as we had not both spent more than a night away from them.

That's about it for now. We'll try to update more frequently, but I'm sure that's not the first time we said that, so you know how that goes.

Busy Summer

Okay,

Like Liz said previously, we have been blog slackers this summer. Well, I guess I've been a blog slacker for a longer time than just this summer, but you get the idea. In any case, we've been busy this summer/month.

Quick Recap

Vacation at Long Lake with the Borgens. Great time, lots of family, lots of sun, had a blast...

Actually, we did have a lot of fun. Ave did great swimming in the lake, which was fun to see. Tate continues to amaze us with how much he loves the water. When we get the pictures uploaded, we'll post some. They're pretty cute, because he splashes constantly when he is in the water. The only time he stops is after he gets too much water in his mouth.

Wedding for my brother in Minneapolis. Great time, lots of family, lots of sun, had a blast...

It's true, we had fun there as well. We left from the lake to head to "the cities" for my brother's wedding. We had a great time doing the whole rehearsal, dinner, golf, pictures, wedding, dinner, dance bit. Teresa is a wonderful addition to the family and we're excited to call her sis/auntie/etc.

Back to work/daycare in FM. Great time, less family, lots of cold, had a blast...

After the wedding it was nice to get back home, unpack, and get some "Liz, Josh, Avery & Tate" time. Everybody was drained, so early to bed on Saturday, and then relax at home on Sunday. The weather was colder this past week, which was nice as we tried to get back into the daily summer routine. It was tough (relatively speaking), but somehow we managed. After a long work week (for Liz, anyway), we decided we needed to relax again, so we took the kids swimming at Borgen Pool. The kids had fun, as did Liz and I. With the help of a floatie ring, Avery tooled around the whole pool! Swimming lessons worked wonders for her!!! Tate, as usual, splashed around a whole bunch and had a fantastic time playing in the water.

So, that's been our July so far. Pretty eventful, and will get even more so this week. Liz will be gone later this week/weekend for work, so I'll be handling the kids. It should go smoothly. Jane will get some grandkid time as well, which will be fun for all.

Finally, a couple of Avery stories, if I can remember them -

First, last night she was talking about wanting a sister (today she said she wants 2 brothers and 2 sisters - she might be disappointed). We asked her when and she replied, "for my birthday". "Umm, that might not happen since that's coming up soon," was our response. We told her it would take a longer time than just a couple of weeks, that having a baby takes many months, and it would happen when God wants it to happen (BTW, we aren't pregnant and aren't trying, in case any of you are trying to read into this...). That answer didn't satisfy her (as is the case with the majority of our answers to her questions, since she's almost 4 and knows more than either of us). Actually, I think that not only didn't it satisfy her, but she told us we were wrong. We asked for an explanation, then, because we wanted to know if the whole birthing process had changed in the 26 months since Tate was conceived. This is what she said - "Well, you can just build your bed really high, way up into the sky. Then God can just reach out with his hand and put a baby in your tummy and hide it from you so you won't know. And then it can be born on my birthday!"

Liz and I just looked at each other and had to laugh. How could you not, especially if you've ever seen Avery telling a story. She is so expressive that it just cracks us up sometime. We had to let her down gently by explaining that it doesn't quite work like that, but that we loved the idea. That, and I'm not handy enough to build any kind of bed, let alone one that reaches high enough in the sky for God to reach...

Second story, at dinner tonight - We had homemade pizza on the grill (it was awesome) and we were talking about how many pieces we had. Liz and Avery each had had 4 pieces, so Liz asked Avery how many pieces the girls ate. Avery counted to 8 and said, "4 and 4 is 8!" Then we said I had 6 (they were small pieces) and Tate had 2, so how many did the boys eat? Again she counted and said, "6 and 2 is 8! Two ways to get 8! (Liz and Avery had been working on the same thing with 4 earlier in the day). I told her that was a good lesson to learn at dinner. Her reply? "Yeah, just like the other week when I learned not to climb my bookshelf, that was a good lesson to learn!" Again we had to laugh, and then told her that we were glad that she hasn't forgotten that lesson. She's our good little elephant, but it's going to come back and bite us some day.

So there you have it - 2 weeks in the life of the St. Louis family. Sorry again that we aren't regularly blogging, but as Avery would say, "Well, that's okay - You tried your best." We are trying our best, but we don't have time during the waking hours, and we don't always get to the computer after they go to bed. Maybe we'll post again this month (hopefully with pics), but if not, you can understand.

Blog slacker...

Summer is going well for us but we've been spending our time outside rather than updating the blog... Not much has changed since I last updated. The kids continue to keep us busy. Avery is in swimming lessons this week and is loving them. I really thought she would be the shy kid who sat on the edge of the pool until the very last day of lessons, but she has definitely proven me wrong. She got into the pool the first day and loves her new "friends" and teacher. She's learned to go under water on her own and is learning to back float... exciting things for a three year-old!

Tate isn't in any summer activities but keeps us busy chasing after him. In the course of a seven minute phone conversation today I redirected him from going towards the dog's water dish at least ten times. Now that he's figured out where the water is and multiple routes to get there, we're in trouble! :) Honestly though, Tate is doing so well. He's signing more each week and is learning a few actions to "The Itsy Bitsy Spider". It's pretty cute!

Josh and I are both busy with work. We also celebrated on Monday because it had been ten years since our first date. Hard to believe! We agreed that if we had been told ten years ago on our first date (the one where Josh asked if I'd date him exclusively... :) where we'd be today neither of us would have believed it. It's been a crazy ten years but I feel truly blessed to have shared those years with him.

And here are a few long overdue pictures for all of you. The are from April through this past weekend. Enjoy!

The kids and I on my birthday

Tate and I on Mother's Day

Tate's new orthotics and shoes

Vertical!!

Both kids love to play outside, especially on the swings

Avery collecting worms during garden planting time

Best buddies!

Awww...

Perspective

Sometimes I forget how blessed Josh and I really are. We are both healthy, have jobs that are stable, love our jobs, love each other, and have two perfect and healthy kids. Honestly, what more can anyone ask for in life? I know that I have been known to get mad at Josh for silly things that really don't matter at times, or to snap at Avery when she's acting out. Everyone does those things at times, right? An old friend recently lost her five month old son to SIDS. I went to the funeral this weekend. The service was beautiful but very sad. I hurt for them and the pain and grief they'll be dealing with for a lifetime. Going to the funeral service was a not-so-gentle reminder for me that life is a precious gift, and not one to be taken for granted. It reminded me to take a few extra minutes to snuggle my kids. No matter how difficult parenting can be at times, I am truly blessed that my kids are here with me to share in our crazy life.

Avery...

Avery has been quite the little performer lately. Last night she put on a show for Josh and I in the living room. She gets all dressed up, grabs her sparkly microphone and stands in our bay window and serenades us. Her performances usually involve her interesting dance moves and at least one jump off of her "stage". Yesterday afternoon while we were at home she put on a show for Tate and I. She made up several songs for us, including one that she informed us was going to be about Strawberry Shortcake and her flowers. We've been learning the names of the plants in our yard (lilies, peonies, tulips, etc.) so I wondered which would be incorporated into her song. The song she made up was given the title of "Strawberry Shortcake's Peenies". Lovely. It was her way of saying peonies, but the song was interesting...

We made a day trip to the cities this weekend to stop in Albertville and pick up some deck supplies for Josh. On the way back to Moorhead, Tate kept babbling. I wasn't paying much attention to exactly what sounds he was making, but all of the sudden Avery says "Tate, you're full of a$$ today!". Josh and I looked at each other and tried to keep straight faces. I asked her what she meant and she said "Tate keeps making S sounds, so I told him he's full of a$$." We just let that one go... hopefully if she doesn't know it's a naughty word she won't keep repeating it!

Updates!

I'm not sure how other families do it, but we never seem to have enough time around here to get it all done! Life is so crazy lately that taking even a few minutes to blog just doesn't happen. I apologize for the lack of info lately, especially to those of our relatives who keep updated from afar via the blog... we'll try to get back into the blogging groove!

Let's see... Tate is now commando crawling EVERYWHERE and is pretty much a one man wrecking crew. He has four teeth now and had his first visit to the dentist last week. Avery was getting her teeth cleaned and I went up to the counter to get her rescheduled for 6 months and asked if I could make Tate's initial appointment for that same date. The dentist happened to be behind the counter and mentioned that they'd just had a cancellation and could see Tate now. I didn't really think he needed to be seen yet, but I did have a few questions for the dentist so it was nice to have them answered. Tate doesn't have to go back for a year; hopefully he'll have many more teeth by then!

Tate got measured for orthotics last week and we went today and had them fitted to his foot. They are Sure Steps for any of you who have kids with Down syndrome and will actually know what I'm talking about. He doesn't seem to mind them yet, but we'll see as time goes on. After leaving the orthopedic shop we went to Stride Rite to get fitted for Tate's first real pair of shoes. The girl at the store measured him as a size 5, but when we tried them on they were too narrow. Size 5 wides were also too narrow, so we tried 5 double wides. Yep, they fit. We bought the only pair in stock and special ordered another pair. Avery has always had good tennis shoes, but we've often bought her dress shoes at Target. I don't see the point in spending more than $15 for shoes that she'll likely only wear a few times. We won't be able to that for Tate...he'll be a special-ordered shoes kind of kid. Lucky guy! :) I'll post pictures of Tate in his orthotics tomorrow.

Avery has her first cavity and will get it filled next week; I feel a little guilty that she has a cavity and told Josh that I am worried about how she'll do during her filling. His favorite saying on the subject is "worrying is like a rocking chair... gives you something to do but doesn't get you anywhere". So helpful, right? Not so much. Back to the cavity. It's a challenge explaining a cavity to a 3 year old and not making it sound like a good thing, but not scaring her about how the dentist will fix it, all while making sure she knows it's a bad thing that she doesn't want to have happen again!

I've decided to run the Twin Cities Marathon again this fall. I've done a few in the past and was getting the bug to do another one. I was talking to a patient about wanting to do it but not being sure if the time was right... I have two kids, a husband, and a business that I have trouble balancing at times as it is. She said "that is exactly why you need to do it; take time for yourself!" I agree, but finding the time to run while not feeling like I'm sacrificing time with my family might be tough. I asked Josh if he wanted to run with me, but we compromised by buying a bike and a double bike trailer for the kids. I'll run and he and the kids will bike/ride along so that we're all together rather than me leaving them at home while I run. It's been great so far and I'm really looking forward to the training process. And for those of you who know that both of my kids were post-marathon babies, no, there are most definitely not plans for another little St. Louis in the near future. Just ask anyone who saw me at the mall today with my two little handfuls and they'll tell you that I'm not ready for another just yet :)

Off to spend the rest of the evening with my hubby. Enjoy your weekend- hopefully your weather is warmer than ours. We have a high temp of fifty degrees tomorrow. Yikes!

We're still here... :)

We've been taking some time off from the blog... it's not intentional but we've been busy and the blog tends to be the first thing to go! We've had lots of new happenings in our life and will blog about them tonight hopefully.

To be continued...

Quote for the day

When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.
--Helen Keller

I love this quote! It does a great job of explaining how I felt right after Tate was born. I was worried too much about the things he wouldn't do rather than seeing all of the joy he would bring our family. Thankfully things are much different now.

On another Tate note, he's getting his top eye teeth. He's going to look pretty goofy when he has his two middle bottom teeth and his top eye teeth... our little vampire!

Have a great weekend!

Easter!

We had a great Easter and took tons of pictures. Here are a few for you to enjoy! Since this weekend we've been busy playing outside and enjoying the spring that seemed like it would never arrive! Avery has been having a blast riding her bike and scooter and just being able to be outside without having a hat and mittens on! Tate has been riding in the little car my mom got him and he loves it. This will be his first summer of being able to actually play outside and I can't wait!

We had Tate's second IFSP meeting yesterday. Those of you who know what an IFSP is will understand why I dreaded the meeting. It ended up going okay... but I'll write more about it in my next post.

Have a great weekend!



Easter Sunday




Getting ready to dye Easter eggs



Avery and our chalk drawing from Saturday



Tate in his new car

Normalcy... for now

Both kids signing "mama"

Things have gotten back to normal for everyone but Josh now. I headed back to work on Wednesday when the mayor said that non-essential businesses could be back open and the kids started back to daycare that same day. I loved having some extra family time over the long weekend, but was honestly starting to go pretty stir crazy by Tuesday. We had finished sandbagging on Friday afternoon and been home as a family since then. Family time is great, but when you add the stress of watching the flood and trying to explain things to Avery, not to mention both of us being off of work and no routine whatsoever... things were getting a bit tense around here. I tried to stay busy with projects, but after four days I started to run out of things to do. I baked cookies, started my garden from seeds in little planters that will be in the house until spring (which I swear has to come eventually...), and did lots of painting/gluing/coloring projects with Avery. By the time we were in the middle of Tuesday's winter storm I could hardly wait until the streets were cleared so I could get out of the house and have a few minutes of alone time. As soon as the storm let up I headed out to buy some fabric to create something. No, I don't really know how to sew but I needed something to focus on and occupy my hands for a bit. I bought enough fabric to make a baby blanket for Avery's doll and a dress for her. The blanket turned out cute and Ave loves playing with it. The dress, on the other hand, might have been a bit ambitious as I'm not convinced I even know how to follow a pattern. Here's a picture of the blanket and I'll post pics of the dress once it's finished.



Avery's new blanket



Proof that I made a batch of cookies that are actually edible :)

The kids are happy to be back at daycare and back to their daily routines. Avery is in the middle of a challenging phase right now so by Wednesday our patience with her was wearing thin and we appreciated the break from the constant struggles between us and her. I don't think I've ever been around a preschooler as difficult as her and I've been fearing her teenage years lately... yikes! Josh asked her to clean her room the other day and asked a bit later if she'd done it yet. She looked at him and said "No daddy, I certainly did not clean my room yet." We appreciate her honesty and her ability to talk like a 6 year-old, but she doesn't listen very well and we're working on that. In spite of all of the challenges, she is constantly making us laugh and definitely keeps life in our house interesting.

Tate has finally learned how to drink out of a straw! We've been working on it for two months with a cup we got from his speech therapist that allows us to squeeze a little liquid into his mouth and help teach him the purpose of the straw. He can do it on his own now!! We're excited not only because we've been working towards that step for so long but because it's one step closer to being done with the bottle. He's also gotten a lot better at army crawling and can get pretty much wherever he wants to around the house now; he especially loves chasing after our dog Jersey and crawling to knock over block towers we build for him.



Tate and daddy playing yesterday

Josh will head back to school on Monday and is anxious to get back to teaching and having his normal routine back. I realized the other day when he started telling me things about The Bold and the Beautiful and Guiding Light that he has too much time on his hands... :)

A prediction was released yesterday for a second crest of the Red River and the NWS is saying that there is something like a 75% chance of the crest reaching the 40 foot mark again. We're hoping that the prediction is wrong and that at the very least our lives will be less interrupted by this second crest.

We're off to buy the kiddos some Easter outfits now. Enjoy your weekend!

the kids

I forgot - I was going add a couple of pictures of the kids. As you can tell, Avery is still Avery - A lot of fun mixed with a case of teenage independence. Tate is moving around the upper level well. He has perfected the army crawl/roll to get where he wants to go. We love them both very much and continue to be amazed by the things they do and say.

Quick story - Yesterday I asked Avery if she had cleaned her room yet, because Uncle Jeff and Terese were coming over. She responded matter-of-factly, "No Daddy, I most certainly did not clean my room yet." Not quite the response I expected, but I definitely appreciated her honesty. Liz said it is going to be a sad day when she turns 12 and has a bigger vocabulary than either of us!

Flood Pics

Okay, we're going to try and update again. Yesterday was our first real day at home, because as Liz said, we've been busy either filling or laying sandbags. After 2 straight days, we were a little sore yesterday. I can't even imagine what it is like for everyone that has had to do that for 5 or 6 straight days.

I don't recall what we've posted, but our house should be fine. We do have our basement drains plugged in case the sewers back up. We also moved our computer, pictures, and some other valuables upstairs, just in case. Better to be safe than sorry! Poor Tate - we had to put all of that stuff somewhere, so his room became a huge closet, with boxes and laundry baskets stacked high, leaving just enough space to walk to his crib and dresser. Again, we'll take that over the alternative.

School up here is cancelled for everyone for the upcoming week (Mar 30-Apr 3). This means that with the 3 days we had off last week for snow/flood issues, spring break the week before, and 2 days off for the blizzard the previous week, I will have taught for a grand total of 5 days during a 4-week stretch from March 9 - April 3. It is unbelievable to think about, and even more unbelievable to live it. Personally, I would rather be teaching. It is a lot less stressful the dealing with the flood. Typically I would worry about student progress, mandated testing, and other school related issues. That has been replaced by worrying about how my students & coworkers are managing. Are they safe? Did they have to evacuate? How is there house doing? Additionally, I have the same worries and concerns for our friends and our family. It all adds up to a lot of stress, which I could do without.

Being a city boy, I wasn't here for the '97 flood, so this is all new to me. It has been amazing to see the community come together during this difficult time. I've filled and placed sandbags with friends, family, and total strangers, with everyone working towards a common goal. I was talking with a young college student while filling sandbags Thursday morning, and he said that he had met more people this week sandbagging than he had in six months of college. He isn't from here and doesn't have family here, but still felt the responsibility to help. He and many other students like him have helped keep most of the cities dry, as they have been the main sandbag fillers on both sides of the river.

We know that there are a lot of pictures available online of the flood, but we thought that we would post a couple that we took by Jane's house. We weren't going to sandbag her house, because we thought she would be fine (and she still might), but as the crest predictions kept rising, we didn't have a choice. I was filling sandbags north of Moorhead when Liz called and said her mom needed help moving stuff upstairs and getting ready to sandbag. I went over there and helped her empty her basement, while Liz's dad came over and prepared the exterior for sandbagging. We laid sandbags around her house from 11 pm until about 1:30 am, and then had to stop because we ran out and couldn't get anymore until Friday morning. We then spent a majority of the daylight hours Friday (8 am-4 pm) finishing up the dike around her house. You can see it in the pictures. So far, with the water apparently cresting yesterday at a level of 40.82 feet (It is currently down to 40.2 feet) everything inside her house is dry and hopefully it will stay that way. We'll have to see.

Anyway, here are the pics. I'm having a little trouble captioning by them, so I'll do that here. The first two are of Jane's house and front yard. You can see the dike we built all around her house. It is about 2-3 feet high all around her house. Tim surveyed all around and it should protect her house up to 42.75 feet. You can also see the water in her front yard. Thankfully, it hasn't gotten any higher in yard.

The third picture is the main road that runs by her house. It had about 12 inches of water covering it for a couple hundred feet. We were obviously driving through it - I felt like I was on "The Dukes of Hazzard". The only thing missing was a ramp for me to jump! Anyway, we hope everyone is doing well, staying safe, and keeping dry.

More flood talk...

After we were leaving my mom's house on Friday I felt my left ear and realized that my diamond earring was gone. I panicked and felt all through my clothes but didn't find it. With all of the movement I'd done that day, I was pretty sure the earring was gone forever. On a whim I picked up my hat that I'd been wearing all day and my earring was barely stuck to the inside edge. I am so relieved... not only do I have a sentimental attachment to the earrings (Josh gave them to me when I was pregnant with Avery) I really do not think I ever would have found it in my mom's yard.

I have a few more flood related things too look at if you're interested. There are many more photos at www.inforum.com and a great video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdxtwROYTgE . Like Josh said, it has been an amazing experience to be a part of, but one you never hope to actually see and the video does a great job of portraying what it's actually been like around here for the past week.



Also, Avery painted this picture on Thursday evening. I asked her what her picture was of and she said "A dirty flood." I know that in spite of our efforts to shelter her from the news, she knows what is going on. We are fortunate to be in an area that is pretty much unaffected by the flood but she picks up on daycare not being open, daddy not having to go to work, and waking her up in the middle of the night to drop her off at grandma's so mom and dad can sandbag. I can only imagine that families that live closer to the river or have been evacuated have an even more difficult time explaining things to their kids. We are all counting the days until things start to get back to some sense of normal...

Flood....

We just got back from sandbagging at my mom's house and will be heading back there first thing tomorrow. Our home will stay dry, my office is still dry as of tonight, and everyone is safe. I promise that an update and pictures are still coming, but I've been busy with sandbagging, etc. this week. Please keep our community in your prayers as we try to make it through the next week!

Yikes...

We had a great weekend in St. Paul for the Final Five! The kids stayed at grandma's house and had fun... Avery said she didn't even miss us. :( I guess that means she was well taken care of.

I am getting a bit stressed about this flood situation. Police escorts have been leading trucks loaded with sandbags down 25th Street outside my office all day. With all three colleges cancelling classes for the day, I hope all of those hard-working sandbaggers are getting the job done! Check out our local paper for more info: www.inforum.com

More updates coming soon!

Happy Big 3-0!!!!

In typical Liz fashion I'm a day late, but happy birthday Josh! Thanks for being the man of my dreams, a great dad, and sharing your life with me. I love you!

More updates to follow soon... along with pictures of our blizzard and the kiddos!

Annie

We had a great time at "Annie" this weekend. The play was a middle school play, so while I didn't think the acting would be stellar I figured it would be a good kid-friendly option to take Avery to. The show was amazing and Avery had so much fun. She sat still for almost the entire show and was obsessed with Annie and all of the outfits she got to wear. :) On Sunday morning we burned Avery a copy of the Annie soundtrack and she must've listened to it 6 times yesterday. It's tough to find something that Avery is really interested in, but I think we found a winner with the play! Josh's mom Linda and I had a great time too, and I especially loved being able to do something with Avery that was a more grown-up activity than the circus or other kid things we've taken her to. I'm really looking forward to all of the things we'll be able to do as she grows up.

Tate had a great weekend too. He didn't sleep much... he was up until after midnight again last night! He did his first sign this weekend- he signed mom! I have worked on that sign for the past 8 months and was thrilled to see him duplicate it! He is also starting to get up on all fours and rock back and forth a bit. I think it will still be a few weeks (or months) until he truly crawls, but he's doing great with the individual steps needed to get him moving. Honestly, I'm a little afraid of what life with Tate crawling will be like; he's so busy!

We are in for a blizzard tomorrow that is supposed to bring 8-10 inches of snow! Thankfully Tuesdays are my day home with the kids so I won't have to worry about getting to work or rescheduling patients. Josh's mom is here with us through Wednesday so the four of us will have a fun day of playing and watching the snow fall. Isn't spring supposed to be coming soon?!

Updates

Tate has been pretty fussy for the past several days (and nights, unfortunately). He doesn't want to sleep unless we rock him to sleep, which is very unlike him. He's also been waking up often. I thought he might be teething, but every time I say that Josh says I always blame Tate's fussiness on teething. This time I was finally right! I checked when I got home today and the tiniest little corner of Tate's first tooth is peeking through his gums! Avery and I did a big cheer for Tate when I noticed his tooth. Tate started giggling and clapping- so fun!! He's also started to wave hi and bye and plays peek-a-boo with us. I can't remember if I've posted about all of these new activities, but it's so fun to see him getting more interactive.

Avery has been doing well. She's been feeling fine since the last time I updated the blog. Hopefully we're done with the illnesses for the season! One quick funny story about Ave. She has a growth chart hanging up in her room and has had it since she turned one. She knows what the purpose of the growth chart is and what it's called. When my mom gave Tate a growth chart for his first birthday she said "Grandma! Now Tate can have a boyth chart just like I have a girlth chart!" Ha ha!

We have a busy weekend of entertaining coming up. Josh's mom Linda will be here starting on Saturday. I got tickets for Avery, Linda and me to go see the play Annie this weekend. Should be fun!

Sick... again!!

Avery is sick for the third time in nine days. I'm not sure why she keeps getting sick. Her daycare is great about washing hands, she eats well and gets enough sleep, she gets adjusted regularly, and she is the only one in our house who keeps getting sick. Frustrating!

The plus side is that since Josh has conferences at school all day, I am the one staying at home with her. Because Josh has sick days at through his employer, he is typically the one who stays home when either of the kids are sick. Conferences can't be rescheduled though, so I am home today. Any of you moms out there know how hard it is to leave your kids when they are sick; even though I know that Josh does a great job, I love being able to be here with the kids when they don't feel well.

Drum roll, please....

Tate started army crawling today! Woo hoo Tate!!

Pictures!!

It took a bit longer than I expected, but I put some of the pictures into a quick slideshow. It seemed easier than posting 30 pictures to the blog! Just as an FYI, there is music (so if you're at work, turn down your speakers!). Enjoy!!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Tate's Party!

Tate's party went great! He napped for a few hours before the party so he was well rested and able to stay awake for the entire party. He sat up by himself the whole time we opened presents, but had more interest in playing with the ribbons than actually opening the gifts. :) He was adorable though. Tate got tons of great gifts... clothes, a new spring jacket, books, toys, and the cutest little baseball hat. He hasn't worn a hat much yet, so when I put it on him he kept looking up and tossing his head back trying to see the brim. He didn't understand that it was attached to his head and that he would never "catch up" to it. I'll post a picture of it when I get home.

He did great with his cake too! He doesn't feed himself yet, but had no problem figuring out what to do with the cake. I think I took 100+ pictures of him devouring his cake and will post them later too.

Avery did great at the party. I was a little worried that she would be jealous of Tate's presents; apparently everyone else had the same concern because Avery got 4 or 5 presents at the party too! She was patient while Tate opened his gifts and had a blast playing with Auntie Taylar. She hadn't seen Taylar since October... we'll make sure not to wait so long this time!

Off to see patients now. More details and party pics to follow!

It's no wonder...

It's no wonder that parents of older kids often say that the years when their kids were small are a blur. I feel like we're always busy around here! Avery woke up with the stomach flu yesterday and spent the day at home with daddy. I came home with Tate (who went to daycare so he wouldn't get sick), we ate dinner as a family, and then Josh and Tate went to music therapy. Today both Josh and I worked. I just got home with the kids, laid both of them down for a quick nap and proceeded to get my house ready for therapists to come in. Even though we have therapists here three times each week, my house seems to fall apart in between. On the bright side, my house is usually clean at least three times each week. :)

Tonight we are headed to a hockey game with a new family we met this week. They are about our age and have a three week old girl with Down syndrome. They invited us to the game with their family and we are excited to get to know them better. Should be fun!

After the game the chaos starts. Tate's party is tomorrow and we have quite the to-do list to complete before then. Decide on a color for Tate's cake; buy plates, napkins, etc.; buy a birthday gift for the birthday party Avery is going to tomorrow before Tate's party; decide on a menu for tomorrow; purchase groceries for the party; get the house party ready (which is a step beyond therapy ready); work for a few hours tomorrow morning; make the food; decorate the house. Yikes! Josh and I might not be sleeping much tonight. The party should be fun though. Now that Tate is sitting I'm hoping he'll be able to help open presents. I'll post pictures on Sunday.

Off to speech... Have a great weekend!

Twelve Months of Tate!

Here are a few pictures of Tate over the first year of his life. I can't believe it's already been a year...

February 5, 2008

March 2008

April 2008

May 2008

June 2008

July 2008
July 2008

August 2008

August 2008

September 2008

October 2008

November 2008
November 2008

December 2008

December 2008

December 2008

January 2009

February 5, 2009

Happy Birthday Tate!

It was Tate's first birthday on Thursday, February 5th. I haven't posted about it because our internet has been on the fritz and my family has been sick (see rant below :). Because of the sickness issue, Tate and I spent his birthday evening alone. He did get to enjoy a cupcake though! I got some cute pictures, but they are still on my camera at my mom's house. I'll try to post a few later this week!

And in other big Tate news, he is sitting on his own now! His balance is still pretty touchy, but he's finally got the core strength to be able to sit unsupported. Woo hoo Tate! He's also moved on to mostly cubed foods rather than baby food purees. I love being able to offer him more variety but because he doesn't have teeth I sometimes wonder what exactly to give him. For now he seems to be doing well with everything we've tried.


Since last Sunday, our family has spent exactly one night sleeping in the same house. I came down with influenza A last weekend. After we figured out what it was, Josh and I decided that he and the kids should stay at my mom's until I was no longer contagious. Only Tate is vaccinated and we didn't want Avery to get it if at all possible. I don't think I've ever had true influenza before and trust me, it's not fun. After going to the doctor on Monday morning, I went to Target to get my prescription filled. Apparently the Target pharmacy doesn't open until 9, so I waited. Then only one of my prescriptions could be filled there. So, off to Walgreen's to get the other. By now, I'm feeling weak and dizzy and just want to go lay down. After I had all meds in hand, I headed home and slept for the next two days. I went back to work on Wednesday and the kids came home at bedtime that night as I was no longer contagious. Avery woke up on Thursday with a fever. Just as a precaution, we took her in to make sure it wasn't influenza. Yep, it was. After a bit of research at her doctor's office, they found a drug regimen that could be used on a child under age seven. While we were at Walgreen's filling her prescriptions, we found that one of the drugs is no longer made in liquid form. Our only option was to go to the compounding pharmacy in town and have them make it for us; insurance doesn't pay for that. Avery never got as sick as I was, but I am thankful that we got her on meds right away. Because Avery was sick, Tate and I have been staying at my mom's house since Thursday in hopes of keeping him from getting it. Even though he is vaccinated, he could still get it and his small airways would make it a much bigger deal for him than for Ave and I. Josh has been on preventative meds since Thursday and since we figured he was now out of the woods, he headed out to spend the next two nights at my mom's with Tate. He got there by 5:30 tonight and by 7:00 he called telling me that Tate had a fever. Lovely. We opted to have him bring Tate back to our house. If he's sick we'll figure things out but at least we can now be in the same house again! This week has truly made me appreciate how healthy we are for the most part and made me realize how fortunate I am to spend most nights with my family together under one roof!

Now that our internet has been fixed I should be able to post more. I have lots of catching up to do!

An Adorable Averyism...

We decided to move Avery to Tate's daycare starting in a few weeks, and wanted to make sure that we told her that Tate has Down syndrome before they are at the same daycare. I don't think she really needed to know yet, but I'm not sure how much the other kids at daycare know about it and Josh and I wanted to be the ones to tell her rather than have another daycare kid make a comment.

So, on Saturday we read her a book called "We'll Paint the Octopus Red". The book tells the story of a family (mom, dad, and daughter) who have just had a new baby boy added to the family. The dad and daughter talk about all of the things the two kids will be able to do together... visit family, go on a safari, stick their tongues out at passing cars, etc. The next day, the dad is going to take the little girl up to the hospital to meet her brother but first has to tell her that they found out that the baby has Down syndrome. The little girl wonders if he'll still be able to do all of the things she'd talked to her dad about, but they agree that with a little help and extra patience, Isaac will be able to do all of these things. The story is cute and served as a nice way to introduce the story to Avery. That is, until Josh and I had read the book to her ten times and she still hadn't asked any questions about Down syndrome. I had hoped that she would ask rather than me having to find a way to bring it up.... no such luck.

As Josh stood making dinner, Avery and I were sitting at the kitchen table talking and I asked her if she understood what having Down syndrome meant. She understood the basic concept of learning to do things a bit slower than what she's used to, so I told her that Tate has Down syndrome just like Isaac in her book. She's been perplexed by the fact that our friend Mallory (who is two months older than Tate) can walk and is starting to talk but that Tate isn't doing those things yet. So I said "You know how Mallory is learning to walk and talk, but Tate can't quite do those things yet? That's because Tate has Down syndrome. He'll learn how to do all of those things, but it will just take him a little longer." Not wanting to focus only on how Tate is different, I told her that Tate's friends Anders and Birk have Down syndrome too. She said (in her sweetest, most dramatic voice "Yeah mommy, the boys are all the same! They all match because they all have Down syndrome! And me and Mallory have Up syndrome, right mommy?!"

Josh and I just laughed about how she made that connection. Definitely a story for her baby book though... a classic Avery comment! And while I know that she doesn't fully grasp the details of the situation, I'm glad that we were able to have the talk.

Arizonaaaahhhhhhh.....

We have been back from Arizona for a week now and are truly missing the warm weather, relaxation, and fun we had on our trip. Eight of us went to Arizona for the week after Christmas and had a blast. The weather was perfect! It was 70-75 every day and we made sure to make the most of it! We spent most of the time laying by the pool (which apparently isn't a normal thing to do in Phoenix this time of year... unless you're a tourist who is coming from -15 degree temps!). We were lucky enough to be able to stay at an amazing home (thanks Brad and Jodi!) so the kids weren't cooped up in a hotel room and we could cook our own meals. I won't bore you with any more of the details, but suffice it to say that we had a great time and are so grateful for the time spent with family!

For some reason the pictures won't post now, but I'll get some up in the next few days.

Off to watch a movie with my hubby and hope that the blizzard they're predicting somehow misses us!