AND WE'RE OFF!!!

Tate and I will be boarding a plane tomorrow. We will be taking our very first of many trips as a family. We're heading to Minneapolis to see Tess and Julie and a bunch of other totally cool mommas and China sisters. I will be looking forward to apple picking, pumpkin patching, outlet shopping and celebrating the Autumn festival.



I cannot wait to have our Minnesota friends meet Tate! PLUS..... since I was last in the Twin Cities, new China sisters have been added to the group. Can't wait to meet these new sisters too!

I CAN SEE CLEARER NOW....

My very active crawler found my cheapo reading glass and had to give them a try. Oh how I wished I looked as adorable in these as she does.

FOUR MONTH FAMILY DAY

Tate, you are my everything.




Happy four months of the HAPPIEST time of my life, our family day.

FIRST VISIT TO THE ZOO!!!

This is the first animal Tate saw at the zoo.... and she was mesmerized.



She loved this momma and baby elephant. How do I know??? She could not stop smacking kisses and blowing kisses to them. After 15 minutes of watching, she had a little meltdown as we left the elephant area.

AFTERNOON NAP...

Somedays you just need to crash and take a goooooood afternoon nap!


When you awake, your are such a delightful girl!

THIRTEEN MONTHS OLD!!!

Tate is thirteen months old today.... She will still be my baby but looks on with envy at the toddlers running and playing. You can just feel that she cannot wait to be talking and walking. I will say she now understands EVERYTHING that is said to her. She has such a funny sweet personality and is still a show stopper. This morning while eating her breakfast, she discovered the use of the spoon. I am still pretty insistent that I feed her. She loves this too. Today I put piece of egg on her spoon and helped her make it to her mouth. She is quite pleased with her new "momma helping" accomplishment....

NEW STATS ON TATE..

Tate's doctor likes to see Tate every two months.... thankfully I have good insurance. I like that he likes seeing her so much and is so on top of things.

Three more vaccines... Chickenpox, MMR, DTP and her flu shot. This time with two nurses and fast shooting... still heart wrenching tears, but only a few seconds of pain.

• Height 31.0 inches (91%) US charts
• Weight 21.94 lbs (57%) US charts

In almost two months, she has gained 1.5 inches in height and 2 lbs.

She has gotten all four teeth on the top which gives her a total of 6 teeth. She crawls around everywhere and pulls herself up on everything. She is walking with help. She will sing along (ahhhhh ahhhh) to music and dances constantly. The other day I was tapping my hand on my leg to the beat of the music while driving... I looked back to her, she was doing the same thing. She cannot wait until she is old enough to walk and play with her best friends Gwennie and Caroline.

My baby is growing up!

OUCH!!!

It had to happen sooner or later. This is just a fact. Somehow this knowledge did little comfort as Tate took her first TUMBLE out of her stroller onto the blacktop of the parking lot. I could hear her hit the blacktop. Oh boy did she cry AND HARD. On the outside I was all momma-like. Comforting and reassuring. In the inside my heart was breaking. After an hour or so I saw her HUGE goose bump and skinned forehead. This was when my cool momma-like exterior cracked and I cried.



To Tate, her booboo has been forgotten. To me, I feel pain when I see the huge goose bump on her beautiful sweet face.

BALLOON BABY

I love the grocery store that we shop at.... I love that they hire "special needs" baggers and even use some as checkers. I will always go to one of these specials needs checkers. I don't mind he takes longer than most. He is thrilled when Tate will grin from ear to ear her sweet toothy smile. He loves when Tate throws in a wave bye-bye. Today Tate blew him a kiss. All checking business stopped in his lane while he went to select this special balloon for such a sweet kiss blowing girl. All in all it was a delightful shopping experience... Behind me I left a happy special checker guy in front of me I had a happy balloon loving girl.







Love seeing Tate's sweet small hand through the balloon.