Tate's best friend is an empty Mickey Mouse pez dispenser.  He loves him - and he pronounces him meh ee mowse.  He asks for him when he gets up in the morning and especially when we get in the car :)

 

So much has changed around here but Tate remains a constant source of love and laughter for us.  He is more amazing by the day - we can't believe all he can do and say now!  He talks incessantly.  Half babble, half words.  He can say just about anything by repeating what we say, but it's the more proactive use of words that blows us away.  He let's us know what he wants by saying things like "blueberry", "keys", "up up", "night night", "bees" (which means blankey), "wa wa" (water) and lots of others I don't have time to type here.  It's a joy to communicate with him in new ways every day.  Right now we're working on our please and thank yous and I think he's slowly starting to understand that he's going to need to incorporate those :)

 

So getting caught up...  We celebrated our birthdays in April by taking things easy.  Other than seeing Dave Matthews (with the Dali Lama which was very cool) we were at home.  Our favorite thing to do is have a day at home together with nothing on the agenda so we can relax and let the day happen spontaneously.  We've landed in this great zone where Tate is on a predictable schedule and we have the flexibility to really enjoy him without stressing about what's supposed to happen next. 

 

Sadly, my uncle Werner died the 2nd week of April.  He had been fighting lung cancer for the past couple of years and got to the point where there was nothing more anyone could do to help him.  It was a mixed blessing but a sad time, especially for my Mom and my Aunt Suzie. 

 

Grandpa Paul came to visit in late April and we had a great time - especially going to a pizza party at Qwest field with some of the Seahawks!  We got a special tour of the whole facility including the team's locker room, the press box and the field!  Thanks to cousin Natalie for inviting us!

 

May has been busy for us - we started with a trip to Twin Falls to visit Scott's Grandfather (who will be 98 in July!) which was fun but Tate got the flu while we were there. Fortunately he still got in some time with Papa and we had a nice visit.  The following week I got whatever Tate had and I was a wreck.  I even missed the Mother's day celebration with Judy, Carroll, & Dorianne down in Auburn.  But Scott and Tate went and had fun.  Then two weeks ago we celebrated all of the Livingston birthdays happening lately over at Jeff and Cristy's.  It was a really hot day and the kids had  great time playing in the water in the back yard while the adults enjoyed brunch.  Tate is a real water baby.  He just loves to be in it and cannot be stopped from getting in it if it's anywhere nearby.

 

Last week we went down to Arizona to visit my Grandma, Marguerite (whom Tate calls Gram Pete).  We actually started the trip by visiting our friends the Chitwoods and had a great time.  Anne and Matt have a 2.5 year old (Allison) and a 1 yr old (Ryan) and Tate was in heaven playing with those guys and all of their toys!  Ironically the weather was pretty rotten - overcast, cold and rainy but we did our best to battle the elements to get the kids out to the pool anyway.  Tate was shivering but he had the best time ever and was VERY upset when I tried to get him out to warm him up!  The visit with Gram Pete was wonderful and she and Tate got in some good bonding time.  We found a little water park near Gram Pete's house that we went to as well and Tate loved that too.

 

Now we're back home but today Tate and I took Scott to the airport - he is in the air right now flying to India.  I'm not excited about this at all (very sad) - I hate him being so far away from us but it's only for a week, right?  We're going to have to send him lots of pictures so he doesn't forget about us :)

 

Hope you are all well!

Dawn