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May 31 Meh ee mowseTate'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
April 08 Tate's 2nd Spring!As always I have needed to update the space forever. The problem is, I want to take enough time to cover everything and I never seem to get a moment (an hour) to sit down and do it right! So this time I will give it a shot, with apologies to those people and events that have slipped my mind...
So, when we left off Tate had turned one and he had a dairy allergy and we were headed to Hawaii. Well, he's still one and will actually be 15 months old on Friday! I can't believe it - I am a Mom and have a beautiful 15 month old baby boy! I never would have dreamed I would be so lucky :) As for his dairly allergy this, unfortunately, remains. We have to keep him off of all dairy for several months and then have his blood drawn again and then if it's ok, go to the clinic for an "oral challenge" which is basically the administratin of dairy in a safe environment with Doctors around in case it doesn't go well. I have faith that he will outgrow this thing and one day be able to love cheese as much as his Mommy. :)
And then there was HAWAII! We had a fabulous trip! We played in the sun, on the beach and at the pool with Grossmama and Grosspapa, our most gracious hosts. We spent all of our time playing with Tate and sleeping and eating and it was the ideal vacation! Tate did really well and love love loves the water. We had so much fun visiting mom and Ted and look forward to a visit that they plan to make this summer when they'll spend more than just a day or two in Seattle! We also had fun there with Carlos, Dawn and Cole who were there at the same time in a neighboring condo. That made the trip even more fun and Cole seemed to like the Island!
I have been busy at Spark and Scott is working hard at Microsoft. We had a great time celebrating Easter with the Livingstons who all came over for church and brunch. Tate made a real showing at Easter service (see video) and he is quite popular amongs the congregation. Things are going really well at our new church and I completed "The Way of Jesus" with a renewed baptism on Palm Sunday that was really special. We look forward to getting to know everyone in the small congregation even better over the coming months.
Tate is officially signed up for preschool now. He will start attending the Magnolia Co-op in the fall in the "1's" class which is just a one day a week short class with the parents but should be a great way to get to know other little guys in the hood.
Tate is so amazing - I feel like I've said this a lot but the boy just talks and talks and it's so cute. He says just about anything now. He says Dada and Dayee (which are the same thing) and we hear a lot of MomMom and he even said Grandpapa last night very clearly. He can say just about anything he can eat or drink - blueberry, cracker, wawa, baba and he amazes us with new words and incredible behavior every day. The other day he took the magnet for the childproof locks we have in the kitchen off the table, and brought it over to the cabinet, held the handle and tried to find the sweet spot that unlocks the door. I'm biased, but this kid is mensa for certain. :)
We signed Tate up for Gymboree and he loves going to classes. We just got Neisha a car seat for her car so she can take Tate around to Gymobree and play dates as the weather gets warmer so that will be fun. We were honored by a request from Neish and her fiance for Tate to be the ring bearer in their wedding in June! We can't wait to celebrate with them and to see Tate in his little tuxedo!
Finally, last weekend we spent the night at Aunt Dorianne and Uncle Ross's house which was a lot of fun. Dorianne and I talked about (more than worked on) scrapbooks and Tate had a small breakthrough - he fed himself with a spoon! I don't know if kids are supposed to be doing that at his age, he probably shoud have been doing it for a while but hey - it was fun to see! check out the video...
Ok so that's enough rambling for one night. Hope you all are well!
Love,
The Livingstons
February 05 Life Goes FastAs usual I can't believe how long it has been since I updated this space. So much has happened!
First and foremost Tate had his first birthday! We celebrated on his birthday with Kelly and Charlie, Katie, Josie, Choo Choo Bob and Jane Ann. We also went to meet the PEPS friends that day at the community center and had pizza! Tate had a fun day and Scott and I just stood in awe of this amazing boy who is growing up so fast! The next day was his big party and since the Seahawks were playing we had a Seahawks theme. The whole Livingston family came over along with the Self family, Neisha, Sean and Julie & Ken Cox. Tate was so lucky to have all of these people over to celebrate AND they brought him some fun presents! He was a happy boy and we had a nice day.
A couple of days later I decided to try giving Tate some whole milk to see how he liked it and unfortunately he had a really bad reaction to it - got disoriented, kept touching his ears and throat, got red hives and became instantly lethargic. I found out later that this was an anapylactic reaction to the milk and that Tate has a more severe dairy allergy than we realized. This is really scary for us. We went to get his blood drawn at Children's so we can get a baseline of his antibodies and can monitor those to see if he will grow out of it over time. In the meantime it is getting difficult to find fun new things for him to eat because no dairy is somewhat limiting but we're working on it!
Another big milestone in Tate's life happened recently - he got is first haircut! He was so great about it - he totally behaved and I have to say it looks so cute! It makes him look older like a real toddler now but it's darling.
The day after the big haircut we got the news that good friends Ron, Kim and Henry Preston welcomed the newest member of their family, Georgia Jill on Thursday the 24th. Needless to say Tate and I (Scott was out of town) rushed right over to the hospital to meet the little princess. Welcome baby Georgia!!
Tate is so much fun - he is walking everywhere including up the stairs. He doesn't go down them so well but we'll get there. We had some friends over whose daughter, Ainsley is Tate's age and they had a bath together and it was the cutest thing I've ever seen. We are loving the new addition on the house - Tate got new closets put in that should help us get better organized. He's also talking a lot. He says Mama and Dada and he says book - it just doesn't sound like book. and he says "wow" and "hello"
I'm busy working these days and so is Scott. We are settling into a routine and it's working out really well. We have also officially joined our church - Queen Anne United Methodist. We are really enjoying services there and I joined a small group called "The Way of Jesus" that I"m enjoying very much.
We had a fun time watching the superbowl - what a game, huh? Now we're planning and looking forward to our upcoming trip in March to Hawaii!
Hope everyone is doing well :)
Dawn, Scott & Tate January 02 Happy ChristmasIt was Tate's first Christmas and what a wonderful holiday we had! He shined the whole month of December and was never lacking for love or attention :)
The big events started early this year - with the annual Preston holiday party on December 8th. That was a great time as always - we got to see lots of friends that we don't get to spend enough time with the rest of the year. Neisha came over and spent the night with Tate and they had a fun time. She ended up staying the whole next day so Scott and I could go to the Seahawk game which was fun. We're going again on Saturday to the home playoff game and Grandpapa is coming over to babysit for Tate.
Then on December 11th we flew to Denver which was suprisingly eventful. In the middle of our filght there was a loud noise, the plane shook and we started descending. A little scary... turns out we blew an engine and had to divert to Salt Lake City for several hours before we could get on another flight to Denver. But we arrived safely and dropped Tate off with Grossmama and Grosspapa so they could watch him while we went to Mexico for 4 days to cousin Erik's wedding. We flew to Mexico City on December 13th and had a real adventure trying to drive our rental car to the hotel which was about 2.5 hours south of the city. 4+ hours later we pulled up and it was worth it because it's a beautiful spot. We had a great dinner at the Hotel Cocoyoc compliments of Aunt Linda and Uncle Paul and I spent the next day relaxing by one of their 5 pools while Scott and the boys played golf. Then we headed out to the reception spot - La Finca Guadeloupe which was about 30 mins south of Cuatla. It was another adventure trying to find that place but again we made it. I ended up going to sleep at 7:30 that night and sleeping until the next morning. The grounds of the reception area (which is where the whole family stayed) were truly beautiful. Jesica (the bride) chose a very special spot for the wedding. The wedding itself was in a church in Cuatla and it was beautiful as well. The reception lasted.... 11 hours. Oh yes - it was a long one! The mariachi band didn't come out until after 1am! It was a great time and we're glad we we went. Flying home the next day was another adventure but we made it and I couldn't wait to see Tate because I had been missing him so much!
Tate had a great time with Grossmama and Grosspapa and when we got back we all had a great few days together. Mom had a holiday party so that was fun and then we shopped and went out to dinner and just relaxed. Then we went over to Dad and Sallie's which was also very laid back and relaxing. BIG NEWS - Tate took his very first steps on Friday December 21st!! It was very exciting. He hasn't progressed beyond about 5 steps yet but it's a big deal and he's very proud :) Dad and Sallie's house was decorated with the traditional huge tree for Christmas and we ate lots of great food and had lots of time to visit. Grandma came in on Sunday and got lots of Tate time too. Christmas Eve was spent at Grossmama's house with Darren, Dawn, the kids and Dawn's sister, Heather and her family. It was really nice and Tate was one tired boy afterwards! Christmas day was very nice as well with a big turkey dinner around 3:00 and then mellow time. Overall it was a great great trip!
It was nice to be home to Seattle and to our "new" house with Tate's new room. He gets baths in his own bathtub now and likes his room. He can climb all the way up the stairs by himself (with someone close behind to catch the occasional mis-step) and he's a happy happy boy. On Saturday the 29th we went down to Aunt Dorianne's house for the Livingston Christmas dinner and celebration which was a really nice family time and Tate got lots of amazing new toys and clothes! He loves them and has a whole host of new things to play with now. The cousins, Amy, Matthew and Anna got lots of fun things too and everyone played all day long. THe next night we hosted the annual Livingston, Cox, Williams holiday dinner at our house. We had 14 adults and 7 kids here - it was a full house but it was still a really nice time catching up with friends. Then on New Year's Eve a few friends came over to our house for a mellow New Year's gathering. Ron, Kim and Henry came over along with Lisa, Troxel, Uncle Ross and Aunt Dorianne. We had fun playing Rock Band in the basement. Ron has a real knack for singing.
And now we're caught up. What a busy time! but a great time and I'm a little sad it's back to the grind now. But we look forward to another great year in 2008!
All the best,
Dawn, Scott & Tate November 30 Tate has a new roomI can't believe it's finally done - Tate has a new room and bathroom and he has actually slept in there for two nights. He seems to like it and it's much easier for us having him upstairs with us.
We celebrated Thanksgiving last week with Mom & Ted, Carroll & Judy and Dorianne. It was a really nice day, complete with a turbo kick session with Dorianne and everyone got to try out the new game, Rock Band. I like the drums, Scott has gotten really good on guitar. And the turkey turned out ok - I think it may have been a little dry but it was edible. Tate loved his first Thanksgiving especially because Grandma Judy brought him a new toy - his first Thomas train. It makes noises and the front light lights up too.
We're getting ready for Christmas by decorating the house. Scott is working on the lights and I'm trying to throw up some things around here to make it more holiday-esque. We're not getting a tree this year, sadly, because we'll be in Denver and Mexico for such a big part of the month so it really doesn't make sense. But we're having our neighbors over for cocktails next week and it will be good to have some Christmas stuff up.
Tae has 4 teeth and he's working on a 5th. He's growing so fast. He motors around all over the house now, and he can walk as long as he's holding on to something. He can climb up the stairs and I'm pretty sure he would make it down them if we let him, albeit with a concussion since he tries to power straight down. Ond day he'll have to fall so he gets a feel for depth and starts to take some caution. He eats more all the time and a bigger variety of stuff. We think he may have some weird allergy thing going because he can't do yogurt or cheese but we're hopeful he'll grow out of that. He is having some separation anxiety, getting upset whenever he is left alone and I'm pretty sure he now knows what he means when he says "mama". He seems to say "Dada" too but that one is harder to understand.
So we're heading to Denver on the 11th to drop Tate off with Grossmama and Grosspapa while we head down to Mexico City for Scott's cousin Erik's wedding. That should be a great time - then we fly back to Denver on the 16th and stay there until the 26th. I'm hoping we'll see some old friends while we're there and get in some snowboarding.
I hope everyone else is enjoying the holiday season!
Dawn November 02 NewsflashTate now has his 3rd tooth. It's his upper right. He also has a new winter wardrobe so he's braced for cold weather. Just thought I would keep everyone abreast of the latest news. :)
p.s. Clay Bennett is moving the Sonics to Oklahoma City. November 01 Halloween!Tate had is first Halloween and it was a big success! He was a ferocious lion, compliments of Aunt Dawn who made the most darling costume! Cousin Garrett wore it two years ago and Tate was lucky enough to get to wear it this year. He was very very scary and he can almost roar too :) We went over to Choo choo Bob and Jane Ann's house first and got a real treat when Jane Ann sang to Tate and then we got to go downstairs so Choo Choo Bob could show Tate the trains and he even got his very own treat - a cup full of cheerios :) Then we went down to Magnolia village and it was so much fun - as it always is. So many kids in the greatest little costumes running around all over the place. We ran into a bunch of friends and hung out at neighbor Dave's PT clinic. Grandma Judy and Grandpapa were with us and we all had so much fun. Grandpapa was up here all day with Tate while we worked. Then Grandma Judy flew in from Twin Falls where she was spending time with Papa and Loretta, whose husband Jim just passed away sadly. The service was Monday and our thoughts are with Loretta and her son Jeff. Jim was a very dear man. Tate is crawling around like a speed racer these days - getting into everything and loving it. He just talks and talks and talks all the time and we think he'll be walking fairly soon too because he loves to stand and walk with help. Last weekend Scott and I had the privilege of going to Game 3 of the World Series in Denver. It was pretty amazing even though the outcome wasn't quite what we'd hoped. We went with Dad, Sallie and Darren. Dawn was going to come but she didn't feel well. I had almost as much fun before the game at the bars and with all of the people down there as I did during the game. It was a great experience! Tate stayed with Grandma Judy and Grandpapa and had a great time as always :) Finally, I have been honored by the request from Steve and Amy DiMarco to be little Danny's GodMother! His baptism is coming up over Thanksgiving weekend so we really look forward to being a part of that! Danny was a bat for Halloween and we tried to get a good picture but Tate wasn't totally cooperative as you can see... Hope everyone else had a safe and happy Halloween! Love, The Livingstons October 12 Tate Crawls!Just days before his 9 month birthday (2 days, in fact) Tate decided to crawl. We knew it was coming and it finally happened in the midst of a heated discussion between us, our architect and our contractor. Tate decided he wanted to get closer to the shiny silver base of the lamp in the living room and he scooted right on over. It was very exciting!
I can't believe it has been exactly one month since I updated his space - I seem to get more inspired around his birthdays. I can't write too much here now though becuase I have to do some work and try to earn a living.
The long and short of it is, Tate is the greatest. He is more beautiful and more fun than ever and he has found a whole new world since he started crawling. And he's much more tired with all of this energy he is exerting. We're trying to get him to 3 meals a day and we're close with that - and we're introducing meats and dairy slowly.
My mom came to stay with us last week while Scott was out of town and we had a great time and it was so nice to have her here. She and Ted are coming back up for Thanksgiving. And I've been talking to my Dad a lot lately about the success of the Colorado Rockies! (That's Tate's NL team)
Also, Aunt Dawn sent us the Halloween costume she hand made for Garrett when he was Tate's age so we can't wait to wear that on the big day :)
Judy and Carroll have been over in Lake Chelan for a few weeks. We went to see them a couple of weekends ago along with Jeff and the kids, Uncle Paul, Aunt Linda and Great Papa! It was such a fun weekend spending time with everyone. We even got a cameo from man of the hour, Cousin Erik who is getting married in Mexico in December so we had a lot of fun talking to him about the many, many details of his wedding. Tate got in some good Great Papa time (and played with his cane which he loves to do) and it was a great trip all around.
Judy and Carroll are still over there and they miss Tate and he misses them but they'll be home soon. Aunt Dorianne and Uncle Ross came over along ith a few friends last Sunday to watch the Seahawks get beat up by the Steelers. Fun time with friends but sadly NOT a good game.
So that's our latest news - we're waiting for the plumber to finish up his part of this house addition project so that we can get it inspected and finally get some insulation and sheet rock in here! It's getting cold and there's a big hole in our house which doesn't help the heat situation.
Anyway I gotta run - hope everyone is doing well!
September 12 Where did 8 months go?Yesterday Tate had his 8 month birthday and I can't believe it. Where did it go? I look at pictures and I can't believe he was ever that small and at the same time it seems like that was just yesterday.
Big news on the Tate front, on Labor Day, September 3rd Tate cut his first tooth! And he has not been the same boy since. In addition to this teething thing which is now in full swing, I think he's starting to go through a clingy phase. He doesn't like to be alone and he would always rather be held. And he's a little more whiney than he used to be. But he is also napping better than ever and last night had his 3rd night in a row of a straight 12 hours of sleep without waking up to eat. So we take the good with the bad and we still can't believe it's possible to love him more and more every day!
Other firsts:
And other happenings:
And that's the long and the short of it. Hope everyone else is doing well! Love, Dawn, Scott & Tate August 21 Home from IdahoI can't bealieve it has been so long since I updated this site. Thanks for the reminders, Mom and Judy :)
We just got back in town from a great trip to Idaho. It was great timing because construction of our home addition had started a couple of weeks before. We are adding two bedrooms and a bathroom so we can bring Tate upstairs and keep our guest room if we ever have any other kids (which to be clear is not even on the horizon at this point :) See pictures of the progress...
So about our trip, first we went Twin Falls (by way of Baker City, Oregon for an overnight on the way) to see Tate's Great Papa Frazier! We had such a nice time visiting and going to eat and most importantly Tate got to spend some time with his Great Papa who he loved and smiled and laughed with the whole time.
Then we headed up to Sun Valley for a week's vacation. We were married in Sun Valley 3 years ago and love to go back there at least once a year and this was a really fun trip. We were there alone for the first couple of nights and spent time with Scott's long time friend Julie. She and Tate got along great and we had fun at a concert with her. Then we were joined by friends Alysson, Reh and their 19 month old son, Larson. They drove over from Seattle and stayed with us and we played tennis (the winner is yet undecided), ate out, went on walks, played in the water, went to see live music and even had a celebrity sighting - Mariel Hemmingway. We probably would have seen more if we'd gone to the John Kerry book signing on Friday night but alas, we did not. On Saturday Lisa joined us too and that was great. We celebrated her birthday on an eventful Saturday night at the Pioneer Saloon. Tate did really well on the trip - from the long car rides to sleeping lots of different rooms and places - he's a real trooper!
We actually ended up cutting the trip a day short, due in large part to the Castle Rock fire that started on Thursday when we were there. It started small but by Saturday it was super smokey everywhere and by Sunday they were evacuating Warm Springs (which is probably less than two miles from our condo) There was ash in the air and I was playing my role as neurotic mom and thought we should get Tate out of there. It was really crazy and by the time we left was considered a "type 1" fire requiring an additonal 1000+ firefighters and the top tier incident response team from the national forest service. It had burned 13000 acres as we were driving out of town last night. Very scary and sad.
Prior to the Idaho trip Tate got to take two trips out to Mason Lake! The first was with us and the next weekend when Scott and I went to Montana for good friend Julie Mavencamp's wedding, he went back out with Grandma Judy and Grandpapa. That night he had his very first overnight trip to Grandma Judy's and it was the first time he spent the night without one of the two of us. Turns out he had a great time and didn't seem ready to come home!
Tate is so much fun these days. He is as happy and smiley as ever and loves learning new things like how to clap his hands! He eats solid food twice a day now. We try to get in some oatmeal, a vegetable and a fruit. We've had beans, carrots, peas, squash, corn, apples, bananas, pears and prunes and he has liked everything (except for sweet potatoes for some reason but I don't really like those either so who can blame him...) Also he seems to understand more and more things like when we say certain things he knows what it means like "where's Daddy?" and he looks around trying to find Scott. When he finds him he gets so excited his smile is so big, he gasps and his arms and legs flail everywhere.
I haven't taken a project for work since I returned from Denver and it's getting to the point where I need to - I'll be so sad to leave Tate for 2-3 days a week but it will be good for both of us I'm sure.
Hope everyone is doing well!
~Dawn & Scott
July 16 6 Months and New Tricks!Call it a growth spurt but something happened to our boy recently. All of a sudden, about 3 weeks ago he woke up to the world. He is suddenly so aware of everything around him and so interested in people and things. Physically he is moving more and realizes that he can control his body and make it work for him. It's so incredible to see! For anyone keeping score, Tate is now 6 months old! And on top of all that he is actually more adorable than ever. I didn't think it possible but it's true. (See pictures... :) )
So our big news is that Tate has hit three huge milestones in the past week and a half. First, he learned to sit up by himself. We could tell he had wanted to for a while and finally he made it happen. At first he could only do it for a few seconds but every time he did it he was better and better at it. And we would get excited and applaud and then he would get excited and flap his arms and fall over. It's pretty much the cutest thing I've ever seen.
Next, (on the next day in fact) he decided to officially roll over. He had done it in the past a few times but with no consistency. But on July 6th he decided to show us what he was made of and this guy rolls and rolls! Only from his tummy to his back at this point but he's close to going the other way. The thing is, he still doesn't like to be on his tummy so what's the point in rolling to it, right?
And finally, yesterday we decided to try some real food! We put him in his high chair which in and of itself is pretty funny because he's still so little in there, and we started with rice cereal. The good news is he likes it! He really likes it! It was so cute, he would open his mouth and move his head toward the spoon to get it in there, even though the majority of it came right back out. We're going to keep trying this for a few days and see what happens before we introduce something else. Tate has his 6 month Dr. visit tomorrow so we'll ask her how to proceed with that. He has to get his immunizations which I hate more every time we have to do it but they're important. I hope he doesn't have any weird reactions...
In other news we just got home from Denver. We went down there on Friday July 6 because I had to work at a conference. Scott and Tate came with me so they could see the family too. We were worried about the plane ride but on the way down there we got a row with an extra seat so we got to put Tate's car seat in there which was excellent. He slept a couple of times and chatted with all of the other passengers, especially since we were in the last row of the plane right next to the bathroom line.
Scott and Tate stayed with my mom while I worked. It was my first nights away from Tate (I stayed in the hotel in Denver) so that was tough for me but it was good to do so that I can get over this feeling that I need to be with him all the time. He had a fun time showing off his new tricks and spending time with Grossmama, Grosspapa, Grandpa Paul, Uncle Darren, Aunt Dawn and especially cousins Garrett and Tanner (Kaylie is in Oregon right now.) Grandma Sallie had to leave for Texas so we missed her but Tate got a really nice book from her and we'll hopefully get to see her soon - definitely at Christmas.
And while we were there, Scott lost all footing for his "I don't believe there are any buffalos here" argument when the whole herd decided to plant themsleves right at Mom's house. We got some great pictures with our new camera which is the greatest camera ever in my view (it's the Cannon Elph, Power Shot SD 850 IS)
So now we're home and hoping to get Tate back into his routine, especially of sleep. He had a hard time sleeping in Denver but the upside is that he learned how to sleep on his side and flat on his back and now, as I type this, he is laying flat in his crib taking a nap which is a big accomplishment since he just now seems to be getting over his reflux! We've been off the medicine for almost a week now and he seems to be doing just fine so that's a great great relief :)
Hope everyone else is enjoying their summer. We certainly are :) June 27 Naked BabyWow it has been too long since I wrote on this! So much is happening so fast these days - it's really crazy!
Most notably, Scott is now on paternity leave and it is so great having him home all the time. He has been able to spend every day with Tate and they've fallen into their own special rhythm. This all happens at a good time for me because I've been busy with work, getting ready for an event in Denver coming up in less than two weeks. Scott, Tate and I are all flying down for that and it will be crazy but good and a good chance for Tate to see his Colorado family :)
Tate is getting so big! He LOVES his feet these days and his reflux is so manageable now that (dum da da dum!) we took his wedge out of his crib and he takes naps on his crib mattress now! He still has a smaller foam wedge under the mattress to elevate him a bit but this is huge progress. And he plays on his play gym lying on his back and the rolling over on a regular basis is in the very near future, like any day now. Both front to back and back to front. He's such a happy boy - he smiles all the time and it never, ever gets old.
Since last time we updated we did the Race for the Cure with Grandma Judy and Grandpapa which was so fun and we had Father's day down at Aunt Dorianne's house with the whole family. We also celebrated Amy Lynn's birthday and it was especially fun for Tate to see his cousins. He saw cousin Matthew again last weekend when we met the family for Sunday breakfast :) We also went to our (mine and Tate's) first Sauceball game which was fun for Tate but I fell down hard and hurt myself. I'm hoping to redeem myself this weekend.
In other news we broke our camera last weekend so today we got a fancy new one and I've already taken almost 200 pictures. Seriously. I have a feeling this boy's life will be well documented as showcased in the naked baby pictures you see on this site.
And that's the news in our world - hope everyone is enjoying the summer :)
June 09 1st Mariner gameWell it finally happened. On Saturday June 2nd Tate went to his very first Mariner game! And he wasn't just a casual observer, he was dressed for it. Thanks to Julie Mavencamp we had an outift for him and everything.
Aunt Dorianne came over first for a fun visit and then we headed down to the game early for Edgar Martinez hall of fame festivities. Tate did really well, we stayed until 8pm which is an hour after his bed time and even though I paid for it that night when his schedule was wacky and he woke up a couple times, it was really fun and he was such a good boy :) The couple sitting next to us were seniors in high school who were dressed for prom. They weren't going to the dance because apparently "no one goes to the dance anymore" so they went to the M's game and were going to the after parties. Tate was doing some serious flirting with the fancy lady...
We saw friends Alan, Sarah and Lauren Chitlik there too and they took pictures but I haven't seen them yet. Hopefully soon so we can post them for everyone!
Scott is now officially on paternity leave. Yea! I'm very excited about this and so is he, naturally. A whole month of absolutely zero work and major Tate time. In the meantime I'll be working hard getting ready for an event I'm doing for Microsoft which happens in Denver in early July. Scott and Tate are going to come with me and stay with the family while I work. More on that later...
In other news, Tate has rolled over by himself a couple of times now. He's not very consistent but he has done it and that's great. Also, we took him off of the Zantac/Ranitidine which is one of his reflux medicines and he has done ok - doesn't seem to have any pain but he throws up a lot more these days so tonight I decided we should start again just for a couple more weeks in hopes he's close to growing out of this. Also, we started letting him "cry it out" at night and at nap time when he goes down. We decided to do it now officially because we know it will have to happen at some point and I think it will be quicker and easier when he's younger than waiting. So he goes down and we say goodnight and don't go back in again until he wakes up. And at night, when he wakes up in the middle of the night I have stopped going to him. I just let him hang out for a while until he falls back asleep. This has been hard but he doesn't need to eat and I want him to get out of the habit of waking up. After just three days of doing this so far, he hasn't cried going to sleep the past two nights and now gets up briefly around 5am, talks for a couple of minutes and goes back to sleep. I hope it's working! I'm not foolish enough to think that 3 days is enough to form a real pattern but it's a good start right?
Last week we met Amy DiMarco and new friend Danny DiMarco (who is 6 weeks now) for coffee down in Magnolia Village. Amy and I both commented that we can't wait until the kids are old enough to play together. (although secretly I still believe Tate is the perfect age right now and I don't want him to grow up too fast!)
Right now Scott is at our first Sauceball game of the season but I stayed home with Tate because it's a really cool, rainy day in Seattle and since it's a late game we decided not to take Tate with us. He'll have to make his debut next week.
Hope everyone is having a nice weekend :) May 30 He's BaptizedWow it has been way too long since I updated Tate's space. Dorianne reminded me about it today and I'm sorry I've been such a slacker! So much has happened recently, where do I start...
The most important thing that has happened lately is that Tate was baptized last weekend on the 19th. It was really beautiful - our great friend and next door neighbor, Bob is a retired Minister and he performed the baptism in our back yard. It was supposed to be pouring down rain that day but we got lucky and the sun was shining and the whole thing was really special. My whole family, including my Grandma who was escorted by my Dad and Sallie, were in town for it which was great for us. My brother and his family hadn't been up to see us since they lived here years ago so that was especially fun. Mom and Ted were here for a full week which was excellent because we went to dinner one night and they got lots of exclusive Tater time. And of course all of the Livingstons except for Papa, Jeff, Cristy, Amy and Matthew (who couldn't make it unfortunately) were there too. Anna was there to represent for the East side Livingstons :) My brother, Darren and Scott's sister, Dorianne are his Godparents and we're really grateful to them for being a part of everything and promising to help Tate out by filling in our parental gaps and being there for him if anything ever happens to us.
I had my first Mother's day which was very strange - I mean to hear people wish me a happy mother's day seemed odd. But it was nice - Scott gave me a few hours alone to nap and ran some errands and gave me a nice bracelet with Tate pictures on it. Then we went out on the dinner train with Dorianne, Carroll and Judy which was really really fun. I had never done that and I'm so glad we did - we even got our own private dining area which was great since Tate was with us - his first train ride!
In other news, Tate is great. He's the sweetest most precious child on Earth, or at least that's what I'm overheard saying on an hourly basis. What's more, his health is great. We finally got him on Prevacid and it's a miracle drug. The boy is downright cured :) He has an occasional bad night but those are few and far between - otherwise he's a dream. Today he laughed more than I have ever heard - deep belly laughs which among other things about Tate have introduced my heart to a whole new happy.
Additionally, Tate sleeps. We now have a solid night time routine that gets him in bed about 7pm every night and often times he sleeps for 11 or 12 hours straight. Other times he gets up just once to eat and he's right back down. It's fabulous. And yesterday for the first time he took a two hour nap, in his crib, in the morning. I dreamt of that day for weeks and it finally came. Of course today wasn't the same and our schedule was different but I don't care. He has proven he's capable and it gives me great hope for our future of consistent, lengthy naps!
Scott is starting his paternity leave on June 11 and that will be a great break for him. In the 13+ years he has worked at Microsoft he has never taken that much time off consistently so he is really looking forward to it and Tate will love having Daddy home every day. They love to play together.
So with that I'll sign off - I hope everyone else is as happy as I am and looking as forward to the summer as we are! April 29 He Sleeps!Tate has this habit of not napping for more than 30 minutes at a time when we're at home. He can sleep in the car and when we're out, but when we're home it's 30 minutes like clockwork. We've tried everything to get him to take longer naps (because we can't go out in the car all the time) but he won't do it.
So today, he was incredibly tired and would only sleep 30 minutes as usual, so I decided to go run a couple of errands. So I put him in his car seat and then took him upstairs with me so I could get ready for a few minutes and as soon as we got into the bathroom he was calm. The fan was still on from the shower I had taken earlier and he was instantly soothed. Within about 10 peaceful minutes he was sleeping and so help me, he is still sleeping. It has been almost 2 and a half hours! I don't know what to do with myself! (well, I really SHOULD be working but that's neither here nor there...)
I took a picture so I could remember this momentous occasion.
From now on, we know what to do. I think I'll try moving his noise machine (which we bought a couple days ago and didn't think was working) over closer to him and louder and see if that does the trick so he can have a good nap on his wedge in his room.
Hope everyone is enjoying a nice weekend :) April 27 Tate has lots to say...Tate is talking a lot these days which is so cute. He wakes up in the morning and just sits on his wedge (that he's sleeping in these days because of his refulx) and talks for 15 minutes or so. And he smiles all the time and we think he has laughed at least a couple of times. When he's feeling good he is a happy boy :)
Unfortunately though he hasn't been feeling very good lately. This reflux issue is getting worse and worse and sadly he has a lot of pain when it hits him hard, ususally in the evenings. We've been working with the Dr. trying to fix it by trying different medicine combinations and nothing seems to be working. Today we went to Children's Hospital to get him a new wedge to sleep on and now he has 3 total - one for sleeping, one for the changing table and one for play time so he's never flat on his back. We're also trying prevacid for the first time to see if that helps him. When he's in that much pain I am literally desparate to find a way to help him. I know he should outgrow this but in the meantime it's so sad to see him go through this and it just doesn't seem fair.
But in the meantime, we've had a couple of fun trips lately! Tate had his first plane ride back on April 11 when we went to Denver to see Grossmama, Grosspapa, Grandpa Paul, Grandma Sallie, Uncle Darren, Aunt Dawn and cousines Kaylie, Garrett and Tanner. We had a fun time and Tate did well on the plane. We celebrated mine and Scott's birthdays twice! We also got to see friends Jana, Sheila and Sean and the Adams', Bruce Neale and Susi Streng and Ray Hart. Ray and Tate got along so well that Tate zonked out on Ray's shoulder for an hour! Tate got his first cold so that was interesting and tough watching him try to breathe through is nose and not understanding why it didn't work. But we had a nice time with everyone and we're anxious to see them back up here in Seattle in May for Tate's Baptism.
Last weekend we went over to Wapato Point at Lake Chelan to spend the weekend celebrating birthdays with the Livingstons. It was a beautiful weekend and we spent time with the cousins Amy Matthew and Anna along with Grandma Judy, Grandpapa, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Cristy, Aunt Dorianne and Uncle Ross. We celebrated birthdays on Friday night and as a special treat, Grandma and Grandpapa offered to watch the kids on Saturday night so that the six of us could have a fun night out for dinner. We went to Campbell's and had a great time! What's more, that night Tate had a 10 hour night of sleep which we've never had before and was great! He was also really healthy over there - no reflux issues so it was truly a vacation :)
Hope everyone is well - and congratulations to Steve and Amy DiMarco on the birth of their son, Daniel Robert today!! April 09 Spring has sprungIt was a beautiful weekend in Seattle and Tate was in top form. He smiles almost on command now and I think he just about laughed yesterday. What a nice Easter present!
We spent Easter with the Livingston family at Jeff & Cristy's and it was really nice even though I was a mess. I brought deviled eggs even though Judy was already bringing them (read your email, Dawn, geez) and then I forgot about the rolls and they burned and then I had to borrow a shirt from Cristy because mine got dirty and Tate had a major blowout - reaching a whole new level of mess. And of course he did that all over his cousin Anna's bedroom which was lovely. BUT we had a nice time :)
Then last night was the season premiere of the Sopranos and since that's Tate's favorite show we had to have everyone over for it. Ron made pasta and Marissa brought meatballs which were really good (and I don't typically dig on meatballs) and I made it through the whole show without falling asleep.
Today our new nanny, Molly is coming over along with Alysson and Sarah to take an Infant CPR class which should be interesting. Tate is a little sleepy this morning so I think we'll take a walk so he can crash out in his car seat. He Hates sleeping in his crib so we need to keep working on that. He still has his acid reflux problems so we're on prilosec every day and it never quite gets better but I guess it will in time.
On Wednesday we head to Denver for my work trip and so the family can see Tate. Should be fun! March 28 Insufferable MotherSo I was telling my mom the story about how I went to Brooks and Marissa's wedding on Sunday night (which was great, by the way - congratulations you guys!) and all I could talk about was Tate. I knew I was doing it but I couldn't help myself. She told me that Bruce Neale (a good family friend of ours) would call me an insufferable mother. And yeah, I really am.
What's worse is I brought my picture book with me and every time someone asked me how he was doing I asked excitdedly "do you want to see his pictures??" and of course what are they going to say right? So I pore over his picture book and talk about how great he is.
At least I'm self-aware. I know I'm doing it, I just can't help it.
So for those of you who were barraged with Tate talk on Sunday (Cantandos I'm talking to you) I'm sorry. I am. I know that no one is as interested in him as I am but I'm a little obsessed. I'm hoping this will wane when I go back to work next week. Oh yeah so that's our news, we have hired a nanny (Molly) and I'm going back to work at Spark part time next week to help Alysson out and get rolling on our event project. I think it will be good for me but it will be hard to leave little Tater. I'm going to ease into it and hope it goes ok.
But for now I'm just really enjoying our time together. This last week has been fantastic - he is SO much better now that the prilosec is kicking in and helping with his reflux issues. He had an 8 hour night on Monday! I couldn't believe it - I was hitting Scott to wake him up at 3:45am so he could see how long Tate had slept. Sometimes I think Scott's ok not hearing about these major milestones until 7am or so but I can't always maintain my composure. We're hoping this long sleeping will continue and become the norm. He's off to a good start tonight. And with that, I think I'll turn in too. It's almost 9pm for heavens sake...
March 21 Tate SmilesWell, he has been smiling for a few weeks but as it turns out I haven't updated our space for an eternity. Sorry about that!
So first and foremost you should know that our boy is very cute. I've attached some more pictures. I find that I'm not a very good photographer but I try to get enough snaps to give you an idea of how he's growing. He's a BIG boy. He's 12 pounds now and he's 10 weeks and that's pretty good. He's in the 75th percentile for weight and the Dr. says he's thriving so that's great.
A few weeks ago we realized that he has acid reflux. We figured it out becuase he made all of these loud uncomfortable noises at night that at first we figured were just normal baby noises but they were persistent and got worse so we went to the pediatrician and turns out he has stomach acid coming back up his throat which is painful and uncomfortable. I felt so bad for him. The last few weeks have been the hardest for me because of that. I've been really cuddly with him too so now that he's getting over it (we're on our 2nd type of medicine and we think he's getting better) he needs to learn to sleep in his crib again and it's pretty tough because he doesn't like being by himself much.
But he's a good boy and it's so fun to see him smile. He does it more and more every day.
We got to see the extended Livingston family recently at Grandma Dorothe's memorial service which was really beautiful. We saw Uncle Brock & Aunt Becky and cousins Carrie and Brock Jr. (aka Brocky who is featured in photo 8 of the Tate Smiles Album) We had fun introducing them to Tate. His Christening is going to be on May 19th and my family is coming in from Colorado and all of the Livingstons are going to be there so it should be great. Our neighbor Bob who is a good friend and retired pastor (see photo #6 in the Tate Smiles Album) is going to perform the service for us at our house and we're thrilled about that. We're also heading to Denver on April 12th (my birthday for those of you keeping score) for a work trip. I'm taking Tate with me so he can see the family while I work. Should be an interesting flight experiment...
I've posted some new pictures so you can see how much he has grown. We're off to walk around Magnolia! February 14 One Month!Tate is one month old. I can't believe it! We went to the Dr. today to get a shot (ouch - I hate it when he has to get those) and he's 10 pounds which is really heavy since he was 6 obs 9 oz at birth and then dropped to 5lbs 15 oz. Every time we see another 6, 7 or 8 week old it seems like Tate is bigger than they are but everyone tells us this is a good thing so we're going with it. It's nice that he can wear some of his cute clothes now and he's got big chubby cheeks and chunky legs. He has also transitioned from the perfect child that I was bragging about to everyone to a slightly more "normal" baby in that he's fussy in the evenings and, well, lots of other times too. But he's so great. It's amazing to watch him grow!
Some highlights from recently:
That's all for now - we'll keep you posted on our progress! |
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