Tate at 6 Months!

Yes, time has flown by and our little baby is now 6 months old. I really can't believe how fast it's gone. He turned 6 months on the 3rd and is growing like a little weed! He is doing so many more fun things and I wanted to remember all of the little things about him at this stage. So this post is more a remembrance thing for me than anything else. So without further ado here's a list all about Tate:


* He's still a big boy! At his 6 month doctor appt, he had the following stats:

Length: 27 1/2" - 84th percentile
Weight: 19 lbs, 14 oz - 86th percentile

* He smiles at everyone - of course, I have to admit that he smiles at his brother and sister the most, but he does love his mom and dad too!

* He's very wiggly! He can't seem to hold still. He's always waving his arms and kicking his legs - which makes for a very interesting bath!

* He still loves to bath and of course splash! I swear sometimes I come away more we than he does!

* For some reason, his bib is more often a cape than a bib. I don't know how he does it, but it always turns to his left when it moves.


* He gets made if he's upset and I walk by without picking him up. In fact, he's been known to throw a major fit at times!

* When I reach out to pick him up, he now leans forward and gets very excited - mostly by waving his arms and kicking his legs.

* He's pretty much outgrown his baby car seat at 6 months, his feet hang over the edge and his head is almost up into the sunshade.

* He has very little hair and Hailey keeps asking me when it's going to grow. I'm probably the only one that notices, but the little he has is getting quite long, it's just light and matches his scalp, so it's hard to see.

* He loves to jump up and down when you are holding him. I'm excited to get out the megasaucer for him to start jumping and playing in.

* He loves to play patty cake and peek-a-boo, especially with his brother and sister.


* Like the other two, he's a very good sleeper. We've finally moved him into his crib (after 5 months of sleeping in his car seat) and he's doing so well! He sleeps from 8pm to about 6:30 or 7:00am. He also takes 2 naps in his crib during the day (instead of the baby swing) and sleeps at least 2 - 2 1/2 hours each time.

* He has a very kissable neck and cheeks - probably due to his triple chin. He loves to have you kiss and love him. He'll giggle and squeal if you get him going.

* He just started eating baby rice cereal on December 5th and he loves it! In fact, he eats so much that we often worry that it's too much! But he's got a chubby body to maintain! He's only been eating it for 5 days, but he's taken to it really well.


* He loves ice cream, whipped cream, and mashed potatoes (we are bad parents and gave these things to him before he even had baby cereal!).

* His acid relux is doing much better. I was worried that he would be spitting up things at age 30, but the amount of spit up and times he spits has gone down drastically from the last few months. We're hoping to try taking him off the Prevacid in the next few weeks and see how that goes.

* Like all babies, he grabs everything and puts it straight into his mouth. Sometimes he'll look at it and study it in his hands for a minute or two, but it isn't long before he's chewing on it. It's been fun to see him play with his toys!





* His laugh and giggle are so darling, they just make my heart melt!

* He's a very happy and content baby. Other than when he gets tired or hurt, he doesn't really cry much. He's been babbling more and more and now does that to get our attention when he wants us something or for us to pick him up.

* He loves the light fixtures - he can't get enough of the fan in our family room and the light above our computer desk. Many times, I'll look down and catch him just staring at them.


* He loves to sit in his highchair. With the toys right at his reach, he is content for almost an hour to just sit there and play. He especially loves to be in the highchair during dinner where he can see us and be apart of things. He's recently discovered the "drop a toy on the floor and someone else picks it up" game.

* He isn't rolling yet, but he loves to kick his legs up, grab them, and roll onto his side. I don't think it will be long before he gets all the way over. There's a lot of chub to move!


* Now that he's grabbing his feet, more often than not, one or both of his socks will be off. I'm continually looking down to discover that the socks are almost off or missing and I'll have to retrace my steps to find out where they fell off.


* He's really close to sitting up. He can balance by himself for a little bit, but then will lean too far to one side and over he goes.

* He absolutely LOVES his brother and sister and can hear them coming from a mile away. He will always turn his head and watch for them to enter the room. There are times when I have a hard time settling him down and all it takes is for one of them to look at or talk to him and he's calmed down and smiling at them!



* He's now in 12 month clothes. He still fits into most of the 12 months size, but there are a few outfits that we've had to put away because they just aren't big enough around.

* He loves the TV remote and is always leaning and reaching for it if he's on your lap and the remote is anywhere near him. The same is true for the computer keyboard and mouse.

There are many more fun things, but that's long enough of a list for now. Needless to say we love this little one so much and can't imagine how we ever got along without him!

Puttin' up the Christmas Tree

The Monday after Thanksgiving, we decided to take advantage of Jeremiah being home early and put up our Christmas Tree for Family Home Evening. Usually we get a real tree and wait until a couple weeks before Christmas to put it up (we have a hard time remembering to water it and we're lucky if it lasts long enough to make it until Christmas). A couple of years ago we inherited an artificial Christmas Tree from my sister and used it last year - it was so nice not having to worry about watering it and all the pine needles all over the carpet! So we decided this year we'd use it again since we wanted to put it up so early. We made the mistake of telling the kids what we were doing before dinner because all they could think about before and during dinner was putting up the Christmas Tree. You would have thought we'd filled them up on straight sugar with the way they were bouncing off the walls!

Finally we gave up and decided to let them be done. While I cleared the table and the kitchen cleaned, Jeremiah began setting up the tree. The kids ran around excited and poor Tate just sat there watching all the excitement. Once the tree was up, we began putting on the lights. Every year we realize how nice those prelit trees are! Zach and Hailey did the unraveling and Jeremiah did the placing on the tree.


Of course we had the traditional, get all the lights on the tree and discover one of them is burnt out (this happens to us every year, you'd think we'd check before we put them on the tree wouldn't you - nope, not us!). Luckily for us this year, it was the last strand, so it didn't take much time to replace.

Next we moved on to decorating with ornaments. The kids love to place the ornaments on the tree.


I have to help them just a bit to get the right place or we'd have all the ornaments on the center lower half of the tree!


Jeremiah and Tate took their position on the rocking chair and Tate went back and forth between playing with his octopus and squealing at the kids.


Once we got the Angel Moroni on the top, it sure looked nice. The kids wanted to take a quick picture in front.


While Jeremiah and the kids were putting on the lights, Tate and I were busy pulling out the rest of the tree decorations. At the bottom, I found this little Santa hat I bought back when Zach was a baby. I think we've taken pictures of the kids with it when they've been babies, so we couldn't forget to get one of Tate in the hat. He was in a pretty happy mood, so I got quite a few of him smiling.


I also wanted one of the three kids together, so I made them sit still long enough to grab a quick couple of pictures. They wanted Tate to wear the Santa hat and it turned into a cute little picture.


They sure do love their little brother!


It sure was a fun night and we all had a great time getting the tree up and decorated! Now we're all feeling in the Christmas Spirit and can't wait for Christmas to get here!

Cousin Jaycee

On Saturday, we took a trip up to Malad to Brian and Michelle's for a family "picture day." Since we hadn't been up there since little Jaycee's funeral, we were excited to stop by the cemetary to see her gravestone marker and leave a little something for her.

The kids were so excited both drew her a picture on Friday. Hailey's had a heart, a ton of stickers and stamps on it, and she wrote Jaycee's name and hers on there. Zach's had a heart he colored with rainbow colors and then her wrote Princess Jaycee at the top. When I asked him about it, he said that little Jaycee was a princess and he wanted it to be on her paper. Sometimes kids know more than we give them credit for.

After they finished their pictures, we headed to the store to find that "perfect thing" to leave for her. Since Brian and Michelle have horses, the first thing that caught my eye was a little stuffed horse. Zach and Hailey both liked it, but it didn't get a second thought as soon as they found a pink and purple unicorn. Hailey was just sure that Aunt Michelle and Cousin Jaycee would just love it. Zach was happy to go along since it was more for a girl. So we picked it up and couldn't wait to get up to the cemetary the next day to place it on her grave.

On the drive home from the store, I discovered that Hailey really thought we were going up to see Jaycee. She's only 4 and the concept of death and why things happen in life, aren't quite something she has a good handle on. So I spent the rest of the drive trying to explain about what happened and why Jaycee isn't here with us. I have to admit, that I don't completely understand why either. Poor thing, she burst out crying and was so sad that she couldn't see or hold Jaycee. By the time we got home, Hailey, Zach, and I were all crying. I think Jeremiah thought something had happened to us all! After some more discussing and explaining, we all were soothed enough to calm down and understand a little bit more. At that point, Hailey turned to me and with tears in her eyes, asked if Aunt Shell was ok. She was so worried that her Aunt Shell was sad without her little baby girl. I told her that Aunt Shell would always miss baby Jaycee, but that sometimes we have to realize that Heavenly Father needed baby Jaycee so much that she just couldn't stay. She told me that we would share our baby brother with Aunt Shell so that she wouldn't be too sad. Hailey can really be a very sensitive and compassionate person at times and I was really proud of her to be so concerned. After that she seemed to cheer up and was again excited to go see Jaycee gravestone. I felt like maybe she (and Zach) understood just a little bit better.

The next day we headed to Malad and Michelle, Brian, the boys, Mom, and Dad met us at the cemetary since Hailey was so excited for Aunt Shell to see the unicorn she had picked out for Jaycee. It was a bit cold, but I could feel Jaycee's spirit there as we all stood around her grave and thought about what a special spirit she is. Hailey gave the unicorn to Aunt Shell and she placed it right next to the headstone. The kids also put their pictures for Jaycee in the little vase holder for her to have. I was so glad I brought my camera because I was able to capture a few pictures that are very dear to me.

Here are Brian, Michelle, Ashton, and Branson


Hailey and Zach felt very special to have their picture taken with them. You can see the unicorn on the left and their pictures in the vase holder to the right.


We brought Grandma Bybee up with us for picture day, so we had to get a few with her too.




On the drive home, after all the pictures, eating, and playing I was just sure the kids had forgotten all about the visit to the cemetary. But as we drove by it getting on the freeway, Zach looked out the window and said: "Mommy, it was really neat to get to see Jaycee's stone with her name on it and leave her the unicorn and pictures. It made me feel really special." Hailey said: "Yea, I felt special too. Do you think Jaycee likes her unicorn and picture?" I told her they were right, it was very special and that I was sure that Jaycee loved her unicorn and pictures. Seems they didn't forget at all.

Some Fun Pictures!

Yesterday we had a little mini get together before Thanksgiving. Nana, Papa, Kylie, Jedd, and Libby all came down for dinner. We missed all of our other family who weren't close enough to come! While we had everyone here, we decided to get some fun pictures. Since Tate and Libby are only 4 1/2 months apart and yet look so different, it's always fun to get some pictures of them side-by-side.

The whole picture thing started out with a session of "paint nails" or painting finger and toenails. Something Hailey absolutely has to do whenever Aunt Kylie is around. After painting Nana and Kylie's toes, she was so excited that Uncle Jedd and Aunt Kylie let her paint Libby's toes!


Poor Libby was sleeping and kept getting tickled every time Hailey painted a toenail. Hailey was so thrilled to be the first one to paint her toes!


After Libby woke up, we laid her and Tate on the blanket and got some really cute pictures of the two of them. Libby looks little, but really it's Tate that's the big one!


Libby kept looking to the side at something very interesting to her, so most of the pictures I got were with her head turned to the side. But I did a few of them looking forward. Tate, bless his heart, was smiling and kicking up a storm and loved all the attention!


We decided to move them a bit closer so that we could get some close-ups. We of course put Libby just a bit higher so that Tate wouldn't hit and hurt her. Turns out that Libby did quite a bit of hand waving herself. I just had to laugh at some of the funny poses I caught. This one looks like she's giving him a pounding on his little head.


And this one looks like she's pounding him in the mouth! :)


And I love this one because it looks like they are both waving to the camera - sorry for the blurriness, my camera isn't the best with motion photos.


Hailey of course wanted her picture taken with both babies. So we did Tate with her first.


And then Libby. I think the two of them are so cute together!


We also got a darling one of Kylie, Jedd, and Libby.


I can never get enough pictures of my 3 little angels, so we snagged one of them as well.


And since we only have one other picture of all 5 of us, we grabbed a quick family one, much to the disgust of Jeremiah and Zach who hate having their picture taken. Turned out pretty cute though.


This little photo session made me very excited for a our family photo session this weekend. My sister-in-law, who's SO MUCH BETTER at taking pictures, will be doing them and I'm so excited for some updated pictures of the kids, family, and others that we get. I'll be sure to post about those when we get them done.

Hailey

I haven't posted any pictures in a bit. That's because I haven't really taken very many this month. After the whirlwind of Halloween, I was tired of snapping pictures every few seconds in order to capture EVERYTHING that was going on. So I took a break. That and the fact that we were teaching our 5 month old to go to sleep in his crib for his daily naps (NOT a fun couple of days). But now that I've rested and the little one is going down much easier, I have a couple of pictures to share. These are of Hailey, obviously, from the title of the blog.

I know this is silly, but I live out my small sense of fashion through my daughter. She's so beautiful and skinny and it's so fun to dress her up in beautiful clothes. I bought this sweater at the after season sales last spring and I've been dying to see it on her.


Her favorite color is pink and I just knew she would love the dark and the light shades in this sweater. I was right, she loved it and it looked beautiful on her!


She wore it to preschool last week (now that it's finally getting colder!) and was so anxious to show it to all her little friends.

The other thing I wanted to share was a little experiment we did this morning. Every Sunday in church we sit behind a fun family who has a girl a few years younger than Hailey - her name is Haley actually. Anyway, every time we see them, her mom always has her hair done so nicely and beautifully! I was sitting in church yesterday and thinking to myself that I'm not very fancy when it comes to Hailey's hair. It's not that I don't want to, it's more out of necessity in the morning. With trying to work, get everyone up, dressed, fed, and out the door to school - some days I'm lucky that all gets done when it needs to. Besides, Hailey usually fights me to even get her hair done and teeth brushed, so I haven't been wanting to fight for more time in the bathroom. But lately, I've feeling like a mom who just does the bare minimum, so this morning I talked to her and we both decided to try something a little more fancy and fun than just the normal hairdo.

Hailey has very fine hair, so it's hard to braid, but with a little water and some extra care, we were able to do some braids in her hair this morning. She absolutely loves it and made me promise to take pictures and put them on the blog. She was so anxious for Nana and all the aunts to see how beautiful it turned out.

You can't see much from the front, but she had such a pretty smile on, I just had to show you how excited she was.


Here's the view from the side.


And then from the back.


Somtimes she takes my breath away at how beautiful she is. I think she looks STUNNING! Looks like we're going to have to start spending more time on her hair in the mornings.

Another Vision

As if dinner the other night wasn't enough, I had another vision of the future last night with my other son. I, sadly, had to put away the 9 month clothes and pull out the 12 month size. Now, that doesn't sound too bad, until you realize that he's barely over 5 months! A 5 month old in 12 month clothes - WHAT?!? Yep, you heard me right. I was just sure that these new clothes were just going to drown him, but sadly they are hardly big at all, in fact they fit him just right. We also had to move to size 3 in diapers as well. I can't believe my 5 month old is in size 3 diapers and 12 month clothes!

This is sad news for us as we realize our little baby is growing up WAY TOO FAST! But it's good news for Tate's BFF Cousin Libby - she'll be getting about 25 leftover size 2 diapers!

I'm sure Tate is going to rival his brother in sizes and eating as he grows up - wow, how are we going to feed all these kids?

Ah, the future is looking, well, BIG!!!

Visions of the Future

I'm having visions of the future. Ok, not like that exactly, but I can just imagine how it will be. Know what I'm talking about? Well, let me clue you in.

Tonight my 7-year old boy ate for dinner (and keep in mind that he ate all of this approximately 1 hour after having a heaping bowl of goldfish crackers for his after school snack):

2 hotdogs
1 chicken pattie
1 bowl of leftover pasta
2 granola bars
1 poptart
20-25 Ritz crackers
and a partridge in a pear tree (ok, not really).

But seriously! He's 7! And ate probably about 3 times as much as I did. I'm definitely having visions of the future - ones where I can see down the road to his teenage years and I see myself spending a ton of money (even while couponing) and never having anything left in the house to eat.

Oh yes, we are in SERIOUS trouble!