2014

I would say it has been a pretty great year. Tate has made a lot of positive progress and has been fun to watch learn and grow. Brett and I won a battle with infertity!  However, we lost some very special people that we will miss dearly. 

Today Tate was on the iPad after his nap. I lifted up my shirt to watch some kicks and he rested his hand on my belly. 

Snuggle

Today was super cold so I decided not to take Tate to daycare.  We are both still fighting runny noses and congestion. We had some great snuggles this morning. After lunch we played hide and seek. Tate only wanted to seek and giggled so much each time he found me!  The boys had loads of fun this afternoon. 

Girls

We had a sonogram today and both babies looked like girls. Baby A is most definitely a girl but the tech was only about 90% sure Baby B is a girl since she was being stubborn. Baby A is kind of sitting up and down on my left side with her head facing down. Baby B is in more of an L sitting position with her bottom by Baby A's head. I can't deny that I am nervous about having girls. I am used to my rough, tough boy but I know it will be loads of fun!  Sounds like Tate had a great time at grandma's today. 

Fever

We had Christmas with my mom, dad, Chris, Anne and Owen on the 26th. I couldn't stop throwing up in the morning and was running a fever by evening.  The boys were both so cute. I just didn't feel like celebrating or even taking pictures. 

On the 27th we celebrated with my dad's side of the family. I still didn't feel great but I made it. Tate was exhausted and wanted nothing to do with another crowd. He crawled on my lap and was falling asleep before lunch. I tried to put him down for a nap but he fought it. 

Today we rested!  Tate was still overtired and crabby. He had a lot of fun helping me with laundry. He took a good nap so hopefully he gets back on track with his sleeping. 

Christmas

Yesterday we headed out for our Christmas adventure. We had dinner with Joan's family then went to mass. Luckily Brett's aunt had a playroom so Tate did well. He did good in church but did not sleep well. He had two night terrors and coughed all night. Today we celebrated with the McKennas. Tate did good playing the present game and was so excited when he got Grubbin', the family gag gift. He was so tired when we made it home he wasn't very interested in his gifts from Santa. I am catching a cold too. 

Bridge

Play

We played with our race track today. Brett built an awesome track!!

Date

Tate and I had a date today. We went to a play group, then Walmart and finished with some Mexican food. He was a pretty good boy. This evening his hands got a little rowdy while we were getting ready for bed so Brett grabbed them. Tate started yelling that his fingers were in jail. I got sick tonight. I am sad because it has been a few glorious weeks of feeling much better. 

Snow

We had about five inches of snow last night. I told Tate about it this morning and he ran to the door and said he wanted to go sledding. We waited until this afternoon to go outside. We made snow angels, built snowmen and did some sledding. Tate had fun!

Car

Tate got a car for Christmas that his cousin Will picked out. Some of the pieces were missing so a replacement showed up at our house today. He loves it.  Tate let me rock him to sleep for his nap today. 

Weekend

We had such a busy weekend. We went 3 hours from home to Brett's cousin's wedding reception. Tate had a lot of fun. There was a room with big wooden train cars to play on. The next day the boys went swimming with Will and Henry and other family members. Tate had a blast. He was blue and shivering but still refused to get out of the pool. Then we drove about 4.5 hours to get to Mike and Joan's. We opened up Christmas presents with everyone. When Tate opened the first one, he exclaimed with joy, "It's a box!"  He loved his new toys.  On Monday we went to Grandma Maxine's funeral. Tate wanted nothing to do with being quiet or sitting still so we had to go to a side room. It was a nice service. Tate was yelling "I don't want to go to the circus!" while we were all huddled in the little tent at the cemetery. We came back home after lunch. We were tired!

Sweet

Tate wanted to hold my hand while we snuggled today!  

Twins

I had to get my tire patched this morning while Tate was at daycare. I got one tire worked on yesterday and a different one was low today. An old retired farmer was having coffee at the coop this morning while I waited. He has a set of identical twin boys. I asked if he had any advice and he said to wait until they turn 45 and then it gets easy. Ha!  So comforting. He said his wife was sure she was having twins because of the two different movements in her belly but her doctor insisted that it was just one big baby. Brett's grandma also didn't know she was having twins. Apparently Grandpa Keith questioned if there was more than one because she was getting pretty big. Thank goodness we know in advance that there is twins. What a crazy surprise it would be to go to the hospital thinking you are having one baby and you come home with two. I made a holiday treat today!  Tate loves it as much as the rest of us. His teacher said he did really well at daycare today. He even initiated play with the boy his age. 

Good

There are still good people in the world. I had to run a bunch of errands this morning, which put me at Walmart later than usual. By the time I got in line to check out I was feeling very poor. There were three carts in front of me and I was stuck feeling hot, sweaty and faint. I grabbed a candy bar to eat. Finally they opened another register and the lady behind me let me go first. She only had a few things in her cart and mine was full.  She also made sure I didn't need help to my car. Thank you lady!!  Tate has been having trouble transitioning to new things lately. It is especially terrible when he has to get dressed and get in the car in the morning. Today he really put up a fight to get dressed. 

Grandma Maxine

Brett's grandma passed away today. I am really going to miss her. She made me feel loved and filled a void after my own grandparents were gone. Tate was her 25th great-grandchild. She was very excited about the twins, especially since she had a set of twins herself.  I couldn't find many pictures of her and Tate. As he got heavier it got harder for her to hold and wrestle him.  She had a good Thanksgiving at the anniversary party and got to spend the day with a lot of family. 

Good

We went to my great-uncle's memorial service today. Tate did not get a nap but still did pretty well. He ran around a lot while we had refreshments afterward.  It is always nice to see my grandma's family. It is hard to believe she has been gone four years as of yesterday. I know she is enjoying her view from Heaven of our crazy life!

Cookies

Yesterday we made cinnamon applesauce ornaments. Tate was not very interested. We put them on the tree this morning and I was a little concerned because he kept calling them brown cookies. So, we made sugar cookies so we would have real cookies to eat. Tate was more into it today and had fun with the cookie cutters.  As I was cleaning up our mess he tells me that that cookies are good. We didn't eat any cookies yet! So after more questions I figured out that he ate part of an ornament. He did better with them the rest of the day. He did not get any real cookies though since he refused to eat lunch and supper.  These projects needed my help so I don't have any pictures. Here is our morning snuggle. 

Trouble

I got a load of laundry out of the dryer and found Tate in the bathroom. He was so proud of the race track that he drew. Thankfully it was just a dry erase marker. 

Joy

Today filled my heart with so much joy. This morning we had an appointment and got to hear two normal heartbeats. This afternoon we decorated the Christmas tree. Tate loved it. We turned on Christmas music and he kept trying to sing along. He loved looking at all of the ornaments and had fun putting them on the tree. He put all of his on the same branch.  I don't develop many emotional attachments to things but my ornaments are definitely an exception. My mom gets me an ornament every year. Today was a simple day that I hope to cherish forever!  Thank you God! 

Water beads

Tate loved the water beads. They were supposed to be for Christmas but the bag was ripped when they arrived and I couldn't resist trying them. 

Thanksgiving

We celebrated Mike and Joan's 40th Anniversary on Thanksgiving with a dinner consisting of both sides of their family. We got there on Wednesday and Tate had so much fun with his cousins. He didn't sleep well so he was exhausted for the party on Thursday. Everything seemed to make him cry so we left so I could give him a nap. We came home on Friday after more fun. Tate especially loved the dogs. He was always asking "Where Penny go?"