Tate - One Month Old

 Tate hit his one month mark last week, so it was time for a few pictures! I chose a bad time to take pictures because Tate fell asleep about 30 seconds after I pulled out my camera, but oh well.

 Tate has been a really sweet baby this first month. He's a great eater and a pretty good sleeper. He nurses at 7 am, 10 am, 1 pm, 4 pm, 7 pm, 10 pm, and then he has one nighttime feeding at 3 am. He is a super speedy eater, so it only takes him ten minutes to nurse. The good thing is that it doesn't take long to nurse him, the bad thing is that he gulps so fast that it makes him spit up a lot afterwards. Mya rarely spit up, but Bryn and Tate are kindred spirits in their crazy spitting up! Poor Tate spits up all day, but hopefully he'll outgrow it like Bryn did.... after 8 long months!

Tate is drowsy in these pictures, but he has actually been getting more and more alert. He's usually awake for an hour after each feeding and he loves to be propped up so he can look around the room. He's also just started making little "goo" and "gaa" noises, which is just so cute. 

 The girls are loving Tate and it's been fun to see their excitement about him. For the most part, we are adjusting to life as a family of five and we're figuring out our new routine. It's busy and I'm still getting used to functioning on less sleep, but it's a wonderful time with this new little guy. 

We sure love you, Tate!

And here is the comparison of Bryn, Mya, and Tate at one month old. 

November

We're already half way through December, so I better catch up on November before I get too behind! Now that Tate is here we've spent lots of time inside at home, but before he arrived we spent lots of time at the leaf-covered parks and going on lots of walks around the neighborhood. 

It makes my heart so happy to see these two in dress-ups, playing so well together. They have moments when they fight, but most of the time they are such sweet little friends. 

 It's pretty common for us to see deer in front of our house, but this time we saw seven deer all at once. Bryn was so excited about it that she ran outside to give them handfuls of grass... and then they ran away.

 This was the day before I went into labor. At this point I was reeeeally eager for Tate to get here, and luckily he did! And a week early, too!

Sweet Tate

 The girls love Tate so much and they're always asking to hold him.

 I'm so grateful Josh could take work off and stay home the first two weeks to help me out before my mom arrived. It was so fun being together as a family all day for that first little bit.

 This picture makes me sad because now it's too freezing to go to the park, but Mya sure loves park time!

 Bryn is going to be the second mom in our home!

 Mya's famous bedhead. I can't get enough of it!

 Josh is such a great dad

 The girls are always willing to share their toys with Tate :)

 Bryn made herself this "first prize" one morning (without me knowing) and then taped it to her shirt and wore it all through school (without me knowing). Bryn said her friends at school all congratulated her on her prize. Oh boy!

 The girls were in heaven with Josh home every day!

 And Josh enjoyed himself, too!

 November was a bit of a whirlwind with a new baby, Thanksgiving, my mom in town, a car wreck (ugh), and trying to figure out our new routine. But despite the craziness, November was such a special month. There's something so wonderful about having a brand new baby in your home. We love little Tate so much already and we just feel so grateful for our little family. 

Sundays

 My girls really love Sundays. All week they ask how many days until they can go to Primary/Nursery. Both girls are really lucky to have fabulous teachers at church and that makes all the difference. Another perk of Sundays is that it's a chance to wear matching outfits (not every week) and you know my girls go nuts for matching outfits!

 Tate hasn't gone to church yet because he's so young and it's been so cold here. Josh and I have been switching off taking the girls to church and watching Tate at home. 

Mya loves her little Tate boy

And just for fun- this is what Bryn and Mya looked like when they came down in the morning. They were so proud to have found "matching outfits" in their closet, but we opted for the blue and white dresses instead :)

P.S. Mya's bedhead is always amazing!

Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving time. This was our second year doing a big "Grateful Tree" and this is definitely a tradition that is going to stick! It's a funny little activity for the kids, but it's truly a great reminder of all the wonderful things that we are grateful for. Bryn helped me cut out about 100 leaves and we made enough for each family member (minus Tate) to write on a leaf each day of November. I loved hearing what my girls were grateful for each day. Some of their responses were so off the wall and funny, but other times they were really genuine and sweet with what they wrote down.

One of the five days my mom was in town was Thanksgiving. We really lucked out to have her here working her magic in the kitchen. My cousin Cara and her family joined us for our Thanksgiving meal and it was the perfect day. 

My very favorite lady!

Bryn and my mom made Indian headbands for all the kids

Even Tate wore a headband for a bit :)

 No play date with Bryn and Liv is complete without dress-ups and dancing!

I'm grateful for this crew!

 What a wonderful day!

5 Wonderful Days with Mom

My mom came to town soon after Tate was born and it was so wonderful having her here. She cooked, cleaned, ran errands, entertained the girls, snuggled Tate, and helped me survive my first week with Josh back to work. I planned on catching up on sleep while she was in town, but that didn't happen! We stayed up late each night talking and laughing - which was better than getting extra sleep. I only see my mom twice a year, so it is always such a treat to spend time with her. 

 I wish we could have gone into NYC since my mom hasn't been there for several years. Next time she comes to visit! Instead, Josh brought home one of our favorite NYC treats (Dough donuts) to share with her and to celebrate Tate's two-week birthday.

It was a quick trip and we were all so sad to see her leave. Poor Mya just cried and cried (along with Bryn and I) as she watched grandma head to the airport. It broke my heart! 

I'm lucky to have such an amazing mom and I'm so grateful for all of her help!

Leaf Collectors

This is our first time having a backyard and it's pretty great. The girls have loved playing back there- digging in the dirt, making fairy houses, cooking "soup" for the squirrels, gathering rocks, etc. Their favorite activity lately, though, is leaf collecting. I am actually not even sure what they do with the leaves and why it keeps them occupied for so long, but it's pretty cute to see them busy at work, filling grocery bags full of leaves.

I love love love that Bryn and Mya are becoming such good buddies.

(Is that a hug or a choke hold?)