Tate: One Year Old

Our baby is now a one year old! This year sure zoomed by. Having a new baby is always a whirlwind, but we've settled into our new "normal" and have loved having sweet Tate in our family this past year. Here are some stats at one year:

-He doesn't hold still for more than two seconds, hence all the the blurry or silly pictures. This is a busy stage! 

-He was still nursing 3-4 times a day up until his birthday on the 11th, but I weaned him pretty abruptly this past week and and we're officially done with nursing. (Tate would have loved to nurse longer, but I'm leaving for a few days for my brother's wedding so I decided to just wean him and be done.) Now he takes a couple sippy cups of whole milk throughout the day, but I think he still misses the nursing :(

-He eats meals and snacks with us and likes most foods. His favorites are strawberries, pears, soups, pastas, chicken, rice, wheat pancakes, and greek yogurt. He's not a big carb eater, even if it's homemade bread or muffins! Who is this child!?

-He's still a great sleeper. We put him to bed at 7 pm and he sleeps til about 6:30 or 7 am. He usually naps from 9-10:30 and 2-4. He still naps with a pacifier- I've been kind of lazy about weaning him from it, but we'll get to that eventually!

-His favorite activities are climbing up the stairs, opening cupboards, emptying drawers, taking marker lids off, chewing on crayons, throwing things, dropping things through the slats of the staircase, playing at the park, going on stroller rides, flipping light switches on and off, wrestling with Josh, splashing in the bathtub, and laughing with his two silly sisters. 

-His nicknames are Taters, Tater Tot, Little T, and other random nicknames from Bryn and Mya that change daily.

-He isn't talking much yet, but he says "Mom!" whenever he needs something. Usually it's "Mom!" with his hand outstretched to what he wants. He also says "Dad" for Josh and "Uh uh uh" when he's grabbing the toilet paper or doing something he knows he's not supposed to. His only other recognizable word is "Ball"... and we hear that one all day long "Ball! Ball! Ball!" 

-Speaking of balls, that is definitely his favorite toy. His favorite is a beach ball that he chases all around the room. He thinks wrapped up diapers are balls and always tries to grab the diapers and chuck them, saying "Ball!"

-He's speedy little crawler and climber, but he's still not taking more than 5-6 steps at a time. He'll walk along the furniture or against the walls, and take a few cute little steps here and there, but that's as good as it gets for now. I'm sure he'll figure it out in the next month or so.

-Though shy at times, he is such a happy guy. He gives big smiles to people in stores or at church. Of course we are biased, but we think he's a pretty cute little guy!

We LOVE you so much, Tate!

Bryn, Mya, and Tate at one year old.

And below, Tate's first year...

Oh, we love this little guy so much!

HERE is Mya's first year pics
and HERE is Bryn's first year pics

Tate: Eleven Months

 Tater Boy is eleven months! He just gets better and better. Here are his eleven month stats...

 FOOD:

Tate still nurses at 7 am, 10:30 am, 3:00 pm, and 7 pm. (Sometimes he skips the afternoon feeding, though. I'm trying to get him down to three times a day.) He also joins us for breakfast, lunch, and dinner- generally eating whatever we're eating. His favorites are any chopped fruit or steamed vegetable, wild rice, soups, pasta, pizza, pretty much anything. 

 SLEEP:

He sleeps from 7 pm to 6:30 or 7:00 am. He takes a morning nap, usually around 9 am, for an hour or so. Later, he takes a good afternoon nap, usually around 1:30 pm, for about two hours. He's a great sleeper! He just plop him in his crib with his blanket and pacifier (still haven't broken that habit yet!) and he puts himself right to sleep. 

 PLAY:

He is Mr. Curious lately! He loves opening cupboards and drawers and rummaging around, tearing toilet paper, climbing into the dishwasher whenever it's open, pulling out wipes or tissues from the box, dumping and chewing on the girls art supplies, and other mischief. When he does something naughty we say "Uh uh uh" (instead of "No") and now he understands it well enough that he says "Uh uh uh!" to himself whenever he starts doing something mischievous. We'll hear him saying "Uh uh uh" from the other room and find him playing with the computer cords, or emptying the girls clothing drawers.

He is a speedy crawler, a great stander, and walks along the furniture, but he isn't walking on his own yet. He loves climbs our staircase about 50 times a day. He loves, loves, loves balls and enjoys tossing balls around the room and chasing after them. 

Basically, he's just the greatest little guy around, and we are so happy he's in our family. Love you, Tate!

Bryn, Mya, and Tate at 11 months

Tate Ten Months

 Tate is ten months old and full of smiles, mischief, and cuddles. Here are a few blurry pictures and ten-month stats to document this age...

 EATING

Pretty much the same as the last month- He nurses at about 6:45 am, 10:45 am, 4:00 pm, and 7:45 pm. He also has mini meals with us at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He's officially transitioned from baby food to 100% table food. His favorites are bananas, pears, peaches, berries, pasta, wild rice, scrambled eggs, and teddy grahams (as pictured in his mouth in these pictures. Bribery!)

Knock on wood, but Tate is finally growing out of the crazy spitting up phase. He doesn't soak through burp cloths anymore, just a few little spit up drops every couple days. Woohoo! It was a long ten months with lots of laundry, but thank goodness his tummy has decided to keep his food down.

 SLEEPING:

Same as the last few months- He sleeps from 8 pm to about 6:30 or 7:00 am. Then he naps for an hour and a half in the morning (at about 8:30 or 9:00 am) and then again for two hours in the afternoon (usually from 2:00 to 4:00 pm). 

 Tate only lasted about 5 seconds on the couch until he shimmied off and climbed the step ladder instead. He loves climbing lately, whether it's our staircases, porch steps, ladders at the playground, whatever. He also loves climbing up plastic slides. He uses his little chubby feet to grip and he is so proud of himself when he makes it to the top of a slide. 

He can walk with the help of his bus or if he scoots a bin along the room. He loves opening and emptying cupboards and drawers. He loves climbing into the dishwasher and pulling out the utensils and plastic ware. He has a problem with unwinding and shredding toilet paper and reaching into garbage cans, so we always have to keep an eye on him. 

He is busy and active, but still really cuddly. He loves to burrow his face into our shoulders and give hugs. Then he usually grabs our face and tries to suck on and bite our chin or facial features. He has eight big teeth and often uses them to chomp on his family members... we're working on that! When he gets too excited he bounces up and down and then yanks our hair, so we're working on that, too! I'm kind of amazed we all aren't bald by now from all the hair he's yanked.

But all that mischief aside, we LOVE Mr. Tate so much! He is such a smiley, happy child and he is such a good little buddy. 

Bryn, Mya, and Tate at this age.

(Tate just got his second haircut, which explains his little bald head.) 

We love you, Blondie!!

Tate: 9 Months

 Let me just say, first of all, that Tate is way too active right now to snap a good picture of him! This "photo shoot" only lasted about 30 seconds before he climbed off the chair and scurried away. Anyway, Tate at nine months...

 EATING:

Tate nurses at 7 am, 11 am, 4 pm, and 7:45 pm. He's a speedy eater and only nurses for about 5-6 minutes total. He eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner with the rest of us. For his meals he has baby food or whatever we're eating. His favorite food is homemade pot pie, but some of his other favorites are bananas, diced peaches, pears, strawberries, bread, pancakes, yogurt, pizza, pasta, and any crumb he can find on the ground. He still spits up all the time, particularly after he eats. We do a lot of laundry!

 SLEEPING:

Tate sleeps like a champ from 8 pm to 6:30 or 7:00 am. He still sleeps with a pacifier and blanket, and he sleeps on his tummy with his bum up in the air, just like Mya does :)

He naps from 9:00-10:30 am and 2:00-4:00 pm - except when his sisters start belting out Disney songs and wake him from his nap early, which happens fairly often. 

 SKILLZ:

This month he learned to crawl, rather than just scooting around. He's a really speedy crawler now and he gets from one room to the other so quickly. This month he also learned how to sit himself up and how to stand himself up to furniture. He also learned how to crawl up stairs, and now his favorite thing to do is climb up our full flight of stairs over and over. We've really had to babyproof lately and get all those barbie shoes out of reach. He is in a really bad habit of yanking hair and he pulls out our hair by the handful. We're all going to be bald by the end of the year.

He babbles a lot, mostly saying "Dada", "Baba", and "Gaga". Once and a while he says "Mama", but not often. He learned how to clap and greet us with a wave. The best thing ever is coming into his room after his naps and seeing him standing up in his crib, giving a big toothy smile and waving his little chubby hand. When did my baby turn into this little boy!?

 PHYSICAL STATS:

At his 9 month check-up he weighed 20 lbs 6 oz (50th percentile) and was 30 3/4 inches long (99th percentile). He started this month with 4 1/2 teeth and now he has 8 teeth and another one about to poke through. 

Tate is the sweetest, mildest, most lovable boy around and he sure brings a lot of smiles to our family.

Bryn, Mya, and Tate at 9 months

Tate: 8 Months

Tate is 8 months old today! Here's his 8 month update...

EATING:

He nurses at 6:30 am, 11:30 am, 4:00 pm, and 8 pm. He also does three "solid" meals with us (generally at 7 am, noon, and 6 pm). For his meals he usually eats baby food with little bits of table food: smashed bananas, watermelon, strawberries, bread, scrambled eggs (his favorite!), avocado, pasta, homemade soups, etc. He also LOVES water. He goes nuts whenever he sees any of us drinking water, begging for a sip from our cup. He drinks little bits of water from his sippy cup, too. He still spits up all day. We're hoping he grows out of it soon - this was about the time that Bryn stopped doing it.

 SLEEPING:

He sleeps from 8 pm to 6:30 am, then takes two naps each day. He generally naps from 8:30-10:00 am and then from 2:00- 4:00 pm. His naps somewhat flexible as we have to run errands and be out and about with friends. We don't swaddle him any more. We just stick him in his crib with his blankie and his pacifier and he falls asleep on his own.

 Tate got 3 new teeth this month, so now he has three teeth on bottom, 2 teeth on top. He had some rough days when the teeth broke through, only napping for 45 minutes max and waking up at 5:45 instead of 6:30 am. I think he might actually have one more tooth about to break through on the bottom, but we'll see! He loves to chew on everything! He puts everything in his mouth, so we've had to baby proof a lot this month. No more barbie shoes on the floor :)

He loves to sit up and play toys. He loves to shimmy around the room and roll from place to place. He gets up on his knees all day, but isn't doing a regular crawl yet. He just rocks back and forth and then does a little army crawl to get around. He also loves to stand up with help. He's super wiggly and he bounces his knees everytime you stand him up. Tate still likes playing in the exersaucer and bounces like crazy in that thing, too. He's definitely more physical and active than Mya was. He reminds us of how Bryn was at this age.

 Tate likes reading books together and giving us cuddles. He loves pulling hair and poking and squeezing our faces. He is getting more and more talkative and loves to babble and squeal. He is a really smiley, happy little guy and we sure love him!

Bryn, Mya, and Tate at 8 months old

Tate Seven Months

 Oh, Tate.... you are the best. This is a really great stage, but I know I say that at every stage. Here are some seven-month stats, so that your mama can remember all about you at this age...

First off, you are the cutest, sweetest, happiest baby in the whole world. You smile all day and are a little flirt with your family members and strangers. You smile at everyone when we run errands- just like your sister Bryn used to do at this age. (Mya was more reserved). You babble all day and mostly say "Dad. Dad. Dad. Dadadadadadada." It's obvious Dad is your favorite, but I know I'll win you over eventually. You also say "Gah, Blah, Ma (occasionally), and lots of other random sounds. You have the cutest little belly laugh that turns into a loud squeal if we get you too wound up. 

 FEEDING:

This month you changed from five nursing sessions to four: 6:30 am, 11:30 am, 4:00 pm, and 8 pm. You also do baby food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You will eat any of the fruit or veggie baby foods. You also eat cereal puffs, cheerios, and little bits of table food on occasion: homemade bread, bananas, honey dew, mashed potatoes, etc.

SLEEPING:

You sleep through the night, from 8 pm to 6 or 6:30 am. Dad is already at work by then and the girls sleep an hour later than you, so you have a bit of solo time with me in the morning while I eat breakfast and read. You nap from 8:30 to about 10:30 am, then again from about 4:00 to 5:45 pm while I'm making dinner. You also normally take a 15 minute power nap in the middle of the day when I'm driving Bryn to kindergarten. 

 You can sit up for short periods, but you still need some practice because you're pretty wobbly. You are getting faster at scooting around the room and rolling again and again, but you're still not crawling. You love the exersaucer. You love going on walks on the stroller. You love swinging at the park. Your sisters maul you all day and somehow you still love them and laugh so hard at their antics. Mya gets you to laugh harder than any of us. Also, you don't stay still for pictures, so these blurry pictures are the best we got! 

Bryn, Mya, and Tate at 7 months old

Tate: Six Months

Oh man, we love this little guy so much. He is a dream baby and we're just crossing our fingers he stays like this! He is the happiest kid and gives the biggest smiles all day. He truly brings so much joy to our family and each of us is just crazy about him. He gets constant attention (mauling) from the girls, but he only encourages it by smiling and laughing at whatever Bryn and Mya do.

Here are a few stats at his half-year mark:

SIZE: 17.5 pounds (50th percentile), 28.25 inches (95th percentile). Two teeth on the bottom

NICKNAMES: Mr. T, Little T, Taters, Tater Tot, Tatey Boy, "Chump-skins" (Mya's nickname for Tate), "Tee-Tot-Tumble-Tate" (what Bryn calls him)

 EATING: He nurses at 6:30 am, 10:30 am, 2:30 pm, 6:00 pm, and 8:30 pm. He also does one carton of baby food at breakfast and then a little bowl of rice cereal or oatmeal at dinnertime. He's only been doing baby food for a week or so, but he's loving it so far. He still spits up all day and we do a lot of laundry, but I think it's a bit better than a few months ago?

 SLEEPING: He sleeps each night from 9 pm to 6:30 am. He naps from 8:30 to 10:30 am and again from about 3:00-5:30 pm. Occasionally he takes little cat naps in his carseat when I run errands or do kindergarten carpool, but he's transitioned to mostly taking those two longer naps instead of napping off and on all day. We still swaddle him, but he's started breaking through and rolling around in his crib.

FAVORITES: He loves his baths and kicks wildly in the tub. He loves doing "Trot Trot to Boston" and "Jiggity Jig" on my lap. He loves hair! He pulls out handfuls of Mya's hair almost daily when she tries to snuggle him. He loves playing in the exersaucer and playing on the ground on a blanket of toys. He prefers being on his tummy and immediately rolls over if you put him on his back. He occasionally will roll again and again to move across the floor, but he's still pretty immobile - other than rotating his body and gradually scooting around. He isn't sitting on his own yet, and that's probably because we rarely remember to do "sitting practice" with him. Oops. The life of a third child!

Bryn, Mya, and Tate at 6 months

Tate 5 Months

 Tate hit his 5 month mark on April 11th. Here are a few things about Tate at this age:

First of all, he is the best baby ever! My goodness, he is such an easy going, happy child. I hope he stays this way because it's pretty great. 

He nurses at 7 am, 10:30 am, 2:30 pm, 6:30 pm, and 10:00 pm. He also just barely started rice cereal and so far he's loving it. He still spits up tons, but I think it's a bit less than last month?

He sleeps from 10:30 pm to 7 am. (Sometimes he wakes up at 5:45 am when Josh is leaving for work, but Josh just gives him his pacifier and then he'll go back to sleep until the girls and I wake up at 7 am). He takes one long nap in the morning and then two other naps while Bryn is at school and then in the late afternoon. We still swaddle him every time he sleeps/naps, but he's starting to break out of his swaddle so I don't know how much longer we'll continue the swaddling.

 He smiles all the time and has such a pleasant demeanor. He has a cute little laugh that is usually brought on by something Bryn or Mya does. He rolls from his tummy to his back occasionally, and from his back to his tummy constantly. Every time we lay him on his back to change his diaper or dress him he immediately flips over to his belly, which is so hysterical to his sisters because they think he's trying to be mischievous on purpose. He outgrew his baby bath, so now he takes baths in the regular tub, laying on a hand towel with just an inch or two of warm water. He loves his bath and kicks his little legs furiously in the water. He has two teeth on the bottom that have officially popped all the way through the gums. He has just grown out of his 6 month clothes, so now he wears 9 month or 6-12 month clothes. 

This cute little face makes me smile all day long.

And now, for the comparison: Bryn, Mya, and Tate at 5 months old. 

Tate: Four Months Old

Mr. Tate is somehow four months old already! 

He is just getting better and better, happier and happier, and cheesier and cheesier. He has his moments of fussiness or tiredness, but he really is a happy little guy! He smiles easily, coos all day, is starting to laugh (the best!!), and also likes to do these fake cough/sneeze noises when he wants to get our attention. Oh man, we love this guy!

He nurses at 7 am, 10:30 am, 2:30 pm, 6:30 pm, and 10 pm. He is a speedy eater, which is nice because his feedings are only 5-10 minutes, but the downside is that he gulps, gulps, gulps, and then spits up a lot. I'm still avoiding dairy and I guess that is helping(?), but Tate still spits up all day every day. Bryn outgrew her crazy spitting-up phase at 8 months, so if Tate is similar to her then we are halfway done with the projectile spit-up! Tate's other eating "issue" is that he's starting to get really distracted when he eats. Sometimes he'll nurse for 3-4 minutes and then all he wants to do is smile and coo, or crane his neck around to find Bryn or Mya, or scratch at my shirt or something. So now when I feed him I try to find the most boring, quiet part of the house and I won't even look him in the eyes or else he'll stop nursing and just want to smile and "chat". It's so funny :)

He definitely gets lots of love and attention from Bryn and Mya. He is sometimes nervous about it, but he actually really loves his sisters and they always get big smiles out of him. 

Other things about Tate at this stage;

He sleeps really well at night. We lay him down around 10:30 or 11 pm and then he goes right to bed and sleeps through the night. Sometimes he wakes up around 5:45 when Josh is getting ready for the day, but he'll just give Tate his pacifier and he'll go back to sleep til I wake up at 7 am.

He naps 3-4 times a day and he's a decent napper. He sleeps better at nights than during his naps, but that's probably because it's hard for him to nap with Bryn and Mya's noisy playing.
What else.... Tate love, love, loves his baths! 

He loves grabbing little toys, shaking things, sucking of anything he can - including his fists and fingers.

He still doesn't love tummy time, but we do it three times a day and he'll usually last 10-15 minutes until he gets cranky about it.

He rolls over every few days. He also shimmies around a lot, rocking his body and gradually rotating his body around to look at new things around the room. He never wakes up in the same spot of the crib where he originally began his nap.
As of this week, he is in the 80th percentile for weight (16 lbs. 3 oz), and his height is the 90th percentile (I can't remember the actual length).

Tate, compared to Bryn and Mya at this age.

We sure love you, Tate!