Chicago and sickness

This month has just flown by. Not the fast kind, the very slow let's take turns being sick kind of month. Last week, Lauren got the flu for the first time. Of course it had to happen on the day that I had MOPS and I was really looking forward to going! That's just life for you! Ricky was the only other one to get the flu, but Ethan had a sore throat and only wanted me, too. He had just finished his 3rd antibiotic for ear infections, so I was more paranoid and took him in. As of yesterday, he has a double ear infection, again, and an upper respiratory infection. Poor little boy. No wonder he only wants to be held all the time! (Not the easiest thing to do with a 22 pound boy!) Saturday and Sunday were not the best days for him. He was fussy all day and didn't sleep well all night. Last night, after starting another round of antibiotics, he slept 12 hours! Yeah! I really hope we can get over this sickness thing around here soon.

This past weekend, my mom came up here and went to the mall with me. It was really nice to get to spend some time with her and return some of the unneeded things we got for Christmas. It was really nice to not have to wait in long lines. It was a little stressful with all 3 kids. I guess part of it was Ethan not feeling well. After the mall, my mom took Dylan and Lauren home with her for the weekend. It was nice and quiet around here other than Ethan fussing. If only I wasn't breastfeeding, mom would have taken Ethan, too! Ricky and I put Ethan to bed and watched "The Social Network." It was really good and interesting (the movie about facebook). Sunday, we went to my parent's house for dinner and to pick up the kids. It was nice to spend time with family and to enjoy the quiet house for a little while.

2 weeks ago, Ricky had a conference in Chicago, so we all went with him. We thought it would be good to test out the hotel room with 3 kids to see how well they would sleep. They actually did very well. Ethan ended up sleeping with us in the king bed (I really want to get one of these! There is so much room!) and the other 2 slept together. While Ricky was in his training, the kids and I went to visit with a friend, Bobette, and her kids. We had a wonderful time and the kids played so well together. Bobette and I even got to make some really cute hair bows! Before we left Chicago, we HAD to stop at Ikea. I love that store! We finally decided on an entertainment center and have started putting it together! Yeah! I love it and it's not even all up! I am really looking forward to getting it all put together. I think it makes the living room look homey.

Ethan and ClarrahGlad we don't have a banister! They kids enjoyed it though.Ethan loved their dog, Zeus. Ethan would chase him around and try to play with him.

New Year

Happy New Year! We had a wonderful New Year celebration with Ricky's family. We started out by going to Chuck 'E Cheese for some games and pizza. Then everyone came over to our house for some Kinect playing! We love our new Kinect! (Dylan can already get it set up by himself. He is really good at the games, too!) We danced all night long after Spencer's kids went home and most of the other kids went to bed. Here are all the Tate boy's kids.Goofy faces!Ethan and Keegan. Ethan is 3 months older than Keegan, but Keegan is bigger! They have the Tate trait for being big!
Ethan was so tired and this picture was too precious not to post!Dylan and Alex were watching a movie on the computer and I realized that Dylan was still awake at midnight. I had him come watch the ball drop and then we set off a few fireworks. It was low-key, but fun! New Year's day, we drove to my aunt's house in Illinois to celebrate Christmas with my extended family. It was great spending time with everyone again. I can't ever get too much family time! (Well, maybe with these crazy boys! j/k)It was fun trying to get everyone to smile! (Lauren wanted nothing to do with getting her picture taken!)Goofy faces was a lot easier!We spent this week getting back into the swing of things. Dylan started back at preschool on Wednesday. He was really excited to get back and I was ready for him to go. While he was at school, Ethan had his 9 month check up. Here are his stats:
Height: 28 3/4 inches (70th percentile)
Weight: 21 pounds 8 ounces (62nd percentile)
Head circumference: 47.3 cm. (92nd percentile)
He is such a big boy! He didn't have to get any booster shots, but while we were there I had him and Lauren get a flu shot. The doctor checked his ears, since he was finishing up on his antibiotics. He had a double ear infection this time. Poor little guy can't get rid of them! We started a different antibiotic, Omnicef, that is supposed to be gentler on his stomach (the Augmentin tore his stomach up). We are now trying to get rid of diaper rash on top of everything else. He is not sleeping well at all, which makes for a long week. Thanks to Ricky for helping out with the late night waking.
Lauren is going potty most of the time in the toilet. We are still working on not pooping in her princess underwear. I think I might have confused her with using pull-ups on the long drives. I don't want to have to wash the car-seat cover every time we went somewhere. She is in the do-it herself phase. She gets frustrated if she can't do it and screams. We are working on using words instead of crying or screaming. She also decided that she wants to walk up and down the stairs this week. She is still a little wobbly and can only use one leg without touching the ground, but it's a major improvement! She never ceases to amaze me!
We got the Christmas tree taken down today. I am happy to have my room back to normal. I loved having it up, but was sick of the mess it made in the house. I realized that I didn't have any pictures of the tree, so I snapped a few before we took it down.
Here are the stocking my mom made for the kids. I just love how the fireplace turned out!