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!

December Catch-up

This month has just flown by and I didn't get to write about it, so I apologize for this post being so long. I am going to try to remember most of it and post some of the cute pictures I got this month. So I'll start with December 4th. We got a lot of snow, and Ricky's leg was not healed all the way. I bundled up to shovel the driveway so we could get out and about. Dylan loves the snow and wanted to build a snowman, but the snow wouldn't pack. We managed to get a little tiny one out of some of the snow we shoveled out of the way. What do you think?
(Can you see him by Dylan's foot?) Here's a close up for you!
We were getting all of the Christmas decorations out, and we found some Santa hats. Ethan sported one while he was crawling all over the place.
Dylan loved his hat! Ricky, Ethan and I got sick with colds and spent the next week trying to recover. I lost my voice for the entire week! When Ethan didn't get better after a week, I took him to the doctor to find out that he had a double ear infection. Poor little guy! He never once pulled on his ears. I'm just glad that I took him in! After finishing his antibiotics, he still wasn't better. I took him back to the doctor on the 27th and found out that he still has an ear infection on his left side. We are trying a stronger antibiotic this time and hopefully we'll get rid of it! Dylan got to attend church with Grandma and Grandpa while the rest of us stayed home to get better. He was pretty excited about that!
On Friday, we watched kids for date night. The little girls were so cute all cuddled up with their blankets and sucking on their thumbs.
We ventured out in the rain/snow on the 11th to get a Christmas tree. It was freezing outside and we were all trying to recover from being sick, so we just got it at Lowe's. We went to breakfast at IHOP first to get my free birthday breakfast and the kids were so cute all bundled up. They were so good and enjoyed the adventures! Despite being sick, Ethan decided that he was a big boy and started pulling himself up to things. He has pulled himself up onto the fireplace and on the first step of the stairs. I don't think I'm ready for this! He will be walking before I know it! He was so proud of his accomplishment!
Ricky had a computer gaming party on the 17th, so I decided to take the kids to my parents house for the weekend. It was tons of fun, other than the drive down there. Dylan had to go to the bathroom, which is not fun when it's snowing and you have 3 kids. My parents were watching my nephews for the weekend, so there was a big party! We were admiring their heights and had them all stand next to each other. Brayden is 6, Dylan is 4, Landen is 4 (6 months younger than Dylan), and Lauren is 2. My kids are really tall! The kids had a wonderful time and my dad even watched the four of them so mom and I could finish our Christmas shopping! Thanks dad! (Christmas shopping was hard this year with Ricky's broken leg. I couldn't go with him on date nights, and he couldn't keep all the kids! I managed to get out with Ricky's mom once, but I got most of my gifts online this year. It was really fun getting packages in the mail!) Saturday night, my parents were gracious enough to watch all 5 grandkids so Ricky and I could go out to dinner for our anniversary. While we were at dinner, my parents took the kids to their church Christmas party. The kids got to see Santa! Yeah! Dylan wanted a Nerf gun.
Lauren and Ethan just stared at him. At least they weren't screaming! December 21st, it snowed a ton, so Dylan and I went outside to build a snowman. I think he turned out pretty well! Dylan was really excited about putting his rocks on the snowman and then putting a scarf around his neck! Dylan loves the snow and would be out there every day if I let him! He is so full of energy!
Tonight, we got to spend some time with Spencer's kids. Dylan and Lauren had a great time with their cousins. They live in Missouri, so we don't get to see them very often. We got Kinect for XBOX for Christmas and we LOVE it! It is like the Wii, only your hands are the controllers. It is great and Dylan even has a blast on it! We had fun with the cousins playing sports and dancing! Here is Noah showing off his moves!
While the older ones were playing, Ashlyn and Lauren were being cute! They had such a good time playing together. I forgot to tell you what the kids got for Christmas! (This is more for my records, so don't feel bad if you don't read it!) Dylan got a Batman set and a Nerf gun! He loves them! Lauren got a doll house and a baby doll. She enjoys playing by herself with the dollhouse. If only she could keep Ethan away from her! Ethan got a basketball set that plays music when you dunk it. It's adorable! I think he's going to be my ball player! Ricky and I got a new TV. Ricky has been wanting one for a while now, so we broke down and got it. I would like it better with a new entertainment center, but it's still great. (We were supposed to get the center first, but the TV was a great deal and snuck up on us first!) I think we have gotten to spend time with everyone that lives close to us! It has been a truly wonderful Christmas month!

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas around here, thanks to amazing family and friends. On Friday night, we were invited to a friends house for dinner. It was so fun to spend time with some good friends and then we read the Christmas story with the kids acting some of the parts.We tried to get a group shot, but this is how it turned out. We almost got everyone! Thanks to Tamri for taking all the pictures!
When we got home, the kids got to open a present of pjs. They were so cute getting ready for Santa to come! Lauren was ready for bed if you can't tell by this picture!They were all much happier on Christmas morning. I didn't get any pictures of them opening their stockings, because Ricky was videotaping them. Oh well!Ethan's first Christmas! We have pictures of all 3 kids in this hat for their first Christmas! He was ready for his Christmas breakfast. Such a cutie!We had a tradition growing up to have the missionaries from our church over for breakfast on Christmas morning. Ricky and I decided to keep the tradition going. We had yummy pancakes and bacon. Yum! The kids really enjoyed having them here. It was such a nice morning.
Around 2, we headed over to Ricky's parents house for dinner and presents. Here are the four Tate boys. Kris, Ricky, (Alex wanted in and this is the only one of ten pictures where someone isn't making a funny face!), Jared, and Spencer.We were all there! Here's the proof!
Sunday morning, we woke up and headed to my parent's house for another Christmas celebration. We had a great day with all the family.
We had a great weekend with all of our family and friends. We hope you all enjoyed your holiday, too!

7 years and going strong

Today is our 7 year wedding anniversary! I can't believe that it's been that long already! I guess if you throw 3 kids into the mix, time can go a lot faster! I have loved every minute with my wonderful hubby, and wouldn't change anything. We got to celebrate our anniversary on Saturday night, since that's when we got my mom and dad to babysit. We went to a new restaurant called Fogo De Chao in Indy. It is a Brazilian Steakhouse where they bring you as much meat as you can eat! It was soooo good! I loved it and think I ate more than Ricky did! I would defiately recommend the restaurant to everyone, although it is a little pricey. Very good place for a special occasion. Thanks for dinner, babe! I had a wonderful time!

December is always a busy month! Getting everything ready for Christmas, potty training a little girl, getting over sicknesses, snow, and so much more! Where to begin... Dylan's preschool did a little Christmas program. It was really cute and he even sang the songs this time. He has a fear of singing (even with a group) in front of people. What a great way to get into the Christmas spirit! Lauren is going potty all the time at home, and most of the time when we are out. She should hopefully be trained by the next week. I am working really hard on keeping her dry. It can be exhausting! Ethan is all over the place! He is pulling himself up onto things, like the stairs, couch, fireplace. It won't be long before he is walking! Ricky's leg it totally healed! Yeah! I can actually have him do things now! :) He just has to work on getting the muscles trained again. He is a great husband and helps out a TON around the house and with the kids! I couldn't ask for a better husband/father for my children. I have been busy baking cookies, I did another cookie exchange this year. I think I am going to make it a tradition. I love getting together with friends, and making cookies, so it is a win/win situation! I don't have much time for getting on the computer anymore, so I'll have to post pictures when I get some time (probably January).