Miracles and horses

So Tate went to the Dr. yesterday for his 4 month appt. For almost the first 2 months of his life the kid grew on average 1 lb. per week. Since then he was slowed down a little bit, but he still is LARGE.
Wt. 18lb 11oz (>95th percentile)
Ht. 25.5 inches (60th percentile)

I find this significant because when I was about 7 or 8 months along, Tate was measuring really small-like in the 2-4th percentile range. The Dr. advised me to stop working since at work I was on my feet all day for 12 hour shifts. He thought that maybe Tate wasn't getting as much blood to the placenta as he needed, and that if I took it easy that it might help him grow. I also had to go and be monitored 2x per week to make sure that the baby wasn't in any kind of distress or anything. So my family had a fast that next fast Sunday for me and Tate. It was so sweet, even my 5 year old brother fasted the whole day (without being asked) because he was so worried about his soon to be nephew. So when he was born he was 6lb 8oz which is about the 14th percentile or so, but he was so healthy and strong! So we feel that it really was an answer to prayer and fasting that he has done so well. Another worry I had was "what if he is a little runt for the rest of his life". And no, it doesn't look like he will be a runt the rest of his life. He is HUGE and I LOVE it!!!
On another note, Tate finally really saw a horse for the first time, and his daddy is so proud. Tate is a natural horseman. We have held Tate up to the horse's face sooo many times, but he always looks right past it as if he is oblivious to the huge animal that is right in front of his face. So on Sunday we took him over to see the horses, and he actually acknowledged their existence and he actually loved it!
First solo ride

If you make this one bigger you can see this huge drool spot running down his chin. Very gross, yet somehow very cute.
Tate loved this little horse. Later he grabbed onto the horse's face with both hands and tried to put him in his mouth.

7 facts

So I was tagged a while back, but I’ve been trying to think of some ½ way interesting things to say, and here’s what I came up with. One tag was for 6 things, and one was for 8, so I’ll compromise and do a nice even 7.

1. I’ll warn you first, this is the weirdest one. When I was younger I liked to pop people’s toes. (honestly, I still do.) Not friends or anything, but to my family and to Chris. I also don’t like dirty ears, so I used to clean out my brothers and sisters ears. I like zits too. Chris hates it, but if he ever has one…watch out. Which leads me to another point… at work I have had the opportunity to watch several “incision and drainage” procedures, and they are the most fascinating things to me…I LOVE watching them. So say there is an extremely reddened, swollen area on a person’s body. A doctor can slice into it, and drain whatever it is that is in there, which is usually mostly pus and sometimes chunks of who knows what. I could watch these everyday at work and never get tired of it. FASCINATING.
2. When I was in high school I thought that I wanted to be a journalist. I took some difficult writing/English classes when I was in high school and I really enjoyed it. I think I was actually an ok writer at one point, but I think I have forgotten most of what I learned. I was even an English tutor my first year of college, but then I ended up being a nurse, which isn’t like a journalist at all. ???
3. I have never had a filling or a cavity
4. Every time I go to the grocery store I buy 2 or 3 bananas, but when I get home they stay on the counter until they are rotten. I always see them sitting there at the store and they are so inexpensive and I think, “I should get a banana, because what if I want a banana this week”. I never want a banana, but I fall for them every time.
5. I hate ironing. Before I got married I told Chris, “just so you know, I hate ironing.” So he knew what he was getting into before he married me. It is just so boring. It’s not like you can do anything else while you are ironing besides listen to music. Even if you are watching tv, that just drags it out. So Chris wears dress clothes everyday, and when we were first married we had some “discussions” because he wanted me to iron all of his shirts, but I wanted him to because, after all, they were his shirts (Does that make me a bad wife?) So he would say, “well, I don’t want to iron them either, I’ll just take them to the dry cleaners”. And I would tell him, “that’s a waste of money”. Then he would tell me, “if you think it’s a waste of money, then why don’t you just iron my shirts?” And thus we would go round and round. So now we just take them to the dry cleaners, and it is SO worth the money. Sometimes for birthdays or Christmas I iron a few shirts, and then I remember why I hate ironing.
6. I love going out to eat. I think it is because I am the oldest of 9 kids, so we didn’t go out to dinner all that often. I think it is so fun. On Friday nights Chris and I usually go out to dinner, and I look forward to it all week long.
7. I love staying home with Tate. When I was pregnant I would wonder ‘what am I going to do all day when I stay home with the baby?’ Well, I love it. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. I’m glad that Chris enables me to stay home and be tater’s mommy!

The Graduate

In honor of the occasion, Tate wore his "I dig my Dad" shirt.












Well Tate and I are now the proud wife and son of a college graduate. This past Saturday Chris graduated with a business degree from the University of Phoenix. When we were first married, I remember Chris and I were sitting in our apartment at the kitchen table, and were deciding what classes Chris should take and when he would graduate. It seemed like it would take forever until he was done with his bachelor's degree, but halleluiah the day finally is here! He decided on the U of P because he could easily work full time and just go to class 1 night per week, without having to leave work in the middle of every day to go to a campus. So anyway, he has been going there since Summer of '05. And I think that he would recommend U of P to anyone that is thinking about their programs. And as if that weren't reason enough to go there, they also hold their graduations at the brand new Cardinals "University of Phoenix Stadium" Whoo hoo!











Tate and the graduate, Chris
















The graduate bought himself a graduation present that I'm sure he would love to show off. His name is Chip, and Chris is in love.









P.S. Ashlee, I can't find your blog. Can you leave me your address?