Our new addition

So we have a new addition to our refrigerator. Lets welcome "Amoxcicillin". I was holding Tate on Monday evening and all of the sudden he kind of snuggles into me like he's tired. I thought, "that's really weird; Tate never snuggles." So he fell asleep in my arms and while I'm holding him he starts feeling kind of warm. He woke up after a few minutes and I took his temperature and it was 102.2. Then he was breathing kind of fast too. So then he starts opening and closing his eyes and is just LETHARGIC. He won't even lift his head off of my shoulder. So inside i'm kind of freaking out, forgetting every iota of anything I ever learned in school because this is different. THIS IS MY BABY!! And he has never been sick before. And I have to keep calm on the outside because Chris is right there and he assumes I should know everything about sick chidren since I'm around things like this every time that I go to work. So I gave Tate some Tylenol and we started driving to the Urgent Care in Gilbert. So it turns out that Tate has two ear infections and he was wheezing. So now we have amoxicillin and we have albuterol breathing treatments-to keep those airways open.

So the above picture is actually totally posed. The last picture I have of Tate and I is probably in Sept. So I've decided that I have to take matters into my own hands and I have resorted to setting the auto timer on the camera and taking pictures of Tate and I. How lame is that? It takes forever too. This one probably took us 6 tries, just to get us both in the picuture, the nebulizer in the mouth and the book open before the picture took.

Despite all of this Tate is still quite a good sport. This incident made me realize how much I love this kid. It was a whole new playing field. I was worried like I've never been worried before. I'm so grateful for my chance to have a FOREVER family because at this point I'm kind of attached to the little monster.

So I didn't plan to blog today, and normally I'm not too vocal about Martin Luther King Jr. day, but I had an experience that made me want to blog today. I never write about anythign controversial, but hey, that's what blogs were meant to be for, right? So let me paint the picture: Chris is off work today so he is riding his horse. He was invited to rope at someone's house here in Casa Grande where he has only been once or twice before. Tate and I went along to hang out. So there is one man in particular that I would like to describe. He is there roping. He has several teeth missing. He is unemployed, probably in his late 30s, maybe early 40s. He and his wife and two kids live with his brother right now. Both of his kids are right there with us-one is 11 and the other is probably 8 or so. So all of a sudden, this guy says, "imagine that, we're roping on n***** day. You know where I come from we ain't afraid to call them what they are." And I think to myself, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" You have your two kids here and what are you teaching them? What ignornance. So yes, I believe that all men are created equal. That's how this country came to be; it was founded on this belief. That's why the first pilgrims came here-to escape persecution and find a place where all could live as equals. That's the way God intended it, I think.

Potpourri

There's a lot I've wanted to blog about, but I'm finally just sitting down to do it. Much of my time has been spent on random endeavors that Chris and I are undertaking, but more on that tomorrow. My next post is going to be entitled "Ode to Chris," but again, more on that tomorrow. This post may be a bit jumbled, jumping from one thing to another, but at least you'll be up to speed. I'll call it a potpourri.
For new years we went to Pinedale to a friend's cabin. There Tate got to spend some quality time with his new best friend, Parker. This was seriously not posed at all. Tate loved him. We had tons of fun, made some new friends, and Chris stayed up until 3am ish playing guitar hero by himself. Tate also tried rice cereal for the first time and he LOVES eating real food now. Up to date he's had sweet potatoes, green beans and bananas. He thinks he's big stuff.





On new year's day I was able to see some friends from high school. I love when we are able to get together and catch up. We're all kind of spread out- from here to Arkansas, but I'm glad we were able to meet up.

This is my little brother Douglas. He turned 8 on Dec. 31st and was baptized Jan 12th. Of all the people in my family, I think he might like Tate the most. Ok, maybe not the most, but he likes him a lot. When I was pregnant with Tate he would ALWAYS ask if he could be there when Tate was born. I think he thought that babies just come out of your belly button or something like that. So I would tell him "no, you cannot be there." Then he would ask, "well can I be in the room next to the room where you are having your baby?" NO. He's growing up, and he's a lot of fun. After his baptism I told him to go stand by that tree you see in the back ground and he said, "actually, I think I'm going to kneel right here and put my arm on my knee." OK. So he posed himself, and I think he looks pretty handsome!

December

A recap of the month:



We made Christmas cookies


Every Christmas Eve my parents do a small nativity play thing . This year Tate got to be baby Jesus. Chris was Joseph. Sorry the picture is sideways. My youngest brother is 6yo and up until last year he was still playing baby jesus. I went and dug up a hilarious picture of him in "swaddling clothes" from last year, maybe I'll scan it in later. Last year when we told my family that we were having a baby, the first thing that my little brother said was "yeah! I don't have to be baby jesus anymore!" So ever since that time this was a greatly anticipated event-Tate playing the part of baby Jesus. He was such a good little guy, and didn't make a peep the whole time.
The whole family. (Minus one brother on mission in Argentina) Part of the fun of it is wearing ridiculous costumes. My dad is always the donkey, and he wears these big construction paper ears. I, being Mary, got to ride to the manger on the donkey this year. My other favorite costume this year was my brother Jason's. He is on the far right and is wearing a little girl's slip for his part as an angel. It might sound a little sacreligious, but it really isn't. We just have a good time. Please pull this one up on your computer. You won't be dissapointed.

So we took some family pictures a few weeks ago. I love the ones of Tate. You can see them here: http://forgetmenotbyjana.com/index2.php?v=v1
Click on galleries, and then recent work. Tate actually rolled over for the first time while we were getting pictures taken...pretty exciting stuff.


On another note, Christmas came and went and my new favorite toy is....

Ever since Tate was born I've been becoming more interested in photography, mostly so I can take good pictures of him. I'm very excited about the camera. Even after the first pictures I took I knew that I was falling in love.(with the camera, that is) There's a lot to learn about photography out there. I've been checking out some book at the library, reading the owner's manual, etc. It's been a fun discovery. Pictures to come shortly. Don't expect too much, though. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Deal or no Deal??

So I consider myself a huge bargain shopper. You might say that I am cheap. But I think I may have found the best deal of my entire life yesterday, so I HAD to share. When you find an amazing deal like this you have to gloat a little.


So see these authentic Levis? Well, I was at Sam's club, just milling around, and I saw that they had men's Levis there for less than $20. Chris wants a pair of Levi's jeans for Christmas so I started looking for his size. Of course I had to dig through all of the piles and when I got to the very back pile, at the very bottom of the pile, I came upon this lone pair of women's Levis, that just happened to be my exact size. So I walked around the clothing area looking for similar women's jeans, but could not find them. So I decided to take them up to the front to see how much they were, thinking maybe I would get a good deal. Lo and behold, when the girl rang them up they were $3.06. !!! For all you disbelievers and sceptics I have included proof:

Yesterday was a great day.