Stats

My precious William Tate weighed in at 23 pounds (average for his age) and measured 31 inches (average for a 16month old!) this morning. Everything checked out great...except his right ear which is infected. Dr. Maaytah was not concerned about his scoot-crawl. She said he was very normal and that he should be walking pretty soon from the looks of things! I am so thankful! After three shots, a few tears and a big smile when I picked him up...we're off to the next adventure!

Please be praying for our other kiddos as they experience Spring Break by traveling to Glorieta/Santa Fe for skiing or to Mexico for mission work. Bradley will go on both trips, so please pray for his safety, energy and effective leadership. More than anything, pray for the Holy Spirit to lead and guide everyone and for the lost to say "I am found".

Work is slowing down for me at March 15th approaches! I'm thankful that my deadline is upon us and I'm pretty much finished! I'll drop my hours back to normal until May 15th and then be off for a looooonnnnnggg time! Yippee!

Happy Birthday William Tate!

a year ago my heart grew...

Holding William Tate for the first time! He was a big boy weighing in at 8 pounds 12 oz and 20 inches long. Delivery was so much easier that I thought he would be smaller than Parker...first words out of Dr. Appel's mouth "Emily, where did you carry this big boy?"

As I type this, a year ago, my mom and I had just finished a 40 minute, very fast, walk to try and speed Tate's arrival up! They went on to the hotel for the night, I tucked Parker into bed, kissed Bradley and acted as if everything was the "same". I was contracting off and on but nothing to really talk about. The minute Bradley feel asleep, my contractions started coming pretty hard and were 5-10 minutes apart. I kept thinking, "if I can just make it to 4am, Bradley will have about 5 hours of sleep." I almost gave in about 3:30 but I made it to 4am. I got up and got everything loaded and ready, called my parents with "it's time, hurry", and woke up my dear husband who responded with "ok" in a tired but excited voice! he immediately called my pain dr....dr. jan as we call her...and she met us at the hospital. I think the hardest part of it all was to see my dad watch me in immense pain and he couldn't do a thing about it! my water broke on its own and a few short hours later (it was time change Sunday so I had no clue what time things were happening until the sun came up), William Tate was welcomed into our arms!


my, how he has grown from this...

to this...

Tate is down to a couple of bottles a day but doesn't care for soy milk too much. We'll see what Maaytah says about that this week! Food and naps--doing great! Teeth, ugh, teeth! He has six teeth now and two more top teeth coming in right now! He is still my "smiley" boy though!

He is a helper! He stays right by my side when I work in the kitchen and I love it! We talk about everything...which I pray never changes...sometimes I cannot get a word in :)

BEWARE: MESSY PICTURES BELOW!

Here he is...the birthday boy! Saturday was a day full of family, sweets and surprises. Tate has not had any sugar until Saturday (I'm kind of a nut about sugar!) and let me tell you, he L-O-V-E-D it! Straight to the bath he went where he enjoyed splashing around and continuing the fun!

The party was located at Tate's Pond where LOTS of ducks live...Tate LOVES everything about ducks...in the water, out of the water, silent, quacking, fuzzy, bald, stuffed animal, in a book, etc! I wanted his party theme to reflect him...the only other option was to have a ball throwing contest...that boy can throw balls ALL day long!

The Williams! Pops (straight from a wonderful vacation in Hawaii) pushing Tate in his new car!

Tate still sitting in his car while Parker enjoys opening Tate's gifts!

My wonderful family of four!

William Tate: I love you bug! You bring out the very best in me. You are always learning new things, keep me on my toes, couldn't do life without Parker and are slowly becoming a momma's boy! You say Mommmma about 100 times every hour and scoot over to me with arms raised high! Daddy and I are very proud of you already! We love to sit in the floor and throw balls with you. You have a love for talking to your family on the phone! You listen, listen, listen, tell them what's on your heart, say bye-bye and hand the phone back to me! Also, I love our little routines...opening the blinds to welcome the new day and thanking God for each other, checking the mail in the afternoons as you lean waaaayyyy out of my arms to unlock the door, reading and praying before bed, and your squeal when I pull your sleep sack out for night-night! All the in-between is wonderful, too! We are starting to see your personality grow and grow! Fix your eyes on Jesus every day of your life and trust in His unfailing love; you were created to love Him and follow Him all the days of your life! I'm looking forward to the next year ahead...you light up my life!

I love you,
Momma