Tate's Birthday

Yesterday was Tate's first birthday. What joy we have had because of his one year of life! He is generally cheerful (as his name implies) and easy-going. He laughs easily and causes us to laugh. He gives sweet, lingering hugs and rides my hip like a little monkey upon it's mama. (I barely need to hold on at all!) He is a BLESSING. (The words of the Scripture are true, "Children are a gift of the Lord.") We are all exceedingly glad to have Tate in our family and his birthday is cause for great rejoicing.

What actually happened on Tate's birthday: He woke early, by 6:15 a.m. and woke the rest of the kids by 6:30. Braden and I decided to l linger in bed until 7 a.m. (the normal time that the children are excused from their rooms) and clearly asked the children to quietly play in their rooms. When we rose at 7 a.m. I went to get Tate in the boys' room at the same time I heard Braden ask, "Is that Tate downstairs?" Yes, indeed, it was. Tate was not in the bedroom with the other children where I expected him to be. He had crawled downstairs (he does this adeptly), apparently looking for me. He had crawled into the laundry room and somehow closed the door and was unable to reopen it. There he was, his teary face down upon the dirty floor, crying for us ("MAMAMAMAMA"). This isn't generally how we treat someone on their birthday!

His birthday also included a law school function, with dressed-up attire and dessert. Unfortunately, in the rush of finishing our patio steps and baking cookies for said law function, we ran short of time. We took four hungry and tired children to the Ad Fontes ceremony (the pizza I baked was cooked but we didn't have time to eat it!). The evening ended with another episode of vomiting and cleaning up- Livia again. (this has been going on for nearly two weeks intermittently!) I regret that we took her out, even though we didn't know she was still not well. More sheets to clean, a late night shower for her, and Braden and I wearily crawled into bed late, again. Tate was up in the night, too, and I suspect that his tummy isn't feeling quite right, either, or that the four teeth coming in right now are bothering him. More birthday joys.

Truly, we love Tate. So much has changed in the last year of our lives. Our love of him has increased exceedingly. (Just don't make any judgements based upon his birth DAY celebration!)