Limbo, limbo, limbo

So our life over the last months has been limbo, limbo, limbo...not my favorite place to be. After the dreaded 9 weeks apart, Zachary came back to the states to study and take step 1 of his board exams. We lived with his parents and closed up our place in Mexico for the most part.

Since the birth of Tate, our $212,000 peso baby, we have been trying extra hard to watch our money. Because of that we decided that selling most of our stuff in Mexico, and, as a result, not having to pay rent for a few months would be worth it (and we still feel it was). At the time we also were looking into transfer options to put us back in the US for the last 2 years of med school.

To make an already long story a bit shorter...Zach took his boards, we waited a painfully long 3 weeks for the scores, they came back great, transferring turned into too much of a hassle and gamble, and Zach is back in Mexico all settled into a new, cheaper house. Since making the decision to go back to Mexico, which was not what any of our family and friends wanted to hear, we have been blessed in many ways. I know with confidence that it was the best and right decision for us to make...and it was the hardest one we have ever had to make.

Tate and I will be joining Zach in Mexico in a few weeks which we can't wait for! I am so ready to be out of limbo, in our own place, and just living a daily life and routine. Zach will be flying in next weekend to then turn around and drive our car back down to Mexico. (that was another decision we had to make... ultimately, we feel better to take our car back with some stuff in it than to buy another, less reliable car.)

This whole limbo experience, well...really all of med school thus far, has taught me a lot. Mostly, how to pray for answers, how to act in faith, and how to roll with the punches. Life over the last year has not been even remotely close to what I would have expected it to be. That being said...we as a family have come so far, gotten so much closer (despite the extended times apart),and learned from our trials.

I am grateful for my husband, for his hard work and devotion to his son and I. And I am dang grateful for our sweet, not so little anymore baby boy. And I am grateful for the path my life has taken and will continue to take. I guess what I want to say, is we are going back to Mexico, successfully, and are really excited about the rest of our lives!!

Daddy on skype...our life line these days!

Crawling and more!

We have a full blown crawler on our hands! He started really crawling at 9.5 months (actual age) which considering how far he has come is amazing! His therapy is working wonders and now I feel like it is making my baby get big a little too fast :( but I am so happy that he is doing so well! He is not at all picky as to where he crawls...the crib after (or during naps), carpet, tile, wood floors. The poor baby needs knee pads cause his little knees are always red! He is loving his new method of transportation and is getting really fast at it!!

Zach took his big test last Friday...and now doesn't know what to do with himself without having to study all the time. Now it is just a bit of a nervous waiting game for about 3 weeks or so to see what the score will be! I know he will do well, and I now like to refer to him as Dr. Daddy. After all, he is halfway there and I couldn't be more proud of him!!

This weekend he enjoyed his first Father's Day. It was low key, but fun just to have him with us all the time!

Father's Day family photo!

Last week Tate had an appointment with a neurosurgeon about his head shape and size. He ruled out a cranial problem we were worried about, but is wanting to send Tate for an MRI to rule out some other issues. We should know this week the date of the MRI and then will go from there. Trying not to worry about anything until we have some answers...but keep Tate in your prayers.

This last picture is just to show how happy the little boy is (almost) all the time!!

9 Months Old!

So my baby is 9 months old...I will never believe he is growing up, but he is! Everyday he gets more and more fun and makes me laugh so much (and my laughing makes him laugh, so we have a lot of fun)!

Right now he is doing a lot of changing and developing. His therapist is basically calling his torticollis gone (just waiting on the pediatrician's confirmation next week). Both of his therapist are really impressed with his progress, and we are working on strength building exercises, coordination, and basic cognitive skills. I am really impressed with what they teach me, and how fast I see it work in him!!So besides being ridiculously cute (all the dang time), here is what Tate is up to...

1. Still rockin' the 3-6 month clothes. He has pretty much moved up one size late (went into 3-6 month ones at 6 months). I tried some 6-9 month stuff on him and he is not quite ready. His waist is just skinny...but he is gonna be a tall dude, that is for sure!! We are waiting for his official stats at his check up, with shots :(, on Thursday.

2. He started really babbling on Mother's Day, which I thought was sweet...but started with the wrong syllable, "da". It is now ALL we hear! He tells all his friends (toys) about his dada or adad. I know he doesn't know what he is saying yet, but he loves to say it!

3. Naps like a rock star. I can lay him down being totally awake and he doesn't ever make a peep or even pick his head up to get mad. He naps on his tummy and takes 2 good ones every day (1.5 - 2 hours) and occasionally another smaller nap. He still sleeps about 12 hours at night. Mommy can't complain!

4. Eating is not his strong point, but he is much improved. Still taking three 6 ounce bottles and one 7 ounce bottle and having solids twice a day. Maybe we will up it soon, but for now it is working. He is also enjoying snacks is just getting the hang of being able to put them in his mouth. He loves yogurt melts....and says "nummm" with every bite!

5. Loves to sit and play with as many different toys as he can. But we all know that play really means look at and eat. He also enjoys hitting toys, with his hands or together.

6. Scoots around in circles on his tummy, and fast! This week he has started doing the push up position and tucking his knees up in the crawl position...but from there he just gets mad and grunts. Grunting is another favorite these days.

7. He has had a cough off and on pretty much all his life. Now he does this dramatic, totally fake cough...complete with half closed eyes. It is hilarious! He is already learning to work us!

8. Has been swimming twice and is a big fan!

9. Loves to scratch things. He always has to an extent, but now sometimes he can't focus because of it. We go to visit daddy in his study cave and sometimes Tate totally ignores Zach in order to scratch the desk chair...apparently it makes the best noises. He also will silently scratch his car seat while he and I are out...I call him a bug for that!

10. Does this strange spit thing. He spits out some slobber (actually a large amount) and then will suck it back in. Sometimes he gets lazy and just lets it drip everywhere. Any other babies do this? Seriously so strange...and gross!

That is mostly what I can think of right now. We just love the little guy and I love watching him grow and learn. It is so funny how when you are a mom, the smallest thing can get you so excited! I am excited for all the things to come and all the cuteness!!!

Oh...and I have a vision in my mind to take some good pictures of the little dude. It should happen soon. The scenery around here rocks. So wait for it!

Catch Up

What have we been up to since daddy has been home? Lots of fun stuff...and lots of studying on Zach's part! We have been able to enjoy a lot of family time, but Zach still has to study like crazy. His big exam (the USMLE Step 1) is June 17th. As soon as that test is over, we will be ready to have a wonderful summer of nothing but family time...and I CAN'T WAIT!

1. We experienced Tate's dreaded first ear infection. He spent 2 whole days so pitiful and tired, but the meds worked quickly!
2. Tate had a great first Easter here in Fair Oaks. Over the holiday weekend all of the siblings in Zach's family were able to be together which is rare! It was nice and Sunday we went to the Easter Egg Hunt at the Country Club...next year little man will be running around that thing!!
3. Tate had his first beach trip, also on Easter weekend. The water was too cold for him to really play in it, but he did dig his little toes in the sand and get a great beach nap on mommy!

4. We walked in our first March for Babies walk! Our family team raised over $400 and had some cute t-shirts. The walk was wonderful and very humbling to realize once again how fortunate we were in our preemie situation. It will be a yearly event for us without a doubt!

5. We attended cousin Emma's 1st birthday party! Not sure how is already 1 year old but the calendar doesn't lie. She had so much fun running all over the place! And at the party, Tate gave us his biggest belly laugh ever all because of a dumb stuffed bunny. This kid laughs all the time at everything (but that is a whole other post)!

6. Got to spend time with 3 of Tate's 4 great grandparents! Now he just needs to meet my Grammy!

7. I celebrated my first Mother's day. These almost 9 months (crazy) of being a mom have been wonderful, amazing, tiring, stressful, and so happy! I feel so so blessed to be Tate's mommy...because I am!

8. Tate mastered sitting up! And now is a little scooter as well. He moves all over the floor, mostly in circles, and only when he is on his tummy. He is getting so strong and is so proud of himself!

9. Zachary and I celebrated our 4th anniversary on May 12th and spent the whole day out and about. Grandmom took care of Tate and we went to lunch, movies, dinner on the Riverwalk, mini-golf, and shakes (a little shopping in there too)!

10. Tate had his first breathing treatment. It went really well actually! It was at the doctor's office and his daddy kept him smiling through most of it. We now have a nebulizer at home to use as needed. He has pretty much had a cough every week or two his whole life. Hopefully this is the trick and it doesn't develop into asthma. (And we totally totally love our new pedi here in San Antonio...that is also another blog.)
Those are all the big things I can think of for now. We are SO happy to be back together as a family and are looking SO forward to the summer!

Saturday!

Saturday we will be reunited with Zachary after 5 LONG weeks apart. Tate is a totally different baby just about everyday...so he has changed a lot in 5 weeks! Zachary has been working so hard in Mexico, studying non stop and is taking a big test tomorrow that could allow him to done with Mexico for good. We are hoping that is what is in our future! So prayers for my sweet husband!

In other news...Tate finally rolled over on April 5th. I know by normal standards it is super late, but for us it is great! I have been very diligent with his physical therapy and the roll is further proof that it is paying off. I laid him on his tummy for a nap in his crib, went back in to check on him and he was just chilling awake on his back. I was so excited but sad that I missed it! He now does it all the time and looks so proud of himself every time.

Post roll over, holding the bumper...so cute!

I am so glad to have physical therapy available to us and for all the amazing things I have learned from it! So many things that I was doing with him, that we all do with our babies, were harming, not helping him. I am grateful to know what is best for him now!!

Lastly...I ordered a "Line A Day Journal". I got the idea from my friend Heather (the clothes sender!). I am super excited about it...just wish I had started it sooner. It is really cool and has a date at the top of each page and then 5 paragraph sized lined sections. It is meant to be for 5 years, so you just write the year at each paragraph and go! I know that it will be great to look back on just one little thing from every day of Tate's life. Such a great idea and maybe something that I will be giving as shower gifts in the future!!

The cute little journal!


This last one is just cause I think it is cute. From our strawberry picking day with my mom, Ashley, Jeremy, & Em! Maybe I will post about that later when I get more pictures from my sister. Most of my pics these days are phone ones...like the 3 above!!

Randoms...

1. Little man has another tooth! I didn't even realize he was getting it today until he whacked himself in the face with a toy. The hit involved tears (from both of us), a tiny amount of blood on his tongue and my shirt, and had me all up in his grill...so I discovered the new tooth which was coming through at that moment. I am proud Tate cause he wasn't even fussy enough today for me to know he was getting a tooth. So far this whole teething thing is going much better than I expected but I know that as I type this I am cursing myself :)

2. My good friend from Mexico, Heather, sent Tate a big box of clothes today. It was like having another baby shower, but with bigger clothes!! Heather has twin boys about 3.5 months older than Tate, hence the large amount of clothes.


Maybe I will explain a little about our friendship. Heather and I took spanish classes together in Guadalajara for a mere 8 weeks, but it was 6 hours a day, 5 days a week. We bonded over our similar situations...husbands in med school (hers much further along than mine), Mexico, and our desire to have babies! Little did we know we would have boys close together in age and both of us have "hecho en Mexico" babies!!

3. Now that I have an official high chair for Tate, he eats his solids like 1000 times better. It's like the dude knows he was getting jipped before. He just needed his big boy chair and now he is an apple, green bean, pear, banana, pea...champ!! Now we just need to master the sippy cup, he thinks it is a chew toy. Oh...and now that he has teeth, he thinks his spoon is also a chew toy...between EVERY bite!


4. I know I just posted, but I feel like even since yesterday Tate is making progress in his strength. I am amazed by my tough baby boy.

5. Lastly, today is someone's daddy's birthday. Not mine...my dad's birthday was yesterday! Today is Zachary's birthday and we hate that he is so far away. My handsome 27 year old husband is spending his birthday studying...like always!

Tate and I are so lucky to have him. I think the Lord everyday for letting him be my husband, for the amazing relationship we have, and for how much I know he loves me. I am a lucky girl! Can't wait to be with him again. I have also pre-warned him that after he takes the step (the test that has been hanging over his head for the last 2 years), I will be his little leach for at least 1 full week. He is prepared and excited I think!!

We love you Zachary!!

March of Dimes...

I have created a team for Tate in this years March for Babies walk. Our team is called The Tater Tots and we will be walking in The Woodlands. I am looking for donations to help this wonderful cause. I never thought I would be a parent affected by prematurity, as most people with preemies don't and donations to the March of Dimes help people everywhere, everyday.

Everyday thousands of babies are born too early, too small, or with too many health problems. While Tate's NICU struggle was minimal and his time there (3 weeks) relatively short, many babies are not so lucky. So, if you can walk with us on Saturday, April 30th, come join us! If not, make a donation...any amount can and will help a tiny baby somewhere.

Above is a collage of the few photos we have from Tate's time in the hospital. I treasure these photos and will always remember the other parent's living the experience with us and their sweet babies. So our team is not only for Tate...but for Daniela, Diego, Panchito, Bruno, y Mariela.

Tiny babies have a special place in my heart!! And they sure are cute...check mine out now!

You can click the sidebar or follow this link to our March of Dimes page. I am hoping to make this an annual event no matter where we are living!