Trunk or Treat 2011

We had Trunk or Treat at church tonight (Smiths Grove Baptist), and it was great! 

It is crazy to think that at this time last year, we had basically just found out we were pregnant and only our families knew. I remember looking at every cute baby and thinking 'wow, i will have one of those next year!' And here we are a year later already! 

Dustin was Captain Underpants

And we had a Hot Dog Stand. 

Joey was a Hot Dog. He did so good and all the kids loved seeing him! 

And our cute little Ketchup Packet! He did so well!

Our family of four! 

Randa hanging with the boy.

"Please- No Pictures!"

We had a blast! 

And for comparisons sake: 

Our Family in October 2010

Our Family in October 2011

Wow... 

Happy Halloween!

Me

- I am growing my hair out already. Short hair does not always equal easier. I need a good ponytail in my life.
- I have come to the realization that I will not be wearing cute jewelry for, oh let's say, the next two years of my life. I miss dangly earrings.
- This means scarves will be my only accessory... Good gift idea!
- I have always had a dry, flaky scalp. But it's on steroids now. I use the hardcore selson blue.. To no avail. Any other ideas??
- It is cold! Typing and walking don't mix in cold- my hand is freezing!
- Pinterest makes me want to bake and cook so bad! But I have no time in my life to do this...

It's Friday!!!!

Bring it on weekend!

I am sooo glad tomorrow is Friday! I feel like the work week lasts forever! We have a busy but fun weekend coming up. Tomorrow night we (Griffin and I) are walking in the Monster Dash 5k here in BG. The money goes towards adoption, and it should be a blast. I will be wearing the kid and hopefully that will keep us both warm. Then Saturday is the annual Sims Pumpkin Carving! Can't wait!

And here is a little shot of my boy passed out in a milk coma, just for fun.

Time

Dear Time,

Please stop going so fast. I would like to savor each of the moments during this phase of life, but I feel like you keep rushing by. What is your deal? Don't you know that I want to forever remember the precious smile on my son's face when I go into get him in the morning? Or that I want to sit and chat with my sexy husband on our couch forever? Why must you steal away these moments?? And It seems this year that we actually are having Fall, could you please freeze these gorgeous days and let me enjoy them? I know that tomorrow it will be January and cold and bleak. I just want to bottle these 70 degree days up! I would really appreciate if you could just slow your roll and let me drink in deep this magical time in my life. Thank you.

Sincerely,

A wife and mother who needs more time!

Rolling!

On Sunday (Oct 23rd), Griffin rolled from front to back for the first time! Way to go Buddy!

3 Months Old!

3 Months Old

Three Month Stats:

• We dont go back to the doctor till 4 months, so I do not know what the boy weighs or how long etc. 
• Clothing: He is in 0-3 month and 3-6 month. He is almost too long for a lot of the 0-3 month clothing. 
• Nursing: We are still at it! Yay! A feeding takes around 15-20 minutes still. I am so glad we kept at it, because I love having this time with him! Pumping at work isnt so bad either. 
• Griffin is still spitting up like crazy! We are trying the chiropractor and probiotics right now, so Ill keep you posted on how that goes. 
• Schedule: We are still mostly on a 3 hour schedule. Naps at daycare are random and usually not long, which is frustrating. Any ideas on how to fix this??? On the weekends he naps great for me. 
• Nighttime Sleep: Griffin was sleeping from 7:30ish until 6:30 in the morning, except for the dreamfeed around 9:30. But for a week of the last month he randomly woke up several times a night crying.... and now every couple of nights he cries in his sleep until we go put his pacifier back in his mouth. Weird. 
• Griffin loves to sit up now (assisted of course in his bumbo or on your lap). He wants to see what is going on! 
• The boy is blowing spit bubbles or slobbering at almost all times. 
• His hands LIVE in his mouth right now. 
• He is trying hard to laugh, but cant quite do it yet. It makes for some funny sounds. 
• He can now reach out and grab toys on purpose. He also can put his paci back into his mouth most of the time (its a wubbanub). 
• We started carrying him front facing in the flip carrier and he loves that. I also started doing the hug hold instead of the newborn hug hold with the moby. Much more comfy for him, he is too long for the newborn one. 
• He rolled over for the first time!! This was actually the week after he turned 3 months, but since I am late with this post Ill include it now. He rolled from front to back this weekend! Yay! Still hates tummy time though. 
• He makes noises all the time! 

I cannot believe its been 3 months. I love this kid sooo much!!!

Food for Thought

Or maybe just food for eating?

I haven't posted a menu plan since May... yep that's five months! Basically in June and July I was pregnant and sick of cooking, so we ate out often or grilled. And then I had a tiny human and life got crazy! So we have not been cooking a ton the past 3 months either. And when we do, it has mostly been Mr.Pate getting the food on the table. But this week we have a meal plan and so far have actually cooked two meals! Pretty good compared to the past five months. Anyhow, the meal we ate tonight was yummy so I thought I just had to share! Plus its a crock pot meal- which is sooo easy!

Bacon Ranch Chicken

4 chicken breasts 
2 tbsp bacon bits (I used like 1/4-1/2 cup instead)
1 tsp minced garlic
1 pkg ranch seasoning mix
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
4 potatoes, chopped 


Place chicken in crock pot. Combine bacon, garlic, soup, sour cream, seasoning and potatoes. Pour over chicken and cook on low for 6-8 hours, stirring occasionally. 

Its so yummy! I got it off of the "Crock Pot Girls" facebook page. Have you guys been on there?? They have tons of recipes, although many are similar to each other. Well, try this recipe and let me know what you think. Enjoy!

So Funny!

Someone posted this on Facebook and I just had to share...

"Awake Training" for Mommies

Dear Fellow Babies,
OK, here’s my situation. My Mommy has had me for almost 5 months. The first few months were great – I cried, she picked me up and fed me, anytime, around the clock. Then something happened. Over the last few weeks, she has been trying to STTN (sleep thru the night). At first, I thought it was just a phase, but it is only getting worse.

I’ve talked to other babies, and it seems like its pretty common after Mommies have had us for around 5-6 months. Here’s the thing: these Mommies don’t really need to sleep. It’s just a habit. Many of them have had some 30 years to sleep – they just don’t need it anymore. So I am implementing a plan. I call it the Crybaby Shuffle.

It goes like this:

Night 1 – cry every 3 hours until you get fed. I know, it’s hard. It’s hard to see your Mommy upset over your crying. Just keep reminding yourself, it’s for her own good.

Night 2 – cry every 2 hours until you get fed.

Night 3 – every hour.

Most Mommies will start to respond more quickly after about 3 nights. Some Mommies are more alert, and may resist the change longer. These Mommies may stand in your doorway for hours, shhhh-ing. Don’t give in. I cannot stress this enough: CONSISTENCY IS KEY!! If you let her STTN (sleep through the night), just once, she will expect it every night. I know it’s hard! But she really does not need the sleep; she is just resisting the change.. If you have an especially alert Mommy, you can stop crying for about 10 minutes, just long enough for her to go back to bed and start to fall asleep. Then cry again. It WILL eventually work. My Mommy once stayed awake for 10 hours straight, so I know she can do it.

The other night, I cried every hour. You just have to decide to stick to it and just go for it. BE CONSISTENT! I cried for any reason I could come up with:

-My sleep sack tickled my foot.
-I felt a wrinkle under the sheet.
-My mobile made a shadow on the wall.
-I burped, and it tasted like rice cereal. I hadn’t eaten rice cereal since breakfast, what’s up with that?
-The dog said “ruff”. I should know. My Mommy reminds me of this about 20 times a day. LOL.
-Once I cried just because I liked how it sounded when it echoed on the monitor in the other room.
-Too hot, too cold, just right – doesn’t matter! Keep crying!!
-I had drooled so much my sheets were damp and I didn’t like it touching me.
-I decided I was sick of all the pink in my room so I cried.

It took awhile, but it worked. She fed me at 4am. Tomorrow night, my goal is 3:30am. You need to slowly shorten the interval between feedings in order to reset your Mommies’ internal clocks.

Sometimes my Mommy will call for reinforcements by sending in Daddy. Don’t worry Daddies are not set up for not needing sleep the way Mommies are. They can only handle a few pats and shhing before they declare defeat and send in the Mommy.

Also, be wary of the sleep sheep with rain noises. I like to give Mommy false hope that listening to the rain puts me to sleep sometimes I pretend to close my eyes and be asleep and then wait until I know Mommy is settling back to sleep to spring a surprise cry attack. If she doesn’t get to me fast enough I follow up with my fake cough and gag noise that always has her running to the crib. At some point I am positive she will start to realize that she really doesn’t really need sleep.

P.S. Don’t let those rubber things fool you, no matter how long you suck on them, no milk will come out.

Trust me.

Sincerely,
B

Woo Hoo!

It's late... Very late.... And I am very up.... I am so going to be paying for this tomorrow!

Mr.Pate and I ended up driving to Louisville when I got off today to look at a minivan... And ended up buying it around 10pm! Crazy night! The good news:

- Griff did great with the random trip. I fed him early before we left, and he slept the whole way there plus the whole time we were test driving and doing paperwork. He woke up right as we finished, just in time to eat again and be put into his nighttime diaper. Then he slept the whole way back! I fed him when we got here and laid him back down. We will see how the night goes!
- We both feel like we got a great deal.
- The car salesman was a Christian and had a very neat testimony. We felt pretty confident the Lord lead us to this whole situation.

The bad news:
- I am exhausted. We got back at 11:30pm. Then I still had to wash the bottles, pack lunches etc. Woo hoo.
- I am exhausted but wide awake. Ugh.

Here is the van:



It's a 2006 Kia Sedona. It has a great clean carfax, is in great condition and is clean clean clean (which knowing us won't last!). It doesn't have tons of the bells and whistles- but compared to our older cars it seems so fancy! Haha!

I am so thankful to the Lord for answering our prayers to find a solid van within our budget quickly. It was hard to write the check after saving for so long, but I am glad to have it over with. Now I can get to work driving this one into the ground... Haha!

- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

Morning walk

Some quick thoughts on my walk into work:
- Griffin passed his hearing test! Couldn't remember if I blogged that or not.
- Our beloved minivan is a goner. Cracked radiator, brakes are shot, tires are down to the steel, and the transmission is ticking. We know how to run a car into the ground around here! Ha!
- I loved our van and will miss it! It was a gift from our youth parents three years ago, when we ran out last car into the ground. It always reminds me of what a giving church family we have.
- Griffin was sleeping through the night for the last three or four weeks consistently. Awesome. And then starting middle of last week he had started waking up several times a night. Any suggestions?
- My parents brought us one of their vehicles to drive until we find a minivan to buy (we have been looking for a while). We have the Best families!
- I love our Moby wrap. I went grocery shopping alone with the baby for the first time Sunday, and that thing made it a breeze! Plus it's comfy.
- Time to hit the grind again... I leave with a peek at my cute morning date:



Quite the looker, eh?

- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater

The weather around here has been amazing! I mean, AMAZING! So today we took advantage of Mr.Pate having a day off (woo hoo!) and went to Jackson's Orchard. Its a local Orchard that has tons of family fun going on. We had not been in a few years, and wow have they stepped up their game. They have a huge playground area for only $2 a kid, hayrides, pumpkins everywhere, a petting zoo, pony rides, and yummy treats.

Griffin is still too young for all of that, so we just tried to have a little photo shoot... have I mentioned I have a spit-upy- baby? Poor pumpkins! Griffin spit up several times while we tried our best to get some good shots. I overexposed a lot of the pics, ugh! But here they are none the less... warning- if you dont like baby throw up dont look at the last one! Ha!

 Love this face: 

 Why, hello cutie! 

 He dove forward and licked this pumpkin before we could stop him... nice kid. 

And now the one with vomit.... just a warning in case you dont want to look.....

I want to remember what Griffin's early days were like, and they include lots of these moments so far! Ha! 

.....

......

.......

.........

...............

.....................

Charlie!

Charlie. We LOVE Charlie. Unfortunately Charlie and his parents, Terry & Judy, moved to Iowa about 2 years ago now. We miss them! They were in town recently and got to swing by and meet Griffin!

Look at how big Charlie is now! He is a teenager! Even his voice has changed!  

Charlie did great with Griffin. He loves babies. We miss this family so much, and hope they will move back sooner than later!!