Welcome to the World Ellie

 

Ellie Tate

Born June 1, 2011

4:35 pm 

8 lbs. 15 oz.

20.5 inches long

Each little life that joins our family brings something so sweet and so unique. Each one teaches me new lessons about love and challenges me in new ways. Each time I wonder if I can possibly love another little one as much as I love the ones that are already part of my family, and each time the answer is an overwhelming yes.

As I look at you, sweet Ellie, I see so much of Chloe, a little bit of Morgan and the tiniest bit of Brynn, but I know you will be uniquely you to your very core! I am excited to experience this life with you! To see you grow, to watch your personality emerge and to shower you with love and kisses. What a treat it is as a mother to look on as your Daddy looks at you with those adoring eyes. You have captured his heart already. And as your brother wants to hold you and never ever ever let you go...he is a good brother and you are so lucky to have him. Your sisters love you so much too....they brought you a special blankie and rattle today and they wrapped it around you so snugly and sweetly that it melted my heart! They are going to be your very best friends and you will be so glad you have them! 

Last night, you had a flood of visitors coming to see you! Grandma Becky, Grandma Colleen, Grandpa John, Uncle Stephen, Morgan, Chloe, Brynn, Grandma Denese, Grandpa Tate, Aunt Smelly, Uncle Stinky, Grandpa Mark, Grandma Char, Aunt Allison, Uncle Mike, and Uncle Jonathan. And every few seconds my phone would buzz with messages of love and congratulations from family and friends who were so glad you had arrived. What a fan club you have already!

Welcome to this world Ellie! You have a beautiful life ahead of you, a family who loves you to pieces and a Heavenly Father who loves you enough to send you here to us!

xoxoxo
Mommy

Happy 4th Birthday Chloe!

Well, my little lady's birthday is finally here! She has been anxiously awaiting this day and now she is finally four years old!

Dear Chloe -

Thank you for introducing me to mothering girls! You came to us from heaven on a pink cloud, loving princesses and dolls and playing house and dressing up and wanting to be pretty and immediately we were smitten with you! You love to have your nails painted and your hair curled and to coordinate every outfit with lovely accessories! You would wear a dress every single day if I would let you and you love it when mom makes you pettiskirts, tutus and hair bows. You love to read books and color and play princesses/barbies/ponies/littlest petshops/dressups/house. Most of all, you love to play with your brother and sister. They are your best best friends and you always want to be with them! You have a mind of your own for sure...and you let us know when our plan is not in line with yours, but you are great at taking a deep breath (after we remind you) and listening to the reasons for our plan...and usually you can be persuaded to be agreeable. You are such a talker. You have been speaking in complete sentences since long before you were 2, and you haven't slowed down since. You have an expansive vocabulary and are constantly making Mom and Dad and random strangers giggle with your "proper" phrases that you love to interject correctly into sentences. You don't say "yeah"...you say, "Of course. I'd love to do that!"

I love your cheery outlook...to you the world is roses and there is joy to be found in all of it! Mommy loves to be reminded of that each day as you find life's little joys! You love to pray...every time we say a family prayer you volunteer. You love primary and learning from your teachers and you have so much faith. As we teach you about the gospel and the values and rules in our family, we also try to teach you that it is ok if other people believe differently and make different choices. You have grasped this concept so deeply at such a young age. You know what is expected of you, but you love everyone even if they do things that you have learned not to do. You are such a loving and caring girl. You LOVE to give snuggles and hugs and kisses and your morning/rest time/bed time are not complete until you have gotten at least one hug and kiss from Mom or Dad or both. When you play with a friend, you love to hold their hand and get really close to them and go places together...it isn't really that great when someone likes their personal space, but you are learning to be aware of that too. ;)

You are the pickiest eater in the family, but you still eat just about anything we give you. You do NOT like the texture of coconut (but you don't mind the taste, which is good because I use a lot of coconut in my cooking). If you eat an Almond Joy you immediately gag it back out and wipe it off your tongue. It is so funny to watch. Sometimes you think things look icky, but you usually try them and end up liking them. You love salad and you still love your meat! Give you a steak any day of the week and you will undoubtedly ask for seconds! You love peanut butter sandwiches and ask for them every.single.day for lunch. mom hates making peanut butter every day, so you acquiesce and have other things, but you would definitely prefer peanut butter. Your favorite shows are Super Why and Backyardigans. You love pretty much all disney movies, but of course, the princess movies are your favorites. You use the term princess pretty liberally though, so Morgan often tries to convince you to watch the movie he wants by telling you that the girl in it is a princess...and you follow along. You have a firm grasp on real and pretend...and if someone is pretending or teasing trying to be silly, you call them out on it. You love to play pretend, but you realize that it is only pretending.

You are not in love with school, but you always have fun when you go...I can't say I blame you because I am not thrilled with your school this year either. You are fabulous at math and can count like a pro (you may skip a few numbers along the way, but you can pretty much count to thirty). You are learning your letters, but they are coming a little slower. You love to draw and have started to draw very realistic images, but you have no interest whatsoever in writing. You love your family...you know all of your aunts and uncles and grandparents and cousins by name and you love them all. You talk about them often and I know that you feel loved when you are around them. You love your mom and dad and you tell us often. Not a day passes when I don't have a snuggly little girl on my lap telling me how much she loves me. You adore your Daddy and love to spend time with him whenever you get the chance. You can't wait for baby sister to join our family and you have gotten rather impatient waiting for her and have started demanding that she come out RIGHT NOW! I am so glad that you want to be my best buddy forever sweet girl! I am looking forward to a lot of fun fun times in the future with you! Thank you for being my shopping buddy, cooking helper, hug and kiss giver, and optimistic chatterbox. I love you with all my heart!

xoxoxo,
Mommy

the results are in...

Today we had our ultra sound and were so happy to hear that our little one is looking absolutely perfect! Size looks great...10 fingers, 10 toes, belly button, eyes, lips and nose. We couldn't be more thrilled!

We decided not to take the kiddos to the ultrasound (thanks for babysitting mom!) so promptly after picking Morgan up from his school short day, we had a little "movie afternoon". We popped some popcorn, snuggled up in front of the tv, and popped in the ultrasound dvd.

The kids were clearly a little bit excited to see the baby...

We saw

a sweet little face

tiny fingers trying to grab tiny toes

a little one all scrunched up with knees to chest

and...

no baby boy parts!

That's right people...we are in for

more pink,

more tutus,

more hair bows,

more flowers,

more dresses,

more tights,

more dress ups and barbies and littlest petshops,

more princesses,
more dancing,
more tiny polka dot shoes,
and more drama (heaven help us)!

We are so excited for another little lady who will undoubtedly
capture our heartsjust as instantly as her sisters have before her!

It took a little persuasion, but we have talked Morgan into keeping Chloe,
so you will have 2 big sisters to show you the ropes and a wonderfully awesome
big brother to balance out the estrogen and love you like crazy!

kisses and hugs my sweet!
We can't wait to meet you!

A Letter to the Birthday Girl

Little Miss B -

Well dearie you are one year old today! It is hard for me to accept this fact because I still think of you as my itty bitty baby girl! I cannot imagine what life around here would be like without you! You bring so much light and happiness to each of us and are a little bundle of joy! You have your brother and sister completely smitten...Morgan carries you around everywhere he goes, which sometimes freaks mommy out a little bit when it is up and down stairs, but he just wants you to be in on the fun all the time! Chloe loves to play ponies and petshop and babies and barbies with you while Morgan is at preschool and she loves sitting next to you in the car so she can share with you! You and Chloe share a room and you sit and giggle with each other every night before you go to sleep. You have Mom and Dad smitten too, which is just the way we like it!

Here is a little bit about you at age 1.

You are easy going

You love to smile and giggle and full-blown belly laugh

You are very intrigued by taking things in and out...my tupperware drawer is your favorite

You love to talk: you say mama, dada, thank you, here you go, Morgan, "nana" (banana), no no, more, peek a boo and the list goes on

You are dainty

You LOVE to suck your thumb...I mean you LOVE it!

You are sensitive: you don't like fast movements or sudden changes or loud noises...although you do love Callie, go figure :)

You can walk, and have taken as many as 10 steps in a row from the middle of the floor where you just stood up by yourself, but you would rather crawl, or get a ride with someone big!

You are ALWAYS thirsty

You love to play with barbies and ponies...I think you must like their hair.

Everything goes in your mouth...everything.

You love to play surprise games like peek-a-boo

You like books, but you aren't super patient when being read to...you take a very hands on/ mouth on approach

You think every time anyone laughs they are laughing at you and you get this proud look and start laughing as if to say "Yeah, I'm so funny!"

You have slept through the night forever! You go to bed around 6:30 PM and wake up happy happy happy at about 7:00 AM. You take 2 naps a day...sometimes 3. Mommy loves this!

You LOVE your daddy...you practically leap out of my arms whenever you can see dad close by...it is okay though because he LOVES you too!

When you get tired, we always know right away because it is the only time you are demanding (ok...you get pretty demanding when people eat in front of you too)...you want to be picked up and then you want to squirm down and then you want to be picked up again and then you want someone else to hold you.

You are still in your infant carrier - this is amazing because Morgan and Chloe were both less than 5 months when they passed the weight limit for this. We are moving you into a "big girl" forward facing car seat today so that you can watch the car movies with your brother and sister!

You like to feed Callie, but then you get mad when you no longer have anything left to eat.

You love to sing and always sing along with us!

You are so cuddly! You love to snuggle with Mom and Dad and Grandparents. Unfortunately we love it so much that sometimes you end up getting cuddled instead of getting sleep!

You have beautiful eyes...seriously...they are amazing!

You are such a sweet little thing and we love you so much! Thanks for being a part of our family...we are so excited to watch you grow from a beautiful baby into an amazing woman. LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU!

Mommy

Absolutely Gorgeous

and yet...

Sunday she got in the car after church and proclaimed,

"Let's talk about boys."

Dear Chloe,
Hey there little miss all-grown-up,

can you just slow down this growing up stuff and smell the roses a bit.

You only get to be little once,

princesses

my little ponies

and imagination land,

maybe we should just stick with talking about those for now,

because,

trust me,

you'll have plenty of time to talk about boys later...

maybe when you are 3.

Scared to death to meet your teenage self,

but I love love love you anyway!

-kisses and loves-

Mom