The almighty T. Rex and Lemon Pucker adventure...the blog that never seems to get finished.

***Update...this entry title was officially changed to The almighty T. Rex and Lemon Pucker adventure....I will explain later.***

Harris Tate...I put the title here b/c for some reason, whoever created this blog background thought it would be a good idea to place their brand where the title goes. Anyway. We have been at home now for over a week and things have been pretty much just as you would expect. In fact, I am having trouble writing about our last week b/c it has been pretty uneventful. Don't get me wrong, we are excited about having Harris home but so far things have been sort of ordinary. Besides the late night feedings and constantly trying to give Emma Grace all the attention she deserves, I haven't really had that overwhelming feeling that comes with having a new baby and a 3 year old in the same house. There have been moments that Ashley and I have felt like we were going to explode but when you have a young child that now has to share the attention with a baby, that is likely to happen. Enough about us. Harris has had a week where we saw him eat really good and then as the week progressed, his nursing behavior declined down to almost nothing. We are now giving him formula almost exclusively but Ashley is nursing him for as long as he will. His weight gain has sort of flat lined but hopefully this week he will show more vigor when taking his bottle. Other than that, he is doing really well. He hardly ever cries and when he does it is short and over with.

Emma Grace is doing well also. She is as smart as a whip and has the memory of an elephant...which doesn't bode well for me b/c she remembers everything that I say, especially that which involves me taking her to the park or to get "treats". I could see the skepticism in her eyes when we first brought Harris home but she has warmed up to the fact that he is here and his place in our family is set. She has turned up the heat on vying for our attention and sometimes it is hard to meet her demands with a smile but we always do it because we know at this time it is important that she feels the same amount of love that she got before Harris.




We have now been home for 2 complete weeks. Sleep slips us by as we are now functioning completely on anything we can ingest that might have a hint of caffiene (Ben) or no sodium, low fat, tasteless food (Ashley:). Harris also has found that sleeping at night is for loser babies and has joined his dad as a late night junky. Since my initial venture began to write this blog entry, Harris has gained almost a pound back but he is not quite back to his birth weight. This was worrisome to us for a while but knew that he would come around.





Ashley is doing well and has recovered from her section quite nicely.

Now back to the changing of the title. Emma Grace has this fascination with dinosaurs and giving her new brother nick names. Well, Lemon Pucker is the latest in a long line of names that she has come up with. T. Rex, well that is just what she wants to be while she chases me around the house. Harris was Archie Coco to Coco to Coco Harris Tate Coco to Lemon Pucker...and this just in...He is now Funk Bunk.

...And then there were 4!

We want to take this opportunity to introduce you to Harris Tate Trotter.



He weighed 7lb 6oz. and is 19 inches long.

Baby Name Poll

Our baby boy is scheduled to arrive into this world on April 6th...we are still trying to decide on a name for our little one! Emma Grace's preference is Archie Coco but even I can't give into that one! We want something different but not wierd...keep that in mind when you are voting!! Thanks for your help!!

Help us choose a name for our baby boy...these are just a couple of options we are looking at...tell me what you think!

• Corbin Tate
• Cohen Tate
• Braxton Tate "Brax"
• Greyson Tate
• Harris Tate "Tate"
• Emery or Emory Tate
• None of the above...they all stink!

View Results
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She will wait...

and on the 6th day, with loud trumpet blast, she will welcome her new brother into the family. And he will be called..."Archie Coco". Just so you know.

Christmas milestones and new things for a New Year.

It is hard to believe that we are fast approaching another Christmas to celebrate the birth of a savior. IF you want to break it down further, this is my 34th Christmas, Ashley's 29th and Emma Grace's 4th. Together, we have over 67 years of experience celebrating this wonderful time of year. We aren't even the most experienced when it comes to the number however, for some strange reason, people like to puff up their chests when they tell you how much combined experience they have doing something. Well, we have something even more to be excited about. We are adding another to our growing years of experience. For those of you who do not know, we are having a boy in April. This is our reason for not getting the cards out on time, if they get out at all. It is also the reason that we haven't done most of the stuff that we want to do this time of year like be with friends and family more. I am not sure where this is going so bear with me.

The new baby is a gift. This is the time of year for giving gifts. The thing about kids is that this gift never stops giving. We are fully funded in gifts from Emma Grace. She never ceases to amaze us on a daily basis...in fact, she hardly ever ceases. Having another child will just grow that all the more. We are their recipient and we are blessed.

So without further adieu....revealed in amazing 4D technology....the reason this Christmas and New Year is going to be extra special....God's new longterm gift to our family....

Oh baby brother (or sister), where art thou?...

Its no secret, at least to those who are close to us, that we are pregnant. Well, Ashley is anyway. I always thought that when couples stated that "they were pregnant" that is sounded sort of wierd. Some older generations attempt to include the male in the process of pregnancy which everyone knows that after "it" happens, then its all about the woman from that point on. The great thing about this is that I am excited and perfectly alright with it being that way. This blog is in no way about me though, the dad, I just wanted to take a moment to stand up for all expectant dads across the nation and let you know that I am there.

So without further a due, I am officially announcing to our blog friends and anyone who happens across this post, that I am officially dropping the phrase,"we are pregnant" and replacing it with the more acceptable phrase, "Ashley is pregnant and I still get to do all the things I was doing before".

Emma Grace is excited, as far as we know, about having a baby around. If you catch her at the right moment she will tell you to be quiet because the baby is asleep. She goes back and forth between wanting a brother then a sister and sometimes one of each. She has even told us that she is going to be a "big sister -and- brother". Not sure what that means but to her I am sure its her way of reminding us that she is okay with sharing the reservation with someone else.

Jesus, the unseen dinner guest.

we were sitting at the dinner table (a few weeks ago) the other night eating hamburgers of which emma grace has never eaten much less tasted before. she is destined to be a vegan much to my dismay. we prepared our plates and sat at the table as a family as we always do. we blessed our meal and began to eat. emma grace decided that she wasn't going to eat her specially prepared hamburger...tiny meat, lots of cheese, lots of bread. we went through the whole ordeal of bribing her, telling her "big girls eat hamburgers and they get dessert if they do" to trying to just get her to stick enough of it in her mouth to hopefully change her view of how good hamburgers really are. None of this worked and we were at our wits end(a bunch of other things happened during this time that if your a parent would push you to the brink as well). ashley gave her final ultimatum and basically told emma grace that she just had to try the burger and if she didn't like it she didn't have to eat it...one would think that this would be a deal that a 3 year old would agree to.

no, instead she looked at ashley square in the eye and said, "no mommy, jesus told me i didn't have to eat hamburgers"

this pretty much ended that.