The Tater Bug

Our little guy Tate is becoming quite the big boy!! The good news is he is now officially potty trained which is quite the feat considering his favorite phrase as of late when asked to do anything has been, "I can't" said in the most whiny voice possible.:)  The bad news is for some reason now Tate wants to color every surface but paper, i.e. our rock on our fireplafe, our walls, the stucco on our house outside, for a kid who doesn't give us too much trouble this has been such a frustrating thing! No matter what we do to punish him he doesn't seem to get how naughty his "artistic freedom" is.
On a more positive note he is quite the character and continues to amaze me how quickly he picks up on songs and loves to sing. He will be playing with his cars singing songs that we just barely heard in the car or on the T.V. and he knows them pretty well for just having heard them! He is also constantly saying funny things like today:
Coming out of his room with a small suitcase,
Tate: "Bye Mom, I'm going to work."
Me: "Where do you work?"
Tate: "In St. George." (He says matter of factly)
Me: "What do you do at work?"
Tate: "Eat candy!"
Nice to know he has got it all figured out! Love this little man!

Abby's imaginary friend

I think it started at the beginning of this summer (2010) when Abby started talking about her friend "Jenny." I just assumed it was a friend she knew through Primary, but then as I started asking questions about Jenny I soon realized that Jenny was Abby's imaginary friend. When I or anyone else asks the following questions about Jenny, this is what I am told. Sometimes the details vary, but mostly they stay pretty much the same:

How old is Jenny?: "5"
Where does Jenny live?: "in town"
What color of hair does she have?: "purple and pink"
Does Jenny have a Mommy and a Daddy?: "no"
Does Jenny have any sisters or brothers?: "Yes, 11, one of her brother's name is "Thackerhea" and her sister is "Freakethera"
Does Jenny have any pets?: Yes, her dog's name is "Brucho" and her cat's name "Brenzelum."

Abby is always telling us about the adventures she has with "Jenny", she is always saying, "Mommy, the other day Jenny and I......." or when she is getting in trouble about something she did, she will sometimes say, "Well Jenny does that." The best is when she calls Jenny on her Cinderella phone and they set up playdates, and today she topped it all when she said, "Mommy, I just texted Jenny on my Cinderella phone." So apparently our daughter is quite creative and high tech! ;)

You can say that again!

So Abby has a new phrase that she continues to use over and over again, "You can say that again!" I have no idea where she heard this or picked up on it, but there have been a couple of really cute situations where she keeps using it.
Jake's mom was telling her how silly she was because she was playing with her and Abby was being funny and Jake's mom said, "Abby, you are so silly, your sense of humor is so funny", and Abby replied without missing a beat, "You can say that again!" We all laughed so hard because it fit the situation perfectly and it was hysterical. Then this morning she was helping me with Tate and I said to her, "Thanks Abby, your are such a good helper, you're the best!" and again she turned to me and said, "You can say that again!" What a cutie she is, she is getting so big and starting to look like a "big girl". She is growing like a weed, in fact now that it's really starting to warm up we pulled out all of the shorts and sundresses that I had put away for this summer that I bought last year for her to wear this summer and a lot of the stuff is too short! She has hit a big growth spurt and is getting so long and I had kind of noticed, but it didn't really hit home until shoes and clothes started not fitting.
We also had her dance recital last week that I will post pics and video from, but before it I was going through tapes for our camcorder and trying to find one that had some space on it and I got caught up watching footage of her when she was a baby, her first birthday, Christmas, etc. and she just looked so little, even in last year's Christmas footage she looked so little so it's crazy how time really has flown by. We love our Abby girl she is such a character!!

Peek-a-boo

I apologize for the bad lighting, and the semi-messy kitchen (I swear my garbage isn't always that full) but I wanted to share this video. Tate has discovered he loves to squeal especially when we play peek-a-boo with him. I also want to document his first words were "da, da" and "ma, ma"which is normal, but he also says "bee" for our dog Bree, and "up", "yeah", and said a mumbled version of "book" a few times. He is really starting to jabber and his personality shines through more and more each day.

Tate is One!

I can't believe that our Tate is now 1-year-old!! He is such a cute and smiley boy and makes everyone happy when he is around them. He honestly has been such an easy and mellow kid up to this point and I hope he turns out to be a pretty easy toddler.....here's to hoping. :) We really enjoyed celebrating Tate's 1st birthday this month. On his actual birthday Jake was out of town so I made cinnamon rolls for his birthday treat, and then the Sunday following his birthday we had family over to have cake and ice cream. Our family was so generous and gave him some fun gifts and it was fun to celebrate with them. I wanted Tate's cake to be chocolate, but when I went to make it I didn't have any chocolate cake mixes left so we went with rainbow chip. Tate didn't really know what to think of it, but finally dug in. He is still as big as ever, and not really crawling or walking at this point. He is doing an army crawl and shuffle backwards thing, and I am sure he will be crawling like crazy in no time. At his 1 year checkup he was:

Height: 33 inches--90th percentile
Weight: 25.5 lbs.--95th percentile
Head circumference: 19 cm--99th percentile

We love you Tater-bug, here's to many more happy birthdays!!

enjoying the candle on his birthday cinnamon roll.

The birthday cake (thanks to Daddy it looked great!)

Tate trying to get Mommy with his messy hands


Mommy and Daddy with the birthday boy!

Abby's tonsilectomy and adenoidectomy

Abby has had enlarged tonsils since she was about 2 years old. Any time she would go in to see the doctor they would look in her throat and say, "Her tonsils are pretty big!" So after watching them for over a year, having her get sick multiple times, and continue to have problems with sleeping and eating we decided it was time to get them taken out. So on March 18th we went in to get them taken out. I will be honest I was pretty nervous because I knew the rehab could be rough and let's face it, Abby can sometimes be a whiny child so to add to that could pretty much put me over the edge. But more importantly this would be the first time Abby would be put out completely with anesthesia, and that is always scary to me. We talked a lot with Abby before hand about what to expect so it would hopefully go smooth. We told her how she would get to wear a "cool mask" and a "fun nightgown" and then afterward she would get to eat lots of popsicles.

Jake gave her a blessing the night before we went into the surgical center bright and early at 7:00 in the morning. Well when we got there she was fine until they brought us back to change her clothes. We got her changed and she started telling me that she didn't want to lay down and she didn't want the mask. I tried to cheer her up about it and when it came time to take her back I felt bad because the nurse took her hand and they went through the doors and after the doors shut I could hear Abby start crying and saying "I want my Mommy!" which broke my heart. So I went to the waiting room and after about 45 minutes the doctor came and spoke with me and told me she had trouble going down with the anesthesia because she didn't want to wear the mask, but everything else went great.

They took me back to see her in the recovery area when she was coming out of the anesthesia, and as I was walking up to where she was laying I could hear her whimpering to the nurse and saying, "I want my Mommy." Luckily this time I could see her and when she saw me she started crying more, which I guess is to be expected. She was still pretty groggy from the anesthesia so I just layed with her on her bed and told her stories to keep her mind off the IV in her hand, which was bugging her quite a bit. She was so sweet and she told me, "Mommy, I didn't like the mask" which made me laugh. We were only at the surgical center for about an hour after her surgery and then headed home. The first day she was home was actually not bad at all, she just layed on the couch and watched movies and started to perk up a little that night. All she wanted were popsicles, cheetos and a little bit of pudding, so that's what we gave her. She was up a lot that first night, and had a rough second day and threw up a couple of times, but the worst has been the nights. It may be because the wounds are scabbing or for some reason I think she panics when she can't swallow or something but she would wake up crying and sometimes screaming. One night it was so bad she didn't sleep more than like 3 hours the whole night, but last night went really well and today she woke up almost back to her old self, although she has a little bit of a higher voice now, which is pretty cute, but we don't know if that will last.

Today we went to see the doctor for Abby's postop appointment and on our way there Abby was telling me how she wanted to push the button on the "elligator" (which she loves to do of course) and I corrected her and said, "No honey it's called an elevator, with a "V". Abby then replied, "No Mommy, it's like alligator, but it's an elligator". I laughed so hard, that girl seriously cracks me up! What an experience this was!!

Here she is kind of dopey on her pain medicine chompin on cheetos......hey, whatever keeps her happy!

Christmas card and letter 2009

We sent some of these in the mail, but missed some family and friends so I thought I would post it here along with our letter. Jake came to me one week before Christmas and said, "I think we should do a Christmas card and letter." Seriously dude a little heads up would be nice! I thought we just weren't going to do one this year, but I am glad we did. You see I have a love hate relationship with Christmas cards/letters---I love to get them, but don't necessarily love to put them together to send them out, especially since my master mailing list was on our previous hard drive so I had to start from scratch! Also I don't like sending out things telling people how great we think we are or how perfect our children are, because we all know that is the furthest from the truth....ok maybe my kids are semi-perfect :)....so hopefully our letter didn't come across that way. Jake really chipped in and was kind enough to write the letter and I hurried and ordered cards so we could try to get them out before Christmas. If we missed you we are sorry, and if you would like one sent to you via mail next year, leave me your address so you can be added to the mailing list :)
I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas and has a wonderful New Year!!!

Merry Christmas! December 2009
We hope that this letter finds you and your family enjoying the holidays and celebrating a successful passing of 2009! Indeed we have enjoyed 2009, and are looking forward to a great 2010! The biggest thing that has happened to our little family in 2009....remains the biggest thing in our family! THE TATER-BUG!!! "And in the blue corner...weighing in at 9 lbs at his introduction on earth, March 4, 2009....Tate Speed Barben!!" (Middle name after his Grandpa who is nicknamed "Speed.") With a rough start in the NICU, our little champ fought hard and 9 months later has come back with a bang! Currently weighing in at 2 lbs and sporting 18 month clothes...yes...for those of you who did the math there, he is twice the size he should be and commonly receives comments such as "Good Heavens, he's a tank" or "What are you feeding this kid?" Perhaps its the weight he carries, perhaps his older sister steals his thunder, whatever the cause he is the easiest and happiest baby ever. Seriously, if we would have had him first we would be ruined for life! He is quick to smile and loves to snuggle. He loves his Jumparoo, which is great because he needs the workout...although in reality it's the Jumparoo getting the real workout! They don't make bungees that strong! He loves our chocolate lab Bree; it is a common thing to see the two of them snuggled up n the front room floor together while Tate plays with her hair. I think the feeling is mutual on both sides; our lab is so tender with him and fun to watch. Tate is sitting up now, jabbering like crazy, and of course with the most obvious...eating anything and everything that gets in front of him! That said, his favorite thing of all is playing with his older sister Abby....is is so fun to see them interact and giggle at each other, obviously this won't always be the case so we are enjoying it while it lasts!

Abby is now 3, potty trained, and becoming such a big girl! Honestly there are days that Allison and I are just amazed at her growth and personality development. It is truly an honor and privilege to be a witness to our children's lives. For those of you who know Abby personally, you know that "calm" isn't in her vocabulary. She has two speeds: 100 mph or asleep. Her mind works so quickly and she is full of questions about everything we do and see, she truly never stops going! We love her to death and hope that she continues to always have a desire to learn new things. She is without question the comedy in our home. I could finish this letter with one-liners and anecdotal stories about her easily, but you can find all of that on our blog or Facebook instead. She has developed a true love of music and it is common to hear her singing constantly throughout the day. She has also been taking dance lessons and loves it. Her favorite thing to do however is play dress up. She has several princess costumes that she must try on 3-4 times per day, and she never forgets to accessorize with earrings, necklaces and bracelets, followed with, "How do I look?" However, despite her "girly" nature, she also loves to go on rides with Dad on the Rhino and she is the first to greet Dad when he returns from hunting to say, "Whatcha get Dad?" She shares my love of the outdoors and the wildlife in it. We took several trips to the mountains this year together, seat-belted into her seat on the Rhino, it wasn't uncommon to do 100 miles in a day with her. She loved it, just as long as there was licorice, juice, and high speeds everything was peachy!

As for Allison and I , we have spent the year just enjoying the heck out of our kids. We did a lot of family things together this year including camp outs, boating, trips to southern Utah and California, long Rhino rides through Utah's mountains and more. It has been so much fun. Allison has really developed her talent for cooking this year and has experimented with several things, and I must say I have been very impressed with what she has come up with! She is a great cook, which is important because I love being the taste tester! She works from home in the evenings as a medical transcriptionist and has also been involved with daily activities with Abby and Tate. They have play dates and visit parks, libraries, museums, the zoo, and go swimming together while I am at work. Although I would love to join them, I am grateful for a wife that is determined to share experiences with our children. I know that it has its challenges, but it is important to her so she does it. I am still working for Marketstar, and grateful to have work at all. Today's economic situation has not been kind to some of our close friends so we count our blessings every day that we have work at all. This year has been one of travel for me personally. Work has taken me many places, and though it presents its challenges while I am away, it has also given me some perspective on the world and makes me grateful for what I have at home and the lifestyle I have chosen. When work isn't keeping me busy, the Young Men's program in our ward have. With Sunday morning meetings, Wednesday activities, fundraisers, camp outs, service projects, Court of Honors, and many other things, there is never a dull moment for me when I am not working. That said, I wouldn't trade it for the world. My Young Men have taught me far more than I could ever teach them.

May we all remember our Savior as we celebrate his birth and try to be more like him in this coming year. We love and think of you often! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

---The Barbens

Tate has a tooth!

I know you haven't heard from us in a while and I will post my year in review wrap up soon, so I won't be completely lame and worthless in the blogging department this year, but I wanted to document that our little Tatter got a tooth! He was kind of having a hard day yesterday and I thought it was because he was coming down with something because normally the kid is an angel. So today Jake was feeding him and I don't know what made him check, but he calls to me and says, "Hey honey, Tate got a tooth!" I was thinking, "No way" because Abby didn't get her first two teeth until she was 13 months old, but sure enough I went and felt in Tate's mouth and he has a tooth cutting through. I can't believe my baby boy is 9 months old.....seriously it is so weird to think that last year at this time we only had one child and I was pregnant, and now I can't imagine our family without our Tater bug....he is the best!

What would a post be without a cute picture, soon Tate will have a toothy grin! (I love Abby's smile in this.....by the way, she is quite the hilarious 3-year-old these days.)

Tate loves the jumperoo!

I know I have been a slacker with blogging lately, and I have a lot to blog about with pics of everything that we did this summer, but I wanted to put this video on of Tate in his Jumperoo. We put him in it last week and after a few times, he started to get it. He will be 6 months in a week and a half, and I can't believe it! He is wearing 6-9 month old outfits, and even some 12 month outfits. He has been so fun and lovable!

p.s. the picture quality isn't great because it came off Jake's cell phone, and if you listen closely you can hear Tate squeal as he is jumping.

CAR FOR SALE!!!

As much as I don't want to, we have come to realize that our family needs a 4-door truck so we are selling our wonderful Pacifica. Check out this link if you are interested because it's a fantastic car, and I would love to see it go to someone that will take good care of it, plus if we know you we'll make you a good deal!

Here are all of the details on it, and I have posted some pics below:
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=733005&nid=443&tab=list/view&ad=1414146

Father's Day

Warning: Long and slightly sentimental post ahead:)

I think my life is better because of the men that have played "father figures" in it. Not only was I so blessed to have an amazing father of my own, but my husband was raised by an exceptional father, and my own hubby is truly a wonderful Dad, so I wanted to give a brief shout out to them. Here are some things that I love about them, and some pics to enjoy.

My Dad:

I have to admit, I think I have always been a Daddy's girl at heart, and my dad is just the greatest! My sisters and I always say that my Dad was the perfect Dad for raising girls. He was hard and firm when he needed to be, but tender and loving with us, and seriously the man has more patience then anyone I know, he would have to be living with a house full of 7 crazy women! My Dad taught me to work hard, and not be afraid to take on tasks. We didn't have brothers so we were expected to do everything that boys could do without any complaining i.e., mow the lawn and other yard work, shovel snow, paint the house, move things that were hard and heavy (he taught us how to work together to get a job done) and my favorite..... home improvement projects. We hung sheet rock, sanded walls, and re-roofed our house with our Dad, and when people would volunteer to help us he would say, "I've got my girls to do it!" ( we would've liked the help!) My Dad taught me to be honest, and to be Christ-like and non-judgemental, and more than anything to have a sense of humor about life and know that everything will work out for the best. I remember multiple talks where I would be crying to him about what was going on in my life and he always gave me the best advice! He still does give great advice actually, and he still worries about us and wants to help us, most times I can call him if I need help and he will drop what he is doing and come to my rescue.

I also love the fact that my Dad works close by to where we live so he will stop by and check in with us during the week while I'm at home with the kids. He has a special knock and when he knocks on the door with his special knock Abby squeals and says "Papa!" My Dad is a total sucker for his grandkids too, and will pretty much give them whatever they want, here in this picture Abby wanted to be pushed on the swings which she always wants help with, and my nice Dad went out and pushed her for awhile until it got too hot. I love you Dad, thanks for everything!

Jake's Dad:

The best thing about Scott is he is always happy. He is very personable and easy to talk to. When he sees me he always says, "How's my favorite gal today?" or "Has anyone told you that they love you today?" He is always up for a fun night of hanging out with us, and he always makes us laugh. We love to go camping with him, and I think it's great that Jake and his Dad share a love of the outdoors together. Scott is a very hard worker and taught Jake that if he wanted something, he had to work for it. He taught Jake how to lay concrete and restore 3-wheelers so that he could earn money for his own 3 wheeler and other things he wanted while growing up. They worked hard together and played hard together.

According to Jake his Dad was the perfect Dad for him because he let Jake know what was expected of him, and gave him the freedom to make choices for himself. One time when Jake was younger he snuck out of the house to be with his friends, and when he got back home there was a note on his bed with the simple quote, "The measure of a man is defined by what he does when he thinks no one is looking." I am grateful for the things my husband learned from his father, and for how kind Scott has been to me. One of the nicest things he always says to me is, "I'm so glad you married my son." What he doesn't know is I am just as glad I married into a great family!

My Hubby:

I know that this post will be embarrassing for my husband to read but I want to write down some of my favorite things about him, especially how he is as a father. I always knew Jake would be a good Dad even before we had kids because he was always willing to take the time to play with my nieces and nephews. His favorite thing to teach them was "Who's your favorite?" and they would enthusiastically reply, "Uncle Jake!" Lately my favorite thing has been just watching Jake interact with our kids. Even though Tate is small he still tries to interact and talk to him and get great smiles out of him and then Tate will kick like crazy and coo at him.

Of course Abby is a big fan of her Daddy, so I am pretty low on the priority list with her and whenever she wakes up in the middle of the night and is crying, the first thing she says is, "I snuggle Daddy." She gets so excited when she hears his truck pull up or when she hears the garage door because she knows he's home, she squeals and puts her hands up to her face and yells, "My Daddy's home!" One of Abby's favorite things is to have Jake tell her bedtime stories which is good because I am really lame in that department. He sits on her bed and tells her the Three Bears or Three Little Pigs and does funny voices and actions with her. Whenever Jake goes outside to work in the garage or mow the lawn Abby has to be with her Dad, like his little shadow.

Jake loves to have fun and is so optimistic about life. I am grateful for the help he gives me as a parent, how hard he works for our family, and for the good example he is. I love you Jake, Happy Father's Day!

Quick question for all of you out there

Jake bought me a fancy Cannon digital SLR camera for Christmas and I have still yet to really capitalize on using it to take great pics and see all the cool things it can do. I have taken a a lot of photos with it but I don't think they have turned out that great because I don't have a photo editing program like Photoshop or anything. I always see pics on other people's blogs and wonder how they get their pics to look so nice and polished. Plus I hear that some photo editing programs can help in doing digital scrapbook type stuff, so I just don't know what to get.

SO.... I am putting my question out into the great blogsphere for help: If you use a photo editing program, which one do you use and why? Also how much did you pay for it and do you think that it was worth what you paid and/or in hindsight do you wish you would have gotten another program?

Any comments and suggestions you can leave me would help me tremendously.......Thanks!

A funny conversation

So I was working today downstairs and my instant messenger pops up and Jake and I had the following conversation:

Jake says:
Do you know why the Oreo cookies are soggy?
Allison says:
they are? Abby got into them earlier but I didn't think she did anything to them. I have no idea how they got soggy though unless she put her mouth on them when I wasn't up in the kitchen.
Jake says:
I think she sucked on several and then put them back!
Jake says:
There are little teeth marks!
Allison says:
I went downstairs to do the laundry and came up and she had Oreo on her face but they were all sealed so I though she just took one out and ate it, that's hilarious!

Jake says:
There are a couple of good ones. Do you care if I eat them?
Allison says:
no go ahead, that stinker we shouldn't have left them out last night, note to self Abby cannot be left alone with cookies apparently, what a funny girl!

This is how we found her the other night when I went in to check on her.......she makes us laugh every day!

Abby-What a girl!

So I have to write these down before I don't forget them. Abby has been talking and singing a TON lately and she is coming up with the funniest things to say, for example:

-When I was scolding her for being naughty and telling her to be nice she says to me, "Mommy, I grumpy, I havin a hard time."

-When I told her not to touch the hose because I was trying to water our tree she came in the house with an excited expression and said, "Mommy I've got idea(I've got an idea), let's play game!" When I asked her what game she wanted to play she said, "with the water!" Like if we played a game of course she would get to play in it.

-When she goes into another room she holds up her hand and says, "Mommy (or Daddy) stay right dere (there)."

-When Abby does something she's not supposed to and I tell her that she wasn't supposed to do that she looks at me and says, "It's OK Mom, it was an assident (accident)."

-When I find Abby getting into things she really isn't supposed to be touching like my jewelry, makeup, etc, and tell her I don't want her touching my stuff she says, "We're sharing Mommy, it's OK." Because I have tried to teach her about sharing her own things apparently she thinks that if she wants anything else she can say we're "sharing" and it's fair game.

-After going to the air show Abby has been infatuated with airplanes and we see them often living near the base. Well we were driving the other day and she says, "Look Daddy, an airpane (airplane).......naah, it's just a birdy.

-I often ask Abby, "what does a ______ say?" Well right now her favorite Disney movies are Toy Story 1 & 2 so I was asking her what Buzz Lightyear, Jessie and Woody say. Well those who know Woody, he says, "There's a snake in my boot." So I asked Abby, "What does Woody say, there's a snake in my.......?" and Abby replied very enthusiastically "Butt!" Not quite, but it made me laugh so hard the rest of the day.

-When she sees letters or numbers on something like a shirt, or billboard she says "Look Mommy, ABC's!" well the other day we were driving and she saw the "U" on the side of the mountain and she said "Look Mom, a yetter (letter)!" I proceeded to tell her that it was the letter "U" and I said, "Yep, that's the letter "U", and my darling daughter replied, "Yep, that's the letter ME!"

-She also loves to sing "It's a Hard Knock Life" from Annie and "A Camping We Will Go" and the "I Love You" song from Barney, and she must hug and kiss me every time she sings it. According to her aunt Marci she has pretty good pitch, but that's from hearing her sing over the phone. :) When I try to make her sing other songs that she knows she will stop me in the middle of it and say, "No, no, I don't like dat (that) song!"

-So Abby is also talking back quite often these days---nothing like a typical 2 year old of course, so right now I am trying to teach her that she needs to speak nicely to Mommy, so I will say, "Abby, you be nice." and she points her finger right back at me and says, "No Mommy, you be nice!" or when I am frustrated I will say, "Abby, knock it off!" and without missing a beat she says, "No Mommy, you knock it off!" I don't even think she knows what "knock it off" means but our little Abby is a force to be reckoned with. Jake and I have both commented that we hope she has the will and desire to do what is right as she gets older because she has such a strong will that she will want to mow us right over to get what she wants.

Her attempt to put sunscreen on without her Mommy's help, she did it in the other room and then said, "Mommy, I need help with dis (this)!"

-One moment Abby will be lipping off and then the next moment though she will come over and hold onto my leg or hug me and say, "Mommy, I' lobe (love) you." and her new favorite thing to say to Jake is "Daddy, I love you so much." Also when she wakes up in the morning she gets this high pitched and soft voice and says, "Good morning, Mommy," or "Daddy" or "Tate."

-On a grosser note, but I do need to document it; Abby can't stand having a runny nose or "boogies" as she calls it. Whenever she cries and throws a tantrum, she gets more mad because her "nose is runnin" or she says in a sad or upset voice, "I got a boogie Mommy (or Daddy), get it!"

And finally I know that my kid watches me like a hawk because when I want to swear what usually comes out is something like, "shibit" or "sheeba" and we were driving in the car once, and I can't even remember what made her say it but she says, "Aahh shibit." Jake looks at me and says, "I wonder who that came from." But on a better note it's funny to watch Abby say things to Tate that I say to him like "You're a truba maker (trouble maker) or "Tater bug."

We love our Abby, we wouldn't know how to make it through the day without the funny things she says and does!

Abby trying to stay warm with her blankie. Here she is ready for Mardi Gras!

Our Tater Bug

Our little Tate is turning 3 months this week, and I can't believe how big he is getting. At his 2 month appointment his stats were:

Weight: 14 lbs.--90% percentile
Length: 24 inches--85% percentile

He is already in 3-6 month clothes and is our chubby monkey! I have already moved the straps up in our car seat because he is getting longer, and our swing doesn't swing as fast because he's so big. The things that he is doing right now are:

--sleeping almost through the night! About 6-7 hours straight
--cooing and smiling alot
--kicking like crazy
--discovered his hands and likes to lift them in front of his face
--He loves to sleep on his belly (we know that's bad) so we try to make him sleep on his side but he doesn't like it as much.
--He hates to sleep on his back.
--He doesn't like his bouncy chair that vibrates, every time I turn it on he squirms and cries.
--Sleeps well in his car seat and travels really well, we have had a couple of road trips and rhino rides and he has done great.
--Drinking between 6 and 8 oz. each feeding, and he does not like it when you stop feeding him to burp...he cries and fusses until the bottle goes back into his mouth.
--He has had some health problems with blood in his stool, but we think it was the formula he was on and after switching him he is doing much better.

The best thing about Tate is his easy and happy temperament, and he is a total snuggle bug which Jake and I love! Abby was never much for snuggling, and when you hold Tate he snuggles right into you and would probably snuggle all day if we let him. My favorite thing is to have him sleep on my chest. I loved carrying him in my sling because he would cuddle with me while I went about doing tasks but now he is getting too big to carry him like that in my sling.
We just love our little Tater-bug! Everyone told me that I would love having a boy and they were right, he has been such a wonderful addition to our family and brings a neat spirit into our home! Here are some pics of our little man!

Our recent pics

This is what we have been up to in the last couple of months, I can't figure out how to put it in the body of our blog so just click on it and enjoy!

What a week--part 2--Tate in the NICU

Tate was born with a bang on Wednesday, March 4, 2009. He was doing really well, and besides a little jaundice everything was going accordingly. He was nursing well which was encouraging because Abby wasn't much of a nurser. They decided to put him under the fluorescent billirubin lights late in the day on Friday, March 6th because we were going to be there a few more days because of my C-section, we decided it would be good that he could be under the lights and get rid of the jaundice before we left the hospital and then were wouldn't have to worry about having to put him under the lights at home like we did with Abby.

Well on Saturday our pediatrician came to me and said that it looked like we would need to start supplementing Tate with formula because he had lost 1 pound, his billirubin count was still high, and his urine was really brown which was concerning for the pediatrician. Initially I was upset that I had to start supplementing because I was hoping that the nursing thing would go better this time and I wouldn't have to do formula, but I wanted to do what was best for the baby. Because his urine was brown the pediatrician ordered a urine analysis to be done to find out exactly why. The initial analysis looked "dirty" according to the lab, ordered another one to be done via catheter. They told us we would most likely have the results back late Saturday afternoon.

The doctor called us with the results and said he was concerned because again his urine was brown and looked dirty so he called a urologist at Primary Children's to see why that was. The urologist stated that it could possibly be a fistula which happens when the stool mixes with the urine because there are problems with the bowels and rectum. But Tate had already had a few bowel movements and his rectum looked intact so our doctor was perplexed. He told us that we would most likely discharge on Sunday and then take Tate up to Primary Children's on Monday to run some tests to see what was going on.

I was pretty upset and hormonal of course because we didn't really know how serious the situation was and we most likely weren't going to get answers for another day or so. On Saturday night Jake had taken Abby to get something to eat with his family and I had called my sister Katie to tell her what was going on. Being the sweet sister that Katie is she could that I was upset so she decided to come and hang out with me at the hospital and keep me company. She also butted in like most older sisters do and asked my Dad to come over to the hospital to give Tate and I a priesthood blessing for health and comfort which was very thoughtful. I was grateful for my family's concern and support.

The next day on Sunday I went to my discharge class, and in the middle of it my pediatrician came to come and talk to me. He told me that he had been on the phone with more specialists after he had spoken with me the previous night and said that he wasn't convinced that Tate had a fistula and that is why his urine was brown. He said it was more likely that Tate was ultra dehydrated because he hadn't been getting much liquid from me like we thought and then we had him under the billirubin lights for his jaundice. So Dr. Ebherhard said that he was going to admit him to the NICU to be put on some fluids to see if that helped the brown urine. He also said that they would be able to run further tests to make sure everything else was OK. Honestly when he told me that I was relieved that hopefully that was all the problem was. So they admitted him into the NICU, and we weren't able to go home with him which was hard but OK because we felt better that he was getting the care he needed so he would be 100% when he came home. The only other hard thing was that I needed to go to the hospital every 3 hours to feed Tate and I couldn't drive because I had a C-section. I didn't necessarily have to go to the hospital but it was the only time that I would be able to see Tate and hold him, they would allow me 1 hour to feed and hold him and then they had to put him back onto his monitors and under the billirubin lights. In fact one time I went to feed him and they had already fed him with a bottle because he had woken up early and was fussing. When they told me they had already fed him I started to cry (yes the hormones were in full swing.) Luckily my sister Katie was awesome and took me back and fourth to the hospital multiple times while Jake stayed with Abby because children weren't allowed in the NICU, and my parents and Jake's mom also took me. I initially thought that Tate would only have to be in there for a couple of days, but I didn't realize that it would take time to work Tate up to the amount of IV fluids they wanted him on and then it would take time to work his way off them because they wanted to observe how he did through the whole process of coming off the fluids to see if he would be OK without them. I am just grateful it was just a few days and not months that he had to be in the NICU, honestly I don't know how people who have to do that make it through.

So on Wednesday the doctor told me that he was doing really well and after doing a renal ultrasound, a head ultrasound and other lab workups everything was looking normal and he would most likely come home in the next few days. Well I was hoping we would be able to take him home on Thursday and sure enough we got a call from the nurse in the NICU stating that the doctor had discharged him. It was so exciting yet kind of scary because now we were bringing him home and I just didn't want anything else bad to happen. Tate's delivery had been nothing like we had planned or anticipated and it was neat to see how much love and support we had through the whole thing from our family, friends, and ward members.

It's funny how each kid is so different. Tate's pregnancy, delivery, and post-delivery were TOTALLY different and more difficult than our first time around with Abby and I have joked with Jake that he better shape up because he has been a trouble maker from the start. But really he is such a good baby and has been so fun to have in our family.

Here is Jake dressing Tate to get him ready to bring home from the NICU. (Notice the camo outfit for Tate that his Daddy picked out.)

What a week!--part 1

Introducing: TATE BARBEN

Born: March 4, 2009 at 2:44 p.m.

Weight: 8 lbs. 11 oz.

Length: 21.5 inches

As Jake says, "We caught the Tater!" Wednesday morning at 7:15 a.m. I went in to be induced to have our baby boy. My doctor came in, broke my water and we were on our way. Things were going very well, I dilated quickly, was very comfortable during my contractions, and besides some slight nausea with the pain medication, we were excited that my labor this time with Tate was seemingly going to be short and sweet......little did we know the change of events that would occur.

When I was dilated to a 9, they called my doctor and I was getting ready to push. My doctor arrived and was observing the baby's heart monitor and asked the nurse if that was the fetal heart rate or the maternal heart rate, and the nurse wasn't quite sure. Immediately I saw the concern on my OB's face and she said, "Let's get going." Apparently the baby's heart rate was dipping so I then proceeded to push as hard as I could while I continued to observe the looks on Jake's and my doctor's face. I tried pushing a few times, and then they pulled out the vacuum and I pushed with that to try to get the baby out, then they had 2 nurses pushing on my belly, used the vacuum, and me pushing to try to get him out, one of the last things my doctor said was "Push sweetie, like you don't want a C-section." Well no matter how hard we tried we couldn't get Tate out, and his heart rate by this time was dropping, so in a matter of seconds, they prepped me for a C-section. The nurse anesthetist pumped my epidural line with one last shot, unhooked me, and he and another nurse wheeled me to the OR. They tossed Jake a bag of surgical covers to put over his clothes and said they would be back to get him.

When I got to the OR, they immediately reclined me back and put the sheet up in front of my face, which I assume was so they could immediately sanitize the area, right after they reclined me I started feeling nauseous and began puking over the side of the table onto the OR floor. (Glamorous I know) I immediately felt tugging and said to someone "Will someone go get my husband." The nurse replied, "On my way" then Jake came in and sat on a stool next to my head. Because of the surgical garb Jake was wearing the only thing I could see were his eyes, and just by looking at him I could tell he was concerned. He was holding my hand and kept stroking it, then I heard the doctor say, "Here he is!" I heard Tate whimper a little, and then I said to Jake, "Is he ok?" I could tell by Jake's eyes that the baby was ok which was a relief. I next heard the doctor talking about "sutures" so I knew that they were sewing me back up, and the next thing I know I am waking up in my labor and delivery room and I can see my doctor and Jake standing at the foot of my bed. Jake is holding the baby and says, "Here he is honey, do you want to hold him?" I don't even know if I replied back to him, I was so drugged that I could barely keep my eyes open. The next few hours were a blur because I kept going in and out of sleep, with family coming in and out to see how I was.

Around 6:00 p.m. they moved me over to post partum, and I started feeling a little better. Come to find out the major reason I couldn't push Tate out is because he had a ginormous cranium of 37 cm, and was facing posterior (face up) but the major reason for the C-section was because of Tate's dropping heart rate. So apparently I like going through labor so much that I thought I would try both kinds this time, vaginal and C-section. Although the recuperation hasn't been fun, I am so grateful we were able to get Tate out and everything was relatively OK.

Because everything happened so quickly and was kind of a blur, it was interesting to get Jake's perspective on what happened. Here is what he had to say in an email to his friends about the delivery:

"We have welcomed a new little guy into our family after a scary turn of events last night. My wife and I were joking around in the labor and delivery room that the second time around has been so much easier than the first, and wouldn't you know it we jinxed ourselves. While delivering, the baby became lodged in the birth canal “sunny side up.” Meaning he was looking towards the sun…a bad deal. To make matters worse his heart rate suddenly dropped to a drastically low rate causing a panic in the labor and delivery room. What followed after that was chaos. Doctors were stripping tubes and IV’s from my wife, they threw an OR gown at me and told me to get dressed and just like that they were running down the hall with my wife. Can you say, “WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON?????”
I stood there in the labor and delivery room for what seemed like an hour, although it was probably only a few minutes. When they finally came to get me we pretty much ran down the hall towards the Operating Room. I turned the corner and there I saw two doctors on top of my wife jerking, pulling, shaking, and tugging to get the baby lose from the canal. I never knew child birth could be so violent! I didn’t tell my wife this but it reminded me of the end of the movie “Braveheart” when they were torturing William Wallace. Nothing worse than being in the unknown, my only gauge for the seriousness of the situation was the look on our doctor’s face and the frantic nature in which she worked to free the baby.
Despite the unexpected and dramatic first few minutes of his life, surprisingly he is doing great! My wife is fine too thank-goodness! The doctor told me later that she was very worried for a few minutes and my response was, “I work in sales and have learned to read facial expressions pretty good, your facial expression told me everything I needed to know!” It was wild!"

Little did we know that the delivery was just the beginning with our adventure with Tate. I will post Part 2--Tate in the NICU to give more details.

Out with the old, in with the new!

So I have decided I just need to start blogging in the present! Our New year started off with a bang, we had a killer virus that wiped out our computer and the geniuses that I took our computer to in order to be fixed replaced the hard drive without asking us and we lost all of our pics and information off our computer (we are working to retrieve them off our old hard drive), so never use stupid PC Laptops for anything! So I need to insert pics of Abby's birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. later so when I eventually make this beloved blog of mine into a book they will be in here somewhere.

This last month Jake has been traveling quite a bit in order to see all of his reps before the baby comes. They have been doing alot of reorganizing at his job and I am just grateful he still has a job, no matter how much he travels. Now that we are in February he is starting to feel spring fever big time and is pretty bored, the poor guy always is looking for something to do! Here is a picture of Abby playing while Jake cleaned out the garage, as you can see she is sporting her "thug" look.


As for our upcoming arrival, we have been getting the nursery ready--thanks to my awesome husband who has done the painting, assembling, etc.! We are pretty much ready for him to come, last time when I had Abby I waited until a week before she came to get everything wrapped up and I vowed I wouldn't do that again with another kid which I am glad I didn't wait because my energy level has gone way down! Last week they told me our baby boy was measuring 3 weeks ahead of schedule and was close to 6 lbs. already. Boy was I excited until I went in this week and my doctor told me she wasn't going to do take me any earlier than the 1st of March, which bummed me out because I was hoping for having a February baby instead. Don't they know never to tell a pregnant woman that she has the possibility of delivering early and then take it back?!? The baby is healthy which is good, and my belly is getting bigger by the day, and I am praying my belly will hold on and I won't get stretch marks (vain I know, but I can't help it!) Speaking of babies, I was able to throw a baby shower for Marci for the upcoming arrival of her baby boy in March and it turned out really fun! We missed some of our friends that went on the cruise, but it was really fun to see girls from college, high school and even elementary, and lets just say being pregnant with my twin sister makes it a lot better to go through!

Abby is getting funnier and sassier by the day. She is talking like crazy, and she continues to amaze me with the funny things that come out of her mouth. For example she will be doing something and adjust something and say, "That's better!" Or she says, "It's really stuck Mom," or "It really hurts Mom." Also her new favorite phrase is, "Give me that Mommy!" when she wants something, and then another one that she throws out when I ask her to do something is "What?" like she has no idea what I am talking about. We are talking an awful lot about Tate her baby brother that is coming, and I think she is starting to realize it more and more that she will be a big sister, but I am sure she has no idea how it's going to rock her world! Although today she came up to me and gave my belly a hug and said, "I love you Tate." which melted my heart. Abby loves to sing, especially her ABC's, loves to do puzzles and read books, and go over shapes and colors. She picks up on things so fast and its been really fun to watch her grow into a "big girl." When I look at her I can't believe that she is 2 because it feels like I was just pregnant with her, and it makes me a little sad that she will have to share the spotlight with a sibling, but on the other hand I am so excited to meet our little guy and watch our family grow!
I swear time flies at warp speed when your are an adult, here are some pics to enjoy!

Marci and I belly to belly, technically our due dates are 10 days apart. Some friends at the showers we had for Marci.

Here is the best and worst of Abby: After church a couple of weeks ago (she did have a little coat to go over this dress) and Abby showing that I am not the only one that has had trouble sleeping lately, this is a pic of Abby at 2 in the morning when she wouldn't go to bed. You gotta love the hair!

Jake loved to lay by the heater as a child and now Abby loves it too,

whenever she hears the heater kick on she says, "The heater's runnin!" and goes

and sits on it with her blanket. Of course it makes her mad when Daddy isn't always around to sit by the heater with her but her Daddy is so proud he has passed on the tradition.