HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY TATE!

As usual, I am late getting things posted. My excuse? I am having problems getting my pictures to post. I wish I knew why. Anyway...

On September 15th our Tate Leo Jacobs turned the BIG 1. I am amazed that he has already survived 1 whole year with our crazy family! He is such a funny little man. We have thoroughly enjoyed him. He definately lives up to his name. Tate means "cheerful". He is our most smiley and silly baby. He LOVES to dance! Leo means "lion". He also does not hold back in letting us know what he wants and when he is NOT happy with something. Thank you Taters for being part of our family.

To celebrate, he got 2 parties. One with the Stratford side and one with the Jacobs side. Thank you family for helping make this day GREAT for him. Here are a few pictures capturing some terrific moments. Be sure to watch the video of him eating his B-day cake. He did not hesitate to dive in AND he ate the ENTIRE CAKE! ** Also note the "groovin' " to the tune of Happy Birthday!**

*Remember to pause the music on our playlist before playing this movie so you can hear it.*

Tate's DELIVERY Story! (you don't have to read this- I just need to write it down)

So on September 15, 2007, I woke up about 2:00am from a very deep sleep. In my delirium I realized I was having contractions. Now I don't know if it was because I was still half asleep or if it was because Dan was gone galavanting in the woods with friends (FYI- I told him he could go because I was 2 weeks away from my due date and nothing was happening so I would be "fine") BUT I was in denial that I could really be in labor. I thought "I'll just lay here for a minute and I will feel better." Then I thought, "OK, I'll just take a shower and they will go away." Well, the shower must have woken me up a bit because it was then that I thought, "Hmmm... I think this is real. Maybe I should call Dan and my mom." So I called my mom to tell her that I was in labor and would be needing a ride to the hospital and someone to stay with the boys. This was around 3:30am. I don't know why I hesitated to call Dan. My mind kept telling me that I had plenty of time and that I could wait to call him. I didn't want to wake up the whole cabin. (What was I thinking?) It wasn't until my contractions were strong enough to stop me in my tracks that I went to call him. It was then that I realized I did not have the phone# to the cabin where he was staying. I must not have transfered it when I got my new phone. Ahhh! So unfortunately sweet Barbi Kemp got a phone call from me around 4:00am. Bless her heart she picked up the phone without a hello just a, "Deanne, are you in labor? I am calling the cabin right NOW!" All I had to say was YES, or rather that is all I COULD say because I was in the middle of a pretty nice contraction when she answered. Thank you Barbi for your being there! Not even 1 minute past before Dan was calling me and I am positive not even 1 minute after he hung up, that he was in his car headed to McKay Dee. My parents and poor little Maverick (he was spending the night at my parents because Bri and Britt had gone away for HER B-day) arrived around 4:15am, I think. My mom stayed with my sleeping boys and my amazing dad drove me to the hospital. It was the longest drive ever! My contractions were definately strong and were only about 1 or 2 minutes apart. My dad was so great. He was very calm and just kept talking me through it. We finally got to the hospital. I informed them that I was suppose to have a C-section because my first 2 had been C-sections and they immediately called my doctors,Dr. Johhnnie Cook (my doc) and the OBGYN Dr. Larry Smithing (the one who did my previous two C-sections). I soon found out that Dr. Cook was in Sardine Canyon (1hr away) and Dr. Smithing was on his way. They sent me to the bathroom to change into the hospital gown so they could prep me for the surgery. Well I did not get very far in there before I suddenly felt like the baby was about to fall out! I could not move and so began yelling for the nurse for a little help. I feel so bad for my poor dad standing standing outside the door. The nurses helped me change and got me to a bed so they could check me. Much to everyone's surprise, they found me to be dialated to a 10+ and the baby was almost crowning. At that point I began to panic. I felt fear for a few reasons: #1 my husband was still NOT there yet! #2 My doctors were NOT there yet. #3 OUCH! This REALLY hurt! and #4 the doctors had given me a long list of reasons why it was not a good idea to have a vaginal delivery after 2 previous c-sections: #1 reason being that my uterus could rupture and that could cause DEATH! So, needless to say I was a bit panicked. I had an amazing nurse that was so thorough, kind, patient, calm and very reassuring. I am also incredibly thankful for my sweet dad. He held my hand and calmly talked me through each contraction. Thank you daddy! Thank you for being there. They had already given me a mild epideral to start prepping me for a C-section and I was greatful when that started to kick in. They decided that it was too late for a c-section. The baby was already too far down the canal. So they called in the resident doctor to "catch" I guess. They took me to a room and got me set up. My doctors arrived and shortly after that Dan FINALLY got there. It was around 5am or 5:30am I think. What a relief! One thing I was grateful for is that the epideral I was given was just a mild one so I was able to feel quite a bit. You might think that weird, but I didn't get that experience with my first two. Anyway, I began pushing and... our little TATE LEO JACOBS was born at 6:02am. He weighed in at 7lbs 10oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. He had lots of dark brown hair on his head, shoulders and even some coming off of his little ears. His big dark eyes were so bright and curious. What a glorious experience! I am so happy that Tate decided not to wait and that he insisted on coming out "normal". Let me just say, what a different recovering from this was compared to a c-section. I stood up BY MYSELF the very same day! Amazing! And... they let us go home the next afternoon instead of the regular 4 day hospital stay. It was GREAT!

P.S. Just a little side note. Before each of my boys were born, I would have a dream about how they "came out". My dream for Tracen was that he came out of my stomach. (I wasn't planning on a c-section). Before Tyler, I dreamt that he also came out of my stomach (I also wasn't planning for a c-section) BUT that he came out feet first. And then Tate's "before dream" was that he just "fell out"- not from my stomach. And... each of these dreams came true. Each boy was born just how my dream had predicted. Interesting eh?

I belong in 1958!

You Belong in 1958

You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in!

What Year Do You Belong In?

THE STATE FAIR!

Yes.
We did it.
We made the plunge.
We took the boys to the STATE FAIR!
And boy was it GRAND!

We, being my sis-in-law Christy, and I left our youngest babes home with a great neighbor (thanks Annie) and my amazing grandma and took the older 4 boys to what we thought would be a SPECTACULAR experience full of FUN, FOOD, and GOOD TIMES... and it was!

We thought we'd start out with the small stuff and end with the big in order to keep the boys interests going strong. So we first went through the buildings full of arts and crafts. To our SURPRISE the boys really loved it. They seemed to have fun admiring the huge sculpture of farm animals made out of BUTTER, and going on a treasure hunt to find some of the amazing and "out of the ordinary" projects.
We then ventured to the animals. They got to see all sorts of animals from:

THE GOATS

TO

THE LOVEBIRDS... er...COWS?

Then it was on to the $4 per kid horsey ride that we just simply couldn't say no to. I mean, look at these happy faces. Could YOU have resisted?

And then... How cool is that?

Now for Christy and I's very FAVORITE part. The very purpose for going to this fair.

What? You thought we went for the kids? Ha Ha Ha! Oh no it was all for a taste of the infamous DEEP FAT FRIED SNICKERS BAR! (which we were too cheap to buy 2 at $4.50 a piece so we bought 1 and shared it) It was INCREDIBLE!

So... to go again or not to go again?

YES DEFINATELY!

*Except next year I am totally getting my own DEEP FAT FRIED SNICKERS BAR! (Sorry Christy) I don't care how much $ (I'll start saving now) and I definately don't care that consuming just one of these probably gives me an entire day or two's total caloric intake!

All in a days work...

TYLER GOT A HAIRCUT!

















LONG AND LUCIOUS... TO ...SHORT AND "POKEY".

TRACEN GOT A MOSQUITO BITE... AND TURNED INTO... QUASI MOTO!


And last but definately not least...

TATE STARTED WALKING...

AND NOW...

...LOOKS LIKE WE BEAT HIM!

2 CRAZY TRIPS and A DAY OF REST! (finally)

We are constantly amazed at how CRAZY life can get. There is always someplace to be or something to do. We keep saying how wonderful it would be to have even just a DAY to have no where to be and nothing to do. A DAY to just chill and relax with the kids. To do whatever we want. To take a nap, play some "board" games, read some good books, color a picture with Trace, learn some new "dance moves" from Tyler, and/or just roll around on the floor with Tate. Well, we really thought that DAY would NEVER come. BUT... it did. TODAY HAS BEEN TRULY WONDERFUL! Today has been everything we have SO been needing. THANK YOU!

Here is a little briefing on the FUN TIMES we had over the Labor Day weekend.

As I mentioned before, Dan headed up to the Wind Rivers on a 35 mile or so backpacking trip with my dad, brothers, and brother-in-law (which I will let him write about). While they were gone, the girls in the family headed up to our family cabin in Eden for the weekend. Now let me just say that just preparing for a "little" trip like this is quite the task. No matter how hard I try to "pack light", I always end up with the port-a-crib, blankets, 1 or 2 stuffed to the max large duffle bags, and several other bags containing diapers and wipes, swimming gear, multiple shoes, entertainment (games, movies, etc...), plus the Dance Dance Revolution pads and X-box and of course the jogger stroller and the boys bikes. Then there are the 2 coolers and 4 or 5 grocery sacks full of FOOD, FOOD, FOOD! I can't help it! I simply don't think it is possible to go the cabin and NOT have the van packed to the limits. AND... if you think that this will be a vacation to get away and relax... you've got to be dreaming. In reality, it is just a new place to carry out the same responsibilities I do every day. SO you may ask, WHY would I do this? Well, I'll tell you. It because... because... hmmm. WHY DO I DO THIS? Oh, it is because we REALLY DO have so much fun! The boys LOVE it up there. And so do I. I LOVE the cooler nights, the beautiful scenery, watching my boys be... boys, getting filthy dirty as they explore the woods and find new treasures and new worlds in their vivid imaginations, and all the AWESOME memories we make up there. I am so grateful to have the cabin as a place to "get away" and.... well... THANK YOU STRATFORD FAMILY!

Tracen and Tyler spent hours in the "treehouse"!
My cute little Tate LOVED the pool at Wolf Creek. We spent all day Saturday swimming.

My friend Amy was husbandless too so she came up with her boys, Tanner and Carson, to join in the fun.

After hours of swimming and exploring new worlds in the wilderness....THE GROUP BATH!
And of course... SLEEP. Which we really didn't get much of. (Except Tate of course.)
We also went on some great walks and 4 wheeler rides around the "neighborhood".

Sorry it took so long to get these pics posted. The computer simply would not download them.

The BOYS room!

So I had a few requests for pictures of Tracen and Tyler's room. Keep in mind I still have a few decorating plans (like a new lamp, a framed picture or something above the dresser that DAN MADE, new wood crates under the bed to hold toys, etc.. ) that are in the works. It was a little tricky to really capture the room so here is the best I could do. Those of you REALLY interested in "seeing the room" will just have to come over for a game of cards with brownies and ice cream. Hint. Hint.