Change...

Wow...time flies when you are having fun!  It has been a while since I have set down and blogged. Things around here just never seem to slow down, but I love every minute of it!  With every day that passes, Adler changes SO much.  I can't get over how fast he is growing.
Christmas was a very fun time around our house.  Adler seemed to enjoy it (all except for the time that spent on Santas lap, he was not a fan at all)!  He was so excited with every gift that he received, and easily distracted with each one.  So as you can imagine, unwrapping gifts for Adler was a very time consuming process.
Adler got two miniature ponies for Christmas, Cowboy and Daisy.  He loves getting to go to the farm and ride the "neigh neighs." Thanks to this mild winter that we have been blessed with we have been able to go to the farm quite a few times and ride the ponies.  After Adler is done riding the ponies, he gets down and thinks that he is big enough to lead them around.   Although, I am not real sure who leads who...he sure does think he is big stuff doing it!
Adler's front teeth are coming back in, and don't seem to be bothering him at all.  At our last dentist appointment, the dentist said that so far everything seems to be doing good.  So we are keeping our fingers crossed that everything continues to go well.  We go back around Easter to follow up again.
Adler experienced his first time of getting to play in the snow a few weeks ago.  At first he wasn't too sure about what to think, but it didn't take to long and he was kicking, throwing and eating the snow.  All the while saying "brrrr" and "cold" repetitively.
The Bates' Family is going to be moving!  We bought a house East of Alva, and hope to be moving in the near future.  It is a couple of miles outside of town in a nice quiet neighborhood, with a large backyard for Adler to run and play in. We have started painting and tiling, and the carpet should be here next week!  We are very excited about this new chapter in our life!

Fall Fun...

Things around here have been staying pretty busy.  Seems that there is always something going on, or somewhere to be.   We have been trying to take advantage of the nice weather and go to the farm and see the "moo moo's" and the "neigh-neigh's."  We have also got to spend a couple days having play-dates, which Adler loves.
 A few weeks ago we took a family trip to OKC.  While we were there we went to the Zoo.  Adler absolutely loved getting to see all of the animals, and would become very excited clapping his hands and giggling.  He loved being outside and taking in all of the scenery.  The next day we went to the State Fair.  We spent most of the day walking around in the heat taking in all of the exhibits.  Of course his favorites were always the ones that had the animals. That evening we went to Disney on Ice - Toy Story 3.  He loved watching the characters skate around, but was easily distracted by all of the "light-up toys" in the crowd.  We ended our fun-filled weekend by meeting up with friends Sunday morning for breakfast.  It was a fun filled weekend.
Halloween was a huge hit this year! Adler loved going to the pumpkin patch and playing with all of the pumpkins.  Although he had a very hard time deciding on which one he wanted to take home with him.  Once he made his decision, he carried that pumpkin with him everywhere he went.  Carving pumpkins was quite an experience.  At first Adler wasn't too impressed with the cold, gooey filling of the pumpkin.  But it didn't take long for him to change his mind and was right in the middle of everything, flinging pumpkin goo everywhere.  He was very impressed with the end product.  He would squat down in front of it and watch the candle burning inside of the carved pumpkin. We went trick-or-treating with our "dragon" 2 evenings in a row.  The first evening we went down town and they had a trunk-or-treat. This was awesome, you walk a long a row of cars that have the trunks popped up and trick-or-treat.  At the first few cars, Adler wasn't too sure what was going on.  He would stick his hand in the candy and look around and wait, as if waiting for someone to tell him "no."  By he time we were at the last few cars, he had no hesitations in reaching for the candy.  The second evening we went to Cherokee and went trick-or-treating.  He was raring to go, as if to say I know what's going on tonight.  It was really cute watching his little eyes light up with every piece of candy that was given to him.
Adler has officially had his first big injury. Two nights ago Adler took a tumble into the bathtub.  Needless to say, the bathtub won.  This resulted in a trip to the ER, only to learn that he had done some pretty good damage to his teeth.  The sent us home with some pain medicine and told us to see a dentist the next day.  After a long restless night, we got up the next morning and went to Dr. Smith's office where he took one look and sent us to OKC to a pediatric dentist.  It was there that we learned that when Adler fell and hit is mouth he had completely shoved his front to upper teeth back up into the gum line.  (We no longer have our front two teeth)  Then the tooth on both sides right next to the front two teeth has been shoved up and back, but are still visible.  So to sum it all up, we will have to play a waiting game over the next couple of years to see if those front to teeth will come back down or not.  If they do, the only concern is if there was damage to the permanent teeth above them.  If the don't we will have to take him to an oral surgeon and the will surgically remove them. The outside two teeth seem to be "ok", the dentist said the worst case scenario is that there might be some discoloration to the baby teeth, but it shouldn't effect the permanent teeth.  So for now we set and wait and follow up with the dentist every 1-2 months.   As for Adler and how he is doing, he has a big fat front lip (due to all of the swelling underneath) and is getting pain medicine routinely.  Today he is starting to get some bruising around his nose and mouth, but is handling everything fairly well considering all he has been threw
I think that wraps up the last couple of months around the Bates' Household, until next time!

One...

 It is hard to believe it has been a year since the sweetest little boy came into our lives.  We often wonder what we spent our time doing before he came along, but would not change one single thing about life with him in it!  Everyday is a blessing and we are so thankful for him.  We celebrated Adler's 1st birthday a couple weeks ago.  At first he wasn't too sure about all of the people that were in "his house," but in no time at all he warmed up to everyone.  He did well opening up presents, but couldn't figure out why he had to leave one present to open another!  When it came time to eat cake, he wasn't bashful, although he couldn't understand why he couldn't play with the candle that was lit.  After we blew the candle out it was fair game, and boy did he make a mess, there was green frosting everywhere!  Needless to say it took a LONG time to come down off of the sugar rush, but when he did, he crashed and burned.  Jared and I took him to Enid for his 1 year pictures @ Moto Photo.  We got about 10 miles outside of Enid only to remember that I forgot his birthday cake (the one that I wouldn't let anyone touch at the party, it was to be saved for pictures)  at home in the refridgrator!  Panick set in...but thank goodness for Jumbos, Jared dropped us off to get pictures started and went and picked up a cake and made it back just in time for the second half of pictures.  Adler coudln't tell the difference...the photographer warned me not to be disappointed if Adler didn't want to play in the cake because of getting his hands dirty.  I assured him not to worry, that it wouldn't be a problem we had practiced at the party and he would be a champ.  All through the pictures the photographer couldn't believe how much Adler loved making a mess of the cake!  He did great, the pictures are adorable. 

We have been spending alot of time outside with this beautiful weather that we have been blessed with.  Adler loves it, if he had his way we would never come back inside.  He got a wagon and a little tikes swing set for his birthday and we have been spending plenty of time getting good use out of both of them. Well I had better get the laundry done up before Adler wakes up from his nap so that we can go play!

Bumps & Bruises...

That pretty much sums up what the last couple months have been.  Adler is officially walking, although he is anything but graceful about it! He has had several bumps and bruises already.  It is getting easier on this mama, but not so easy for Adler.  He currently has a bruise on his forehead, where he opened a drawer and hit himself in the head with it.  That was followed by falling into the kitchen cabinets and biting through his bottom lip. Needless to say, there has not been  a dull moment around here lately. 
We went to the hospital a couple weeks ago and got to meet Miss Quinn. While there Adler and Reese (Cassie's little girl, that is a few days younger then Adler) finally got to meet each other.  They were absolutely adorable together.  They each wanted what the other one had.  It was a good day getting to see everyone along with getting to meet a beautiful baby girl.
The last couple of weeks I have been ordering things to celebrate Adler's 1st birthday! It has been bittersweet. I can not believe that time has gone by so quickly.  We will be celebrating with a farm animal theme.
Adler and I have made several trips with Jared to check cattle.  Adler absolutely loves the cows, he will stand up in the cab of the pick-up, beating on the windows and squealing, full of excitement when he sees the cows.  He really loves getting out of the pick-up and walking through the cows with daddy. 
When we aren't setting at home in the nice and cool air-conditioned house, we have been taking in the sun at the pool.  Adler absolutely loves the water.  He loves splashing and kicking his feet like crazy.  
Adler is trying to tell me that it is nap time, so I better get going...

Adler & Reese

Checking the cows with daddy.

Adler's 1st Haircut

4th of July

My guys

Summer is Here...

Summer is here, and that means the fun is just beginning at the Bates' Household.  Harvest is among us, and things are going to be crazy for a few weeks.   Adler and I will be making several trips to the field to visit Jared,which I am sure Adler is going to absolutely love. 
Adler is changing more and more everyday...he is officially mobile!  He is crawling all over the place and getting to be pretty quick at it!  He is also pulling up to everything and letting go and standing alone!  It won't be long and my little man will be walking.  Every night when it is time for a bath, I go get the water started and then go get the necessities.  Before I can make it back to the bathroom, Alder has crawled as fast as he can to get into the bathroom and is standing beside the bathtub going crazy in anticipation of getting in the water.  He loves bath time!
Adler has learned to wave "bye-bye."  Every time he hears the words "bye-bye" he is waving like crazy.
He is now the proud owner of 6 teeth!  He has handled "teething" rather well.  We did have a few rough nights, thanks to these teeth!  But can't complain, it wasn't long at all and he was back to sleeping all night.
Adler rode is first horse this month with his daddy.  He absolutely loved the horses.  Every time we would walk up to one he would giggle at them.  One of the pictures of him and Jared was published in the Oklahoma Living magazine this month, for Father's Day!
Today we played in the pool outside.  Needless to say Adler was in love with the water.  He splashed like crazy, playing until he was absolutely worn out!  He is napping now, trying to recover from playing so hard.  I had better keep moving and get a few things done before he wakes up.  Happy Summer Everyone!

                                                        

                                                                   

8 months old...

Time only seems to speed up as the days pass by...my baby is already 8 months old.  It doesn't seem possible that in a few short months we will be celebrating his first birthday!  I wish that I could "stunt his growth."  I don't want to keep him from growing, just slow it down.
It has been very busy around the Bates' house hold.  Jared and I both are staying very busy with work, and when we aren't working we are busy playing with Adler. Jared is busy working baby calves, and patiently waiting to see if we are going to have a wheat crop.  We are very thankful for the wonderful rain that we received this week and are hoping for more soon.  A couple of weeks ago, we both got to sneak away for a little while.  I went to OKC Jodi's personal shower for some much needed girl time.  It was so good to get together with all the girls and catch up for a little while.  Doesn't seem like we get to do that often enough with all of us going in our own directions.  While Jared went with Dad and Stephen to Grand Lake and went Fishing.  They all had a wonderful time and caught their limit Saturday and Sunday!
As for Adler, he spoke his first word this month.  "Ma-ma" I never knew that those words would melt my heart the way that they do.  Although Jared wasn't too impressed that he wasn't saying Da-Da.   It was only a few short days and he was saying both.  In fact there are very few moments that Adler is not saying something.  He is quite the talker! If we only knew everything that he was trying to say.
Adler is now "army crawling" everywhere. He is all over the place.  I am slowly baby proofing the house.  He loves to be able to get where he wants to be and do it when he wants to do it.  He gets up on all fours, in the crawling position and rocks back and forth but hasn't quite figured the whole crawling thing out yet. (Which is quite alright with mama.)
I took him to have Easter pictures taken a couple weeks ago.  At first, he was only wanting to wrinkle his nose up for the camera.  That is until they brought out the bunny and he was all smiles.  He loved the bunny! In fact he loved the bunny so much that he was grabbing its ears and handfuls of hair and not wanting to let go! (Poor bunny.)
Adler loves being outside, it doesn't matter how warm or cold it is, he loves it.  I got him a new pair of sunglasses that he absolutely loves to wear.  He is so funny when I put them on him he looks around like he is pretty big stuff! 
I think Adler is trying to tell me that it is nap time, so I had better run!

Monkey'in Around....

I think the title of this post pretty much sums up the past month...to say the least we are starting to become mobile, and I'm not too sure that I am ready yet. 
The past month has meant a lot of changes for Adler.  He has started rolling around all over the place, if he sees something he thinks he needs he rolls to it (and is very proud of himself for being able to do so).  He has become quite the mover in his walker, I have about broke my neck a couple of times when turning around to go do something and finding him right under my feet.
He is also setting up, although sometimes he forgets and stiffens his body and throws himself backwards.  Needless to say no one is impressed by that move! 
When Adler and I go to Wal-Mart I have started taking him out of his car seat and setting him up in the cart, he loves it!  You would think that I had never taken him out in public before. (It's adorable)  He loves taking in the scenery in Wal-Mart including the ceilings. His new found love is ceiling fans, he is amazed by them and they don't have to be moving.  We will walk under  one and he about break his neck and my back to look at them by leaning backwards as we are walking away from them.   I also have to be careful when putting him in his bouncy seat, before now he has never tried to get out of them.  I have found him a few times almost out of it.  I will post a couple of picture below, of  how I have found him after just leaving the room for a few minutes.  He now gets buckled in every time he gets in his bouncy seat!
We are quite the eater now too, he is eating out of a spoon without any gagging!  He is like a little bird at times, especially if you aren't feeding him fast enough.  He will lean forward as far as he can with his mouth open and grunt at you, as if to say "hurry up!"  This past week we went to Enid and when it was time for Adler to eat I discovered that I didn't have a bottle!  So we ran to Wal-Greens to find they didn't have any bottles that would work, so Adler got his first sippey cup.  I was dreading giving to him, my thoughts were that it was going to be a disaster and he wasn't going to be impressed.  Needless to say I was wrong!  I put his milk in the sippey cup and he drank out of it like it was no big deal...of course I wasn't impressed, that means he is growing up and doing it way to fast!  After thinking about it a while, I decided that I have been very blessed with a baby that takes change in stride.  I told my mom on the way home from Enid that I fear that my next child might not be as easy going.  I told her God knew what he was doing by giving me an easy baby first or else he would probably be an only child!!!
Adler loves to "show-off."  He is definitely not my child in this aspect.  Any time there are people around to watch he is he biggest show off.  His favorite thing to show people is how bad his "cough" is.  It is hilarious, especially if he hears someone cough he will cough back at them.
Adler is now sleeping in his room in his crib.  This was a harder transition on me then it was on him.  The first night he was in there, there wasn't a sound out of him.  In fact he was so quiet I kept turning the volume up on the monitor to see if I could hear him.  (Of course the only thing I heard was noises that were being picked up from outside, and since I was paranoid about putting him in there to begin with, I was always running into his room seeing what the noise was!!!  Of course it was nothing.)  Then when I wouldn't hear him I would turn on the video and see hat he was still sleeping soundly, so soundly that I went in and made sure he was still breathing a couple of times throughout the night.  Thankfully after doing this for a couple of nights we are ALL now sleeping soundly.
Well nap time is about over so I better keep moving...

My first cowboy hat...

Look at me in my new bath seat!

Hanging out....

My little monkey!