Bates Family

Holland's First Christmas

2009-01-06T21:50:00.018-06:00

Well, we've made it through our first Christmas!!! I think the best part of it all was not watching Holland try to open up her presents but watching her toss the presents aside and play with the ribbons and wrapping paper!!! She has no interest in anything that she is supposed to play with. Instead, it's the stuff mentioned above, the TV remote, daddy's flip flops and Bella's toys.

We spent Christmas in Bowling Green with the Hollands and got to see all of the family up there. Then, the Bates came up to Murfreesboro the week of New Years and we had Christmas all over again.

Holland also go to see a good snow for the first time during December. Jenn took her outside and took some pics and they turned out great!!

She started to crawl today, finally!! It doesn't bother us that she hasn't done so yet because that is less tracking her down that we've had to do!!

Anyway, we hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and we'll update soon.

It's Christmas Time

2008-12-08T19:15:00.015-06:00

There's nobody to blame about the lack of activity on this blog except Dean!! I've been lax in doing so, or for those that really know me, lax means just plain lazy.

Things have been going great the last couple of months. Holland is growing like crazy and still changing every day. Jenn and I both feel so blessed to have such a beautiful, healthy, happy little girl. She is such a joy to be around and makes our lives complete!! Even when she almost bit the tip of daddy's nose off!!

Alright, enough of the sappy stuff. Here's the Reader's Digest version of the last couple of months. Holland was an angel (of course she was) for Halloween. While Jenn was off in Cabo, Dean's mom came in town and we had our first Halloween together. Holland has continued to support LSU on Saturday's, even though they have been stinking it up like her diapers!

She hasn't found any food that she doesn't like so far as seen with it all over her face. If it isn't nailed down and in arms reach of her, she's going to get it and it will end up in her mouth. Even Bella's nasty toys!!

We all went back down to Pineville for Thanksgiving and she loved seeing her grandparents, aunt and uncle and cousins. Her grandparents in Bowling Green come down when they can to see her but everybody just can't seem to get enough of her.

Bella is still doing very well with her. Bella and I get her up every morning after Jenn leaves for school and we all hang out and eat and then I take her to the sitter's house. Our sitter is awesome about sending pictures almost every day so that is actually why I don't update this very much. I just forward those photos to people and then don't think about doing this.

We took her to see Santa yesterday and she was awesome!! As we expected, she was interested in Santa's beard but when we finally got her attention, she smiled right at the camara with her tongue sticking out, which is another of her favorite things to do.

Enjoy the following photos and if there is not another post until after Christmas, we hope everyone has a Merry Christmas or Happy Channukah and a Happy New Year.

Look at me Jump

2008-10-22T20:15:00.003-05:00

2008-10-22T20:00:00.015-05:00

I know it's been a while so here a bunch of recent photos. They include her first injury from a dopped toy on her face/eye, her first Western Kentucky tailgating experience, a trip to Jackson's Orchard, rolling under her Boppy and getting stuck, sleeping in the car and just being cute. Enjoy.

Growing Like a Weed

2008-09-11T20:37:00.002-05:00

Sorry it's been so long since we've updated everyone. Things are going great here. Holland is growing like crazy and is so much fun to be around. She is such a little clown and cuts up all the time. A lot has happened since our last update so let's see if I can get everyone caught up.

We had baby dedication at church a couple of weeks ago. Her Gigi came from Louisiana to spend a few days with her and stayed for the dedication. Jenn's family came down from Bowling Green and we had a good time afterwards eating bar-b-que and hanging out. Her great grandfather held her for the first time and looked good doing it!!!

She is finally starting to figure out the whole sitting up thing. She can't quite do it by herself for a long time but she's getting close. She loves eating her cereal!!!! She caught on pretty quickly and knows what's coming when she sees the bottle and the bowl. She even grabbed the spoon from Jenn and tried to feed herself but it didn't quite work. But, she knows what it's for.

She still has not watched her first LSU game with daddy yet. She was in Bowling Green for the first game and the second one was rescheduled due to Hurricane Gustav. The game this weekend won't be on local TV so she'll have to wait until next weekend for the Auburn game. We made sure she had on her LSU gear for the Applachian St. game, though.

She has started to crawl, but only on her knees and face!!! She hasn't quite figured out that her arms and hands are for locomotion too and not her face!! We're scared if we don't keep a close eye on her that she'll end up with carpet burn on her cheek.

She's also cutting a tooth....a back tooth!!!! We never thought she wouldn't cut a front tooth first. Knock on wood, but it hasn't bothered her too much. She just chews on her thumb and makes it feel better.

Anyway, enough of the words and enjoy the slideshow. We'll try to update it more regularly. It's been crazy around here.

Whassup

2008-08-18T20:51:00.008-05:00

Well, Holland has discovered her bottom lip. She won't suck on a pacifier, she will suck her thumb every now and then, but yesterday was a first. She was sitting in her swing and I looked over at her as she was making a loud noise and saw that she had completely sucked her bottom lip into her mouth. It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen or heard!!! We're scared, though, she is going to end up with badly chapped lips if she doesn't stop it.

We went to church Sunday and put her in the nursery for the first time. They absolutely loved her. They said she was so much fun to be around and that she smiled the whole time and had a blast with everyone.

Daddy is trying to get her ready for her first football season. She looks really good in purple and gold and it won't be long until she has the Golden Girl Stadium Salute down!! That's going to be awesome!!!

Anyway, her Gigi will be here Wednesday and get to spend several days with her so we'll talk to everyone soon.

Olympics and Cereal

2008-08-11T21:54:00.009-05:00

Well, it was an interesting last week and weekend around the Bates household. We had an Olympic Opening Ceremony party Friday night and all that came brought a dish from different countries. We had dishes from America (obvious), Thailand, Japan, Germany, Ethiopia (Dean), Greece, Italy, Mexico and China (Jenn). It was a great turnout, and, as usual we had way too much food. Holland represented France as she had on an outfit Jenn's mom got her in France a few weeks ago.

Holland also went to the doctor last week for her 4 month shots. She was 16 lbs 2 oz. which is in the 75th percentile and was 26 inches long which is in the 97th percentile for her age. She is definitely following in the footsteps of the Hollands with her height and is slimming down quite a bit. She also had her first encounter with cereal this weekend. It was quite interesting as she was trying to figure out the texture and the idea that we were putting something in her mouth besides nasty tasting medicine (she is still being treated for reflux). Her second encounter with the cereal went very well as she started to recognize the spoon and the idea that something warm and good tasting came along with it. We miss all of you and hope to see everyone soon.

My First Ski Trip

2008-08-03T20:19:00.010-05:00

We all went to Barren River Lake up in Kentucky Saturday and went skiing!!! We rented a pontoon boat in addition to Jim Ed's ski boat and Holland did awesome!! She stayed on the pontoon all day under the canopy and out of the sun. She loved feeling the wind in her hair as we rode around the lake. We also put her life jacket on and got her in the lake with daddy. She did not have a problem with that at all and she stayed in the water for about 10 minutes. Her chin started to chatter when she got cold in the water so we got her out and she ended up taking about a 45 minute nap on the boat after that. We brought some small fans and put them on her while the boat was not moving and she was very comfortable.

All in all, we had a blast and it was well worth bringing her out there. Daddy can barely move today after skiing all day. He hasn't used a lot of those muscles in quite some time and they are letting him know about it. We taught Holland's Uncle Brian how to ski and we think he is ready to take it up as a sport. We have a feeling he is just a sore!!!

Sitter

2008-07-30T21:24:00.006-05:00

Holland went to the sitter (Ms. Lori) today for the first time. Jenn went to school to work in her room so she took Holland to Ms. Lori's mid-morning to get used to the surroundings. The other kids loved having Holland around and were very curious. She took her full nap while she was there and was in a good mood when she woke up. Jenn got there to pick her up right before she woke up and said she could see her in the monitor as she was waking up. She looked around for a second or two trying to figure out where she was and then started to smile and "talk."

We feel really good about Ms. Lori's and hope it goes well. Holland will be there all day starting Friday, that is, if daddy doesn't try to stay home with her all day!!!

This weekend is going to be a big weekend for us all. We are going up to Kentucky to go skiing!!!! It will be Holland's first trip on a boat. We want to introduce her to boats and the water as much as possible right now since we will be getting a boat next spring. This will also be the first time we've skied in 2 summers. I just hope neither one of us hurts ourselves!!! We'll take plenty of pictures and post them when we return.

We Went to Church Today

2008-07-20T15:39:00.003-05:00

Holland made her first trip to church this morning. We didn't put her in the day care and she sat with us in the sanctuary. We went to the 8:00 service since it was right after her first feeding and were hoping she would take a cat nap during the service. She sat in daddy's lap for about 20 minutes until she started to yawn and get restless. Then, mommy stood up with her in the back and within 5 minutes she was out and slept the rest of the time. We were difinitely not the ones with the noisey baby in church!! At least not this time.

Holland's First Trip to the Pool

2008-07-19T20:38:00.003-05:00

Holland took her first trip to the pool today. It wasn't too hot outside so it was very comfortable for all of us. We first put her feet in the kiddie pool and stood her up for a few minutes. She didn't mind that at all so we sat her down in the water and she loved it!!!! While she was sitting down some kids came over to see her and jumped in and accidentally splashed water in her face. She got fussy for a second because we think it scared her more than anything. But, after a few seconds, Jenn put her back down in the water and she was fine again. Now that we've got that out of the way, we will be teaching her to dive off the side of the pool next weekend along with all four major swimming strokes. She'll be ready for the 2012 Olympics in no time.

I'm a Stinker

2008-07-17T22:33:00.009-05:00

We had a big day last Saturday. Holland's "Poppy" came from Bowling Green to visit and we all went to a fish fry at our friend Bobby's house. Holland did very well considering how hot it was. She sat around with Jenn and Poppy, as well as in her swing as long as the fan was blowing on her.

She's been sitting in her Bumbo a lot lately and has discovered her feet. If she could figure out a way to get them in her mouth, she would. I have a feeling it won't be long before that happens. She still can't quite figure out the thumb thing, but there's no question she prefers her thumb/hand over a pacifier.

Sip N See in BG

2008-07-15T20:56:00.005-05:00

Trying to get caught up

2008-07-15T20:12:00.004-05:00

We're trying to get some of these pictures caught up to date so we can start posting on a more regular basis and documenting what's going on. That way not every post has a slide show either.

Some of these photos include Holland's first family trip out to a restaurant. We went to Mellow Mushroom several weeks ago and sat out on the patio. The weather was great and Holland enjoyed it. She did not like sitting in her car seat the whole time but that's ok. We took turns holding her while we ate. There are also pictures of her first trip to Louisiana to see her Gigi and Paw along with Davey, Tracy, Sydney and Cameron. We left at 8:15 Monday night and drove throughout the night. She woke up a couple of times but overall she did an awesome job. She got fussy the last 20 minutes or so and we finally got to mom and dad at about 5:30 Tuesday morning. We thought better of it on the way back and stopped in Meridian, MS and spent the night. She got her first taste of a hotel that night.

Holland also celebrated her first Fourth of July weekend by rolling over for the first time. She's laughing all the time now and drooling everywhere. She must be cutting teeth but it hasn't affected her sleeping, yet (knock on wood).

That's all for now. More to come.

Holland's First Weeks

2008-07-10T19:06:00.005-05:00

Holland Avery was born April 5, 2008 at Middle Tennessee Medical Center. She was born at 7:23 a.m., weighed 8 lbs., and was 20.5 inches long. Jennifer was in labor for around 12 hours and everything went very well. We know that most people know all of this, but we want to make sure everyone remembers!!! Over the last 3 months, Holland has changed dramatically and has been such a joy to be around. She must have her mom's personality, and her dad's digestive system!!! She has gotten to where she is sleeping around 10 hours during the night and wakes up in such a good mood. She is smiling, laughing a little, talking in code and has rolled over once already. Bella (our 3 year old boxer) has adjusted very well and we call her our little "nanny." Bella will go into Holland's room to check on her and make sure she can hear her and then is satisfied. She loves to smell and lick Holland and wags her tail when she is around her.

This blog is where we will be keeping everyone informed and up to date on events and happenings in our lives. That way, I don't have to keep sending pictures through e-mail all the time. Check back regularly for new photos and updates!!!!