Christmas Traditions

Tate is too young to fully understand Christmas yet, but he still was introduced to our family traditions. 

On Christmas Eve, we had all of my Mom's family (20+ guests) to our house for dinner and presents. Tate strutted his stuff greeting all the guests. 

We also opened gifts. This is Tate's last year to be an only grand-child and only great-grandchild on my Mom's side of the family since my sister Nancy and cousin Jade are both expecting next summer! He had to live it up while he could.  

We also continued a 32-year tradition by welcoming Jonathan Marshall to the family. (He married my cousin Sara this past summer.) We have a, ahem, "beautiful" plastic peacock that has been formally presented to the newest family member every Christmas Eve since 1976. The story behind it is long, but funny. Welcome to the family, Jon. You better take care of that precious family member (oh, and take care of Sara, too)...

And then we started a new Post Family tradition. Sara cooked! 

After a fitful night of sleep which we thought was excitement over Santa coming but then realized was actually because of a 101.5 fever, Tate woke up to find that Santa came! Tate loved seeing the new toys and couldn't figure out which to play with first. We then went to Big Guy and Mia's where Big Guy made our traditional Christmas breakfast of eggs benedict.

Tate looks at Eddie's ears with resignation...assuming they will be put on him next. Don't worry Tate! No more silly outfits now that you are 1! 

We ended with Christmas night at my Aunt Kathy's, where we always play board games and open "crackers" which contain bad jokes, silly toys, paper crowns and, sometimes, a Hitler-style mustache. (if anyone has a picture of Kathy in the 'stache, please send!) 

We're looking forward to future Christmases with Tate and very excited that he will have a new cousin on BOTH sides of the family (Rob's brother Chris and wife Sarah are expecting a girl any day now) next Christmas to share it with! 

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!  What a difference a year makes...

Christmas 2007

Christmas 2008

(Santa is already rethinking the 'drum set' he brought Tate.)

Christmas 2007

Christmas 2008

Christmas picture outtakes

We had one mission today: To get a good picture of Tate to use on our Christmas cards. 

We tried Santa first...

Hmmm. Not so much. 

So then we went over to my parents' house which is always nicely decorated for the holidays. Tate proved to be a temperamental model...first, his vanity got in the way: 

"Once you're done with my hair, hon, do you think you could grab the makeup lady and let's get this show on the road?!? And where's catering? Catering!!?! Sheesh. You just can't find good help anymore..."  

"Are you sure this is my best side? I really don't think it is..."

"I mean, come on...this side is really much better, dontcha think?" 

Then he started hitting on the other models...

"Hey baby. Can I call you Ginger? You come here often? Your legs must be tired because you've been 'run, run, running as fast as you can' through my mind all day."

"I swear I didn't know you two were a pair, buddy! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Please stop kicking my butt!" 

So yeah. No picture today. We'll try again tomorrow....

The Boy King and Nanny-sippi

Nanny-sippi came to visit over the Thanksgiving holiday, and I just realized I never posted pictures due to the excitement over the duel going on between Tate and Bill Murray. (I am proud to report that Tate has overcome his fears and made up with Bill. They have been seen walking around the house together).  

While Nanny-sippi was here, we went to see the King Tut exhibition at the Dallas Museum of Art. The Boy King was no match for our own boy king: 

She also brought Tate a singing penguin that now goes everywhere with us. (This is the only picture I got of Tate on Thanksgiving Day. I just wanted to post it so people would believe me that I did NOT dress Tate like a Turkey...we went for the New-York-artsy-fartsy look instead...) 

And they enjoyed a little game of catch over breakfast: 

Tate enjoyed spending time with his grandmother from Mississippi!

Kill Bill

We think Tate stayed awake last night plotting ways to destroy Bill Murray. He woke up this morning and this is one of the first things he did...I love how he looks so proud at the end. 

note: I removed the sound from this video so you don't hear me laughing and Rob singing (yes, singing) and then me telling Rob to stop singing in the background. Trust me, it's better this way. 

My kid hates Bill Murray

Rob has a Caddy Shack figurine he was given by his brother Lamar -- it's Bill Murray's character and when you push a button the figurine yells lines from the movie. It's lovely, really: 

Anyway, it was in our gameroom and Tate pushed the button one day and Bill yelled "It's in the hole!" and Tate leaped into my arms and started crying. He was clearly afraid of him, so we put Bill away. That was a couple months ago.

Tonight Rob was tired of trying to keep Tate out of our room (we have to leave the door open because of our cats) so he retrieved Bill and had him stand guard in the doorway. Sure enough, Tate started motoring toward our room and froze halfway down the hall when he spotted his arch nemesis. 

I caught part of the standoff on film: 

Poor Tate. A lifetime of no Caddy Shack. No Saturday Night Live classics. No Lost in Translation. And God forbid that Groundhog Day ever comes on TV. 

Go Rebs!

This is how Ole Miss fans usually end the season...

But it's halftime in the Ole Miss/Mississippi State game, and with a score of 31-0, we feel fairly comfortable saying Hotty Toddy this year! Hopefully the Rebs will be coming to Dallas for the Cotton Bowl. 

"That Mom"

I was "That Mom" today. You know, the one who is standing in the grocery store line with her kid and he starts screaming because he wants something and you won't let him have it and then the screams get louder and so you just grab it and buy it real quick to make him be quiet while all the other non-Moms around you (whom you were just like only a year ago) are thinking "tsk, tsk" in their heads but all you can think is "thank gawd he's not screaming anymore."  Yes, that was me today. Tate now has a Hannah Montana balloon. 

Tate Words IV

IRRITATE

We all know UT fans can be irritating, but Tate clearly had enough trash talking from Chloe.

photo courtesy of daycare webcam.

Weddings and Walking

We spent the past weekend in Shreveport for a cousin's wedding...

Dancing with Dad

At a Post family breakfast the next morning, all eyes were on Tate. You don't think he'll be spoiled, do you? 

Then at lunch with the Shreveport Dodsons, Tate was very pleased to play with the toys of his first-cousins-once-removed, as he proceeded to make numerous joyous laps around the patio with this walker. 

He also demonstrated his new ability to walk short distances! Only a matter of time until he's sprinting.

One Year

Tate had his 12-month well-baby appointment last week, and the stats are:

Height: 30 inches (50th percentile)
Weight: 23 pounds (50th percentile)
Head: 19 inches (90th percentile)

In other words, he's built like the candy-holder decoration from his birthday party:


At one year, Tate is:

• Eating table food only (no more baby food!)
• Drinking from a cup only (no more bottles!)
• Drinking milk instead of formula (which equates to a $100/month raise for us!)
  
• Saying words like "dah" for dog and "bah" for ball and "duh" for duck. (But only on occasion and if he's in a good mood and if the moon is full and it's Thursday.)
• Still not saying mama (grrr)
  

He took four steps on Friday night while at my parents' house, so we fully expect him to be walking soon.

Finally, while Rob was out of town this weekend I spent a fascinating and exciting Saturday night playing with iMovie on our Mac. I made this little video of Tate's first year. (Basically, we spent waaaay too much on professional pictures of Tate this past year, and I needed to do something with all the prints...)

Elvis is Everywhere

We can report that Elvis is indeed alive, based on these multiple sightings over the Halloween weekend....

Everyone knows that Elvis had a fondness for sweets.

And then there are the major corporate endorsement deals. Here he takes time to do some photo-ops (and a little trick-or-treating) at FedEx Office. He looks a little miffed that he has to share his celebrity status with Buzz Lightyear. 

 Elvis always traveled with his posse. Here he is celebrating his buddy Brendan's first birthday along with Caitlyn. These three go way back, having gone to school together since they were just babies.

After so many demands on him, it's easy to see why Elvis turned to the bottle. It's tough being The King. 

First Birthday

Tate's first birthday was on Friday, and we had a fun Halloween-theme party for him on Saturday...

The cake matched the "calling all little monsters" invitation

The food was all spook-tacular thanks to my Mom, sister Nancy, and friend Lisa (who is in the process of starting her own business planning kids' birthday parties...let me know if you're interested and I'll put you in touch!). Note the tags that my Mom made for each dish...we had "witch's potion," "mummy dogs," etc.

The guests started arriving in their costumes which included Star Wars stars (Luke and Isaac) and a supercute little ladybug (Mary).

There was a chillin chicken (Landon)....

...and a darling duck (Allie)...

...and a precious princess (Graelyn)...

...and, of course, The King himself.

Even Mama June got into the spirit and dressed like an angel. This picture just begs for a caption...Nancy suggested "Turn away from the light, Mama June!"...I was thinking that it appears she is saying "Why Me God?" as she enters a one-year-old's birthday party...

We started with some crafts, making picture frames.

Then Lisa and Mama Mia both read Halloween stories.

Tate was a little overwhelmed at cake time.

But he hung in there and gave it a try.

Princess Gwen took a ride on Tate's rocking horse (his gift from Mama Mia and Big Guy)

And then we got a group shot. Out of 21 different pictures we took of the group on my camera alone, this one had the largest number of kids actually looking up. It was quite a feat getting 9 children to pose for a picture, despite the parents' best efforts. And by "parents' best efforts," I mean "parents' craziness." This is what was going on behind the cameras:

There were also a few special guests who were out trying to drum up the youth vote for the upcoming election...you can see them (and more pictures) on my Dad's blog.

It was a great day, but I'm a little sad that he's already one year old! It has gone by so fast. Happy Birthday sweet baby Tate!

Pumpkin Patch Pics

We made the obligatory trip to the pumpkin patch on Sunday. Tate blended right in. 

And just for Margaret, we had to stop and do this. It doesn't look like Tate enjoys it quite as much as Margs...