Happy Anniversary!

Today's our sixth wedding anniversary. It's been six years. Wow, time flies. It seems like just a few months ago when we were celebrating that great (but very long) day. For memory's sake, I thought I'd include a picture from that day - as one of my young men so observantly pointed out the other day: when it looked like I had a lot more pounds and a lot more hair.

Now, nobody ever said that every anniversary has to be romantic, right? Because I don't think we've ever really had a romantic anniversary - at least not on the actual date. Our first two anniversaries, I was out of town for work. So we've gotten used to celebrating this day on our terms, when we want to and how we want to. So it was with today.

Don't get me wrong. We had a great weekend. Jamie's dad and his wife, Carrie, (picture of them with Taylor to the left) came into town to come spend some time with the new grand-daughter, and we had a great time with them. And we're doing a good job of acclimating Taylor to the fun things in life - like Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Oktoberfest, and her first football game (coming this week).

But in celebration of this anniversary, I'd like to share a couple of our funnier moments that we've shared together during our ever-exciting marriage:

A couple of years ago, we celebrated our anniversary a few months late by taking a weekend trip to New York. We went to a couple of Broadway plays and went out to some nice dinners. But what I'll remember as much as anything was this classic moment. Jamie decided to go to the famous "Oidad" Salon (http://www.oidad.com/) - a salon that specializes in curly hair. She had used some of the product before and had always wanted to treat herself to an appointment to this exclusive salon.

After her appointment, she was looking and feeling like a million bucks (the appointment almost cost that much, I believe), and was definitely wanting to show off her beautiful locks as we walked around the city. Well, we walked about five minutes and I was taking her picture in front of Rockefeller Plaza, when all of a sudden, she had a look of panic on her face. I asked what was wrong. She told me to check her head. I didn't know what she was talking about . . . until I went over to her recently-styled hair and saw that a pigeon had taken a nice, huge poop on her head. After the initial second of shock, even she couldn't help but crack up. It was freaking hilarious.

And while that story was kind of at Jamie's expense, I've got an even better one at my expense:

During the week of our anniversary about four years ago, the owner of the company that I work for (who happens to live near us) invited the youth group that Jamie and I work with in our ward, to his house for a swimming party and barbeque. 'Captain Bob' had a newly remodeled pool and patio and wanted to treat our youth group to a fun activity. Obviously, I was just a bit nervous. I wanted to make a good impression with the owner of our company, with our Bishop (who I thought might have second thoughts about me leading these kids), and with the kids themselves. One thing to note - Captain Bob is one of the greatest people I know. He is such a believer in people, he's so generous and thoughtful and an incredible teacher. Needless to say, he's also very detail-oriented, and in the case of this party, he was very specific as to how he wanted everything organized and how he wanted it to run. So, when a few of the young women started trying to push me into the pool with my clothes on, I wasn't about to let it happen. I love messing around with the youth and being a goof - but I told them that I really didn't want to be pushed in on this particular night. I made them a deal that I'd even jump in the pool with my clothes on some other night - but not that night and not at Captain Bob's place. They respected that, and they quit trying.
Well, after dinner I was walking towards the pool getting ready to set up a game for the kids. All of a sudden, I felt somebody grab me and start pushing me towards the pool, and I knew I couldn't do anything about it. So, I just reached behind me and grabbed on to the person. I basically said, 'whoever is pushing me in is coming in with me.' Less than a second later, I was in the pool - but I kept my promise. I held on to whatever I was grabbing. As I came to the surface, I was still holding something in my hand. I looked at it - and it was a blouse. I looked up, and the Stake Young Women's President was bright red - and shirtless, covering herself up. She had pushed me in the pool, and I had yanked off her blouse in self-defense, and everybody saw it. Hey - don't mess with the bull or you get the horns, right? Actually, Jamie reminds me that I looked much more embarrassed than the shirtless woman.

We've shared some wonderful memories together, which I'm grateful for. Sure, there have been a few rough patches along the way. But that's made the good moments even better. I feel so lucky and so blessed to be married to such an amazing wife. And while we hope to have many, many more anniversaries to celebrate, our anniversary from 2008 will be remembered as the first anniversary as parents, and that's what made it our best one yet.

And for those who have told us that our posts aren't complete without a new picture of Taylor, here she is in her cow outfit:

Taylor's Newborn Pictures

As you can see, we're still on cloud 9 with the addition of Taylor to our family, and it still feels somewhat surreal.
So, I decided that we needed to get some photos of her. Jamie, of course, also wanted picturs. But I was the one pushing for them. Not a typical thing for me to do - but having a little girl has made me a softy. I love pink. I want bows and bracelets for her. She's my princess.
A friend of mine had some really cool pictures of his family, including their baby boy when he was just seven days old, and he recommended the photographer that they worked with - Jamie Thorpe (http://www.jamiethorpephotography.com/). She's really good - especially with newborns. As you can see, the newborn pics show her in her 'birthday suit' - and while the pictures turned out adorable, Jamie (my wife) thought it was pretty funny to see Taylor get dad 'messy' in every way that she could get me messy. I was a magnet for her bodily fluids. But again, I must have gone through some metamorphasis by becoming a dad, because I don't think I would have taken too well under normal circumstances, but dad's must have a slightly stronger tolerance to gross stuff, because I just laughed.

Some of our favorite pictures are on the slideshow (to the right).

Everyday Keeps Getting Better...

Taylor has been one of the greatest blessings in our life, but when you don't have the bare essentials when she arrives, let alone all of the other fun, frivolous things, life can be a tad bit busy. I will say that I have a whole new respect for mothers. I didn't even give birth to Taylor, she is such a good baby and I am still struggling with the sleep schedule and everything else. My hats off to all of you mothers out there!

I don't know if I can say anything that Dustin hasn't already said, but Taylor has been the most amazing blessing. Everything happened so fast that I didn't even have time to take in everything that was going on. I think that my expectations of this amazing bond I would have with my child when she was placed in my arms would be unlike anything I had ever felt, but to be perfectly honest, at first it felt like somebody else's baby. I felt so much guilt because how could I not be overwhelmed with emotion by this beautiful baby girl, the amazing love and Christ-like act of a birth mother and a truly miraculous story, but it was hard that my feelings weren't mirroring the expectations I had had. 6 days after taking home Taylor from the hospital, we took her birth mom and her boyfriend out to dinner so that they could see Taylor. As I watched Taylor's birth mom hold her, it finally hit me that she was holding my baby girl. It was like a breakthrough moment for me and I feel our bond getting stronger and stronger every day. Here are just a few of the things I have learned about Taylor in the last 15 days.

• She has the most beautiful red hair
• She twitches a lot like her dad
• She looks beautiful in pink (good thing because her dad is obsessed with it)
• She get the hiccups at least once a day
• She never sneezes just once. Her record is 5.
• She grunts a lot, just like her mom
• When she is held and awake, she likes you to hold her so that you can look at her
• She gets a second wind around 11 pm
• She loves baths and she is totally fine with getting water in her eyes. Yes we have another water baby on the way!
• She hates the car seat
• She always wants her hands touching her face
• She'll turn her head towards Dustin when she hears his voice
• She has been seen holding her bottle all by herself at just over a week old...
• She loves giving her Grandma Ann kisses (yes tongue and all)
• If she's ever fussy, her dad singing the University of Utah fight song always soothes her. think I can say it's her favorite lullaby
• She has brought out a whole new side of her daddy that I have never seen before. He is the proudest papa around with a new obsession of pink, bracelets and bows
• She is loved by so many people and had more visitors than I ever get
• I could watch her sleep for hours upon hours

I can't help but get emotional now when I think of these past two weeks. I am so grateful to my mom who hopped on a plane the day we could take Taylor home from the hospital. She helped me in so many ways and I pretty much had a meltdown when she got on the plane to go home. I had other family members throw a shower two days after we took Taylor home and my dearest friends and neighbors throw us a neighborhood shower a week after bringing Taylor home. I am so grateful to the amazing support network that I have.

I have always heard of these amazing adoption stories. I think of what Dustin and I have been through this past year. The baby I miscarried would have been due in just a couple of weeks. I remember the pain that Dustin and I felt when we couldn't see that heartbeat, but the joy that we have now far exceeds any pain that we endured. I look at all of the miracles that happened during this process. Some may call them coincidences, but I don't believe in coincidences. We turned in our papers about the same time that the birth mother chose to place Taylor for adoption. One of my friends at work said that she was just waiting for us to turn in our papers because we were supposed to be Taylor's mom and dad. Taylor is living proof that prayers are answered and miracles can happen. There were so many prayers made on our behalf and it is because of you that this miracle happened to us. Thank you just doesn't seem to be enough.

Some of our many visitors...

My Aunt Vellie aka surrogate Grandma (Grandpa's sister and Grandma's best friend). She's helped fill in since my grandparents have both passed away.

See... she really can hold the bottle by herself

Daddy and Taylor time

One of my dearest friends Amy (who hosted one of my showers) and her precious daughter Eva

My cousin's daughter Emery, but she's pretty much like a niece

IT'S A GIRL!!!!

Where do we begin? I always like to start with the end - so here's the news: Taylor Anne Tate was born September 3rd, 2008 at 1:00 pm - all 6.0 lbs. 18 inches of her.

So, now the rest of the story. As most of those who read this blog are aware, after our second unsuccessful attempt at IVF, we decided that adoption would be our best option for us to beign our family. Since making that decision, we decided that we needed to move forward 1,000 miles per hour and get approved and get an active profile as soon as possible because our child could come at any time.

Now - the process is not an easy one, and it's not easy to get through. By the time we had our first meeting with LDS Family Services (July 21st) until the date that we were final approved (August 25th) was just over four weeks. The average time, according to our case worker, is eight weeks. There is a ton of paperwork, reference letters, classes, conferences, etc. We got a phone call from our wonderful caseworker on the 25th, letting us know that we were approved. Needless to say, it all became more real, and we were thrilled. However, we realized that we were likely in for a long wait. The average wait is more than a year.

While all of this was happening, a beautiful and tiny yet big-hearted young lady named Jami (that's right, Jami) was eight months pregnant and had just changed her mind about keeping her baby - realizing that as a single mother without a good job nor family to help, it would be tough to give her little girl the life that she deserved. When Jami made the decision to place her girl for adoption, she looked first at some agencies out of state but found it hard to get in touch with anybody. She was then referred to our case worker at LDS Family Services on August 21st. Our case worker felt a strong prompting to show her our profile - even though we had not yet been approved. Unlike 99% of the other prospective birth mothers, Jami wasn't interested in reviewing profiles online. She took the hard copies of the profiles (our letter and photo collage) that we had turned in just a couple of days before and took them home to review and ponder. She came back on August 25th - the very day that we were approved - and told our case worker that she felt good about us and wanted to meet us.

I got a phone call on August 27th when our case worker told us that a young birth mother - who was due with a young girl on September 14th - wanted to meet us. What a miracle! We were so excited and so nervous. We fasted and said so many prayers that it would work out how it was supposed to. Well, yesterday we were supposed to meet at LDSFS at 1 pm. That morning, our case worker called and told me that we had to cancel. I was disappointed - until she told me that it was because Jami had just gone into labor!

Well, from yesterday until last night, we kept in touch with our case worker to see what would happen. We found out that the baby was born healthily and Jami still wanted to place, but wanted to meet with a few families to be sure that she felt good about her decision.
So, this morning we went to the hospital to meet Jami and hopefully help her to get to know us better. We brought a blanket that Jamie's mom had crocheted for our first-born, some flowers, a frame to track a baby each month in its first year, a book and CD from Michael McClain about adoption, and a card - and we also included a gift card from Olive Garden that we had. In our meeting, Jami felt a connection to us. Not just the fact that she shared first names with the prospective adoptive mother, but also her middle name is Anne (Jamie's mother's name is Ann). We also found out that her favorite food was spaghetti (she was so excited about the gift certificate to Olive Garden), her favorite city that she had visited is Venice (ours, too), she loves reading and, like my Jamie, she loved Edward from the Twilight Series. In that room full of different emotions - the birth mother feeling torn, knowing that she'd have to part with this newborn baby who is very much a part of her - and us, the adoptive couple who is overcome with hopes of dreams coming true - we still made a very special connection with each other.

Jamie and I had talked about names before, and we liked the name Taylor and we had planned on giving the middle name of Ann. But we never realized how much significance it would have until all of the pieces came together like it did. Our case worker's last name is Taylor and Jami felt strongly that the little girl carry the middle name of Anne.

There are so many things that happened before and after, but in the end, this is our story. We have no doubt that Taylor Anne was sent to us and things worked out exactly the way that they were supposed to. We may not have been completely ready (we were expecting months before getting her - and even after learning about Jami - we still thought we had a couple of weeks to get things prepared), but for your first child, you never really are, right?

We're so grateful for all of our friends and family who were behind us every step of the way. We had a long day today, with paperwork, waiting at the hospital, etc. But when we got home, we had so many voice mails and text messages waiting for us. Even more amazing, we came home to see first hand what amazing friends we have. Our home was decorated with pink balloons and countless gifts. My best friend even took the recently delivered crib and assembled it for us while we were out. There is no doubt that Taylor is going to be loved, and we have no doubt that this miracle happened because of the thoughts and prayers of our amazing friends and family. We can't wait to share in the joy that Taylor brings to us - and you can bet that we plan on blogging about her first crawl, her first words, her first day of school, etc. We're excited to share with her the story of her birth mother and let her know how much everybody prayed for her to come into our lives.