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.

A few things to watch for this Labor Day Weekend

Ah, Labor Day. While it's hard for this holiday to compete with the likes of Thanksgiving and Christmas, I can't honestly say that there's a time of year where I feel more fulfilled than over Labor Day weekend. Living in Utah in the spring and fall make the snowy winters and hot summers worthwhile. Labor Day represents the beginning of fall, perfect grilling weather, trees changing colors, gorgeous sunsets, and most importantly, football!

If you're wondering about some things to do, here are some things I recommend to watch for this weekend:

1. Utah vs. Michigan. Saturday, August 29th, 1:30 MT. Shown on ABC nationally.
Everybody who knows me knows that I'm a die-hard Utah fan. We were more die-hard than usual the past three years while Steve starred for the Utes (last year, we traveled to Louisville, Oregon, San Diego, Las Vegas, Colorado, the Provo bubble), but we're still planning on going to most games. And it KILLS both Jamie and I that we're not going to the renowned BIG HOUSE this weekend. But we couldn't find airfare for less than $400 to Detroit - and we've just got too much going on right now.
But even if you're not a huge football fan nor a Utah fan (if you're not, you're missing out), this game will be a fun one to watch. Utah has one of their most talented teams. The coaches are saying it's the most talented team since the 2004 Fiesta Bowl year. I don't have a ton of faith in the coaching staff, so I'm a bit more cautious this year, but those expectations are good - because they either meet them or they look for big changes.
Meanwhile, Michigan is getting a lot of attention this year because they have a new coach who is bringing the famous spread offense to Michigan - who is typically one of the most traditional offenses in the country. What's ironic is that their coach, Rich Rodriguez, was the coach whom Urban Meyer learned the spread from - before bringing it to Utah in 2003.
Michigan is favored by 3.5. Look for my Utes to spoil Rich's first game in the Big House. My pick: Utah 24 Michigan 20


2. Deal or No Deal. Monday night, September 1st. 7 pm MT on NBC.
So, here I am talking about how great fall is in Utah, and I'm telling you to watch a game show on Labor Day? The truth is, I don't like game shows. I've only seen Howie Mandell's popular show once, and didn't really care for it (though I'll admit it can be pretty intense).
But you've GOT to watch it this Monday. Why? It turns out that I know the girl who is on there on Monday night. And it's not just that she's on there. Rumor has it, or you can say that NBC wants us to believe that she will make history on Monday night, winning the largest prize on a gameshow in U.S. history - a cool million!! Jessica is the wife of a friend of mine, from work. She's a very sweet girl and she's currently pregnant with their second child. I do need to make it known that nobody at our work knows whether or not she won, but you can see the preview on the website and make your own judgement. My friend hasn't talked about it at all and won't even answer any questions. He's as poker-face as you can get. But when they started airing the ads during the olympics, a few people from my work recognized her (you can even see some decent footage of him running on stage) and we confirmed it on the website (http://www.nbc.com/Deal_or_No_Deal/video/clips/the-moment-has-arrived/524361/).

Quique, Quique, Quique

As you well know, our lives revolve around our sweet angel, Quique. She of course has quickly realized that our lives revolve around her and she can pretty much get whatever she wants and when she doesn't, she will be sure to let us know.

On Sunday, Dustin and I had to run home in between one of our church meetings to drop off some dishes. Dustin somehow or another noticed that his wallet was missing. Usually Quique takes things into the backyard so as I walked in the back I noticed money and cards spread out on the grass... Greeeeeat! Anyway, there was stuff from the wallet, but no wallet. Dustin and I must have searched in and out of the house for over 20 minutes. I thought maybe she had buried it, but it didn't look like she had buried anything anywhere. Dustin happened to notice below one of the rose bushes some dry dirt when everything else was more damp, he started digging and low and behold there was his wallet, right there with her bone. When she is throwing a temper tantrum she usually chews up stuff or takes it in the back, this was a first (that we know of) when she buried something other than her bone.

Then on Tuesday morning at 4am, Quique jumps up on our bed with her collar hanging out of her mouth. This is her sign of telling us that she wants to go on a walk. Are you kidding me? She must think that I do anything she wants because the last thing I'm going to do at 4am is take her on a walk. Then she started her little grunt whines. It's a mixture of a whine and a grunt to get our attention. So I started petting her, as soon as I stopped, she'd do her little grunt-whine again. I was so annoyed, but Dustin and I got a good laugh the next morning. My mom always tells me that I need to be the pack-leader. We sure know who the pack-leader is in our house... and it's definitely not me. Cesar would be so disappointed!

My 60-Second Review of Some Good Books

Well, with my wife and her friends getting so excited about the launch "The Breaking Dawn" this past week, I, coincidentally, just finished reading a great book. So I felt like I needed to add my own post about the good reads that I've had over the past year. So, for anybody who cares, I've listed a few of the better books that I've read recently and why I recommend them.
(Warning: the following books may not be as entertaining as the novels about Edward, and they may not inspire grown women to dress in costume and stand in line for hours at the book-store, but they also don't cause poor husbands to be unfairly compared to that 'perfect' vampire).

Most Motivating Read: Ultra-Marathon Man by Dean Karnazes

Lance Armstrong. Brett Favre. That guy at the rodeo riding the bulls. Dean Karnazes. Who's he? Dean is the author of this book, an endurance runner who seeks to do the unthinkable. He has run 135 consecutive miles in the summer heat of Death Valley. He has run a marathon, in his running shoes, to the South Pole. He has run a 200 mile relay through the mountains of California. Without a relay team.
I don't aspire to run a marathon - but reading this book made me want to go out and push the limits. If you enjoyed "It's Not About The Bike", you'll like this book.





Most Entertaining: The Blind Side by Michael Lewis

The author of "Money Ball" (the best sports book and business book all in one), Michael Lewis, writes a great book, which essentially explains the evolution of the NFL, how the left-tackle position has become the second-most important position in football, told by telling the inspirational recruiting story of a highly touted prep player from the crime-infested areas of Memphis.





Best Business Book: The Billionaire Who Wasn't by Conor O'Clery

You may have never heard of him, but Chuck Feeney is one of the greatest philanthropists in history. This book is about his business success (he founded and grew Duty Free Shoppers (DFS) into one of the largest retailers in the world. But he's not like other billionaires. He also gave away all of his money, while living, to many diverse causes. It's a fascinating and inspirational story.






Best History/Biography Read: His Excellency by Joseph Ellis

A lot of us don't know much about the most first and most famous president of the United States. In my opinion, Ellis does an amazing job of humanizing this founding father (for good and for bad), who has been reversed like royalty, which has prevented us from learning what made him tick, why his leadership was so necessary for the birth and nurturing of this nation.







Best Political Read: Supreme Conflict by Jane Crawford Greenburg

It was refreshing to read a book about politics that has no hidden agenda or obvious bias. With this being an election year, we're often reminded just how much is on the line when we cast a ballot. But at the end of the day, the influence that a president has on our daily lives is much more limited than we think. The TRUE legacy of a president is his fingerprint on the Supreme Court. This book provides a fascinating insight into the secret chamber of the Supreme Court, the power struggles that exist, and how this has such an influence on the country.



If you've read any of these, and want to add your two-cents, or if you recommend any books that that you've read, leave me a post. I'd love to hear about new books to read.