Tomorrow is the day we'll get to meet Miles Bradley...July 14th is a nice birthday, no? Keep us in your prayers!

For you, Tori. Steve Maxon took this picture for me. There's my mom, practicing Bobber Ball in the background. Before anyone says it, I know. I don't look so big. It doesn't look so low. I hardly look pregnant at all. I just have to tell you, I measure where I should, am as big as I should be and have gained about 27 to 30 pounds. I am uncomfortable sleeping and lose my breath every time I bend over.
Hooray!

I am twelve days over my due date today...pretty fun all a-ROUND!

These pictures may get redundant. We went swimming, again. Jack played with the container that some new floaties came in.

I did my best to get a picture of all of us together, but my camera skills are lacking, and my children MOVE.

This is Jack's face before we went in the water together. You'll see the after, but try not to judge me to harshly for using the pool as a giant washcloth.

That's the best it gets. Ah, well.

Belly shots, in a bathing suit, are not so impressive. Here he is! Our next baby, still enclosed in mother.

Ooh! What a clean-faced boy! He wanted me to take a picture of myself next...

...so I did. Then he wanted me to take another picture of him...

...so I did. It's been a nice summer so far.

We haven't been busy, nor have most of our days been full, but I am busy with anticipation, and feel stuck in a strange and surreal waiting period.
I had a list of things to do before the baby came, and it is completed. The house is clean. Josh even found time to put a new floor in our bathroom.
I keep remembering the lecture- well, part of the lecture- that Dr. Arensen gave about times of transition. This point of my pregnancy is not too uncomfortable, not unhappy, and not without its joys, but it is a holding pattern that makes me feel like I've stepped back from myself a step too far.
I am glad to see people, because it makes it easier to forget that I am waiting when I have others to tear my self-absorbed gaze away. It really is the waiting that is the problem. Other than that, I feel great.
Just so everyone out there knows, I have tried to will my body into going into labor, and it hasn't worked. I hope I'm not letting too many of you down!

The bassinet is ready. I fixed the old Tate mobile with the help of a magical find at a yard sale.
Or lovely new (not carpeted) bathroom floor. The baseboard needs to be stained, but that is not on my list of things to do before the baby is born. It is a little bathroom. I need more lap to be able to reach in the corners.

We've gone down to the pool a few afternoons. It's been nice and hot- but not too hot- and if Lisa and I go together, I can manage three non-swimmers. We brought our early birthday presents from Nanny down- the noodles.

I made the boys wear the life jackets, and Lucy wore her floaty bathing suit. I don't want to get distracted. Bowden is finally old enough to reach the bottom, which I think will be helpful when he finally decides to do it on his own.

These two enjoyed dangling their feet.

The end of pool time is noticeable to everyone but the children. They start playing around the pool, and not in it, but when I tell them it's time to go, I always hear complaints. I am not as big a fan of the pool as I used to be. I can't lay on my stomach, or on my back...it's not a very comfortable place.

Soon!

Lucy, the goose, posed like a ballerina for me...we were on our way to see if there was water in the creek, and I had just cut her bangs.

The kids say that they're bored. Mostly Bowden, and it drives me crazy, but I feel for him...I haven't been taking walks because of my ankle, and I am just tired. I thought that a walk to the stream would make him happy, but he and Lucy were still complaining, which turned me into one cranky mother.

Jack about to climb the stairs.

We found some water, although we were chomped by mosquitoes and I warned the kids to look out for the piss ants near the water.

They seriously Looked Out.

Lucy enjoyed the canopy.

Bowden told me about the water bugs around.

Jack, not knowing that HE is supposed to be the most cranky, was actually the happiest and best behaved. "Wawa!"

We left sooner than later because of the amount of bugs eager for Tate flesh, but it would have been a nice diversion, if the kids had been happier. Ah, well.

Josh had the opportunity to preach at the Idyllwild Bible Church on Father's Day, and during the portion when he singled out different fathers for different "achievements," he had Bowden and Lucy help him had out neckties. They were looking forward to it all week, and performed their duties with great excitement and diligence.

The sermon was excellent, I thought (as unbiased as I am.) It's available as a podcast, if you know how to do that kind of thing.

Today we dropped the cats- recently renamed Lursa and Bator- off at the Ramona Animal Shelter to be adopted. Lursa, the black and white cat also known as Claudius, was having some bladder control issues...three a day, on the futon, and on my blanket, and on the rug by the door, and on our dirty laundry...Josh had said that if they did it one more time, we would have to get rid of them...but I am still sad. I think that she did it because she is not spayed, but with my due date so close, we don't really have time to get them fixed, then see if the problem clears up. There's no way I want to clean up cat accidents, kid accidents, and baby purposefuls on a newborn sleep schedule. Bator, the pretty but dumb one. She also is the one that will sit near you, and not harass you...

Claudius, aka Lursa, the culprit who was way smarter than her sister, but not so pretty.

The boys outside of the animal shelter.

Saying good-bye.

They really weren't that sad. I cried so much I couldn't talk as I filled out the paperwork, and I am still pretty upset when I think about their first night at that dark, dog-smelling place. If you love me, even if you hate animals, you can pray that someone decides to adopt both of them. It would ease my heart and mind greatly. I really wish that I didn't care at all.

We made our last trip to the desert fun for the chickens and not as much for us and ate at McDonalds. I even let them get ice cream, which somehow managed to be free little cones, a great deal. I thought that they looked able to adore eating them, and a mother's pride took more shots than I needed.

Bowden kept making weird faces, but I still liked the pictures. I know, posts with something in them are nice...but sometimes you get posts with nothing. Deal with it.

The bear rug came in a friendly -sized box, perfect for little people to get into. Bowden really went crazy and rode it down the stairs, fell in it on purpose, and a number of other activities that happened once before I vetoed them. It wasn't until we were downstairs and fully awake that I pulled out the camera to capture some of the fun. The box was Jack-sized.

She loved it.

Until it started to tip. Don't worry, I caught it.

We have our summer staff in, and Bowden's first week of summer vacation is over. This little man is done with kindergarten, with a very nice report card home to keep.

Lucy can't wait to be in Mrs. Adler's class...but not for another year.

Oh, and in case you never go there, and happen to be female and willing to read soemthing for me, take this link to dwell in sunshine, please.

Josh and I have been married for eight years now...and what do we have to show for it? This one...

...and this one...

...and this one...

...and one soon to come!

Oh, big and swollen belly, how round you are! It looks a bit gross here, but what can I do? Bowden took this for me, and Jack wanted a picture of his too, so...
...Jack tried to show his...but his onesie got in the way. Jack showing his onesied-belly made Lucy want to, so...

...Lucy showed hers next. Which in turn made the Bowb-ster...

...show his belly, too.

Then they all showed how much they love their new brother.

Josh's secret present came in on the 11th. We waited until the kids were asleep and then pulled it out. Josh had a rug like this when he was little and has wanted to get one for Bowden for a while.
Bator, the black cat, liked the rug immediately.

He looks good, no? The kids woke up and LOVED it. There are many different games you can play with a bear rug, especially if you can pretend it's a horse. This one, from Cabellas, has some especially nice details, and Josh had told the kids a long story the night before about how he and his hound dog Jupiter Silo had hunted a bear back in the day, so they were primed for the rug. It has become a morning ritual for them to curl up on it just after waking up.

Bowden's sixth birthday was on Wednesday, the tenth. I got home late from a last minute trip to Hemet...and very poor bowling...and set the table up for his waking-up. He was very excited, obviously, and we gave him a choice of waiting until after dinner to open presents or before breakfast.

He chose before breakfast.

A suitcase from Nanny was exciting enough, but inside...

...were Legos! I wouldn't let him open them before school, so we had breakfast, and then he was off. I had enough time to come home and take a shower before taking the other two chickens to the school playground to have cake with Bowden and his class...pound cake, nothing on it, Bowden's choice.. I was going to make the cakes, but then I figured I would need four pound cakes, two sticks of butter each...and I bought Sarah Lee. He was very happy with it.

I cleaned up while he was in music class, and then took him out early so that he could go with Josh to the Father's Day celebration with Lucy. Jack and I napped and read in the car, relatively, and then we all went home to play with birthday toys and so that Momma could nap. I have been pretty sleepy.

Bowden chose to have chicken and waffles for his birthday meal, and we invited the Whites and Aunt Lisa over to celebrate. Aunt Lisa had to work, and the grown-up Whites had to leave for their last senior high Bible Study of the year, so we kept Joel and Seth for a intimate party. Here they are, all of the party guests.

We had just played "Stick-the-Tail-on-the-Donkey," and everyone got two turns since we were such a small party.

Then it was time for crafts...

...which they all seemed excited about, but petered out quickly. Seth had a very happy expression, but the camera killed it.

Joel faked it for me. We made frames, and I took pictures to put in them, but the ink in my printer began to die, and both of the White boys looked a bit reddish.

Lucy is a princess at every party.

Bowden was just crazy. He took a bunch of pictures on his new kid camera, but I haven't figured out how to post them yet. I will do it on his long-forgotten blog, one of these days.

I let them watch a Land Before Time movie, Bowden's choice.

Josh took Jack-son up for a bath, and we had cake. More pound cake, with whipped cream and strawberries. I used trick candles, and the kids were amazed that they wouldn't go out, being little enough to have never seen that kind of candle before, or at least, too young to remember if they had. It was highly amusing.

I took all the candles out, and Bowden took a big lick off of the top, so I added more whipped cream and strawberries and gave the white boys the half that had been un-licked. No one seemed much to care but me.

Enjoying the cake.

I had enough goodies for goody bags, leftover from Cinco de Mayo, so Joel and Seth got to take home a bag each. This is Joel's real expression. He could be on t.v.

Seth, too, liked the idea of a goody bag.

Bowden posed with the snorkel the Whites got him. The goggles and snorkel were a big hit...

...Seth played that he was swimming for a good fifteen minutes.

Joel watched Bowden play games on his new camera- he claimed he wanted to- while Seth swam and Lucy told a story to her father that lasted forever.

Jack took his turn on the, "tongue thing" as it is called in our house.

Lucy continued her story in uniform. It was really fun having the White boys over, and Bowden had a good time. It was pleasantly low-key, but still celebrated, and everyone was satisfied. Bowden still had two presents to look forward to...a secret one from his Dad, and a present I got with Grandma and Umpa's birthday money- a Planet Heroes base. When he came down and looked at the table he said, "I wish Jacky had gotten as many presents as me!"

It was a nice day. I was ready for bed at 9 pm.

The problem, as I see it, is that I am too far behind in my blog posting. Today, for some unknown reason, possibly the fact that it's a chilly 45 degrees out in the shade, or because I don't want to miss posting the boys' birthdays, I have posted a ton. I went through and re-dated it all, though, for the days that these things actually happened.

I suggest that you ration your reading. I suggest that you read one a day, at most, and then you won't be disappointed when a week passes with nothing. Actually, maybe you should read one every two or three days...it's better that way, I'm sure. I posted all the way back to my sister's birthday, and to Memorial Day.
We have had a ton of stuff going on- last Monday we went down to Indio for our weekly doctor appointment, and Tuesday we ate at our friend's, the Reye's house, for dinner. Awana Awards were Wednesday, so we had our end of the year pizza and movie party for our adult small group on Thursday. Camp's work weekend began on Friday night, and Saturday my mom came up for the whole day, and stayed for the baby shower that Lisa and Emily threw our baby. Sunday was church- I taught Sunday School to twelve 3- and 4-year-olds, and then the Preschool Graduation Show. Yesterday was Jack's birthday, my doctor's appointment in Indio, and then our end of the year party for our junior high small group.
Today? Blogging and general laziness.
I tell you all this so that you don't expect too much. I tend to post in spurts, and if I am able to post now, I doubt much will happen in the next few weeks.
Except that I have to post Bowden's birthday, and our anniversary is coming up, and the beginning of camp, and of course, this new baby will be here within a month or so, definitely...
maybe I'll surprise myself!

Jack turned two on Monday, June 8th!
We stayed up late getting Jack's birthday table ready. His biggest present took some blowing up, and I hid it so he would actually see his other presents first.

He liked it, don't worry.

Nanny got him a wonderful puzzle, a CD with songs from my childhood, and most fun, two pairs of pajamas with "dine-dines" on them.

He can ride on this truck or push it. It honks and makes other wonderful noises. He loves it.

We pulled out the biggest gift, a jumper with balls, and Jack, for some reason, became a dinosaur and growled and stomped all over the thing.

It was very funny.

He ate his favorite ya-yow (cereal) for breakfast, and then watched some cartoons in his jumper with his dinosaurs and trucks all around him. It wasn't until he was in bed that I realized that we never had a cake for him, or sung him Happy Birthday- other people did, on my phone, but we were busy, and he's two, so he had no idea what he could have had. He liked his birthday, my little two-year-old.

Feeling left out of my baby shower? Here is the Tate Trivia Quiz you can take...the best score was fifteen or sixteen, I think.
Don't read the comments until after you've answered the questions, and I will put the answers there. Dylan and Katie have to take this on Britney's blog...she's the brilliant mind who got the most answers correctly, and she did this first.

1. Are Josh and Sarah having a baby boy or girl?
2. What is the full name of the youngest Tate? (not the unborn baby)
3. How many brothers and sisters did Sarah have growing up? (BONUS- How many did Josh have?)
4. Where did Josh and Sarah meet?
5. What state was Bowden born in?
6. Who was the heaviest Tate baby so far? Bowden Lucy Jack
7. What is Josh's favorite question to ask new friends:
a. If you could be any Bible character, who would you be?
b. If you came across Sasquatch in the woods would you shoot him?
c. I'm taking a vote; are puma, cougar, and mountain lion all the same animal?
8. What was Josh's occupation before Camp Maranatha?
9. What college did Josh and Sarah attend?
10.Sarah deeply loves her heritage...is she Greek or Italian?
11. How old is Lucy Tate? (closest to the month wins)
12. All the Tate's, regardless of age, cheer for what NFL team?
13. What is "Happy Day" at the Tate house?
14. Where is the Tate's favorite Southern California vacation spot?
15. What is Bobber Ball?
16. What are they naming the new baby? (probably)
17. What year did they get married?
18. According to Tate lore, what really awesome food dish can only be consumed during football season?
19. Where did they get married?
20. The Tate family is totally awesome: True or False.

It was a very wonderful shower, and I'm glad to have celebrated our next baby with so many of our friends. We asked not to receive any gifts, so it was a diaper and wipes shower, and we got a mountain.
I really can't take a picture that does this blanket justice. It's beautiful- Emily made it for baby Brad, and I wanted to cry...every baby should have something homemade just for him or her, and this is something especially lovely.

I have such nice friends!

On Sunday afternoon, after church, we went to the preschool show. Bowden missed his ceremony last year because he was sick, and Teacher Kathy let him join the crew during the song that he knew the signs to, and then gave him an award. What a sweet lady. The theme was princes and princesses, and Bowden was very excited to be part of it.

My handsome boy!

Here I am getting ready to tape it for my mother.

The girls with their princess dresses on, with their diplomas- oh, and little Seth there, too, clearly a prince and NOT a princess.

Teacher Kathy, Teacher Amy, and all the kids from this year of preschool. Next year Lucy will be going to the Idyllwild Preschool at the same school as Bowden for four half-days a week. I do love Teacher Kathy, though.

Jack got a lollipop and a cupcake out of it all. After the ceremony, we hung out with the Whites and ate pot-luck. The kids all escaped onto the super-fabulous yard for Town Hall's preschool, and no one wanted to leave. Lucy ended up falling asleep on the floor at home, and couldn't sleep that night, so she came down in the midst of our preparations for Jack's birthday the next day. She stayed up until 11pm...when we party, we party hard.

On Wednesday last, the kids had their Awana awards ceremony. All we are these days are awards and trophies and endings. I love summer.

The kids sang their songs.

We sat across from the Whites...I love the Whites.

The Cubbies kids were ready to sing.

Lucy was in the back, but she knew the words and the signs.

I sat in the front on the floor just to get a good view. Look at that girl!

Miss Irene asked Lucy what she liked best about Cubbies. "Singing."

It was nice, with ice cream and lollipops afterward. We've had a lot of sugar in the last month, though!

We enjoyed the pool once more before the Shirley's came home from their vacation and the pool was filled the rest of the way. Jack tried the megaphone.

Bowden brought a squirting seal down to the pool.

Jack gave up on noise, and attempted to shove lizards into the cone.

Sweet Lucy.

After a short time, the chickens decided to dry out on their towels.

All in a row.

I know, I know, redundant. I just have to post them, though, else, why do I take them?

Selah Paix and her mother and father came up to our house for a night and a day, which was wonderful. It was nice to leave them with the knowledge that I might see them in just a few days. We took all the kids down to the pool. Selah went incognito in Jack's swim diaper and hat.

Jack lounged on the grounded float.

Bowden showed Selah the joys of the megaphone.

Lucy also did some yelling, not that she needs any help being louder.

Selah's momma took her for a walk into the deeper parts.

Just before it was time to go, the kids all played on the swing set outside. I tried to talk my sister and brother into staying, but they had to go.

I tried to get the kidlings to pose together, but Jack wouldn't get out of the swing...

...and Selah was cranky. "Smile!" I said, but she would not.

Lucy was ready to, though.
At least, she was ready to strike a pose. No more Elle magazine for this child.

Finally, I got a grin from the Sai-Paix.

Bowden wanted to take a picture with his bat.

My little niece. Adorable. I can't wait to see the next one.

They were ready to go, but Selah wasn't. It was sad to watch them go...the next time we see each other, Rosie and I will (probably) have much smaller stomachs, but larger families.