20 Weeks :: One Year Later

Monica and I went to Sierra Women's Health a year ago today...excited, nervous, filled with anticipation about what we would learn about the little person we now know as Tate Bradley Robertson. He sleeps as I write this, dressed in yellow fleece pajamas, his favorite blanket wrapped around him, another covering him for some extra warmth. He may quite literally have his two front teeth for Christmas, plus as many as about four others. A year ago his ultrasound showed us this little person who appeared to be running in the womb. He continued kicking his legs throughout the pregnancy, pushing on Monica's diaphragm until she fainted at Silver Peak one night. Now I hold him in my arm--he's getting too big for just my hands--and he kicks his little feet together in the very same way we saw him moving his much smaller legs and feet in the ultrasound one year ago. Same nose too.

Sounds @ 7 Months are Funny

Tate is now just over seven months old. Can you believe that!? I hardly can. He weighs in excess of 22 pounds, and he's somewhere in the neighborhood of 27 inches long. He has his first "toof," an incisor in his bottom gum, and several others appear to be pushing into place--the primary proof of this are the dark rings under my eyes and Monica's. He's learning how to use his new equipment without hurting Monica while he's nursing, which he seems to have mastered in a few days' time. He's endlessly entertained by dancing--mine, Monica's, ours, Dancing with the Stars--and he loves funny sounds: clicks, raspberries, motorboats, as you can see in this little clip of him from Saturday night...this after he successfully smeared peaches all over his clothing and face, and even managed to swallow some.

Thanksgiving 2007

Thanksgiving 2007 was hosted by Rebecca and Davida and Karin in Los Alamos, California. What fun we had, enjoying the food and wine of the weekend. Great squash soup, turkey dinner for 16, boardwalks across Oso Flaco Lake, and wine tasting at Roblar outside of Los Olivos in Santa Barbara County. We had a great time, no question. Mom, however, had to go to Ohio Friday morning to be with Grandma Ireland--she had successful quadruple bypass surgery Friday. It's of course very worrisome, but so far, it sounds as if the result is positive.
The photos here were taken at Rebecca and Davida's house, and out at Oso Flaco Lake near the Oceano Dunes. Enjoy!

Family in Tacoma + Adventures in Solid Food

So last week, we took Tate to Tacoma, Washington, to the Western Literature Association Conference being held there. I gave a paper about the Japanese immigrant artist Chiura Obata, and dad came to give a paper on the photographer Robert Adams and the poet William Stafford. That made the WLA a family affair, and three generations of Robertson boys were in attendance, along with mom, Caitlin, John, and Monica.
Our hotel room must have had drugs in the sheets, because we slept hard after a couple of hard weeks. Tate found the bed a good practice ground for his first efforts at practicing crawling!


Grandma and Grandpa R. and Aunty Caitlin babysat Tate on Thursday night so that we could go out for dinner on our fourth anniversary--we had a great night out at a cool restaurant called Stanley & Seaforts.

Aunty Caitlin brought Tate a fun outfit (thanks, Aunty!).


We all tooled around in the rental minivan, a.k.a. land yacht. G and G R. rode in the back seats, mostly, to fawn over the grandbaby.



Since we got back, we've been enjoying watching Tate practice crawling. He' s able to do army crawls today, reaching forward for a toy, and dragging along his legs behind him--what fun! He's also had his first bites of food other than mother's milk, children's orajel, and tylenol tonight: rice cereal apparently has a traumatic taste, as these photos indicate...this from a boy who sucks on his own toes for recreation.

Four Smiles + A Frown

My joy comes wuth big smiles...

and the occasional frown...

and lots of giggles! Off to Tacoma next week for WLA, and visits with Grandma & Grandpa & Aunty Caitlin!

@ Five Months Old

@ the Great Reno Balloon Races

We took Tate to the Great Reno Balloon Races last weekend. I plan to go every year, as it's one of those things that reminds you of the wonders of your childhood, but we got to bed late Friday night, and the idea of a 5:00 a.m. alarm was sounding a little less than wonder-ful at midnight. I had even turned the alarm off. But when Tate woke up, unusually early at 4:45 a.m., we figured we were up already...so we packed him in the stroller and walked out into the twilight of the dawn. He watched the silhouettes of the trees against the sky for a few blocks, and then sacked out again. When he woke up, balloons were flying directly over us, as in the fifth picture down from the top--and he was fascinated! He threw his head back to study them, and we were fortunate that the light morning breeze blew several balloons right over the top of us. He was clearly very interested, as you can see in the second picture above. Hope you can come visit over the second weekend in September sometime--it's a magical experience.

Labor Day Weekend 2007

Hi. I'm Tate. I'm going to tell you about my Labor Day weekend with my mom, dad, and Grandma Vicki and Grandpa Brad, and a bunch of other family and friends...


I learned that I like to look at trees a lot. This one was silhouetted against the blue sky Saturday afternoon, and I looked at it for a long time from my vantage point on the lawn...

And mommy was lying next to me, watching the tree blow in the wind. She's pretty, isn't she?

Grandma Vicki was there too...

And Grandpa Brad. I have a hat like his.

This is what Daddy was looking at and enjoying most during our visit...


...Mommy and me!

@ the 90th Percentile

Tate went for his four-month checkup this week, and these are the resulting statistics:

17 pounds, 12 ounces

27 inches long

This represents an increase of 5 pounds, 12 ounces, and three inches, since June 21, the date of his two-month checkup. This places Tate in the 90th percentile of infants his age--two months ago he was in the 50th percentile. Yay for la leche!
What else...As I type this, Tate is grabbing on to my wrist, having learned how to reach for things and grasp them with his increasingly strong fingers. He has also learned to roll over onto his stomach from his back. He's not yet mastered rolling back over onto his back, and he gets frustrated with his little arms, but he's getting stronger every day, and it will only be a matter of time before he's rolling all over the living room floor, I'm sure.

Tate @ Nearly Four Months Old

This weekend, many of my mom's side of the family are gathering for a Pratt family reunion in Middletown, Ohio. Monica and I couldn't be there, but we wanted to be able to show Great Grandma Ireland some moving pictures of Tate...turn the speakers on, sit back, relax, and watch Tate laugh.