My two front teeth

Look everybody! I got my two front teeth. They have been kind of painful, but I sure am having fun touching my top teeth to my bottom teeth. Don't I look cute?

The Shack

Hello readers,

I am taking a chance to post about something other than Kate. Although, it does include her. I am sure that many of you have heard of the popular book The Shack by William P. Young. Well, I have just recently read it, and I highly encourage you to as well. My father-in-law, who I highly respect, had advised the family to read this book. He had mentioned that it had impacted him. Zack also has recently read it and thought it would be good for me to read it, too.
Since being a Mom, I have noticed I cannot handle situations like I once could. Meaning, I don't like to watch the news, see scary or dark movies, or read books that have sad stories in them. I remember in college I used to be oblivious to these things. I never really worried about the evil out there. I felt pretty safe in Abilene. As I have become older, I am more and more aware of the evil in this world. I kind of miss the days of not really thinking about these things. The minute Kate was born, I wanted to put a bubble around her to protect her from being hurt and keep her from the evil and cruelty in this world. Zack said to me the other day, "Tami, if you could prevent Kate from experiencing any pain in this world, would you?" Of course there is a part of me that wants to say "Absolutely yes!" Instead I said, "No, because she would miss out on some valuable lessons in life, and she wouldn't fall down on her knees to God in times of hurt or desperation. She will become stronger and gain wisdom from those challenges."
When you read the back of this book, you will see it is about the sadness a father feels when his child is abducted. My heart sank when reading this, I thought there is no way I can read this book! When reading that section of the book, I wanted to put the book down. If I would of done this, I would of missed out on the best part of the story. I won't say too much because I don't want you to miss out on the journey and experience of the book; however, I will say how it has impacted me.
It reminded me that we are all human. Most people that inflict pain on others have a lot of pain in their lives as well. Everybody has their own story of why they are the way that they are. It made me yearn to be with God and have conversations with him about my life. It also reminded me of how important my relationship is with him. The more that I talk to him and pray to him, the more that he will be a part of my daily thoughts and decisions. I do think it is good to be aware of the evil that is in this world so that we can fight against it. However, there is a difference between awareness and being too fearful. We can't allow Satan to get the best of us and put fearful thoughts in our minds which are not realistic or from God. One of my favorite professors from ACU was Willard Tate (no relation, wish there was), and I remember him saying, "It is important to look at the world and think that there is more good in it than bad." That really stuck with me. It is a lot more healthy to try to see the good in people than the bad and to not look at others and judge them.
No matter what your story, whether you are a reader or not, Christian or unbeliever, I encourage you to read this book. It helps you with questions that you have about life and God. I think the author does a great job of showing how God feels about us and loves us. There may be some things that are written that you don't agree with, but there will also be things that give you hope for what is to come. So take some time to read this amazing book! Oh and by the way, don't make the mistake many people have made; this is a fictional book.

Updates

These first four photos are some of Kate's favorite toys from Christmas. She loves to look at herself in the mirror. So the stage from Fisher Price is fun for not only her but also for us to watch!



Uncle Jason and Kate hanging out. Jason is a great uncle and father. He has a natural gift with children. He is a youth minister up in Shreveport along with the rest of his family- Lauren(Zack's sister) and their precious children: Bree, Emie and Cole

Zack holding both of the girls on Christmas Day. They got these linking necklaces that they loved. Can you tell them apart? Kate is on the left.

I love this sweet picture of Zack and Kate
Aubrey and Kate
Our family

Kamara and Aubrey, Lori and Isabelle, Me and Kate

Kate and our family Christmas. Doesn't she look cute in front of all of the presents?

I hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas and New Year! It is hard to believe another year has gone by. I feel very blessed to think about this past year and how God blessed us with a wonderful baby girl. A year ago we did not know if it was a boy or a girl at this point. I feel that 2008 was a wonderful year, and I hope all of you feel the same way. I can't wait to see how God blesses our life in 2009.
Overall, we had a wonderful Christmas. It was so nice to have Zack off for a couple of weeks. We were able to enjoy our time together, and Zack could sleep in a little later and relax. Zack was also very sweet and let me sleep in some mornings while he took care of Kate. She also started sitting up on her own over the holidays. Our baby is growing up! There was a stomach bug going around the Tate household that I got along with my sister and two brother-in-laws. I was not able to enjoy the holiday eating that I love so much.
I thought I would list some favorite things that we enjoyed over the break.

• I got the Shark steam mop from Zack and I love using it. It cleans the kitchen so much better than the Swifter mop.
• Zack got one of those cans of popcorn with three flavors from a teacher at his school. I have really enjoyed eating that. I like to mix the three flavors. I ate way too much of it!
  
• Zack and I discovered the first season of the show 30 Rock on DVD and we love it. It is hilarious! It is a new favorite.
• We really enjoyed the nice weather and going on a couple of walks.
• Spending time with family is always so special.
• Staying up later and sleeping in later
• Going out to breakfast as a family. We love the Original Pancake House. I highly recommend it.
• I always enjoy getting all of the Christmas cards and seeing the pictures of my family and friends.
  
• Doing P90x workouts with Zack
• We had a great New Year's Eve with Kamara, Rod and Aubrey. The girls both went on to bed so Kamara and I got to hang out, and Rod and Zack got to play video games. It was like old times.
• Watching Kate on her first Christmas. It was a joy to see her open presents and then play with her new toys.
• I always love the tradition that the Tate family does of eating coffee cake on Christmas Day. My Mom makes a delicious coffee cake. I look forward to eating it every year.
• My mother-in-law gave me the most amazing robe. It is so soft and I feel so warm and cozy when I wear it. I enjoyed wearing it over the break.
  

On another note, Kate turned 7 months old over a week ago. We had our doctor's appt. and she pretty much has the same stats as two months ago. She went from 25 to 50 percent in her head. She gained almost 3 pounds, she is now weighing close to 16 pounds. She is 27 percent for her weight and still 75 percent for her length. Seeing how her head percentage went up by 25 percent I think that might be where she gained her weight. We also at that time noticed that Kate was coming down with a cold. She was coughing and sneezing a lot. The doctor said to use a humidifier and put some Vick's drops in it. We used a vaporizer, humidifier, Tylenol, and a chest rub along with Vapor rub to try to heal her. It had been over a week and we still had not seen any improvement. Then two nights ago Kate had a 102.5 temperature. So yesterday, I took her back to the doctor and she has a sinus infection and an ear infection. The poor thing! So Kate is now taking her first antibiotics. Luckily, it tastes like bubble gum. I am just glad that we can now do something to help heal her. She was really uncomfortable at night, and we were constantly having to clean out her nose. Zack is very good at that job! She was having such a hard time breathing and her eyes were even starting to get crusty. We already saw some improvement last night, but she still is coughing and sneezing quite a bit. Our doctor said it would take 48 to 72 hours for the medicine to take full effect. So that is what is going on in the Pruett household. I am trying to just stay at home for a couple of days while Kate heals up. Happy New Year!
This is actually an old video of my Dad playing with Kate. It is from Thanksgiving, but I just love it!