Tatum's 2!!!

Where do I even begin???

My baby girl is 2!

Where has the time gone?  Our lives have changed in so many ways in the last 2 years.  It's hard to imagine what life was like before her.

 

GOOOOD MORNING!

We woke Tatum up with balloons in her room.  She was a little confused at first but quickly got VERY excited!

  

She didn't want to go anywhere without them!

 

After our big birthday wake-up call...it was time to get ready for her party at the Children's Museum.  This was the little birthday girl in her outfit, ready to go!

 

Tatum and Myla playing at her party...picture was taken by Dylan, I will post more pictures of the party once I get them from the photographer next week.

 

Tatum and Daddy opening her presents after the party.

 

Tatum playing with all her toys...She got a drum and doesn't want to put it down.  She will bang the drum sticks together and say, "1,2,3,4" then bang on the drum.  It's cute for now...we'll see how long it lasts.  ;o)

-Tatum can count to 10 and say her ABC's.
-Her newest achievement is spelling her name.  It used to be T-A-T-A, then T-A-T-A-U-M, now she's got it down...T-A-T-U-M.  
-She knows most of her colors...green, blue, purple, pink, orange, yellow, black, and white.  She struggles with red sometimes but I'll let it slide for now.  ;o)
-She recognizes some letters, especially T.
-LOVES the Adele 21 CD and knows the words to just about every song.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE hearing her sing in the back seat and if I turn down the music she says, "hear music mommy, please"  How can I NOT?
-When you ask her how old she is she will tell you 2 and hold up her peace sign.  It took a week or so for her to get the coordination of the 2 fingers but she got it and loves telling everyone when they ask.  She will also tell you she is 2 when you ask, "How are you"  but hey its better than nothing.
-Still in her crib and hasn't yet tried to climb out...thank you Lord!
-Still sleeps from 8pm-8am with a 2 hour nap every day
-Not eating as great as she once did, not a HUGE fan of breakfast, eats a good lunch, and dinner is a little bit of a struggle these days.
-She is still our little dancing queen
-Wants to watch Tangled EVERY day
-Reads books to herself, even though I know she isn't REALLY reading them, she will tell you almost exactly what the page says, she has a GREAT memory for that kind of stuff...just like her Daddy.
-Goes to bed like a champ!  We used to have to rock and rock and rock and then she would cry when we put her down but now we read a book, rock for a minute and she tells us to either leave or that she wants to go lay in her bed.  Makes life so much easier when there isn't a fight every night.
-Unfortunately she has started to get night terrors.  I read about them and heard from friends.  It breaks my little heart to hear her screaming inconsolably from my room.  Dylan or I will go in and rock her for a little while then she goes back to bed
-She can be very challenging at times, not listening, screaming, yelling, throwing fits, and refusing to do things.  It's not often but she is a smart little cookie, she usually does this stuff when I'm carrying Druz in his car seat and we are coming or going somewhere, so she knows I can't come after her quickly, if at all. 
-She calls me Mama a lot now.  Not sure where she got that?
-When she doesn't know the answer to something, she makes up words and then giggles, thinking she is so clever.
She LOVES playing with Daddy, but is a Momma's girl for just about everything else (and I love it, I know one day she will want nothing to do with me so I'm just taking in every minute while I can!).

I'll take the good with the bad any day and love every second of it...or at least ALMOST every second. ;o)

My Boys

This pretty much sums up my week.

Sea Life Aquarium

They opened a new aquarium last month at Grapevine Mills called Sea Life Aquarium.  It's a pretty cool place.  We will definetly be going back in the near future.

 G-Pop and Tatum in a bubble tank

 G-Pop was telling Tatum all about the fish and telling her the names of each one.  She loved it!

Tunnel Tank, she was a little hesitant to walk through this one.  G-Pop had to hold her.  Even I felt like we were in the water!

Sharks swimming overhead in the tunnel

The jellyfish tank was really cool.

Even Druz got in on the action

Tatum and G-Pop playing in the touch tank

Druz and I in another bubble tank.

Taking a little break from the excitement

G-Pop's Visit

G-Pop came for a visit over the weekend.  Tatum loved hanging out with him.  He read her books and played with her and Druz for 3 days. 

Our All-Star

Dylan can't watch this video enough.  He LOVES it...His little star in the making...

3 months

My little baby is 3 months. 

The last few days have been challenging, to say the least.  He isn't sleeping at night and wants to eat about every 2 hours.  I'm writing this all off to him going through a growth spurt.  If it doesn't change soon, we will be doing some serious baby bootcamp next week.

Coffee is my new best friend.

On the bright side, he is becoming human.  He is rolling front to back and VERY close to rolling back to front, he will get up on his side and just balance there but doesn't get the little push to fall over. 

He laughs all the time and I love hearing his little giggle and seeing his smiling face. 

We are struggling with the bottle so we will feed him a bottle everyday until he gets better at it. 

He is getting better with the pacifier but still isn't a huge fan.  That's good and bad so I won't complain about it. 

Him being 3 months also means my life can start to resume as normal (whatever that is now!?!?!)  I can take him to the gym and to Mother's Day Out.

He had his first gym experience today.  Didn't go so well, the child center had to call me out of class but I'm just telling myself the more we go the better he will get, right???

Tomorrow we are going to give Mother's Day Out a try, hopefully that will have a better result.

I am ADDICTED to Pinterest...someone please HELP!!!

I could sit and play for hours...you should really check it out.

It's to the point where I want and iPhone for the sole purpose of getting the Pinterest app.  There isn't one on the Droid.  Although that's probably a good thing. 

Now, I just need to find the time to do all the fun crafty stuff I'm "pinning".

THE CIRCUS IS COMING! THE CIRCUS IS COMING!

Tatum had her first experience at the Circus today.  She loved it!
Olivia, Gab, Pablo, Zoe, Beth, and Keith all joined in on the fun as well!

Olivia and Pablo with Dylan and Tatum...waiting for the fun to begin!

 

Tatum watching all the action

There was constantly so much going on, you weren't sure where to look!

There were like 6 motorcycles in this ball...one of the scariest parts of the show.

I'm not sure if this was really the case but I felt like the tigers weren't cooperating and I was really nervous and it seemed like the trainers were to...but maybe it was just me?

My little circus queen

 

You can't go to the circus without coming home with something obnoxious

 

The elephants was one of her favorite parts, of course

There was so much action she fell asleep about 5 minutes before it was over.

Druz

 My little buddy helping me pay the bills.  He seems MUCH happier than I was at the time.  ;o)

And he is also liking the Bumbo for short periods of time.  He is growing up so fast!

 

Before... (he enjoys tummy time way more than Tatum ever did)

 

After... He is rolling from front to back...Yay! 

Would have had the camera rolling if I knew he was going to do it but I will have to get it on camera soon!

He is giggling too. Mom had him giggling last week and Dylan and I both had him going this week.  I LOVE hearing his little laugh.  He really is a very happy little boy.  I hope he stays that way FOREVER!

Precious Babies

The kids and I decided to have a little photo session of our own today.  I have to say, they are probably the sweetest, cutest, most beautiful kids I've ever seen. 

Tatum was kissing him on her own, I gave no direction, except asking her to lay down with him.  I hope she loves him this much when they get older!  It just tugs at my heart to see them laugh and love each other so much already!  *tear*

 

My Silly Boy

My Smarty Pants

Happy Birthday Vicki!

Took Vicki to lunch today for her birthday.  We don't do it enough. 

Play Date

Tatum, Druz, and I went over to Liz's today to have a little play date.  I feel like Tatum gets bored since we are trapped in doors lately.  We hadn't seen Myla or Joey in a while so we all met up to play for the day.

He did it!!!

If we are being honest here, which I always try to do, I was a bit VERY concerned about Dylan and the kids today.

I had somewhere to be from about 8:30am until 2pm, which meant Dylan was on his own with the kids.  He's been left with them for a few minutes here and there but I think an hour was the most and that didn't include feedings or putting them down for naps.  Not that I didn't have faith that he could do it.  The first time is always a little challenging, no matter who you are.

To make matters worse, as I was leaving we got a showing notification for 3pm.  I told him I would try to get home as soon as possible but if he could just make the bed and pick up our bathroom, I could probably do the rest when I got home.

I walked in the door at 2 and he was sleeping on the couch with the baby sleeping on his chest.

Insert sigh of relief here...

Everyone was still alive!  I was so proud of him.  Nothing else was done, but as long as I came home to 3 happy rested and alive people, the rest isn't important!

Zoo Party

Although its been too hot to take Tatum, we made a special visit this evening.  There was a "party" for zoo members.  One of the exhibit areas was celebrating there 10 year anniversary so we decided to go.

They had dinner and dessert and unlimited rides on the carasoul and train.  Tatum had fun playing with her friends and seeing all the animals.

Tatum with "Deenie" and Zoe

On the train, heading to the party

Checking out the bears

I was surprised that she put her hand in the touch tank but I don't think she realized they were really real. 

 Zoe, Tatum, and Elle on the big gator

Touch tank, again.

My Child

As much as I would have liked this picture to NEVER come out of the photo album, or the closet for that matter, I do think Druz and I look a little alike.  Poor kid!

My mom says she thought I was cute, I think I'm the ugliest kid I've ever seen.  I think Druz is cute so maybe he isn't as cute as I thought after all.

my loves

Tross' Birthday Celebration

We celebrated Tross' birthday last night at Mom's. 

His cake had a picture of him skateboarding.  Pretty cool.

Date Night

Mom came over to watch the kids last night.  Tyler was here too. 

Dylan and I got to go out to dinner kid free and then we met up with some friends to catch up a little.

I only had two drinks and that was plenty for me...I'm a cheap date!

We laughed.  We talked.  We cried.  Ok, so we didn't cry but we had a great time and I love hanging out with my friends and most of all, my husband.

Matter of Time...

I was warned about this by my friends and family. 

I knew it was only a matter of time.

Tatum is now starting to have an opinion on what she wears.  I figure at this point it isn't worth the battle.

Great Article

Read this on my girlfriend, Alison's blog.  She got it from a Babywise bog she follows...too good not to pass on!  I can relate to both sides and realize more every day how so very true this is.

Increasing Our Capacity

A few days ago, as my children and I were taking a bike ride through the streets of our town, a woman a few years younger than I walked outside. She just had her first baby, a boy, and he is about 6 weeks old. This means he was born around the time of year Brayden was born. She came out in her pajamas and was calling her dog who was barking at us as we rode by.

I smiled as I thought back to those days with my first child. I remembered making it to the end of the day and realizing I hadn't yet had a chance to brush my teeth. I couldn't help but wonder what she thought as I rode by with my three children, all of us showered and dressed. I hoped she didn't feel discouraged. I wondered if she thought, "Some day, it will get easier."

Then I thought about the fact that it does not get easier per say, just different. My mind then led to when Kaitlyn was a newborn. When she was a newborn, I was showered, dressed, and teeth brushed all in the morning. When McKenna came along it was the same story. So why could I manage to get ready with three children, one being a newborn, but not with just one child?

My mind immediately jumped to a quote I had recently read. I had just taught a lesson in church on developing talents, and this quote was in the lesson:

“That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do; not that the nature of the thing is changed, but that our power to do is increased” -Heber J. Grant

This quote is from a man who overcame weakness after weakness to turn those weaknesses into talents. It hit me. Motherhood doesn't get easier because the nature of motherhood changes as our children get older. It gets easier because we have persisted, grown in our knowledge, and our power to be a mother has increased.

What power that realization has with it! I have talked a lot about enjoying the moment and finding things to appreciate now--because you will miss them some day. But with this quote applied to motherhood, it means that we don't need to wish away our time with our young children--them getting older isn't what makes life easier. Us getting to be better and more capable mothers is what makes it easier.

That is why women can accomplish more with 3 children--one being a newborn--than they could when they had only one child who was a newborn. Our capacity increases. Our talent for motherhood has grown.

Think of the parable of the talents found in Matthew 25. If you aren't familiar with it, I will briefly summarize. 3 men were given talents of different number by their master. The first was given five. He then went out and worked to increase it, gaining five more. The second was given two. Like the first, he worked and gained two more. The third was given one. He was afraid of the repercussions in possibly losing his talent, so he hid it.

When the master returned, he was please with the first two and displeased with the last. The conclusion to the parable is essentially that when you use what you have, you will be given more. When you don't, what you have will be taken away.

How can we apply this to ourselves as mothers? When we merely survive life, waiting for that blessed day in the future when things will get easier, which servant are we being like? The unprofitable servant. We are not increasing our capacity to be a mother in the least.

What about when we do our best to improve each day? When we do our best to enjoy what is before us? That is when we become profitable servants. That is when we increase our capacity to do what we are doing. Then we are making life easier for ourselves rather than waiting for it to magically happen one day.

Do not be discouraged. I don't intend to push you further than you can go. Being a new mom is hard. There are times you feel you are barely treading water. Do not try to do more than you can do. Just do the best with what you have. Your best is enough, and you know if you are giving it or not. Do not sit and wish away your months until life will be "easier." Move forward, enjoying each day as much as you can. Just put one foot in front of the other and you will improve your capacity.

23 months and miracles

My big baby is 23 months today...one more month until I can say her age in years and not months!  YAY!

I just can't believe how big she has gotten and how much our lives have changed in just a short period of time. 

AND...Druz slept 8 hours last night for the first time!  HALLELUJAH!   Then went back down until 9:45!!!

Tatum was up around 7:30-8:00 but just layed in bed singing and chatting to herself until 9:30!  I'm sure she would have gone on longer but I had to get going with my day so I went in and got her out of bed.  These kinds of mornings make me think I can do this again.  Someday.