TateSpace

A Boy and His Dogs

2012-02-17T06:44:00.000-08:00

In case anyone wonders whether that little guy up there in header maintains a close relationship with his furry friend, here's your answer:

The wonderfully patient Liam is happy to be used as field for tractors, trucks and all manner of vehicles who need a challenging surface upon which to practice their maneuvers throughout the day.

Sierra, on the other hand, considers her job to be keeping a careful watch over the boy at bathtime. She takes this very seriously, and if we don't allow her upstairs at bedtime she'll plaster herself to the top step with her nose poking under the gate to monitor the situation as closely as she can. Sweet old girl!

Look Who's TWO!

2012-02-15T08:27:00.000-08:00

Shame on me for being SO late in posting our sweet boy's second birthday pics!

Tate's request for his birthday cake: a pink dump truck! Don't you just love it? I compromised and did a half-yellow, half-pink dump truck instead. It turned out pretty well! The kiddos were all very enthusiastic about the Oreo "dirt".

Blowing out the candle with CeCe and cousins!

Pretty excited about having his first Oreo! He never did eat it...just carried it around for an hour or so as it disintegrated into a mushy pile in his hand.

Mmmmm. Cake with cousins! What fun!

Bruce has a cute video of us all singing the birthday song to T on his phone, but since he's on the road I can't download it at the moment. Once he's home, I'll try to remember to get that posted here! Tatum loves watching it.

More from us us soon~
xxoo

Merry Merry

2011-12-27T06:26:00.000-08:00

Fall in Summary

2011-11-29T10:40:00.000-08:00

Poor Tate's Space! I've been quite negligent in getting updates posted here lately, haven't I? I blame it on trying to sell our house, trying to sell our house, and ... oh, trying to sell our house! Sigh.

Since I assume you all are here for the photos anyway, let's get to it!

Tatum was (of course) a race car driver for Halloween.

Wee-Twos class photo with his adorable cousin, "Pinkerbell" in the middle

One of the pathetically few photos taken with his PawPaw when Gran and PawPaw came to visit from Colorado--PawPaw is also holding Tate's cousin Josh, slightly more willing to sit for a photo than Tatum, it would appear!

Playing the piano at CeCe and Gramps' house with cousin Lillian, visiting from Virginia

Another Wee-Twos pic of Tatum and Paige, this time with Thanksgiving treats (a turkey made from an apple and gum drops, so cute!). Sadly, I'm the one taking the pic and not the cute pregnant belly sitting next to the T-man. I WISH!

Not the greatest of photos, but it's so rare that I'm able to capture a picture of big boy cousin Parker with the little ones that I thought I'd include it.

I'm guessing T is making some kind of "vrooom vroom" noise with his cars here, what a funny expression! Parker's grin is adorable, though.

Enjoying CeCe's turkey-pops at Thanksgiving with cousins (another poor phone pic, but since it includes all the "littles" I thought I'd post it)

Having fun on the train at the zoo

My little Mister Serious (or, as his daddy puts it, "Who is that International Man of Mystery?")

And taking various trips to the nearby construction site to admire the trucks

I'm a sucker for pics of little ones walking with their daddy. The contrast of a big guy with this little person trusting him completely just melts me every time!

And finally, perusing the ads for trucks and cars in this week's paper over lunch. As I said on FB, this photo makes it frighteningly easy to flash-forward 14 years! (The face paint is of the tomato soup variety, by the way.)

Whew! That was fall in a nutshell. I hope to do better this Christmas season. Tatum is enthusiastic about everything this year, from tree ornaments to Santa Claus. Makes it all so exciting and fun!

Hop on Pop and Current Obsessions

2011-10-26T07:48:00.000-07:00

I constantly forget that Tatum isn't two yet. He sings the alphabet song, he counts the steps as we go downstairs each morning (up to 13!) and his language skills make me smile. (Ahem, brag much mommy?! I can't seem to help myself!) He's currently into asking "What are you doing?" and if he's across the room and I'm having a conversation with Sarah or Bruce, he'll run over and ask, "What are you saying?" His big catch phrase right now is "something else"--I'll be singing him a song and he'll interrupt and ask for "something else," or we'll be eating breakfast and mid-bowl-of-oatmeal, he'll start insisting on "something else!" I hope it's a passing phase.

He's absolutely OBSESSED with match box and hot wheel cars. He plays with them first thing in the morning and often falls asleep clutching one or two at night. I love hearing the names he comes up with for them: "flame truck, little delivery van, big kahuna, racer race car, shiny tires" etc. There's some construction happening near where we live (a retirement living community) and we walk over to watch the trucks at least once a day. He knows them all: dump truck, forklift, backhoe loader, excavator, bulldozer. Sometimes I hear him repeating the names of the trucks to himself as he falls asleep at night. I foresee a car- or truck-themed 2nd birthday in our future!

He recently got his first big shiner--a black eye that's been there for over a week now! I can't even say exactly how it happened. I think he may have walked into the corner of our table; I was cleaning out one of the cabinets in the kitchen at the time and didn't see him when it happened. :(

I tried to get a picture of it the next morning, but it's fainter than I thought in this one (I think it got darker over the next day or so, poor kiddo):

Isn't this how everyone watches football?

Helping mommy work.

(Notice there's a car clutched in his hand in every single picture! Seriously, if we go to the park, he tries to climb the playground equipment while holding a car. Music class? We take a car. Bathtime? Car. OBSESSED! At least it doesn't have to be one specific car or truck--his favorites seem to alternate.)

Fall Fun

2011-10-04T08:04:00.000-07:00

We've had some big happenings this fall! For one, Tatum started SCHOOL! Okay, so it's a gathering of two-year-olds that takes place one day a week from 9:30 - 11 AM, and parents are included. So not exactly school...but he calls it "class" and he's so excited about it!

We start each class with some play time downstairs at the church. The kids pick between riding in cars, climbing on equipment, playing at the train table, and so on.

(The age range is actually something like 18 months to 3+, in case you're wondering about the size variation of some of these kiddos! The other little boy in this picture attends with his little brother, and I think he's closer to 4.)

Then the class lines up and heads upstairs for snack and story time. They wash their hands and sit around a table. It's so sweet and grown-up!

In addition to "school", we've visited a local farm for hayrides, apple picking, and lots of climbing, jumping and exploring.

There were even "corn boxes" filled with corn instead of sand! So cool.

It's hard to beat a beautiful fall day on the farm--especially when it's spent with good friends (Stephanie and the beautiful Miss Lucy).

And you can't beat a giant slide that goes from the top of the hill all the way down to the orchard below!

Later, pardners.

Shaggy vs Trim

2011-09-28T06:45:00.000-07:00

When Tate recently told me that he had "bugs" on his neck and swiped at the hair tickling his collar, I realized it was time for another hair cut. It must be the UVA girl in me; I'll admit, I love that shaggy, preppy overgrown look his hair gets when it's a bit longer. But I hate for him to be uncomfortable (bugs!) so off we went for another hair cut.

Fortunately I have some "before trim" shots to hold me over until it grows out again. :)

And of course, Tatum is adorable no matter what! Here he is after bath, the night he got his hair cut.

Night time chats and morning reads

2011-09-20T06:23:00.000-07:00

We've been really entertained by Tate at night lately. He falls asleep after spending quite some time chatting with himself about his day. He'll count: "One, two, three, four, ten, twelve..." and chat about his family members: "Aunt Lauren. Uncle Mike. Gramps! CeCe...." or some of his other favorite things: "Music class! Trucks. White truck. Red truck. Vrrrrrrooooom!"

Last night he was still rolling around his crib around 9 PM or so, and I was watching him on our monitor just because...well, I can't get enough of him! I turned up the volume to hear what he was saying, and it was this: "I like to talk! I like to talk. Talk talk talk." I'm sure he picked up the line from "Hop on Pop" (we like to talk, we like to walk) but in this case it couldn't be more true!

In addition to his increasingly grown-up vocabulary, T-man has taken up some other habits that remind me eerily of his dad. For instance, reading at the breakfast table:

I'm not condoning reading at the table (and in fact get on Bruce from time to time to turn off the Blackberry or put down the paper!), but this was pretty darned cute.

It's just a matter of time before he makes the leap from the Babies R Us insert to front page news. I need to savor these innocent pre-news days while I can!

PS--I just noticed the resemblance between that top photo of Tate reading and the photo from when he was just a little guy with our dog, Liam, at the very top of the blog. The furrowed brow, the little dimpled chin--so similar! It made me smile.

Heeeeeeeyyyyyy, GOAT!

2011-08-31T08:13:00.000-07:00

We've been having lots of fun with cousins this summer! A few weeks ago we went to the Medina County Fair, an animal-filled adventure that included dozens of baby pigs (less than a week old, sooooo cute!), more rabbits than you can count, chickens, ducks, cows, horses and ponies big and HUGE, and our favorites--the goats!

Gramps was ready to adopt a goat, they were so darn cute and endearing. They look a bit like creatures from a Star Wars movie (remember Jar Jar Binks?) and they are NIBBLY. Pretty much every goat we passed wanted a little taste of Tatum's stroller. I'm sure it's picked up some tasty flavors over the past 20 months: gold fish crackers, milk, and raisins, to name a few favorites! I'm not sure how Tate felt about the goats nibbling on his ride, but I had to snap a few pictures it was so cute.

At the fair Tatum also experienced his first amusement park ride! A spin on the merry-go-round with CeCe, Cami, Paige and Parker.

Last weekend, we attended our second "Touch-A-Truck" event. The blaring loud fire engine horns made T-man extra snuggly. He spent a lot of time on Mommy and Daddy's shoulders, not wanting to be set down.

When his cousins arrived on the scene, though, he perked right up and did some exploring!

We're so lucky to have our cousins close by.

(That last picture was totally unprompted, by the way! Cami is just the sweetest girl and wanted to share her ice cream with her cousin. Did I mention that we're lucky to be so close? :) )

Tatum's favorite things

2011-08-15T10:26:00.000-07:00

Goodness, I've been bad about updating T's blog lately! We've had a lot going on this summer and my computer time is falling to the wayside.

Here's a quick update to share some of our latest pics and a few of Tatum's favorite things.

He's a true nature boy and LOVES to be outside. He helps mommy in the yard all the time, "mowing," watering, and pointing out new flowers. He loves to find secret passages through the bushes and trees, which he calls "sneaking."

Tatum also loves his trucks, trains, airplanes and cars. He's a vehicle guy, as you can see.

We're so excited for the Touch-a-Truck event to come to town at the end of the month! We had a fun preview of what it will be like when our town had a "safety night" recently, with police vehicles and fire trucks of all shapes and sizes. Tatum was a bit overwhelmed by it all, which makes me wonder what he'll make of Touch a Truck, which is 10 times the size of safety night!

We spent a night rocking out to some fun music downtown with our cousins. (Cami is very red in the face because I think she ran in circles to the music for about an hour straight!)

After music class on Saturdays we've started a little tradition of going to Chik Fil-A, where Tatum likes exploring the play area, including the funhouse mirror!

We attended our first baseball game as a family and made it through several innings before Tatum was read to head out. Give it another year or so and we may make it through an entire game!

In general, as always, we've just been keeping it classy. ;)

Hope everyone else is having a fun summer too!

There are only so many times in a boy's life...

2011-07-18T09:22:00.000-07:00

...when he can really rock the "diaper and hat-to-the-back" look!

Tatum was running all over in his diaper wearing a baseball hat this morning, and the combo just struck me as much too cute not to be captured on camera. I mean really, the time frame for wearing a diaper AND a baseball hat has to be a pretty limited one in a guy's life, right? College and potential frat boy high-jinks aside.

As with most photo sessions, this one ended with the charging of the photographer by the subject:

4th of July Fun

2011-07-06T07:35:00.000-07:00

A big thumb's up for our fun 4th of July weekend!

The 4th is Tatum's daddy's favorite holiday, so we'd been hoping that he'd be able to come home for the weekend. Not only did he make it home, but his brother (Tatum's Uncle Marc), Aunt Shannon, and Tate's cousins Abby, Lillian and Josh came too!

My favorite pic of the cousins together

We were so excited to have Tate's cousins and aunt and uncle here.

All decked out for the 4th in our red, white and blue

Despite the heat, we played and played!

Tatum's CeCe made the girls these adorable dresses out of t-shirts (she's amazing!), and they loved them! They had such fun twirling and twirling.

Tatum, where's your belly button? (You can tell from his face that this is a tired boy. It was at least 9 PM and we were waiting for the fireworks to start! Fortunately we watched from the football field, so the kiddos had a great space to run and play while waiting.)

What do I do with this thing?

Can I eat it?

Oooooh, I'm supposed to THROW it!

Nothing like a little competition to get the kiddos to wolf down whatever's on the plate!

CeCe made some of her famous sugar cookies, and the girls helped her decorate them. Mmmmmmmm!

Tasty!

We hit the playground several times, filled up the inflatable backyard pool and splashed, turned on the sprinkler, had ice cream at Bidinger's, visited CeCe and Gramps, saw fireworks, ran around the football field, stayed up late, had a big cookout with lots of tasty food, and in general just had exactly the kind of 4th of July weekend you hope to have--a wonderful time with family and friends.

4th of July Preview

2011-06-21T08:04:00.001-07:00

Tatum's cousins from the DC area are coming to visit us over the 4th of July weekend; we're very excited! This past weekend, I made a last-minute decision to drive down to DC so that T-man could spend father's day with his daddy, and we were able to hang out with his aunt, uncle and cousins for a night.

It was a fun preview of the good times to come in July! Tatum and Joshua are very close in age. T was born on Jan. 10, Josh on Jan. 25. It's a hoot watching them together.

Tatum to Josh: "Hey, I love remote controls, too!"

Chillin' together on the sweet purple Tinkerbell lounger (can you guess that Josh has older sisters?)

Hard at play

And finally, a few with the lovely ladies!

Daddy makes an excellent climbing toy.

Beach Trip 2011 - Part 1

2011-06-14T09:54:00.000-07:00

Beach Trip 2011 was a huge success! What a difference a year makes...from a week at the beach last year with a 6-month-old to a week this year with a 17-month-old. Tatum quickly picked up all the necessary beach lingo: ocean, sand, seagull, pool, beach. And of course, CHOOCH! (What we call my dad, Tate's grandpa.)

Tatum also says his cousin's names well (and often) and absolutely LOVED spending the week with them. He woke up asking for Pakuh (Parker), MeMe (Cami) and Paych (Paige) and had so much fun digging with them at the beach, running around the condo like a wild man screaming and chasing them, and going on ocean and pool adventures.

Tatum with his beloved aunt Lauren and cousins

T-man really enjoyed the pool and was inspired by his cousins to swim--he kept trying to launch himself from our arms and didn't mind at all getting his head wet. He's also learning to kick his legs, so it may not be long before he actually IS able to swim a bit!

We took a ton of photos and I haven't had time to edit them all (or even look at them all yet!). But I wanted to get a few posted for the enjoyment of T-man's daddy, who's on the road, and his Chooch, who I know will be checking in for updates and some photos from our wonderful week together.

I'll post more as I'm able to get them edited and uploaded. In the meantime, here's a start!

Looking like a little male model...

And on the flip side...that chocolate ice cream sure was yummy!

Attempted family pic with Chooch...squirmy boy was not particularly cooperative

The "Chooch and Grandkids" shot was even more challenging, with a 6-year-old who'd rather be playing and the little ones in various stages of disintegration.

Chooch with his daughters, sons-in-law and grands

Love T's baby blues in this one!

We did a lot of this.

It wouldn't be the beach without some baby-in-the-surf pics!

More soon...

xxoo

Someone got a haircut!

2011-05-13T11:49:00.000-07:00

Tatum's daddy is on the road again, and requested that I upload photos from his haircut last weekend. (Vague as to whether I meant Tatum or his daddy's haircut--they actually got them at the same time, so it could go either way!)

These were taken with my phone and aren't great quality, but here goes.

Tatum wasn't any more enthusiastic about his second haircut than he was with his first. We tried sitting him in mommy's lap, letting him look at a book, hold a comb...the T-man's face turned red and the tears fell. Then a lollipop was introduced, and things improved a bit. As you can see in the last photos, he gripped a comb in one hand and the lollipop (which was coated in hair by the end of his trim, ick!) in the other.

He seems to have survived!

The shorter hair makes him look older--but at least he doesn't have hair hanging down in his eyes when he's trying to read or play! And his dada loves the cut because Tatum looks more like him.

T-man likes Icing

2011-05-06T07:52:00.000-07:00

Some cute pics from Gramps and CeCe. The first few are from Easter, the last one is from Parker's 6th (!!!) birthday last weekend. I can't believe Tatum's cousin is 6 years old now. Growing up fast!

Easter weekend 2011

2011-04-25T08:12:00.000-07:00

We had a fun Easter weekend, filled with family and celebration and (too much!) wonderful food.

On Saturday, all of the cousins gathered at CeCe and Gramps' house for an Easter egg hunt in the yard and turkey dinner followed by an incredibly delicious carrot cake (my grandma, MeMe's, recipe). Tatum didn't do a great job eating dinner, but he certainly enjoyed dessert, licking all of the cream cheese frosting off of mom's piece of cake!

Does Tatum fit in well with his Ross uncle and cousins or what? They're sort of a matched set there, Uncle Mike and Paige and the T-man.

Sunday morning the Easter bunny visited our house, and the T-man tried (and rejected) his first marshmallow bunny. Fortunately Easter candy isn't really his thing yet (unfortunately, that leaves mommy and daddy to either finish it off or exert enough discipline to throw it out!).

Following church we met up over at the senior Ross household for another Easter dinner (whew!) and more fun with cousins. We tried to get a few photos of everyone together, but it's not the easiest thing to accomplish when cousins range from 16 months to 6 years old.

These are my best attempts at cousin photos:

And a few sweet individual pics of the girls and Tatum:

Now mommy needs to get to the gym to work off all those jellybeans and Easter treats!

Channeling Chooch

2011-04-22T07:12:00.000-07:00

Tatum recently started making a funny face every night when we brush teeth after bath. We call it his "brush face," and it reminds me of watching my dad shave when I was little. The way he'd stick his head out -- somehow Tate reminds me of Chooch a bit in this quick video.

What's Tatum up to these days?

2011-04-20T08:03:00.000-07:00

Well, he's been helping dad in the yard a bit.

Lounging.

Reading.

He's a real cuddler. He loves his doll and will hold her and kiss her so sweetly (just before he throws her down and steps on her head, of course). He still has his special cuddle puppy that he sleeps with every night, and he adores stuffed animals. Such a lover, our little guy!

We visited my dad when he spent a few days in the hospital recently, and Tate got to bond with his great uncle Mike. It was special seeing them together. (And thankfully Chooch is on the mend!)

The T-man has decided that he likes baseball hats, and will now willingly puts his hat on (and off...and on...and off) throughout the day.

His vocabulary has taken off! Every day it's something new. Yesterday he picked up "squirrel" and "purple", and now when he plays with his bath toys each night he tries to say "seahorse" and "octopus"! Amazing to watch his mind clicking away, picking up new information every minute.

He continues to bewitch people wherever he goes with those huge blue eyes of his, and he makes us all laugh daily. What a goof!

Future Tony Hawk

2011-04-11T11:18:00.000-07:00

When Tatum first started to crawl, he would seek out things to hold in one (or both!) hands as he scooted across the floor. We called them his "sliders," and laughed about the fact that anything you handed to him would be tested for potential slider capacity.

As he became more upwardly mobile, he'd slide along with various things under his feet (pieces of paper, tupperware lids, magazines, toy cars...) and we started to worry a bit that his use of sliders might lead to a serious accident if we weren't careful.

Now he's graduated from sliders. Fortunately he seems content to run around without the aid of slippery foot-gear of his own creating. HOWEVER...

I recently witnessed him trying out his first pseudo-skateboard! I know I shouldn't have taken these photos, but he was so darned cute and his smile was so darned big, and the camera was right next to us on the table. I couldn't resist.

So here he is, our wee Tony Hawk. With plenty of drool on his shirt and banana in his hair. ;)

Phoning it in

2011-03-21T09:54:00.000-07:00

So much for my pledge to post more pics from our real camera! Apparently I'm phoning it in again, folks--these are all recent iPhone pics.

That said, I think they're worth sharing!

So much has changed in just a few short weeks. These were taken back in February during a family trip to PA. Now, Tatum prefers to walk without mommy or daddy holding his hand. Actually, what he really prefers to do is run full steam ahead as we frantically chase after him, trying to prevent an excess of falls, scrapes and bruises!

We were delighted to discover our boy gracing the window of the Downtown Photo Shop where we had his 1-year pics taken in January. What a cutie!

A few recent pics of daddy reading to the munchkin. What a handsome pair of boys I have in my life! Maybe it's just me, but it looks like the kiddo has legs for miles in these photos.

Tatum was playing over at CeCe and Gramps' yesterday and the plastic coupe car did some wonderful things to his hair. Static electricity + fine baby hair = fun photos!

March Madness

2011-03-15T10:43:00.000-07:00

Tatum-style!

Okay folks, I need to do better picking up our actual camera now and then. Lately Tatum's blog seems to be populated by iPhone pics only (and those mostly from my husband!)--not bad, but not nearly as nice as photos taken with a real camera.

Better yet, maybe I could take the time to type an update now and again. ;)

I hope to capture some of this on video soon: Tatum is talking. It started about 2 weeks ago with "ball"--ball, ball, ball, ball. Everything was "ball" for a day or two. From there he's added mama and dada, baby, dog, book, duck, apple, and something very close to banana. He also does the sign for dog (patting his hip with his hand) while panting--so cute! And the other day on a walk, he broke out the sign for bird when some geese flew overhead. It's just awesome to see the leaps his mind is taking right now.

More from us soon.

In the meantime, I leave you with yet another iPhone gem, courtesy of daddy:

Zzzzzoom

2011-03-09T07:18:00.000-08:00

Our little race car driver giving things a try at the mall over the rainy weekend.

What else does a guy do on a rainy weekend around here? Read, of course!

On the Move

2011-02-23T08:21:00.000-08:00

I have a host of videos taken on my phone that I have yet to download and share. Since I haven't posted any footage of our little man on the move, I thought now would be the time!

Here's Tatum, walking and shaking his groove thing.

13 Months and Counting

2011-02-15T08:59:00.000-08:00

I didn't provide any milestones in my 1-year update on the Tater, so let me jot down a few notes as we pass the 13 month mark.

Tatum is in the 90th percentile for height at 1 year, and the 55th percentile for weight.

The T-man is walking. Not super-confidently yet, but he takes 10-12 steps at a time before he pulls a stop, drop and crawl maneuver.

He eats just about anything. We're still struggling a bit to get veggies to appeal, but fruit is without a doubt his favorite thing. Other favorites: crackers and these veggie stick snack things, which unfortunately probably have about as many calories and as much sodium as potato chips, so we've been trying to cut back on those...but man, does he ever love them! He'll put five in each fist and eat 10 at once if we allow it.

New tricks involve climbing up on chairs and the sofa (with a stool to use as a booster) and rolling. If you ask Tatum to show you a roll, he'll drop down on his quilt and roll over a few times, giggling away. So stinkin' cute, that kid!

No real words yet, though he likes to say "uh oh" and "ah choo!" (The "ah choo!" does coordinate with his sneezes, too--he likes to follow up a real sneeze with a few fake ones, followed by copious laughter.) He often babbles "ma ma ma" but I don't think he connects MaMa to me, at least not all the time.

He continues to adore his doggies, and enjoys feeding them from his hands. He'll deliberately hold out a treat in his hand and giggle away as Sierra or Liam tries to lick it out of his closed fist. He's such a tease. The dogs are super gentle with him, though; it's been such a pleasure seeing how beautifully they've adapted to his presence in their lives.

He LOVES reading. He'll sit through 5 or 6 books in a row, and will even pick up his books and thumb through them on his own, looking at the pictures. Current favorites are The Little Red Caboose and Can You See What I See? Dinosaurs.

He also loves music. If I sing him songs, he'll clap along (I'm sure it's my STELLAR voice he's reacting to ;) ), and he often bobs to music that's playing.

He's attempting to give up his afternoon nap! This started very shortly after he turned one. Suddenly, he'd rather cry for 35 minutes in his crib than lie down to rest in the afternoons. It seems unusual that he's opting out of his afternoon nap rather than his morning nap, which he still takes with no problem. We're trying to inch the morning nap back a bit so that we end up with one mid-day nap instead, because without an afternoon nap we end up with a very, very tired little boy by 7:00 or 7:30 PM.

Tatum's become very attached to the soft little puppy blanket that's been in his crib since he was about 6 or 7 months old. He often won't put it down in the morning when we get him out of his crib, and we're constantly having to go on puppy hunts around the house to ensure that he has it for naptime.

Speaking of which, it sounds as though naptime is coming to an end upstairs, so I'd better run. More from the fun world of Tatum soon!

xxoo

The professional pics are in!

2011-02-09T06:57:00.000-08:00

And oh, they're so cute! These were taken last month to commemorate Tate's first birthday at a great little photo studio downtown.

This is probably my favorite:

And Tatum's over-the-top personality shines through in these:

Firsts

2011-02-07T16:45:00.000-08:00

I’m very late in posting a true celebration of our baby’s first birthday. Tatum turned one on January 10.

Sporting some wild just-waking-up-from-a-nap hair

Reading one of his birthday books with Daddy

We celebrated first in Colorado with Bruce’s family, since we were visiting over the Christmas holiday and the timing seemed close enough to allow for a party. It was a joy getting to share Tate’s first birthday with all of his Colorado aunts, uncles, and cousins, and especially with his Grandmama and PaPa.

The cake he celebrated with in Colorado was quite BLUE—both going in and, ahem, coming back out. Let’s just say the following morning’s diaper was VERY interesting.

I love this photo, because it looks as though someone asked Tatum how old he is and our little genius responded with the appropriate number of fingers! (Of course in reality he was in a major pointing phase and pointed at just about everything—but we’ll go with the “I’m turning one!” story.)

Our blue-tinged baby opening presents, with his new haircut courtesy of Grandmama!

Upon our return home, we planned first birthday party #2 in order to celebrate with his Ohio aunt, uncle, cousins, CeCe and Gramps, and some friends and neighbors.

CeCe and mom had such fun planning Tatum’s “puppy party”—particularly his birthday cake and “pupcakes” to go with it.

We also went downtown to a great little photo shop and had some professional pictures taken of the Tater Tot to commemorate his first birthday. There were so many incredibly cute photos, we had a very hard time choosing which ones to order! In the end, we purchased the digital rights to three photos, and ordered prints of several more. I haven't received them yet, but will definitely come back and post them when we do!

In terms of what it means to our family that Tatum has turned one, it’s hard to quantify the amount of joy we’ve experienced. The past year has been the best of my life, and I’d say probably the best of Tatum’s dad’s, too. We’re so in love with this little boy, so amazed by him and so fortunate to have him in our lives.

Kissable

2011-01-13T19:44:00.000-08:00

Despite some mystery goop smeared on our Flip camera lens that renders the video quality somewhat less than stellar, this was just too cute not to share.

Oh, and we were baking cupcakes for Tatum's big celebration this weekend! Or should I say...pupcakes! I'll come back to share pics after the puppy party. I don't know about Tatum, but mommy and daddy are pretty excited.

365 Days of Tatum

2011-01-10T07:18:00.000-08:00

I'd like to list 365 ways in which you light up our world, one for each day you've been with us. And I"m quite certain that I could! Even if I don't list hundreds right now, here's a start.

Mommy and Daddy love you for all of these reasons and thousands more:

The impossibly delicious back of your neck, where I can't help but plant 1,000 daily kisses
The way you slap your knees when listening to music--sort of to the beat ;)
Your squeals of delight when Liam and Sierra (our big doggies) come to say good morning
That you've never once pulled your doggies' fur, but only given them sweet, gentle pats
The way you crawl sideways, looking back with a huge grin on your face to see who's following
That you start waving three pages before the end of the Cars, Cars, Cars book (the final page reads, "Say good-bye, car!")
Your siren noise (almost a "woo woo woo") upon seeing a fire truck
That practically every object you've ever touched has at some point been used as a slider to skate across the floor of our kitchen on your hands and knees
Your obsession with the bath tub and the way you try to climb in as soon as you enter the bathroom
Your wrestling moves with your giant stuffed monkey and puppy
The inward-sucking vacuum/gasp sound you make when you're excited
Your long, sloppy open-mouthed kisses
The way you nestle your head into the crook of our neck and shoulder when you're tired or cuddly
Your wild energy, even when it involves multiple attempts to fling yourself from the changing table headfirst during diaper swaps
The way you curl your toes, even when it makes getting shoes on your feet next to impossible
Your long, dark eyelashes
Your HUGE blue eyes (still marveling at those, given mommy and daddy's dark eyes!)
The way your nose wrinkles when you grin
Your growls and grunts
The way your hair stands on end after Sierra has given your head a few good licks
Your social charm--seriously, I had no idea a baby could elicit THAT many smiles and flirtations when we're out to eat or shopping at the store
The way you holler when Sierra and Liam play too rough (you worry, I think, that they're hurting each other)
Your fascination with trees--you love to lie on your back watching leaves flutter in the breeze
The way you embraced the water this summer, jumping right in and even getting your head wet right away like it was no big deal
Your love for peaches, grapes, bananas and pretty much all fruit
Your determination to feed yourself at all costs, even when it gets messy
Your goofy sense of humor
The speed at which you crawl--SO FAST!--it's amazing how quickly you can motor from one side of the house to the other these days
Your dimple
The birthmark shaped like England on your right foot
The way you're always getting food in your eyebrows and hair
Finding goldfish crackers in your diaper
Your organization skills (you're very into stacking and putting things in and taking them back out of places)
Your analytical side (you often turn your toys over to examine the back side or underbelly as if you're looking for clues as to how they work)
The way you've attached yourself to your puppy blankie that you sleep with in your crib
Your round little tummy that always smells like vanilla pudding
Your fascination with moving things--trains, mobiles, cars
The way you're able to fit your shapes into the right holes in your shape-sorter toys (amazing!)
Your dinner conversation (seriously, you have a lot to say already!)
The way you sometimes raise one eyebrow
Your big heart (you love so many people and creatures--mommy, daddy, CeCe, Gramps, Chooch, Grandmama, PawPaw, Sarah, all of your aunts and uncles and cousins, Murray the cat, Sierra and Liam, your dogs....)
Your great hugs
The way you point at everything you're interested in seeing
Your exclamations ("ooooooo!") over things that excite you
The frustrated sounds you make ("aaaaaaaarghhh!") when you're trying to figure something out
Your trusting nature (flinging yourself backwards half-way up the stairs with the absolute certainty that there is someone there to catch you...ahem)
The way you try to pluck your shoes off your feet as soon as I get them wedged on there in the first place
Your love of hikes with mommy, daddy and the dogs
The way you watch football with daddy and do "touchdown!" with your hands in the air
Your generosity--you always hold out your hand to share bites of your food with mommy, daddy or the dogs, and you share your toys the same way
The way you look in footy pajamas
How much you love to read, wanting to do the same book again and again and again
Your love of adventure--you enjoy getting out and about and experiencing new things

Okay, I guess it should be pretty clear by now...we love everything about you. Every single thing. We thank our lucky stars (particularly the three named Adam, Joseph and Paul) for your place in our lives every day.

Happy First Birthday, beautiful boy!

Tatum's First Christmas

2011-01-07T17:06:00.000-08:00

I’d better do some holiday photo sharing before the BIG EVENT (that being, of course, Tatum’s FIRST BIRTHDAY on Monday). Gulp. I’m somewhat astonished that a year has passed since this miracle of a baby boy entered our lives.

Before I head down memory road, though, let me share a few highlights from our several Christmas celebrations (with CeCe and Gramps, at home with just us, and then with Grandmama and PawPaw in Colorado).

Here we are with CeCe and Gramps on Christmas Eve’s Eve. Tatum loves to play, he loves his CeCe and Gramps, and he always has something to say!

I can’t say how much having Tatum with us changed the mood of our household on Christmas morning. (This was *our* Christmas morning, before heading out to Colorado on Christmas Eve day.)

Tatum loved his drum set, in particular the sticks! He likes any kind of sticks, actually. Pens. Straws. Clothes pins. They're all fantastic in his book.

Another popular present: a big, soft puppy from CeCe and Gramps! If there's one thing Tatum loves, it's a puppy.

The ever-popular boy in a box photo

And finally, just a few of the many highlights from our Colorado trip! Tatum is a great little traveler. He fussed a bit on the plane ride there and back, but eventually settled in and slept for probably an hour to an hour and a half each way (about half the plane ride). He fell right into his typical sleeping and napping routine Colorado after skipping his morning nap on Christmas day—as would be expected, given the crowd of 24-some people who were at the Thibault’s house on Christmas! He was so interested in all of his cousins and aunts and uncles.

Tatum and Daddy with a few of his 8 boy cousins in Colorado

Sporting the adorable Christmas outfit Grandmama and PawPaw got for him

With Grandmama and PawPaw

Tate’s Grandmama gave him his first hair cut while were visiting. He wasn’t the best client ever (tears and some wailing ensued) but the end result was cute as it could be! We’re so happy Grandmama T was willing to do this for her grandbaby.

Pre-hair cut

During the hair cut

Almost done!

He survived!

We also celebrated his first birthday a bit early with the Thibault crew in Colorado! Such fun to be able to celebrate in-person with Tatum’s Thibault grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. But we'll save those photos for next week.

More celebrations to come!

Tatum's holiday favorites

2010-12-22T07:54:00.000-08:00

Thus far include wrapping paper:

(sealed with a kiss!)

And gingersnap cookies

...that he very kindly shares.

We head to Colorado for Tatum's first Christmas later this week. I'll be counting my blessings (one here with us and three up above!) this holiday season. This year feels very different and very special. My heart is full with the joy of this little boy, and also with the memory of his brothers and all of the babies born too soon to families who are missing them. My thoughts and best wishes go out to each of you this holiday season.

Wrestling his way to 1

2010-12-12T17:49:00.000-08:00

Before the holidays take over our lives completely, I want to get Tatum’s 11-month (!) update posted.

My heart and life are so filled up by Tatum’s existence that it’s almost inconceivable to realize that less than a year ago, he wasn’t here. At this time last year, he was mere weeks away from being born, but he wasn’t real to me yet—not until I held him in my arms on January 10, 2010 could I fully embrace the reality of having our son here with us.

But oh, is he ever here now! He makes his presence known continually—Tatum isn’t really a child who sits quietly playing in the corner. Though he will sit still for someone to read him a BOOK these days! Hallelujah! Mommy-the-bookworm was beginning to worry that her son would forever see books as objects to be tossed, skated upon, stacked, thrown down, eaten, etc.—anything BUT enjoyed for their actual contents. Over the past few weeks, however, Tatum has finally embraced stories and will ask repeatedly (by ask I mean thrust the book into my face, Sarah’s face, or daddy’s face and grunt like a monkey) for us to read to him. JOY! I’m so utterly delighted by this development that it takes the edge off of barking my way through “Doggies, The Counting and Barking Book” for the umpteen millionth time or once again “growling like a polar bear, roaring Like a lion…”.

Tatum stands quite solidly on his own now. He’s taken a few steps from the couch to me or his dad, or from the coffee table to Sarah. Just a few steps at a time and then he lunges into our arms, but it’s a start! He doesn’t seem to be in a big hurry to do more, and that’s fine by me. He crawls at warp speed already, the idea of him actually RUNNING around our house is vaguely terrifying.

Then again, why walk or run when you have minions at your every command? Tatum’s favorite thing to do right now is to be carried about by some willing party (mom, dad, CeCe, Sarah) as he points to his next destination. Point at the wreath in the window, and someone takes him over to touch the wreath in the window. Point at the Christmas tree, and off we go to touch the Christmas tree. Point at the back deck where the dogs are playing, and over to the back door we go to watch them roll around in the snow. He can go on like this for EVER if you let him, just pointing his way from one object of interest to the next. It’s pretty cute, but the kiddo does weight 20-some pounds, so eventually it gets a bit tiring.

What never gets tiring is having Tatum here, watching him grow and change and develop into this verbal, funny, rough-and-tumble little guy who makes us laugh with his antics every single day. I feel humbled and so very grateful to have been given the chance to raise this amazing little being.

So, happy 11-months Tatum! Merry First Christmas. I can’t believe how soon I’ll be back to post about your FIRST BIRTHDAY. Unbelievable. Daddy and I love you SO very much.

Let the holidays begin!

2010-11-21T08:36:00.000-08:00

Our little town hosts an annual Candle Light Walk to usher in the holiday season. The shops around the square stay open late and get all dolled up for Christmas, Santa and Mrs. Claus arrive via fire truck to light the tree in the town square, there's free hot chocolate and cookies for the kiddos and in general it's just very sweet and a lot of fun.

I forgot, however, that Santa and Mrs. Claus also sit for photos with all interested little ones! Needless to say, with this being Tatum's first holiday season we figured we'd better give it a try.

If nothing else, Tatum's pictures with Santa have some definite comedic value! Classic "first picture with Santa" moment. :)

With CeCe and Gramps shortly after the Santa trauma (see, he recovered!):

And being read "The Night Before Christmas" in the reading corner at the local cafe by the cutest little girl...she really wanted to read Tatum a story, and he sat through the entire thing!

Attack of the Tatum

2010-11-18T08:44:00.000-08:00

Slobbery open-mouth kisses are equal only to wrestling, smacking mom in the face with a spatula and laughing maniacally, and chasing the dogs around the house.

Our little man is developing QUITE a personality. He’s pretty much on fire around the clock. When he’s not sleeping, he’s go go going—climbing, crawling, standing and even taking a few steps from the couch to mom or dad! I wouldn’t call it officially walking just yet, more of a lunge with some momentum behind it. But goodness, does he ever get a kick out of playing and rough-housing! This one is an active, goofy, loveable, messy, fantastic BOY.

He wrestles with his monkey all the time now. He takes monkey down with flying leaps and rolls around on the ground with him—I’ve tried to get pictures of the wrestling match in action, but so far I’ve succeeded only in capturing the top of Tatum’s head or monkey’s tail. He just moves too quickly for our camera! Tatum’s dad was a fantastic wrestler in high school and college, so I’m thinking some genetics are at work here.

But don’t worry, Tate is also *very* helpful in the kitchen. One of his favorite ways to help mom is to empty out the Tupperware drawer and use the containers to slide around the kitchen, one piece of Tupperware in each hand as though they were ice skates and the tile floor were a skating rink.

Actually, sliding is probably Tatum’s all-time favorite activity. Sarah and I laugh about it, because no matter what toy or household object he finds, his first priority is to try it out on the tile floor of our kitchen and hallway and see how it slides. Here he is, sliding along on the remote control (yes, the remote control remains perhaps his favorite thing to play with—OUR remote control, mind you, not the toy version his dad got him hoping to distract him from ours! No, the Sesame Street version just can’t compete with the real deal…).

What else can I say? We’re just loving life and loving Tatum. (Actually, I do have more to say about that on my other blog…).

Tatum at 10 Months

2010-11-10T11:12:00.000-08:00

…Or, a study in argyle.

I recently realized that I should dress Tatum in cute little sweaters and argyle vests while I still can. After all, some day in the not-too-distant future I’ll be hearing about how he’d rather wear the same Spiderman t-shirt for the fourth day in a row. So please excuse the preppy overload in this post...if Tatum is anything like his dad, I'm sure it won't last for long. :)

Tatum, Tatum, Tatum. What can I say? That you’re even more of a joy at 10 months than you were at 9? That our lives with you get better and better with each passing day?

You have so much to say now. Not that I understand every syllable, but I generally get the gist of things from your tone. My favorite is when you raise your pointer finger high and then utter something with great importance—a fine pontificator you are, my son.

You do a lot of pointing now. You also wave good-bye and hello (sometimes! Sometimes you wave just to wave. And that’s fine, too!).

You love books. Of course you love them primarily as objects to throw around and to use as stacking blocks, but hey—we’ll get there with the good stuff that exists INSIDE the books one of these days.

You’re on the go. You love to climb, climb, climb—particularly on top of mama or daddy (“Hop on Pop” is such a fun game!).

You pull up to stand every chance you get, and you’ve balanced on your own for as long as 10 seconds at a time.

While you’re a very active little guy, you’re also becoming more snuggly. You’ll play hard, but then you’ll climb up in my lap and rest your head on my shoulder for a snug. I can’t tell you how this melts my heart. Daddy's, too. You’re such a sweetheart of a little boy. I hope I can still sneak some Tatum hugs when you’re 16, because now that I have them I can’t imagine going without!

Gaining on that monkey with each and every photo!

Fall Visit with Chooch

2010-11-03T07:55:00.000-07:00

Tatum's Chooch was in town over Halloween weekend. We had such a good visit!

Lots of cuddles...

...and some football watching!

I love the strategically placed "End Zone" on this outfit, which once belonged to Tatum's cousin Parker. Nothing cuter than watching that little End Zone wiggle across the floor as Tate crawls from one room to another.

A rare moment

2010-10-28T12:15:00.000-07:00

Tatum's 5-year-old cousin typically has lots of big-boy things to do when we're all together. He runs, climbs, jumps and generally does all kinds of things Tatum can't do yet. So when I captured this photo of Parker reading to Tatum the other night, I was so happy! Better yet, notice the color-coordination going on here...we were carving jack' o lanterns and the boys were dressed in their best black-and-orange in honor of the occasion. AND the book is about a little bat.

Were we feeling our Halloween or what?!

Footie Pajamas

2010-10-27T18:54:00.000-07:00

Is there anything cuter? That's all I have to say.

The Monkey and the Octopus

2010-10-26T11:30:00.000-07:00

...and the Happy Witch and the SWAT Team leader!

(That covers Tatum and all of his cousins in costume.)

We had a ball attending a local hayride and bonfire over the weekend with Tatum's cousins. Children were encouraged to come in costume, and my sister's littlest was wearing one of the cutest darned kiddo costumes I've ever seen!

She was a hot pink octopus. I couldn't stop myself from taking picture after picture of her...she just looked too adorable with her little pink legs waving around all over the place!

Our little monkey wasn't sure about the feel of the hay itself...

...but he sure did enjoy the hayride!

The "happy witch" (this is what my sister's 2-year-old told us she was dressed as) was cute as she could be.

Such a little lady, with her dainty crossed ankles as she sips her drink.

I tried to get a few pictures of the cousins together, though of course Mr. SWAT team was off running with the big kids (and pretending to drive the tractor from the hayride).

What a fun start to Tatum's first Halloween!

41 Weeks and counting…

2010-10-25T09:31:00.000-07:00

So many things are changing for Tatum this month that I need to pause in the enjoyment of his constant evolution to write some of it down. Here goes!

Tatum:
In the past two weeks you’ve started pointing at things, particularly our doggies. You love to point at Sierra and Liam, and occasionally they’ll come right over and lick your finger or you’ll stick it in one of their noses. There’ve been a few times when you’ve pointed at us in response to “Where’s mommy?” or “Where’s daddy?” (Granted sometimes Mommy is Sierra the dog and Daddy is the chair or the light, so I’m not sure we can really claim to have this one down yet!) You’re just fascinated by your hands these days, and will even stop nursing to wave them around in front of your face and laugh in amazement that you have such useful appendages at the ends of your arms. You pinch things up from the floor with alarming ease, even tiny specks of dirt and fuzz (which of course end up in your mouth).

You’ve also started waving, though not necessarily to say hello or goodbye. Actually, it’s often a backwards wave, opening and closing your hand toward yourself, which I love—it’s as though you’re constantly greeting yourself, and what could possibly be better than such positive self-recognition? Every time you run into yourself in the mirror you’re quite happy to catch a glimpse of the handsome boy grinning at you on the other side—I think you quite enjoy being Tatum.

You’ve begun shoveling in the table foods in earnest. These days you pretty much eat what we eat. We had grilled chicken, green beans and mashed potatoes one day over the weekend, and guess what? You had some shredded up pieces of grilled chicken, a small mountain of green beans, and several bites of mashed potatoes! If mommy eats pumpkin bread and yogurt for breakfast, you eat pumpkin bread and yogurt (granted yours is Yo Baby and mine is Greek, but still!). If mommy has cantaloupe for a snack, you have cantaloupe for a snack. You love it all. Except for peas. I’ve tried steamed peas four times now, and this is your pea face (after which you often spit the peas back out onto your tray!):

You cruise in laps around the house with amazing speed, slapping those palms on the floor as fast as you possibly can. No solo steps yet, though you’ll turn to me if you’re standing up while holding onto something, let go of whatever you’re holding onto and lunge toward me. It’s almost a step—and most certainly nerve-wracking, as I’m not always prepared for the lunge!

This is such an incredibly fun time with you. I’m just loving every single day and reveling in your ever-changing abilities. It’s hard to imagine that it will just keep getting better...but I know it will!

40 weeks with monkey:

Batty for Daddy

2010-10-22T11:19:00.000-07:00

Tate's dad is on the road for work again this week, so I thought we'd do a little photo shoot in his honor last night.

My model wasn't entirely cooperative, but I'd say we got a few good shots.

That's one heck of a flash you have there, mom.

Get this hat off of me!

What part of "get this hat off of me" was unclear?

Looking forward to Tatum's first Halloween!

Tate Floats

2010-10-19T11:17:00.000-07:00

Well, maybe not exactly. But he does love the water! :)

Daddy wasn't feeling so hot at our last swim class, so while he's usually in the water with us this time he was able to snap a few photos from the side of the pool with his iPhone. Not the best quality ever, but look at that gorgeous chunker of a kiddo!

He's gotten so much more comfortable with the water, now he actually enjoys kicking his feet and splashing his arms and will squeal with excitement throughout our half-hour lesson. He's not even afraid to have his head under water (very briefly, of course!). His very favorite thing to do, though, is to "jump" off the side of the pool into mommy's arms. He sits on the edge and leans forward and I catch him--he thinks this is the best thing ever! Future daredevil on our hands, I tell 'ya.

By the way, these photos are online thanks to me being obscured by the water and/or Tatum! I may have lost some weight, but I'm far from ready for my swimsuit pictorial. ;)

Welcome Fall!

2010-10-18T08:24:00.000-07:00

What says fall like a visit to the pumpkin patch? Tatum, Bruce and I headed over to a nearby farm this weekend. The plan was to pick some pumpkins, but in the end we just walked around looking at the animals (cows, goats, ponies, chickens, turkeys, peacocks and some truly adorable farm dogs--English labs with the biggest block heads you've ever seen. I'm such a sucker for a dog with a big old block head!) and watching the bigger kids play.

It was a beautiful weekend!

This morning we geared up for Halloween in Tatum's pirate sweater (not his costume, but it got us in the mood).

Hey there, daddy long-legs!

And check out the jack 'o lantern smile:

We didn't get our carving pumpkins, but we did buy a few sweet pie pumpkins to roast over the weekend. Tatum loves the pumpkin puree, and Daddy and I have enjoyed pumpkin turkey chili and tonight we'll be having creamy pumpkin soup with crusty bread and a spinach salad. Mmmmmmm. I'm excited already!

I LOVE FALL.

Oh, and I actually did manage to grab a pic of Tatum with his monkey! The monkey-to-boy ratio is changing dramatically. Remember when these photos used to be all monkey and a tiny bit boy?! I'd say the boy is quickly gaining on monkey these days.

Tatum at Nine Months

2010-10-11T10:23:00.000-07:00

THE BASICS
At his 9-month pediatrician’s visit this morning, Tatum weighed 21 lbs, 9 oz (70-75th percentile) and measured almost 30 inches (85th percentile). Dr. O described him as “long and lean”—our baby, lean?! Bruce and I must have exchanged a surprised expression, because our doctor chuckled and said that even a lean baby looks chunky at 9 months. He said Tatum is in PERFECT health and clearly gets plenty to eat. Which, I must say, he does.

EATING
Tatum nurses at least three times a day (more on the weekends when I’m not working) and takes a bottle of mixed breastmilk and formula from Sarah twice during the day M-F. But oh, does he ever LOVE food! He eats almost anything we put in front of him. Current favorites are pears, squash and yogurt. In fact, I think if you mixed anything with a bit of the YoBaby organic vanilla yogurt he’d slurp it right up. What he really really likes, though, is feeding himself. He eats cereal, small bits of green beans, yams or regular potato, cut-up peeled grapes, banana (though he doesn’t much care for the texture of it, so this can be a hard sell), and has even tried a bit of shredded chicken and recently snatched some sausage off of his dad’s pizza and chomped it right down! I’m glad he’s still getting breastmilk and plan to continue nursing him until he’s at least 12 months old, but I also don’t think weaning the Tater is going to be a problem AT ALL. The kiddo loves to eat and seems more than ready for table food.

SLEEPING
Our bedtime routine starts at 7 PM with Tatum in bed by 7:30 PM most nights. Tate sleeps soundly through the night and has for some time now. Every now and then we’ll hear him awake around 4 or 5 AM, but he tends to put himself back to sleep fairly easily and generally wakes up around 7 AM. This weekend was an exception, as he was up around 6 AM every morning (yawn!)…and some mornings he actually sleeps in until 8! But around 7 AM is the norm. Tatum still isn’t much of a napper, but he’ll usually go down for about 45 minutes in the morning and maybe another 45 minutes to an hour in the afternoon. It all adds up to about 13 hours of sleep a day, which our pediatrician seems to feel is fine.

PLAY
Everything is about movement with this kid. He wants to do nothing but crawl, pull up on things, stand up, kneel, and crawl some more. He doesn’t need much of a hand to balance these days, and several times we’ve seen him let go of whatever he’s been holding on to and balance for 4-5 seconds before landing (very elegantly, of course) on his bum. He seems to be very close to standing on his own!

He likes to hold something in one or both hands as he crawls, scooting along on it like a skateboard. His favorite toys are starting to look pretty rough around the edges thanks to being used as a skooter by Tatum! As are our remote controls...

He’s into EVERYTHING. If it looks like something he could use to pull himself up, he’s on it (including the dog’s food and water dish holder, as seen here).

Helping Daddy read the paper

He loves to pound and bang on things (kitchen utensils on the tile floor are fun!) and enjoys the water. He’s been going to swim classes with his dad and me for the past few weeks and he really likes them. This past lesson he was kicking and splashing and having a ball, and he loves bath time! In fact, we took this little video on the iPhone of him during one of his baths. This was the first time we’d introduced him to bath toys—the kind that you suck water into and then squirt it back out—and he laughed so hard he fell over in the bathtub!

TALK
He does lots of syllable talk with the “ma ma ma” and “da da da” and “ba ba ba” noises. In addition to the grunts and growls—probably still his favorite noise to make—he now throws his head back and yells out these long, drawn-out yodels of noise that sound something like “Ba ba yaya aaaaoooooooooooo!”

Tatum still has his serious moments, but he’s generally just a fun, easy kiddo. He laughs easily and makes us laugh all the time. We're so completely and totally in love with every grubby finger, each square little toe, those crazy-long eyelashes, and that fuzzy hair on his beautiful head—not to mention every single unnamed part that makes up his amazing little person.

A rather distracted and/or disgruntled set of 9-month monkey pics:

Mommy's Tripping

2010-10-08T11:39:00.000-07:00

Tatum, last weekend mommy did a very brave thing. She left her oh-so-precious son for the FIRST TIME in the 9 months since you were born and took a trip with her girlfriends from college. It was really *really* hard to leave. I stressed about it for weeks. I pumped for two months trying to get enough milk frozen to keep your hungry tummy happy while I was away. I coped with anxiety over whether you would be okay, whether I would be okay, whether I was selfish for going, whether I had an iota of coolness left in my body for hanging out with my fabulous girlfriends in South Beach.

Turns out, EVERYTHING WAS OKAY. Everything was better than okay. Everything was perfect! You bonded with your daddy, who manned the ship in mommy’s absence with his typical calm skill and aplomb. He fed you bottles, changed diapers, got up with you each morning to play and put you down for naps and bed. He bathed you and played with your toes and nibbled on your sweet belly and did all the things that mommy typically does—and he did them so well!

I cried once or twice. Daddy sent a picture of you to my phone as I was sitting on the plane getting ready to leave last Thursday, and I teared right up. He sent another picture of you grinning in your jammies the next morning (oh, the wonders of technology!), and I may have gotten a little choked up again. But it was an amazing and much-needed trip for mommy to reconnect with her friends, to just relax and have fun sitting in the sun and staying up too late and socializing and chatting and just being with those girls who know me so well and who I love to pieces. Plus, someday I need to be able to point to pictures like this to prove to you that once upon a time, mommy wasn’t too shabby! ;)

I remember ogling a similar photo of my grandma—your great grandma Wynn—that hung in the condo she shared with Zeidi and thinking, “Wow, she has some killer legs! What I wouldn't give for gams like grandma's!" Come to think of it, both of your maternal great-grandmas were pretty darned stunning women. I'll show you lots of photos of MeMe and Wynn and all of your grandparents and great-grandparents as you grow up so that you can appreciate what amazing women and men make up your family tree.

I’ll write more about you as you enter your ninth month of being after your pediatrician’s appointment on Monday. Suffice it to say, you’re changing every.single.day.

You stand ALL THE TIME now. Not exactly unassisted yet, but it’s very very close. You let go of whatever you’re using to hold yourself up (the wall, a chair, the dog’s food-and-water dish stand…) and will balance for a few seconds before landing on your well-padded little tush.

You sit on your heels in a sort-of kneeling position to play sometimes now—so cute!

Your eyes are still the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.

More soon!

xxoo
Mommy

Both Sides of the Law

2010-10-05T11:51:00.000-07:00

One of Tatum’s favorite things in the world for the past several months has been the bench his New York family got for him. He loves to pull up on it, and as his infatuation with noise and motion has grown, he loves to take his little wooden mallet and bang on the bench.

Since Tate’s maternal great-grandfather was a judge (in fact, all of his grandchildren called him Judgie) we refer to this as Tatum’s channeling of the Judge. Apparently he has Judgie’s coloring too (darker hair with blue eyes) so who knows, maybe this is his destiny!

"I said order in the court!"

Of course…

There’s also the possibility that Tatum may become a jailbird. In his striped jumpsuit, clutching the bars at the top of our stairs, I can’t help but notice a resemblance to the classic inmate one imagines in the striped outfit clunking along with a ball and chain attached to his ankle.

That’s our boy, exhibiting his ability to function on both sides of the law!

Motoring

2010-09-23T08:35:00.000-07:00

This was Tatum when we were visiting Bruce's folks back in July. Hard to believe that he was a somewhat stationary baby just two months ago!

THIS is Tatum trucking down our upstairs hallway last week. What a difference a few months makes! Hmmm...two months from now, do you suppose I'll be sharing video of our little mover and shaker WALKING? Gulp.

I've lost track of the weeks!

2010-09-21T16:40:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe, but I've actually lost count of our baby's age by week! For the longest time he was 6 weeks, then 14 weeks, then 21 weeks old...and now, he's 8+ months and I'm not sure exactly what week we're on! I *think* this is week 37...which would mean that our Tater Bug has been OUTSIDE for as long as he was INSIDE.

Did I mention that he's been somewhat over the whole monkey picture scene lately? Does this face perhaps give it away?

This is the closest I came to grabbing a decent picture:

Things quickly unraveled...

He's outta there!

8-Month Favorites

2010-09-13T08:53:00.000-07:00

The Tater Tot is now EIGHT MONTHS OLD. My goodness!

Here are a few of Tatum's favorite things (I can't type that without hearing Julie Andrews breaking into song inside my head, so I might as well throw out a little verse to start things off):

Playing with cousins and wet doggy noses
Crawling and climbing and grabbing his toeses
Growling and laughing and chewing on strings
These are a few of his favorite things!

Favorite people:

Daddy

Mommy (almost always the one taking the pictures, so this is what you get! :)

Wait, there I am in the corner getting chomped on!

CeCe

Gramps

Chooch

Grandma and Grandpa T (I KNOW I have photos of Tatum with his Colorado grandparents, but I seem to have saved them somewhere obscure on my computer. As soon as I figure out where they are, I'll come back and post them!)

Cousins!
Cousin Josh, just a few weeks younger than Tatum

Hey Tatum, what's that in your ear?

Perhaps not surprisingly, it was a bit hard to get both boys to look at the camera at the same time!

Cousin Lillian

Cousins Abby and Lillian

With Daddy and the pups

Cousin Parker

Cousin Cami

Cousin Paige's FIRST BIRTHDAY! (Paige enjoying Tatum's cushy tush, which apparently makes an excellent pillow! So cute...I love watching these two together.)

Favorite toys: Daddy is generous about letting Tatum play with the real remote control (once he takes out one battery so that it's not constantly turning the TV on and off and switching channels) but he also found a cute Sesame Street version recently and Tate thinks it's pretty fun, too (see the previous set of "Little Boy Blue" pictures). It makes all sorts of noises and bats its eyes in a way that I originally thought was cute, but paired with the abuse Tatum gives it--banging it on the floor, dragging it across the carpet, smashing its face into the window--I've now come to see as a bit deranged, particularly when paired with its maniacal laughter. I think the poor Sesame Street remote has lost its marbles in the hands of a cruel and punishing dictator of an owner.

Favorite activities:
The lean

The one-handed lean

The lounge

The lunge

Window-gazing

And of course, eating!

Favorite outfit: Or maybe not! Tatum's daddy gave me a hard time over these leg warmers. I thought they were pretty cute and they allow him a great range of motion for crawling around, whereas I feel like he's somewhat restricted in jeans or pants. His dad felt they were a *trifle* too Flash Dance for his liking. Never mind that I have an entire set of them, including green leg warmers with little owls and some other cute patterns--so they'll probably make at least a few more appearances this fall/winter!

Favorite foods: I like to think mom's milk is still #1, but boy oh boy, does Tatum ever revel in the empowerment of feeding things to himself! He's currently loving the little puff cereals they make for babies to eat, and is amazingly coordinated when it comes to picking up the individual pieces and popping them into his mouth. He looks like such a big kid doing it, I can barely stand it!

And if you're wondering where the weekly monkey pics have gone, well...I'm still taking them, it's just not terribly easy these days. Photos with Mr. Monkey in the chair are now out of the question, since I can't step back far enough to snap the picture without a certain someone attempting a head dive onto the floor. Then when I move Mr. Monkey to the floor a bevy of distractions presents itself and that same certain someone is off in one direction or another before I can get a good photo of him.

To illustrate:

I'll try to grab a good photo of the Tater Tot and his monkey this week, so that we capture 8 months of growth for posterity! Until then...

One more with the leg warmers, just to please Tate's Dad. ;)

Little Boy Blue

2010-09-09T10:01:00.000-07:00

Is it just me, or is our baby looking less and less like a baby and more and more like a little BOY?

Quick pics for Dad

2010-09-02T07:12:00.000-07:00

While I'd love to write about and upload a gazillion pictures from Tatum's Virginia cousins' visit last weekend, unfortunately I don't have much time at the moment!

What I do have is a request from Tate's travelling daddy for some new pics of his adorable kiddo--so that I can do.

A quick update while I'm at it: your new obsession is your sippy cup. You don't totally get how to use it yet, but you love chewing on the spout and occasionally you even manage to get some milk into your mouth and down your throat. Just watch out if someone tries to take it away from you before you're done! Woah. Red-faced-screaming-temper-tantrum time!

You sit up so completely naturally now, and do it all the time. Your interest in phones, cameras, and anything else that *isn't* a toy continues. (Mommy found an old-school phone in the basement and cleaned it up for you to play with. I'm sure you're wondering what that coiled cord is--whose phone has one of those these days?!)

You crawl at the speed of ... if not light, then at least dust motes floating through light (what?! dust motes in our house?! Hard to believe, I know...). Speaking of cleaning though, I'm really having to pay attention to what's on our floor these days, because if you spy even a speck of something--a stray piece of dog kibble, for instance--you high-tail it in that direction and put it immediately into that mouth of yours.

Pulling up on things continues to be a great joy for you, and you're fearless about it. Of course the way you get down is to throw yourself backwards, so the "fear" part is all on mommy's side, watching that you don't crack that beautiful head of yours open!

You're starting to get concepts like stacking (or at least the knocking down part!).

Your favorite book is still Doggies, the counting and barking book. A close second is the big book of baby's first words, which you love to not only read but also to use as a yoga mat.

More updates soon on family visits and such, but now Mommy must work!

31-Week-Old Big Guy

2010-08-23T07:25:00.000-07:00

In just six weeks you will have been outside in the world for as long as you were in mommy's tummy! You're becoming such a little PERSON that it's hard to believe you were not so long ago growing fingers and toes and all of the necessary organs for living out here in the great big world.

dinnertime mohawk courtesy of dad

bathtime mohawk courtesy of mom

The theme of your life for the past few weeks has been movement, movement, movement (crash) more movement. Your new joy is pulling up on things so that you can stand or kneel.

You also sit up all on your own now, no propping up needed or tipping over!

You have SIX TEETH prominently visible in that mouth of yours. Your four middle top teeth are in, as well as those two cute little bottom teeth that show so nicely when you smile. Daddy and I think you may have his smile--his top teeth don't really show when he grins, and neither do yours. Mommy, on the other hand, is all teeth she smiles! Either way, that little grin of yours is just too cute.

Daddy and I both agree that if possible, we fall more in love with you each day. You're such an interactive little guy, climbing all over us and talking away, babbling and laughing and throwing the occasional temper tantrum if you don't get your way. Your personality is really beginning to shine.

A remote control hog, just like a dude!

In addition to the traditional weekly monkey pic, I caught a few of you, monkey and your #1 doggy friend, Liam (though you do adore Sierra, she's a distant #2 in terms of the attention paid to you. While Liam needs to be beside you whenever he possibly can, Sierra does fly-by licks to your head but more of less stays out of your way. We think you make her a bit nervous).

31 Weeks! Time is just flying by, my sweet Tater Tot.

(You are, by the way, sporting an 18-month-size "Rookie" ensemble in these pics! Mommy ordered a few fall things for you online and thought she'd try them on to see if they would be ridiculously big on you and might need to be returned. Nope! They almost fit you now--a tiny bit long in the legs, but not that much!--and surely will in a few months' time. Big guy!)

30 Weeks!

2010-08-16T08:43:00.000-07:00

(click on any of the pics above for a larger version)

29, oh so fine

2010-08-13T07:31:00.000-07:00

Well my handsome little guy, you turned SEVEN MONTHS OLD this past Tuesday! Twenty-nine weeks, to be exact. And we've loved every single minute of every single day with you since you came home with us in January.

You've become a man on the move. We laugh about how you zone in on the one thing in the room that ISN'T a toy and go for it. In the case of the photos below, it was mommy's flip flops, which of course you attempted to put directly in your mouth (note the look of indignation on your face when mommy suggested this might not be such a great plan...).

Never mind the 15 actual TOYS and BOOKS on the floor with you, if you see something that doesn't look bright and primary-colored (daddy's Blackberry or an iPhone, for instance), that's what you want. Here you are, noticing the camera in mommy's hands and wanting it!

You have TWO new teeth! The upstairs neighbors to your two bottom front teeth have moved in. One is already showing through your gums and one is just below the surface. It's so cute to be able to see those bottom teeth of yours when you smile. I wonder if we'll be seeing the top ones to match?

Due to all of this toothy goodness, you've decided that you're ready to chew on some food. You still eat purees of fruit and veggies and your oatmeal and your rice cereal, but now you also gnaw on the occasional rice cracker. YOU LOVE THIS. I can't tell you how satisfied you are to be able to feed yourself with your own hands. The power!

Your personality is really beginning to show. Not surprisingly, you seem to be quite strong-willed. You know what you want, and you do everything you can to get it. You love your doggies. You laugh and laugh when they lick you, and now you chase them across the room on all fours, trying to grab onto their fur (don't worry, mommy is always watching to ensure that no one--dog or human!--gets hurt). Liam is tolerant of this. He'll lie quietly while you attempt to pluck his eyebrows for him. I haven't been brave enough to let you try for a handful of Sierra just yet (neither has she! She pretty much backs off or leaves the room when she sees you gunning for her). It's cute to see you paying so much attention to the animals, though. They'll be a part of your life for a long time to come!

Let's see. Animals. Technology. Food. Lounging around. What else do you love? Oh, watching Sports Center! You truly are your daddy's son. :)

29-week monkey pic:

Growling and Table Talk

2010-08-09T07:33:00.000-07:00

I downloaded a slew of videos from my phone over the weekend, and perhaps not surprisingly, they're all of Tate!

Here's a little clip of Tatum eating. While generally it's accepted that one shouldn't talk while one's mouth is full, indeed, that's the exact time Tate prefers to talk! He'll stick a spoon or a finger in his mouth and babble away. The spoon comes out, the talking stops. Back in, and the chattering begins again!

And I finally captured a wee video of Tatum growling! This features Tate with our nanny, Sarah. He went through a phase of several weeks when he growled all day long. Now he intersperses the growling with shrieks and a goofy fake cough. I truly adore listening to his ever-growing repertoire of noises and sounds. It's magical (and funny!).

Week 28

2010-08-03T11:31:00.000-07:00

28 weeks, kiddo! Goodness, how you're growing. You're solid and very long. At your 6-month checkup you were 50th percentile for weight, 50th for head size, and 90th for height!

Your new tricks include growling and (drum roll) CRAWLING! Last night you crawled across the room to get to Daddy's Blackberry. Apparently you had some very important e-mail messages to answer. Your dad caught some of the action on his other phone:

Somehow you look much bigger this week than you did in last week's photos! A growth spurt, perhaps?

What's that I see poking up in your mouth? Your two very VISIBLE teeth!

Beach Trip 2010

2010-08-03T07:16:00.000-07:00

Tatum's first beach trip was so much fun!

Tate's cousins Parker and Cami at the beach

Tatum got in tons of great playing time with his cousins.

Tate and Paige

Parker, Tatum and Cami

He was in the water twice a day for about 15 to 20 minutes at a time. Although we weren't successful in getting him to relax and float on his back like he did at his first swim lesson with cousin Luke in Colorado, he does seem to love the water. Hopefully some day he'll be like his cousins, who were out at the beach or in the pool all day, every day!

He also got some great bonding time in with his Chooch, who taught him how to growl!

Chooch with all four of his grandchildren

Uncle Mike with his beautiful girls

Aunt Lauren, Uncle Mike, Parker, Campbell, Paige and Chooch

Mommy, Daddy and Tatum

Whew! After all of that fun, a boy needs some rest.

27 Weeks

2010-07-22T09:53:00.000-07:00

Finally, we're all caught up!

27-week pics

Now we're off to the beach for a week to create some wonderful new memories with Chooch, Aunt Lauren and Uncle Mike, and cousins Parker, Cami and Paige!

We'll be back in August with lots of fun updates. Until then, stay cool everybody!

26 Weeks

2010-07-22T09:49:00.000-07:00

Let the updating bonanza continue!

Tate's 26-week pics (a little fuzzy, boo...)

More on Tate in the Great Outdoors

2010-07-22T09:06:00.000-07:00

In this set of photos Tatum is trying to crawl. As you can see by the furrowed brow, he takes this challenge very seriously. He makes all sorts of grunts and groans as he rocks and scoots himself forward.

Fortunately he lives with obliging animals such as Sierra, who he can use to boost himself along!

Tatum loves Josephine

2010-07-22T08:40:00.000-07:00

Tatum is a real nature boy. One of his very favorite places to be is lying on a blanket underneath Josephine, the tree in our front yard. We think he and Josephine speak the same language. He just stares up at her leaves as they sway in the breeze and talks away, babbling all kinds of sweet words up at her. I think he talks to Josephine more often that does to me or daddy! He just loves that tree.

This is a series of photos I took recently of Tatum communing with the great outdoors. I hope Tate's love of nature carries through to his childhood and adult years! I have great memories of camping and hiking with my parents as a child--we'll be sure to give Tatum the same opportunities to appreciate being outdoors as he grows up.

Gramps saves the day!

2010-07-21T11:51:00.000-07:00

Or at the very least, he helped me to update TateSpace by providing me with some photos!

Tatum and I had dinner with Gramps and CeCe last night (roasted veggies from the garden, cooked spinach with a little onion and white wine vinegar, lemon pepper chicken--YUMMY and HEALTHY, we're so lucky!). After dinner Tate was showing off his rock 'n scoot skills--not quite a crawl yet, but he gets where he wants to go--and CeCe was recounting her trip to visit with some of her close high school friends last weekend. She showed me her little "brag book" of grandchildren, and there were several pictures of Tate, his dad and me that I hadn't seen before.

I asked Gramps if I could get a few of them on disk, and voila! I have some photos to update TateSpace with at long last.

These were take at the end of June, so they're several weeks old. But I can't resist posting them.

Here's Tatum and his daddy in the pool. This was Tate's first time dipping into pool water, and he loved it! We're looking forward to spending lots of time with him in the water next week at the beach (slathered in 70+ sunblock, of course!). I happen to think his daddy looks quite nice here. ;)

And here's Tate with mommy, playing on the floor at CeCe and Gramps.

Tatum snoozing with Gramps. Doesn't he look like a total bruiser here?!

And finally, visiting with his sweet cousins. I love how his little hand is on Cami's shoulder in this pic.

As soon as daddy gets back from DC with the camera cable I'll update with more pics from the past few weeks!

No cable, no pics...

2010-07-19T07:46:00.000-07:00

The cable that connects our camera to my computer and allows me to download the many adorable photos of our son that reside on said camera is currently in DC. With my husband.

I, however, am home home on the range...so no photo updates on Tatum until Bruce gets back Wednesday. I'm falling behind! Sorry, Tater watchers.

Updates soon to come.

For comparison sake...

2010-07-16T09:51:00.000-07:00

I found the photo of myself sucking on the beer can in my dad's lap, for comparison with the photo of Tatum and HIS dad posted yesterday.

Tate's dad immediately pointed out that both beers are Colorado beers--hooray! Coors for me and Fat Tire for Tatum. I think Tatum got the better end of that deal. Plus, a bottle seems *slightly* safer for baby-gumming than a sharp-edged beer can! I'm just saying. (Not really all that surprising for "back in the day," when kids skateboarded without helmets and bounced around the back seat of cars freely!)

Also, it should be noted that my dad descends from a long line of Yeti/Gorilla/Cavemen and that I come by my hairiness quite honestly. I mean, LOOK at those legs and arms! Amazing, I tell 'ya.

The Great Colorado Trip of 2010

2010-07-15T11:23:00.000-07:00

Tatum successfully completed his first plane trip across the country last week! We couldn’t have possibly asked for a more ideal traveling companion. Despite some nervousness on his mom’s part that we were going to be the scorned trouble-travelers on the plane with the screaming infant, instead our little guy was just perfect. He nursed upon take-off, promptly fell asleep afterwards, and proceeded to sleep the entire flight both there and back. He was awake and alert before take-off and as soon as we landed, interested in everything around us and babbling and chatting. He loved looking out the window of the airplane and people-watching both on the plane and in the airport. He just took it all in and really enjoyed the colors, the movement, and the adventure of it all!

His calm while traveling was particularly amazing given that he broke his second tooth in while we were in Colorado and has a third just under the surface at the back of his mouth getting ready to break through. Plus we crossed several time zones, so his sleep has been pretty thrown off. What a trooper.

We arrived in Colorado late last Thursday. Despite our late arrival, Tatum’s grandparents had sweetly waited up for us and Tate was thrilled to meet them! It was endearing to see how quickly and completely he took to Bruce’s parents. He was giggling and smiling every time they held him, talked to him or played with him. Our boy is definitely a Thibault!

Tatum and PawPaw

This photo isn't exactly mommy-approved. Then again, I have a similar photo of myself sitting in my dad's lap sucking on a beer can when I was a baby, and I lived to tell. I can assure you that no beer was actually consumed by the minor pictured here.

I kind of like this photo Bruce's dad took of me! People who aren't crazy about photos of themselves should be permitted to carry umbrella shields. ;) Actually, it was 90+ degrees out at the baseball game and I was trying to shade Tatum from the sun and the heat.

Behind the umbrella (is my teething-ring bracelet chic or what?):

Tatum and cousins with Uncle Seth at his going-away party. Tate's grandma and cousins made t-shirts for all of the kids to wear celebrating their Uncle Seth; it was really cute.

Highlights of the trip included a swim lesson with Aunt Julia, Uncle Seth and cousin Luke—Tatum LOVED it and we’re hoping to find a similar infant swim class in this area for him—a fair well party for Uncle Seth as he gets ready to deploy for the fourth time, a family birthday party for everyone with July birthdays (Tatum's daddy included!), a gorgeous hike up Helen Hunt Falls, a “girl’s morning out” for breakfast and mani/pedis with Bruce’s mom and sisters and niece Elenie, and a visit to our first home in Manitou Springs, which we’re sadly getting ready to sell this month. It was an amazing trip and made me so nostalgic for our time living in Colorado. I really don’t think there’s a more beautiful state to live in!

View from Pike's Peak, near our house in Manitou Springs:

Tatum's first mountain hike, at Helen Hunt Falls:

Sadly, while we packed our camera and schlepped it across country with us, we left the camera battery plugged into the wall charging at home! So any photos I have are borrowed from Bruce’s folks or taken on an iPhone. Typically I would have taken a TON of photos on a trip like this, and instead I have none...boo hoo. On the other hand, we have some wonderful memories of Tatum’s first time meeting his Colorado family! It was a special, special trip.

Playing at Grandma and PawPaw's

Six-month photos soon to come!

Tatum Turns 25

2010-07-06T08:02:00.000-07:00

Twenty-five weeks, that is. You hit the 2-5 mark last week to much festivity, Tatum. There were parades! Parties! Fireworks! Okay…so that was all in celebration of July 4th. But this coming weekend you’ll be SIX MONTHS OLD, and that’s pretty worthy of celebration in my book!

The past month has seen some mighty changes for you, big boy. You’re VERY close to crawling. As CeCe puts it, you’re “creeping”—the stage right before actually crawling. You get up on your hands and knees and scoot yourself backwards across the floor with alarming speed. I can no longer walk away and expect you to be on your quilt when I return—more likely, you’ll be across the room trying to figure out how you got there!

You love solid foods. Sweet potatoes seem to be your favorite so far (the homemade kind) followed by apples, carrots and peaches. You don’t care for bananas at this point—I think the texture gets to you—and green beans actually make you gag. I’m going to keep trying though, I want you to be a fan of beans just like your mommy and daddy! Instead of half-heartedly gumming the food around in your mouth, you now lunge forward like a shark and devour big mouthfuls. One of the reasons I think you’re enjoying solid foods so much is that you have a chance to exercise your TOOTH!

Yes, that’s right. Your first tooth popped out about a week ago. The bottom right front tooth has made its razor-like presence known, and it appears that its neighbor won’t be far behind. You continue chew on everything in sight, and your gums bug you terribly.

Other than that, you’re still grabbing and touching and babbling and talking and being your sweet, charming, goofy self.

Little Coastie

2010-06-30T17:19:00.000-07:00

In honor of his daddy, Tatum decided to don his Coast Guard t-shirt and share a snapshot of a morning in the life of a Coastie. (You may note that this little Coastie is swimming with the pirates!)

Needless to say, the morning starts off with PT (physical training).

We try not to flip off the drill sergeant, but sometimes the temptation is overwhelming.

What do you mean, I flipped you off? I was just chewing my fingers!

Off course then it’s “Drop and give me 20!”

“What do you mean faster? This is the fastest I can go!”

Sheesh, this drill sergeant is TOUGH.

Finally it’s off to the mess hall, where we wait for our grub.

In the meantime, we get hazed by some older cadets for thinking we’re hot stuff!

The mess hall grub could use improvement.

Fortunately we have some good buddies with whom we can share a belly laugh when the going gets tough.

Week 24

2010-06-27T14:17:00.000-07:00

When I kiss the top of your head I no longer kiss peach fuzz, sweet boy. I kiss REAL HAIR. Super soft, silky hair...but not peach fuzz. When did you get so grown up with all kinds of big boy hairs on your big boy head?!

You're also working on several big boy TEETH. Your gums actually bled last week, so I know it's coming any day now--your first tooth! You like ice cubes in one of those little mesh pops your Aunt Julia sent us, and frozen wash clothes to suck on. These cold things seem to help (along with the occasional tiny squish of baby oral gel rubbed onto your gums, which you HATE--you grimace and gag and make the most awful faces, but it really does seem to help your comfort once you get past the taste. And secretly, we have to laugh at your drama when it goes on--the gagging and the faces are pretty comical, little guy). You chew on everything in sight. My fingers, your fingers, your dad's fingers, and any toy you can get your hands on.

Those hands are VERY busy these days, too. You're reaching and grabbing anything and everything. In the past week you've developed a fascination with people's mouths and love to reach up and feel mommy and daddy's lips and teeth. You've also gotten a few good handfuls of doggy hair lately! Your puppies are really beginning to fascinate you, and you actively reach out and try to touch their mouths, ears, and heads. Fortunately we're always right there beside you to make sure those connections go well!

Your curiousity knows no bounds, and I can't wait to see what you learn to do next!

A few favorites from the Matthews Reunion

2010-06-25T13:05:00.000-07:00

A few of my favorite pics from last week's reunion:

Someday you'll learn to be happy when surrounded by so many smiling, pretty girls Tatum!

My cousin's sweet daughter holding the big guy

My nephew playing with my cousin's little boy by the river

Tatum and Dad, watching the big kids ride horses

Sweet cousins

Riding the cable car

Chomping on Gramps, one of Tate's favorite things!

My Long, Tall Drink of Water

2010-06-23T10:25:00.000-07:00

Tate's 23-week photos:

Tatum in Waiting

2010-06-23T09:28:00.000-07:00

Before I post photos from our family reunion last weekend and Tatum’s 23-Week pics, I thought I’d share this funny little glimpse into Tate’s morning.

Much like his mommy and daddy pre-coffee, Tatum is a bit foggy when he first wakes up.

Hey, can a guy get something to eat around here?

Note a hint of excitement in his eyes as he watches mommy mix up a bowl of rice cereal.

For me, really?!

Oh, yum!

The day can begin.

(He nurses when he first wakes up and then again right before his nanny comes for the day, so the rice cereal is really just an interlude. He does enjoy his first nums of the morning, though!)

Tate Giggles

2010-06-17T19:08:00.000-07:00

Birthday Gifts

2010-06-17T07:34:00.000-07:00

My 35th birthday was yesterday. This has been the birthday that keeps on giving! I’m hard-pressed to say what my favorite present was.

Over the weekend, Mom and David (Tatum’s CeCe and Gramps) came over to help clean up our flower beds. The family that lived here before us planted some amazing landscaping. Our neighbors tell us that the mom was outside doing something in the yard EVERY DAY. I believe it. It’s like a park out there, with so many lovely flowers and plants that pop up each season. I feel guilty about it ALL THE TIME, though, because I just can’t maintain the yard the way the former owner did.

Mom assures me that this is a matter of “ages and stages.” The stage we’re in right now is about having and raising babies, not planting and tending to elaborate flower beds. Unfortunately when we first moved here, I landed in the hospital where we tried for weeks to keep our triplet sons. Of course after that was a period of deep grieving during which I couldn’t have cared less about the yard or in fact about anything much in this world! Then we were blessed with my pregnancy with Tatum and again, I wasn’t really feeling the yard work—I was too concerned with keeping our sweet baby in my belly for nine months.

So, all of this back story is to illustrate that our flower beds realllllly needed some work. Mom and David came over on Sunday around 10:30 AM and worked until 2:30 or 3:00 in the afternoon! I helped when I could, though I was also taking care of Tate since Bruce is still on the road. I pulled weeds from one side of the house, though—satisfying work! In the end our curb was lined with 8 bags of yard debris. What a massive undertaking! And what an amazing birthday gift, to have a tidy yard at long last. Wonder how long I can keep it that way?

That’s not all, though! My sister planned a little birthday dinner with my best friend from high school. We had a girls’ night out with fun drinks and great food and adult conversation. After 17 days with Bruce in DC, I needed that like you cannot believe! It was wonderful. I even had a cocktail (an Angel Food Cake martini…and yes, it tasted every bit as good as it sounds!).

And if THAT wasn’t enough, Lauren and Mom got me a gift certificate to get a pedicure. I need to find the time to do that soon, since the pigs are on display pretty much all the time in sandals during the summer. I could use the relaxation, and my feet could use the pampering! Oh my gosh, I have hooves down there. It’s not pretty. Not pretty at all. I don’t even know the last time I had a pedicure, and I haven’t exactly been exfoliating on a regular basis (quick shower! In and out! Is the boy crying? Do I have time to dry my hair?).

Finally—this may actually be my favorite gift of all, barring the gift of Tate that is!—mom finished the quilt she’s been working on for Tatum. It’s amazing!!!! I absolutely love it. There are SO MANY fun things for him to look at on this quilt—boats, balls of all kinds, dinosaurs, dogs, trucks—almost anything fun for a little guy to look at, it’s on there! The colors are incredibly bright and vibrant, and it’s just SO ENERGIZING, this quilt! Lucky boy (and lucky me, to have such a talented mom!). As you can see, Tate quite loves his new quilt. And so do I!

Week 22

2010-06-14T18:36:00.000-07:00

After coasting along for several weeks without major changes, you seem to have decided it’s time to get moving my baby. You now roll over with abandon—from back to tummy, from tummy to back. Almost the minute I set you down on your quilt in the mornings, you roll over to begin playing on your tummy. You even inch yourself forward by tiny increments by sticking your tush up in the air and pushing up on the tips of your toes. It’s not really crawling—more like scooting along on your belly or sometimes even your head. It gets you moving, and that’s all you care about!

You have an incredibly strong grip and you love to pinch and grab things. Coming from the woman who nurses you, I can say that this is not always fun.

Your power of concentration is lengthening and your temperament is really evening out. I won’t go so far as to say that you’re low maintenance (come on, look at your parents! How likely was THAT?), but you fuss much less frequently and you can entertain yourself without intervention for longer stretches of time. You’ll fixate on something and just stare and stare, or you’ll try to do the same task again and again until you get it down. You’re a strong-willed and diligent little guy when it comes to learning new things.

Your verbal skills are blossoming, as evidenced by the little video clip I published from YouTube yesterday. You make ALL kinds of noises, and it’s clear that in your head, you make perfect sense. While they may not contain any recognizable words, your sentences have a definite cadence and a start and stop. You’ll make a string of noises, stop to look at me, wait for me to respond, and when I do then you’ll answer back with another string of noises. I just LOVE THIS! It’s my favorite new trick of yours, these conversations we have.

Actually, wait—I take that back. My FAVORITE new trick of yours is your ability to sleep through the night in your crib!!! Granted this has only happened once, and even then it’s not as though I sleep through the night because I’m up to peek in on you to assure myself that you’re okay, and to pump so that there’s a bottle supply for Sarah during the day. Typically you're up around 10 PM wanting a snack and again around 3 or 3:30 AM. But wow—a week ago you were still in our bed. Now you’re sleeping on your own in a crib like a big guy. In fact, I’m watching you on the wonderful video monitor Chooch got us as I type this. You’re currently on your back with both arms over your head, wearing a cozy Halo sleep sack covered in footballs and basketballs and track shoes. Sometimes you end up on your side, sometimes you even end up on your tummy—you seem to be comfortable in a number of different positions, and I’m guessing you enjoy being able to move around a bit more than you could when you slept with me in our bed. You’re waking up a bit earlier in the mornings now, but you still wake up happy as can be, just babbling and smiling up at the world.

Your eyes are still blue. You’re growing more hair. You’re the most beautiful baby I’ve ever seen. Of course I’m biased.

I’ll close, as always, with your 22-week photos.

The boy has lots to say!

2010-06-13T17:21:00.000-07:00

Transitions

2010-06-10T17:13:00.000-07:00

As I write, Tatum is upstairs asleep in his *gasp* ... CRIB! I'll admit to feeling conflicted about this. I love having his warm, snuggly little body in the bed with me. But now that he's actively rolling over on a whim, I fear that he could roll over in the night and get his face buried in our mattress without me realizing it. We have one of those sink-into-it memory foam toppers on our bed, and it sort of sucks you in like a gentle hug. If he were to end up on his tummy, I don’t think he could roll back over and I’m scared that he would suffocate.

Also, with Sarah here Monday through Friday while I work, it would be so helpful to her if Tatum were used to sleeping in his crib. We need a consistent place for him to nap during the day, and then to sleep at night. He frequently fights sleep as it is, and I’m sure it doesn’t help that he has no real naptime routine.

So I’m finally committed to transitioning him into his own sleeping space. My conflicted feelings about moving him out of our bed hampered my efforts to do this in the past, but now that it’s not just me to consider—it’s Tate’s safety, first and foremost, and Sarah’s ability to get him to take a nap during the day when he needs one—now, I’m ready.

The first thing I did today to prepare for the transition was hang a mobile over his crib. It has the cutest animals dangling from it, and given how much Tate enjoys his swing with the jungle animals (which was $10 at a garage sale vs. the $100+ we spent on the much fancier swing downstairs, about which he is lukewarm at best!), I just knew the mobile would be a hit. Indeed, I put him in his crib this afternoon for a bit of playtime so that he could admire the new mobile, and he squealed and babbled and wiggled and beat his fists on his tummy in excitement! He absolutely adores it. SCORE!

Then I put soft flannel sheets on his crib mattress, so that it would feel warm and snuggly like our bed. I’m also hoping to introduce a lovey as a transitional object for him to sleep with, though the lovies I have are sort of half stuffed animal/half blanky (I’m sure you’ve seen similar ones before—we have a monkey and a spotted dog) and I’m worried about leaving one in the crib with him right now because he pulls anything he can get his hands on up over his head. I doubt that he could suffocate from it…but again, I worry. That’s what first-time moms do, right? Well, it’s probably what ALL moms do, but I can only speak from the first-time-mom point of view, and I’m always fighting off fears of the various calamities that could befall my child.

Our bedtime routine has been going well for weeks (I emphasize the routine because while I’ve done a good job instituting a consistent routine, the “going to sleep” part afterwards has been anything BUT consistent!). Each night we do bath, nursing, book and bed. Tonight was no exception, and the little man was drowsy but awake when I put him down. He “protested” (don’t you just love the sleep books that say “your baby will protest for a while”—meaning he’ll scream his sweet little head off!) for about 10 minutes, rolled around quite a bit (I was spying on the monitor) and now he’s asleep on his tummy. This makes me a bit nervous—he never sleeps on his tummy in our bed! But that’s where he landed, I can see that he’s breathing, and I’m just going to have to sit back and relax and realize that I can’t watch him all night long. Here’s hoping that he sleeps peacefully in his crib for a number of hours, at least!

I promised Tate’s dad some photos of him, since Daddy is still on the road.

Tatum with his spotted puppy lovey:

In his crib (taking it for a quick test run this morning—emphasis on the "quick", since I think he was down for about 10 minutes, tops).

And with his sweet Sarah, who said she didn’t mind if I posted a picture of her. (Some of these came out really bright; I think I used a different setting on the camera. Tatum looks like he's glowing. I mean, he's a white baby, for sure—but not THAT white!)

Soooo big! (Twenty pounds, to be exact—I just weighed him this morning!)

This close-up shows the impracticality of us ever putting Tate in a dark-colored shirt. With a white dog in the house, it just makes no sense!

Tough Men Love Veggies ... Tatum at 21 Weeks

2010-06-07T09:48:00.000-07:00

This update is going to be a quicky, as mommy is busy busy busy with work! But let’s not deprive Chooch and Daddy and the various others out there who rely on this space for their weekly dose of Tatum adorableness.

The best thing to happen during our 21st week with Tatum is witnessing his enjoyment of CARROTS and GREENBEANS! Woo hoo! Our little man has become a veggie eater. He seems to really like them!

Just to prove that real men eat vegetables, check out the toughness of Tate sporting a green bean goatee:

Yo mom, what's with the phone? Bring on the food!

Several sleeping photos that I took with my iPhone to send to Daddy while he’s on the road. These are blurry due to the low light in our bedroom, but still so cute...

Tatum looking like Daddy while snoozing

Carrying the weight of the world…it’s tough to be Tate!

His 21-Week photos. As you can see, our serious little guy is breaking out the smiles more and more! What a joy he is.