Are You Ready?!?!

You know what I'm talking about - CHRISTMAS!!! It's here! I can't wait to spend some time off of work with family and friends - oh, and my girlies!!! ♥ I hope that you all have a great Christmas planned, and I hope those plans turn out. Today is my last day of work for the rest of the year - I won't have to come back until January 4th! I plan on scrapbooking like crazy until I can get caught up and then Dave and I are going to try to head to Atlanta toward the end of next week. Speaking of Dave - my wonderful, smart, silly hubby got his grades yesterday from his first semester of college and made all A's! He's on the Dean's List with a 4.0!! There are no words to describe how proud of him I am! He is truly the light of my life and I am so glad that I married him 3yrs ago. I know that he is going to continue to do well in the coming semesters, so I'll keep you posted on that. I love you all and hope you have the best Christmas ever, I know I will!♥!♥!

A Milestone...

Last night Tatum rolled over for the first time... she rolled from her stomach to her back and it scared the crap out of her! I cood and ood over her and made a big fuss, but I'm really kinda sad about it. Tatum will be 3mo old on Sunday and she is already doing things quicker than Cadence. Cadence has always been advanced as far as milestones go, she was walking at 10 months! Now, my little Tatum is trying to do things faster! I was happy that she reached this milestone, but I know that this is the beginning of all the "firsts" and I hate that it's going by so fast! It's bittersweet to me, but of course, I'd rather she be meeting her milestones early than not meeting them at all. I'll keep posting as my baby grows up too fast!

Thanksgiving

Had a great one! Not much to tell, Dave had to work, we ate dinner, had a good time visiting with everyone! :) Here are a couple of pics of the girls...

Small Sacrifices

It's happened... Dave was called back to work. :(
Last night was his first night back - he had to take a 3rd shift position, leaving me home alone all night with the girls. It was AWFUL to say the least. Tatum was up all night, I think we finally managed to get 4hrs sleep all together (45 mins here, 1hr there), and Cadence woke up at 2:30 this morning screaming "Daddy, Daddy"! It broke my heart... To beat it all - he goes in and they tell him right off the bat that he is going to have to work 12 hrs! Dave has about 4 more weeks of this semester, so I am hoping he can keep up work and 16hrs of classes for that long. He is still making all As and Bs, even in Anatomy & Phisiology, and I am SOOOO proud of him for that. He is going to take a couple of classes each semester while working until he can apply for the Physical Therapy Assistant Program in March of 2010. I just have to keep telling myself that we are making small sacrifices so that he can finish his schooling and make a career that will better support our family... but it's hard... really hard... I love him and want him home with us ♥

Tatum - 2 Months

Yesterday we went for Tatum's 2mo checkup and it went great! I can't believe it but the little monkey weighs 12lbs 9oz!!! She is in the 90th percentile for her weight and head circumference, but she is still only in the 10-25th percentile for her height... The doc made the comment (again) that she is "extremely short". It cracks me up every time she says that because neither of my girls had any hope of being anything other than "extremely short"! :) Anyway, I asked the doc was it normal/OK for Tatum to be so fat and she said, "She's not fat!! She's thriving and healthy". Then I kinda felt bad for asking, but I'm just used to Cadence and she has always been in the 15th percentile or below. Tatum is just healthy ;). She is obviously not having any ill effects from being put on formula a few weeks ago. She got 3 shots and hardly cried at all, and other than being at the stinkin office for 2hrs, the visit was a breeze. (I HATE waiting and being at the doc that long, and I was in a really pissy mood about it yesterday... but I'm over it today)

Here is what Tatum is up to these days:

Smiling and Cooing - I LOVE this! When I go pick her up in the evening all I have to do is speak in her direction and she is grinning and batting her eyes. Then when I get right up to her she starts "talking" to me - it is precious!

She likes to lay on her back in the floor or in her bouncy seat to play

She takes 4-6oz every 4 hours

She sleeps about 4-6hrs at a time :)

Overall she is a wonderful little baby!♥!

Here she is in her Bumbo

Halloween 2009

We had a GREAT Halloween this year! Here are a few pics of Cadence... she went as Minnie Mouse. Tatum just wore a Halloween outfit and I didn't get any pics of her front, but Lisa Nixon of Loving Touch Portraits got 2 awesome pics of her. Cadence entered Lisa's costume contest and won 1st place! Go to http://www.lovingtouchportrait.com/ to see both girls and my sweet nephew Dallas, who went as a horse. I just have to say I love being a Mom! While I was putting on Cadence's makup I wanted to cry I was so proud and excited! I can't wait to dress both the girls up next year. And I hope that all Moms feel as blessed as I do!

Sick Baby

My poor little Tatum has had a hard week. She started getting this rash on her face and torso about a week ago that I thought was just heat. (Both of my girls are very hot natured) Then she started crying... and crying... and crying. I just knew in my gut that it was colic because she was pulling her little knees up like her stomach was hurting and crying nonstop for 2 days. She wasn't sleeping and was nursing just a little bit at a time every couple of hours and she was getting really worn out. I called the doc and he told me to give her Mylanta in between feedings and see how that worked. After 2 doses, and no relief, I called him back... he told me to bring her in first thing in the morning (Monday) and they would see what was going on. Let me also mention that Monday was my first day back to work so I was already a little anxious about leaving her for the first time... Anyway, Dave took her to the doctor and sure enough - they diagnosed her problem as Colic and gave her some Colic Drops. When I first saw the medicine box I felt a little uneasy because there were like 4 stickers of side effects - "May cause drowsiness, dizziness, nausea, vomiting", "Do not operate machinery while taking", "Do not mix with other meds"... on and on. But at that point I would have done ANYTHING to help her get some relief and rest. At the same time, my Mumsie was telling me that she thought that Tatum was allergic to my breast milk, something I didn't think was possible, and that I should put her on the soy formula that we had Cadence on as a baby. With the rash and the colic I thought that she may be right too. SO - we started Tatum on the medicine and started giving her formula. She slept all night and most of the next day and I just didn't like the way she was acting... she seemed really out of it, almost like she was drunk. Then, sure enough, she ended up throwing up 3 times in a 24hr period. So I decided to take her off of the colic drops and see if just switching her to formula helped. Within 2 feedings of formula her skin completely cleared up, and now that the drops have worked their way out of her system she is acting like normal... I think that we have finally gotten her straightened out, but it has been a LONG week for my poor little baby girl. I am hopeful that she will be fully recovered from this mess soon. I fully believe that Mumsie was right and she was suffering from a Lactose Intolerance (just like Cadence). I'm very thankful for a good support system and family to help me with my babies... don't know what I would have done without them! Keeping my fingers crossed and prayerful...