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...

Tatum - 1 month

Tatum's baby shower was last Sunday and her 1month doc's appt was this past Wednesday and I am just now getting the time to blog!

The shower was great! Had lots of family and several friends attend and the cake and punch were awesome (thanks Natasha)! Tatum got lots of good gifts, including $350 in cash, gift cards, and money deposited into her baby savings, clothes, bath stuff, and most important of all - Diapers!!! Thanks to all who came...

Now, on to the shocker of my week - Tatum's appt went really well, better than I expected. My sweet little "Tater" now weighs 10lbs!!! That's right, she has gained nearly 3 1/2 lbs in one month! I think it took Cadence 3months to get up to 10lbs... which goes to show the HUGE difference between breast milk and formula. Tatum also measured 20 3/4 inches. She is in the 75th percentile for weight and head circumference - something I've never experienced as a parent :), but still in the lowest 10th percent for height. The doc said "She is very short, but that's OK"... I don't know how she could be tall with me and Dave as her parents ♥. Anyway - it went great!

For some reason my pics aren't uploading, so I will post them later or on Facebook... I'll post again soon!

All About Cadence

I'll get right to it - I am SO proud of my "big" girl.... she pooped in the potty for the first time last night!!! We have just been letting her sit on the potty when she wants to for the most part, but last night Cadence's Nana made her sit on the potty when she thought Cadence might be trying to go and it worked! Everybody clapped and made a big fuss over her and she was excited about it for about a minute and then could care less :). This makes another bittersweet moment because it is a big milestone, my baby is growing up way too fast! Since I haven't done it in a while I'll go ahead and tell you some more things that are going on with her right now -

• She weighs about 25lbs

• Her hair is finally long enough for a ponytail - it's adorable! ♥
  
• Knows all of her colors
  
• Knows several shapes (rectangle, circle, heart, triangle, star)
  
• Can count to 10 (she counts to four all the time and stops for some reason, but when you prompt her to keep going she can make it to 10)
  
• Dances all the time
  
• Her new favorite thing to do is sing about everything - if she is riding in the car she will sing "Riiiiiiidiiiinnnnggg in the caaaaarrrr with Moooommmmmaaaa and Naaaaannnnnaaa" - just nonsensical words to narrate what she is doing
  
• Talks better than any other 2yr old I have ever seen - she can tell you what she wants and how she wants it
  
• Says "Cadence do it" for everything - she is 2 going on 15 and is too big for help
  
• Says "Know" while shaking her head for "I don't know"
  
• Throws a mean fit when she doesn't get her way, and for whatever reason Dave is usually the one that makes her the maddest
  
• Says "Oh, I know it baby" to Tatum when she is crying (I guess she's heard me saying that :) )
  
• Loves all things Mickey Mouse Clubhouse - knows every character
  
• Knows where all her family members live - when we start down a road she will scream "Mumsie's House" or "Grandma's House" or "Home" - she knows directions better than me!
  
• After we read her a book a few times she remembers enough about what is on each page that she can "read" it back to us (in her own words of course)
  
• And her latest thing is breastfeeding her babies! She will raise up her shirt and put one of her stuffed animals against her chest and tell you that she is "feeding baby"!!! As if that wasn't enough - she'll then burp the baby and switch to "other side now"

I am amazed every day at how smart she is - I had no idea that a 2yr old could be so perceptive and literally soak up everything. Dave and I know that we are very blessed to have this little person in our lives. And even though she is in the "Terrible Twos" right now, and throws some hair-raising fits, she is a sweet, smart, sassy little blessing.

This was at the park in the ark last week - can you say "Cheese"?

2 Weeks Old

Tatum is 2wks old now... my how the time is zooming by. She is doing really well... her cord fell off on Saturday so we gave her her 1st full bath today. She absolutely HATED every minute of it - cried the whole time! It also took her a long time to calm down afterward, I finally had to nurse her a little so that she could take a nap, bless her little heart. Speaking of - breastfeeding is still going great and I've calculated that we've already saved $50 from not having to buy formula - what a blessing! I'm aiming to breastfeed for 6 more months, but we'll just have to see how it goes when I go back to work next month. She is up to 3 - 3 1/2 hrs between feedings and is sleeping well at night, she wakes up to nurse and goes right back to sleep. We had Tatum's first photo session on Saturday and the pics turned out great... she's pretty photogenic to be 2wks old :). I'll post some of these when I buy them - or you can see them at http://www.lovingtouchportrait.com/ under Little Ones or on my Facebook pg. I've really enjoyed being at home with Dave, Cadence and Tatum these past 2wks... I think I'm really going to miss them when I go back to work :( - I plan on enjoying the next 4wks as much as possible because I know that they are going to fly by. I'll keep updating - you keep reading!

By the way - Cadence is still doing well and loving her sister like crazy ♥♥♥

Peachy Keen

Just wanted to update... Tatum's 1wk docs appt was Monday and it went really well. She is up to 7lbs 3oz already! Dr. J was really surprised that she had already gained 8oz in just a week, especially with me being in the hospital an extra day. And she is up to 20inches - I had no idea that a baby could grow that fast! I am really going to contribute it to the breastfeeding - it is going SO well this time... Tatum won't even take a bottle! Cadence never wanted to latch on well and after I got really engorged I gave up on breastfeeding with her - I think it took about a month for her to start gaining any amount of weight... Anyway, I try to keep Tatum awake for a few hours during the day so that she sleeps better at night and it seems to be working. She is sleeping for 3hrs at a time between feedings, which doesn't sound great, but it is. I'm hoping that we can get a few pics with the girls and me and Dave this weekend, and we'll probably have a photographer take a family pic before too long, I just want to get a little more time going in between feedings before going out a lot - you can't really get anywhere and do anything when you are breastfeeding a baby every 2 1/2hrs!

Cadence is doing well also - she loves her baby sister so much... I am SO glad that she is going this way with Tatum instead of not wanting anything to do with her. We are having trouble keeping her out of Tatum's face, and she wants to hold her every minute of the day, but I'd rather her be too interested than not interested at all. I'm still supposed to be not picking up anything heavier than Tatum, but I have been holding Cadence every chance I get when nobody else is around - but don't worry, I've only carried her twice :). Cadence is such a little boss these days... she'll say "Momma do it" or "Daddy do it" when she wants us to get her something or do something she is supposed to be doing... and she says "Cadence do it" when she wants to be grown and do something she is too little to be doing!

Dave is doing GREAT in school... he has a lot of assignments to keep up with since he has 5 classes, but so far he has been doing really well with juggling them all. He is making all As and Bs and I just couldn't be more proud of him.

I guess that's all for now - I'll post updates and pics as I get them! Hope everyone is doing well.

Week 1

This blog will be short as I am writing it from my hospital bed... Needless to say, it's been a crazy 1st week! Tatum is doing well - eating a lot, sleeping a lot, being just as sweet as ever. Cadence is going well - FULL of sass and energy, loving her little sister, and giving her parents lots of 2yr old attitude. Me... well I'm not doing so well. Started having a headache Thursday morning when I woke up. I was sleeping in the recliner at the time and had a crick in my neck so I just blew it off as tension.... Well the headache never went away and by Friday afternoon it was completely unbarable and I finally consented to let Dave take me to the ER. Turns out that my blood pressure was so high that I was very close to seizing... I was admitted to the hospital and that is where I am now. I've been on Magnesium Sulfate for 24hrs and hopefully, if my blood pressure stays down for the rest of the afternoon, I'll be able to go home tonight. Doc thinks I may have post-partum pre-eclampsia, which is kinda rare but not unheard of. Whatever the case - I am SO READY to go home! As if the 1st week home with a baby isn't stressful enough! Here are just a couple of pics that I had on my phone of Tatum - hopefully I can get out of here, get to feeling better, and get some good pics of her and Cadence soon. Everyone keep your fingers crossed!

Introducing Tatum Harper Reynolds

FINALLY! She is here... my sweet baby is a beautiful little girl! On Saturday morning (around 1am) I had a few really nasty contractions. They went away after just a little while, but when I got out of bed later that morning I started passing my mucus plug... disgusting you say? I AGREE! I won't even say anything else about it because it totally grossed me out. Anyway, had lower back pain and pressure for the rest of the day. I was supossed to go have dinner with my mom and Mumsie, but I ended up calling them around 6 and telling them I didn't want to come because my back was really hurting and I just wasn't feeling up to it. They both hassled me to death to call my doctor because they were convinced that I was having back labor and needed to go to the hospital. I told them no about 5 times, but I finally gave in and called the doc on call. First thing out of her mouth was "I think you need to go ahead and head to the hospital to let us check you out"... you should have seen Dave jump into action - you'd have thought that my water broke right there in the living room! Anyway, we gathered a few things just in case we would be staying and headed out. Got to the hospital at 8 o'clock and got checked in but didn't bring any bags in because I told Dave that they were going to send me back home. The nurse checked me and said that I was still 3cm and 80% effaced - the same as I was on Wednesday when Dr. J checked me. She also hooked me up to the baby monitors to measure my contractions and check the baby's heartrate. I was having contractions every 2-4mins, but wasn't really feeling a lot of pain, except in my back - guess the old ladies were right. :) Since we live a little ways from the hospital the nurse asked me if I would get up and walk the halls for a while to see if I could change my cervix... I said sure, why not. I walked the halls for an hour and then went back to the room to be monitored for 20mins. When the nurse checked me again my cervix had changed just a little bit, but not enough to be signifigant, so we tried it again... I ended up doing this for the rest of the night - walking for an hour at a time and being monitored for 20-30. I gradually changed each time until the nurse checked me again at 6am and my water broke! By this time I was really feeling the steady contractions, but still didn't want an epidural, so I had some stadol and kept on laboring. I had a fantastic nurse that let me take an hour long shower during my labor which really really helped. Diane was very positive about me trying to deliver naturally and kept encouraging me throughout the morning. She told me that there would be a point when I said "I can't do this" but that the end would be soon there and I could push through... Well - that point came at about 10:30 Sunday morning. I was dilated to 7 1/2 cms and I thought that I was going to die!!! I finally sat up in bed during one of my (constant) contractions and screamed "I WANT AN EPIDURAL!" I want to mention that my husband was absolutely wonderful during those long hours of labor - he told me with every hard contraction that I could do it and just to focus on my breathing. He labored right along with me, until I was totally spazzing because of the pain - then he was ready for the epidural too! I don't know how other women have babies without making a peep and no medication - but I wasn't strong enough to do it... kudos to them! Anywho - got the epidural and after a few short pushes Tatum Harper Reynolds arrived at 12:23pm. She came out face up just like Cadence did - which was another reason for the 16hrs of labor... silly girls! Tatum weighed 6lbs 11oz and measured 19 1/2 inches long. (Cadence was 6lb 9oz, 19in long - so very similar.) She has dark, wavy hair and bright blue eyes - like Dave, and her fingers and toes are LONG like mine, but other than that - you wouldn't know whose child she is! She is the polar opposite of Cadence, but still beautiful :). Cadence met her baby sister last night and fell in love just as quickly as Dave and I did. Once she held Tatum (with lots of assistance I might add) she wouldn't let anyone else hold her! She threw a fit when my mom tried to take Tatum to hold before going back to Atlanta. I felt really overwhelmed watching one daughter hold the other - I don't know what I did to deserve 2 beautiful little blessings like them! Here are just a few pics we have taken so far... there will be many more to come.

A Little Bit of Progress

My doctors appt didn't go exactly as I planned today... but it was OK. I am now 3cms dilated and 80% effaced. Dr. J says that this is really good progress for a week but I'm kinda skeptical :). I was really wanting to be like 5cms dilated, but maybe that was unrealistic. I'll have one more appointment next Wednesday and then will go to the hospital to be induced on the 21st if the baby hasn't come by then. I'm deadset on getting this baby out on my own because I DO NOT want to be induced again, so I am still walking on the treadmill and bouncing around on my pilates ball :D. Dr. J also did some more cervix stretching at this appt, so maybe that will prove effective also. As far as numbers go~ I gained 2lbs, still measured 38cms, and the baby's heartrate was 147 beats per minute... So there's a little update for ya - hopefully I won't be posting about an appt next Wednesday, I'll be posting about the baby!

Long Hunter State Park

This Saturday I was anxious to get out of the house and do some walking... the plan was to instigate labor but of course it didn't work. We had a great time anyway, I've never been to this park but it was absolutely beautiful. Me, Dave, Cadence, and my mother-in-law Barbara walked the 2mile trail around the lake. We saw 12 deer and 5 wild turkeys - they were all right up on the trail and didn't get spooked at all! One of the things I really liked about the trail was that it was completely shaded by all the trees... oh, and it was paved- a major plus for me. All in all it was a great day! Also, if you have never seen pics of Barbara you wouldn't know this, but she has lost about 70lbs in the last 6 months - so she is looking great! Gotta give her kudos - I know that I am going to try my best to be as dedicated as her when I start dieting after the baby comes. Enjoy.

Cadence was ready to ride!

Me & Barbara

My Fat self & Dave


This is the first baby deer that we saw on the trail - he acted like he didn't even care that we were there making a bunch of racket and taking his picture!

Our 1st rest (we only took 2) - Cadence walked after this... you know she wasn't going back in that stroller after she tasted a little freedom and realized I would let her play in the dirt!

In case you are worried - I have a death grip on my bunkin - wild monkeys couldn't have torn her away from me :)

Sweet little family photo... soon the 3 will become 4!

Just a few pics

Of Course - this is the beginning of the pics - I hate that when you post pics to this blog they are always backwards! But here is Cadence enjoying some chili... can't you tell she's a "Big Girl"? I just love my baby girl to death! Meant to mention that she also had 3 shots at the doc today and didn't cry for even 2 minutes... and she didn't cry at all to have her finger pricked for her iron test - she is a brave little sweetheart!