TGIF!!!

This has been a hectic week! Dave has been working 12hr shifts and doing TONS of assignments (end of the semester), I have been getting off work late, Tatum is cutting more teeth, Cadence is still in her sass mode, and our house is a M E S S !!! I wish that there were a few more hours in a day and a few more arms/hands on my body... but such is life.

In happier news, Dave's 30th Birthday is Sunday! I can't believe that I'm married to such an old man. :) We are going to eat at TGIFridays on Saturday night with our friends - Sommer and Eric, Tommy and Sarah... no kiddos! Then on Sunday we are going to lunch with Dave's family - Jeff and Barbara, Tim, Jenna, and Dallas (and maybe a few more if they can come). And Sunday night we are going to eat at Mumsie and Dan's house... busy birthday weekend.

I hope that everyone has a great weekend.... I'll post pics of this weekend next week ♥

Blogs & Braces :)

Here is my new blog design, made by my sister-in-law Jenna Reynolds... let me know what you think :). (Thanks Jenna)

I don't really do this often any more, but this blog will be about me instead of about the girls or Dave... I GOT BRACES! Last Wednesday I went for my 2nd consultation with an Orthodontist about getting braces. Most people who know me don't really realize that there is anything wrong with my teeth, but it is really something that I've been self concious about for a long time. So after my consultation the planning lady came to me and said "Would you like to have them put on now? We have an opening."... ... ... ... ... ... ... I was sooooo nervous, but I said OK and 2hrs later I had the braces on and there was no going back! I will have them for 24months, and then have a permanent retainer on the bottom teeth and one to wear at night for my top teeth. I have lost 5 pounds since Wednesday so far, and I'm sure over then next few years I'll lose more just from the soreness and akwardness of eating with them. All of my friends and co-workers have been very supportive and are making me feel really good about my decision. Cadence thinks they kind of look funny, but she doesn't really pay any attention to them, and Tatum could care less - she loves me more than anything but her food and bottle :). I don't know when I'll be comfortable having my picture taken with them, but maybe soon I'll be confident enough to do it and post one up here.

Also, Me, Dave, Cadence, Tatum, Nana (my mom), Mumsie (my grandmother), and Pop-Pop (my grandfather) are all going on vacation together to Savannah at the end of May... We have the cutest cottage reserved for our stay and it is right at the beach there at Tybee Island! It is 3bedroom, 1.5 baths, full kitchen, fenced in yard.... EVERYTHING! I am counting down the days, and we're all SO excited! I guess that's about all for now... I'll keep on blogging if you'll keep on reading :)

Cadence's Reaction :(

Week before last Cadence was sitting in the livingroom floor playing while I gave Tatum her bottle. I noticed that she was rubbing her eyes, and then she started scratching her face... Well, she got up and came to sit with me and was still rubbing and scratching and I noticed a few little bumps on her face. I looked down her shirt and it looked like she was getting a little heat on her chest and stomach, so I went ahead and called the doctor's office thinking she may be having a little bit of an allergic reaction. While I was leaving the message Cadence started scratching more and saying "Momma it itches, Momma it hurts" so I immediatly put her in the bathtub with some Aveeno Oatmeal Soap and slightly warm water and started rubbing her down with it. By the time that the nurse called me back, which was only 5 mins later, Cadence had full blown hives all over her face, neck, torso, diaper area, and legs. Then her face and ears started swelling! The nurse told me to get her some Benedryl as quickly as I could and if she started having difficulty breathing to take her straight to the ER. Well let me tell you, I was on the phone hysterical trying to get someone to bring me some Benedryl... The first people I could think of were Sommer and Eric (Dave was on the Lebanon side of Watertown and his parents were in Lebanon). As soon as Eric answered the phone I said "I NEED HELP!" He said, "OK, what do you need and we're getting in the car right now" . Sommer ended up getting a speeding ticket on the way to my house, and when they got there I was already so frazzled I thought I was going to have a breakdown! We got the Benedryl down Cadence and Sommer and Eric stayed with me for about an hour to make sure that it would work. After about 20mins the swelling started going down and I finally relaxed just a little. I have NEVER EVER EVER been so scared in all my life! I have had a lot of scary things happen to me (including running out of a burning house in the middle of the night) but I was to the point of having a panic attack over this. Her reaction was so immediate - it was like one minute she was rubbing her eyes and the next she looked like Will Smith in that movie Hitch when he has the allergic reaction to shellfish! I didn't really know what caused the reaction because she hadn't had much that day that she had not already had before, but she did have some orange-tangerine juice... I am very allergic to oranges, so I thought that may be it (and it still may be). But she had also been playing outside that day, and had been chasing bees, so I think that is probably more likely.... The first little place on her face that I had noticed was still there several days later, so I think that was probably a sting site. I called a few days later to see about getting her a child-sized epi-pin and the doctor called me back and referred me to an allergist there in Murfreesboro. She wants us to pinpoint what the reaction was to so that we will know how best to treat it. In the meantime, we have to keep Benedryl with us at all times in case she has another reaction. I literally got on my knees the night of the reaction and cried again and thanked God for letting her be OK... and I thanked him for friends like Sommer and Eric, who dropped everything to rush to help me. I'm blessed to be their friend, and my girls are blessed to have them as God Parents. I think the scariest thing about being a parent is when something goes wrong, or you have an emergency, with your kids... it stops your heart.

Thankfully Cadence is doing well now, we had several inches of her hair cut last week and it is cute as it can be. She is very verbal now about everything... she told me and Dave last night not to look at her because she was picking her nose! Then when I told her to quit that because it was nasty she said "I have a booger!" Like duh, why else would she be picking her nose?!?! She is so full of life all the time, she truly lights up every single day.

There are new pics of both of my girls on the Loving Touch website - www.lovingtouchportrait.com . Go to the proofing section, under Buttercup Session and they are on pgs 5 and 6... Also, there are some of their pics in the Baby and Children sections from Tatum's 6mo session. Hope you all have a blessed day!

Stay tuned for my new blog layout being made by my Sister-In-Law, Jenna !

Tatum - 6 months

So my sweet little baby is almost 7 months now... makes me sad to think about how quickly her first year is flying by. Her 6mo checkup was a few weeks ago and it was our first visit to the new pediatrician - Dr. Marcie Castleberry. She was GREAT! Very interested in what was going on with my baby girl and was very gentle. She didn't seem to be in any hurry and Tatum didn't fuss one time with her! I liked the office staff as well, and didn't have to wait even 20mins!!! Tatum got 3 shots and barely fussed at all (what a big girl) and was asleep before we got out of the parking lot. Here is what little Tatum is up to these days:

*18lbs, 7oz
*Loves to eat baby food! - She is taking 2-3 jars (or those square containers) per day in addition to her bottles
*Loves to bounce in her bouncy horse, and will try to bounce on your lap all she can
*Coos and babbles - especially at her Momma
*Holds up her arms when she wants me to take her
*Can sit up by herself :)
*Is starting to crawl this week :( - she can't go very far, but she is definitely moving
*Loves her sister and tries to play with her, touch her, rub her face on her all she can
*Can reach out for and pick up an object unprompted and will transfer it from hand to hand (or stick it directly in her mouth)
*Is still really ticklish ♥

So... she is still a big, healthy, sweet baby and I thank God for her every day. I'll keep you posted on what she's doing.

Trying to Catch Up!

I can't believe that it has been over a month since I last posted... what a busy busy busy month it has been! Stay tuned for updates from March...

*Tatum had her 6mo doc's visit and all went very well, I'll update on her own seperate post later.

*Dave went to 3rd shift... turns out we see him more on that shift than 1st!

*Cadence had a SEVERE allergic reaction to some type of sting a couple weeks ago... again, I'll do a seperate post for that one too

*Easter was absolutely AWESOME! Couldn't have asked for a better weekend for our family.

*Braves' opening game was last night and we kicked butt! 16-5! Hope we can keep it up all season.

K... so I'll get started on the detailed posts - sorry all that it's been so long!