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"?