Catching Up!

Where to even start?!?!? I can tell from the other blogs that I follow that everyone else is having a hard time keeping up these days too :). Now that the holidays are over I plan on keeping a better blog... So... let's see... Christmas was wonderful - we got more presents than we deserved and had a great 2wks spending lots of time with family. After Christmas Dave and I took the girls to Atlanta to visit with my Mom (Nana) and spend some of that lovely Christmas Moola. Dave got a new pair of tennis shoes and I got a pair of the new Sketchers - the Shape Ups. They are SO COOL. I started feeling the burn the first day I wore them, and I swear - in just a week I really don't feel my fat hiney jiggling as much. I set several New Year's Resolutions including: going to church more (we have been seriously slacking since I had Tatum), keeping the house cleaner (after a deep cleaning before we left for Atlanta I realized that I was going to have to do more "small" cleaning all week and month before things got out of hand again), loving on Dave more (with two little ones it is hard to focus on each other), and my hardest one - LOSING WEIGHT! I want to lose 50lbs this year, and I am really determined to do it. I want to be healthier and thinner :). Dave went back to work after a week off for Christmas to 1st shift ... thank you Jesus for answering my prayers on that one. He is working anywhere from 8-12hrs per day, anywhere from 5-7 days per week, and taking 6hrs of classes this semester. I have every confidence in him and am doing everything in my power to make life easier for him. When he is not working you can usually find him in Cadence's princess tent or holding Tatum. Seems like I love him more than ever when I see him with our girls - there's just something about a Daddy and his little girls that melts my heart. ♥ I am looking into taking a Dental Assisting Registration class this year... in TN you don't have to go for a full class if you are trained by a dentist, so hopefully it won't take me long and I'll be able to at least help with X-Rays (which is the only thing that I don't do now). Tatum will be going to the doc for her 4mo checkup soon and I'll post about that... if we don't have better luck with the pediatrician this time we will probably be looking for another one yet again. I don't even want to go into what I am mad about now, but it blows my mind that we can finally find not just one, but two, doctors that we really like only to realize that their office is SO poorly run that we want to look for another one! Drives me crazy! Anyway - here are a few pics... enjoy. ♥

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Cadence & Tatum in their matching outfits

Cadence playing with her new kitchen

Dave and Tatum fell asleep waiting for Santa

Tatum and Uncle Bob ♥

Going to play in the snow

Mommy and Cadence's footprints

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!