Long Blog (Sorry)

I haven't posted in a while so I will attempt to catch up on everything.

Saturday, Tatum attended her first birthday party and she had a great time. Her friend, Mackenzie, turned 1!! I can't believe she is already one. Time is just flying by.

Sunday we went to church and we kept her with us because she would have been the only baby in the nursery. I was a little nervous about this, but she did GREAT!! She "sang" when we sang and she went to sleep when the preaching started. I think she might get this from her Granddaddy? LOL Sorry, I had to say that! After church, we went to each with our Pastor's family and some other friends. Then, we went home and we all took naps! It was just a great day.

Monday, Brandy came over and we ate frozen pizza and pretended it was Pizza Hut. I can say that maternity leave has taught me so much. Going 10 weeks without a paycheck has meant that we have really had to watch what we spend. I find that it has been easy, but I just hate to think of all the "stupid" things I spent my money on in the past that I didn't need.

Wednesday was Tatum's first Valentine's Day and we had fun. We got up and just hung out and played all day and then Daddy(Antonio) got home at 6:30 and he had picked up food from Macaroni Grill (salads, lasagna, and dessert) and we ate dinner over candlelight! We had already decided not to go out and fight the crowds and it was kind of romantic just eating at home just the two of us. Tatum sat in her exersaucer the whole time and played too!

I have 3 days left total until I have to go back to work. I am very excited, nervous, scared, torn etc about going back. I have enjoyed being at home with Tatum, but I know that staying home forever with her is just not the best thing for me or her right now. However, I don't want to miss any of those milestones in her life either! She is growing so fast and I don't want to miss anything. Like right now she is beside me on the couch just talking away and I am going to miss that! It has also been so great being at home and not stressing out from time to time over happenings at work. On the other hand, I miss the interaction with adults and the feeling of signing those big accts at work. I miss the paycheck and some of my customers too. I guess we will have to see how it goes when I get back out there. I feel like being home so long has really given me a litttle boost and now I have more drive and motivation to get back out there and do well.

Anyway, I also wanted to talk about what I have learned while on maternity leave....

1.) It is true that you will never know what you will do until you are actually IN the situation yourself....ex I always thought that I would breastfeed for 6 months minimum and I also thought that any mother that DID NOT do this just didn't want the best for their child. However, after being in this situation, I have learned that Tatum loves her formula bottles and I love them too. I was stressing myself out trying to breastfeed and it just didn't work. After I stopped, I went thru feeling like I had failed, but after that, I just felt good. I could sleep longer, I didn't have to rush home to feed every 3 hours, I didn't have to disappear every 3 hours while we were at people's houses to go feed, etc.

2.) I always said that Tatum would NEVER get to sleep in bed with us. While we kept true to this a little bit, she does make her way into our bed from time to time. She did the bassinet thing for 3 weeks and then we moved her to her crib. She would do well in there for the first 4-5 hours of the night and then she didn't do so well, so we would move her in bed with us and she would sleep "like a baby"! It is hard having to get up every 10-20 minutes in the middle of the night to calm her down. Now, I am happy to say that she is sleeping in her crib full time and LONG HOURS usually 12 hours.

3.) I can stick to a tight budget! While I will stray a little bit, I think I have been pretty good about not spending too much on things that I don't need.

4.) Losing all of this baby weight is HARD!! I knew this from the beginning, and I have done pretty well, but my body is just different now. I am down 12 lbs since Christmas, but my clothes still don't fit like I want them to. It is kind of frustrating because I am determined not to buy "big" clothes, but I am kind of down to no options since work is right around the corner.

5.) Traveling with a baby, even just going to my parent's house, feels like you are MOVING! I have made this trip several times since Christmas and even though I am only going to be gone for 3 days, I still have a packed car! It is amazing how much has to go. I won't even mention the weekend my sis, her two girls, Tatum, and I all went to Nashville!! I only wish I had taken a picture of us in the van!

6.) I thought the phone calls from our friends stopped when we got married, but after Tatum arrived, they have REALLY stopped. We still like to go out to eat, hang out, etc. Tatum can come or we can get a babysitter....just keep the calls coming because parents like to go out too! However, I am so happy everyone is having their own babies, so now we will all be in the same boat! YAY Babies! We are also getting season tix for the football season and Tatum is going to be there, so we are looking forward to that. She was good last year at all the games, but she was still in my tummy.

7.) I could really just look at Tatum all day and not get bored! I have been told this many many times and I thought the people were a little crazy, but it is in fact true! She is just so funny even at this age. Her personality is coming out and she just thinks I am the funniest person (which I love), so we just have a great time!

8.) Stay at home mommies are my heroes! While I love being at home now, I still find it hard to get the house clean, wash clothes, etc when Tatum is crying. She doesn't like it right now when she can't see me. Stay at home mommies work HARD and work 24 hours a day 7 days a week. It doesn't matter if they get sick, they can't call in. They have to be PATIENT and KIND and ENTERTAINING and ORGANIZED and LOVING and SELFLESS and HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR, etc. You all are amazing!

9.) Working mommies are my heroes too! You guys are STRONG and GIVING and SELFLESS and ORGANIZED and also work 24/7! You guys work a full day out of the house and then come home and cook, clean, take care of kids, etc. Okay, MOMMIES in general are my HEROES!

Bottom line, if you are a mom, or when you become a mom, do what works for you!! Don't worry about what others think, it doesn't matter as long as you are taking care of your little one the best that you see fit. While I was pregnant, EVERYONE had advice for me...some of it I asked for, and some came on its own. Some advice has worked great, and some of it didn't. I LOVED getting the advice, but because all babies are different, all advice just doesn't work.

AND if you are NOT a mom, don't judge us Mommies!!! You may THINK you know, but you have no idea!! I know I was once a childless person and a big judger. Boy, I have learned lots!

It may seem as though I am venting, but I really am not. I love being a mommy and I think I have learned lots about myself in the process. I just want to let everyone view a little bit of my life being a mommy.

I still don't think that it has fully sunk in that I am a mommy and Antonio is a daddy. It is still a little bit scary, but SO MUCH fun! Sometimes I look at Tatum and can't believe she is really ours! I think she is SO BEAUTIFUL and would really do anything for her in the world!

I have a few random pictures that I will post later!