Dinner Time, "Ready for Daycare", and New Friends Pictures

Hey Everyone! This is Tatum again. Mommy has been doing better about taking pictures this week, so I thought I would help her again by updating her blog page. First, I wanted to update Grandmommy, Granddaddy, Gran, Uncle Clif, Aunt Jennifer, Uncle Matt, and all other family that lives out of town what I am eating these days...

Here is a picture of my dinner time from Wednesday night. This is what I am typically eating for dinner these days. (I also have a bottle before bedtime too.)

This night I had "wagon wheel noodles" with chicken and green peas.

For some reason, Mommy REALLY wanted to take a picture of me with my food BEFORE I started eating. I am not sure why....
Daddy started the night by helping me and feeding me my food. He is so great at this! However, he won't give me more than 2 peas at a time.

He mixes my bites up between peas and chicken with noodles.
Mmmmmmm!!! I love to eat!
Another thing that I am doing these days is I am learning to use my sippy cup. I usually have a little juice at snack time in my sippy cup and then at dinner I have a little more. I like it, but I don't know why they are giving me this cup more and more now. Do you think they are going to take my BOTTLE away!?!?!? Look, I can even hold it on my own.

As dinner went on, Daddy wasn't feeding me fast enough, so I wanted to help him. I made a little bit of a mess, but I was only trying to help. Mommy and Daddy thought it was funny and I didn't get in trouble. I am trying to use my spoon to cut down on the mess, but I need to practice more.

So, I just used my hands. That is the most fun anyway!

When I finished dinner, I wanted down, but Mommy and Daddy want me to sit until they finished eating too. I WAS NOT a happy camper as you can see. It should be "all about me!!"

These next pictures were taken one morning before I left for daycare. My Grandmommy got me this new outfit and I can finally fit into it. I think my favorite part of the outfit is the hat! Mommy and Daddy also got me some new Nike tennis shoes in Destin, FL in July and they finally fit my feet! This is the first time I have worn shoes in a LONG time, so they kind of felt a little funny, but I like them.


Finally, my new friend arrived yesterday. Lexie is finally here!!! I haven't met her yet, but Mommy went to see Lexie's mommy, daddy, and baby Lexie in the hospital yesterday. Lexie arrived 3 weeks early but is very healthy! She weighed 6 and a half pounds and was 19 inches long. Mommy said she was very alert with her eyes open right after delivery. Mommy, Daddy and baby are all doing well. Here is a picture of the family below.
Can't wait to meet you in person Lexie!!!

What's Your Passion?

I know I don't blog about work too often, but I just had to today.

As most of you know, I sell insulin in the pharmaceutical industry and I LOVE my job for so many reasons. I love my territory (no overnights away from home), I love my manager (his goal is to help coach me and not try to pick me apart), I love my doctors (they are so nice and accessible), but most of all I love knowing that I am making a difference to someone's life.

A few weeks ago I decided to start up a support group for diabetes patients. The first meeting was today and the office told me MANY times that attendance would be horrible and we would be lucky if 2-3 people showed up. I prayed about this meeting from day one. This would be the first time that I could actually see patients first hand and hear what they are going through. I could not interact with them, but I did bring in a diabetes educator to teach the class.

Anyway, 14 patients ended up showing up! I was so excited to see them all there and as I sat there, I got to listen to each of their stories. I had to get up at one point because some of the things I was hearing just broke my heart. Knowing that this little old lady started a new pill to treat her diabetes and two days later passed out and fell because her sugars got so low, upset me. But what she said next broke my heart! The educator asked if she called 911 or went to see her doctor, and her reply was "No, that is just part of what I have to deal with since I have diabetes." I had to walk out because I know that is not true yet I couldn't say anything. Why aren't providers more proactive with better treatment for their patients??

I know this is my job, but it is also my passion! I want only the best for these patients. Is my product perfect for all of the patients? Of course not, but passing out and falling is not part of having diabetes either. Please keep the diabetes educator, doctors, and patients in your prayers so that together they may find the best treatment for the patients that will allow the best quality of life.

This group is going to meet every month. Please keep these patients in your prayers. Diabetes is a life long thing and I can assure you that unless you have diabetes or know someone that has it, you have no idea what they go through on a daily basis. I can't even imagine living their life! The scariest thing is more and more people are getting diagnosed with diabetes everyday!

Just tonight I was talking with a friend from a past job and we were talking about our new careers. We both agree that what we are doing now is so much better than before(she is in a different industry from me). I told her I know it is because we are making a difference every time we walk out of our doors in the morning. Nothing in life is more fulfilling I don't think!

Precious

I found this video and thought it was too cute not to post! I hope that Tatum can do this when she gets older.

Favorite Toys/It's Football Time in MEMPHIS, Tennessee!!

Hey Everyone! Tatum here, mommy is not doing a good job of posting new pics of me these days, so I thought I would help her out.

Here are some pictures of my favorite things to play with. The first one is mommy's keys. They taste great, sound funny, and anything that I am not "supposed" to play with is always fun!

Because I got caught red handed with Mommy's keys, I decided I would flash her my best smile so that she wouldn't get mad at me. Trust me, it works everytime. She takes "my"(her) keys away, but I don't really get in trouble.
Here is me giving the keys up willingly. Jax, Adalie, Kaiden, Maddie, and all my other buddies out there, when you get in trouble give up willingly and you will be better off!

Another thing I like to do is push the buttons on the TV. Mommy and Daddy think it is funny how fast I can crawl to get to the TV before they can stop me. Then Daddy will let me sit in his lap and read me a story.

Saturday afternoon, Mommy and Daddy took me to "Meet the Tigers, FanFest Day"!! I was pretty sleepy and a little fussy because it was so hot, but I still managed to get in some pretty cute pictures. Here are me and Daddy before we left the house. I already have my own cheerleading outfit!
The football team gets to run through this HUGE Tiger head, so me and Daddy took our picture before we saw the team.
This is one of the quarterbacks for the Memphis Tigers. Notice, I am a little fussy, but he still said I was a "CUTIE"

And then I got my picture taken with two of the cheerleaders. Maybe I will be a Tigers cheerleader one day.

Here is another picture of the Tiger tunnel the football team runs through again, but this time I let Mommy take a picture with me.
I had so much fun on the walk back to the car because Daddy let me ride on his shoulders.


Mommy "thought" it would be funny to take pictures o me when I was sleeping in the car. They sure aren't the best pics of me, but I guess they are kind of cute.

I can't wait til my first Tigers Football game!!! I think I overheard Mommy and Daddy talking about getting me a babysitter for the first game because it will be too hot and crowded. Maybe they will change their mind!

Look at this rainbow we saw Saturday! If you look close you will see (between the two pics) that it is a complete rainbow.


If you read this, whatever you do, don't tell Mommy I was on here!!!

HAPPY 10 MONTHS TATUM!!!

Tatum is 10 months old today!!!! My baby, my little girl, my tiny baby, is not so little and tiny anymore! She is growing up. I don't know if I am okay with this, but it looks like I have no choice.

Tatum's favorite things that she is doing these days include...

-playing with anything but her toys (water bottles, coasters, keys, cell phone, remote controls, hair brush, etc.)
-We have mastered saying "Da Da", "Mmmmm", "Bye Bye", but the more we say "MaMa" to her she happily says "Da Da" in response. She has said "Ma Ma" 2 times in my presence, but that is it so far. (Antonio thinks that she thinks I am "DADA" because she looks at me when she says it, but I don't think she relates it at all. Who knows.)
-She is getting around the house everywhere! She crawls SO FAST.
-Tatum cruises along the couch all of the time.(Back and forth between Antonio and me)
-She lights up when she sees me walk in her room at daycare. I LOVE IT!!! (I can remember Tobie telling me that her little boy Kaiden did this and it just made her day! I always secretly longed for that day and now I know exactly how she feels!!)
-Tatum also LOVES her JEEP walker that Brandy got for her. She gets around the house pretty fast and can follow us where ever we go. I think she loves the freedom and we love that it is pretty restrictive so we can trust that she can't get into too much.
-Tatum has had a few "boo-boos" to date. Several are from seeing me walking into her room at daycare and she tries to crawl REALLY FAST over to me and falls because her arms don't move fast enough. She also did a dive in the toy box at church Sunday and got a little scratch. The worst part was that they said she was more upset that they pulled her out of the toy box because she hadn't gotten her toy yet. "That's my girl!!"
-Tatum experienced her FIRST slumber party this past weekend!! I will blog more about this weekend when I get some pictures emailed to me from a few people.

On a sad note, we found out today at daycare that Tatum's best friend, Riley, in her class is moving to Houston at the end of October. I know it is weird to say they are best friends, but they really are. When Tatum gets to school Riley just lights up and they smile at one another. Then I can put Tatum down and she crawls right over to Riley. Just today, I put Tatum down and she literally crawled over to Riley and turned around and sat in Riley's lap. Riley smiled and looked at me. It was so cute and I was mad I didn't have my camera with me. Anyway, she will be missed.

Tatum and Riley are now the oldest people in their class. The cribs are set up around the room in age order and it seems like just yesterday Tatum was at the other end of the room because she was the NEW, YOUNG baby! man oh man!!!

Well, I guess I need to start planning that FIRST birthday party!! We are not sure what we will be doing yet. We know family will be included, of course, but aren't sure after that. There are just so many people and not much room at our house.

Pictures to come later this week......

Until next time....

It's About Time....

If you have never seen my house, then you will probably be bored by the first part of this blog. But if you have seen my house you know how little decorating skills I have. Well, last week, I got motivated and with the help of Stephanie (A TRUE BLESSING!!) and she helped me decorate on a budget. This fist picture is in our entrance room. We bought the wall candle holder and I had the other table already and we just moved it in this room.



All of this is new in the next two pictures. This is in our entrance room too.

This hope chest was in the entrance room, but we moved it in the living room. The basket and the stuff in the basket is new and the rug.

This picture is over our desk area. I have had this picture for 2 years, but never hung it up because I wasn't sure where to hang it.

This picture is in our dining room. I have had this picture for 2 years, but it was never on the wall.
This clock(yes it is a clock) is in our living room, in the corner above an end table and beside a couch. It is new too.
This picture is in the entrance room too. I have had this picture for MANY years. Matt, my brother, gave it to me.
Not only did we rearrange some things in the house, we also did a MAJOR cleaning of the house. It has NEVER been so clean and organized and there was no one cleaning other than Antonio and myself.

New things purchased but not pictured are an area rug in the entrance room. It is exactly like the one in front of the hope chest except it is bigger and we also bought new bathroom mats. The total cost for all of our new decorations was less than $200, but if you come visit you will see the major changes that it made.

Next is a picture of Tatum with her Daddy-O before church Sunday. We like having reasons to get all dressed up!!

These last pictures were taken last night. I was watching CNN because I am facinated by the miners situation in Utah and Tatum wanted to get a better look....

Then she realized I was looking at her and laughing.
Daddy-O didn't get home until almost 7pm so I got to give her a bath last night. We played in the bath for about 30 minutes and then got out, got dressed, and played in the floor. Tatum usually gets her last bottle around 7:30 and then plays until 8ish and then goes to bed. However, I guess I wore her out because at 7:15 this is what she looked like...


Needless to say, I had to wake her up to feed her, but she never opened her eyes when she ate. I know I say this all the time, but I just LOVE this age!! She is so much fun. Probably the thing that puts me at ease is that I feel like we really KNOW her now. I know that sounds weird, but Antonio and I know what she does when she is tired, hungry, needs a diaper change, etc. Just knowing how to help her when she needs something is very nice because she still can't talk and tell us yet.

Have a great weekend!!