Late Night Luvin'!!

Last night, I didn't go to bed until about midnight which is very late for me. All was well, I layed down in the bed beside Antonio and put my head on my soft pillow ready to begin dreaming soon. However, no more had I layed my head down than I hear Tatum stirring in her crib which is no big deal because she moves around alot. Then I heard her begin to whine a little and I just figured she was trying to find her pacifier. However a minute or two later, she went into full out crying. I went in her room assuming her pacifier had ended up in the floor and she needed me to give it back, so I went in and leaned over her in the crib. Tatum was just laying there crying with her pacifier in her mouth. She quickly looked up at me and jumped up with her arms up for me to pick her up. So, me being the softy that I am, picked her up and held her tight for a minute and rocked her in my arms. I then started to put her down and she started crying again, so I took her to the living room. I sat in our chair holding Tatum as she held me. She quickly went to sleep and I put her back in her room. We did this two more times. The third time it happened at around 2:30am and I was sitting in the living room holding Tatum, I couldn't help but think about the fact that no matter how tired I was, just knowing that holding Tatum made her feel safe, happy, relaxed enough to go to sleep, and loved just made my night. In that moment and for that moment, I must admit feeling like a good mother and I loved it!

Happy 13 Months Tatum!!!

Just a quick blog to say Happy 13 Months to Tatum and to write down some things she is doing right now so I don't forget...

-Right now, Tatum has a total of 12 teeth. 4 front top, 4 front bottom, 2 top molars, and 2 bottom molars
-Tatum has now made 1 ER visit and hopefully there will be no more visits anytime soon!
-Tatum says Mama, Dada, Bye, YAY, HEEEEEYYY!, we think she tries to say Maggie(our dog), but I am not sure on that one yet.
-Her favorite song is the ABC song by far. If she is crying or in a bad mood, I can start singing the ABCs and she will just be quiet and listen or sing along with me.
-Tatum LOVES LOVES LOVES music. She loves to sing along, dance along, and bob her head.
-Currently, Tatum is a HUGE Mommy's girl, but I think that is only because Antonio had ACL surgery and hasn't been able to physically pick her up, take her to daycare, pick her up from daycare, bathe her, put her in her high chair, etc.
-Tatum is a big flirt! She loves boys and will watch them until they look at her and then she flashes the biggest smile.
-Tatum is still not walking but Antonio and I agree that she is holding out! We TOTALLY think she can really walk. We can just hold one hand and she will walk beside us. Maybe we should push her more, but I am just not that focussed on it.
-Tatum has now had 4 total haircuts, but only 2 professional ones. She loves being pampered.
-Tatum loves VeggieTales. However, they don't seem to keep her attention like they used to. She is just too busy to stop for a tv. We have noticed that she recognizes the characters "Larry" and "Bob" because when she sees a VeggieTale's book she MUST have it.
-As I blogged about earlier, we have been introducing the potty chair just so Tatum can get used to it. No potty training yet, but maybe within 12-18 months.
-Tatum is wearing a size 3 shoe.
-She is in a size 3 diaper.
-Tatum's clothing can range from 6-12 month clothing, 12-18 month clothing, all the way to 18-24 month clothing depending on what the brand is. However, most of what she wears is 12-18 months.
-Tatum is very outgoing. She will pretty much go to anyone if they will give her a minute to warm up. Usually she doesn't even need the warm up period. Just today, I picked up Tatum from daycare and we went to McAlister's to pick up supper. I had to take Tatum in of course and couldn't manage to carry everything out to the car at one time, so the girl that took our order offered to take Tatum so I could run the food out. I said okay and handed her over. I know that may seem a little crazy, but NOBODY was there and it's not like she could kidnap her or anything because I parked right at the door. Anyway, I came back in and Tatum was giggling and playing, so we had to stay another 15 minutes so the girl could play with her. I finally said we had to go and Tatum started crying because we were leaving.
-Tatum's bedtime has been moved back to 8pm.
-Tatum LOVES fruit. Heck, she loves ALL food. We have discovered she really doesn't like pineapples though. I can give her a little can of mixed fruit and she will eat all of it except the pineapples.
-I (and Antonio) have never had to cut her toenails. I thought they weren't growing and brought this up to our pediatrician, but she assures me they are growing and just breaking off because of her shoes and socks and stuff. I think it's weird still. I mean 13 months!!?!?
-Tatum LOVES putting things in and taking them out. Whether it be putting stuff in empty boxes, my shoes, bags, etc. She just loves this new discovery.
-She also loves to open and close things. Anything from books, cabinet doors, drawers, but especially DOORS!!
-Since we went to the dr. yesterday, they weighed her. With her clothes and shoes on she was 23 pounds 1 ounce, so I am guessing she is more around 21 pounds.

Well sorry for the long blog, but I just have so much I want to remember about this age.

Family Fun, Black Friday, and Late-Night Scares!!

Okay, I put all these pics up and went back and added all the stories in, but when I went to finish it out, it was gone...so for now, you get to see the pics with no stories...sorry!

Okay, I am going to try this again....

Our Thanksgiving get togethers started Wednesday night at my grandmother's house. She cooked a wonderful meal for about 30 people. However, there were only 13 of us there. So since I have already done this once and it didn't turn out, this second time is going to be shorter...

This first pic is of my dad and Tatum...
Next is Cyp and Mckayla...
My mom talking and playing with Tatum...
My niece Mya...
Mya and Tatum playing...

My grandmother and my brother Matt giving a funny face...
My uncle and cousin...

Mya and Tatum fighting for my sister's attention...

Mckayla being silly...
Wednesday night we stayed at my parent's house. The next morning, Tatum was excited to get up and play with all the toys at Grandmommy's house. No need to bring toys here cause she has a huge stash of her own!!!

Thursday, I attempted to help my mom cook our Thanksgiving meal, but I don't think I helped much other than keeping her company. I did, however, manage to peel 4 sweet potatoes and my mom did comment that she had "never seen anyone peel a potato like me." (Not sure if that was a compliment or not. lol)

We headed back to Memphis Thursday night because Antonio and I had agreed to buy a TV for our Christmas present to each other. Costco had a 50" on sale, so we decided that we would get it. Long story short, Tatm and I got to Costco at 8am and got in line and Antonio and Tim showed up at 8:30 with a truck and stood in line so me and Tatum could go warm up in the car. That is Antonio in the red coat in line....
This was the line at 8:30...
Tatum in the car....


The line at 8:40ish...

Tim is in the grey sweatshirt and Antonio is in the black and red coat...


We got in and there were 6 TVs in the TV area and all were claimed. Tim, Antonio's friend that came along to help out and let us use his truck, and I were a little frustrated that we didn't get one. Antonio was in charge of Tatum since he couldn't lift the TV because of his knee. Anyway, then a Costco came around the corner and told us there were more TVs at the front near the registers. Tim and I took off in a mad dash and got there in time to get a TV. A HUGE thanks to Tim for all of his help on Friday!!! Not only did we use his truck, but he stood out in the cold, ran with me to get a TV, got us a coupon, loaded and unloaded the TV with minimal help from me. We definitely wouldn't have our TV without him!!!

Here is a pic of Tatum and Antonio with the TV.

Friday afternoon, Antonio, Tatum, me, Tim, Jennifer, Ashley, Kevin, Coleman, and Camryn all headed to Kevin and Ashley's lake house on the TN River for a couple of nights...

Tim and Antonio were checking out the air mattress...

Friday night, Ashley, Jennifer, and me all headed to Wal Mart for some necessities. While we were there, we decided to get matching PJs. Somehow we managed to not get a picture of all three of us together in them though, so here is me and Ashley below...

...and Jennifer is below in her matching PJs.

Saturday morning, Tatum woke up around 6:15am. After getting her milk for her, I decided to go outside and take some pictures since it was so pretty...

This is a picture of the back of the house that over looks the TN River...

Tatum playing with Camryn...

Kevin holding Oliver...

Saturday night, Jennifer decided to let me and Ashley do her hair. I got to do the color and Ashley did the highlights. It turned out really good and I am pretty sure Jennifer was happy with our work.
While we were doing hair, the guys were outside burning some wood.
Coleman enjoyed watching them out the window...

Ashley and Jennifer decided watching out the window was fun too...

While we were waiting on Jennifer's color to finish, Tatum woke up and was wheezing and almost struggling to breath. It really scared me but Antonio thought she was just allergic to the dog and wanted to take her outside for some fresh air. We sat with her for a few minutes outside, but I just didn't feel like it was helping, so after a few minutes, I talked Antonio into taking Tatum to the ER. So, off we went. We got there at 8pm and were back in just a few minutes. I gave Tatum a breathing treatment and then the dr came in. Tatum seemed to get better from the breathing treatment and was diagnosed with croop(not sure how to spell it). But then when the nurse came in with the medicine she said she did not have croop. It was confusing. We went back to the lake house and were there by about 9:45pm. Tatum stayed up until about 11pm and then she, Antonio, and I all went to bed. I just didn't trust putting her down for the night unless we were going to be in the same room with her since her breathing still didn't sound too good. Around 2am, she woke up crying, so we put her in bed with us for about 30 minutes and then I put her back in the pack-n-play. Then around 5am I woke up and was a little panicked because I couldn't hear her breathing (wheezing) so I jumped up and put my hand on her back and she was sleeping fine. She actually slept in til 8am. We came home Sunday afternoon and just hung out. She was feeling LOTS better. In order to leave, we had to get packed up to go home. Below is a picture of Tim trying to get all the air out of the air mattress...
This last picture of me and Tatum ready to go eat breakfast before we finished packing the cars to head out.

We had a great time this weekend minus the little scare that Tatum gave me. Today i took off work and we took Tatum to see her pediatrician. She said it did sound like she had croop and not an allergic reaction to anything, but it seems to have run its course. She said it was as contageous as the common cold. I am guessing that means it's pretty contageous? Anyway, Tatum is going to have to head back to daycare tomorrow because my mgr is riding with me.

Also, a follow up to Antonio's ACL knee surgery. He has been doing great and making great progress in physical therapy. He is no longer wearing a brace or wrap or anything and hasn't been for at least a week. He has had only 3 sessions of physical therapy and already has 110 degrees of motion. The goal is to get to 150 like his other leg.

That's it for now. Until next time...