Watch Out Martha Stewart AND Paula Dean.....

....there's a new chef in town!!

Saturday was a pretty boring day around our house, so I asked Tatum if she wanted to make some cupcakes with me....she said "CAKE?? YEAH!!!"

I wanted her to have fun and get to do most of the work, so before she came in the kitchen, I measured everything out so she would just have to dump it in the bowl.

I decided to get her dressed for the occassion, so I put my one and only apron on her. This apron is very special to me because my great grandmother made it. Now if I could just cook like her!!

Tatum first poured in the eggs...

...then the oil (I usually sub applesauce for oil, but we were out).

....below is take 2 of the water getting poured....the first time it ended up on the oven, but nothing that couldn't be cleaned up...

then she stirred it all up...

...after stirring, Tatum put the paper liners in the cupcake pan...we counted them as we went...

I had to help her pour the mix in the pan..

Tatum was SO FUNNY....I set the timer and went and sat in the living room with Mateo and Antonio. However, Tatum wanted to keep a close eye on the cupcakes. THis is how she spent about 20-25 minutes...

and this....

and this....

After they were done, we took a break so they could cool. I made supper and Antonio gave Tatum a bath. After bathtime, I let Tatum put the icing on the cupcakes...

Tatum did them ALL BY HERSELF....

All cooks know you have to taste the food before you serve it....

Once they were done, Tatum wanted to serve her first cupcake to Daddy. She is so proud of herself (and so am I)...

I think Tatum got REALLY tired of me taking pictures of her.

Finally, Tatum got to enjoy her own cupcake...

THIS is how she eats her cupcakes....lol

Tatum showing us she made a happy plate....now if she would just do this at supper time...

I also wanted to throw this picture in....It is not the best quality because it is a picture of a picture. This is Antonio's baby picture. I definitely think Mateo looks like his daddy!

Tubes Time

I just got a call from our dr's nurse. Tatum will be getting her tubes on March 27th. My mom is going to come into town to keep Mateo so Antonio and I can give 100% of our attention to Tatum that morning.

Please keep Tatum in your prayers that everything goes well.

Our Quick Weekend

We had such a great weekend that was full of fun!

Friday night, we went out to eat with Antonio's family for his sister, Eliana's (aka Aunt E.E.), birthday. It was busy and I didn't even take out my camera for pics.

Saturday morning, Antonio took Tatum to Eliana's house for her to spend the day with as well as overnight. Antonio, Mateo, and I got to go to the Memphis Tigers Basketball game. It was senior day, so we were sure glad to be there.

Our seats were great. They were on the first level. Here was our view....

our seats were extra cool because we sat at tables (media tables??). So we had a place to put drinks and food. Here was our food.....

During halftime, we walked up to see Laurie, Cyp, Mckayla, and Mya. I am pretty confident that Mckayla and Mya both love Mateo! Mya didn't like Mateo getting further than an arms length away. She chased him down each time he was passed.

Mckayla wanted to hold Mateo and I said sure. Mckayla was trying to sit down in the chair so she could hold him, and Mya decided SHE needed to climb up in the chair to help Mckayla hold Mateo.

Mya also loved Mateo's pacifier.

Here is Mateo when we got back to our seats. He enjoyed the bright lights in the FedEx Forum.
Coach Cal....

CDR was at the game too....

Saturday night, our friends Tim and Jennifer went to church with us. After church we went and had dinner. Here is a picture of Jennifer holding Mateo. Jennifer is 30 weeks pregnant with her little boy Luke, but she doesn't look pregnant AT ALL!!! I can't wait for Baby Luke to get here so he and Mateo can meet each other!

Saturday night, I put Mateo to bed around 9pm. Tatum was still at Eliana's house, so she didn't wake us up early this morning and Mateo didn't wake us up til 9:45am!!! When he did wake us up, I fed him and Antonio made me breakfast. After breakfast, Antonio and I cleaned the house and did laundry, Tatum came home and took a nap, and then we grilled out at our house and Tim and Jennifer came over.

Our family is definitely enjoying this warmer weather! It allows us to be outside which we all love. I sure hope it sticks around!

Tatum Visits the ENT Doctor

Antonio, Mateo, and I took Tatum to see the ENT on Wednesday. We were there for almost 2 hours because they had to do several tests.

We started in our room and Tatum loved the BIG chair.

Mateo actually slept the WHOLE time that we were back in the room AND he was in his carseat(but not buckled in).

Tatum quickly got bored with sitting in the big chair, so she decided to expolore a bit....

First, she washed her hands....

Then the dr came in for a bit. When he left, Tatum decided she liked his chair much better....

She finally got up on his chair and sat for a bit....

....but just sitting got boring pretty fast too, so she decided to "fly" on top of the chair...

Tatum and Antonio had to leave the room twice to go get some tests done. I stayed with Mateo since he was sleeping. Both nurses that did the tests said Tatum did AWESOME!!! At some point Tatum had to follow directions and get air blown in her ears or something. The nurse said she did exactly as she was told.....The nurse was VERY impressed that Tatum did one part where she had to lift her chin and keep looking up. The nurse said Tatum got it right the first time. (I was actually very impressed that Tatum let the dr. look in her ears and throat without any problems. She is such a big girl!!! I was going to take pictures then too, but I thought it might freak the dr out.)

Anyway, since Tatum did so well, she got a bracelet from one nurse and 2 jumping frogs from another nurse. The frogs entertained us all for a while....

This first video is Tatum playing with the frogs with Antonio...

This next video is Tatum 'checking things out' in the room. The trash can DEFINITELY needed inspecting...

Long story short, Tatum will be getting tubes. The dr said he will be out of town next week, but we may be able to schedule the surgery for the next week. His nurse is going to call us to schedule everything. Dr. Milburn said Tatum would have the tubes for about a year and then she may not need them after that, but we will just have to play it by ear(no pun intended...lol). We are now just waiting for the nurse to call so we can get the ball rolling.

A Little Bit of This....

Last Friday night, we went to dinner with Antonio's family. Here are a few pictures from the night.

Here is Aunt E.E. with Mateo...

Tatum with one of her favorite people...Uncle Chris...

Gabby(cousin) and Tatum....

Aunt E.E. with Tatum....

Tatum with her favorite THING....MILK....

I thought this next picture was pretty funny. Gabby decided that PawPaw's ears needed a good cleaning, so she helped him out.... Saturday night it snowed here. Sunday, Antonio took Tatum and Maggie outside to enjoy the snow...

Tatum said it was COLD!

Here is a picture I stole from Laura. This is Keith and Bailey out at their house. Look how much snow they got!!!

Mateo was ready to go outside.My pictures are a little out of order....Saturday mornings, Tatum and Antonio go to the gym and go swimming. Tatum LOVES it. This was a picture of her after the swimming last Saturday. She fell asleep while eating lunch...
Here is a video of her sleeping in her chair.

Tatum LOVES to play dressup. Here is a video from this past weekend that Antonio took. (You can also see she likes to make a BIG mess in her room. We have wised up and only clean up at the end of the days. It makes things a little less frustrating since you don't have to clean up but once.) Anyway, as you can see, she will put on any and all clothing that she finds in her room even though she has 'dress up kits'.

2 Month Well Checkup

This picture pretty much sums up how Mateo's 2 month check up went.

We left the house and Mateo was NOT crying in his carseat. We got ALL the way to the doctor's office without Mateo crying at all....YAY! I thought this was going to be a great appt.....SILLY ME!!!

We got in the office, got checked in, and went to the 'well room'. There were about 3 other kids and their parents in this small room waiting to be called back. Who decides to let everyone hear his lungs in action!?!?! MATEO! He cried for the complete 15 minutes we waited. Then we headed back to the room and he calmed down until I had to undress him to get his weight. cry, cry, cry....Then I wrapped him up in a blanket and he calmed down. The dr. came in, checked him out, and everything was great. In comes the nurse and we had to unwrap him and he started crying again....The nurse told me to comfort him while she gave the shots...I laughed...he was already crying, so I just held his hands. Anyway, he cried until we got home. Once we got home, he settled down and has been great since then! crazy!

Here are his stats....

WEIGHT 11 pounds 5 ounces.....50th percentile (birth weight 8 pounds 6 ounces)
HEIGHT 22 inches......25th percentile
HC 39 cm...........25th percentile

Tatum's stats at 2 months were...
WEIGHT 9 pounds 10 ounces (her birth weight was 6 pounds 13 ounces)
HEIGHT 22 inches
HC 38.5 cm

2 Months Old

Mateo is officially 2 Months old as of today!! My oh my, has time flown by so fast! I will attempt to write down a few things that he is doing right now....here is a picture first...

*Mateo is such a great sleeper. I usually have him in bed between 7pm and 8:30pm. He will sleep until 5am-6:30am. I am SO THANKFUL that he is sleeping so good so fast. He knows that I LOVE my sleep and don't do too well on little sleep I guess.

*Speaking of sleep, we are finally getting his schedule to work with Tatum's. He naps when she naps(not as long as Tatum, but we do get some down time on the weekends while both are napping). AND since Tatum goes to bed at 8pm, then their bedtimes are pretty much the same. This allows Antonio and I to have some time together just the 2 of us.

Here's another picture to keep you reading...

*Mateo is a great eater. We have definitely mastered breastfeeding, but I won't do it in public. I just don't feel comfortable doing it. However, he only gets about 1 bottle a week or so and doesn't take it too well. I went to lunch with some girlfriends the other day and he wouldn't take it AT ALL, so we got LOTS of looks while he screamed. Oh well, I am sure it could have been worse.

*Mateo is full of smiles, especially after he eats. Tatum can get him to smile faster than any of us. She LOVES him and it is obvious that he loves her too!

*Mateo is also full of MANLY gas. It makes us giggle at some of the sounds that come out of him!

*Mateo is still wearing 0-3 month clothing, but I have noticed this weekend that he is too long for some of his sleepers. I am anxious to see how much he weighs and how long he is tomorrow when we go for his checkup. He is still in size 1 diapers.

....another pic....

*Mateo HATES HATES HATES his carseat!!!!! HATES HATES HATES it!!! I have taken him ONE place that we made it without him crying since he was born. Tatum LOVED her carseat, so I am at a loss as to what to do. I talked to the pediatrician about this and she suggested turning up the radio really loud.

*Mateo takes the pacifier, but isn't as attached to it as much as Tatum was. He takes it, but when i lay him down at night for bedtime and it falls out he doesn't cry wanting it back. I am very THANKFUL for this because I can remember Antonio and I tagteaming each other when Tatum was small and making TONS of trips back and forth to the nursery to put her pacifier back in her mouth.

*Mateo LOVES to be held. I must admit, I love holding him too. However when there are times I need to get stuff done and he doesn't 'understand'.

....one more pic...

That is the face I get when he is in the carseat or if I put him down too long to do things around the house.

We are going tomorrow for his 2 month shots. I will post stats sometime this week. I also have pics to post from this weekend, but wanted this to be about Mateo.