Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Plans never work

The plan for the day was to get up, feed Tatum, get her dressed and take some pics so I can post some on here since I haven't done that in a while. Well, it is 11:30am and Tatum is STILL sleeping. She went to bed at 10pm and at 8am I got her up and fed her this morning. After she eats, we usually play, but she was fussy so I just held her and she went back to sleep. SO, I decided to put her back in the crib so I could take a quick shower. Well, that was 2 hours ago. Anyway, I do still plan to dress her up to take some pics. Maybe she is having a little growth spurt or something. Don't babies usually sleep more during those times? She has been really good about going down for a LONG nap in the afternoon for the past week or two. She sleeps for about 2-3 hours AT LEAST! It has allowed me time to really clean some around the house, but I still have more cleaning to do.

I guess I can also update and say that I went scrapbooking this weekend with Tobie and some other ladies and I LOVED it! I got lots of pages done and lots more to go, but I think that will DEFINITELY be my new hobby for 2007. Thanks for the invite Tobie!!

I am also working on another side project that I will soon blog about, but I don't think I am quiet ready to do that yet. It will work better with some pics I think. I am really excited and will fill everyone in soon!

I guess that is all for now. I think I might eat a sandwich before Tatum wakes up. Look for some new pics coming soon!

Plans never work

The plan for the day was to get up, feed Tatum, get her dressed and take some pics so I can post some on here since I haven't done that in a while. Well, it is 11:30am and Tatum is STILL sleeping. She went to bed at 10pm and at 8am I got her up and fed her this morning. After she eats, we usually play, but she was fussy so I just held her and she went back to sleep. SO, I decided to put her back in the crib so I could take a quick shower. Well, that was 2 hours ago. Anyway, I do still plan to dress her up to take some pics. Maybe she is having a little growth spurt or something. Don't babies usually sleep more during those times? She has been really good about going down for a LONG nap in the afternoon for the past week or two. She sleeps for about 2-3 hours AT LEAST! It has allowed me time to really clean some around the house, but I still have more cleaning to do.

I guess I can also update and say that I went scrapbooking this weekend with Tobie and some other ladies and I LOVED it! I got lots of pages done and lots more to go, but I think that will DEFINITELY be my new hobby for 2007. Thanks for the invite Tobie!!

I am also working on another side project that I will soon blog about, but I don't think I am quiet ready to do that yet. It will work better with some pics I think. I am really excited and will fill everyone in soon!

I guess that is all for now. I think I might eat a sandwich before Tatum wakes up. Look for some new pics coming soon!

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

What do you say....

I just got back from going to visit my work partner, John, his wife, and their new son that the hospital. Antonio, Tatum, and I all went to meet them. He was just beautiful and perfect!

My first thought after seeing him was, "I can't believe Tatum used to be that small!" He weighed 7 lbs and 1 ounce.

Going to visit today brought back all of those thoughts and feelings I had when I was in the hospital after having Tatum. I was EXTREMELY tired, excited, a little nervous, in pain, but I thought "I can do this." And, "This isn't as bad as everyone made it sound!" And then I went home...

I got home and the pain was a little more and the newness of being a mommy was gone. Don't get me wrong, it was still easier than I had expected, but I definitely needed help from those around me and it certainly wasn't EASY. Antonio was great help along with my mother who spoiled us with WONDERFUL food and keeping our house spotless and letting me get MAJOR sleep!(MOM, you wanna come back for another week?)

I am majorly rambling, but as I was in the hospital, I was trying to figure out what I could say to the new parents as encouragement while still being REAL! When I was pregnant and then a new mom, I felt like everyone around me made it either look SO EASY or SO HARD! I wanted that someone that I could ask ANYTHING to and get a straight(and sometimes graphic) answer if I needed it. Lucky for me I did have some wonderful friends around like Tobie, Kimberly, my sister, Antonio's sister, and my mom.

I know that John and Amanda are going to be wonderful parents. I worked with John every weekday for a year and I know he is an awesome person who is madly in love with his wife. And even though Amanda and I don't know each other very well, I feel like I know her because John is ALWAYS telling me what a wonderful wife she is and how pefect, thoughtful, and caring, she is.

I guess all the advice in the world about parenting and "what works for us" will do no good for anyone until they become parents themselves.

I don't really know my point and this is the most random blog ever, but I guess all I have to say to John and Amanda is...
GOOD LUCK! Every sleepless night is well worth it! Take LOTS of pics! When you think you are going to go crazy due to the crying, pain from birth, sleepless night, etc. CALL someone for help and just remember every day gets better and better. EVERYONE is going to give their opinion on what your baby is wearing, how you guys choose to parent, who he looks like, etc. just smile, nod, and ignore them!LOL

To John, after seeing you in the hospital today, I saw a different person. You had "PROUD DAD" written all over your face! If you want to talk about him all day, every day to me when I get back to work, I will listen!(And I won't make fun of you.lol)

And to Amanda, great job on having such a beautiful, perfect, healthy baby. I look forward to seeing lots of pics of him in the future!

Oh yeah, Tatum wanted to send a shout out to her new boyfriend...she says HELLO!

Tatum Update

I need to post a quick blog to update everyone on a few things, so here it goes....

As I posted yesterday, Tatum rolled over twice!

I was also going to post earlier in the week how great Tatum was doing sleeping at night(thanks to some great advice from Kimberly). She has been sleeping 8 hours a night now, which I thought was good until last night when she slept 10 HOURS!!! YAY!! My little one is letting her Mommy get some sleep now!

On a more sad/frustrating note, our daycare that I have been on the waiting list for since I was 4 weeks pregnant told me this week that they don't have room for Tatum currently. This is REALLY not good, because we don't really have a backup plan. I put Tatum on another waiting list today(which I had to pay $25 just to get her on the list), but they won't have anything at least til March or later. SO, it is still up in the air as to WHAT we are going to do. We have some people that can keep her a few weeks, but nothing for a few months. The only other thing I know to do is to put her in a daycare in Mississippi, which is not the best plan because I would be the only one who could drop her off and pick her up. Please keep us in your prayers that we can find something that will work or that one of these daycares will have a sudden opening!

John(my partner at work) and his wife had their baby yesterday! They had a little boy and Antonio and I are planning to go meet the new addition to their family today!

And to update my New Years Resolutions...

I have officially lost 4 pounds since Christmas. I have been doing the tredmill everyday(except when I went to my parents house this weekend.) Sometimes I only manage to find 15 minutes free a day, but I get on there anyway. I have also tried to be good about what/how much I am eating. I guess this combo is working for now.

I also said I was going to find a new hobby, so I am going to attempt scrapbooking. Thanks to an invite from Tobie and advice on what to get from my sister Laurie, I have some things together to try scapbooking about. I will let you know next week how it goes.

I guess that is all I have for now. I have a few new pics of Tatum I need to post, but I have to upload them first. I will get some new pics up sometime before next week hopefully.

Until next time...

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

New Talent!!!

I don't have much time to blog about all the things I need to, but I just wanted to let everyone know that Tatum has a new talent!! I put her down in her crib this afternoon to take a nap and I always put her on her stomach for nap time and....SHE ROLLED OVER!! At first I didn't know what to think, but then I thought maybe it was an accident, so I tried it again.....AND SHE ROLLED OVER AGAIN!! That's right, my little baby can ROLL!! I guess she was telling me she didn't want to be on her stomach today because I put her on her back after this and she was out for her nap!! She is getting so big and growing so fast! I will have to blog more later, but I wanted to fill everyone in. YAY!!

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Before I Was A Mom....

I found this and it is SO TRUE and so fitting in my life right now so I thought I would share...

Before I was a Mom, I made and ate hot meals. I had unstained clothing. I had quiet conversations on the phone.

Before I was a Mom, I slept as late as I wanted. I never worried about how late I got into bed. I brushed my hair and my teeth everyday.

Before I was Mom, I cleaned my house each day. I never tripped over toys. I never forgot words to lullabies.

Before I was a Mom, I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous. I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom, I had never been . . . puked on, pooped on, spit on, chewed on, peed on, or pinched by tiny fingers.

Before I was a Mom, I had complete control of my mind, thoughts and body. I slept all night.


Before I was a Mom, I never held down a screaming child so that doctors could do tests or give shots. I never looked into teary eyes and cried. I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin. I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom, I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put it down. I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt. I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much. I never knew that I could love someone so much. I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom, I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body. I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby. I didn't know that bond between a Mother and her child. I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important. I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.

Before I was a Mom, I had never known . . . the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment, or the satisfaction of being a Mom. I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much . . . ... before I was a Mom.

- Author Unknown

YAY!

This is just a quick blog. I just wanted to let all of my supporters out there know that I have been doing good on my New Years Resolutions so far this year! LOL I know it is only the 2nd day of the year, but i have used my treadmill twice so far!! Not for hours or anything, but any little bit that I am on it helps, right?

Monday, January 01, 2007

New Years Sleeping Beauty?

Last night we got to go to another couple's house to hang out with everyone for New Years Eve. I was a little nervous about taking Tatum with us because she has been pretty fussy this past week, but we had no choice but to take her if we wanted to get out, so off we went. We left the house about 8 and got to our desination around 9. We hung out and talked and she did wonderful. She got fed around 11:15 and that is usually goes to bed, but since we weren't home I just held her. She didn't go to sleep though. I guess she was afraid she was going to miss out on something. Anyway, midnight came and went and we were still there because Antonio was talking business with someone. I know he loves his job, but I was just ready to go home and go to bed. So, at 1am Tatum and I were ready and we had to drag Antonio out of the house. We got home around 1:45am and changed Tatum into her PJs and decided to go ahead and feed her again to "top her off". After eating she went straight to sleep. She woke up at 7 to eat and now it is 12 and she is STILL asleep(so is antonio), but I am shocked that she hasn't gotten hungry! I LOVE this!! I guess we wore her out last night! Anyway, here is a family pic that we took last night.



HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!!

Sunday, December 31, 2006

For the Family

As I previously blogged, my family had someone come over last Sunday to my sister's house to take pics of all of us together. We had not had pics like this ever, I guess except for weddings. As you will see from some of the last pics, we had some fun while taking the pics too! Something I learned after doing this....I am NOT good at taking pics AND it is kind of hard to get a good pic when there are 13 people in the pic!! There were 91 pics taken, so here are just a few of them for you guys to look at. Also, I am going to mail the pics and CDs to everyone. All 91 pics are on the CD, but she only printed off about 60. Anyway, enjoy these and look for the rest in the mail sometime this week...






























It's That Time of the Year Again...

It's that time of the year again where everyone makes all of these goals for the year and most of the time(if anyone else is like me) about a month down the road the goals are forgotten. I thought I made some realistic goals for myself last year, but there were some that I still did not live up to. Here are the goals that I posted last year...

New Year's Resolutions Current mood: blah

Well, it's that time of year again where we all make promises to ourselves that are rarely kept more than a few months. Even though this is true, I still like to make them anyway, so here are some of mine for the new year.

1. Of course everyone is always wanting to lose weight, so that is my first one. I want to lose about 10 lbs. over the next year. I don't think this will be too hard to accomplish at all, but I just need to be more disciplined in my eating and exercising.
(Well, this goal was not kept and not because I didn't try, but because I got pregnant! SO, I guess that is the best excuse for this not happening. Now this year I need to lose more than 10 lbs!!)

2. I want to finish the changes my husband and I have started on the house. We have done major changes to the house and now we have those last little things to do that we have just procrastinated on, so it is my goal to have a long term goal of having the house done within the year. This will be accomplished by setting and meeting smaller goals from month to month. (cross your fingers!!)
(While LOTS of progress was made on the house this year, it was not completely finished. However, I feel like in the past 3 months, Antonio have done more on the house than we did all year, so I feel like we are on a good track right now.)

3. I want to start cooking more at home. I hope to cook 3 balanced meals a week throughout the year instead of eating out so much. My husband works 2nd shift, so it's hard to cook at home for me to eat for supper and then have him eat leftovers, but I think that is more of an excuse than a good reason.
(This goal, well, it just did not last more than a month. I just have no cooking abilities, and I have very few things that i can actually cook, so after the 3rd to 4th time having speghetti for the month, it gets old!!)

4. I want to be more dedicated at work. I have done very well with my company over the past year (I am #1 at my location in Memphis), but I know with a little more dedication I can make a major difference in my income for the next year.
(I feel like, for the most part, I kept this goal. Our fiscal year at work ends at the end of May, so I finished our fiscal year as the #1 rep in Memphis. However, as our 2006-2007 fiscal year started, I have lost LOTS of ground due to being off about 14 weeks. I DID make more in 2006 than in 2005{about $8,000-$10,000 I think!!!}, so I am happy about that.)

I am sure there are many other things I need to work on, but that is my list for now and I will add to it later. I don't want to make too many promises to myself if I truly don't plan to keep them

SO, those were my New Year's Resolutions from last year. One other one that I added later on that should not have been a resolution, but I felt I needed to be better on it so I added it was

I wanted to be sure to give my 10% at church EVERY WEEK at the minimum!! I know this is something that I am SUPPOSED to do, but at the end of 2005 when I got my statement from church showing how much I gave and when I gave, I was VERY embarrassed at my lack of giving. It's easy to give when you have money and easier to not give(and make excuses for it) when you are short of money. This, obviously, was not the right attitude and I needed to change it, so long story short, I kept this goal and gave much more than my 10%! It was actually easy and I don't know why I had not done this before, but anyway I hope to never go back to the not giving part of my life!

Okay, so those were the ones from last year....now I must list my ones for this year.

1. By December 2007, I plan to have lost 30 pounds!! That's right, 30 pounds!!! Now, I don't have much more to lose to get back to my prepregnancy weight, but I want to lose more than that, so I am shooting for 2.5 pounds a month(VERY doable if I stay focused). I am going to get my lazy butt up(yes LAZY butt) and get on the treadmill that currently sits in my house with dust on it!! I am NOT going to join the gym because, well, I will never go! I always say I am going to eat better, but I am just going to be truthful this year...I will eat what I want and do more portion control. I know if I restrict things from my diet then I will just want to eat them more, so I will try to add more fruits and other healthy stuff in my diet, but if I want some chocolate cake one night, then I am going to have it!! My motivation? I went home to my parent's house this week and saw some pics of me from 3 years ago and BOY was I bummed out after seeing them!! I was SO skinny back then!! Everyone keeps telling me I was too skinny back then, but I don't really agree. I LIKED the way I looked, but to be sure I only want to lose 30 pounds instead of the 40 that would get me back down to where I was 3 years ago. I was in shape and skinny. That's what I want now. Is that too much to ask!?!?! LOL

2. I would like to make a goal of running a half marathon this year, but once again, that seems a little crazy for me since I have NEVER been a runner in my life, so instead, I just want to be able to run a mile without stopping. I have NEVER been able to do this(don't laugh). I grew up playing sports and I am sure I ran a mile playing in basketball games, but running on the treadmill or outside on the sidewalk is just not the same. I think it is more of a mental thing that keeps me from being able to do this, but I am going to do it this year!!

3. My sister and I have thrown around the idea of participating in some 5k Run/Walks in town, so I am going to officially put that on here so MAYBE we will do them. She is MUCH more likely to do them, but I need to not make excuses and get out there with her!

4. I need to learn to balance life between working/being a mom/being a wife/etc. I don't want any part of my life to lack. I hope to give 100% in all areas of my life, I just need to figure out how to balance it all! (Any suggestions on how to accomplish this are welcome!!)

5. Like any other girl out there, I like to shop. However, instead of shopping for me these days, I LOVE to shop for Tatum now!! SO, my goal is to get a budget, and more importantly, STICK TO IT!!! If Antonio, Tatum, or I NEED something then get it, but don't overdo it!

6. Figure out a new hobby and find time to do it. I am not sure what this is going to be(maybe it will be working out or scrapbooking or something else), but find something that I enjoy and more importantly, find time to do it!

7. Evaluate how I am doing on my New Years Resolutions maybe every 3 months or so. If changes need to be made, then make them. If adds need to be made, then do that too!

Anyway, I know this is WAY boring for most of you to read, but this blog is more for me than you(sorry). I hope to repost this every 3 months so I can keep these goals fresh in my mind. We will see how these go....wish me luck!

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Christmas Festivities Recap-Monday

Monday(Christmas day) Antonio, Tatum, and I were still on the go. We loaded the car and left the house around 10am to head to Antonio's parents house. When we got there we did presents and ate. Below is a pic of their beautiful tree. And if you look closely..you will see how his dad likes to give gifts every year(thru cash!!!). Everyone gets one.



The pic below is zoomed in a little so you can see better that Antonio's dad is very generous and because we had an addition to the family we got 3 this year instead of 2! What will he do when we have 10 kids!! We may just break his wallet!


Our niece Gabby got a guitar. She quickly opened it, Antonio tooned it, and then she sang us several songs!!


Next is Eliana and Tatum.


Tatum also had her own Christmas tree that was decorated pink and brown.


After opening presents and eating, we stayed for a little bit to play games and visit and then we left there around 4pm to head back to Jackson to go to my grandmother's house. Below in the first pic is my uncle and aunt.


In the next pic is my sis in law, Jennifer, my sister, Laurie, Mckayla, and my new niece, Mya in the bouncy seat.


Next is a pic of all of my grandmother's presents.



Who loves their daddy? I will give you one guess....


My grandmother, Gran, got to spend some time with Mya. I think they both really loved talking to one another.


Then Mya slept in Tatum's bouncy seat. I hope Tatum shares like this later on when they get older...



Mya got comfortable and went to sleep in her Gran's arms.


After all the presents were opened and all the food was eaten, Mckayla played hide and seek with Marleigh and Mitch. Below is a pic that Cyp took of Mckayla hiding in the closet. I thought it was so cute!!


And then Cyp decided to scare Antonio when he came out of the bathroom, so that is why Antonio has that weird look on his face...


Antonio, Tatum, and I had a wonderful Christmas. We were blessed with so many gifts, but more importantly, we got to spend time with all of our family. I must admit, I was a little glad for it to all be over though because we were all worn out! I think Tatum slept all day Tuesday trying to catch up on lost sleep. We have one more get together Friday and then it is all over until next year.

Christmas Festivities Recap-Sunday

Sunday was full of fun too! Antonio, Tatum, and I started our day by going to church at Hope with my sister and her family along with our parents. The service was wonderful and the music there was AMAZING as always. Antonio and I decided to take Tatum to the nursery for the first time. We signed her in and got a pager and off we went to church. I must admit I was a little nervous even though I knew she was in good hands. Anyway, after church we went and got her and she did great.

Then we headed to my sister's house to get our family pics taken by a lady that did some pics for Antonio and I and his sister's family last year. Everything went great except little Tatum decided to be a little fussy during the whole process. The photographer was great though and really worked with us. If you are in the Memphis area and need pics taken, let me know because she is not only an awesome photographer, but she is VERY reasonably priced. We already plan to use her again next year. Whenever we get our pics back I will be sure to post some of them on here. She took over 100 pics for us!!

After that, we made supper and ate very well and then opened presents. I know there are LOTS of members in our family, but it is crazy how many presents are opened when we get together. I took lots of pics so I could share them. There were so many pics that we barely had anywhere to sit! Anyway, below are several pics from Sunday...















For the next picture, I had to go upstairs so that I could get a good shot of ALL of the gifts. It was really unreal how much was in the living room. Our families are VERY BLESSED!





This next pic is my bro in law, Cyp. It looks like he is pretty happy with this gift.



And Tatum decided to quit being fussy and give in to sleep. She slept in the swing the whole time we opened gifts.




My mom got the biggest can of green beans from Cyp. I guess it is so she can make LOTS of green bean cassarole? Not really sure.


And after it was all over, Tatum found a comfortable spot on her Grandaddy's lap.


The next pics are what I blogged about earlier. It is a few pics of Mckayla putting out reindeer food so that they will know to stop at her house.






And finally, Mckayla left out 3 cookies(to the right) and a diet coke(in her hands) for Santa. come to find out...Santa ate all the cookies and drank the diet coke and even left her a message to be VERY CAREFUL with her new bike.



We finished the night by playing some games and visiting and then we had to head home to wrap presents for the next day and put Tatum to bed.