busy baby

Tatum is one busy baby. Just thought I'd share what she has kept busy with for her first month of life.

She went to visit dad at work.
The weather was unseasonably warm at the beginning of January, so she went for lots of walks with mom.
Helped mom make some granola.
She's always helping with the laundry.
She also helps produce the laundry by making every poopy diaper a blow out.
Trying to save the world keeps her busy, since she is Super Girl.
When she isn't busy with any of the above, she is either pondering deep and profound thoughts...
...or making evil plans to stay up all night or fill another diaper with incredible force.
As you can imagine all of this can really wear a girl out. So she is sure to make plenty of time to catch some z's with her adoring parents.

the rest

I guess it's about time to finish up with our exciting time with family around Christmas. We didn't really do too many exciting things (a brand new baby and a fairly sore new mom probably didn't help), we mostly just hung out together at my parent's house. We did head to the church to play some basketball, Tatum and I were the cheerleaders. We walked around the shops in uptown Mt. Vernon. We visited Amish country and on the way we stopped at our house to hang out for a few hours. I got Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy for the Wii from my in-laws so we tried those out. Jade and Papa were Wheel of Fortune partners...here they are trying hard to solve the puzzle together.
Everyone headed to our house again when the Hawkeye bowl game was on and we were the only ones that had the right channel. We managed to squeeze in some Band Hero before the disappointing game.

Ben and Jade rocking out on the drums.

Earlier that day we hit up Coralridge Mall for free night at the Children's Museum. Jade also got to ride the carousel with Grandma.
One day a good friend of the family watched all the kids (minus Tatum) so that we could all go out to lunch at Biaggi's. It was a really fun afternoon together.
We went to a New Year's Eve party at the church. Tatum was unusually fussy that night so we ended up leaving early and rang in the new year at my parent's house. We totally weren't paying attention and ended up ringing in the new year about 3 or 4 minutes late. It was really quite anticlimactic, I wonder why I used to think New Year's was so cool....Anyway here's our little family at midnight.
The rest of our time was spent playing tons of games, eating way too much food and enjoying lots of snuggles with the wee one.

Just chillin' on Papa's shoulder.

Every once in awhile she manages to find her thumb but it is always in this strange way.

Lucky for Tatum her aunt Mara also has a knack for falling asleep anywhere, anytime.

Hanging out with dad, who looks a little tired. :)

Mara insisted this was Tatum's favorite position and it always made me laugh to watch her like this. I finally managed to get a picture of it at the end of the week.

It was a really fun week and I am glad I finally got around to at least kind of documenting what we did. It never seems to matter how much or how little we do, it is just so much fun to be with family. We sure missed those who couldn't be there and can't wait until we are all together again this summer!

p.s. Tatum is one month old today! It is hard to believe. It's amazing to see how much she has grown and changed in this first month. We sure do love her.

around here

....this is how we are feeling. A bit pooped. Eventually I will finish posting about winter break and the time we spent with family. Along with some more recent pictures of Tatum, who is growing and changing every day. They really do grow up too fast. Sniff, sniff. Brennan started the new semester today which leaves me covering the nights alone. Oh I know he would help if I'd let him, but that just doesn't seem right when he is working and going to school and I'm just at home. But after teasing us with four remarkable nights in a row, Tatum has gone back to deciding that it is much more fun to sleep through the day and party all night. Leaving her mom feeling a bit like the picture above. (Which was actually taken when we were still at my parent's house. I had gone downstairs with Tatum when she decided she wanted to be awake at 5 or 6. Brennan found me in that incredibly flattering position a couple of hours later.)

So, yeah. We are alive and doing well. Despite the days and nights mix up we are loving our time with Tatum. It's a good life.

Tatum's blessing day

On New Year's Day Tatum was blessed by her dad. Since Brennan's family wouldn't be able to make it unless we waited until March for the blessing, we decided we would just do it right away so Mara and Ben could be here. It was nice to have so much family here for her special day. We weren't even sure if we were going to have a dress for her. Finding a blessing dress in the middle of Iowa is not an easy task. Luckily I have a fabulous mother and aunt who worked together to get us one from Utah. And I couldn't have chosen a better one myself, it was perfect!

We managed to make it to Church on time, Tatum was calm during the entire event, and Brennan gave a beautiful blessing. It was a great day.

The whole clan.
I'm not sure why some of these pictures are so far away ;) but it's pretty cute how Tatum is yawning in this one of three generations.
Me and Tatum with my awesome parents. They have always done so much for us, but I have never appreciated it more than now. I don't know what we would do without their help and their constant reminder that they are only a phone call away. (And check out my dad's new glasses. Pretty sweet, eh? Mara, Ben, Brennan, and I helped him pick them out. :))
Tatum looking pretty precious.
Happy blessing day Tatum!

Christmas

It was a great Christmas for us this year. After getting the best early Christmas present we could ask for, it was just nice to spend time with family and cuddling with little Tatum. We headed to my mom and dad's on Christmas Eve and Mara, Ben, and Jade arrived shortly after. They were pretty excited to meet the newest member of the family.


The rest of the day held true with the usual traditions. We ate delicious soup for dinner, read the scriptures together, sang Christmas songs, opened Christmas jammies and watched the Muppet Christmas Carol. I'm pretty sure Tatum loved her first Christmas. :) Here she is opening her Christmas jammies:

Christmas fell on a Sunday this year so we needed to be to Church by 11. In order to get presents opened and lots of adults cleaned up and ready to go in time we had to get up and get started around 7. That's not really any earlier than any other year, but it was much more of a challenge for me than usual...I wonder why. Brennan and I were truly blessed with all that we received for Christmas this year. Having Tatum come into our lives really would have been enough, but we were spoiled. Brennan gave me some sweet new shoes, a jacket I really wanted and some Hawkeye sweats. My parents gave us a shop vac (they must have been sick of us borrowing theirs) and some new silverware so we finally have enough to entertain a group larger than 6 or so. Brennan got his wish to get a new outfit so he was happy. :) Really, just a perfect Christmas.

The tree on Christmas morning. Loaded with gifts.
Dad opening the Kindle Fire we got him. Hopefully he actually likes it and gets some use out of it.
Jade on Christmas morning. It was lots of fun to watch her since she is old enough to really enjoy it now.
Brennan opening his new coat.
Me and Tatum.
The Eskelsens came over after they finished opening gifts at their house. They opened a few more at Grandma and Grandpa's and then we had breakfast together before heading to Church.

Our little family in our Christmas PJs.
Ready for Church. I love Tatum's little elf outfit.
The rest of Christmas day was spent together as a family, playing lots of new games, taking naps, and eating delicious food. Thanks to mom and dad for hosting yet another fabulous Christmas. They put in so much time and effort to make it great for the rest of us and they probably don't know how much we appreciate it.

Jade loved looking at this little tree with Papa.
Tatum hanging out with her cool cousin, Caden.
Brennan showing off his magic abilities to Jade. She was a great audience.
It was a fantastic Christmas. We hope you all had a Merry Christmas spent with loved ones as well!

kisses for a cousin

I have lots of blogging to do in order to catch up on all of the events surrounding Christmas and New Years. But I'll just have to take it one day at a time and see what I can get done. My sister, Mara, and her husband and daughter, Jade, came out to Iowa for Christmas. Jade is about 15 months old and full of personality. She loved having a baby around and would always want to hold and kiss Tatum. It was just about the cutest thing I have ever seen. So here are some pictures for your enjoyment.

Jade thought she was pretty cool when Grandma let her hold the baby. This was the first time.

Getting ready to give her a kiss.
I love Tatum's face in this one.
Just after a kiss. It was hard to catch it in action.
This picture just makes me laugh. Jade looks away AND makes sure to cover Tatum's face.
Too cute. I hope they are friends for the rest of their lives.
At Tatum's blessing.
I've only ever really had one or two cousins that I was actually friends with. And I have always lived thousands of miles away from my cousins. I hope Tatum can have some cousins for friends, and maybe even live close to a few. I think it can be a pretty neat relationship.