9 months

I know I say this every month, but seriously, how is Tatum already 9 months old! It is crazy how fast it goes. As you can see she was super excited about this milestone.

Haha, okay so maybe she wasn't.  But I'll still share some pictures and give an update on Tatum's growing up.

Her stats:

Weight: 15 lbs 12 oz (13th percentile)
Height: 27.5 inch (49th percentile)
Head circumference: 43 cm (25th percentile)

And what is she up to?

-She can now walk along furniture.  Brennan was hoping she'd walk on her own by today but I think that is still a little ways off.
-She has two teeth! They have been coming in for a couple of weeks, and now you can actually see them when she smiles.  It's pretty cute!
-Her "hand thing" has definitely turned into a wave. She does it whenever it is time to say goodbye.
-She loves dogs.  She starts panting (I don't know how else to describe it) whenever she sees Duke. 
-She still loves her baths but always insists on standing up.  It sort of defeats the purpose.
-One negative development in the last month is the start of fits. I had no idea it would start so young. It is actually kind of funny to see how dramatic a 9 month old can be.  If she is unhappy she will throw herself back on the floor.  And she cries every time we change her diaper.  She also cries for about 15 seconds every time we put her in her stroller. She is crazy.
-She likes it when we say "I'm gonna getcha." She gets really excited and swings her arms up and down.
-She has really mastered feeding herself small finger food and loves the cheerios, puffs, and yogurt bites.
-She is a better napper but still gets up once or twice at night-my goal is to end that when we get back from vacation!
-She is definitely still obsessed with my hair. She plays with it while she falls asleep, while she nurses, pretty much anytime it is within reach.
-When we get her out of her crib in the morning she will give a big hug. It is pretty much the best way you can start a day.

Happy 9 months Tatum!

keeping up

Holy cow, Tatum is hard to keep up with. I don't know how she has so much energy and how she is so naturally drawn to trouble.  For instance, we have a baby gate at the top of our stairs but one side doesn't seem to be as secure as I would like it (one of Brennan's projects while I'm gone).  So I spend a good portion of my day retrieving Tatum from banging and pushing on the baby gate.  She thinks it's hilarious.

One day she was playing in our bedroom while I was getting ready and she was mysteriously quiet.  I found her on Brennan's side of the bed and she had found the pen on his nightstand and had drawn all over her leg. I can't imagine she knows what a pen does. But then it's strange, usually things go straight to her mouth, not rubbed on her legs. I tried to get a picture of it but most of it is covered by her arm.

When we were at my parents' house for dinner a week ago, she crawled over to their stairs and immediately started climbing up them.  She has never tried stairs before, but made it all the way to the top.  I guess I didn't realize how naturally climbing stairs comes to them.  I didn't think that was something I'd have to worry about for awhile.

Lately she has also been drawn to the screen door at my parents' house. Sometimes it doesn't latch all the way so one time it sounded like she had opened the door and crawled outside.  Luckily she hasn't managed to figure that out yet.  She just stands there on on her tippy toes looking out the window.

And I just realized that in all of the pictures I posted Tatum is only partially clothed.  I promise I do dress her completely at some point during the day. It just frequently doesn't happen right away and doesn't necessarily last very long. :)

Hawkeye Football!!

 After living here for the first 18 years of my life, and being back here with Brennan for 2 years, I finally made it to my first Hawkeye football game.  Every season we have talked about wanting to go, but tickets can be pricey and we just never managed to get our hands on reasonable ones.  On Friday Tatum had her 9 month check up and our doctor asked if we go to the Hawkeye games and then asked if we wanted tickets for the game the next day.  Now there's a bonus to taking Tatum to the doctor. :) At first we figured we would just take Tatum with us, but on the tickets it says that everyone in attendance has to have a ticket, regardless of age.  Seems a little bit ridiculous that we would have to pay for a 9 month old.  Luckily my mom wasn't too busy on Saturday and was generous enough to come and watch Tatum. Once we got to the game we were VERY glad we didn't have Tatum with us. It was hot and bright and very crowded.  She would have been miserable and consequently so would we. It was a good game and the Hawks won! There were a lot of injuries and most of them seemed a bit theatrical if you ask me...but what do I know.

 Not only did my mom babysit Tatum but she even acted as taxi driver and drove us down to the game and came and got us so we wouldn't have to worry about the parking craziness. When she brought us back she pulled my car into the garage and just as Brennan was putting up his hand to tell her to stop she was asking how far in she needed to go.  So she stopped and this is where the car was. Think she was in far enough? If she would have gone any further we would have been sitting in our downstairs living room! It gave us all a good chuckle.

We sure are lucky to have gone on two Tatum-free dates in two weeks.  Thanks again mom and dad for babysitting for us! Go Hawks!

Fry Fest

A week or so ago was the annual Fry Fest ("a celebration of all that is Hawkeye").  Brennan currently works as an intern for the City of Coralville and since they sort of host it, they had him working at the festival all day instead of the office. I think Brennan was perfectly fine with the change of pace. And I was perfectly fine with the free concert tickets that came with it. :)  Free dates are definitely the best. A HUGE thank you to my dad for spending his Friday evening at our house hanging out with Tatum.  Free babysitting is even better than free dates. :)

The evening didn't get off to the greatest start when I headed down to Coralville. I was just meeting Brennan there after his work day.  But President Obama was also visiting Iowa City that day so traffic was backed up since they had the freeway blocked for him.  That meant I got to walk a long way to the concert.  A very long way.  I was already running late so this was extra frustrating to me. But I made it! And I even remembered to bring a jacket for Brennan so he could cover up the pink Fry Fest t-shirt he was tired of being seen in-haha. 

The performers were Lee Brice and Sarah Evans.  I don't know their music very well but they both have a couple of songs that I like.  We ended up hanging out backstage for the whole concert.  There were perks and downsides to doing that.  We got to sit as much as wanted-definite perk.  It wasn't crowded and we weren't surrounded by beer, perk again. But the sound wasn't the greatest and Brennan had to help with stage transitions and whatnot, so I was left hanging out alone a few times, downsides.  All-in-all, it was an evening we got to spend together, away from the house, without a baby, without spending money, listening to good music, and enjoying beautiful weather.  So it was great!

Sarah Evans

Brennan and Lee Brice. During lunch they handed out "meet and greet" passes to a bunch of the people in Brennan's office.  This is the picture they put on Lee Brice's website.  Brennan loves the pink shirt. :)

ouch

The other day Tatum pulled the top part of her car seat down and just sat in it that way, playing with the straps.  She stayed that way for a long time but as soon as I got out the camera she was distracted, lost her concentration, and fell.  So that is the shot I ended up with.  It makes me laugh every time I look at it.  I swear this child is a walking accident, she has a new bump, bruise or scratch every time I turn around.

getting to know Tatum

I spend all day, every day with Tatum.  So I know her pretty well, right? I feel like I do.  And yet I feel like every day I get to know who Tatum is just a little bit more.  I guess I never really thought of parenthood being that way, but it makes sense. Tatum will continue to grow and develop and change and I'm lucky enough to be around for all of her growth and changes.

So what's new with Tatum these days?

She definitely knows when she doesn't like something and is sure to let you know.

She is becoming quite the ham.

She can often be found playing peek-a-boo in the curtains.  If you ask "where's Tatum?" she will pull them off of her and just yell.  It manages to make me laugh every time.

She has an obsession with putting dirty shoes in her mouth. And also diapers. I'm not sure why I spend any money on toys for this child. Give her a diaper and she can be entertained for a nice long time.  The problem is she likes dirty diapers too.  If we leave the dirty one wrapped up on the floor for even a second she will get it and play with it.  Sick-o.

She loves to look at herself in the mirror.  There is a small mirror on her play mat but usually she would only take interest in the bathroom mirror.  Recently, however, I have found her squealing at herself in the mirror on the play mat.  She will talk to herself for several minutes at a time. It includes a lot of laughing, she sure thinks she is hilarious.

Every once in awhile she will slow down enough to be sweet and give kisses.

Playing with her just gets to be more and more fun.

She likes to be loud.  All the time. Especially in restaurants or Church or when I'm on the phone.  You know, whenever it would be really nice if she could be quiet. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPci-1RFYJo&feature=youtu.be

See what I mean? She's a loud one.

friends

Doesn't this picture just bring a smile to your face?

Tatum and Duke are pretty great friends. Well Tatum would like to be his friend anyway but for the most part he's afraid she will get him in trouble so he tries to stay away. But I really like this picture. Like, a lot.  Tatum loves Duke and I love watching her with him. I am so glad that he is good at staying calm around kids. Hopefully one day when we get a dog (yes, one day we will get a dog...I hope) he/she will be as good as good ole' Dukie Duke.

this guy

This guy is pretty awesome.  He just took the GMAT a couple of weeks ago and he did great! I mean, who wants to study all summer? Not me, and I'm sure he didn't want to either but he did it anyway and it paid off.  He manages to study hard, hold a job, and be a good dad and husband to boot.  Tatum and I are lucky he is ours. 

Just wanted to give him a little shout out on the blog.  Congrats Brennan! Thanks for working so hard for our family.

playing at the park

About a week ago we headed up to Cedar Rapids to check out their farmer's market on Saturday morning.  It is certainly quite large.  They had lots of awesome things for sale, good live music, and it wasn't too hot which we were grateful for.  Tatum even got her first balloon and spent the morning waving it around while we pushed her in the stroller.  There were a lot, and I mean A LOT, of people there pushing their pets in strollers. I have never seen so many people doing this in one place. Some of them were in strollers specifically made for pets and others were just in baby strollers.  One was even in a shopping cart! I really wish I would have gotten pictures of some them, it was the strangest thing.

 

 Anywho, it was a good time and I'm glad we went. The rest of our Saturday was fun too! Whitney and Eric stopped by for a quick visit! We haven't seen them since a few days after Tatum was born so it was good to catch up a little.  After that we headed to the park. Tatum and I go to this park nearly every day but let's face it, we all know Brennan is way more fun than I am, so this was a special treat. Tatum got to really explore the park.  And since we are typical parents who happen think our child is adorable we took a lot of pictures. And now I'm going to share them with you. :)

Swinging.

 Playing in the tunnel.

 Going down the slide "by herself".

 Help!

Brennan looks excited, Tatum not so much.

Then Brennan coerced me into taking Tatum down some slides. I love both of our faces in this one. We are weirdos.

This slide had a bump that camp out of nowhere and totally surprised me. Hence the absolute crazy face.

Were we really doing all this for Tatum's enjoyment or for our own? I'll let you be the judge. :)

apples and bananas

Tatum loves fruit! Obviously this a good thing, but the little stinker isn't very good at sharing. I have an apple pretty much every afternoon and as soon as she sees that I have it she will book it over to me and insist on having more than her fair share.  It's hard for me to even take a bite without her complaining.  The same goes for bananas.  Except that they are so soft that it didn't take long before she was breaking off huge chunks in her mouth and then spitting them out.  Can't a woman just eat a piece of fruit in peace?! ;) Haha, just kidding, I actually find it quite adorable, surprise surprise.

Check out that concentration.

After a few days she started the two handed death grip on my hand to try to make it harder for me to take it away to get a bite myself.

 Frequently I just cut a piece off for her to gnaw on.  It keeps her busy and leaves the rest of the apple for me. We tried a little fruit muncher thing but she wouldn't use it, so eventually the apple gets real slippery and hard for her to hold onto.

After completely destroying a banana in her eagerness to get some of it, now I just give her little pieces she can pick up and eat.  See, I may be a little slow but I'm figuring it out!

And now a little video for your enjoyment.  That is, if you get enjoyment out of watching a little baby gnaw on an apple. I thought it was cute, but parenthood does weird things to you. :)

I'm having serious issues getting a video to load to the blog so here's a link! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGKHsTSHM7M&feature=youtu.be

carousel

Last Friday was family free night at the mall so we took Tatum for her first carousel experience. It was not her favorite thing.  I made the mistake of encouraging Brennan to take her, thinking she wouldn't mind not being with me. But once she could see me outside the little gate she was not happy that she couldn't get to me.  She clung to Brennan the whole time and eventually he just got her off the horse and held her. She looked pretty cute though!

You can tell by the blur that she was on a fast-moving steed! :)

 At then end I thought I would try to get a decent, non-blurry shot, but she was literally climbing up Brennan and would not turn for a picture.

After going to a couple of stores we decided to try it again but with me taking her this time. I guess you could say it went a little better, but really not much.  She stayed on her horse, I mean rabbit the whole time. Yeah, she definitely didn't get as cool of a creature with me.  A rabbit?! But she did enjoy her second ride a teensy bit more. Perhaps in a few more months she will start to like the carousel.  Her parents enjoyed it! :)

Labor Day

Well Labor Day kind of came out of nowhere this year. :) I guess it's really not that big of a holiday so it's not too much of a surprise that it caught me off guard.  But in our boring lives we have to use every excuse we can to have some fun.  We actually spent the morning doing housework and I was feeling quite accomplished while Brennan was going stir crazy and hoping I had some great adventure planned for us. I had no great plans really, but we did venture up to Cedar Rapids to do some mini golf and watch a water ski show. It was painfully muggy and eventually rained on us a little but we still managed to have fun.

Brennan offered to carry Tatum in the carrier during mini golf, but I insisted that he let me so I could use it as an excuse when I lost.  I did lose, but I also didn't carry her the whole time. That girl is getting heavy! I had to hand her over to Brennan halfway through.  I also hoped it would mess with his game but I guess he is just THAT good.

See, it was hard to golf while holding her. I had to try to peer around that big noggin of hers!

I didn't realize how unpleasant it looked for Tatum until I saw Brennan golfing while holding her. She was a trooper and didn't complain the whole time. But I laughed every time I saw her just hanging there while Brennan golfed.

After mini golf we headed to the water ski show.  Since it was raining we weren't in a huge hurry to make it to the show so we stopped at Walmart for a few things and by the time we got there we had missed the first half.  Not really a huge deal, but we also missed all the decent seats.  It was still fun to watch but it would have been more fun if we could have heard what the announcer was saying and explaining.  And been able to see better. And if we hadn't been near half a dozen smokers.  And if the humidity wasn't at 100%.  But really, it was enjoyable!

I wish this picture wasn't blurry, I love the face she is making!

 Wow, they were certainly cut from the same mold.

We ended the day by picking up a Little Caesar's pizza.  Not exactly the typical Labor Day grilling, and not exactly gourmet.  But hey, we do things our own way around here! Hope you all had a great Labor Day!