our latest doings

I never know how to break up posts or title them or anything. They all seem so random and just a hodge podge of pictures, really. Every once in a while I just feel like throwing a few pictures up and telling what we have been up to lately. Bear with me until I figure out a better way of doing it.

Tatum and I made a second trip to the apple orchard in August. It was a playgroup with a local mom's blog and it was HOT. Despite the heat we had a great time. 

My friend Allison got this great shot of Tatum as well as some others. The more I see of her pictures the more I think I want a fancy camera. (hint, hint, Brennan ;))

We got a tractor ride around the orchard, apple samples and free apple turnovers! So yummy.

Waiting for the tractor ride.

The tractor driver stopped in the river/stream/creek to tell a little story. Tatum thought it was awesome that we were in the water.

Thanks to Brennan's city connections from his internship we were able to go to the Fry Fest concert again. Chris Cagle was the headliner. I can't even remember who opened for him. We were able to meet up with our friends, the Lofthouses, while we were there and it was a lot of fun. Once again it was quite uncomfortably hot, but we survived. We also got there to discover that a lot of people brought lawn chairs. I never would have guessed otherwise we would have brought some ourselves. Luckily Brennan's connections were able to get us all some chairs too. I have a feeling the concert wouldn't have been very bearable without them. I'm a wuss. A huge thanks to my mom and dad for watching Tatum AND taking her to free night at the mall. Grandparents of the year award definitely goes to you. :)

We spent Labor Day with my parents. It was a beautiful day and we tried to pack in as much fun as we could. We rode our bikes (not sure if I will be getting back on a bike during this pregnancy, however. It was rather unpleasant.), played tennis, grilled, played croquet and had a lot of fun.

Tatum got to help grandma fill her bird feeder.

Tatum likes to "hide". Brennan will sometimes build her a little fort with the couch pillows and she has been asking me to do that for her lately. But I can never get the pillows to stay. So one day we decided to build her a more legit fort. She thought it was the greatest.

And lately she can't leave home without "baby". I'm hoping this is a good sign for the transition that lies ahead of us. Regardless, it's kind of cute. :)

clean up, clean up

This girl takes cleaning up very seriously and for that I am grateful.

The second week of "vacation"

We were unable to fill the second week with nearly as many fun things to do. I guess it only takes about a week to run out of "exciting" things to do in eastern Iowa. :)

The little mister and I continued to grow.

Our double stroller came in the mail and we assembled it. Tatum loves to play with it, but I'm sure that's because we aren't asking her to get in it. When it comes time for that I'm sure she will decide she doesn't like it.

We spent a day in Mt. Vernon. I had my glucose test at the clinic there and my mom and I threw a bridal shower for Andrea, a good friend of mine. Brennan was a good daddy and painted Tatum's fingers and toes for her.

We made the transition to the toddler bed! I am so glad we decided to finally do it before Brennan went back to school. Tatum did so much better with him than with me. In fact Brennan's first two weeks back to school were a little rough for us because she really had a hard time staying in bed if I put her down. Luckily this week she seems to have finally come around (and I finally figured out that she needs her blanket exactly right. Apparently daddy does it a certain way and I just wasn't getting it.) All in all it wasn't a bad transition. Not as painful as I feared. It has made her an earlier riser, but I really shouldn't complain.

We finished our dresser and finally got to put our clothes back in it. Tatum enjoyed a few minutes of using it as a fort.

A friend of mine who is a personal trainer did a prenatal/postnatal exercise class to give herself more experience. The class was free, outside, and stroller friendly. So Tatum and I went to that a couple of times that week-it was a lot of fun. Tatum especially enjoyed playing with friends at the park after.

Brennan was second in command for a Church breakfast that we had. Our congregation consists entirely of married students so each August we get quite an influx of members. This breakfast sort of served as an "opening social" to get to know each other. We had to go early since we were helping prepare the food and set up. Luckily the toy cupboards were unlocked so Tatum got to play with a bin of doll house toys. Doll house toys are her absolute favorite right now. She can sit and be occupied with them for quite a long time, I love it!

We fixed Tatum's hair in a single pony tail for the first time. I'm still not sure how I feel about it. It looks a little bit like a rat's tail to me but it also kind of makes her look grown up.

And the little big mister and I continued to grow. Hello big mama! Yikes!

Now Brennan is back to school and we are all still working on adjusting to that. His schedule is much different than it ever has been. Not all of the differences are bad, just different and definitely require adjustments to our usual family routine. Tatum is definitely missing the time with daddy. She is always surprised if he isn't here when she gets up in the morning or from a nap. It's amazing how that just became the norm to her in two short weeks. And sometimes at nap time she will do a really sad cry and say "want daddy rock". So sweet, but so sad. 

I am 32.5 weeks pregnant and look every day of that and then some. I'm starting to realize just how quickly these next 7 weeks are going to go and my feelings are all over the place about it. I am feeling stressed because I don't feel like we have everything we need for him. I am nervous and anxious because giving birth again kinda sorta scares the living daylights out of me. I am feeling sad because I only have a few weeks left of just me and sweet Tatum and I know her world is about to change drastically and there's really nothing I can do to prepare her for that. And lastly I am, of course, feeling excited to meet the little dude and become a family of four. Whew, that's a lot of emotion. Might explain a few things...haha.

And Tatum? Well she is equal parts sweet and sassy. Some moments she melts my heart with how eager to please she is. She can be so sweet and loving and ready and willing to help and listen. And then the very next moment she makes my blood pressure rise by giving me more attitude than a 16-year-old. I love her to death and I sure am trying. I hope those two things are enough because most days I feel like I am failing at every attempt to teach her anything of value.

And I think I am finally all caught up. I, for one, am glad it's Thursday. (Brennan doesn't have classes on Fridays). I hope you all have a great weekend!

apple orchard and dog sitting

On Saturday morning we headed to the local apple orchard. It was beautiful weather all week and of course it decided to heat up that morning. Oh well, it was still enjoyable. 

Enjoying the tractor ride.

She chowed on this apple for quite awhile.

And then dripped all the juice right into daddy's hair when she got too hot and tired to walk.

Also enjoying the tractor ride...maybe? I was really hot, but I promise I was happy.

Carrying one baby wasn't enough for me, I wanted the challenge of two. :)

We decided to try their apple cider donuts this time. So yummy! For some reason donuts always sound good to me these days and these ones did not disappoint. Tatum is looking a little hot and sweaty.

That afternoon my friend, Gretchen, dropped off her dogs for us to watch overnight. Tatum loved every second of it. We probably shouldn't have decided to take them for a walk that night without a stroller for Tatum. Two dogs and a wandering and slow poke toddler made for an interesting adventure. And to add to that Brennan picked up a clay pigeon launcher that someone was giving away so we also had that to carry home. I'm sure we were quite the sight.

Tatum loving on Ox. It was so cute to hear her say Ox and Phoebe. She thought they were best friends. I think the dogs might have disagreed.

My mom left her paint clothes at our house because she was planning on coming back to help some more. Well apparently the dogs got too close to her clothes for Tatum's liking. I kept hearing her yelling grandma and I was so confused. When I went to check things out she was waving her finger at the dogs, yelling grandma, and holding grandma's clothes. Apparently she is quite protective. She then proceeded to carry grandma's clothes everywhere she went and dancing around like a crazy child.

swimming and the Kernels game

We ended week one of "staycation" with a visit to the pool and a Kernels game. Unfortunately it was a pretty cool day so the water didn't feel wonderful, but we pretty much had the pool to ourselves which was nice. It is a well known fact that Brennan is a lot more fun than I am so Tatum was thrilled to have him at the pool instead of just boring old mom to play with.

She even got to try out water wings for the first time.

We staked out a spot under an umbrella but quickly decided that shade was not what we were looking for, we needed the sun to keep us warm.

After a nap and some dinner we headed out to the baseball game. It was Hawkeye night at the stadium and they were having fireworks after the game. Apparently we are really good at choosing when to go to places and events, that night had the biggest crowd in the stadium's history. Are you serious?! Oh well. We chose grass seating because we thought it would be the best for Tatum. I didn't realize just how steep the hill would be. It might have been good for Tatum but it was not good for my pregnant body, it was impossible to get comfortable! And since the stadium was so unusually packed we couldn't just move over to the seats near the grass when we got tired of sitting on the ground. 

Tatum was really good for the game. As long as we kept offering her more food or Herky and Mr. Shucks were in her line of sight then she was good to go.

Her favorite place to be was on my lap, though, which didn't add to the comfort level. But her sweet hugs and kisses definitely helped. :)

Oh the fun we have when dad is around.

Brennan took her for a walk around the stadium when the game was dragging and I was getting tired of being a jungle gym. She came back with a baseball on her cheek and a heart on her hand. She ended up with her face painted several times this summer!

I wish I could tell you Tatum was really into the baseball game (haha) but it was just the mascots that got her this excited. My favorite part is right around 20 seconds. She is so excited she just can't contain it. 

Oh, and I forgot to mention after we sat on the grass I noticed a group of girls in the seats that I recognized. I told Brennan I was pretty sure they were from Mt. Vernon and he said, "is that why Macy is with them?". We just happened to sit down right by my niece, Macy, who was there for a birthday party. Tatum was SO excited. Macy was really sweet and let her come and sit with her and her friends toward the end of the game, which Tatum had been dying to do the whole time. It made her night I'm pretty sure. I am so grateful for all the sweet, kind cousins Tatum has.

We managed to make it through the whole game and we were rewarded with a pretty great fireworks show. Not a bad way to end a pretty great week.

anticlimactic

The next couple of days of Brennan's break were, as the title indicates, anticlimactic. We were/are working on redoing our bedroom so we did a lot of painting during nap time and after Tatum's bedtime. And there were various other projects going on like our dresser and some shelves and all sorts of things. So we did a lot around the house. It might not have been the funnest of times but it was certainly productive. And we did manage to get out a little too.

One morning Tatum discovered we had left a bag of m&ms on the table and climbed up on a chair and started to eat some. I heard her before she got more than one or two, told her no and moved them to the counter. I'm not sure why I didn't just put them away...Anyway, next thing I know I'm hearing rustling again and I walk out the kitchen to find this:

I had no idea she could even get on our stools by herself. She was quite proud of herself and I just had to laugh.

On one of these lower key days Tatum and I took Brennan to the library. He never gets to go with her and I think she thought it was quite a special treat to have daddy with us. We also ran some errands that day so we stopped by Cold Stone to reward all of us (errands are not our favorite thing). We got an extra cup for Tatum and boy did she think she was special. (Warning: horrible iphone photos coming up, sorry.)

It wasn't the hottest of days and Cold Stone had their AC cranking. It made us all a little chilly to be eating ice cream and when I asked Tatum if she was cold this is the answer I got:

 Some of our errands were at the mall but for some reason Tatum wanted nothing to do with the playground so we took her to the train table in Barnes and Noble. She loved it.

 One time my mom put Tatum in a Kohl's cart like this because she couldn't find one with the seat on front. Now she insists this is how she needs to ride in Kohl's.

 That night we went out to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings. It was a beautiful day and luckily we were wise enough to choose outdoor seating. Tatum had just gotten up from a nap in the car and was CRANKY. She also managed to spill her water within two minutes of getting it so for both of those reasons we were glad to be outside. They also had 99 cent kids meals that night so for the first time ever we actually ordered for our kid. That was strange. She loved the chocolate milk and we taught her to dip her french fries in ranch (our favorite) but she didn't each much of the fries or chicken.  Luckily Brennan and I were just sharing so we didn't struggle to finish hers off too. :)

Chocolate milk rescuing Grumpy Gus from her horrible mood.

 The next day we toured the hospital! Always kind of exciting but mostly fills me with dread. I hate hospitals. And I hate thinking about being in one in a couple of months and being in pain. A lot of pain. But it was good to see the hospital and know what to expect and get pre-registered.  The weather was seriously so beautiful all week. The evenings were especially wonderful so we spent a lot of time outside. And Tatum decided she'd had enough of our yard, she was headed to the neighbors'.

What a monkey. So a fewer slower days but we got some things checked off our to-do list and still squeezed in a little fun.