Merry Christmas!

We had a fantastic Christmas!  Tatum wasn't totally into opening presents (even after all the practicing with her birthday) but she still managed to make Christmas a totally different experience for us. She manages to make everything more fun, even Christmas!

We headed down to my parents' house last Sunday and went to Church and caroling with them. It was cold and Tatum was not a fan of getting in and out of the car but we are still happy we got to participate in the caroling tradition.

Tatum loves her cousins and gets so excited when she sees them. She discovered a new toy at Grandma's house-the shower! It was not uncommon to find her and Caden or Macy (or both) playing the shower. Crazy kids. But what great cousins who are willing to play along.

She also loves a little rocking chair at grandma and papa's house.  It's been there since I was a little kid and it  is one of Tatum's favorite toys.

Christmas Eve consisted of last minute present wrapping, playing games, making goodies, eating yummy soup, reading Luke 2, singing every carol we could think of, opening Christmas pajamas, and watching The Muppet Christmas Carol of course. :)

Tatum and the Eskelsen cousins in their new pajamas.

Brennan in his new pajamas and matching so well.

Singing Christmas songs with Grandma.

Cuddling with Caden. She seriously loves this kid.

Me and Tatum in our new pajamas.

We are still a ways away from being forced to wake up early on Christmas. Tatum slept in until 8:30! We got her some milk, let her play with her present from Santa and started digging into our haul. You might notice that she has pretty much the same expression in every picture on Christmas morning. I don't know what it is about this kid, but she will only look at you when you take a picture, she refuses to show any emotion.

With her zoo from Santa.

Showing off the very creative and mysterious wrapping job done by Brennan. I mean, what could this be?!

Brennan modeling his new bag for school and work.

 Finally, a smile!

We spent a couple more days at my parents' house. Brennan had to go back to work the day after Christmas so Tatum and I just hung out with grandma and papa. She had plenty of new toys and books to keep her entertained. And of course there's always Duke...and Duke's food and water...and decks of cards...and breakable nativities. Yeah, she found plenty to do.

Playing with her new drum.

 Eating grandma's necklace.

 These two have a bit of a love-hate relationship. Tatum loves Duke, follows him everywhere, and is happy to share her food. Duke would rather she just stay away, unless of course she does have food to share.

 Such a trouble maker. She may or may not have eaten several pieces of dog food...oops.

Such a wonderful time of year and we were so lucky to be able to spend it with so many people we love. A huge thank you to everyone for all the gifts. We are certainly spoiled.

the birthday bash

Winter decided to hit Iowa on Tatum's birthday. The crazy blizzard and a nasty bug passing through my family kept everyone from coming to the little party we had planned. Of course, Tatum didn't care at all but I couldn't help but be a little disappointed. I had a rainbow theme planned out, with colorful plates and napkins, a rainbow banner, a rainbow cake, we got tons of Cold Stone ice cream, I had a yummy dinner planned complete with rainbow fruit kabobs. Pretty awesome, right? :) But alas, none of it was to be enjoyed by anyone but me, Brennan, and Tatum.

We blew up balloons for Tatum the night before. I honestly didn't think she would really care, but I wanted to make it feel a little more festive. But I was wrong, she totally cared! Usually she is really slow to wake up completely and just wants to be held. But as soon as she saw the balloons she started grunting and trying to get down. I knew it was going to be a good day.

We spent the morning playing together and Skyping with Aunt Mara and Jade, Aunt Stacy and all the kids, and Grandma and Papa. She loves Skype. Then Tatum took a nap while I made her cake.  Once Brennan got home from work she got to open her presents. Then we ate dinner (she was not the biggest fan) and had cake.  She didn't dig in quite like I thought she might, but she did eventually eat some of it.

Without further ado, the pictures:

She emptied the diaper bag and found these crackers and decided to help herself.

 Opening presents.

 Trying out her new puzzles.

 She loved the doll. Here she is giving it a kiss. It pretty much goes everywhere with her now.

 Trying out her new piggy bank.

 See she loves the doll so much she eats its arm. :)

The banner and the cake.

 The cake, pre- and post- frosting.

 Mom and Dad with the birthday girl.

 Time to dig in. She definitely took some convincing.

She was done. :)

Well I had a fun day and I think Tatum did too. I am so glad she is mine. Thanks for spending your birthday with boring old mom and dad, Tatum, we love you!

Happy Birthday Tatum

Holy cow, today was Tatum's birthday! She's not a little baby anymore, and as fun as that is, it's also a little sad how quickly it goes.  It's hard to believe it has been a year since she was born but at the same time it's hard to believe that it has only been a year. I can't really remember what my life was like before Tatum. What did I do?  I must have had a lot of free time. :) Being a mom has certainly been the most challenging thing I have ever done but I know it is the greatest thing I have or ever will do.

So let's see how Tatum has changed. First is a picture of her the day she was born. Then there is a picture of her every month for the last year. She sure has grown!

Happy Birthday Tatum! We sure do love you lots!

some weekend awhile ago

I have a bit of catching up to do in the blogging department.  So we will start with the weekend that kicked off the Christmas season for us.

It started on Thursday when we headed to Mount Vernon for "Magical Night" which is their holiday celebration up town. We rode a trolley down main street, saw a live nativity and Tatum met Santa for the first time (and didn't cry!). It was a lot of fun and not freezing cold which is always a plus.

Tatum walking with two of her favorite men, Caden and daddy.  She sort of acted like she couldn't move in her winter coat, even though she totally could. One time she fell on her back in the grass and just laid there, frozen, until we went to help her. It was hilarious, I wish we would have thought to take a picture.

 On the trolley.

The fun continued Friday night when we took Tatum to the Children's Museum for the first time. It was free night so it was a little bit crowded for my taste but I think she could really enjoy it on a normal day.

 This picture was taken from the outside of the little house she was in.  She was not shy about joining the older kids in there and playing away. She couldn't have cared less about where mom and dad were.

Tatum also tried the carousel again.

Saturday we got back into the Christmas spirit by heading to Mount Vernon's community performance of Handel's Messiah.  Dad, Rich and Brennan all rehearsed and performed with the group.  It was really good!

We invited our friends, the Jensens, to come too and unfortunately we had to sit behind the biggest scrooge. Every time one of the little kids would make a peep he would turn around and stare at us.  It was so uncomfortable! It didn't help that he was hugely muscular and a little scary. I don't know why he had to be like that, but it certainly managed to ruin the performance for me a little bit.  I mean come on man, it's Christmas! They're kids! Have a heart. (Not to mention the fact that it was a FREE concert, it's not as if he paid big bucks for his seat.) Oh well. Dad, Rich and Brennan did great!

We started wrapping presents that weekend too and Tatum loved to carry them around.

Tatum has recently discovered the cupboard that holds all of our Wii things and loves to get them all out. She likes pulling the cords behind her teeth like some sort of animal, but her favorite is to wear the nunchucks around her neck.

And that takes us a little closer to today.  Stay tuned for more! :)

sick

I feel like I have a lot of blogging to catch up on.  But this is about all that is happening around here lately.

Tatum isn't feeling the greatest and no one will do but mom (as you can see in the picture, she has to be touching my hair as well). Even if she wanted daddy she couldn't have him since he has 3 finals tomorrow. 3!!! But then we will be done with school for 5 whole weeks. Although I do enjoy cuddling with sweet Tatum I would prefer that she just start feeling better.

Maybe tonight I'll be able to do a legitimate blog post after she is in bed.

when mom is gone...

...strange things happen. I just can't leave these two alone together. :)  I had to go decorate at the church for our Christmas party today and luckily Brennan was able to be home so I didn't have to take Tatum with me. (I'm pretty sure I would have been zero help with her around.) When I got home he had these sweet videos to show me. Maybe he is trying to make sure she follows his footsteps into acting? :) In his defense, Tatum has been obsessed with putting blankets over her head and walking around and we always call her Mary when she does it.  Perhaps that's what got his creative juices flowing?  Who knows?  There are three of them, one of which is turned the wrong way, and they are all pretty much the same (I think the last one is probably the best though).  But each of them had parts that made me laugh out loud so I couldn't choose just one to share.  If you're bored, give them a look and enjoy a laugh, I sure did.

Those two make me smile.