H, B, and Tatum

2012-01-21T20:57:00.000-08:00

My mom was admitted to Stanford Hospital last Tuesday for severe abdominal pain, nausea, cramping, etc. She has been sick for a while but she got really sick on Monday. It has been a rough week for our family!! She was brought to the ER on Tuesday and was admitted Tuesday night after a CT scan showed severe inflammation among other things. She was then diagnosed with C-Diff and placed in isolation. She can only have a few visitors and they must wear a gown and gloves to visit. She has been on IV antibiotics, morphine, and anti-nausea around the clock. She felt like she was getting worse and the waiting game was getting really rough. She was finally able to get a second CT scan yesterday and it showed a little bit of improvement, so she may be able to go home tomorrow. The doctors are thinking that she also has Crohn's disease, so she will need to take it really easy at home with more medication and a very restricted diet before returning to Stanford for another CT scan, procedure, and biopsy to determine a diagnosis. We have felt the love and support of her many friends and are grateful that she is in a good place with the best teams of doctors. The boys have been pretty worried about her. They've both told their teacher at school on separate occasions that their grandma (and her mom) are in the hospital. Yesterday Beckham, who is more sensitive, said, "Grandma's going to get better because she has the best doctors". I said, "That's right, Beckham! Who told you that?" He slyly answered, "Mrs. Fox". I love her. Anyway, we are hoping that my mom can go home tomorrow and take it easy while she recovers from the C-Diff and then be in good hands while they figure out the rest of her diagnosis. We can't wait until she's back to her normal cheerful and energetic self... being sick is awful.

2012-01-21T20:08:00.000-08:00

The other night Aaron and I were laying in bed watching TV after the kids went to bed. All of the sudden the lamp and clock on my nightstand went off and we assumed that a fuse had blown. Aaron went outside to flip the switch and instead found a glowing and sparking electrical panel. It had essentially caught fire and two fuses had completely melted off and fallen to the ground. He quickly shut off the power but because part of the shut-off switch was also melted, we called PG&E to come out and make sure we would be ok for the night. They came in 15 minutes (I didn't think they could do anything in 15 minutes!). Aaron talked with an electrician friend and his dad and we decided to stay in our house that night even though it was freezing outside and we had no power or heat because the kids were already asleep. We buckled in for the night and were fine, but the warm shower in the morning felt really good.

Yesterday two electricians worked on replacing the entire electrical panel. We have the permit but we have more work to do on Monday including repairing the stucco they had to chip away, eventually having an inspection, and finishing the replacement. We are incredibly grateful that we were a) home, b) awake, and c) that our house didn't catch fire. Electrical fires are nothing to joke about!

random kid pictures

2012-01-21T19:49:00.000-08:00

Here's a glimpse into life last week...

Who doesn't love it when their kids play together nicely? Hudson helped Tatum down the slide. She was pretty pleased. And then she toppled over.

We can thank their kindergarten teacher for this one. When you are learning to read you can sound out your dad's password to buy games on the iPad when your parents think you are sleeping! It was so sweet that we just let them play.

This is what happens when Daddy comes home from work. Everyone is excited to see him and sometimes they get a wee bit wild.

I promised the boys they could have dessert once they were in the bath - we've gotten in the habit of taking baths since Hudson had to while he had a cast. They dutifully got in and I handed over their ice cream cones. Miss T was not going to just splash and play with boring, tasteless rubber ducks when ice cream was within reach! She would yell and grunt until they'd let her have a lick. That lasted for a couple minutes and then she just flat out stole Beckham's cone. Again, like the good mom I am, I just let her have it. I may have secretly hoped she'd sleep better with more calories in that little body of hers. (And she did... we are doing a modified sleep training schedule and she's sleeping soooooo much better!).

She found an Oreo. Pleased as punch.

Last but certainly not least, her clutch. She likes to keep it nearby. She stores bracelets and food and toys in there. We hear "is that real?!" quite often and I have to explain that yes, while it is real, I didn't buy it for her; rather, I bought it for myself in a past life when a clutch would even come close to sufficing as a purse and she has decided that it is now hers.

Brainy Baby

2012-01-13T19:39:00.001-08:00

This has been the best toy ever. The boys loved it and it is pretty much the only thing that keeps Tatum from screaming in the car! She makes it work with her little feet :)

donkey park

2012-01-08T20:34:00.000-08:00

We have all been super sick this weekend. We've all been feeling sick for a while but for some reason this weekend has been the worst. We ended up not doing much of anything and started to go a little crazy. This afternoon we took a trip to Bol Park to see the donkeys and spend some time in the sun. It was good to get out.

Tatum was pretty tired but was still interested. On the path to see the donkeys there are chickens and a goat which she seemed to like even more.

On the way back to the park from visiting Perry and Niner the boys started climbing on these logs. Check out Hudson's cheeks - they've been super rosy all weekend. He and Tatum are the most sick. We took a picture and then rescued Hudson, who still doesn't have full use of his left arm and was stuck.

Tatum's up for the 3rd time in 40 minutes - blogging is over!

cast off.. pins out...

2012-01-08T20:18:00.000-08:00

On Friday we went to get Hudson's cast off and pins removed. I was nervous! He wasn't because he didn't yet know that pins existed. [I'm sure we told him originally but he'd forgotten and we didn't want to remind him because it would freak him out]. I asked his doctor if he could take anything for the pain or for anxiety and she did a little research and then got back to me with a "no, I'm sorry, but they do it all the time, it just takes a few minutes... it's more mental than physical.." This is what I had read online as well, but was dreading it.

Aaron was able to come with us, which was much appreciated by both Hudson and me. Beckham was at school and Tatum was with my mom.

First he got his cast off. We were all excited about this step. The saw tickled (hence the smile above) and everyone was happy for him. The joy quickly turned to fear when he saw the pins. It was gross. The cast came off, we looked down, and there were 4 ends of metal sticking out of his arm. Hudson started to cry and anxiety took over as he fully realized that those pins needed to somehow come out. The tech wrapped gauze around the pins and we went back out to the waiting room to wait for an xray. Aaron played a game with him on the iPad and we tried to keep him distracted. Every time he thought about the pins he'd get really nervous and start asking questions.

We finally got called into X-ray. These were much better than the original ER xrays because his arm hurt a lot less, but it was still painful because his arm was [is] so sore.

We went back to the waiting room once again before seeing the doctor. We simply met with him and he showed us the X-ray. Hudson asked what the X was and, not wanting to keep talking about the pins, we said it was an X marking the spot that used to be broken. A half-truth, maybe? The surgeon said that his arm looked great and he was happy with the results. We then went back to wait for the same cast tech guy to take the pins out. This took a while because I'm pretty sure the doctor left for lunch without sending the orders over. Good surgeon; not-so-great bedside manner.

Hudson was really brave for the pin removal. They asked him to lay down and he asked to sit up, so I sat next to him and held his face away from his injured arm. For the first part of the first pin he just said "Ow ow ow ow ow ow!" but then he stared to cry as it came out. The second one was harder because he had to lift his arm up to get the right angle and that hurt. They just wiggle them out with pliers. Again, so gross. The thought alone is gross. After they were out he just got some gauze over the area again and a sling for comfort. We ran like the wind, pausing only to snap a picture "for Beckham, to show him I'm ok", and went to lunch before heading home.

On our way home!

		Since then he's had a pretty sore arm but he has let us replace the gauze with 2 band-aids, taken his first shower in 5 weeks, and is wearing shirts and jackets with both sleeves intact! We are all so happy that this surgery ordeal is over.
No more cast!

Christmas Eve

2012-01-08T19:57:00.000-08:00

We're working a little backwards here.

Christmas Eve was spent at the Wises with almost all of the cousins - 14 kids. Even Santa was kind enough to stop by.

Santa signed Hudson's cast. He must have been pretty tired from delivering presents because he wrote "Santa Clause". We guess he doesn't get many autograph requests.

Tatum was TERRIFIED. I walked her over and before I could hand her over she just screamed as if I was about to drop her off a cliff. She was shaking and crying - so we quickly snapped a shot and backed away.

The kids learned that for their Christmas present they'll all be going to Disneyland in February. They were putting together a puzzle to learn this.

Baby's first Christmas Eve!

what we've been up to...

2011-12-26T20:33:00.000-08:00

All of the kids naturally loved Christmas. Crazy, I know. Hudson and Beckham received a Nintendo DS 3D from Santa. They also received news from Aaron's parents that they, along with their 13 cousins, will be heading to Disneyland together (with parents) in February. Santa was so smart to figure that the DS' would be nice for that trip. He's such a good planner.

Tatum got the hang of the present thing pretty quickly for a 10-month old. She opened up some darling Little People toys and the cutest little TOMS I've ever seen. She collected her loot and was in a good mood for (almost) the entire day.

She is also loving an activity table, but she doesn't stand yet, so we had to take the legs off for now. A neighbor was over today and held Tatum. She asked if she could put her down: "Can I just put her down? Does she walk or does she crawl?" I said, "Um, neither. She sits. She pretty much sits and waits for you to hand her something". She did just that. Because I know that nothing is wrong with her and she's just not interested in crawling yet, I'll just enjoy the time I have until she is mobile. After all, why crawl when you can yell and have someone hand you what you need, right?

We have a funny Hudson story. It's embarrassing only if you think that he is super spoiled. He's really not, but he really gives off that impression sometimes. He just doesn't know what he's talking about. He asked us how much the Nintendo DS costs (that Santa got for free, according to them). We said $200 (so maybe we rounded up). He said "Two hundred?!" [we're thinking... yeah, you are a lucky kid!]... "Wow, it's not that cool! I thought it was going to be ninety". Yikes. Then we left to go to lunch and made the boys leave their DS' at home. After a pretty big fit about that request, we asked him if it was worth $200 to him yet. He had no comment.

my little penguin

We have been having a lot of fun getting cards in the mail. For me, true love means letting the boys open all of them. We picked out a tree with my mom, which was fun since ours comes out of a box every year. We also made reindeer root beer for the boys' kindergarten friends and delivered them as little gifts. Tatum has been growing and getting even more interactive (and bossy). She is the boss of the house and doesn't let anyone forget it!

practicing our typing/blogging/surfing the net

taking rides in the laundry basket

thoroughly enjoying a new bath seat!

	We have been spending a lot of time at the park over break - I've been so grateful for nice weather (during the day)!
Beckham and Tatum

Hudson and Tatum even got to swing together. He can't hold on in a big swing so when he's desperate...

Aaron gets two days off - the Monday after Christmas and the Monday after New Year's, so we tried to make the most of the time we had together. Life is so much better when Daddy is home!

History repeats itself.

2011-12-09T10:26:00.001-08:00

Beckham was 3. Hudson is 6. It was a Friday night in December both times. Left arms. Casts. Slings. Arms cut off shirts. Arms had to be set (Beckham's in the office; Hudson's in surgery). I wish this was the last of it but knowing my boys, we'll see a few more casts on arms before they go off to college.

Hudson's ordeal: Monday - current

2011-12-07T11:23:00.001-08:00

Broken elbows often need surgery. In the ER I asked the doctor if he thought this would apply to Hudson and he said no because the break looked so clean. He was wrong. I don't blame him; ER doctors can't specialize in everything, but I was hoping he would be right.

On Monday we went to the hospital for an appointment to have a specialist read Hudson's x-rays and then get a cast. We were in the doctor's office waiting for him when the nurse came in and said that we'd need to go down the hall to see a surgeon instead. The doctor had read the x-rays and knew we needed to see the surgeon. Off we went down the hall.

Dr. Harradine came in and within a matter of seconds told us that Hudson needed surgery to realign the bones, and pins in his elbow to hold it in place. I thought I was going to throw up, but he insisted it was not a complicated procedure. I've since learned this: ANYTHING is a complicated procedure when it a) involves your child, and b) involves general anesthesia!

We had the choice to schedule the surgery that same day or another morning. They couldn't do it until he'd had an empty stomach for 8 hours, and he'd eaten at 7:30 that morning. We chose to just get it over with. We didn't want to worry, come back another day, spend it at the hospital, have Hudson more aware of what was going on, etc. So by then it was 11am, surgery was scheduled for 3:30pm, and we were to report to the OR at 1pm.

A few problems: we have 2 other kids (Tatum was with us and Beckham was at school) and my mom was/is in Germany for nearly 2 weeks. We made some phone calls, went home, packed lots of bags, Aaron's mom came to get Beckham (who I picked up from school early) and Tatum, and we went back to the hospital. We had thought that 2.5 hours would pre-op was over-kill. Turns out they needed every minute of it to ask ten million questions and prep Hudson. He was starving, nervous, realizing this was a big deal, and scared. It was a long 2 1/2 hours. He got in a gown, had countless tests, ten million questions, 8 different nurses, etc. etc. He was really brave. He is also an anxious kid so I asked for something to help him calm down before he was wheeled away from us. At 3:10 they have him something and at 3:30 when they wheeled him away he was tossing his stuffed animal up in the air and saying "BYE GUYS!" We were comforted.


pre-op

pre-op - lots of tests

During surgery I retreated to a meditation room to pump. It didn't lock but it was my only option for a lactation room of sorts. Then I retreated to the basement to get some ice to store my milk on. $0.42 later I was set.

They called us at 4:30pm and brought us to see Hudson. They had told us that kids don't wake up well from anesthesia but we didn't think that through. They had placed pads on the sides of his bed. Boy were we glad they had. He was thrashing and screaming. At one point he was just out of control and the nurse asked, "Is this his baseline?" I think Aaron wanted to smack him :). He's an anxious kid but no, his "baseline" is not thrashing and screaming.

It was a long hour and a half in recovery with Hudson having a REALLY hard time. It was awful. Terrible to see and every ounce of me wished I could trade places with him.

most sad part of the day

We finally left the hospital about 7pm. Hudson hadn't eaten all day and didn't have much interest in eating. Beckham and Tatum came home at about 8 or so. We all went to bed at 8:30!

That night Hudson slept in our bed with Aaron and I slept in his bed, as I have to get up a couple times a night with Tatum. He stayed home from school yesterday and it was a ROUGH DAY. It is realllly hard to care for him and Tatum, especially with my mom gone. I was alone and it was wearing. I felt so badly for him.

He's slowly feeling better as the anesthesia is leaving his body. It's hard for him to not have an outlet to get his energy out. He's just usually so active.

on the way to get Beckham from school yesterday

We go back in January to get the pins taken out and the cast off. Until then, I only hope each day can be better.

Hudson's ordeal - Friday - Sunday

2011-12-07T11:01:00.001-08:00

On Friday at 4:30pm Hudson fell off the trampoline. He was jumping with a much older neighbor boy and he flew right off. We have a net that surrounds the whole trampoline, but because friends were in and out, it wasn't zippered closed. The one place where it wasn't zippered is right where Hudson fell out.

He sort of did a flip - it was all slow motion for me, sitting helplessly holding Tatum a few feet away - and landed on his arm. It was pretty evident that something really bad had happened. I took him inside, put ice on his arm, and called my mom. I'd already called Aaron and asked him to come home. My mom came over right away and by 5:30 Aaron and I were on our way to the ER with Hudson while my mom took Beckham and Tatum to her house.

in the waiting room in a ton of pain

We didn't spend too much time waiting - they took Hudson's vitals and got him back to a doctor within half an hour of our arrival. The doctor said right away that he thought it was fractured but that he was ordering x-rays to see how it was broken and if it was serious enough to need to fix right then. We went to x-ray a little bit later and that was super painful. The positions they need your arm in just didn't feel good for Hudson. Then we were brought back to our room while the doctor read the x-rays. He said at the time that it was a broken elbow and that he didn't think it would require surgery because it looked like a clean break. Hudson got some Tylenol with codeine (that was NOT fun - he does not like medicine) and also got a splint, which also was not fun because it hurt a lot to bend his arm the way they needed him to. We were out of the ER by around 8pm, but waited forever in the pharmacy for his pain medication. We got home about 9/9:30. Beckham and Tatum got home around 10. It was going to be a loooooong night.

*Incidentally, Beckham broke his left arm on a Friday night in December just 3 years ago.

Saturday and Sunday were spent drugged up and taking it easy. My mom helped us on Saturday and we were grateful for that - it was hard to take care of Hudson, who really couldn't do much on his own and was in a lot of pain, and Tatum, who is hard regardless, and Beckham, who was in need of attention and got really bored.

We planned to go back to see the doctor on Monday morning for a cast...

Miss Tatum turned 10 months

2011-12-02T16:00:00.000-08:00

At the boys' birthday party

She is so communicative! She says good morning to all of us each day by leaning her head into our necks and saying, "ahhhhhh!" She (usually) gives kisses on demand - big wet ones on the cheek. When you say, "Where's Daddy?" she points to him and says "Hi Dada!" She talks non-stop but other than hi and Daddy I have no idea what she's saying. When she hears Hudson or Beckham coming she flaps her arms in excitement.

We call her Princess for a reason. She has no interest in crawling whatsoever at all. She much prefers to be carried to her chosen destinations. She will point and let you know exactly where she'd like to go at any point in time. If she'd like to pick something up, she'll let you know where to go and reach for it until you let her grab it.

She's learned to dance - to music, toys, or even on demand. It's super cute. She sits up straight and then bobs her upper body up and down.

She still loathes the car. She's also not a big fan of the stroller. Basically she wants to be held, and these two contraptions simply don't allow for that.

She's still not completely healthy. Since Saturday she's been on ammoxicillin but it wasn't clearing up her ear infections. She would still scream more than she would smile. I finally called the doctor back yesterday and got a new prescription. The last couple of nights she has slept for a 4 hour stretch... which is sadly an improvement! She didn't take a morning nap today but was otherwise a little better. Fingers are crossed for tomorrow.

Last week she weighed in at 15 pounds, 15 ounces. She's in the 3rd percentile after losing weight from being sick. My little peanut! Get well soon! Please!

H&B's friend party

2011-12-01T20:18:00.001-08:00

We lost. We caved. We succumbed to the wishes of two six year-olds.

We had a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese.

It was perfect*. Easy as pie. We showed up with kids and a cake, watched friends file in, and the rest was taken care of. Most importantly, we had two happy, happy boys.
*As perfect as a kids' birthday party can be.

Joy can manifest itself in funny faces

Tatum and Aunt Courtney

Loving the attention

I love that smile

Briefly sitting for lunch

Not sure how this is going to play out....


Finally! We can say "you HAVE been in the ticket blaster at CEC!"

I agree with the general rule that when you are 5 you can invite 5 friends to your party, 6 = 6, etc. etc. but what about when you have twins that want to invite different friends? We ended up with 11 kids and a couple siblings and it was great. It was fun to have my family come and help (and visit), and it's always fun on our annual trip to beat Aaron in basketball.

It was also fun to have kids from different kinder classes at school - I love how 5 & 6 year olds are able to make friends with kids outside of their respective classes. They definitely bonded at the party and have all been chatting before school even more than usual. Super cute!

sick baby

2011-11-26T21:09:00.001-08:00

this little girl has been sick for 9 days. sick for Tatum means less sleep than usual (which is basically no sleep), constant crying, only wanting mommy, not eating solids, and incessant whining no matter what anyone does for her. on day 5 I took her to the doctor and she checked out fine - just a bad cold and all we could do was continue motrin, the humidifier, and TLC. today we took her in again - my mom and brother took the boys to a movie and Aaron, Tatum and I fought for an appointment on this holiday weekend day. three hours later we had a diagnosis of a double ear infection and budding pneumonia and a prescription. We (I) are (AM) so (SOOOO) relieved to have an answer and a light at the end of this sleepless tunnel. she's just not been herself and we have missed that.. a lot!

by dinner she was almost back to herself... waiving, smiling, clapping, giving "loves", fake laughing, and throwing food. yep, she's on the mend.

Six.

2011-11-17T20:39:00.001-08:00

There's something about the number six that feels much bigger than five. We now understand the "how do we have kids that are X years old?" feeling. They turned 6 on November 7 and I figured I should blog about it before they turn 7. It was a fun three days - exhausting - but fun for the birthday boys. We celebrated at Aaron's parents at dinner on Sunday, they celebrated at school on Monday, and at my mom's in the evening with my family. They stayed up late into the night on their birthday, playing with new toys in their room, and rose before 6 the next morning to set up their hot wheels track. I can't tell you how many times we heard, "on our birthday, WE are the boss". If only they realized that it's not always fun to be "the boss"!

opening presents

loving the Giants pinata

Beckham dressed up for his birthday

Courtney and tired Tatum

turning "66"

old enough to cut their own cake?

Tatum loves to eat!

It's been a pretty amazing 6 years. I'm liking this age! I feel like they matured overnight! Kindergarten has done wonders for these boys and they really are a joy. An incredibly energetic, exhausting, and sometimes demanding joy... that we couldn't imagine life without!

3 skeletons

2011-11-17T20:35:00.001-08:00

They've grown in stature and in number since last year.

late Tatum is 9 months post

2011-11-11T10:27:00.001-08:00

swinging on a windy day

like mother, like daughter

happiest girl ever

"cheers!"

costco

all dolled up

temporary big girl seat

She's 9.5 months now but I wanted to get this on here for my blog book. At 9.5 months she's eating sooooooooooooooo much food - she nurses every couple of hours and she eats non-stop all day long: cheerios, grapes, blueberries, raisins, dried cranberries, macaroni and cheese, chicken, rice, corn, peas, bread, or anything else that she can get her hands on. The only thing she doesn't like so far is banana. She's 16 pounds as of today... She takes a good morning nap but that's all I can count on. Still waking up every 2-3 hours at night. Doesn't eat more than 3 ounces at a time.
Words she understands: food, mommy, daddy, grandma, hudson, beckham, go bye bye, nummies, num nums, no (learned that quickly when she started to bite me while eating), more, bite, hi, and I'm trying to teach her "be right back" but she still screams when I leave the room... Words she says: hi, dada. She's very expressive. If she doesn't want what you are handing her she'll turn her head all the way around and avoid eye contact. Or she sometimes shakes her head but I'm not sure if that's intentional!
Last week I was at work and accidentally took the car seat with me, so Aaron had to use the one we have for when she grows out of her current one. He sent me the above picture and I thought it was super sweet. She was also pretty sick that day.
Her happiest times are in shopping carts (it's as if she's on a stage and she can wave and talk to everyone she sees), high chairs (feels like an adult and loves it!). She kicks and screams (in joy) when she sees Aaron come home, and she still loves my mom to pieces. She thinks her brothers are the coolest kids ever. She spots them from a mile away and gets giddy with excitement. She comes with me twice a week to help in the boys' classroom and sometimes just sits in her stroller while I work. She listens to the class and loves it when they sing. She even claps along with them. When the class says, "Good morning, Mrs. Wise!" they follow it up with, "Good morning Tatum!" Sometimes when she's really tired I put her in the bjorn, but she's still remarkably good for it being her nap time when we are there. The only time that's hard is when the kids are all doing seat work and are being nice and quiet... of course Tatum thinks that means it's time for her to talk.
We love our Tate!

Halloween: evening

2011-11-03T10:33:00.000-07:00

ready to go!

tired... once she got over-tired she was wound up and the happiest skeleton

running from house to house


organizing their loot while Tatum feels out the loudest wrappers

We had a great Halloween night - super easy, no drama, super polite kids, trick or treating in the neighborhood, enjoying my mom's company, and then coming home at a decent hour to check out the loot and go to bed. We definitely think it was the best one yet. Happy, well-behaved kids = happy home.

Haloween: my princess

2011-11-03T10:27:00.000-07:00

We have a fun time when the boys are at school. Don't tell them. It's pretty fun to have some girl time with Tatum.
She had a few "costumes" - this one never came to fruition because the tutu that went with it never got on her body. She also had the option of being a cow like the boys were at age 1, but the costume was too big for her. And then in the evening we just stuck her in her skeleton jammies and she had a blast glowing in the dark and waiving to everyone.

Halloween: daytime

2011-11-03T10:22:00.000-07:00

good morning! spidey, Tatey, and batman

on the way to school. this is completely normal, right?

we had a class party in the boys' kindergarten room. this was one of my contributions: pin the nose on the jack-o-lantern. whomever one in each group got a prize. they had a few activities and then ate a Halloween-themed snack of goldfish, carrots, apple juice, and a couple pieces of candy.

this week

2011-10-29T21:18:00.000-07:00

"Tatum would win the cutest baby contest every time, right?" - H&B

In no particular order, as I've been trying to write this blog all day long...

nom nom nom

Mornings have been cold lately and I was excited that Tatum's owl hat still fit. She didn't like it much, but she did keep it on.

She's a total snacker. She loves goldfish, cheerios, cheese, all crackers, chicken, lasagna, peas (real, not baby food peas), and more. She loves getting them herself, of course.

The boys' friend Jacob's dad has played football with them a few times after school. Last time he had quite the crowd. The boys get really into it.. especially Hudson. Their helmets-that-don't-come-off-often actually come in handy.

my helper :)

these are excited smiles

Every time the boys complete a reading log for school they get a coupon for a free pizza at Pizza Hut. Considering their 2nd coupons are on their way I figured we should go redeem the first ones. They didn't eat much, but it was fun to go and reward/appreciate their work.

almost 9 months

Tatum sat in a shopping cart for the first time. Usually I have her in the bjorn or stroller. She really liked it...until she got tired and I carried her for a bit. She likes that better because more people notice her and she can wave and yell hi to them.

this is her funny squish-your-nose-to-make-people-laugh face

A friend of a friend works at Starbucks and passed along a bunch of extra pastries. Tatum had a ball taking them out of the bag and putting them back in again.

And last but most certainly not least... Kindergarten school photos...

There are no words. Well, except maybe that we have some future real estate agents on our hands? They really like their pictures - especially Beckham - and he has already framed his! It's pretty cute. They have school ID cards now too and pretend they are their driver's licenses. I really didn't want them dressing identically but now it's just too funny to be annoyed about. They are getting so big!

Hudson's going to be trouble

2011-10-27T18:08:00.000-07:00

Luckily we already knew this.

Today the boys went on their first Kindergarten bus field trip. They went to Happy Hollow. It was really cute to watch them line up and get on the bus. They were pretty excited. They think they are missing out by not getting to ride the bus like some other kids. I think riding your bike or scooter to school is much more fun.

Their teacher sat them with certain classmates on the bus ride. After school I asked who they sat with and Hudson said, "Natalie. Weird, right?" [not kidding... he talks like this already!]. I said, "No, not really. She didn't want anyone to be too crazy. If she let you sit with Jacob you guys might get a little crazy. But she knew that if you sat next to Natalie or another girl, that no one would get crazy".

He paused for a minute.

Then he said, "Yeah. Unless it's your girlfriend, right?"

kinder friends

2011-10-25T11:23:00.001-07:00

look! we really do still have other kids...

Love love love

2011-10-21T11:52:00.001-07:00

nothing beats bathing in the sink

2011-10-16T20:58:00.000-07:00

2011-10-15T15:14:00.000-07:00

2011-10-13T16:00:00.000-07:00

keeping those 7 pearly whites clean while

1) feeling big like her brothers

2) teething on a toothbrush

3) looking adorbs in her first pair of jeans

4) loving her new shirt

Fire station field trip

2011-10-12T09:27:00.001-07:00

The boys got to walk to a fire station today for a fun field trip. They were a little bummed to hear I wasn't going, but I had planned to volunteer before they left and then go home so Tatum could nap. Instead I worked really fast on my project this morning and then caught up to them.

It was a cute little outing and they definitely had a fun time, both learning more about fire trucks and 911 dispatch, and also walking through the neighborhood with their friends. Tatum was her usual self, yelling and laughing for attention, so she was a big hit with the kids too.

Best parts:
Teacher: "why are we bringing this to use when we cross the street?" as she holds up a big stop sign
Beckham: "I know! so cars don't hit us and run us over"

Female firefighter at the station: "who cooks for the firemen?"
kids: "they cook for themeselves!"
female: "who does their homework [reports] for them?"
kids: "they do them for themselves!
female: "who cleans the fire station for them?"
kids: "you do!"
Oy.

We went home after the field trip and I put Tatum down for a super late nap. 2 hours later she's still sleeping... maybe I should try this more often!

my girl

2011-10-07T21:41:00.000-07:00

smirky smile

always animated

look at those teeth! she almost has 8 - the 4th top one is coming in

Have I mentioned how much I adore this girl? So much that's it's annoying, I know. I just want to kiss these cheeks all day and night. Luckily I get to! She still wakes up every 2 hours so I don't have to go long without 'em, that's for certain.

Her pneumonia is gone but she has a bad cold now. Those brothers and their kindergarten germs. I don't want to know how often she'd be sick if she wasn't nursing.

We've settled into a bit more of a routine. On Monday, Thursday, and Friday we can come home from walking the boys to school (they still bike or scooter, even in the pouring rain!) and she can take her morning nap from 9-10:45ish. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays I help in the classroom from 8:30-9:15 so by the time we get home and she eats, her nap starts closer to 10. If she sleeps from 10-12ish then we have 2 hours to play before the boys get out... which isn't very long to get things done! Sometimes I'm running around like a mad woman all morning and afternoon and then heading off to work into the night, and other days (like today) I fall asleep with her and don't get anything done. We haven't established an afternoon nap because we're either not home or we are home and the boys are much too loud for her to sleep. I therefore rely heavily on this morning nap and am happy to schedule my life around it!

Between caring for Tatum, working 20 hours/week, Aaron working full-time and commuting, Aaron starting to work on his MBA, parenting the twins, helping in the boys' classroom, trying to exercise, running errands, church, attempting to rid the boys of their endless energy, and keeping things organized at home (read: making lunches, making dinner (sometimes), cleaning the house, paying bills, filling out forms and reading logs for school, keeping calendars updated, ETC), we're feeling pretty darn spent... but hanging in there.

random ramblings

2011-10-07T21:16:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took the boys to a pumpkin patch we found last year and haven't forgotten. There are pumpkins there, I think, and there are about 15 bounce houses. This shark slide was the favorite. We paid for an hour of fun and they were off - up and down this slide as many times as humanly possible in 60 minutes.

team bonding over gaming

<----- last week at soccer the kids took someone's mom's iPhone and retreated to play a game while they waited for their practice to start.

-----> this awesome kit was a huge life saver during one of the rainy days this week. Beckham is a sucker for art projects, and when you add a Halloween aspect to it it's even better.

we seem to have started a tradition of going to La Salsa after soccer and the park on Saturdays. the boys are starving and kids eat free on the weekends. Tatum loved sitting in a high chair for about 5 minutes, after which she much preferred standing on my lap picking between pinto and black beans. This girl will try anything - it's so refreshing since the boys are now such picky eaters!

I think I can... I know I can...

2011-10-04T11:00:00.000-07:00

so sweet. no trouble.

Why yes, I would like one of those, thankyouverymuch.

THAT family...

2011-10-02T15:39:00.001-07:00

We've become _that_ family at soccer. You know, the ones with chairs and a cooler (we had snack, so that's really the only reason)... the family that you see and think "all they need is an umbrella or a tent and they could survive for a few days". But we love it! We had another fun saturday that included soccer and friends and grandma and La Salsa for dinner because kids eat free on the weekends and soccer makes mine starving.

Catch up: 2 of 2

2011-09-30T21:25:00.000-07:00

First things first: Courtney and Philip got married! It was a gorgeous wedding and hopefully I will be able to gather some more pictures at a later date. I was the matron of honor and Hudson and Beckham were ring bearers. That left Aaron to hold Tatum, who had pneumonia at the time (although we didn't know it yet) and no one from our immediate family to take pictures. Here is a link to their photographer's blog with a teaser picture. We are thrilled to welcome Philip (officially) into the family and can't wait to see them once they finally return from their honeymoon.

the bride and groom

sick little wedding guest


cutest ring bearers

In other happenings... this is what Tatum's afternoons look like while her brothers are playing at the park. What else could you need?! This is the life.

And below... well, the boys really liked their ring bearer outfits. They wore them on Saturday for the wedding and on Sunday for Spencer's mission farewell. Tuesday was picture day, and... you saw that coming... they insisted on wearing their "fancy clothes". I was slightly mortified (ok, I was plain old mortified) that they wanted to dress up so much and dress identically - I'm normally not a big fan of dressing twins identically. But they looked darling and they were so proud. They truly felt handsome and if they have the confidence to wear their fancy clothes to school, then more power to them. So... who thinks they look like missionaries?!

picture day

Someone got a hold of some mac and cheese this evening. I think she liked it.

Catch up: 1 of 2-- 8 months!!

2011-09-30T21:01:00.000-07:00

8 months 9/29/11

"yayyyyy!"

I am completely 100% biased, but could she be any cuter? Most days I am simply in awe that I get to be this girl's mother. She is the sweetest little thing that brings our whole family pure joy. [and exhaustion, frustration, etc. but she's a kid - they do that]. She doesn't sleep much, both during the day and at night, in part because she doesn't want to miss a thing. She is super social and was clearly meant to be the 3rd (or 4th or 5th or whatever) child because she loves to be around other people/family/siblings/kids.

Tatum learned to clap a couple days shy of her 8th month birthday. She is very proud of herself and she likes to take her show on the road.

distracted by her cousin Holland

Hudson is really proud of his sister. He told her, "Tatum! You just make me so proud!" She seems to prefer him right now... her preferences change and Hudson used to be too much for her sometimes. But now he can pretty much do anything and as long as she's in the right mood, she'll bust out laughing at him.

On Monday Tatum was diagnosed with pneumonia. She's had a rough last 10 or so days but she's starting to feel a lot better. Thank goodness for antibiotics.

At 8 months: she's 14 pounds, 11 ounces. She can sit but isn't an expert yet. She has 4 top teeth and 3 bottom teeth. 3 of these teeth came in while she had pneumonia. She takes a morning nap from 9am-10 or 10:30 (or 11:30 one time - today!). After that she'd like to take another nap around 1:30 but we are never home and have to get the boys at 2, so she takes a couple cat-naps. She likes her pacifier on occasion. She still needs 1-2 bottles/day of formula to fill her up; when she was sick and teething she went on a bottle strike and that was hard because she was still hungry but wouldn't drink a bottle. She likes to play with anything that's not meant to be a toy. She wishes she could have an iPhone. She understands so many things - that my nursing cover means good things are to come, the concept of an echo (and when to screech more because it sounds cool), gravity (this is a new one - she drops everything on purpose), that carbs are the best food group, and that when Grandma comes over, I'm usually leaving for work. Luckily she loves her grandma (and mom, dad, and brothers - unfortunately she cries when anyone else holds her).

her personality emerges more everyday

discreetly holding on so she doesn't topple over

week o' phone photos

2011-09-17T21:28:00.000-07:00

"hi! hi! hiiiiii!"

How do you make Tatum happy? Well, if she's fed and not too tired, you take her out in public and let her seek out attention.
We went to Costco and because it was our second errand that morning and she was sick of her car seat, she got to ride in the bjorn. The bjorn is one of her favorites because it means she can screech at everyone that passes by and demand their attention. No one is immune. Everyone must say something to the tune of, "Oh, she's so cute!" or "Look at that baby waving!" or else they are scorned by Miss Tatum herself. We. Are. In. Trouble.

Seriously, mom?

How do you get this thing off?

We spend quite a lot of time at the park after school. Quite a lot of time can mean 2.5 HOURS. (Or for my more unfortunate mother one day, FOUR hours). You'd think the boys would be tired after school but they are not. Not at all. They ride bikes or scooters, play with friends, finish the lunch they were too busy to eat during the allotted lunch time, and just enjoy life. Luckily for me, their friends have awesome moms and we have been known to all hang out on a lightning mcqueen blanket and chat. Tatum made me laugh the other day when I put her hat on her on the swing. She looked a little like a pioneer girl. I don't know if my saying so embarrassed her or not, but she was soon trying to pull it off. I guess she was just trying to remind me who is boss.


This is how I will sit, thankyouverymuch mom.

Green Gator huddle

Isn't this so cute?! The boys had so much fun at their soccer game today. Hudson scored a goal! We won't hear the end of it any time soon. We still haven't heard the end of his spiffy block of a goal last week :). Their coach is great and it's really fun for them to have kids from their school on their team. They tied today. Beckham said that when you tie, you get to pick who wins. They picked their team. Go figure.

soccer '11

2011-09-10T21:21:00.000-07:00

happy green gators!

Beckham likes to hang back and defend

It's that time of year again! I LOVE soccer. I love that both of the boys like it equally, are equally good at it, and are always so excited for it. Aaron and I both played soccer so it's fun to see them play too. It's also very refreshing to have both boys eager to play, unlike tee ball this year when Beckham didn't want to play.

Their coach put one of them in at a time, which they are used to. It's easier to tell them apart that way. But Hudson was so intensely watching from the sidelines that whenever another player would come out hurt or tired, he'd get to run in and sub. He was straining and showing emotion with each play his team would make. Beckham sat with two friends and cheered "Go Gators! Go Gators!" It was pretty cute how they all got into it.

voting on a team name

This year they already knew 3 kids on their team: Scott from their class, Roan from another K class, and Sammy from the gym. This was a lot of fun for them and probably the main reason that they were so confident from the get go this year.

tatum was entertained by this ball and also the game/boys/cheering

or we can do it this way

2011-09-09T21:34:00.000-07:00

7 months and stubborn as heck

I have a daughter that to this day still absolutely refuses to eat with a spoon. She will have none of it. I honestly think I could put ice cream on a spoon and she would still turn away from it. I could have Ariel herself try and feed this girl and have no luck. The question is: how do you feed a baby without a spoon?! How do you try to fill her up during the day with food in hopes that she won't wake up every 1.5 hours at night and soak through 3 diapers when she should be sleeping?!!

You get creative.

We had great success at dinner today. Tatum dipped her chicken into her yogurt and ate it. She also figured out that she could dip her chicken in yogurt and then her rice and eat all three. Genius.

kiss me!

spoons are for babies

I guess we'll continue to use the baby spoons we have as soft teethers-on-a-stick.

She totally gets this stubborn gene from her dad. Definitely no question about it.

the circus

2011-09-03T19:47:00.000-07:00

tatum's first reaction of the circus

the boys have been begging us to go to the circus since they learned it was in town and we surprised them this morning with the news that we were indeed going... today!

they were really excited. we went 2 years ago and they haven't forgotten how much fun they had. Aaron got us some pretty neat seats in the 3rd row for the same price as the rest.

August 2009!

we brought Tatum along in the bjorn and she lasted for the first half. after that we walked the halls and nursed standing up and leaning against a wall.

it was fun to go as a family even though the kids have such a big age gap. one goodthing about Tatum being so cute is that I don't mind missing out on things (like the second half of the circus) as long as she's with us.

These guys

2011-08-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

enjoying the "hot tub" at GPa and Grandma Kate's house

I wish I could remember all of the funny things that the boys say. Here are two things that have happened in the last few days:

Today we were playing at the park after school. A nanny asked me if I was the mom of the twins and I cautiously answered yes. She said that the girl she nannies is also in Kindergarten, though not in their class, and was also playing at the park with the boys last week. I guess the girl she nannies was staring at the twins. Finally after a little while one of the boys said to this girl, "Are you just going to keep staring at me like you are in love?" She smirked and walked away and the nannies just laughed and laughed. I had no idea this happened until she told me today. So of course we had to ask which boy said it and not surprisingly it was Hudson!

Today Beckham and Hudson got carried away wrestling and Beckham hurt Hudson. Story of our lives (though they get hurt equally). I asked Beckham to tell Hudson 2 things that he likes about him as an apology. Their conversation went like this:
Beckham: um.... I like.... hahaha.... your face!
Hudson: that's not fair! It looks just like yours!

baby food? no thanks.

2011-08-28T19:43:00.001-07:00

I cannot get Tatum to eat baby food of any kind. Rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, gerber brand, trader joes apple sauce, organic brands... she doesn't like it. Even if I can trick her into opening her mouth she spits it right out and then doesn't fall for the airplane spoon trick anymore.

But chicken? Give this girl shredded chicken and she's a happy camper. She has 3 teeth so I figure she's up for the challenge. She works really hard to get as much in her mouth as she can maneuver with her little fingers.

Today I actually did get her to eat a little applesauce (Motts, not Gerber) by pouring it out onto her tray and letting her scoop it up herself with her hands. Don't try to spoon-feed this girl; she'd already like to do it herself thankyouverymuch.

*she honestly doesn't wear a bow every day... but maybe I'm more prone to take pictures of her when she is wearing one.

*one woman at the park thought that this purple bow was stitches. "what happened?? he have operation??" "no, it's a bow". "oh! he a girl!" Oy.

P.S. Kindergarten is AWESOME. We love Mrs. Fox and the boys have done fantastic with the transition. I was so worried that the day would be too long (8:30-2) but I think they were actually disappointed to get out early on the minimum day last week.

kindergarten!

2011-08-23T19:50:00.000-07:00

Beckham and Hudson - first day of Kindergarten - August 23, 2011

Hudson- cool as a cucumber. Beckham- worried about his hair (more on that later).

their awesome Cars 2 and Pokemon backpacks, respectively. for all those Kinder books//
the obligatory front door photo

Miss Fox's class

Tatum during the second half of our Dish walk- so sweet! (she screamed through the first half after missing her morning nap. how do you work an 8-10am nap when school starts at 8:35?)

Things I want to remember about the first day of kindergarten:

- this morning Beckham got out of the shower and his hair looked funny. he decided that "funny" translated to "cool" and made sure that it stayed that way as he got dressed. ALL morning he kept saying, "mom, does my hair look the same?". Even when we were hurrying to their classroom he wouldn't walk too fast in fear of messing up his hair.

- a boy that lives across the street is in their class. Apparently he was sad at school and wouldn't sit down and let his mom leave until Hudson and Beckham showed up. Once they sat down, he sat too and his mom snuck out.

- I drove to pick them up because I didn't know if they'd be really tired. They ended up wanting to play on the playground for another hour.

- they didn't want to tell me all about school (not surprising). I told Hudson I'd pay him to tell me and he said "how much?" but then forgot about it.

- their class ate lunch together at the same table. they had to sit for 10 minutes before they could play for 35.

- their favorite part of school was recess. they rode bikes ("even a double one!") and saw friends in other kinder classes.

- they both said, "I made a new friend!" outside of earshot of each other. Hudson said he has brown hair. I think we've played too much Guess Who lately.

- they really wanted to trick their teacher. Beckham wanted not a speck of blue on his clothing (often times Beckham wears blue). she guessed their identities correctly, seemingly remembering my "Beckham has freckles on his nose" tip.

- after school while the boys were playing at the park I was texting with Aaron and he asked if the boys would call him so he could ask them about school. Hudson said he would talk to Aaron but Beckham said no. I called and put Hudson on the phone. He leaned back against his backpack on the bench and chatted away. It was as if a couple years had passed. After they finished talking Hudson said, "Beckham! Daddy said he'd play Super Mario Galaxy [video game] with you if you talk to him!" Beckham decided that was enough motivation and got on the phone. He paced back and forth, chatting exactly like Aaron does on the phone. .....fast-forward to this evening..... after we packed their lunches Beckham asked if they could play Super Mario... something about Hudson saying so... Aaron was so confused.... turns out Huddy made that whole deal up to get Beckham to talk to Aaron earlier.

- on the swings at the park Beckham said, "that (day) was long. [pause] but good".

- Hudson has decided that he's going to sign his name "Hud" now. I think it's out of laziness, frankly. He says it's cool.

- I've never really had just one child for such an extended and scheduled amount of time. It's very strange! Going from 3 to 1 is a major change. At first I was worried that school until 2pm was going to be too long for the boys, but now I can't imagine them getting out at 11:30 like many other area schools. I wouldn't know what to do with them for the rest of the day!

I'm so glad that the first day was a success!

Family Fun Fest

2011-08-22T10:38:00.000-07:00

The Work Happy team at the Stanford Alumni Association (where I work) put on this fun kid-friendly afternoon last week. Thanks to my mom for bringing my kids to meet me and staying to help me!

Hudson spent a lot of time here!

Beckham loved the face paint and balloon animals!

Hudson collected his loot and left it by his never-even-touched dinner.

work family: Claudia, Joanne, Kendra, me, .... Magali (not in our group)

gimme a kiss

2011-08-10T11:11:00.000-07:00

someone's finally interested in rice cereal!

stats, max, and 6 months

2011-08-02T09:53:00.001-07:00

Tatum at 6 months:

weight: 13 pounds, 3 ounces (11 %tile)

height: 25.5" (41 %tile)

head circ: 16.5" (33 %tile)

She's fresh off of a growth spurt. I had forgotten that those happen around 6 months and felt a lot better about her lack of night-time sleep (eating every 2 hours) when I read about it. She jumped from 8-11 percent for weight in 2 months, which is a lot. She still spits up a lot and therefore doesn't keep all the food she scarfs down inside. The girl is always eating. I haven't tried to sleep train her because I truly feel that she's starving when she does wake up (even when it's after only 2 hours). I of course want to get her to eat more calories during the day so that she can last longer at night, but her tummy isn't holding more than 3 ounces at a time. She's also not really interested in solids, so our doctor has recommended quitting trying for a week and then starting again. She wants to eat everything we are eating but will cough/gag on it, but when she is offered baby food she turns her head. We're going to work on it. I thought she'd be happily eating at this point because even the boys were, but to each their own. I don't mind feeding her so often during the day but the night feeds are getting pretty tiring. Recently she's been known to eat at 10p, 12a, 2a, 4a, 6a, and 8 before her nap at 8am. Last night she did better, though (9:30, 2, 6).

meet Max. He's Kristin's 5th (5! I can't imagine!) and he's about 4 months younger than Tatum. It's so weird to have Tatum be the one poking eyes now.

6 months is a fun age and Tatum is the happiest girl 90% of the time. She's really such a joy - I of course can't imagine life without her, but I most certainly know it's better because of her.

today

2011-07-27T20:42:00.000-07:00

today Tate rolled over. yay, Tate!

actual moment...

she enjoyed it so much that she did it again when I left the room for a minute and asked the boys to watch her... rolled right off my bed that time. she was fine, thank goodness.

today the boys had 2 camps. one in the morning from 9:30-11:30am and another from 1pm-3:30pm. if camps were free (or cheap, for that matter), this would be my ideal summer schedule (and theirs too).

in the morning Tatum and I ran to babyGap to make an exchange and Kohls to get Beckham's much-desired Finn McMissile backpack.

today for lunch we all went to La Salsa, per H&B's request.

in the afternoon Tatum and I cleaned and tried to take a nap, but couldn't. Last night she woke up every 30-60 minutes. so we started dinner instead.

when it was time to get H&B from afternoon camp, I decided that we'd walk to get them. I mapped it out and it was only 1.3 miles away. Tatum screams in the car. So we piled scooters on top of the stroller and clipped helmets on The Mommy Hook (greatest invention) and ran to get the boys. We then walked/scootered back home - the boys were pretty excited that I had surprised them with an alternate form of transportation. The adventure was fun. I just wish I had a picture of the BOB as a mule.

we had a little photo shoot and Beckham gave Tatum lots of love.

for dinner we had the missionaries over. we feasted and chatted and had yummy dessert.

I think it was a successful day.

birthday weekend

2011-07-27T20:09:00.000-07:00

I had a great birthday weekend despite the fact I wasn't quite ready to turn 30.

We all ate lunch at BJ's. It felt like a party. Many more not pictured - clearly I didn't do a good job capturing this party on film.

We booked a room at a local hotel and enjoyed a staycation. The boys slept at my mom's house and Tatum stayed with me and Aaron. We enjoyed swimming two days and got in a lot of family time.

she was in a really good mood most of the day

I get to stay here too?!

the kids had so much fun. the boys love to swim, they made friends at the pool both days, and Tatum is a total water baby herself, even when her parents put her in neon pink.

After we checked out of the hotel we capped off the weekend with a birthday dinner at Aaron's parent's. I'm grateful for everyone that made this weekend happen - it was just the break from normal that I needed!

30 it is.

soccer camp and more

2011-07-23T10:05:00.000-07:00

this past week the boys had soccer camp. they LOVED it. it was 3 hours long and they were pooped for about 5 minutes afterwards until the ice cream man would show up (on cue, at the end of camp) and they would eat a popsicle.

on two days during the week my mom picked them up from camp because I was at work and they stayed at the park for 3-4 more hours. Hudson said, "mom! we were there for 6 hours! 3 and 3!" to which I responded, "fun! then why are you still not tired?"

it was really nice to have scheduled time with just Tatum again. we went for walks, played on the grass, ran errands, and enjoyed the quiet.

tutu cute with her tutu (and sophie)

sometimes Tatum girl loves her food. she's eating bread, yes. I think we're headed down the baby-led weaning route but will definitely still offer pureed veggies with cereal for nutrition.

other times she couldn't care less that she's being offered something besides breast milk and just cries to get out of her seat. she didn't even want applesauce. who doesn't like applesauce? she prefers peas. who prefers peas?

last weekend Beckham made Tatum a bracelet. He was really excited about it. she liked it a lot until she broke it and this mean mom had to take away the beads. Tatum really likes the boys, and they really like her. I'm hoping this continues!

5.5 months

2011-07-15T21:29:00.000-07:00

i love my trio.

we've been...
swimming
park-ing
lunching
bike-riding
wrestling
working
having play dates with grandma (while mom is working)
kissing baby T

and wondering where summer has flown off to.

she wants to GO

hanging out at the pool

on the last day of [this session of] class Becks got to jump off the diving board for the first time. he LOVED it. he went 3x and was so happy.

family bike ride/stroller walk for dessert for the boys
(we had to wait outside with the bikes for a few)
they rode 2.2 miles but still weren't tired
tatum didn't make a peep

lunching with cousins after park play
the boys had gone to find us ample seating

reaching for food most of the day... loved sweet potatoes today and also some of that mango on her shirt :)

going to sleep because this baby seems to be having a rough week, up every 1-2 hours, and this mama has to be at work at 6:20 tomorrow morning :(

4th of July and more

2011-07-09T19:56:00.000-07:00

We had a great 4th of July weekend with 2 days of swimming and 2 different BBQs. If only every weekend was 3 days long.

Miss T was patriotic

Hudson and Beckham LOVED the 2 sparklers they got

Tatum (and I) went in the pool. The boys kept saying, "Our whole family is in here!" They pretty much love anything she does, so watching her swim was especially fun.

The 4th of July was a little sad for me because I couldn't stop thinking about how I had to go back to work the next day after 6 months off. It was a really hard day. I do not like to leave Tatum. Can you blame me? (Rhetorical question. Answer is "no!"). I only worked half time last week, though, so 10 hours over 2 days. I'm so grateful I don't have to work full-time. I don't know how moms do it.

I held this ball of sunshine the entire next day. Not that that's unusual though!

Beckham is an awesome swimmer! It just clicked for him. He gets better every day and keeps trying new things like swimming deeper, staying under for longer, getting things off the bottom of the pool, etc. Hudson's making good strides as well. B is on the far right in the picture above.

Beckham gave Tatum her own little light saber. He also read her a book, which was the. cutest. thing. ever. (especially since he had to make up the words).

I guess this was 2 weeks ago, but I can't get enough of the open-mouth kisses.

5 months

2011-07-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

my little girl is getting so big!

it really hit me this week that she's not even close to newborn anymore. her hands look big, she's got chipmunk cheeks, and she's really filling out. she also reaches for EVERYTHING and puts everything in her mouth. she has that one tooth but is most definitely getting another and it's clearly painful... poor girl, poor brothers, poor mom - and her poor chewed-up fingers.

we had a similar week as last... swimming 4x, park, a day of grandma time, and playing outside.

we went for a walk one afternoon when my mom had the boys.
she's already got expensive taste in her mascara/teething toys.

she does earn her nickname of "smiley".
exersuacer by the front window can = happiness.

eating peas. lesson learned: don't feed the baby when she's tired. she will take the food that is all over her hands and rub it in her eyes, up her nose, in her ears, etc etc.
she cried asking to lick my apple, and cried when I thought she was done.

love this girl and all her funny faces. speaking of sour...

the boys decided to sell cupcakes along with lemonade this time. we actually sold them for 75 cents. they sold 7 to neighbor kids (word spreads quickly when you have cupcakes topped with m&ms and starburst, I suppose) and were really proud of themselves.

especially energetic boys at the car wash (not this obnoxious the whole time, however) and finding it hilarious that they stacked two booster seats in the back (so of course they each had to take a picture on them). I said, "oh shoot, you guys... one boy is going to have to sit on top of the other one.." and they could not stop laughing at the thought. I guess it's fun when your mom tries to think as you always do.

jumping in the rain in late June

I go back to work (part-time) on Tuesday. Insert major sad face here. I've loved the past 6 months at home with my kiddos; 1 before having Tatum and 5 with her, and will always smile when I think back on this extended maternity leave. I'm so lucky to have gotten to take this much time off, and happy that I won't really even be working 20 hours/week until fall. At least we first have a nice 3-day weekend!

swimming and park play

2011-06-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

pretty much sums up our week.

the boys are in different classes this summer. it's been nice for them to have their own identity/strengths/teachers. Beckham can swim short distances now. The day he realized he could he said, "Dad! I didn't sink?" It was really all about confidence.

Tatum along for the ride as usual.

a quick hug before playing at the park

just for kicks i gave Tatum some cereal this week. she loved the spoon and I loved the fact that I felt no pressure for her to eat any of it because our pedi recommended waiting until 6 months (but said we could start earlier if desired). I can't figure out if she enjoyed the cereal or not seeing that she's only learning to eat at this point, but she did talk a lot both times she was offered it. [I think she looks so old in this picture!]

otherwise... the kids hung out at my mom's while I went to the dentist and got a hair cut on two different days, the boys proved that they still have endless energy from 6:30am-8:30pm, and Tatum has taken a few decent naps in her crib. It's hard to get naps in when H&B can't stay home long enough for her to sleep before they go crazy and start climbing the walls. We of course made our weekly trip to Target and the boys did prove that they can behave in Costco well enough for me to take the trio to shop ("fast like a cheetah") and eat lunch. not too shabby. Saturday they get to go see Cars Too with Aaron. No girls allowed :)

picture overload

2011-06-18T09:30:00.000-07:00

4.5 months

she's a flirt. we're in trouble.

we went to pump it up again, this time for their drop-in play. the boys loved each of the 90 minutes. tatum was a trooper, as usual. we went to a big mcdonalds play land afterward (for 3 HOURS), so we were out for 6 hours and she didn't exactly mind being held that whole time.

she got her feet wet at Aaron's parents and then took a 15-minute snooze after eating

on Thursday my mom took the boys for the afternoon and pretended I only had one kid as we strolled the neighborhood. she sat and tried to eat this tag for 30 minutes.

After she finishes eating she's a happy camper

we had a little photo shoot. I think she resembles a turtle at times.

Tatum found her tongue. She's also finding her feet this week. Everything goes in her mouth. She'll be happy when she figures out how to put her toes in her mouth.

We're not sleeping!! We've tried letting her cry but she cries so hard that she can't breathe.

So instead she just tries to be happy all the time - and usually is if you don't put her down. Needless to say she has us wrapped around all 10 of those little fingers.

Next week we start swim lessons...

19 weeks: summer begins

2011-06-11T20:53:00.000-07:00

School's out. I miss it. So does Beckham. I think Hudson's doing just fine :).

In no particular order, this is what we've been up to this week:

A birthday party at Pump It Up. It was the boys' first time... they haven't stopped asking when they can go back.

A lemonade stand. The other boy is Butch, a 7 year-old neighbor that the twins may or may not look up to and obey like puppies.

Hudson never misses a chance at a hug.

Naked swimming a couple of days at Aaron's parent's house. Beckham is a much better swimmer than Hudson but this week Hudson has started putting his head all the way under, which is a big step for him, so we're hopeful for a productive summer in the water.

Tatum's new jumper. She sort of just hangs there. The cute little hand is Holland showing Tatum how much she, too, loves her (and her nose).

The girls were having an all-the-cool-kids-only-wear-white-onesies party

Tatum wore her first dress to church. Unfortunately it was a little immodest :)

You thought tee ball was over? Oh no. We had a team party where dozens of kids spent quarters on tattoos like they were going out of style (ha). And today we attended the closing ceremony, after which the trophies were distributed.

The 2011 Tee Ball White Sox

Loving those trophies and their team mascot

We also went to the gym this week - my mom watched Tatum so the boys could go to Kids Club (ages 6 months+) . Gosh, I thought it was a boring week without school but clearly I was wrong...

18 weeks + tee ball ends

2011-06-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

we're lacking on pictures this week - Tatum had her 4 month appointment and 4 month shots, so 2 of the last 7 days she's not been happy. But she definitely handled the 4 month shots better than the 2 month shots - those were 3 really ugly days and nights.

stats:
weight - 11 pounds, 6 ounces: 8th percentile (up from 7th!)
height - 24.25": 50th percentile
head - 15.75": 22nd percentile

"mom, it's ok if she has a strawberry one because we don't like strawberry" - Hudson

she loves the noises the animals make.
I have to place her hand in the general area but then she gets it.

this was Hudson's shirt from our Malibu days.
when he saw Tatum wearing it he said, "what are you, a BOY?!"

"happy graduation, boys!"

Friday night was our last tee ball game for the season. It's been fun - the timing was rough with Tatum only being about 6 weeks old when the season started. Practices and games in the early evening when she was really fussy and wanted to cluster feed were rough. But we did it and it was great for the boys to play/get their energy out/make friends/learn/increase their confidence. Saturday is our team party and they cannot wait to get their trophies!

Hudson - #8 - he always wanted to play 1st base or infield so that he'd get to throw the ball a lot. He was the most enthusiastic about baseball and you can tell he'll want to continue playing throughout the upcoming years. In terms of baseball, he is definitely a little Aaron.

Beckham is batting. He struggled a little bit more to find interest in the game. He says he doesn't want to play next season, but we'll see. He got really bored unless he was up to bat, but he did make a lot of friends. My favorite quote from him during the season was, "Mom, can we have a playdate with Ryan [on his team]?" "Um, maybe.... have you ever talked to Ryan?" "Not yet". There were a couple other times that his team was lining up to bat and he was still on the field chatting with someone from his team or a friend on the other.

June 3, 2011 at their game. Summer?

Preschool Graduation

2011-06-03T15:39:00.001-07:00

Hudson and Beckham graduated from Tiny Tots today. [tear]. They got to walk across the stage twice: once for the 4s class (MWF AMs) and once for the Kinder Prep class that they attended 2 days/week in the afternoons (the class is 5 days/week but a few of the kids just did 2).

4s class

kinder prep class

graduates

hudson was looking his finest after a scooter accident last weekend

a couple pictures from the slide show

tatum was there (eek, bad angle). she too is proud of her brothers.

And just for kicks, here are pictures of the boys on the first day of school this year:

and the last one is from the first day of school in 2009.

We will miss Tiny Tots a LOT! Kindergarten awaits us on August 23!

4 months (almost)

2011-05-27T19:00:00.001-07:00

It's like I closed my eyes and my little scrawny newborn disappeared. I seriously struggle to remember what she was like just 3 short months ago! I do know that I have very fond memories so far of life with Tatum in it. I think this is important to me since it was a little bit harder to enjoy the first few months with the twins just because we were SO exhausted.

Tatum is
- starting to laugh
- trying to roll over
- talking to herself in the mirror
- still sleeping the same and only really napping while eating
- playing hide and seek while nursing
- hating the car
- loving her brothers, grandma, and dad
- into 3-6 month clothes
- grabbing objects
- teething/drooling
- always moving!

We'ved another busy and fun week.

the trio in stripes and their famous "double kiss".
the boys say she's the luckiest because other babies don't get double kisses :)

we hang out together in the car sometimes between exercising and picking up the boys

she took a 20-minute crib nap one day (baby steps...)

she loves books and toys that make noise

I got our mat from the twins out of storage. she takes her job seriously.

she's definitely getting the hang of grabbing things

she seriously loves her brothers. they bring out giggles and smiles everyday. I honestly think that she's bored when they're not around.

I also got the exersaucer out from storage and she loves it! (so do I!).
I do think she looks like E.T. here though.

16 weeks??!

2011-05-21T17:37:00.001-07:00

Well look at that. Miss T has turned 16 weeks old. We've all been pretty dang sick this week. Tatum got sick first; she woke up Monday morning with a terrible cold and she's just barely getting over it today. I got it on Tuesday night and immediately knew just how awful she had been feeling. It's hard to be a baby with 2 brothers in school that certainly bring home germs every day.

Beckham feeding Tatum

Tatum's totally teething

reading while teething

In her feel-good-thanks-to-Tylenol moments, Tatum has chatted a lot, showed interest in rolling over, grown a better appreciation for non-immediate-family members holding her (i.e won't scream when someone besides Aaron or me holds her), and tried to be happy even when you could tell she wasn't.

On Friday night Aaron and I got to go to the Giants game without kids. It was pretty monumental. His parents gave us great tickets and my mom watched all 3 kiddos (at bedtime - that's not easy!). It was nice to spend time together alone. (And the Giants won).

We had planned on taking Tatum. She only got dressed in her first layer before my mom said that she'd be fine watching all the kids. She actually didn't mind the hat, but she got hungry mid-photo shoot.

We also had 3 tee ball games (Hudson LOVES baseball), 2 boy haircuts, and one incident of Hudson throwing up at school when I was picking him up. He still wanted to go get more Pokemon cards with the money he made collecting recycling, so I guess it wasn't that traumatizing.

spring sing

2011-05-21T17:30:00.000-07:00

the boys had their annual spring sing last week. they were pretty excited about it. it was short and sweet - about 15 minutes of singing and then some socializing over cookies. unfortunately both of our boys were standing right behind other children, so while we heard them, we couldn't necessarily see them too well.

Hudson

Beckham in stripes

most of their class

miss T quite enjoyed the show. she was AWESOME with my grandma (THANKS, bald girl!):

mid-May

2011-05-14T18:28:00.000-07:00

eek! mid-May already?!

the boys had a sale. they brought the table, chairs, art, and money-collecting objects out themselves. I couldn't believe it when Hudson found me in the shower to tell me that he'd made his first dollar from a lady walking by. We clearly have some nice neighbors!

these bookmarks that the boys made at church made my mother's day!

I think Hudson wishes he could lay in our bed with Tatum all day long

ruffles and bows - Hudson picked orange :)

we went to Shoup so the boys could play in the creek//Tatum hung out until witching hour struck

this is Tatum's "Marley" shirt.

15 weeks old. 3 1/2 months. getting some chunks and cheeks! sleeping 10:30-3:30 or sometimes later. watches everything around her. loves her daddy. grins from ear to ear when we pick up her brothers from preschool. hates her stroller for walks and prefers the bjorn at the Dish. does not like being in the car without someone (a brother) sitting next to her! is definitely working on getting some teeth. still has a mullet. is still a complete joy.

14 weeks.

2011-05-07T20:51:00.000-07:00

this girl is a joy.
she's starting to teethe. i know it's early; but can't she be starting the teething process even if it'll be a while before any pearly whites poke through?

drool

loves laying down and kicking as long as you are right there with her

made friends with this turtle// napping in the bjorn on a walk

being amazingly good while the boys had t ball practice// not a diaper in the world can keep this girl covered

This week:
Dr. appointment for a possible ear infection - she didn't have one. Just a bad cold/teething/ear pressure.
She's 10 pounds, 5 ounces. This is the 7.50 percentile, up from 7th. We saw a different doctor and he said that she is following her own growth curve and that's all that matters
She breastfeeds and drinks every drop of milk I make but also has 2-4 ounces of formula per day
She is not sleeping anymore! Her longest night stretch is 3 hours again.
She's been *much* happier at witching hour(s) from 5-10pm now that she gets enough food
She's going to know the game of tee ball before she's 1
She is a DOLL and smiles at us to get our attention before cooing and flirting. She's very social and it completely melts our hearts.
She prefers her mom, dad, and brothers

These guys are W.I.L.D. They can literally run/play/climb the walls for HOURS and HOURS everyday and never tire. One day they had school in the morning, played at the park, played outside with neighbors for hours, played in their tee ball game, came home and played with neighbors more, and were still wired. I'm terrified of summer and starting to look forward to kindergarten in the fall. They are helpful with Tatum, though!

3 months/13 weeks.

2011-04-29T21:02:00.000-07:00

3 months old

I take it back! This week may have been busier. Luckily Tatum rolls with it all - she really likes being out and about, which is perfect because she has no choice but to be.

We're still the same! Dish, parks, errands, family, enjoying the outdoors, school, etc. Tatum is still sleeping the same old 10:30-3ish. Still eating all the time and still not really napping. Still going to be in 0-3 month clothes for a while. She's a doll. She is really starting to react to people. Today she started to smile and then bury her face in my chest. Then she'd repeat. It was a darling little game that she continued because we'd say "Awwww! That's so cute!"

Easter was good. We went to KC's ward at 9 to hear her and Ashton speak. Then we went to our ward for Primary/the last 2 hours. Hudson gave a talk and did well. Then... straight to my mom's house for a few hours and after that Aaron and the boys headed to his parent's house for a cousin egg hunt while I took Tatum home.

One day I walked on the treadmill with Tatum in the bjorn.

Our little peanut. The boys loved this shirt and made up a song about a peanut to sing to her all day long.

Tatum is smiling at her brothers here. She really does love them and knows exactly who they are. It makes them happy that she's starting to "play" more and it's fun for us to see how the three of them will interact with each other as siblings.

For Primary I needed to ask the boys what they love about me (for Mother's Day). The boys have been a little sassy lately and I'm quite frankly not their favorite person right now. Beckham claimed that he "couldn't think of anything" (that made me feel awesome) and Hudson said "I love my mom because she made Tatum".

12 weeks.

2011-04-24T18:38:00.001-07:00

this is all going by much too quickly. I just looked back at old posts and want to savor every second with this little goose. she's getting so big. but she's not big. it's all relative...

we had the busiest week ever since Tatum was born! from school to tee ball practice to tee ball weekday games to tee ball weekend games to speech evaluations to doctors appointments to egg hunts and easter preparation, exercise, and well, just days with 3 kids. the twins love to be busy and I do too, but it's hard with a newborn in tow, especially when some of their activities start right when her witching hour begins (5pm). but it's great. this week flew by because it was so busy.

tatum had her weight check and was 9 pounds, 11 ounces at 11 1/2 weeks. That put her in the 7th percentile. She had been 18th then 12th then 8th... so she's clearly gaining weight but they'd like a little meat on her bones. she has had a few bottles of formula because I have tried 100 things and still need just a little bit more milk to sustain her. Our pediatrician asked that I give a bottle of formula after each feeding but I've been supplementing with my own milk in a bottle as much as I can. she just finished a growth spurt and I feel like I'm catching up to her now.

still sleeping 10ish - 3ish and then back to bed with me to nurse until 7ish. still don't sleep as well but love those cuddles.

got me to run a bit of the dish this week out of necessity. even got me to stop on a big hill and nurse on a log and then change a diaper in her stroller.

played some soccer in the street this week. I'm such a good role model. texted Aaron a picture and he said "why don't you guys play on the grass?" It was much more fun and we were careful. Tatum joined us too.

the boys had their school Easter party on Friday. they got really into this Easter song. Beckham wanted nothing to do with "that man" but Hudson asked for a picture with Tatum. (They still believe in the Easter bunny; they just knew that this was a man because they saw his shirt, apparently).

we also had two tee ball games. they turned tee ball to coach-pitch, so now we are asked to call it BASEBALL (per Hudson). the boys had a game Friday night and Saturday morning and did great (read: there was no whining AND they both got hits). Tatum continues to be a sport while being dragged to all of their activities.

11 weeks.

2011-04-17T21:14:00.000-07:00

spring break. we survived! I wasn't so sure how we'd fare. I'm used to 2.5-3 hours/day where the boys are at school and I get a break. we survived and it actually helped me to accommodate Tatum during what seems like another growth spurt (eat - eat - eat - eat... sleep for 10 minutes... eat).

flirty face reserved for daddy only

first time paying attention to a book & the crinkle noise it makes

happy after her bath

she's had a cold and has cried a lot this week

but she did manage to make friends with a giraffe

we spent a few hours at the park on Friday. Tatum slept while we played on the tire swing

Tatum....

is getting longer
is getting heavier - she has a weigh-in on Thursday. we hope she's 10 pounds by then
is eating every 1-2 hours during the day without fail
has given me three 7-hour stretches at night this week (the only thing keeping me from going insane feeding so frequently during the day)
still gets really fussy if I eat milk or cheese (so I don't)
still wears size 1 diapers and 0-3 month clothes
looks like a little doll
is still admired greatly by her big brothers
likes to be held all. day. long.
loves her mom!

10 weeks.

2011-04-09T19:36:00.001-07:00

10 weeks! double digits!

last weekend we took some time to go to Shoreline lake. We parked a little over a mile away and scootered/walked to the lake. The boys had a good time sneaking food to feed the ducks and finding big sticks. They weren't up to going back to the car so Aaron ran to get it. It was fun to get out and do something healthy and fun with everyone. The boys really wanted to go in the peddle boats but they only seat 4. Maybe another time without Tatum, they said. Tatum was pretty happy just looking up at the trees.

on a peaceful Wednesday afternoon when my mom had the twins. :)

sometimes she really likes her brothers! they're usually either making her laugh or cry

we went on a walk/bike ride one afternoon and I had Tatum facing forward for the first time. her head control is really good so I thought we'd try it. She loved it for about half an hour and then she seemed tired and started to cry.

"he sold WHAT?!"

Aaron has always had a 1970-something Bronco since I've known him... that's almost 14 years for those of you who haven't heard the story of how we met that so embarrasses him. He's had a few and had this one for about 3 years. He bought it in Washington, flew there to get it, and drove it home. These vintage cars are his first love.

Since we've had kids he hasn't been able to drive it as much and for the last 2 years it's basically been taking up real estate in our garage (in my humble opinion). He sold it yesterday. It was a very sad day for him and I really did feel badly that I was the one asking him to sell it. But we can't have 3 cars right now! We drove 1.5 hours in 2 cars to drop it off in Sausilito, hung out at the beach while Aaron signed paperwork on the new owner's boat, and then drove 2 hours home in Friday night traffic. Tatum was such a trooper. We had a really busy day and she spent most of it in her car seat :(

needless to say, we drove home with two boys clad only in underwear. they had a blast.

Tater tot... not much new to report. She's still small and getting more feisty by the day. Today she hasn't napped since noon except for a couple 10-minute naps and it's 8:00. She's livid and we've tried everything. She's definitely going through a growth spurt; I just don't know why she's crying so much during it. When she's happy she's such a pleasure - the giggles and grins and personality are coming out more each day. Her smile is so big it takes over her face. She's such a sweetie. Now if only I could get the hang of this 3-kid thing...

9 weeks.

2011-04-02T20:58:00.001-07:00

"my socks ate my legs!"

I'm hoping to make a book of this blog from Tatum's first few months, hence the repetitive "X weeks" posts.

Tatum had a rough few days this week! On Thursday we went to the doctor for her 2 month appointment. She's only 8 pounds, 15 ounces! It's the 8th percentile. She was born the 18th percentile, then slipped to the 12th at 2 weeks, and is now the 8th. Because she has reflux and doesn't keep a lot of food down, the doctor ordered an ultrasound. She asked if I could take Tatum that same day (to the hospital in Santa Clara) and I said that I could if it was during the time the boys were at school. They made me an appointment right in the middle of that time period, so I took it. What I hadn't thought about in advance was how she would react after her shots. 3 shots + 1 oral "shot" when you're only 9 pounds is a lot of medicine!

the trio at the doctor's. the boys had a stand-on-one-foot contest while we waited for the doctor to come in. I sent Aaron this picture in a text and said "this is my life" (which I do love)

After her appoinment and shots she fell asleep and the boys and I went to lunch, ice cream to reward their behavior at the doctor with me, the car wash, and then school. Tatum was really tired but just cat-napped. She really woke up right when they went to school and she was not happy! She sort of ate and then just screamed. She missed her morning nap and now her ultrasound appointment was right during her semi-usual afternoon nap time. It wasn't a physically painful procedure but she was sure livid about it. It was pretty dang exhausting for me too. We made it back to school on time and Tatum continued to let me know that she was not feeling well. She ended up having a 100-ish degree fever for 36 hours after her shots and she quite literally did not stop crying a different kind of sad/offended/painful cry that entire time. It was rough. Aaron also worked a nearly 13-hour day that day. But, Tatum's ultrasound results were normal and she just has a weight check in 3 weeks. 9 pounds at 9 weeks!

Today she went to her first funeral and second pedicure (for me, not her)... She slept/ate/pooped/people-watched during both. I enjoyed spending time just me and her at each place as well.

Friday at the Dish. Tatum + only a onesie + an hour outside in the stroller + 36 hours since shots = a nice nap!

By Friday evening she really did need to catch up on missed sleep.

2 months (yesterday)

2011-03-30T16:14:00.001-07:00

love, love, love this girl.

cousin love

2011-03-28T15:12:00.000-07:00

spent the weekend with the kids' cousins. boy do they love them. good thing there are 12 besides our 3.

this is Holland. the boys LOVE Holland. Sometimes they are a little rough with her and she doesn't appreciate it much. looks like all we needed was a glass door.

don't ask me where Hudson's pants are.

these are their cousins. the photographer likely (hopefully?) took a much better photo, so we will wait patiently for that to come out.

8 weeks.

2011-03-26T10:23:00.000-07:00

what a rainy week. we can't wait until monday when the sun will shine again, tee ball games and practices will (hopefully) not be canceled, and we can spend more time outside.

this was a teaser nap... meaning she slept just long enough for me to take a picture.

on Wednesday I worked at the boys' preschool again and my mom watched Tatum.
Grandma let her sleep on her stomach (and promises she sat in the room with her) and she napped for much longer

then we played dress-up

on Thursday I took the boys to the Pizza My Heart "make your own pizza night" for kids. It is a fun thing to do but NOT when you are alone with 3 kids and it's 5:00pm and your baby is SCREAMING because it's witching hour(s), she's hungry and you are trying to feed her at the restaurant but she doesn't like being covered with a hooter hider, etc. etc.

so... the next day we went to Target and got a new game to play inside instead, where everyone can eat without being covered up and when kids misbehave it only bothers one person.

This week thrush has come back and it's not nice. Tatum has been sleeping about the same - 10ish to 2 or 3ish. It's not working well to put her back down after she eats in the middle of the night. I tried last night and she woke up right away. I sleep much better when she's not in bed with us, but it is nice to cuddle with her when the boys aren't around! We did have one more night where she slept for 7.5 hours, though.

Here's to a week of tee ball, scootering, Dish-hiking, using the BOB, spending time at the park, and Tatum's 2-month appointment. But for now we're off to family pictures for 30... eek!

7 weeks.

2011-03-19T21:08:00.000-07:00

"Mom, I'm so embarrassed! I'm in the same outfit as last week!"

Sweet little Miss T continues to thrive and also be needier than I anticipated a third child to be. She's a girl; what can we say?

We're getting the social smiles that come around this age and loving them. Her biggest ones yet have been for her daddy. They are definitely rewarding to see.

Tatum decided 3 nights ago to sleep for 5 hours instead of 4. Of course I was awake and waiting for her to wake up at her usual time but it was a very nice surprise! Last night she pulled one on us and slept from 9:45pm-5:45am! 8 hours! I don't expect it to happen again, but it was definitely a nice glimpse of the future! Unfortunately Beckham was up sick at 2:30 so it felt like a normal night. But she was happier than usual this morning and looked so well-rested.

T-ball opening day ceremony

Hudson and Beckham were supposed to have their first tee-ball game today but it was rained out. It looks like it's supposed to rain for the next 9 days... hopefully next week's game will be on.

Grandma watched Tatum while I took the boys to practice - she enjoyed her first St. Patrick's day

Tatum and I did the Dish in full twice last week. It was wonderful. I've missed that place so much. I sure felt it though - it's hard to get back into exercising after 2+ months of nothing.

Now if we could just see Aaron more than a couple of hours a day.... work is busy... home is crazy.

6 weeks.

2011-03-12T10:39:00.001-08:00

[this girl never stops moving]

I can't believe we've had this little doll for 6 weeks now. it's always the same feeling: "can't believe it's been that long but it feels like we've had her forever".

Tatum's belly button stump took a while to fall off so she just had her first real bath last week. The boys thought it was so much fun. Just for kicks I bathed her in the same kind of "bath" as the boys (not the same one, per say, but the same kind was given to us at both hospitals after both births). Tatum loved it. She's 5.5 weeks in the picture below and the boys were almost 4 weeks. I love comparison pictures like these.

Tatum (left, 2011), a twin (right, 2005) - I honestly don't know which one it is... but they sure had more jaundice than she did.

Tatum and I attmepted the Dish yesterday while the boys were at preschool. We made it 1/2 of a mile before she started screaming her head off and wouldn't be calmed by anything. It was pretty windy, so I'll let her use that as an excuse. We turned around (I loathe turning around) and she was fast asleep by the time we were almost back down the hill. Oh well - we'll try again next week and hope it's not as windy. I'm still glad we went.

So far Tatum has been sleeping for a 4-hour stretch starting at around 9:30pm and then after 1:30am has been coming back to bed with me. This week I started putting her back down and she's been accepting of it. So she sleeps 9:30-1:30, eats from 1:30-2:30 or 3, and then sleeps until 5:30. We clearly still need to work on this, but it was a start. She's still pretty tiny.

t-ball

2011-03-10T20:02:00.000-08:00

these kids still live at our house despite the fact they haven't made an appearance on the "wise twins" blog in a while.

they had their first t-ball practice today. they've really been looking forward to this day. so has Aaron and he had to work late, so he didn't get to come. but we took a lot of pictures.

hudson and beckham are on the white sox team and had a fun time today after they got over their initial shyness.

team huddle

lining up to stretch//running the bases

catching balls//batting

they have a bye week this saturday so we start games next week - they're pretty excited.

why hello there

2011-03-07T17:54:00.000-08:00

maybe the Zantac is working. looks like someone is getting a little meat on her bones.... miss big eyes.

big brothers

2011-03-04T16:38:00.000-08:00

"hey guys, can you watch Tatum for a couple minutes while I get dressed?"

....and then she was rescued.

1 month

2011-03-03T20:38:00.001-08:00

Alright... now we have thrush. It doesn't seem to bother Tatum, but unfortunately it's definitely bothering/killing me. Things are looking up thanks to modern medicine. Nursing Tatum is super important to me because I wasn't able to nurse the twins as much as I wanted to and this is our last child. So far she hasn't had any formula and that makes me really happy. [Not that formula is bad - the twins ha a lot of it! But it's expensive!]

Hudson often asks Tatum when she will marry him. I try and tell him that she will already love him forever because she's his sister. He just replies with, "How about Monday?"

In Hudson-land, the harder the kiss, the more he loves you. If we didn't stop him, I think he'd make an indentation in her cheek.

Tatum takes a couple bottles a day, usually at night so she eats more and hopefully sleeps longer. One morning I was trying to get everyone out of the house and Hudson offered to feed Tatum. I grabbed a bottle and placed her safely in his arms. TWO minutes later I found her like this. I said "Hudson! What did you do?" He said, "What, Mom? She's fine! It's working!"

This week we have:
gone to the doctor for physicals for the boys (me + boys + Tatum in the bjorn) where they FREAKED out because the gentle doctor is apparently terrifying.
I've worked at preschool and been away from Tatum for 3 1/2 hours - but she was with her Grandma
Went to pump mid-way through school and the battery pack didn't work
Drove to a distant Costco to get a prescription and realized I didn't have my wallet
Drove back to the same Costco a couple hours later and realized I didn't have my phone
Lost my car key and searched 2.5 hours for it with the help of Aaron who came home on his lunch break to finally find it (we only have one because I threw the second one away by accident a couple years ago and they cost $342)
Gotten the boys to school up to 40 minutes late
Figured out the whole thrush thing a few days too late
Stressed out a lot about all of the above
Got most of our baby announcements in the mail
Fed the kids much healthier food this week
Things are much better

Tiny Tatum is growing and settling into a bit more of a schedule. She does find her way into our bed sometime in the middle of the night though, little stinker.
I'm LOVING having one baby at a time!

2011-02-24T10:44:00.000-08:00

3 weeks.

2011-02-21T11:01:00.000-08:00

Tatum has reflux. It's not that bad, but it's bad enough that we notice and she has a prescription. I'm also trying to eliminate dairy from my diet to see if that helps her. It's amazing how many things have dairy/lactose/whey/etc in them.

At 10 days old, Tatum had regained her birth weight. She was 7 pounds even. At 20 days she was only 7 p0unds, 3 ounces. She's a little gal! She barely fits into 0-3 month clothes. Gap fits best... shucks. I love BabyGap!

She sleeps for 4 hours at the beginning of the night, around 9:30-1:30. It goes downhill from there. She's usually up eating from 1:30-2:30, crying from 2:30-3:30, and then hungry again at 3:30. Then at 4am she's wide awake! Sometimes I take her in bed with me from 4-7 and we sleep; other times Aaron takes over at 3 or 4am, but then he can't go back to sleep. He's been awake since 2:30am today. And he's at work. I think she's pretty good for a newborn; it's just really easy to forget just how hard a newborn is to care for after 5 years without one.

Hudson and Beckham are doing well. They love Tatum. They kiss her every minute or so. Hudson is a lot more rough with her. Beckham seems to be more of a natural with babies. But they both love her a lot, take pictures and videos of her, get me pacifiers, and get excited with me when she poops or burps and then settles.

It's still a circus though. Especially since it's "ski week" and we have no school. Ask me what I think about "ski week" for preschoolers when there is a newborn at home. Wait, don't ask. You already know.

We've also gotten shots for Kindergarten in the last couple of weeks. 4 shots for each twin and then back a couple days later to read a TB test. Taking the band-aids off a week later actually proved more stressful than the shots (and that says a lot, as the shots were not taken very well). But we're registered and one of us is kind of excited to start Kinder in August.

Aaron was able to take a week off of work. I'm glad Tatum was born on a Saturday so that we had two weekends in addition to that workweek off.

Hopefully we'll post again before she's 4 weeks old! Someday I'd like to write down Tatum's birth story as well but that isn't going to happen too soon!

2 weeks

2011-02-12T11:31:00.000-08:00

still adjusting. 3 is a circus. it's a good thing she's cute.

this is Beckham's favorite picture ever.
[the slobber on her cheek is from Hudson's continuous kisses]

baby in her crib = awesome

loved.

2011-02-04T19:23:00.000-08:00

and sometimes suffocated. either way, she knows she's adored.

tatum reese

2011-02-01T20:24:00.001-08:00

tatum reese
1/29/11 at 1:40am
7 pounds, 0.4 ounces
20.5 inches
41 weeks gestation

very short vbac labor - she rocked.

^B: warming up to her...... ^H: obsessed from before her birth

^ our family needed a cook....... ^ 3rd child's place during dinner

^ boys wanted to show her the donkeys at the donkey park. "donkeys, we have a baby!"

someday I'd love to write her birth story and post cuter pictures, but for now I seem to have a very small amount of that thing they call time. welcome, tatum. welcome to the circus.

Updates (or lack thereof)

2011-01-17T12:54:00.000-08:00

I don't have much to report but felt like blogging.

We're hanging in there. This waiting game is hard for me. I've never played it. I've never been this pregnant. I had the boys at 36.5 weeks. I'm now 39w 2 days. And.... I'm done. I should say that more gracefully ("I just can't wait to meet her!") but I'm too honest.

I have enjoyed being home with the boys. We have a routine and I can see how much happier and grounded they are because things have been simplified around here. They know when Aaron will be at work. They know who will drop them off at school and who will pick them up (both always me). They know that daddy will be home before bed (his awful night schedule is over). They know the rules of our house and I can keep them more constant because it's just me with them. Its SO much easier for me to be home full time and not have to go from work mode to kid mode, not knowing what they are currently liking on a certain day or who didn't eat a good lunch and that's why he's cranky. Plus, I have 20 extra hours per week when I'm not at work! I have TIME and it's just so great.

One good thing about this baby holding out until her due date is that if she came early I'd just start my post-partum leave early too. At this point it looks like I'll start it late. But regardless I won't be going back until May.

The baby... Baby Wise was breech last Tuesday at 38 weeks + 3 days. I had another appointment to turn her on Wednesday. She flipped Tuesday night. She got the memo. And Aaron and I instead got to spend the afternoon together hanging out instead of at the hospital. Double joy.

I'm due in 5 days. The boys have paper chains and rip off a circle every morning. They're so excited. They have no idea what's coming. Ha!

I do feel like the baby turned sideways last night though.

My next appointment is Wednesday and I'm excited to check for progress and make a plan. (knowing that plans don't work for childbirth but I'm talking attempted vbac/possible induction/necessary repeat C, depending on a few factors).

Hudson and Beckham are wild. Theyre really sweet; theyre just boys! They just have ENDLESS energy and I have none. So getting their energy out is really hard. I just don't feel like I have the strength to scooter to the park with them, make up fun games for them to play, entertain them, etc. But if I don't, they get super wild and then fight (physically wrestle and someone ways gets hurt), or become what I call "super crazy" because they need to get out of the house.

Our best days are when we're gone from 9am-5pm.

I never thought this pregnancy would be so much harder than the twin one! Something about the 5 year-old energy bunnies to care for....
Otherwise we're all healthy, baby is doing well, and I hope that I don't have to go too far over my due date.
I have been pampered. Katherine watched the boys last week so that KC and I could go get mani/pedis on her. That was a treat I also walked the dish twice last week, where I impressed myself and loved it but paid for it in pain at night.
I'm thinking a baby-sitter on Friday just for 3 hours might be in store. Just so I can get the last minute things I need. Like more yoga pants since I ripped my maternity jeans and am still embarrassed about it. So they were skinny jeans, but STILL.
This was really random. And probably really boring. This, my friends, is what is simply on my mind 24/7 these days!

flipper

2011-01-05T15:52:00.000-08:00

our baby is a gymnast. [see that box to the right? I think that's fairly accurate.]

throughout my pregnancy she's changed positions constantly, which is common, but sometimes interesting. when you go to bed with a belly one shape and wake up the next day looking completely different you sort of wonder what happened. for many months she was transverse (sideways), so while my belly didn't stick out far, it was (is) certainly wide.

at about 34 weeks we went for an ultrasound because said belly was measuring small (in the sticking-out sense) and they wanted to make sure she was growing well. she was in the 56% and all was well. she was head-down and the ultrasound tech even commented that she looked pretty comfortable and probably would stay in the same position. famous last words.

at about 34.5 weeks I felt the baby move a lot. at my next appointment the doctor verified that she was breech. her head was all the way on the side, her back was up high, and her legs were crossed indian-style at the bottom. my doctor and I decided that we would attempt an external cephalic version to try and turn her.

my appointment was at 36w 2d. Aaron left work to accompany me and we were mentally prepared. we went over to the hospital and they first did an ultrasound to see exactly where the baby was. she was perfectly vertex again: head down, feet up, and measuring right with lots of fluid. they sent us home. it was a relief at the time, but I did express concern that she'd move again since there was so much fluid.

they scheduled another appointment for me for 37-ish weeks to check her position. that was yesterday and she's breech again. who moves so much at 37 weeks?? this baby does. [as an aside, she is honestly still unnamed unless she's officially named flipper].

we now have another version scheduled next week. she's definitely still breech. I also have an OB appointment that morning, so if she finds that the baby is vertex we can cancel the afternoon appointment.

it's never simple or predictable, but this is a little much.

I'd really rather not have a version. It doesn't sound the least bit comfortable. But I also don't want to have a c-section with 3 kids to care for. It wasn't so bad with the twins but if I've been deemed a good VBAC candidate than I'm going to try my best to be one. We shall see.

P.S. don't google "breech baby" for a picture to post on your family blog.

rain fun

2010-12-30T08:41:00.000-08:00

sooooo happy they're best buddies
I was reallllly tired/done being pregnant this day