Thursday, September 29, 2011

Tatum's Eighth Week

That's an odd word to spell.

Eighth. 



But here she is at eight weeks old! The hi-lighted part shows the route we're taking from Seattle to Edmond, Oklahoma.  

Roy decided since she was a bit fussy on the floor that she needed a kiss to cheer her up...


I'm not sure she appreciated it...




To date we've had 10 get-togethers for people to meet our little Tater Tot, and met nearly 100 people for the first time!

Today we're in Prescott Valley, AZ with Ammah for two days of rest.  Hallelujah!  Those long days in the car are hard on a little one!

Last weekend Matt and I were able to have our first date sans baby! Grandma Beth and Grandpa Dave watched her while we went to lunch and for a walk around the lake.




Tatum did great, but apparently Roy was anxious for us to get back.



Oh, and here are the shots that Matt's cousin, Jacob, took of Tatum. He really is a talented photographer, painter, graphic designer and all around artist.  You can see some more of his photography on his blog, Jacob Reid Design Photography.







We've been so blessed to have so many people SO excited to meet our baby girl! Thank you to everyone who has arranged your schedules to accommodate us, driven long distances to see us, invited us and our very large and bossy dog into your homes and hosted gatherings of people, and loved on us and our Tatum. We have only two more days of driving until we reach our new home!





Friday, September 23, 2011

Tour de Tatum

And the Tour de Tatum has begun!

I'm sitting at my in-laws sipping Mother Lode coffee and finally able to take a few minutes to write.  Over the past few days (week, actually), the words have been piling up inside of me and I write and write in my head without the time to write it out on paper or my computer, and now that I have the time to sit down and write I've forgotten most of what I intended to say! Drat!

Writing is necessary for me.  Like eating dinner or brushing your teeth. I write in my head constantly. Now I just have to remember what I've already written!

Our pods from U-haul were unloaded last Saturday and on Sunday, in true Seattle fashion, it was cold and drizzly all day.  We hired a mover to help us fit everything into our two 5' x 7' x 8' pods.  He arrived on a motorcycle with a pony tail and long beard and looked like someone right out of Hell's Angels.  He also happened to tell Matt he was a hoarder and had to work to make pathways through his house...interesting.  But he was awfully nice, and really did bust his butt to fit as much as possible into the pods.  

Sadly, those pods are not as big as P.O.D.S. ones and we were forced to leave a lot of things behind for donation.  Our coffee table that held all our games, dining chairs I had lovingly painted robin's egg blue, TV from my dad (it was really large and heavy), TV stand I had re-stained, the beautiful bassinet we were given second-hand, and a truck load of other things had to be left for the donation truck since there was no time to try to even sell it.  We even posted it on Craigslist.org for free but there still wasn't any takers in the short amount of time we had.  

Its true its just "stuff."  But even though it was mostly second-hand I still had poured some energy and time into that "stuff," and it was sad to leave it behind knowing once we get to Oklahoma we'll need to spend more time and money to find replacements.  Looks like I'll be garage sale shopping soon! And I think I'll buy some more robin's egg spray paint because I loved our painted Ikea chairs. 

And now, a moment of silence for my chairs:


We originally meant to pull out on Monday morning, but with so much stuff left over we were trying to do the math of whether it was cheaper to try to get a hitch installed on my car and pull a trailer (it was a whole other pod's worth of stuff, basically.  U-Haul lies when they say an apartment can fit in two U-boxes!), or ship it or donate it.  We also hadn't even started cleaning the place and had a goodbye party for Matt that evening.  So we decided to stay one more day. 

The next day we cleaned and hauled more stuff to Goodwill and I crammed as much as I could into every available nook and cranny of the pods.  We had to have some friends come over to help move the TV and base into the car since I probably shouldn't be lifting anything super heavy this soon after delivering a nearly 10 pound baby...



That night, with three full bottles of breastmilk in the fridge we went to our last Seattle dinner at our fav Mexican place, Torero's and I indulged in a "regular" sized margarita for the first time since finding I was pregnant.


So. So. Good.  And appreciated.

The next morning we started loading the car.  But as it goes with a crazy dog and a baby and only one of us being a Tetris master to make everything fit in my car (me), and having used all our bottles of milk so I had to breastfeed every hour or so and finish cleaning the apartment...we didn't finally drive away until 2ish. 

Then the tarp I had tied over the things tied on top of my car wouldn't stay down, and we were so tired and fed up with it we went to FedEx and shipped it to Oklahoma.

Then we finally got on the freeway and pulled off when we saw a sign for Taco Bell and tried to get some lunch, and there was no Taco Bell to be seen! Seattle had to get us lost just one more time!  You can read my first driving experience in Seattle that I wrote nearly three years ago on the Ups and Downs and Waiting post.

That night we stayed in Meford, and the next day headed to Paradise, CA to meet up with some of Matt's family.  

Everyone was so excited to meet our little Tatum, and she did so good being passed around to all the different family members.











Even Roy had a good time the next morning with Belle the dog. 


The next morning while hanging out with Matt's Aunt Teresa and cousin Jacob I got to borrow Jake's 50mm camera lens and drool...






Jacob also took some pictures and as he's light years ahead of me in photography skills I can't wait to see them!

Thursday (was that only yesterday?!) we headed to Matt's parents with a stop in Sacramento to see some more of my family.  The last time I'd seen most of them was our wedding! We had fun catching up, despite Tatum being a little grumpy.



Tatum thought Aunt Candy was pretty funny!

Beth and Dave (my in-laws) are both elementary school teachers, and today we went to their school to show off Tatum. 


And the rest of the day we have just rested.  Well, nursed, did laundry, made a cup of coffee, wrote a paragraph of this blog, held Tatum, changed the laundry, grabbed a bite, wrote another paragraph...you get the picture...

Sorry this was such a long overload, I'll try to do shorter blips for the rest of the trip!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Tatum's Seventh Week

First--the weekly pic!


Seven weeks! I'll add the cute little words on her onesie when we get our other computer back...I miss Photoshop...

And now, for the start of our Tour de Tatum!

This is us the last night in our old place...




One of our pods packed to maximum capacity...
(more story later, we've got to get on the road!)


My trusty 4runner Max all loaded to the gills


My view for the next 2600 miles


Getting lost trying to find a taco bell...at least its beautiful! Seattle just had to throw us for one more loop!


Taking a break!



Trying to get the state sign...barely missed it!


We got to meet up with my cousin Michael and his wife Sarah and son Jadon near Portland


More to come later!


Saturday, September 17, 2011

Packing for a Move...With a Baby

I'm not gonna lie.  Its been challenging. 

Last week my best friend Charissa drove up to help us and her timing was perfect.  Tatum got her first vaccine (which I know is an explosive issue, but we're only doing a select few and one at a time, and saving most of them  for when she's 2 or older) and consequentially didn't feel too well for a few days and was only happy when held. So I held Tatum and tried to work one-handed while Charissa proved her rock star abilities and packed up most of the house.

Since then, some days I've gotten more done when she's been happy in her bouncer or swing, but then there were days like yesterday where she was crying, nursing or asleep.  She wasn't even happy just being held like she normally is when just fussy.  She didn't have a fever so it was hard to tell if she wasn't feeling well or just was a little overwhelmed with everything going on.  

So I would nurse her to sleep, gently transfer her to her Moses basket, wash two dishes, she'd wake up crying, I'd hold her, nurse her to sleep again, transfer her to her bouncer, pack half a box, she'd wake up crying...you get the idea. 

Nursing every 30 minutes gets tiring. And when do you have time to pump so that you can go longer than 30 minutes without having to nurse?

Then again she is awfully sweet when she's asleep in her basket--which will be her bed for the next two weeks so Mama and Daddy can have the bed. 


For packing with a baby under 3 months, all I can say is be prepared to be patient.  You're not going to get all you want to do done in a day. 

I just keep looking at her and thinking that its worth that it takes two weeks to pack instead of a few days...


Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Tatum's Sixth Week


This fabric is actually our bedspread--I packed the rest of our fabric!  Looks like I'm going to have to get creative the next two weeks while we're on the road!

This past week Charissa came up to help us pack and to visit Tatum.  I have to say, friends like this are few and far between.  Not only did she come up to wait for Tatum's birth, but she left the morning that Tatum was born (before I was in labor) to go back to Portland, and turned around and drove up when I called her to tell her I was in labor!  Now she's basically backed up 80% of our house--something that would have taken me so much longer doing one-handed or while Tatum was okay in her bouncer.  

So here's some pics from this past week of Tatum's life:





Roy found a new snuggle buddy



Yes we're dorks.


Everyone's sleepy

Auntie Charissa's so funny!