Tatum's Twenty-Seventh Week

Here's our little Tootin' Tot at 27 weeks old.

She's a little stinker because she's discovered how wonderful life is...and consequently does not want to go to sleep and miss anything!

And so we have tantrums for naps and bedtime.

Hooray.

Tonight after about fifteen minutes of her little heartbreaking cry, I went in and nursed for for a little bit.

Last night this worked like a charm--she nursed, snuggled, went right to sleep.

Tonight, though, she thought she had escaped the bonds of her pack n' play and sat straight up on my lap and gave me a wide-eyed smile that said, "Did I really get out of it?!?!"  Since introducing her to the jumper she thinks everything is a jumper an consequentially tries to bounce, so with her still so full of energy I held her in a standing position and let her jump in my army until her heart was pounding with the exercise.  A little more snuggle and she was back in bed.  A few sniffles and weak cries later she was out.

Phew.

I can't wait until we get our new jumper on Friday...I'm going to let her just jump until she's plumb wore out!  (we're returning the Jenny Jump Up as it has no bumper and she would have smacked her head on the door frame if my hand hadn't been there!).

All that to say here's our Tooter who despite heart-wrenching cries is our joy.

In other news, my baby bro Jeremiah turned twenty-five on February 4th!  That makes me feel old.  We all went to see him at his new job at S&B's Burger Joint.

Poor guy...pushin' a broom on his birthday...

Actually I didn't feel too bad...and neither did he.  He's glad to have a job!

We had a good time shuffling Tatum around...

and she seemed to enjoy it, too...

We enjoyed the unique burgers including the "Elvis" burger (with peanut butter), the "Fire," the "Thunder," and the chili lime with guacamole.  Yum.  Oh, and really good sweet potato fries.

And J got some cupcakes...since it was his birthday and all.

And one more thing--I got a job! Actually, I got two jobs, but since the confirmation of job #2 I'm ditching job #1.  I'll be joining the ranks at Mid-America Christian University and working on editing curriculum as they're transitioning to their new online classroom program.  Just because you have a PhD in theology doesn't mean you know not to introduce your sentence with a conjunction.

I'm actually really excited about this as the more I do it (editing a few papers or PowerPoint projects here and there), the more I realize this is not only something I'm good at, but something I enjoy as well.  Give me a red pen any day of the week and I'll be happy!

The best things about this little side job for me are 1)I do it on my time...so in the mornings before Tatum is or up or during nap time or when Matt gets home or on the weekends...2) its something I genuinely like to do and the subject matter interests me, and 3) it means we can be more serious about buying a house and not worrying about living on lentils and beans!

Hooray!