Her First Birthday

With the actual birth day so fresh in my mind, I can hardly believe that a year has blinked by.

A year ago the only one left from our families was my mom. Everyone else had to leave, and I was beginning to think I was just going to be massively pregnant forever. And ever. Amen.

But my midwife, Tatum and God had other plans, and so after less than six hours of furiously fast labor Tatum Keturah came into this world at 8:52 pm. 

Wrinkled and pink and squawking at the world the second she hit the air, but calming within seconds from the sound of my voice.

As she's grown and we've been able to discover more of her personality, it seems my premonition that this kid would be a spitfire was right. Kicking in the womb and still making her opinions known.

 And now, after nearly a year of weekly pictures (34 out of 52 isn't bad...I gave up when I couldn't keep her bottom planted on the fabric anymore), I give you...(drumroll)

Tatum Week by Week

Hope you enjoyed this little trip down memory alley (it's too short to be a lane)!

Obligatory pictures of a baby smashing her face in cake coming soon!

Mobility, Mamas and Mud

After too long a hiatus here is the return of the weekly pic!

41 Weeks old!!!

This picture was before this face:

She is so mobile now! She gets where she want to FAST! And she's standing for 5-6 seconds at a time and lowering herself to sitting from there...it won't be long before she's walking!

We here in Okie Homie had a great Mother's Day.  I was assured Matt would be on baby duty so I could sleep, but he thought I'd want to greet Tatum first thing in the morning...it being Mother's Day and all...

We went to the zoo and enjoyed the baby elephant and the tiger cubs and each other.

And yesterday...oh, yesterday was a D.A.Y.  Well let me back up...last week while driving to work Matt's tire tread peeled off on the freeway, and we ended up having to get him all four new tires.

Two weeks ago we backed into an old, beat up parked car and made a 2" dent.  We could have driven away, but we stopped, knocked on their door, gave them our info and prayed they wouldn't worry about it. 

Not so much.

That, plus our address change (we moved 4 miles!) raised our insurance $30 a month.

Then yesterday morning, Matt noticed a small stream coming from our side yard. 

I called the City's emergency dispatch at noon, explained where the leak was, and waited.

I also called our Home Warranty, and found out that because the  leak was outside the walls of the home, they didn't cover it. 

Fast forward to 7 and Matt and my Dad are starting to dig to find the leak.  The City shows up at EIGHT (after 3 more phone calls), looks at it and basically says its not their problem since its above the water meter.

Thanks.

We can't shut the water off inside the house because the inspector forgot to put that on his report and it's rusted tight, so my Dad and Matt open the water main and shut off the water (without telling me...while I was making dinner...and kneading bread...).

So we're stuck with this leak that is in this small area that neither the city nor our warranty covers...it's up to us.

So Matt digs, and my brother digs a bit and my dad digs a bit and our neighbors show up and dig a bit.

And I'm making focaccia bread inside, thinking I'll give the loaves to my parents and neighbors as a thank you.

Right before I pop the bread in the oven I feed Roy and step outside to check the progress. Coming back inside...BOTH loaves are gone.

That dog ate both of them.

Don't worry, he's paying for it today (as am I) with uncontrollable flatulence.

BUT...

the men fixed it.

It was a muddy, wet, dirty, stinky job but they did it and saved us $400!!! I am so proud of my hubby!!! 

And that night we got to take showers and run our dishwasher, thankful for the gift of flowing hot water.

Dave Ramsey says Murphy comes in threes...insurance, tires, water main busting...I hope we're done!!!

OH, and did I mention that I was stressed and all I wanted was a warm cookie but didn't want to do the dishes from it, and talked myself out of going to the store for them...only to get home and find our neighbors had brought us a plate of the BEST chocolate cookies I have EVER tasted. WARM.

God is good...all the time.

Week 34 and Lots of Firsts

Guess who's teething?

The Tater Tot!

In fact, we think both front bottom teeth are coming in at the same time...

This should be fun.

Actually she hasn't been all that fussy.  In fact, when Mama or someone is playing with her she's rather a happy baby!

We've had a lot of "firsts" this week.  

First time blowing bubbles (not that impressed at first...)

She seemed a bit offended that Nonnie would blow them in her face!

Then they grew on her a bit...

And now she thinks bubbles are pretty interesting.

She had her first popsicle (just water and a bit of apple juice)...and again wasn't all that thrilled.

And she now makes the "milk" sign with her hand when she's hungry! Yay! 

She almost always poops in her potty and most of the time pees when we put her on there (maybe TMI, but this EC thing is really working and I'm excited to not be changing a poopy diaper every day!).

Oh, and she figured out how to take off her Velcro cloth diaper during her nap. Looks like I'll be getting some more Ruffle Butt covers!

That's all of Tatum's big news!

In my world I've been running around the clock (it feels like) trying to get things ready for her nursery, painting her crib (more on that later), searching Craigslist for furniture pieces since we had to leave so much behind in Seattle, getting my hours done for my job, and trying to remember that guy's name who sleeps in my bed and I think I'm married to.  What's his name? Oh yeah, Matt ;-)

'Till next time!