What's New

I started working at the gym in the daycare last week. It's not my ideal job, but it gets me a free gym pass (after 30 days) and allows me to bring Tate to work with me! This amazing perk is pretty much the only reason I decided to hang out with snotty kids all morning long. It would have been pointless for me to go to work somewhere else and pay probably half of my hourly wages for someone else to watch Tatum.

I've never been one to like babysitting, but I must be getting older and nicer or something, because I really haven't minded watching the little ones at the gym. Sometimes I even play with them! Maybe it's the fact that I at least know I'm making money, or that the kids can only be there for up to 90 minutes at a time. Having them rotating through is nice. And here, unlike nursery which is STILL my calling, I don't have to teach a lesson or keep them focused on anything. They can run free and crazy, and I just have to make sure no one gets hurt.

So far Tatum has been doing well playing with the other kids there. After about an hour and a half to two hours  she usually starts asking to go home or to see Daddy. I usually take her into the break room for a snack and a few quite minutes then she is ready to play a bit more. If she is there for more then two and a half hours she starts to get naughty. My shifts are only up to 4 hours, but if Greg is home he'll keep her for a while before dropping her off so he can go to work. I think it will work out nicely.

Greg is back at school for the fall semester and really likes his new professor. He is the department head and is really enthusiastic about the program and it's possibilities. His last class was kind of boring, learning all the software and technical mumbo jumbo. This one will get them to think of real life uses for the software. His big project will be to take one of the United Nations 5 millennial goals and work at a plan for its reality, then send it in to them. Cool.

Tatum is so big. She can tell you she is two and hold up two fingers! That took a while to get down :) Every day she is talking more, even having conversations with me. I love that she says "thank you mommy" whenever I hand her something. She is so polite. We are still working on our 3 rules: no hitting, no biting, no scratching. But she is definitely getting better. In the last 2 months we have had many of her friends become big brothers and big sisters. Tatum loves to go and see the babies, and is very soft and sweet to them. She often tells me there is a baby in her belly.

Brenna and Tatum holding baby Claire

I was able to attend this sweet babies birth last Sunday, and act as a makeshift doula for Brenna. I read a ton of books on natural labor and management techniques preparing for the big day. She labored and progressed so quickly ( about 1.5 hours from her first contraction to Claire being born!) that I didn't really get to use any of my new skills, but I did get her out of bed, into the tub, and ran to get the nurse when I knew she was ready to push! I hope I was helpful to them. It was a crazy emotional night, and so so amazing.

Tatum's Bieber Birthday Party!

Grandma and Talia making fruit loop necklaces

Bieber manning the treat table

Andrea and Reggie

Auntie Sierra, Auntie Jenna, and lil Reg!

Ready to make a wish

present time

keeping 11 kids sitting and not grabbing presents is as hard as it looks

Quincee, Tanya, Kailey, Riley, Ivan, Noah, Tatum, Iris, Charlie, Reggie, and  Natalia

Everyone got a little Bieber love

Playground, Bieber and Elmo Soundtrack, Fruit Loop necklaces, presents and a dessert bar. What else could a two year old girl want?

Finally

Family pictures taken by the aweome Sharstin Miller! I am so excited for this preview and can't wait to get some prints made up.