Where are you Christmas

Our little RudyGingerbread lighthouse that took 1st place at the Brandt Family Xmas Party
Me and Tate by the tree
Dont worry, I keep the heat up nice and toasty so she can hang out in her diaper if she wants

Thanksgiving Photos

Getting things ready

Josh and Greg sampling

The buck that for some reason I have about 20 pictures of

Greg's amazing bird

Mom and Baby for most of the day

Natalie and Flint playing dress up, very entertaining

4 Months

Our Tatum bug is getting so big! She had her 4 month appointment yesterday and had to get some shots :( Never fun. She was really brave though, only yelled when they poked her. Then she was fine and happy for the rest of the exam.

Stats:

Height: 25''

Weight: 14 lbs 4 oz

Head circ: 40 cm

We've Moved!

When we first moved into our apartment at "Hidden Ghettos" it was supposed to be a temporary home. 6 months at the longest...

just about 2 years later we've finally moved!

Our new apartment is a lot nicer and about 50 years newer then our last one. We have carpet that I can bare to think of Tatum crawling on, central air, and a DISHWASHER! Man oh man have I missed having a dishwasher.

So we have been pretty busy unpacking and getting done with this semester of school.

Our Thanksgiving wasn't the greatest, at least for me. The day before I got food poisoning and spent most of the weekend hovering over the toilet or in bed.

I had one bite of potatoes, a bite of stuffing, and a small piece of turkey. Very depressing.

At least I got to eat leftovers.

Tatum started sleeping through the night!!! I think we're on day 7!

The trick is to wrap her up soooo tight that she cant wriggle her little arms out, or even move. If she is truly straight-jacketed up she will stay asleep 10+ hours! It has been bliss.

Library

Tatum's first trip to the library was a success! We first took a stroll through the very large children's section. We found the cute stage where they have story time, and are looking forward to going to that when Tate gets a little bigger.
Next we picked out some books. Tatum listened quietly and intently as I read to her :) She liked the Dr. Seuss book.Then we read one called Ill Always Love You which turned out to be very sad. It was about a boy and his dog, and the dog got older alot faster then the boy did. Soon she got very round, then didnt want to go on walks, and couldnt make it up the stairs. Then she dies. And the boy is so sad, but he knows that Elfie knew he loved her because he would tell her every night, "i'll love you always". I think Ill sensor the next books we read. Your dog dying is a pretty sensitive subject and I didn't have any time to warn Tate.

After that we went into the adult section and she got a little cranky. I tried to tell her you have to be quiet in the library but she wanted to yell. So I didnt get to check out anything, Tate got two baby books : Everywhere Babies and Ziggy's Blue Ribbon Race.

I had wanted to get some tiny baby pictures of Miss T, so when she was 2 weeks old we went to JC Penny and got a few shots, but she started screaming and crying before the 2nd pose was over. We planned to go back later that day to finish but never made it back. Then she got really big.

The other day JC P emailed me the pictures they did capture and I was so excited! She looks so tiny and slouchy and cute! Im glad they gave me a second chace to see them. Here's one I downloaded. Too bad it is so small and poor quality, I guess Ill have to buy a few sheets so I can see her clearly!

3 Months Old

November 18th marked Tatum 3 month birthday! She is so big!

Wait how old am I again? Oh yeah 3 months.

She is a very happy baby, as long as she gets her naps.

She loves to stand up and sit up with help.

Her fists have turned into lollipops, apparently very tasty.

Depending on the day she'll either sleep a full 8 hours at night, or sleep for about 5, wake up and have a bottle, and then go back down for another 3-4 hours.

I can live with that!

She loves to watch her Baby Genius movie (thanks Mimi!)

Loves loves loves her bath!

Hates hates hates getting out of the bath.

Likes to listen to classical music,

And most of all likes to rock in the rocking chair with mom.

My guess is that we rock for a combined total of about 3 hours a day.

She is so cute with her chubby cheeks and a chubby little belly! She loves to be naked.

Here she is dressed and watching her baby movie so mom can blog a little :)

Getting out of the bath, she just looked so cute in her towel I had to take a pic.

ps. i made sure to put a diaper on before i snapped any shots, remember what happened to daddy? :)

Tatum the Fashion Plate

Church dresses

Tatum likes to match her dad when she goes to church. Of course the good pictures are the ones that dont show the green tie, or were taken after dad changed out of his church clothes. Oh well, they still look super cute together.

This weekend we went to Heber twice, had a movie date at home, and had birthday cake at Yoho's. Talia loves it when Tate comes to visit her. She cant wait until Tatum can crawl and play with her. For now she is working on being soft :)

Ikea Date

Tatum got to spend the morning with her Dad while I went to work for a half day. I got off at 2 and we all took a nice family nap. Then Greg took me and Tate on a date to Ikea! We had so much fun looking at all the small couches and other great Swedish designs. They have the coolest things for kids rooms. I need to remember that I like their stuff when Tatum gets a little older and needs a big girl bed, or a mini table and chair.

Me and T getting ready to go

Our new living room :P
She did so good in her front facing stroller! I think she liked being able to look around instead of facing boring old mom. She did so good she got a little pink hippo as a prize

(only 45 cents!)
By the end of our browsing she was totally out :)

Here is a little video of "the queen" babbling and kicking for the Grandma's out there

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Bad Habit

This is something she picked up when we were visiting Mimi in Maryland. She spent alot of time laying in the living room playing and her gaze would just wander over to the big screen. When we got home we were over at our friend Amanda's to watch One Tree Hill and she was being so fussy, so I laid her down on the big love sac and her eyes went straight to the tv and the crying stopped.
She loves it! She laughs at it!
Now I really dont like to watch tv that much, so we hardly ever have it on. And I definitely dont want Tate to become one of those kids that watch television ALL DAY LONG.
But it is nice when I need to take a shower.

"What? I wasn't doing anything."

FYI I have only let her watch tv purposely twice. I usually take a shower before bed so Greg is home to hold Tate.