The Ballard Bunch

It seems that summertime negates a lot of family get togethers and this year is no exception!

We just got home from Beau's Aunt Lynnette and Uncle Gordy's house for a Ballard Family BBQ and had a great time! Cousins Dustin (and wife Margaret and daughter Maleha) and Casey (and wife Candice and son Caleb) were all in from out of state for the week so it was a great opportunity to get everyone together. Maleha will be 2 in October and Caleb is a week older than Tate so they all had a great time playing! Aunt Lynnette had her wading pool and slide out for the kiddies and they spent a good amount of time staying cool in the pool.

Here is a picture of our brave little babe that loved the slide into the pool (I'm thinking a wading pool would be a good addition to our yard for the rest of the summer)! I didn't get a good picture, but we all got a good laugh at how full of water Tatum's diaper was after swimming for so long. We didn't plan on swimming so I hadn't packed a suit or swim diaper for her. We were able to borrow a suit from Maleha, but the diaper was a lost cause. She looked so funny waddling around with a "J Lo Booty".

Besides swimming, the kids played on the baby bikes and playground. Tate especially enjoyed the "Barney Rubble" car. She couldn't get enough of Aunt Brie driving her around the yard.

Everyone else there had newborns (3 in June and another born in January) and another three of us are pregnant expecting within the next few weeks. Needless to say, next time we all get together there will be lots of babies running around! We had a lot of fun catching up with everyone and can't wait to all get together again soon (probably Christmas, realistically).

Tomorrow is Pioneer Day so Beau has a long weekend (yay!) to spend with the girls! :) We'll be going to his parent's house for the annual 24th BBQ and swim party (see, we have a lot of those lately!) so tomorrow should be fun. And we're all looking forward to Grandma Tammy's firework display to close the evening (let's keep our fingers crossed that no one gets injured in the process - haha). I'll be sure and post pictures when I get the chance.

I can not sleep anymore. I don't know if it's the anticipation of the new baby or the extreme levels of discomfort I'm experiencing while trying to sleep these days (probably a combination of both, really), but here I am! Beau left for work at 5:30 this morning and I never really got back to sleep after that.

Smart mom that I am, I went in to check on Tatum when I woke up and found her in the following position:

She must have either fallen asleep that way after us leaving her in there alone to go to sleep last night or moved in the middle of the night without a sound. Either way, I thought I'd be nice and move her to her bed - then I'd have some time to shower and get ready before she woke up. As I'm typing this she's next to me trying to climb into her high chair and waiting for Elmo to start on the early morning Sesame Street. Moving her wasn't my best idea, but she looked so uncomfortable!

I'm not sure what we're doing today, but I need to get out of the house for a bit if at all possible. I do need to buy some fireworks for the 24th of July - maybe I can talk Shanna into a drive to Evanston to buy the good ones! (haha) Just thinking of that drive with all three kids makes me tired. I think everyone will just have to be happy with the fireworks we can find locally - I saw a good pack at Harmon's yesterday that we could split the cost of. The outlet stores would be fun - maybe we'll do that today. It's good walking at the least.

Hope you all have a great day!

Here is the picture as promised. Night three and going strong...yay! She's just like her dad - makes a huge mess of the bed in her sleep. :)

Due to several requests, here are the two names we've narrowed it down to: Hayden Ruth or Laney Helen.

I go back and forth with them both and have slight issue that Hayden sounds similar to Tatum when said out loud. That, and the fact that the boy name we like will also sound similar, might make me go the other way so that it doesn't seem deliberate once we have a boy. But who knows, I love Hayden and might just get over it!

FYI - The middle name (for either choice) is after my Grandma Olson (Helen Ruth).

Well, I had my first of the fun weekly appointments this morning (all you moms out there know what I'm talking about - exams suck!) and we're getting closer to baby time!

The baby is in position, but I'm not dilated at all yet. On Thursday I'll be exactly one month from my due date. Dr. Roth did assure me that if I don't have the baby by August 11th on my own, that'll be the day I am induced. So, three weeks from this Friday is the latest she'll be here! Now at least my mom can make her flight arrangements and plan to be here right before the baby arrives instead of having to leave so soon after she arrives like she did with Tatum. Who knew I'd go a week over and have a huge baby - now at least we can plan more! I just make sure to remind my doctor at EVERY appointment just how large and in charge Miss Tate was. :)

I'm so excited to be this close to the end - we can't wait to meet the newest Baby Ballard. Tatum knows something is coming, I think. She's really cute about babies (any she can get her hands on - she loves to kiss them) and is extra needy these last couple of weeks. Nothing we can't handle, but she wants one of us around to observe all her tricks and sometimes just to snuggle.

She's going to be a great big sister and I know she'll love having her Grandma Leigh stay with us for a couple of weeks. Hopefully she'll be able to play outside with my mom a lot - it's so hot that I can't really take her out much these days and I feel so bad! This heat is killing me (104 today) so we don't do much besides play inside where it's cool or go to Grandma Tammy's pool (every few days or so).

Just a note from a proud mamma at 8 in the morning...

Tatum spent her first night last night in her "big girl bed" and slept through! She took a little longer falling asleep, but once she was out, she was out for the count. She's still asleep now and looks so dang cute laying on her pillow all curled up with her bear. Beau took the camera to work today, but I'll be sure and get a picture tomorrow morning (hoping we're onto a trend after tonight)!

I've got a dr's appointment today - we're one month out now! I'm going to see if we can nail down a delivery date today so that my mom can plan her trip out and so I can plan the rest of my month. It should be early August (I'm thinking around the 10th, but that's just my guess). I'll keep you all posted.

Well, I'm finally able to upload pictures, so get ready for a bunch!


This first one is of Tatum playing in her new favorite toy...her laundry basket! She'll keep occupied for quite a while climbing in and out of this collapsible hamper. I usually know she's getting in it from the giggles of rolling around in her bedroom.


Here she is at the lake a few weeks ago for the Ball family reunion. She loved being in the water with dad and couldn't get enough of the water noodles - although she didn't get much use of them in the water (she preferred the beach).


Tatum's other favorite household "toy" - her toy basket in the living room. Luckily she's big enough to get herself in and out of it now. When she was smaller I'd find her stuck in it head first with no idea of what to do next.


All three kids at Shantell's kindergarten graduation eating cookies in the classroom. Tatum loved running around with the kids in "big kid territory".


Here are Tanya, Mateo, Tatum and I while they were out for a short visit. Tatum and Teo had fun "kissing" at our request and had some funny conversations that only they could understand.


Jordan and Tatum at dinner that night. All the girls love Jordan - last time it was Shantell with the crush!


Amanda getting practice with the nursing blankets I've been making and selling. We made her pose with Tatum's baby doll because it looked so funny. Come December, this could be her reality!


The only picture I was able to get on the 4th before my camera died (battery). I'm surprised that Tatum is happy in this picture - she HATES when the kids pick her up now. We're in the "I'm not a baby" stage, I think.

I have some more to post, but I'll save them for later. I'm tired of sitting at the computer waiting on our oh-so-slow connection to upload each picture!

love to all!
Evonne

This was started on the 3rd, thus the way-past date. I'm having problems uploading pictures again, so this is going to be text heavy with pictures to follow as soon as I get this working again. So sorry!!!

The first item on our "agenda" this weekend was the Ball Family Reunion (Beau's mother's mother's side of the family) up in Heber. We got a late start because Beau wasn't able to get off as early as he'd have liked to and ended up getting up to the reunion at around 7:45 or so. We had yummy dinner, caught up with lots of family, played some fun games and had a great time. We had planned to sleep in our bags under the stars out on the front lawn, but a storm changed our plans. Shanna, Travis and their kids and Beau, Tatum and I all decided to drive up to their Uncle Gary and Aunt Melissa's cabin to spend the night in beds. After an hour drive (I thought it was only supposed to be about 30 minutes) we arrived and found that not only were we on empty in our car (no gas stations in site) but that Travis and Beau couldn't find the key to the cabin! Luckily, they were able to find a few gallons of gas in the cabin shed (they had to do a little maneuvering to get in) and as we were preparing to drive back to camp and brave the rain, Beau stumbled upon the key buried in the dirt somewhat near the area it was supposed to be hanging. It was a late, frustrating night, but we did get to sleep in comfy beds!

Once the kids were all up and ready, we headed back down to the reunion for breakfast and then boating at Jordanelle. The water was surprisingly tolerable - once you were in for a few minutes that is. Tatum loved playing out in the water with her dad and spent any other time running around the beach trying to be a big kid. She discovered the water noodles and occupied a good part of the afternoon playing with those on shore. Despite gobs and gobs of sunscreen all day long, we all got a little sunburnt. Beau's back and shoulders got the worst of it for him - he's in the sun all day at work, but the areas under his clothing don't see the rays too often so his "farmer tan" got a good working on. Tatum got a little burnt on her lower back (no idea why) and now has a cute little bikini line from her suit in the front. I don't feel too burnt myself, but I did get a lot of sun and now need to start working on getting RID of the tan line - the maternity suit I found is a halter and leaves an awfully visible tan line on my chest and shoulders.

Saturday night we were able to meet up with Tanya, Mat, Teo, Amanda and Jordan for dinner. It was so fun to see everyone - I can't believe it's been as long as it has! Teo is the cutest thing ever with his big brown eyes and amazing demeanor! He and Tatum had a good time "talking" to each other and giving lots of kisses. Mat and Tanya are going to forward me the pictures - as soon as I get those I'll post them for you all to see. Amanda and Jordan are doing great, too and I can't wait to find out what they are having! Tatum did take a fall while we all ate dessert at our house after dinner - she was running out of the kitchen with a strawberry in hand and tripped and hit her face on the tile somehow. With all the blood you'd have thought she lost a tooth or something, but after it was all over I think she had just bit her tongue. The fall combined with a very long day made for a hard to console baby girl. Once she calmed down she was just fine and slept well that night. Now she's got her big girl bed (straight from Ikea in Canada - thanks Nan!) and will make the transition to that pretty soon!

We spent the day Sunday sleeping (through church - oops) and having dinner at Glen and Tammy's house. Nothing beats a Sunday roast dinner...I love it!

The 4th was spent at Grandma and Grandpa Fullmer's house for a BBQ and a dazzling fireworks display by Chet. :) Tatum lasted all of five minutes and crashed for the fireworks - she'd had a very long day playing with the big kids. We all had a great time!

Now I'm in major nesting mode - cleaning everything, setting up the girls' room, making final purchases, packing my bag - you name it. I think I'm driving Beau nuts, but we've only got (potentially) 4 weeks left until it's baby #2 time! Hey, at least the house is getting cleaned very regularly, right?

Hope all is well with each of you!

loves,
Evonne

It's so hot here today! I've seriously been tempted to set up shop right in front of the cooler in our room all day long. I probably would have really done that if Tatum would have let me sit there all day, but no such luck. The sprinklers are looking really great right now!

Nothing much to "report" from our little household this week. Tatum and I just got back from taking dinner to Shay and Tiffany (they came home from the hospital today) and later tonight we'll go and see Parker (he just got home from his mission this morning) - we're just waiting for Beau to get home so we can all go together. Other than that, I've just been sewing like a mad woman working in projects for the baby and finishing up items that I'll be selling at Shanna's purse party tomorrow. We have so many pregnant friends and relatives that I just might sell some more than usual tomorrow, but we'll see. Lots of cute stuff, mammas!

Tanya, Mat and Teo are going to be in town this weekend and we're so excited to see them! I can't believe that I haven't met the little guy yet and he's already almost a year old! It will be nice to see everyone and catch up over dinner on Saturday. Amanda and Jordan should be going with us and I can't wait to hear about their trip and her pregnancy!

Have I mentioned that I'm addicted to chocolate covered strawberries lately? It's the only thing I want to eat these days. I never craved food with Tatum really, so this is all new to me.

Speaking of food and Tatum - here's a great picture I got of her after she was busted munching a cookie in my room (she snuck it herself). She's so dang cute I had a hard time being upset with her. Don't pay any mind to the craziness of her hair - the kid is a hurricane lately!

Just a quick note to let you all know that Tiffany had her baby at about 8:30 this morning. The baby was 6lbs. 11oz. and 19 inches long. She has tons of dark hair and the smallest little head you've ever seen. Here is a picture for your viewing enjoyment (I figure it's always fun to see a new baby, even if you don't know who she is)!



Starting to freak out a little - I'm officially next!!!!

Tatum and Beau - Father's Day 2006


Tatum Annoyed with Mom Taking Her Picture...again.

Hello all - it's been a long time since my last post! I hope this finds you well and enjoying a fun weekend of some kind. We're just winding down from Father's Day festivities and looking forward to an early night's sleep! This probably won't be the longest of posts, simply due to the fact that I'm very tired, so I apologize in advance.

We had a fun time today celebrating with Beau! I was going to post pictures, but for some reason I'm having problems getting them to work with this blog today! They were great and hopefully I can post them ASAP. They show Beau in a new shirt he received as a gift and Tatum in a shirt that I had to get her for the day (it says "My Daddy Loves Me"). The first picture is sweet of the two of them and the second is a not-so-enthusiastic picture of Tate posing with "arms up" to show us what's printed on her shirt. It's so funny - she looks entirely fed up with me and my camera. Attitude runs strong in this one. I'll keep working on the uploading issue. Check back soon for pictures!

Speaking of Tatum, she gave her mamma a slight heart attack this weekend when she fell out of the shopping cart at Old Navy - head first. I seriously almost lost it in the store. Not only did the noise that her little head made hitting the floor scare me to death, but she also had the hysterical crying where she wouldn't breathe going for her, too. Miraculously, she survived without even a bump on her head - it's amazing how resilient kids are. She managed to give me one more minor scare falling down a few stairs later in the day, but again without injury. I will ALWAYS have this child heavily insured, I'll tell you that much!

Now we're just looking forward to another busy week. Tomorrow Beau's softball team has a game at 6pm, Wednesday night I have Bunco, Thursday night I have a party to go to with the girls and hopefully this week sometime we'll be at the hospital for the birth of Shay and Tiffany's little girl!

It's exciting that the group of babies being born is starting so soon - first Tiff's baby, then me (6-7 weeks later, already) and Shanna just a couple of weeks after that! It will be so fun to have little cousins so close in age! If only we knew what Shanna was having - the suspense is killing us all. Okay, maybe me the most - I don't know how she could not know this entire time - I would go bananas. I do give her credit for being so patient, though, she's better than me. It would be fun to have another boy in this family - with all these girls being born, Braeden is going to be surrounded by estrogen his entire life. Step it up, Shanna!

Time for a quick update!

This week has been pretty run-of-the-mill for our little family. It has been hot, so Tatum and I spent a day at the pool on Tuesday with Grandma Tammy and Aunt Breena. It was a nice, long, relaxing day - although I think that Tatum enjoys pool time more when the kids are also there - they keep her entertained the entire time! We had talked about meeting up with Shanna and the kids to swim this afternoon, but I'm not sure how the weather is going to cooperate. It was rainy last night and looks pretty dreary right now. We'll see if it clears up, but so far it looks like we'll need to alter our plans a bit.

Last night we had Tiffany's baby shower at Shanna's house. There was a great turnout of guests and we all had a great time. My totally fun game idea didn't quite pan out the way I'd planned, but we managed around it. Tiffany received a lot of really cute gifts - they should now be well stocked for the impending arrival of Baby Girl Ballard. She's due in about two weeks, but she's already dilated and may just go early. We can't wait to meet the babe!

Today I am going down to American Fork to meet with Tesla and our web guy, David, to go over the final changes made to our site, receive some training on site maintenance, etc. Shanna is going to watch Tatum so that I can get down there and focus on work stuff so that I'm not spending twice the time because I have to wrangle her all meeting. After that we'll probably do something with Shanna and the kids (see above).

Oh! And congratulations to Karen and Scott - we just found out yesterday that they are expecting a new baby early next year! Although Brianna and Tatum will be in the same grade, we just missed timing these new two and they'll be a year apart in school. We're so excited for them and can't wait to find out what they are having. My gut says boy, but who knows. My record isn't the best at guessing what other people are having lately. I can, however, pretty accurately predict what I'm going to have - haha - maybe it's mother's intuition? Either way - I know they'll enjoy the new addition to their family!

That should be about it for now. I took this picture yesterday in our front yard. We have a large row of rose bushes right in the middle (planted a long time ago by family living here) and they typically are all a deep burgandy color. Yesterday I was driving in from running errands and realized that there was a huge, light pink rose blooming out of the bushes. It looked so pretty that I had to take a picture. I don't know how unique this growth is (I'm not the gardening expert), but it sure did look cool! Today I may go out and pick some of the roses for inside the house. Last year I didn't clip any and wish I would have - there are so many that I may as well enjoy them both inside and out, right?

Ugh...time to get ready for the day. More later, I'm sure!

Loves.

Okay - I really do have to go but I forgot to tell you all what Tatum did today!

We went to Brock's baptism and afterwards had his birthday party at the pavillion in the park by the church. Tatum was off in the grass playing with the other kids. I look over and see Braeden climbing the chain link fence, no big deal - the kid climbs everything.

Tatum, following the lead of her ever-careful cousin, decides to give it a try and as we're laughing at watching her try and imitate him (thinking there is no possible way she'll figure it out), seriously gets herself up the fence! She climbed up a few links and just hung there like it was no big deal. The kid is 14 months old - I about died! I almost went into labor running over to get her down before she fell and cracked her head on the cement. Luckily, she escaped that event without harm - too bad she thought it was the most fun ever.

She is going to be my constnant injury, I'm sure of it because after getting her off the of fence and teaching her that it's a "no-no", she ran away laughing and hit her forehead smack on the corner of the bleacher bench! I swear to you, she is a total bruiser!!! Just when the forehead bruise went away, too!

Please tell me this stage passes quickly...

Well another slow week has past and dropped our family right into a busy weekend!

Last night Beau and his friends are had a “boys night out” to celebrate a friend getting married next week. They were able (through great connections) to secure an amazing suite up at the mountain resort for the night so they all went up there for dinner, cards and hanging out. He was pretty excited about it, so I’m glad he was able to leave work early enough to catch the carpool up. They all slept over the night, so Tatum and I were set to be on our own. Well, we were, until we asked Shantell to sleep over for our own “girls night in”. It proved to be a rather amusing evening.

Since we spent the afternoon at the pool with Brienna, Tammy, Shanna and the kids, we just brought Shantell home with us from there. We ordered pizza (Tatum ate almost an entire piece – she loves it!!!) and watched Disney’s “Hercules” in our jammies.

After the moive, we had a mini-day spa at the house, and the girls were both very into it. They (well, not really Tatum, but we pretended) wanted to do facemasks so we made headbands out of bandanas for each of them and prepared to apply her “mask”.



Unbeknownst to Shantell, I was out of the real stuff, so she spent a good part of the evening relaxing with toothpaste on her face! Hey, what they don’t know can’t hurt, right? Plus, she felt the tingling so for all she knew that meant it was working! After the mask, we put lotion on our faces to keep them soft. She keeps touching her face because it feels "so healthy”!



The last treatment was for me - a surprise! I was informed that it was time for my “Muh Sausage”. It was all I could do not to laugh, she was so serious! So I got myself a little pampering and we painted toes and nails before relaxing for the evening.

Lots more going on this weekend - I'm out the door in a few minutes to go to Tiffany's baby shower. I'll try and update you all tomorrow.

See ya!

Well, we made it. Barely. :) Camping was fun for all, but I for one, am VERY glad to be home and cleaned up!

We were able to leave at around 5pm on Friday. Beau was only working a 1/2 day, but given circumstances out of his control, wasn't able to come home until almost 3:30. Tatum and I picked him up (he had to drop off a dump truck down town) and we all came home to finish packing. After stopping at Shanna's to borrow her tent (thank you so much!!), we were off. The drive went well, although I was having a rough day pregnancy-wise and felt pretty sick most of the day. Traffic wasn't horrible, but we took the back way just to be sure. I'm not sure how much time it saved us, but it wasn't bad at all. We ended up at camp around 8:30 that night and set up our gear.

Tatum had a blast running around, staring at the campfire (with several warnings from a terrified mom to stay far enough away from it) and playing with the other two kids her age. The nights were less fun (at least for mom and dad). She didn't sleep well camping - which I should have expected, after all who really does? She was up very early in the morning on Saturday and after the rest of the camp woke up, too, Beau took her out to make breakfast and let me sleep for awhile more. It was nice to get an extra half hour or so and even nicer to wake up to french toast and bacon! Tatum had a blast playing in the back of dad's truck while he cooked and when I woke up she'd already eaten a good portion of the french toast. After that we cleaned up and most of the campers went out on 4-wheel rides. Beau stayed behind with the girls and the kids (his knee still won't allow all the activity). He can probably tell you more about women, pregnancy and motherhood after that morning than at any other time in his life - haha!

Later that afternoon the four moms and their kids (Tatum, Jadi - 21 months, Justin - 14 months, and Kayden - 8 months) went down the mountain to the local indoor pool in Gunnison. We picked up lunch on the way, ate at the park, played awhile and then swam the kids into nap time. For good measure, we picked up a milkshake for Beau who stayed behind to tend to camp. I felt awful leaving him, but I think he got a good nap in and was able to really set up our gear the way he wanted. He's funny about stuff like that - perfectly happy sitting around camp puttering around - it's his element I think! It was a nice afternoon out for the kids and we all got sort-of showers in the pool locker room after our swim.

That evening, the boys wanted to drive up to a lake spot to check out some fishing so we all got in our cars/trucks and headed up for a drive. About half-way up the mountain, Beau's truck started acting up and wouldn't go up the hill any more. Luckily, we had a truck of friends behind us so they were able to stop and help us assess the situation. I guess it was a fuel filter or something like that (I have no idea, really), but we were able to get the truck back down to camp for the night. We decided to let it rest for the evening and figure something out on the way out of town on Sunday morning.

Saturday night was the worst - it was SOOOOOOOO cold (I think the temperature dropped 20 degrees from the night before). Tatum slept with us in our big sleeping bag and did really well until she woke up screaming at about 2am. She was so upset that she cried pretty loudly for about 10 minutes before falling asleep with me. It sounded like she was sick or hurt or something, but who knows. I can't wait until she can talk to tell me these things! After a night of sleep she woke up happy as ever, so I guess it wasn't much more than bad dreams and cold nights. After breakfast, we all started packing up camp. After the unusually cold night, everyone decided to leave on Sunday instead of Monday as was planned for most of the campers besides us. As we packed, the wierdest weather flew in and we found ourselves packing in both sunlight and decent temperatures alongside snow and hail.

But, despite our bad luck with weather that morning, Beau's truck worked the whole way home! I was so glad we didn't have to fix the truck on the road - that always tends to be more of a hassle and a lot more expensive than taking care of it at home. After we arrived at home and unpacked the truck, Beau went to AutoZone and bought everything he'll need to fix it tomorrow afternoon. Too bad he'll have to spend his day off fixing the truck, but I'm just glad he knows how to do those things in the first place - it saves us a lot of heartache with the cars. I'll be busy tomorrow anyways, washing the campfire out of all of our clothes and deep cleaning the house. There's something about camping that makes everything feel a mess - even a house you haven't slept in for two nights!

I'm sure I'll have more to update tomorrow, but that's it for now. We hope you all had a great weekend and enjoyed time with your friends and family. Even with our crazy adventure, we had a great time and were glad to have spent time with friends for the weekend. Beau's friends all have nice wives so it makes outings like this more fun for me - no sitting around trying to make conversation with people you don't know and aren't fun to be around. It was just the opposite - we all had a great time! Now, here's to hoping for a long, comfy night in my own bed!!!!

So it looks like we are going afterall. Today is going to be full of packing all our goods for the weekend and we'll be leaving after Beau gets off of work (1/2 day, hopefully). Fingers crossed that the weather stays nice - it's supposed to get cold Saturday (booooo). We'll be heading back Sunday afternoon sometime. I'll be sure to post an update and pictures after then.

Happy holiday weekend to all!

Tatum's nap time is the perfect opportunity not only for me to shower (ahhhhhhhhh), but to upload pictures and update you all. Lets hope she stays down long enough to get it all done!

I swear to you that if a day arrives that Tate doesn't have a bruise on her forehead, I'm going to send you all the cutest picture to prove it! Just as her bruises from falling down the steps at Shanna's were on the verge of healing, she took another dive at Beau's softball game! No fault of anyone but her own - the kid just goes without looking! We can only restrain her so much, you know? :) I told Beau that we have to give her credit for being consistent - she keeps bruising the same spot! Poor thing. It's amazing how quickly they bounce back, though - if I'd have fallen down the cement bleachers at the game, I would have been crying about it for a lot longer than she did! At least after the fall she really was more careful - I guess sometimes they have to touch the hot stove to have it really sink in.

Yesterday we had a fun day watching Jaxon, Beau's cousin Shalae's 4 month old baby boy. He was so good that I think it gave me a false sense of relief thinking the new baby will be a "piece of cake". Here's to hoping! Tatum really was great with him, though. She wanted to smother him a little too much - lots of loves and kisses and sharing of toys. She wasn't, however, very fond of the attention mom was giving to the baby. There was a lot of "mama!" all day long. I think she'll be okay, though - by the end of the day she was totally cool with it and helping me a lot. I just kept having to tell her what a big girl she was so she wouldn't steal the binky!!!!

Last night Beau helped me make the invitations to Tiffany's shower. I feel like such a slacker - I was going to to those last week and pretty much checked out instead. It was nice to have his help - it made the project go by a lot faster. I was laughing at him and asking if he'd ever - before meeting me and getting married - pictured himself up at 9:30 at night making baby shower invitations. He's a great sport - I know he would have rather been in bed after a long day of work, but I appreciated it so much. And now that those are out, Shanna and I can really focus on the fun part - planning the shower!

I think I mentioned a while back that I bought a new bubble bucket for the kids to play with outside in the warm weather. It's awesome - spill proof! You can literally turn the thing upside down and nothing comes out. Perfect for Little Miss "carry-everything-I-can-around-the-house"! Here's a picture of Tatum trying to figure it all out. She's great at putting the dipper in the bucket and pulling it out with bubble juice, but she's not figured out how to actually produce bubbles yet. That's mom's job, I guess. It's a cheap way to entertain her for 20 minutes or so outside, though, so I'm not complaining.

Today I'm on the hunt for inexpensive and cute fabric to make nursing blankets (I'm adding to my repertoire of baby goods to sell) and ribbon for binky clips (also an item to add). The more stuff I come up with, the more tempted I am to rent a booth at the Quilted Bear or somewhere. I just need to buck up and do it - I've got the ideas and quite a bit of inventory. After working on all the start-up for Perfectly Packaged Parties and seeing how much really goes into it, I think I'm more hesitant to get going with this. Not that I have a doubt that I can make cute things, I just don't have the energy these days! Maybe after the baby is born I can really focus on getting the items sold - right now I can just enjoy making them (since I have motivation now - she's due in less than 3 months!!!!)

We're debating a camping trip this weekend with Beau's friend's and their kids. It would be fun to get away for the holiday weekend, but I just don't feel all that into it as of today. It's a lot of work to get us all ready to go for that long - especially Tatum. If we do go, we'll be leaving on Friday and coming back on Sunday afternoon/evening sometime. If you were to ask me today, I'd probably decline going, but I change my mind like underwear these days. I'll keep you updated on what we end up doing.

Elton John, Look Out!

She Knows When She's Being Photographed...No Smile!

Tater's Favorite Ride...The Doll Baby's Stroller

Well, another Sunday is already here! If anything, hopefully I can stay on top of the weekend recaps for you all. :) Not a whole lot going on here this week!

The week went as usual - our routine doesn't change much during the day. Tatum and I kept busy enough playing with the kids, cleaning the house, watching Backyardigans and Dora, going to Dr. appointments (prenatal check up), etc. Beau's been working later nights, so we don't get to see him until around 8 or so. That's how the summer months will be for him - the lighter it is at night, the more work they can get done. I feel badly for him - it's hard work - but the overtime sure is nice. He's got a way better than than I do right now, though, so I'll have to work on that with some serious pool time this summer.

Saturday morning Shanna, Karen and I decided to go hit the local garage sales to see if we could find anything of substance. I'm on the hunt for a changing table that I can paint (the one I'm using now will be too large with both a bed and a crib in the girl's room). We didn't have much luck with the big stuff, but I did find some great brand new sleepers for the baby and some Ugg boots for Tatum for this winter. It was nice to get out, though - Tate got some good daddy time!

After that, we went over to Grandma Tammy's house for a swim. The weather has been SO nice here that we'd tentatively planned on going all week. The kids had a blast running around and Tatum loved swimming with the floating baby ring around her. Smart me doused her in sunscreen while I went for full exposure. Suffering from a major sunburn on my shoulders and chest as I type. I think I'll live. Unfortunately I left my camera at home, but we did snap a few on grandma's camera. It's at her house and I'll post those when I can get access to them.

In the meantime, here are a couple of pictures of Tate at home with her dad after her swim day. She kept climbing on his back to play bucking bronco. She was laughing so hard that she got carried away and threw herself into our headboard a couple of times without injury - just a little shocked that something had gotten in HER way.



Saturday night Beau, Tatum and I went to Chili's for dinner. It was so nice to go out together - usually we're with a larger group if we go out to dinner. Tatum wasn't having the high chair so we tried the booster and she did alright with it. After that, it was home to bed.

Today we'll be going to Andy's (Beau's cousin) Court of Honor and that's about it. I'm trying to get Tate to eat some lunch, but she's not interested in anything we have to offer her so far. She keeps wanting Beau's salsa, but I know as soon as she has her own she'll hate it. Thank goodness for cheese and crackers!

It was such a nice day today that we decided to test our wings. Grandma bought these for her when she was just a tiny babe and now they fit! She loves them so much that she usually fights me taking them off.