5 Months

It's so crazy how much life can change so quickly! Our little man was 5 months old on January 20th and I can't even remember what life was like without him! We are so blessed by this miracle baby and just can't get enough of those chunky cheeks!

Our sweet Tatum,

Your name means "bringer of joy" and how true that is for your life. Your life on this earth already brings so much glory to God.

You are officially a PK (preacher's kid)! You would be so proud of your daddy. He is an amazing communicator of the Word. I can't wait for you to hear him preach some day. As for now, you are holding down the fort in the nursery of Alamo Ranch Community Church. There have been more kids in the nursery and we are praying that they will become your best buds!

You have started to sit up on your own for a few seconds at a time! You start to lean to the side or forward after a few seconds. You want to reach for everything and are starting to show a little bit of a strong will! Nana says you always want the remote control and you get mad when she takes it away! You have started to say "bah" and "dah," which we love to hear!

You have a very high pitched squealy cry when you are sleepy and you rub your eyes a lot. For some reason though you will only nap for about 45 minutes at a time. We think you are already afraid you are going to miss something...your daddy says that means you are just like me! You are constantly looking around to check out everything around you.

You have started soaking your bibs within a few hours. We are pretty sure you'll be getting a tooth soon! You like so sleep on your tummy and it makes you mad when you roll on your back during the night. We love to go in your room after you've gone to bed to see you sleeping with your little bottom in the air! My favorite thing is to hear you waking up in the mornings. You wake up happy and just talk and talk in your crib. I love walking in to your room to say good morning! You always greet me with a huge grin!

When daddy says your prayers at night, you grin at the sound of his voice. You are always reaching out and trying to grab daddy's nose while he's praying. We laugh and we praise Jesus for laughter.

Tatum, you have only been in our arms for 5 months and we can't imagine life without you sweet boy! You are a constant reminder of the love of Jesus and of His grace upon our lives. We love you sweet boy! Happy 5 months!

Love,

Mommy

Life with the Little Man

I am constantly surprised at the fact that so much time goes by between each of my blogs. I really thought once Tatum was born I would blog all the time on all of the events of his little life. (not sure why I thought I would have time!) I am sad that I haven't documented each month better. So, I want to be a better blogger!

It is so hard to believe that our miracle boy who we prayed for for so long is almost 5 months old! December 18th marked the one year anniversary of the day I found out that I was pregnant! Time truly flies! Some things about our sweet Tatum in his 4th month of life:

• He is eating rice cereal and oatmeal. He leans forward with his mouth wide open in anticipation of the next bite!
• He rolls from stomach to back and back to stomach. This is all fun until it's bed time! He likes to sleep on his tummy and when he rolls onto his back he gets really mad, resulting in a screaming baby in the middle of the night!
• He is sleeping from about 7:30 pm to 5 am. We are hoping that 5 am wake time will get later soon!
• He is a drool king!
• He grabs at anything and everything. If he happens to hold on to something it goes directly to his mouth!
• He LOVES his daddy! Michael can just look at him and that boy lights up with a huge grin! When Michael is in the room Tatum just follows him with his eyes everywhere he goes.
• He loves to take baths and splashes like a crazy man.
• He loves his wubbanub monkey paci.
• A book I was reading about sleep says to have a "key phrase" when putting baby down to sleep. Mine is, "mommy loves you, daddy loves you, but Jesus loves you more!"
• He laughs out loud but the things that make him laugh can never be duplicated.
• Tatum loves his Jumperoo that he got for Christmas.
• He furrows his brow for his really "serious" look!
• When we pray with Tatum before bed, every night Michael prays for his salvation, his friends, and his future wife.

So, there you have it! Tatum James in his 4th month of life. We are thankful and humbled. I will say that being at work has been harder than I expected. I always thought it would be easy for me to work and be a mom. It's overwhelming. Some days I feel like I stink at everything...teaching, being a wife, and being a mom. I have to give this up constantly. I will also say that I feel like I am doing what I am supposed to do right now for my family. We are so blessed to have Michael's mom keep Tatum! She comes to our house every day. When I get home, my laundry is done and my house cleaned. We are so blessed. I love knowing Tatum is spending his days one-on-one with his precious Nana.

This Sunday, January 16th, we are launching Alamo Ranch Community Church. We are so excited! God has called us to the West side of San Antonio where there is a TON of growth and there aren't many churches. Michael is the lead pastor of ARCC. We are praying for growth. We are praying to reach this community for Christ. We are trusting God. We have taken a step of faith. We are trusting God.

I have been inspired like never before to blog more, to journal our lives, to share about the Jesus we love and want to be just like...

The Birth Story...Finally

Ok, so 2 months later, I am just now sitting down to type this out! Here is the story of the day we witnessed a miracle!

I went to the doctor on August 19th, one day after my due date. The doctor hooked me up to a monitor to discover that I was ha

ving some contractions, I just didn't know. I hadn't dilated at all yet but Tatum was measuring 9 lbs 2 oz on the ultrasound! Dr. King told us that we could come in that evening to start the induction process. She also said we could wait to see if I go into labor on my own in the next week. She told us that if we induce, my chances of c-section would increase. She also said if we waited to see if I would go into labor on my own, Tatum would just get bigger...which would also increase my chances of a c-section. She left Michael and I alone so we could make the decision. We decided to go ahead and go in that afternoon to start the induction process.

After the appointment, I went back up

to school to finish preparing my room for Meet the Teacher that my sub would have to take care of that afternoon! Michael came home to clean up a little and finish packing our bags. We checked in to the hospital at 4:30 PM on August 19th. Dr. King gave me something to soften my cer.vix, they started my IV and we just chilled in our hospital room for the evening and night! The next morning, they started the pitocin about 6 AM. Dr. King came in to break my water around 9 that morning. Once she broke my water the contractions started coming on really strong. At one point they had to slow down the pitocin because I wasn't getting any time in between contractions. Each time Dr. King came in to check me I had dilated another centimeter. I did end up getting my epidural when I was 4 cm. By 5 PM I had dilated to 9 centimeters! Dr. King told us it would be a few more hours and I'd be ready to push. A few hours later, I was still 9 cm. They ended up puttingme on oxygen because Tatum's heart rate was dropping. They monitored Tatum and me closely for about 45 more minutes and then Dr. King made the call to do the c-section. Michael got all dress

ed for the OR and I was wheeled into the OR. At 8:05 PM I heard the amazing cry of our precious miracle baby. As soon as he came out all I heard in the OR were the doctors and nurses going crazy over how big he was. Dr. King was sure he was 9 lbs. He ended up weighing 8 lbs 12 oz. He was 21 5/8 inches long. I was in recovery for a little over an hour.

I finally got to hold our sweet boy at about 11:45 PM that night. It was all so surreal. My parents were at the hospital, Michael's parents, and our friends Jon Paul& Crystal. In these moments I had NO IDEA of how radically my life would be changed in the coming weeks!

Next blog will be about the first week of little man's life and the first week of being a mom!

Our Miracle, Baby Tatum

Meals Schmeals....

I'm having trouble planning meals for this upcoming week....

If you have a recipe you would be willing to share I'm all ears! (or eyes I guess since I'll be reading it!)

Thanks! :)

All My Bags are Packed....

I'm ready to go....kind of!

I would love to know your hospital "must-haves" that you took or didn't take and wish you had when you were at the hospital to have your baby!

My bag is packed for the most part, but I would love to know what you took that you couldn't have done without!

My due date is 2 weeks from tomorrow! I am getting so incredibly excited to meet our baby boy! The doctor did tell me at my last appointment that she predicts I am going to go over my due date which made me a little sad. I know that God is in control and He already knows Tatum's birthday. So, if we wait, we wait. If you have time, let me know what I need in that hospital bag!

It's Been A While...

Somewhere between finding out we were having a boy and now, at 8 months pregnant, I have dropped blogging. I can't really even think of a good reason why. As I sit here now typing this, Michael is in Haiti. He has been gone since Thursday and will get home on Saturday. I miss him like crazy, but am so excited about what God is going in and through him over there. There is a team of 8 from our church building shelters for the Haitian people. I can't wait to hear all of his stories!

I think it is still surreal to me, even though I am clearly 36 weeks pregnant in so many ways, that we are having a baby! I am just still in awe of this miracle baby!

Here are some things that I want to remember about this pregnancy and things that I am so thankful for (some in a weird way!)...

1. I have had an intense sweet tooth during pregnancy, which is soooo not me! I would always pass up dessert before and now....well....I can't resist the sweets!

2. I have put on an excessive amount of weight...including an 8 pound weight gain between 2 week doctor appointments!

3. Maternity clothes that looked like they would never fit in the beginning are put away because I have now outgrown them!

4. Tatum is super active! We love to just watch my belly move. Sometimes I wonder if there really is only 1 baby in there because I can't figure out his acrobatics!

5. I haven't been able to wear my wedding rings in a really long time and can't wait to wear them again!

6. We have had so much fun getting Tatum's room ready and putting together his swing, bouncy, pack and play, and stroller!

7. Baby items require a lot of batteries!

8. Baby items take up a lot of space. I feel like we are outgrowing our house quickly!

9. I am measuring a cm big. The doctor says this could be a big baby!

10. I am a little scared and anxious about the "unknown" that is labor and delivery.

11. Walking 30 minutes a day is hard...really hard!

12. My hands and feet/ankles like to swell a lot!

13. I love the smell of Dreft and have had a lot of fun washing all of Tatum's clothes.

14. Tatum has a ton of clothes! Maybe more than his mommy and daddy! :)

15. God is preparing me for less sleep as sleep is hard these days because of discomfort.

We are so thankful, overwhelmed, humbled, blessed....I could go on and on. I can't wait to post pictures of our sweet little man! That will be a surreal day for me because I honestly wasn't sure when or if I would get to blog posting pictures of my own baby! God is so good!