Tatum is 4 months today!

So we had a small photo shoot for our 4 month old little girl, but we had a bit of trouble. You see, we've been putting her little puppy next to her to gage size and how much she's grown each month. But she kept wanting to eat it. We got a couple of good ones though, despite the urge for puppy's tasty goodness... :)
This one is my favorite because she's hugging the puppy. Too bad I was trying to get her to smile and didn't get her quite in the frame.
This is a perfect shot of what she was doing almost the entire time.
Check out those dimples!

Finally! A GOOD day!

Spencer woke up this morning just as Daddy was leaving for work at 7:50am. He went potty in the toilet and put on his "lighting mcqueen" underpants and got dressed without any fuss. We then ate some "panda bear" cereal," and watched "tigger & poo." Soon after, I took a shower and Spencer laid on our bed keeping Tatum company while she slept. Tatum woke up, I fed her and Spencer whispered quietly to me so as not to disturb her. We then got in the car, ran to the doctor's office. Spencer was a very brave boy while the doctor checked out his owie and afterwards we went to "the Target" to get his medicine. While we were there Spencer was such a good boy we went into the mall and walked around. He played in the toys at Ross and came with me when it was time to leave without any tantrum. He even told me when he had to go potty without any leakage. We came home & Spencer ate his lunch, watched the rest of his "fishy movie" that we hadn't last week because Spencer threw too many fits. I was so proud of him today! He went potty before bedtime, read a book and went right to sleep. I wish all days were this easy!

Another awful day...

Tony asked me what happened today and this is what I had to say:

What happened?
Hmmm...
Spencer was eating his lunch and I told him if he ate 2 more bites of chicken nuggets then we would watch the rest of the fishy movie. (Tony & Spencer started watching this documentary called Deep Blue Sea the other night and didn't finish it because Spencer kept yelling at Tony.) He finished his nuggets, meanwhile I fed Tatum. As soon as he was done he came over to the couch and he demanded fishy movie. I told him I needed to finish what I was doing first (I was deleting dumb shows off the Tivo that it had recorded). He yelled no at me. I told him he needed to stop telling me no all the time and that it made me sad. He told me no to that. I said if he told me no one more time he would get a timeout. He yelled no.

Time out began. Time: 12:57pm

He wouldn't sit in his chair and called me stupid.

Soap in the mouth.

I told him not to put his hand in his mouth and then in his eyes. He did it anyway.

Got soap in his eyes.

I stripped him down so his clothes wouldn't get all wet. I put him in the tub and started to rinse his eyes to get the soap out. (He's screaming and kicking the entire time mind you.) I put his pullup (now close to nap time) and clothes on and he's screaming about the pullup the entire time and has to be restrained on the floor to put his clothes on kicking and screaming. I put him back in time out.

Won't sit down.

I tell him to either get in time out or I will take a toy away. He won't get in time out. I proceed to take his toys out of the room and into our room one at a time each time telling him to sit in time out or I take another toy away. This proceeds for 20 minutes and still will not sit in time out even though I have taken pretty much all of his toys out of the room. I get the booster seat out of the garage and strap him in. He has a complete melt down and kicks & screams and spits and yells whilst trying to get out. That goes on for what seems like forever.

He is finally quiet and I go in and he has gotten out of the chair somehow and is standing by his bed. I say that's it, time for bed.

He won't go to bed.

Every time I leave the room he gets up, turns the light on and opens the door to come out. (Meanwhile Tatum is screaming her head off because she is so tired and Spencer's too loud for her to sleep). I put him back in bed about 15 times before I say, fine I will put you back in time out. He screams no and says he wants to sleep. He is still screaming when I leave him in his bed at about to try and calm Tatum down & get her back to sleep. Time: 2:30pm

He woke up at 3:30 (If he even slept) and told me everything that had happened in the calmest sweetest voice he has.

But on a positive note, I totally made this really cool sling yesterday and it only cost me $8!

Child for Sale!

For Sale: Spencer Zane Jones

• Nearly 3 year old boy.
• Blonde
• Brown Eyes
• Potty trained during the day
• Says "no" to every question
• Throws temper tantrums (including, but not limited to: screaming, biting, spitting, roaring, & snot coming from every orifice on his face) if he goes without a nap, you make him eat dinner, or in the middle of Target for no apparent reason
• Spits
• Hits
• Calls you stupid when given a timeout
• Knows his ABC's
• Likes to watch "a little bit of toons."

Any interested parties should contact me directly and not my husband. He is apparently partial to this child and would like to keep him.

Cowboy up...

So I totally forgot that Tony's mom & step-dad got Tatum a cowboy hat and seeing as my babies have big heads, I thought it was a good idea to get pictures before it was too small. Not to mention Spencer has a cowboy had that Grandma & Grandpa Young got him as well.Take note of the little John Deere boots that Tatum's chubby legs barely fit into. Spencer had a wee pair of Justin boots himself when he wasn't much older than Tatum, not to mention his first pair of Wranglers. Tatum also has a pink pair of Wranglers she looks forward to growing into...Here are Spencer's 2nd pair of boots...And Spencer actually got an electric tractor for Christmas last year to match Grandpa's. But I couldn't find a photo of it, so here he is on Granpa's.Have you noticed a trend? ;) Good thing Mark & Bev don't know about the cowgirl section of onesies & jammies at Target right now. ;) ;)

Happy Anniversary...


So Thursday Tony & I celebrated 4 years of marital bliss. It's funny to think back to when we got married. At the time, we had only dated for 10 months, and it was my longest running relationship. It's odd how when you find the person you're meant to be with, 4 years flies by compared to the 3 month relationships I had with all the wrong guys. One of only a handful of pictures we took during our pre-engagement 5 month dating period.This was the weekend we got engaged when we went down for my friends' wedding in GP. I knew at some point he wanted to ask my parents for my hand in marriage. He did so while I was out doing some prewedding video for my friends. When I got back I had asked him how it went while we were loading our laptops into the car to head to Dutch Bros to check our email. He simply responded, "you don't want to know." I was so upset. I was sure my mom had ruined it for me by saying no or something. But before I could say anything he was down on one knee proposing in my parents' driveway. It was so dark out I couldn't even see the ring. I responded with a giddy, "yeah!" and we headed back inside so we could share the news with my parents. This was during our post dating, now into engagement photos, which strangely enough, are few in count as well.This was right after our first kiss as husband & wife. I let out a big giggle.I don't have any photos from our 1st anniversary because I was about 7 months pregnant. We spent our anniversary over at the coast just as we did our honeymoon. At 2 years we had ourselves a one year old little boy, Spencer.
By three years we had been trying to add another baby to our family. And now at 4 years, we've added Baby Tatum. We are so very happy and I am so very grateful for all that God has blessed me with.
There have been happy times & sad times, braces & babies... But I would not change a thing. Everything we have experienced together has helped us grow as a family & and has brought Tony & I closer together. I love my Tony with everything I have and I can't wait to see what God has in store for our future.

We go through phones like we go through cars...

So back in May Tatum projectile vomited all over my awesome LG V phone. It was a very sad day because I absolutely loved that phone. Soon after Tony and I both got the new Samsung Glyde from Verizon. We thought it was pretty cool, and it was for a few days. Within a couple weeks it started to go bad. VERY bad. It would call numbers you didn't dial or it would freeze and not let you do anything... SO, they replaced them free of charge with another Glyde. Within 2 weeks it was acting up yet again. I didn't touch any buttons and it went ahead and called my sister-in-law but didn't say it was calling. The voicemail picked up and I was so confused. I left a 4 minute message because I couldn't figure out how to hang up a phone that didn't say it was calling. So I called today to get yet another Glyde shipped to us to replace the miserable one that they gave me yet again. To my surprise, my persistence was rewarded with the ability to get a different phone! W00t! Tony & I are expecting our LG Dares in the mail by Wednesday. I guess I should have known not to stray from LG... Samsung is less than par.

3 Months Already?


I seriously need to post a little more often than every month. Pathetic really... Tatum is now 3 months old and I took some pics of her & Spence... Where did those eyelashes come from? No clue... But the massive injury on Spencer's face was a result of playing one of his favorite games, "chase Daddy." Sad really, fell right into a basket I have beside the couch. And as opposed to taking him to get stitched or glued back together, Tony though a bandaid would do the trick. The next day I took him to a precautionary doctors visit to check the boo boo and the doc told Tony he should have taken him in and it was now too late to fix it. Sadness. Tony thinks chicks dig scars though, so we'll see. :)

Average Baby!

So yesterday we went into the doctor for Tatum's 2 month check up and vaccinations. After being weighed and measured I asked the nurse how she measured up compared to other babies her age. She said she'd chart it and let the doctor tell me. A few minutes later the doctor comes in and I ask if she's big for her age. He says, "actually, she's about 50th percentile." I look down at the chart amazed because I was sure she was pretty big. Then I look up with a smile and say, "too bad she's only 2 months old & not 4!" They had charted her at 4 months. So I guess it's safe to say my baby is average for a baby twice her age. :) Ridiculous. He moved the charting over and turns out she's off the weight & height charts for her age.

We found out the "heat rash" we thought she had is actually seborrhea. So we've gotta put hydrocordizone cream all over her face twice daily for 10 days. Very sad. Apparently it's a skin condition similar to eczema but doesn't respond to moisturizing. It looks like a red bumpy rash but the tell-tale sign is how rough it feels to touch. Hopefully this will work out and she'll have her super soft baby face again.

Fourth of July Weekend!

We had so much this weekend! We spent Friday evening in Stayton with my parents & lil' bro, Andrew, after watching the annual Fourth of July Parade. It totally rocks! When I was 13, my cousin and I were actually in it. Not planned though. As one of the cool convertibles were driving by we told them they should have some girls in the back waving... So they said hop in. Funtimes. Anyway, Spencer was not a fan at first and didn't want to run into the street to get the candy as they threw it. He had no problem waving, but didn't really want to get out of his seat. I guess we taught him a little too well about not running into the street. Fortunately there was this cute little boy a few feet down, probably around 5ish, that kept coming over and bringing Spencer candy. His parents taught him to be quite a polite little man!

Afterwards we headed over to my parents' house and we had a lovely bbq and set off some fireworks. We started off small with some snakes. Turns out snakes were a lot cooler when I was a kid, and looks a little like poo now. We spent far too much time staring at the ugliness coming out of the ground and I'm pretty sure Tony burned his fingers more than a few times on the really old lighter my dad found in the back of a drawer somewhere. We had gotten a buy one get one free pack, which ended up being 8 packs of snakes! So we had to get our moneys worth! I always remember these being my mom's favorite fireworks, but I really cannot see why! Gross.

Later, Mom, Dad, Tatum, Spencer, Uncle Andy & I sat on the porch as Tony lit the fireworks. Spencer was a little worried that Daddy's face would catch fire, but he soon was calling out the colors he saw and started calling some of them popcorn. All in all, I'm pretty sure Spencer had a good time. Tatum on the other hand, spent half the time giving Grandma Mac a hard time. I don't think she was a fan of all the noises. I guess it makes up for her sleeping through the entire parade!

Uncle Andy, as always, enjoyed his time hanging out with Spencer. He's such a cute Uncle... He'll make a great daddy one day.

So today Tatum turned 2 months old! So here we have her lovely photo with puppy as well as a shot with the cutest little face doing tummy time. I can't tell quite yet, but it looks like her eyes are going to go green like Tony's. I'm so excited!

She's starting to have quite an adorable personality as well! I finally got a good shot of her smiling today! I feel bad that I hadn't gotten one already, but here she is! Recognize that outfit? Yup, that would be Spencer's . It was too cute not to have her wear it even though it's blue. To me she still looks very girly. She's got such long lashes. I don't know where she gets them from, since mine awful short & stubby. Some say that all babies have them, but I never remember Spencer's being so long and lovely. :) My mom thinks she looks just like me. Except of course those gorgeous dimples, she definitely got those from Daddy! She is gonna be such a beautiful lady. Guess we'll have to put her in a nunnery!

Let's Play Catch Up Cuz I'm a Slacker!

Oh snap! It's been over a month hasn't it? Wow, I guess I've been choosing to nap instead of blog while the kids are sleeping during the week. Let's see what's happened since then?

Tatum turned one month way back in June and I decided to take pictures of her next to her puppy every month to see how big she grows. Here's her one monther...
I can't believe that this weekend she will be 2 months already! I know it's cliche, but time really does fly, especially if you're not paying attention...

Next up came Father's Day. It started off with me having wicked heartburn, so much so that I woke up and made Tony breakfast in bed. Spencer helped.
We then spent the day hanging out and then went over to my brother's house for some TASTY brisket! It is officially my new favorite meat! My niece Ryllie was absolutely infatuated with Tatum and wanted to hold her all day.
Them we went outside before we parted ways for some family photos...
Good times had by all! I can't believe my Spencer has grown so much! Just look at him! Ridiculousness... He is becoming such a sweet big brother. He is always protecting Tatum. One day one of his little friends was trying to give her a kiss and Spencer stiff-armed her saying, "No! That's my baby Tatum!" Kind of mean, but you should have seen it, way cute.

So I keep remembering certain shots I took of Spencer when he was a baby and I keep wanting to do the same with Tatum at the same age to compare. Here's one that I thought of... both in their little swings... Spencer is actually a couple weeks older in this photo, but you'd never know with my chunky monkeys.

Everyone says how similar Spencer & Tatum look, but to me they look completely different. Tatum may resemble Spencer when her eyes are shut, but as soon as she opens them she looks completely different. She has these big beautiful, blue/green eyes right now. Here she is right after bath time, which happens to be one of her favorite times. She never as calm as she is when she's sitting in the water. And seeing as she's been getting plenty of baths lately she's been rather content. She has a terrible case of heat rash all over her face & head so I'm constantly trying to keep her clean and cool. And since everytime I leave her with Tony she cries and sweats it just keeps spreading. I don't know what it is. He is such a good daddy, but as soon as I'm out of the house, she lets him have it! Way to stay strong Tony...

I'm sure they're still changing colors, but I can't help but stare at them whenever they're open...
Let's see, what else has happened? Tony took this week off and we went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium yesterday. Spencer spent the entire time we were there asking to see the sharks. It was super cute. As soon as we saw the sharks, he was like, okay, what else is there? By then we'd seen everything there was to see, but Spencer wasn't ready to be done. He was so excited, but Tatum slept through the entire event.

Which catches us up to today. After our roadtrip to the coast yesterday we decided to lay low today. We cleaned the house and just hung out. This evening we decided it was a nice night to roast some smores. This was Spencer's first time and he loved it! After his first smore he didn't want to eat anymore, he just wanted to roast the mallow in his safari hat.

So I guess that about sums up the last month. I promise I'll be more diligent about posting to keep everyone up to date. I guess the month of June just got away from me!

Photo Shoot!

So last week I had the pleasure of my sister-in-law's friend coming and doing a photo shoot with the kids. It only took about 30 minutes and Tatum was awake the entire time. It was really cool. She doesn't some awesome work! Her website is at Cardas Photography. You should check it out! Anyway, so far, she hasn't shown me all the photos yet, these are what we've got...
Anyway, I'm so glad they turned out. She does amazing fabulous work. Not that hard when my babies are so darn cute though! ;)

At least it's a good picture of Tatum...

I survived!

Well that wasn't so bad! Yesterday was my very first day on my own with 2 kids and no help. Tatum sleeps all the time, and only gets upset when she's hungry so I was able to focus most of my attention on Spencer. We only had one melt down that resulted in a time out & massive screaming (on Spencer's part, not mine). :)

We also went to Tatum's 2 week check up appointment. I know they say they want your baby to get back up to birth weight at 2 weeks, but my Tatum did that & then some. She was 9.4 at birth and yesterday she was 10.5! And she'd grown an inch! This is going by far too fast! And I feel like I'm missing out on it a little since she doesn't demand too much from me and I'm not sitting on the couch staring at her noticing every little change like I did when Spencer was born. :(

By the end of the day I was exhausted! But mostly because Tatum & Spencer didn't nap at the same time during the day and therefore I didn't get a nap. Not to mention my grunter of a baby is pretty loud all night and I don't get adequate sleep at night either. I'm working on it though. At least I don't feel like a total zombie like I did with Spencer. 2 is not so bad. In fact, I'm already thinking of adding another one... but not until Tatum is through the terrible two's phase!

What am I going to do?

So Tony has taken the week off to help me adjust to mommyhood and I cannot be more grateful. Spencer has gotten tons of Daddy time that he deserved & needed. And I've gotten a chance to really bond with my new baby girl. I am getting a little nervous for next week though. Going from having an extra set of hands to just me is nerve-wracking. I love my kiddos to death, but Spencer has been demanding a ton of attention and I'm really afraid I won't be able to give him all the attention he needs. Any ideas would be fantastic!


In true random fashion, here's a pic of us after a very long Mother's Day...

What was I thinking?

So it's funny how you wonder how you're going to do it with 2 kids... I was so worried how I'd be able to juggle having 2 kids. But now that Tatum is here, I wonder how I'm going to juggle Spencer! Tatum is so mellow, so quiet, so relaxed. But Spencer has taken Tatum's arrival as his free pass to get away with anything & everything. He loves his baby sister. He is constantly wanting to kiss her and hold her. But then he thinks that means he doesn't have to take a nap anymore. Or that he doesn't have to listen to what we say. He keeps trying to tell us what to do and when to do it. Now that I have baby number 2, how am I going to deal with baby number one? On a more positive note... check out how beautiful my baby is!

The Details...

I promised the details... so here they are...

I came into the hospital yesterday morning at 7am. I was hooked up and ready and received my dose of the devil around 8:30am. Contractions remained steady and strong all day. However, my body did not progress as much as I was hoping. By 1:15pm I was only to 3 cm. But my doctor gave the okay to get my epidural so she could break my water. Finally, at 3:30pm the doc broke my water. She checked me again at 6pm before heading home for dinner and I was only at 5 cm. I was so disappointed! It seemed like the process was taking forever!

But by 7pm I was starting to feel a ton of pressure and despite the epidural I was in pain! So my lovely nurse, Paula, decided to check & I had progressed to 7 cm. Not what I was hoping, but close. Within 20 minutes I found myself in tears from the pain of trying to hold the baby in. She checked & sure enough I was 9 1/2 cm. Paula called the doc, who lives only 7 minutes away... But the pain was absolutely terrible.

The nurses started talking about bringing the ER doc up in case mine didn't make it. But my amazing doctor knew that I was ready to push, so she hurried over here, and instead of waiting for the elevator, she ran up the stairs. Out of breathe she sat down & I was finally allowed to push. Four minutes later, yes you read that right, 4 minutes later, out came Tatum.

She seemed so much smaller than Spencer! But after cleaning her up, measuring & weighing her... She was 21 inches long (same as Spence) and 9 pounds 4 ounces! Smaller, but only by a pound. Not bad for being a week early! Good thing I got induced, or I would have given birth to another kindergartener! I don't know what my deal is. I guess I just like big babies. ;)

Tatum is beautiful though. She looks just like her big brother did when he was born, but she's my delicate flower. So far she is a very mellow baby. She nursed for over an hour and just sat & stared at me afterwards without crying. Last night she slept from 10-3 am and woke up without a peep. I didn't even realize she was awake until I turned the light on to find her eyes were open. She nursed another hour & a half and went back to sleep without fuss. The only reason I'm blogging right now is because she's still asleep but snoring! Not to mention I'm starving & the food service doesn't open until 7am! I can't wait for Spencer to wake up & get her to meet his brand new baby sister! I'll add more pictures of her later when she wakes up...

She's here!

Baby Tatum is here... But seeing as it's 11:47pm and I've been up since 5am... I'll be going to sleep now & you'll all just have to wait for pictures & details til tomorrow!

Epidurals are awesome.

I can't believe I went through natural childbirth when I could have done this. No but seriously everyone should go through childbirth naturally at least once... after that consider the epidural because it is lovely.

Anyway, just hanging out waiting for my waters to be broken.

I'm in labor.

This is weird. Pitocin is running through my veins, I'm having contractions, and hanging out in a hospital bed. It's not so bad thusfar. Not much happening. Thinking about taking a walk to maybe try & speed things along... Pain is not unbearable. But I'll check back in a few hours, since that is going to change!

Is this really happening?

Wow, it's been quite a while hasn't it? I've been on sort of a blogging hiatus. Lots has happened since last I posted... I suppose that is why a friend of mine suggested I start blogging again. I've got a lot on my mind right now and no outlet!

Tomorrow I will be going into the hospital to be induced. That's right, I'll be giving birth within the next 24 hours... And I'm freaking out!

A. This will be the very first time I will be away from my little man all day. Spencer has been my baby for 2 years, 6 months, 2 weeks & 2 days. I have never even left him over night! I know, sort of pathetic, but I've had no reason to leave him. And when I spend the night in the hospital, even though I KNOW he'll be fine, I won't be.

B. Have you ever given birth? If so, you know what awaits me. The pain, the agony, the head ripping through your you know what! It's lovely, really. And seeing as this time my doctor ahs chosen to induce (to avoid another 10+ pounder) there will be the devil there with me... His name, Pitocin! But alas, this time, hopefullly, there will be someone there to help... a nice guy named Epidural. Had I know I was going to have a crazy big baby, I would have invited him to my first birthing experience. But I've learned and he received an invitation months ago.

So anyway, please be praying & thinking of me tomorrow, as I bring another being into this world. And to all my friends & family, thank you for your support & love... Next time I see you, you'll be able to see little Tatum Eliza as well. Unless she comes out with a penis. Then you'll be meeting someone else entirely. ;)

Wow, has it really been nearly a year? And in that year my life has been flipped upside down and back around again. The next few blogs are going to just be catching up on lost time... We'll start from where we left off and see how far we get...

After surgery, it went very well by the way, we decided to start trying for another baby. That very first try we hit the nail on the head. We found out March 16th we were expecting! I was so excited I made Spencer a little "big brother" shirt. The very next day we told our parents and the very next day after that our world came crashing down. I had started to miscarry.

Spencer was such a healthy baby with absolutely no complications in our pregnancy that I had no idea this could happen. I was 24, healthy... it was a fluke. It must have been. Assuming this was just a one time occurrence, we decided we would probably need a bigger house for this soon to be bigger family. In May we put our house on the market and soon realized that we had gotten ourselves into an awful second loan on our mortgage. It was interest only and if we sold our house before 5 years we would have massive charges. So after picking out another house, putting money down on it, and falling in love with it, we decided to stay where we were.

That being decided, we started making plans for home improvement. We were going to tile the kitchen countertops & backsplash as well as rip out almost all of our flooring & put in laminate wood flooring.

Meanwhile, we found out June 17th that we were expecting yet again. Assuming the last time was a fluke, we were expecting a healthy pregnancy this time around. Wrong. Two weeks later, I started to spot & once again, my heart was breaking... That day was July 4th. I don't think I'll ever be able to celebrate that day in the same way again.