Friday, March 30, 2018

Friday Picks

Happy Good Friday!  We've been getting into the Easter spirit this week and I'm really looking forward to another first holiday with Tatum.  This weekend brings a lot of festivities for us and I think for once the sun will finally be shining around here and things will start to be warming up.

I'm finally starting to get in the spring mood seeing as it's almost April and have been doing some shopping (favorite sales this weekend below!) with hopes to get my closet ready for spring in the next week or so.

Recently so much of my shopping is for Tatum so I've been trying to take advantage of the holiday sales this week for myself.  A few favorites below...

Gap: up to 50% off and an extra 20% off with code "spring"
JCrew: 40% off full priced styles with code "springtoit"
Loft: 40% off withe code "hello"
Old Navy: 30% off - no code needed


Happy Easter! xx 

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

This & That


Over St. Patrick's Day weekend we all got together to celebrate my brother's birthday - Tatum loved helping to celebrate his uncle/godfather and even "colored" a little bit in his card.


Derek and I met on St. Patrick's Day at a college party - TEN years ago!  We stayed in that night to have a quiet night in with Tatum this year.  Attention is never lacking for him at the office and shopping for boys is much more fun than I ever thought - I took full advantage of the Janie & Jack family and friends sale.


I'm hoping we've hit our final snow day of the year last week.  We are more than ready for spring but we did have a total lazy day last week for day two of the two day snow day. 


Our little boy is keeping us on our toes.  The last picture is a classic view of anytime we're on the changing table - he finds his creams and wipes to be the best toys!

Monday, March 26, 2018

Five Month Favorites

Before we know it Tatum will be hitting the half a year old milestone.  He is much more active now - putting any toy he can into his mouth, rolling all over the place, bouncing and jumping in his activity centers, "standing" on our laps and trying his little hardest to crawl.

He loves playing with his sister, moving around in his walker chair and still enjoys naps in his swing even though he's getting very close to out growing it.  

We are much more into toys now - he'll grab onto anything - so that should make Easter basket opening this weekend more fun.


We borrowed this one that he can bounce in from a friend and we have another activity center that he can move around in and he'll play in both for long periods of time.

This is our newest item after trying out a friends and we haven't put the toy bar on so he can just play with his little rattles on the tray.. he moves all over the place in this but usually in the backwards direction.

Since I didn't do favorites last month, this is more of a four month and on favorite - once his hands were free he was an even better sleeper - especially now that he rolls over.

Always a paci boy, this brand is officially his favorite - I seem to always have to order though as we're always loosing them.

This is another favorite that's been used for a while - I used to pack my powder in a little zip lock and would spill all over and then I saw a friend dump hers into a bottle and it was like magic - this is a must have!

I'd say these are Tatum's favorite toy at the moment - we have two and he's getting a few more for Easter - he loves the crinkle sound and will "read" just about anytime a soft book is in front of him.

He loves these because they are both a snuggle toy to play with and something good he can put in his mouth.

These as well as any stroller toy he loves for any kind of play - when he's in his car seat/stroller, to play with on the table of his walker or use on his playmat on the floor.  Anything with the little hooks that he can hold in his hand or put in his mouth.

His number one favorite rattle! Loves many different kinds though.

My parents got him this for Christmas and by about four months he was ready to sit in it and play so this is another that's been a favorite for a little while now.  It lights up, makes noise and is a fun place for him to sit.

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Tatum Beau: Five Months


I can't believe my sweet Tatum is a month away from being half a year old - the time has flown and each month gets more fun than the last.  This month he is very "into" things and wants to be entertained, playing, on the go, etc.  

Height/Weight/Health:

We don't go back for him to get his height and weight checked until 6 months so no update on height/weight.

We had our first real sickness about at about a week over four months.  He couldn't go about a half hour to an hour without diarrhea and was getting a little dehydrated - of course this fell while Derek was out of town on a work trip so left for my parents house.  After about three days, he was finally improving!

From his sickness he also had the worst diaper rash and would scream when having his diaper changed - I felt so bad.  Using wet paper towels instead of wipes, diaper cream and baby powder helped in time.  He had a little cold with a cough and snuffles but nothing serious.  

Still tons of drool and teething definitely underway.  Instead of only filing, we cut his nails for the first time and it went pretty well - much easier than when we tried when he was younger.  


Clothes:

He started out the month in a mix - usually 0-3 for outfits and 3-6 for onesies.  By the time he reached 5 months he fit well into 3-6 outfits.  


Feedings:
We started offering him 7 ounces for his first and last feed - sometimes he'd take it all and sometimes he wouldn't.  He'd usually average at about 6 ounces but sometimes with a few closer feelings at night he'd take a little less.

Usually I'll just fill the bottle, let him take what he wants and then about an hour later he wants to come back for a "snack." 


He hasn't liked the Tommee Tippee bottles as much recently and more prefers the comotomo - I think he'll be ready for a fast nipple soon.  



Sleep:
He spent most of this month in his pack n play - when we got back from Florida, Derek left for a work trip right away so while we stayed at my parents he was in the pack n play with his dock a tot and we've been home/away since then and that was easiest so we figured that would be a nice transition to his crib -- which we will switch him over to this month.  

He's had some fussy days here and there because he resists his naps and such so here and there it's harder to put him down during the day.  


We've started to put him to bed between 8-8:30 and he usually sleeps through the night until 5am and then after a quick change/bottle until 7:30/8:30.



Activities:
He wants to crawl so bad - he certainly doesn't sit still but still doesn't crawl yet - he won't stay in the place that we left him for long and can easily move himself around. 


Likes:
He's playing with more and more toys.  He really enjoys holding on to rattles.  He loves playing with his feet and grabbing at his toes.  He has two jumpers and activity centers that he'll sit in and happily play sometimes for up to 30 minutes each.  One of his very favorites is still playing on his changing table - he loves to lay kicking on it.  He loves playing, laying on his activity mats and playing peek a boo.  Riding in his stroller is the best - I can't wait until it's warmer and I can take him out more often.


Dislikes:
Being hungry, waking up hungry, having a dirty diaper and not much else!  He hates being overtired and has started to fight going down for naps this month.  Another big dislike is his nose sucker as well as his saline drops.


Milestones:
His biggest milestone was rolling over! He started rolling from his tummy to his back about a month or two ago but he's been wanting to roll from back to front for a while now and getting close.  He finally did it at a week over four months and was so proud of himself.  Now we're to the point that he'll roll over as many times as we will let him. 

He's really able to support his head now - to lift himself up on his stomach while playing, for me to hold him on the side while walking, etc. 

He's started noticing his feet more - he loves laying on his back and grabbing them, kicking them up in the air and playing with them.

He "talks" - he loves jabbering and has really started to find his little voice and make all sorts of noises, getting louder and louder.  


Adventures:

While Derek was on a business trip he and I stayed at my parents house for almost a week - it was great having the extra hands.  He had a few other playdates over there during the month.

It hit 70 degrees here so he got to wear a little short sleeve onesie and pants at home for the first time and loved getting a couple walks in.

He went to the country club for the first time - a few times actually.

He survived his first power outage - for an entire weekend and many snow storms.


Other:
He isn't on any kind of strict schedule yet - we just go with the flow and that seems to work well for him.  We've noticed some more hair on his little head.  He loves when we let him play in just a onesie with no pants - he loves having hit little legs free so I know he'll love the warmer weather days.

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Tatum's Playroom


The playroom is probably one of our most used rooms at the moment - Within the past month Tatum hit a stage where he really likes to be "doing."  We have to jumper toys that he can sit and play in in other rooms and those keep him really occupied too but we just bounce from toy to toy and enjoy playing.  He'll roll around on his playmat for a while and has certain toys he's big enough to enjoy on his own and some that he'll sit in my lap and play with.

Before he was born and in his first few months of life the nursery was only neutrals - anything with color in the photos below we got him for Christmas or has been added later and I'm slowly letting go of the neutral only thing - our house is a full kid zone now.

Using his playroom as a second nursery worked amazing when he was first born as we could just walk in there and change or rock him instead of going upstairs to his room - I'd highly recommend making a second makeshift changing station if possible - it was a lifesaver!


Monday, March 12, 2018

Life Lately

Life lately has been crazy around here.  In the almost month that we've been back from Florida, Derek's been out of town for ten days on two separate trips, we've had friends come to visit us two separate weekends, dealt with two big snowstorms and lost power for about 50 hours.  

The snow may be pretty on my walks with Stella, but we are ready for warm weather!  Our little Tatum will be five months old this week and is finally transitioning into his 3-6 month outfits so I had my first session of packing up the clothes that are two small and reorganizing his closet.  Speaking of Tatum, he's in full "play" mode and always wants to be doing something.


With Derek's travel schedule this month, we've been enjoying family time and having Daddy home whenever we can.  It's also given Tatum, Stella and I a few overnight stays at my parents' house which has been a blast for all of us as well as extra Lovie and Poppy play time at our house.


The weekend before last just as we were finishing our work day at home around 4:30 the power went out and didn't come back until late Sunday night - not that there's ever a good time for the power to go out but the entire duration of a weekend wasn't ideal!  We got our fireplace going that night and spent some time out in the car, had sandwiches and cocktails in the dark and slept downstairs by the fire to keep Tatum warm.  The next two nights we slept out with friends on air mattresses and such, came home to completely clear our fridges and get ready for the next storm and 10+ inches that was coming two days later.  Cleaning up from the first storm and getting ready for the second one kept us busy most of last week!


Like I said before, Tatum is in full play mode - we spend more time in the playroom than ever, he has two jumper toys he sits in and loves, he "cruises" in his beep beep car and three weeks ago he started rolling over and cannot be stopped... it's his favorite! 


This past weekend Derek was away and with daylight savings both of my "kids" were up early so there was a spot for all of them in Mommy's bed plus a very lazy Sunday with naps.  Luckily I had girlfriends visiting the night before and Tatum loved his playtime with his aunts - we had some other friends visit two weeks ago so attention is never lacking for our little guy! 


And of course, Tatum and Stella continue to be the best of friends.  As he gets more active it's such fun watching their interaction together.  She is never far from her baby brother's side, knows to leave his toys alone and spoils him with kisses.


Hoping to get back into a more regular blogging schedule this week now that we've caught up on life. xx