Three in Tennessee

Well, the day finally arrived - Haircut Day! Tatum got her first haircut on Friday, June 18, also the same day as Toy Story 3 came out. But more about that later. Tatum did an amazing job during her washing, combing and cutting and was rewarded with a sucker. Miss Andrea also did an amazing job - Tatum's hair is not easy to comb through and Andrea did a fantastic job. There were absolutely no tears, no whimpering - just smiles and some not sitting still. :) We were super pleased with our first haircutting experience. I have informed Tatum that ONLY Miss Andrea is allowed to cut our hair. She is also the only one allowed to color my hair as there is a self-imposed ban on any at-home hair coloring for myself. Just not okay anymore. Anyway...

Friday evening we took Tatum to see Toy Story 3. We've been pumping it up for several months. Toy Story 2 is absolutely her favorite movie so far. It's been months of loving TS2. Tatum did an excellent job during the movie. We came armed with Fruit Loops and yogurt snacks. Totally forgot her drink in the van, but I think that worked to our advantage since she never had to go potty during the movie. My funny little memory from the movie is that she kept leaning over, getting right in my face and whispered, "I want to go upstairs." Too funny! She was loud whispering it, actually. We were about 4 rows from the back of the theater and she wanted to walk all the way up to the back. She sat really well and as soon as the movie was over we walked the rest of the way up the stairs so she could get a "look see". Great movie, by the way. Matt cried. I probably would have except for all the loud whispering/whisper shouting going on in my face. :) Awesome, awesome day!

I cannot believe how fast Tatum is growing! Her vocabulary is quite extensive. She knows lots of peoples names and dozens of animals (sounds included). She speaks in sentences - can you hold this? Mommy, I'm hungey. Spelled phonetically, of course. :) I want doggie in here (usually meaning her crib). I hold it (usually meaning Libby). Anyway, lately anytime she sees a fly or any other insect she yells "beet, beet." It's hilarious! She's somehow combined bees and beetles and just says beet. It's great! We try to tell her that they are flies, but she still likes alerting us to the beets.

Tatum got a Baby Moses puzzle mat for Christmas. It took a few days for us all to get healthy, but we finally got it out and played today. It was a huge hit... Thanks Rebecca!

For several weeks now Tatum has been squinting at funny times. Should we laugh? Be concerned? Start calling her Squints from The Sandlot? Well, no need for alarm. She knew what she was doing all along. Check out the video. She was a bit distracted with the puzzle, but you'll get her drift.

Tatum has recently started playing with the dogs. This video shows her shaking Ropey for Francie, who isn't in the shot. Felicity is playing and enjoying the squeals coming from the Little T...who apparently got a little wild with Ropey...just watch.

As a celebration of Tatum's Adoption Day, some good friends Erik and Jana gave us an American Sweetgum tree (indigenous to the Smokeys). At the adoption party, they called it the "lawyer fee tree" and everyone tied contributions to our adoption fund to the branches. After the party, Erik helped me plant it *read: planted it for me*. What a wonderful gift and great story for Tatum!

On Father's Day, we got all decked out in our Cubs gear, fidgeted with our Cubs autographed baseball, and watched our favorite team beat the Jays. And then, I finally got some good pictures of Tatum by her tree. I think we'll take pictures by it every Father's Day, take notice of the growth in Tatum and her tree, and tell the story again.

To see all the pics, visit the gallery here.

It's official! The court now views Tatum like we have all along. Exciting, surreal, joyful, final.

It was a special day with Irma, Judge Young, Aaron, Sharon, Bryce, Cory, Melissa, Taylor, Katlin, Jenna, Cassie, Sharon, and Fowler! After court, we went to Cracker Barrel for brunch.

We went to Build-a-Bear to continue a very special tradition that was started by Tatum's birth-mother. The results: Wrigley Rabbit. She plays "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" in honor of the Cubs' 2008 home opener... also today. I'd say it's destiny, but that hasn't worked out too well in the past.

What a great day!

Poor Little T...we went to the doctor yesterday and she has an ear infection and an upper respiratory infection. So, she was pretty glad that adoption day was postponed because she was NOT in the mood to have her picture taken a bazillion times. Nor was she in the mood to meet the judge. :)

I have never seen her scowl and be so upset out in public before. She usually hams it up when she gets compliments, but not yesterday. We went to get her prescription at Target and she wanted me to hold her the entire time. She was giving the stink eye to everyone that talked to her. LOL! It was more scowling and carrying on than I have ever seen her do. Poor baby! She really, really didn't feel good.

So we're hoping that she will feel tons better by next Monday for the big day.

Well, we are rescheduled for next Monday, March 31. This might have all been for the best because Tatum isn't feeling well either. We thought is was just teething, but now we aren't so sure. So, we are calling the doctor as soon as they open today. Hopefully, the judge and Tatum will feel better soon. :)

Ok, so we're really working on Tatum saying "dada" and "mama" - we even throw in "puppies" every now and again. Well, so far everything sounds kind of like "dada". Last Saturday, Matt was holding her while I was talking to her and we were talking about pooping. I asked her if she had pooped and other such things. Anyway, in the middle of Matt and I talking Tatum was babbling and it TOTALLY sounded like she said "I poop" - Matt and I looked at each other in amazement. That is seriously what it sounded like. So now we say "I poop" a lot, just to see if she'll babble it again. :)

Teri and I had the honor of presenting Tatum to be dedicated to the Lord at church this Sunday. It was a privilege to share the moment with Aaron, Sharon, our LifeGroup and our church family. It was even more special because Tatum's birth mother and family were there with us! And did I mention that it was Teri's birthday? And Tatum's birth grandmother's birthday, too! What a day. Afterwards, we all went to Los Amigos (our favorite) to celebrate.

Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Yesterday Tatum had her THIRD visit to the pediatrician in the last week. Yikes! It started with a horrendous ear infection last Friday, a recheck on Saturday and a diagnosis of bronchiolitis yesterday. Apparently, bronchiolitis is similar to RSV...so our little girl got sent home with breathing treatments. It would get a little lengthy if I tried to explain our "schedule" today, but let's just say that with 5 or 6 breathing treatments in the last 24 hours, I have barely been able to squeeze in much of anything except working on work stuff during Tatum's naps. Oh, and posting this blog.

As tedious as all of the doses of medicine are, even the middle of the night ones, I don't feel burdened (at least not yet). I so thoroughly enjoy caring for our little goose. We love her so much and she's been such a trooper through all of this. I had her laughing really hard tonight. That is definitely one of my favorite things.

As yucky as Tatum has felt, she is still very happy and smiley. Seriously, I have never seen a baby smile so much. A baby has never made me smile so much!

In spite of her ear infection and scratchy throat, we managed to get some good smiles out of little T. Merry Christmas everyone!

So, I'm pretty sure this is the best Christmas Eve ever.

I've suspected it for a while... Now I'm sure.
My not-yet-four-month-old daughter likes to watch tv. Try as I may to stop it, she rolls and wiggles and finds a way to see the loud flashy thing in the armoire. She's not choosy; she'll watch PTI with me or Murder, She Wrote with Teri [ugh]. She was absolutely captured tonight by the Republican Presidential Debate, except when Anderson Cooper spoke - she whimpered and covered her eyes. It's not poor Anderson's fault; he's just trying to make up for all the NASCAR drivers with two first names.

I'm not sure how I feel about Tatum's new pastime.

• Some current "experts" are fairly certain about how television has a negative affect on early childhood development, as seen here and here.
  
• Check out this interesting abstract from the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
  
• Babies watching the tube seems to be more common than I first thought.
• PBS also has a lot to say.

In the end, I'm not sue how much different a few minutes of tv is from her music-making, light-emitting toys made especially for infant learning. I guess we're okay until she starts smiling bigger for Anderson Cooper than her daddy.

Any thoughts on this controversial topic?