Sunday, October 19, 2008

Tax Week


This is always an exciting week for me.  For some reason I have all my stuff in Quickbooks and really make an effort to have everyone the things they need and we always end up filing extensions and I'm getting calls 12 hours before the deadline with a panic of "we need this for your tax return."  It always manages to make it in on time but man is it an ordeal.  This was an especially exciting year for taxes.  I can't believe what I pay and seeing what they go for makes me a little ill.  But we live in a great place, right?  I'm telling Anne to enjoy what we've got before the IRS comes and has a yard sale of all our things for their benefit.  Do you think the IRS reads these blogs?  I hope not.  Man...I'm happy to get this week behind me and on to more positive things.

Earlier this week Tatum was running around outside before dinner.  Anne and I were just resting on the lounge chairs watching her.  She decided to put on Anne's shoes and scoot around on her tricycle.  Here's a picture and a little video link...





Tinsley is starting to really stay awake and stare at me.  She looks at me with these piercing eyes and you can tell she's ready to take on the world.  Everyone comments that she seems to be the most alert baby they've seen.  That's the smart stuff she gets from her Mama, that's not from me. Nobody has ever confused me for being alert!  I saw her give 3 genuine smiles this week.  She was lookign at me and i'd rub her chest and she'd let out a shy little smile.  I forgot how prescious those moments are.  

The week was a bit of a blur...very busy at work and Tatum maintained a full week of Monday Swimming, Tuesday School, Wed Ballet (BEE-LAY), Thursday School, Friday Swimming, Saturday a birthday party and Saturday night with PawPaw and Kay.  I don't know how the girl keeps up with her calendar!  

Wed. night was her first halloween event.  I was really sad to miss it...I somehow didn't get everything on MY calendar and was sitting at an open house while Tatum was a bunny rabbit at her school's Halloween Night.  I hated missing it but Anne took some fun pictures for me.  I think Anne said we have 6 Halloween events and Tatum has a different costume for each one....so I'm sure you'll get your fill of costume pictures over the next 2 weeks.

Saturday we had a blast when we all went to a Ranch Party for one of Tatum's Gymboree girlfriends' birthday.  We went on a hayride and pointed out turkeys, deer, axis, birds...tons of fun animals.  Because is was a ranch party Tatum got to wear her cowgirl boots for the first time.  She was so excited.  She pretty much hasn't taken them off since.  She looks like a little cowgirl in her jeans and shirt and steel toed pink boots.  What a cutie...



I think the highlight of Tatum's day was rolling and jumping in the leaves.  They has raked over a big pile of huge sycamore leaves and all the kids were diving and jumping and covering each other up with them.  It was so fun to watch them.  I probably took 100 pictures of her in there playing.  These were my favorite.  

Saturday night Tatum got to stay at Paw Paw's house!  This was the first time she'd stayed over there and she'd been talking about it all week long.  Paw Paw bought her a new big swing, all kind of baby necessities/shampoo/soaps and was ready for her!  When I was leaving her for the night she kind of waved and didn't really care that I was leaving...she was totally in to her surroundings and I was the last thing on her mind.  I felt so good that she was so comfortable.  I got a great voice mail from my Dad the next morning saying that Tatum was unbelievable.  He couldn't believe how much she ate, how fun she was the entire time, how easy her bath and bedtime was...it was cool to hear the excitement in his voice.  Kay was there too and we felt good that someone with some recent experience was close by.  Tatum really loves being around Paw Paw and Kay and they are great to her.  I was scared Dad was going to keep her up until midnight eating cookies and ice cream but he swears she was in bed by 8pm.  They cooked waffles Sunday morning and Tatum renamed it "Paw Paw's toast."  Sweet.  

This afternoon I met Cole, Cross and Netty (Mom) at the Pumpkin Patch to get some pics of Cross.  We were there for probably an hour just watching the kinds run around and play.  Cross took his first steps this week!  I was so excited for him.  I got to see him take 2 steps today and I'm sure many more will soon follow.  Here's a couple of pics from this week's pumpkin patch trip...






Lulu was excited about the Horns victory this week over Missouri. She wore her jersey to cheer them on...


Sorry not too much to write tonight...it was a great week for all of us and yet again I can't remember half of the stuff we did.  

Oh crud...I forgot...this weekend was our 5 year wedding anniversary!  I didn't' for the day and I was actually well prepared, but I almost forgot to mention that on here!  We had a great dinner at Trio while Dad was watching Tatum and Mom was watching Tinsley. It was a really nice night.  My favorite thing we did was to make a list of the "best moments" since we've known each other.  It was neat to relive them and smile and laugh at things we've done.  Sometimes you run out of things to talk about at dinner and conversation can quickly turn to things that are a little too heavy for a celebratory night....so the "looking back" thing was really fun.  Yes, my idea, thank you.  The romantic in me I suppose.



Sunday, October 12, 2008

Punkin' Patch


Okay...I'm back on track with my once a week entry. This was a slow week so I feel like I'm getting caught up. I'm not sure I like it slow...seems like business is drying up a bit with all the market craze. I'm anxious to get through the election and get people feeling a little more stable. I'll refrain from telling you who you need to vote for but I just want to get through this election and get SOMEONE in office...in real estate it seems like once the elections are over it's back to business.


I'm here to write about my family...not my work. Sorry. I walked in one day this week and Anne was holding Tinsley and breast feeding while with her other hand she was coloring with Tatum. In the background dinner was cooking on the stove. I told Anne she was now a bonafide mom! It looked like a lot of work.


Tinsley is growing leaps and bounds. She weighted in over 8 lbs and her little cheeks are filling out more each week. She's still quiet as a mouse, wakes up only 2x a night and is being great on our sleep schedules. Tatum is at the coolest age I've experienced yet (everyone tells me every age gets better and better...but I don't know how it can get more fun that this). She is absorbing everything around her and repeating words like crazy. She's really learning to put together words and little sentences. Today I told Tatum "I love you" and she looked up at me and said "I wuv you...too." I swear I almost started crying right there. SO cool.


We're really getting in a good system with feeding the girls and getting Tatum in bed. Tatum still loves bath time and now really wants to "rain Daddy"...which means get in my shower with me. I once threw her in with me so I could shower her off faster. It worked but now every time she comes in my bathroom and I'm in the shower she wants to get in with me. I'm not sure if this is appropriate or not but I'm going to tell it because it's funny. Tatum discovered her "parts" recently and Anne has taught her the correct word for it. So now when you're changing her, she'll point and say "Tay Tay's 'nina'". Well...when we were in the shower she pointed up to me and said "Daddy's nina" I got a kick out of that and felt a little awkward telling her the proper words. While tempted to teach her some funny slang, I thought my wife's sense of humor would not appreciate it so I stuck to the classics. After telling her the right name and not really wanting to go in to too much detail and word repetition I just thought we'd slide on by that one. About a minute later she pointed up again and scrunched up her face in a grossed out little look at said "Daddy's nina......ewwww." Good girl. Boys parts are ewwww. Stay away. We're sticking with that philosophy until she's 25.


Let's see...what else? This week was the TX/OU game and I went up for my annual trip. I stayed with our friends the Golden's and at their house they had the Katz' and the Chasen's and their kids. It was so fun to watch all 3 kids run around and interact. I love watching our friends with kids and seeing all of us learning and enjoying such a new part or our lives. The game was GREAT and we had seats 3 rows off the field. (As I'm typing this I just remembered that I forgot to pay you for the tickets Matt! Check's in the mail...) It's always a super long weekend, and I always get fried in the sun at the game. I really missed Annie and the girls so I decided to go home Saturday night after the game and enjoy a full day Sunday with the family.





On Sunday we went to the Pumpkin Patch at Tarrytown Methodist Church for our photos. It's getting challenging to get a picture of everyone happy and posing...Tatum seems to be runnign all over the place and when you try and corral her it just sends her in to a worse mood...but we did get a few keepers. I bought Anne a "big girl" camera so she can get some really good shots. This was her first picture she took with the camera and look at it! I'm excited to see how she does and I'll enjoy teaching her how to use it. Though, she doesn't seem to like my teaching lessons (see Tennis story) but we'll se how this goes.





We ended the weekend with an awesome dinner at Bistro 88 tonight. The food there was great. I need to remember that place next time we can't think of a place to go. We went with our young, single friends and brought both our girls. I love how excited they always are to play with them and laugh at the things the kids do. Wether it's Tatum chewing her food and then spitting it out and handing it to Anne or Tinsley breast feeding at the table and ripping toots and pooping...they find amusement in all of it. They really are cool to not shun us from hanging out with them and being so great with our girls.


Tatum continues to love the moon. Tonight we got home late (8:30) and when we walked in the house from the garage we went outside to point at the moon. She looks up and says "look Daddy, moon!" She then says "night night Moon", blows a kiss and waves to it. It's priceless. I always tell her "that's Tatum and Daddy's moon."


Well...only 17 more shopping days until my birthday. For those of you that don't have it on your calendar, it's October 29. The Saturday after (November 1) is the big Halloween Party we go to every year and we'll probably do a big dinner somewhere with all my friends. Put it on your calendar and stay tuned for what we come up with.


Oh yea...this week's pictures!!....



Anne took this. Tinsley surrounded by her color. What a cutie!



Tinsley in a milk coma after dinner



Tinsley's first night out on the town . Anne got herself all dolled up. MILFY!



Save the jokes you immature jerks. Fresh out of the bath...actually, this was during the bath.


Just out of the bath. "Wide eyed and bushy tailed" as my parent's would say.



Anne and Tinsley at the Pumpkin Patch



It looks like Tatum's pushing Tinsley down but she was giving her a really sweet pat on the head. She's always loving on her little sister.



The Happy Family.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Behind again...


Tinsley all snug in her crib.  I LOVE her pajamas.  I want them to make these for big people and I want to have frogs on my feet too.  I'm dead serious.  How much did you all love those when you were little!?  For those of you that say you never know what to get me for Christmas...

Did I put this in last week's blog?  It's just so sweet I can't help but show it off.  

I love this.  Doesn't she look like a principal or a judge or something?  "I'd like to have a meeting and find out exactly how the hell someone thought I should be brought in to this crazy family!  I need some explanations here."  Look at her fingers!  They are so long...Tatum and I think she's going to be a pianist.

THE BLOG...

I broke my promise to do this weekly.  I'm sorry.  I really don't have a good excuse.  I will try and not make this entry too long but who am I kidding...you all know I'm famous for finding the limits of your voice mail system and tend to write more in here than any of you probably care to read.  On that point...I've got to say "thanks" for a bunch of random message and emails I've received.  I have probably heard from 3 or more people that have said how much they enjoy reading the blog and keeping up.  One friend said that he loved reading it because what I write is exactly how he feels about his girls and he enjoys seeing someone else share the same feelings.  It really makes me feel good to hear those comments from you...so thanks for taking time to share that with me.  

Tinsley continues to be another dream child.  Everyone sends jokes to us about "how are you enjoying no sleep, etc."  I have to send out huge kudos to Annie.  I don't know what she does but she has these girls well behaved.  Maybe if I'd listen to her Nazi regiments I'd be a better little boy myself but so far her powers have been useless against me. 

I love the schedule we have now.  I get home from work around 6 and have a good 2 hours to really enjoy Tatum and run around with her and learn from her and try and show her new things or a new word.  She goes to bed around 8 or 8:30 and after that Anne and I usually catch up on a little work/email and then put in a movie or watch TV around 10.  From 10 to midnight I usually will hold Tin Tin and just let her sleep in my arms or on my legs.  We don't communicate much...because she's always asleep...but I love just staring at her and listening to her little grunts and groans.  I really feel like I get to spend time with both of the girls and it's good time to spend with them.  I found with Tatum that I wasn't really involved until she was more like 8 months old and could kind of start interacting with me.  They all seem so attached to their mothers because of breast feeding, etc...I can't wait until Tinsley is old enough for a bottle...I think that's next week actually...and I can hold her and feed her and start really nurturing her.  I want to make sure she feels my presence and knows I care.  I worry hat I don't pay enough attention to her and I try and always let her hear my voice and know that I'm there for her.  In the mean time I'm really trying to make sure Tatum is having a comfortable transition and feeling like she's getting ample attention.  I haven't noticed anything but good so far.  She's had a little tantrum here and there but I think that's the "terrible 2's" on top of having a new baby in the house.  All in all she's been really incredible.  She wakes up asking to see Tin Tin and we always go in and she kisses her on the head and genly pats her tummy or her head.  She's an awesome big sister and seems to genuinely care about her little sister.  I can't believe a 2 year old can comprehend a sibling.  Like I said...she teaches me a lot.

Tatum holding Tin Tin

Me and Tinsley catching up with each other.  This is as good as it gets!

Check out that outfit!  We found it at Old Navy for something like $4.  It says "I want Candy" with a picture of a candy corn.  She was literally running laps around the house when I took this picture.  

I tell Tatum I want a "big kiss" and she opens her mouth as wide as she can and sticks it up to my lips.  I love it.  Here we are giving each other a "big kiss."

Annie and I are now down to our little family of 4.  We had both of our mothers stay with us for a week at a time.  it was unbeliveably helpful in so many ways and I can't thank them enough for all that they did and gave.  We had meals around the clock, Tatum was well tended to and Annie was able to get some much needed rest and focus on adjusting to an infant again.  They don't hire out but whatever rate they would charge, i'd gladly pay double to have them again.  It's such a blessing to have both of our families so close and have all our siblings here to share and enjoy...especially in times like this.  THANK YOU Pam and Mom for all you do...it's immeasurable and very much appreciated.  

Tinsley continues to grow and grow and is eating like a champ.  I'm not sure she can speak...i haven't heard a peep out of her.  She cries for about 20 seconds until we get her and put her in front of Anne, then she eats and is as quiet as a little mouse.  Anne did tell me that she let out quite a yelp today when Tatum accidentally kneed her head.  Poor thing.  Anne said Tatum felt bad and was petting her head to help ease the pain and gave her a little kiss.   I'm still waiting to hear Tinsley actually make a noise!  Maybe I should enojoy the quiet nights and not complain??

Tatum and I have done some fun things over the past 2 weeks.  We're trying to wear out the Zilker Train.  That's become one of my favorite things to do with her.  She seems to love it and waves to all the folks as we pass by.  She doesn't miss a doggie or a boat or a duck or a bird. Once we're off the train, she wants to feed the birds and do the slides and be pushed in the swing.  It's therapudic for me to push her...I think I've said that before...but I just love the 10 minutes of feeling her in the swing and remembering how carefree life was when we were around that age.  

Last weekend we spent most of our Saturday morning at Chick-fil-a.  I'd never been there for breakfast and took her to give it a try.  Breakfast was fine but what was much cooler was the indoor playground.  There was NOBODY there and we had it all to ourselves.  I'm not joking when I tell you that we were there for over an hour doing one slide.  I can't believe she had the energy but she went down the slide, climbed the huge stairs and did it over and over and over again and again and again.  I stopped counting at 30.  That little girl has an energizer bunny inside her.  She just doesn't stop.  I was having so much fun watching her laugh every time she'd come off the slide...I called my mom, who was close by, and told her to come and just watch her.  Tots reminds me of how great those simple pleasures are.  I crawled up the slide with her several times but it's rough on a 6' guy to hunker down and crawl around in a cage that was made for someone 2' tall.  I had fun and laughed and explored with her.  I really wonder what an idiot people think I am because I just turn in to a moron when I'm with Tatum...I try so hard to be in her element and laugh and yell and play silly little games. I'm kind of numb to everyone and everything around me when I'm with her.  

I hear Tatum's swimming is really impressive.  My Mom and Annie have been taking her this week...we're doing it at a friend's house that can afford to heat their pool.  Tatum's swimming the length of their pool with only one breath in the middle.  I'm going to make it a point to go by and see her do it this week.

"Bee-Lay" (Ballet) seems to be another thing Tatum has jumped in full tilt boogie with her hair on fire.  She can't get enough of it!  Several times we'll wake up to her saying "I want bee-lay"...we keep trying to tell her "its' on Wed"...but she wants to do it all the time.  We've got her putting her hands in the air and twirling around on the living room floor.  She loves the attention and always has a huge grin on her face while she spins around and around until she loses her center of gravity and rolls to the floor.  Then she gets right back up and does it again.  I get dizzy just writing about it!  She's learning to "jump" and loves to yell "up and down" and try and jump.  She gets about 1" off the ground...if at all...but in her mind I think she's flying.  I've started to throw her up really high when we're laying on the couch and she makes me do it over and over until my arms hurt.  You should see her little face giggling as she loses her stomach and keeps saying "Daddy, Up" and wants me to throw her up again.  

Tatum ready for Bee-Lay. She is now obsessed with Woo-Woo's (Lulu) leash.  She comes in saying "Lulu on" or "Lulu potty" and she wants to drag her all over the yard and house.  Poor dog.  Lulu sees her coming with this thing and runs for the hills.  It usually takes me about 10 minutes to find her quivering under a couch somewhere.  Tatum loves taking her out.  Sometimes if we can't catch Lulu she'll say "Daddy on" and wants me to wear it.  I'll put it around my ankle and she hauls my ass all over the place.  I'm waiting to trip and knock my teeth out.  Honestly I'd feel better about than than her strangling the dog.  The worst is when she stops walking the dog and Lulu is taking a much needed break and Tatum starts going again at full speed and I just watch the leash slack being taken up and see Lulu's neck yank out of socket as she goes out on another exciting run around the place.  Lulu deserves all the clothes and pedicures.  You guys make fun of her for it, but believe me, she deserves it.

Today we went out on the boat...just a quick run to Ski Shores for a hamburger at lunch.  Tatum has been saying "Daddy Boat" for 2 days....I've been promising her we'd go out on the boat.  Last time we went she cried and was not excited about getting on.  Today she couldn't in fast enough and was great about putting her life jacket on, etc.  (Big thanks to David and Shelby for helping us load the family up and keep everything under control!).  Tatum doesn't like to just sit on the boat...she likes to sit in my lap and drive!  She sits there completely focused on the task at hand and doesn't look anywhere but straight ahead....which is the instrument panel.  She can't even begin to see over the dash.  And she doesn't care!  She just concentrates on driving us.  It's hysterical...as soon as I take my hands off the wheel, Tatum takes a 90 degree hard right.  All you see are her little pig tails tilting right and her skinny little arms whirl the wheel clockwise as far as she can make it go. We all just laugh and clap as we're watching the boat take dead aim for the shoreline but she's proud of herself for making it do something.  I'm trying to get her more interested in honking the horn rather than steering us to our death but so far she prefers the steering wheel.  I assume she'll take after her Dad and like the roller coasters when the time comes.  


Well...again, I've typed too much and will cut it off here.  There are so many more stories to tell but it's 1:30 and I've got to get to bed so I don't hate myself tomorrow.  Once Tinsley starts sleeping through the night I'll probably go back to my crazy hours but for now this going to bed around midnight thing has been working well for the whole family.

Oh yea...last quick side note.  I can't believe the number of friends that have sent all of us such wonderful things.  We're as fat as we've ever been from Tiff's Treats!  Bless you all for those much loved hot boxes that arrive on our porch.  We have had so many cute things sent from some of the neatest people.  The ones that really tug at my heart are our friends that aren't married, dont' have kids and have been thoughtful enough to really put an effort in to finding something for Annie or especially Tatum!  I would have never though about the importance of giving Tatum a gift but boy has it been great...she's got some house shoes, a huge Monkey, all kinds of toys, clothes and animals and a bunch of great attention.  The things we're received from everyone have been incredible and I really appreciate everything especially for Anne and the girls...my mind jumps to people like Jerry Maher, Jenny Hall, Jess Gonet, Wiggles, Ted, Kyle...people that I never would have expected would have thought to send something because they are so far away or they dont' have kids, etc.  Its' really touching to see how much everyone cares.  We have so many wonderful friends...THANK YOU all for everything you do and for being such a wonderful part of our lives.



TX/OU weekend this weekend.  See you in Dallas??

Cord