Good Adjustments

Well....I'm happy to report that "so far, so good." I brought Anne and Tinsley home from the hospital on Thursday and we've been adjusting to our new family ever since. We're so fortunate to have the 2 sweetest little girls on the planet. Tatum seems to adore Tinsley (Tin Tin as she says) and is always gently patting her tummy or covering her up with blankets to go night night. She always asks "where's Tin Tin" and wants to see her. The sweetest thing she does is to stand over Tinsley's crib on her tippy toes and just stare at her sleeping. Just thinking about it makes me tear up. Obviously there's too much damn estrogen in our house and it's working me over. The good news is that the cat and I are becoming a lot closer. We both sit out side and scratch ourselves to remind us that we are still men. Speaking of furry critters...well not really furry...but Lulu is also excited about Tinsley. She is always sniffing her and trying to give her a little lick on the face. She sleeps next to her on the couch and growls when others get near...she's really watching out for her.

Anne seems to be doing really well. She's up and around and walking down the street and driving Tatum to swim lessons. The girl's a tank. Not much slows her down. Tinsley is starting off with great sleeping habits and Anne's working her magic on getting her in a good routine. Tinsley and Anne go to bed around 11:00 and wake up around 2 for a snack and again around 5 and then back to bed. I have the job of going to get her when she cries and bringing her to Anne. I try really hard to do it quickly and quietly so I don't wake myself up in the process and have no problem going back to sleep. I don't know how Anne stays awake but seems to be doing a great job. I have walked in on her 2x sleeping on the job...which I think is so cute and funny...I poke her and she stirs herself up and takes Tinsley back to her crib.

Tinsley is making cute little faces and squeaks and groans. She's just as quiet as a mouse and only cries when she needs something to eat and then dozes back off. The Dr. said she was a little Jondis and to get her a little sun each day. Anne and Tinsley go out and sit in the sun for a few minutes...I got a GREAT picture of them...

Tatum and I had a really fun Sunday. The Marquardts called to go walking around town lake so Tatum and I got dressed and walked the 3 mile loop with them. Tatum made it 2.5 miles and then went to sleep on me but she keeps pointing at the "doggies" and "boats" as we cruised around the trail. After walking we went to Whole Foods and loaded up on some lunch and much deserved chocolate. It was great to spend such a beautiful Sunday walking around the lake with great friends and my cute little sidekick.

Today it was back to work and I was SUPER excited to be there. I feel like I haven't been in the office for a month and I devoted this week to catching up on everything and getting my head screwed back on. I think the reality that I know have 2 weddings, 2 sweet 16's, 2 prom dresses, 2 nicer cars, a shit ton of make up and tampons and not to mention hours of therapy to get through all this...I need to dedicate some time to selling some houses!! I couldn't have picked a better time to be away from work...August is always a slow month and September gets going the 2nd half...so I don't think I've missed much.

I just gave Tatum a bath...or "rain" as she refers to the shower. Anne's mom gave Tatum the coolest tent that we set up in her room. Tonight we read stories laying down in her tent...both our heads on the pillow looking up and the book and pointing to the pictures of the animals, the boats, the moon and the cows. it was awesome. She let's me blow dry her hair as long as she can do mine...we both do about an equal job on making each other look nice...so I guess it's good we're both going to bed and not out. She loves to watch herself in the mirror as I blow her hair up from behind and it flies all around her. She keeps saying "Daddy do it" but I don't think realizes that my 1" long hair doesn't exactly blow the same way...plus, all I'm doing is blowing more hair out of my head. Anyway..it's fun and I love doing those special things with her.

I'm glad Tinsley is up so much later. It gives me some time to spend with her after Tatum goes down just holding her during a movie or something. It's amazing to look at your child and think that you had a hand in creating something so wonderful. Speaking of...I'm off to enjoy Tinsley and spend a little Daddy time with her.

Have a great week...

Introducing Tinsley Elizabeth Shiflet

What a day! This morning at 5:56am Anne gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Tinsley Elizabeth Shiflet. Anne started having light contrations around 3:00 Monday afternoon. We knew that this would happen any day and were excited to meet our newest addition to the family. We decided to go to bed early at 11:00 to get a good night's rest for what we felt would be a big Tuesday. At 1:00am I woke up to Anne squeezing my hand like it was one of those stress balls. Her legs were tossing the sheets of the bed as her body constricted with contractions. We quickly decided it was time and jumped in the shower, threw our bags in teh car and headed for the hospital.

We arrived at this hospital around 2:45 and they said Anne was 7" dilated. The Dr. quickly came in and said he thought we'd have a baby within an hour. All our family was at the hospital in no time and after pushing through only 4 contractions little Tinsley shower her face. Anne makes delivery look like a walk in the park. I swear a the rate we're going if we have another child, it's going to come on the wya to the hopsital...Anne's got the quick delivery system down.

Tinsley was a lot smaller than we expected at 5lbs and 13oz. She is perfect in every way and has the sweetest, quiet calm demeanor. All the Doctors and nurses have been so complimentary and said that she looks to be a dream baby.


I picked Tatum up from school this afternoon and we were so excited to introduce the new sisters to one another. Tatum couldn't have ben sweeter. She kiddes the baby, patted her on the head and seemed to take a great interest in what this new beaitufl little girl was all about. She's coming back to visit Tinsley tomorrow morning and we think they'll be fast friends beore we get Tinsley home.

I couldn't decide if I wanted a girl or a boy next. I'm SO glad we have 2 sisters to take care of one another. I grew up with a brother so close in age and we have always been so close and great friends. I hope the same thing happens with Tinsley and Tatum.

Anne is doing awesome. She doesn't even look like she's had a baby. She's feeding Tinsley regularly and Tinsley is eating like a champ. Anne really has the "Mom" thing down and makes a wonderful mother to the girls.

I'm sorry to be short and not as energetic as I usually am. We stayed up all night and all day and i'm about to fall asleep here as I type. it's only 9:30 but I need to get to bed so I can catch up on the sleep we lost last night. I know you'd want to see some pictures so I wanted to get this posting up and show you what our day has been like. Thank you for all your wonderful love and support as we've gone through Anne's pregnancy. It means the worls to all of us. Please come meet Tinsley sometime soon...she's anxious to met all of you.

Tinsley opens her eyes. She looks so alert.

HELLO!

Proud Papa.

Happy Mommy.

She's got my feet. Long and skinny.

All cleaned up and ready for show and tell.

4 Happy Grandparents. All eagerly waiting to get their hands on Tinsley.

A little mid morning snooze.

Bright lights, no bueno. Look at those perfect little fingers.

Tatum and Tinsley meet for the first time. Tatum wore her pink party dress in honor of a new little sister.

My 3 girls.

The new Shiflet Family.

Way Behind...

I'm so behind on the blog. Sorry. And truthfully, I don't have a good excuse. I've been spending so much time here at the house I've had more than enough to get this thing updated.

No baby yet! Anne's now 38 weeks and considered "full term." Her due date is the 20th and the Dr. said the chances of baby going full term is "0"... So far we haven't met their expectations on anything else they've said so we're hoping they got this one right. Tonight is the Harvest Moon...it's the biggest moon of the year...so maybe all the wive's tales of a full moon will be true and if ever there was a full moon to have a baby with, a Harvest Moon would be awesome. If you haven't seen it, GO OUT AND SEE IT! Tonight at 7:42 is when it rises. It's ENORMOUS and orange. Maybe we could name the baby "Harvey" after the moon? I doubt that will fly.

Anne's mom has been with us for going on 3 weeks now and is a great help on so many levels. After everything's done and Tatum's in bed we all find ourselves catching up on trash TV and playing Boggle for 3 or 4 hours every night. We're addicted.

Our cabana appliances got put in (THANK YOU DAD!) and we've used our new grill 3 out of 3 nights. I've never cooked anything on a grill before and love doing it. All meals have been edible, I'm proud to say. I'm excited about learning new techniques and getting things just right so I can cook for friends when they come over.

Tatum remains excited to meet her brother or sister. I still don't think anyone's more excited than Annie. Tatum always says we're having a "boy" but also says she's having a "sister"... She and I have both said "boy" from the beginning and not changed our opinion so we're excited to see if we're right.

The weather is so perfect right now. I love it when it starts to feel like fall. It always makes me want to put on my sweaters and long sleeves but then I end up wearing a furnace by 2:00 in the afternoon. Maybe that would be a good way for me to shed a few lbs (it's all sympathy weight by the way).

My camera equipment is still packed away in the car waiting to capture baby #2 so I don't have much to share. I did snap a few pictures with Anne and a hysterical video of Tatum.  Here's a few pics I have taken recently...

Tatum is starting on Christian Loubitan early.  Dammit.

I can't remember where we were heading but with that smile, I'd take this girl anywhere.

This was Saturday morning walking the mall with Anne and Tatum.  What great smiles.

This is about 2 weeks old.  It was Tatum's first day back at school.

Okay...check this out.  Imagine this little girl coming and asking for these shoes, a new car, a wedding dress, whatever.  How will I ever say no?  I'm so hosed...  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHAz25PwvkE

Tomorrow we're having all the big realtors in town come through our house for a luncheon. Timing couldn't be worse and Annie is a huge trooper for putting up with me on this. We never envisioned that we wouldn't have the baby by now but here we are. We've made up our minds that we really want to build a house and take advantage of my Dad's architecture talent. While we're not putting our house on the market, we are letting the realtors know that it can be bought. It's pretty nerve racking to have all your peers come through and scrutinize your house, especially when you're in the house business. We've been working all week on clearing out rooms and making everything look just right. It's exhausing to go through and makes me appreciate my clients a lot more and what they have to put up with when selling their homes.

Okay...back to work. I have a lot to do between now and tomorrow's lunch. I've also got to get prepared because I'm placing bets that we're having a baby tonight.

Cord

Swimsational Weekend

Happy Labor Day...I hope you all had a good weekend and didn't get too hot or didn't get blown away by the hurricane.  Anne is still waiting on the baby to announce his/her arrival!  She thought yesterday (Sunday) was the day and the whole family stood ready to pounce.  I've finally packed a separate bag and dop kit as I've grown tired of constantly having to run to my car to find my toothbrush.  She was having contractions yesterday that got as close as every 5 minutes but they never lasted more than an hour so we just sat and waited.  The Doctor said "most likely a baby this week" and he has until Wed to prove good on his word.  We will see.  I think I said this in my last blog but I'm too lazy to go back and re-read it...but we're both finally totally ready.  All our "must do's" have been done and we're now just coming up with housekeeping projects to pass the time.  Tatum says she's excited and has yet to veer from her "boy" every time we ask her what's coming.  I can't wait for her to meet her little brother or sister.  

I haven't taken many pics this week because everything is packed in the car ready to capture the new baby.  I did get these 2 but they aren't too good...

This week was a lot of fun and some great playdates for Tatum and some fun lunches with me and other "Moms."  I have really enjoyed taking such a big part of Tatum's day to day life.  And I must say, I'm always very happy and appreciative to see a Grandma walk through and give me some relief!  Tatum wears me out and my hours (it's now 2:20am) I'm sure don't help the cause.

The coolest thing of the week was Tatum's swimming lessons.  We had a teacher at the house to teach Tatum Monday-Friday for 20 minutes a day.  Tatum would cry almost the entire time and her progress from day to day was absolutely remarkable.  I cannot believe that a week ago our little girl could only splash in the kiddie pool and 5 days later she can swim all by herself!  Here's a video I took of her doing it earlier today...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D6cjpgg-ic

She doesn't want to get out of the water.  She's constantly pointing to different places in the pool she wants to swim and smiling and so proud of herself after each little session.  I wear otu before she does and I'm not even swimming.  We're continuing with the lessons until it gets too cold to swim...but the progress in just one week is awesome.  

Anne's mother has pretty much moved in and is on standby to help us when it's time to go to this hospital.  Having her here has been great and she's really helping us clean out some closets and fix a bunch of nagging things all across the house.  Instead of paying a dishwasher repair guy $200 to fix the thing, Pam does it for a $1.60 Burger King hamburger...AWESOME.  So far we've cleaned out almost every closet in the house, rearranged the storage unit in the garage, put dimmers in the cabana, breakfast and dining room and at the rate we're going I imagine she'll have the roof redone and house repainted by the weeks end.  

Speaking of upgrades, I owe my father a major "thank you"...he's going to supply us with cabana appliances!  We spent all our money on the garage, pool and landscaping and ran out on the finishing touches.  I've been waiting for a little windfall before I put them in and Dad came over to watch Tatum swim and said he was going to give them to us as a gift!  I'm so excited.  I told him we'd name the Cabana after him in honor of his underwriting the appliances.  I cant' wait to fire up a new grill...hopefully within a week or so we'll have that here and installed.  THANK YOU DAD!  

Well...I'm sure there's more to say but I don't want to bore you.  We've got Tatum starting back to school tomorrow and she's excited to go back and see her friends.  She really loves her preschool program and seems to learn a lot there.  Thursday night we're having an event at our house for Girlstart, a non-profit that encourages girls to excel in sciences and technologies.  Obviously Tatum is way young for this but it seems to be a great cause and especially considering the age we live in and more specifically the town we live in, I think it will be good.  We've having a "Dads and Daughters" event at our house and I'm anxious to roll up my sleeves and get more involved in their program.

Oh yea...great news....I got to see a good friend today for the first time in several months since he's been going through some medical help.  He looked amazing.  Honestly the best I've seen him look since I met him probably 7 or 8 years ago.  We both have daughters that are the same age and love to play together.  He is home for a week and we're going to try and do a few fun "Dad's" things this week...I'm pulling for a Zilker Park train ride now that Tatum knows the word "choo choo."  Anyway...I just wanted to give a big congratulations to him and to encourage him to keep living the good life and to let him know he's got a lot of support around him.  Congrats to you my friend!!   I'm really proud of you and the choices you're making.  You have a lot to live for and I'm glad to see you living a healthier life.  

Maybe we'll have a "mid week entry" here if the baby comes!  Otherwise I'll update you on Sunday night.