St. Pete Beach, Florida

Here are a few shots from the first two days of our (much needed) trip to St. Pete Beach, Florida. We were lucky in that it worked out to meet our great friends, Tim and Carlye, down here for a fun-filled four day getaway before we head home and excitedly await the arrival of our little guy! Check back as we will post some more pictures of our fun in the sunshine state.

Playing frisbee with Tim

Sitting by the campfire at our hotel

Petting the stingrays at the Lowry Park Zoo

A Florida Manatee

Making some potty strides

As many of you know, one of the biggest challenges that we face as a parent is toilet training a toddler. So, as we prepare to welcome "baby brother" into this world we have also begun to introduce the potty chair because we are well aware of the fact that our lives will be much different in about 5-6 weeks. We have been allowing Tatum to run around in big girl undies for a few days now and we have gone from being completely unaware of our plumbing system to announcing as we crawled into bed that we pottied in our diaper. As we still have a long way to go this is a big step! Last night Tatum used the potty 4 times before going to bed and we also used the potty twice last week. While she is initially very hesitant to sit on the potty her sheer joy and excitement is felt when she does manage to pee-pee on the potty. Afterward we take a trip to the toilet and Tatum gets to flush everything herself which she loves to do. Let's cross our fingers that we can make this stick!

Very proudly displaying the "goods"

All gone...time to put the potty back

A new addition to the big girl room...

Tatum's big girl room is now totally complete (there is no room for anything else anyhow)! This past weekend Tatum received a special delivery from Grandma Liz - a needlepoint picture that hung in mommy's room for many years and was made while Grandma Liz was still pregnant with Lindsey. The needlepoint hangs perfectly over Tatum's new dresser and makes the room feel just right. Thank you Grandma Liz!

Tatum's "Big Girl" Room

After Tatum told us that she would move out of her crib and into her new room in "five months" we decided that it was time to contact the "Crib Fairy" about paying a visit to our house. This past Sunday she came and disassembled the crib while Lindsey and Tatum were out running errands. When she returned home Tatum was a little surprised that her crib was gone but she appeared just as excited to go and play in her new room. We have not looked back since Sunday and Tatum seems to have taken very well to being in a big girl bed. Now we just need to kick the "nanny" (aka pacifier) and work on potty training!

Showing "Baby Kara" the room from above

Can anyone find Tatum?


Tatum also came home to a new bookshelf!

Swimming Lessons Take #2!

We were once again lucky to score a spot in the "parent and child" swim classes that are being offered by the city of Norfolk. Tatum really enjoyed her time in the class this past fall so we were happy to make time for swim lessons once again. Luckily we were able to get into the Saturday swim class so that both mommy and daddy would have the chance to get into the pool with Tatum. While Grandpa Lonnie was here visiting we were able to snap some pictures and videos of Tatum and Daddy during swim lessons. Enjoy!...

The class making the rounds...

Reaching for the floating fish (used to encourage early arm strokes)...

Got it!

One of Tatum's best buddies and his mom

Snow Day!

According to local weather experts, the Norfolk area averages one 6+ inch snowstorm every 8 years and one 12 inch+ snowstorm every 23 years. Based on these stats, we were in fact due for a good snow here since it had not happened since 2003 and that is exactly what we got. On Saturday we all awoke to snow falling at a fairly fast pace and quickly piling up. Although we had our fair share of snow in Maine it was fun to enjoy a true taste of winter and Tatum had a lot of fun playing with her friends in the snow and making a snowman. Here are a few pictures from our snow day:

Getting ready to go play in the snow

The 3 Musketeers: Tatum, Elise, and Carter

Attacking Rebecca in the snow

Rebecca and Elise


Eating snow from the "snow bar"

Tatum and her snowman made with the help of Daddy

Bending down in the snow is not easy at 7 months pregnant!

Playing with Sadie

One of Tatum's new and favorite things to do is to trace her hands on a piece of paper. This morning she wanted to trace Sadie's paw so we allowed her to do so and Sadie was such a good sport!

Getting started...

Here we go...

The final project!

Our little girl is getting big!

Mike and I were pleasantly surprised one morning recently when we discovered that Tatum knows how to peal a clementine all by herself! We had propped her up on the kitchen island while we made smoothies one Sunday morning and when we turned around she proudly displayed her pealed clementine. While we snapped a few pictures of our proud little girl, she was being goofy and her smiles were very silly. This is just an example of one of the many new and independent tasks that Tatum has begun to do. Lately her new thing is tell us that we cannot sing with her or that we need to "get off" the couch that she is sitting on...if only she felt like taking on the potty training task!

Holiday Season 2009

It is hard to believe that the Christmas season is already behind us! The two weeks between school ending, Christmas, New Years, and school resuming flew by. During that time we were lucky to have a quick, but fun, Christmas visit from the Smiley's who drove from St. Louis to be here with us. Unfortunately we did not snap as many pictures as we would have liked because the Christmas weekend, and the week following, was spent bringing Tatum back to health as she was stricken with the flu on Christmas Day. We had a long 4 days following of temps ranging from 103-104 and lots of cuddling on the couch! Once Tatum had been nursed back to health we were able to enjoy the company of friends on New Year's Day to watch the Rose Bowl. Overall, we had a fairly low-key and enjoyable holiday. Tatum was a pretty lucky girl though as she scored lots of toys, puzzles, clothes, and a new play table. Baby Brother-to-be even scored a few new things too!

Here are a few pictures from the two weeks:

Yawning, while modeling, her new raincoat from Aunt Melanie

Waiting very patiently

Being very goofy (as always!)

The new table and some art supplies/playdoh from Santa

While Tatum and I stayed home due to her being sick, Mike took his parents and Kara on the Norfolk Naval Base cruise tour. For two hours they cruised around downtown Norfolk and the naval base looking at local sights as well as capturing some great images of the ships and aircraft carriers that are in port right now. It was a bit cool that day but they enjoyed being out on the water!

Downtown Norfolk

The Naval Hospital

The USS Wisconsin and the Nauticus Museum


The Norfolk International Terminals