Exploding tummy

Scream!!! Lots of them on Tuesday. This all happened after our Nordstrom lunch. She blamed it on the raisins.
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For some reason, both Tot and I were REALLY messy on Tuesday. She was not the only one with a bad tummy and very tired, but she had it worse than me.

“Mommy, my tummy is exploding.” That is what she kept telling me. Now, I wanted to laugh, but all I could do was rub her little back and comfort her. It reminded me of her baby years when EVERY DAY she had an “exploding” tummy. She wanted me to know that she did NOT have a tummy ache. No, it was gas (note the “explosion”) OH…OK, yes, I see.

Today, Wednesday, she woke up early with more complaints of explosions, but she still went to school. All I can do is hold her and let her know it will pass. It does pass, and then it “explodes.” She sure knows how to give me a word picture.

Love you, Tot.

Ponytails, pillows, and playing


Tatum sees me put my hair in a ponytail all of the time, (more like a big ball on my head) and she has been wishing her hair could be in some sort of holding device on her hair. Enter my ponytail holders from *&^* years ago (resurrected from who knows how or where they came from!?) WE attempted the other day to wear to school.
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The only problem is that the holders never made it home. The playground must be wearing them? (I inquired)

So, we are sticking with home ponytails right now. IMG_4026

Well as we rifled through the treasure trough of ancient ponytail devices, she discovered “cupcakes” for her babies. (Her sense of imagination amazes me). Many of them are broken, so I cut off the end IMG_4025and she put them in a baby bottle to feed Amy and Ann (her twin dolls which were mine). 
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After this, she found some old post it not flags and made a man (she says) on the board. IMG_4002

After this, she wanted to play with her new pillow! Mama made her a homemade SUPERMAN pillow, and she can’t get enough of it.
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She even took it today to Vivian’s house to play with it. Of course after playing and jamming on the guitar. Screen Shot 2016-08-26 at 1.50.56 PM

This ponytail, pillow-loving, playful little gal just rocks my world.

More inspired bouncing

Robert brings out the bounce in Tatum.IMG_4011 IMG_4009

I think these two will be friends for a long time. Where does she get her bounce?
Well, I showed her a picture of from my high school cheerleading days (AAAHHH!!!!)IMG_3990, and she insisted we go to the play place so she could bounce as well. (With Robert, her BESTIE BFF of course)

Why I don’t work full time

Well, actually, I do work full time, just not formally at a desk or at a white board. No, I work at being the best mommy to my Tatum every.single.day. And, today, I was reminded WHY I still don’t partake of that full time job thing.

It all started this morning; The usual 6am (or 6:14am) wake up call of Mommy, will you put this on Bella, or Mommy, I have to go (you know), or Mommy, is it Band-aid (to be explained in a later post) day yet? You see, I love this, even though it’s 6 blankin’ 14:am. Why? Because this is being a mom; it’s being the answer lady for all of your child’s burning questions at the ungodly hours of &*%@ am! Yep, that is really a pure delight.

Then, what made it even better this morning? Making a smoothie for my Tot. It turned a bit runny this morning, but she did not care. You see, Tatum would eat a shoe if I put it in front of her because she is so easy about food. But, when she started crying, I knew something was wrong. The runny smoothie was now running all over the counter, the stool, her clothes, the floor and Coti!! (Since he loves to sit underneath her and catch every crumb, drop, and morsel which is usually generously dropped (on accident sometimes, on purpose other times) beneath her.) She RARELY spills anything so this was all new to me. Today, Coti struck GOLD! Since of course, it was a school day, and we were running late, I was BLESSED it was only she who was running late. I had no urgent place to be, so I did not have to freak out like she did, although I did have to remake another breakfast and clean up half the kitchen, a dog, a child, and the floor. Fun stuff. She felt awful!!! (and hungry)

Today, being Thursday, I do go into GCU to teach a cohort. I decided to call a friend of mine who had been trying to reach me. She was waffling on whether to quit teaching or stay with it. We hemmed and hawed, processed, and analyzed together.  I’m so glad I am home with Tatum. My friend is now seeing the value in this as well, and hopefully she’ll be doing the same.

I do get a wee bit sad on Thursdays because  I do have to leave my two kiddos, Tot and Coti. They cuddled to show me they’d be safe. This cuteness makes it IMPOSSIBLE to be away from them.

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All in all, I would not change my life for anything. I’m grateful every.single.day for my Tot, Coti, Doug and Mama for loving me, helping me and supporting me. This job is a welcomed job!

Chillin’

Coti had run himself ragged trying to catch that frisbee ball from his box of a zillion toys.

He found a pillow to rest on.
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Next thing you know, Tatum is wondering…hey, who’s there?
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Oh, just my chillin’ partner.

Aaaahhhhh. It won’t last long because these two run each other ragged!

Her new library card!

It was a bright sunny Saturday morning, and we decided to hit the library. As usual, it was packed full of little ones waiting for a class of some sort to start. Tatum and I decided to avoid the play area first and go get her a library card.

We walked up to the help lady, and I said we needed up library card. She asked for her name, and Tatum piped up and said, “I’m Tatum Knight.” The lady was awed by her articulation of her name. The lady asked me if she could spell her name, and I said she could. So off we went to pick out some books.

Tatum decided to go over to the puppet area near the books and entertain everyone with the puppets. The parents were cracking up over Tatum’s antics. I enjoyed listening to her silliness, and so did the crowd apparently.

We picked out some books, read a few, and then Tot checked them out all by herself. First the card scan…

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Then the book scan.
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She has it down. IMG_3964

We are ready for more books because you can never have too many, right!?

Tapping away and Ballet!

Today, after her FIRST REAL DAY, Tot did a trial class of Ballet and Tap at the Conservatory of Dance.

We had no tap shoes, so they let us borrow some. Two sizes too big, she was a great sport about it. IMG_3950 IMG_3951

So, off they went, and I kept my eyes glued to the screen to watch her. IMG_3952 IMG_3953

We may continue. The instructor, Miss Leah, commented that Tatum seemed like she had had dance before. I mentioned just dancing crazy with mommy! (Does that count?)