The Dish!

Jesus' birthday party

2012-01-24T23:24:00.003-05:00

Our friends Kellie and Kevin invited us to a birthday party for Jesus at their house this year. We had fun eating dinner together and spending time with friends. We also read the story of Jesus's birth and had a birthday cake for Jesus! The kids each brought a toy to donate to the benevolence ministry at our church. We were surprised when Levi selected his large Buzz Lightyear doll. We explained to him what he was doing and that he would never get it back, but he continued to be excited to share that toy with someone who wasn't able to have a Buzz Lightyear doll. What a sweet kid!

Kellie presenting the cake.

Party hats? Check!

Ah, friends and cake.

Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Christmas

2012-01-24T23:17:00.000-05:00

This year we celebrated Christmas at home which was such a nice treat! Dad and Jennifer were in the process of preparing their home for a semester abroad, so it would have been a hassle to stop their preparations to host everyone for Christmas. Plus, our location in Central Texas seemed convenient to everyone. Ty always says that we should play the "we have kids" card and stay home, well this year, he got his wish.

I love the ambiance from the lights on our Christmas tree. I pretty much keep that sucker on the whole month of December.

They are very excited to open one gift on Christmas Eve.

Grandma got them the new books from Hallmark - you read the book and a stuffed animal that comes with it will talk/respond to you. It was so cool and the kids love them!

Colt got Bigsby (a soft monster) and Levi has Cooper (a soft bear)!

Christmas morning gift exchange

Our "white-trash" wine glasses - they are mason jars with lids on top!

Grant and Stephen and Aunt Debbie and Uncle Don also came over, as well as Aunt Alethea, Uncle Andrew and Aunt Amy, but I didn't get any pictures of them. Sorry! We had lots of delicious food, went to a Christmas Eve service at a new church down the street, and fed breakfast to some people without homes in downtown Austin on Christmas morning -all traditions I'd love to continue! I want to make it a priority to put the gifts on the back burner and realize that Jesus is the best gift we will ever be given.

We also had Christmas celebration at our house the week before with the Dishman side of the family.

Aunt Chez made the kids some cute pj pants!

Eliza is happy to be here.

Sweet Tatum

The boys in their pjs from Nana (and Uncle Dusty's OU colored hat). We love the month of December and the chance to spend time with our fun family!

Documenting December

2012-01-20T22:41:00.000-05:00

For Christmas, Nana gave the kids some cute outfits. But they were short sleeved, so I took advantage of a warm day to go take their pictures at the park across the street. Little did I know, we were to have many more warm days this winter! The kids have gotten good use out of their outfits and spring has yet to begin. Thanks, Nana!

The kids weren't eager to sit still on a bench at the park, so they picked on their little sister instead by (gently) pulling what little hair she has.

Didn't seem to phase her though!

This is Colt a week prior to his haircut. Boy do I miss his long locks.

Peek-a-boo, we see you.

To Learn, Love and Grow

2012-01-11T00:02:00.001-05:00

In July, I read a blog by a woman who creates goals for her children every 6 months. It made total sense to me to do this as well. I mean, my job as a stay at home mom is the most important in the world as I am raising my kids into men and women of character who will lead and influence their generation. I need to set a vision for my children's future and be able to guide them there, challenging them along the way, to develop into boys and girls who love Christ and seek to honor Him with their lives. As they learn, love and grow we will be creating goals for our kids every 6 months. We are addressing character issues, developmental milestones, spiritual formation, etc. I found during this first round that it was helpful to have them written down where I can see them daily and focus my efforts in these areas b/c I am totally not perfect and need a daily reminder as to what the whole purpose of me staying at home is (like yesterday when we spent the majority of the morning watching tv until I snapped out of it and started doing some intentional parenting!). Also, my "goals" are really vague - while reflecting on them I had difficulty remembering exactly where we came from. Next time around I'll be more specific.

Colt (from July-Dec 2011)

anger management - we taught him some breathing exercises and to clap his hands together instead of hit his brother. He also randomly started flexing his arm muscles in an Incredible Hulk kinda way. Hmm...
frustration management - he was throwing things and shutting down, but now (while still shutting down at times) will ~~growl~~ mutter angrily and indicate that he needs help. Still working on asking for help!
reading - I think I meant that we should work toward reading readiness. I'm proud to announce that Colt is definitely ready to take some major steps in this area. In fact, he read his first book tonight!! It's a Bob book for beginning readers and he was so proud (as was I)! Colt knows all the sounds of each letter and is working on sounding out each letter sound in a word, then snapping them together to create a word. I used a rubber band recently to illustrate this concept to him (stretch it out while sounding out the sounds, then snapping it back together to create a word) and I think it seemed to click with him - or at least it made for a fun game!
respect when others say "no!" - mmm... still gotta work on this, especially with his brother
develop a prayer life - Colt typically prays for "silly" things like his toys or objects around the room, but occasionally he'll pray for someone we've been talking about who needs prayer.
understand the importance of the Bible - we talk about scripture throughout the day, but I don't think he understands the relevancy of the Bible and WHY we put such value in what the scriptures say. This may be too advanced of a concept for a 4 year old (any thoughts from anybody on this?), so I didn't really address it too much.
art skills - One of the skills ALL 4 years olds should have (according to some guru's ideas on the blogosphere) is to draw stick figures. We'll I've never worked with Colt on drawing stick figures, so thought my kid would definitely be on the fast track to creativity suicide, but when I asked him to draw one, he did it with relative ease. I guess he just doesn't like to draw very much. Anyway, I need to still work with him in the art arena, even if he doesn't necessarily enjoy it.
staying in bed - Colt was in a bad habit of getting out of bed 5+ times each night. But we've been working on it and he's doing MUCH better! It makes my evenings much less stressful. We've been shortening his naptimes which makes him more tired in the evenings. Also, we changed up some things about our bedtime ritual which messed up his pattern coming out for water (oh, wait, we filled up his cup BEFORE bed), needing to go potty (oopsie, we did that one already too!), etc. With no more excuses, he was resigned to stay in bed. I'm fortunate that he responds well to changes in behavior if we take the time to explain the new rules a day or two before they are to take place.
fear "I'm scared!" - This is another reason why he would get out of bed. We let the dog sleep in his room for a bit which helped him not be scared. We also talked about how God is his protector.
honesty - He began a lying habit that we quickly nipped in the bud. We watched Pinocchio and told him his nose would grow really long! Plus, we pardoned him a consequence a few times because he told the truth. Now, he'll tell the truth when he's in trouble just to attempt getting out of a consequence! He also stole a 59cent candy from the Whole Foods check out line, so Ty took him back to the store to pay for it and speak with the manager. I think that was a good experience for everyone.
be able to write his name - check
more service opportunities - we've really been focusing on the homeless. We'll give canned food, made fudge/cookies for them at Christmas/New Years, serve breakfast etc. I think serving the homeless flying their signs is easier for me because we can have a conversation in the privacy of our own car without the risk of the kids embarrassing me with their questions directly infront of the person we are serving. Ha!
reading independently time - this hasn't been going over so well. He'd rather play with toys than look at books. Maybe I should try letting him read on the computer instead? At this point, Colt doesn't seem to love reading, so we'll definitely have to work on developing this trait. Maybe when he's able to read alone.

Levi

patience - WAY better! He used to ask a question over and over again until he got the answer he wanted. For example, every morning, he'd ask for his favorite (applesauce, yogurt and vanilla.... gross, I know) over and over and OVER again until I rolled myself out of the bed, prepared it and had it sitting in front of him with a spoon. Talk about annoying. This is much better now. Also, we've been trying to teach him to not interrupt Ty or myself while we are talking with someone else. He's learning to put his hand on our arm so we know that he's there, then to wait until we acknowledge him at a convenient point in our conversation to ask his question. Good job, little guy!
use a napkin to wipe his mouth vs. a shirt - Levi ruined a number of shirts this way. But has definitely got the hang of the napkin down now.
potty train -check. Except his still wears a pullup at naps and night.
respect Bible reading during family worship - he loves to goof off and play and be a distraction during this time. This really hasn't gotten any better. We are hesitant to discipline for this behavior because we don't want him to dread family worship time. Any ideas anyone? Anyone?!
no hitting - nope. No progress at all. Hmm...
recognize his name when written - check
respect when others say "no!"- don't think he is any better in this area. He may not be developmentally able? I know he's in a really self-absorbed stage now.
reading independently time- Levi seems to enjoy reading and is doing better at this, but there is still room to work.

Anyway, that's where we are right now. We'll see how things progress in 6 more months. If you have any suggestions for us, please share. Or maybe you'll even see something that you think could work for you and your kid!

iPhone photo purge

2011-12-27T00:45:00.000-05:00

Thought I'd empty the photos off my phone. This really is quite a random assortment....

Levi is getting his face painted at his pre-school's back-to-school open house. Colt never wants to get his face painted or use temporary tattoos, so he opted out.

Hanging out at Waterloo Ice House's playground with some friends.

Ty fixed the boys hair like this one day... and now they always ask to get their hair fixed like roosters.

Our car is VERY full these days!

Little miss doesn't like me to hold her when we go to the park, so she ends up covered in dirt, especially during this year's dry summer.

Speaking of dirt... Levi decided to cover himself in the stuff during one of Colt's t-ball games this year. Guess he got kinda bored.

Bed time reading

Colt still naps on an almost daily basis at the age of 4.5. He takes a 2+ hour nap! He's been asking to play for a few minutes before naptime, and has been falling asleep like this quite often!

Levi, on the other hand, just falls asleep standing up. He was actually sleeping on the couch, then rolled off into this position and stayed for 30 minutes. This is a pre-school day where he got a short nap at school, then fell asleep at home afterwards after a grouch-fest. This is a big reason why I took my kids out of pre-school this year... but more on that later! We start homeschool preschool in 2 weeks!

Another day, I fell asleep at nap time too. When I woke up, this is what I found...

Ty and I on a night out on the town. Only my 2nd time in a limo :)

(Ok, I'm coming back in to edit this part b/c saying "only my 2nd time in a limo" sounds a bit pretentious. Just a note that both of our limo rides have been fully paid for by someone else. Our first limo trip was in Vegas for Ty's work and a client puked all over. It was disgusting. And I was pregnant at the time. I'm surprised I didn't spew as well from the nausea this guy gave me! Our latest limo ride was definitely more pleasant than that. Just a nice tour of a fun city with some friends.)

We try to go to at least one UT football game each year. This years tickets came with passes to the 200 Club which was way nicer than the EndZone club we usually go to. It was nice and air conditioned and had free popcorn :) We were lucky to get the tickets when one of Ty's clients failed to claim them.

Goofing off during a time out.

The horns lost, but it was a great game where Case McCoy regained his starting status.

After the game, we hitched a ride with a pedi-cab. The guy took us about 15 blocks out of the way to avoid the hills, then dropped us off because he got tired of pedaling. He put us about 3 blocks closer to our car and out about $20 for the ride :(

During our Annual Girl's Black Friday shopping trip in Marble Falls, I saw this t-shirt that I love! It was quite expensive, so I thought maybe one of these days I'll attempt to make my own version for a fraction of the cost.

Here we are at Ty's work Christmas party.

Holla!

It was snowing in Austin!!! Or at least it appeared so. I had a photoshoot at the Galleria last weekend where some workmen were blowing ice chips to create a winter wonderland.

Tatum is our little monkey. She climbed up on the table to finish her brother's dinner.

At least somebody liked the chili.

Some of my sweet huddle girls! We had a fun dinner and shopping night last week! Love yall :)

We built a tall block Christmas tree for the boys to wake up to Christmas morning. It was their first gift to see. They had been trying on Christmas Eve to make a tower taller than my sister, Alethea, but didn't have enough blocks to do so. Now, they obviously do!

Hope you enjoyed my random upload of iPhone pics! Gotta start getting these off of my phone more frequently.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T00:03:00.000-05:00

Take Me Out to the Tball Game

2011-12-23T11:53:00.000-05:00

This fall Colt played in his first season of t-ball. I was a little bit against putting him in organized sports at such a young age, but he had been asking to play and loves to play baseball around the house, so we went ahead and signed him up.

Colt learned some things this season mostly about the way the game is structured (the direction of first base, where to stand in the outfield, how to step and throw, how to step and hit, etc.) He was really cute when running the bases - he'd jog really slow for some reason, then when he got to each base, he'd stop, bend down and draw/play in the dirt.

His coach's name was Karras (in the red shirt above), pronounced just like Charis. How crazy is that!? I think it confused Colt a little bit at first. Whenever people would ask what team he was on, he'd say "Coach Karras." We had to teach him that this season he was a Cubbie.

I took this picture simply to show the number of parents out on the field each inning. Our team seemed to always have more parents on the field than the team we were playing, but I guess it's a good thing that everyone was so involved!

When Ty or I weren't out on the field, we would be with the other 2 kids. Tatum loves hanging out with her Daddy!

Tatum Loves throwing a baseball! She's pretty good too :)

Tatum is such a Daddy's Girl that she would see him in the outfield with Colt and start screaming at the top of her lungs for him. Ty was a good sport and would bring her on the field with him.

Levi monkeying around trying to watch his brother play first base. First base, by the way, was Colt's all-time favorite position to play. He loved that his teammates threw him the ball each play. When he didn't play a position where the ball came frequently, he would get pretty upset that he didn't get to catch or throw the ball. His coach put a good spin on that and said it was good that he had such a desire to be involved in the game.

Tradition

2011-12-22T23:19:00.000-05:00

Now that I am finally catching up on the blog and am up at least in the current month, I figured I'd start posting some things about Christmas. It's kinda fun to have such young kids and think about what traditions Ty and I would like to establish in our own little family. The kids have no expectations at this point, so we can pretty much center Christmas around whatever we would like. The past few years, we have decided to solely honor the birth of our Savior at this time of the year (aka: we don't celebrate Santa). We also try to instill in our kids the value of service and giving, which we have many opportunities to practice each winter.

This year we started a new tradition that I am hoping will also help us get into the better habit of reading more often. At the end of November, I wrapped 25 books in wrapping paper. Each day one of the boys would get to unwrap one book and we would read it! Each book had something to do with Jesus's birth or the winter season. It was kind of a challenge to find books that weren't all about Santa but focused on the reason for the season :)

Here's our list for this year:
I purchased the following books from Garden Ridge over the past 2 years -
Erik's Christmas Gift Exchange
Christmas Cookies - yes, we baked Gingerbread cookies out of this recipe book
The Perfect Snowflake - we made paper snowflakes
10 Minutes to Showtime - a cute book about the angels perspective of Jesus' birth
Waiting for Christmas - a book about advent- we read this on Dec. 1 and made a paper chain with 25 links to tear one off each day as we countdown to Jesus' birthday
The Stable where Jesus was Born- we went to a living nativity this night
Angela and the Baby Jesus- Angela steals baby Jesus from the nativity manger b/c she thinks he's cold
I Spy Christmas
Christmas Around the World- talks about the traditions of different countries - we had an apple snack like they do in Germany
Merry Christmas Strega Nona
Book of Christmas Carols - we were supposed to go carolling this night, but it got cancelled
Eight Wild Nights - about Haunikka
Pablo's Christmas- references Mexican traditions
Gifts at Christmas

From the library:
Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree
The Small One - we watched the Disney short film by the same title - a boy sells his donkey to Jospeh to carry Mary to Bethlehem
Why Christmas Trees aren't Perfect

From Scholastic Book Fair:
The Story of Jesus -blends Jesus' birth with his life

Last year, Ty's mom gave us a Jesse Tree. This year, we have continued that tradition by reading a daily Bible story relating to one of Jesus' ancestors, then hanging a corresponding handmade ornament on the tree. It's a great daily reminder for us during this season of Advent.

The last several years, I have particularly enjoyed participating in the Angel Tree at our church. We "adopt" a family and give them gifts. I enjoy getting outside of myself to think about what other people may enjoy and to know that we can bring smiles to some kid's faces and perhaps relief to a parent who was stressed out over gifts. This year, we took the kids with us to Kohls to purchase gifts. We had been talking about the kids we were buying for, Luke and Aria, for a few days prior. Before we arrived at the store, we reminded the kids that this trip was to get gifts for others, not ourselves. But, as soon as we stepped foot in the store, they were oohing and ahhing over all of the toys. We chose gifts for Luke and Aria, but had quite a few learning opportunities along the way to put back the toys the boys had also chosen for themselves. Colt ended up having a really difficult time with this and had to be carried out of the store, kicking and screaming. But, like I said, its a learning opportunity. And denying ourselves is very hard in our culture (thus the mess our economy is in), so we'll just have to keep working on this :)

This year we are hosting Christmas at our house for the first time. We are hoping to begin a new family tradition of service on the morning of Dec. 25th. Instead of waking up and focusing only on ourselves and our gifts (which will only be more and more tempting for our kids as they grow older), we will be heading downtown to serve breakfast to some of our homeless neighbors in Austin. Then we will return home to have our own breakfast and family time and celebration of God's miraculous gift in our lives.

Well, some of my other favorite traditions revolve around FOOD, but since I've been typing forever, will call it quits on this post. Maybe I'll go snack on a warm Dr. Pendergrass cupcake my sister just made :)

November

2011-12-22T01:22:00.000-05:00

I win the award for the biggest slacker mom in November! It started off when I accidentally deleted our Halloween photos off my camera before downloading them. And apparently these are the only pictures I took of my kids the entire month of November!! I had a few photo shoots that kept me busy and a trip to Chicago, so I guess documenting our lives went by the wayside.

Here are the kids on the train they created. The boys are really into trains and enjoy making pretend ones out of ALL the pillows in our bedroom lined up on the living room floor, plus ALL of the couch cushions, plus ice chests, toys and whatever else they can imagine!

Levi enjoys pulling down his bottom eyelids to reveal the nerves in his eyeballs. The kids laugh and laugh when he does it. Boys.

Also in November, we enjoyed Thanksgiving with the Dishman side of the family in Marble Falls. It was fun getting together with everyone, lots of good food (with a few vegan options this year for Chez!), a round of golf for Ty and his brothers and fun shopping on Black Friday with the girls! We are loving that we live less than an hour away so we can come back home to sleep in our cozy beds (and I can get up early to hit the Black Friday sales in Austin) before heading back out to Marble Falls on Friday, although this does mean we miss out on Uncle Doug's big breakfast. The kids loved feeding the deer with Nana, playing golf and playing football with their uncles while at the lake this year.

We have so much to be Thankful for!

Punkin'

2011-12-21T01:14:00.001-05:00

We love autumn!

See the knees on her jeans? This is pretty much what her pants look like every single day. I'm afraid I won't have any pants to pass down to someone someday. Tatum still refuses to walk, but is so active and Loves the outdoors, so she ends up dirtying up her knees every day.

This is Tatum's favorite toy - the cookie jar shape sorter. It sings songs and she likes putting the shapes in and taking them out of the cookie jar (through the hole in the top, not through the proper shape hole. Hmm... maybe we should work on that.)

Also, we recently had a garden planted in our backyard. I bought another groupon which had some really awesome folks from Revolution Gardens come out and build/plant it for us!

We've been watering it almost every day and now it is a vibrant garden. Last week, we took our first harvest and had a delicious salad at our Dishman family Christmas dinner. Planted in this winter's garden is broccoli, swiss chard, spinach, radishes and carrots. I am NOT known for having a green thumb, so we shall see how this adventure turns out. However, so far so good. Plus, it's a fun project to do with the kids. They love helping water it and dump our compost bin into the compost pile. They are learning which foods can be composted (banana peels, celery, egg shells) and what can't (dairy and meat). Healthy and educational... two of my favorite things ;)

We've got ourselves a birthday girl!

2011-12-21T00:37:00.002-05:00

Tatum celebrated her one-year birthday in October. We had a party at the house with mostly family and a few little friends of hers. It was a fun day, even if we did spend most of the morning in the kitchen preparing venison chili for our guests. It turned out delicious and we've made it again several times since, but it's just labor intensive. (Ty recently went deer hunting, so we are now experimenting with all sorts of recipes to use up what's in our newly-purchased-due-to-the-deer deep freeze).

This is the cake that I made. It turned out cute, or at least I think! We simply took the cupcake off the top and gave that cake to Tatum for her "smash cake."

She enjoyed opening a few gifts, but mostly played with the paper!

Tatum's friends who were able to come celebrate: Eliza, Cason, and Ezekiel.

My friend, Christy, had a super cute birthday onesie that I borrowed to take a few birthday pics of Tatum in. Thanks!!

She loves balls!

Tatum is very friendly and says a genuine "hi-eee" to almost everyone she sees.

Sliding continues to be an enjoyed past time.

She can even take a rough landing like a champ. I guess having 2 older brothers is paying off. She's one tough cookie!

Although, she can be a priss as she shows that she doesn't like to crawl in the grass.

I found these super cute bloomers on etsy.com and had to get them.

Tatum is truly a joy in our lives. She is such an easy baby with a calm temperament and a spunky personality. She loves to be around people and is always on the go. She says hi, mama, dada, dog -then clicks her tongue to call it, and can sign more, all done, milk and food. She is cruising, but won't let go to stand on her own. She continues to be a fantastic sleeper, likes to spoon-feed herself, and loves her brothers! Her current nicknames are Taterade, Tatertot, and Mutat (Tatum spelled backwards b/c I see it that way on burp cloths when they are upside down!). Even though it's been a busy year having 3 young children, we are so thankful that God has placed Tatum in our lives at this exact moment in time. She is a good reminder to slow down and enjoy the beauty that God provides daily in the little things. We love you, Tatum!

Meet in the Middle

2011-11-21T23:26:00.001-05:00

October was a busy month! I think we missed 5 out of 6 weeks of church because we were out of town or I was running races so often. Glad things have calmed down a tad since then. Anyway, we were super grateful to some friends who let us crash their house while they were away in Abilene for ACU homecoming. My siblings and mom took advantage of their beautiful home and the location in Ft. Worth which made it an excellent meeting point - in the middle of all of us!

It was fun to get together with everyone. We had some delicious meals, the kids loved jumping on the trampoline with Granny Rae, eating our favorite Dr. Pendergrass cupcakes and a fun time watching my sister do her latest talent - professional organizing. She organized our friend's pantry for them! Does this make anyone else want to open up their home to us for next year's family reunion -haha, just kidding!

Apparently, we didn't take any group pictures, except for my mom with the grandkids.

However, I did try to do a birthday photo shoot with Tatum that pretty much failed miserably. She was super tired and apparently wasn't a big fan of cake (she must take after her father).

She wouldn't dig into the cake and got really fussy and crawled away. Then she got even madder because she didn't like the feel of the grass on her bare legs!

We tried to throw her in some bath water, but that was the final straw.

Poor birthday girl!

Thanks to the Hejls for opening up their home to us. It totally beat cramming into a hotel room with 3 small kids for the weekend!! We are thankful for friends like you guys. And thankful for family that is willing to drive to spend time with us and our crazy kids. Love you all!

October Science Experiment

2011-11-11T21:32:00.000-05:00

I was reading a blog from a homeschooling mom about watching pumpkins decay as a way of teaching some science to her kids. I thought that could be fun, so we bought and carved a pumpkin. We sat it on our back porch and began to watch it.

What do you know, it actually starts to rain in Austin, which enhances the decomposition of the pumpkin. It was REALLY cool to watch because each hour we would check on the pumpkin and could easily see many changes.

The boys wanted to touch the mold, so I gave them straws. They enjoyed sticking them through the soft pumpkin skin.

Tatum, meanwhile, was exploring the slide. This quickly became her new favorite toy.

Here is the pumpkin the last day I allowed it to sit in the back yard. A pretty scary sight, don't ya think? Maybe I should have sat it on our front porch for Halloween!

And what do you know, Tatum found her way back to the slide.

She's busy with a discovery of her own - the velocity, angles and techniques needed to S

Swimming in September

2011-11-10T22:07:00.000-05:00

Here's a little bit about what we've been up to this summer. Lots of afternoon snacks on the back porch...

Swimming on the back porch...

and afternoon naps in our cozy beds..

Tatum's 10 month shoot

2011-11-10T06:24:00.000-05:00

I entered an online contest and actually won (unbelievable I know)! One of the things in my prize pack was this cute little pillbox hat from Monkey Shine Designs! I couldn't help but take some beautiful pictures of my daughter as the model.

Love this face :)

The boys tagged along for the photoshoot also. They enjoyed watching the trains that went by as we were at the train station in Abilene.

Here we are on the drive home. Cramped quarters on a road trip with 3 kids! (You can kinda see the top of Tatum's head in the bottom right corner.) Since then we've rearranged the carseats and turned Tatum around/forward-facing and have them all on the same row. Fun times in the Dishmobile.

Rent-a-boat

2011-11-10T05:00:00.000-05:00

Despite the fact that Ty HATES WITH A PASSION Groupon, I bought a Groupon for a boat rental on Lady Bird Lake with dinner for 2. I was thinking we could have a romantic date on the lake, just the two of us hanging out in peace and quiet, basking in the glow of the sunset.

Then, I thought about our sons who without fail notice the boats on the river every time we cross the bridge. I thought of our boys who would love watching the bats fly out from under the Congress bridge at sunset. And, as you can tell by the pictures, we decided to make this once romantic affair into a family affair. (To be accurate, we did leave Tatum at home with a babysitter. She goes to bed at 6:30pm, so a fussy baby on a boat would definitely be no fun!)

O Captain, our Captain

Hmm... probably should've photoshopped this one a bit more, but am too tired to do that now :(

The Groupon provided 2 dinner plates (fajitas from the Hyatt hotel) which were delicious. We brought some dinner and a dessert for the boys and a bottle of wine for us and were good to go on food for the evening. The boys loved the chips and queso.

We had such a fun night as a family on the lake. I will say that it was a bit stressful to navigate the boat as there are several areas of shallow water we had to steer around and we didn't want to break the rental boat. I would definitely plan to buy this Groupon again, but next time maybe go with some friends and hire a captain so we could just relax! And while Ty may not be anymore pro Groupon after this experience, he would hopefully agree this one was worth it.

September

2011-11-10T04:30:00.000-05:00

I took some pictures of Colt recently that I really like. This is Colt at age 4.

He loves our dog, who doesn't love the camera this particular day.

Someone else wanted in on the camera action too.

This is the dress Tatum wore to my brother's wedding this summer. We realized she didn't get any good pictures in it, so I took a few in our backyard for my mom (she bought the outfit - Thanks!)

First Day of Pre-school!!

The boys are back at Noah's Ark this year. We love the kid's teachers, but I'll post more on them later. Levi even has the same teachers that Colt had when he was in the 2s class!

Showing their ages

Levi LOVED his first week of school (they go Tues/Thurs). But, after the first week, he has been throwing a fit at every drop off ever since. Colt also continues to resist drop off time but they both do well a few minutes after I leave. They both love the playground and Levi is usually really proud of his art projects. Colt enjoys show and tell and telling on the little boys in his class who get in trouble :/

Zoo Adventures

2011-11-09T04:30:00.001-05:00

We recently took a trip to the zoo with our friends Kellie and Jake. We love hanging out with them, so were eagerly awaiting this day. What do you know, we wake up that day and it is raining! Now this is a big deal because we are in the midst of an awful drought. Well, my boys were so excited that it was raining (just a little bit) that they wanted to wear their rain boots/coats, even though it stopped raining before we left our house. Crazy kids!

Levi, as is his daily desire, wanted to wear his FAVORITE shirt.

This boy asks to wear this shirt every single day. He loves Pluto and the whole Mickey Mouse crew.

Anyway, back to the zoo... Tatum was excited to be there and ready to go.

The boys enjoyed looking at a huge pig,

feeding lots of goats,

and riding the train.

Thanks again to Kellie and Jake for the invite. It's fun to see our boys having so much fun together!

CrAZy HaiR

2011-11-09T04:30:00.000-05:00

We have some crazy hair going on in Tatum's life right now.

No matter what we do, it sticks right back up.

(See how this big girl is playing with her brother's trucks/trains/planes? Maybe we should buy her a doll or something.

She doesn't seem too worried about her hair though.

Hmm...

Maybe she takes after her brother.

I love seeing them play together. They are so sweet together!

Starting my own business

2011-11-08T08:00:00.000-05:00

As you might have noticed, I've been playing catch up on this blog. What could have gotten me behind, besides having 3 young children, you might ask? 2011 brought the official beginning of Charis Dishman Photography. I've been loving this new experience, ya know, the one where you have to file your own taxes and figure out how to market and set up my own Facebook page. Really, I have had some fantastic clients who have been keeping me busy editing pictures and printing off orders! I may begin to post some of my sessions on this blog, so you can truly keep up with what I've been doing as well :) If you are interested in seeing more of my work, check out my website!

Engagement session:

Pre-Prom party:

Newborn Jamey:

First Year:

Senior photos:

July

2011-11-07T14:43:00.000-05:00

We've had a really busy July, but have made sure to take some time to capture our day-to-day lives. Here's Tatum at 9 months. She's a bundle of fun and full of expression.

One thing I try hard to teach my children is about the benefit of eating healthy foods. Here are the boys snacking on snap peas, bell pepper and broccoli. I think I may be teaching them too much of a good thing however. Lately, we'll be at the store and they'll go down the aisle saying, "That's not good for your body. That's not good for your body...." The other day we were at a restaurant and a woman had a big piece of pie and they pointed and said, "That's not good for her body." Even though I was kind of embarrassed, I was also one proud mama! :) Now if I could only teach them discretion.

Colt is sharing with Molly. He Loves this dog! He puts her food in her dog bowl each day and loves to have her sleep in his room. She definitely prefers Colt to Levi, who is kinda a terror with her :(

Here's some pictures of Colt's silly side. He's dancing to some music, to be exact.

Disco anyone?

Later in July, we took a trip to the lake with our friends the Lawsons and with Uncle Cody, Aunt Chez and Cousin Eliza. Here are Tatum and Eliza in matching blue dresses that Grandma bought for them. They are so cute !

The boys loved watching the deer!

Levi and Colt LOVE their friend, Jake. They get excited to see him each time we go to church. We are so thankful that the Lawsons came to hang out for this fun weekend!

Levi and Jake were heard having tons of fun in the kitchen. The giggles were from a finger-lickin' good cup of applesauce.

Another big surprise one day in July...

Tatum started sitting up all on her own! We had to lower her crib mattress at last!

Krazy Praizy

2011-11-07T14:28:00.000-05:00

Our church, Westover Hills, has a fun summer program every year called Kraizy Praizy. We go to the building on Tuesdayz for some fun music, craft, story/activity, sometimes followed up by a field trip on Thurzday. We LOVE Krazy Praizy as it gives us some structure to our summer (and lots of FUN!). This summer we dug up dinosaur bones at a Dino Pit, saw a cow being milked at Crowe's Nest Farms, and rode ponies on Western Day. I didn't get pictures each week, but here are a few of what I did capture:

This is our friend Z that we brought with us. She LOVES horses :)

Our family 2011

2011-11-07T13:53:00.000-05:00

For Father's Day, we gave Ty a picture frame with each of our handprints on the mat. (See below) We had to hand-draw a family picture because we didn't have one of the 5 of us where Tatum was able to look at the camera. My friend, Kara Dennis, came to our rescue and took some pictures of us before church one day. Thanks, Kara!!

This one perfectly captures our family at this stage. Tatum is doing exactly what we want by looking at the camera (have I said before how GREAT of a baby she is?), Colt is wanting to play "ready, set, wee!" -a game we frequently play while walking holding hands in the parking lot, and Levi has something very important to say (he is such a smart boy, even at the age of 2).

I asked Kara to take some pictures of just me and the kids. As someone who is usually behind the camera, I don't get documented as often in pictures, but want the kids to remember what I looked like in my younger years as opposed to the lady with the grey hair that I am quickly becoming.

Gotta get some of Daddy too! Tatum is a BIG fan of her Daddy.

Here is Tatum playing with the finished product. She is such a huge Daddy fan, that she is sitting here pointing to Dada and saying his name :)

I'm so glad we have some nice pictures to remember this fun time in our lives!

July 4th parade and some randomness

2011-11-05T12:47:00.002-04:00

Our neighborhood has an annual Forth of July Parade. Neighbors decorate their cars or bikes and go through the neighborhood. The start is 2 houses down the street from our house, so we made the trek to watch this year.

The boys were excited to see the firetruck leading the parade!

Colt really liked watching the cars and having candy thrown at him. He said that next year he wants us to decorate OUR car so we can participate. We shall see...

In a bit of randomness, this sleepy boy continually uses his shirt as a napkin. Can you tell?!? This has prompted me to make 6 month goals for the boys. #1 on Levi's list? "Learn to use a napkin." Since I have the benefit of hindsight while writing this particular post, I must say that Levi is doing much better with this 4 months later. And, actually sitting down and thinking about goals for our kids has also been extremely beneficial. I sometimes feel overwhelmed when looking at all of the WORK that needs to be done to raise these boys into real, God-fearing/loving/serving men. But, making short-term goals that are focused on how they can better learn, love and grow really gives me a manageable grasp on this thing called parenting. In a future post, maybe I'll share their goals and their progress towards them.

My mom bought these blocks for the boys. I must say that these blocks are an absolute necessity to any family with kids. My kiddos play with these things NON-STOP! They make all different creations (today's creation is a train in case you can't tell. Colt is the engineer). I love these Melissa and Doug blocks so much that I just bought a whole other set so they can make even bigger creations. Ty thinks I'm crazy because these blocks also take up quite a bit of space, but the boys are great at stacking them back up when they are finished playing, so we'll just have to continue to enforce that rule now that we'll have 2x the mess!

Colt's family party

2011-11-05T12:27:00.002-04:00

We also had a family party for Colt on his actual birthday because we LOVE celebrations!

Colt loves trains and has started to express an interest in legos, so we got him a Lego train set! He loves this set and still (in November) plays with it regularly. It IS a hassle to put together, but fortunately, on this particular weekend, we went to see Nana in Marble Falls for the 4th of July weekend, so SHE had the pleasure of assembling it! (Thanks, Nana!)

You can somewhat see the burn mark on Colt's chin in this picture. The day before this, we were making cookies. He got excited that they had come out of the oven and ran up to grab one off of the hot cookie sheet, but burned his chin on the edge of the cookie sheet. Gotta learn the hard way sometimes. Ouch! (Nov update: There is still a small scar there that keeps going away slowly but surely. Hopefully your young body will fully erase this one!)

We had recently gotten the boy's hair cut in these pictures. They look so different now (again, in November... I know, I'm a blog slacker, but at least I'm trying to make up for it now!). Their hair is really long now. I actually just trimmed Colt's hair the other day because he kept complaining about it getting in his eyes. He was hesitant to let me cut it (partly because he likes to go to the kiddie cut place because they have a big train table there that he likes), but I think it looks great now. Plus, we are planning a trip to Germany in the spring, so we put the cash we saved in our "Germany jar." Yes, all of our impulsive spending money is going in here... no more late-night Sushi (they deliver to our house!), late-night pizza, Starbucks, etc. Hmm... this could be a good thing... maybe we'll even lose some weight with no more late night eating :) Anyway, back to the celebration....

Both of the boys have really been into the Toy Story movies lately. We have saved Toy Story 2 on our tv and they ask to watch it constantly. We got Colt a Woody doll and Grandma got him a Buzz Lightyear doll, so now he and Levi can play with them together. In November retrospect... Levi is the one who loves playing with these toys. Should've known... Colt has never really been a doll kinda kid.

The cupcakes were Colt's favorite part of the evening. Mine too as the cupcakes were from my favorite cupcake bakery in town... Delish. Yummy!

Yay for Colt turning 4!

Colt's 4th b-day party

2011-11-05T11:37:00.000-04:00

My baby turned 4 in July! It's cliche, I know... but time has really flown by. We are loving being Colt's parents. He is a good kid - he's quiet until he gets to know you, then he's just a silly little boy who likes to get attention. He's generally obedient to others but can be quite crafty around the house, so keeps us on our toes. Lately, Colt has taken a real interest in Tatum (he's been climbing into her crib to play with her).

Last year, Colt went to a birthday party at Kiddie Acres that he hasn't stopped talking about ever since. I finally wised up to the idea of having a party at a place that does all the work for me. I even ordered Colt's cake this year (from Sugar Tooth Bakery - vegan for Chez!) instead of stressing out about making the perfect creation for Colt.

Levi and Owen rode this ride together.

Close up of Levi - he loves wearing sunglasses. Pretty much wears them all the time, yes indoors as well.

The boys in the boat.

Friends in the airplane

The train was a big hit!

We never tire of train rides :)

The men and the boys enjoyed some putt-putt

Kendal shared some big news with us at the party... baby #3 on its way!! Yay!

Someone's happy he'll be a big brother!

Trying to stay cool - it was hot out there!

Eliza was just chillin'

Malachi and Colt - friends forever :) I never got a picture of Colt with all of his friends, and we never got a family picture either. Gotta get better about that!

Happy Birthday, Colt. We love you so much and are blessed to be your parents. We pray that God will continue to work in you to grow you into a young man who loves Him with all your heart and seeks to honor Him with your thoughts and actions. You are a joy to all who know you and a good friend to your brother and sister. We can't wait to walk with you in your next year of life.

Love, Mom

Taterade

2011-08-21T21:02:00.000-04:00

Here I am playing around with web boards again. These pictures are back when Tatum was 8 months old (now she's 10 months!!). She had just gotten her first 2 teeth and kept making funny faces as she was getting used to the feel of them in her mouth. She now has 4 teeth and is working hard on a 5th. Girl has never needed a bib before this current tooth - drool galore!

My little brother's wedding!

2011-08-21T17:18:00.000-04:00

One of the highlights of this summer was being able to celebrate my brother's marriage! Andrew and Amy were married in June in San Antonio. It was such a fun, hot weekend! We were able to reconnect with family that we haven't seen in years and years, create new family memories and show our love to Andrew and Amy.

Here is everyone having fun kicking off the weekend with the rehearsal:

Andrew and his groomsmen

My boys practicing to be the ring bearers.

One more of my little cutie!

Me and my Grandma, which I sadly haven't seen since my own wedding 9 years ago!! It was so nice to be able to see her again and spend some time with her (and my aunts who we'll get to in just a sec).

Also, this isn't the best picture of them, but these are some of my parent's LONGtime friends who made the trip to the wedding from New Hampshire. It was really nice for them to come all the way to Texas for the wedding and it was so great to see them again!

The rehearsal dinner was at Guadalajara Grill on the Riverwalk and was a fun party! I especially liked hearing all of the stories and character affirmations from my brother's groomsmen.

Here's my crazy Tatum! Clapping up a storm and putting on quite a show :) For some reason I didn't take too many pictures at this event - probably because I have 3 kids that I have to chase around. After the festivities, the boys wanted to go on a horse-drawn carriage ride (the horses were parked just outside our restaurant and they were patiently watching them from our party room), so Alethea, Abbey and I accompanied them on a nice ride around the Riverwalk.

As for the actual wedding day... we had lots of fun swimming at my mom and aunt's hotel. We really tried to spend as much time with them as possible since we haven't seen them in forever either. I think it's seriously been about 15 years since I've seen my Aunt Sarah! :( My mom's sisters are always soo much fun to be around - they are hilarious and we laughed the whole time!

We were so thankful that my Aunts and Grandma made the long trip to Texas for the wedding. It definitely will not be another 9 years before we see you guys again!!

As for the ring bearers.... well, they did just fine at the rehearsal (and when we practiced the week before at our own empty church building). However, when the actual wedding day arrived, they were not too happy to have a pillow to carry down the aisle. I already suspected that Colt may have some jitters walking by lots of people he didn't know, but figured that Levi's people-charming personality would help calm Colt's nerves. Boy was I wrong. When it was time for them to walk down the aisle, they kept hitting the pillow out of Ty's hands and refused to carry the pillow or walk down the aisle.

To compound matters more, they were supposed to be walking towards me at the front of the audience, but Tatum began loudly crying just as the Maid of Honor walked down, so I had to leave my seat with her, giving the boys no one to encourage them at my end of the aisle! All in all, it was one of those funny and cute ring bearer stories for my brother and Amy to remember. But now the boy's resume is tarnished, so getting more ring bearer gigs in the future may be more difficult. :)

Eventually, the boys walked around the outside of the audience to our seats with the family in the front. Levi then walked the pillow over to my brother. I love this picture because Colt is playing in the rocks and you can see how Levi's boutonniere is already messed up. He unraveled it completely about 14 seconds after he finally sat down in his chair. Too bad too, because Amy made them herself and were SUPER cute (along with everything else Amy handcrafted for the wedding)!

As for other pictures...

My mom dancing with Levi

I really like this picture of my mom. I think she's standing when Amy walks down the aisle here.

I love how this shows the detail of the back of Amy's dress.

Anyway, I know this is a long post with lots of pictures, but hey, it's my little brother's wedding, so I can post as many pictures as I want. We LOVE Amy and her family and are so excited that she is now a Dillman. Amy and Andrew, we love you both and are looking forward to walking with you guys as the Lord leads us all on this journey called life.

memorial day 2011

2011-07-18T21:48:00.000-04:00

We always look forward to Memorial Day each year when we get together with some of Ty's college roommates/friends and their families. This year Jay and Ally and Luke and Sara were able to come. We had so much fun at lake LBJ and our kids played really well together. My kids are still talking about the Lunchables that Jay and Ally brought :) And they continue to be enthralled with Cooper and constantly ask us to make up stories and songs about him. We were personally excited that our kids didn't get anyone sick this year! We love this time with yall and hope to still be doing this in another 10 years :)

And, I am trying to learn how to put together a photo collage for the blog, so bear with me while I figure it out.

sis boom bah

2011-07-09T23:20:00.000-04:00

Two, four, six, eight. Who do we appreciate?!

Grandma's who buy us cute clothes, of course!

Tatum is blessed to have 3 Grandmas who buy her extremely cute and fun clothes. (They buy stuff for the boys too, incase you were wondering, but lets face it... girls clothes are way better to play dress up with!). Grandma, trying to recruit her grandchildren to receive their education from her at ACU, bought Tatum an ACU cheerleader outfit. For her 7 month pictures, we played dress up and had a photoshoot!

Workin' it...

A future tomboy?

We celebrated Father's Day this year in Fort Worth. My grandad passed away so we went up there for his funeral. It was nice to be able to hear about the hundreds of lives that he touched because of his life of service to show the love of Jesus to almost every single person he met. I was asked to say a few words on behalf of the grandchildren. I was really nervous, but it was also nice to sit and reflect on the things I'll remember about Grandad and his impact on my life. I'll miss him so much, but am thankful that such a man was the patriarch of the Dillman family.

Ty lucked out of a speeding ticket on Father's Day: One, because he's a father. Two, because Tatum was crying in the backseat when the officer walked up to the car. Three, because we were on our way to a funeral. The poor officer couldn't do anything but let Ty off the hook.

Ty is a fantastic dad. At this age, the boys especially like wrestling with him, playing duck-duck-goose after dinner, and giving mandatory hugs and kisses before Daddy goes to work.

Happy Father's Day! We love you so much!

Miss Thang's 6 month pics

2011-07-09T22:12:00.000-04:00

Yes, she is currently 8 months old, but she still deserves to have her 6 month pictures posted on the family blog.

Our Taterade is always curious as to what her brothers are doing.

Oh yeah, back to the star of today's post....

At 6 months, Tatum began sitting up which was fabulous! Now she will sit and play for long periods of time and can watch everything that's going on around her. At six months, Tatum still refused to roll over. Well, she still refuses at 8 1/2 months as well, unless she is in her bed, then she'll roll over to sleep on her stomach. Tatum is a delight and we love her so much!

Easter

2011-07-09T18:28:00.000-04:00

Here I am backtracking again. Go figure. I'm not making any promises this time around - I'll just post when I can from here on out! For Easter, we were in Abilene while Ty was on his State Farm cruise with his brother. We took some pictures in the kid's "Easter clothes" at ACU, then headed to Grandad and Grandma's house so they could find some eggs.

The best shot of the 3 of them we could get this particular day.

Another shot of the 3 - can anyone say bowhead?!?

Great hiding place :)

Found one!

Babies, babies, and more babies

2011-05-03T23:43:00.000-04:00

Looking back, I realized I never officially posted Tatum's 3 month pictures. So, here goes. Just a tad bit late. I mean, she didn't just turn 6 months already!

Also, Eliza joined the family in January! We are so excited to have a niece/cousin around. And Eliza is such a sweet baby. I think she was around 2 weeks old for these pictures. Now she's a big 3 month old with lots of adorable rolls and a beautiful smile.

I'm almost done playing blog catch up. Woohoo!!

Abilene zoo

2011-05-02T23:41:00.000-04:00

I was insanely jealous when Ty went on a cruise with his brother over Easter weekend. To combat the thought of 5 days without him, I packed up the kids and we headed to Abilene.

We went to the Abilene zoo, which was really much improved from when I was a kid. My boys loved it! Here's Colt imitating the monkey :)

Levi has such a sincere awe for life!

Again, Tatum was content in her stroller. I REALLY hate that all of her pictures lately have been in her carseat! I promise we get her out of there sometimes. :) It's just hard to chase around 2 active boys in public places while carrying a baby, so she gets to hang out in her lovely carseat when we are out and about.

Sleepy eyes

The highlight of the zoo for the boys was feeding the giraffes from the bridge.

Here's the whole crew checking out one of God's unique creations. Thanks for a fun trip to the zoo, Grandad and Grandma!

Sweet Berry Farms!

2011-05-02T23:19:00.000-04:00

We recently hit up Sweet Berry Farms for the first time and picked some really delicious strawberries. We had a great time out there and will definitely go again soon!

The big hit for the boys, for some reason, were the donkeys. They also had goats in a fun pen.

Tatum was chill in the carseat as always.

She's started sticking her cute little tongue out.

Not the greatest picture, but I like seeing some of her rolls :)

Levi LOVES his little sister! And especially loves playing with her bows/flowers.

Now onto the actual strawberry picking...

Levi liked to eat the strawberries as he picked them. Not sure that was entirely legal, but it was too cute to put an end to.

Colt got pretty upset that his feet got so muddy. But it rained (briefly, as we are in a drought) the night before, so what could we do?!

We brought home some great strawberries, some muddy shoes, and some sunburned arms (I gotta get in the habit of putting sunscreen on these poor kids!), and had a great time with friends and the fresh country air.

Playing catch-up

2011-04-30T00:35:00.001-04:00

Boy, oh boy have I been behind on blogging. Honestly, this raising 3 kids thing has been a little overwhelming for me (and us) recently, so blogging has had to take a backseat while we struggle to just keep our heads above water. We sure do love our kids, but having 3 kids ages 3 and under means we have a bunch of really dependent children at the moment. Anyway, my mom has requested that I update the blog, so as I sit here and watch William and Kate's wedding for the second time today, I will take some time to upload some pictures I've had for what seems like forever.

Here is our Spring Break recap. Basically Spring Break at this point in my career as a stay-at-home mom is a joke. All of our normal activities are cancelled, but our kids are too young to go on vacation anywhere cool, so it really is quite pointless. Fortunately, my Aunt Debbie and her 2 sons came to visit us one day, as they also were on Spring Break.

Colt LOVED playing with his cousins, age 7. They were wonderful with him and didn't discount him as a playmate since he is so much younger, as other older kids often do. I haven't seen a smile glued on Colt's face for 3 hours straight in such a long time!

We'll definitely have to get this crew together again soon. Maybe Stephen will be a good influence on Colt so he'll quit picking his nose.

On second thought, maybe not.

Over spring break, Ty took Levi to Minnesota to attend his cousin's wedding.

Since Colt was bummed he couldn't ride on the airplane, I took him directly from dropping Ty and Levi (and Uncle Cody!) at the airport to the Austin Rodeo!

We had a great time at the petting zoo, riding a little train, checking out the livestock, eating ice cream!, and playing in the children's area.

Tatum was pretty chill as usual.

The next day we headed over to the Austin Children's Museum. They have this golf ball exhibit where you play games with the balls and can learn about velocity, speed, distance, etc. Colt was way into playing with the bright golf balls and this outing was a hit! Excuse the pics-- they are from my phone.

This was a fun day! By the time we left, both kids were exhausted....

In other news, Colt had his first trip to the dentist. He did fabulously! He followed all the instructions and listened well. We haven't been very diligent at oral care in the past (maybe because of my British history?), so this was a good reminder of how important it is to take care of Colt's little teeth. He loves using his new toothbrush every night now. Well, ok, I won't lie, it's still not a daily habit, but we are getting there.

This year my allergies went haywire!! We blew the pollen off our back porch. 3 hours later look what had already accumulated. Yikes!

The kids are doing well. Colt is enjoying telling stories. They almost always start with, "When I was 16, I ...." He's really into the age 16 in his stories. He also likes to pretend there is a bear in our backyard and will often make Levi and Molly come inside to hide from the bear. I'm pretty sure Levi doesn't know that the bear is pretend.

Colt also wants us to tell him fire department stories multiple times a day. This has been going on for 3 months now, so my creativity in the fire department story telling department is a bit wanting. The boy loves him some fire trucks!

Levi was such a champ at giving up his pacifier that we figured he'd be just as laid back at giving up his crib. Once he started climbing out of his crib (the same week he "gave up" his paci), we converted his bed into a toddler bed, since he couldn't climb back in his crib to sleep. Well, he hated his Big Boy bed and decided to sleep on the floor for the past 5 weeks, every night and every nap. I finally screwed on the mini front rail, and that apparently did the trick as he now sleeps in his bed.

He's also decided to enter the Terrible Twos :( I've had to carry him kicking and screaming from several public buildings in recent weeks. Once I realized that my baby boy isn't such a baby anymore, but more like a master manipulator, I put my foot down and his behavior has improved now that he knows I'm not playing his game.

Levi continues to be the fashion-forward one in our family.

Tatum is just a really sweet baby. Ty likes to say that she is the least held baby in the history of the world, which is an awful thing for a father to say about any baby, much less his own! However, she was always so content to lay on her play mat and swat at toys or watch her brothers or the dog, that we often let her just hang out. Well, that changed about a week ago, and now she screams bloody murder the second you put her down. She wants to be held non-stop and has become a very social butterfly. She has also gotten really great at sitting in the past week. It's such a shame she won't let us plop her down to sit by herself! We always have to be there to keep her company! Levi is still enamored with his sister, so he's really great at entertaining her for a minute so I can run to the bathroom or fix someone a snack.

Ok, so I assume if you are still reading this that you are family. Sorry this post is so long! I'll try to do better. But then again, how many times have you heard this unfulfilled promise in the past?! Maybe if you come down here to babysit for us, I'd have more time to post cute things about your grandkids/nephews/niece/etc. :) Life is hectic now, but rich!

Bye Bye Paci

2011-03-24T23:29:00.000-04:00

Levi has been pacifier free for 4 days and nights now!! And he's learned to climb out of his crib, so will be moving to a "big boy" bed very soon. He's growing up too quickly.

Ty took Levi on a trip to Minnesota for Ty's cousin's wedding. When they got home, we told Levi that he left his paci on the airplane. It took him a few minutes to realize that his paci was gone forever (which was heartbreaking to watch), and he cried pretty hard for a few minutes, but then he quit suddenly and went to sleep. He asked for it once each of the next 2 days, then quit asking for it! He's such a laid back kiddo.

I LOVE the age Levi is right now. Here are a few things I want to remember about him at age 2:

I love how he wants to do everything by himself. He always says, "No help help." He wants to walk down stairs with no help and tries to buckle his seat belt like his big brother.
I love how he is extremely polite. He almost always says "thank you" after you give him anything.
He's such a smart kid - he's working pretty hard on his numbers (but he conveniently always skips the number 2), knows most of the ABC song, and is getting more consistent with his colors. He's light years ahead of where Colt was at this point (probably since he's the 2nd kid), so it makes us think he's a genius :)
I love how sweet Levi is to Tatum. He is protective of her when other kids try to look at her in the carseat. He frequently lays on the floor to play with her and daily smothers her with hugs and kisses.

But, I gotta say, as much as I love this kid, he not always peaches and cream. Like right now, he must have known I was going to write this post, b/c he is standing at his bedroom door screaming, an hour after his bedtime, asserting his newfound-crib-escaping freedom. Ah, the ups and downs of life with a 2-year-old.

Our intro to ShowBiz

2011-03-21T21:46:00.000-04:00

It's been over a year ago, but Levi was filmed for a commercial. Since that's blog-worthy around our house, I thought it was about time to mention it. A friend from church is a producer and was filming a commercial for a new baby skin care company. He needed babies in Levi's age range, so we volunteered. I'm always up for exposing my kids to new opportunities, even at 10 months of age!

The premise of the commercial was that most skin care products have toxic chemicals in them, but this new company has all natural and organic ingredients. Levi was with his friend, Skylyn, in the bathtub scene. They played with toys and soapy bubbles and had lots of fun!

Levi had a chemical symbol drawn on him, since he was being washed with "toxic" soap in the bathtub.

Here's the little cutie!

It turned out that the commercial was never released in full form because some big dogs in the skincare arena were upset that the bottles used in the commercial looked very similar to theirs. Litigation always ties things up. Fortunately, we were given a copy on DVD for our family to look at, and for Levi to watch one day. He really was a natural! He kept walking to the front of the bathtub and would flirt with the camera :) It was a really fun experience, and I think I was pretty laid back as the mom of the superstar.

Marble painting and other random acts

2011-03-21T10:42:00.001-04:00

The goody bag we gave at Levi's b-day party included the following marble painting kit. My boys have been loving painting with it, almost daily.

Just squirt some paint on the paper in an aluminum pan (or a shoebox works too). Add marbles. And ROLL!

Levi's finished work of art.

We also have this game called the Stomp Rocket that the boys love. You can kinda see the tail end of the blue and white rocket at the top of the picture.

On a recent date night, Ty was talking on the pay phone, while purusing his iphone. Can you tell we have really hot date nights by shopping at the Children's Place?

Tatum rolled over for the first time yesterday! Colt saw it happen. We tried repeatedly today to coax her into rolling over again, but she was over it already.

In more birthday news...

2011-03-16T09:42:00.001-04:00

We also had a big birthday bash for Levi and his friend Will (who's 12 days older) at the church gym. It was a great place for a bunch of 2 year olds to run around and play while the parents could hang out and visit.

I love this picture because Levi was having trouble blowing out his candle from so far away, and all the kids (and I) were making mouth-blowing faces to help him out.

My Dad and Jennifer drove in from Abilene for the party.

Nana and Bang Bang also came! Their first picture with all FOUR of their grandkids :)

Aunt Chez and Eliza were celebrating in style.

These are a few pictures I took of Tatum at 4 months. She's a real sweetheart!! Such a content and laid back baby. She's also a big girl- 95% for height and 90% for weight.

I thought I'd try to get some portrait type pictures of Levi for his 2nd birthday, but, since he's 2, that was pretty much out of the question.

You'll have to settle for these instead :) I think I like them better because they show his spunky personality. Notice the four CandyLand men in his right hand. He takes them out of the game box daily and carries them around.

Sometimes he wants things his own way. Imagine that.

Do we have a lefty on our hands?

My Thirty First

2011-03-15T21:42:00.000-04:00

This year my birthday fell on a weekend, which I love. If you were to ask me these days to describe my ideal day, it would include spending it with my family. Not that relaxing on a beach is off the list, but it would be so much better if Ty and my kids were there too. Since this year's birthday fell on a Saturday, it was a perfect day for us to all hang out!

Tatum is in the Beco baby carrier on my back, incase you are wondering :)

We ate breakfast at Matt's El Rancho on their amazing patio. Well, it's amazing when you have children there. The boys played at the koi fish pond and threw leaves at the birds while Ty and I actually were able to sit down for an entire meal. Then we packed up our crew and headed to the greenbelt. For the last 2 years, anytime the weather is nice, there are cars lined up a mile long at the greenbelt near our home. We were all curious to see what all the fuss was about, and since our kids are finally at an age to "hike" we hit the trail. It was great weather and so fun to see our boys enjoying God's beautiful creation.

We headed home after our hike so the kids could nap and I went out shopping ALONE - ah! That's a gift in and of itself :) Then we braved the SXSW traffic and drove downtown to eat dinner at a great Italian place. We topped off the day with a trip to Delish, my favorite cupcake bakery. We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves there, as you can see for yourself...

A finger is apparently as good as the Mexican Vanilla cupcake to Tatum.

Tough guy

All in all, this was a great way to celebrate the end of 30 great years and the beginning of #31! Thanks, guys, for making it so much fun!

Simple Mom Spring Clean challenge, Week 1

2011-03-14T11:48:00.000-04:00

I've been thinking for a while that I'd like to really clean out our master closet. After 2 1/2 years, it really needed it! One of the blogs I follow, Simple Mom, recently issued a challenge for a 6 week Spring Cleaning. I initially wasn't interested, but when I saw that the first week of the challenge was the Master Closet, I took the plunge. Check out the first challenge at: http://simplemom.net/closet-before-and-after/

So here is our closet before:

And AFTER:

I have more shoes than I thought! I had to buy another shoe organizer to fit them all.

I organized the belts, scarves, head bands, and hats.

Between the 2 of us, we were able to donate several bags of clothing to our church's outreach ministry. I organized my clothes by casual, dressy, cardigans, pants, dresses and clothes-I-can-wear-again-after-I-stop-nursing, so things are easy to find for now!

Here's our bathroom drawer before:

And after:

I got rid of tons of stuff and placed all the samples in places where I'll actually use them!

This was a great project to start off Spring Cleaning. Do you have any areas of your home you plan to tackle?

March (Birthday) Madness!

2011-03-13T23:08:00.001-04:00

March is a month full of birthdays around our house! Levi, Nana, myself, Aunt Alethea, future Aunt Amy, and cousins Stephen and Grant all share aquamarine as their gemstone color (yeah, that's random. I know).

Levi has been WAY into Mickey Mouse lately, so we threw him a Mickey party, done right.

Donald's Cheese and Quackers

Minnie's Fruit Pop Garden

Mickey's Garden Veggies

We also had Pluto's Hot Dogs and Goofy's Chocolate Milk. Levi makes us sing the "Hot Dog" song from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show at naptime and bedtime, as well as the theme song from the show. He loves to name all of the characters on the show, so this was the perfect birthday dinner for him.

And what party is complete without a Mickey cake? Not Levi's, that for sure!

Daddy sporting his Mickey Mouse party hat, and who is that.... Minnie Mouse?!

Oh, that's just Tatum. She does make a cute Minnie Mouse!

Colt proceeded to open all of Levi's presents. Levi didn't seem to mind though - he just wanted to play with each gift after Colt opened them up.

Messy boy! I'm pretty sure he didn't get this messy on his first birthday!

We love you, Levi! You bring so much joy into our lives!

Snow day!

2011-03-07T13:54:00.000-05:00

It also snowed during February, but since that's such a novelty here in Central Texas, I thought it warranted its own post.

Colt was SO excited to discover it had snowed when he woke up. He immediately got dressed to go outside. Levi wasn't all about the snow though, and chose to watch from the warmth of the house. Colt played for a bit, then we went inside for breakfast after he got too cold. After breakfast, Levi still wasn't interested in going outside. As Colt and I were outside playing, Levi eventually emerged from the house dressed like this...

He is potty training, so was running round the house with his pants off.

He soon discovered the snow was LOTS of fun, so we went inside and got him properly dressed.

Tatum meanwhile stayed toasty warm inside!

Warming up by the fire...

Snow down the back of the sweater is really cold.

We didn't have any gloves (and every store I tried to buy them from was sold out!), so we used socks on our hands instead. We loved playing in the snow this morning. By the afternoon, most of it had melted away, but we'll cherish these memories till next time!

SO far behind!

2011-03-06T00:29:00.000-05:00

I can't believe I didn't post anything during the month of February! Time really is flying around here. Life with 3 kids is definitely busier!! Here's a quick recap with the very few pictures I took during the month.

My mom came to visit for a week. We loved having her here!

Colt wanted his picture taken with Molly. He loves for her to give him kisses, and yes, he opens his mouth in order for her to lick him. Gross, I know!

Nanny, nanny, boo boo.

Levi is generally a happy go-lucky kid, but lately he's become a bit more serious about things. He's busy potty training. I love that I haven't changed a dirty diaper from the kid in weeks!!

I was trying to get a picture of the boys together to send to my Grandad. This is the best shot I got of the boys together. I should do a separate post about how HARD it was to get them both to look at the same time, with no hands in their faces. It really was quite funny to look at the progression of images :)

This is one of my favorite shots from the day. I just love how they are having fun talking to one another. This really does happen from time to time, despite the fact that sometimes I wonder if people walking in front of our house sometimes think we are having a screaming/crying/who-can-drive-mom-the-craziest party inside our house!

First Father-Son trip

2011-01-26T23:27:00.000-05:00

Ty recently took Colt on their first father-son trip. They drove from Austin with one of Ty's high school buddies and his son to Oklahoma City to visit Ty's best friend from high school and his family.

It was a weekend of 3 little boys getting to play and the guys getting to catch up. Ty took some pictures with his phone, but apparently forgot to take several pictures (like one of all 3 boys together).

He did, however, get a picture of the dog.

One night, the guys went to an OKC Thunder basketball game.

On the way back, they were welcomed home with SNOW! They let the boys out of the car to play in it for a bit and stretch their legs, then braved the traffic to finally arrive home.

While Ty and Colt were gone, Levi and I enjoyed some 1 on 1 time.

I brought out some dinosaurs and Levi was in heaven!

I enjoyed playing around with my new camera while Levi played in Colt's room.

Photo op of the two left behind kids.

We love our little family! Ty is excited to take his next father-son trip. Next time, he's taking Levi with him to a family wedding in Minnesota and I'm looking forward to time to focus just on Colt.

3 month comparison

2011-01-21T23:29:00.000-05:00

Tatum

Colt

Levi

Obligatory Christmas Post

2011-01-03T23:05:00.000-05:00

This Christmas was our first to spend in Abilene since we've had kids. Jennifer did a great job decorating the house and making it festive. The tree was stunning! She decorated it with little picture frames with a picture of each family member. After the tree came down, she hung them on a mural tree that Ashley painted in the guest room. Such a great idea!

The house was packed. My whole family came, as well as my Aunt Debbie, Uncle Don and their 2 sons. Our boys had SO much fun playing with some older boys. And Stephen and Grant were extremely patient with my kids.

Here we are during our own family Christmas. The kids mostly got board games and books from us.

I got some chocolate covered cherries (with a few days to eat them before my sugar fast began on New Years). Ty got some shoes and a pillow ;)

After Christmas, we all got sick. The weird thing was that everyone had different symptoms. But we all came down with something. Fortunately, we are better now!

Here's Levi being his silly self by sitting in Tatum's car seat.

Over New Year's we celebrated Christmas with Ty's family. Colt and Levi got new golf clubs which they love!

The boys also enjoyed playing with next year's Christmas ornaments that I got on clearance :)

Miss Priss is growing up too quickly! She's already 2 1/2 months and just moved into her 3-6 month clothes. She's a big girl! Tatum holds her head up really well and continues to be a sweet as sugar.

We had a very Merry Christmas and enjoyed taking lots of time this winter to share the story of Jesus birth with our kids. We went to the Living Nativity at Colt's preschool again this year and took time each evening to read from the Bible as we completed our Jesse Tree. It's fun to begin new traditions with our young kids! We are so thankful for God's precious GIFT to us in His son, Jesus and for this time to celebrate his birth.

Austin Zoo escapades

2011-01-02T17:42:00.000-05:00

We recently bought the Groupon to the Austin Zoo. I'd always heard that the Austin zoo wasn't really a zoo and was really disappointing. But with young kids, you can't pass up the zoo in your own city unless you want to win "Worst Parent of the Year" honors. Since the year was winding down and I was in the running for this honorable award, I figured we should pack up our own zoo crew and head that way.

The first animals we saw at the zoo were roosters and chickens. "Here we go..." I thought.

However, the zoo ended up being a GREAT experience. We saw bears, jaguars, lions, tigers, HUGE turtles, as well as a great feeding/petting zoo with goats, llamas, etc. The really neat part was how close you were to the animals. The lions were literally 3 feet from us, behind a fence of course, but still.... The zoo was also in a really shaded, not paved environment, so you feel a bit better for these caged animal's wellbeing. Also, quite a few of the animals have been rescued.

The day was a great outing... until the boys melted down in hunger and fatigue at the end of the morning (see picture above). There is a train that we chose not to ride due to the tired and hungry boys in our party. Hopefully next time we can take our little conductors on the little train. We look forward to our next zoo outing!

8 weeks

2010-12-16T22:37:00.000-05:00

We've made it 8 weeks with 3 kids. Woohoo! It hasn't always been easy, but I just keep reminding myself that the hard times don't last forever. Really, the rough patches come in half hour increments, so I try to tell myself that they will not last too long, then go on about our day. I've also learned to accept any and all help that is offered, even from strangers at the store. The help is really appreciated!!

We never have times in our family when ALL THREE kids are crying at once. Nope, not us!

Anyway, Tatum is such a fantastic, laid back baby. She isn't fussy (for the most part) like Colt and Levi were. She's started this funny thing, where she'll sleep most of the day, then be WIDE awake from 7-11pm or so, then sleep well at night, just waking up to eat. At least she has her days and nights worked out now.

She also likes to work on her cheerleader moves, waving her arms about in the air. Or maybe she's just really uncoordinated. Only time will tell.

At her 6 week appointment, she weighed 11 pounds, 3 oz. I think that's about 75% for weight. Her cheeks are getting really chubby and little rolls are forming on her arms and thighs.

I also wanted to post about the boys. They've been up to some funny stuff lately.

Levi calls Tatum "NeeNee and Colt "Bolt." Understandable for a guy whose older brother called him "Hadee" for such a long time. Levi also loves to read. His book of choice right now is "The Three Billy Goats Gruff." I think he especially enjoys the different voices we use to read it.
He continues to be very affectionate with Tatum. He wants to hold her often, and smothers her with kisses and hugs. The other day he accidentally hurt her and he fell on the ground crying because he felt so badly. What a sweet brother!

He also LOVES his Daddy. He asks about his Dad and Aunt Chez all day every day. The thing is, he calls both Uncle Cody and Aunt Chez, "Aunt Chez," so we really don't know which one he's asking for!

Colt has been really into pretending lately, which is fun to watch. He plays pirates, doctor, shepherds (can you tell we've been reviewing the Christmas story?), train conductor, fireman, police man, etc. He's also been really selfish and been taking toys out of Levi's hands all day, every day, as well as disobeying us a ton. This really frustrates me, but I know this is partly my fault because we haven't been very consistent with discipline since Tatum arrived on the scene. I just ordered some new parenting books and videos and can't wait to whip my kids into shape... literally. Well, maybe not whip, but we definitely use the spoon. The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother. - Proverbs 29:15. On the up side, Colt has also been a big help with his siblings during this time of change, and I'm thankful for his willingness to contribute to family life. I know it's a lot of change in his little world, so I appreciate his ability to roll with the punches.

The story of our lives

2010-11-29T15:17:00.001-05:00

From www.babycenter.com

Moses basket

2010-11-23T08:38:00.002-05:00

Since Levi is uber affectionate with Tatum, I can't put her in the baby swing or her bouncy seat, lest she get clobbered. My friend Kim sweetly lent me her Moses basket, so I can put Tatum down on the kitchen counter safely while I work around the house. Here's Tatum enjoying her new digs.

Tatum is One MONTH!

2010-11-18T23:57:00.000-05:00

Boy how time flies! I can't believe Tatum is already one month.

She sleeps ALOT of the time, which leaves me with time to spend with the boys, who are still adjusting.

Tatum's head of hair. No bald spot yet!

Tatum is still wearing newborn size clothes. Just in the last 2-3 days has she started to somewhat fit in 0-3 month outfits. I'm eager for her to move up in size because she has so many cute 0-3 month outfits that I want her to wear.

Trying to lift her little head. She's pretty strong already! Guess she'll have to be with 2 big brothers.

I feel like she's SO close to having her first real smile. That will be such a sweet day!

On our home scale, Tatum weighed in at 10.2 lbs today.

I love to kiss her chubby cheeks!

Her eye sight has really been improving. It's fun to watch her focus on or follow all the activity going on around her.

As for sleep at night, about 3 nights a week, she's been sleeping "all night" (or just wakes up to eat, then goes right back to sleep). The other nights she may be fussy, or gassy, or just awake, so one of us (usually Ty because I'm a grouch in the middle of the night) gets up with her.

I love it when she stretches like this. She looks like Super Woman - flying through the sky!

Halloween 2010

2010-11-18T22:58:00.001-05:00

Here's a recap of our Halloween. I didn't really buy costumes since I didn't know how old Tatum would be and if we'd feel up to going out. Plus, I really don't like my kids to eat all that candy, so would pass on this holiday if it wasn't such a great chance to meet our neighbors and spend some fun time together as a family. I love those people who give out packages of crayons or other creative non-candy gifts - one guy this year gave Colt a plastic green finger with which to pick his nose! Levi was a UT football player this year - he wouldn't stay still enough for me to get a good picture. A scary costume this year :)

Introducing Tatum Grace Dishman!

2010-10-29T23:12:00.000-04:00

The skinny: Tatum Grace Dishman, born Oct 18th, 2010. Weight: 7lbs 8oz. Length: 19 3/4 inches.

The Birth Story: A few months ago, I decided I wanted to take a studio lighting class, so I can take Tatum's baby photos myself. I signed up for a class to be held on Oct 17th, 6 days before her Oct 22nd due date. I'd been talking to Tatum, asking her to stay put until after the class. (The class, btw, was AWESOME! I learned a ton and have since been having fun experimenting and learning with Tatum in my "studio" which is really our bedroom). The pictures on this blog post, however, were provided by Ty's mom - thanks Nana! Our little Tatum has already proven obedient - she waited till exactly 8 hours after the class to begin her journey into the world.

Anyway, at 1am on Oct. 18th, my water broke. I actually wasn't sure at first - I thought maybe Tatum had moved in some weird way and maybe I peed? (This has never happened before, fyi ;) About 15 minutes later, more water gushed out, and I knew my water had broken. I wasn't having any contractions though, so just went back to bed. Water kept leaking out over the course of the next hour and after the 4th time, Ty stirred as I went back to bed, so I told him my water had broken. He asked if I was having contractions, and since I wasn't, advised me to go back to sleep. That was easier said than done! I was excited that most likely, today was the day to meet Tatum! Also, knowing that the baby should be born within 24 hours of the water breaking, I started to worry about what would happen if contractions didn't start soon. I also knew that my hospital bag wasn't fully packed and I had yet to get the groceries that the Birthing Center recommended to bring to sustain me for labor (remember we just signed up there a few days prior). I eventually drifted off to sleep around 3am.

At 4:40am, I woke up having contractions. My contractions were ranging from 3-5 minutes apart, but weren't very strong. I woke Ty up at 5am and we both got ready for the day ahead. We called Chez and Cody at 5:30, to come watch the boys. They showed up around 6am - super speedy getting to our house! I continued to labor rather easily (packing and cleaning the house) but was having some mild back pain, so tried to position myself during contractions to turn Tatum if she was posterior (like both boys were). Around 7am, I began to feel myself becoming more focused and serious about the labor, and the contractions were becoming more intense. I needed Ty to put counter pressure on my back because of the back pain. Ty called the Birthing Center, the midwife talked to me to make sure this was the real deal, and we hopped in the truck. The housekeepers showed up as we were getting ready to leave and were giving me sympathetic looks. On the upside, the house would be clean when we got home!

For the second straight time, I experienced the transition stage of labor in the car. Ugh! This is the hardest part of labor; the part where you just want to give up. It hurts SO bad and the end is not in sight. The way I see it, it's somewhat nice to be in the car because I'm somewhat distracted. However, the Bradley method advises that you should try to be relaxed though your contractions to help manage pain and it's pretty much impossible to be relaxed in the car during contractions with all the bumps and braking, etc.

We knew we were going to beat the midwife to the Birthing Center and since I hadn't grocery shopped for the things I was supposed to bring, I suggested that Ty stop by a convenience store and pick up some Sprite and Gatorade for hydration. There is a store right next to the Center. As he was hopping out of the truck, I said, "You better hurry - I feel like I need to push!" He bought those drinks in record time. We pulled into the Birthing Center at 7:40am and were the only ones there. I was about to have another contraction and since I hate laboring in the truck, hopped out to labor on the sidewalk on all 4s. During my first contraction, the midwife assistant (Dana) drove up. She ran to unlock the building and set up! I had one more contraction on the sidewalk, then went inside. (The next day I had some scrapes on my legs and couldn't for the life of me figure out how I got them - but now I'm pretty sure it was from the sidewalk).

I knew that I should try not to push until the midwife (Vicki) got there, but that was really hard! Fortunately, Vicki showed up right then and assured me everything would be ok. I moved to the bed so Vicki could check the dilation, and she gave me the go ahead to start pushing. Vicki, Dana, and another new midwife (can't remember her name) were SO encouraging. They really wanted me to listen to my body and gave me coaching when I needed it. I guess I was pushing pretty well because they kept saying so. With each contraction, I could feel progress being made playdate scheduled that day, so asked Ty to text the hostess and let her know we weren't going to make it.

This is Colt playing with his gift from Baby Tatum.

Anyway, after a few more pushes, Tatum made her grand entrance! They put her directly onto my chest (which also hadn't happened in my previous two births). I asked them if they were sure they didn't need to take her to examine her. They were very much into letting us bond, so we did! They worked to deliver the placenta and Ty was busy sending posting pictures on Facebook and emailing family. After several minutes, Ty asked, "Are you sure it's a girl?" No body knew because Tatum and I had been cuddling the whole time. Over the course of the pregnancy SEVERAL women (mostly strangers) had commented that they thought the baby was a boy because of how I was carrying. I was worried that after I had washed all the girl clothes and stocked up on bows, etc. that Tatum would come out a boy (hey, it could happen!). We proceeded to unwrap her and our worst fears were put to ease.

After a couple of hours of bonding and nursing, Tatum was weighed, examined thoroughly, and bathed. I also showered before our family showed up (with food, thankfully!). After the family left, Ty and I took a nap, then were discharged home around 2:30pm. It was awesome to be able to go home the same day and sleep in our own bed and not be disturbed by nurses coming into our room all night long, as would have happened if we birthed at the hospital. Overall, this was a quick birth (though you wouldn't know it by how wordy I've been on the blog) and we very much enjoyed our experience at the Austin Area Birthing Center. We wish we would have delivered all our babies here! This birth was an answer to prayer as Tatum was in the proper position to be birthed and I had little back pain compared with the boys.

Levi is receiving his shape-sorter gift from Tatum. He LOVES it!

We are now home and doing well. Ty's been off work the last 2 weeks, so the real test of 3 kids for me will come next week when I'm parenting solo during the days. Colt seems to be adjusting really well. He loves to say Hi to Tatum and is very sweet to her. Levi, on the other hand, has a love/hate relationship at this point. He loves to hold Tatum and give her kisses. But in the same breath will begin to head butt her and hit her. :( Hopefully this stage will pass quickly! I'm trying to make sure I give him extra attention so he knows he's still loved. Tatum is still in that 2 week window where babies sleep all the time, though today she was alert quite a bit, so that might be ending. Anyway, the journey with 3 kids has begun. We are excited to begin our life as a family of FIVE!

Our little pumpkin

2010-10-21T23:47:00.000-04:00

We took a trip to the Tarrytown United Methodist pumpkin patch over the weekend. The boys had fun looking at the pumpkins, although Levi was not up for getting his picture made. I had the crazy idea to paint my stomach as a pumpkin to get some fun pictures. However, I couldn't find orange face paint, so I just used orange finger paints we had at home. I haven't had time to photoshop the pumpkin to make it look better, so for the foreseeable future, it will remain as is :)

I love this time of year! It's such a fun time to celebrate God's provision in our lives. Look at this wonderful family He's blessed me with!

We've been talking a lot with the boys about what it's going to be like when Tatum arrives. Levi doesn't seem to have a clue whats about to happen. He always looks confused when we point at my stomach and talk about a baby. He will sign baby when we talk about babies or see one out and about.

Colt, on the other hand, seems excited for Tatum to arrive. He knows that he's about to give his bed to her (the convertible crib) and says that she's not going to cry. We definitely had to clear that misconception up! He likes to come to my belly and kiss it or say "Hi, Baby Tatum!"

I should mention that Nana took most of these pictures. Thank you!

Levi's checking out the pumpkins.

Tatum's Baby Shower

2010-10-21T22:50:00.000-04:00

So I know you are all wanting an update from Tatum's birth, but in an effort to keep this blog chronological (so I can print it into a book in the future), I'm going to do a few short posts from our pre-Tatum lives. Just hold your horses - plenty of Tatum is soon to come :)

A few weeks ago, several friends threw Tatum and I a baby shower at Chez Zee restaurant. It was a Monday night Girl's Night type event, which I absolutely LOVE. It's always nice to get together with other women to relax and celebrate! I felt absolutely blessed by the friendship and love expressed that evening. Thanks again to everyone for showering us with lots of girly things. Your friendship is so precious to me.

The hostesses and me

All the pregnant mamas

The proud Nana-to-be with her two future granddaughters. I am SO excited that Tatum will have a cousin (and a girl at that!) so close in age to play with. Let the good times roll!

A change in plans

2010-10-15T23:30:00.000-04:00

Here are some maternity pics that Ty took before church last Sunday. I am 38 weeks pregnant here.

As far as pregnancy developments... let me share a story. Last week my Obgyn and I went over my birth plan. I desire to have a drug-free vaginal birth and my doctor has been totally on board with that the whole pregnancy. (She delivered Levi that way too). As with both of our boys, I also submitted a letter to refuse the erythromycin eye ointment that is given within 2 hours of birth, since I don't have the diseases the ointment protect's against. My OB informed me that since Levi was born, the hospital has started to enforce the law that says the erythromycin is mandatory. She said if we refused to give this antibiotic to Tatum, the hospital would call Child Protective Services (CPS) on us! I went home and did some research on the law and found others online who had CPS called on them in this situation. It's a sad day when we are forced to receive medication/vaccinations/treatment/etc without our consent, especially if we are making an INFORMED decision!

Anyway, this week, I received a call from a nurse at the hospital, Seton SW. She said my birth plan and letter of refusal came across her desk. She proceeded to tell me that she was required by law to call CPS on us if we refused the eye ointment. We had a long chat. She said I was wrong - that the ointment doesn't protect the baby against STDs the mother may have. I asked her why the Department of Health website says regarding the medication that it DOES protect against STDs, and since I don't have any, I don't feel it's necessary for the baby to have the medication. She stammered for a while and said, "Well, it does protect against STDs, but also against other bacteria." It made me feel like she was just giving me a line.

So, Ty and I talked about the choice in front of us. It ticked us both off that our ability to make a choice for our child's wellbeing was unavailable to us. Now, the Austin Area Birthing Center just opened a south location last month. Ty had mentioned a few weeks ago that he thought we should birth there because it is more in line with our childbirth goals and desires than a hospital would be. However, I was 8 months pregnant and didn't want to change care providers at such a late date. Plus, our last hospital experience had been great (due to the nurse who helped deliver Levi acting very much like a doula for us). However, after this incident, we decided to check out the Birthing Center. 8 days before my due date, we toured the facility and talked with a midwife, and decided this was in the best interest for our family. My medical records were faxed over and I had my first appointment that same day! It was a whirlwind of a day for us, but we are super excited about giving birth at the Birthing Center.

If all goes according to plan, we will have had one hospital birth resulting in unnecessary C-section, one hospital VBAC drug-free birth, and one birthing center birth.

We sure do love our little munchkins and try to make the best decisions we can for them! It's been interesting to be a parent. I feel like I've learned SO much about nutrition, vaccinations, general health, education, discipline, spirituality/faith development, etc - just because I want to give my kids the best possible future (within my control as their mom). At times it can be information overload! But I know God gives me Wisdom when I ask and a Spirit of Discernment to help me along on this journey of parenting that He has tasked Ty and myself to. Thank you for blessing us with kids and providing us a way to navigate the journey, Lord!

Life at our house

2010-10-04T22:49:00.001-04:00

Here are some pictures I snapped over the last week:

I thought it was cute how the boys both sat on the ottoman to watch the new season of Sesame Street one day. We've had some sickness around our house, which always increases television viewing.

We had French doors installed where our sliding glass patio doors were, and the boys were so excited to watch all the action. I finally set up a chair in the yard so they could watch, but not be in the way.

My little monkeys.

Colt loves to have his picture taken, then look at it in the LCD screen afterwards.

I tried again to take Levi's ACU Today picture, but he got his hands on a snack prior to picture time and got food all over his shirt! Plus, the shadows were bad at this time of day. Hopefully the third time will be a charm!

Besides just monkeying around, I've been dragging the kids to doctor's appointments. Levi had a surprise appt on Monday - we were driving to a playdate when he started coughing and turning blue. I was really close to our pediatrician's office, so swung in there and they gave him a breathing treatment. Kinda scary! I've been going to a chiropractor - Tatum was transverse, but is now head down. However, after having two posterior babies, I'm willing to try anything to get Tatum in the correct delivery position! Also, I'm on weekly OB appointments, so the kids are getting to know waiting rooms and doctors really well these days!

A Day Out with Thomas

2010-10-03T22:39:00.000-04:00

Every little boys dream... to spend a day with Thomas the Train.

We decided to head to Burnet to ride on Thomas the Train this year. Thought it would be a fun activity to do as a family before Tatum makes here arrival in 3 weeks or so.

Colt had SO much fun. We arrived a few minutes before our boarding time, and he pulled my hand so hard saying, "Let's GO!" He did NOT want Thomas to leave us behind :)

Levi, while not quite as aware of the significance of our ride, still had fun.

The adults actually thought the ride was quite lame. We paid $60 to ride backwards in a train car (decorated with colorful pendant flags - see below) for 12 minutes, then forwards back to The Island of Sodor for another 12 minutes. The conductor came by and tore our tickets and the kids got to hear the whistle blow.

Colt was sad to get off the train. Look how little he is!

After the train ride, Colt got a Thomas tattoo and made a stamp picture.

Snack break

Thomas is leaving the station (backwards). Colt was a bit confused by this.

Photo op

We went with our friends, Will and Abbey. Afterwards, Colt said, "Thomas didn't talk at all." He also wanted to know where Percy, Gordon and the other trains were. He said he had so much fun and I'm sure he'll be talking about it for months to come. We are planning (with the grandparents) to get Colt a Thomas train table, tracks and cars when Tatum arrives. One of his favorite things to do is go to Barnes and Noble or the kid's barber to play with the train tables there. He will want many other siblings after receiving such a great gift from 'Tatum.' Ha!!

Colt's 3rd b-day party

2010-09-07T23:20:00.000-04:00

Colt is at that age where he LOVES birthday parties. It wouldn't have been right to not throw one for him! Since he is really into trains right now, we threw a Thomas the Tank Engine party and had family and a few kids from church over. It worked out really well not to throw a huge shin-dig like last year b/c it ended up raining, so having a small group was perfect inside our house.

Colt had fun trying out his new toys and decorating his own cupcake.

Levi was chillin' in his train conductor's hat. This kiddo loves to wear hats!

Mommy and the Birthday Boy. I sure do love him!

Colt had a fun time at his party. He still talks about it all the time and is eagerly awaiting birthday #4, which we have to keep reminding him is quite a ways away. Poor kid still has yet to figure out time concepts. Everything is "last night" (referring to anything in the past) and "next week" (referring to anything in the future). Three is proving to be a fun age!

Preschool!

2010-09-07T22:50:00.000-04:00

Today was Colt's first day of preschool this year. He was excited to go, and a bit nervous, but had a great day. We went last week for Meet the Teacher night, and Colt was confused as to why he didn't have the same teachers and why none of the kids from last year were in his new class.

However, today he marched into his classroom and put his backpack in his cubby, then headed to a table to play. As I left the room, he ran after me to give me a big hug and kiss, which melted my heart. In the car on the way home, he didn't talk much about school. He couldn't remember any of the other kid's names and asked, "Why do you have to be quiet at school?" Anyway, his teachers seem great and we are looking forward to a great year.

L at 18 months

2010-09-07T16:00:00.001-04:00

I realized I haven't taken Levi's ACU Today picture yet. The onesie ACU sends is size 12 months and Levi currently wears size 24 month clothes, so he wore it more like a t-shirt since it wouldn't snap! It really wasn't a great photo session as he was really preoccupied with feeding leaves to the dog next door, but I figure it gives a great glimpse of L on his 18 month b-day. Levi is a funny kid. He's figured out that if he waves to people he gets a nice reaction, so he stops and waves to everyone.

For the last 2 weeks I haven't had to change a poopy diaper because he's been going in the potty! Gotta love it! He isn't great about telling us he needs to go, but will look at us with this mischievous smile or will start to take his diaper off, so we will rush him to the bathroom. Plus, he's regular, so I know what time to be on the lookout. This makes cloth diapering so much easier and more pleasant (especially with having a pregnancy nose). Way to go, Levi!