Our Sweet Hattie!

Our sweet Hattie is here (and has been for a while...I just haven't had time to blog), and we are so very in love! She arrived February 11th, and I was so ready to meet her.

I delivered her without an epidural, like I did with Luke, but this time seemed much more intense. My labor and delivery this time lasted almost the same amount of time as with Luke, but it was very different. Thankfully, once my doctor broke my water, she was out in just 75 minutes. I don't know if I could have gone a minute longer.

As much as I hate to put this picture on the internet, I wanted to document the reality of natural child birth. This is immediately after Hattie was delivered. Every time I look at this picture, I see my husband, all happy and dressed and handsome. And then I see me, exhausted and thanking God it's finally over, and I just think, good grief...men have it so darn easy!!!

 And let's not even talk about the nine months that came before that moment...

Anyway, once I had my sweet baby girl in my arms, all the pain and weight gain and everything else was well worth it.
This little babycakes is such a joy!


Hattie Anne Tatum
9 lbs, 5 oz.
21.25 in.

I mean, seriously, I could just gobble her up!

And the rest of the family is pretty enamored of her, too.
Luke was soooo excited to have a baby sister and had even requested a sister, rather than a brother, well before we found out Hattie's gender. I was a little worried that the luster of a sister would soon wear off and that he would change his mind. I can honestly say, though, that he ADORES her and has from the moment he met her.

He absolutely loved coming to visit her in the hospital.

 One of the sweetest moments of this mama's life was during this scene. Luke was looking at his sister and "holding" her with Daddy's help. Suddenly he got very quiet, looked right at her, and sheepishly said, "I wi-wee yuv her." It was the sweetest and most sincere thing he has ever said, and it just melted me right into a big fat puddle.

And then he hugged her!

Such a good big brother. I hope he always loves her this much.

This daddy was also instantly smitten. It was so much fun to see him with his little girl. He was so good to both her and me during our hospital stay. He changed every diaper, kept a detailed log of all the feedings and diaper changes, ran around doing anything and everything I asked day and night, and was so content to just sit and hold his baby girl. 

Such a good man, my hubby.

 Flipper and Pops came to town and were all-stars, taking care of Luke while we were at the hospital...not an easy task! They rushed right over to meet their third grandbaby, and I think they were pretty pleased!


   
Love this picture of {part of} my family!

 My sweet mom and me.
Every girl needs her mom by her side when she becomes a mom...even the second time around.

A grainy selfie I took of my girl and me.

Oh, how I love her.

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And now just for fun...
It's time to see just how much Hattie looked like her brother did when he was born...it's insane. I will never forget when the nurses handed Hattie to me, it felt like they were handing me Luke all over again. Seriously. They could have been twins. See for yourself.

 LUKE, 2009.

 HATTIE, 2013.

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LUKE, 2009.


HATTIE, 2013.

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POPS & LUKE, 2009.

POPS & HATTIE, 2013.

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LUKE (in the NICU with jaundice), 2009.


HATTIE, 2013.

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LUKE, on the way home from the hospital, 2009.

 HATTIE, on the way home from the hospital, 2013.

It's nuts, huh? Now that Hattie is a few months older, I definitely think she has her own look, but she still looks a lot like Luke. It will be so much fun to see how much or how little they look alike as they age. For now, though, there is no denying they are siblings!

It's Official...

Life is about to change drastically...

In fact, the shopping has already begun. I can hardly contain myself!

{Not So} Tiny Dancer.

This is so Luke right now. He loves to do what he calls his "Silly Dance" and make us laugh. The only thing funnier than this is when his daddy joins in, but I'm not allowed to put that on the internet!

Slippin' & Slidin'

A few quick pics from our vacation at the mountain house, courtesy of my sis-in-law (thanks!). The Stinker loved his first slip and slide...Can you tell?

I just can't get enough of those dimples. Good grief, I love him.

What We've Been Up to This Summer...

(Please excuse my horrible camera phone pictures...)

We made a summer list this year.

Little did I know that potty training + weeks of extreme heat + nauseous, pregnant mommy = not much accomplished on our list.

Our Stinker was sooooo excited to wear big boy underpants for the first time.

Thankfully, potty training was one thing we did accomplish!!

We got some army guys and had some serious battles.

We stole and idea from Pinterest and raced marbles.

We did some chores around the house.

We beat the heat with big, yummy snow cones!

We watched fireworks for the first time ever on the Fourth of July.

We worked on our spelling. Luke did his name all by himself and was so proud. I then helped him with the order of Mommy and Daddy's names, but he found all the letters himself.

We welcomed our friend, Whitney, to Indy and are so glad she lives here now!

We conquered our fear of merry-go-rounds at the zoo!

We tackled the Hot Wheels exhibit at the Children's Museum.

We improved our swimming skills in Tampa at Aunt Carol and Uncle Johnny's house.

We (he) got really good at peeing outside.

We decided to be brave and try peanut butter on something besides apples. It was a hit!

We fought off lots of bad guys.

We've had an awesome summer!

How about you?

Our Valentine.

As most of you have probably already heard, we are expecting!!

The second Tatum Tot is due February 13, 2013, but I am fully expecting him or her to be late. I'm hedging my bets since Luke was a week late and it was TORTURE. We are very excited, but are just kind of trying to get through the exhausted/nauseous stage at this point. I have been one worthless human being lately, but I am praying that it will start getting better soon. I am 12 weeks along as of this week, so we'll see!

Luke is excited, but doesn't really get it yet. He was so funny when I told him that he was going to be a big brother. I want to do a post about our conversation, because it was too cute. At first all he kept saying was, "I don't want to be a big brother. I just want to be a big kid." He doesn't seem to be saying that as much anymore, but there is no telling what he'll say next. You never know with him. The other day I told him that I needed to eat and so did the baby. He immediately said, "Are you gonna take da baby out??" I'm sure he'll keep us on our toes. I'll keep y'all posted!

Father's Day!

Yesterday at church, Luke made Daddy a few gifts for Father's Day.

He decorated him a very cool tie. You can't really see that he colored it a bit, but you can see 2 of the 3 lovely sequins that he added so Daddy could have a little bling on his big day.

 The Stinker was very pleased with it and even wore it for a while at home.

He also gave Daddy a special award for "Best Dad". According to Luke, Daddy deserves the accolade because Daddy shoots him. We laughed and laughed at this because it so sums up the super hero/bad guys vs. good guys stage that Luke is in right now.

Apparently Daddy is currently in the same stage, too.

We sure do love you, Daddy!! 

Thanks for being the best Daddy a boy could ever have!