our little astronaut

tonight we went to gigi and pop's church's trunk or treat. our little astronaut took a snooze on the way out there and then was a trooper staying up late (he's usually in bed between 6:30 and 7 and as i am typing this at 8:20, he's back in his room talking away...i can't believe he stayed awake the whole time we were there and the whole ride home!).

tanner the astronaut had a great time taking in all the sights...there was so much to see!

meeting the chick fil a cow and a horse with gigi

his first hayride...

pictures in cinderella's pumpkin with anna and audrey-aka rapunzel and cinderella

audrey did not want to be called audrey tonight...she kept insisting she was cinderella! we'll see if kristin got a picture with all 3 looking-next to impossible! but i do love these 2...love how anna is being such a sweet cousin in the first one and making sure tman is a-ok...and he clearly was having fun in picture 2...

we had fun watching anna and audrey enjoy all the activities...i'm sure next year tanner will be right there with them!

a little face painting and eating candy with gigi

 the boys having such a fun time...

 pure excitement in the bounce house...i love catching them mid-air!

 even falling is so much fun!

thinking he'd fall asleep before we were even out of rockwall on the way home, we changed tanner into his pjs so he was ready for bed...of course he talked the whole way home and was wide awake when we pulled into the garage...but he clearly had a great time-he's all smiles!

now i can just cross my fingers that since he fell asleep after 8:30, he won't wake up at 5:45 am like he did today! maybe he'll at least sleep til 7 tomorrow...wouldn't that be a treat!?!?!?

a few early new year's resolutions

so i've come up with a few resolutions for the next year...or maybe it's better to think of it as a "to do" list. i think i'm just getting a jump start on accomplishing them in 2011.

1-run a 10k...taylor, brian and dad ran the cowtown last year and have decided it's a new family tradition. so we're all running it in february-february 26 to be exact...even mom! we'll be team bop (bailey, o'neal, pattillo). no i haven't really worked out since before tman was born (other than a few zumba classes here and there), but i officially registered me and lance last week.

i did register us one morning following a very long night, so if i'm regretting this next year, i'll blame it on sleep deprivation. haha! my dad wanted to have tanner participate too...in his stroller...but since they aren't allowed, he'll be our cheering section with gigi and pops!

so we will be hitting the pavement soon...me with my new new balances and tman in his bob.

2-learn to sew. i have my grandmother's sewing machine and want to know how to use it. nothing fancy...i'm not planning to start making tanner's clothes from scratch or anything crazy like that, but it'd be nice to know how to make those cute burp clothes, sew a hem, make some basic crafts or even make fun, basic (very basic) costumes for tanner.

so it's time to dust off the sewing machine that's been sitting in our shed for the last few years and figure out how to use it. i'll keep you posted...hopefully lots of crafty pictures will be in my future!

3-learn to use my camera. i have a fabulous dslr. it takes good pictures, but it could take great pictures if i would just learn how to use it and tell it what to do! i am determined to take my camera off auto and start shooting in manual!

last weekend kristin and i spent an afternoon being "mentored" on how to use our cameras. wow. there''s a lot of information to soak in. definitely not something you can just master in an afternoon! but think i at least understand the basics now-at least in my head. now it's time to practice and really learn how to apply all that head knowledge.

good thing i have a model for regular practice sessions!

and then of course a secondary "to do" is learn how to edit these pictures. i am currently trying to figure out if i'd rather learn lightroom or photoshop elements. i have both, but i think i just want to tackle one or the other (honestly they both intimidate me) and don't know which one is better/easier to learn. but first things first! i'll worry about that once i can take the pictures...and if anyone reading this (all 4 of you!) has a suggestion on whether lightroom or elements is better, i'm all ears!

a few from my practice session today...thought we'd capture playtime and trying to crawl. he is SO close...he can go a few "steps/crawls" but it's kind of a crawl/scoot/push off a foot combo. the dogs and their toys and my flip flops are apparently highly motivating to tanner...those are the things he will really try crawling for. lovely.

goodness i love this boy! he's just so stinkin cute (maybe i'm just a little partial...). happy monday.

9 months old is hard work!

apparently being 9 months old is HARD…hard on tman and hard on momma. he has been taking me back to those first few weeks of his life by waking up all week long at 3 am screaming. now i can handle some crying…but this isn’t just your average i’m awake and a little fussy cry. it’s an all out scream. and so far he has decided that he can do it for at least 2 hours. we tried e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. to get him back to sleep-not even feeding him was working. the only thing that got any of us any sleep was if he was laying on my chest, in his rocker in his room. and yes, my neck has not appreciated this sleeping position at all.

i’m starting to remembering that newborn stage exhaustion that i so really wanted to forget. and we’re back to the guessing game. i know he’s not cold (we solved that with adding layers)…so maybe it was his flu shot (at least one of those nights), maybe he’s getting teeth (lord please let it be ALL of them so that we’re done with this in one fell swoop!), maybe it's separation anxiety, maybe his brain is on overload because he’s mastered or almost mastered crawling, going from laying down to sitting up by himself…and then on to standing up by himself…all this week. that’s a lot of milestones at once!  and of course I was excited about him learning how to sit up and even stand up by himself…it was fun and exciting the first few times. now…not so much because of course he doesn’t know how to lay himself back down after these which is problematic for sure!

(don't worry-his leg is not broken and doesn't bend at a funky 90 degree angle. apparently he decided that since he was awake it was time to start taking off his pajamas by himself!)

and of course our naptime hasn't been much fun either. it had gotten so easy-he went straight down. i was spoiled! i just took him to his room, turned out the lights, thumb went into his mouth, sing jesus loves me, sound machine on and he was happy and content to put himself to sleep in his crib. not anymore! this week we’re back to crying…and then sitting up and crying…and then standing up and crying…and then me rocking him…and then singing to him…and then laying him down…only to rock and sing some more. some days it takes longer to put him down than he even ends up sleeping (gotta love working on nap time for an hour…just to get a 45 minute snooze).

my mom keeps reminding me that this too shall pass...and i know that...but in the moment sometimes it feels like it needs to pass NOW (i'm not a patient person!)!! or there's the fear of "oh gosh, what if he does this forever? i can't last like this for forever." yes irrational, i know...he won't get up at 3 am for forever...but in the moment it's hard not to think that!

i'm loving the snuggle time...i mean what is sweeter than your kiddo snuggled up on you sleeping. i know he won't do this for forever and one day the idea of snuggling with his mom will not be so cool. but man, it's hard to love the snuggle time when you are so exhausted you can't even think straight.

and yes, one day this week i wore my pajama pants wrong-side out all day. yup, all day. lance came home and asked me if that was the new style. it's not the new style...it's the i'm-too-tired-to-even-care style!

3/4ths of a year!!!

yesterday was tman's 9 month birthday! i can hardly believe it...but i am loving this stage! me and lance celebrated by going to a movie and grabbing some yummy cheesecake factory...thanks gigi and pops for letting us escape for a little bit! 

we went for his 9 month check up this morning. he was hoping for no shots and there were no immunizations, but since it's flu shot season, we both got our flu shot. the nurse also stuck his toe to get a little blood to check his iron. he was a trooper-didn't cry for that at all and only a few tears over his flu shot!

9 month stats:

29 inches (80%)

18.6 lbs (20%)

46.5 inch (80%)

he is just determined to be long and skinny...but that's ok with us and dr karen said he was looking good.  she gave us the go ahead for any kind of food-she said he can have anything except shellfish, nut products, eggs and honey-but other than that, it's all fair game! she also suggested we try a few different creams on his cheeks to help with his dry skin/eczema so we'll see if that works...it will definitely make grammy happy! it doesn't seem to bother him so i'm not too worried about it.

just this last week i feel like he has made lots of developmental progress. it's amazing...some weeks it's like he's literally growing leaps and bounds in what he can do! last monday as i was feeding him breakfast, he decided he was going to know how to clap...and of course he decided to show me that right as i was shoveling in a bite of food...it's FUN to clap on top of a spoon FULL of food! he was fascinated by his messy hands after that...but there's been no turning back! he loves clapping!

he can still wear his 6-9/6-12 month clothes and they fit him great…a few of them are a little short but they work.

size 3 diapers (4 overnight)

sleeping…bedtime is still holding strong at 6:30 but i’ve started noticing he’s getting closer to staying up a little later…he used to be DONE by 6:15 but now he can usually last at least til 6:30 for a little extra playtime with lance. he was completely sleeping through the night…and then i decided we were going to be done with the 10 pm feeding. he wasn’t eating tons and it seemed like it was disrupting his sleep…and the kiddo is 9 months old…time to drop this feeding! i don’t know if it’s breaking that habit or him learning the concept of object permanence, but the last couple of nights haven’t been much fun. or maybe it’s that he’s getting cold…we are loving this fall weather, but it gets kinda chilly in the house at night (love it…but little guy might not). oh how you have to love the guessing game with a baby! maybe this, maybe that, let’s try this, no, we should try that. JOY! so tonight we’re trying a onesie and some socks under his pjs to keep him warmer…we’ll see! maybe he won't wake up feeling like an icicle. crossing my fingers that solves it and we go back to our quiet, peaceful, sleep-filled nights!

karen said she could tell several of his teeth were “right there” so I’m guessing we’ll see a few more soon.

talking and noises…no words yet, but he can make all kinds of noises with his mouth! clicking, motorboat, blowing raspberries/aka spitting (hilarious except when he tries to do this while i’m feeding him!). he’s still eating good and it’s amazing that he’s gotten so much better about consistency issues…green beans don’t phase him now!

he’s not as into his praise baby dvds this month…i think he’s a little too busy for that. he’s super close to crawling –gets his knees under him and pushes and can move his arms…just hasn’t gotten the hang of it all going together. but he’s still mr. active and can get around wherever he wants by scooting and rolling and turning.

2 favorite books…no, no, noah and b is for bear. b is for bear is an alphabet book…y is for you and there’s a mirror. it’s by far his favorite page and he always leans over and kisses himself in the mirror! hilarious!

"are we done yet, mom?!?! i'm ready to crawl right off this chair!"

we love you SO SO MUCH mr tman!!! happy 9 month birthday!!!

guy time

tanner LOVES his daddy! he does his excited pant and waves his arms around every night when lance comes home. lately he's been staying up just a little later at night and getting in some good play time with his daddy! lance is especially good at getting the smiles and laughs!

"driving" lance's truck (don't worry-no actual driving occurred. we were parked in a parking lot waiting for grammy)

and then of course he loves his daddy because lance is a sucker for buying him new toys! tanner and lance had a few hours of guy time on saturday, and i get a text from lance with a picture of tanner's new toys and stories of their shopping adventures. surprise, surprise! i have a feeling tanner will quickly learn to ask his daddy (and avoid my answers!) for things that he really needs wants! the idea of lance and tanner shopping trips when tanner is old enough to talk scare me! but it does make my heart happy to watch them playing together...lance is a great daddy and tanner always loves guy time!

i'm a big boy, look what i can do!

i heard tanner thursday morning as he woke up from his nap...but needed just a couple more minutes to finish getting ready and he is usually pretty happy when he wakes up to just play in his crib and talk to himself. when i went in to get him just a few minutes later, i was greeted by my little guy SITTING UP in his crib. he sits up all the time, but he's never gone from laying down to sitting up by himself. another first! good thing we lowered the mattress a few days ago!

i love this one...his thumb + his burp rag binky = a happy boy! 

(and this picture captures his crazy hair these days...it's growing thicker except on the right side of his head...it's still super thin on just that one side-kinda looks like a mohawk, but no i have not cut his hair to look like this!)

 "look at me, mom!"

 "let me out!"

and then he decided after his afternoon nap (yes, on the same day!) that sitting up wasn't quite adventurous enough, so he pulled up in his crib. he never made it all the way to his feet-just on his knees, but i think we'll be dropping the mattress all the way down this weekend. what did i find him doing?!?! scratching at the wall texture/paint...just like he does when i lay him on his changing table. does he not like the color we picked out for his room?!?! i hate to break it to him, but re-painting is NOT happening anytime soon!

just look at his face...he's so proud of himself!