Tomorrow's the BIG day!

Bath. check. Diaper bag packed full. check. Bottles ready. check. Outfit laid out. check! I think everything is ready for Tater's first day with Miss Heather. I have good intentions of having him there by 9am. Sounds easy to an ordinary person, but we haven't both been dressed, fed and happily out of the house before 10am since Tater arrived. Not to mention daddy has to be out the door earlier than usual tomorrow. I've been really excited about this new found freedom of two days to work and take care of mommy stuff. But, now that the day is here, I'm nervous and thinking maybe he should just stay with me.

First of all, it makes me sad, because it means he's old enough to go, second, it means I've got to get my heiny in gear and get back to work! Three months off has been wonderful and necessary, but now I'm praying hard that I will seamlessly enter back into the world of real estate as if I never left.

I'm considering tomorrow to be a "trial day." That means Tater goes to Miss Heather's and mommy is going to take a day to herself :) Seriously, I can count on one hand the number of hours I have been A-L-O-N-E since he arrived. I just hope I can make good use of my time and pick him up refreshed. Lot's of things sound like fun, but if you remember me talking about the decision making skills I lack recently, I just can decide what to do. I don't think I know what to do with myself. I did come across a gift certificate that my hubby bought me...two christmases ago with no expiration date for a massage. So, I scheduled that and really can't wait. I'll probably run a couple errands and maybe come home and just take a nap. Who knows? We'll just see how it goes.

I do know one thing, I must refrain from shopping or anything that involves spending money! Being home these last couple of weeks has cost us a lot. At this point Tater takes a nice nap in his stroller and we walk around the mall or TJ Maxx and I find lots of great deals. I must stop! If anyone needs anything it's me. My wardrobe currently consists of three shirts and two pairs of capri pants, all maternity clothes. I just really can't get myself to try on anything, but I really need to since I'm starting to look like a dumpy new mom and I can't go selling too many houses looking like this. Sad thing is, my old clothes do not fit and probably won't until the next season is here. That's a whole other blog though, excercise and diet, ugh! Looks like that's where were headed. Weight Watchers is calling out my name :)

Brilliance must run in the family :)

Today we met our Parents as Teachers lady. Her name is Miss Francis and she was very nice and oohed and aahed over my little man. We already knew he was brilliant and she confirmed that he is hitting all his developmental milestones just as he should, might even be a little ahead on a few! Were happy to hear this and will continue to watch him closely :)

On another note, I took Tater for some impromptu pictures last Friday. They turned out soooo cute and now I have to choose. Uugh, I hate choosing. Lately me making a solid decision is like trying to get Tucker (our poodle) to not poop in the basement :) Let's just say were both struggling. There are several cute ones and it is on my to-do list for the next couple of days. As is ordering the pictures from his 3 wk. photo shoot. Yes, I said 3 wks. I'm terrible, I haven't ordered them yet either. Once again, because I couldn't decide and we have had a lot going on. It is however, probably the last time I decide to take Tater to get pictures all alone. It's a lot of work to get them to look so cute and position them and make them smile all by yourself. I was doing a pretty good job until the photographer thought it was a good idea to take a cute little naked picture of him. I too thought it was a great idea until I felt something warm and wet on my shirt. Yes, he peed all over me! Of course smiling the whole time.

So along with not being able to make decisions very well, taking him to get pictures alone wasn't my best idea, and either was sweeping the front porch after planting some mums with my little man sitting so nice on the porch. Needless to say, he needed a bath because mommy's sweeping blew dirt all over him. He was covered in dirt, happy of course, because he usually is. I'm chalking all these "bright mommy ideas" up to lack of sleep.

Rollin, Rollin, Rollin!

We've hit another milestone people! Tater rolled over for the first and second time last night. When he did it, David and I cheered as if it was the most wonderful thing we had ever saw, he was like, "what is all the excitement about?"

Tomorrow, he is officially 3 months old! So hard to believe! We are more in love with him everyday! He's showing us all the time that he is growing and learning. He has suddenly decided he would no longer like to be swaddled. Daddy and I are very hesitant of this, since we have swaddled him pretty much from day one. I guess we'll let you know how it goes, tonight is the first night we have put him to bed without it. He has also discovered Baby Einstein (thanks to mommy) and he is in absolute awe of these videos. We only have one right now and he loves it! This particular video talks in lots of different languages, interesting and annoying because we have no idea what language they are speaking in, nor what they are saying! But seriously, if you've never seen a Baby Einstein video prepare to be amazed. They are the most basic videos with the most simple things and yet it captures the attention span of a 3 month old for 30 min. If only I had thought of it!

Next week is a big week, Cole starts going to his new "school" on Tuesday's and Thursday's. We searched high and low for the perfect person and I think we've come close. I am praying that Miss Heather finds my little man charming and loveable and that she takes really good care of him. I am also praying for myself, because this means I will be starting back to work and at the moment I have nothing in my "real estate funnel." Hoping this transition is easier than I'm making it out to be.

Tater Lovin'

We've had some exciting visitors the last two weekends. It's always fun to have friends and family over and even more fun to show off Tater. First, my dear friends of 22 yrs. were here for a Saturday morning breakfast. Haleema and her boyfriend Brendan were driving through from Pheonix to D.C. and Holly and her husband Shawn and Jamey joined us too. We visited, laughed, reminisced and ended our day with a little Andy's frozen custard! They were so excited to meet Tater. He charmed them with his cuteness.

Next, David's dad, stepmom, sister and our new nephew Noah came to officially meet the new addition. David's parents met Tater the night he was born, but only for a brief minute in the NICU. He's sure changed since then. We took lots of pictures, David got to play golf in the rain with his dad and us girls made a trip to the outlet mall in Branson (in the rain of course!).

We had a great time with everyone, here are some pics of our visitors:

Tater TV

Like Father, Like Son

One of the first things I hear when people first see Tater is, "Wow, he sure looks like his daddy!" then we hear, "he is sooo cute!" Well, David takes this as a HUGE compliment, since one, his son looks like him and two, if they think Tater is good looking, then well, you get the point. I however am pleased that he takes after his father, but hopeful that some of his mommy will show in him soon. He does have my lips and according to David and my Dad, my "pouty face," whatever that means. Hey, you got to be cute when your getting ready to cry, right? I like to think he also has many personality traits of his mommy and that's a really great thing!

I have included a few pictures to compare the resemblance, can you guess who's who?

A Special Life

It's been a rather sad week for me and my family. Last Friday, my Grandma Ann passed away. She was diagnosed with cancer in March, but her passing was still very unexpected. What I mean is, we didn't expect when she went into the hospital Thursday night, that we needed to say good-bye forever before we left. This has been the hardest part. She had just finished her 7th round of chemotherapy. She had handled all the meds and chemo as good as expected, although which each round you could see a little piece of her dwindle away. They took all her energy and made her feel lousy for a few days and then she would bounce back. We don't feel it was the cancer that took her, but rather some blood clots she had been developing off and on.

Saying good-bye to her has been very hard. She was very special and one of the most influential women in my life. Growing up, I knew of no one else who had a grandma that was as involved as mine was. She was with us every weekend. We would shop till we dropped every Saturday, after we cleaned the house of course. My grandma was the strongest woman I know and endured a lot of heartache in her life, though you would never have known it. She was a friend to everyone, never would say anything bad about anyone and was always able to see the good in everything. She was so proud of her Italian heritage and so were we. I'm going to miss her cooking, the special way she did laundry and ironed (yes, there is a process!). Everything she did came out so much better because she actually took her time and it drove her crazy when I would rush through things. I'll miss the way she hummed while doing everything and most of all I'll miss all the time we spent together. My most favorite thing to do with her was to spend a Saturday afternoon shopping and having lunch. I have SO many wonderful memories of her.

My last memory of her is the most special though. The Tuesday before she passed, she spent the entire day at my house, holding Tater and helping me get caught up on laundry and housework, her specialty. She held Tater so much that day that she was sore she told my sister! I hope I can pass on the special things she did for me to him and tell him all about how special she was. I made a video for her funeral. Everyone loved it, but my true intention of the video was to show the legacy of my grandma's life so that Tater and my youngest nephew can see how much she meant to us. It turned out so awesome and will be a great message to them some day.

I am so comforted knowing that we all have another angel to watch over us. I can only imagine the stories her and my other grandmother are sharing right now. My other grandma passed away two years ago. Both grandmas were best friends. Not because their children were married, but because they truly enjoyed each other's company. This was awesome growing up, because they were both always there. So if your saying a prayer, please add my family today. Time is the best medicine for healing.