Charlotte--Our almost 3 year old!

It's been too long since I've done an update on Miss C.  It's hard to believe that in almost two months she will be 3. Where has the time gone?  Since we moved to Austin I have been staying home with her part time. I was very nervous about this because I didn't know what to expect. I always felt that we had a great time together but it was never for all day, every day except the weekends. Overall, it has gone really well. She loves going to her preschool on Monday's and Wednesday's and I enjoy being able to get work done during that time. In January we will put her in full time school again which I still need to figure out.  

 

Charlotte LOVES to sing. She makes up songs all the time about whatever she is doing. Right now she is really into princesses or "incesses". She has a couple of princess books and asks for her "incess books". It took me a while to figure out what she was talking about. Most days you will find her at home in a princess dress. She will put on regular clothes to leave the house and then it's right back into the princess dress when we walk in the door.  One night we went to dinner and Dan dropped me off at the door. I was seated and told the hostess to look for my really tall husband and a little girl in a nightgown.  I pick my battles. At least she has clothes on.  

She is getting better at eating. She still doesn't really eat regular kid food. Girlfriend will go to town on salmon and roast but won't eat a PB&J.  Ice cream is her favorite and it's about the only time she is silent. We may or may not use it as a bribery tactic pretty often. 

When we moved to Austin we went ahead and put her in a big bed. She's obsessed with her bed. It's pretty tall so we have a railing on one side but for the most part she stays in it at night. She has woken up a handful of times but overall is doing really well. Our house is about 65 years old and has been added onto. Charlotte's room is in the middle of the house and doesn't have a window. It's really strange but also kind of awesome. She doesn't know when it's light out so she sleeps until about 8 every morning.   

I'm not really sure what Charlotte thinks about being a big sister. We have tried to talk to her a lot about it and she just kind of ignores what we are saying. The other day I had bought some newborn diapers and she wanted to put them on Ella (her cabbage patch doll). We put one on Ella and she turned and threw her in the fireplace. Dan and I couldn't stop laughing. Let's hope she treats her sibling with a little more love. 

 I know that she will be a great big sister and I hope that they will be best friends. It's a little sad thinking that our days are limited as a family of 3. Just 3 years ago we were on pins and needles waiting for Charlotte's arrival. It's hard to imagine another little one running around.  Needless to say, there is no turning back now and I can't wait for Charlotte to have a sibling. Hopefully she will feel the same way too!

Pink or Blue?

Reality is really starting to set in that we will have a newborn next month (fingers crossed).  I'm starting to really wonder if it's a boy or girl. From the beginning when we ask Charlotte if she will have a baby brother or sister she says "sister" 95% of the time. Dan is dead set that it's a girl and I'm pretty set that it's a boy. This pregnancy has been almost the same as Charlotte's. People tell me all the time that I'm carrying really high, but I think it's because I'm short and I have a huge baby in me. I'm 5'3" and Dan is 6'8"...watch this baby be little though. Charlotte was born at 37 weeks and weighed 7 lbs 15 oz. So I thought it would be fun to put together a list of old wives tales to see how true they are when Baby T does get here.

1)  Rumor has it that if you are carrying your baby high, it's a girl. Carrying low? Stock up on blue. 

--I'm carrying high

2)  Legends say that if you are having a little girl, she'll steal your beauty. So, if you've got acne and other not-so-pretty skin blemishes, you've got a little princess coming your way. 

--Clear skin over here!

3)  The Ring Test: take off your wedding ring, tie it to a piece of string, and hang it over your belly. If it swings in a circle, you are promised a boy; back and forth indicates a girl.

--Goes back and forth!

4)  Your baby's heart rate might be an indicator of its gender. If your little one's heart rate is under 140 beats per minute, you're having a little boy. If it's over, get ready for your little girl!

--High heart rate every time

5)  Craving sweets? According to some, that means your going to have a little girl. Salty and sour cravings indicate a boy.

--Mostly salty (cheez its in moderation) 

6)  Morning sickness means pink. If you're stricken with a queasy stomach during your first trimester, think ribbons and bows. If you sail through your pregnancy with nary an upset stomach, it's blue all the way. 

--no morning sickness, thankfully

So basically, all these signs point to boy. Only a short period of time before we find out!  I did have a dream that I gave birth to a 10 lb Hispanic baby boy with a full head of black hair. That would be shocking!

Here is me at 32 weeks with Charlotte (left) and now (right).

 I think I look SO much bigger than last time even though I started out about 25 lbs lighter this time. It's really crazy how big you can get....(insert big eyed emoticon here).

Here are some pics of Miss C just because she is cute.

First day of School. It's going really well so far too!

Hi, 5 year old...

Making banana bread over the weekend. She won't eat it but loves to help!

So what do you think, boy or girl??

48 Hours

This has been a whirlwind of a year.  I have been by myself for the past 48 hours (!!!) so I decided to dust of the ol' blog and see if it still worked. So much has happened I'm not even sure where to begin. Here are random pictures and a little glimpse into what's been going on with the Tumis team.

Colorado Aug 2014

Santa Barbara May 2014

Let's start off with "I'm pregnant!" Shocking I know. I'm currently 30 weeks and we are due November. My doctor says this baby will be here in October so if you have asked when I'm due and I say the end of October, that is why. So....this baby better be here in October. I keep thinking I'm further along than I am. Maybe because every.single.day someone asks me if I'm almost due, or that I "look very full". Yes, I'm aware that I look further along but baby is still cooking for a while!  This time around we decided to not find out the gender. I'm getting to the point where I'm getting SO excited to find out what we are having. I love to hear everyone's guesses and I can't wait to meet him or her. By not finding out the gender, it has made us avoid any preparations for this baby. I still have a little time right? So far I feel pretty good. Half the time I forget I'm pregnant until I catch a glimpse of myself. I had to stop running at 20 weeks which was disappointing but I feel a lot better since stopping. My hips hurt so bad when pregnant and running just made it worse. I dream about it every night so that counts right? 

30 weeks with Baby T

30 Weeks with Charlotte

Next on the list of huge life changes: our move to Austin in July. We left the little town of Argyle and are living the city life in Austin. This is an extremely difficult decision to pick up and move our family away from what we have always known but we really believe this was the best decision for our family. We moved for both of our jobs and couldn't be happier so far. Dan's commute went from an hour to 8 minutes. Crazy. We have met the nicest people and everyone has been incredibly friendly. I'm looking forward to the cooler temps when we can really explore Austin more. My job won't start full time until January so I'm enjoying more family time and settling in here at our new home.

Moving day!

Miss Charlotte has adjusted so well to everything. I really expected her to have a big adjustment when we moved and so far she is super happy. She's 2 1/2 and sassy as ever but makes us laugh daily. She can communicate so well which is so convenient!! I can't wait to see her become a big sister. When we ask her what mommy is having she says "baby girl" every single time. She starts at a preschool on Wednesday and I'm really excited for her. The school she went to in Dallas was amazing and I know she has missed it. She will just go a couple of days a week for now. Charlotte runs everywhere and is a constant chatter box. I feel like her translator most days but she's starting to speak so clear! 

2.5 years old

I'll try to update the blog more. I really should, I enjoy writing. When did life get so busy?

A little post on Dad's

Now that we have Charlotte, on Father's Day we focus on her Daddy...who is the best by the way. This morning we woke up to Charlotte at 7 am (early for her) and we showered Dan with gifts and a cheesy slide show her and I made this week.  After her nap we will hit the pool and grill with Dan's new grill tools Charlotte picked out. I knew Dan would be a great Dad, but what I didn't realize is how much fun we would have parenting together. Charlotte and I hit the jackpot.

Father's Day 2012

What I don't want to do is not recognize my Daddy on Father's Day. (Yes, I still call him Daddy) Even though we don't live in the same town we still talk often. He is filled with words of wisdom and always wants to know what's going on in my life. He remembers details I tell him and always makes time for me when I call. I love that when my Dad starts talking a lot his Texas twang comes out. There is no hiding that my Dad has lived in Texas most of his life.

One of my first memories of my Dad is him tucking me in at night and kissing me on the cheek. I wouldn't want to fall asleep on that cheek for fear that his kiss would go away. I remember him coloring with me and teaching me how to ride a bike. He was the patient one to teach me how to drive my Beetle which was a stick shift. When I would get incredibly frustrated he would keep his cool and tell me to try again. Every year on my birthday my Dad calls and says the same thing every year, "We were sure glad the day you came to live with us." He is predictable, but I love it.

 I love that through my Dad's hardships he still brings out the positives in life and always has a smile on his face. He knows how to get anywhere and can give me directions wherever I am, even if he hasn't been there in a really long time. He is a genius on the computer and is great at giving baby steps on how to fix anything. He once helped me install a light fixture over the phone. My dad bought me my first drill and taught me how to use it. He also was the reason I wanted to go to Texas A&M so bad. I'm proud to be the third generation to graduate from there. What has been really fun is seeing my Dad with Charlotte. He is smitten with her.

  

Happy Father's Day to my Daddy, Dan and all the other Dad's out there!

Brass is Back

About a month ago we did a face lift on our kitchen. When I say we, I mean that we started to try to do it ourselves and then realized that we had no idea what we were doing and called our go to handyman to finish the job. It was a much larger project than we anticipated. I have no idea how I thought I would be able to access my oven and refrigerator for the week they worked. Our kitchen was taped off and we couldn't even get in there without going outside and walking through the sun room to check out the progress. So basically, we lived on take out while the work was being done. There could be worse things than eating Chick-Fil-A three times in one week. 

Our kitchen is what is called a galley kitchen, so it is long and closed in on both sides. At the end is a large built in which holds a lot of my serving dishes and our pantry and trash can. Our goal with our kitchen was to not spend a ton but change the look of the country kitchen. We also had a door that lead from the breakfast area to our master room and after too many times of Charlotte running through the door when people were in town we decided it was time to close it up. We had the wallpaper removed and changed out the light fixtures. Molding was added on the top of the cabinets and new crown molding was put up. 

Before I get to the before and after pictures I have a public service announcement: brass is coming back in style. I know what you are thinking...that is so 80's. That is why in our prior home I switched out the brass light fixtures as fast as I could. In this kitchen when I picked the charcoal gray color for the cabinets, the brass hardware just popped against the dark gray. And gasp...we even changed the light fixture and faucet to brass. We went all out. I had the light above the sink switched to stainless steel to tie in our stainless oven and eventually I would like to change out the dishwasher and refrigerator to a stainless finish. Right now we can't justify changing them out because they work great.

Enjoy a tour of our newish kitchen :)

Pantry/Hutch area BEFORE

AFTER

Breakfast Area BEFORE--I'm not sure why I didn't turn on lights for the before pictures

Breakfast Area AFTER

BEFORE

Random door (and cute baby) to our master bedroom

Door replaced by chalkboard

So to the Lowe's lady who on the phone told me that I would not be able to find a brass faucet because no one buys brass anymore...look at magazines and design blogs! Brass is back!

A 16 month Charlotte Update

 

It's been a while since I've done an update on our little lady. After her big birthday bash I have slacked in the blog posts. We have been keeping busy here! At the beginning of the year we decided to try to slow down and try not to fill our weekends with running around and spend more time at home. Charlotte is growing and changing so much that I want to soak up every second with her. She became a full on walker around 13 1/2 months and is now running and dancing all day long. Her dancing consists of swaying back and forth and occasionally she will put her hands on her knees and shake her booty. I'm not sure where she learned that move!   

Right after her birthday we took away the bottles and went cold turkey. I was kind of nervous about it but she did fine! She eats everything but is still a lover of all fruit and yogurt. She is doing really well at eating with a fork and spoon and I have found that if I give her a fork I can get her to eat anything. I lost count at how many teeth Charlotte has because last time I tried to look she almost took my finger off. From the looks of it she has almost all of them. I'm thinking that the back molars are coming in right now....I'm ready for that to be over with!

 We are spending as much time outside as we can right now before the inferno enters. Charlotte will hang on our front door until we take her outside. Saturday we were outside working on the yard all day and Charlotte managed to eat a handful of dirt, rocks and I caught her chewing on a stick. I promise I hardly took my eyes off of her!

We are very excited that month 16 brought on longer hair so the piggies could make their debut! Is she not the cutest?!

 If you remember, girlfriend was bald for what felt like forever.

The past few months we have had lots of play dates. It is so fun to watch Charlotte play and interact with her friends.

And even some shared baths...she can kill me for taking pictures of this later on in life :)

Easter was so fun. Charlotte didn't quite get the hunting eggs part but she had fun pick up one and opening it over and over. Her school did an Easter egg hunt that Dan and I got to watch. Easter Sunday we had our family over for dinner.

Time is flying and Charlotte is not a baby anymore. This is such a fun age and I love seeing how independent she is becoming. She chatters and sings all day long. We might not know what she is saying, but she is Miss Chatterbox. She loves to read and when we are sitting on the floor she will hand me a book and walk forward and then back all the way up until she lands in my lap. I love the snuggles even though they last about 30 seconds. She puts the biggest smiles on our faces every day and we love listening to her little voice. Parenthood is hard but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I'll try to get better with the updates so the next post isn't so l-o-n-g.