anytime now....

Our snowy week!

We are approaching my due date tomorrow, December 15th. If our little sweetie doesn't decide to make her entrance into the world by next Monday, the 21st- we will be gently (or not so gently) nudging her to do so. Basically she's being evicted from her cozy apartment next Monday unless she decides to move out sooner! We can't wait to hold her. Well maybe we can wait just one more day.

Just when I began to feel healthy, Saturday night brought a few unexpected illnesses to our home. That night as Tatum was trying to fall asleep we heard a blood curdling cry- she was incosolable and told us her left ear hurt. We also noticed that her face was slightly swollen on the left side and had a slight rash beginning. After a little debate, we took her to urgent care just before closing and sure enough she had an ear infection along with a probable sinus infection. So with meds and TLC she was feeling much better. Sunday morning Jason woke up with either food poisioning or a nasty case of the stomach bug. He is still recouperating today. So maybe after one more round of cleaning all of the linens in the house, disinfecting, and a little rest, our home and our bodies will be ready to welcome our little one.

We can't wait!

Stickers for the babe! Tatum decorated the bump last week.

Nothing really to report at this time- we are about 1 week away from our due date of December 15th! The baby is in the perfect postition, actually the same postition Tatum took on during the last month she spent in there- head down, back on the left, kicking/elbowing me like crazy on the right!

Right now I'm dilated 1 cm, and 50% efaced and the cervix is soft- so we are ready for labor anytime! Each time I go up or down our stairs I have some pretty solid contractions for about 10 minutes! Just some practice for the big event I guess.

I've been feeling pretty good considering we are coming down the home stretch at this point! Jason has been such a great help- doing bath duty and just helping with things that hurt my back :)

I did come down with a pretty nasty cough yesterday and today and I'm hoping to kick this really soon- I need to have a healthy set of lungs so I can get through the labor and delivery! I'm still pretty wiped out, but am trying to get lots of rest!

So with a little luck I'll lick this cold, we will get through the snowstorm we're expecting and perhaps we'll have another little one to love by weeks end??? We've been so blessed to have a healthy pregnancy and look forward to the future!!

Until then,

Much love- The Stilles

Hodgepodge

Play-doh feast!!!! Practicing to feed little sis :)

Thanksgiving weekend with Nana- checking out the children's museum

Reading Hop on Pop on the potty,

and sporting a backpack!

Below: Dr. Tatum says that the baby is going "boom boom boom"

One last beautiful day at the zoo!
Getting friendly with the goats at the petting zoo.

We also saw a baby gorilla that was born this summer, bears, birds, monkeys and so much more!

We ended up hitting the zoo for 2 consecutive days at the beginning of November because the weather was just SO beautiful! This was likely our last trip to the zoo as a family of 3!

Professor Stille?

Professor Tatum Stille

"The Shelf"

"The Shelf" at 33 weeks- taken on 10/29/09

Even the maternity shirt doesn't fit!

"More Candy!"

Our little ladybug! We had a great time trick-or-treating this year! Jason was working unfortunately, and Nana was home sick but this duo didn't let that stop us! Tatum was VERY motivated to continue her search for "MORE CANDY!" At one point she was skipping from house to house just so excited to keep this little game going. We did have 2 potty breaks at our house (all the more reason to stay close to home!) and Tatum still ended up about 5 blocks away indicating that she had to go potty once again. We stopped at one house and then were going to "run" or I should say "waddle" home. Tatum took her candy and then started to try barging into their home! I said , "Honey, we can't go in their house. Do you have to go potty?" Of course she did and of course this stranger was very inviting and offered up her bathroom for us. Very sweet, somewhat embarasing, but hey- even ladybugs need to tinkle!

Baby's room and Tatum's new haircut!

Baby's room!

We still need to get window treatments up and some other accents, but it is looking much better after last night!

Tatum has been talking more about the baby and just recently announced that she was the big sister!!!

The new haircut!

We've been having lots of fun just mostly hanging out at home. We did visit the pumpkin patch on a cold and rainy day last Friday and later that night we went swimming at the new YMCA branch across town. Tatum is battling a cold, but we feel lucky to be relatively healthy after Tatum & I battled the stomach flu a few weeks ago. She is getting excited for Halloween, and has practiced her "trick or treat" and can tell you exactly what this means.... Lady bug costume +

t-o-t = CANDY!!! Jason will be working late for inventory on Halloween evening, but we've got a great helper- Nana is coming to visit! You can be sure we will have pics of this to come!

The next Miley Cyrus?

Check out these vocal/performance skills folks. She even incorporated a "twirl" during her performance of "twinkle twinkle little star"

We so enjoyed our time with the O'Brien, Osgood and Hansen families this weekend!!! Ear nerd reunion was another success!

One monkey jumping on the bed...

We've had a great couple of weeks! Last week Tatum welcomed her new big girl bed and loved spending time with Nana & Papa too. Nana & Papa were surprised to see how "bossy" Tatum has become, making sure that we all try our vegetables and have napkins, etc. during mealtimes. We enjoyed some time in Downtown Omaha, and dined outdoors at the Upstream Brewery too.

Giddy up!

Ye Haw!!! Giddy Up! Riding da giraffe!!!!!!

Tatum found this giraffe, a character from the Dr. Seuss books in her toybox and immediately started riding him around the house. She looks a bit like cousin it, due to her resistance to wear a "hair pretty". She was shouting "Ye Haw! Riding da Giraffe" before I could grab the camera. But you get the idea here.

Tatum is getting excited to receive a special delivery this weekend- her very own big girl toddler bed! This is exciting for us too, since it means we can move the crib into the baby's room and start getting that all ready to go! Let the decorating begin!

Grandpa Stille's visit

We were lucky to have Grandpa Stille fly in from Florida to spend a week with us, watching Tatum while Jason and I were working and our sitter was on vacation. Tatum enjoyed lots of time at the park and also learned some mad lego building skills (as you can see)!

We loved having you! Come visit us again soon!!!!

Potty-training Success!!!

Sorry for the lack of pictures. Somehow we've lost 2 of our diaper bags, one of which has our camera in it! I'm sure it will turn up and you can then expect some fun pictures from Grandpa Stille's visit!

But to the big news of the day.... We've been working on potty-training, with Tatum wearing underwear most of the day for the past 3-4 days. Today she donned special underwear and a dress for easy access. At daycare, she kept her underwear dry all day, going on the potty and even saving her #2 for the potty too! When we returned home she went again, so we celebrated with a picinic at the park. We had a little accident there, but got right back to business on the potty when we returned.

She's a champ!!!!

The key to success? We're not sure. I think that she just knew that we wouldn't force her to sit on the potty every hour so she would just stall by saying "not yet". As with many kids, I think she tends to behave a little differently for those other than her parents! But regardless, we couldn't be prouder!!!

Dundee Days and birthday wishes!

We had yummy pancakes courtesy of "The Pancake Man" at Dundee Days this morning. Then we waited in a LONG line for face painting while the parade went by. Tatum is testing the laffy taffy as we wait. She was on her best behavior today, and enjoyed every moment!

She chose balloons to be painted on, in honor of Papa's 60th birthday today. We wish we could have been with him! Also belated birthday wishes go out to Grandma Denise, her birthday was yesterday!

We headed to the Children's Muesum for a short visit. Tatum explored many things today that she had been too scared to try in the past- climbing a netting ramp and running over some netting bridges. She is really growing up!

Her new favorite response to most things is either "not yet, not yet mommy" or "yeah sure!"

Looking forward to Grandpa Stille's visit- he's flying in tomorrow and will be with us all week!

Gbg truck!

What is it about the garbage truck that has infants and toddlers infatuated? I guess I was pretty excited when I got to hear the garbage truck rumble down Iowa Street outside my first rental house in Cedar Falls, IA in college. (You see being raised on a farm, and going straight to the dorms, I was a little late to this discovery).

Tatum was lucky enough on Monday morning to see the garbage truck swing by and also a school bus! When we arrived at her babysitter's home, she saw 3 garbage cans lined up outside and said "garbage truck, 1, 2, 3!!". Nevermind that she calls the garbage cans "gbg truck" now, I was so proud, my little 2 year old counting already! She is a little smarty pants, knows almost all colors (pink, purple, red, black, white, blue, green, yellow and sometimes brown) is starting to use 3 word combinations routinely and just amazes us each day! She also enjoys bossing her parents around (I guess she is used to hearing lots of requests from us!). Examples: Eat mom, Eat dad. Sit here please. Move!!!

Her little brain is just so on fire!!!

Starting to prepare the nursery...

It's pink poppies everywhere! We're starting to decorate the nursery, using this theme. Luckily most of the items for the changing table are pink and green and will go nicely with this little one's decor. Our plan is to keep Tatum in her existing room with the same surfer girl bedding and theme. She will have a toddler bed that has a crib mattress, so all we are missing right now is a top flat sheet for her bed. The crib and changing table will move into our now office/guest room that will be converted into babyland! So we have much work to do! Find places for all of the office/craft/storage that is currently cluttering the extra bedroom (we're finding that storage space is already so limited!!!). We are also hoping to refinish or paint a nightstand that I picked up at Goodwill for Tatum's room and have dreams of building a little bench where books and toys can be stored beneath in bins or on a shelf- also for Tatum's room. I'm already noticing a little bit more effort is required to get up and down from the floor when reading books with Tatum (she tells me where exactly to sit, so often the rocking chair is not the option I'm given!). Jason is trying avoid talk of painting the new room, or we may be able to agree on a color that is more neutral.... We'll see!

Can't wait to get the bedding, I think that will be a motivator for me to get things organized!!!

Silly Stille Family Collage

It's a girl! & new discoveries

Sorry- we're a bit behind. The big news is that Tatum will have a little sister to welcome in December. That's right, it is another girl! (Yay pink!). Also, she has developed a liking for the taste of O'Douls and so this collage celebrates this discovery.

footloose!

Baby Stille is learning to use those legs already at 16 weeks. I know it is unlikely that I'm able to feel those kicks already, but I've had one definate kick yesterday and one also today. Today is a wonderful day too, because I can report no nausea yet today. This will be the first nausea free day in 15 weeks, YIPEEE!!!! Now that is something to definately celebrate!

Beating the Omaha Heat!

We've been at the sprinkler park, or at a pool 3 of the last 5 days.
Some days Tatum is even lucky enough to go swimming at daycare and also with mommy and daddy in the same day!
This weather reminds me of the day Tatum was born- 102 degrees and steamy!!!
She likes to find her swimsuit or sunscreen and say "SWIM!!!!"
It is pretty safe to say that she will be living in these croc sandals this summer.
Somehow there is turquoise in nearly everything she wears, and she wants the "blue shoes" even if she is wearing pink!

New words the past few days:
Delicious
Dark
Drip
glove
frog
hamper (I have no idea where she got this, pointed out one at daycare!)

Vocab explosion begins!

So Tatum has steadily been using new words, on her own each day. I've even begun to keep a pen and paper handy so I can jot down the newsest words. I've used a little "communication inventory" to log the words she understands and then the words she understands and says. So for me to count the word, she has to say the word without my prompting. Imitating something she just heard doesn't count. Most of the time they are used in the correct context, and she is just learning so much each day.

Okay, here is the current count.... Drumroll please!!!

168 words (not including any names!)

A sampling: walk, park, swing, battery (she knows when a toy needs these!), massage (sssage!), mess, hole, straw, copter (can tell between airplane and copter sounds!), sticker, I love you, trash, stuck, fly, ant, bee (everything that is crawling on the ground is an ant, and everything that flies is a bee), noodles, dip, step, bite, Mickey, Dora, George (curious george), seal, octopus, dirty, ice cream

First Belly Pics

There is no snazzy title, just the first belly pictures at about 14 weeks. Still feeling nauseated at odd times during the day, but getting along just fine. Not the most enjoyable pregnancy, but I'm hanging in there. Baby and I are going to be together for a long while yet!

Snaggle-tooth

A few weeks ago we visited the famous Rosenblatt Stadium for a Omaha Royals Baseball game. 2 minutes after we took our seats, Tatum did a header over a row of seats and chipped her tooth. She cut her lip a little, but was such a trooper. So she made a trip to the dentist a few days later and they sort of took of the ragged edges. Here, she sports her cheesy smile, which now definately has some character!!

The bottomless pit

Last night we visited Valentinos- a "Grand Italian Buffet". It was our first time, and having lived in Omaha for nearly 5 years I felt a bit odd admitting we had never checked the place out. It is an Omaha legend. For 75 cents, Tatum enjoyed the following:

An entire piece of cheese pizza
2 plates of spaghetti marinara
fresh pineaple
a few bites of cottage cheese and a strawberry fluff thing
An entire piece of dessert pizza
a bowl of ice cream with strawberries and sprinkles
2 bites of mom's ice cream

YIKES!

Aquarium visit and Squeaky Eel

So to reinforce Tatum's new found love of "Oc-Pus" she and I headed to the Omaha zoo for the sole purpose of finding that Oc-Pus and staring him down. Outside the aquarium there is a bronze statue of a scary looking Octopus. We checked him out and headed inside. Tatum loved watching the puffins and penguins dive in the water, and swim all over the place. She's seen it so many times, but it was all so exciting this time around- she is really understanding alot about many of the animals from some of her favorite books. When we finally got to the Octopus tank, there was one that was sleeping all balled up against the glass. There was a second one that we saw right away and it really scared her (I'll admit the thing was freaky!). It hid from us and we didn't get to see that little dude again. So the Octopus hunt was not as climactic as I had thought, but she really enjoyed the aquarium nonetheless. She loved pointing out "big" fish and I think she is starting to understand the difference between a shark and a fish!

The Eel awakening...

So during our Florida trip I bought Tatum a plastic Eel that squeaks loudly. It was the toy that was easiest to elicit a noise, so that is why it was chosen. Yesterday Tatum was napping and towards the end of the naptime I heard a familiar sqeaking sound.... Tatum had grabbed the Eel from her toybox and was happily squeaking away in her crib. Thanks Alice the Eel!

Tatum is getting ready to spend her first week away from Mommy & Daddy. Our babysitter is going on a 2 week trip to Ireland, so she is spending some time with Grandma Wanda and Nana & Papa Zubrod next week.

Oc-Pus!

Last week we discovered that Tatum had been secretly studying deap sea animals.... We looked at a Baby Einstein Bath Book that has an Octopus doing things in different kinds of water, drinking it, sitting in a boat, under a sprinkler, in the rain, crying and in the bath. We haven't looked at this book for at least a month. Right away Tatum excitedly said "Oc-Pus!" When she saw another octopus, she said it with even more excitement!!! I couldn't help but gush all about it the next day at work to everyone, and you just have to see how cute she is when she says it! This is not the most representative sample, and you can see that it took some coaxing, but here it is!!!

Florida April 1-8

The Silly Stilles flew to Florida to visit Jason's Dad, Brent, and his wife Denise (Grandpa & Grandma).

Tatum was soaking wet the first chance she got- the pool had just been filled but that certainly didn't stop her from playing in the cold water. She especially enjoyed taking a shovel and throwing the water over her back.

H2O FRENZY!!!!!!!

Diaper Dipping!

Lakeland has the most absolutely wonderful park. It is seriously like an outdoor children's museum extravaganza!

Firefighter Tatum at the Lakeland Children's Museum

After dinner at Carrabas!

Saturday the Stilles hosted a family dinner so that we could catch up with much of Denise's family. Tatum prefers to spend absolutely every minute possible outside. We enjoyed temperatures in the upper 70's to 80's for most of our stay.

Jason & Lisa took a day trip to Clearwater Beach. We had lunch with some friends and stayed at Sand Key where we spent most of the day relaxing by the beach, then the pool and then played sand volleyball with some younger spring-breakers.

That evening we took a Dinner Cruise around the bay area.

Tatum enjoyed feeding the fish in the backyard pond.