only child, expiring soon!

The other day Tate fell asleep in the car on our way home and I transferred him to my bed.
We both napped the afternoon away and I kept waking up to his yummy baby face next to me.
I got many flashbacks to earlier days when we wasted our days away sleeping and cuddling and our relationship developing and growing.

As I wind down this pregnancy, I'm starting to realize my one-on-one time with Tatum is expiring soon.
I get teary-eyed thinking about our 3+ years together... just us.
Sigh.

Overall it has been a beautiful and fun ride.
Of course our days will be filled with great joy once sister arrives, but it will be different.
Dividing time between two kiddos will make it harder to constantly get those one-on-one moments.
I'll miss our conversations (one of my favorite stages with Tatum so far).
I'll miss our walks, hand-in-hand, and talking about the world around us.
I'll miss our little dates. We've definitely had a lot of fun together (story times, museums, libraries, parks, shopping, movies... you name it).

So, I guess all I can do is soak up all these final weeks together, just us, and vow to make time for just me and my little man in the future.

I love you oh so much Bubba.

Tate turns 3... "Come Fly With Me" Party

Here's just a sampling of all the fun we had for Tate's airplane-themed third birthday.
We sent all his "passengers" boarding pass invitations.
Then, all of his cousins met us at the Hill Aerospace Museum.
They loved playing in the learning center, pretending to be pilots and astronauts, while learning a few science experiments from Mr. Unibrow.
Oh and don't forget the planes themselves.  So cool to see.

 

 

 

 

Later in the day, everyone came over for some cloud cupcakes, in-flights snacks, a paper airplane-making lesson and gifts!

 

Thank you everyone for celebrating Tatum's special day with us!

*CREDITS*

Overall party inspiration: Armelle blog

Invitations: inspired by Martha Stewart & Etsy

Tate's pilot shirt: Gymboree

Cookies & Cream Cupcake

White Chocolate Cream Cheese frosting

Marshmallow "clouds"

Cupcake toppers: transportation cartridge, via cricut machine

tate's room

I feel like I've held it all together pretty well through all of the packing, moving, and adjusting to our new life.  But the thing that always tugs at my heartstrings is reminiscing about Tate's bedroom.  I don't really miss any other room in our old house... but there was just something about his room.

I'm missing his room today.  I'm missing us reading books, rocking, and singing songs in his room today.  It was such a happy place.

writings on the wall

As we packed up our home and finished the final cleaning, I came across some crayon scribbles on the wall of Tatum's bedroom.  As I looked at those scribbles, I couldn't help but hold back some tears.

There it was... our story written on the wall.  The walls to our home have served as a safe-haven from the world.  A place where there was laughter.  A place where friends and family provided company.  A place where milestones and memories were made.  I took a moment and let myself say the final goodbye.

Thank you house for becoming our place to call home.
Thank you for protecting us,
Thank you for creating the perfect canvas for us to leave our writings on the wall.
We will miss you and always hold you in our hearts.

And now, we look forward to the next chapter and what our future home holds.

saying goodbye

We've officially sold our home.  Papers are signed and the boxing has begun.

I've felt an emotional meltdown is right on my heels, and a little leaked out last Sunday.  Tate and I had just gotten back from St. George, while Chase stayed back to head into Vegas for work that week.  Tatum was so excited to be HOME.  It was something he was so familiar with.  He ran upstairs and into his room and was grinning from ear-to-ear.  He was HOME.  Well, between Chase being gone for the upcoming week, me being sleep-deprived from the trip, and all of the emotions of selling the house finally gave in.  I cried many times, sometimes triggered by the simliest things:  Tate knowing exactly where things are... the meer familiarity and memories of our home.  That is when it hit me.  In the rocking chair.  Rocking Tatum to sleep that night.

That corner of his room has become a spiritual space.  It was in that corner in the rocking chair that I nursed Tate as an infant.  It was where I taught Tatum songs.  It was where we would talk about our day, read each other stories, sing, and laugh together.  It was where I experienced the overwhelming nudge to quit work and stay at home full time.  We've experienced a lot in that sacred corner.

And now we will no longer have that corner in the room.  Sure we can make a new corner in a new room, but our first corner will just be a memory.

Maybe I'm too sentimental.  Maybe I don't handle big changes very well.  Whatever it is, it has been hard slowly detaching myself from the house.

I know it it just a house.. one of many we'll have in our lifetime I'm sure.  But this house was our first.  We experienced all of the "firsts" in this house.  And now it is time to say goodbye.

I pray for strength these next few weeks as we slowly say our goodbyes...

green dinner

St. Patrick's is a big deal to my family.
My aunt Kathy (whom I'm named after) was born on March 17th.
Her birthday was always a celebration of green!
She died of leukemia at age 19, just two days after her birthday.
Her casket was green.  The flowers were green.
Now I know where my green-fetish sprouted from...
So, every year we not only celebrate St. Patrick's, but we celebrate Kathy's life!

In typically Lur fashion, no holiday is neglected.  She hosted a "green" dinner and we enjoyed each other's company.

The cutest little leprechaun!

Love those chubby little hands in his skinny jeans pockets.