October thru November Updates...

We celebrated Todd's 33rd Birthday on Oct. 11th and we had a "SUPER" party with our animal character hats.

 We have enjoyed a few fun parties or get together's that went on this summer into the fall. This end of the year summer party there were a ton of different venders that came and gave away some fun stuff. We had to get a picture by this huge machine, not sure what they use it for but something cool I imagine.

We had a fun weekend where we put up our tent in our family room and watched movies and ate lots of yummy food.

 Sweet baby boy loves his sleep. He is a good little sleeper just like his older sis. Tatum slept this very same way when she was this age.

 Kolvin just loves his food. Here is is enjoying his rice cereal and his fingers as appetizers. I just love his sweet blue eyes. He is the sweetest little bundle of joy.

 Kolvin's stats at his 6 month appointment were: wt 19 lbs (74%), ht 27.2 in. (74%), hc 17.9 in (89%)

*He has just recently been sitting up on his own at 7months now and will grab anything he can get his hands on. Tatum and I have to be careful cause he can get a pretty good grip on our hair if we are not watching him.

*I love watching the two kids interact together. Tatum loves making Kolvin laugh and it just makes me melt even more for these kids. I love being their mom and being able to stay at home with them everyday. I wouldn't want to miss them growing up and all the details in between.

*Kolvin like I said loves his solids and loves his milk. He spits up so much more than Tatum ever did. In fact I hardly remember Tatum spitting up. Kolvin just has to be burped well or else he will fire at any time. We change his clothes a few times a day but it's ok.

*He makes the cutest little noises that I know can only come from a little boy. I can tell that he is going to be making car and truck noises in no time. I can't help but wish I could pause this moment in my life cause my kids are growing up too fast on me. I want to just keep them this size. But we have much to look forward too.

 Two peas in a pod.

 Todd and Tatum are buddies glued at the hip. Whenever Daddy comes home she never leaves his side. They are so cute together. They enjoy eating  hamburgers together and she was his biggest fanat his recent 5K that he took 2nd place in overall.  "Go Daddy"

 Cheering and waiting to see Daddy at the finish line.

 Daddy's award.

 We were lucky to have Todd's parents out to visit over the Halloween weekend. It was too short of a visit and we wish they could have stayed longer. They too also wish they had stayed longer too. Next time we will make sure they do. We took them to Mexico Beach one of our favorite beaches here and walked around on one of the piers. 

 Not sure why I can't hold my two kids, this picture looks a little awkward.

 Love Florida.......that is all I can say!!

 Papa Christensen and Taters

 Papa and Kolvin. I love this picture.

 Grandma Christensen helped pass out our candy at our house so we could take Tatum trick or treating to our neighbors. This was the first year we had a TON of trick or treaters. It was fun to see so many cute kids in their costumes. It was also fun to see Tatum go up to each door and say" Happy Halloween" and "Trick or Treat" then finish off with a sweet Thank You when she got her candy. We have loved this age and seeing the excitement through her eyes. We can't wait for Christmas.

 Kolvin was sleeping when we took Tatum trick or treating but we still got a family picture when we got back. Not the best of pictures of us but you take what you can get some times.

 Carving pumpkins is always a blast for me. Tatum didn't like scooping out the goop and feeling all sticky and gooey. I had to do all the cleaning for both our pumpkins and that is ok. Tatum did enjoy drawing with marker on daddy's pumpkin.

 My pumpkin is on the left and Todd's is on the right.

 A nice fall day right before we headed off to church one Sunday.

 What's that you say???

Just some fun and random pictures of this fall

 Tatum takes that baby EVERYWHERE with her these days. It's all good except when she leaves it at a friends house cause then we have to go find her before bedtime.

 More yummy food

 She propped her baby on the edge of her bed and I think was going to cook her something in her kitchen. I just love the no pants look while we try to get this girl potty trained.

 I found Tatum in our room wearing Daddy's uniform and had to take her picture. She just loves her Daddy so much.

 We had a friend take just a few quick pictures for us one day so we could get our Christmas cards out. They turned out pretty good for a few quick shots. The kids didn't last too long before they were screaming " I am done!"

Our little Bugger Boo!!!

I can't believe our little bugger boo is 5 months old now. He is growing up too quick on us but we love his sweet personality and how he just melts our hearts, especially his mothers!!! He had his 4 month appointment to the doctor a little later due to the fact we just moved and had to wait until we were on Air Force insurance. So we ended up seeing the doctor when he was 5 months but here are his stats:  weight: 18.2 pounds (81%), height: 26.6 inches (77%), and head cir: 17.inches (88%)   He has been our big TANK and just loves his milk. He only gets angry if it's time to eat and we are taking our sweet time getting him to his food source. I have been happy that this little guy is a better nurser than Tatum was. I guess when it's your second time around you are less stressed about it and I also give most of the credit to the baby who just figures it out. It's a big communication and patience thing if you ask me. I just figured whatever happens I will always be able to pump and give him the liquid "gold" that way too. But for me this has been a good bonding time for me and Kolvin. So I get the best of both worlds......nursing and pumping for the freedom of taking some "ME" time and leaving him with the bottle.

A few things about Kolvin that I just have to share:

He has the sweestest little smile that will just melt anyone's heart.
He loves his milk.
He LOVES to be held and talked to.
He makes the cutest little jibber noises that would qualify for "baby talk"
He is an amazing sleeper like his older sister pulling in 10-12 hour nights and some 2-3 hour naps during the days.
He DROOLS constantly. (we have to change his outfit at least twice a day.
He always has to have his fingers, hand, or both hands in his mouth at all times......hence more drooling going on. So we try and keep the binkie in to lessen the wetness and changing of clothes.
He has not had a blow out from behind yet.......cross my fingers cause now I said that it will happen with his next diaper. His blowouts are out the sides by his legs.
He has been the fastest growing baby I know. He was 15 pounds at 2 months old.
He wears 6-9 month clothing and is only 5 months.
He loves when his older sister includes him in her play time, even if it's a tea party.
He loves giggling at his older sister when she giggles or talks to him. I know they were close friends in heaven.
He has the prettiest blue eyes just like his older sister and his Daddy. I love my blue eyed family. (I have hazel so I am special!!)
He is a mamma's boy for sure. He loves others but really favors his mamma!!
He loves bath time and kicking his feet in the water.
He is an excellent snuggler.....and I LOVE IT!!!
He tired rice cereal at 5 months and seemed to be fine with it. He didn't even gag, I know I would have.
He spits up more these last 2 months then he did before. Something we aren't use to...Tatum never spit up as a baby.
He is not a huge fan of the car seat unless we are driving or moving him in it But at least he will fall asleep in it. =)


I am sure I missed something but I am happy I have had 2 minutes to update the blog with the kids taking their naps at the same time........that doesn't happen too often.

I also have not shared my excitement for being together as a family again. We have had a crazy last 8 months when we were in and out of different states and with a new baby and Todd having to come and go was super hard. I know that Tatum missed him SO much (as did I and Kolvin) and they have been glued to each others hips since we reunited in Florida 2 months ago. We feel very blessed to be in such a great home and to be safe on the base we live in. Todd is loving his job and it's crazy to think he is in charge and calls the shots in his office. He has said that it's too hard to be in this position cause he is so non confrontational and just likes to keep the peace. But he assures me that he won't let his staff walk all over him. He gets along with everyone and loves his hours. He is home almost always before 5 or a little after. Living on base has MANY advantages some of which are:  having such a wonderful gym that is super nice and has work out classes for me and the best part is that it's FREE for anyone that lives on base!!! Todd and I take turns watching the kids so we can both take time to burn off some calories and stress. We also love the grocery store or otherwise known for the Commissary that has saved us some good money in the grocery department. There are so many perks about being in the military. This base is like a mini city in which we have our own gas stations, banks, bowling ally, library, thrift store, private beaches=), Commissary, a few fast food restaurants, and more. The only downfall is that it takes longer to get places around here because the base is spread across so much land and so the roads seem forever long and the speed limit is usually about 30-35 miles an hour. That is hard for a speed racer like myself but I am getting use to it now.
Most of the stores I like to hit like Target, Micheal's, JoAnn's, Hobby Lobby, Walmart, the Mall, or all the yummy restaurants are about a 20 minute drive off base so when we do leave we make the most of our trip out there and hit as many stores as we need to. I guess I was so use to the conveniences of living so close to so many stores when we lived in Ohio that were walking distances away and in Utah the drive to stores was not bad either. Most of the driving around the Panama City area is not on highways so it does take a little bit longer to get places but again we are getting use to it. Other crazy tips about the base we live on is that we have bears, deers, alligators, nasty mosquito's, cockroaches, red ants that look like they are on steroids, and more little crazy bugs. Its' funny to hear about the bears and deers part but they lived on this island before they even built the base here. So we just are aware of them and have to keep our eyes more aware on the roads while we are driving so we don't hit them. We have only seen deers so far but happy that we have not seen the bears yet. We also have not seen any alligators in the swampy man made ponds around here. I am sure we will see a few during the 3 years we live here.  One other downfall is there is a paper plant that is a few miles from base that makes the air smell like POOP, yes I said POOP. So some days the smell is pretty intense that taking in a breath of air makes you want to throw up in your mouth. SICK I know. I wonder how paper can smell like that. It makes me not want to buy any paper while we live here......can you blame me???

Other than that being a mommy of 2 has been a change for me but I LOVE it. I have gotten to know some other mommies out here in our branch( yes I said branch and not ward at church). It's been fun being in a small branch cause there are over 8 families that live here on base so we feel like we can ask for help if we need to cause our church is about 25 minutes away.

We love living so close to beaches and love the beauty of Florida around here. We are excited to get more grounded here and to make some amazing memories together.  We miss our friends and family but we love this little adventure we are living in.