Look who's sitting!

Two days before her 6 month birthday Tatum performed this milestone display of achievement! She'd been showing short abilities to hold a sitting posture; so when I picked her up from day care last Tuesday, I tested her skill and she sat for more then a minute. Way to go girl!

Family Camping at Doheny State Beach

Last weekend, The Shearer Family took our first camping trip to Doheny State Beach in Orange County. We chose the site because of its location between LA and San Diego and our intention was to stay the night after our annual Thanksgiving with the Oestreichers; however I got my weekends mixed up and booked a week early. So it goes, and so we went. And glad we did.

This is our site! We'll take it:




Look at all those birds:



This girl loves looking at life different:




The evening show of color:




Tatum's Tired Dance:





The next morning:

And naptime:

Then playtime again:



You must be asking "where's Andrew?". Well I am too - next time we're out I'll make sure to pass Andrew Tatum and I'll take the camera.

Six Months and Six Moons

Tatum Bell was born on the full moon in May. On November 13th she saw her sixth moon (pictured above) and on November 20th we celebrated her solar 6 month birthday. This journey is amazing - as all parents know. My favorite "Tatisms" are the following: she laughs like she's been a smoker for 80 years, letting out wispy wines followed by an open mouth gasp of no sound but pure excitement; she loves to fake cough, eh-eh, all the time; when she's tired she turns into an acrobat, lunging out of my arms head first towards the ground (don't worry, i catch her) and this ends up in a full flip maneuver that will continue until I can lay her down; and she does the "Tatum Two Step" when she's excited, kicking her feet frantically in fun. All of these Tatisms are best witnessed in person, but we'll work to catch them on tape and post the video.

Sleep begets sleep and typing begets typing

here it is 6:15 and Tatum is asleep in her crib - soundly. yes - i have prayed and offered myrid mounds of thanks to the heavens for sending such an angel. and my heart continues to send prayers for our second to be a blessing as well, however this is not an announcement to say I am pregnant again, for that I am not. on this past full moon, my moon too returned, so here I am a full circle back to womanhood with the added dynamic of motherhood.

with the baby in bed, i have the time to write and document the little life of tatum bell (hence all the postings tonight).

now just a bit more on her sleeping since I know at least my moms would be interested in reading this: when we were in palm springs two nights ago, we shared a bed and this baby couldn't stay asleep. the romance of having a baby that loves to sleep with her momma is not the case here; she much more prefers to sleep in her own space and quite frankly I do too. when we returned yesterday, tatum was ready to be put down at 6:30. i couldn't even make it through my usual lullaby session, she was wailing to be put down. when i set her down on her side in the crib she performed her usual sleep routine of snuggling up to her blanket and shoving the available thumb into her mouth. she makes a few wails before settling down for the night. tonight was no different. at 5:40 she turned fussy and i offered her a feeding before an early bed. she was down by 6pm. now know that each night is different, but usually she'll wake around 2 or 3 for a feeding and at 6am I wake her for a feeding before work. I head out the door around 6:45 and most days she'll go back down until andrew wakes around 7:30. so that is how it is now, and i know it won't be like this once teething takes over time.

A visit to Palm Springs

This past weekend Tatum and I headed out to Palm Springs on Sunday after I completed a grueling day of planting 24" box trees at a local school. It was a well deserved mini-vacation to get out of town since I've been putting in a lot of hours at the LA Corps. Although work agreed to a reduced 35-hour work week with Fridays part time from home, the demands of tree planted sometimes creep into weekend work with volunteers. That said, we were able to visit Jen and her family for the night. On Monday we put on our hiking shoes and enjoyed the sights and sounds of Whitewater. Above our pics of the hike. Tatum is loving that she was born to a family that loves wilderness.

It's what every little girl wants

you don't say...

Heading out

That's our little strawberry head hat we picked up at the local second hand children's store in Eagle Rock called Twerps. And I know what you're thinking - but that is Tatum's drool on my shirt.

See for yourself...

Ahh - our first video on-line of our little cutie. This may be the best three minutes of your day! Enjoy.....

Andrew's Little Rose

The Four Generations...

Last weekend Grandma Great and LaLa came to town to visit Tatum. This was Grandma Great's first trip to LA. We packed in so many activities, we hardly had time for pictures: we visited the Hollywood Farmers' Market, walked the Hollywood Stars, watched the sun set on the Santa Monica Pier, voted, and visited.


Okay, as you see, there's no photo to display here of the four generations of blue eyed beauties created by Miss Janet Bell turned Mrs. Janet Denomy - but you'll be happy to know we did have a family photo taken at the mall. Whether you'll ever see if or not we'll never know. BUT we can highlight the trip we took to the donut shop after momma and papa shearer voted on Tuesday for the new president elect Obama.

Laughter - the best cause and cure for hiccups

Last night when I was getting Tatum ready for bed, I laid her down for a diaper change. Just then I let out one of my resounding hiccups and she laughed and laughed. Then again, like they do, another hiccup exploded out of me and Tatum responded in another good belly roll of a laugh. This went on for about four hiccups. Hilarious I tell you. Usually it is quite the task to get rid of the hiccups, but with Tatum's response and my fixation on wanting to hear more laughter, the hiccups left me surprisingly early. This is the first time I've really seen her chuckle so much; and you can imagine her laugh to be an audible smile - bright and wonderful. We'll work on capturing it for all to hear.

Scooby Doo - Where are you?

We rocked the Halloween scene as Scooby Doo, Velma and Shaggy. Scooby and Velma started the day at the LA Corps graduation and then toured around the LA Zoo. We visited our twin friends Sadie and Jack before heading to a costume party at Jane and Jon's later in the night.

Just to answer the questions I know you are asking - Yes, Andrew is wearing a wig. It would have taken too many hair products and hair irons to get Andrew's hair to look like that otherwise. And yes, Tatum's costume was homemade. I died two onesies, a pair of tights, and a hat tan brown. I cut one brown onesie to create the ears and tail and then I cut black onesie to create spots. The collar was sewn on using blue felt and I used one of her toy rings for the chain. If you can't tell, I'm pretty proud of myself. Plan on us being the Scooby clan for the next few Halloweens. It was fun and easy - and we got to get our money's worth out of Andrew's wig.

Descano Gardens

Last weekend we finally checked out Descano Gardens in La Canada Flintridge, north of LA. We were able to try our piggyback carrier - which I can highly recommend to anyone. Now that we hit the botanical garden trails, I think Tatum is ready for some real mountain climbing.