Happy 3rd Birthday Tatum!

My sweet Tatum Mary turned 3 yesterday! We had a super fun birthday party for the girls yesterday and all day I just thought about what a precious gift Tatum is to our family. She loves to sing the song "You are my sunshine" and she truly is the sunshine of our family. She brightens everything up and makes us laugh. We chose her name "Tatum" because it means "cheerful bringer of joy" and I give God the credit for helping us choose that name because He alone knew it would suit her personality perfectly.

I don't mean to brag, but I just have to be honest and say, Tatum is so easy to love. Everyone that knows her, loves her. She is easy going, warms up to everyone quickly, is enthusiastic about everything, laughs easily, and is just fun to be around. As we walked through the halls of church yesterday morning, Brian was holding Tatum and she was wearing the birthday crown her Sunday school teacher had made for her. As we walked, several people I didn't even know, came up and called her by name and told her Happy Birthday! And she just smiled and showed everyone her little hand holding up three fingers.

Tatum gives the best hugs ever. She wraps her whole body around you and squeezes tightly, just like she's a little monkey. There is nothing better in the world. She loves to give butterfly kisses, doggy kisses (we touch noses), goat kisses (we bump foreheads), fish kisses (we suck our cheecks in and kiss our lips), and monkey kisses (we fill our mouths with air and pop our cheeks).

She is my kitchen helper. She loves to help me cook. She sits up on the island and stirs, pours and sprinkles. She loves to make smoothies with me. We fill the magic bullet with all our smoothie ingredients and she always gets excited to add our "secret ingredient": honey. Don't tell her I'm letting everyone in on our secret! She is my shadow whenever we go places, like our friends' houses. Her sisters both wander off and play, but Tatum usually sticks pretty close to me. When we're outside in the backyard, she often comes and sits on the porch swing with me, while her sisters wander around and play. I love that she likes to be near me.

She has an intense desire to be listened to, and gets very angry when she is ignored, which inevitably happens sometimes, with two other little mouths all talking to me at the same time. It's funny, but I have the exact same hang-up on being ignored. Nothing aggravates me more than when I'm talking to someone and I feel like they aren't fully listening to me. Some people can talk on and on and not really care if anyone is paying attention. But me, I shut down if I feel that way. And Tatum is the exact same way. She will shut down or throw a fit if she feels like I am not giving her my complete attention. And oh my, she is a talker. I'm pretty sure if you counted the words she says on an average day, they would be double what the average child says.

In the car, her carseat is right behind my drivers' seat. Recently, I have had to accept some changes to my driving "rights." I very much like to listen to KSBJ and sing along while I'm driving, and when one of my favorites comes on, I turn it way up and we all belt it out as loud as we can. Anyway, lately, Tatum has become very offended when she tries to tell me something in the car and I don't respond to her because I am singing along to the radio. She says "I'm trying to tell someting to you!" Anyway, she is such a blessing, so I am working on turning the radio down and listening to her many, many comments and questions as we drive along the streets of Houston.

For some reason, Tatum calls me "Mommy"... Avery & Laney call me "Mama" and I always call myself "Mama," but for some reason, Tatum always calls me "Mommy." I like that she has her own name for me and I love the way "Mommy" sounds coming from her sweet mouth. She also likes to say to people, "I have muscles" and holds her arms up in the flexed position. She loves to use her muscles too. She works very hard at opening big heavy doors of buildings, she will grunt and groan with effort when she's trying to push or carry something heavy. She has a good work ethic.

She LOVES Avery and Avery LOVES her. They are best friends and that blesses my heart so much. She is truly maturing in the way she treats Laney. She struggles with sharing attention with Laney, but as she grows older, she is becoming a sweeter and gentler big sis to Laney.

Tatum loves to color pictures and always makes sure to color in all the white space on the border of the picture too. She loves to dress up like a princess, and she especially likes to put on high heel shoes and a tiara on her head. I love that God gave her blonde hair. I love her beautiful green-ish eyes and the cute little dimple on one cheek when she smiles.

Tatum, I am so proud of all you are learning and so thankful for all you have taught me these past three years. I am so crazy about you and I love you with all my heart, my precious child. Thank you Lord, for blessing our family with Tatum and bringing us so much joy in her precious life.