December was a month I was both looking forward to and dreading for the past 6 months. I've been so excited to celebrate Tatum's first Christmas, and also so sad that she's already 10 months old.
I'm getting ahead of myself though. Towards the beginning of the month, we had my grandma's 90th birthday party. It was the major source of a lot of stress and frustration for me for many months, but not as much as the last month leading up to it. I had done a lot of planning over the previous 6 months, most of which was changed at the semi-last minute. My dad and stepmom were coming in to town secretly, and I had invited two of my grandma's best friends (one of over 60 years), one of which was able to make it. On the actual day of, the party went smoothly and it was worth every second of frustration and secret pillow screaming to see how happy my grandma was on the day of. I think it was mostly due to her friend, Betty's, secret arrival at the restaurant. I can't remember Gramma ever looking as happy as she did sitting and chatting with Betty. My uncle's recommendation of Alfano's Restaurant in Clearwater was phenomenal and I would highly recommend it. It was so fun spending the remainder of the weekend with my dad and stepmom after we decorated Gramma's Christmas tree on Saturday, and Betty even met us out for breakfast that morning before the tree shindig. We exchanged Christmas presents with my parents and Gramma. Brian and I were spoiled with the new Series 3 Apple Watches and Tatum got many presents, her favorites being a mini leather armchair with its own footstool, a V-Tech cell phone, and a ball pit.
A little update on Tatum... She is officially walking! She started getting to the point of actually calling it walking about three weeks before she turned 10 months and had it down by 2 weeks before, but it's crazy to see how much better she's gotten since then. She hates shoes though, so it's kind of frustrating trying to let her walk when she won't keep them on!
She loved everything about Christmas, except for Santa. I'll include her Santa pic in here.. Great story about that actually. The Santa we went to has been playing Santa for 42 years and was a pro. We got her pictures done before we left for Utah for the holiday and she started screaming the moment I sat her on his lap, so he got her binkie, told the photographer to give him a 3-count, and pulled it out as she snapped the picture. You'll see the result, it's awesome.
We got super lucky and got on the new non-stop flights from Tampa to Salt Lake on Delta. As soon as we heard it was happening, we got the Delta AmEx card and used our air miles to pay for the trip. Before we flew out, we opened presents together at home on the 22nd, and I was FINALLY able to give Brian his big Christmas present: A PADDLEBOARD! My mom and stepdad and Brian's parents pitched in and we got a $750 paddleboard for about $220. Best. Deal. Ever. I've been hiding it for months and with the help of my uncle going to get it for me, we successfully hid it for 2 1/2 months without Brian ever suspecting anything. Luckily we have 12 ft. vaulted ceilings in our apartment to store it. Of course, we brought back the cold weather from Utah so as soon as our 75 degree days return, we'll be taking it out! We talked to my mom and stepdad on the phone that night and exchanged presents with them at the same time. It's sad being away at Christmas but I know we'll see them all soon for Tatum's birthday in February! Also, Brian and my's big present for Tatum was an interactive rocking horse that has buttons that light up and it sings songs and makes noises. We let her pick it out in store and I still think it's her absolute favorite present. She won't leave it alone when she's in the same room with it!
Once in Utah, we were going going going. We landed, picked up our rental car, and immediately dropped Tatum off and headed to the movies to see Jumanji with Kevin, Amanda, Braxton, Corbin, and Dylan. After the movie, we ran and grabbed Tatum and headed out to grab ice cream with Brian's friend Glen and his new girlfriend that we finally got to meet! That night we had the annual Baldwin Family Christmas Party and it was so fun to catch up with everyone.
Christmas Eve was spent church hopping. We really miss our old ward in Clinton and had to go back to see everyone! It was so nice, but since we only had Sacrament meeting since it was Christmas Eve, we went to church with Brian's parents also. We got to see some family that evening and it was great.
Christmas Day was a blast, a nuthouse, and exhausting. The kids woke us up at 5:30 AM (and that was after Amanda threatened their lives for an hour beforehand) and we opened presents, followed by a big breakfast with both sets of grandparents on Brian's side. We relaxed most of the day, played in the snow (Tatum's first time!!), and then went to see the Ogden Christmas Village that night as a family. We were so happy to wake up to a white Christmas! After we got the kids to bed, Brian and I went with Kevin, Amanda, and Braxton to see the new Star Wars movie. I'll admit I fell asleep every 5 minutes but still don't feel like I missed anything. Every time I woke up, I could still follow the plot line without all the added mumbo jumbo. This is the second Star Wars movie I've slept through... whoops.
Tatum really got into the spirit of unwrapping presents, and more than once I had to drag her out from under the tree so she wouldn't unwrap gifts that weren't her own. She loved Christmas lights and we saw tons, from Largo Park here in Florida, to all over in Utah. She loves to dance and will do so to any song that comes on around her, even commercials on TV. She's crazy fast at crawling up the stairs so you have to keep an eye on her 24/7. At home we have gates at the top and bottom of the stairs, but in Utah, the upstairs flight was open and she would dart toward them anytime she got an opportunity.
The next day, I woke up with an awful head cold and we were supposed to visit my cousin and her new baby. Given the new baby, I didn't want to take chances on getting them sick, so we missed them, but we still got to see one of Brian's old mission companions and grab some Smash Burger. That afternoon we got family pictures taken by my super talented friend Aneisa of Calder Photography (I'll post those in a separate post). Randy and Sabra met us at the studio when we were done and Brian and Randy went snowboarding at Brighton while Sabra, Tatum, Zoey, and I walked around Temple Square, grabbed some dinner at Kneaders, and headed home to hang out.
The one thing we meant to do so many times and never got around to was going to the temple. Wednesday we had planned on it, but so much happened that we just didn't get to it. I stopped by my old work, Get Away Today, to see some of my favorite people and bring lunch to my work bestie who I missed so much. That night I had a dinner date with my name twin Jessica in SLC (we went to Zao Asian Cafe and it was amazing), and then we got to see some of Brian's best friends from high school and hang out with his good friend, George. Tatum loves her "Uncle George" and his guitar.
Our last day was Thursday and we spent it returning our rental car, packing, and going to Aroy D in Ogden for the best thai food ever. We missed it so much we couldn't resist making a stop there! I think I just ate my way through Utah this trip back, although there's not as many places that I miss there as there were places I missed here when we lived in Utah, so I guess I'm winning where I'm at.
Tatum was a total champ on the LONG flights both ways, and Delta airlines TOTALLY hooked us up by moving people's seats so that we had an empty seat beside us (aka the whole aisle) both directions! It was nice because we had more space and a seat to lay Tatum on while she napped. Plus the TVs on the back of the seats are 100% the way to travel with kids! They had Frozen and Despicable Me 3 for free, so that was nice.
That pretty much sums up our month, and I'm so happy to be updating this while I still remember everything. Mom brain is definitely worse than preggo brain. I hope you all had a fantastic holiday with loved ones!
XoXo, The Baldwins
