Chooch, Birthdays and Cousins

Happy 16-week-mark, little boy! You had quite a weekend. Chooch was in town for a visit in honor of Parker’s 5th birthday, and he stayed with us so he got lots of good Tatum time in. You REALLY like your Chooch. Something about his easy-going, mellow energy works very nicely for you—you guys snuggled and snuggled and Chooch received quite a few good grins from his Tater Tot.

A few of my favorites:

Then it was party time! Parker’s 5th birthday was quite the occasion, marked by a Secret Agent party at a local gymnastics place where the big kids got to do obstacle courses and play flashlight tag in the dark and all sorts of majorly fun activities! Needless to say, you watched from the sidelines while cuddling with your various grandparents. Your sweet little cousins Campbell (almost 2!) and Paige (7 months) are so interested in you. As you can see from the following pictures, you are slightly less enthusiastic about their avid attention at times. Personally, I think it’s adorable! Cami LOVES to give you hugs and pats and kisses, and this weekend Paige really started to notice you, too. She tried to give you one of her wonderfully sloppy open-mouth kisses and really freaked you out—perhaps you thought she was going to take a bite out of you! She would reach out wanting to pat your head or your back during the party—so sweet. You have some special cousins, little man!

CeCe with her three youngest local grandbabies:

In the midst of the festivities I managed to grab a few photos of you and your monkey to mark the 16-week point of your growth. You weren’t hugely enthusiastic about the photo shoot, but you almost always humor your mom with at least a few shots before you let me know in no uncertain terms that the photo shoot is over.

Afterwards we spent a little time on the changing table, which is honestly one of your favorite spots in our entire house! Its right beside the windows in your nursery, so it gets lots of light and fresh air and you love to just lie there and kick your legs and wave your arms and watch the ceiling fan make shadows on the ceiling. You laugh and squeal and just generally have a ball every time—makes me look forward to changing those dipes, which certainly isn’t a bad thing! I really cherish our giggly time together when I change you first thing in the morning.

I can’t believe it’s May already. The countdown to Colorado is on! In less than three weeks, you’ll take your first plane ride and we’ll head out to meet your grandparents on your daddy’s side, plus more loving aunts and uncles and cousins than you’ll know what to do with! We’re so excited to get out there to introduce you to your Colorado family.