All About Tanner

So I took some super cute pictures of my little man that I just had to share but I thought I could also share some things about my little man while I do that.

• Tanner is very alert during the days and loves listening to mom read stories, play on his tummy, watch, kick, and punch the toys on his activity mat, and riding in his swing.
• He loves being held, snuggled, and rocked. If he could spend all day in your arms he would.
• In the last few weeks he has learned to love bath time but has always loved getting his hair washed.
• He recognizes voices and will search for the source.
• He loves lights and ceiling fans.
• When mommy sings to him it makes him smile.
• His hair is getting lighter every day.....he is going to be blonde just like his dad was as a little boy.
• He has a dimple on his left cheek that you get a glimpse of when he smiles.
• When he wakes up he makes the cutest squeaking noises, and so I call him my little mouse.
• He has such a strong neck that when you hold him facing you he will crane his neck back to look up at you and turn side to side.

Tanner is such a blessing in our lives and we are so glad to have him in our home. He was worth all the morning sickness, back pain, sleepless nights, swelling, and pain. I also feel so blessed that I can stay home with him every day and watch him grow.

So here are the pictures, I am still mastering my camera and editing software but I think all in all they turned out pretty cute.

And now my two sleeping boys :)

Tanner's Nursery and Bath

Since I am into decorating I had to have my nursery and what I have now deemed as the "kids bathroom" in perfect order before Tanner arrived. So at six months pregnant I painted his bedroom and at eight months pregnant I painted his bath.....yes, I did use safe paint and yes, my doctor, husband, mom, and friends thought I was nuts......hmmm, I was nesting?? I think :)

When we found out we were having a boy I was stressed finding bedding because I just did not like animal themed stuff, I thought sports stuff was the obvious choice, and anything that was brown and blue or brown and green appeared a little too feminine and something he couldn't grow into. So when I saw this airplane bedding at Pottery Barn I fell in love....the bedding was no longer going to be made tho so some of the pieces were a little tricky to find and my grandma ended up making the two airplane quilts to match the pieces I could find. I am so pleased with how everything came together from the blue/gray paint, mobile, bedding, furniture, lamps, curtains, quilts, and chair. I love spending time in his room during feedings, playtime, and story time. I have really embraced being the mommy of a little boy and I love it.

Wood Airplane mobil.

My favorite seat by the window and book shelves.

The cool arched door that leads into the room.

Cool cloud and airplane decal.

And an upset Tanner.....I was messing with my camera (still trying to figure it all out) and Tanner became pretty sad that I wasn't holding him.....he knew it wasn't bed time just yet :)

The theme for the kid's bath started with this hooded frog bath towel that Nate thought Tanner just had to have......it just exploded from there with bright green paint, more frog towels, frog shower curtain hangers, frog bath mat, and green soap dispenser, and toothbrush holder. The vanity in the bathroom was the terrible white pickled oak from the 80's or early 90's and was just awful but with a new baby on the way we didn't want to spend money replacing it so I refinished it. With some Kilz, dark brown paint, silver knobs, and a little elbow grease it turned out beautiful! It looks just like the dark brown cabinet we would have loved to replace it with for just $30.00. Can you tell I am pretty impressed with myself? :)

The towel that started it all.

Shower curtain hangers.

More frog and bug towels.

The awesome vanity I refinished and the frog bath mat :)

Christmas

It is a Coleman family tradition to kick off the holiday season with a viewing of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation on Thanksgiving night. I don't know anyone who could compete with the Coleman's when it comes to quoting this movie but thanks to this movie Nate is all about "Exterior illumination" Griswold style for Christmas. On our old house in Layton decorating the house with lights did not pose as much a challenge unlike our new home. A two story home with high pitches made for some excitement on the ladder. Nate dealt with his fear of heights to have the best looking house on the street, complete with big colored lights (fitting the 1940's era of our home), and a huge wreath hung on the chimney with white lights and a big red bow. Our house was so bright you could see its glow from my hospital room, when I had Tanner, two blocks away.

Griswold Style

Coleman Style

Christmas season also means Gingerbread house time for the Coleman girls. Julie, Nate's mom, makes the most impressive Gingerbread homes that light up. She makes all the dough and pieces that day before and then Angeline, Emma, and I come over the next day to put them together and decorate them. Below are some pictures of my house. Please note the little Gingerbread family out front complete with Dad (Nate), Mom (Me), and Boy (Tanner).....I believe Sir Charles felt left out because not an hour after getting it home he had eaten Tanner off the front. The remainder of the holiday season we had to watch him like a hawk because when you turned your head he would be sneaking candy or Nate and I off the gingerbread house. The joys of having a very tall, counter surfing dog.

Side

Back

Front with Gingerbread Family

Christmas morning was met with Nate waking up me and Tanner to open presents before heading over to Matt and Angeline's for breakfast and more presents. Nate spoiled me and got me the Cannon Rebel XS Camera with stabilizing zoom lens. It took me a while to figure out how to use it but I LOVE IT!!! I enjoy taking pictures now and they look so much better than with our old digital camera. This camera has made me realize that 80% of what makes a picture good is the camera and settings in which it was shot with. I got Nate a St. Louis Rams t-shirt, Back to the Future Trilogy on Blue-Ray, Toy Story 3 on Blue-Ray (to complete our collection), glass bottled Coke from Mexico, candy, and Scrabble complete with dictionary. Scrabble and the dictionary were kind of a joke with me and Nate because we love playing each other on the iphone but we can not for the life of us figure out what dictionary they are using and why some words work but not others. So this was my solution for that problem, we can now play "old school" and have a Websters Dictionary to "challenge" with. The one person in the family to really hit the lotto was Tanner. Leading up to Christmas he head way more presents under the tree than anyone else and he wasn't even born yet.....luckily he showed up just in time.

My Camera, I just love it!!!

Nate and some of our Christmas Decorations

More decorations and the Blues Hockey Game on TV :)

Chicago and South Bend Nov. 11-14, 2010

On Thursday November 11, 2010 Nate and I along with his parents caravan style made our way up to Chicago to meet my parents. We were going to spend the weekend with them and head over to South Bend, Indian for the Notre Dame vs. Utah football game. That night we went to a Sullivan's, a steak house, where Nate order the biggest bone-in steak I have ever seen. We then spent the evening back at the hotel catching up with my parents. My mom could not get over how swollen I was....I really did not look like myself the last few weeks of my pregnancy.

Friday we went on an Architectural Boat Tour of Chicago, went shopping where we checked out the American Girl Doll Store, and the huge Apple store, and then we went out to dinner at Lou Malnati's, a place famous for the deep dish pizza of Chicago. Now if you have some extra money lying around I would go HERE and order a deep dish pizza to be sent to your home frozen so you can cook it in the oven and taste of its AMAZINGNESS :)

Me in-front of the boat and Chicago Skyline.

Saturday we woke early and headed to South Bend where we tailgated and watched the game. Luckily the rain held off for the tailgate and started just in time for the game. Unfortunately it was a terrible game and the Utes lost, miserably but it was still fun to be at such a historic, beautiful campus and stadium. It is what I deemed as a "Sporting Experience," a place any sports enthusiast probably dreams of visiting. There were so many Utah fans there and in Chicago.....it was a see of RED everywhere you looked. Nate even ran into a friend from the mission, small world.

Touchdown Jesus

The Stadium and the Utah pendant flying.

Nate being silly.

Nate and I at the game.

It was sad to part ways with my parents on Sunday morning but it was comforting to know that I would see them in a few short weeks after Tanner was born.

New York Oct. 27-30, 2010

The last week in October I got to accompany Nate and his parents on a business trip to New York City. The trip started off on the rough side with us stopping at the FedEx Ship Center on our way to the airport to pick up the package with our tickets to Wicked in it, you would think this would be no big deal......and it was except little did we know it was the beginning of the snow ball effect. We then arrived at the airport an hour and a half before our flight. Due to excessive rain in New York leaving the runways wet and the fact that our plane taking us to New York arrived at the airport late our flight was delayed three hours. Eventually we were finally able to board the aircraft and taxi to the runway, where we sat in the hot airplane for another hour before take off. Eventually we took off but when we reached JFK we circled the airport there for another hour. Let me paint a picture of my ankles for you at this point (mind you I was 34 weeks pregnant) my ankles, hands, feet, face, knees, and every other inch of me were so swollen, I looked like a blow up doll.

Since we had arrived in New York five hours later than expected we had an hour and a half to get from the airport, check into our hotel, change, and get to the theatre for the start of Wicked. We made it to the hotel with 20 minutes until show time......we scrambled to change and practically ran/speed walked to the theatre where we walked into the theatre and sat down in our seats just as the lights dimmed. It was the most perfect timing ever.....Nate and I practically started laughing. The show was worth all the drama, stress, and scrambling tho......I loved the music, sets, costumes, and story (I found Glinda absolutely hilarious).

The rest of the trip was spent shopping, eating, and attending business functions. While shopping I broke down and bought a pair of Ugg Cloggs in SIZE 10 because my feet were so swollen I couldn't fit them into anything else. This was a big deal because I would not classify Ugg boats or shoes as cute but they sure are comfy and I now love them. Those shoes ended up being my best friend until a week after Tanner was born and my swelling finally went down, that is right folks....I wore those Uggs every day and with everything for the last six weeks. Lets just say I have never been so excited to wear my old shoes :)

Now I must admit that I didn't get any pictures of New York, pathetic I know but the only camera Nate and I had was on our phones. I am pretty sad I don't have any pictures but I guess that means we have to go back again sometime :)