It's snowing!!

Or at least it was. It snowed enough for it to coat the ground for about half an hour, and then it melted. It was fun to watch though. We're hoping it will snow enough at least once while we're here so we can build a snowman.

We had a lot of fun in Aqaba. It was colder than we hoped, but not as cold as in Amman. We were still able to snorkel a bit the first day we were there, the second day it was really windy. It was nice just not having a schedule, although our every day life is pretty laidback anyway. And the food was great! Our last night there we went to a seafood restaurant. Jason had some decent fish and I ordered a calamari stew, and it was soooo good. It's probably the first thing I've eaten since becoming pregnant that I really enjoyed. The hotel also had a decent breakfast each morning, which was really nice. The only downside to our trip was coming home. Our bus ride back to Amman was not comfortable at all!

We want to see pictures of everyone's Christmas celebration! We had a very short one of our own; I'll try to put up pictures soon.

My belly popped!

Well, it didn't explode, but it's finally popped out enough that you can tell that I'm pregnant and not just thick around the middle. I didn't even realize this because since it's winter I've been wearing sweaters and such. Today I wore a tighter shirt and I could totally tell!



We've been having these very nasty looking bugs in our place. They seriously look dangerous, so I looked them up online. They are called house centipedes and look like this (about 2 inches long)->

Apparently they rarely bite and if they do it's like a bee sting. The sites I went on say they are very beneficial and not to kill them, but there is no way I'm letting those things stay in our house!! I don't care how beneficial they are, they are disgusting!! Whatsthatbug.com says they are the most common asked about bug, but I have never seen one before. Do they exist in Arizona? Has anyone else ever seen one?

In other news, Ellie is becoming my clone. She is such a little mother to all her toys. Today I saw her lick her finger and wipe off her baby's face! I didn't realize I did that so much! She is always giving her babies a "dider(diaper) change" and today she picked up something fragile and said "Don't touch that, gentle." Every time she goes into the kitchen she warns herself "hot, doooon't touch" while pointing to the stove. And whenever she thinks about climbing up on the table she says "Ellie be a good girl, noooo table" Whenever we get into a taxi now she starts saying "Yameen, shamel" Which means "right, left." I guess she's picked up on us giving directions to the driver. Maybe she can take over someday soon! :)

Packages!!

I picked up three packages at the post office today. Thanks grandparents!! Ellie is LOVING everything we received. She has all her clothes in a pile; it took a lot of talking to convince her that she didn't want to wear everything at once. So, she is only wearing: a shirt, tights, undies, pants, one of my new bras, a huge shirt of mine, and her new hot-pink tennies. I would say she is wearing at least 8 different shades of pink. She immediately introduced her new baby doll to her old one, and they are very good friends now (poor doggie has been abandoned). I am currently listening to a Christmas cd and eating goldfish crackers (yea!!).

I had quite an ordeal at the post office; including a lot of tears. I don't know if it was because I got three packages at once, but I was told that because the combined "worth" of the packages was $400, I had to pay 160JD to customs. That's over $220! I told him that was too much, so he said, ok, I'll reduce it to 75JD. I told the man that I couldn't pay that, so he sent me to the manager. I went to the manager, said I didn't have that money, but he just sent me to the cashier (maybe he thought I could pay with credit card?). So, I took the outside stairs, and stood there bawling for about 10 minutes. I was just so frustrated and discouraged after being so excited to get the packages. I'm sure the pregnancy hormones played a part as well! Finally, I was able to pull myself together (I thought) enough to go back to the manager and explain that I couldn't pay that much. As I started talking, I burst into tears again. I don't know if he took pity on me, or if he just wanted to get rid of me, but he asked "How much do you have?" I told him I had 50JD, and he said, ok, 41JD. So he led me somewhere else, and all the men in this room know me from picking up previous packages. They were all like, "Don't cry, what's wrong?" By this time I was kind of hyperventilating (mom knows how I cry!), but I was trying to stop. These guys were all so nice to me, and one of them found out that I live in the same neighborhood as him, so he said "Ok, 27JD." By this time, I was so embarrased to be dragged all over the post office crying. I ended up paying about $45 instead of the original $220. It was definitely worth getting all the fun stuff! I don't know what the rules are when sending packages, but if people could put a VERY LOW estimate on the worth, that would probably help. I know the estimates on these packages were right-on, because we receive a lot of nice things. I guess if this happens again, I'll just turn on the tears again :)

Christmas pictures

All is well

So, not much going on here. I'm still sick, Jason's still going to classes, and Ellie's still very cute. Jason's been playing basketball and soccer with some classmates after school on Thursdays, which is very fun for him. I've been doing pretty well at keeping my food down, but I don't eat very much. I can't wait until this part is done so I can eat like a pregnant woman!!

Ellie is very particular about how she does things now. She knows each routine and everything has to go exactly that way. For example, every morning she must have cereal with milk in a certain bowl with a certain spoon. She must push up her sleeves, wear her bib, and have baby and doggie "watch me eat." After the cereal is gone, I have to help her get all the milk. At night, when she goes to bed, she has to put on her "night-night jacket" (footie pajamas), get a drink, get a hug and kiss from me, have her doggie and binkies, and then Jason reads her a couple stories. She also makes her opinion well-known. Very often I'll be singing a little song under my breath and Ellie will say "Mommy, no sing." I didn't think I was that bad! But, she is still very sweet. Today I told her I couldn't do something because my tummy hurt and she looked at me for a second and then started kissing my tummy (that's what we do to all her owies). It was so cute!

One negative, one positive

So, today I've decided that if I say something negative, I should always follow it with something positive. A better way to look at things, if you will. For example:

- Ellie, you got paint all over the table, the plate, yourself, and my pants! Oh look, some ended up on the ornament, good job baby!

- Jason, our checking account is dying a slow death. Luckily, all our payments are directly taken out, so we don't have to watch!

- This "morning sickness" is leaving me with nothing to eat besides saltines, popcorn, and sometimes refried beans. But, I have finally lost those pesky 15 lbs. leftover from being pregnant with Ellie!

- We aren't able to be with family during the holidays, but people are sending us fun packages!!

It's December! :)

So, I don't know if people have heard or noticed the new ticker at the top of the page, but...we're expecting another baby! I'm due June 25th, and we'll be back in plenty of time to have the baby in Havasu. I found a doctor I really like here, and she has an ultrasound machine in her office, so I saw the tiny little heart flickering. I have been super-sick for about a month, but I've felt a little better the last couple days. I can't wait until I can eat more than orange juice and saltines! But, all this yuckiness will be worth it. Yea for more Tatums!!

Ellie and I have been working hard at decorating the house with Christmas crafts. When we're finished, I'll post a picture. We're painting, gluing, glittering, and even cutting. Ellie has some new plastic scissors, and she opens and closes them pretty well. She just can't quite get the paper in there by herself. But, we'll practice!

We've decided to travel down to the Red Sea for Christmas, Jason has a day off and we're making a long weekend out of it. It should be a lot of fun and relaxing, snorkeling and swimming at the beach. It's a four hour bus ride to the bottom of Jordan, so it's not too bad of a trip. So, even if we can't be with family, we should have some fun!