Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to Tucker's amazing dad and my amazing husband!!!

Nate is the big 3-0 tomorrow and we will be celebrating on Friday evening at our favorite whole in the wall bar!



You are hard working and still make my heart flutter just by looking at you....for this I want to wish you HUGE happy Birthday!!!!



(I posted this a day early b/c tomorrow I pay tribute to a very special family)

The difference between girls and boys

By now everyone knows of the birds and the bees. And if you don't, stop reading my blog because I am too blunt for you
But the REAL difference between girls and boys, woman and men goes much farther than birds and bees.
Example one: I burnt my lip on pizza. Yes its a dumb story, but hot cheese feel on my lip and burnt the hell out of it. So now I have this pretty scar looking scape on my lip. Its very unattractive and very embarrassing. So the difference between and a girl and boy you ask? Ladies will see my lip and look the other way. They might glance and wonder what happened but never would they point on the gross bump on my face. Men... they stare, try to touch the scape and say in the loudest voice ever "HEY what the hell is that growing on your face". They dont get it

Example two: Sometimes there are clean clothes left in the dryer for a couple days, (or weeks when its busy). Don't judge ok. I do the laundry, but sometimes that last load just doesnt' make it to the closet until I need to do more laundry. Girls, when they are looking for a certain shirt will almost always check the dryer for the shirt. Never ask questions about it just do it. Men, wonder around like they are lost in the woods and ask AT least 051351 times if you have seen the faded, holey favorite shirt of theirs. THEN when you tell them its in the dryer they still want you to get it out.

Example three: When you get the mail outta the mail box and are flipping through it...skipping all the bills because you just can't process them yet. Or when you have the paper opened and are reading an article that you are very interested in. Our your favorite show is 1/2 finished on tv and they walk in. Girls: Will wait patiently and ask questions after you are done reading or during commercials. Men, "watcha reading", "What did we get in the mail", "What is this show about", "Can I see that ".

Example four: When you have an enemy, someone who rubs you wrong. Girls, ignore the enemy, Will walk an extra mile to not come in contact with them and talk about them with your friends. (Dont' act like you dont, we are women, if you don't like someone you talk about them) Men, could care less if they exist. If they don't like someone they dont' care. They dont avoid them, they dont even need to talk about them to vent with other guys. They go on about their business and act like that person doesn't exist.
I wish I was a male , just to have this quality!

Well deserved

The last time I went out with my girlfriends Tucker was 3 maybe 4 months old. The last time Nathan and I had a date night was 7 1/2 months ago. (yep, before Tucker). Things have been busy in the hay field, redoing a rent house (pictures later) and basically just the everyday hussle and bussle.
Today I set off on a journey. Work 4 hours....run some errands without a stroller or car seat, maybe catch a few sun rays by the pool, and then off to meet my 2 best friends for a dinner/wine date. I am excited...thrilled. I know its still not a date with the husband but this will come soon enough. Usually either I stay home and nate works or he stays home with Tucker and I enjoy some time. See, its hard to catch a date night. BUT I will take a girls day anytime...besides you can't talk about your husband with him around, you need girlfriends for that :)

I hope everyone has as great of a weekend as I do. Today I am just practicing for the husbands 30th bday next weekend...man when did we get old?

A few pics and weekend recap

This weekend I think I spent 10 outta 40 hours in the pool. It was hot. This Missouri humidity takes your breath away! We are all getting a great tan though. And the best part is all my family was able to enjoy the pool on Sunday for dads day. Here is the shirt Tucker wore for dads day

"My dad is RAD" Yes he is!!!

Here is my grandpa holding Tucker. 4 generations!!! I think generation pictures are the BEST. I can still go through pictures from my moms house because she did a great job trying to always get every shot with our great grandparents and grandparents. I am going to try and capture as many memories for Tucker as I can. (this is why I need a new camera:) I am lucky enough to have all my family living close enough to snap pictures all the time. Between my family and Nate's family there is maybe a 30 minute drive to the farthest relative.
Tucker and his great pepaw


another good one




Here is a family that needs our prayers! Please stop to ask God for healing today

HELP

Please help me!!!!!!!!!

I am trading in my point and shoot camera and breaking down and spending money on a new camera.
The only problem?? I have no idea where to start looking. Heck, I am not even sure the next step up. But I know that there has to be some bloggers out there that have advice. Please Please help!

Did I mention I am looking to buy this camera next week??

Happy Dad Day

To my dad: I was the only daughter and so to say I am a daddy's girl is an understatement!! My heart was always delicate and still is to this day, so I can remember getting in trouble and dad would just have to give me a look and my heart would melt. Well my heart still melts with love for dad. He always worked so hard to take great care of me and still does to this day.



Here is the WHOLE family (minus my husband).

To my husband and Tucker's dad: Nate works soo hard for our little family. Sometimes he works so hard that we fight about it (hey, I just want him around more). He is a provider and giver to us. He melts my heart when he is with Tucker and I could watch them play forever together. Thanks for giving me Tucker and thanks for providing and loving us to eternity and back!!!!!

Night #3

I can see the sleep training I chose to use is helping. Tucker LOVES his bed, he always has...he just needed to learn to LOVE his bed when he got tired and not fight it.

Last night while Nathan was lowering his mattress (b/c he is a monkey that loves to climb and soon will be climbing out of it) Tucker grabbed the side of the bed and whined. He was tired, and he knew that was his place to go and rest. I thought it was cute..they are sooo smart sooo young .

Back to night #3:
I laid him down after his bottle and he sang, played and tossed for about 5 minutes. He started to whine, so I went in a patted his bottom and loved on him. I left for the second time and he never cried, only fussed a little and more of the whiny voice. I went in and patted his bottom...the whole time I was patting away and soothing him he was still tossing and turning and I could tell he just wanted me to leave :( So I left him and he sang, and got comfortable and within a couple minutes was sound asleep. WOW, he is learning fast!!! And, he wants to be left alone to soothe himself:) I know he still needs me and wants me all the time but at this certain time he just wanted his alone time. Which all kids need I believe.

So we are for sure moving forward fast..and everyone was in bed happy last night

Night #2

First...Thanks to everyone who is leaving comments. They all help.

Second....I might not have made myself real clear the first time but we are NOT letting Tucker cry himself to sleep. When he is awake in bed he is usually doing a whine or pout more than a cry. And anytime he gets upset or cries hard I always go reassure him I am here and soothe him. Then I leave again and he will whine or cry a little, but never to the fact that he is hurting or being mistreated. So technically I am not doing the CIO method. We are just trying to be consistent, and keep a routine so he knows what time it is and everyone in the house is less stressed!!! I am trying to accomplish for Tucker to enjoy his bed time and sleep time.

Third...Last night he feel asleep before his bottle was even finished in my arms so there was no night struggle at all. When I laid him in his bed, he got comfortable and slept his 11 hours straight again.
So with Tucker sleeping 11 hours straight, happy when he gets up, and farely easy to put down I am wondering why I even worried about this bundle of joy and bedtime??

Also..I have to give props to my daycare..they keep Tucker on a GREAT routine through the day so night time always runs soooo smoothly. Believe me..when he spends the day with grandma and he is all out of his routine, his night time is NOT so pleasant

Crying it out

Sleep training?? There are so many opinions and so many books and so many ways to sleep train your child. I am curious to hear how you sleep trained? (if you are a mom), How you think you would sleep train (if you aren't a mom yet) or really any opinion on sleep training.
Here's a little back story:
Last week after tube surgery, Tucker laid down in bed each night and put himself to sleep. Well lets go even farther back. Tucker has always slept great except when he is sick. And when he is sick I think he needs a little TLC so I let him sleep beside me. I mean when you have a baby with constant ear pain, RSV, pneumonia all within 6 months all you want for that baby is to not be in pain. So back to last week. Well had a very busy weekend this week so he has been way off schedule and now wont lay in bed and put himself to sleep anymore. So its time for sleeping training. Now, through this sleep training we are cutting teeth and he is going through separation anxiety and wants to be with momma all the time (which I love)! So I hear if you stay consistent for 3 nights, your baby will learn to put himself back to sleep again.

Last night was night one: I laid Tucker in bed and he did the usual talking and playing and rolling around...only this time he sat up crying instead of just falling asleep like the previous week. So after he cried for a couple minutes (2 to be exact) I went in his room, covered him up, layed him back down and patted his bottom until he was calm. After this I left the room. He cried again.
This time I timed him for 5 minutes then repeated the steps above....he cried
I went back in and repeated steps and let him cry for 6 minutes.
I waited again and then repeated the steps and this time he fell asleep to me patting his bottom. After he is asleep, he sleeps through the night and never makes a peep again.

yes, I love to rock my baby and pat him to sleep, but I think its important for them to know their bedroom, love it and love to sleep in there. Besides its easier on mom:)

So I think it went well. The only concern I have is HOPEFULLY he wont need me to pat him to sleep and he will learn when he hits the bed, its sleep time.

So I know people let them cry it out totally, which is a good method, but my heart breaks when he cries and gets all choked up from crying so hard. So I am going in, at least laying my hand on him to let him know he is safe, and its ok to fall asleep. I have heard this works also.

I will update with every night we try this...but until then I would love to hear your methods and advice.

The Stuff your grandma didn't tell you...part2

Remember this post...The Stuff your grandma didn't tell you...well here we go again!

I LOVE being a mom...love love love it! And I can remember people telling me how Fun, exciting, joyful, and what a blessing it would be. Well it is all those things times 10! Seriously, best feeling in the world. But there is always a BUT. There are all those things your grandmas did not tell you about motherhood......

Your chest..it grows and grows and grows during pregnancy. If fact, you walk with your head held a littler high because your confidence is soring!!! You love your big ol'chest and become pretty proud of it. Well then you have this beauitful child and gravity hits. All of a sudden that perfect chest you had is now in the way, and something is horribly wrong. You head is no longer held high because either they have dried up like the dessert, or they are now touching your belly button. Support never felt so GOOD!

And speaking of gravity...your butt now meets your legs. No cute curves..just one big leg

Swimsuit shopping after a baby. WOW..nobody warned me about this one. All I can say is buy one of those black intertubes at walmart to wear as bottoms and your husbands shirt as your top. Thats the best you will find.

Sleep. thats all I have to say...hope you like to be awake ALOT

Everytime you laugh after a baby...you will probaly pee yourself a little. Its true. Others might not admit it but it happens.

You skin changes. Your belly, even those who work hard to get back to prebaby, don't look the same. You know when you were little and grandma made oatmeal real lumpy...you get the picture right?

And not only your belly..weird moles and freckles appear outta nowhere!

Your house is never clean ever again...ever

Your friday night trips to Wal Mart are seriously the highlight of the week....even if you hate it!

You almost need to rock yourself to sleep at night after you rock the baby.

I now buy stock in Folgers coffee, baby einstein, tylenol and teething rings.

NO matter when you sit down to eat, your baby is hungry. I dont' care if he/she just ate...he/she is hungry. I promise..try it..always hungry. (great diet plan though)

You used to dream about having a huge house with pretty kitchen, anique furniture and now I am thinking if they make a plastic dinning room table I am buying it!!!!

Your husband and yourself often use words like bye bye, momma, dadda and you catch yourself singing "twinkle twinkle" or "Jesus loves me" often.

There are times I think I am stretch armstong in the car..find the pacie, then try to place the pacie in the babies mouth while driving in work traffic.

Your talks with girlfriends have gone from beer drinking, bars and guys..... to hemroids, scars and poop.

too be continued monday......


Disclaimer:
This is made to be funny and get laughs. I tried and cried many tears before Tucker and I am very blessed. This is just for humor, so no body get those size large(after baby) panties in a wad. And I wouldnt' want it any other way...ok maybe some gravity back in my butt and chest :)

Success!!!

Friday was the BIG day that Tucker had his tubes put in...so far so good! The procedure was less than 10 minutes and although he was a little cranky when he woke up, he was perfect the rest of the day!!!! THANK GOD! We are so excited that maybe, oh just maybe, the ear aches and pain have left us for a while! The thing was, Tucker was always a good baby even before tubes. I can't wait to see how good he can really be after tubes. He always slept pretty good and was so happy and playful. Well since the procedure on Friday he has put himself to sleep in his own crib, doesn't wake up at all during the night, and sleeps from 10-12 hours!! WOOOHOO, is all I can say. He is a lot more vocal since Friday too, probably because he can hear finally!!!
We have almost hit the 7 month mark and I can't believe! I mean can't believe it at all! He is a little man more and more each day. Here is a shot of him at six months


(I know its small, but you can see how GREAT it is right?)
Photo props to www.bellabambinophotography.com

Coming up

Summer has started just like every other summer in the past...BUSY! I think we have plans, events or something to do all the way through August it feels. I wouldn't want it any other way though!!! This weekend Tucker tried out the pool. I have been very nervous about him and water, but he LOVED it! I just knew it would be the longest summer yet if he hated the water.

It helps when you have cute swim attire. Makes the experience so much better :)

What a cutie right?

This Friday Tucker gets tubes put in. I know its a "light" surgery so to speak, but anytime doctors are involved with your baby you are nervous!!!! I pray it all goes smoothly and I pray his little ears NEVER hurt again!! It has been a long 4 months of ear problems and I ready to rid this problem. I am treatin him to cracker barrell afterwards!!!!

Wish us luck