Tucker's Baptism

On Sunday Tucker was baptized at St. Louis Catholic Church in Castroville, Texas.  It is the church Brett's entire family is very involved in.  We got married there as did almost all of his relatives on both sides.  It is also the same church where Brett, his father, and his grandfather were baptized.  That's four generations of Haby boys which is pretty neat!

Our little family.  (My grandma Pomerening handmade that prayer shawl for him.  She lives in Virginia, and couldn't make it in so having him wrapped in her love and blessings for the ceremony meant a lot to me since she is a big part of the reason I have such a strong relationship with the Lord. ) 

Sweet boy before the baptism. 

Tucker and his Godparents; Auntie Erin and Uncle Brandon. 

Tucker and my parents.

Tucker and Brett's parents. 

Brett's entire side of the family in attendance.

My entire side of the family in attendance.  Can you tell Tucker was getting pretty fussy by this point?  Great Grandma Arnold is trying her hardest to get him to smile. ;) 

After mass and the ceremony, the immediate family headed back to the Haby's house for lunch and visiting.  We are so blessed to have such a loving and supportive family that went above and beyond to make this day special for us.  Both sides prepared a plethora of delicious food and my in-laws also opened up their home for the event and we all know how much work goes into getting a house ready to entertain 20 guests.  (All four grandparents have also already babysat so that Brett and I can have 2 nice date days/ nights.  Posts on those two events to come as soon as I have a little more spare time.)  

All three of us love you guys so very much and are so thankful for you and all that you do for us!

4 generations of Haby men!

Tucker and his Godmother.  She lives in St. Louis and we really miss her.  But, we are all going to visit this summer!

Blessing for little man. 

Playing with mommy later.  Silly boy already wants to try and stand. ;)  (Don't mind half naked Uncle Brandon in the background trying to finish a project for class due 3 hours later… It is a common occurrence. )

Tucker wore the same outfit that his Daddy and uncles all wore when they were baptized at St. Louis, which we think was pretty special.  They were about the same age when they wore it, but we could not fit Tucker's long feet in the little shoes.  I had tried them on three days before and they had fit, so he is growing fast!

Brett after his baptism in July of 1985.

Tucker after his baptism in February of 2012.

Me at my baptism in July of 1993.  That is the grandma who made his blanket. 

 Before I had a baby, I would have designed way cute invitations, baked and iced crossed sugar cookies and done a whole bunch of Pinterest ideas for the celebration.  Now however, I am lucky that I got all three of us dressed and to church on time with no major diaper explosions, spit up episodes, or missing make-up.  Definitely went to the doctors office last week with half of my make-up applied and didn't realize it until I got home.  Apparently I got distracted by the baby mid-make-up application… 

Anyways, I am still adjusting to not always having it together as much as my type A personality would like and have come to realize that life will always throw curve balls your way, especially right when you have just gotten everything just right.  Most of the time you can't do a thing about many of the situations and I am finally figuring out that the best thing to do is simply change your perspective. Now that I am back at work and we are still struggling to figure out the best combo to keep T man happy and healthy, we are often going day by day and have really had to approach things differently.  However, we are cherishing every minute and making them really count! :) 

One Month!

Tucker Thomas is one month old! 

Happy little guy!

One month old already!

One day you will fill up that chair son!

Here are a few tidbits I want Tucker to know about this precious time in his life.

- You weigh about 10 1/2  pounds.  

- You have outgrown all of your newborn clothes are are growing like a weed. It seems like you grow a few centimeters every night. 

- You are more and more alert every day and are developing your own little personality bit by bit. 

Beautiful baby boy.

- You are generally a happy baby again.  We went through a bit of a rough patch when transitioning you from breast milk to formula, and your poor little tummy was adjusting while we played detective trying to figure out the best way to keep you happy and healthy. 

- You definitely still cry, especially in the evenings.  You get grumpy and tired after a long day, as do most people.

Your crying face.  We have only seen tears a few times, usually it is just this face and the noise. ;) 

-Mommy loves your precious little feet.  One day she'll think they are smelly and gross, but right now she can't get enough of them. ;)

Sweet baby feet.

- You absolutely hate when we suction your nose to get the boogers out. Too bad you seem to have lots of boogers...

- When you sneeze, you always sneeze twice. 

- You currently enjoy tummy time for about a 10-15 minute stretch and are trying so hard to hold your own head up.  You are a very determined little guy. 

Tummy time!

- When you are eating you tend to place your hands on your belly like you are perfectly content.  Sometimes you interlock your fingers as though you are saying grace for your meal but I haven't caught that on camera just yet. 

- We call you our "hungry, hungry hippo" since you like to eat A LOT and take 4 - 5 ounces at every feeding! 

- You smack your lips after eating as if to say "Thanks! That was delicious!" :) 

Yummy in your tummy!

- When you are on your playmat, you love to kick your arms and flail your legs and make lots of happy baby noises.  

So alert!

- Speaking of noises, you are a VERY noisy little baby, even when you are asleep. 

(Hiccups, burps, farts, grunts, sighs, and a plethora of other sounds are always escaping you.)

- You have a very old man like receding hairline and baby acne.  We still think you are handsome. ;) 

Your balding head and baby acne.  Not too beautiful, but definitely part of your 1st month. 

- You love being read to and mommy swears you are trying to follow along and look at all the pictures.  Hopefully she's right and you were born with her passion for reading. ;)

-You like being outside for walks or trips to the park.

- You enjoy watching the pretend fish in your aquarium toy and the real fish in the tank in the kitchen.  Daddy is building a new stand for the real fish tank so we can let you enjoy them more often. 

Watching the fish!

-You started sleeping in your crib in your room!  We moved you because even though Daddy is deaf in one ear and can block things out, Mommy was waking up at every little noise you made and was getting very little sleep. 

- Once we get you down for the night you have been giving us a good 5-6 hour hunk before you are up for the next feeding.  This new trend started when we moved you to your crib in your own room and we pray it lasts, especially since mommy goes back to work on February 27th. 

- To put you to sleep at night we have to swaddle you, then rock you in the glider and gently jiggle your head at the same time.  You like to be on your side for this at first, and then when you start getting drowsy, we turn you onto your back and then take away the jiggling so it's not such a big change when we put you into the crib.  

- You sleep better when your sound sheep is on the ocean or rain sounds.  Hopefully this means you will enjoy the beach and the lake. ;) 

You already asked the pretty neighbor girl across the street to prom.
You know it is a tad early, but it might take her Daddy a little while to warm up to the idea. ;) 

- Sometimes you fuss for about 3-5 minutes when we put you in the swing or bouncer and then you relax and enjoy the motion. 

- You also tend to fight sleep like this too. Stubborn stinker already… 

Your birth announcements.

We love you so much son!  Every day is an adventure, but we welcome it and enjoy watching you change and grow!

Will you be my Valentine?

Today was Tucker's 1st Valentine's day. :) 

He celebrated in the best way a 26 day old knows how.  Eat, get a diaper change, be entertained by Mommy or Daddy and then take a nap… repeat.


Here are a few pictures documenting the occasion, captions written by T Man himself of course. ;) 

Grandma & Grandpa Haby came to visit on Sunday and brought me a VDay present!

Goodies I got my mommy to show her how much I love her.  I can't believe they sold me wine! ;) 

Hanging out in my crib while Sako makes sure the squirrels don't get me!
Notice my receding hairline/ balding head.  Apparently it's normal just like my baby acne,
and it gives me an idea of what I'll look like when I'm an old man. ;) 

Melting mommy's heart with my handsome face and sweet gurgles.  

Kirby keeping me company while I nap. 

The nice dinner my Mom and Dad enjoyed while I hung out in my swing.  I heard pastor Johnathon talking at church about making your spouse a priority and spending quality time together so I gave them a chance to do that without any fussing. I know, I know, I'm so sweet and thoughtful!  :) 

Good Mom & Week 2

"This is the start, this is your heart,

    this is the day you were born.

This is the sun, these are your lungs,

this is the day you were born.

And I am always yours…" ~ Switchfoot 

The first time I heard this song I was 9 months pregnant with little man and felt a huge surge of emotions and immediately connected it to how much I will always treasure him.

Tucker at 2 weeks in his camo with his buck. :) 

Snuggling his bear. 

I have loved Tucker from the moment that little stick said pregnant and could not wait until he arrived and I became a mom.  It is something I had dreamt about for a very long time and just knew I would be good at since I love kids and have quite a bit of experience with them. I planned every single little detail out and arranged for things to be just so to give him the best start possible in every area we could. 


But, in real life, being a new mom is hard. Really hard. It is physically draining, emotionally exhausting, and extremely overwhelming. It is certainly super rewarding and one of those things that is worth all the blood, sweat, and tears.  But, I have never felt this many emotions at once and no amount of planning could have ever prepared me for it.   Thanks hormones.  


The hardest part for me is how often you question if you are doing everything you can to be "a good mom".  You worry about every little thing and even catch yourself rocking/shaking your hands at night when he is doing his "sleep fussing that lasts 5 seconds as he goes into REM sleep" in his bassinet since that's how you usually calm him even though you aren't holding him.  You wonder if you need to get a new brand of diapers since he keeps peeing up the back of these or if the bottles you are using are the reason he has been tooting more at night. The list of things that you are constantly questioning your choices and actions about goes on and on...


Last week I struggled with an immense amount of pain feeding on one side and flu like symptoms  on top of being exhausted and was diagnosed with mastitis.  Mastitis is basically a painful infection in your breast that comes with fever, chills, nausea, excessive fatigue, and some major pain.  I was put on antibiotics, motrin, and instructed to rest but be certain to continue to feed on that side often since that is the best way to relieve some of the pressure. As I nursed him that night I cried and cried and felt like the worst mom in the entire world.  I was trying so hard to do so good for him in every area, and felt like I was letting him down since I couldn't seem to do things the way the "books" or other people said I should. 


Yesterday I finally let the "am I doing everything I can to be a good mom?" worry that I have been struggling with like crazy go.  I finally came to peace with a lot of the concerns I have and realized that at the end of the day, as long as Tucker is happy, healthy, and loving life, and Brett and I are happy, healthy, and loving life, then I have done my job. Since we live in a world full of choices, opinions, and judgments in every single aspect of raising a child, we often overly worry about doing things "right" and I have come to recognize that you have got to do things in the way that is "right" for you and your family. There will always be someone who thinks that X is a better way to parent than Y, and instead of worrying about it, I am going to embrace the fact that I do have choices and we will do what is best for our little family as we go along. This goes from our decision for me to go back to work at 5 weeks and 2 days all the way down to what brand of wipes we prefer.  


As I struggled with things this week, I did realize how lucky I am to have such awesome girlfriends who have been there and can relate and recognize the importance of a good cry or an hour away just to breathe. I love and appreciate yall so very much! 


I have a pretty good husband too, who has stepped up to the plate and helped out/ supported me more than I originally thought he would.  He might not know what to say to make it all better sometimes, since he's not one with words, but his actions speak louder anyways. 1220 Brett Haby.


Now that that's out and I feel so much better… 

Notes on this week for Tucker when he is older

- Daddy calls you "little tator".


- Sako is much more interested in you and loves to lay her head next to you when Daddy is playing with you. 

- Your umbilical cord stump fell off.

- You started going on walks with mommy to the mailbox in the sling.

- You had a bad bout of the dry & peely baby skin on your hands and feet. 


- You have outgrown a few of your newborn outfits already. 

- You still have your days and nights confused and slept through mommy rubbing an ice cube on your foot to wake you up for a late afternoon feeding. 


- You like when mommy reads to you.  Especially Goodnight Moon. 

- You are starting to try and focus on toys we wave in front of you. 

- You started taking expressed milk from a bottle and eat 4 ounces and act like you are still famished.  Hence your big ole' belly. 

- When you play with Daddy in the evenings he has you root for the Spurs and works on your "pitching arm".


- You grunt all the time. You must be talkative like mommy and stubborn like Daddy.


- When you poop, you make a big ordeal out of it and it's usually heard by everyone in the room.


- You went to your first big family function and slept the whole time except to eat. 


- You met a lot more new people including the entire Mangold side of the family, your Dunford cousins, your great grandma and grandpa Arnold, mommy's school friends and lots of "Aunties".  They all love you so much already! 

- You got packages in the mail from extended family in Wisconsin who love you too. 


- Your great grandma Pomerening started your education fund.  We have to start saving for that UT degree now. ;) 


- You flex your toes a lot and it looks like you give a thumbs up with your big toe a lot of the time. 


- Mommy calls you "Yertle the Turtle" since when we take you out of your car seat you have your whole body curled up but stick your head out as far as you can and throw it back to stretch your neck. 


- Your mommy got your name necklace so she can always keep you close to her heart even when you are far apart. 

- Your social security card and birth certificate came in the mail. 


- Grandpa Dan came to spend some quality time with you and even gave you a bottle. He also brought your mommy beautiful striped red roses. 

We love you T man!