Tucker's First Easter

I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking on this one. 

We went to the Haby's side the night before Easter. 

Tucker relaxing with uncle Brad.

Family photo.

Cardinals onesie for when we go see them play in St. Louis this summer. 

Auntie Erin loving on her favorite nephew. 

T with Ma Rhonda.  Every other time she has held him he has had a bad reflux issues and was not enjoyable.
This time however, he was all smiles and laughs for her! :)
Also note the "rabbit tail" on the back of his Easter onesie!

Easter morning in his PJs.  

All his goodies from grandparents, aunts & uncles,and extended family.
Can you tell he is the first grand baby on Brett's side?
A huge thank you to my parents too for contributing to his college savings fund as an Easter gift!

The next morning we went to church and then headed out to Castroville to spend the day with Brett's other side of the family for lunch and my family for dinner. 

Family picture in the bluebonnets. 

He was not a fan of the bright sun!  

Giving uncle Brad a hug goodbye. 

Tuckered out.

Hanging out with the extended family.

Tucker was in a great mood and just laughing away! 

Not quite big enough to sit on Daddy's shoulders. ;)

Sweet shades the Easter Bunny brought him!  

My mother thought we should all play croquet in her rocky Texas hill country backyard.
Between the rough terrain and Xena constantly chasing the balls and mallet/ stick things it was quite a hoot! 

Silly dog was obsessed.

Watching Grandma Mary play. 

Definitely a great first Easter for little bit!  We were so blessed to be able to spend a holiday meant for rejoicing Jesus surrounded by so many people we love. :) 

Tucks first Port A trip

I miss blogging.  I absolutely love to write.  I know I am not excellent at it and make the occasional grammatical error but I feel a sense of freedom and comfort pouring out thoughts into words and sharing pictures and it pains me that I don't have the time to do it as much as I would like.  On a daily basis during my drive home I think of these amazing blog posts and write the whole thing in my head.  It is often triggered by a song I hear on the radio or a bible verse I read relating to something weighing on my heart at the time.  I get all excited about it and can't wait to get home to my computer.  However, it seems that the minute I arrive home, the dogs need attention, dinner needs to be cooked, and the mountain of laundry threatens to consume Kirby if I don't wash things soon.  Plus let's not forget the sweet angel God gave me almost 12 weeks ago that I simply can not get enough of in the evenings.  (Ever since we went to the specialist, he has been a new baby.  Details about that adventure in another post.)  Point being that even though I have stopped bringing school things home with me, by the time Tucker goes down for the night I am either too busy cleaning the kitchen, making lunches, or folding clothes to sit down and type.  When the clock hits 9:15 and I look at the computer chair and my bed, you can guess what has been winning.  However, my heart feels like there is a part of me that is not being nurtured when I don't write, and honestly, even if no one reads this blog but my Grandma and a few friends, it makes me happy and soothes my soul and at the end of the day don't we all need a way to simply just sit and be?


Moving on...


2 weekends ago, we took Tucker to Port A for the first time.  My inlaws bought a condo and boat down there a few years ago and we had been going pretty regularly until I got hugely pregnant.  Brett still went duck hunting and fishing for several weekends in a row, but I hadn't been since catching my big redfish back in October.  I was pretty nervous about taking Tucker down there with his reflux issues, the 3 hour car ride, the ridiculous amount of things we would need to take, etc.  But, my husband's love language is quality time and his favorite way to achieve that is fishing and doing other outdoorsy things, so I gave in.  Plus, my in laws were going too and since Tuck can't be on a boat for awhile longer, we needed Nana to watch little bit so we could go fish. :)  

Our little family all together at the beach. It was pretty windy!

He slept the whole way down there and therefore his routine was way thrown off and his reflux was bad so he cried most of Friday night.  Thank goodness we weren't planning to go fishing early that morning because there is no way we would have been functioning.  On Saturday we took him out to the beach and dipped his toes in the water and sand for the first time.  He was a little surprised by it at first, but then seemed to really like it.  Also, he was not crazy about the bright sun, but the Easter Bunny brought him some sweet shades to take care of that. ;)   Good thing he enjoyed it because we practically live down there on the weekends in the summer and are looking forward to all the family memories to be made in Port A. 

Tucker and Daddy walking out into the waves.

He thought the sun was pretty bright!

Toes in the sand. 

Splashing with mommy. 

It melts my heart just watching Brett be a father. 

Tucker's sweet chubby thighs.

Tucker with his Nana and Big Bubba. They can't get enough of him either.  :) 

We also watched a few skydivers come in. Maybe I'll have the desire to do that one day...

2 months

Happy 2 months little man! 

Here are some notes to Tucker about his 2nd month. 

With your Mickey that Nana & Big Bubba
brought back from Disney World!

- You weighed 12 pounds, 12 ounces and were 23 inches long at your 2 month check up.  

You and Mommy.

- You wear 3 month clothes and the Carter's / Osh Kosh brand fits you best.


- You wear size one diapers.

With Grandma Mary on our Spring Break lunch date. 

- Your hands have developed a little more and they are the exact same shape as Daddy's.


- Although your reflux is under control pretty well with the Prevacid, AR formula, and wedge in the crib combo, you still seem to get really bad flare ups and we haven't figured out why just yet. 


-You are also very drooly, spit up often, and sound congested thanks to your reflux. :( 


- You got shots at your two month appointment.  You were not a very happy camper and turned so red in the face from screaming that mommy thought you looked like a little cherry tomato. 

Bandaid badges of honor from your shots. 

- You have a crooked head and very poor range of motion on one side. We found out from your Dr. that this is because you have a condition called torticollis.  Basically you were squished up for a long time in the same spot in Mommy's tummy and your neck muscles didn't develop right.  Luckily, we caught it early and should be able to straighten you out, literally, with some constant stretches and positioning changes.  You cried and cried during stretches the first few days but now seem to enjoy them and are improving every day. 

Receiving blanket neck supports in the swing to help your torticollis out. 

- Daddy can always get you down for the night faster and smoother than mommy.  He can usually put you in your crib swaddled and wide awake but yawning, turn on your sleep sheep and aquarium and you will put yourself to sleep.  The first night you cried about 25 minutes, the second 15, then 5 and now you just make some noises and go down without a fight.  (If your reflux is bad though, it takes forever to get you down since you hurt so much and then you usually have to sleep in the bouncer to control it.)

Sleeping in the bouncer on a reflux night.  Once mommy figured out that the slit in the back of your Swaddle Me was to pull the safety strap in through so we could buckle you in, the night got MUCH easier. 

- You sleep 7-9 hours a night unless you have a reflux flare up.  Hallelujah!


- You make quite an ordeal out of stretching when you wake up.  It takes a few minutes to get through your little morning wake up routine and it always cracks me up. My favorite part is when you throw your fist up and shake it as though saying "you mean Mommy, how dare you wake me up!"

- You are beginning to smile in response to something.  Your favorite is to smile at Daddy when he comes home from work. 

- You and your Daddy also like to play a game where you stick your tongues out at each other.  Apparently Mommy has two little boys. ;) 

- You are obsessed with lights.  Fan lights, toys with lights, flashlights, any and all lights amaze you.

- You are also highly entertained by keys. 

- You absloutely love to look at yourself in the mirror.  Apparently the kid staring back at you is pretty funny because you are always laughing at him. ;) 

- You are starting to be very talkative and constantly make noise when you are awake.

- You are extremely alert and are tracking things with your eyes.  You also get frustrated when we move you from something you were fixated on.

- You like to straighten your legs/ practice standing when someone is holding you.

- You are a mover and a shaker and are constantly kicking your legs and moving your arms. 

Sako standing guard during tummy time. ;) 

- Mommy sings you kindergarten sight word songs when she can't remeber the words to nursery rhymes.

- You have a pooping face that makes us giggle.

This doesn't do the hilarity of the face justice.  I need to remember to record it. 

- You also have a distinct pouty face. 

- Your eyes get really big when we put you in your car seat.  

- You love being outside, especially going on walks.

At the park with your cousins. 

- You got to meet your Auntie Erin and Uncle Brad finally!  You will get to go visit them in St. Louis this summer!

- You have been pretty good during Church services. 

- You really are not much of a paci baby, but love sucking on your fists.

- You love napping by laying tummy down on someone's chest. 

- You are starting to enjoy Bathtime.  Mommy uses the cool foam alphabet her class gave you to start teaching you the letters in your name. ;)

And here is a video of you talking for viewer enjoyment. (Grandma, click the little box on the bottom right of the video clip to make it bigger. ;) ) 

All Your Life

"Well I don't want the whole world, 

the sun, the moon, and all their light.  

I just want to be the only girl you love all your life.  

You love all your life.."  ~ The Band Perry 

Us way back in 2002.

I married my high school sweetheart.  Some people may think that is kind of silly because we didn't have serious relationships with different kinds of people prior to "settling down" and how could we possibly know we chose the right one. I however, think it is pretty cool that we both just knew God meant for us to be together and don't feel like we missed out on anything.  Rather, we are blessed with a strong confidence in our relationship and have a high level of respect for one another.  As we grew as individuals and worked towards our own personal goals, we always made sure to keep the other person and our relationship a priority and therefor grew closer together rather than farther apart.  I truly feel like I married my best friend and my soul mate and could not envision myself with anyone else. 


On Thursday February 23, 2012, we celebrated 10 years together as a couple.  My in-laws offered to babysit and we went out to dinner at the Vineyard.  I was given a gift certificate to this place at the end of last school year from the lovely and generous family of one of my students, but hadn't used it yet since I was pregnant at the time and wanted to wait until I could enjoy a glass of wine.  I mean, who goes to a place called "The Vineyard" and doesn't drink wine?   It was beautiful and delicious and we enjoyed some much needed post baby quality time together. 

Us ten years later in 2012.

We got to eat in the cellar.

No grapes right now, but still pretty. 

The driveway/ parking lot was made of gravel tumbled wine bottle bits. 

Wine bottle waterfall.

Change of focus

"So do not fear for I am with you; 

do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  

I will strengthen you and help you; 

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." 

~ Isaiah 41:10

Last week was rough.  Very rough.  Going back to work was hard enough in itself, but it also happened to be the same week that Tucker's acid reflux issues only seemed to get worse.  Things are certainly better than they were at the start of last week, but Brett and I are both feeling like just when we start getting one symptom/ area figured out and under control, another one intensifies and we are constantly taking one step forward and 3 steps back. We have a long way to go, but are thankful that we are fighting a battle that actually has a solution, even though we aren't sure what it is just yet.  Things could be so much worse...


When I start to get angry about something and head down that "poor me" direction of thought, God has a way of putting things into perspective for me once again.  Today's reminder was delivered early this morning during Tuck's feeding.  (I generally don't turn the T.V. on at night so that he learns good sleep habits/ avoids stimulation, ect. , but when I could barely keep my eyes open and was nodding off, the need for something to wake me won out.)  I haven't watched the news in a few days and was brought to tears by the pictures of the damage caused by all of the tornados ripping through America right now.  Here I am being bitter about not getting enough sleep or about having a baby who seems to cry constantly and these people have lost literally everything.  How dare I feel upset about my trivial situation when there are parents out there dealing with having the home they envisioned raising their newborn in being reduced to splinters or being faced with the new reality of being a single parent because the twister took their husband as well.  I can't even imagine dealing with that kind of pain, or the kind of strength and faith needed to put one foot in front of the other for those families. 
  

See the devastation for yourself by checking out this link 

ABC News photo coverage of the tornado damage

So today, I ask you to join me in prayer for those who need it most.  Those you know and those you don't.  When you take a second to stop praying for yourself and start praying for someone else, you may just realize how blessed you truly are.