Tucker's new face and Madeline's first fish!

Yesterday rocked.

Yesterday we had a great morning and when I laid Tucker down for his morning nap I asked my very agreeable 3 year old if she wanted to have a picnic in the park and she said that she would like that. So, as anyone who has a child knows,what happens next is a frantic game of beat the clock to gather all of the necessary supplies to get the kids out the door before the baby wakes up. And I did it! The blanket, the purees for Tucker, lunch for Madeline and I, drinks, hand sanitizer, diapers and wipes, and princesses. Hate to admit it but it had been a couple of months since I had loaded the kids up by myself and gone to the park. It has been so hot and it was really difficult to manage the two of them. Well, what a difference a couple of months makes! Madeline was great and Tucker just kicked and looked around in the baby bjorn and enjoyed sitting with us on the blanket.

Tucker immediately went down for a nap when we got home so I got to read Madeline a couple of stories before her nap and she went right to sleep- no fights. Tucker woke up soon after she went to sleep so I got some one on one time with him and felt so darn good that I called Tyler to tell him that we should load up the kids and walk the Big Dam Bridge when he got home.

We fed and bathed the kids and headed off to the bridge with them in their pjs. Madeline wanted to wear one of her gowns and Tyler put on some 24 month size pants under it. My daughter is tall. She looked so funny in that gown with too short purple pants and tennis shoes. It was great. The weather was perfect for the walk and we had so much fun watching the sunset, seeing people fishing, and screaming and dodging when the bicyclers sped by us. Madeline was so beautiful running ahead of us. She'd turn around and look back at us every few feet and was so full of joy. I told Tyler that as slow as we walked we sure hadn't burned any calories- just warmed them up a bit and that we needed to cool those calories off with some ICE CREAM! Madeline agreed and we got a tasty treat before bed.

Then, Tucker woke up at 12. Madeline tried and failed to sleep with us at 3. I gave up trying to go back to sleep at 5. Got up and made my coffee at 6 and here I sit now, hoping that everyone will be as sweet today as they were yesterday. I know it can happen. We are capable of having a great day.

Dr. Fulks and Dr. Stewart

Monday and Tuesday. Back to back doctor appointments.

First, Monday. Madeline's first dentist visit. We got up and at 'em early and went to see Dr. Clint Fulks. Dr. Clint. Madeline did great! She played with her princesses while I filled out our paperwork and then just climbed up in the chair without hesitation one we got back to the office. Dr. Clint checked all of her teeth and she got a good cleaning (her teeth got tickled). She got to pick out a new toothbrush AND she got a toy (she picked a tiny little fish) that has now become a part of the princess collection. Clint was great with her. After our appointment we went to eat with Hannah and Pratt at Chili's and as Madeline was sitting shivering through her ice cream she looked at me and said- "So this place is called CHILI'S?!"- as she is shivering. So smart and funny. She doesn't even know how smart she is. I am ALWAYS cold in that place.

Tuesday, today. Tucker's 6 month check up. Everything went great. Tucker is still right on track with all of his growth and milestones. He is sitting up by himself. Pulling himself to standing with help. "Inch worming." And growing so fast. He is 27 and 1/4" long. He weighs 17 lbs. and 11 oz. And he still has a big head- 18". I got praised for making his food and scolded for taking an herb to increase milk supply. I introduced avocado too soon and she said no yogurt until 9 months (oops) but other than that he is doing great with his food.

Just another little thing of note- Madeline and I are watching french language dvds from time to time and she has started making up her own french "words." Last night I asked her if she would travel to France with me some day and she said "sure." I asked her what she would say when we got there and she said some crazy word like "somoh pay yay" and I asked her what that meant. She said, "It means, 'Hello, I'm a cowboy.'"

Brandy and Rebekah's Baby Shower

Here are some pictures of the baby shower we threw for Brandy and Rebekah. I love these girls so much. They sat with my babies so that I could take a shower after Tucker came. They listened through my tears and exhaustion. They hugged me and assured me that everything was going to be fine. And it is. 6 months later and we are great. I can't wait for the arrivals of Whitney and Luke. I can't wait to be there for them the way they always have been for me! All of my small group girls are amazing. They are truly blessings in my life. Had a great day!

Madeline and Tucker

Just thought this was kind of sweet and funny...

"Tucker is 6 months old"

Up early this morning. I was just looking at the blog, thinking about posting and looking at all of the pictures along the right hand side. Thinking about how much things have changed in our lives. Looking at the pictures of Madeline holding Tucker and feeling so happy that the two of them are beginning to really enjoy one another. I scrolled all the way down to the bottom of the page and saw Tucker's age ticker. "Tucker is 6 months old." I knew that. I said that to 5 people yesterday- "How old is he?" "He will be 6 months old tomorrow." But just now when I realized it- realized that TODAY he is 6 months old, it took my breath away. It has gone by so quickly.

So, we will go to Tucker's 6 month appointment next week but here is an update on a few things he is doing since last month...

He is sitting up well. He loves to play sitting up. He still falls over to one side but he catches himself and rolls. He is not crawling but he pulls those legs up underneath him FAST and "inchworms" all around the living room. I can put out all of the toys in the world for him but he will move right past them and go for the entertainment center to try and reach buttons or a shoe. We have moved him into the high chair. He does pretty well. He is still very impatient when he is hungry so most of the time I end up carrying him around on my hip while I prepare his food. That's another thing- he's a hip baby now. Food- so far he has had butternut squash, sweet potatoes, avocado, cauliflower, tried (and didn't like) carrots, bananas, along with his oatmeal and rice cereal. I am wondering when he can have yogurt. He rolls over very well, both directions, except in his bed. If he rolls onto his back in the middle of the night he just lays there making this funny sound- not really crying- just these lower pitched wails- until I come in and hold him for a minute or feed him and lay him back down. Most of the time, if I have followed a good sleep schedule throughout the day, he sleeps 11 or 12 hours through the night.

Now for the good stuff- he and Madeline love each other so much. She still gets a little jealous of the time I give to him but in terms of their interactions with one another things are great. She is so proud to tell everyone that he is her baby brother and she tells me at least 3 times a day how much she loves him and how cute he is. She always wants to "pet" him. She says, "Mommy can I pet him?" and rubs his head so gently and most of the time she will give him a little kiss too. If we are going somewhere she always wants to make sure we are taking Tucker too because "he is part of our family!" We have been spending time in the evenings in our hammock (thanks to Madeline) and the other night she wanted to get her baby brother so he could swing with us. He was sleeping but we assured her that the next night we would make sure that Tucker got to swing with us. He did and she loved it.

Yesterday we went to Woolly Hollow State Park. It was so nice. A fun afternoon. On the way home, both kids were a little tired and cranky and Madeline started repeating fun words like "poop" over and over again. I think she was retelling "The Night before Christmas" but substituting "poop" for the reindeer names. At one point I know she said "now DASH away DASH away DASH away POOP!" Every time she said poop Tucker giggled so hard. That thrilled her. She tried other things. She yelled every princess name and he giggled. She yelled nonsense and he giggled. I think she is realizing that he is a real little person who loves her very much. She loves his attention and is always surprised when he smiles at her or laughs. I got out her old toys for him. The good ones. We've moved on to the stuff that lights up and makes noise now. She gets down on the floor and plays with him. Well, she takes stuff away from him, but Tyler says that constitutes playing for a brother and sister. I'm thrilled.

Madeline is so funny. you never know what will come out of her mouth. A week or so ago we were struggling to get her to go to bed and she was doing her best to come up with anything to keep us in her room a little longer. On this night she kept stopping us every time we tried to walk out and she would say- NO WAIT! We would turn around and she would say -"just give me a minute. I need to take a deep breath. I have to espress something to you." I fell out laughing which made her mad and she went through the whole thing again. She never could "express" to us what she needed to because I kept laughing and she would get mad and start all over again. Oh my gosh...we finally had to just walk out. Last night she said that I needed to remember that when she came in my room in the middle of the night and asked to get in my bed that I needed to say okay. I told Tyler I wanted to get to sleep because I expected a visitor around 2:30. Sure enough, 2:30 am, Madeline is next to me asking to get in bed with us. It is rare that she does this so I did. She is also doing this thing...she'll ask for something and I will say no and then she will say, "Mommy, say, 'I want to do what Madeline says.'" So I say the required phrase and then she says, "Okay, then DO it." Then we have to negotiate. Pretty smart kid.

T Thomas is awake again for some reason. Just watched the sun rise. Madeline at 2:30 and Tucker awake at 5:30. Whew. This will be a long day. It has been nice to have the quiet time to write, though. I'm going to check on my 6 month old boy now. Maybe I will wake up Madeline for some potty humor to keep him happy.

#2 pencils

We got Madeline's school supply list in the mail today. On the front of the page were the lists for the 1 yr. old and 2 yr. old classes. I had to turn the page over. That was the first thing. Having to turn the page over. She wasn't on the 1 yr. old or 2 yr. old page anymore. So, I turned the page over and started scanning the list. Normal, crayons, markers, glue, and then I saw it...#2 pencils. I gasped. Tyler was sitting next to me and I said -Madeline has to have #2 pencils this year- He couldn't understand what I had said through my blubbering and asked me to repeat myself. I couldn't. I closed my eyes really tight to squeeze out the tears enough to find where it said #2 pencils on the page again and I pointed to the words. He said, "That's why you're crying?"

She is going to learn how to write this year. She is going to learn her letters. She is going to learn how to hold that skinny #2 pencil and a whole new stage is about to begin in her life. She is growing up. All of these things are good, I know. All of these things are going to be exciting and fun. But oh my goodness. This is so hard. I can't even describe this feeling. My heart is breaking.

Some stuff...

Tonight I made brownies. They were just a mix but I put at least a cup of pureed carrots in them and YUM! They are the best brownies ever. I don't love cake because of its fluffy and mealy texture but I love a good, dense, chewy brownie and these were great. The carrots made them smooth...

Tucker has been loving his first homemade veggie- butternut squash. Tonight we tried pureed carrots and he HATED them- thus the carrot brownies.

Tucker can also sit up by himself! Tonight he was determined to get his hands on Madeline's princess Belle. I'd give her to him and Madeline would take her away. He would huff and puff and scream until she gave her back. Tyler set Belle in Tucker's lap and he just sat there on his own playing with her and chewing on her head. He's so grown up (the sitting up part is grown up- not the chewing on her head part).

Last night Tyler, Tucker and I went to Red Lobster (mmmm) and I saw a little girl who was about 15 months old and looked a lot like Madeline looked at that age. I started crying. It is heartbreaking to watch your babies grow up. I love Madeline now. I love how smart she is, how insightful, how sneaky and mischievous she can be, I love her sense of humor and I love her dingbat moments. But it is hard. It is hard to rock Tucker to sleep every night and feel his weight in my arms and not think about Madeline when she was his age. And it was a second ago. There is no way it was 2 and a half years ago. Babies grow up too fast.

Mom always said she rejoiced in each new phase I would enter growing up and that just when she thought I couldn't be any more fun, I would turn another year older and there would be a whole new set of things to love. That's pretty sweet. I feel the same way about Mad. She becomes more and more of a companion to me. A friend and this smart little person that I am determined to raise thoughtfully and carefully.

Tonight when I tucked her in I sang her the song that I sang to her every day when she was an infant. She loves for me to sing it to her. It's "Close to You" by The Carpenters. Madeline calls it her "bird song." When she was tiny I started singing it to her but also to myself as a way to convince myself to share her with other people. She was born a month early and she seemed so tiny to me. She was so delicate and new. In my postpartum haze I had a REALLY hard time allowing other people to hold her and pass her around. So I would sing "just like me, they long to be, close to you..." and I could share. It calmed me. My heart was always racing but I could be still and calm singing that to myself and to her in our private, quiet, moments, when I was holding and rocking her. It's our song. It has been our secret song, until now. But when I was 9 months pregnant with Tucker I moved my rocking chair back into her room and rocked her every night. We'd sing our song together and one night she told me that I could sing it to Tucker when he came out of my belly. And I do sometimes. I remember every song my Mom sang to me growing up. I even remember things she would always hum- songs that I don't know the words to- I hope my kids remember the songs I sing them.

I don't think we are going to have any more babies...so, now I will revel in the two I have. I will try and soak up every moment because now I know that you go from rocking a six month old to rocking a three year old in the shortest tiny little itty bitty snippet of time.

Giggles

Here is a video of Tucker from today. I tried to lay him down for a nap but he wouldn't go to sleep. I got him up, put him in the baby stroller and pushed him to his Daddy so that Madeline and I could go play princess. Then I heard this and ran to get the camera...

I want everyone to know- I know he is not supposed to be in Madeline's baby doll stroller. Don't call child services. But when you desperately want your 3 year old to see that her baby brother can be fun...well, you'll do just about anything- like stick him in the doll stroller and high chair. She does love to push him around the house. I stay with her the whole time. Although, the other day she pushed him under the desk and left him. She went off to have a snack.