Change.

One thing about change, is that more often than not, I dislike it.  In certain areas of life, for sure change is a good thing...but my theory is that when something is good, why change it?! For example, I'm one of those people who will order the same thing every time I go to a restaurant if I love it.  Silently, in my mind, while looking over the menu I think..."but you know what you order here is good, why change it?"
Unfortunately, change is part of life and it is inevitable...which leads me to this blog post.

Tucker has been attending daycare or school (as we like to refer to it) since he was 12 weeks old.  If I would've been blogging back then, you would have heard all about it, because it was SO hard for me to leave him!  This tiny baby had been with me every minute of his life since he was born and then I just had to leave him with someone I didn't even know...it was devastating, I was an emotional wreck!
He has been in the "Babybird" class for 6 months now.  His teachers are incredible in there.  Literally, I can not put into words how amazing those women are.  Since dropping him off that first day, they have taken such great care of Tucker...better than I could've ever asked for!  Granted..I did call every day for the first 3 months haha!  I have taken Tucker into his class every Tuesday and Thursday for 6 months now and he never looks back.  I put him down and off he goes to play with friends and love on Ms. Wanda :)

His first day as a "babybird" and his family tree that hung in his crib at school.

I snapped this on the second day I dropped him off as a tiny baby...he loves Ms. Wanda!

Halloween and Thanksgiving parties at school :)

So...when I found a letter in his cubby 3 weeks ago informing Dustin and I that he would be changing classes, I was sad.  He was no longer going to be a "Baby Bird".  I remained calm and decided to embrace this change and not become an emotional wreck.  Dustin said, "Steph, it's part of life and this will be the first change of many for him in life".  I agreed...but really was thinking whatever I'll just deal with it when the day comes which would be a week later :)

His first day in his new class.

And the day came... last Thursday.  Dustin and I told Tucker the night before all about his new class.  We also told him that some of his friends in his class would be moving up to the new class too!  We walked into the new class and I sat Tucker down like I always do so that I can go and unpack his lunchbox and put all of his food, bottles, etc. in the refrigerator.  And it happened...Tucker boy took one good, long look around this classroom and freaked out!  He crawled as fast as he could back to me and grabbed onto my leg.  My heart sunk!  I carried him around while I finished doing what I needed to do and then we walked over to the play area where his friends were.  I sat him down calmly to show him some toys and try to distract him by playing.  That didn't work.  I picked him up again, at which point I knew I had to go.  I walked over to one of his new teachers and passed him on.  He cried and then I cried at which point I basically ran out of the room!  It was awful!  Dustin picked him up early and even stayed to have music with the class and Tucker was just fine.  So then Tuesday rolls around...essentially the same thing happened when I dropped him off, except this time I looked back and saw him screaming, crying, and doing everything he could to get to me.  My heart was broken.  I cried the whole way to work again...
I know this is only a temporary thing.  I also, know that he is older now and much more aware of new places, people, and that I am leaving him.  I know he will become used to his new class, his new teachers and soon love it.  With all that being said, does it make what we are dealing with now easier or better?  NO!  It's a terrible feeling leaving him like that.  I know too, that we will probably experience this type of thing more times as he gets older.  It's just part of growing up :( but, of course I would love nothing more than to pick him up in my arms and take him home and hold him all day long!  It would only make things harder though.  It's Wednesday night, which means in the morning Tucker will head back to school. (Sigh) I am going to be optimistic though and hope that day # 3 is going to be better in the morning.  I am praying it will be for him and me! Dustin will be home tonight after being out of the country, in the Dominican Republic, for the last week so that alone is going to make things much better too and I will stop eating chocolate chip cookies for dinner!

This picture has nothing to do with this post, but was taken on Wednesday while we grocery shopped and I just loved it!  

Please pray for Tucker boy and Me as we make this transition...you can pray for Dustin too, but he deals with this whole change thing a lot better than us :)  I'll give you all an update soon!

Nine Months

We're back!  I know it has been awhile since my last post.  We have been all out of sorts around here...dealing with Tucker's first ear infection, along with Tucker's first fever, which then led to a pretty nasty cold.  Dustin has also been traveling for work and mission work recently.  With all that said, I haven't had much time to blog.  During all this though, Tucker turned 9 months old!  Yes, I am a little late with my monthly letter to him, but better late than never, right?!

My sweet Tucker,
You are now Nine months old!  Time seems to pass faster with each new month and you are growing up right before our very eyes.  You are a very Busy boy and all over the place!  You love finding new places to explore and new things to rummage through all throughout the house.  You pull up and stand holding on to things with no problem at all and can crawl SO fast now!  You are loving pushing your push/walker toys all over the house and you look so proud when you do it.  Daddy and I think you will be walking very soon!  Your favorite thing to do right now though is be outside and we cannot wait for the weather to stay warm so we can keep you out more.  You also let me know sometimes that you weren't quite ready to come back inside just yet and will get a little upset that we couldn't stay outside longer.  We also make it a daily thing to check the mail together...you seem to enjoy this or I think so!

Dustin, the creative one like I've mentioned before was not available to do his fancy monthly picture collage...so this month ya'll will just have to enjoy my photos without the collage :)

You are becoming quite the "foodie" and love most anything we give you.  After your nine month checkup, Dr. Stone said you could have basically anything we are eating, just diced.  We have enjoyed letting you try all sorts of new fun foods!  You are now eating 3 meals a day with your bottles in between.  You are also doing a great job of feeding yourself!  You weighed 21 lbs. 9 oz. at your last visit with Dr. Stone and are in the 75th percentile for weight and 90th percentile for height.  I still rock you to sleep around 7pm every night and you sleep til' 6 am.  

Your personality is so much fun and blossoming every day!  You are so loving and so sweet and will give Daddy and I kisses now :)  You are still loving laughing so much and find things so funny, especially Rusty!  You are learning to wave and clap too which is so much fun!  You are babbling all day long and say "da da" and "ma ma" the most.  We enjoy spending our days with you and watching you explore and discover something new every day.  We feel blessed beyond words daily that God gave us you and treasure each moment we get to spend with you!  It is so hard to believe that 9 months have come and gone...it has been an incredible 9 months!  We love you our Tucker boy :)

Valentine's Day

Hope you all had a great V'day and experienced lots of love...we sure did over here!  It was a great day and Tucker's First Valentine's day :)

With it being Tucker's first Valentine's day, I had to make sure he gave his friends at school some special Valentines.  I will start off by saying I consider myself crafty...well I definitely try to be and want to be crafty!  This is the deal though...I am pretty good at making the crafts, just not so great at coming up with the cute ideas.  Dustin tries to say I'm not as "creative" as I can be.  No, I enjoy being creative...I just need a little help inspiration sometimes!  With that being said, Pinterest was pretty much made for people like me!  It's great, I love it, and I get lots of great ideas.  Pinterest helped me come up with some great Valentines for the kiddos in Tucker's class!

Dustin, the creative one, helped me make the stickers in Photoshop.

How cute are these?  "I Dig You-Love, Tucker V."

Get it?  "Dig", because it's a shovel!  

Every holiday I definitely take advantage of having an excuse to make things for Tucker's teachers.  If I could, I would make them something every week!  His sweet teachers are Amazing women, who I could never thank enough for taking such great care of our baby boy and loving him so much!  

Ms. Wanda, Ms. Mary Beth, and Ms. Nicole received Red Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing from Tucker Boy!

I left Dustin a card and some of his favorite candy on his desk as a little surprise when he started working that morning.  My card and candy I left for him were nothing compared to what he made for me!  We had already decided we weren't going to buy each other gifts this year.  I came home from work to find this from my Valentine...

He took the lyrics to "our" song, which we had our first dance to at our wedding, and made a beautiful piece of art for me!  

Our song is, "Be Mine" by David Gray. Very fitting for such an awesome Valentine's gift, huh?

I will cherish this gift forever!  It is so special, I love it!

Like I said before, he's the creative one :)

I am so very thankful for my two Valentines, Dustin and Tucker.  They are my world.  I hope that I can show them every day of the year how much I love them and how much their love means to me!

Our Star of The Week

Gigi's Fabulous Kids' Fashion and Toys is a great children's clothing and toy store that my Dear friend, Alex, works at in Florida.  It is the cutest store located in Rosemary Beach, Florida and literally just a few steps away from the beach.  I've always loved Gigi's, but even more now that Tucker boy has came into my life :)  He has worn clothes from Gigi's since the day he was born!  They have awesome clothes, toys, and gifts for kids and babies!

They also have a blog...well actually it's called "the glob"!  How cute is that?  On the glob they feature "A Star of the Week"...and since we were in Florida this past week Tucker was chosen to be the star!  He had a mini fashion show where he tried on several outfits that I loved!  We dressed him up, took pictures of him, and even did a little interview where they asked me all sorts of fun questions about Tucker.  Looks like Tucker has become quite the celebrity...go ahead and see for yourself!

Gigi's fabulous kids

So...if you are ever in the Rosemary Beach area or find yourself on Highway 30A, be sure and stop by Gigi's Fabulous Kids' Fashion & Toys!  It's definitely worth checking out and you might even become somewhat of a Gigi's addict like me :)

Family Travels...

Tucker, Dustin, and I traveled down South to Florida this past week.  Dustin works from home, but for a company based out of Florida, so he has to travel down there often for meetings and things like that.  Tucker and I try to tag along too if we can!  Dustin's aunt, uncle, and cousins live there and after living down there for almost 3 years we made some great friends we love to visit whenever we can! :)  Tucker did great traveling and we were so thankful for that.  He really is the happiest baby I know and content pretty much anywhere we go!  I am constantly reminded of how blessed we are with such a good baby!

On the drive down...

As soon as we got to Aunt Vicki's house, "Cousin" Maggie started to entertain Tucker.  Here she is reading to him.  Tucker loved playing with her!

They have a playground in their neighborhood, so I was able to take Tucker to swing for the first time.  He loved it!  We went more than once, because he Loved it so much.  He could not stop laughing.  It was so much fun watching him!

I love that Maggie is in this one too, because she enjoyed watching him as much as I did :)

Different day, but just as excited as the first time!

And below, is a video of him laughing away and having so much fun!

On Saturday we made our way to Andalusia for Abbie's (our cousin) engagement party.  We loaded up the car on Saturday morning and we made the 2 hour drive...again Tucker was a champ and did great in the car.  The party was at John Wesley's house, Abbie's fiance'.  His mother's house happens to be the second oldest house in Andalusia and it was so cool!  It had so much character and it was Huge!  It's crazy how big houses used to be and how tall the ceilings were.  This house had 14 foot ceilings throughout, even upstairs.  I love old houses...I would take an old house with all that charm over a new house any day :)  I'm so glad we were able to make it to the party and to celebrate the engagement of Abbie and John Wesley.

Eating dinner in the 2nd oldest house in Andalusia

On the drive home today.

After 5 days of being away from home, we are glad to back.  Tucker was also very happy to see Rusty :) We definitely enjoyed some sunny days in Florida and getting to see some people that are very special to us.  I am very thankful for the relationships we made while living down there.  I look forward to taking Tucker back down to the beach often, especially this summer!

PS- I felt I needed a little pick me up after all that driving so I turned to Pinterest when we got home and made this...

It is a layer of cookie dough, layer of oreos, and then covered with brownie batter!  What am I thinking?! 

To be continued...

Just wanted to give a quick update...we have traveled down South for a few days to enjoy some beautiful sunny weather, attend an engagement party, and spend some time with some of our wonderful friends and family.  Will leave you guys with a little sneak peek into what we've been up to lately...

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Eight Months

My Sweet Tucker,

You are a little over eight months now.  By the way, the days of getting you to lie on your back on your blanket for our monthly photo session are over!  I couldn't get you to lay still on your blanket for more than just a few seconds :)

You are so active now and so full of energy!  You are all over the place...crawling, standing, pulling up, falling...you are a busy, busy boy!  You love pulling up and standing on anything.  You also enjoy pulling things down off of tables, out of baskets, and always exploring trying to discover something new to get into.  You have recently started to dislike having your diaper changed, probably because you are so busy and don't like to slow down at all!  We are enjoying every minute of you and are having a blast trying to keep up with you!

You are still loving your food!  We have recently started adding some textures into your purees.  So far..your favorite is still Zucchini with some little pastas added to it.  Mashed sweet potatoes are definitely a close second!  You are still drinking 6-8 oz. bottles and eating solids just at lunch and dinner, since Dr. Stone wanted us to wait and add the 3rd meal after your nine month visit.  You are really enjoying feeding yourself super puffs now too!  You look so proud picking them up and pushing them into your mouth :)

Sleeping is still going good too.  I rock you to sleep around 7pm. and you sleep usually til' around 6 am...although it has been a little earlier in the past few weeks.  You seem to be enjoying sleeping in your crib and rolling all over the place throughout the night!

Your little personality is shining more and more everyday.  It's amazing watching you grow and develop.  You laugh ALL the time.  You love to laugh!  Daddy and I love watching you laugh.  Your laugh is hysterical!  You wake us up every morning with your smile and that is such a Delight to wake up to each day.  We are beyond blessed to have you in our lives and are SO thankful for you!  I can't believe another month has come and gone...We Love you Tucker boy :)