First steps...

I am in no hurry for my baby to start walking.  I would be perfectly content for him to remain on my hip for as long as possible!  With that said though, every milestone is so exciting and this one is a Big one!  Tucker has been "cruising" for awhile now...roaming all over the place, but holding on to all of the furniture, appliances, doors, etc.  Just yesterday though, he started letting go for the first time.

And then today this happened...

So...this literally just happened today and these videos are from just a few hours ago!

I'm so glad technology allows us to capture these incredible firsts and wonderful memories!  Dustin cannot stop laughing when he is watching him walk, he thinks it's hilarious!  It is pretty funny though, huh?  I'm sure Tucker will be a pro at walking very soon.  Looks like he will be walking just in time for his first Birthday :)

Ten Months

My sweet Tucker,
Ten months!  I cannot believe time has passed by this quickly...we love watching you grow every day, but at the same time I wish time would slow down!

You are still a very busy boy and all over the place.  You are still not quite walking yet, but crawl SO fast! It's hard for me to keep up with where you are sometimes, because you move so quickly!  You walk around holding onto things, not wanting to let go just yet.  I know it will be soon though.  You are still loving being outside, it's definitely your favorite place to be.  Swinging, strolling, or riding on your new toy...you love it all.  We recently hung a swing for you in the front yard and you LOVE it.  You cannot get enough of that swing!  You have recently started clapping more too and when you are swinging high you will start to clap, it's so cute.  Besides clapping, you have also learned to point at people and things.  It's amazing how much you are learning.  Your newest discovery that you really enjoy now is music.  Even if it just one of your toys that plays music, when it comes on you will start to rock back and forth and when you are standing you will move both feet back and forth almost like you are marching to the beat.  Daddy and I think it is so funny and love watching you do this :)

You are still a great eater.  You will try anything and there are very few things that you dislike.  You are now eating anything we do, just smaller pieces...which has definitely made us eat even more healthy.  It is so much fun introducing you to new foods.  Your diet consists of lots of fruits and veggies.  We have also starting introducing a sippy cup with your meals filled with water.  You are doing a great job learning to drink from it...still eating around 5 bottles a day as well.  I still rock you to sleep every night around 7 PM and you sleep til' 6 AM.

Your personality shines more and more every day.  You are such an active, playful little boy, but also so sweet and love to hug, be cuddled, and held.  If I lay down with you to take a nap, when you wake up I will lay there with my eyes closed so you think I am still sleeping...you will wake me up by putting your face on top of mine so we are cheek to cheek.  It is the sweetest, most genuine sign of affection.  You are such a loving baby.  You are so funny too and keep me and Daddy laughing constantly.  You love to laugh and smile...still the happiest baby we know :)  You have recently started blowing on mine and daddy's faces to make funny noises with your mouth and you think it is the funniest thing ever, so do we...it's hilarious!  We are still in awe that you are ours and that we have the privilege of spending every day with you.  You bring so much joy and happiness to each of us daily and you make life so much fun. We are so thankful for you Tucker boy and love you beyond words!

Beach Time

We traveled down South again to Florida last week so Dustin could work some in the office and we could all have a little fun in the sun.  This was our first time back down since the weather is warm and Tucker was only a few months old last summer, so I was excited to see how Tucker would do in the water and on the beach!

He Loved it!

He liked digging too...

The beach, the pool, the waves, the sand...he loved it all!  I am glad too, because Dustin and I love the beach and it was so much fun watching him enjoy it so much :)

And when he wasn't in the water, he was trying to find a way to get back in!

We had so much FUN enjoying the warm weather, sunshine, and water.  I can't wait to take Tucker back to the beach many more times this year.  He is definitely our little beach bum! :)

Springtime!

As I walked to the car tonight, to go pick up some Chinese takeout...the smell of fresh cut grass inspired my post.  I love that smell of fresh cut grass and I love Spring!  Spring means Summer is getting closer and I Love Summer, even more than I love Spring.  We have definitely been enjoying the season around here.  It's the first time in Tucker's life where he is old enough and aware now to enjoy the nice, warm, weather...so we've been spending lots of time outside!

We are lucky enough to have horses right across the street from us so we visit them often

One of mine and Tucker's favorite things to do is stroll around our neighborhood.  He loves riding and I get some exercise pushing him along...

Clapping because he was so excited to go for a walk!

Complete with an SPF sunhat from Gigi's and Colorscience powder sunscreen :)

(Keep that Sunscreen on folks...it's part of my job to tell ya'll this since I do work in Dermatology and it'll save your life)

And when we are inside, he wants to be out.  This is him watching Dada cut the grass

We also spend a lot of time swinging, or Tucker does, I mainly push him.  He loves it!  And can't get enough!  Last weekend, I went to a local consignment sale at one of the larger churches and got some really great deals.  While I was there, I found a swing for 8 bucks!  Dustin and I were really excited, because it's a lot easier to just walk out the front door than to have to drive to the park every time we want to take Tucker to swing...he's pretty excited too!

Loves it!

In other news...Tucker really likes seeing new people and socializing especially while we are out shopping.  He will sit in the cart and laugh, smile, and babble at all the people we see.  It's funny how many people talk to you when you have a little one with you :)

Here he is enjoying grocery shopping!

We are also doing a lot of reading and loving books!  We read this one at least a couple of times a day and Tucker just laughs and smiles...he never gets tired of this book...

Look who's face that is in the center :)  Maybe that's why he loves it so much!

Lastly, we had an Easter mini session with a photographer complete with live baby chicks.  Tucker was hilarious with them!  He was so excited and might have tried to squeeze one a little too hard!  Our boy loves animals and loves the outdoors that's for sure!  I'll leave you guys with a sneak peek into our Easter session...more pictures of Tucker with the baby chicks soon :)

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!