Tucker - 3 Years Old

Tucker,

You are a magnificent little boy. You are so goofy and are such a weird kid! I love it. You are always talking to yourself and making the funniest faces for no reason at all; then laughing hysterically when you are "caught". At home you are hardly ever quiet. You are always talking or singing. You are absolutely content to play by yourself most of the time and you are always in your own little world. 

Your favorites right now are Batman, PJ Masks, Paw Patrol, and Legos (mostly Ninjago and Batman). You also love stuffed animals. You got 4 small stuffed Paw Patrol Pups for your birthday and you love them so much! Plus you have this small baby cougar that you call "your kitty", as well as a Build A Bear dinosaur. All of them sleep in your bed with you, no exceptions. 

Demanding has been your new thing and it drives us nuts. We have to correct you so often that Trenton now says "Mommy...Tucker is demanding again...!" Also I've just noticed that you are a huge backseat driver. It goes with your need to demand, definitely, but we have been driving way longer than you've been alive, kid! However, watching you and your brother interact and talk just melts my heart (when you aren't fighting). The conversations you two have are hilarious. I really hope you boys include your little sibling in things and are all this close to each other.

At school you don't talk at all. Your teachers say you are finally starting to open up some and you said a whole 4-word sentence one day! I just laugh because that is exactly how I was at school and opposite at home. When you come home you always talk about what you did and are always singing songs you've learned at school. You told me today that you like to chase the girls at school with Trenton.....too young for that, kid!! 

Sometimes you are excited about having a baby sibling but I think you have no idea. Every time you hear a baby cry or babble loudly, you always cover your ears and say it's too loud. You have no idea what's coming, sweet boy. You ask multiple times a day where "our baby" is and I have to tell you over and over that it is in my belly still.

Your ultimate favorite "person" is still Roosevelt. You missed him so much on our last vacation! The few days since we have been back, if we aren't home, you ask to go back to him constantly. He is your BFF and it is such a sweet relationship. 

All of our guys just love you so much and love to play with you. You have your favorites of course, which is usually the ones who are willing to play with you the most. You really do love having "our guys" and you always get so sad when we are off. Every day you ask, "are we off today or on today?" And when I tell you we are off, you get sad. 

Your motor skills have gotten so much better this year. You are able to keep up with Trenton and bigger kids his age a lot easier now, though you still jump like a baby and I absolutely love it. You are so good at putting tiny Legos together and puzzles are one of your favorite pastimes. Your teachers were so surprised to see you sit and do a puzzle for 30 minutes straight at school one day. 

Eating habits are still horrendous. We really do have no idea how you are still alive. All you ever eat is peanut butter sandwiches, fresh fruit, and all the crackers and sweets you can sneakily get your hands on. You have gone an entire day without eating before because you refused to eat what we gave you. When will this end??? The past couple weeks though you have even been refusing peanut butter so I seriously have no idea what to feed you that is even remotely nutritious. 

For your birthday you got a singing card and $10 from Gigi and Pimpa so we took you to Toys R Us to do some birthday shopping! We let you pick out your gifts from us too. Daddy and I love letting you guys pick out your gifts at the store and seeing how you choose items. Also how asking "is this expensive?" Is a lot of times the first thing you ask. That's my boy; I'm raising you well 😊

I also made you some Batman cookies! That was way more work than I imagined and sadly I ran out of time and patience to make some for your entire class like I wanted. But we ate lunch at Chick Fil A where the only thing you eat are "shries", and every time someone sang you Happy Birthday, you got this huge goofy smile on your face. It was adorable. You got to choose a lot of things we did in the afternoon and you definitely loved all the attention on you!

I took you to the doctor for your 3 year old check up the day after your birthday and you have a clean bill of health! I am fully surprised that you are in the 50th percentile for all your measurements. You don't eat!! I guess last year your iron levels were low so the doctor wanted to draw blood again this year to see if you have an iron deficiency still. He said you just need to eat more meat but then I just laughed and told him you were a self-proclaimed vegetarian 😏I did ask if he thought you needed to drink Pediasure but he said it isn't necessary. It definitely won't hurt but it's also not necessary. You also got a flu shot for the first time ever so hopefully that goes well! Flu shots always make me nervous. You were such a big boy though and didn't cry at all!!! They did a preliminary vision test though and you failed so now we have an appointment to see a pediatric ophthalmologist at the end of November. I hope you don't need glasses this young! However, you would be one darn cute kid with glasses! 

I am so excited to see how you grow over the next year and how you change. Hopefully eating better 😏 you are an amazing little boy and I am in awe every day by your cute little voice (when you aren't whining or demanding) and your adorable little face. You amaze me, kid!

 Always falling asleep anywhere! You used to especially love playing with your "boo-boos"

 

 Christmas 2016!

 

 Asleep with your "boo-boos" again!

 

 

 Had to do the class sit-on-dad picture!

 

 Asleep again...Roosevelt was so sweet to let you sleep on him!

 

 BFFs!

 

 You both grew so much from the first day of school 2016 to the last day of school 2017

 

 Our first trip to Kansas City....licking the ice cream statue....

 

 Cotton Candy for the first time at your first baseball game

 

 We went to Chicago in July and it was so much fun! You got to ride a train and bus numerous times

 

 Easter 2017. So cute and handsome

 

 Easter family photo

 

 Always making silly faces

 

 There were a few weeks where you just couldn't stop hurting yourself. You got this same nasty welt in the same some on your poor head 3 times within just a few weeks

 

 Not only are you the slowest eater alive, but also the messiest

 

 You look like a bobblehead

 

 Cousin Kaiden! You weren't too thrilled with another baby around :)

 

 You love your costumes! This day you were Owlette John Cena

 

 Super heroes to the rescue!

 

 That cute little smile...already it is used to try and get you out of trouble. I know it'll only get worse

 

 Angry Eyes

 

 Daddy time

 

 We went to the Broncos stadium while in Denver on vacation

 

 One of our favorite places to go while in Kansas City! Sadly it shut down :(

 

 

 

 Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs with GiGi and Pimpa

 

 Your favorite person to talk to on facetime, Kennedy! Or Chicken. You all call each other Chicken and think it is the funniest thing in the world. You and Kennedy are kindred spirits and are just alike

 

 It was the beginning of June, but still snowing on top of Pike's Peak

 

 Okoboji time!

 

 Had to wear your floaties even though you refused to go in the water

 

 Our neighbors went with us this year and you became Avery's little pet. For some strange reason you let her "bathe" you by continuously dumping buckets of water on your head. You won't even let me do that in the bath without screaming your head off. But you were soaking up all the attention she was giving you. You even let her spoon feed you at the table!

 

 Happy Father's Day!

 

 Chicago at the famous bean

 

 Chicago

 

 Cool dude modeling in front of the Bean

 

 First day of three year old preschool

 

 have to get my annual backpack picture on the first day of school

 

 It just so happened that you were angry with me when I wanted to take this picture, so it made it extra funny :)

 

 We went to Branson, MO right before your birthday and these sting rays kept jumping up on the glass

 

 Your favorite part of Branson was the zoos and being able to feed and touch all the animals. I think I may have my animal lover child in you :)

 

 We met up with some Boys Town friends while in Branson and you missed your friends! Whitney and I have already decided that you and Badynn are going to marry one day. Look how cute this photo is!!

 

 The four BFFs back together again!

 

 Gotta give your puppy loves on your birthday

 

 My attempt at making your Batman cookies didn't turn out too bad

 

 Happy birthday sweet boy!!

 

 Your are three years old now!

 

For Halloween you were Gekko and Trenton was Catboy

 

Baby 3.0 - 12 Weeks

Well little baby, last month you gave us a scare! I had an ultrasound at 7 weeks and it went well, then at 8 weeks I met with my new midwife and she told me the ultrasound showed a possible twin!! Now, while being family teachers, we are only allowed 3 kids because the job is so hectic with 8 teenagers. If we had twins, we would have four! I had to have a repeat ultrasound at 9 weeks so for a week I was freaking out about the possibility of having twins, and at the same time, the possibility of losing a baby. I know miscarriages happen and they have happened to friends of mine, and it's a terrible, devastating event in life that I wish no one would have to go through. But I never thought I would be in that unwanted club. I am the woman who has been blessed with being able to get pregnant immediately. Miscarriage is a hard thing. On one hand, if it turned out that we had twins but one died, that's really sad. We never thought we would be able to have twins; we never thought that a legitimate possibility. Then what a gift it would be if there were two viable fetuses! I mean, I've always wanted twins, sure. And how beautiful would it be to have identical twins to add to our sweet boys? But then on the other hand, our lives would change dramatically. Both of us would lose our jobs, we would lose our house, I would probably have to go back working in a corporate office while Joseph stays home with four kids. FOUR KIDS. Two newborns. I feel horrible saying this, but that's not the life that I want right now. I don't want to struggle to pay bills and not live comfortably anymore. As family teachers we have been able to pay our bills off and still be able to take vacations and live comfortably. Plus I love what we do. I don't really want to go back to the corporate world. So as you can see, it's been a huge internal battle for a week! 

But I had my follow up ultrasound on week 9 and the tech didn't see the extra clump of cells she saw two weeks ago, and still only saw one heart beat. So unfortunately we will probably never know if it was in fact a second fetus, or something else. But right now, there is only one baby. So that is what we are going with.

At our 12 week appointment as my midwife was trying to check the heartbeat, little baby was swimming and doing flips all over the place! She had such a difficult time getting the heart rate. We could hear the kicks and flips on the Doppler which was pretty neat. I just hope you cooperate when trying to get the gender! 

Toward the end of September, we decided to tell our boss. And of course it just so happened that our boss's boss came to our consultation. He has NEVER, in 3 years, come to our consultation. It was weird and of course great timing. Our boss what great and his boss told us we had to schedule an appointment with his boss to talk about us having a 3rd baby and him pretty much trying to talk us into leaving family teaching. But we have no plans on leaving this job for a really long time! Little Baby, you will also be growing up with 10 big brothers!

We also decided to tell Trenton and Tucker right before the guys got home from school and then tell the guys after dinner. Trenton and Tucker were super excited because they've been wanting a baby sister for months now. However, I told Trenton that we need to keep it a secret from the guys for a little bit. So of course, what does he do? As soon as each guy walks in the door he screams "WE'RE HAVING A BAAABBBYYYY!!!!" 😐😐

Luckily we were able to play it off since he's been saying he has a baby sister for the past 4 months so it wasn't anything new they've heard.

Once we did tell the guys, they were all so excited!! The guys leaving in December are really looking forward to coming back in May to see. 

As for me, this pregnancy has started out weird. At first I just wasn't hungry, so I wouldn't eat. Then by 6pm my blood sugar would be so low that it was difficult to even lift my arms, and I'd realize I hadn't eaten anything all day. The next phase turned into me be nauseous all the time (luckily no vomiting though! Yet.) and even the thought of food made me want to throw up. Salads seemed to be the only things that didn't make me want to hurl just by the thought. Chick fil a was the salad/wrap food of choice because 1. Chick Fil A has amazing salads, and 2. Homemade salads just weren't cutting it for me in the nausea department. So I don't know if that counts  as a craving or not, but I've given a lot of money to Chick Fil A over the past week weeks 😊 now I'm in that phase where I need to eat a small something every 45 minutes or else I'll get nauseous. I still have struggles with the thought of food, but I am able to eat a little more  of what I actually cook for dinner for everyone else. 

Since I lost a good amount of weight before getting pregnant, my "fatter" jeans still fit my growing belly and I haven't needed to buy maternity pants quite yet! Most don't button anymore, but I can still wear them, hopefully for at least a few more weeks! 

Trenton has been so sweet recently. He is always asking me to sit down so he could "cuddle the baby", and wants to hug the baby. He also says that we don't need a crib because the baby will sleep in his bed with him. Trenton is probably the sweetest big brother when it comes to babies. He absolutely loves holding other people's babies and I can't wait for him to be a big brother again. Tucker on the other hand, he talks about "baby", but he doesn't quite understand what that will mean for him. He is going to lose his baby status! We have been really working with him on his baby status which has led to a ton more tantrums, but hopefully he will figure it out 😊

Everyone is so excited for Baby 3.0! And we really cannot wait until we find out if you are a boy or a girl! Trenton will be devastated if he has another brother though. That is a non-negotiable term of agreement with him. It MUST be a girl😏