Christmas Pictures 2009

Having Grace right at Christmas time has made it easy to get annual family pictures. We went to get them a little early this year so we could get our traditional newborn pictures of John. So, here is this years family picture.
Here is Miss E's (as Grandma T calls her) 2009 picture.

Here is Miss Grace's 2-year old picture.

And the next three are the pictures we got of John.

Thankful Thursday

I haven't done one of these for quite awhile, but I have LOTS to be thankful for.

So, I am thankful for:

1.) healthy kids. As I hear all the hype about H1N1 and have a friend that actually had her daughter (who is only about a month older than John) in a children's hospital for a few nights, I am completely and totally thankful that God has kept my children healthy.

2.) NAPS! Daylight's savings time was not a well thought out concept when it comes to children. It was definitely a man (Benjamin Franklin) who came up with the idea and he obviously didn't think about what all the moms were going to deal with. Having a newborn that isn't sleeping through the night and then a 4-year old waking you up at 6:30 in the morning is NO fun! But...we managed to make it through the morning without any tears and after a nap...we were perfectly normal again. :)

3.) a good area to live. We have been totally blessed with all of the friends we have had to take care of us here in Dubuque. Between my friends from MOPS, the neighbors and our church we have had meals two to three times a week since John has been born. In fact, one of the gals from our church even brought us enough meals to freeze for a whole week! I have been amazed at how God has provided for us in this way.

4.) a wonderful husband! Chris has come home at lunch and picked Libby up for preschool the past couple of weeks so that I don't have to take John out yet. It's been so nice to see my husband at lunch time AND be able to put Grace and John to bed as soon as lunch is over so that I can either take a nap or get some housework done.

5.) a calm son. That boy cries only a fraction of what the girls did. He does cry, but not a whole lot. It is so relieving. Alas...he's crying right now, time to go see what his problem is and take care of it. :)

2-Week Check Up

Ok, I was going to post some pictures, but now that I'm in front of the computer...I don't see my transfer cord, so I guess you'll have to wait for those. I can still update you on Baby John though. :)

We went for his 2-week check up on Friday and the little man is already up to 8 pounds. Wow! The girls were barely above birth weight and he's already gained half a pound. I don't think we are going to have NEAR the weight worries with him that we had with the girls. He has been a little trooper. He gave me two 5 hour sleep segments last night. I actually got enough sleep that I didn't need a nap today and got my main living area clean for the first time in awhile. :) Now...just to get to work on that basement.

The girls are still doing tremendous with John. They just dote on him non-stop. If only that was how they treated each other. We have been dealing with a lot of Grace wanting to be just like big sis and big sis not wanting ANYTHING to do with that! We'll get it all figured out with time, I'm sure. I can definitely say that I thank God ALL the time for the family I have. My husband is top notch and my kids are all truly blessings, too. I am a very blessed gal!

Honestly

What sge is it that we think we need to begin yo lie? Why do we feel the need to lie? Is it when we feel threatened? Or is it just a personality thing? These are some of the questions that have been going through my mind this past week. We have tried to make this a "safe house" to tell the truth in and have only failed miserably once so far. Evidently Libby feels quite safe to tell the truth (as the following stories show).

Episode #1: Grandma Tucker was having a conversation with Libby and she asked Libby if she (Grandma Tucker) was her best buddy. Libby contemplated for a moment and said, "Well, I don't think so. Owen is my best buddy." Grandma continued, "Am I your second best buddy?" Libby responded, "No, Wesley's my second best buddy." This continued on down the line to about ten...grandma still wasn't on the list. She finally asked, "Well, who is my best buddy then?" to which Libby gave her final answer, "Ask grandpa to be your best buddy."

Episode #2: We always ask what Libby is thankful for before bed so we can thank God for that good thing in her life that day. While grandma and grandpa Woods were here she said, "Grandma...I mean, Grandpa." She was up a little while longer and then I said, "Ok, it's time...head to your bedroom. You are thankful for grandma and grandpa, right?" She replied, "No, just grandpa!"

Episode #3: Yesterday at school Libby accidently got marker on her shirt. She wanted to change shirts, but the teacher told her to save her mommy the laundry and to just keep that shirt on. Libby got upset and walked into the bathroom, looked into the mirror and said, "They just don't understand!" She came back out and started to play, but the teacher heard her talking to a friend later about the incident. The friend asked if she could just tell the teacher how she felt about the shirt. Well, later, at home I asked her about the conversation with the friend when she was frustrated about the marker on her shirt. She stood there and looked at me for about two seconds and then said, "No, I was just plain mad!"

What honesty! To the point that it could hurt people, but better than trying to save face and make people feel good. We just have to work on the "in love" part now. Which, by the way, the night after the grandma and grandpa Woods incident, it was grandma she asked to come pray with her and sleep with her. So, she might have been thankful for grandpa the first night, but it wasn't necessarily to the exclusion of grandma. :)

So, honestly, how honest are you? Do you let lies and half-truths slip out of your mouth? I know I do...I could take a lesson from my 4-year old. Honesty is still the best policy.

And to Finish Off...

some Baby John pics. Isn't he just precious? Now, off to feed the little fella!

Still a Star!

Neither of the girls can get enough of their little brother. Grace has even started saying "bruva". It's so cute. I think Grace would have crawled in here with him if I would have let her. I'm going to have to watch her.

Here she is crawling up to see her "bruva" again.

She just adores him. Although, now that all the grandparents are gone, she is feeling a little insecure about being "knocked out" of her youngest position. She has been REALLY clingy today. She just wants me (or daddy) to hold her or carry her all the time. I'm glad it's the weekend and daddy is here with us. Monday might be a BIG shocker for me.

Grace is still missing her pacifier just a tad. Whenever she sees John's she looks to see if I'm watching and tries to stick it in her mouth. I usually catch her and tell her no. Then she'll bring it over and try to give it to John. She has been so sweet with him. I really didn't expect her to handle all of this so well. I am so blessed by God to have two wonderful girls that handle their little brother so well.

Momma Libby

Libby has decided that she is John's mommy. (I must just be the wet nurse.) She has been very helpful in her momma duties. She helped me burp him after he fed.

And here is where she has made his bed for him. She was very meticulous and it took her at least five minutes to get everything just so. She was quite proud of her contribution...and she should be. :)

Last, but not least, she wanted to make sure that John's feet were nice and warm so she made sure to wrap his feet up (he was already in a sleep sack) tightly so he wouldn't have cold tootsies.

GRASS!!!

A Star is Born

...and momma is too busy enjoying him to share him with the rest of the world via this blog. :) Chris did it for me when we had Grace, does that make him the slacker? :) Just kidding.

Seriously, though, Mr. John Everett Tucker made his appearance into the world Friday, October 16, 2009 at 8:53 pm. He was 7 lb. 7 oz. and 19.75 inches long. We went in to the hospital that morning at 8:00 am to be induced and thought for sure he would be here by no later than 3:00 pm. Actually, that probably would have been the case if I had let them start pitocin earlier, but I didn't. We did a lot of walking the halls like we had done with Grace, but it just didn't do the same thing this time around. I think part of that was because I used midwives this time so they used a different method to induce me. Either way, once they did start the pitocin I was done fairly quickly. I was hoping for a water birth, but that just didn't happen...and to be honest, by the time he arrived, I really didn't care. I just wanted to be DONE! I had a harder time pushing him out than I did the girls (mind you, that means it took me 10 minutes of pain vs. 1/2 hour of epidural or one push...so it's all relative, I guess!) It was quite an interesting delivery for me. Let's just say that I'm glad it's over. When they put him on my chest my first thoughts were, "He looks just like the girls!" I checked, just to make sure, that he wasn't a girl. :) I'm such a dork. It will be interesting to see what he looks like as his features become his own because right now he REALLY looks like Grace. I'm just glad that he is here finally.

Both girls were awesome as they met their brother for the first time. Libby just adores him...although usually it's when someone else has him in their arms. As for Grace, I've been telling everyone all along that she really doesn't have a clue as to what was going on...I think I was VERY wrong. I think she just couldn't verbalize about what was going on. My mom brought her up to the hospital by herself and I made sure John wasn't in the room so that she wouldn't be overwhelmed. She came in and got to see her mommy for a bit (the first time in almost two days) and then they brought John to the room. She KNEW that he was her brother immediately! Grandma picked Gracie up and held her over the "crib" and she just petted him and stared at him. Once when grandma tried to readjust her, she grabbed hold of the side of the clear plastic "baby-bin" & acted like: "Don't you dare take me or him ANYWHERE!" She was so cute.

Overall, I am just so glad to have him in my arms and be home with my girls, too. Thanks for all of your prayers and sorry for my "slow pokiness" in blogging. :)

Ok, I Lied

I said the next update should be with a baby boy in my arms, but I thought I should tell you about my appointment today. I will be headed to the hospital Friday morning to be induced. :) So, I will post pictures soon after he is born.