I Give Up!

Life is too much stress. I surrender. Take me away...to sleepy land.

Baby Toss Around

My family getting there "Grace time". Libby's lovin' on her too. I think that Libby is adjusting better to little sis because she gets to spend time with Grandpa, Dibbers and Hannah. She has especially enjoyed her time with Grandpa because when we visit him in Ohio...he has to work, here...not so much!

After a Week

Here's how daddy looks after a week of having a newborn baby AND the in-laws at the house. Libby told daddy the truth...he looks silly!

Too Funny

I couldn't help but post this video of my all too hilarious daughter.

More Pictures

 

These are the beautiful flowers that my sister-in-law and brother-in-law sent.

 

These are the adorable flowers that our church sent us.

 

Here is a picture of Grace in her car seat for the first time. She actually fills it out better than Libby did.

 

Here is Libby holding her Grace. She has been such a wonderful big sister...so far.

Fun with Grandma and Grandpa

 

Today grandma and grandpa and Aunt Hannah took Libby to Davenport for some fun. They went to Chuck E. Cheese's and Libby enjoyed riding on Bob the Builder. She got to meet Chuck E. too. If you are thinking about joining the fun and you live in the Iowa area I got a good report on the pizza. Mom and dad said that it was the best pizza they'd ever had at a Chuck E. Cheese. After wearing Libby out there they headed to the mall for Build-a-Bear. Libby, of course, chose a cat and then she got to choose an outfit for her kitty too. She was a very good big sister and made sure that she got a "baby cat" to match hers for her little sister.

While they were doing that, Chris and I were packing Grace up and bringing her home for keeps. She took the transistion well although she wasn't so sure about that crazy car seat contraption. At home she just slept, ate and pooped...all the things a baby is supposed to do. Mommy and daddy got a good nap in as well. Libby was glad to have her little sister at home with her and makes sure to come running any time she hears her cry. It is nice to be home again!

LIFE IS SO CRAZY...BUT GOIN' GREAT!!!!

Here is a slideshow of things that have happened in the last 3 days!!! Footers dug & poured on our new house...had a beautiful baby girl...forms set for the basement...basement walls poured today!!! UNREAL!!! So many things have come to pass successfully that I am starting to wonder what's gonna go wrong soon!!! But, for now, we're gonna praise God for His goodness, and thank Him for family, friends, a great job, and the bountiful blessings that He has given us!!!

Love you all...

The Tuckers

P.S. CLICK ON THE PICTURE BELOW TO SEE A THUMBNAIL SUMMARY SHEET OF ALL OF OUR PICTURES (IN THE ORDER THAT THEY OCCURRED)...THEN CLICK ON THE SLIDESHOW TAB RIGHT ABOVE THE FIRST PICTURE ON THE LEFT TO SEE THE PICTURES FULL SCREEN...THEY WILL ALSO ADVANCE AUTOMATICALLY. ENJOY!!!

2007-12-21 Crazy Life

GRACE EILENE TUCKER DEBUT!!!

Just a quickie post to let everyone know that Grace Eilene Tucker is finally here. She came into the world at 10 p.m. sharp...only after 13 hrs of labor...which was much better than 43 hrs. with Libby!!! Mommy was quite a trooper too...went from 2 cm all the way to giving birth in about 45 minutes...and the doctors didn't have enough time to get her an epidural or ANY drugs at all!!! What a manly woman!!! Gotta love her!!!

Grace weighed in at 6 lbs 14 oz, and was 19.5" long. She has 10 fingers, 10 toes, and perfect in every way. Thank God for such miracles....there will be pictures posted soon!!!

The Tuckers

Libby's Last Hurrah

Since today is Libby's last day as an only child (ok, or at least the day before they induce me) I thought I would post one last "special" Libby-only post. We decided that our last mommy/Libby thing to do would be to make cookies together. It was challenging with my post-due attitude issues (I REALLY want this child OUT of me!), but ultimately, I'm super glad we did it. It made me realize that even though I love my daughter and THOUGHT I was a patient person, well...some things just call on a LOT of patience. This is one of them.

Here is a picture of Libby with her sleeping bag (a Christmas gift from our neighbors...how sweet) as a back pack. She was so proud of herself and thought she was the coolest! I'd have to agree since she's my baby and all.

In this picture her and daddy are playing together. As long as this "cave" can withstand some wear and tear I think it will be a family favorite for a few years. If daddy can fit in there...WITH LIBBY...we should be ok. Of course it was fun to watch daddy wiggle out of there. Darn, I should have taken some video. :)

Well, I'm sure that Libby will have some of her own posts still, but I thought I would dedicate this post to her. :)

*In other Tucker news, the house is (for the most part) clean for all of the company that will be coming. They started digging our basement today. We SHOULD (we'll see) have basement walls by Friday. AND...I found my first gray hair today. :( I did the bad girl thing and pulled it out, but only because I wanted to take a closer look and make SURE that it was actually gray. I'm starting to get old. Either that or it's these darn kids (Libby was two weeks late, now Grace is one week late) not making their entrance to this world when they are supposed to. :)

Well, we'll post pictures of Miss Grace Eilene soon. Maybe I'll convince Chris to bring the laptop to the hospital and we can get the pictures posted ASAP. Otherwise, they should be up by the beginning of next week.

Due Date ~ 12/12/2007

Still waiting!

Update: As of my 40 week check up yesterday the doctor said that I still wasn't progressing on my own. He said that they would give me one more week and then go ahead and induce labor. So, if there is no baby by next Wednesday they will send me straight over to the hospital after my appointment. In one way, that is A-OK with me...I'm just ready to get this kiddo out of me, on the other hand, I really don't want to be induced again. I am praying that I just go into labor on my own sometime this weekend. It would be the best case scenario, but ultimately I'm just trusting God to take care of things in His way and His timing.

Wordless Wednesday

Snow Much Fun

Libby decided she wanted to go play in the snow today. We lasted about 15 minutes, but it was a fun time. I'm glad that I took some video because Libby was upset about how cold she was and calmed down immediately when she saw the video playing.

Just Playing

 

 

 

 

Libby is playing with her "cave" and mommy is playing with her camera. Just trying it all out. By the way, Libby did have clothes on most of the day. She has this thing about NOT wearing clothes. Don't ask. I'm constantly putting her clothes back on her. Anyway, she isn't freezing to death or anything and they just came off a few minutes before these pictures were taken. :)

Christmas 2007

We decided that this year we would have Christmas a little early with all the hubbub of the baby and all. We decided that it wouldn't be fair to Libby to have to wait for everyone to leave to do our family Christmas and we also didn't think it would be fair to either of the grandparents to do our Christmas with one or the other set.

So, we started out with cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Libby was such a big girl that she set the table all by herself...milk included. Then we read the Christmas story and opened our presents. Libby got some really cool presents from both mommy and daddy AND Aunt Judy. Libby was glad to get her baby doll from Judy so that she can be a great mommy to her own baby when her sister comes along. She's even helped mommy change her diaper already. She thought her tunnel was SO cool. She calls it her "cave" and decided that it was a good spot to take her nap this afternoon. Daddy got a new Bible with all kinds of neat features. I think that mommy will be stealing it for studying some too. :)

Then, we went to get Libby's picture taken with Santa Claus and daddy needed to buy mommy's gift still. He knew what he wanted to buy her, but he wanted her final approval before he bought it. So, we came home with an awesome new digital camera...in time for Grace's birth even! Yea!! Now I just have to figure out how to use the crazy thing. I can't believe how much better the quality is on this one than our old one, but what can you expect when the old one is almost seven years old. Sadly, seven years ago that camera was probably nicer than this one is now. How crazy technology is. It improves so fast. Anyway, enough about the camera.

After that we came home and had lunch (nothing too fancy...grilled cheese sandwiches) and then took a nice nap. Now we are cleaning up and putting out the final touches for Grace to come home to. Three more days until she is due. Wow! Who knows how long it will actually be before she's here though. I had Chris take a picture of my pregnant belly too just because you couldn't see it in any of the other pictures.

TuckersChristmas2007

Feeding Time

About a year ago I posted about my daughter eating cereal with her toes. Well, now we've evolved into a little bit more civilized method of feeding others. Libby was having fun feeding her daddy cheese crackers and I just had to get a picture of it.

Snoopy!

For some reason Libby has decided that this is her "Snoopy Dress"...not only that, it's her FAVORITE dress. Therefore, almost every Sunday this is what we wear to church. No other dress is good enough for Libby. The phases kids go through. I figure since it's cold outside, I'm not going to fight this one too much. You know what they say...choose your battles.

Frustrated

How can you be frustrated with your 2 1/2 year old when you ask her what's wrong and she says, "You're frustratin' me!"? Seriously, what two year old knows that word, let alone what it means.

Pretty Girl

Here's a pretty picture of Libby Lynn. I thought everyone would like to see the "posed" side of her too since I usually show off her silliness. So, here's my pretty girl.

7 Things About Me

Ok, I was tagged by Alexis, so here goes:

1.) I went on a mission's trip, by myself, when I was 12 years old. It was the first time EVER that I was by myself without ANYONE I knew. My parents loaded me up on an airplane (this was pre-9/11 and it was my choice to go) and that was it. Luckily my mission's trip was in Florida and Tennessee so when I finally started freaking out (two weeks into the 4 week trip) mom and dad came down to visit me.

2.) I was 10 years old when my little sister was born. I loved being her "second mommy". I even had one person ask if I was her mommy when I was pushing her around the neighborhood in her stroller...uh, no!

3.) When I was like 5 or 6 I drew a green star as high as I could on the wall. When mom asked who did it I blamed Stephanie, who was only 3 or 4 at the time and wasn't quite as tall as I was. Yeah, I got in trouble for drawing on the wall and for lying.

4.) As clumsy as I am, I have amazingly never broken a bone.

5.) When I was like 4 or 5 (mom, do you remember how old I was?) I stuck my finger down a small chip in the back of a toilet at church and cut my finger really badly. I wanted to see what was down there, so I reached in with my longest finger. It just didn't work well at all though. :) In the end, the church put duct tape over the hole and didn't replace the lid for like another 10 years.

6.) In the 4th grade my teacher had an auction for our classroom. We all had "money" that we had earned for good behavior and grades and the like. Anyway, there was a president's poster that I wanted desperately. So, I waited and waited...and waited for this poster go up on the block, not bidding on ANYTHING else (because I might have some competition on that one). Finally, after 3/4 of the things were gone, the teacher asked exactly what I was waiting for. So, I got my poster...and had lots of money left over with all the people I had to outbid to get my precious poster.

7.) Two of my best friends and I all went to the 3rd grade classroom for reading class when we were in the 1st grade.

Ok, now I get to tag five people.

Angie
Cristi
Deanna
Jen
Val~I know you just did one of these, so if you don't want to do it, you don't have to. :)

Have fun!

Scrooge

Chris and I were discussing when we should have "our" Christmas with all of the hubbub of the baby coming and visitors coming and going this month. I was saying we should do it early and Chris thought we should do it later. One of my points of argument was that I had already done all of my shopping and that Chris wasn't buying anything anyway. When I said that Libby started to cry. It took me ten minutes to calm her down and help her to understand that mommy buys the presents and daddy pays for them...the only present he actually buys is mine, and this year, I think I'm getting a baby for my present. We finally got her to understand that she was still getting presents even if daddy doesn't do the shopping.

Life's Ironies

Why is it that when I try to clean the toilet my daughter is RIGHT by my side and wanting to help me swish the brush around and I can't get rid of her...and I KNOW that some day when I WANT her to clean the darn thing, she's gonna run and hide.

Honest Babe

I am so proud of my Libby Lynn. Yesterday we went to our friend's house near Rockford, Illinois and a great day together. Towards the end, however, Libby found some of their Halloween candy and wanted a piece of it. I was downstairs watching a movie and told Libby NO. I told her that she was allowed to ask her daddy, but if he asked she had to tell him that I already said no. So, she slowly sauntered away, with her head down.

(Scene changes to the upstairs bathroom where daddy was working on some wiring for our friends...from daddy's perspective...)

I was inspecting some wiring that our friends were having issues with...and had the guts of a 4-gang electrical box hanging out everywhere 1/2 of it hot, 1/2 of it not...and my daughter comes moping in with a Kit Kat bar...she raised her puppy dog eyes to her father & said "Daddy, can I have this...I'm hungry!" Knowing that she never eats at meal time, and snacks like crazy otherwise...and knowing that mommy has been doing her best to get her off of that routine...I asked her "What did mommy say?" She looked back down at the floor & in the most meek & disappointed voice Libby said: "Mommy said...no..." I was so proud of my little girl...she was completely honest with me at 2.75 yrs of age!!! I am sure that will change in the near future, but I stressed to her that I was VERY PROUD OF HER for being honest with daddy...so proud in fact, that if she promised not to tell mommy, she could eat the Kit Kat bar. Okay, so that didn't back up mommy's position, but in this situation, I felt it would be more beneficial to reinforce honesty rather than eating habits. She's still alive even though she ate the junk food!!! She's a good girl...I just hope we can keep her that way!!!

Let's Try Again!

Well, we finally have some good news on the home front. After talking with this builder, and that, and checking out this house plan, and that, and talking the bank into s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g our loan to the uppermost amount that we felt we could deal with we decided that it just wasn't worth taking the financial risk of building the house we wanted on our five acres. So, instead, we found a two acre lot down the road in a subdivision...which will end up saving us approximately $50k, well worth the cut down of 3 acres in my book. So, here is a picture of our new lot. It is 1-1/4 acre land plus 3/4 acre woods. The woods (once daddy cleans it up) will be great for the girls to play in. I went out to help daddy stake our acreage out, but ended up babysitting critter in the car because it was so cold. So, here she is enjoying the sunroof in the car. I think this is the first time she has played with that. :) And, yes...that is snow in the background. We woke up Thanksgiving morning to around 3 inches. Anyway, if you know anyone that wants a five acre lot in Sherrill, Iowa send them our way. Ha ha!

Hot Rods!

Libby is SO happy that Grandpa Woods is a car salesman. That means that she gets to "test drive" all of the coolest cars. Too bad one of these won't show up under her Christmas tree...ever...unless she provides it for herself.

Chuck E Cheese Fun

Here are some pictures of our fun at Chuck E Cheese's. Libby hasn't stopped talking about it yet. Maybe once the baby is born we can take her again. :) I think that Steph, Hannah and Meghean had just as much fun playing the games. Of course, they let Libby have all of the tickets in the end. We had a good time. Thanks for the pictures dad.