Tucker's First Christmas

Christmas morning arrived and Hayden slept in longer than we did! Unfortunately there aren't many pictures from Christmas morning to share. There was a lot to do that morning before we could leave for Alta Vista which meant a lot of multitasking. So while Hayden and Jason opened their gifts, I put Tucker in the bouncy seat and fed him his bottle.

Last year, Hayden was only mildly interested in opening presents. We had to force him to keep opening because he would stop after the first gift and have to play with that toy and only that toy right that minute! This year every thing that was wrapped under the tree was his no matter who's name was on the tag! Hayden loved opening presents (including Tucker's) but after the last one was opened he just stood there and looked around at the floor like something was missing. Jason asked him if he got everything he wanted and Hayden just silently nodded. I suggested that Hayden check if there was anything in his stocking to open. "Santa" had left one last big gift in the living room by the fire place along with the gifts in the stocking. Jason brought it back to the front room where Hayden ripped into it and then shouted in excitement at the sight of the spaceship he'd found the week before! Jason asked him again if he'd gotten everything he wanted and this time he said yes!

The mess after:

We went to Alta Vista to Grandma and Grandpa Cooper's for Christmas lunch. This was the first year Hayden was really old enough to play with his four older cousins - at least to play with the same kind of toys they play with. But instead of playing with Nash and Kolton, we found Hayden playing in the t.v. room with Justyn and Kenzie and their American Girl dolls! We asked Hayden what he was doing and his response was that he was the "doctor" - a doctor to the dolls and the pets. That night we sat down to eat supper (leftovers from lunch) and I asked Hayden what he wanted. He says "chicken and pickles". In Hayden's sweet little three year old mind, the ham we had had for lunch was in fact chicken and there was no arguing!

We didn't stay too long at Grandmas after supper was over and went back to mom and dads to open our gifts with them and Matt. Again, every present was his no matter how big or how small and whether he could pick it up by himself or not. And for the third time in three days, he was like a kid in a candy store! He had to have us put up the indoor tent he got from Matt right then while he ran around the house fighting everyone with his new light saber!

I was a little nervous that Hayden was so excited I'd never get him to fall asleep but at about 10:30 he finally laid down in my lap and fell asleep while Matt and dad were watching the K-State basketball game. I'd say the boys had a pretty good Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Because I procrastinated and put wrapping gifts of until the last minute, I took a half day off of work on Friday so I could get everything wrapped. Of course, with two kids now, all of my best laid plans usually backfire. And Christmas was no exception.

Because I spent all evening wrapping and listening to the kids cry (as soon as one would stop, the other would start; this went back and forth like this all evening!!!), I had to put off the last few gifts until Christmas Eve morning. Two of those gifts were necklaces I had planned on making for two of my cousins. I had seen on Pinterest how to make necklaces out of washers and metal stamps. I thought it would be really cool to make necklaces for Justyn and Kenzie like that and add a few small embellishments. So at 8:30 am I'm down in the basement hammering away on these stamps trying to put the girls' name on the washers. 10 washers and 45 minutes of loud banging and all I have is trash. The stamp would either move and the letter would streak down the washer or I'd only get part of the letter to etch in or I'd have the stamp completely backwards or sideways. I finally just got so frustrated that I gave up altogether and went to plan "B". I went back to the store and found an easier solution and one that turned out just as cute anyway! But if anyone needs metal stamps for a project I have some you can borrow! ;)

That evening we went to the Christmas Eve service with Jason's parents and siblings and nieces. The service was a little different than in the past - there were only 2 traditional Christmas songs, a baptism to begin the service and some more modern songs sung by individuals in the congregation thrown into the mix. During one of the songs, Jason's dad picked Hayden up to put him on his lap and Hayden's pants fell down around his ankles. Leave it to Hayden to expose himself during church!

Tucker, on the other hand, fell asleep as church was starting and slept not only through church but through dinner as well! And I was glad that he did because it was delicious!

After dinner and dishes it was time to open presents - something the kids had been waiting for all night long! One of the gifts Hayden and Delaney each got was a copy of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" along with a stuffed animal from the book - the Grinch and his dog Max! You'd have thought they were the best gifts ever! Hayden and Delaney were throwing the animals up in the air and hugging on them and giggling like crazy!

Another fun gift was Erika's - Just Dance for Kinect! Everyone got into it and took a turn (except for me but I was doing everyone a favor by not having to see the disaster that is me dancing!) - even Hayden and Delaney (even though Hayden was totally by accident)!

But the dancing didn't last for long. It was about 10:30 and Hayden was starting to get whiny - a sure sign he was getting tired and needed to go to bed. So we headed back to McPherson and of course both boys slept the whole way. Hayden was so tired that he was half asleep when Jason walked him to his bedroom and ended up zig-zagging his way down the hall, walking into the wall a couple times. But even after all that he slept all night. In his own bed.

Mr. Diva

The past couple of days Tucker has been very, very fussy. Not sure if he's going through a growth spurt or what. He's eating fine and he sleeps all night but there just are some moments when all he does is cry! He only wants to be held and will wake up (no matter how long he's been asleep) as soon as you lay him down on his back. We tried giving him the binky again and this time he did keep it in his mouth but you can tell he's not liking it! He makes this funny little grunting sounds and his face gets all squished up like he's trying to figure out how to get the bink out! Eventually it does fall out and he starts crying again until someone picks his up or gets right in his face and talks to him.

He's been such a good baby that this new found fussiness is making me sad! Hopefully it's just a stage that will be ending soon!

Some pics of 14 weeks:

My fruit tree

He took a nap like this!

Santa Who?

I'm afraid I may have scared Hayden for life. And if not I hope that he doesn't remember this Christmas!

I had finally gotten the time to go purchase the Millenium Falcon toy from "Santa" over my lunch. Because of the holidays and all the craziness at work, we hadn't been playing downstairs as much as we used to. So when I brought the toy (and other items for Christmas) home, I just sat the bag down on the floor next to the table in the basement (the table that used to be in our kitchen but since we purchased a new dining room table we moved the old one to it's present location with the intentions of being more crafty in the future) and promptly forgot what was in the bag.

With Christmas rapidly approaching I was trying to finish up Jason's gift while multitasking and venting/gossiping with Megan on the phone. I'm painting away, trying to cover up the pencil lines I had drawn on the foam board I was using for Jason's gift (pictures to come later) and not paying attention to Hayden when the next thing I know I hear this loud gasp and "my spaceship!"  The first words out of my mouth were "Oh crap". While still on the phone, I try and quickly lie to the poor kid, telling him there was no spaceship in the bag and that all of the items in the bag were for other people. Hayden starts crying because he wanted to play with it. The cries turned into sobs when I placed the entire bag on one of the higher shelves in the unfinished portion of the basement. Of course, Hayden's loud enough he could have scared someone clear across town and I have to explain the whole thing to Megan who is cracking up.

Hayden eventually calmed down but the kid has a memory like a steel trap. Later that evening, after his bath and getting his pajamas on, I was trying to get him to settle down in our bed so he could go to sleep. I'm in the middle of changing Tucker into his pajamas when the back door opens and Jason comes in, home from work for a few minutes to make coffee and say good night to the boys. Hayden hears the door, screams "DADDY!" and goes streaking down the hallway to the living room. From the bedroom I could hear him telling Jason that he "got a spaceship" and he really wanted to play with it. So now Jason and I are both lying, telling him that there was no spaceship in the house and that if he wanted one for Christmas he needed to be good and not naughty. This seemed to appease him and so while Jason was still home, I went back downstairs and moved the bag from the unfinished portion of the basement to the closet underneath the stairs and shut the door. It's a good thing he can't use round door knobs yet!

A few days later I went back downstairs to change out some laundry and Hayden came too. He likes to help put clothes from the washer to the dryer and is a pretty good helper! Of course, the first thing he does when we get to the basement is run right to the spot I had first placed the toy after he had found it. When he saw that it wasn't there anymore, Hayden turned around slowly, this horribly confused look on his face. "Where my spaceship at?" he asked, his hands open and palm up at his sides. I felt kind of bad that time, he was so darn cute and innocent! But I kept the lie going and told him that we didn't have any spaceships at the house and that if he was a good boy Santa would bring him a present on Christmas day and he might get a spaceship then. He was still pretty disappointed but told me "ok" and we went back to doing the laundry.

I hope that Christmas gets here soon so I can quit lying to the poor kid!

13 weeks

Tucker is now 13 weeks old and growing like a weed! (And I'm really far behind on my blog - it's been a busy few weeks!)

With Christmas coming up, the kids in Hayden's preschool class have been practicing Christmas songs for their upcoming Christmas program. I know they have to be singing more than just "Jingle Bells" but that's the one that has stuck with Hayden! At the most random moments he will start shouting "Jingle Bells! Jingle Bells! Jingle all the way!" The next few lines are a little hard to understand and sounds like a bunch of mumbling but then comes a very emphatic "Hey!" and he starts over from the beginning.  It was cute the first 3 or 4 times. I have a feeling it's going to be a long Christmas...

So about a month or so ago Jason had taken Hayden to Target to get a small toy for going poop in the potty (at Lowe's of all places) and Hayden had got his first glimpse of the Millenium Falcon toy. He was soon infatuated. We had decided that the Falcon would be a good toy for Hayden to get from Santa and so Jason and I only spoke of it if Hayden brought it up first. With the new video game "Star Wars - The Old Republic" coming out, Haydens been talking about Star Wars again and how he wants a "big spaceship" for Christmas. Tonight when the commercial came on he told me he wanted two spaceships:
A little Star Wars

And a big Star Wars

And he is very serious about this!

cereal take 2

After a couple days intermission, we tried cereal for the second time!

There was still a little left in the bowl from the other night but it was pretty runny so I added another tablespoon of cereal to the mix. Well I tried to add only 1 tablespoon. It came out of the box so fast I ended up with two spoons worth instead of one. I went ahead and mixed it up to the right consistency and started feeding it to Tucker.

I really didn't think he'd eat the whole bowel.  But the next thing I knew it was all gone! Tucker sat in his bouncy seat, his face covered in rice cereal, trying to get his hands in his mouth but only managing to get the bib up there. He acted happy and perfectly content! So I let him sit there for a few minutes, babbling away, while I cleaned up a few dishes. A looked over at him a few minutes later and the boy had spit up all down the front of his bib and was smearing it across his face.

Good thing he was getting a bath after that!

2 month appt

Tucker finally had his two month appointment when he was about three months old (full schedules and working around our work schedules). Jason's schedule makes it convenient for him to bring Tucker and/or Hayden to Hutch on his days off and for me to not have to lose out on too much work for appointments!

I was anxiously awaiting getting called back to find out how much the little guy weighed. Finally it was our turn and boy had he grown! 12 pounds 14 ounces (50%) and 24 inches long (50%)! Everything was fine until Dr. Miller laid him on his back and undid his diaper. Tucker was just chilling and the next thing we knew he spits up all over his face and down his neck to his back. Then the next second he coughs and spits in Dr. Miller's face! It would have been funny if it wasn't so embarrassing at the time! But Tucker went on smiling and cooing like nothing had happened!

The only thing left was shots. Fortunately for my sake I had to get back to work so I didn't get to be traumatized by the look on Tucker's face by his first experience of shots. Hayden's first experience was enough for me! His eyes got extremely large and round, his mouth turned about as upside down as it could possibly could and he wailed at the top of his lungs! Apparently Tucker didn't fare any better because when Jason brought him by to say hi to Kristen and Sydney, he cried and fussed when Jason sat him on the counter.

So other than getting stabbed 4 times, it was a good check up for Mr. Tucker!

Cereal!

Gave Tucker cereal tonight. It technically wasn't the first time. I tried giving it to him on Saturday but he was so hungry that I couldn't keep the spoon filled fast enough! I finally had to put the rest of what I'd mixed up into the bottle and he finished it that way.

Tonight I mixed up the cereal so it was just a little thicker than it had been on Saturday. Holding his hands down so they wouldn't accidentally knock the spoon out of his mouth, I kept putting small bites into Tucker's mouth. At first he acted like it was too much for him to eat this new food but then he started getting the hang of it and even started smiling and cooing between bites!

He did pretty good at first, letting me put the runny stuff into his mouth but about halfway through he gave up. As soon as the spoon went in, it all came running back out the side. He's starting to get the hang of it at least!

Santa Claus is coming to Town!

With Christmas just around the corner, there are lights everywhere and lots of places are having Santa stop by for kids to get their pictures taken with him. Hayden has never once willing sat on Santa's lap by himself. Two years ago we took him to Hospira where he flipped out and had to sit on my lap. Last year we went to The Well (a coffee shop and christian book store in McPherson) and he screamed just looking at Santa. I'm not sure why I had such high hopes for this year.

Sunday was Hospira's annual Christmas party for employee children and grandchildren. Before we even left to go to the Christmas party, we tried to tell Hayden about Santa and how if you were good he would come to your house and leave you presents. We tried to convince him to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what he wanted for Christmas. He acted like he was excited! He kept talking about how he was going to tell Santa he wanted a robot!

We get to Hospira and he instantly clams up. Got in line to sit on Santa's lap and it was all Jason could do to tear Hayden off of his leg! So all four of us got to sit with Santa and Mrs. Claus. Tucker was wide awake and didn't care a bit; Hayden wouldn't look up for nothing! I'm pretty sure when we get the picture back, Jason's hand is going to be in the picture holding Hayden's head the right direction!

After Santa, we headed for the cookie decorating station. Kids got to frost a cookie and put all the sprinkles on it they wanted. Hayden wouldn't even do that. He just leeched onto Jason's leg and tried to hide between them. He wouldn't even look up to talk to me! The kids' got a shy side a mile wide! Don't know where he gets that.... :)

Later in the evening we finally got around to putting the Christmas tree up. Hayden got antsy and demanding when we told him what we were going to do but we had to feed Tucker and make popcorn before we got started! He was so excited to help that he couldn't stand still! Kept going back and forth, almost stepping on lights and yelling at the dogs whenever they came in the room. Then he kept telling us he was a "good helper"  (even though all he did was be more in the way than anything else!) and had to hang up ornaments all by himself! I'd give him an ornament and he'd either put them all on the same branch or he hit the balls together and lose the hooks. Eventually the strings were hung and all of the ornaments were placed on the tree. Hayden stepped back and says, "It  bee-u-t-ful" "Ta Da!" Too cute!

Growing up...

Everyone that knows Hayden knows he's a goofball! Lately some of the things he's said have been particularly silly!

One night while getting ready for bed, Jason was helping Hayden put his pajamas on. Hayden looks at Jason and as serious as can be says "You're my son." Followed by the nodding of his large head and "Mmm hmm."

The next morning, Hayden needed to be bribed into putting clothes on. When that happens we usually tell him if he puts his clothes on we'll let him watch cartoons. He whines for a few minutes but eventually gives in. Today things were going in pretty much the same fashion as other mornings and after a short argument Jason had Hayden's clothes on and it was time to watch cartoons. Jason turned the guide on and asked Hayden "Do you want to watch this (Max and Ruby) or Chugginton?" Hayden looks at Jason and says "Oooorrrrr Dora". He's kind of sassy sometimes.

Coming home from daycare that days I asked Hayden if he got to play outside (I knew they hadn't because the weather was bad in which case the kids play "downstairs"). He tells me "yes". I'm not sure why I ask him questions like this because he lies without really meaning to! So being the mean mom that I am I said "Hayden you're a liar!" And very seriously he returns with "not on fire!"

Some of the things he comes up with!

First Wedding!

The holiday weekend started with the boys getting to stay home on Friday with my mom ("other GaGa" as Hayden says) since daycare was closed (and GaGa wanted to play hooky from work!) along with a trip to the grocery store and some ice cream at Dairy Queen.

Saturday was the wedding reception for a friend of mine and Jason's. Jenn(ifer) Maris (who's father's name is Roger - no joke!) used to live here in McPherson and work at Hospira. We used to hang out a lot in the early McPherson days when Jason and I lived on Oak street. She and I would go on walks with Jager as well as drinking our fair share of tasty beverages from La Fiesta and Hanks!  Then about four years ago she moved to Kansas City. Two weeks ago she married Lucas Cole (who she's known for probably 6 or 7 years) in Florida and had their wedding reception in her home town of Valley Center. Since Jason had to work I took the boys by myself.

Things were going fairly smoothly til I got about half way to Valley Center and realized that not only did I forget a burp rag or two I forgot Tucker's bottle as well! I remembered an extra pair of pants and underwear for Hayden but left at home my only means of feeding the baby. Needless to say we were a little later than I had anticipated because we had to make a pit stop at Dollar General first.

At the reception we sat with our friends the Shaws and their little boy Brayden. I was banking on Hayden playing with Brayden while we were there but Hayden fell asleep on the way down and was uber shy as soon as we got out of the car. He refused to leave my side, refused to sit on any other chair other than my lap and refused to eat. He warmed up eventually but not before he spilled sparkling grape juice in my lap! Actually Hayden was something of a mess. Not only was he shy and a klutz he somehow managed to get a bloody nose as well!  Tucker was almost an angel - his only issue was spitting out half of the bottle I made as he was drinking it!  But that was probably my fault for not only forgetting his bottle in the first place but making him use a bottle with a faster nipple than he's used to as well!

As much as I would have liked to have stayed, the boys and I took off at 8:30. Hayden's hysterics over the bloody nose were a little too much for me to handle in public and deal with a newborn as well.  Hopefully the next wedding we go to is a little less dramatic for our family! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tucker turned 10 weeks old the day before his first Thanksgiving which, consequently, is one of my favorite holidays! There's food, family and Dallas Cowboys football - how can it get any better than that?!  Tucker's first Thanksgiving was also his first time to meet his Grandma and Grandpa Zind. But I'm getting ahead of myself.....

When we set out on the road Hayden was playing with his Star Wars "space ship" (it's actually the snow speeder from the Empire Strikes Back but he's only three so I'll let it slide) and was being relatively quiet. When we got to the interstate, though, we hear him exclaim "Applebees!" from the back seat. How in the hell he knows what the Applebees sign looks like I will never know! Of course, Jason and I are both cracking up because not only does he recognize Applebees and Pizza Hut, he also knows what Car Fax is! And as soon as Jason mentions how crazy it is that Hayden can recognize "Car Fax" Hayden starts repeating "Car Fax" over and over and over!

We were the first one's to arrive and GaGa and Papa's house with Uncle Scott arriving not long after. Scott went to take a shower and the water hadn't been running more than 3 minutes before Hayden started grabbing his pants and whining that he needed to go potty. And of course he doesn't want Mommy to take him downstairs, no he has to have Daddy take him to the hall bathroom where Scott is trying to shower!

Tucker was his usual sweet self - smiling and cooing and then Grandma Zind arrived. She was excited to meet him and wanted to hold him right away. Not a big deal until Tucker decided to spit up all over himself and the sleeve of her sweater! He proceeded to spit upon her again after that and on G.G. and myself as well! (Thank goodness I had brought one of my Dallas jerseys so I could at least change my shirt!) Not sure why he was so spitty other than the fact that he's still got  a booger filled nose and a little bit of a cough.

After lunch the guys went downstairs to watch football while the women sat in the living room talking and watching tv. Around 3:30, Alli was looking to see what else was on and I swiftly and secretly talked her into changing it to the Fox channel - the channel the Cowboys game was on! Tucker woke up from his short  cat nap at that point but didn't really act hungry so I turned him around so he wasn't facing the wall. The tv then caught his eye and even though I know he didn't know what was going on and that all he saw was a bunch of different moving colors I like to think he was excited about the game! He kept waving his arms around (as babies do) and making funny little noises. I'm certain one day he will grow up to be a Cowboys fan! And then he'll turn 7 and then I'm sure he'll be persuaded to the dark side by his father and grandfather and become a Chefs fan (and no that's not a typo!).

When supper time came around everyone fixed a little plate of leftovers. Hayden wanted a cinnamon roll. We had had chili and cinnamon rolls at poker night five days before so that's what we thought he was talking about. But those cinnamon rolls were gone! It was then that Hayden pointed at what he really wanted - the rolls left over from lunch. The were those Hawaiian sweet rolls and for whatever reason Hayden associated them with cinnamon rolls. He's a strange child that's for sure!

The night ended with everyone fat and happy. And all four of us in the same bed.

Poker Night

The fourth Saturday of each month is the monthly poker night Jason's brother in law Jeremy hosts at their house. While the guys play cards, us women hang out with the kids and chit chat. This month poker night got pushed up a week because of Thanksgiving which just so happened to be the opening weekend of Breaking Dawn as well! So while Jason and the boys hung out at GaGa and PaPas, Marcie and I went to the movie! Was it the best movie ever? Probably not but it was entertaining and well worth it! Bri and Alli got me into the books a couple years ago and it's been interesting and entertaining to see them come to life and how they differ from what I had pictured in my imagination! Of course, there is a cheesy aspect to each one and it's way to easy to make fun of them! For example, in the first three, the main character Bella blinks incessantly (which can be super annoying sometimes) and in the second movie (New Moon) there's a scene where the character Edward takes his shirt off revealing the actors horribly ill portioned nipples!  I might be a tad (and unjustifiably) critical though...

After the movie we went back to Augusta (from the 13th street Warren theater because the Warren theaters are literally the best in Kansas as far as comfort and concessions). G.G. (Grandma McCoskey) was getting her baby fill holding Tucker while Hayden was playing with his cousin Delaney. At about 8 or so the kids put on their pajamas and continued playing. First they played with the dinosaurs, then they played school for awhile (complete with a telling of the Pledge of the Allegiance to an actual flag) and then they gave up on toys altogether and started playing with the buckets the dinosaurs were being stored in. Each kid took a bucket and put it on their heads. Hayden's of course barely fit on his big ol' noggin but he managed to get it on like a hat anyway and around the room the two of them went banging on the buckets with wooden spoons, loudly making noise like they were in some sort of parade and giggling! Around and around they went banging and laughing and about falling into each other. Next they took the buckets, turned them upside down and jumped off of them trying to see who could jump the farthest. When that became too dangerous they played "bedtime" by taking turns laying on the floor and covering up with a blanket and snoring like they were asleep. At one point Delaney jumped up and climbed up on the couch behind GaGa. This got Hayden excited and he tried running around the coffee table; except GaGa's feet were resting on the table and he went head first over her legs like he was doing some sort of gymnastic maneuver!

The kids settle down a little and went quietly into the kitchen. We continued watching Up which was on the Disney channel. A few minutes later Hayden comes running back into the living room shouting "mommy she's putting the dinosaurs in the oven!" He was pretty upset about what Delaney was doing and while I knew the oven wasn't on and that she probably wouldn't mess with it anyway I went in to check it what those two were up to. Well, Delaney was not playing with the oven. All she had done was dump both buckets worth of  dinosaurs into the unplugged and completely cool Crock Pot which was sitting on the bottom shelf of the island. It was pretty easy to get Hayden to calm down after then and I went back into the living room, chuckling the whole way.  There is never a dull moment with those two! And the best part? Little Tucker slept through it all!

Nine Weeks

This week Tucker has spent a lot more time awake than asleep. And when he is awake he smiles and coos and babbles! Well, when he's not crying because he's hungry! We recently switched him from breast milk to formula and he's done quite well! With Hayden I nursed him up until he was nine months old. But this time around work is more hectic, Jason is working nights instead of days and the pumping was becoming painful. You would have thought after going through all of Hayden's colicky episodes I would have quit sooner with him  rather than so soon with Tucker even though he has been an angel compared to what Hayden was like! But for our family I knew this is what was right. Based off of what the girls at daycare were recording as far as how much Tucker was taking at a time, I started him out with 4 ounce at a time. This week he's drinking between 4 and 6 ounces at a time!

Something else I've noticed about Tucker is that he is a creature of habit. Hayden has always been a kind of easy going, take it as it comes kinda kid and has been perfectly happy and fine with not following a schedule. Tucker is the opposite. For example, like his father, Tucker fills his diaper every morning like clockwork! (Ok so Jason doesn't wear a diaper but there needs to be a lit candle in the bathroom every morning after he exits it!)  And every night he takes a bottle between 9 and 9:30 and sleeps til at least 3:30, sometimes longer! Next month we get to start cereal so I'm hoping he take it just as well as formula!

Another difference between the two boys is that Tucker seems to have a lot more baby acne than Hayden did. I think Hayden had a few spots but Tucker's is awful! It's all over his face, the skin behind his ears and even a little on the back of his neck and the top of his head! From what I keep reading/hearing it should go away on its own in the next couple of weeks. I'm hoping that it goes away sooner rather than later!

8 Weeks and First Craft Fair

Tucker turned eight weeks old last week. We didn't really celebrate and I've been horrible about updating lately! He does seem a lot bigger than when we first brought him home, but when I look at him and I in the mirror it makes me realize just how tiny he still is! But that also might be because his brother is a giant...

In the last two weeks Tucker's really been smiling and cooing a lot more! Any time you talk to him, his face lights up! Of course, when you try and take a picture of it he stops. Go figure.

I took the boys back home to Alta Vista over the weekend for the annual Buttons and Bows craft fair in Manhattan. The plan was to take Tucker with mom and I while Hayden stayed with dad on the farm. Tucker was such a good boy hanging out in the peanut shell and of course a million people oohed and awed over him!  Hayden was super excited about helping Papa on the farm! All evening and even Sunday morning all he could talk about was feeding the cows hay bales! Mom and dad even pulled out a pair of rubber boots they'd had when our cousin was little. Hayden didn't want to take them off!

Friday and Saturday nights were a little rough. Hayden, Tucker and I slept in what had been Matt's room when we were growing up and for whatever reason Hayden woke up screaming  a couple times a night. He could never tell me what happened or why he was crying but he eventually calmed down each time and went back to sleep. Tucker, on the other hand, would sleep most of the evening, all night and wake up at 6:30 happy as a clam.  I'm pretty sure neither one of them want me to sleep! ;)

First snow and Daylight savings

McPherson had it's first snow of the year/season on Wednesday which was as fun as it was disappointing. It was nice to see the rain (what little we got) but it was too cold to enjoy. The snow was fun but there wasn't a lot of it either. Hayden even told me he wanted to play in the snow this year. We'll see if he changes his mind once we actually get enough to play in!

The cooler weather has brought in some wind with it. Our house was built in the late seventies and most of the windows are still the originals. One such window is in Hayden's room. Every time the wind blows harder than a light breeze it rattles rather loudly. On Saturday Hayden pretty much put himself to bed (after a small temper tantrum because Brian and Angela asked Olivia to put the cars away and he wasn't done playing yet!) in our bed. About an hour after we all laid down he was ready to go to his own bed but after being in there for five minutes we heard him crying and went to check on him. All he would say was that it wasn't spooky anymore. Jason put him back to bed. Another ten minutes passed and he was knocking on our door asking for help and crying. Again all he would say was that it wasn't spooky any more and went back to bed. The third time he cried and asked for our help I went in there. The wind rattled the window on my way in and he cried harder. Then it stopped and he calmed down in my lap. I asked him what was wrong and again he said it wasn't spooky anymore but that he had a bloody nose. I assured him that his nose was indeed not bleeding. A small discussion about how if he went to sleep it wouldn't be spooky at all and he laid back down and we didn't hear another peep out of him.

Until 2 am that is. We heard him crying again, this time because he was "wet". A few days before this (on a day Jason was working which means Hayden sleeps in my bed) he had woken me up for the same reason. Fortunately he was completely dry and just having a bad time. This time no such luck. Poor daddy had to change his jammies and strip the bed!

He loves his brother!

These are the next morning pics! Tucker had been smiling but of course he stops as soon as I get out the camera! Silly boy!

Happy Halloween!!!!

My little Darth Vader went Trick or Treating for the first time Monday! We met up with the Shaw's and the Miller's and just walked the houses around the neighborhood (Brian's mom and dad live on Ranch road which is the next street over from Dover). It was so funny watching the kid's go up to the door! Brayden and Olivia are much more out going than Hayden and would rush the door, knocking loudly. Hayden would stand back and just grin. The home owner would hold out the bowl and while the other two kids were yelling "Trick or Treat" Hayden just grinned. A couple of times I heard him say it but he's so quiet it probably just sounded like mumbles! He'd pick out the candy he wanted and was the first one to come bounding down the steps, a big smile on his face, so proud of himself for getting a piece of candy! Every time I asked him if he said "thank you" and every time he told me he did. Never heard it myself but I'm hoping that it's just because he's so quiet!

Tucker did not dress up this year. Instead he wore a Halloween shirt and his black jacket and slept through the entire event cuddled up in the peanut shell as we walked the neighborhood. He never made a peep!

The first block we went to was pretty quiet. I think we saw maybe two other groups of children besides our own. Which was fine - there wasn't a lot of car traffic which was safer for the kids (who of course didn't want to hold our hands) and we didn't have to worry about bigger kids crowding them out. The next block we went to was a different story. At this point it was completely dark (we started at dusk so there was a little light out) and there were multiple groups of children and their parents out and about. Even saw some people traveling by car from house to house. We had gone to only one house on this block when Hayden announced that he needed to go potty in a somewhat urgent tone. I asked him if he could hold it for just a few minutes (bad mom alert!) and then we'd go home after the next house. Tucker had coughed a couple of times by then and I didn't really want to get him any sicker than he already was. Plus with the oncoming mass of children I knew Hayden was going to probably get scared and want to be held and there was no way that was going to work well - to hold a toddler, an infant in a sling, the bucket of candy and a light saber.

When we got home a few minutes later, Jason was hanging out in the front room, stereo on, a cup of coffee in his hand. We gave him a break for a little bit and handed out candy to the few kids that stopped by.  Our neighborhood is a pretty nice place - well kept houses and not a lot of traffic - but we never have many kids that stop by trick or treating but a block over there were lots of people! But not having a lot of kids wasn't all bad. Hayden got to sample some of his candy (which he called his "supper" yet after he tried a small portion of it he spit it out and claimed he didn't like it) and we got to turn the light off at 9 and finish watching the Chiefs game. Or at least watch a quarter of it before falling asleep! ;)