Sampson the Wonder Dog

Sammy is the most interesting Pug I've ever met. Jason got him when he moved to Kansas City in 2001 when we moved there for medical school. A pug wasn't his first choice but according to him it was the "manliest dog he could get that wouldn't get over 30 pounds!" Sam lived with Jason for two years in Kansas City and then moved to Augusta when Jason's training took him back to Wichita to an apartment that was pet free.  In 2004, Jason got a job at Hospira, a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in McPherson, and moved Sam with him. At this point Sam had the run of the house - no kids, no other pets.

In 2005, Jason and I got married and when we got back to Kansas from our Honeymoon we did something that rocked Sam's world - we got another puppy. When we brought our new German Shepherd, Jager, home the first night he was about the same size as Sam, maybe a little smaller, and nothing but a ball of fluff. Sam's dominance immediately reared it's ugly head. Jager was forced to wait until Sam was done eating to begin on his and was chased off from any "treats" that happened to fall to the floor. Until Jager arrived, Sam had been known to randomly tear through the house at top speed until he wore himself out and  lay down in the coolest spot. He tried that one or two times after Jager entered the picture and when he found out that the rapidly growing ball of fluff would chase him down and tackle him Sam gave that up for good.

Hayden came into our lives in 2008, further disrupting Sammy's once cushy lifestyle. In fact, the first time Hayden cried the day we brought him home, both dogs barked at him because they didn't know what else to do! After the first few days, both dogs pretty much dismissed the baby and left him alone. That was until he became mobile. Sam quickly learned to stay away from the munchkin as much as possible.

Jager is about as good of a dog as anyone could ask for. He knows basic commands, he's good with kids and his bark is loud and gruff enough to scare off anyone. (The only problem with the dog, other than the shedding, is that he does NOT play well with other animals) Sam really doesn't have any good tricks, especially now that he's gotten older and almost completely blind. He does have one unique talent, though, and that is yodeling.

I don't remember how Sammy's talent came about exactly but I do know that Jason's brother Scott was the first person to get him to do it. How do you get a dog to yodel? you ask - that's easy! In an incredibly  high pitched, slightly off-key tone yell "wanna go outside?" Drives the poor dog nuts! He starts howling and yodeling and it's hilarious! Well, hilarious to everyone but Tucker. This is Tucker's response to Sammy's talent:

I guess not everyone's a fan!

New Years Resolution

So I've made a lot of posts today and I really hate that I got so far behind! But with the holidays and everything that's been going on I just haven't had the time that I'd like to spend recording the little accomplishments and funny things Hayden says along the way!

Now that Today is Monday and the second day of the new year I'm hoping to get started on the right track and keep this thing going on a much more regular basis!

Happy 2012 from Mr. Tucker!

Last Cowboys Game of the Regular Season

Hayden knows his mom is a huge Dallas Cowboys fan and he's such a good kid that if you ask him "What do we say when we watch football" you get a very emphatic "Goooo Cowboys!" That being said,  I thought Hayden would be super excited to watch the game with me Sunday night! Especially since it was the last game of the regular season, the 'Boys were playing the Giants (who I despise) and the winner of the game go to the playoffs!

The problem started after lunch. He'd slept in until 10 so he was NOT wanting to take a nap. Jason even tried taking him downstairs to watch Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace. For 15 minutes before they go down he repeats over and over "Star Wars The Clone Wars". (We recorded a couple episodes of the cartoon on Cartoon Network and now anything Star Wars is "The Clone Wars").

After the movie the boys came back upstairs (Jason was surprised that both of them stayed awake throughout the entire thing) and found me mixing up some guacamole to have for supper that night while we watched the game. During the end of the Chiefs game, the network displayed a bracket of the teams in the playoffs in the NFC. They were already listing the New York Giants as the division leaders and I started complaining because it wasn't guaranteed that New York would be in (and I was personally hoping they would lose the game in horrible fashion!)! Jason (who always has to be the opposite of me!) replies that because they beat the Cowboys a few weeks ago they were automatically division leaders. To which I retorted "bullshit" (and yes I'm also 15 years old!). Hayden had been dancing around the kitchen eating a small bowl of candy (his reward for going poop in the potty). He happened to be standing right next to me when I let the word slip and of course he repeated it. The first time we couldn't understand it though because his mouth was full of candy but then he kept saying it over and over. Jason starts laughing, unable to stop, while I try and correct the poor kid! He stops finally and I chuckled and said "Hayden I love you!" Hayden looks at me, says "bullshit", grins and walks away.

At 7:30, after a long bath, Captain Sassypants Hayden was too whiny for either of us to deal with. Jason told him that if he laid down in our bed he'd let Hayden watch Dora. Five minutes he was out cold and slept all night long.

And the game? Let's just say it was a huge disappointment. So for next week I will be a Falcons fan!

New Years Eve

With Tucker only being 15 weeks old, we weren't planning on anything too exciting or extravagant for New Years Eve. Being the puss that I am, I didn't feel ready to leave Tucker with someone else over night. Hayden was seven months old before we left him over night (even with grandparents) and it may be that long before we do the same with Tucker! So this year we offered to host a small get together with the Millers and the Shaws and Jason invited another couple who live a street over and also work at Hospira.

Hayden and his hat:

The night was pretty uneventful - the adults talked and had a few drinks while the kids ran around screaming, laughing and playing. Tucker fell asleep about 8:30 and we finally laid him down in our bed around 10. At 10:30 Hayden started getting whiny, accusing the other kids of "not sharing" and just otherwise indicating he needed to go to bed. So I asked him if he wanted to lay down with Tucker and go to sleep. He said yes so I turned the t.v. on and hoped that he would go to sleep.

No such luck. The other two older kids were in and out of our bedroom as well as Hayden getting up and down and at one point Chris even tried laying down in our bed with Brayden to try and get him to go to sleep. At 11:30 Jason went back to our room to use the restroom and found Hayden standing in the hallway. Don't know if he was waiting for someone to scare or what.

Midnight came and the 3 toddlers were still awake and pretty crabby at this time. Ten after twelve our guests had packed up and gone home and we were left with  lots to clean up. We put Diego on our t.v. and had Hayden go lay back down while we loaded the dishwasher. We still had the baby monitor on from early in case Tucker woke up and the only sounds that were coming from it was that of Diego. Jason says "what do you bet he's asleep?" We quietly walked back to the bedroom to find Hayden very much wide awake, sitting up in bed watching Diego. I think he takes after his mom!

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!