Bah Humbug!

For some reason I had a hard time getting motivated to put up Christmas decorations this year. We're not even going to be here for Christmas, and I'm just going to be taking them down in a few weeks--so what's the point? (Which is sad, because growing up I LOVED that my mom always decorated for the holidays.) Anyway, last night we decided just to do it. We put on the movie 'Elf' and plugged in the cinnamon wall flowers to get us in the mood, and we just went for it. Now that it's all up, I'm glad we did. And now I'm more in the Christmas spirit. Here are a few pictures--nothing fancy, but enough to make me smile. (I'm always intimidated to put up pictures of decorations because there are so many people who are MUCH more talented & crafty than I am...)

Christmas decorations with a 14 month old are a little different, though. Here's what happened within a few minutes of bringing out the ornaments: (they're all plastic, thank goodness...)

It's amazing to me that he STILL wants to put everything in his mouth. How funny! He hasn't pulled over the tree yet, but I'm just planning on it happening at some point. What a fun little guy.

Thanksgiving Rewind

Last week we traveled down to St. George for Thanksgiving with Curt's family. No one in his family is from St. George--his parents just rented a house for the weekend so that we could all gather together. It was a lot of fun! Here's a breakdown of our daily activities: (more for journaling purposes than anything)

Wednesday:

We left mid-morning and drove down with Chad, Lisa & Karli. About half way through the drive, we got a flat tire. Sad. But Curt, being the awesome husband that he is, had the tire changed out within 15 minutes, and we drove on the donut until Cedar City where we bought a new tire. All in all it only delayed us about an hour-and-a-half. Not bad! We got to St. George late afternoon and enjoyed a fun night with everyone. (Curt's parents flew in from Colorado and met us there.) That night Tucker had his first bubble bath...and his first bath with a girl. Tucker and Karli had a fun time together all weekend and became good friends.

Curt with the kids at McDonalds where we stopped for lunch

The bubble bath

(check out Karli's hair!)

Thursday: THANKSGIVING

Most of the day was spent preparing, and then eating the fabulous feast (and then the leftovers later). Delicious! Later in the afternoon we took Tucker & Karli to a nearby park. It was the neatest park I have ever been to...and I think the adults had more fun than the kids!

The fabulous feast

The Park

Friday:

This was our pretend Christmas Morning for Chad, Lisa & Karli. Since they'll be in Singapore visiting Lisa's parents for Christmas, Curt's parents wanted to exchange gifts with them in person. Tucker had fun joining in and helping them open their presents. That afternoon the guys watched the kids while the girls went to see 'New Moon.' Maybe it's because I wasn't expecting much after the 'Twilight' movie (or maybe it's because Jacob took off his shirt so much....j/k), but I thought it was really good! That night we rented and watched 'Angels & Demons' with the guys, and I enjoyed that a lot too. I always enjoy watching good movies!

Tucker trying egg nog for the first time

(he LOVED it!)

Helping open presents

Saturday:

The main activity of the day was family pictures. We spent lots of time coordinating our outfits, bathing the kids, and making sure we all looked good...only to have freezing cold weather and horrendous wind. Oh well--the kids still looked cute, and that's all that really matters. Oh, and it was so cute. By the end of the photoshoot both Tucker & Karli were shivering cold, and Tucker's poor lips were blue. But they were so good to pose together on the sidesteps of an old truck, and at the end they gave each other kisses! So cute! We can't wait to see how they turned out!

Sneak Peek at how cute the kids looked

Sunday:

We went to a local ward for church, ate the rest of the Thanksgiving leftovers, and drove home. No flat tires on the drive home--just smooth sailing.

Walking to church

It was a great Thanksgiving. Thanks Mike & Chris for putting it all together!

Paid off--for real

Funny. This is an excerpt from a post I wrote in July 2008:

"I had my 32 week appointment today, and things are still looking great. Nothing new to report--just that everything is looking like it should! The big news, though, is that we wrote out the last check this morning, so our baby is now paid off! (Well, at least the part for getting the baby here; I know we'll be paying for him in other ways for the rest of our lives!)

Our insurance is a little different and required us to pay everything upfront by the end of the 7th month of pregnancy. This has made it a little (well, a lot) tight for the past few months, but then it's nice to think that we won't be getting bills after the baby is born. It's just crazy to think that we've already paid thousands of dollars for this little guy, and he's not even here yet! Maybe that will make us appreciate him more?"

Even more funny is this post I wrote a few months later in November 2008 (titled 'The Bill'):

NICU Bed & Services: $34,318.59
Pharmacy: $8,237.21
Medical Supplies: $14,932.75
Lab Work: $3,896.98
Radiology: $1,704.40
Respiratory: $5,900.76
Cardiologist: $1,622.88
Neonatologist: $14,307.00

Total for 18 day stay in NICU: $84,920.57
(that's $196.57 per hour, around the clock!!!)

Having a healthy (& wireless) baby: Priceless

Knowing all of this will help you more fully appreciate what I'm about to tell you. We just made the final payment on our portion of Tucker's NICU bills. Hallelujah! No more medical bills! No more monthly payments! It's been a long time coming, and now that he's 14 months old, we can finally say we have him paid off. (for now.....hopefully I'm not jinxing us by saying this...!)

We're celebrating by eating ice cream (and dorachos...in Curt's case). What a wonderful day!

Simplified

I just finished simplifying the look of our blog. (I was ready for a change.) I'm still not sure how I feel about it, so we'll see if I end up doing a cute background again or something. For now though, it's a nice change.

P.S. Notice all the new family pictures on the side? Our fabulous friend Alli took them for us, and there are a lot more I'm excited to share....it will just be a few days. I know--you'll just have to try to contain your excitement. :)

I did it!

I did it! I just finished sending off Tucker's photo album to print! Unfortunately, I was 22 minutes too late to use the 25% off coupon code (see post below), but I had another coupon code for free shipping which saved me almost as much, so it's okay. It was a funny story--I had everything ready to order the book at 11:55 pm (I had to order by midnight), but on my final look-through I realized I had the wrong date on the VERY FIRST PAGE! (the page I had looked at a million times!) At least I caught it before it was printed...but still sad. (The process of changing it in the scrapbooking program, exporting it to a JPEG, and then uploading it to the printing website took too long to make it in time.) Anyway, I'm happy with how everything turned out overall, and most of all, I'm just happy that it's done! Here are a few of my favorite pages, for your enjoyment:


I created the pages using the digital scrapbooking program Memory Mixer (vol 2), and I'm printing it using inkubook. Hopefully it comes back looking fabulous, and hopefully Tucker will appreciate it one day! :)

Quick Update

Here's a quick update on what we've been doing:

Holly: I've been spending every spare moment on the computer working on a photo album of Tucker's first year (using the digital scrapbooking program Memory Mixer--love it!). I found an online coupon for 25% off the printing of photo books at inkubook.com, which makes it the best deal I can find. The only problem is that the coupon expires this Sunday, and I only found it last week (with only a few pages started), so I've been madly trying to get it all done in time. It's been my goal to have his photo album done and printed by Christmas, but I was only half-heartedly working on it until I found the coupon. (Coupons & deadlines do wonders for my motivation!) Anyway, I've got 68 pages finished so far, and I have a month-and-a-half worth of pictures left. I think I'm going to make it! That, and taking care of Tucker and trying to get ready for Christmas, are keeping me busy enough.

Curt: He's been coming to the end of some bigger projects and hasn't been sure what he was going to next. Thankfully, however, he just got another job that he's starting on today. It's a smaller handyman job, but a job nonetheless, so we're grateful! The winter is always a lot slower for construction, so we're keeping our fingers crossed he's able to stay busy. (If you know anyone needing any work done, feel free to pass along Curt's name...)

Tucker: He's had a rough past two weeks, with lots of screaming and fussiness, and not a lot of sleep. We thought he was teething, but we still haven't seen anything pop through, so we're not sure what the deal is. He's starting to go back to his normal, happy self, so we're hoping the worst is behind us. And he's walking, but still not more than a few steps at a time. (He just likes the comfort of crawling and holding on to things.) In the last few days he has started taking steps on his own, without us bribing him with a toy or anything, so he's definitely getting closer to walking full-time.

That's our life in a nutshell right now. We're looking forward to Thanksgiving next week in St. George with Curt's family, and I'm looking forward to Sunday night when I'll (hopefully) be done with Tucker's photo album and have it sent to printing!

**Sorry, no pictures today. Tucker is only going to be asleep for a little bit longer, and I need to finish another scrapbook page before he wakes up!**

We hope he'll be as smart as he looks...

You put one foot in front of the other...

Tucker took his first steps today! (first steps being defined as consecutive steps without holding on to anything) He has been "walking" while holding our hands for awhile now, but every time we would let go, he'd just sit down and crawl. Today he finally took some steps before sitting down! It will probably still be awhile before he's full-on walking, but we're just happy he's finally figuring it out. And, for those of you who just have to see it to believe it, here's a short little video:

November Iron Chef

Last night was our second installment of our Iron Chef dinner group (the first one was back in September). The plan is to do it monthly, but October got too busy...so we skipped straight to November. We invited a whole new group of people, and the "special ingredient" was bacon. It was a lot of fun, and the food was delicious!

Here we are with our appetizer:

Bacon Wrapped Smokies

And here is the awesome trophy Curt made for the winner:

Believe it or not, it was a lot harder finding a pig for this one than it was finding an artichoke for the last trophy. Who would've thought?!

Anyway, if you're interested, you can click HERE to see the blog Curt created--dedicated solely to Iron Chef. We just posted pictures from everyone last night with their dishes. Fun, fun!

For all the Tucker Fans (aka: the grandparents)

Here are a few (okay, quite a few!) videos of Tucker from the last little bit. He is at such a fun age--learning and doing so many new things. We are having so much fun with him! (Don't worry, I'm not expecting you to watch all of the videos...even though I think they're all cute enough to be worth watching!)

*This post could also be titled "A Day in the life of Tucker;" these videos combined depict a pretty average day around here (complete with all the toys strewn around in the background...!)

Here he is climbing into his truck for a ride:

(He does this over & over & over...as long as we will keep pushing him!)

Here he is eating oatmeal with a spoon & saying 'ball':

(He is so good at eating with utensils...I just had to catch it on video)

Here he is pushing his high chair around while
kicking some tupperware at the same time:

(Random, but funny to watch...and it's short so don't worry)

Here he is "helping" with laundry:

Playing & laughing with Dad:

And here he is dancing in my arms:

(He still dances to anything that has a beat! So cute!)

Some of our favorite things that he's doing these days:

-he consistently folds his arms for prayer (and whenever he sees us folding our arms)

-he leads the music at church (so cute!)

-he blows on his food to cool it down...like he sees me do :)

-he says "woof" for dog--and every other animal

-he waves whenever we say "goodbye"

-he brings me the TV remote, points it at the TV & uses my fingers to try to push buttons (I promise we don't watch that much TV, but he has his favorite show "Super Why" that he LOVES)

-he brings me his coat to put on so that I'll take him outside (that's a new one as of yesterday)

He's still not walking, but he's close! He knows how, and he could if he wants to, but he just feels more comfortable holding on to things and crawling. We expect him to take his first steps any day now...

And for naps: we're in the process of switching from two naps to one. I tried just one nap for a few days in a row, and he was super tired & fussy, so right now we're trading off and doing one nap one day, and two naps the next day, etc. Right now that's working well, so I'm sticking with that for awhile longer. (Oh, and the time change has been a pain. He used to sleep in until at least 8:00 every day, but ever since we moved back an hour, he's been getting up at 6:00 and 6:30. We're hoping he'll get back into his old routine in a few days...!)

He is such a fun little boy with such a distinct personality, and I love that I get to stay home with him every day!

A Prehistoric Halloween

Tucker was T-Rex for Halloween (surprise, surprise), so Curt & I decided to complete the look by making our own caveman & cavewoman costumes. We put everything together for under $12 total--and without a sewing machine! (Did you know that safety pins hold fabric together quite well? And safety-pinning takes a lot less talent than sewing!)

Here we are at our Ward Halloween Party on Thursday night:

(Notice our bone necklaces & the bone in my hair...)

And here are some pictures of the cute little T-Rex man:

We didn't really have anywhere to take Tucker trick-or-treating, so we just took him around back to knock on our basement renters' door. He was super excited, can you tell from the look on his face? :)

All in all, it was a pretty fun Halloween with our little man. Pretty uneventful, but fun to have him dressed so cute!

The Family Restroom

My new favorite place to go to the bathroom (in public)? Kohls. Tucker & I tried out their "Family Restroom" today for the first time, and it was the best public bathroom experience I've had since becoming a mom. Why? Because of this fabulous little piece of equipment:

A child seat that pulls down from the wall! Restraints and all!

Amazing! Why have I never seen one of these before? Do they exist anywhere else? It seriously made my day! I don't know how many of you have tried going to the bathroom in public with a baby or toddler, but it's quite the circus act to get the job done while holding them. (Even if I didn't care about all the germs on the floor and just set him down, he'd crawl under the door and be loose in a second.)

If anyone has seen one of these fantastic little numbers anywhere else, please let me know! And if you're a mom with a little one, go to Kohls and try this one out! You'll never pee the same again! :)

Christmas in October

After having our TV go out for the second time in a 4-week period, we took it to the shop again and found out that a major part had to be replaced instead of just being repaired like we originally thought. And then we found out that they no longer make that part (apparently it was that old?). Bummer. So we decided to use some of the money Curt made last week doing jobs in Colorado, and we treated ourselves to an early Christmas present (our ONLY Christmas present, mind you):

It's a 10" downsize (a 42" instead of our old 52"), but this is a plasma, instead of our old rear projection, so it gives us a ton more space. Unfortunately, it cost a little bit more than our old one (the old one was given to us for free), but we found it for a really good deal.

Not that we have to justify ourselves, but I promise we really don't watch TV that much. We have our few shows that we enjoy, but the main thing we use it for is to watch movies after Tucker goes to bed. (One of the easiest ways to have a date night without having to find a babysitter.) So yes, we realize this was more of a want than a need, but we felt it was a good purchase. And we are LOVING it! So Merry Christmas to us!

Tucker's Favorites in Colorado

We all had a great time in Colorado "babysitting" my brothers last week. The boys were great for us, and we miss all the excitement now that we're home. Tucker especially loved all the extra space at my parent's house, all the extra attention from my brothers & Curt's parents, and all the new things to get into. Here are some pictures of his favorites:

The Boys:

(*Note: he is not happy in these pictures...but I promise he loved them!)

Tucker LOVED watching & being around the "big boys"

The pack-n-play in the closet:

(*Note: he is not happy in this picture either...
he wanted me to get him out instead of taking a picture)

He slept great in his pack-n-play in my parent's walk-in closet. He never cried or played--just slept! (2 naps a day even!) It was awesome!

The dishwasher:

He loved sitting on the dishwasher helping us load & unload

Trying new food:

(picking out of my bowl of cereal here)

He discovered that he loves apple-cinnamon Cheerios, Lucky Charms, french fries, chips, and lots of other junk food--but don't worry, he's back on a healthy diet now that we're home again

The Stairs:

He loved, LOVED the stairs. Whenever we couldn't find him, he was on the stairs.

Playing with my mom's Halloween decorations:

Cute little pumpkin!

The stroller & the ping pong ball:

He loved stuffing the ping pong ball in his mouth, and he loved being wheeled around the house in the stroller. Silly boy!

Sunglasses on the drive home:

Check out those teeth!

Unpacking:

He loved getting in & out of the suitcase...so cute!

Our (very limited) experiences with parenting: babies/toddlers vs. teenagers

After being official parents of a baby for 13 months and stand-in parents for two teenagers this past week, here are our conclusions:

Babies/Toddlers
Pros:
-they go with the flow and do what you tell them to do (for the most part...)
-they give grins & kisses easily and quickly forgive you
-they cuddle (somewhat)
-they live a pretty basic life--sleep, eat, play, & poop
-they are just so cute!
Cons:
-they don't know the difference between a weekday and a weekend, especially the concept of sleeping in on the weekend...
-they scream & cry
-they require your help for everything
-they get into lots of mischief (the kind of mischief that you have to keep cleaning up...)
-you have to teach them the basics of life: eating, sleeping, going to the bathroom, walking, talking, etc.

Teenagers
Pros:
-they take care of themselves (getting ready, eating, going to bed, etc. on their own)
-they help out around the house (taking out the trash & doing the dishes = awesome!)
-they can carry on a conversation & and keep you company
-they sleep in (thus allowing you to sleep in at the same time...)
Cons:
-their lives are much more complicated
-they don't always do what you tell them to do
-they get into different kinds of mischief
-you have to teach them real life's lessons (scary!)
-they have their own opinions & attitudes

Conclusion:
Teenagers are a lot easier in some ways, but a lot harder in others. We'll just be glad that Tucker is a baby/toddler for now, and when the teenage years hit, we'll just be grateful we can sleep in. :) It has been really fun being the parents to my brothers this week, and they have been great!

Becoming Parents of Three...

No, we are not pregnant with twins. (What a story that would be!)

We are in Colorado for the next week to stay with my two younger brothers while my parents are on a cruise. We get to play "mom" and "dad" as we drive them to school, make sure they do their homework, keep them out of trouble, etc, etc. So not only are we parents of a one-year-old, we are also temporary parents of two teenagers (14 & 16). Should be fun!

The parents:

The teenagers:

The 1 year old:

I'm just glad we have time before Tucker is a teenager himself...not looking forward to that.

A Special Anniversary

October 7th will always hold a special place in our hearts. It was this day last year that we finally got to bring our sweet baby boy home from the hospital. (For more pictures and to read the post from that day, click here.)

And here he is today by comparison:

Somehow it seemed longer this year--the 18 days from his birthday until now. It's hard to believe he was really in the NICU that long. Looking back and remembering all that was going on a year ago, I am so grateful to be where we're at now. As much as I tried to put on a happy face and have a positive attitude back then, it was HARD. Not just having him in the NICU, but everything else that continued going on even after he came home. (Having him on oxygen, having to take him in for weight checks, worrying about his low iron and the possibility of a blood transfusion, having to fortify half of his feedings, struggling with nursing & feeding him in general, etc, etc)

I know all of those things really aren't THAT big of a deal, considering the other kinds of things people go through, but for me, dealing with Tucker's health has been the biggest trial of my life (so far...). It's nice to look back, now that it's a year later, and reflect on the things I've learned. I want to put them in writing, for my own sake, and maybe to help someone else in some way. (I'll apologize now for the long length of this post...)

I've learned the Lord has a plan for each of us, and there are certain things we need to go through to teach us certain lessons we wouldn't be able to learn any other way. One of the things Curt & I needed to learn through all of Tucker's health struggles was patience. (In every blessing Tucker received, it was said that part of the reason for his struggles was to teach his parents patience.) I had to learn to have patience in the Lord's timing, and in His will--especially when there was nothing I could do. At all other times in my life when I've gone through struggles, there's always been something I could personally do to help the situation. With Tucker, however, I couldn't do anything to help him; I couldn't help him learn to eat and breathe on his own, I couldn't take away the infection in his lungs, I couldn't make him gain weight. I had to learn to trust in the Lord completely, and not in myself or my abilities.

I've learned the Lord won't give us more than we can handle. I remember one night in particular, after Tucker had been home for a few weeks, when we couldn't get him to eat--at all. We were going in for weight checks every few days, and we were watching closely for any signs of anemia...which would lead to a blood transfusion. He had to gain weight to prove he was doing okay and in order to get off his oxygen. We were stressed to the max--worried sick that he wouldn't eat, and certain that something was wrong. After staying up all night with him, I remember Curt & I praying, pleading with the Lord. We explained that we'd done all we could do, and we didn't know if we could handle anything more, physically or emotionally. Nothing drastic changed with Tucker's eating habits, but somehow he still gained weight at his next weight check, and he ended up getting off the oxygen just a few days later. I have a strong testimony that the Lord won't give us more than we can handle. He might push us to our very limits, but never beyond our abilities.

I've learned that it's okay to show my imperfections. One of the things that helped me most as I've struggled with these (and other) trials, was hearing other peoples' stories of their own struggles. It helped to know that others had a hard time with things too--that I wasn't the only one having a hard time. Sometimes I think we feel like we have to put on a show and pretend that everything is just fine, when in reality it's not. I'm learning that it's okay to let on when things are hard, to let others see that we're not perfect, and then to accept help from others.

I've learned the Lord blesses us and takes care of us temporally when we're doing our best to live righteously. Financially, I don't know how we've made it this far. Tucker's medical bills have been a huge strain on us (yes, we're still paying him off...), and yet we're still making it. Somehow Curt is able to make enough money to support us, and I'm able to be a stay-at-home mom. (Remember, Curt is self employed, so we're never quite sure where our money is going to come from...) The Lord has truly blessed us.

And above all else, I've learned the Lord knows us and loves us personally, and that the Atonement isn't just to take away our sins, but to help us in our struggles and sorrows.

I can honestly (yet still timidly...) say that I'm grateful for everything we've gone through with Tucker. It's been a roller coaster of a journey, but I hope I've come out a better person in the end.

I also want to thank everyone for all the support we've received--through comments on the blog, through emails and words of comfort, and through genuine friendship and love. We (Curt, myself, and Tucker) are so blessed. It's through the love from others that we are able to feel the Lord's love.

Random Happenings

Our home computer and our internet have been on the fritz lately, so I've been confined to using my phone for most internet use. (I'm glad everything is working enough right now for me to do this post!)

Our TV and Curt's work laptop both died this past Saturday. It was a sad day for electronics. They're both in the shop...and we're crossing our fingers they come home soon without a lot of money leaving our pockets...

Even with our TV going out between the Saturday sessions, we enjoyed watching (and listening to) General Conference together as a family. Tucker & I love it when Curt is home with us all day.

Playing with kitchen bowls:

I love mod podge. I started these frames for Tucker's room a few weeks ago, and I finally finished them and hung them up (with Curt's help, of course) last week. Such a cute little boy!

Tucker is officially doing lots of new things:

-he knows, associates, and says the words "ba" (ball) & "bo-on" (balloon)

-he feeds himself very well with a fork and spoon (and he won't let us feed him anything anymore--he wants to do it all himself)

-he is getting more daring, and he gets into e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g

Crawling behind the TV:

Climbing INTO the cupboard:

Opening all the drawers himself, and unloading everything he can reach:

And big news (for me): I finally finished organizing and filing all of Tucker's medical bills & insurance claims from the past year (it was a stack of papers about a foot high). Whew! I put it off for way too long, but at least I finally got it done!

Naps

Dear Tucker,

A one-hour nap is really NOT long enough, especially when you refused to take your morning nap this morning. I have so much more I needed to get done before you woke up! Remember those few times when you would take three-hour naps as a baby? That was awesome.

Really, more sleep = happy baby = happy mom (= happy dad too, in the long run). Don't you want everyone to be happy?

Love,

Mom

P.S. I still love you anyway.

1 Year Stats

Today Tucker had his 1 year checkup, and it was the best doctor's appointment he's ever had. He essentially came out a "normal" child! All of the worries about his low hematocrit/iron are gone, and even though he's still teeny tiny, they're not too worried because he's still growing at a consistent rate. (someone has to keep up that 1% for the charts, right?!) Hooray! So here are the official stats:

Weight: 18 lbs 0.5 oz (1%)

Length: 29 inches (24%)

Head Circumference: 46.5 cm (54%)

He had his one year shots, and he actually did very well. After the initial screaming when they poked him, he quieted down, and he was pretty happy the rest of the night--as long as I was holding him. :)

It was such a weird feeling to come out of the appointment without any new worries or stresses. Let's hope it lasts! The only sad thing is that he's stuck in his rear-facing car seat for quite awhile longer. He has to be over 20 lbs, and we've still got 2 lbs to go! At his rate of 1/2 lb per month, it's going to be January before he's big enough! At least it gives us more time before we have to buy a bigger car seat...

And, just because he's so cute, here's a video of me brushing his teeth tonight. He learned that it sounds really funny when he talks while I'm brushing back and forth. What a cutie!