A few more firsts

 So I may be alittle behind but Im' going to catch up on everything we have been up to lately! Also, I wanted to add some photos I have taken lately.

This is probably my favorite outfit for T right now

                                                

This past week we had a few more firsts...Tucker sat up on Thursday afternoon! (not like in the chair above) It was so exciting!  I was definately much more excited than he was.  I was texting photos to the grandparents, and called J to tell him about it, and he was actually about to walk in the door momentarily, but I wanted to share immediately.  He isn't actually able to get himself into a sitting position, but if you sit him down he will sit up for quite a long time...until he looses his balance and ends up on his tummy.
                                                

Friday night was T's first time to be home without us since he has been born.  His Aunt Katherine offered to babysit at the house so he could be asleep in his crib and we could go out - I jumped on it and along we went.  J planned the night and it was so much fun!  We went to Benihana's and ate dinner just the two of us - there was no one there when it opened, so they cooked and served just us - I loved that (Benihana's is also were we got engaged), after dinner he took me downtown and we rode the trolly, walked around the park at river front, and then got frozen yogurt at a place right off the trolly stop - it was so yummy!  I didn't take any photos, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself and it was nice to have a date night and enjoy time with just my hubby - time i don't think I realized just how despirately it was needed! 
Also, T's first tooth popped through on Saturday afternoon some time.  It is his bottom left tooth.  I had been saying for weeks that we were going to have a tooth any day, and I check every morning to see if it has come in and it wasn't there that morning.  We were playing on Saturday afternoon and his tooth ruffed up my finger - come to find out we are the proud owners of a new tooth!!
                                                  

In the food world, we also tried bananas this week.  He never seems to like anything the first time, but we have now had them three times and he fusses at me if I take too long to get them to his mouth - definately our favorite food so far! 

Lastly, we unfortulately got our first sun burn this week as well.  I put sunscreen on him, but he got a little too much on his nose.  It didn't seem to bother him, but I definately felt like a bad mommy!

And in other news, we have a new hair style and he rocks it well!

Here he was watching me vacuum and I stood him up so he could see it.  He can stand for just a few minutes before he can't hold his weight any longer - but I don't think it'll be long before we are trying to stand up.

Zucchini Baby food

We tried zucchini last night.  I think we finally got the hang of squash and we are venturing out to new foods now.  I'm finding that making our own baby food is definately trial and error!  I used my food processor with the squash thinking it would get it more pured than my blender would, but I was wrong.  I decided to try out the blender yesterday with the zucchini and it worked great  (this was a big surprise to me because my blender doesn't usually do what I want it to!).  I don't know if it's because maybe I cooked it longer or what, but it seemed to be much more like actual baby food than my squash attempt. One thing is for sure...zucchini was MUCH messier than squash.  I'm pretty sure we had it everywhere when we were finished.  I think he wasn't sure again about the texture, but seemed to eat it better than he would the squash.

I don't know about everyone else, but I feel bad sometimes for Tucker because he is our first and we are learning what we are doing as we go.  I hope that he will understand!

Coach Mom, Week 2

The Coach Mom Book Club met again yesterday morning.  I am not really at a point yet that we can apply a lot of these goals because Tucker is just too small, but I'm learning a lot and I'm excited about what the Lord is teaching me about myself through this process.

One thing that Brenna suggests is to write out a family purpose statement, and this is what your goals and schedule then revolve around.  I think this is a great idea - don't know how practical we can really make it, but I think it's something I'm going to work on and see where it evolves over the next few years.  By having a purpose statement, it really helps to make intentional scheduling choices. 

Ephesians 5:17 says "Don't act thoughtlessly, but try to understand what the Lord wants you to do."  I believe this is EXACTLY where I am right now.  Isn't God good to meet us where we are and he molds and continues to grow us to be who He has intended.  I want so badly to live intentional, and not just survive the years of babies in my home.  I want my children to understand God's love though us and to truly strive for His best in their lives.

She also addresses Nap Time as "prime time."  The rule for this is to only do what you cannot do while the baby is awake.  Examples of this are paying bills, study your Bible, make phone calls, balance your checkbook, get dinner started, or nap. 

Although we cannot incorporate everything she suggests in her book into our everyday lives, it's worth it if we can just add a few things at a time and continue to try new things when time permits (because we have so much time on our hands!).

And just a photo to end with:  We were changing sheets the other day and Tucker thought it was so funny to be all wrapped up in them!  

Squash for Tucker!

 Tucker had his first baby food today.  We tried summer squash out of our garden.  He didn't really seem to enjoy it.  We will just keep trying it though because squash is something we LOVE!

Pre-squash try

Here we go!

 

No thanks mom, where's the good stuff?

I decided we might need a bib, but he wanted to eat it instead, so it had to go!

  

 

Dad, help me out here...can't you give me that pizza?

 

We'll see how everything else goes!  He ate about 5 bites and that seemed to be more than enough.  I'm going to continue trying squash for 4 days to make sure he doesn't have any allergies and then try zucchini.  Hopefully by then we will have a better grasp on the texture and enjoy the eating process a little more.

Happy 4th...Corn Anyone?

We got a call early yesterday morning that the peaches and cream corn was ready to be picked.  We love to get this and put it up for the year.  Yesterday was as good as any other day for corn (and everyone was off work!), so we put up 400 ears of corn on the 4th of July.  If you have ever put up corn, you know it's not the funnest job in the world, but it's SO worth it for the coming year.  We got 200 ears for us - so we have 42 bags to last us throughout the year.  Hope everyone had a great 4th of July...Our's was very busy and we worked very hard!  Jonathan, Katherine, and David went and picked the corn in Bolivar, then we had to shuck them, clean them, blanch them, cool them, cut it all off the ears, and then finally bag them!  Out of 400 ears, we were able to get 84 bags of corn total.  All in all I think it was a great day and I'm glad it's OVER!

Cutting and bagging the corn

Jonathan shucking the corn, with a little of Avery's help

Sweet Avery Girl!

Corn blanching!

Part of the corn ready to be put up

Today I worked on starting our sweet pickles.  We used the cucumbers from our garden, which will make them taste just that much better! I love summer!
 

 

 

 

 

What are you making with your fresh veggies this summer?

Happy 5 months to my sweet boy!

Tucker is 5 months old today!  He is the most amazing blessing we have ever received.  God is so good!  Here are a few things I want to remember about him at this age:

1.  He is rolling from back to tummy, and has rolled from tummy to back once.

2.  He LOVES the jumping exersaucer...will jump for an hour straight and just smile and giggle with you! (but he really wants you to be in the room and talking to him about it - he doesn't want you to leave him in it for even a second and go in another room).  He also really enjoys the bouncy seat that rocks - my aunt got it for him and it's probably right after the exersaucer in his list of favorites!  You will see photos below if him in it a lot - it's just the perfect size and also he loves that it rocks and vibrates.

3.  We have started putting him in his high chair when we eat dinner...this way he can get used to it before he starts using it to eat from.

4.  He now sleeps on his tummy and sleeps pretty much through the night...waking up at 4:40 to eat and go back to sleep!
**Side note - this photo below is how I found him sleeping last night...he fell asleep about 7:15 and I thought it was just for a short nap, but he never woke up, so this is what he slept in!

5.  We are working on sitting up, but haven't quite mastered that yet.  Unfortunately he is so big that his bumpo is uncomfortable for him to sit in because it squeezes his little legs.

6.  He is in 9-12 months clothes and is really filling them out!

7.  He LOVES it when daddy comes home from work - he gets such a sweet grin on his face and it's just so special! I know that this will just get better with time.

8.  He has figured out where his ears are and likes to pull them and chew on his fingers.

9.  He is so handsome in BLUE!  His eyes are so pretty, and they really stand out when he wears blue, so it's officially my favorite color for him (along with his daddy), so there will be a lot of blue wearing around here for my boys!

10.  He is such a happy baby!!  He honestly only fusses if he is hungry, needs to be changed, or is tired.

11.  He takes his second nap of the day in our bed.  I love snuggling with him to get him to sleep - it might just be the high light of my day!

12.  He still loves his bath time.  He is outgrowing his baby bath (really he already has), and we are venturing into the big bath tub...but since we aren't sitting up by ourselves quite yet it's somewhat hard, but he loves every second of it!

Happy 5 Months Tucker Wiley!  

We love you!