NO FEAR!!!!

At the beginning of last summer Tucker was just getting big enough to be able to sit in the swings and really enjoy it but still a little too small to do the slide all by himself. But by the end of summer, he would go down the slide as long as he could hold your hand!

So when it started getting warm (about a month or so ago..when it would be warm for 2 days then snow for a week, then warm for 1 day and snow for 2 weeks), I started taking Little Man to the park again. He loved to walk around and just look and he loved to go on stroller rides...but when I tried to push him in the swing, he would cry and cry and cry and act completely terrified. And forget even getting up the steps, much less going down the slide even on mommy's or daddy's laps. I have never seen him so scared of anything than he was of the playground. He would get hysterical he was so scared. But I took him every day since then (well every day that was warm enough and not raining). Tonight Mommy and Daddy decided to take him to the park..

Tucker absolutely LOVED it. He had the most AMAZING time! He went straight to the swing when we first got there. And he swung for about 10 minutes amazingly!! Laughing and giggling the whole time!!!!

PLUS, he LOVED the slides as well! After going down twice holding my hand and me catching him, he wanted to do ALL BY HIMSELF! He would climb all the way up, and go down in all kinds of ways. Backwards, forwards, on his tummy backwards, on his tummy forwards. He thought it was the best thing ever. Little cutie!

So glad he is over his playground terror!

Keepin' My Fingers Crossed

Well...I am sad to announce that last night...did not go so well. Little man woke up several times, crying. So Tucker and I both (Daddy sleeps thru everything!) lost about 3 hours asleep. BUT Tucker did sleep in until 8:45, about an hour and a half later than normal. So, we really only lost an hour and a half of sleep :)

But..I am proud to announce that..Tucker woke up HAPPY and in a GOOD mood today!!! So far the morning has gone lovely, with no whining or tears or fits!!!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this good mood continues today!

Grumpy Bear

Tucker and I had a terrible day. It started like this...(we're both sleeping)

vvvvvVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMM
vvvvVVVVRRRRROOOOOMMMMMMMMM VVVVVVVVRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM
VVVVVVVVVVVRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM,
times about 50.

This STUPID OBNOXIOUS guy thought it would be cool to rev his car up right outside our windows and sliding glass door, first parked, then he proceeded to drive it around the parking lot like FIFTY times..then peel out of the parking lot like he was on fire. So not only did it rudely wake me (and I am sure, everyone else in the building), it woke Tucker up. He normally wakes up pretty happy...NO such luck today. He woke up terrified and on the WRONG side of the bed. NOTHING mommy did made Tucker happy. Not fixing his favorite breakfast or adding chocolate to his milk, not snuggle time, not even Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He fussed and pitched one hundred fits this morning. And by fits, I mean full blown temper tantrums..screaming, crying, throwing himself down, kicking, hitting..the whole nine yards.

Now, let me back up a little bit. Last night, we had a terrible thunderstorm..that turned into a tornado. Don't worry, the tornado didn't actually hit us, but it hit very close by. So 45 minutes after Tucker was put to bed for the night last night, mommy had to wake him up, take him outside in the cold POURING rain, and hang out in the basement for about 30 minutes until the worst of the storm passed and we were out of the tornado danger zone. He immediately went to sleep when we were able to come back upstairs. But the thunder woke the poor guy up repeatedly throughout the night.

So I couldn't really blame him for being a little grumpy this morning..but he went beyond grumpy with his little tantrums and grumpiness.

He suddenly got much happier around lunch time, when he demanded his "nana" then downed the whole banana, half a bagel, and all the chocolate milk he had refused to drink in my attempt to lighten his mood earlier that morning. Daddy comes home for lunch, which made the little guy happy as well. We then went on a walk to the main office to pay the rent. He was the picture perfect little boy all the way there, the whole time we were there (babbling away to the ladies, smiling that perfect beautiful little smile, flirting away, and listening perfectly.) We stopped on the way back to see the ducks ("DUcks") which made him happy and to check the mail. He also got to see some guys mowing the lawn, which absolutely thrilled him...until we got to the front door. I opened it and waited for him to walk inside..he got all the way in and pitched the BIGGEST fit. Absolutely refused to go any farther, kicking screaming..once again, the whole nine yards. So he immediatly went down for a nap..which he slept for 2 hours (normally its around 3.)

He woke up very very happy and I thought the nap had solved everything....oh how wrong can one be.....
He was a terror. He pitched so many temper tantrums that he like to drove me crazy! I tried EVERYTHING..NOTHING worked. Time outs did NOT phase him, a pop on the hand did not phase him, taking blankie away only made things one hundred times worse. Eventually, he found a new toy and calmed down...until he accidently hit the blinds. It was an accident so I told him it was ok..which he took to mean, oh please hit the blinds and try to pull them down. So after telling him several times, in several different ways to stop, I got up and started to walk towards him to take away the toy and put him in time out. He swung that toy around, hit me in the head (which left quite the welt) then slung himself on top of it, bumping his chin (which is now all bruised) and making him bite his tongue...OH MY GOD..the amount of blood pouring out of his mouth...well mommy finally got him to stop bleeding. Needless to say...the day went even more downhill after that.

It got so bad, that I eventually texted Zeke at 6:30, begging him to come home asap. By the time Zeke got here, dinner was done (in which some was slung on the floor in one of his fits of rage..) and he was in the bathtub. He kept getting cups of water and trying to dump them in the floor (which he KNOWS BETTER!) So when I told him to stop, he threw himself into the water and screamed, banging his head on the tub and crying. I made him get out of the tub and get dressed. Even Zeke had to help out once he got out of the tub. Needless to say..Tucker went to bed shortly after this, where he immediatly fell asleep.

As of now, I am hoping and praying that he (and I) get a good nights sleep and that we both wake up in a good mood tomorrow. :)

No Greater Feeling

Nothing makes me smile more than hearing this little guy run up to me babbling and trying to tell me a story. He is finally trying to talk!! He still seems completely uninterested in learning or attempting to say most words (which is ok by me..he is already growing up too fast!) but it is absolutely thrilling to hear him attempt to repeat a word I (or Ezekiel) says. I can't help but smile when he demands a "nana nana nana" as he whining-ly demands a banana for his lunch. Or when he runs to me crying like its the single most terrible thing that could possibly ever happen whining "mama mama mama mama" and dragging me to his room just to point out that he can't quite reach far enough into his crib to grab blankie. Or everytime a flock of geese or ducks fly overhead honking and quacking and he runs to the sliding glass door (we live beside a lake) and points loudly exclaiming "DUck DUck DUck!!" Yes that's right..he yells the "DU" part and whispers the "ck" part. Always. Same with dog..Yells "DO" and whispers "gggggg." So unless you are listening very closely or you are his mommy, you wouldn't have a clue what he was saying. I LOVE it! And at this point, I should mention..all birds are currently ducks. There are no geese, robins, parakeets, etc. At the pet store in the mall today, the parakeets, finches, parrots, all the birds were "DUck"s. Very very cute. :)

Nothing makes this little boy happier (ok well a lot of things..scratch that, most things make this little boy happy. He is very very very rarely upset or sad. but anyways..) than helping mommy do her chores. This includes (but not limited to) sweeping, mopping, dusting, vaccuming, doing dishes, cleaning the bathroom, folding (and by that, I mean UNfolding) laundry, and cooking. Therefore when I said "Tucker, let's make something special for daddy," (and I meant like color a picture) he ran into the kitchen and immediatly pulled over a chair to the counter, got out my mixer, and tried to open the cupboard...soooo we made Daddy a butter recipe chocolate cake. And of course, if he makes a cake, he MUST lick the beaters. And then if he make a big mess, he gets to do his favorite thing..TAKE A BATH!
And of course, after he takes a bath and gets ALL CLEAN, we must try this cake we made for Daddy. Which means..another mess for this happy little boy :)
There is certainly no great feeling than the one I get from even looking at this little boy. He brings out the best in me (and his father) and makes everything better. I love to see a smile and no matter what, he never fails to make me smile..even on the days when he makes me (or does it himself) pull my hair out. I love being a mommy and my baby boy is an amazing little guy. I love hearing him call out to his mama in his sleepy morning voice and even in his scared, grumpy middle of the night voice. Every hug and kiss he gives me is treasured. I am most definitely blessed.

Waiting

That's it! Tucker and I are ready for summer and for the pools to be open. We cleaned out his closet today (and found new toys!) and saw this hanging up. He pointed saying, "That, that that that that! THAT!!" So I got it down and put it on him. Well to be honest, he pretty much put it on himself. I held it out and he stuck his arms thru the holes and turned around waiting for me to zip and button it up. It must be hard for him to walk in since he fell down over and over. It reminded me of that kid with all the snow clothes on. Everytime he bent down he fell over forwards and couldn't get back up. Everytime he sat up, he fell backwards and just laid there waiting on help. Cutest little booger butt ever!

Anyways, after he got used to walking in it and stopped falling, he walked straight over to where his clothes are kept, looked thru the drawers until he found just the right one, and brought me a pair of board shorts. He promptly laid down and held his legs up waiting for me to put them on him. He cried and cried when I told him no we couldn't go swimming and began to take the life jacket off. I hung it back up in his closet and have caught him several times stacking toys up in an attempt to climb up and get it back. So stinkin' cute!!

An Amazing Weekend

I'm told that after 21, birthdays no longer matter. Therefore, I had my last important birthday last week. And thanks to my AMAZING family and friends, I had a WONDERFUL birthday weekend. For the most part. My weekend started when I arrived in Etowah on Wednesday and didn't end until Monday afternoon!! I love seeing the delight on Tucker's face when he realizes that all that driving actually was worth it and he runs to see his Gramma and Grampa Kehoe, Uncle Myles and, of course, all their dogs.

Tucker and I spent the rest of Wednesday and all day Thursday just relaxing and taking care of a few errands. Mom made dinner Thursday night and they gave me gifts. I FINALLY got a SAM'S CLUB CARD!!! Along with tons of baking chocolates and JELLY BEANS!!! The hubby got me a new camelbak!! And a book, that I just started Tuesday afternoon and am almost thru with..it is great. Friday started out pretty good but when downhill quickly. Thank God that things were taken care of and I owe so much to a good friend :)

We went out to dinner with my parents while waiting on Ezekiel to get there. We decided to go to the Pisgah Forest Fish Camp (I HATE seafood, but I like their chicken sandwiches and they have the BEST ranch dressing there), where we order Tucker the children's shrimp plate, which he normally loves and eats the entire thing!!!....Except for that night...monster man decided that he only wanted to eat the french fries that came with my meal, not the ones that came with his and certainly not the shrimp. So every fry that he picked up, he took a bite out of and promptly spits it onto the floor, begging for more juice. He drinks his entire cup of juice and still insists upon spitting anything that goes into his mouth..onto the floor. Finally I gave up and asked for a to-go box for his shrimp and fries. I lift him out of the high chair (in which he had spent a better part of the meal turning around flirting with a rather large lady) and stand him up on the floor. He then proceeded to pick up all the bits of food that he had spit out and laid them very nicely on the table for the waitress. He definitely inherited his mommy's clean gene!

Saturday was the first day that I have ever spent that much time away from Tucker and the first time that I haven't been there for his bedtime. While I missed my little man very, very much and thought about him pretty much constantly (I even refrained from calling to check on him!), I had an amazing day out with my BESTIE McBESTIE and Brie!! The morning started out with dress shopping for McBestie's wedding (love her dress and the bridesmaid dresses btw), which was quite fun. Then McBestie took me to the Asheville Mall where her and Brie got to play "dress up Kehoe" (I hate to admit it, but I rather enjoyed trying on clothes) and BOUGHT me a NEW OUTFIT!!!! to wear out for my birthday celebration that night! I LOVE it! We then rushed back to Mills River and made it to the bank by 12 (I think she must of set a record!) and out to a quick lunch in Hendersonville. Then we went shopping a bit more, to Brevard to get more clothes and meet our hubbies, then back to Etowah. Tucker had a little afternoon playdate with Charlotte (although they don't actually do all that much interacting yet, unless they are fighting over something, they are adorable together!) and we got in some good outside time!

It was so nice and beautiful outside and the kids were enjoying their playtime so much (ok and the rest of us were enjoying the talking time) that at 5:40 we realized that we were supposed to be at dinner in Hendersonville at 6 and none of of were even semi ready. So we all rushed to shower and get dressed, my parents (who had watched Tucker the first half of the day) took him out to dinner again with them and watched him for the rest of the night, and then we were off to Applebees (where I ordered my first ever drink! and it was delicious!! Bahama Mammmmaaaaa!) and then to Black Rose (Long Island Ice Teas for me and McBestie!!).

Then we went to Detours, where..well it was a BLAST!! Definitely the best 21st birthday ever!! I had an amazing time from trying different drinks to watching McBestie bar dance to taking pictures to having to do a shot out of Ezekiel's crotch on stage to getting a picture with HOT TONY to endless converstaions that I will never forget (car conversations stay in the car from now on!!!)

Sunday was also pretty great! I got to spend another whole day with McBestie!!! I woke up (we got home around 2 or so) at 8 (Tucker slept in a whole extra hour for me!!!!) and I..felt great..NO hangover!! McBestie and Justin came over and we went to Charlotte's first birthday party at Bounceville USA, which was soooo much fun, for us and the kids!

It was the BEST weekend that I have had in a long time. I LOVE YOU GUYS!!

An Amazing Hubby..

I married my incredible husband May 29, 2009. That's right, its been almost a year!! These 10 months have seemed so short at times...and even longer at other times. And while it has definitely had its downs, the ups have outweighed them a million times over. You can ask anyone and I'm sure they would tell you..we aren't always very nice to each other (actually, more often than not, you will probably find us NOT being nice to each other..in a loving way of course haha), but we definitely love each other. Zeke is always doing little things for me, that I don't always give him enough credit for..but he helped to make this past weekend (my birthday weekend) an AMAZING weekend. Of course, he had the help of my BESTIE McBESTIE and her wonderful soon-to-be hubby and a handful of others, but it was definitely the best weekend I have had in a very long time. Just a little sneak into how sweet he can be..He brings me ice water when I'm taking bubble baths, gives me back rubs while I watch my Monday night tv (which he hates the shows I watch on Mondays), and sometimes even does the supper dishes AFTER working all day!

Anyway...my point is to say that last night was one of those little instances that he did something so incredibly sweet (and gross) that I have to tell you about (and I have to admit that I never would of done this for him, so he must be pretty special.) So I had this terrible headache and was laying in bed on my laptop (facebooking, of course!) I felt really horrible and just wanted to lay down and go to sleep. I asked Ezekiel to brush my teeth for me and to my surprise, he immediatly (if you know Zeke, this is a huge surprise..he got OFF the computer to do this!!) got up, got my toothbrush, wet it, put toothpaste on it, brought it to the bedroom and proceeded to brush my teeth. After he brushed them, we both realized that I had nowhere to spit..so Ezekiel held out his hands and told me I could spit into them! Now I realize this is gross, but it was incredibly sweet =) AND he even brought me water so I could rinse after. He's pretty amazing :)

Something New

I have decided to see what the thrill of this blogging is all about, particularly after being motivated by reading other's recently. I am determined to keep this up-to-date, but time will tell. Having recently moved 3 hours away from pretty much everyone that I have ever known, to a place where I know NO ONE, I need a new way to keep people updated..so, here I am.

It absolutely blows my mind to think that 14 short, yet wonderful months have already passed with my beautiful baby boy.

Thinking back to January 2009, I can remember practically begging my doctor to get him out of me, so that I could just hold him in my arms and get started on the wonderful ride called Motherhood.

27 hours of labor and 14 months later, I am finding my self wondering WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE!?!?!?? My tiny (7 lb 14 oz) baby boy has gone rapidly from..

...to...

and he never fails to amaze me...every stage so far has been my favorite and every memory made has been the best. From the nights and days of being beyond tired to the first smiles to crawling and walking to hearing that little voice say "mama. mama. MAMA!" to having a helper while doing the dishes to temper tantrums, he never fails to make me smile. I couldn't possibly have asked for a more perfect little boy :)