Not My Son....

Tucker bit a kid for the first time yesterday at church. Okay, he really didn't succeed in actually biting the kid, but he did try. I witnessed the whole thing.

One of Tucker's really good friends (sorry Melissa!!!) had Tucker's sippy cup at Sunday School (yes it happened at church!). Tucker took the sippy cup from his friend and his friend took it back. Tucker responded by going towards his friend with his mouth open wide. I wasn't far away and really just thought Tucker was going to kiss him because when Tucker kisses, he starts out with a wide open mouth and then puckers up right before he lays the kiss on. No, he was not intending on kissing his friend. He was going in with all 12 teeth for a school-yard bite! Luckily, because this child's mother always dresses him so dang cute, his friend was wearing a thick sweater and Tucker got nothing more than part of the sleeve. I don't even think the other boy even realized Tucker had tried to bite him until I reprimanded Tucker and made him give his friend a kiss and hug. And it was obvious Tucker felt bad....he loves this boy!

Oh, puuulllleeeeaaaazzzzzeeee don't let my kid be a biter! Can there be anything worse than your kid being "the biter" that everyone has to watch out for?? I was really surprised that Tucker had that reaction. He's way more of a lover than a fighter. He loves to kiss and hug his friends. Typically, when I'm giving a lesson during Sunday School and all the 1 and 2 year olds are sitting in a circle, Tucker is the one leaning over to hug and kiss the child sitting next to him.

I mean, does this face look like the face of a biter??? Let's just hope it was a fluke.....

This is why you never leave a toddler unsupervised, not even for a minute....

I came across this picture in my December folder, can't believe I never posted it. Tucker seems to be saying, "Well what did you think was gonna happen when you walked out of the room leaving your bowl of cereal within reach?!"

Part B

First, make sure you've read my previous post below.

Now picture Wes sweeping the kitchen floor, sorting laundry, washing laundry, cleaning the kitchen.....all right now while I check my Facebook page and stalk blogs. I feel bad.

However, I was up until 1:30 am working, and then back up at 3:30 am because Tucker, for reasons unbeknown to me, decided he wanted to wake up and stay up until 4:30 am. Not sure what was going on with him.... Then, I had work all day today. Oh, and he told me to go relax! What am I to do with that? Not relax? Come on now!

Besides, after last night and working all day today, I don't have the energy to clean right now. And, I'm glad Wes does because we will have a house full of people tomorrow for our weekly Community Group.

Tucker and I love him way more than words. And for much better reasons than laundry and a clean kitchen!


On a completely different note, here are a few pics of Tucker from tonight. He was "cooking" while I cooked dinner. All that practice he has gotten on his kitchen from Santa has really paid off! I have never tasted water-soaked raisins like that before! We just may have a future chef on our hands, folks.

(That is my great grandmother's hand made apron! I will have to get him his own little apron...)

Is There Ever Enough Time?

Do you ever just feel like there is no where near enough time to get it all done?

Surely I cannot be the only one....can I???

Between work (which I'm realizing "working part time" is an oxymoron! I think I do something for work just about every day, whether it's checking my email, taking calls, working on reports, reviewing cases, it can really be non-stop....with a part-time pay check! Yeah, something's seriously wrong with that picture!), raising a toddler, being a wife, keeping up with the day to day requirements of a house hold, there just.isn't.enough.time.

In order to get a handle on the laundry, I have to devote an entire day to it. Well, that means everything else falls behind. If I neglect the laundry for a few days to catch up on other stuff, it gets outta control - fast! If I go without cleaning the kitchen after breakfast and lunch just one time, it can quickly look like a tornado touched down in the middle of my kitchen.

And other tasks that aren't part of the day to day ins and outs, like organizing the filing cabinet, cleaning up the junk, uh I mean guest room, cleaning up the garage.... You can forget about those things unless you're prepared to lose all control of the house!

I just can't ever get a handle on everything!

Could it be that between running meetings with parents, playing hide'n'seek with my 15 month old, trying to prevent dirty socks from overtaking the house, that I just don't have the energy needed.....

I will say that I am VERY blessed to have a hubby who jumps right in. He cleans bathrooms, does laundry, cooks, baths Tucker, vacuums, etc. after working all day long and driving an hour one way. Very blessed. I couldn't imagine where I (or Tucker or our house) would be without him.

And STILL we are never on top of things! How does that happen?

I have to be honest with you.... I've just given up.

When I was growing up, my Mom used to have a sign in the kitchen that read, "There will be years for cleaning and cooking, For children grow up while you're not looking."

If more time playing with Tucker means other areas suffer a little (or a lot!), then so be it. I don't want to look back and remember, "Wow, I did a fantastic job at keeping up with the house work. Wes always had a pair of clean dress socks."

I want to look back and remember Tucker's laugh when I find him hiding in his bedroom closet, the look he gets in his eye right before he knocks over the tower of blocks I built, the way he runs around doing his victory dance after a slam dunk, the way he takes in every word I say when we read his favorite books, how he attempts to 'scare' me with his toy bugs, how he loves to dance, and his sweet kisses and 'squeezes'! Those alone are enough to never do housework again!

Yes, that's what I want to remember.

In the meantime....

You know those little fairies that come and clean while you're gone or have been sleeping? You know the ones that wash, dry AND fold laundry, unload the dishwasher before the sink is full of dirty dishes patiently awaiting their turn, dust before the dust bunnies have taken up residence?

Yeah, I don't know those fairies either.... But, if you ever do meet them, PLEASE send them my way!

In the meantime, Tucker and I will be cooking in his kitchen and making balls out of play-dough on the kitchen floor!

Finally On the Mend

The past several days have been rough.

Not only has Tucker had Strep Throat, but we pretty much concluded he has had a stomach bug on top of it.

Between explosive diarrhea (you know, the how-do-I-even-pick-you-up-let-alone-get-these-clothes-off-of-you-guess-it-will-be-ANOTHER-bath-should-I-just-get-the-scissors-and-start-cutting kind of diarrhea), the projectile vomit, forcing disgusting medicine down my toddler's throat, disinfecting the house, and washing sheets, blankets, lovies, and the bumper over and over, I am worn out!

Finally, Tucker really started to feel better yesterday. He felt like eating and was able to keep it down without an explosion at one end or the other. We only had one dirty diaper yesterday!!!! (This is where you stand up and clap, folks! That.is.huge.)

I kept him home from church today because I just couldn't deal with the possibility that he might be exposed to any more germs within minutes of finally feeling better.

Yeah, today I'm that kinda mom. The kind that spots a runny nose from across the room and gives the kid's mother a death glare that says, "Keep your kid as far away from mine as possible. How dare you bring him out with the sniffles."

Tomorrow I'll be back to my a-little-snot-never-hurt-anyone old self.

But today, Tucker's in his bubble. For one last day.

One last day because I think if Tucker and I have to stay bottled up in this house one more day we both might lose it.

(We're also ready for some warmer weather around these parts!)

Here's to hoping you and your little ones are healthy and that we can all stay that way!

Happy 1st Birthday Jayden

Yesterday was the birthday of Tucker's very best buddy, Jayden. Jayden and his Mommy play with Tucker all day long on days Mommy works. Jayden's birthday party was last weekend.

This little boy knows how to party!!!He was slightly unsure at first....But one little taste is all it took to go from this...........to THIS! "I think I'll wash this down with some milk now."

Love from Mommy, so sweet! :)

I'm not sure if Daddy & Mommy realized it or not, but I think what Jayden really wanted for his birthday was a doggy like Tucker's!Just to show you how much Tucker loves Jayden, here are some pictures from a day that Jayden surprised Tucker when he woke up from a nap.

They were SO excited to see each other!Tucker loves to give Jayden hugs and kisses :)
Best Buds!

HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JAYDEN!

WE LOVE YOU!!!!

p.s. Jayden's Mommy has a brand new blog. Check it out here. Trust me, it's bound to be very entertaining; after all, her facebook status updates alone have me laughing out loud sometimes! :)

Streptococcus

Another first in the Keene household.

But this one is not one to celebrate....

Tucker has Strep Throat.

This is the first time he has really been sick other than the sniffles.

It's not been as bad as I thought it would be. Tucker is just so good and so sweet, even when his little body feels awful! To be honest, I was really surprised when our pediatrician told me the strept test came back positive. I probably wouldn't have even taken him to the doctor except that he started vomiting EVERYWHERE yesterday morning. Talk about scary! It was out of no where. Well, maybe not no where. The night before he hardly touched his dinner. He would take bites of his broccoli (a favorite) and then spit it out. I thought that a bit odd, but he does have some days that he just doesn't feel like eating as much as usual.

Fast forward to breakfast the next morning. Same thing. He didn't touch his food. No sooner had I lifted him out of his high chair when he started vomiting over and over. I didn't know what to do. I just kinda stood there, allowing him to throw up all over me. It might of been funny had my precious baby not been suffering through the ordeal and had I not been covered in vomit from head to toe. I just held him saying over and over, "Tucker! Oh my gosh!" And the vomit just kept coming. Poor baby! I felt so bad for him.

So, it was to the pediatrician's office we went and sure enough, the Strep test was positive. I don't think Tucker was happy about it either.... Just this past Sunday he was blowing kisses to our pediatrician at church. Yesterday, he didn't want her near him! When she came in the room, he started signing "open" wanting me to open the door.

Strep Throat has been going around here like the plague! Seriously, so many of Tucker's friends have had it. Our *wonderful* pediatrician said you can pretty much walk in Kroger and come out with it right now. I was hoping we would somehow avoid it. It's things like this that make me want to keep Tucker in a germ-free bubble. I hate knowing that his little throat probably hurts so bad! :( And I HATE giving him antibiotics. As much as I know they're fighting off all that nasty strept, I don't like them. I've stocked up on probiotic as well (something I HIGHLY recommend giving to your little one anytime they're on an antibiotic!)

Dear Streptococcus,

We do not like you! Please leave us alone!

Signed,

A Momma That Has Given You Your Eviction Notice

Tucker, up from his morning nap, not feeling hot, double-fisting some carrot sticks :)

Bootcamp!

Bootcamp.

Just that word alone has come to elicit pain!

That's right, I started a bootcamp last week. It's a 60-day-long intense workout program. There's about 15 of us in the class that I'm in. It's 3 times a week, including Saturday mornings at 8:30 (!!!!). And includes a manuel with diet information and workout schedules for off-days. I even signed a contract saying I would follow the terms laid out in the manuel!


One week in and I haven't had a day where I'm not sore. But that's okay, it means it's working, right? According to the manuel, beginning on week 2 we are to start following the diet plan. Ughhh! I think I would rather workout 6 days a week than to diet, but I know there's only so much working out alone can do and that dieting is a HUGE part of weight loss. I haven't dieted in SO long and am NOT looking forward to this. I've already given up a few guilty pleasures, including this one, but I have a lot more to do to follow the rules in the manuel. Thanks to breastfeeding, I've lost most of my baby weight. I have like 3 pounds to go to be at my pre-pregnancy weight. But after carrying a baby for 9 1/2 months, 'things' don't just go back to the way they were, even if the scale says you're there in the pounds department. I know plenty of hot mamas who manage to lose their weight and fit even their skinny clothes only months after having a baby. Secretly, I hate them. Okay, maybe "hate" is a tad strong.... I've come to conclude that age counts against you in this area. (Really, is there an 'area' that age doesn't count against ya??) Maybe if I had been pregnant when I was 23, then maybe I wouldn't be shelling out $200 to some body-perfect, though well-meaning, trainer to come up with body-torturing, fat-burning, heart-pumping exercises guaranteed to help me shed those inches and pounds....


Before starting this bootcamp, I had to be comfortable with the fact that all the exercising and dieting may effect my milk supply. I would be lying if I said I've come to terms with that... But I am SO ready to reclaim my body! So far I haven't noticed a change and Tucker is still demanding just as much. I will probably not restrict myself quite as much in terms of calories since my body is still making milk and I have been trying to drink lots of water. Fingers are crossed that I can manage to keep my milk up.


Well, help keep me accountable. Ask me if I'm following the diet. Ask me if I've done the workouts on the days off. And in 60 days, ask me if I reached my goal.


Any encouragement is greatly appreciated!

He's definitely worth it!

(Gotta love that bed-head!)

Christmas Season 2010

Wow! We were so busy over the holiday that so many of my "post ideas" went unpublished, many not even making it to draft form.... I hate that! I really want to be better about posting more frequently. A New Year's Resolution perhaps? We'll see....

Anyway, one post that cannot go unpublished is our family Christmas. Tucker's 2nd Christmas was so much fun! He is such a fun age right now! He just takes everything in. It's so neat to just watch him take something new in, process it, and then watch him react. I could never get bored of watching him experience life! He never fails to amaze me with what he figures out.

We set the video camera up to catch Tucker's reaction to seeing presents under the Christmas tree on Christmas morning, so no photo of his reaction, but this is what he saw:

Santa brought Tucker 4 gifts and some smaller gifts in his stocking. At first, Tucker took the 'nice-and-easy' approach to opening his gifts.....

BUT, once he realized there were toys under all that wrapping paper, he got to work ripping them open!

That is until he came across his remote control car! By far his favorite toy!

He immediately had to try it out, meaning his other gifts and stocking had to wait. In fact, he played with his car, bongos, and kitchen so hard that after breakfast he was ready for a nap! Then, it was time to go to Memaw and Papa's so the rest of his gifts had to wait until the day AFTER Christmas!

The verdict's still out on who enjoys the car the most, Tucker or Daddy....

Wes and I spent a lot of time this year talking about what family traditions of our own we wanted to start. I am a girl who LOVES traditions! I hold memories of Christmas traditions as a child very close to my heart. In a way, it really makes me sad that I am grown up (that term is used very loosely sometimes lol!) and due to our family dynamics, many of those traditions have changed. For example, the timing of our family Christmas at my mom and dad's has to be scheduled around families of spouses and significant others. Up until only a few years ago, Wes and I and my sisters would go stay at my parents' house on Christmas Eve and we would all wake up on Christmas morning to see what Santa had brought everyone. While I do miss that, I want our own little family of myself, Wes and Tucker to have our own family traditions.

We immediately decided that we wanted our traditions to focus on the reason for Christmas, the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ. How easy it is for that to get over shadowed in all the gift-giving, money-spending, and ripping and running. It's sad that keeping 'the main thing the main thing' (in the words of a great friend) requires you to be intentional in doing so, but it does. Luckily, we have many friends that have wonderful family traditions that we were able to 'borrow' and make our own.

To start with, we sent birthday party invitations to our family members inviting them to the Christmas Eve service at our church and then back to our house for a birthday party for Jesus! We sang Happy Birthday and blew out candles. Put it on your calender for next year!

We also decided that we would only give Tucker 3 gifts, minus the smaller gifts in his stocking, just as the three wise men gave Jesus. Many of our friends do this and we LOVED the idea from the get go. What better way to keep the number of presents your little one *expects* (because, really isn't that want they do, they expect toys on Christmas morning) under control. "I get 3 gifts from Santa on Jesus' birthday because that's how many gifts Jesus got." (It's confusing enough to even explain why WE even get gifts on Jesus' birthday.....we might need to put some more thought into that one for when Tucker's old enough to ask those questions....any ideas???) Jesus gave the ultimate gift, one that we don't even come close to deserving. To shower Tucker with a million gifts just doesn't seem right. We immediately loved the idea of giving him 3 gifts symbolizing the 3 gift Jesus received from the Magi. I do have to admit, I had a LOT of trouble with this one, hence the 4 gifts Tucker received. I found myself saying, "I think I can shove this one in his stocking and it won't count..." (For the record, the LeapFrog Fridge Phonics does NOT fit in a stocking!) We need to commit to doing better next year.

Tucker may be too young to really understand the meaning of Christmas, but it's never too early to start teaching him about Jesus and His love for us. We have a play nativity set from Little People (which is now on sale for $19.99!) that we set up on our coffee table.
When Tucker plays with it, we always take the opportunity to tell him bits and pieces of Jesus' birth and even though much of it goes over his head, it's laying the foundation for future learning and understanding. Tucker knows which character is Baby Jesus and will pick him up and kiss and hug him. If you ask Tucker, "Where is Jesus?" he will point up (toward Heaven). If you ask him, "Who does Jesus love?" he will point to himself. Tucker already loves to pray. He will hold his hands together indicating he wants us to pray at the most random times! After we pray, he always signs "more". That's my boy! :)

There's a few other traditions Wes and I have talked about, but that's a start!

Since I missed the opportunity to post individual posts about our holiday activities, here are a few (okay, a LOT, but I'm combining like 4 posts into one!) pictures from our holiday season:

Papa and Memaw with Tucker at our birthday party for Jesus.

Papa reading Tucker the Christmas Story

A few pics from Christmas at Nana's:

This is what Xavien does every time he takes a picture! He's smiling for the camera, but he's looking at the person beside him smiling! Hilarious!

Tucker LOVES his big cousins! He is so lucky to have 6 older cousins ranging in age from 7 years to 19 months. I don't even want to think about the trouble, I mean fun, he will have with all those cousins in the years to come!

This was Tucker's reaction to Santa this year. Poor Buddy! I have to admit, I have this fear that my son will be in therapy when he's 16 years old and it will all come back to the fact that his Mommy put him on the lap of some scary guy with a white beard when he was 14 months old!

Nothing a few Cheerios won't cure!

Braving the cold to help Mommy and Daddy finish up some Christmas shopping!

Tucker posing before church on Christmas Eve. Future GQ model?

Daddy, Mommy & Tucker Bug after church

And this is what Tucker spent the whole Christmas season doing. We had to move all the ornaments from the bottom of the tree so they were out of his reach.

On Christmas Day we headed to my parents' house. Here are a few pics:

Everyone waiting to open presents. It always starts out nice and calm, but it doesn't take long before wrapping paper is flying and kids are screaming with excitement! It really is bit of a crazy time!

Aunt Holli & Tucker Bug (drinking from the sippy of one of Tatum's baby dolls lol!)

Tatum INSISTED on opening EVERYONE's gifts!

Mikie, Holli & Tater Bug!

Tatum putting make up on Makenzie. Please notice that she is putting eye shadow in Makenzie's hair!

Bridgette and Holli are going to kill me for this!

O'mauri and Tucker playing hide 'n seek with Memaw! They LOVE Memaw!

Can you tell that Tucker was up way pass his nap time?

Sleepy eyes :(

Daddy, Mommy & Tucker Bug on Christmas day

Me and Mom. (Mom always wears her PJ's all day long on Christmas day ;)

Shelby & Tucker (when we first got there, before Tucker got dressed lol!)

I didn't end up with many pictures of the guys (Dad, Wes, Mikie, Luke, Nick, Joshua, & O'mauri)
because when you have 2 new Playstation 3's and a new Wii, they tend to hibernate in the basement!

Yes, Christmas this year was a great time filled with spending time with family and reflecting on the reason for celebrating.

"For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." -Isaiah 9:6