Trying to walk

He wants to do it. Look at those arms waving :)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We have had a great holiday season this year. Of course, it was Tucker's first Christmas and he caught on to unwrapping presents pretty quickly. Not that he had many to open or anything... I was able to go home to Indiana the week before Christmas for my sister Alicia's wedding. It was beautiful and everyone had a wonderful time. We celebrated Christmas a little early with family there and then made our way back "home" to Texas. I was off on Christmas day, so we got up, opened a few presents and had some breakfast. We were lazy all day and Adam deep-fried a turkey and I made all the fixings. It was a nice change staying in our house all day, compared to running to 3-4 different places on Christmas day.


Tucker is always on the move these days. He is crawling all over the place, standing up to things and "cruising" along the couch, table, chairs, etc. He has taken a step or two on his own. Any day now... His favorite things to get into are Bentley's food and water bowl, the fireplace and the TV stand. We're always on our toes these days :)


Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Tucker's first gift of the year



the beautiful bride getting ready

Jake is such a role model

riding his new toy

On the move

Tucker has been using his walker for a few months now, but he has recently started to chase us around the house at super speed. Here is a little video, he is actually being a little timid due to the camera.

Happy Halloween

We celebrated Halloween a little early this year. Since we were in Indiana earlier this month, we thought Tucker should trick or treat the grandparents. Here he is in his skunk costume.

We enjoyed our trip home since we were able to stay over a week. We drove this time and Tucker did great. I think it helped that we drove overnight :)

We have another trip planned for Thanksgiving. Hope to see everyone then!

Tucker's new trick

My baby boy is 6 months old already. Time flies. We had his checkup this morning and he seems to be right on track with everything. He weighs 20 lbs 6 1/2 oz and is 26 1/2 in long. He is sitting up on his own and rolling, twisting, trying to climb/attach to everything. He has started babbling a lot more and several times made the "dada" sound. Here is his latest trick with the boppy.

Tooth #2

OK, I promise I won't blog for EVERY tooth that Tucker gets, but the first couple are exciting!! So this morning #2 broke through the gums. He is being pretty tough considering. Still sleeping for 11-12 hours at night :) I'm ecstatic and am afraid that it will suddenly end if I keep telling people about it. He weighs in at 19 lbs now, look out! He has started clicking his tongue and blowing raspberries. Such a sweetie!

hangin' with Daddy

learning all about bow hunting and dressed for the occasion

almost sitting up on my own

5 months old and first tooth

My big boy has his first tooth! Thank goodness he is feeling a little better. Those were some grumpy days... As I type he is scooting himself around the room on his back. Yep, his back. He is flailing his arms and legs like he is trying to fly and scooting himself. He is actually sounding out of breath. Hilarious! And so darn cute :) He has been sleeping through the night for the past 5 nights now. Let's hope he keeps it up. We are definitely enjoying Adam being home and hope to get to the beach next week. Happy Labor Day weekend!!

Tucker and Bentley

Tucker has discovered Bentley and loves when he gets close to him. Bentley still pretty much ignores Tucker, but occasionally will come in for a sniff. When he gets close, Tucker closes his eyes (probably due to the constant sniffing/snorting and spraying of spit that pugs do) and then laughs. So Cute!

Growin up on me

It amazes me how fast Tucker changes. He is doing new things every day. He loves to stand while holding your hands and refuses to stay on his belly. He rolls right over and then smiles like "look what I just did." He is loving his cereal and fruits/veggies. He has discovered Bentley and loves watching him move around the room. And, as you can tell, he loves his exersaucer.

Adam has started a new schedule of working offshore for 3 weeks at a time and then being home for 3 weeks. He has been gone on his first hitch for about a week and half. So far things are going well, but we sure miss him. After 4 years of being a nurse, I start day-shift TODAY!!! Hopefully this makes things easier. I know it will on my nanny, who is amazing! We have visitors coming the next two weekends so that will add some excitement to our routine.

Well, gotta run and get ready for my first day. I've been up since 1:35am so I'm hoping the day goes fast. My body isn't really good at sleeping through the night anymore.

4 months old and quite the traveller

Wow! It has been almost 2 months since I blogged last. We have been extremely busy, with most of this month spent in Indiana. Tucker has become quite the expert traveller, now having flown to Indiana 3 times in his short life :) He's getting better every time...except now he wants to move around more.
We have enjoyed visiting with family and friends a lot this month. We had Tucker's 4 month check-up on Tuesday and he is a whopping 17 lbs and 25 1/2 inches long. Taking after his Daddy. His head control is great and he loves to stand while you hold his hands. He is changing every day. He is enjoying his cereal now that we mix it with some fruit and being a big boy in his high chair. Ok, enough proud momma talk. Here are some pics.

All Smiles

Tucker is changing every day. He seems to smile more than he cries - that is definitely a good thing! He has even started to laugh. We caught him laughing while Grandma was here to visit.




(Don't mind Adam and Elaine's conversation in the background)

Happy Memorial Day!

First of all, Happy Memorial Day to all you veterans and those currently serving. I'm so thankful for all of your bravery and selflessness to fight for our freedoms! We spent the weekend relaxing (Adam and Tucker are both asleep in the chair right now). We did a little shopping and visiting friends.
Adam is heading out to the rig this week, so I am full time single mommy for a few days. Hopefully Tucker thinks it will be fun to be a good boy and not cry ALL of the time:) I will be going back to work in 2 weeks (tear), so we have hired a nanny. She is from Guatemala and has had over a decade of experience as a nanny. She will come for one day this week. Let's hope all goes well and Tucker doesn't give her too hard of a time.

Mom and Aunt Elaine come this weekend for another visit. Can't wait!

Silly boy riding Bentley


1st time in the pool

not so sure about these things between my toes

Tucker's first trip to Indiana

2 weeks ago, Lish, Jenn and Jake came to Texas to meet Tucker. We had a blast as they celebrated my first Mother's Day with me. The night before they had to leave, Adam decided he would head out to the rig for a few days. Lish and Jenn suggested I just fly home with them. It was decided! Tucker still needed to meet Grandpa and Papaw :) He was an angel on the flights and everyone was so surprised to see us. Here are some pictures from the week:

Tucker with Aunt Lish and Aunt Jenn



My 1st Mother's Day

Uncle Jake

Tucker slept on all the flights

Meeting Grandpa for the first time

Tucker and Papaw

More family; more fun!

Last week Troy, Amber and Silas came to visit us. It was so great to see them all again...and Tucker got to meet his cousin, Silas :) Silas loved to say "baby" everytime he saw Tucker. So cute! While they were here we enjoyed some time at the park and the zoo.

Can you say humid?? (my hair does)

On Saturday, more visitors to arrive! I love it :) Lish, Jenn and Jake will all be here this weekend to meet their new nephew. Can't wait! Oh, and Tucker is 6 weeks old today. Where does the time go? Love that boy!

Happy boy...for a moment

I managed to catch this one with the camera! Tucker has continued to be pretty fussy, but last week he was smiley for about 15 minutes in the morning. It sure makes all his screaming worth it when he gets like this...however brief it is :)

Amber, Troy and Silas will be here Wednesday to visit for a few days. Tucker will get to meet his cousin Silas. Let's hope the great weather continues, I want to go to the zoo!

Visitors

Last week we were so lucky to have family come and visit. My mom and Brian came for several days and then Adam's mom spent a long weekend with us. They got to love on Tucker and give me a little break from full-time mommy.

Tucker has been a little bit of a fussy baby..so much that I was worried and we took him back to the doctor. He had an upper GI series done and they determined that he has moderate-severe reflux. Poor baby. We started him on medicine and some days it seems to help and other days he is still just as fussy. He is still growing like crazy though.

Here are some pics from the past week:

Tucker's first road trip

This weekend we took Tucker on his first road trip to Toledo Bend, Louisiana. Adam's company has a fishing and golf tournament every year, so we braved it with a 2 week old :) It turned out to be a great weekend with wonderful weather. Tucker was good and it was great for us to get out of the house!

stroller ride by the lake

Happy Easter

Tucker got to celebrate his first Easter:) We took him to church for the first time and he slept through the whole service. We spent the rest of the day relaxing at home.

Adam went back to work this week, so Tucker and I are trying to establish a little bit of a routine. Here are some pictures from his 2 weeks of life :)

home from his first dr. appointment

1st bath at home

Tucker and Nicole in our room!

Tucker Adam Hess is finally here!

God decided to give us an early present. Tucker Adam Hess was born at 5:24 pm on 24 Mar 2010. He weighed in at a hefty 8 lbs 9 oz and measured 20 inches from head to toe. Both Nicole and Tucker are doing well, but Nicole is pretty sore. Nicole, being the trooper she is, was at work when her water broke. She drove home and we headed to the hospital. It was a very mentally straining day for me and was extremely physically demanding on Nicole considering she hadn't slept since noon the day prior.

12 days to go...

Yes, I have the countdown more than started. Tuesday we had our weekly Dr's appointment. She informed us that he has definitely "dropped." Monday we are having an ultrasound to measure his estimated weight and we will go from there. Basically could be any time :) We are anxiously awaiting!!

38 weeks

3 weeks to go!

My due date is 3 weeks from today. Hard to believe how time flies! Last night we had our Infant Care class at the hospital. It was quite entertaining to watch Adam "bathe" and change diapers on the baby dolls:) He did great, but of course added his own touches to make me laugh. Everyone around us was probably doubting our ability as parents.

Lish and Matt are visiting us right now and tonight we are headed to the Houston Rodeo. Should be a fun night out...as our child-less days are limited.

Here is the 37 week picture:

5 weeks to go!

The real countdown has begun. Really only 4 1/2 weeks until my due date :) We are so excited to finally meet our little boy. I start my weekly doctors appoinments this week, so hopefully we'll get some good info on if she thinks he will come early or on time. Yesterday, we had an awesome session with our photographer and had some maternity pics taken.

Visit http://www.stephanieshirley.com/ and enter the blog site to see our sneak peek. Leave us a comment if you like, we can earn some free prints!

10 weeks to go!

I can't believe it has already been 30 weeks! Hard to believe only 10 (or less) weeks until this little boy comes into the world. I think we are as prepared as we can be. The nursery is finished, we have one more shower next weekend, and then 2 classes at the hospital the following week. We're trying to get the rest of the house clean and organized and little things fixed before we are consumed with loving and spoiling our baby :)

baby bump @ 30 weeks

Holiday Fun

Well we had another great holiday season! Somehow I think we managed to see most of our family and friends up in Indiana. Adam made the drive on Christmas day (I had to work a few more days) with our dog and then on Tuesday night I flew up to meet them. We had Christmases, 2 Baby showers, lots of time with family and some very cold weather :)
Above is a picture of me at 27 weeks. I went to the doctor on Wednesday and am happy to report no gestational diabetes or anemia. Everything is still measuring/growing perfectly!

Baby Shower #1

Baby Shower #2