New Pictures

We are enjoying our little Tucker man. He's adorable and is still sleeping about six hours in one stretch at night. Loving that! We have pictures of Melynn taking a nap in her fort after swimming with Josh, Emmett's t-ball pictures, and whole bunch of Tucker being held and adored.

Totally zonked out. Doesn't look very comfortable to me.

Tucker, 1 week old

With eyes open

Emmett, T-ball pro, number 15 on the Dodgers

Emmett's team and coaches, Emmett is front row, 4th from the left

Emmett always is begging to hold Tucker

I think he likes him

Melynn isn't always begging but is still enjoying the baby

We are thinking his eyes will turn blue

Grandma Linda with Tucker, 9 days old

He's an Angel

I have decided that Tucker is an angel baby. He sleeps like a champ! My other two were not this way, so I am thoroughly enjoying this phenomenon. Even if my luck is short-lived I am happy about it. Last night he went down at 11 PM and didn't wake up until 5 AM. That is AFTER Josh gets up! Crazy! I actually was panicked when Josh's alarm went off and it woke me up, sore from not feeding all through the night. I had Josh check him and he was fine. So, I forced myself to calm down and lay there until he at least opened his eyes. It was hard. Then, he went back to sleep after a good one hour feeding (not even kidding, he was so hungry) and didn't wake until 9 AM. It was awesome. I was up before he was and got to help my mom get out the door with the kiddos. They did the gym, the library for story time and now they are headed to Wal-mart and McDonalds. They are going to get spoiled! But that's okay every once in a while.

The point is this: Tucker is an awesome baby. I am so stinking lucky!

Frenulectomy

Poor Tucker. He has had a hard week so far. The circumcision has him hurting and yesterday I took him in to the doctor and we decided to have his tongue clipped. It was attached at the very front (what is called tongue-tied) and it can affect feeding and speech down the road. Josh with his ENT skills noticed it and the pediatrician thought Josh was right about clipping it. So, that was done and the poor little guy was so sad. He is doing fine today and actually slept like a champ last night. I think the sleeping so well may have something to do with the day's trauma but it was still nice. I'm not complaining. It was probably the most consolidated sleep I've had in months. Anyway, we are in recovery mode and my mom arrives tonight. The kids are excited! I am excited too because I have yet to have a nap since coming home from the hospital. And I'm tired.

Tucker Jay Wood

He's here!

We had a long day yesterday but the labor went well and Tucker was born at 6:41 PM on May 18th, 2012. The induction was a little different than my other two and I think that is why it took so long but really, it wasn't much longer than Emmett or Melynn.

So, here's the story: We arrived at the hospital at 7:30 AM and about 8 AM my doctor came and broke my water. Then they hooked up the oxytocin a while later and cranked it up and cranked it up. I got an epidural sometime midday, I can't remember when (I'm thinking about 1 PM), but I was only at a 3 at that point. I was trying to make it to a 5 but the contractions are so intense with the pitocin that I gave up earlier. The epidural was awesome. I was still able to feel the pressure during pushing so I knew when to push. I didn't tear at all! That's a first. And what is funny is that Tucker is way bigger than the other babies were. He weighed in at 7 lbs. 15 oz. He is also much longer if I remember right. His length is 20 1/2 inches. He's cute. He has a little chin, with no dimple like Melynn's. But he does have a small dimple in his left cheek that I have seen twice after feedings. We'll have to see if that stays around. He has a tiny bit of brown hair but it is light brown and will most likely fall out.

We have some really good pictures to share. Enjoy!

Tucker getting weighed

Big boy!

Momma and Baby Tucker

My cute visitors getting to know their little brother

Melynn wasn't too sure at first but warmed up quickly

Melynn and Tucker

Our new bigger family

Tucker Jay Wood, 12 hours old

Passing the Time

We are at the hospital, I am all hooked up to the blood pressure cuff and monitors, the pitocin is flowing through the IV and my water has been broken. I'm having contractions but I haven't progressed much and so I am going to post the pictures that I finally uploaded. I found the camera case this morning after a thorough tearing apart of the house last night. Josh and I seriously looked everywhere, even the kids dirty clothes hamper. We had no idea where it had been placed. I found it this morning with our budget stuff. It was a very obvious place and I swear we both looked there but it was under a pile of receipts and had been hiding very well.

Melynn's painting of a rainbow

The rainbow I helped her paint and she cut out all by herself!

Story time Mother's Day basket of flowers. Emmett came home and cut his out to be more special.

When I taught preschool about frogs, we did frog print painting

Emmett's painting

At our ocean story time we made these aquarium and scratch fish. This is Emmett's.

Melynn's aquarium and fish

Josh "fired" the marshmallows

The marshmallows are seriously huge!

Emmett had a sticky smile after eating his s'more

More painting, this one from the gym

Emmett and Melynn with Miss Wanda (the track coach) at his 25 mile achievement mark.

We celebrated the kids' last night as the only two kids in the family with some shakes

Okay, my contractions are starting to hurt more so I am going to get off of here. Enjoy the pictures!

Before I Go To the Hospital Tomorrow

I figured I should download pictures and post one more time before this baby comes. Tomorrow! Finally! I am sure everyone is tired of me whining about how long this has taken but it seriously has felt like a long pregnancy. I'm starting to feel really excited. I got a blessing from Josh tonight of comfort and I am packing my hospital bag. Josh installed our car seat base so that is ready. We are finishing up the last minute things, like doing the dinner dishes, folding the laundry I washed today and taking the garbage out. It feels like a normal Thursday night, except tomorrow is a BIG DAY!

I took the kids to story time at the library and to track team at the gym and got hugs of encouragement both places. People really are warm here in the south. They genuinely love you even if they are just the librarian or the lady that keeps track of how many miles your kid has run. Miss Leigh Anne and Miss Wanda are two of my favorite people here in Memphis. They love my kids. And they are excited for this baby. But not as much as me. I was up all night last night running scenarios through my head. I just couldn't get my brain to shut off. Plus I had half a charlie horse in my right hamstring and even after rubbing icy hot on it, I still couldn't get it to calm down. Plus Melynn was having nightmares so she was up for at least an hour too. All day today she kept saying, "I'm seepy." She kind of says the L but it is very soft so it sounds cute. On lots of words she just drops the "s" at the beginning. So she'll say, "I want a nack," instead of "snack", etc. When we correct her she will then say it, "I want a suh-nack." She's getting better.

Last night we bbq'ed and had smore's. We did it because Emmett is missing the father and son's campout that is tomorrow. I messed it all up by not having the baby early. Oops. I bought these gigantic marshmallows for them to take to the campout and we tried them out. They are too big for smore's but were super fun anyway. Melynn kept saying she didn't want to "fire" her marshmallow, but then she changed her mind. The other funny phrase she has is "buggy car" when she sees a Volkswagon Beetle. She's just cute.

I can't find my camera case that has the cord in it to download my pictures. So I guess that will just have to wait. Hopefully we can find it so we can post pictures of the baby!

More Videos

Here is a video of Emmett practicing on his bike.

And another video showing the kids waving ribbons to The Little Mermaid music at book club.

We had a great Mother's Day. I didn't get what I really wanted, which was breakfast in bed at a hospital, but Josh and the kids made it very special. They are so nice to me.

Lots to Post

It was time to download pictures and video. I have lots to share. We have been busy, trying to take our mind off the obvious.

Melynn with Emmett's t-ball mitt

Alright, all you people that want a picture. Here you go.

Book club for the kids about oceans.

Ribbon dancing

I love this one because you can see her bouncing hair

Emmett ribbon dancing

Eating lunch (fish shaped bread for pb sandwiches!)

Emmett is learning how to ride his bike without training wheels

Self-portrait of Emmett. Just had to post this because it is hilarious.

Emmett up to bat

Taking off for first after hitting the ball

Melynn with Emmett's hat

She is a cutie

The first video is Emmett batting. The next one is of him running home from third base.