Ice Cream Initiation

I can't believe it happened.

Jack FINALLY, at age FOUR, tried ice cream!

We had just finished playing in the water at Provo Beach, and Brett and I had gotten our own ice cream.  I'm so beyond even asking Jack if he wants any, because he always STRONGLY refuses.  Seems insane, right?

Out of the blue, Jack looks at my ice cream cone, and says, " I want one with just white."

My fingers were shaking with excitement as I scrounged some change and ordered him one.

You'd think he was trying a vegetable or something!

I handed it to him, and just like that...he gave it a try...

AND HE LIKED IT!

He ate it for 10+ minutes or so, getting more and more daring and trusting with each taste.

I can die a happy woman now.

*It should be noted that Tucker practically finished my ice cream, Brett's ice cream, and Jack's ice cream.

Tucker Update: 15 Months

After Tucker baby hit a year old, I took a break from the monthly updates.

Well, today he had his 15 month checkup, and it feels like time to spotlight his little mug.

He's a cute one, I tell ya.

At 15 months, Tucker is as exhausting as EVER.

Man this kid is BUSY!

I run around chasing him from danger and messes ALL day long.

Tucker loves to explore, loves to destroy, loves to run, loves to make messes, and loves to PLAY hard!

We spend a lot of our times quarantined up in the bonus room, because he can keep himself entertained for hours up there, and the mess can remain contained!

Tucker is also freakishly strong.  I dare you to try and pry something from his gorilla grip!

He has also (and pretty much has always had) TWO speeds....Zero and Ten.  

If he isn't asleep 100%, he's awake and going 90 miles an hour!

Tuck loves the water.

I am having so much fun with him this summer at the pool, because he has no fear holding him back from getting in and playing with me.

At his checkup today, it was confirmed yet again...

My babies are bite size.

20.79 lbs (7%)

30 inches (18%)

He was happy about it.

He tolerated the appointments, and his shots like a champ.

He was also especially happy the other day when we let him do an impromptu jaunt in the splash pad at the Riverwoods.

I swear he wears clothes...sometimes.

Strolling around the perimeter of the splash pad was almost as fun to him as getting wet.

Truly, almost everywhere we go, someone asks how old he is running around so fast because they think he's only like 8 months or something.  To see his little body running around is pretty hilarious.

Tucker LOVES to feed himself these days.

It's adorable and infuriating at the same time.

He is so much messier than Jack ever was, and I'm having to tuck my OCD tendencies away, and just go with it.  At least he's a good eater, right?

Tucker is starting to babble and make words.  He will try to copy the inflection of your voice and will say Mom, Dad, Jack, mess (fitting enough), oh no, uh oh, cheese, please, wow, woah, no no, and what is that?

I can't believe he's old enough to be saying things!

While he's exercising his ability to let us know that he disproves of things now...overall, Tuckman remains a happy happy boy.

We're all pretty smitten with him, as long as he's not thrashing his giant heed into your face or grabbing a spoon full of food out of your hand and flicking it all over the kitchen! :)

It's an exciting stage, to say the least!

Little devil.

Sure love his mug.

Damage Control: Swimming Lessons, Year 2

Summer came...and it was time to try and help Jack recover from his traumatic swimming lessons from last year.

Poor little dude...he wants to like the water...he's just so nervous.

I had no expectation of him really learning how to swim, but I really just wanted him to get more comfortable and confident in the water.  We can build from there later...but, without that...there will never be any learning how to swim. We signed him up for 2 weeks of lessons at Riverside with the Griffin boys.

So...we were back in the pool...and the Batman swimsuit was back with us!

(Jack hates the bright sunlight.  This day, he forgot his own sunglasses and had no problem sporting mine!)

Awww...here he has his own...

Jack was pretty nervous at first, but he got right in, and took a quick liking to the stairs.

He tended to retreat back when he felt he was out of his comfort zone, but luckily, he had a great teacher- Ellie- who was patient and understanding of his fear.

The other kids were cute...cheering him off the steps!

Bless his heart.  There were only a couple of days out of the two weeks where he broke down a bit, but the rest of the time he was a trooper.  He tried things he has previously been afraid of, and negotiated his way out of the rest :).  

There was a lot of "baby tiny" negotiating with Ellie.

A couple of days, we stayed after to swim for a while...

And this was always the result.

Jack will now blow bubbles in the water, get wet up to his ears (not full submersion just yet), kick on his stomach, jump into you from the side of the pool, and play unassisted in up to 3 feet of water.

These sound like really rudimentary skills, but...if you knew just how scared he is of falling in the water like he did in last year's lessons, you'd know this is BIG.

Best of all, he likes to go the pool!

We'll keep working, and hopefully this little stud will conquer this fear once and for all.

Father's Day 2013

We were just coming off of our first weekend event with Wave Runners for Father's Day this year, and man were we beat!

More tired than I think either of us had ever been!

We stayed home all day until we headed off for a great, relaxing BBQ at my parents' house.

Here are a few photos from the day...

These boys love love LOVE their papa.

 

 

I told you...TIRED.

 

 

How lucky are we to have these TWO men?

Our Third Baby:Wave Runners

So, it's time to update the ol' blog with what we've been soooooo busy doing lately.

Brett and I have started a new little company called Wave Runners.

It's an idea that came to Brett randomly a couple of years ago, and suddenly, we decided to take the plunge.

Originally, Brett had a partner in his friend Weston...but, plans changed...and it's just us!

It has been one of the hardest things we've done...lots of work...time...and lack of sleep!

There's been a big learning curve, but everything has come together, and now we're in full business mode!

Obviously, Brett is still working at Rimrock...so, to say he's busy is the understatement of the year!

What is it, you may ask??

It's a large shallow pool, with 8 inflatable & air tight balls.

People get in the balls and run/walk/play/fall on water...without getting wet!

Vwaaaalaaa!

There you have it....Wave Runners.

We are in several events this summer...from city celebrations to county fairs and also private parties.

Here's a few pics of our setup. 

Brett has done and absolutely amazing job building this company, and we're having fun babying it.

Can't wait until we've reached full carnie status.

Trauma! Trauma!

June 1st, we experienced our first ER visit as parents.

Of course, it wasn't Mr. Cautious (Jack).

Our wild Tucker man was the culprit.

It was an (EARLY) and lazy Saturday morning.

We were all lounging in our pajamas and watching cartoons.

Brett was sitting on our fireplace hearth eating some cereal, and Tucker would walk up to him begging for a bite (like he always does), and he lost his balance.

Poor little tyke fell mouth first right into the sharp edge of our tile hearth.

Having been sitting close by, Brett got to him fast, and could tell immediately that it was pretty bad.

This is where it all gets a bit blurry for me.

Obviously frantic, I was stressed just hearing him cry so hard.  I could see Brett holding a bloody towel to his mouth, and a faintness came over me so strong that I completely lost all capability to control my body.

It was pretty ridiculous, really.

Good thing Tucker had one good parent to take care of him. 

We scrambled to throw clothes on...I literally crawled on the floor trying to get my bearings...passed out cold in Jack's room. 

Finally Brett just picked me up and literally threw me in the car.

He was like, "GET IT TOGETHER!"

Sheesh. Let's hope I'm never alone when an emergency happens.

Use. Less.

Even on the way to Instacare, Tucker was his happy smiling self.

We got there, and the doctor said it was too complicated of a cut for him to work on.  He said that Tucker was too little for HIM to do stitches, so he sent us to the ER.

Off to Timp Hospital we went.

He was such a champ waiting for the Doc.

Jack was sympathetic.

The doctor said we should just let it heal on it's own because stitches would be so difficult in that area, and we'd have to completely put him under.

We came home, and watched as our sweet little boys lip hung off his face!

Ugh.

Even now, I can't look at it!

We were worried, although Tucker was quite happy.

We talked to Brandon, who suggested we go to an Oral specialist.

Luckily, with Chris in the family...we leaned on his expertise and met him at his office for an evaluation before making the plunge to go to an oral surgeon.

He confirmed that it would heal on it's own, and well...

So off we went, home and relieved that we didn't have to put him under!

He was definitely "Tucker"ed out!

But, such a sweet and happy patient!

I can already tell...he's gonna keep us on our toes!

Little devil!