Dump Everything! Tucker turned 2 and we had Loads of Fun!

Tucker LOVES trucks.  Driving down the highway he yells "buck" for every truck that he sees.  If he sees a construction truck though, watch out! He gasps, points, his jaw drops, and he yells "buck!".  

And thus his 2nd birthday party theme was born-construction!

Not working this year made it WAY easier to have time to plan Tucker's party.  Nap time allowed me a  lot of extra time to plan/put stuff together.  Of course I trolled pinterest and stole most of the good ideas from there:)

This was his super cute invite from The Trendy Butterfly shop on Etsy.

It is amazing how you can find things online for WAY cheaper than in the store...and with an Amazon Prime membership, they get delivered in 2 days for free!

This is my first homemade kid cake-way easy and totally worth it! I actually made 2-one for his kid/friend party and one for his family party.  I stole the idea from this blog.

All I had to do was make (from a box) two 8in. cakes and stack them on top of each other with frosting in between.  The I cut a chunk out of the top part and flipped it on top of the cake.  After Frosting the whole cake, I put crushed Oreos in the "ditch" and on the "mound".  The truck toy came in a pack of 5 for $6 from Target (yay) and the cones (poorly placed on this cake!) were from Amazon too. So easy!

We had pink and yellow "hard"hats and lunch sack favor bags for all of Tucker's friends.

More decorations

Max suggested renting a real port-a-potty after he saw my sign (I actually did not steal this idea from Pinterest!)

I did take the food out of the boxes before our friends arrived:)

We were finally able to put the boxes I'd been saving to good use with a "wrecking ball" station.  The kids had fun building them up and diving on them and Tucker's friend Rowan managed to open one and climb in too!

We have too many vehicles...

I was SOOOO excited that this treat actually came to fruition.  Thanks to Tallman Excavating, this mini-excavator camped out in our yard for the weekend just for Tucker's party! My dad works for Tallman Building and put a special favor in.  Since he knows how to drive it, he gave "rides" to the kids who wanted one too-although Max didn't want it actually moving because the treads were tearing up the grass!  I even took a turn on it towards the end.  It was kinda fun to steer-until my dad tricked me and made me pop a wheelie in the excavator!

This is Tucker's "hoose" that we have had for over 5 months and it needed to make an exit from our basement.  The kids seemed to enjoy playing in it. I don't think anyone actually colored on it, but there were crayons out.

This little guy was such a trooper (as usually) as we kept him up for WAY too long-and then he took a stellar nap!  He had a matching truck shirt to Tucker too.

 I tried to get him to wear his hat and worker-vest-thing, but he wasn't a huge fan.  Of course he came upstairs with the hat on today so go figure.

 a few of the kids playing with the hoose.  It gave me such joy to look out from the deck and see a ton of kids and people playing in our yard to celebrate Tucker.  We have such great friends and he is so loved and it was so fun to have so many little guys running around playing:)

Our free sandbox and super cheap "previously loved" trucks got a TON of action also.

 Some of the desserts! We also had some cupcakes and jello jigglers in the shape of tools and trucks.

 I wish I got Tucker's reaction to my dad coming around the back of the house during the party on video.  He started screaming and yelling "Papa" and ran from his friends towards him.  I LOVE that he loves him so much and they are so cute always playing together.  This was Tucker's first time in the excavator with it turned on.  We explored a bit when it came Friday afternoon, but he got to see it move! Dad had the real hardhat on:)

 more friends making use of our new swingset

Cake time! He was confused at first, but then he got that everyone was singing to him! He is so cute when he tries to blow out the candle-he blows air out (thankfully not spit!) but its not hard enough to blow out a candle.

more rides! Sienna was anxiously waiting-she made use of the construction vest at least!

Keane got in on the action too!

he had such a blast and was so excited when his friends started arriving! 

Tucker's bud ro-ro attacking the boxes

he didn't eat much of his own cupcake, but at the end of the party he downed someone's cupcake-building up his immunity I guess!

 snuggles from this little guy in between parties!

 We had our family party in the late afternoon. It was a tiring day but nice to do it all at once!

We had a small but nice party together:)

GG tried out the excavator too!

Tucker had fun visiting with Grandpa and Great-Grams too.

Nana and Poppy came also!

Lots of love from Grandma  and Papa-for some reason Tucker calls my mom Baba now! He always has a blast with them despite his exhausted look as he checks out his goodie bag! ha!

our attempt at a family photo-probably should have tried this at the beginning of the day. Do you see the extreme exhaustion in their eyes?!?!

We had so much fun celebrating your second birthday Tucker!! This may be the last year I get to pick the theme and run with it-so run I did!

It's Here!

Our new swing set finally arrived and was set up today!  We went back and forth about whether to get one or not this summer.  Tucker can do most of the stuff on it, but he needs to be under a close watch.  He also doesn't get the fact that he is going to be leveled if he walks in front of a swing...perhaps he needs to be gently hit once to learn that...not that i'm promoting the injury of my child.  We found a set that we liked a few weeks ago and they were able to come install it today!  They started while Tucker was napping and we tried our best to keep him from seeing it out the back window until it was finished...we almost succeeded.  When I knew he had spied something and wanted to see what it was, I, of course, had to get my phone out to record his reaction.  I am pretty sure he was more excited about the fact that there was a huge truck in our back yard than a new swing set.  

Please excuse Brayden's crying in the video...he was being neglected in his exersaucer to ensure the making of this video.

Sienna and Addie were so excited to come check it out...even though they have almost the same one:)  Tucker was PUMPED to have them over...he ran up the whole yard screaming "Addieeeeee" when she first came over.  He was definitely enjoying himself, as you can see:)

I'm kinda wishing we had gotten the rubber chips too since Tucker FLIES off the slide!  Perhaps in the future...

Thank you spring for finally showing up!

Oh have we enjoyed having spring actually be in town the past few days! We playe outside, went for a trail walk, had lunch with friends, went for our first three person run, played outside some more (pretty much we went outside after breakfast, after lunch, after naps, got tuckers hair cut, and after dinner!), and then enjoyed some cuddle time to watch the cool lightening tonight! More day like this soon please!!

Tucker is 2!!

Disclaimer: I know not everyone cares about this stuff...it's for me to remember:) If you feel like reading the world's longest post then, thanks for caring about what goes on with Tucker:)

Before I forget, we had Tucker's 2 year appointment. He had to get a finger prick (no tears!) and a shot (tears-and he looked so confused at the nurse as to why she would hurt him! he got over it fast.). He weighed 30 pounds (75th percentile) and is 35.5 inches (80th percentile). I can't believe he's almost 3 feet tall!!

This update is most definitely the hardest one to write so far-probably because it's been the longest between updates!  I also think that so much has happened in his life in the past six months as far as what he can do now.  There are just so many things! I don't want to forget anything.  I have loved looking back at his updates-especially to compare some of them to where Brayden is at as he grows so fast! A friend of mine told me that so much happens between 18-24 months and she was definitely correct!  I have been home for the past 5 months too so I feel like I have witnessed EVERYTHING and seen him do so many funny little things that I want to remember them for the future too!
So here it goes:

Tucker continues to amaze us with his never-ending energy.  People who don't see him often and then share some time with him always have the same comment: "he doesn't stop, does he?"  And the answer is always "nope!" But I wouldn't have it any other way.  Sometimes I just want him to sit and cuddle with me, but I so appreciate that he is always up for anything! He is a pretty flexible kid-he loves to meet new people and does well when we leave him.  We had a new babysitter a few weeks ago and within minutes of her being here he was grabbing her hand to drag her around the house to show her around.

I could write a book about things about tucker so i'm going to have to summarize:

Shows his muscles
Does Touchdown
When you ask how old he is, he says Two and holds up his thumb and pointer finger
When we clean his face off after eating he loves to do "blubber lips"
He likes to blow kisses, give high fives, and fist-bumps--especially to Brayden-he always laughs right afterwards
He likes to blink and smile to make us laugh-especially when he is doing something that he's about to get in trouble for
He makes a funny face with his mouth open and shakes his head around if he throws his milk or does something he's not supposed to...makes it tough not to laugh when we should be disciplining
He has to use a napkin-"nam-kin" when he eats and if he spills food or milk he has to clean it up...hoping this minor OCD is a stage!
Once I showed him how to wipe milk up off the floor (just a few spots) with his socks so he started spilling milk and wiping it up with his feet just so he could practice his new "skill"
He is a great hugger-especially when he gives squeezy hugs
He gets most excited to see Addie-he will run up to her and tackle her with a hug.  He's getting better about just hugging and not tackling now:)
He gets just about excited when he sees Papa
He is a HUGE Thomas the thank engine (choo choo) fan.  He just got a train table for his birthday so he likes it even more now!
He's getting into Curious George (Deuge) and often chooses to watch George over Choo Choo...making progress!
He loves to make forts-especially with Max and my dad (Papa). They really turn into pillow piles because Tucker will knock them over. One of his favorite fort activities is pillow diving.  He either just dives on a pile of pillows or he stands on the couch and dives off to land on the pillow angled against the couch.  It was great til he tried to ride his ATV down it.
He did manage to almost ride his ATV down the laundry room steps-I thankfully looked back (I was at the bottom) to see him at the top of the stairs just as he started going down. I dove to catch the ATV and he was safe-I however bruised the right side of my body and stubbed my toe pretty badly on the door and vacuum cleaner...nothing compared to what could have happened to him!
He climbs all over everything and likes to jump/fall off of them often too.
He has fun playing in his Hoose, with his cars, puzzles, mega blocks (to make a Zabadoo) and with his cups-he loves to take the tops off and on.
He also likes to color and to play with beans-or needs.
He is saying a TON of words.  He can say most of his friends names-my favorite is that he calls our neighbor "Hoef" his nickname based on their lastname that his wife calls him-I guess Tucker picked up on it!
He gets excited to see his friends-sometimes his excessive socialness can be intimidating to other kids. We need to work on spacial awareness-a challenge for a toddler.
He, for the most part, is not shy.  He has minimal fear in social situations.  He came with me to work one day and ran from me and flew into the cafeteria during 7th grade lunch-most adults wouldn't want to walk into 7th grade lunch:)
He is going to go to a 2's program next year so we went to look at a few preschools.  He went right into class and started playing with the kids.  He through a fit when it was time to leave the place we ended up choosing...hoping that doesn't happen next year!
It's so fun to bring him places because he can actually enjoy the experiences now.  I get such joy seeing the joy on his face. He likes to do regular mundane things too.  No matter where we go, he says hi to everyone we walk by.  I feel bad because most people don't say back. They either don't hear him or the whole "we live in CT and nobody is friendly here" thing might come in to play.  I hope he doesn't lose the desire to say Hi to everyone:)
He also points out all of the trucks, buses, etc that we see as we're driving.  It makes for free entertainment, but I am also painfully aware of every truck, bus, etc. that we drive by!
He has managed to figure out how to work my iphone. He unlocks the screen, enters my password, scrolls to the screen with the kids games, clicks on the box with the games, and then picks his games.  I keep saying I should probably change the password...
He absolutely loves being outside. He seems to have a much better tolerance for the cold than I do. He will want to swing and run around no matter the weather. He really started to enjoy the snow more this year. He especially loved to walk on it and make it crunch under his feet. He was determined to crunch every part of the snow on the yard I think! Thank God it melted!
He is a big fan of being a big brother. The two of them make each other laugh and smile and they "talk" to eachother.  Tucker loves being able to help me get things for Brayden, and he is a pro at putting his binky back in-something he helps our other baby friends with too often also.  He has only recently started to take things from Brayden when he's using them.  Sharing is, as always for a toddler, a work in progress.
He has certainly come a long way in the sharing scene.  He went from not saying anything when someone took a toy, to crying when someone took a toy, to being the one who takes the toy, to playing the pulling game over a toy, to learning to take turns.  He has gotten a lot better and will hopefully continue to improve!
We go to MyGym every week and he loves to climb on the rock wall (with a LOT of help) and the ladder rungs, go down the slide, swing on the swings, and use the zip line.
He loves music.  His favorite songs right now are Taylor Swift's "I Knew You were Trouble"-also known as the EE-EE song, Pitbull's "Don't stop the party"-this is his favorite dance party song (we love dance parties in our hosue), and the Of Monsters and Men song, "Little Talks" which we call the HEY song.  I love that he randomly yells HEY out during the song-not usually at the right spot, but it's a start!
He is getting very good at using his spoon and fork and has no problem drinking out of a straw. His clumsiness takes over when it comes to drinking out of a cup without a top, but that's ok for now.
He can be a big challenge at mealtimes sometimes.  He went through a phase where he refused to sit in his highchair/booster seat.  We got a booster that just sits on the chair that he can climb in and out of easily and he likes that much better.  He still doest not like fruits/veggies very much, but like the rest of his food preferences, he's hit or miss.  He will ALWAYS eat pasta and sauce, or Noo Noos.
He also will pretty much only drink milk.  We give him less than Whole milk sometimes and cut the milk with water so he's getting some, but all of the dairy helps to contribute to his constipation problems. He has had to take Miralax for a bit, but for the past week he has been Miralax free and regular! I'm hoping this is a new 2 year old Tucker in the poo department!
He tells us when he farts, by saying POOP.  He laughs whenever he or anyone around him farts-especially Brayden.
He's starting to want his privacy, but he has no problem being in the middle of a room going-and with the beat red face and grunting, it's no secret what's going on!
As I posted previously, he's moved into a Toddler bed now. He does stay in it for the most part. He has fallen out a few times-which we can't figure out how, and he's gotten up and come to the door a couple times but it usually doesn't happen.  He can open doorknobs so we had to put the safety knobs on now to make sure he doesn't go explore the other rooms upstairs!

I'm sure I'm forgetting things I wanted to record, but oh well! I got a lot.
I pray that Tucker's personality would always be one that points people to Jesus and that he will never lose his zest for life, friendliness and ability to bring joy to others.  He is truly a gift from God and our little miracle.  We are so thankful that we get to be his parents and experience the craziness that is life with this little fire-ball every day!

 We love you Tucker J!

Tucker's Golden Birthday!!

Tucker turned 2 on the 2nd-his golden birthday!!  

He has come such a long way in 2 short years!

2 years ago we were in the hospital waiting to see and hold our baby boy. 

This birth story seems like it happened only yesterday!

We celebrated over two days-Max took Monday off and we celebrated then and on his actual birthday on Tuesday too.  He had a great day with many facebook messages, a couple Skype calls, and a phone call from Zamiba-not many people can say they get phone calls from Zambia on their birthdays! 

Here's a look at what we did to celebrate:

Breakfast at Harborview

Visiting some huge construction trucks-he was in HEAVEN!

he was holding on to the fence because he didn't want to leave!

this is what happened when we left...he was NOT happy to say the least!

We ran a couple errands and Brayden was a trooper through it all:)

 Tucker got a Train table and some Thomas train accessories for his big present form us-Max had so much fun setting it up the night before his Birthday.

 I know that Tucker doesn't get what it means to have a birthday yet, but I wanted to make it a special day-so he woke up to lots of balloons and streamers.

 he was excited about the balloons when he woke up!

reading the Thomas card we gave him

he was SO excited about his new train table and set!! Tons of smiles and giggles and jumps!

Tucker letting everyone know he is TWO!!

We have My Gym class on Tuesdays and his favorite teacher was there, AND Max surprised T with a visit to class!

after a quick donut stop, we stopped to visit Grandma (my mom) at her office. She had a couple goodies for Tucker which he was SO excited about...one was a Thomas DVD and train!

 After his fave dinner of pasta and meatballs, he had cupcakes! 

blowing out his candles

 I love this kid!

we completely forgot to give tucker his other couple gifts that we got him!  We make the quality parenting decision to have him do it after bedtime:) He enjoyed it!

a Happy Birthday Pookie book

Some Thomas PJ's, and a (very basic) remote control dump truck! He loved that!

 A Tucker birthday would not have been complete without a dance party...we may have needed to wait a little longer between dinner and cupcakes to start the dance party...

We had so much fun celebrating with you Tucker! 

It is going to take me forever to write everything for your 2 year update!