May 9, 2011

Here he is, the handsome, the edible, the sweet little Tucker man. You may want to wear a bib while viewing because drooling over those fat cheeks is pretty inevitable.









I am a lucky momma or what?

Grapefuit.

A fun perk of living in the South is cheap citrus fruit, and a prolonged citrus season. This week grapefruit were 8 for 88 cents. Freeman cut up 5 of them for us to enjoy at dinner. Don't they look lucious?

April

I'm going to be perfectly honest here. Having child #3 has rocked my world. I cannot seem to keep any square foot of my home clean, cannot seem to get any meal on the table, cannot keep everyone in clean underwear, and often cannot find time to dress and feed myself. Yes, like people who need a hired care taker to dress and feed them, well, I might need one of those because I just can't seem to get the job done. I'm grasping for some human dignity here, but its been pretty humbling. Freeman keeps telling me, "Just give yourself 6 months." That's good advice. I'm taking lots of deep breaths and focusing on Tucker and the kids.

Because Tucker is amazing. I had forgotten how indulgently sweet a newborn is. He feels so good in my arms, he smells so good, his smiles are so warming, and he makes me so happy. Worth every minute of it! Just don't ask me for any clean socks, ok?

Motherhood is such a bipolar experience!

And that about sums up April.

An Austin Retreat

Its 11 pm, I just got home from Austin from a Sister’s retreat. It was AWESOME. All the Dallas sisters/cousins - Kristi, Elise, Rachel, Katie, Teresa and I drove from Dallas to Austin and stayed at Sara Fluckiger's home (our cousin) and were joined by Collette, another sister in law who lives in Austin. What an exceptional group of women. It was wonderful on so many levels. It was good to get away. It was lovely to be with such nurturing people. And it was exciting to learn from their ideas on motherhood and soak up their “aura.” We arrived Friday and enjoyed a lovely meal by Sara and stayed up too late talking about nutrition and feeding our families well. Saturday we woke up and read a couple articles together about mothering (we do this as a group in Dallas once a month, its amazing, I learn sooo much from these women), took a long morning walk, then hiked a hill in Austin with a spectacular view of the city. We had lunch at the flagship Central Market store in Austin, yummers. Can we do it again next week girls???! Thank you so much, Brenley for dreaming this up and Sara for hosting!

March 2011

Some kid quotes that deserve mention:

We had pizza tonight, I told the kids that we were having a pizza party. “What should we celebrate?” I asked them. Tyler said, “Anslie!” I asked, “What are we celebrating about Anslie?” He thought for a moment, then smiled. “That she’s so beautiful.” So we toasted our root beer to Anslie’s beauty and enjoyed gourmet pizza on the patio at 75 degrees.

As we were on the way out the door to church on Sunday, Tyler: "Mom, Anslie and I are stinkin' adorable, aren't we?"

And last, the bedtime goodbyes. They'll say anything to delay the parting for a few more seconds. Here's one I wrote down immediately, though this is nothing unique, I have such bedtime conversations most nights. Lights were already off, kids in bed, story read, prayer said, song sung, drink already requested and received.
“Good night, I love you,” I say as a shut the door.
“Mom?” Anslie starts. I wince.
“Have you ever seen goggles?”
“Yes, I’ve seen goggles.”
“I saw goggles last night, isn’t that silly.”
“Yes, very silly.”
Tyler: “Mom?”
“Yes Ty.”
“Do you know? I don’t like Grandpa’s truck. The one in the garage is ok, but the one out in the grass I don’t like. Why is it in the grass, doesn’t it get yucky out there? Maybe it’s there to be by the boat.” (Musing on Grandpa Hatch’s parking job, he hasn’t been to Grandpa’s for over a year and we’ve never talked about where he keeps his trucks.) “It takes a lot of gas to run, because it’s a big, big truck. Maybe as much gas as an airplane. I like airplanes too. Because they take a lot of gas.”
“Yes, a lot of gas. I love you. Goodnight.” And before more deep philosophizing takes place I slip out the door and shut it.

March 20, 2011

Today was sweet. Little Tucker was blessed in church. Many of Freeman's family were able to be there. Freeman gave a beautiful blessing. While he was giving the blessing I felt a strong witness that Tucker is a special soul, a strong soul, one that I should feel privileged to have in my home. It was exciting to be given the knowledge that this little spirit can do much good in this life. Babies really do renew innocence, joy, and hope.

After the blessing all the cousin families came to our house and we had taco salad. I love the sound of my piano being played by Austin, cousin friends running through the house together, and laughter at the dinner table. I am grateful to live near family that enriches our lives, grateful to be part of something so good.

March, Week 1.

Hip, hip hurrah! We are all currently well! AMAZING! My body aches turned out to be a very long bout of mastitis, several weeks long! We've literally been sick since a week after the baby was born. I can’t believe how good I feel now that its gone!

We are slowly adjusting more and more to the three kids thing. We’ll get it someday! My sweet sister-in-law Kristi took Tyler and Anslie for a sleepover last week. I rested, cleaned, read. It was awesome. I need to remember that even 2 months out, new moms NEED help still! It was just the boost I needed to keep going.

Tucker is getting bigger everyday. He is an unbelievably content baby. He literally NEVER cries unless he is hungry or tired. And when he’s tired, I give him his binky, wrap him in a blanket and he either goes right to sleep or lays awake for awhile then drifts off. I will admit that for a couple weeks I let him cry while he was falling asleep, but it never lasted more than 10 mintues, and now he rarely cries while dozing off. Wow. What would I do if he was fussy right now? I am so grateful for this tender mercy. Not to mention that such behavior just makes me adore the little man all the more. He is so unbelievable. I had forgotten. There is nothing like an innocent sweet face fresh from heaven. He just breathes heaven into our home. His smiles and coos melt all of us. The kids are so sweet with him, the biggest offense is just getting too excited over him and bouncing him too much . He gets loved on PLENTY. Tyler is a very conciencious little care-taker. I can leave the two alone in a room and know that Tyler will make sure Tuck is happy. Anslie loves to love on him too, I think sometimes her *ahem* enthusiasm alarms him a bit, but she very genuinely loves him. It feels sooooo good to be on this side of pregnancy and labor, and to just enjoy this precious little innocent.


Favorite quote of the week: Tyler and Anslie’s favorite nickname for Tucker is “cute little chubby.” So I came out of my room ready for church on Sunday. Tyler, (used to seeing my in pajamas at any given time of the day, without make up or hair done), said, “Mom! You look beautiful. You’re a cute little chubby.” If he’s putting me in the same category as Tucker, I’ll take it. Just don’t say that to any other female 

February, Week 2 (Valentines!)

Where has the time gone? My goodness!! My little Tucker man is already 6 weeks old!


Sunday before Valentines I did Anslie’s hair in little heart shapes. Its so fun to have a little girl!

Valentines was a nice day. I’ve been sick, but I woke up determined to stop being such an invalid and celebrate love day. We cut out red hearts and “heart attacked” cousin’s doors, the kids loved it. They also got a WHOLE box of conversation hearts in their little valentine’s mailboxes, which have been sitting out all week gathering notes and treats between us four.

Freeman brought me four bright coral colored Gerber Daisies. They’re my favorite flowers I’ve ever received, even if they were inexpensive. They’ve been cheering my counter for a week now! The sweetest highlight of love day was Tucker’s first smile. I was up at 3 am. I fed, changed and burped him, then just talked to him. He suddenly burst into a full-fledged grin and cooed at me for a few minutes. So precious! It is such a delight to have such an innocent, perfect little soul in my home.

Crazy as it sounds, after all the snow and temps of 1 degree, on the 16th the temperature shot up to 76! The kids and I took a long walk to a park, with Tucker strapped to my front. It was SUCH a long walk that the kids were exhausted and read for bed when we headed home. Love it!

On Saturday Freeman turned on “Tonight’s Gonna be a Good Night” – Black Eyed Peas and started dancing around. Then we all started dancing. Then he grabbed an armful of clean laundry sitting on the couch and started to dance around and “rain it down” on the kids as they danced. Um…they LOVED that. Then he took two socks from the pile and started spinning them around like a helicopter, then did the snake with his arms (while still holding the end of a sock in each hand). I was laughing so hard I thought I was going to die. Where’s a camcorder when you need it????

Also on Saturday was Tyler’s first soccer game. Uh, the cutest thing I have ever in my life seen. He and his team had one practice 2 days before. 3 of the 4 of them had never played soccer before. The game consisted of 3 players on each team, no goalies, no score, and no throwing in when the ball goes out (they’d just kick it in—its just too tempting to pick up the ball at other less appropriate moments if its allowed any time at all!). It was adorable. Half the time they kicked it the wrong way. Most players wanted to come out every 5 mintues to get a drink, go potty, get a hug, pick their nose, you get the picture. Tyler made his team’s first goal, go Ty! He was kicking the ball down the field and it suddenly rolled in to the goal. I think he wasn’t exactly sure how it happened, but was pleased that the entire sideline of parents erupted into a cheer for him. I was proud of him, he wanted to play the entire game, even when he got tired.

Febrary, Week 1

In Utah there is snow and everyone is tired of it. And they still have to go to work and school.

In Texas snow & ice = stay home and snuggle!!

Another reason I love Texas!

We’ve had over 3 inches of snow in the last 3-4 days and the roads have been bad enough that Freeman has had to stay home.

It’s been a sledding down the “hill” at the park-making baby snowmen-drinking hot chocolate- reading lots of books-playing board games-eating cookies-watching movies good time!!

Janaury - the rest of it

If you will notice the way the last two entries are dated you might get a feel for the way our lives are playing out right now. Slow motion on January 7th, and since then, you might as well roll all the days up into one entry because they all kind of feel like the same day….

Tucker has been home for two weeks. I spend an hour every three feeding him (he’s a lazy eater!), and the other two hours I spend making food, cleaning up food, or wiping one of three bottoms that require a Mommy’s help to get completely clean. And at night I sleep between feedings, once Tucker stops making noises and I poke Freeman to stop snoring.

Freeman took another week after Tucker’s birth to really shake the flu completely, then the kids came down with something, and I was diagnosed with strep throat 3 days ago, and have a migraine that comes and goes that I can’t completely shake. We are all trying to get over some illness or other and are all rather sleep deprived. Freeman is in the busiest week of the year at work, and is putting in 12+ hr days. I am ignoring my moldy toilets, my goal is keep us fed and in clean underwear. Other than that, I have no goals at present. Ambitious, aren’t I?

Surprisingly, we’re doing ok. Just another day in paradise, right? Freeman digs in and cleans/cooks/wipes bottoms when he is home. I do what I can between the all-time-consuming infant feedings, and you know, life is pretty good. I’ll take the moldly toilets, sore throats, migraines, and poopy bottoms if it means I get to be with this family that I love so much. We have 3 healthy children. We have a sweet, perfect, fresh-from-heaven love in our home. This phase will pass, and with it will go the sweetness of a new infant, so I won’t wish it away too quickly.

I should record how grateful I am for the help of extended family as well. Mom and Dad Linton had the kids for the two days we were in the hospital, and Mom has taken them since when I’ve needed to take Tucker to the doctor, etc. Teresa took them for a day, and Kristi did too. Thank goodness for family! The ward brought meals for the first week I was home, thank goodness for the church family, who we don’t even know, but have still been supportive!

We also enjoyed a visit from Grandma Janet a week ago. She came for a long weekend. The kids absolutely loved having her here, and she was so good to play with and read to them. We loved having her and were grateful for her help!

January 7, 2011

It will take an entire entry to cover this important day!

On January 6th I started to feel like baby was imminent, nothing I could concretely describe, I just felt like it was time.

When Freeman came home from work that day, he was still pretty sick, and by the time we went to bed, he still had a fever of over 102 again. I was worried. I knew if the baby came and he still had a fever, he might not be able to be with me during the birth. I knew I couldn’t do it without him.

On Friday the 7th I woke up to contractions at about 1 am. They were coming every 10 minutes and lasting about 30 seconds. I drifted in and out of sleep between contractions and watched the clock. Finally at about 5 Freeman woke up and I told him what was going on. I rolled over and felt his forehead. No fever! He jumped out of bed and announced that he felt great. This was truly a tender mercy. I needed him to be well, I needed him during labor!

Contractions were getting closer together, now about every 7 minutes. He took a shower and I started to gather the things we needed. Every time I stood up a contraction immediately seized me, and if I stayed standing they came every four minutes. So I stopped standing. I told Freeman the last minute things to throw in the hospital bag. At 6 we called Mom Linton, and she was to our house by 6:30. By then I was on the couch, talking myself through some pretty painful contractions. Luckily, our hospital is only 7 minutes away. I arrived at 7 am and Freeman wheeled me in. Once we got to labor and delivery they checked me, I was already dialated to 5 cm (with my first two it took me 20+ hours to get to that point!). They started taking my vitals and getting my history, which took 45 minutes. At that point I was having contractions every 3-4 mintues and was dialated to an 8, woo hoo! Love this third baby stuff! My doctor arrived about 15 minutes later. The contractions started to be wowzers. I was grateful Freeman was there to talk me through them. The doctor told me that when the water broke, there was meconium, so the entire NICU staff was now waiting in our room, since babies with meconium often have respiratory problems. Labor progressed, and there was a lot of barbaric screaming on my part. In front of an audience of at least 12 people. There is no way around it, the last phase of labor is just…well, painful doesn't quite say it! There was no novelty or mystery in this labor like the last.....just full knowledge that this was going to hurt and hurt bad. Finally it was time to push. It didn’t take long, I pushed less than 10 times. Tucker James Linton was born at 9:00 am. One ounce shy of 9 lbs and 21 inches long.

The relief of having the pain over was such a strong emotion that I completely forgot that the baby might be in danger because of the meconium. I just hung on to Freeman’s neck and cried because it was over. Then I looked over at the baby incubator. There was a FAT little man baby, with tons of thick, black hair, fat cheeks and thunder thighs. Nothing like my other scrawny babies. They were pumping his stomach to remove the meconium. Then I remembered that he was in danger. The doctor assured me that he was doing great, breathing fine already, and had an APGAR score of 7-8. She also told me that when he was born he had the cord wrapped around him twice, once around his neck. This could have caused serious problems, and often results in a C-section, but didn't. They let me hold him briefly before whisking him away to do some tests. I don’t remember ever noticing how SOFT a new baby is. It was like kissing velvet, no way softer. He was sooooooo soft. Oh he was so wonderful! I reluctantly gave him up to the nurses. He was back soon, searching for something to suck on.

I stayed two days in the hospital. Tucker took to nursing quickly. It was a strange hospital stay. All of our family was sick and we have no close friends here yet -- simply because we haven’t been here very long, so it was just Freeman and I, no visitors. The nurses in Oregon were very warm and very involved in my natural labors. The nurses in Texas were anxious to help, but it was clear that they don’t do many natural labors, they just stood back and watched it happen. Afterwards, one of the nurses told me that my labor was the only one that had ever made her cry in 16 years, because I looked like I was in so much pain. Nice. I guess I was just that dramatic, tee hee. She also said that she would guess than less than 5% of the labors in that hospital are done without epidural, so she just doesn’t see natural labors very often. My screaming probably traumatized the entire floor, Texans aren't used to that!

We are so grateful many blessings involved in Tucker’s birth. Freeman becoming well the MOMENT I needed him, no complications with the meconium and no complications with the cord wrapped around the baby. Every healthy baby is a miracle, and we are so grateful.

Tucker has brought so much love and softness to our home. He is a good eater, and wants food every 3 hours fairly consistently (yes, including during the hours after 10 pm). The kids love to love-maul him, and do many times an hour, if he survives that, I’m sure he’ll survive anything. We are tired and sleep deprived, but feel so so blessed to have this sweet, perfect spirit in our home.