Seriously, make it stop!

Y'all. What is with this time of year?! I NEVER get sick. Ever. Chris NEVER gets sick. EVER. Not only did G go 9 months without anything more than a small cold, we went his whole life (to that point) without getting sick.

NOW??

Now, we can't get healthy! The week after Christmas G got RSV. Then Chris got a terrible sinus infection. Then I caught the stomach bug. Then G got explosive diarrhea (maybe Rotavirus??) for a solid 10 days. Then I caught the stomach bug, again. Then Chris got another sinus infection. Then G decides he is going to cough all night, every night. Now I have a fever and feel like my head is going to explode.

Someone please tell me our family is not alone in the passing of the sicknesses? It doesn't help that I teach with tons of grubby (but oh so loving!) kids, and G goes to daycare, but still. Can we catch a break?!

Anyways...on a brighter note. Have you ever seen anything cuter than a baby in a bowtie? On the day of my brother's wedding G was running a fever and cutting a tooth, so he wasn't his normal perky self, but he still managed to look absolutely precious.

Graham turns ten months old TOMORROW and this picture of him is exactly how I feel. Ahhhh! I'll have his 9 month update in his 10th month :)

When you have to go to work with an impromptu topknot because you don't have time to finish straightening your hair. My 5th graders thought I was 'so trendy Mrs. Tucker!' 

Shiplap tutorial coming soon! I'm seriously still drooling over how perfect it is!

Happy Tuesday!

Baby Necessities with The Baby Cubby

I cannot believe that this week our Graham baby will be 10 months old. I haven't felt sentimental about him growing up, but this month I have all the feels. Why does time fly so fast? He was just a newborn yesterday. Chris and I were just navigating the newness of parenthood. How can this be that we are on the brink of having a one year old? Ugh, I better stop there because I'm about to get all weepy.

One thing we learned being new parents is that ordering anything online is amazing and The Baby Cubby has, literally, anything and everything you need as a new parent. The thought of getting out to a store with a newborn/baby sometimes makes my skin crawl. Will they cry? Will he have a blowout (yes, always!)? Will we have to park a mile away? 

Luckily, The Baby Cubby not only has all of the best baby gear and essentials, but they also have all the best baby accessories and apparel. 

You never think you need those famous moccasins until you get a pair and realize what they rave is all about. G has the chubbiest little baby feet and pulls off his socks and shoes the instant I put them on. But, after ordering two pairs of Freshly Picked Moccasins from The Baby Cubby, we've found a pair of shoes that Graham can't pull off, and they are comfy enough for him to wear all day long. 

A little bit about The Baby Cubby:

Why We Do What We Do

The Baby Cubby is for every parent out there who has ever felt overwhelmed or discouraged about becoming a parent. Our Baby Cubby team is made up of parents who have been there. We know what it’s like and we are passionate about encouraging, inspiring, and reminding parents how amazing they are and how important their role is.  

The way we do that is by finding the best and safest baby gear and providing it to parents in a fun shopping experience where we do things like test strollers on our stroller track, price match everyday - even amazon, offer free shipping nationwide at BabyCubby.com and actively engage with parents via social media and our cubby community blog to discuss some of those hard topics of parenting.

You can read a little bit more about what we're passionate about and why we do what we do on our about us page here - http://www.babycubby.com/about-us/

- We always price match, even amazon, so you know you're getting a great deal

- We carry only the best and safest gear so you can shop confidently (we spend hundreds of hours researching so you don't have to)

- Free Shipping everyday at BabyCubby.com over $49

If you have any questions, needs, or simply want to browse the best baby gear and essentials, The Baby Cubby is your place!

**Thanks to The Baby Cubby for partnering with Tucker Up for this post! All opinions are my own. 

Chris's (And My Dad's) Hilarious Bachelor Commentary

Hi friends! We are just over here at the Tucker house trying to survive another round of sickness. Poor G baby wasn't sick for the first 9 months of his life and now he can't seem to catch a break. We snuggled a lot today and hope he is on the mend. 

Thankfully we got to end the day with The Bachelor. And, as an added bonus, my dad was here to comment along with Chris!

Enjoy!

When Raven talks about getting the one on one and Corinne not getting it - You girls are whack.

So all these girls go on a date? With him? At once? I don't get it. (Shakes head.) - Dad

Chris mocking Nick when the girl's walk up on his at the dairy farm - Hey, no big deal. You caught me...just feeding a cow.

When Kristina starts talking about falling for Nick - No. You don't stand a shot (?). 

Are we fixing to have a girl fight?

Raven's date at the skating rink - Does he get a fake ring and give it to her? Yes or no?

As Raven is talking about her worth - Ya, because if you don't value her, you'll be hit over the head with a stiletto. 

I'm going to have to start recording this. every. single. week. (Eye roll.) - Dad

WIWW: Gingham + Link Up

My dad could use some prayers this morning! He goes in to the police station identify the man who attacked him and we are all hoping this puts an end to this terrible ordeal! Since he was attacked from behind, he obviously didn't get to study the guy's face, so we are praying he is led to choose the right guy. Have a great day!

If you want to read about my dad's attack, click here.

Happy Wednesday!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Chris's Bachelor Commentary

Monday nights are my favorite night of the week! And Chris's! He won't ever admit it, but he loves himself some Bachelor. Here is his commentary from this week's episode:

Asssssstttttrrrriiiiiiddddd, ovvvvf courseeee I vwill except thissss roseeeeeee. (in his best Russian/Darth Vader voice?)

When Corinne is complaining about not getting attention - I really don't need that much attention....now come holllddddddd meeeeee!!! (He is KING of needing attention.)

When Corinne didn't get chosen to be serenaded - Smell ya, C!

I'd almost rather have them (the Backstreet Boys) play the CD version of their song because they are brutality.

I groaned when Corinne was complaining to Nick about being a bad "planned" dancer and Chris looks at me and says, "Babe, be sweet." Hahahaha!

I commented on how cute Vanessa's workout pants were and Chris mocks me and says, "Sooo cute! Fabletics!" 

As Vanessa is puking and comments on how Nick is so sweet to not leave her side - What's he gonna do? Say, "Alright, B, you hang tight over there. Peace."

Get 'em V! (As Vanessa is commenting on Corinne and Nick in the bounce house.)

About Corinne - Gosh, babe, she's so cheesy.

Wait, what? No way! - Sarcastically commenting about how the show is to be continued.

Happy Tuesday!

WIWW: Chris's Narration of The Bachelor + Link Up

Totally unrelated picture.

Between being sick and my brother's wedding, I've worn one fancy dress and a whole bunch of leggings in the last week! But, even better than an outfit is Chris's commentary on The Bachelor! You're in for a treat today!

When Chris Harrison asks the girls how they're doing, my Chris says, "Goood, great, good," with an eye roll.

As they're driving away in the convertibles - "You know I'd be the pace car."

Dude, I would soooo push one of those girls in the pool. (editor's note: I promise I married a gentleman)

If I was the bachelor, babe, you know none of those girls would be gettin' shugs. You know that I don't like the lipstick. I'd be like, "nahhh girl."

Look, her eyes are bloodshot. She hammered.

I don't like drunk girls, boo bear. 

(Face-palms when the girl talks about how how it is cute when Nick thinks about something.)

These are such brutal conversations. It is tough to listen to.

Mmmm, mm, mmm, mmmm. (When Corinne gets the rose.) The producers had to be like, "If you don't hate Corinne, let's just throw a rose at her because it is good for ratings."

It's not a boat, it's a yacht. 

Nick mentions that he is so relaxed on the yacht - You're so much more relaxed because you're away from CORINNE!

Happy Wednesday!

Now for the link up!

- All I ask is you link back to my blog and link to a specific post.

- Write about something fashion related!

- Instagram @SarahTuckerUp for more outfits and randoms!

Thanks for linking up and to see other WIWW posts, click here. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Monday Top 3

1. Thank you all so much for your comments, emails, texts, donations, etc. about my dad and his story. There are still many unanswered pieces to the puzzle, plus an onset on new health issues for him, that could all use your prayers. You can read about his story here.

2. My little brother got married on Saturday! He's been dating his wife (wow!) since 8th grade. Their wedding was like a town reunion. Coming from a town of less than two thousand people, I'm not kidding when I say most of the town was there. They are now enjoying their new married life on a beach! Oh, and I can't wait to show y'all pictures of Graham in his bowtie getting pulled in a wagon! It was Pinterest worthy!

3. We can't seem to catch a break in the illness department. G got so sick the week after Christmas and then Chris didn't take care of a lingering cold that turned into a sinus infection. Over the weekend I was throwing up and G ran a high fever both Saturday and Sunday. Please pray we all get over all these illnesses! It is so hard to take care of a needy baby when you aren't feeling 100% yourself!

I'll leave you with some pictures from our weekend! Happy Monday!

The Attack That Changed My Family Forever

I've struggled with sharing this story for months. Partly because it still haunts me and partly because I couldn't even put into words the worst thing that's ever happened to my family. Much of my absence from blogging was due to this attack on my dad. All I wanted to do was shout his story to the world, but I couldn't. Now, months later, I'm ready to get the word out. Here it goes.

We are from Texas and my dad travels for work doing pool table recovery, repair, and installation. On the night of October 11th he was outside of his vehicle in Memphis when suddenly a man came up behind him and started brutally assaulting him with a hammer (he was parked RIGHT in front of the pool hall). The man didn't say he wanted anything from my dad, he just began to brutally assault him. My dad, at 63 years old, managed to turn around and fight the guy off, even after sustaining several blows to the head, abdomen, and hand. At some point during my dad's selfdefense, the guy swung his hammer and the claw part of the hammer caught my dad on his right hand in between his pinky and ring finger and nearly ripped my dad's pinky off. After fighting the guy off, my dad was able to miraculously run inside of the pool hall where they called 911 and he was transported to a Memphis hospital. 

By the grace of God, my dad thought to call my uncle and aunt on their landline (while he was in the ambulance) because he knew my mom, nor any of us kids, would have heard our cell phones ring, as we usually silence them before bed. 

My husband and I got a call just after midnight from my uncle that my dad had been brutally attacked with a hammer and he was being transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital. My heart instantly sank. In the wee hours of the morning, I began googling to try and figure out what hospital they would have brought him to. Thankfully I was able to talk to someone in the emergency room at Saint Francis Hospital who let my dad know that we would like him to call us ASAP. 

While all of this is going on, my uncle was booking a plane ticket to leave Austin first thing the next morning and my brother was driving an hour from college to my parent's house to go wake up my mom, as she was not answering her phone. 

Finally, I was able to get ahold of my dad who sounded sad, discombobulated, and hurt. This was by far the most hurt I've ever felt. The attacker smashed his glasses, so he was not able to see anything. He was alone and in severe pain hundreds of miles away from his family. To say we were all sick that night is an understatement. There was my big, strong, burley dad sounding so sad and defeated over something he had no control over; over a freak act that the attacker has yet to pay for. 

As the hours went on, my dad underwent several tests and it was determined that he did not have a concussion (how?!!), but he would receive several stitches in his head to close the multiple gashes left from the hammer. When I talked to him, he said his hand was hurting him the most and that would be a much bigger issue than a few stitches. 

As the night continued, our whole family here in Texas awaited answers. I woke up the next morning and decided to call the hospital, as we had not heard anything for several hours. I talked to a very nice nurse who told me that my dad would have to stay to meet with an orthopedic surgeon to figure out the route to take to repair his hand. Longer story short: the surgery would have to take place in Texas because my dad's self-employment insurance was not going to cover the out of state costs. 

The morning of the 12th a detective came by to speak with my dad. They informed my dad that the attacker's phone had fallen out of his pocket and, because of that, they were extremely hopeful that they would catch the guy. They also were able to obtain video evidence, so in our eyes, this would be an easy case.

Throughout the next few days, my dad and uncle drove back from Memphis (my uncle went, instead of my mom, because my dad had his boat with him and my mom can't drive the truck with the boat behind it), my dad visited several doctors in Austin to schedule a surgery to repair his hand, and my whole family prayed that the attacker would be found and justice would be served.

On October 20th my dad had extensive hand surgery to repair a broken hand and several nerves and tendons that were literally ripped apart during the attack. My dad, who's job requires manual labor, was out of work for several weeks with no disability coverage. After the surgery he was informed that he would most likely never have any motion in his right pinky again. To this day, he is still not able to move that finger and the strength in his right hand is about 1/3 of that in his left.

It is the new year and the terrible man who attacked my dad is still roaming the streets. The police know EXACTLY who he is. They have him on video! And they have his phone!

My dad is truly the most kind, generous, giving human and it makes me physically sick thinking that the Memphis Police Department keeps pushing my dad's case to the side like it doesn't matter. 

Would you mind praying that this whole situation gets put behind us and that justice is served? The post-traumatic stress on all of us has been unreal and we will all sleep better knowing there is one less criminal out there who could potentially hurt someone else who might not be as lucky as my dad. 

If anything, we ask that you say a prayer that they catch the person who did this to my dad. It has truly been a nightmare for my family and we'd love to start the New Year out with the whole ordeal in the past.

 

WIWW: Moto Jeggings + Link Up

It has felt like forever since I've dressed up and taken pictures. Well, it has been forever, so who am I kidding? Can we also ignore the Kendra Scott clasp dangling by my neck in all these pictures? Chris is working on his 'eye' for photography.

Yesterday was my first day back with my fifth graders and the day went wayyy smoother than I thought. We were revising our yearly goal and one student revised her goal to say, "Stay more wake." ***not awake. I asked her to please change it to something more academic related and she proceeded to dramatically tell me how her lack of sleep is causing her to want to sleep in all subjects, which is in turn hurting her grades. Touché, SP, touché.

And before I fall asleep on my keyboard from lack of being able to stay more wake, I'd like to introduce you to the new winner of the best jeggings on the planet. I know I've been very partial to my other favorites, but these are just so comfy that I'm embarrassed to say how many times I've worn them in a week. Okay, four times, that's how many. 

Have a happy Wednesday!

An InLinkz Link-up

Chris's Hilarious Narration of The Bachelor

Chris is one of those husbands that secretly loves The Bachelor. And, I love secretly recording him on insta-story. Make sure to follow along (@SarahTuckerUp) on Mondays to catch all his commentary :)

Last night's episode was when Nick met all the women. This is what Chris had to say:

Babe, let's try to remember all the girl's names! (Two girls in...) This is getting hard...

Iwanttogettoknowyouforyou - Ya, she's out, crazy accent, Kristina. I can't understand a word she's saying!

(Looks at me and rolls eyes) Model is her profession. You ain't no model, Angela.

(Continues to review all the girl's names...)

GOSH, babe, I'm losing it! (repeats names again)

Michelle, food truck owner, interestinggggggg.

He's nervous.

Ida Marie - trust fall. 

Sarah, grade school teacher! I can remember that because that's like my wife! Except she's not as cute as you :)

Babe, did you see her hands shake? She's so nervous. When you watch this show as much as I do, you pick up on things like that. (Then he winks at me.)

Oh, gosh, she's in the pool.

I will admit that I wasn't the biggest Nick fan, but he is growing on me. I can't wait to watch all the drama unfold!

Happy Tuesday!

I'm Back!!

Oh, hi! Remember me? I'm the girl who used to blog regularly before she had a baby, full time job,  and Etsy shop.

I feel like if you've been following along on instagram (@SarahTuckerUp) then you know what has been happening in my little life. If you haven't been following along, here is a quick rundown of life in the Tucker House.

- My little brother graduated summa cum laude from Texas State, and he gets married this weekend!

- My soon to be sister-in-law had her bachelorette party and we lived it up in Austin. It was so nice having a girl's weekend!

- My dad's horrific attack was featured at the headline story in Memphis.

- Graham happily celebrated his first Christmas.

- Graham also happily decided to start crawling, start walking everywhere in his walker, cut his first tooth, take his first big tumble, puke four times in two days, get RSV and have to have breathing treatments every four hours, bite his tongue with his new tooth (it started bleeding...so sad!), and start pulling up in his crib.

Our first week of Christmas break was relaxing and carefree. Graham and I played and I worked on signs. The second week was something just shy of a nightmare.

I had noticed Graham had a cough starting Christmas evening, but didn't think much of it. Throughout Monday and Tuesday he would start to breathe heavy, but I just chalked it up to him crawling everywhere! Wednesday we woke up and he was really struggling to catch his breath and he hadn't been moving around at all. I immediately made an appointment and took him in. He was diagnosed with RSV and started his first breathing treatment at the doctor.

What I thought would be a productive second week of break quickly took a turn in a different direction. Taking care of my sick G baby was priority and, although messy, I was so thankful I had the time off to take care of him.

Wednesday when we got home from the doctor he started throwing up and couldn't hold any of his food down. At one point I literally was almost in laughing tears when I had puke ALL over me and I kept thinking, is this real life? How did one baby have so much to throw up?

Thankfully by Thursday afternoon he was keeping his bottles down. He still hasn't been interested in his baby food, which is really unlike him, but he is teething and sick, so I'm not worried about it.

We go on Wednesday for his 9 month check up and I can't believe it. I just had him yesterday, right?!

I'm looking forward to carving out time to keep up with this little blog of mine! Life is busy, but this is my therapy, so I'm hoping to not pass out on the couch at 8pm anymore :)

Happy Monday!