Hayes || The First Eight Weeks

I cannot believe we've been a family of four for eight weeks now. Chris and I keep looking at each other saying, "We have TWO boys!?" It is definitely not lost on us how blessed we are.

The first eight weeks have had highs and lows, but, overall, this go around has been a much easier transition than when we had G. Even with three ER trips and a three day hospital stay for big brother, ha!

Many people said going from one to two was so hard, but Chris and I are in the camp that going from zero to one was so hard. We had done whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted for over six years by the time we had Graham. Then, out of no where, you can't do anything you want anymore and your whole world is turned upside down, in the best way.

So, this time around we know what it is like to not be in control of our schedules. We know what it is like to love something so much it hurts. We know what it is like to average six, or less, hours of sleep.

We also think that the three year age gap is part of the reason this transition has been so easy. Graham is very self-sufficient and is smitten with his brother.

Anyways, let's get to the first eight weeks of Hayes!

Hayes has been such a sweet baby! He is eating great, and, yes, we've had our night of up every hour and cluster feeds, but the last week has been a welcomed change in the sleep department.

NICKNAMES: Haze-a-roni, Rhones (derived from Haze-a-roni), Hayzers

SLEEP: Right now I am focusing on getting him to fall asleep on his own for naps. Most days he will take one good nap in his Dock A Tot and I make sure he falls asleep on his own. As for night sleep, he has been giving us a 4-5 hour stretch and then a 3+ hour stretch after that. He has done a couple nights of sleep from 9:00pm - 4:00am. When that happens I am always so excited, but, from experience, I know to take it one day at a time. We plan on putting him in his own room this weekend, so I am excited to get my room back!

EAT: He is a much more efficient eater than his brother was. Hayes latches, guzzles, and is done. I really appreciate this for those night time feeds. I am trying to get him on more of an every three hour schedule, but it is hard when I am running big brother to places and have to stop mid feed to wipe G's butt (literally, this happens almost everyday), or help G with something.

LIKES: He loves his brother, momma only after 5:00pm, ceiling fans, car rides, his swing, and he finally enjoyed a bath! The first several baths were not his favorite!

CLOTHES SIZE: Depending on the brand, he is definitely in 3 month clothing. He is proving to be just as big as his older brother.

WEIGHT: Over the weekend we weighed him at home and he weighed 13.6 pounds. As my friends say, "You produce that heavy cream!" Ha!

MILESTONES: The SWEETEST coos! Once he starts cooing, it goes on for a few minutes and it is precious, y'all! Also, so many smiles, he tracks you around the room, he is more alert during his wake times, and has great head control. 

LOOKING FORWARD TO: We are taking our first family vacation this month. We are headed to Florida to visit my sister in law and her husband who just had a little girl four weeks ago!

I am also looking forward to watching Graham and Hayes's relationship. Graham is obsessed with him and it melts my heart! Every morning, Graham grabs Hayes and says, "Good morning, my preciousssssss." Ahhh! I love it!

Hayzers,

We still can't believe you're ours and we get to love on you forever! These past eight weeks have been nothing short of the best adventure we could have hoped for. You are such an easy little guy, and your smile and small dimple get us every time.

You have a brother who is obsessed with you and insists on giving you a hug and a kiss multiple times an hour...especially when I'm trying to feed you.

You have your first stuffy nose right now, but that's to be expected when your brother smothers you all day long.

You're our favorite little brother and we are so blessed to call you ours.

We love you, Haze-a-roni!

Love,
Mom

Hayes's Birth Story

Hello, friends! I am so excited to document the birth of our second baby boy, Hayes! He is proving to be the sweetest little brother, and we are so excited to see Graham as a big brother.

Without going into too much detail, I want to document Hayes's birth story because I love looking back on this space of mine and reading old posts. It has been really helpful to go back to Graham's old posts and see what he was doing at certain ages.

You can read Graham's birth story here. Hayes's story is a lot less exciting, in the best way!

If you've ever lived in Texas, you know summers can be brutal. Now, imagine yourself nine months pregnant and chasing around a very active toddler. R O U G H. Honestly, my pregnancy was really great and I felt great most of the duration, but the last few weeks leading up to Hayes's birth about did me in. So, when I went to my doctor's appointment at 38 weeks and 6 days we asked the doctor when could we have this baby. Much to our surprise he said, "Well, when do you want to have him?"

That was Wednesday, July 10th, and the next morning we were checking in for an elective induction. Now, elective inductions are not everyone's choice, but I felt EVERYTHING with G (epidural didn't work), so I did not have the desire to go through that again. It is 2019, and I used that to my advantage and chose to have our baby on July 11th.

We checked in around 5:30am after driving around trying to find some breakfast. We found an open Dunkin' Donuts and I stuffed myself knowing it would be awhile until I could eat.

At 7:15am the sweetest nurses came in, got my IV started and hooked me up to all the monitors. I was already having pretty consistent contractions, so elective induction or not, I'm sure baby boy would have made his arrival soon.

At 7:45am they started me on a very low dose of Pitocin. I was not in pain at all, which was amazing.

I got my epidural at 9:35am. The only, ONLY, horrible part of the whole experience was when the epidural started to kick in. My blood pressure suddenly dropped, I felt so nauseous, and started sweating like crazy. That also happened to be the moment Chris and the nurse left the room, so I really thought, "Welp, this is it! I'm not going to make it!" Luckily, Chris walked back in and started fanning me and got me water (my nurse allowed me to have water!). After about ten minutes I started to feel normal again, other than feeling nothing in my lower half.

My doctor doesn't like to break your water until after you've had your epidural. I appreciate that because, with G, I went from being in a lot of pain to excruciating pain once they broke my water! This time, nothing! It was a breeze. The plan was for him to come in at 10:30am and break it, but he was backed up at his clinic, so he didn't make it in until 1:00pm. I probably could have had Hayes sooner, but I still can't complain with how things went!

Once he broke my water I was dilated to a 7. He predicted I'd have him by 3-4:00pm, but my body was ready to go much sooner than that! Almost instantly I started feeling Hayes drop into the birth canal with every contraction. He would drop so low that the monitor or could no longer pick up his heartbeat when I was having a contraction.

The nurse set me up on my side with a peanut ball between my legs and we just waited! I still was in no pain, so I just watched TV and relaxed. My mom massaged my feet because they kept tingling and felt freezing, but she assured me they were warm.

Finally, around 2:20pm the nurse came in and said they'd called my doctor because she knew I was close due to his heart rate not being read. She checked me and instantly said, "Oh ya, we are ready. I bet you'll have him out in three contractions."

From there it was go time. The doctor got there and got all set up. This experience was SO different than with G. I felt like I was totally 'in the moment' this time around. It didn't feel chaotic and it was so peaceful.

I let me mom in the room this time. I am her only daughter and wanted her to have the option to be in there with me if she wanted, and she loved it! She was right there...if you know what I mean!

At 2:45pm I started to push. I pushed for 3 - 10 second rounds during one contraction. Then, my doctor told me on the next contraction to gradually push (so don't go full force), and then push at 50% (whatever that means...ha!). So, on the second contraction I hardly pushed for 10 seconds and then pushed at 50% (again, whatever that means) and BAM, he was here!

Hayes Ross Tucker born at 2:51pm weighing 7 pounds 12 ounces and 19 inches long!

Hello!! Life Update Comin' in Hot!

Hello! Holy moly it has been a hot minute since I've logged on here, but I am feeling all sappy in the fact that baby boy #2 has virtually nothing documented for him. I'm usually not a sentimental person, but I do LOVE going back to posts about Graham and seeing how much he changed, what he was doing at certain ages, etc. This is my virtual baby book/life scrapbook and I have not been keeping up with it!

I'm making no promises that I'll be back to posting regularly, but I do miss this little space of mine!

So, what have we been doing? Well, I stopped posting consistently towards the end of last summer, and since then a lot has happened!

In August we moved into our newly built home.

I also started teaching closer to home and it was the best decision ever! A 15 minute commute compared to a 50 minute commute just can't be beat!

Graham started at a new school that he loves!

I enjoyed girl's days with some of my besties!

In October we hosted our best friend's gender reveal party! It was SO fun learning they were expecting a baby boy! They live four doors down, so all our boys will grown up like brothers!

We also had the best Halloween! Graham finally understands what to do, and it was so fun!

The first weekend in November I host my best friend's bridal shower!

November 9th I came home from camp with my 5th graders. That night I took a pregnancy test (at the urging of one of my best friends who knows my cycle better than I do) and found out we were pregnant!

Over Thanksgiving break G officially became potty trained. I didn't have to really do anything except finally buy him some underwear. His teachers did everything! Praise them!

December was filled with holiday festivities! My sister in law, mother in law, and I went to NYC! This was my second year in a row to go to NYC during Christmas and I am addicted. This trip was a little different because I was newly pregnant, so I did give the city a warm welcome by puking out of a taxi window seconds before arriving at our hotel!

NYC was followed by a huge family trip to Park City, Utah the first week in January!

My whole family and Chris's whole family rented a huge house in the mountains and spent a week skiing, relaxing, and enjoying our time together! 

In January we told everyone we were expecting baby boy #2!

In February, I served as my best friend's Matron of Honor. Her wedding was beautiful, and to say WE have waited for this day for a long time would be an understatement! It was the best day!

We also found out my sister in law and brother in law will be having a little girl in August!

Over Spring Break Chris and I traveled to Portland for a mini baby-moon. We were sure we would go on an official baby-moon, but I've had some minor complications with the pregnancy that keep arising (no worries!), so that halted us from feeling comfortable traveling too far. 

On March 24th G said good-bye to his pacis. The Paci Fairy came and took all the pacis to the babies that need them :)

On April 1st our G-man turned 3! Give me allll the toddlers because this age is fun! I am a pretty patient person, and don't freak out about much, so the tantrums, etc. don't really phase me at all. Now, that baby stage, whew! I'm getting all the sleep I can get because that stage is no joke!

At the end of April our best friends welcomed their precious baby boy. They also built their house four houses away from ours, so we are really that close! Them having their baby boy has been a gentle ease into big brotherhood for Graham!

We spent a long weekend at the lake with my parents. I was just a waddling whale and not much help with G, but that's what uncles are for, right?

Our friends spoiled us with a Baby-Q! We are so blessed! We also showered my sis in law the day after our Baby Q! Cousins that are due five weeks apart!

Now it is June and I've been soaking up this precious time with my biggest boy. Chris took him to his first Rangers game! I love him at this age so much. Life is easy lately, and I couldn't be more thankful. I should also add he still goes to school Tuesdays and Thursdays, because....momma needs a break! 

That was a lot, and I didn't even mention half of what we did, but I hope to keep up a little better, so that 10 years from now...when I have a bunch of teenage boys, I can look back and remember how cute they were :)

Happy Thursday!