Precious Moments

We've moved!!! With baby #3 on the way, I am finally making the transition into one blog for the entire McFamily! Keep up with all things McMillen at www.allofthepreciousmoments.blogspot.com

We Are Who We Are

Tucker has been such a sweetheart lately. I don't know if it's because I have now weaned Chloe or if he's just turning a corner with his maturity, but he has been so well-behaved and sweet with almost no outbursts!

I have also come to terms with him sleeping with me. I still start him off every night in his own bed but he's usually in with me by midnight or so. And I kinda like it. He sleeps well next to me and I love snuggling up to my sweet boy. Plus, I get to wake up every morning to him smiling at me when I open my eyes.

He is throwing out "I love you, Mama"s at random moments throughout the day, which always makes my heart all warm and gooey. His favorite song right now is ke$sha's "We Are Who We Are." Possibly a Mommy-Fail on that one, but at least it's the edited version.

He helps Chloe do things and he is also becoming a little leader, which makes me really happy! He still likes little details to be explained to him before things happen, which is totally how I am. I need to know the hows and whys way ahead of time and he is just the same. My mom gave me the great advice to make sure his future teachers understand that. He is also very much a visual learner, which is also good to know.

I blew his mind yesterday by painting my finger and toenails. My toes haven't been polished since right before I had Chloe and my fingernails haven't been polished in years, not since Tucker has been born anyways. He is obsessed with them! He asks to look at them several times a day and this morning he took the covers off my feet to see if they were still painted.

And just yesterday, he did the thing I envisioned when I was pregnant with him. He picked me some dandelions and ran up to give them to me, so proud of the "flowers" he brought his Momma. LOVE that boy!

Parent-Potty FAIL

How do you know your husband has taken a hands-on approach to helping out with potty training? Your son excitedly asks you to look in the toilet at his monkey tail.

Daddy Fail.

Three.

My baby boy turns three tomorrow. I have finally gotten used to the bittersweet feeling his birthdays bring. Happy because I love to see him grow and learn and because he is just so much more fun the older he gets. Sad because the time is going so fast and pushing "slow motion" or "pause" just isn't an option.

He continues to be really needy and demanding of my attention. I try so hard to be patient with him but I would be lying if I said it didn't lose my cool on occasion. I keep reminding myself that when he grows out of this Momma's Boy phase, I will be sad that he no longer needs me like he used to.

He is a very sensitive, smart, and a hilarious little guy. He has a sense of humor I don't think I've ever witnessed in another young child. He "gets" funny, even some adult humor that should be above his head, he gets.

Given his personality, I still spend time each night rocking him in his rocking chair before bed. Lately he has been serenading me with various songs and nursery rhymes; Humpty Dumpty, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, etc. I was looking at him, really looking at him tonight and got misty-eyed. Three years ago, his entire body took up the spanse of my forearm. Tonight, his long legs dangle off of my own and my mind can't quite catch up to how big he has gotten.

Happy Birthday, Tucker Shay. You changed me and I am so thankful for you every day of my life. There is nothing I wouldn't do for you. You color my world. I love you to the moon and back.

Stomach Virus, Part Deux

Tucker has another stomach virus. He woke up at 3am telling me his belly hurt and that he wanted to eat. He said the same thing last time right before puking, he is obviously misinterpretng the upset stomach as a hungry belly. I will spare details, but he has vomited four times and it seems that it has passed now, as we've gone almost three hours without incident.

The strange thing is because of the snow, we haven't left the house since Sunday, so how in the world did he get this??? I shipped Chloe off to Grandma and Grandpa's house so I could focus on Tucker. That has been a huge help! I am praying nobody else in the family gets whatever this is, I have a HUGE massage event this weekend that I have to be at so I definitely need to escape this one!!

Oh, and guess what movie he just requested? A Christmas Story. That's my boy!!

My Big Boy

And the skies opened up and the sun shone down! Tucker is POTTY TRAINED! It all started on a whim last Thursday when he was in his room for time out. He took his diaper off and pooped on the floor. It was at that moment that I took the plunge and committed to no more diapers. Overall, he has done really great! He hasn't had a potty accident since Friday at my sister's house. He is still wearing a pull up at night but the days are dry! He is even pooping in the toilet, wahoo!!!!!!

Next up is to get the nighttimes to be dry, which means weaning him off of taking a cup of water to bed with him. We are working on it, but I can't tell you how proud of him I am! It was much easier than I anticipated and he's already going potty without prompting and without even telling us he needs to go.

Gosh, I just logged onto this blog for the first time in a while, trying to think of what to write. And then I scrolled down past his little profile picture. That picture was just taken in May and he has grown up so much since! He looks like such a baby in that! My baby boy is going to be THREE in 6 weeks!!!!!

Tucker really enjoyed Christmas this year. This year was the first one that was really fun for him because he was finally old enough to understand the story of Santa. He asked Santa for a "train, and railroad tracks, and gas." Or as he would say it: "rain, rairoad cracks, annnnnnnnnn gas." I have pics of Christmas and one of these days I promise to do a ginormous picture update, but for tonight, my pillow is calling my name.

Oh, forgot to mention that we also talked to Tucker about Baby Jesus and the real story of Christmas, but I'm not sure how much he grasped it. However, after his bath the other night, I had him wrapped up tight in his hooded towel, cuddling him in the cradle position. He looked up at me with his big, brown eyes and declared that HE was Baby Jesus!

Gah, I intended to merge Tucker and Chloe's blogs onto my own but something about doing that makes me sad. This is their virtual baby book and it just doesn't seem right to move....