Happy Birthday Tucker!

Twelve years ago tonight I was starting my 21 st hour of hard labor. At 5 am in the morning I had woken up to what I thought was a dream that I had peed in the bed. I kept apologizing to my husband and tried to get to the bathroom, but I just kept peeing everywhere! Now 6 kids later I would have known right away that my water had broke, but I was unexperienced and young. It finally occurred to me almost 45 minutes later that maybe my water had broke, and by this time the contractions were coming hard and fast.

I waited as long as I could before I wobbled out to the car and to the hospital. I labored in the tub and listened to Cat Stevens, I walked the halls during the afternoon, I laid on my side and talked to myself. Every now and then my midwife would poke her head in and check on me, she had already been up at the hospital for 2 days and was trying to get a little sleep in another room.

At 12:40 am after much pushing my sweet, sweet baby was born. It was nice and quiet, just Paul, my Mom, the midwife, a cranky old nurse and my little sister peeking from the doorway to welcome Tucker. I was so tired and almost in a little shock that when they immediately laid him on my chest I was scared that I wouldn't love him.

I have never been so wrong.

Tucker has been something so special from the beginning. Even as my first baby I could recognize it. He has such a special spirit about him, he instinctively has that thing inside him that tells him when reverence is needed. He has always been cautious, no matter how we tried to teach him otherwise he is naturally a careful person.

Thats him in the back, the little 3 year old who's head you can barley see, I sent him down the Snake River with his Aunts and Uncle, he has never forgiven me.

Tucker is a strong boy, he has always had such a strong sense of right and wrong, and he stands by the right thing.

He takes care of his sisters, and his little brother. He is going through that stage where they annoy him more, but when other people or kids are concerned he stands up for them, I have never had to ask him to do this, he just does.

Tucker has the kindest heart that I have ever seen. If there is bad news or a horrible story on T.V. he never wants any part of it. He can always see the spiritual side of things, and follows his heart.

During our last vacation without any prodding from us he was asking his little cousins and sisters to dance. It was sweet to see him trying to make sure they had a good time and wasn't yet concerned that it might make him look "dorky"!

Tucker is smart, and I am not just saying this because I am his Mother, I have other children that I would not say this about... the boy is brilliant. I have not been able to help him with homework for years now, he almost has a photographic memory. In second grade he read the entire Lord of The Rings series, by himself, in 3 months. He didn't get credit for it at school though, because it wasn't on the list for elementary school students. Tucker has always been able to understand concepts that were complicated for even adults.
I love this boy so much, he is turning into a wonderful man. I am so proud of him and love him for the wonderful spirit that he brings into our home. I have such special feeling for him because he was my first and I had so much time with just him. I feel like we grew up together. I had him when we were in college, it was a really long winter that year. Paul would leave for school at 8am and get home from work at 11pm. I sat with Tucker all day in our little cinder block wall, 600 square foot apartment, just the two of us, all that lonely cold winter, and the next winter as well. I just talked to him all day.

So Happy Birthday Tucker! I LOVE you so much!

Love, Mom!

Winner of the small disk necklace! Bonus Giveaway!

And the winner is....

Jennifer B.

She said: 

I love, love, love your site and your jewelry is beautiful! I've been taking a silversmithing class and I aspire to do work as gorgeous as yours!

Thanks Jennifer! Please shoot me an email so I can take your order!

Bonus Giveaway!!! 

If your name is Melanie, spelled M.E.L.A.N.I.E. email me! I made a custom necklace just like the one above but I spelled the name wrong! The one above is the correct one for the order, the one I am giving away is the same but spelled differently. The first Melanie to email gets the necklace! Contact me at mylitter@mac.com

Check back in a few hours for the next giveaway! Worth $250!

Season's Over...

Not only is the baseball season over but it appears that blueberries are done as well. What a sad day. Not enough rain and over picking have ended it early :(

Even sadder is the end of baseball season for us. Regular season was done a few weeks ago and all-stars finished last night. Everyday practices are done, every night games are done, and the stress of a double elimination tournament is over. 

I love my little ones getting filthy dirty at games and practices, playing in the dirt, and falling asleep on the way home.

I love my bigger girls making new friends with the other players little sisters, and playing for hours during the summer evenings, outside.
I love watching them help each other, the older ones running the littler ones to the bathroom, and making sure they don't get too far away.
I love watching them make up new games, like 'what kind of treasure can I find under the bleachers. '
I am sad to see how big they are getting right before my eyes, but how much they are learning watching other kids play and how much better it makes them as ball players.

I love my little boy running and playing with his sisters, and watching his big brother.

I love watching my son get better.
I love watching him get stronger.
I love the handsome coach/score keeper extraordinaire. 
I love how hard their team worked.
Congratulations 11 year old major all-stars! You guys are awesome!

See you next fall, I can't wait!

I was one of "THOSE" Mom's....

I know you have all seen them, the Mom's who take things way to far concerning their children's sporting events. They dress in the professional teams attire, do their nails the team colors, are usually the team Mom and think their child is the only all-star on the team. 

Well, I did it, I was one of 'those' Mom's on Saturday. Oh, I didn't do the outfit thing and I don't usually paint my nails but I went full out screaming until I was hoarse and doing the whole, "that's my kid" and "oh, yea, baby, I am the Mom!"

Emma's soft ball team has had an O.K. season, nothing fantastic, Saturday was their last game and they were playing the #1 team fighting to make 3rd place. Emma had the game 'those' Mother's dream of! She made 5 outs in the infield, playing pitcher and one at short stop. At one point during the game we were down 2 to 12 and I was praying the umpire wouldn't call the game. Their biggest girl got up to hit and smacked one into the outfield, Emma made a backhanded running catch, almost diving, and CAUGHT the ball!! The girl was OUT! This is where I went nuts, jumping up and down, screaming, hanging on the fence.... the whole nine yards. It was a spectacular catch, something a little 9 year old girl would NEVER be expected to make, but she did!

It even gets better. Two innings later we are only down one run 13 to 14. Emma's team had two outs, one little girl was on first base and Emma came up to hit. First pitch was thrown and Emma smacks it into the out field, this is where I go completely hysterical, I am on the fence screaming, "RUN, RUN, RUN, RUN" 

Emma hit a HOME RUN to WIN the game! Then Paul and I cried. 

I don't care what any other parents might have thought, it was a beautiful moment and memory for us all.  Emma was awesome and I don't feel a bit bad about being one of 'those' Mom's. 

Of course I didn't have my camera or video camera, but you can see some photos of Emma's game on Thursday night HERE.

Onto baseball....

Tucker's team is starting playoff's tonight. They have had a rough Spring, three kids have had broken hands, we lost our first round draft pick and we lost twice as many games as we won.

But something really cool is happening tonight. One of the boys on Tucker's team, has a best friend who was diagnosed with leukemia a few weeks ago. The boy's parents on the team had been rewarding the boy with $5 a hit per game if he got a hit, (we have all done this I will admit!) but the boy on the team had a better idea. We are playing these playoff games for the little boy with leukemia. The boy's on the team made a large card for him and we have big posters for tonight. The boy on the team has asked his parents to donate his money from his hits to Craig's Cause a fund set up for his friend. The parents decided to do something bigger, they are donating $5 for EVERY hit! So we and other parents on the team have jumped in also and are donating to the cause. Most are doing $1 per EVERY hit the kids get and $5 for every hit their son's get. I am so proud of the boy's and I hope they have a great game tonight!

GO MARLIN'S! 

Fall World Series

Tucker's Cardinals team went to the fall World Series. They were the team to beat. It was the best baseball game I have ever seen. Tucker is the catcher and is so quick to the ball, it is rare that anything gets by him. At this age there is still pitch count rules so both teams had to pull out their best pitchers in the bottom of the 5th so they can't throw too many pitches. Going into the 6th inning it was tied 0-0. We held them in the top of the 6th, our best base runner, who also had a broken wrist, made it to 2nd. Since the 4th inning people had been stopping to watch the game from other teams. It was really intense. Our pitcher came up to bat, and hit a walk-off home run!! It was so well hit, the ball went over the fence and hit the scoreboard. I can't even describe the stands reaction, I was hoarse from screaming for days, it was the first sporting even that I have ever cried at! Way to go Tucker and the Cardinals!