SONYA AND ALI TO THE RESCUE!

Well, reality has struck...all my help is gone! AHHHH!!! I have been so blessed to have so many people come and help out since Ana's arrival. Gaines has been spoiled with 'round the clock attention and now the "adjusting" has begun. I wont lie...it has been kind of hard, but so awesome at the same time. I am trying to enjoy this time instead of just survive! I've posted some pictures from this last weekend - spent with Sonya and Ali, who I am so grateful for. Will was at Winterfest with 50 of our kids (and parents) this weekend, so I was glad to have these special friends come to our rescue while he was gone!

New Pics of Ana

Ana Faith Tucker

Well, she's finally here! We are so thankful for all of your prayers...the Lord has blessed us! Monday went as smoothly as it possibly could have. Will and I headed to the hospital at 6, walked in the door at 7, I was induced at 8:10, my Dr. broke my water at 12:45 and then little Ana entered the world at 3:33! Well, actually, I can't say "little Ana"...she was a whopping 9lb 7 oz and was 21 inches long! She has the chubbiest cheeks I've ever seen on a baby, her face is still a bit swollen, we're interested to see what she'll look like when all the swelling goes down. Her round face looks so much like Gaines' did, but her hair is what suprised us all- a full head of black hair! Gaines wasn't so sure what to think about seeing me all hooked up to machines and lying in the hospital bed, it was a bit upsetting to him, but once we got into the mother baby room he really warmed up to Ana. He is going to be such a helpful big brother! Again, thank you for all of your prayers. We are so grateful to have so many family and friends to check in on us...Y'all are much appreciated!

Our Little Cowboy

Over Thanksgiving William (Will's Dad) gave Gaines his old cowboy get-up. Gaines just recently found the bag of treasures and insisted he put it all on. Will got him all geared up this morning, spurs and all. He's quite the natural. We love having a little boy!

Poor Buddy

Gaines and I both have learned that potty training can be a full time job. It consumed much of our day yesterday. Can anyone explain to me how some days everything can go so smoothly...and other days not so good? I thought he had this potty thing down, but I guess we still have a ways to go...although, today has been much better:)

I'm giving this another go...

For many of you this blog may come as a shock, you thought I had totally given up on blogging altogether (seeing how my last blog was in JULY!!!) I can't make any promises about future blogging, but I thought I'd post some pictures from Christmas. Will, Gaines and I started out on Dec. 20th and didn't make it back to the mountains until January 5th! We made stops in Jellico TN, Grand Rapids MI, Battle Creek MI, Chicago IL, Nashville TN, and Atlanta GA. I wanted to kiss my floor when we got home! It was a great trip, so wonderful to catch up with everyone, spend some quality time with family and we REALLy enjoyed the youth ministers conference in Atlanta- but being just 3 weeks from my due date with little baby girl (oh yeah... for those of you who check this randomly and didn't know, we are due to have a baby on January 30th!) I was really ready to get out of the car! Anyway, here are some pics from the trip...starting with a picture of my cousin Arriane and her new hubby Victor:)

Wendy (with baby Morgan), Erin (with baby Lincoln) and Katie (with baby Owen)
Me, my huge belly and my beautiful cuz Marcie (who Lord willing will be adopting a baby from Vietnam this spring...we are sooooo excited for her and Josh)

My sweet Grandpa Leeser

This was hillarious- Gaines' first snowman, whenever we ask him about building the snowman he says his favorite part was throwing snowballs at Papa while making it.

Will and Lincoln

Andrew, GG (holding Linc), Nana and Erin

The three pregos

Christmas Morning- too much excitement for Linc

Gaines wailing on his new drum set- compliments of Uncle Andrew and Aunt Erin

Brandon with his nephews (Brandon is only months away from being an official Dentist!)

The cutest boys on the planet:)

Gaines only asked for one thing from Santa...here's evidence that Santa was listening!

Erin and Lincoln

The cold didn't bother Gaines a bit when he was out there sledding- he was shivering and his face was bright red, but he just kept saying, "let's do it again."

Gaines got some practice being a big brother- he was very sweet to his new cousin. I hope the sweetness continues as the next couple weeks will bring him his own baby sister to love on.