Well I figured I would let everyone know that we got home yesterday afternoon and everybody is doing well. Heidi just has a little Jaundice so we have to put her in the sun and make sure she is eating on a schedule. But it has been nice to be back in our own bed and to spend time at home. We have posted a few more pictures in the Gallery and I thought I would put the one below for my dad. This is the bassinet he made and it is already being put to good use. Thanks Dad.
Everything is going great and we will be going home tomorrow. Heidi saw her pediatrician this morning and she everything looks great. Also we had a family picture taken today for everyone’s enjoyment and thank you for everyone’s congratulations, support, and encouragement.
Love,
Derek, Nichole, and Heidi
Well I guess I spoke too soon in my post yesterday. We just welcomed into the world Heidi Rose Tucker at 12:43PM weighing 5lbs 13oz and 18 1/4″ Long. So Nichole and I are parents and are having a sureal experience today. Mommy and Baby are doing great and we are being well taken care of even though we are so far from family. The people here are great. I have posted pictures below and the rest are in the gallery for enjoyment as well as a video. Well I am tired, hope everyone is well.
Love
Derek, Nichole, and Heidi
Howdy-
I thought I would get on and give a quick update on our life in Florida. Currently we have about 2 weeks till Baby Tucker will be here and we are getting really excited. Nichole has spent time getting the baby’s room together sewing and crocheting. I have just been going to work and spending the rest of the time with the horses and projects around the house. I have really enjoyed spending more time riding and working with the horses.
It has really been sunny lately as we have not had rain for about three weeks and we have enjoyed time outside and playing beach volleyball with the branch. But tonight we have a thunderstorm forming and had a lightening storm that I caught on the video camera. It was pretty cool and storms like this was one thing I loved about the south on my Mission. Also I have purchased a weather station and will be putting up a weather page and webcam on the website that will give everyone a live feed at our house and the weather so you can see the weather here. We hope everyone is well and talk to you soon.
Love
Derek and Nichole
Hi Everyone!
Thought I would update everyone with what is going on. First Happy 80th Birthday to my Grandma and Happy Graduation day to Jay who gets to graduate from High school today.
Things with us down here in Florida are going pretty well. It is starting to get pretty hot which people down here are saying that it will be a pretty hot summer so the pool will be getting a lot of use.
I went to the Dr. yesterday and they did an ultrasound just to check and make sure things were going well since I have been a little small. The baby looks great and everything looks normal. It is about 5 lbs now so hopefully it will only be about a 7 lb baby when it comes in a month. It was not cooperative again since it was playing with it’s feet so the tech could not even tell if it was a boy or a girl. Good thing we didn’t want to know. Here is a picture of the face, it looks a little grumpy, I think since we were pushing around on it to make sure all the fingers and toes were there.
Looks like 10 toes to me.
The tech said that the baby also had a lot of hair, it is the white flowing stuff that the arrows are pointing at
We hope you are all doing well and we will talk to you soon!
Derek, Nichole and Baby
Well I thought I would give a quick update on what has been happening down here in good ole sunny/rainy Florida. Nichole is doing well and is getting bigger, we have posted a 8mo picture for everyone below. Overall she has had a great pregnancy, just getting extremely uncomfortable and the heat doesn’t help much either. Derek is doing well with work and just got back from a trip to DC to meet with the people who are funding his work at the lab and have funded his entire graduate research. It was a quick trip, but was very informative and great to see some of the fruition of some of his research. Plus Nichole was able to hold down the fort while he was gone.
We also just purchased a new video camera in preparation for the baby so Nichole can capture some videos and share them on the blog with everyone. We were trying it out this afternoon while I was riding our two horses. So I posted a portion of the video below. It requires Quicktime, which most people should have. If it does not work let me know.
Love
Derek and Nichole
Hi everyone,
Just thought I would put up some pictures of the new house on the inside so you can see how its all set up and get a sneak peak of the baby’s room. It is not done yet but it looks really cute. My mom bought the crib and the changing table that are in there and they look really great.
In our bedroom is the bassinet that Derek’s dad built that is absolutely beautiful.
We also have the baby swing that is in the front room since there is really not much room in the baby’s room to keep it.
I have been feeling pretty well, the baby has just been moving a lot and since it seems to be running out of room I am getting a little more uncomfortable as I am getting elbows and feet into my ribs and sides.
Derek is doing well and is really enjoying working and mowing the yard with the new lawn tractor that we bought. His picture is in the gallery you should check it out. It iss pretty funny. He is going up to Arlington VA for his Naval review on his project this week so he is kind of excited and nervous. But it is only for 2 days so it is a quick trip.
The horses, dog and cat are all still doing well and have settled in to the new place.
Hope all is well and check out the rest of the house in the gallery!
Derek and Nichole
So first of all we are all safe and sound here in Florida. That being said there was some pretty interesting stuff that happened on the way.
The first day we left it was Saturday morning the 16th. We got up and got everything ready, thanks to Wendy and Charlie we got the hay secured in the front stall of the trailer and then caught the horses and got ready to go. Istu was great, but Emma decided she really did not want the shipping boots on and did not really want to get into the trailer. After we did get the boots on and her in the trailer she kicked at Derek as he was closing the door. He got a bruise on his hip but is fine. We eventually came to figure out that she was coming into heat and that is why she was such a butt on the whole trip. We were able to stay at a boarding barn about a mile from Derek’s Aunt and Uncle’s house. The second night they stayed at another boarding place in TN which was really nice, we were able to put them out for a little while on pasture which seemed to help a little. Emma did fine the first and second days in the trailer but did end up kicking Istu on the third day so he is a little swollen on his right hind leg. He is not lame but it is tender as she gave him a pretty good kick. They did really well overall and are adjusting pretty well to the new place, though Emma is still not sure what is going on with the goats at the next door neighbor’s place.She keeps Nubian milking goats and sells the milk so it gets a little loud around milking time.
Summit did really pretty well, she stayed in the truck with Derek and did sleep some. She got on pretty well with Derek’s Uncle and Aunt’s dog Shelby when we stopped at there house in Kansas City KS the first Night. Thanks so much Uncle Gene and Aunt Marjean for letting us stay! The second night in the hotel she was so tired she just crashed with Sam on her bed. The final day she was really glad to get here and be able to be in a house. She has really liked going out to the barn to be with the horses and inspect the property every few hours, though she still has not gotten a sleep schedule down so she is pretty tired. She made a new fried, Souki, the great Pyrenees puppy from next door. They like to wander around the property together and she is really cute.
The cat did not fair quite so well on the trip. She spent the first few hours of the trip car sick and threw up in her carrier. She then proceeded to poop in the carrier as well so she was just not feeling very well. After Sam got her cleaned up, since I can’t touch the cat poop she seemed to do ok for the rest of the day. We fed her a little the next morning and she threw that up so on the third day she did not get breakfast and did really well all the way to the new house. She is liking the new windows and all of the lizards that move around the windows.
Derek, Sam and I all weathered the trip really well. The first night was great thanks to Uncle Gene and Aunt Marjean for letting us stay with them in KS. It was a little long for a first day but it was nice to see the family and spend a little time with them. The second night was not too bad. We stayed in a hotel in Fairview TN, just out of Nashville by about 20 miles. It was close to the place where we were keeping the horses. We all got some sleep, though not a much as we would have liked. The third day seemed to be the longest, even though it was the shortest drive time. We got stuck in traffic after an accident outside of Nashville, so we were moving along at a crawl. That was when Emma got Istu in the trailer, After the Accident things moved pretty well until we hit just this side of the AL, FL line when the speed limit started dropping. It went down to 45 in some places with stop lights through the small towns so it was kind of frustrating, but we made it through. We stopped at the official Florida welcome center, mostly because I needed to go to the bathroom for the hundredth time it seemed. We were all glad to get to Florida and be able to be at the house. Thanks so much to my sister Sam who helped me drive, and even though it was a little scary sometimes, we made it and I could not have done it without here.
I have taken some pictures of the new house and put them in the gallery. It is just the outside, since we don’t have any furniture yet so I figured I would post pictures of the inside of the house once we get unpacked.
Hope all of you are doing well!
Derek and Nichole
Hi everyone!
So it is moving day. We are just sitting here watching the guys from the moving company pack up the house. It is really nice not to have to do any thing other than sit here after 3 days of cleaning and organizing so they could come in and do the packing.
This last week has been pretty good. I had my baby shower on Satuday, thanks so much to Amanda Miller and Kimber Magness who planned and took care of everything. And thanks to Tracy Nunn for making the really cute cake!
there are some more pictures in the gallery.
It was a lot of fun even though I had to try and eat baby food and guess what it was, I got most of them close to being right so that made it fun, even though the turkey stuff was gross.
Other than that we are just getting ready for the big drive this weekend across the country. The horses and trailer are ready to go and my sister is here ready to help drive the car so we should be good to go.
Hope you all are doing well and will post again from Florida.
Hi everyone,
Just figured I would write a quick up date to let everyone know what is going on.
First the baby and I are doing well, just progressing nicely as the Dr. said on Friday. I have one more appointment with them before the move just to make sure everything is going good.
The move is finally getting totally scheduled, we just have to get a confirmation call from the Carrier of our stuff to triple check the dates but it looks like we will be packed and leaving Colorado May 16 th.
This last weekend we were able to go up to the Turner’s cabin in Gould, CO which is about an hour and a half west of Fort Collins. It was a really fun time and we were glad to get away for a little while. Things were pretty quiet and we were able to go on a little expedition on their 4 wheelers to see some of the national Forest that is really close to the cabin. Things were going along great and I wasn’t getting too bumped around and then Sterling and Valerie Holman who were with us got stuck in a deep drift off the side of the road in some really deep snow. We went a little farther and realizing they weren’t with us went to turn around and got our selves stuck in some deep snow and mud. Once the Holmans were out they came to rescue us, very carefully so as not to get into some deep snow themselves. All in all it was pretty funny and we ended up wet and dirty but with some good laughs.
We came home for a BBQ Iranian style with Dr. Azimi, Derek’s advisor and had a lot of fun getting to see the people from the lab outside of school and enjoyed some really good food.
All in all we are doing pretty well, just looking forward to my Sister coming in this weekend and getting ready for the big move. This is my last full week of work so things are winding down for us. We hope you all are doing well and we will talk to you later.
Derek and Nichole