Week 23

The past week wasn't so bad. Other than a few projects I had to work on and a softball game, the week was pretty much uneventful! Which is a welcome change from the fast pace we've been used to the last few weeks!

We had our monthly Doctor appointment Friday. It went well. I learned my lesson, though. . . no more late afternoon appointments for me!  Everything still looks good. It was just a routine appointment, they checked my weight and I saw the Doctor.  I have gained a total of 18 lbs, which makes me want to fall out in the floor from shock, but Jarrod keeps reminding me that I am supposed to gain weight. . . he has to tell me over and over and over. . . Dr. Layton asked if I was feeling any movement yet, and I told her I didn't really know. It's hard to tell with all the stuff going on in my stomach (I am constantly having heartburn and indigestion). When she was listening for the heartbeat she said "You didn't feel that?" and I said "no, what?". Evidently the baby had kicked hard enough that she felt it against the monitor. She wasn't concerned because there was a strong heartbeat and she could feel him moving. She told me that after eating a meal I needed to lay still and concentrate and I should be able to recognize the movement. What she doesn't know is that if I lay down for more than 2 minutes, I fall asleep!!  They also gave me my "drink" for my next appointment, when I have to do the glucose test. I am really dreading it.  When we left, I called my mom to tell her about the appointment and she brought something up that I hadn't thought about.  What if I can't feel the baby's subtle movements because I don't have a lot of feeling in my stomach to begin with? I have little to no feeling where the scar is across my stomach and that may be why I can't feel anything. I didn't think about this until she said something, so I haven't mentioned it to my doctor, but it makes sense!

After we left the Dr. office we ran a few errands before heading home. Since the Taylor Swift concert was that night I wanted to get out of town before the traffic got too awful.  Jarrod grilled us some burgers while I took a short nap. We sat out on the back porch and ate supper. We sat outside for awhile, it was so nice. Then we watched a movie. It was nice to stay in and take it easy and relax. We haven't got to do that in a long time! 

Saturday Jarrod went to the farm and I stayed home and did some laundry and a little cleaning, and. . .oh, yeah, I took a nap!  We had dinner with a group of friends from church at Pizza Chef Saturday night. Our good friend Amanda was in town visiting from North Carolina with her little boy. Brian didn't get to come with her, I think he had to work. We haven't seen them since they moved around the first of March, and Landon has already grown so much! He was pulling up and crawling all over the place! It was so nice to get to see them and catch up.  Then we went to Dustin and Amy's house for dessert. Amy make a Ding Dong cake that was awesome!  Amanda gave me a cute basket full of all kinds of baby necessities! It was so nice of her to think of us!  Since she won't be able to some back for any of my showers she gave it to me now. I have no idea what to do with most of the stuff she gave us, but I guess I will figure it out! ha!

Sunday morning after church Jarrod and I cleaned the house (Oh, man did it need it!) and then he worked on servicing the lawn mower while I took a nap (see a pattern here, I nap a lot!) After church Sunday night we had dinner and one last good visit with Amanda and Landon and the rest of the group from church at Chili's.  It was sad for Amanda and Landon to leave us again. We really miss them a lot! I wish I would have remembered to take a few pictures of all of us, but of course I didn't think about it until after we were leaving. Oh, well!

They're off to a great start!

Church league softball has started! This year there are more college age guys playing on our team and while that means that Jarrod and the rest of the guys his age are the "old guys" they still all played so great together! They actually won 17-6!! Jarrod covered second base, of course, and he hit one single, two doubles, he had a strike and a walk. They just need to get those younger guys to quit showing off and trying to hit it out of the park and focus on getting on base! I am excited at the prospect of supporting a winning team this year! The good news is they played really great, the bad news is if they play that great at their next game they might actually get put in the A- League, which could be a bad thing, especially if all the college guys don't show up one night!

Please pray that all the guys playing stay safe and avoid injuries this season. A guy, only 47 yrs old, actually died a couple of nights ago from a seizure and heart attack right there on the field. So scary and so, so sad!

So fun. . .and addictive!!

While "researching" (that's what I call any shopping I do for baby related necessities) dressers and changing tables today on the internet, I came across this web site where you can plan your bedroom layout! I could play with this all day, it's so fun!

The web site is for Baby's Dream baby furniture, and while I wasn't as impressed with their furniture selection, I thought this "nursery planner" was worth passing along. Click on the icon below to take you to their homepage and there should be a link at the bottom to take you to the planner application. You can do more than just nurseries, too.

This is the layout that I came up with for Stratton's room.

It's pretty much to scale, except the wall that the door and closet is on is actually not a straight wall. . .it's hard to explain, but the closet comes out a little further in the room and the door is recessed.  As you can see we have a crib, a glider/rocker, a small table with a lamp, a twin bed, a floor lamp and a small dresser/changing table. We are FAR from having any of this in place, but it's nice to have a plan!! The closet is huge with a nice organizer and shelves so we don't need much storage in the room, which is a good thing because I can't see where we would put a large dresser or armoire.

Also, what are your feelings on a glider vs. a rocking chair. I don't think my initial idea of converting our rowe chair we have in the living room to a rocker is going to work, the back is really angled and it's going to take up too much space in the room. I think a glider will be more space efficient, but I have heard from some that they didn't like the "gliding" motion. Any opinions??  I actually found one on the JCP web site that I kinda liked (I know!! You're as surprised as I am huh?!) and it's less than $200 for the glider and the ottoman. So, at the moment I am leaning towards that. I sat in a lot of big plush rocking chairs this weekend and they were all just too big and cumbersome to me and some were hard for me (the short girl) to get out of!

Busy weekend in Fayetteville and baby shopping

We had a fun weekend in Fayetteville. We got off to a rather bad start. . . .but that's another long story. We got to see friends and family and did some shopping, we stayed busy all weekend. We stopped in one little baby boutique in Fayetteville on Saturday evening and Jarrod bought me a "Snoogle" body pillow. It's so nice! It supports my head, legs and back and really helps me rest better. It's huge though!!

On our way home on Sunday we went thru Little Rock and stopped at the new Babies-R-Us in west LR. It's such a nice store! We got to play with the strollers and car seats and it was lots of fun. That store overwhelmed me! There is so much to look at and think about?! We did decide to go with the Chicco brand travel system and coordinating play yard. It just seemed to be the sturdiest and the stroller was most maneuverable. Not to mention the car seat is the highest rated. The color/pattern is called Sahara, it's two shades of neutral browns with a little accent of orange.  No, it's not the most stylish, but at least our little guy will be comfortable and safe! 

Jarrod found a bib that he thought we needed. . . . . . it's corny but it may have to go on the registry, whenever I get that started.

It says "If you think I'm cute you should see my Dad!"

New! Wall Clings!!

I designed this . . . .

. . . . and this came in yesterday!

 

It looks better than I expected! The white part is just what the cling is adhered to for shipping and storage, the cling looks identical to my design above. It coordinates with the bedding so well! I can't wait to put it all together!! I am going to stick it over the crib, I think?

This is a new product called a wall cling. The material it is printed on is a cross between a paper and a fabric, it has a matte finish. It has a low tack adhesive on the back of the cling that sticks to any flat, smooth surface. It is easily applied and removed as many times as needed! You keep the white sheet (see pic) that the cling comes on and when you can pull it off the wall you just stick it back on the white sheet and store it till you need it again. . .I am thinking this is a great idea for art for the holidays!!  I am loving that you can stick this to the wall and not have to worry about putting nail holes in the walls, and if it's crooked you just peel it off and try again. . . it's idiot proof, just what I need!!

This is a 36"x24" size, but you can get even larger ones.  I have decided that I will custom design these and sell them for $100 (for the 36"x24" size). Let me know if you are interested. And pass the word around. I am really impressed with this product and I think a lot of people will like it too! I am working on one for Brandy's little's girls bedroom right now! It's going to be super cute, it's black and white and pink!!

We have a winner!!

We finally have a name!!

We sent these announcements out to some distant family and friends this past week, so I guess it's time that I  announce it on our blog as well!

 

William is a family name on Jarrod's side, most of the Staggs males have William as a first name.  Jarrod's full name is William Jarrod. We will also use this format and call him by his middle name "Stratton". I like the sound of names with alliteration (Stratton Staggs) but I had a lot of trouble finding boy names that started with an "S", so I had all but given up on an "S" name when one day a couple of weeks ago while searching a baby name web site I came across Stratton!  When I got home I asked Jarrod about it and he really liked it. We talked about it a few nights later and he said that since I had brought up that name he just couldn't get it out of his head.  Then the next day at work I came in from lunch to find the mail sitting on my desk to sort through. To my surprise we had a letter from Stratton Seed Co, I thought that must be an omen (or just really ironic) since I had totally forgotten that we have a seed dealer called Stratton Seed?  Totally meant to be!  Maybe God thought I needed some sort of sign to get this finalized! I have been agonizing about it since the day we found out we were having a boy!!  I am very relieved that we have decided on a name that we both can agree on and it's one less thing for me to worry about! 

So, let the monogramming begin!!

This is the wall decor I designed and ordered this week to hang over the crib, I will post pics of it when I get in it!

Week 21 In Review

Last week was busy. I am wore out!! Monday I decided that I needed to clean the house, since I hadn't in about 3 weeks. Ugh. I hate when I do that because then it takes so much longer to clean.  Jarrod didn't get home till after 8pm, so he wasn't around to help much either. I hate cleaning the house by myself. I know I am really lucky to have a husband that doesn't mind to help with the house work. I honestly think that he does the dishes more often than I do, especially lately! 

Tuesday my dad came to Jonesboro and we had lunch at Colton's and then went to Dillard's to find a bday present for my mom. He got her some more CK Euphoria cologne. What do men without daughters do?? I hope we have a girl someday!! Tuesday night I went back to the mall to find a present for my mom, too. I got her an outfit. Then Jarrod and I ran to Walmart to get groceries for the first time in over a month.

Wednesday was my Mom's birthday. I refrained from doing anything ugly, like sending her a bouquet of black roses. . .but I sure thought about it! I think the girls at her office fixed her up pretty good with balloons and bday stuff.

Thursday I had a doctor's appointment with my dermatologist in Searcy. Mom also had an appointment so we went together. After our appointments (and both of us got a good report, no skin cancer this year, yay!) we ran into a few little shops in Searcy. Surprisingly we didn't buy a thing. I am getting disappointed in the selection of boy stuff at these small little boutiques. There is TONS of girly stuff! Very aggravating.

Friday night Jarrod and I took my mom and dad out to eat for her birthday and gave her the present we got her. . .she really dragged this birthday out!!  We ate at O'Charley's and then we to the mall for a bit. We ended the night with my favorite. . . a trip to Cafe Buono for dessert and my favorite coffee drink a nutty Irishman, yum!

Saturday after Jarrod got done with his softball practice we had more errands to run, a trip back to the mall (if your counting that's the 4th time this week) and while Jarrod was doing his shopping I got a pedicure. Then we ran into Target to pickup some pictures. We ate dinner at Lazzari's and seriously thought about going to the movies, but decided we'd just go home instead!

Sunday we went to HR for church and lunch at my Grandma & Grandpa's. We had a good time visiting with them even though it was a slim crowd.

I hope this next week is a little less hetic, but somehow I doubt it! We are going to Fayetteville this weekend. Jarrod's fraternity is having it's annual "Founders Day" meeting and I usually don't accompany him, but his cousin Alicia and her husband Jason are having a bday party for their little girl, who is turning one, and we thought we'd drop into that since we will be in town. And I don't see how having a day snuggled up in a nice hotel bed with the remote control and room service can be a bad thing!! ha! We will leave Friday afternoon and come back sometime Sunday.

As far as any baby news, I am still feeing great.  The bump says the baby is about 10.5 inches, the size of an average  papaya.

I leave you with a new belly picture... It's getting bigger everyday.

Welcome, Baby Olivia!

Our good friends Ryan and Erica welcomed their 2nd child yesterday evening. Olivia Ryan Simmons was born around 5:30 pm and weighed 8 pounds and 10 ounces! She was born on the same day as her big brother Carson and was also the exact same weight and length as Carson was! How crazy is that?! I got to hold her for a while and she slept the whole time, then I hand her off to Jarrod and of course she opens her eyes!  We are so happy for Ryan and Erica, Olivia is so sweet. . .and can you see all that hair and that chubby little face?! Just adorable!  Both Mom and baby are doing well and hopefully will get to come home this evening!

Mom's SURPRISE 50th birthday party

[Sorry no pics yet, I will add those when I get them from the photographer]

Months of planning and scheming paid off! I think she was totally surprised! The party was Saturday at the HR church of Christ.  It was a beautiful sunshiny day! We could not have asked for a nicer day!

The story was that we were going to have family pictures taken in Jonesboro. We told Mom that we were all going to meet at my house (in Jonesboro) at 5pm and then head out to the Craighead Forest Park to take pictures. Well, on their way Dad told Mom he needed to run by the church. . .which is not unusual for them. . . when they pulled up and she saw all the cars, she knew something was up.

By the time she walked into the fellowship hall she knew what was going on. She walked in and pointed a finger at me and said "You're in big trouble!". . . . hmmm, like I was the only one planning this party?? After she got over the initial shock she got to visit with lots of family and friends. I think she really enjoyed the day! We had a good time visiting, too.

I ordered the cutest cake from a place in town, bought burgundy tablecloths on closeout from Linen's-N-Things, Rose of Sharon in Wynne made the awesome flower arrangements and the food was a family group project. It all came together really better than I had imagined.  We hired our friend and photographer, Matthew Walton to capture the event on camera. And after the party he took some family pictures for us since that was, after all, what she wanted for her birthday!

It was a long, but really great day. I have to admit it was a lot of work, but it was all worth it!