Arden is 2 weeks old!

We had a doctor appointment with a new peditrician on Monday. She was great and we were really impressed. Arden had put on some more weight. She now weighs 7.8 lbs! She was in the 50th percentile for weight, 75th percentile on height and 35th percentile head measurement. She does have a tiny head! I am having a hard time finding headbands small enough! I got some "premie" size ones at a Kiddly Toes that work but there arent many colors and styles.

Anyway, the doctor told us that her tummy aches are probably just a symptom of formula change, or just changes in her GI tract. She said we needed to give a new formula 4-7 days before changing again, it takes awhile for them to get used to it and we need to give her system plenty of time to get used to it. However, its been almost a full week now and she still seems fussy and you can tell that her tummy is cramping. The doc said that we should try a soy formula next. I have a feeling we will be trying that SOON. She isn't sleeping well and neither am I!

Stratton is still giving us a hard time, but its getting to be more in the mornings and at night. He is going to bed and staying in bed now! Small blessings. . .

Yes, both kids under the activity mat. . .

Stratton sharing daddy's lap and his blanket with Arden. . .

We took both kids to church for the first time last night. Its so much harder to get 4 people ready than I expected. I tried to cook supper but then while it was in the oven I had to feed Arden and oops, it burned. So Stratton had a hotdog. He was really clingy and almost didn't want to go to bible class, which never happens. I am not used to all this clingy behavior. So not like Mr. Independent!

I snapped these after church. Stratton wants to hold and love on Arden all the time. He is really sweet towards her. He also wants to kiss her all the time, and wants to kiss her on the mouth. We are trying to teach him to kiss her on the cheek, especially since he has a touch of a cold!

I'm feeling pretty good. Just tired from Arden's uncertain sleep schedule. I am sticking to our 3 hour- eat, play, sleep schdule. . . Arden just skips the nap part sometimes and the other times I can't keep her awake. I try to nap when she does, but it doesn't all ways work out.

This afternoon around 2pm. I was getting ready to take a nap before getting ready to go to my (very much anticipated) hair appointment, and I started having some bleeding issues that gave us a scare, but after talking to an Angels nurse things are ok. She just advised me to rest and stay off my feet for a couple days and let them know if things get any worse. I am waiting to hear back from my doc, but so far this eveing I think its getting better so hopefully I won't need to be looked at. My mom came up this afternoon to help and somJarrod could go back to work. She is planning on coming back tomorrow to babysit me. . .ugh. I hate needing help, but I'm glad my mom lives close enough to be able to come when I need her! Everyone is telling me I am doing too much. It's just hard to take it easy, especially when I'm feeling good. I guess after today I will try harder to do less. . . I don't want to end up back in the hospital.

Family picture

Stratton is supposed to take a family picture to school tomorrow. . .well we didn't have one yet! We went to HR today to church and then had lunch at my grandpa & grandma's house, so I got mom to snap a few of us after church.

Stratton playing with my old "my little ponies"! . . . Their loaded up in the JD trailer! Haha

Grandpa rocking sleeping Arden

Things are getting better. We have switched Arden's formula and got some different bottles and that seems to be helping with her tummy problems. We have a dr appointment with a new peditrician on Monday.

Thursday and Friday both went pretty well. We are just trying to establish some sort of routine again and adjusting to our new reality!

Stratton is still giving us a hard time, but at least he is sleeping better and not getting up in the middle of the night. We were informed that he has been acting out at school (back talking) this past week. They told Jarrod on Friday that he had been better. I know he is just dealing with not being the center of attention anymore, so we are trying to be understanding and patient, but he's not going to get away with back talking and not listening. We are also trying really hard to find ways to have him help. I think if he feels like he has a job to do he will feel less left out.

The boys went to the ASU game tonight. I'm so glad that Stratton is so into football and wants to go, and he is usually on his best behavior so Jarrod has no reservation taking him. It's something that they can do together and they both really enjoy it! I think Jarrod is really proud of how much Stratton pays attention and his interest in the game and players. A couple of weeks ago out of the blue S asked him, "what is Ryan Aplin's last name?" haha. He told me that he wants to be a QB when he plays for the Red Wolves. I asked him if he would blow me kisses from the field and he said yes. . . We'll see! Haha!

Follow-up Dr Appointment

Wednesday Jarrod, Arden and I headed to Little Rock for my doctor's appointment. I was nervous about how Arden would do, but she was great. She slept the whole way there, and Then we fed her shortly after we got to the office. She then stayed awake while we were there so the nurses and doctor could of course ooh and ahh over how beautiful she is!

All dressed up and ready to go. . .She wasn't a fan of the bow at first.

So everything with me looks good. They took out my staples and I feel like a new person now! That was about it. I will go back in 6 weeks just as a last follow-up.

After my appointment we did a little shopping, ate dinner at Copelands and then headed home. My mom can come up after work and taken Stratton to church and he was in bed when we got home. He woke up and Jarrod went in and tucked him in and he was fine. He didn't get up! I hope it's a sign that he's getting used to Arden being around and doesn't feel the need to get up and investigate every noise he hears. That, or he is just over it all and started sleeping through it!

Belly boo-boo present

Jarrod, Stratton and Arden got me a present! Stratton called it a "belly boo-boo present".

It's a necklace and charm from a jewelry artist named Konstanino. Each piece is handmade by a guy in Greece! Jarrod found it at Sissy's Log Cabin. They just started carrying the brand. I love it! How well does my hubby know me?! I think it was so sweet of them to think of me! I have the best family ever!

Stratton's prayers

Every night Jarrod and I both take Stratton to bed and we each say our prayers. A lot of the time Stratton repeats things that we pray for or just prays for the same things. . .family, house, the sun and rain. . .ect. Sometimes however he comes up with some really commical (and totally sincere) things.

Tuesday night in his prayer he was naming off things he was thankful for, and we were surprised and found it hard to keep our chuckles of amusement to ourselves when he said ". . .and thank you for puppy dogs and David and Goliath and giants."

I love the age he is now. He is a handful, but he sure makes us smile!

Our first day back in the real world!

Today Jarrod went back to work and it was just me and Arden for the first time! I managed to get us both up and around by 1:30. . . She was a little bit of a mess. I finally got her happy in the bouncey chair and was able to take a (super) quick shower. Jarrod came home and picked us up and we headed out. Arden's doctor appointment went just fine. She has already gotten back to her birth weight. We go back in two weeks.

It was my first day without a nap. When we got home from the doctor, I had laundry and stuff to do and Arden took another nap of course. Dillon and Brandye came by for a visit after work and my dad brought Stratton home around 6pm. He was in rare form. We had a rough night all the way around. Stratton was in a mood and we didn't get him to sleep till 9:30! He kept getting out of bed with every excuse under the moon. I think he just wanted to amke sure he wasn't missing anything. I figure we have several nights like this in our future. Hopefully the new will wear off soon. Then Arden decided she didn't want to sleep either! I think she had a tummy ache, since I change a more than average amount of dirty diapers. I am still in quite a bit of pain and since I didn't get but a couple of ours of sleep, my mom came to help us out today. I got to sleep most of the morning and feel much better.

Arden 5 days old:

Saturday & Sunday

Friday night was a looong one. Seems like we were up all night. I feel like Arden got too much sleep on Friday and also had some gas issues. But Saturday was a good day. We just hung out at the house and rested. Stratton was at Gigi & Pops house so Jarrod, Arden and I just hung out in our pj's, watched football and took it easy!

Jarrod did a Walmart run, and got us take out Saturday night and I did a load of laundry, we seriously did nothing all day!

Saturday night Arden had her first sponge bath at home.

Clean. Happy. Sweet Baby!

Chilling with daddy before bed

Saturday night was a much better night than Friday night. Arden stayed on schedule all night! At 9pm we gave her a bath and fed her and put her "to bed" then we got up at midnight, 3am and 6am. She didn't wake up any on her own and would go right back to sleep. I think having a whole day of being on a schedule really helped!

Sunday Jarrod decided to go to churchand then we had planned to go to HR and have lunch with my parents and grandparents and pick Stratton up, but mom called Jarrod as he was leaving church to tell him that Stratton had been up since 4am throwing up and had a fever. We decided it was best for him to just stay with them until he is feeling better. The last thing Arden or I need right now is a stomach bug. There's nothing harder than not being there for your sick child. It just killed me knowing Stratton was sick and I couldn't be there with him.
Thankfully, he was feeling a little better this evening and I talked to him and he sounded like he was his normal self again.

Tomorrow is my mom's Monday off and she had already planned to take Arden and I to her doctor appointment tomorrow, so she is going to keep Stratton at their house tomorrow and hopefully he will be a lot better and quit running a fever tomorrow so he can come home tomorrow afternoon. It's just not the same around here without him! Jarrod is going to take off tomorrow afternoon so we can take Arden to her appointment. I'm curious to see how much she weighs. She has been eating like a little pig. We upped the amount we are feeding her again, she's now taking 2 oz every 3 hrs.

We didn't do anything today, just rested and spent the day at the house. I took a nap and felt so good this evening I decided we might as well try and go to church. I mean if I can sit on the couch, I can sit in a church pew. Plus, since I have a doctor appointment Wednesday afternoon so we won't make it Wednesday night.

Going to church for the first time!

Arden did great! It was time for a bottle at 6pm so we got there got settled and gave her a bottle and she was content. After church Jarrod and I ran to McAllister's and grabbed a sandwich. Arden slept the whole time! So far, (knock on wood) she is being a really easy baby. We'll see how it goes this week when we have to try and get on a schedule with Stratton going back to school and Jarrod going back to work!

Stratton meets Arden!

Wednesday afternoon Brandye picked Stratton up at school and brought him to Little Rock so he could meet his new baby sister!

Daddy bringing him in. . .

Not too sure?!

Hmmm. . .

He wanted to see her "pigs"

Holding Arden checking out her feet again.

Such a good big brother!

Giving kisses!

Friday, getting to go home!

Thursday night wasn't as good as the night before, but we managed. Being more mobile now and in less pain, I was able to help more, but Arden just didn't want to sleep. We upped her feeding amount to 40 mls since she always seemed hungry. So if we seem tired in the below pictures, it because we didn't get much sleep!

We were surprised again by getting to go home so quickly. We were on the road by a little after noon!

We stopped in Searcy to feed Arden and grabbed a sandwich at Jarrod's parents house and picked up Stratton before making it home sweet home! Stratton ended up going home with my mom. He will probably stay there through the weekend so we can get a little more settled.

Thursday at the hospital

Wednesday night was actually not too bad. Jarrod had to wake Arden up to eat, but she would down the 30mls we were told to make sure she got and then go right back to sleep. I on the other hand had a rough couple of hours trying to manage my pain when I'm sensitive to so many pain meds is hard. I decided to let them do a combo epidural/spinal so that when the operation was over they could still administer meds through the epidural. It worked really well on Wednesday, but by that night I was needing more! I decided to try it with just oral pain medications. It took them till the next morning to come and actually take my epidural out! So between being in pain and of course uncomfortable it was a little bit of a rough night.

Thursday was a long day. My mom came and stayed the afternoon so Jarrod could go get a shower and rest and his friend, Steven's house. Then Thursday evening Jarrod's mom and dad brought Stratton back for a visit. So far I've just been blown away by his interest in the baby! He constantly wants to hold her and help with her!

Holding his sister!

Helping put her cap back on.

See my new shirt! I love his expression above!

Hello world!

Arden Grace Staggs
Born on September 12th at 7:58 am, 7 lbs 1 oz, 20.25 inches.

Chuck E. Cheese. . Pleeeaassee!!

Stratton has been asking to go to CEC for weeks. I’d ask him where he wanted to eat supper and he’d say “I think we need to go to Chucky Cheese and eat pizza”. He uses that “I think. . ” part at the beginning of most of his answers lately, it’s so funny.  So, since he has been (relatively) good in the last week, and our time of being able to do things like go to CEC for awhile is limited, we decided to take him last night. Going to CEC is a really special treat- saved for events like birthday’s!! And we don’t go on weekends, it’s just too crazy! So, he was super excited when we told him we were taking him! He was so good from the time I picked him up from school to the time we left CEC. He ate almost 3 whole pieces of pizza, played really well, listened to us while we were there and didn’t throw a fit when we left! I was so proud! We left about 7:30, and it was getting close to bedtime, but not too awfully late. So, I don’t know where the fit he threw on the way home came from? But it was a good one! He was mad that I wouldn’t let him have his nerds candy (after he’d just had cotton candy) and his cup (of RED punch) in the car. And it continued at home, we finally got him dressed and ready for bed, calmed down and in bed by about 8:45. Which might not sound late to you but we normally have him in bed at the very latest 8:30, we really aim for between 7:30-8:00. He slept till almost 8am this morning?! I don’t like to make excuses for bad behavior but maybe he was just really tired after all?! I guess we have to take the good with the bad. He was really good most of the night, and I am thankful that he didn’t show out in public at least! He did ask for “Stratton to be good tomorrow and not throw any more fits” in his prayers. I sure hope God was listening!

Dishwasher

I forgot to post this last week!! This was sent to me from my mom. Stratton spent Labor day at my Nanny & Papa’s house with my mom apparently working! Poor baby had to wash dishes! Mom said this was after they “worked” in Papa’s garden. (He told me he “digged in the garden”). I guess his pants got dirty when they were in the garden?? I never understand how when he is with my parents he always manages to lose his pants?! Seems like every picture she’s ever sent me he is in his undies!

Jake and the Neverland Pirate show

Stratton Loves the Disney cartoon Jake and the Neverland Pirates. His favorite pjs are Jake pjs at the moment. And he wants to be Jake for Halloween. . . Or at least that's what he said a few days ago, it changes from day to day.

Here he is putting on a show singing the theme song!