Just some cute pictures

Arden has started chewing on her hands all the time! She is just smiling and grinning at us and has let out some squeals, but has yet to bust out a real laugh. She has also started noticing her feet and other objects and really started “reaching” for stuff. She has also started to really take an interest in snuggling one of her rattle dolls and/or a blanket right up close to her face. . .like some other kid I know! She is on the verge of rolling over, I try not to leave her on any raised surface unattended anymore. Gone are the days of leaving her laying on the changing table or couch while I turn my head. . .I already know how that can turn out from experience!

I took this Sunday night after church. We went to eat at Lazzari’s with the Jones family. I think they were playing Angry Birds. Stratton and Juliet could be siblings with their blonde hair and blue eyes! I hope they grow up to be great friends. . .heehee, like they have a choice?!

Thanksgiving 2012

We had a rough start to the Thanksgiving “break”. With two sick kids I was worried, but by Thursday both were feeling much better. I ended up taking A back to the doctor on Wednesday and they put her on a antibiotic since her ears were a little red and we didn’t want to chance it getting worse over the holiday. I’ve had the crud, but thought I could deal with it. Well, after a busy weekend I was miserable by Saturday night. So Sunday morning I got up and went to the urgent care clinic and sure enough, I just have a nasty sinus infection. Now me and all three kids are on antibiotics! Hopefully we will all be better soon! We are too busy to be sick. . .I think I’ve said that before??

We went to HR late Wednesday night so Jarrod could get up and duck hunt on Thursday morning. We had lunch with the Wilson side of the family at my grandma and grandpa’s house. Stratton and his cousin Wilson played and played! So glad we got to spend time with my family. Then after eating and eating and eating some more we left and headed to Searcy. We ended up not doing the big Thanksgiving we had planned, since one of Jarrod’s cousin’s kids came down with strep. We just enjoyed some time with Jarrod’s parents and Jennifer, Daniel and Archer. And you would think the way Stratton played earlier in the day he would be out of energy, on the contrary. He and Archer were full of it! They were like little monkeys! We stayed the night in Searcy Thursday night, and we came back Friday afternoon leaving Stratton to spend a couple days with Nan and Pa by himself! He and Archer got to play together a lot over the weekend!

Arden all dressed up for Thanksgiving!

We tried to have my mom take some family pictures. . . .

. . .it turned out SO well. . .

We even took the dog on our Thanksgiving trip.

No surprise, Arden was the center of attention. She got passed around a lot!

At Nan and Pa’s having ice cream with Pa

Arden discovered her feet this past week!

Archer wasn’t too sure of sharing his daddy.

Archer, Arden and Stratton

MONKEYS!!

We tried & tried & tried to get a good pic of them together. This was the best one!

Sweet girl : )

While S was in Searcy he ran into Santa! He didn’t sit in his lap BUT he did touch him! That’s progress from last year!

Sickly start to the week

We took both kids to sick call Monday morning. They both sounded awful! Stratton has bronchitis and they put him on a zpak and Arden just has a cold with lots of congestion so she is taking some meds to break all of that stuff up. Stratton had a fever so I took him to work with me and he was pretty good. He made a pallet in the floor and took a two hour nap. I hope the meds kick in before the end of the week. We are too busy for sickness! But it seems we always come down with something right around Thanksgiving. I started feeling bad last night too, but I'm going to have to just deal with it. There is just too much to do, getting sick is not an option for me! Mind over matter, right!?

Stratton sounded and acted much better this morning, but Arden is the same. I really hope she doesn't get worse. The doc was worried about her developing RSV and I remember all too well Stratton having it when he was a few months old. I don't want to go through that again. Poor baby is already on three different meds right now, I hate to add a breathing treatment on top of that.

I am looking forward to Thanksgiving. I will be off tomorrow after lunch through the rest of the week, and Jarrod is off Thurs & Fri. I don't plan on getting out and shopping. Fighting the crowds is not my thing. I'd rather sleep! Maybe we'll try and get the Christmas stuff out?

Sunday with the Wilson's

Sunday, Nov. 18th

We went to Hickory Sunday for church and then celebrated my dad's birthday.

Arden is grandma's girl!

What a mess.

He opened all of Pop's presents for him.

Juliet's birthday party

Saturday, Nov. 17th

Juliet turned two this past week! Amy and Dustin had her party at the church and rented a bouncy house so Stratton was in heaven!

After most of the guests had left, Stratton found the podium and started leading singing.

1st week back at work & Arden's 2 month checkup

Friday, Nov. 16th

Whew! We made it through my first week back at work! It actually wasn't too bad. Arden decided to start sleeping through the night! That makes all the difference! We are getting into a better routine and I think it's really helping us all! She gets a bath and a bottle around 9pm and we try to put her down between 10-11pm and she has been sleeping till around 6 am. I will be glad when she starts sleeping for 10 hrs straight but I will take 7-8 hours over 3-4 any day!!

Friday morning, Arden got her first vaccinations and we went ahead and took Stratton to get a flu shot. Stratton had a meltdown, to say the least! The nurses and doctor assured us that it was completley normal for his age. They said that three and four year old are the worst! Bynthe time they were done Jarrod and Stratton were both dripping with sweat! And they had to call another nurse in to help hold him down! It's amazing how strong he is!

Before the insanity. . .

She is 10 lbs 7 oz and 22 inches. Still a little on the small side! I looked back and Stratton weighed 14 lbs when he was 2 months old! She's going to be petite like me I'm afraid.

Arden didn't like her shots either but her crying was short lived. She did run a fever and acted like she felt bad Friday night and Saturday.

Random pics from the week. . .

See what was sent to my office on Monday morning?I have one sweet husband! It made my day!

Look-a-likes?

Most of the time, I feel like our kids really don’t look that much alike. Especially, since I see their facial expressions and for the most part I don’t think that they favor all that much. But when I pulled out some pictures of both of them around the same ages, they do have more similarities than I remembered. Of course like most siblings sometimes (like in these pictures) they do look alike, but then other times they don’t even remotely resemble! And one thing is FOR SURE. . .their personalities are night and day! I told someone last night that Arden is proving everything we knew to be true about babies to be wrong, and everything that Stratton did when he was a baby she is sure to do the EXACT opposite!

 

One Day Old

One Month Old

 

Two Months Old

Arden is 2 months old!

Wow 2 months?! Where is the time going? I don't have any new stats. Her doctor's appointment is Friday. She will get her first round of vacinations, too. She still has that awful thrush. I had to call the doc today and get them to send the pharmacy another refill for the medicine. I am still boiling pacifiers and bottles once a day too. I will be so glad when this stuff clears up! She has also started drooling more, and I think I can see the first white spot on her gums! I am not ready for her to start teething so early! Let's figure out sleeping through the night first! I thought Stratton was an early teether at 4 months! She can hold her head up really well, now and Jarrod taught her how to nod. . . Really funny. She is just growing so fast!

I went back to work yesterday. It really wasn't as bad as I anticipated. I was so busy at work that the day really did go by fast. I dropped Arden off at daycare since we had so much stuff to take, I thought it would be easier to take the kids seperately. Plus, I wanted to have a chat with her teacher and the director. It wasn't too hard leaving her, she was asleep in her carseat carrier. I did think about her a lot during the day and couldn't wait to see how her day went! They said she was great. She didn't cry or even fuss very much at all. She only took 3 short naps totaling about 2 1/2 hours! I guess there was too much going on for her to be napping! Her teachers are all really sweet so for the moment I am feeling much more comfortable with her being at daycare.

I know one thing I learned. . . Picking up 2 kids sure does take longer! They are in different buildings, so by the time you get all their stuff together and visit with the teacher about their day and walk to the othr building. . . it took me about 20 minutes! I guess we will get more efficient with time. I picked Stratton up first yesterday, but today I'm going to try picking Arden up first and see if that goes faster!

We had a good night. She actually slept all night for the third time in four days! I hope we are finally getting her sleep on track! I put her down a little after 10 pm and she woke up right at 5am. That's early, but when it takes her on average about an hour to eat, it really kinda works ok. Then I have plenty time to get her ready for school and help Jarrod with Stratton before they leave. He took them both this morning.

Our two hams!

Stratton fell out of/off of a window at school Friday. Now, that's his story. . . Who knows what really happened. . .anyway he took a good lick and his head was pretty bruised and he did have a very small "booboo" that was bleeding for a bit Friday afternoon. But even though it was nothing more than a tiny scab he had to wear a bandaid all weekend! We tried to convince him it was better last night but no, he still needs a bandaid on it. I am pretty sure he has some molars coming in, he is constantly chewing on his fingers! Ewww. I know where his little hands go. . . All over every germy surface he comes in contact with! I'm sure he'll be sick with something now.

Vicious Lion!

Stratton's imagination is very active! I love to hear him playing by himself these days, he comes up with the funniest stuff. He is also a big story teller. I honestly don't know where he comes up with some of his far-fetched stories!

Arden is 7 weeks

October 31st

This girl is growing! We are finally wearing some 0-3 months size clothes! It was a little sad putting some of the sweet newborn gowns away. . .bittersweet as she has a closet FULL of cute clothes she needs to wear before long! She got new playclothes when we were in Branson for daycare, l am gradually coming terms that I will be going back to work soon. Boo.

She has also graduated to size 1diapers. She is eating 3-4 oz every three hours except at night and then she'll go 4-5 hours between feedings, sometimes. Obviously, still not sleeping through the night. . .not even close. I don't know what to do with her and her sleeping! She will sleep soundly as long as she is being held but the second you lay her down shes wide awake! And we've tried repeatedly to let her cry it out, but she either wakes up Stratton or works her self into such a frenzy that she is more awake than ever. . . I have recently heard this might be a girl thing. Great.

Arden is smiling a lot and on the verge of a laugh. She seems to be very vocal, more so than I remember Stratton being! Speaking of Stratton we had another pretty good week. He still gets a little jealous sometimes, but overall he has been much better behaved. He is A very good big brother, he is constantly wanted to hug and kiss on her. And he loves to "read" to her, which is hilarious. He gets a book and makes up a story as he turns the pages. . . I am going to try and get it on video this week. Arden just grins and coos along. It's pretty sweet!

It's hard to believe that she's almost 2 months old! Time is flying by already!

Halloween 2012

October 31st

Stratton was a cowboy . . . Again (sigh) and Arden was Minnie Mouse. . .sort of. I tried to make her nose black but she just rubbed it all over her face, so that was a no go!

We went to the church's trunk-or-treat and made a quick stop by Uncle Dillon and Aunt Brandye's house. The church had all kinds of fun things for the kiddos. It's one of the largest community outreach activities we do all year. This year we had over 800 kids! They had the trunk or treat, hayride, and games and bouncey houses inside along with food! All free for anyone in the community! Stratton had a blast and didn't want to leave! But there were a few people in scary masks, and he was scared to death of them! And he really didn't care of the trunk or treat part. . .he likes the candy, but not having to ask for it!

At church with Sawyer. . .

I think he likes her!

Stratton with Easton and Livy. . .this picture cracks me up. Livy is so sweet and Stratton could care less! You can tell both boys have mouths full of candy, too.