Stratton's First Easter

As usual Easter Sunday was windy and cloudy and not a good day for hunting eggs and playing outside. We went to church at Hickory Ridge and then had lunch with my parents, grandparents and aunt and uncle. I wasn't feeling good (stomach issues again) so our visit was short, but I think Stratton had a good 1st Easter. The Easter bunny brought him a basket full of [age appropriate] goodies; a stuffed "chocolate bunny", a new sippy cup, some pj's, a book, some cd's, a plaid Polo romper, new Puma sneakers, and a few other little things! . . . .he liked the Easter football the best (of course). My mom also got him a basket that had a couple of summer outfits and a bath toy and these funny rabbit ears! He also really likes playing with basket and plastic eggs. I think we might have to keep those out for awhile.

[little bunny with a carrot]

[our 1st Easter as a family]

[Sporting the cute shirt I made him]

 

 

Picture gallery is finally up!

[one of my favorites]

Our pictures have been posted in an on-line gallery! Go to the D'Lifeful web site and enter our password "Staggs". Click on "Spring Session" to see the newest ones. Due to the fact that our session was about half the time we scheduled due to the dreary, cloudy day, traffic and losing the light, She didn't get a a whole lot of good shots, (there is one in particular that I am not a fan of, where Jarrod looks really mad) but she did capture some really good ones, especially of Stratton! She was kind enough to give me a photo credit since the day turned out to be less than perfect for outside photography! We have another session scheduled in late June, I am hopeful that the weather will be better by then!

Easter Bunny

 

Stratton meets the Easter Bunny!

I don't think he was impressed!! He wouldn't smile for anything!

Our little vampire. . .

I know that last pic is blurry, but you can see his 4 most visible teeth. He has his lower fronts, and top I's and this weekend one of his bottom I's popped out and both the top fronts are also just starting to come through! I will be glad when he gets the top two. When he smiles he looks like a vampire. It's so funny. I think by this time next month he will have at least seven teeth! He's going to be ready for a steak before long!! He has been fussy a lot lately but who can blame him! It must be hard cutting all those teeth at the same time!

In other Stratton news, he is no longer a "sit still and play with a toy quietly" baby. Nope, he is now an official loud and rambunctious boy. He will not sit still unless he is asleep! He wants everything within his reach and when he cannot have it, he gets mad. [Ex. at church on the back of the pew there are: songbooks, pencils, guests/member stickers, guest/comment cards. . .all things he cannot play with and all things that he wants. So, the battle begins. It usually ends with us having to remove all these unattainable objects where he cannot see them!].  He loves to "sing" in the car. We have noticed that as soon as you start the car up he starts jabbering and singing, loudly. It's pretty funny. He also gets loud in restaurants and church. Pretty much where ever there are people that are not paying attention to HIM. haha! He is also on the brink of crawling. . .I am not getting overly excited because I know the game changes once they start crawling. I will be happy to see him learning something new and seeing the change, but not ready for the rest of it!

Bye, Bye March

March is almost over!? It doesn't seem possible! It just seems like Christmas was yesterday and here it is almost Easter! But it hasn't felt much like spring since we haven't had but a few nice warm days so far. I am looking forward to the warmer temps and sunnier days! I have got to get Stratton to the mall this week to have his picture taken with the Easter bunny. .  .just another thing on my "to-do" list that hasn't been marked off this month!

This past weekend went by WAY too fast, as they always do. Saturday morning I got up early, I didn't intend to but I had a cold and couldn't sleep! While I was eating breakfast, I got a text from Amber (about 7:30am) that said they were headed to the hospital! I sent her a quick message back and told her to keep up posted!! After Jarrod got up and we got around we headed to Searcy to pick Stratton up, and on our way there we got a phone call from my mom saying that Nanny had fallen and they were headed to the emergency room. We went ahead and went to Searcy and visited with Jarrod's mom for a bit before heading back home. I never got another phone call or message from Amber, so when we got home to unload the car before going to the hospital I checked my facebook and to my surprise Amber had given birth to "Klaire" at 9:30 am!! I was shocked!! Man, that was fast!!  It was about 4:30 or so by the time we got to the hospital. Turns out, Nanny had broken her ankle and by the time we got there they were doing surgery. So we decided to run downstairs and check on Amber and John and the new baby! When we got there John had little Klaire laid up on his chest, she was fast asleep! So, Sweet!! I can't get over how little she is, and yet Stratton was a pound less than she was when he was born and I can't remember him being that small! I got to admit, I got the baby bug.  . . but it didn't last long! ha!! Nanny came through surgery just fine. She is still in the hospital and we aren't sure when or if she will get to come home. I assume they will move her to Health South Rehabilitation, soon. But who knows? Sunday was a pretty laid back day, we went to church and I still wasn't feeling good so after church we came home and after a quick bite of lunch I took a long nap! I got up about 3:30 and we got around and went by the hospital to check on Nanny before church at 6pm. After church we went to Firehouse with some friends and Stratton was a mess!! He was "talking" so loud!!

Several weeks ago mom and I had talked about going to Memphis to go to SteinMart, we SO miss our SteinMart that closed last year!! We had decided to go on Monday, since it would be one of my last weeks off (more on that later. . .) and my mom was off. We ended up leaving late, no surprise with a baby, and didn't leave till almost eleven. We got to Memphis, ate at Bahama Breeze and after a little bit of hunting found SteinMart. I got a couple of dresses, two shirts and a new pair of sandals! I haven't bought that much stuff for my self at one time in a LONG time!! I was surprised that they didn't have any baby clothes!! Mom was bummed that she didn't get to buy Stratton anything! haha! I was glad that she was with us to help with Stratton. He normally loves the stroller, but he wasn't a fan of it as much yesterday. We were home by 5pm, so it wasn't that long of a day but still a trip to Memphis with a baby is tiring! 

When we got back Jarrod had the 4 wheeler out washing it up. So since it was out, he decided to take Stratton for a quick ride down the street. He said that if they had rode much longer Stratton would have fallen asleep! They stopped and visited with some neighbors before making it back safely (whew, not that I was worried. . haha: )

Long Week & Random Pictures

This week has been SO long. Even though I was home on Monday and Tuesday and then Stratton went to stay with Jarrod's parent's Wednesday it seems like it has been the longest week. I guess that has a lot to do with the fact that we have all been sick and are not sleeping well. I will be so glad when everyone is well and back to normal! Jarrod is still pretty congested, but he is getting better. And Stratton seems to be feeling much better, too. If the pictures that Margie has been sending me are any indication, he is all smiles! I think the cough suppressant/decongestant medicine that they gave him makes him hyper! Has anyone else had this happen?  

The things we will do to keep a fussy baby happy, right?!

He will suck this medicine dispenser dry! He seems to really like the pink antibiotic. All I have to do is stick it in his mouth and he goes to town!

I don't know if I mentioned it before but Stratton as learned some new tricks! He can wave bye-bye (when he wants to. . .haha) and has learned to clap! I noticed Tuesday night we had Wheel of Fortune on and when the contestants clapped for each other, Stratton clapped, too! He is such a smartie!! You can just say "Yay! Stratton!" and he will clap for himself! This is all funny till he starts doing it in church, huh?! He is also stuck on the "B" sounds. He hasn't mumbled "momma" in weeks! He says "Baa" a lot. It makes since, we do use a lot of "b" words! Baby, bottle, bite, boy, book, bear, bug, bye-bye, boo", ect. . .He is just getting to big and so smart! In two weeks he will be 9 months old?! That's just crazy!!!

Sick guys

Today is the first day I have been out of the house since Friday! Wow! I feel liberated! haha! Saturday, I was at home because of Kayce's shower.  Sunday, Jarrod and Stratton were both sick so we stayed in. It was cold and rainy, not a good day to be out with a sick baby. Monday, we got up and took Stratton to the doctor. He has a sinus infection. They put him on antibiotics and cough medicine. Then Jarrod went to the doctor after that and he has a sinus infection and probably an ear infection, too. He is on antibiotics, and taking Mucinex. Poor guy, he has slept in the recliner twice, once with Stratton, too. It's hard having both of them sick at the same time! Jarrod took off Monday and after he got back from his doctor appointment he went to bed and slept. He never takes naps, so I know he must have felt really bad. I had planned on going back to work Tuesday and take Stratton to Kayce's like usual, but he had a melt down about the time I was blow drying my hair. I know more than picked him up and he quit crying and went to sleep! When I tried to put him down he woke up and started screaming again. So, you can imagine what my hair looked like drying on it's own! I then decided to just stay home all day with him. All he wanted was to be held. . .All. Day. Long. I sat him down twice so I could use the bathroom and he screamed the entire time. Very uncharacteristic of him! He would take a bottle and then fuss a little before going back to sleep. I could just tell he felt bad, poor baby. Today he is at home with Jarrod's mom. She is on spring break and offered to watch him since Kayce has a dentist appointment today and couldn't keep him. Hopefully, if he does well today Margie will take him back with her and he will get to stay with them for a couple of days. He sounded better this morning, so maybe the meds are kicking in! Unfortunately, my throat has been hurting since Monday. . . seriously, haven't I been sick enough lately?! And my stomach issues are much better, still having some pain but it's bearable for the time being. I will try to go back to the doctor in a few weeks if it doesn't get better. This has been such a long week and it's only Wednesday! C'mon weekend!