Mean babies.

Arden

Stratton

Our precious girl!

She’s getting too big too fast! I can’t believe she’ll be 10 months old in 9 days?! Time is just passing us by like we are sitting still!

I took these pictures Saturday afternoon. What else do you do when your stuck at home and have to be quiet because brother is taking a nap?? Why, have a impromptu photo shoot, of course!

She’s pulling up on everything!

Her new “mean” face. And she does it A LOT- so funny!

She’s also an expect “spitter”, so very ladylike.

Home Finally and Arden’s 9 Month Check-Up

Whew! I am glad to be home! Our trip to Minnesota was short-lived, but long wearing!

Mostly meetings, but we did get to have a little fun.

Enjoying a little dessert and nice weather!

At the Twin’s game

After we got home Friday afternoon (LOOONNGGG day, our shuttle left the hotel at 4am, our flight was at 6am!) Terry and Margie brought the kids home (I think they were actually glad to see us, too!) then we went to grab some dinner. Then they went back to the house and dropped me off at Brandye’s house for yet another Park Lane Jewelry party (yes, this would be my 5th one, and hopefully last one!) and I stayed there till after 10pm. I caught a ride home with my mom and Aunt Kay!

Saturday Jarrod had to work. He was up before we got up and we were all in bed asleep by the time he got home around midnight! It was a long day for all of us! The kids got up at 7am (which is sleeping in for them!) and Stratton was testing my limits after being gone for almost a week! They, of course, decided to take naps at different times for the first time ever- so no nap for mommy either! I was so glad when bedtime rolled around!

Saturday Mornings, cereal and cartoons.

Arden kept trying to get Stratton’s cereal, so I gave her a cup of her own (puffs) and she was happy after that!

Arden’s 9 month check-up was today! She did great! Mommy, however needed some help! This is her LAST baby appointment. The next one will be at 1 year?! I am SO not ready for that!!

Daddy! Get off the phone and pay attention to ME!

 

Arden’s stats at 9 months (almost 10 months!)

Weight: 18.11 pounds ~ 31st percentile

Height: 27.5 inches ~ 39th percentile

She’s still right about the same percentiles as she was at 6 months, so she’s growing perfectly! She’d definitely not under-nourished! She’s solid! The doctor even commented that she weighs more than she looks like she would! She meets or exceeds all the milestones for her age. When Dr. Bailey looked in her mouth we found out she has another tooth that has poked through and one on the way! Almost to 4 teeth now! Her tubes were looking good and no sign of infection anywhere! She said Arden looked perfect! And no shots today! Yay! Jarrod was happy too, he said this is the first time we’ve left the Dr. office without a prescription in months- and he’s right!

Just for comparison sake, here are Stratton’s stats at 9 months, and he already had 7 almost 8 teeth!

Weight: 21.5 pounds (75th percentile)

Height: 30.25 inches (97th percentile with a “up” arrow on his paper-ha-ha)

Different as night and day!

40 Weeks and a sneak peek . . .

Arden is 40 weeks old! It's so strange to think she's been in this world longer than I was pregnant with her at this point!

Here are some pictures from the past weekend.

We got up Saturday morning and had breakfast at our favorite, Sue's Kitchen then made a quick trip to Sam's. The kiddos were great!

Arden loves to ride in the shopping cart, especially when she can ride right beside Stratton!

Saturday evening we went to Wynne to have the kids pictures taken by Jessica King. It was miserably hot but I think she got some good ones. Here they are in Jessica's inlaws yard. She's 7 months pregnant and still getting down on the ground to get a good shot!

Here's a few she sent me as a sneak peek. . .

Jarrod and I are in Minneapolis till Friday. I had to come to a Bayer Cropscience meeting and he's tagging along for fun! We will be back on Friday. I'm ready to be home, I'm already missing my babies!

Father’s day weekend and busy start to the week!

Jarrod has had to work late/nights so much lately! He had to work Friday (his normal day off) and Friday night (he went in about 8pm and got home around 6am). So since it can be impossible difficult to keep Stratton quiet, my mom took him home with her Friday night so Jarrod could get a few hours of sleep when he got home Saturday morning. He slept till about noon then mowed the yard and then we got ready and headed to HR.  We had father’s day for my Papa (the Gibson side of the family) Saturday evening at my nanny and papa’s house then we just stayed the night with my mom and dad since we were having Father’s Day for my grandpa and the Wilson’s Sunday at lunch. We had a good time with the Wilson’s. My uncle Doug had received a ladder ball game for Father’s day from Logan and Riley (2 of his grand-daughter) and we played it for quite a while and it was pretty fun! I wasn’t very good, but I didn’t completely stink!

We stayed at my grandpa and grandma’s house all afternoon and ran back to my mom and dad’s house just in time to change clothes (Stratton had to have a bath after playing with Riley outside) and get on the road home. We made it back to Jonesboro right on time, but the kids both fell asleep on the way (since they hadn’t had a nap) and they were both cranky when they woke up. We have VBS this week and it started Sunday night, and Stratton didn’t want to go sit with his class so I know he was tired!

After church we ran to Firehouse to get a sandwich (per Stratton’s request) and soon after we got home Jarrod checked his work phone only to find out that they had been trying to get ahold of him and he needed to go back to work. He helped me get the kids to bed and then he left about 9pm. They worked all night and he didn’t get home till about noon on Monday! He had planned to go home and rest, but his truck started messing up so he had to take it to see what was wrong. We still aren’t sure but it doesn’t sound good. So he got about an hour of sleep before I got home with the kids from school yesterday evening. Then it was rush, rush, to get them fed, bathed, clothed and to church by 6:30! We got home last night and got the kids to bed and then he crashed!

I know the kids love VBS, but it is such a struggle! I am glad it’s only 4 nights and not all week! I will try and get some pictures tonight, it looks so great and the kids are having such a good time!

I hope the rest of the week is calm and Jarrod doesn’t have to work late anymore. We haven’t even had a chance to give Jarrod his Father’s day cards and present yet! Maybe tonight!

Jarrod and kiddos after church

Playing Ladder Ball

What’s happening at Arden’s crib

I find her sitting up most of the time these days. . .no standing up yet, but I am sure that is soon to come since she loves to stand up. Most of the time when she wakes up we know it pretty quickly because she starts playing with the aquarium/sound machine on the side of her bed. She turns it on and off, and on and off and on and off. . . and we can hear it on the monitor. Especially since she slaps the on/off button and we hear “whack !” over and over and over. . .and there isn’t a snooze button on the baby monitor, although that’s a thought!

Busted! We’ve just had the baby monitor camera sitting on the side of the crib since Arden was born, but I think we are going to have to mount it or move it! I went to get her up from a nap and found her playing with it!

This is how I found her Saturday morning. . .

. . . she was reaching for something? But there was nothing in the floor? Who knows!

Prisoner!

This morning when I went in to get her up she had three blankets all pilled up in her lap! (Like she was ready to take them with her) And she didn’t like it when I pulled 2 of them away from her and only let her keep one! Oh and there was no pacifier to be found! I have no idea where it went?! I looked in the crib, in the floor. . .I think she might have ate it!

9 months old and tubes!

9 Months :: June 12th

Arden is one busy girl! At 9 months, she isn’t technically “crawling” but she gets where she wants to go one way or the other! She booty scoots and slithers, or she’ll look at you and stick her bottom lip out and look sad and someone will inevitably pick her up! With the exception of the past months ear infections, she is normally a really happy, laid back baby! She likes to watch Stratton but it’s not going to be much longer before curiosity gets the best of her and she’s in the middle of it!

She weighs 18 pounds and is wearing size 3 diapers and 9 mo/6-12 mo size clothes. She is eating good and still takes about 4 6oz bottles a day. Here are some more fun things about Arden at 9 months old!

• She is starting to pull her headbands and hair bows out! (This doesn’t make mommy happy)
• She loves to dump her toy bucket over and pull all the toys out. . .over and over and over. . .
• She is eating 3 meals a day now! So far she likes everything!
• Yogurt melts are her favorite snack, anything she can self-feed is a winner though.
• Still working on the sippy cup, so far not a fan.
• The stinker also won’t hold her bottle!
• She babbles; baabaa, daadaa, and other noises, but quit saying momma!
• She loves her brother and likes to kiss on him and wrestle with him!

This is what she does to Stratton’s animals when he’s not around : )

Really?! Of all the magazines for her to want to look at!

Cleaning out daddy’s magazine basket for him!

Hey brother! I wanna ride, too!!

That’s better!

Funny Videos. . . .

 

Tubes::  June 13th

The past week is a blur! She wasn’t acting like herself and was very cranky and fussy and her eyes were runny and matting up, so even though she wasn’t running a fever I took her the doctor on Monday. She (of course) had another ear infection. The 3rd one in about 6 weeks. Seems like there is about a week in between each one. They put her on another antibiotic, gave her a shot of rosephin and since we were going to the NEW ENT on Wednesday didn’t think they’d need to see her back. Tuesday my mom came and stayed with her and then Wednesday we had her ENT appointment with a different doctor and it went great, I was so relieved with all the information they gave me and made me feel so much better. Especially since I had to take her by myself I was afraid I’d be overwhelmed and not get all the information and ask the questions I wanted to! But it went fine. The doctor said her ears were really bad and if an adult had come in with the same thing they would be in tears. He was surprised she was so content and happy. (she was still kind of grumpy to me though!) They even remembered me (from Stratton and the rock incident- not sure if that’s a good thing or not?!) They also said they could do her tubes on Thursday! So, we ran to the hospital signed all her papers and got everything ready for her surgery the next morning! We were scheduled to be 2nd on Thursday morning. So we needed to be there between 5:30 and 6:00am. Which works great for us, since she is usually awake around 5:30 and ready for a bottle! I did wake her up (kinda, she didn’t really wake up fully) at 11:45pm and gave her a bottle because she wasn’t supposed to have anything to eat or drink after midnight. I think that might have helped some because she did great! She didn’t really wake up till we got to the hospital. She didn’t go back for surgery till about 7:30am, but she was so good the whole time. She even went willingly with the guy who took her back to have the procedure. It all took about 30 mins and when they came to get us they said she was just the best baby ever! Not that we were surprised! We were on our way back home by 8:30am! Jarrod went in to work, since he had a meeting in Searcy he didn’t want to miss, and I stayed home with Arden. They had warned us that she would be cranky, irritable, and sleepy. They were wrong. She took about a 30 minute nap and then was raring to go! She wore me out! She did take a little longer nap in the afternoon, but she didn’t act groggy or anything like they said she would! She actually acted like she felt better than she has in a week or more! So far we are really pleased with the results! The Dr told us her ears would probably drain for the next couple of weeks but other than that she wouldn’t have any other side effects. She is still taking her antibiotics for the infection she has, and they gave us some ear drops to use, so that’s not too bad. We go back for a follow up in a few weeks.

Waiting for her turn!