Into Everything!

Stratton is such a busy boy! He is into everything. He has recently found the cat food- I don't think he ate any- and even things I think he wouldn't get into, he does. It's hard to leave him alone for more than a few seconds, he can make a big mess fast! He isn't afraid of anything. We can be in a place he has never been before and he will just take off like he owns the place! He is never still. Changing his diaper or clothes is such a battle! Church is getting harder. He doesn't like to sit for very long at all. And we can't put him in the floor he'd be gone in a heartbeat! Jarrod had to take him out twice during Sunday morning worship yesterday.

He was actually trying to climb my bakers rack! He was putting his foot on the first shelf before I broke the camera out. Does climbing just come naturally to boys or what?! He likes to pull my cook books off, too. That's a big "No, No!"

He pulled all the tp off the roll and then threw the roll in the floor! He did this in a matter of seconds! I am constantly amazed at the mess he can make in such little time!

Of all the toys in his toy basket he finds the easter eggs? They are the ultimate toy of choice at the moment, he likes to tap them together. Of course this picture was taken before he pulled every toy in the basket out and then crawled out of the room leaving his mess for me to clean up! I can't wait till he is old enough to actually pick up after himself!

Still a big fan of his bear, as you can see he still chews on his foot. He will actually say "bear" sometimes. He has a green one that matches his bedroom that sits on the shelf above the changing table and I let him play with it while changing his diaper. So we practice saying "Bear" a lot. So he can say "Dada", "BaBa", "Bear" and lots of other sounds, but still no "Mama". . . sigh.

He loves to go naked! After his bath in the evening sometimes we let him "air out", it's been so hot and he has had a little heat rash on his rump so I figure it's good for him. Too bad it's a major fight to get him back in the diaper and pj's afterwards!

After a long day at daycare he was worn out! He fell asleep in his highchair in the middle of his supper with his sippy cup in his mouth. And when I tried to take it out he would cry and stick it back in his mouth and go back to sleep?! Such a funny boy!

 

Not so great.

I must warn you I am writing this post under the influence! I am still a little drowsy from the sedation, took a pain pill a little while ago and don't feel great at the moment. I had my colonoscopy and upper GI endoscopy this morning. The prep was pretty bad. The stuff that you have to drink for the colonoscopy is horrible. I almost threw up several times. It was really tough. And of course I was up and down all night going to the bathroom, so I didn't get much sleep. Then we had to get up at 4am to get ready to be at the hospital at 5:30. (and just a note- it doesn't help to get there early because they aren't even there until 5:30!) My tests were scheduled for 7:00 so we waited in little area on a  small hospital bed separated by the other patients having outpatient procedures done by nothing more than a curtain-fun. They wheeled me back about 10 till 7 and I got to talk briefly to the surgeon, I was a little sidetracked however because my veins kept blowing so they kept having to redo my IV and when they finally found a good vein she said it was "positional" and kept wiggling it around to find a good spot- owwweee. Anyway, they finally started the IV the nurse ask me to bite on this mouth piece thing and asked to me roll over . . . . . . and the next thing I know Jarrod is sitting next to me talking on the cell phone!

The surgeon removed a spot from the area between by esophagus and stomach when they did the endoscopy, I guess it was just a polyp of some sort. He also said I have severe acid reflux (which we knew) and I even have the pictures to prove it- don't worry I won't post those, they are pretty gross! Then when he did the colonoscopy he found a Lipoma which is just a benign growth. (The picture is pretty interesting, it's cool to see your insides, but again I won't share!)  Guess what? It's SUPER rare in the colon. Yep. Leave it to me to get something really rare. He has only seen one other person with this in his whole career (does that give you confidence about him operating on me or what?) And that lady's was so large it was cutting off her small intestines. Luckily mine isn't that big. . .yet. He told Jarrod that I needed to have it removed or it would cause other more harmful problems. BUT he has NO idea how he is going to do the surgery. (haha- not kidding) He has to do some thinking and researching since mine isn't as connected as the one he did before or something (I am hoping that's a good thing).  We are meeting with him on Thursday to go over the options. So great, they found my problem, right?! He is going to remove this "thing" and I will be all better, right? Uh, wrong. He said most likely this is just a coincidence that they found this today and the pain I am having isn't coming from this growth. Ugh. I have no idea what will happen now. I know I will be having surgery in the future, I just hope and pray that somehow he is wrong and the Lipoma is what was causing my pain after all. We don't know anything about the surgery, like if it is outpatient or not and how evasive it will be. I tried to look it up on the internet but there isn't that much info about it. I guess we will find out on Thursday.

Today has been kind of rough, I am still having my abdominal pain and it was really bad after we got home, so Jarrod called the nurse from this morning and she said to go ahead and take the pain meds I have been taking, that the air they use to blow you up during the procedure was probably making it worse for me today. I am trying to take it easy and nap, I just feel really tired and sore. I hope tomorrow I will be feeling better!

Jarrod's mom came and got Stratton yesterday afternoon and he is staying with them until tomorrow. Hopefully, I will be feeling much better and we can go to Searcy. Jarrod's dad had to work last weekend so we haven't got to do father's day with him yet!

Weekend and Father's Day

Friday night we went to eat at Pizza Chef with our group of friends from church- Girls got to choose the restaurant. . .that's right Amy and Dustin are having a GIRL!? Stratton is really going to have some hard choices to make when he gets to the "dating" age (around 30, right?) there are only two or three boys in that age group and all the rest are girls! Dustin even sat Stratton down and had a "talk" with him. . .haha. Like they will even want to date, our kiddos will probably be like brothers and sisters! Jarrod had to meet us at the restaurant since he worked late and came straight from work in his work truck, so after we ate Stratton and I ventured out to get Father's day gifts. We went to Lowes first and that was a bust, then I had some things I needed to pick up at Office Depot where he threw a HUGE fit. I was soooo embarrassed! Luckily the guy helping me had kids and was super nice. After that we went home!

Saturday Jarrod had to work, so Stratton and I didn't do a whole lot, we did get out about 1pm and went to LifeWay to finish our Father's Day shopping. I just carried him in and boy was that a mistake! I ended up getting 2 bibles and wanted them engraved, well that was going to be a 20 minute wait! The guy said "If you have some other errands you want to run we will call you when they are finished and you can come back and get them." I was like uh, I think I will just wait! It would have taken 20 minutes just to get back to the car get S buckled in and out on the road! So we went back to the children's section where Stratton pulled all the books off the shelf while I went behind him and put them all back. ugh. I was wore out by the time we got home!!

We went to Hickory Ridge when Jarrod got off work to have Father's Day dinner with the Gibson's. We got to visit with the fam and Stratton had a good time getting to play with Cooper. They don't get to see each other very often anymore since Miss Laney came along and Stratton started Daycare. They were really funny together. At one point Cooper started to straddle Stratton while he crawled - like he was going to try and ride him- lol! Boys!?!

Sunday we woke up early- Stratton is still getting up early, not at 3 am anymore but about 4-5am, still way too early. I fed him and put him back to bed and he slept till about 7:15. I got him up and he was in a great mood so we climbed back in bed with Jarrod and gave him the rest of his father's day presents and cards. (He got a new leaf blower earlier in the week, I had to give it to him b/c where am I going to hide that?!) Stratton got him a book and a new bible. Then we all got up and got ready for church. After morning services  (where I might add my Uncle Brian was appointed a Deacon! We are so proud of him!) we headed back to HR for Father's Day with the Wilson's. We had a good lunch and a long visit at my grandma and grandpa's house. My cousin Josh and his wife, LeAnn and their kids came and so Stratton got to play with them, even though they are quite a bit older. We also were entertained my Stratton's infatuation with the glass door.

Father's day is a special day to me. I am so blessed to have been surrounded with Godly men my whole life. My Grandpa and Dad are the best men in the world, and I'm not just saying that because they are family. I think you could ask anyone that knows them and they would tell you the same thing. I am so very grateful that Stratton will get to grow up knowing and loving and being influenced by these great men, I can't imagine my life without them.

Sunday night was the start of our VBS so we didn't have church until 6:30. It was a long time from 6:30-8:15! After church we ran to Walmart, S was by then of course pretty cranky so it was a quick trip

[helping Pops open his card]

[fascinated going in and out]

[licking the glass door]

[only a face a mother could love- lol!]

[funny smushed face]

Happy First Father's Day Jarrod!

It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons.  ~Johann Schiller

On your very first Father's day I want to thank you for being such an awesome father. Stratton adores you and it's no wonder. You are his hero, I can already see that even though he is only 11 months old. I am so thankful that he has such a good role model for a father, by living your life in a way that is pleasing to God you are teaching our son to do likewise. He really is the luckiest little boy I know. And I am the luckiest girl I know, by loving our son so completely and earnestly I feel loved too. I can't explain the feeling that I have when I see the way he looks at you or to see the way you look at him, it's in those heartwarming moments that I get to see just a glimpse of the special bond you share. Thank you for working so hard to provide for us, thank you for being committed to me and our marriage and and thank you for being my partner in raising our son to hopefully be the kind of man his father is.                   ~I love you.

Then . . .and Now. . .

{May 2005}

{June 2010}

My goodness, have things changed!

More Pictures from Saturday

He is DONE getting his picture made!

Stratton update

Like I mentioned in my previous post, Monday we took him to the dr and they said he had a virus, and it would just take a few days to kick it. Monday night he ran fever and got us up at 11:30pm and 4:00am. When Jarrod fed him at 4:00 he threw up, which is kinda common for him when he has a cold or congestion. The dr told us it's because babies can't blow their noses to get rid of mucus so when they are extremely congested it's like a reflex. Since it's happened before I didn't think too much about it. Tuesday morning Margie came and stayed with him. When I left to go to work he was still running a little fever, but acted like he felt much better. Well that went downhill fast I think he threw up again after she gave him breakfast and then did it again later that afternoon and then once more right after Jarrod and I got home. Poor baby. He was pretty funny though, just like you and I when we have the stomach virus, you know how great it feels right after you throw up. . .before the nausea  kicks back in? Yeah he would just smile for a few minutes, then back to crabby, cranky and fussy. Who could blame him?! I did call the Dr office back Tuesday afternoon to see if we should be doing anything else to help keep him from getting dehydrated, since he couldn't keep anything down, she said just try to give him a little water or juice and that she would call in a prescription to settle his stomach (it ended up being Zofran- who knew babies could take that, too?! Just cut them in half!) The medicine worked great just a few minutes after we gave it to him he was sound asleep! He didn't eat supper, but took a bottle of 4 oz twice before finally going to bed around 10pm. He woke up about 3am and Jarrod fed him and was up for about an hour. Then he slept until 6:15 or so. So his schedule is all messed up! I hope we can get back to it soon. My mom came today to stay with him and so far today he hasn't ran a fever or been sick! My mom however had her hands full today. He knocked over an end table in the living room and broke a glass hurricane candle holder, so she had a mess to clean up! She said he knew when he did it that he was in big trouble because he instantly started screaming, and it didn't even touch him! Then she got a little sick this afternoon, but thinks it was something she ate or some medicine she took- hopefully she isn't getting the virus, too! I hope he will sleep good tonight and he can go back to daycare tomorrow! Having a sick baby is no fun, and that is the understatement of the century!