Home Sweet Home

Anyone who knows me well, knows that my hometown of Dyersburg, TN is one of my favorite places in all the world. There is something comforting and wonderful about spending your entire childhood in a small, Tennessee town. This little town is wedged so deeply into my heart and soul that the prospect of coming home for a weekend visit leaves me giddy with excitement!!

I am fortunate to have spent my entire childhood living in the same place and going to school (Kindergarten through 12th Grade) and church with the same people. It's these people and this town that have helped mold me into me. Dyersburg was a fabulous place to be a kid, a teenager and a young adult. It's because of Dyersburg that I have the fabulous group of friends that I have today. These girls are without a doubt some of the most important people in my life. It's sort of like the David Nail song "Turning Home" says: "And I don't know no friends, like the old friends, I never seem to laugh now, like I did with them, but deep inside me, a piece of my history, Yeah I hear their voices even though their gone and it keeps me turning home." Technically, they're only "gone" because we're scattered all across the South but we still hear each others' voices and see each others' faces a good bit! Thankful for that!

Dyersburg, for me, means many things but namely these: my old, blue, house with the pool on Stoneville, my amazing parents, my "new" house on Valley, my "little" 20-year-old sister still being a five year old, being a DMS Red Raider, Spuds and Biscuit, a Trojan cheerleading letter jacket, muddin' with our guy friends down by the MS river, Vacation Bible School at FBC, the Kroger parking lot, lifelong best friends, a first love, high school homecomings, Los Portales, rolling yards (oh, my dad would be so mad if he knew I did this!), church league basketball games, a fabulous education and awesome teachers, Dairy Queen little cheeseburgers, "working" at the store, Country Club pool summers and marrying the love of my life.

My high school guidance counselor, Mrs. Connie Wright, has an amazing talent as a photographer. Below are some scenic Dyersburg pictures that I borrowed from her facebook page...hope you don't mind Mrs. Connie!

"Home of the Golden Trojans" water tower

Yummy!! Los P, one of my favorite places to eat!

DHS

Downtown Dyersburg...see Tempe's on the left?!!

First Baptist Church

The Dyer County Courthouse

HBD Reed!

Happy Birthday Reedy!! Today, my precious husband turns 31 and is now, officially, in his "early thirties." YIKES! Reed's birthday is special to me, not only because he was born but because it was this day, five years ago, that he proposed! I cannot believe time has gone by so quickly! Happy Birthday to You...we love you so much!!

cutie patootie at age four

Professional Pics

When I was pregnant with Stafford, I just KNEW that I wanted to capture (in pictures) him growing up.  Last summer, I started looking for photographers and found one that was in my price range AND that would do a yearly plan (4 sessions).  I had it in my mind to do newborn, four month, eight month and one year pictures.  A few days after Stafford was born, the photographer that I had found came to our home and took his newborn pictures. The pictures were great but it sort of all went downhill from there.  To make a long story short, I ended up finding a new photographer (based on friend recommendations this time!) and she could not have been any more AWESOME!  Since we missed the four month mark, I ended up doing six month pictures and had them made by Natalie Wester.  She came to our home, snapped TONS of pics (in about 2 hours) and sent me the proofs (that I got to keep!) about two weeks later.  Did I mention that she was awesome? 

If you are looking for a photographer, definitely think about Natalie.  I couldn't have been happier! She is so talented, very professional, super affordable, timely and Stafford loved her!! Visit her website at:  http://www.nataliewester.com/  in order to see some of her work and look below for a few of the pictures that she took of our little guy...we loved how the photos turned out!!

CHEESE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8 Months!!

Eight months has gone by way to quickly for this mama's liking!  Stafford turned 8 months old on May 21st...see below for his "stats":

Feeding:  Stafford is currently eating baby food (the sitter level) three times a day - a fruit in the morning, a veggie at lunch and a veggie at dinner.  Sometimes he will eat half of a fruit at dinner for a little dessert BUT not too often.  We've started putting rice cereal in his bottle (to help control the acid reflux) so he's knocked it back from 8 ounces per feeding to 7 ounces per feeding.  He still has a bottle four times a day.

Sleeping: Big boy is sleeping wonderfully in his crib! He loves to spread out (arms and legs) and roll over onto his side.  We keep five Wubbanubs (pacis) in there with him so he always has one close by to grab hold of!  He sleeps through the night with absolutely no trouble...sometimes I even have to wake him up in the morning to get him ready for school!

Weight:  17 pounds, 9.5 ounces (i know this because we were at the doctor on Friday)

Clothes:  Stafford is finally, TRULY wearing 9 month clothes! He's wearing 6-9 month pj's (The Children's Place ones are the best!), 6-12 month rompers and 9 month smocked, "dressy" clothing.  Recently, he's been in swim trunks a lot and those are usually 9 month too.  We still haven't tried shoes yet but it's coming soon.

Personality:  He is still our sweet, laid-back boy.  A few weeks ago he was going through "grumpy" spells but we've attributed that to teething (we think).  He rarely ever cries and smiles all of the time.  He's really started talking a ton, too! I think he must like the sound of his own voice because he babbles and squeals constantly...it is the greatest sound on Earth!  His first word was "Ma Ma" and now he can say "Da Da" and "By By" really well!

Fitness:  We are FINALLY sitting up on our own pretty well!!  We still keep a Boppy or a pillow around him while sitting on the floor because he is prone to falling over some BUT we're almost to the point where we won't need those anymore.  He still hates tummy time and sometimes has a hard time flipping himself from his stomach to his back...needless to say, I don't think we will be crawling anytime soon which is fine with me! I don't think I'm ready for a mobile child yet!

Routine:  Our beach trip (see post below) got us a little out of our routine but we're slowly getting back to it.  Stafford still wakes up around 7:00-7:15 and goes to bed anywhere from 8:00-9:00.  We absolutely LOVE his teachers at Little Acorns and he doesn't ever fuss when I leave him each morning.  Sometimes, I think he's not ready for me to pick him up at 5:00! We've definitely gotten into the routine of putting Stafford in the bed with me (Reed is up and at em' already!) on the weekends for a little extra snoozing.  Now, that summer is here, I'm sure we will be adding POOL TIME to our routine soon!!

8 months!! 

always such a happy baby!