9 MONTHS!!!

I am a little late in posting this but my baby is 9 months old!! He is growing up so fast and changing more and more every single day. Here we go:

Feeding: Stafford is a GOOD eater and it makes me so happy! He still has 4 bottles a day but we've knocked it back to just 7 ounces per bottle since we've added a little rice cereal to them. He is still eating baby food three times a day (b'fast, lunch and dinner) AND we've even thrown in a little table food here and there. Wednesday night, Stafford sampled baked beans and ribs (mushed up and in teeny pieces, of course) and he LOVED them both! He is not a big fan of water or juice and he still doesn't like green beans...I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that we won't have a picky eater on our hands!!

Sleeping: Still sleeping wonderfully in his crib, throughout the night, which makes Reed and I very happy! We keep all five wubbanubs in there with him so he can find one at any point in the night thereby eliminating one of us having to get up and give him one. He loves looking at his "cow jumping over the moon" projector on the ceiling...it keeps him thoroughly entertained even after he wakes up...best purchase ever!

Weight/Height: At his 9 month appointment, Stafford weighed 18 pounds, 10 ounces and was almost 3 feet tall! :) His doctor said this was the biggest jump in percentile that Stafford has had to date. He's growing!!

Clothes: Stafford is mostly wearing 9 and 12 month "dressy" outfits now, depending on the brand. He's been wearing lots of 12 month playclothes since those tend to run a bit smaller (so I've found). He's also in a size 3 diaper which is fabulous because now we can wear overnite diapers!!

Personality: LAID BACK best describes this little guy. He is so happy, smiles a ton, babbles all day long (and even some in his sleep!) but does have a tiny bit of a temper. We've discovered that he doesn't like having something taken away from him...hmmm, where does he get that from?!! :) He really is such a loving child and I hope he stays that way forever!

Fitness: Stafford is sitting up very well on his own now and I love it! He's not crawling or pulling up yet but I have a feeling it is coming soon. The other day, Reed said he tried to crawl a little bit but couldn't get his knees under him quite yet. He has started clapping and waving his hands around AND kicks his legs all of the time!

happy 9 month birthday to you!!

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!

Been Beachin' It

Ahhhh! That is the "sound" of a week's worth of rest and relaxation in beautiful Seaside.  Oh my, we had such a good time that it was extremely hard getting back to reality on Tuesday morning! Reed and I went to Seaside/Seagrove Beach, Florida with four other couples (plus kids!) for a full week (Saturday to Saturday) and it was pure heaven.  I don't think we've taken a full week for vacation since our honeymoon so it was such a nice treat to wake up mid-week and realize we still had several days left to go! The families that went (the Blanks, the Samuels, the Allens, the Haralsons and us) holed up in a beautiful, 4-story beach house right on 30-A.  The house was amazing, complete with it's own pool, kiddie-pool and multiple balconies to take in the gulf!  Several nights there, we had dinner reservations at AWESOME restaurants: we had dinner at V Seagrove on Monday night to celebrate the birthdays of Anna and Morgan, dinner at Caliza in Alys Beach on Wednesday night and dinner at Borago on Friday night.  On Tuesday night, we cooked at home (Jacob's famous shrimp and Shannon's homemade pizzas) and Thursday night, we slipped into Seaside and had dinner at Bud & Alley's Taco Bar.  So much fun! All of the kiddos did GREAT (ages were 5 months - 2.5 years) and the adults are dying to go back already! 

Stafford did wonderfully on the beach, all laid out on beach towels, under an umbrella, surrounded by toys! He really liked floating in the pool, too!  Below are some pics from our awesome vacation:

drinks for the boys at Caliza



group shot on the beach

 big boy sat in a high chair for the first time at Chik-fil-A!

 the Stacy family on a lunch date

 swimming with daddy

 strolling to Seaside with the big boys

 finally meeting precious Jack Carr!

 my sweet boy!

 Stafford loved wearing his new shades

 cutie patootie in his new outfit from Honey!

 lunch at The Back Porch...my favorite!!

 family pic

 girl shot at Caliza

the whole gang

Happenings...

Man, I've been SUPER behind on posting lately...hence the three posts in two days! The Stacy family has had a busy month.  Lots to celebrate (Memama's birthday, our 4 year anniversary, Ashley's wedding) and fun places to go and see!  Spring has flown right on by and summer is here...at least in Mississippi!  Below are some pics from our fun-filled past few weeks:

 Stafford & Daddy cheering on the Rebs from left field

 One of my favorite sights in all the world, Swayze Field...Hotty Toddy!!

 Lunch with Baker Arnemann on the CCJ patio

 Another favorite sight...Double Decker 2012

 Stafford was chillin' out and listening to the bands

 Happy Birthday Memama!!

Mr. & Mrs. Mathis Young...such a sweet couple!!