Recapping Christmas

Christmas was fantastic and it went by WAAAYYY too quickly! Being "home" was awesome and I probably could've stayed two more weeks but we had a wonderful visit and Santa knew just where to find us! Reed was able to get in such much needed rest (still recovering from back surgery!!), Stafford got in lots of quality Honey and Papa time and I was able to visit with old friends from high school whom I haven't seen in about a year!! Santa spoiled us rotten and so did Mother Nature...it SNOWED!!!  See below for pictures:

move over Eli, #10 has a whole new meaning!!

SNOW in Dyersburg!!

my two boys

Christmas Eve!!

Christmas Day with Uncle Ronnie

Merry Christmas from the Stacy family!

Honey, Stafford and Papa

Mom, Memama and Uncle Ronnie

LOVE HER!!!

reading Rudolph

hanging ornaments on his own tree!!

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Merry Christmas to YOU! The Stacy family hopes you have a wonderful Christmas!!

our 2012 Christmas card

sweet little boy on the back of it!!

it's beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS!!

My FAVORITE time of the year is upon us...CHRISTMAS!! This year is going to be especially fun for us because Stafford is so alert, into everything AND is amazed by the lights, trees, etc.  It is so much fun to experience this with him and to see Christmas through his eyes.  He is literally in awe of it all.  We've been reading Christmas books at night, wearing our Christmas pj's, listening to Christmas music, visiting Santa and trying to keep Stafford from "redecorating" the tree every evening!  We know that he will be less interested in opening gifts as he will be with ripping up the paper and playing with boxes...he's already had a head start on opening a few gifts already under our tree! Sorry Memama...those were yours he got a-hold of!! See below for a few pics for our Christmasy outings:

Santa says Stafford has been VERY good this year!!

first candy cane and loving it

a little Christmas shoe shopping

Canton's City of Lights

hanging out under the mistletoe

Firsts...

These past two weeks have given Stafford several firsts: first trip to Chuck E. Cheese and his very first Christmas tree!  Reed and I thought it would be fun to take Stafford to Chuck E. last week...well, we thought wrong! I think it was a combination of the lights and the noise, mixed with not feeling too well because Stafford was NOT their biggest fan.  At all.  He rode two rides...hated them! We ordered him chicken nuggets and fries, hated them...in fact, he threw up in my hands (TMI?!!) at the table.  YIKES! Needless to say, it will be a little while before we go back there again!!

One thing he does LOVE LOVE LOVE is his very own Christmas tree!  I decided to go with a simple, white tree and put blue ornaments on it.  I found the tree at Wal-Mart ($25!!) along with the ornaments.  I was thrilled to find everything so inexpensively, especially since I wasn't too sure how well this tree would hold up! Surprisingly, Stafford has left it alone except for the occasional swipe at the ornaments...he likes to watch them swing back and forth.

not 100% sure about this ride

no hands!!

curious curious

Oxford & An Egg

As all Ole Miss (and State) fans know, Thanksgiving and the Egg Bowl go hand-in-hand.  This year, the Rebs had the hosting duties; so, it was onwards to Oxford for the big game! Since we had grown accustomed to the abnormally warm weather, this game was downright C-O-L-D! Actually, it probably wasn't that cold but it was cold by my standards.  The Stacy fam got into town early on Friday, left Stafford with Honey & Papa and had dinner at 208 with Katie and William.  It was such a nice treat to have a date night in Oxford...we love 208 AND the McDaniels!  Thanks Honey and Papa for babysitting for us!!

Saturday was sunny, breezy and cold so I took Stafford and Ryan their own little tent to play in.  It was awesome! Big enough for the both of them to play and it blocked the wind...those boys were nice and toasty!  Since the game was at 6:00, we figured that we wouldn't stay for long...nighttime in November = even colder PLUS those night games really mess up Stafford's routine.  We did head to the stadium for one quarter, though! Unfortunately, we missed THE BIG WIN in person but it is still just as sweet.  Welcome home big, golden egg...oh, how we've missed you!!  Hotty Toddy!!

cousins just hanging out in their tent

love this guy!!

stafford and papa

beautiful sister

YES!!! welcome home egg!

Thanksgiving Fun!

How is it possible that Thanksgiving went by that quickly AND that it was so warm, too?!  The Stacy family had a fabulous Thanksgiving in Jackson with the rest of the Stacy clan.  We ate and ate and ate AND I didn't have to cook one thing...which made it even tastier!!  See below for a few pictures from our fun day with family...can you tell that Reedy doesn't like being in pictures?!!

my sweet  little man

hanging outside

little turkey loves being in oxford

A Tubular Day

Last Wednesday, Stafford experience his first (and hopefully only) surgery...tubes! We have been battling ear infections, runny noses, congestion and the like for months now...literally MONTHS.  We decided to pay a visit to an ENT to get his opinion on whether or not tubes were needed.  After conducting a few tests, Dr. Sneed (HE IS AMAZING, btw) recommended them for Stafford.  Basically, our baby had fluid buildup in the spaces behind his eardrums which was resulting in the constant ear infections.  He also mentioned that Stafford was hearing sounds but muffled, almost like he had cotton balls stuffed in his ears.  Dr. Sneed said since this was such a critical time for speech development that tubes were highly recommended so it was a no-brainer for us! Stafford went back for surgery at 7:40 am and he was out by 8:00 am...I was one happy momma to get my baby back so quickly!!  It has been less than a week but I will say that I have noticed a change in him already: no runny nose, no congestion and he is talking up a storm!!  He's also figured out how to stand up by himself with nothing to hold on to.  SUCCESS!!!

reading before surgery

all smiles and playing

listening intently to the doctor

all better!!!!