Memoral Day Morning, spent in the ER

Aaron, Drake, & I spent part of our morning in the ER

Saturday morning during our yard sale Drake started getting little red bumps all over his legs, I thought it was a heat rash.  As the day went on, they got more red and started spreading throughout his body.  By Sunday his poor little hand looked all splotchy.

This morning when Drake and I got up we played in bed fora little while before we went out to the living room where I finally noticed that his hand went from splotchy to HORRIBLE.  The little dots were all over his poor little body.  So... I got us both dressed real quick and made our way to NWMC.  The ER staff was really quick and got us in, in about 5 minutes.  The male nurse that did vitals was great with Drake.  He didn't cry at all AND he's up to 15 pounds 11 ounces now. 

We were put in room 9 and waited for Aaron to get there (he was working) and for the Dr to come check out tiny baby out.  Drake was in absolutely no distress.  My goofy son was squealing the whole time.  Dr. Akin was the ER doctor and was very nice.  He checked Drake's spots out and then checked his eye and ears.  Everything looked great other than the spots.  He wasn't very worried and said that it looked like a very bad eczema flare up.  We'll follow up with our pediatrician later this week. 

Other than our quick ER trip, our long weekend was great.  I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day! 

My 1st Mothers Day

 Sometimes it's still hard to beleive that I have a baby that calls me mommy (well he will one day).  Aaron and Drake started my morning off w/ cards and the most perfect amazingly perfect mothers ring. 

The picture picture was taken at work with my iphone so it definatly does not do it justice but I needed to show it off anyway

David Adams in Fayetteville is wonderful!  And they have the best mothers rings I have ever seen.  They have the child's name hand stamped on the band and they're stackable for when if we have more children.  Aaron and Drake weren't the only ones thinking about me on my 1st mothers day!  Mom and Dad sent me flowers and John and Susan sent me a card!

Other things to catch up on...

**I have misplaced my camera charger and it's killing me!  I haven't been able to take pictures because my camera is DEAD :(.  I threw around the idea of just buying a new camera (mine has a huge crack down the screen anyway) but I LOVE my camera so I opted to just buy a new charger.  And thankfully it will be Wednesday.  I'm sure that I will be in picture overload once the camera is charged.  I've already missed 2 weeks of Drakers that I wont get back. 

**Drake wants to crawl so bad but just cant get up the courage to get on all fours yet.  We worked on it alot yesterday afternoon and I have a feeling we're going to have a mobile baby very soon.    

Here he is trying to get the balloon that came with my flowers

Happy BUNNY Day

Happy 1st Easter to Drake

As most of you know... I go all out (for the most part) for holidays even though Drake could care less and has absolutely no idea what s going on.  I searched and searched for an Easter basket that I liked and that wasn't going to cost me my Aaron's left arm.  After 2 FAILED online purchases I finally found a lady (thanks to thebump.com) out of Georgia.  I ordered his basket and within the same week it was delivered.  I love it and he'll be able to use it for several years before we'll have to upgrade to a larger basket.  When we were in Branson for our 'mini family vacation' in February (I think) Aaron and I found Drake's Easter outfit.  It was super cute but of course he spit up on it not an hour after getting to Mark and Faith's.  I had the details of the night before (dying Easter eggs, letter to the bunny, carrots, etc) and the day of planned out to a T.   

Saturday night after dinner we stripped Drake down to his diaper and colored eggs.  Of course it was for us and the picture more than fun for Drake.  Aaron and Drake wrote on eggs with the magic crayon while I set everything up (and snapped picture).  We couldn't decide the most efficient clean way to let Drake dye his eggs.  We only had 6 but we knew that it wasn't going to be easy or clean.  We finally decided the bumbo with tray was the best way to go.  We let Drake help us put the eggs in the glass of dye on his tray.  He was not  happy camper when we tried taking the egg and glass away.  After all of the eggs were dyed and Drake was slightly blue and yellow, he and I sat down and wrote his letter to the Easter bunny.

The Easter bunny was very good to Drake.  He got an outfit, books, plastic eggs, and a toy.  Mommy and daddy got him a new sippy cup, a big yellow ball, and a choo choo train.  Along with his Easter goodies was a card from the Easter bunny.  BUT it wasn't just a normal card.  It was written backwards so we had to read it in the mirror to see what it said.   

    

Easter Dinner at Mark and Faith's was delicious.  Drake had his first piece of ham and green bean casserole.  My stuffed tomato appetizer and pineapple nastiness dessert was a hit!  With all of the lovely rain that we've been getting, the egg hunt outside was not happening.  After everyone left but Uncle Dusty, Aunt Jessica, the girls, Drake, and I we had our own egg hunt in the house.  The kids hid in the laundry room while I hid the eggs.  They found them in about 2.4 seconds and the hunt had turned into a game of hot/cold. 

We had a wonderful Easter and I hope that everyone else did too.  The only thing that would could have made it better was if Aaron was there with us. 

Ribbit Ribbit

Drake and his daddy caught their 1st frog last week.

I was at work when all of the 'catching the frog' excitement happened.  But Aaron made sure to put it in a tupperware container and send me a picture.

 Aaron had even put a fly in the bowl for it to eat.  It didnt eat the fly but it did make a HUGE mess in the bowl. Drake LOVED watching it jump around it's bowl.  He may have got a shake or two in. 

 When I got home from work, I came to the poor frog's rescue.  Aaron and Drake released the poor frog back to the outside while I snapped a few pictures.

   

After the frog excitement, Aaron discovered a birds nest on top of the gutter. 

 Drake was too interested in other things to notice the nest though (not that he knows what a nest is).   

Grammie and Grandpa fix

Mom and dad flew in this last Friday night.  They were only here for 44 hours but it was a fun filled 44 hours.  We spent our Saturday watching Bailey play softball.  It was her first tournament of the year.  She had 5 games total… talk about exhausting huh?  She did so well and pitched her very first game.   Saturday was also Peyton’s birthday party.  Princess stuff everywhere!  Aaron and I got her TOMS.  And she LOVED them (like there was any doubt). 

In September, Aaron, Drake, & I are going to Idaho for a week.  The boys will be hunting (with a bow) and well who knows what the girls will be doing.  Aaron has never archery hunted before so for his birthday Drake and I ordered him a bow.  When it got here, Aaron opened it and looked at it but because he knows nothing about bows he waited until dad got here this weekend to pull it out again.  As soon as dad saw it, he was like “dude, that’s a youth bow” so after much research, we found that it was in fact a youth bow.  Sunday morning we went to academy sports to get Aaron a big boy bow and because Aaron had to work all weekend, we met him at Colton’s for lunch before finishing our shopping errands. 

Mom and dad had to be back at the airport at 7pm on Sunday so Aaron took off a hour early and went with us.  There was no way I could take Drake that far and be by myself on the way back.  He HATES the car and without someone sitting with him it’s quite unbearable.  But before we left for the airport Grandpa set Drake's swing up in the front yard and he got his swing on.

It was a fun weekend.  Drake got to spend time with his grandpa and grammie and they got to see how much Drake has changed.  The only downfall to our great weekend was it went by too quick.    

Our latest adventures as a family of 3

The last several weeks have been very busy for all of us and big weeks for Draker baby. 

We took our first ‘mini vacation’ just the 3 of us last weekend.  Our plan was to spend our day and night in Springfield.  We were going to hit up bass pro, lunch at Lambert's, shopping, and then the zoo.  But unfortunately for us, the weather in Springfield was less than pleasant and ruined our outside plans.  We had fun at bass pro but then ventured on to Branson after checking out Lambert's and being told there was a 2 hour wait.  In the windy, rainy, cold outside with our baby…I think not.  Branson ended up being really fun.  Spending the day with just my favorite boys was great!   

(left: sitting up in a big boy chair at bass pro – middle: family picture while in Branson – right: Aaron & Drake testing out the Nitro’s)   

 

Drake can officially sit by himself.  He really likes sitting on the floor playing with his toys.  Peyton was over the other night and pulled some of his toys that he got for Christmas out of his toy box.  And thank goodness she did, Aaron and I tend to forget that they’re in there. 

(left: big boys who sit up get to use a big boy bath ring – middle: this was about day 2 of practicing on sitting up – right – sitting up at the dr’s office)

 

Drake has also learned that he can roll to get where he wants.  Our baby has 100% disliked HATED being on his belly so he never really took to tummy time or learning to roll.  When we were in Branson he rolled all over the bed.  He just kept rolling and rolling.  He’s our little Roley Poley.  Yesterday afternoon, I laid him on his blanket (on his back) in the middle of the living room floor with some toys.  I came back from starting the laundry and he was on his belly with his legs half way under the entertainment center. 

He is growing all too fast for me!        

He's 1/2 Way To 1

Drake turned 6 months old this month!  

He is getting so stinkin big! Aaron and I took him to his 6 month checkup on Thursday.  He is weighing in at 13 lbs 7 oz and 25 1/4 inches long.  The Dr said that he is on the smaller side but we all knew he would be.  We did get the go ahead to start giving him 2 oz of juice or water a day.  And he can have puffs and yogurt melts too. 

The last 6 months have flown by.  I wish that we could put our life into slow motion for the next oh... 18 years. In just the last couple of weeks he has started doing so many new things.  He babbles and 'talks' ALL the time now.  He can say 'dada' when he wants too but it doesn't happen often.  Last weekend Aaron and I really started working on him sitting unassisted.  And about 2 days later he was doing it.  It isn't a perfect up and down sit but he can balance himself without being helped for several minutes now.  He still doesn't roll from belly to back very often (because he HATES being on his tummy) but he rolls from his back to his belly (mostly in his sleep.)  Tonight while sitting in the hotel (in Branson), he found that if he just keeps rolling and rolling he can get to where he wants to go by himself.  I think that way may have a semi mobile baby soon. 

I don't want my baby to not be a baby anymore. 

Homemade Baby Food

Now that I'm done playing catchup, hopefully I can keep on top of my blogging and throw in a couple of random posts as well!

Everyone said that I was crazy to make baby food and why waste my time when I could just buy it.  I know that store bought baby food is not bad for him and I know that making his baby food is not going to make me a better mommy than anyone else.  But I enjoy it, it's easy to make, it's cheaper, and it's the real deal.  I don't add anything but water and/or formula to his food.  When I first started looking into making my own baby food I came across alot of recommendations online for www.wholesomebabyfood.com.  This site is amazing.  It breaks down what foods are appropriate by stages and age, it tells you what to look for in case of allergies, and of course it gives you the recipes.

 

So far I have made: carrots, sweet peas, green beans, squash, sweet potatoes, apples, bananas, & pears. 

Drake liked: carrots, sweet peas, squash, sweet potatoes, & apples

Drake did not liek: green beans, bananas, & pears 

http://www.wholesomebabyfoods.com/ tells you the best way to cook the veggies and fruits.  Most of them can be steamed/boiled on the stove top or in the microwave.  There are a couple that are baked.  I make adjustments to the receipe process as I find what works better for me. 

When making baby food these are the items use every time:

plastic bowl

After I steam, boil, or bake the veggie or fruit I put it in a small plastic bowl to mash it before blending it

fork

I mash the veggie or fruit with a fork while it's in bowl.  This makes it easier to blend because there wont be any big pieces of food.

tall plastic cup

I put the mashed up food in a tall plastic cup.  I've used just the bowl before but I end up making such a mess using the immersion blender. 

immersion blender

I LOVE using the immersion blender when making baby food.  It's by the simplest thing I've used yet.  My 1st go around with baby food was not a success.  I tried using my food processor and it was a disaster.  The immersion blender lets you manually blend the parts that may need more blending

 munchkin food storage containers

The storage containers was something that I researched alot.  I read reviews on every container that I could find.  The munchkin containers are great because they have strew on lids instead of the pop top lids that I've 'read' open when they are freezing.  The only thing I do not like about these containers is that I can only get them at 2 stores around me - Bentonville walmart and Rogers target.

My first attempt at baby food = FAIL

 My second attempt at baby food = SUCCESS



Way Behind And A Whole Lot To Tell part 2: January & February

Things that happened in January.?.

1. Aaron turned 28.  He had a pretty laid back birthday.  I asked him if he would rather go out to eat or have dinner at home and he didnt think twice before deciding he wanted to have dinner at home.  He asked for chili but because our life is crazy busy anymore that didnt exactly happen.  He and Drake came and had lunch at the office with me.  He already knew one of his birthday presents, simply bc I was not about to buy a $300 bow and him not like it.  So he got his bow for his birthday (even though he claims he forgot he was getting it) and then a pair of Jason Aldean's 'retro wranglers.' He loved his card from Drake. It was super cute and with the help of mommy, he wrote a very nice note.
2. The Jason Aldean concert was January 22.  And I must say... that man is AMAZING.  I could very well be in love with him.  Aaron and I dropped Drake off with his Aunt and Uncle and headed to Fayetteville.  We have left Drake before to go to work and I think once or twice to run an errand or two.  But we had never left him at night time before.  I cried on our way to drop him off and was quite teary eyed once we left but I'm so glad that Aaron and I got to spend much needed time together ALONE!  The line to get into barnhill arena was INSANE, it was forever long!  Once we got inside and found our seats (15th row on the floor) we headed to the tshirt stand!  I really wanted the shirt with his picture on it but Aaron reminded me that might be a little strange so I settled for one with just his name and tour dates on it.  I <3 my Jason Aldean shirts and I'm always telling Aaron that I wish I could wear them to work. (I told you that I could possibly be in love with him - that could also be translated into possibly be obsessed with him).  But back to the concert... it was AWESOME!  His new songs rocked and dirt road anthem is definately my favorite.  I took a ton of pictures and a couple of videos!  The nigtht was great and spending it with my amazing husband made it that much better.  Getting home to our baby was great though.  I missed him and thankfully he slept pretty good for us that night. 
3. Thanks to Nate and Bonnie... we found the PERFECT photographer for Mr. Drake.  We have started taking him to Eryn Salley Photography in Bella Vista!  She is amazing... she's really good with Drake and has a fun personality.  Aaron and I like her work so much that we have decided that we're going to have her take Drake's pictures every month for his 'month birthday.'  3 month pictures were a hit!  I love them and I cannot wait to get his 4 month pictures back! 
4. Poor Drakey baby had his 4 month well baby check on the 17th.  He weighed in at a whopping 11 lbs 9 oz.  He had to get those mean old shots again though!  He did well with them, probably better than the first time.  I decided this time I would just stand outside the room when they gave him the shots so that way when they were done I could help get him dressed since Aaron was still in uniform.  Standing outside the room and hearing my baby cry was a horrible feeling...mommy cried too!  But after we got him dressed and fed he was good to go!  His next appointment will be his 6 month appointment in March.

February seems to be lasting FOREVER.  We had 2 BIG snow storms.  We saw more snow in a two weeks time than we have seen in YEARS.  We took Drake out for a quick photo shoot one evening when Aaron got home from work.  He wasnt too sure what to think about it.  We got him all bundled up in his gap snow suit for a whole 7 minutes.  I think it took us longer to find his clothes, hat, gloves, and get him ready then it took us to take a few pictures.  But now we will always have pictures of Drake in his 1st big snow!  The 2nd snow storm was slightly different... we couldnt leave our house for a couple of days.  The weatherman was calling for 4-6 inches and we ended up with 16.  In some parts of the county they saw up to 30 inches.  It was CRAZY.  It reminded me of living in Idaho again... which I dont care to do.  We didnt take Drake out in this snow because we probably would have lost him in it.  I tried to take a tape measure outside to measure the snow and dropped it - TWICE!  I came back in and told Aaron "um... I'm sorry but I dropped the tape measure in the snow and I cant find it."  He said "um...I'm sorry but you better go find it before it rusts."  What a mean husband I have :)  The snow days off together were great.  We work opposite days so we NEVER have a day off together.  Spending time as a family of 3 all day long for a couple of days was wonderful.  I made breakfast, lunch, and dinner for my boys and Drake got to have his mommy and daddy with him all day long!  Valentines Day took forever to get here but now that its over the month is flying by.  Drake had Hershey hugs Valentien cards this year.  He took 1 for all of his buddies at daycare, 1 for his teachers at daycare, he sent 1 to Grammie & Grandpa, 1 to Asher, 1 to Grandma & Papa, 1 to Joel & Lola, and then 1 to Micayla, Dillon, Bailey, & Peyton.  Grammie and Grandpa sent him a BOX of stuff.  Everything from stuffed animals to toys and clothes!  Mommy and daddy got him a 1st Valentines Day Book and card and a chatter box elmo doll.  He loves when Elmo laughs!

PICTURE WILL BE ADDED LATER   

Way Behind and A Whole Lot To Tell: November & December

I am about 3 months behind in my blogging so here goes a whole lot of catching up.

November:

Drake turned 2 months old in November!  

And with turning 2 months old came his 2 month well baby checkup and vacinations.  I took him to his appointment since I was still on maternity leave and his daddy met us at the dr's office.  Daddy had to stay with him when he got his shots.  I couldnt do it...he got a total of 4.  1 was oral and then he got 2 in one leg and 1 in the other.  Aaron said he took the oral one just fine, the 1st shot was a little bit of a shocker, and the other two were complete tears.  After the nurse was finished Aaron picked him up, gave him a bottle, got him dressed, and he was good to go.  Luckily he didnt have any adverse side effects from the shots.  He was slightly fussier than normal that night and ran a LOW grade fever. 

 After several weeks of projectible vomiting and a very fussy baby after eating, doc put Drake on Zantac for his acid reflux.  That stuff is the miracle medicine for our son.  he's like a completly differnet baby.  We went from using a bottle of gas medicine in a week and a half to hardly EVEr using it.  My 9 weeks of maternity leave went by so quickly.  I went back to work on November 22.  It was horrible having to get things ready for Drake to have to go to his grandma's house for the 2 days that Aaron and I both worked.  Not because it was his grandma but because I was leaving my 2 MONTH OLD son.  The weekend before the 22nd I got everything ready and labeled.  I even made a "Drake manuel" for Betty to reference incase she had any problems or needed any suggestions.  The morning of the 22nd was BEYOND horrible.  I cried all the way to Bentonville.  I left early because I wasnt sure how long it would take to get things situated with Drake at Betty's.  I got their way too early because I couldnt handle sitting there holding him knowing that in just a few short minutes I was leaving him in the care of someone else.  Work wasnt as bad as I thought it would be but it was not where I wanted to be.  After the rough morning that I had and my back and forth feelings about leaving Drake in Bentonville we both decided that it would be better if he started daycare at Lollipop in Hiwasse where my/his aunt works.  Daycare works out really well for us.  Drake's 1st Thanksgiving came all too quickly.  My baby was already 2 1/2 months old and having his 1st Thanksgiving.  We had 2 Thanksgiving dinners and Drake of course had a different outfit for each house. We went to Aarons parents house early that afternoon.  His grandparents from Kansas were even there. 

Late that afternoon we went to Aunt Jessica and Uncle Dusty's for my family Thanksgiving. 

DECEMBER:

Christmas time!  We had alot to plan and to get ready.  With Aaron and I both working full time again and wanting to spend as much time possible with Drake we had a full plate on our hands.  Mom and Dad were flying us to Idaho for Christmas at the end of the month.  I had to get all 3 of us packed, wrap all of our christmas presents still, clean our house, have 2 Christmas' in Arkansas, and make our way to Tulsa by the 22nd.  Needless to say it didnt all get done BUT that is ok.  It worked out great and Drake's 1st Christmas was wonderful.  I again had outfits specially picked out for each Christmas event.  He didnt however get to wear them all.  We had Christmas with Aaron's parents and grandmas right after work one night so we had to hurry and get going... dressing Drake up just wasnt happening.  Christmas with Aaron's family was great, we got ALOT of great gifts!  The next night we had Christmas in Gravette with my family.  We all went to Gene & Betty's for Christmas dinner and then to Aunt Jessica and Uncle Dusty's house for presents there and so the kids could have their presents from my mom and dad.  Uncle Dusty and Aunt Jessica got me THE KENDRA book!  I have yet to read it but I wanted it SOO bad.  Maybe all these snow days will allow me some reading time :).  Faith and Micayla made Aunt Jessica and I the best gift ever!  They put Drake and the kids' pictures on a quilt for us.  They're very pretty and the fabric is the same fabric that my hospital gown was made out of.   The week before our trip Aaron and to take Drake to the Dr because he had a cold that wasnt going away and we wanted to make sure he could travel... the Dr gave the Ok.  The 22nd came quickly and it was time to go to Idaho. That morning we woke up and Aaron and I were sick too.  Our throats hurt and we were both congested and feeling poopy.  A trip to walmart to stock up on medicine was a definate go!  We both knew that traveling with a baby was going to be hectic but we did!  And we did it well.  Drake did awesome with the ride to Tulsa...slept the whole way. 

When we got to the airport Aaron dropped Drake, me, our 4 large suitcases, stroller, and both of our carry ons at the door.  He then parked and hiked his way back to the terminal.  We flew southwest so we wanted to take advantage of the 2 free bags per ticketed passenger.  I went back and forth for weeks on whether or not to bring the car seat, bring the stroller, check one, check the other, or check both.  We ended up checking the car seat and gate checking the stroller.  Going through security was a breeze compared to what I thought it would be.  We were able to skip to the front of the line.  I emptied all of mine and Drake's stuff into the bin and headed for the metal detector.  Aaron loaded everything onto the belt and surprisingly was able to walk through the metal detector with us instead of having to go through the scanner.  Flying southwest was new to us... they dont assign seats so its first come first serve.  Thankfully we got to board with family boarding in between A & B seating groups. We had a layover in Vegas and of course it got DELAYED... not because of snow or storms.  We were delayed for 2 hours because of the RAIN.  They apparently are not prepared for rain.

  We finally go to Boise and it was FREEZING.  We got our bags and headed for the cars.  That's right... CARS.  Mom's bug was way to small for us and all of our stuff but dad's truck couldnt fit all of and our stuff without our stuff getting wet from the snow.  Aaron and our stuff went with dad while Drake and I went with mom.  Drake was crazy tired and screamed the first 15 minutes we were in the car before he fell asleep.  We grabbed our jack in the box (its a must for me) and headed to the house.  CJ and Alex were there waiting for us.  We hadnt seen CJ since before he deployed the last time and he had never met Drake.  We chated for a while before they left and we headed to bed.  Aaron, Dad, and CJ went skiing/snowboarding the next day... that could be a whole blog in itself so we'll skip all that and go straight for the Christmas Eve Party.  Every year the Hadley side of the family has a Christmas Eve Party.  Everyone brings a homemade gift and we do a white elephant gift exchange.  Its funny to see what everyone comes up with.  Some are good and some are NOT. Mine this year was not.  I thought about making something useful and cute until Mary at work sent me an email on how to make slippers out of pads.  So that's what I made, I even bejeweled them.  The party was great and I got to see alot of family that I missed.  Drake got to wear his 'Christmas outfit' that I HAD to have. 

 However, he only wore it for about 30 minutes before he got super hot from all the people, cooking, and everyone passing him around.  Everyone loved our baby Drake (but what isnt to love).  Every year on christmas eve we open 1 present and its always the same, Christmas Eve pajamas.  This year I completly ran out of time at home and didnt get to pick Aaron and I's up.  When we got to Emmett, the search for pajamas was on!  Dad and Aaron search the town and every store in it.  Aaron came back with normal pajamas for himself and a lovely set of pink flannels w/ white bears? for me.  They were just beautiful (NOT).  I couldnt even make myself wear the top.  I ended up wearing Aaron's UFC shirt with the bottoms.  Christmas morning I was woke up by a phone call from CJ.  He was on his way over to the house with Alex and Jaydon.  I woke Aaron up and he got Drake up while I went and woke mom and dad up.  CJ and Dad searched through the mound of presents and sorted them out according to who they were for.  We opened presents for what seemed like ever!  I must say I have GREAT parents.  They got us way more than they should have (not that I dont love presents :).  Drake's favorite presents from his Grammie and Grandpa was his seahorse. 

This was the first toy he EVER reached for or smiled at.  The next day was time to go home.  We had to make a short trip this year because Aaron and I had to be back at work.