6 Months Old...Here Comes the Chaos!

Want to see something amazing....

Yep, that is Stryder crawling!! He is only 6 months old, and it is crazy to see my little guy just doing his thing and crawling all around my apartment! So though it is awesome to watch him grow and learn, the process of baby-proofing my house has now begun!! Everything out of the floor, all wires and whatnot hanging from higher up objects have to go, baby gates up, coffee table removed from living, and on, and on, and on. This can be a little tiring. But, when I sit in the floor and my adorable son crawls to me with his huge grin on his face and reaches his sweet little hands out to me, it makes it all completely worth it. 

I have also found out that Stryder Grey has an ENORMOUS temper! Though most pictures of him, you can see him smiling or laughing....upon occasion, my boy can get mad! When something does not go his way, like say...I take a toy away from him...BAM-He throws a monster fit! He grunts and says "Arrrrr" and yells at me in his baby talk! It's hilarious now, but hopefully he won't keep this up. Talk about a lot of time-out time! ;) 

OH, and I had forgot to mention, Stryder has been sick. :( I took him to the doctor a week ago from today, and his doctor diagnosed him with bronchitis. It's been breaking my heart! But with his antibiotics and the breathing treatments he has had to have, things are looking up. My boy is feeling much better, and now that he can crawl, he's back to his wild child ways! :)

Even through all the snot and slobber,
he is still the prettiest thing in the world.

Jenna Blue Photography.

I am one lucky lady. My awesome sister Jenna is a professional photographer, and not being biased or anything, she is definitely the most amazing one around! So, I figured I would share some of the photos she has taken of myself and my family! :) Check out her facebook page here! 

See, she is truly brilliant at taking photos! Plus, I get them for free! Told you I was a lucky lady! :D

Double Trouble!

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of babysitting for my wonderful friend Sonya, who also happens to be my ex-sister-in-law and the mother to my niece Ciana. Her little baby boy Neal just turned 2 years old, and he came over bright and early to start a full day of fun with Ashlee, Stryder, and I. 

                                                           

Neal was crazy about Stryder!

I have never seen a little boy as maternal

 and loving to a baby as Neal was to Stryder. 

And Stry absolutely loved Neal!

It was truly a joy getting to watch

 the both of them play and laugh.

But, watching two young children was no walk in the park! Definitely made me realize that I am quite comfortable being a Mommy to only one baby! Changing two diapers, breastfeeding one baby, and making food for the other, keeping them both happy, and making sure they didn't get into anything was definitely tough! How my Momma ever raised 7 children, I will never know! It was a blast though, Stryder loved getting to play with a little kid instead of just his Mom and Dad all the time, which I don't blame him...Neal is a crazy fun little boy! :) It also made Ashlee and I so excited for Stryder to get older! I cannot even begin to explain how anxious I am to hear, "I love you Mommy." from my adorable baby boy. :)

Dada-Baba-IGood-Byebye-Dada.

Wow. Being a parent seriously gets better every single day.
Today, my son and I woke up at the exact same time. We both blinked our eyes until we could see each other good, and then he gave me the most adorable smile in the world and started rambling away in his sweet baby talk. These moments remind me to be grateful and thankful for my wonderful life, and for getting the chance to call him mine. 

Now to the woes and worries of a mother...


Have you ever had to fold a whole room full of baby clothes? It's such tedious work, let me be the first to tell ya! You wouldn't think tiny little outfits would be much to take care of, but after folding and putting away dressers upon dressers FULL of pants, shirts, shorts, onesies, sleepers, gowns, jackets, bibs and socks - this momma got a little wore out! I think my son could give a celebrity a run for their money on who has the most outfits! It's crazy! And also finding room in my apartment for 2 different swings, a highchair, a glider baby chair, a Bumbo chair, a Jumperoo, a walker, 2 full toy boxes and a big play-pen takes some definite skills!   
Oh yeah, soon enough I will be able to put some videos up on here, so everyone else will get to hear all the "dadas" and "babas" and "byebyes" and "igoods" that my little guy says non-stop to his Daddy and I. :) And a little baby talk makes everything a little sweeter. 


But since he is up from his nap, I will let Stryder sign this blog off.


 hbbn zvb  hhgbvtc  tbtbvn,l,mmmnnb nbbv  c jh
AKA--Have a great day! Love Stryder and his Mommy! 

The Knowledge of a Newborn.

As of Friday the 13th of this month, Stryder is a whopping 5 months old! Ashlee and I can barely believe our baby boy is getting so big on us this fast! (Wow, I wore out the letter "b" in that sentence!) One amazing gift of parenthood is getting the chance to watch my son's mind grow and expand! Every day, he learns something new and I am right there with him to receive that wide-eyed look of astonishment that says, "Look Mommy! Look what I did!" Speaking of learning things, when Stry learned how to laugh, that sound just melted our hearts. As I type this, Stryder is in the floor cackling at his Daddy and I find myself giggling too. To anyone who is expecting a child or will be one day, the sound of your baby laughing is the happiest sound in the world. You can't help but to laugh along. That's one of the best moments in my family, when Stryder, Ashlee, and I are all giggling until our cheeks hurt! It's just so sweet. 

Silly Little Stryder!

He has seriously learned so much in the past 5 months from figuring out he has hands, to using them to grab and hit things (including his Momma and Daddy!). As well as finding his toes, and trying his hardest to get them in his mouth! He is also able to sit up by himself now, which is bittersweet to us, cause that just means he is a little less dependent to his parents, wait...what am I saying? Being less dependent is a good thing right? Maybe that means I can catch a break here and there! But not for long, cause Stryder is also on the hot pursuit to crawl! He is so determined to finally get moving that I don't think it will be too much longer until I'm blogging about getting chased around my apartment by the most handsome little boy around. :)

The First Months!

You always here people say "Parenting is harder than you think!" but, strangely for us, it came so naturally. We just knew how to comfort our son, how to hold him, how to change his diapers, and especially how to love him. I will never love something or someone as strong and pure and whole as I love my son. That's the truest statement I have ever said in my life. Things that I had thought were so important in my life are so petty now compared to being everything my son needs. But let's get back on track...

The first few weeks were all about routine. He slept, he ate, he pooped, we changed him, we bathed him, he slept, he ate, he pooped. Now repeat that 500 times! :) He was/is such a good baby. Hardly ever cries, so happy, and so alert! From the day he was born, he has always been looking at everything with his huge eyes! He pays attention to everything around him, it's truly amazing to watch him watch everything else. He didn't start smiling hardcore until he was about 2 months old, but man since he started he hasn't stopped!! He has the most amazing smile! It's so huge, from ear to ear! And he has HUGE dimples!


 People keep telling me that his dimples will make him such a lady's man when he gets older, so I'll definitely have to keep a lookout for that!! ;)

9 Months Later...

My due date was August 7th. That day came, but still no baby. Our families were going crazy, waiting for our little baby boy to make his way on out. But no one was as anxious as his awaiting parents. I honestly do not think I have ever walked that much in my life, in hopes that I would convince labor into starting. But that didn't work. I tried all the old wives tales that supposedly got labor into going, but our son was staying in there until he decided he was ready to meet the world. Then Friday night, on the 12th, I went into labor. I had no idea what labor was, so I kept calling my Momma, and between us...we just didn't think I was about to have a baby. My Daddy finally made the call to head on to the hospital at about 1 in the morning. And when my family got here, the contractions started! I ended up having about a 7 hour labor, it was rough...but I held to my birth plan and went through it all completely naturally. My sisters were amazing during the labor, they kept me strong. Ashlee didn't stay in the room much, because every time he was there I would just yell at him. In my defense, I was going through labor! :) Anywho, at 9:56 on Saturday morning, Stryder Grey Warren was born. He weighed 7lbs. 9oz. and he was 22 in. long! I saw the most beautiful thing I had ever seen when I first laid eyes on him. I was beyond elated, and beyond exhausted! But he was perfect. Ashlee and I fell absolutely in love with our son.