Two children sure make things more difficult!

We still feel so blessed to have Zachary as part of our lives now.  He is now going on six weeks old and definitely growing.

Over November we had our family come down for Thanksgiving the weekend before the actual day.  We had a house full and enjoyed it for the most part.  My wonderful mother made pretty much the whole meal because for one I am not that great a cook and two Zach would not really give me the chance to do much but feed him and pump.  This was also a special Thanksgiving because my sister Sarah was here. On Monday after our get together she hoped on a plane to start her life in Hawaii.  We will miss her but know that no matter where she goes she will always be in God’s hands.  We pray that she will meet some really great Christian examples that live by their example.

Before that, my sister Sandy rode the train down with some ladies from her church to go shopping and to see baby Zach. Zach and I drove to the Ft. Worth Stockyards to go meet her for dinner.  The food was good and we had a great time together.  I need to ask her to get those pictures from the lady that came with her.

This last weekend we went to have our family pictures taken and also covered Zach’s one month picture.  I will add some pictures so you can see how big he is growing. 

I hope to blog a little more often and get to scrapping some again. I have so many ideas and they are just that, ideas. They can’t get done yet!

   

We had so many favorites that it was hard to decide which ones to purchase.  I absolutely love the picture where Andy is kissing his little brother.

Well that’s all I have time for now.  Hope you have a blessed day!

Love, Stephany

He is here...Zachary Alexander

God and Zachary decided that this past Wednesday night would be the time to arrive instead of waiting until November 3 for when things were all planned. I had my first contraction at 8:23pm as I was getting in the car at church to go home. Andrew and I made it home and when I got out of the car I think is when my water broke. I was in complete denial that anything was happening because I didn't know what a real contraction felt like. After getting Andrew straight to bed I took a shower and was still having contractions. They were coming about every two to three minutes by that point. At 9:30 I went ahead and called Eric to tell him to get home quick. Still not knowing that I was in labor I thought we could go to the hospital incase it might be false labor. Eric got home about 10:00 and we all jumped into the car (Andrew was really hard to wake back up) to go to the hospital. Eric asked if I wanted to go to the Mansfield hospital instead of where we were registered and I told him no. Even though I was in quite a bit of pain I still wanted something to go right.

Eric did a fantastic job driving and keeping his calm even though he was a wreck inside. The roads were wet and it was still raining. Made me a little nervous because we were running red lights left and right (as careful as possible). Only once did we almost get into a wreck but God spared us all (that was a major praise). My contractions were coming every 30 seconds to 1 minute by this point. We pulled into the ER and Eric ran in to tell them that his wife was in labor. They ran a wheelchair out to me and than started getting me into triage to check my status. I remember the lady saying "Oh, she is ready" and I was thinking "Oh my goodness, this is so painful". I was feeling the urge to push before we even got to the hospital but the staff continued to remind me not to push. Obviously that is easier said than done. The doctor got there just in time and I think once they told me I could take advantage of the urge to push it only took about 4 pushes and we heard Zach's cry.

Through God's grace and mercy I ended up having a VBAC without any meds. Praise God! I was fully prepared for a c-section and a much longer recovery. Eric told me that he got to actually see Zach being born which was something he didn't do with Andrew since Andrew was an emergency c-section. What a neat privilege.

We are all so excited to now have Zach as a physical part of our family now. He is such a sweetie pie. He weighed 7lbs. 14oz. and was 19 1/4 inches long.

I will write more later but wanted to get some pictures up as soon as things were somewhat calm. Here is our new bundle of joy and happiness.

Mommy and Zach.

Daddy and Zach.

Baby Zach.

Big brother Andrew and little brother Zach.

Mommy, after a wonderful shower and Zach .

Andrew waiting to take his little brother home.

Baby Zach ready to go home.

The whole new Stratton Family.

One more cute picture of the super cute brothers.

That's it for now but when things calm down even more I will try to update some more.

Love, Stephany

Time is going by so fast.

We have had a great weekend together as a family. Andy and Daddy worked on a class project which highlights Andy as the student of the week. It turned out really cute. Eric took lots of pictures of Andy today doing things that he loves and then we printed them off to glue to a poster board. Then Andy got to put stickers all over and color in with markers wherever he wanted.

Zach is still the mover he has been and I don’t know if I would change that. It helps me to know that he is okay. We only have just a little more time before he makes his entry into this world and a more physical part of our lives. We worked on getting his room almost completely ready. We are just waiting on the mattress that my mom will be bringing with her when she comes later this month.

I have been trying to volunteer my time to Andy’s teacher before Zach gets here because I know I will not have time for a while once he is here. I really like helping and I feel it is right up my alley.

I have a super awesome best friend. Shela has gone out of her way and is throwing me a baby shower tomorrow with some other friends. She is so kind and thoughtful of others. I really wish I had her gift of being lead by the Spirit so well. She is also such an encourager even when she herself is going through so much. I constantly pray I can be half as good a friend to her as she is to me. (No, I am not talking height wise. LOL, she’s taller than me by at least a foot)

Eric has been quite the rock for me this pregnancy. Although he has taken a few more cracks at me than the first time. I can’t say I blame him. His sense of humor is one of the things that can turn my gray days sunny. He is doing so much in trying to get us ready for Zach and keeping things going with Andy. He is the peacemaker in our house, especially on the days when Andy and I just can’t seem to get along.

I haven’t put any pictures up for a while so here are a few pictures:

Here is our super cool dude!

  Here is me bare foot and pregnant in the laundry room, lol. The irony is I went straight to the kitchen next to make breakfast.

Here is Andy with Perry the Puppy. This is our family gift to baby Zach. We made him at Build-a-Bear last weekend. We all added one heart each. We then let Andy take over and groom him, name him and bring him home. I will be adding a red bandana to Perry to kind of match the doggy in the nursery theme.

Have a great night and God bless, Stephany

It’s hard to believe…

That my time of pregnancy is almost over. Being in the third trimester I am pushing to get things accomplished before Zach gets here and then I become super tired and sore. We have been blessed by so many family and friends for the things we need that I can hardly contain myself with joy. The nursery is pretty much ready and now I just need to make sure the bags are packed and to-do lists are in order.

Andy is having so much fun and learning a ton of things in school. He loves his new teacher AND he has gotten himself a girlfriend. Her name is Samantha and she is so sweet. Andy gets extremely jealous of any other boys that try to “cut-in”. I think he sits by her at lunch every possible opportunity. On a more academic note: his reading has taken enormous strides and he is now reading (or trying to read) anything he lays his eyes on. Sometimes that is a good thing and other times it is bad. His writing is coming along pretty well and he is trying to sound things out phonetically instead of asking how to spell something. I think it is so cute the variations he comes up with. His memorization is incredible. He comes home spouting different rhymes or poems or songs his teacher uses in the class. I have even noticed this spilling into his memorization of scriptures. A few weeks ago Pastor Randy gave all the children’s parents a devotional to do with their kids that goes along with the lesson he teaches on Sunday morning. So far Andy know all three memory verses. I really am so very proud of Andy. He really is a swell little guy.

Eric is so awesome. He has been my rock to get through this pregnancy. He does so much for us that I just can’t fathom how he has so much time and energy. He takes such great care of his family. I am truly a very lucky woman, indeed.

Have a great night, Stephany

Getting Some Scrapping Time

With Andrew in school now and all the chores completed yesterday I was able to go to the gym, workout, take a shower (without interruptions) and scrap. Yes, I said it! I got to scrap! I have so many to show that I am going to try and put them in this post. I have completed through day four of our Disney trip last December. I want to thank all the designers of the kits and misc. items I used. There are way to many to remember right now. But alas, here are our pictures thus far (I will put them in photo albums by days and go ahead and start with day one again):

Day One:

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Day Two:

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Day Three: (I am missing some layouts here but I will add them later)

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Day Four:

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That’s it for now. I am kind of tapped and think I will grab a bit to eat and then lay down for a nap before I need to pick up my little kindergartner. Hope you enjoy the layouts!

Stephany

First Day of Kindergarten

Well today was our first day in Kindergarten and Andrew couldn’t have been more happy to start. Eric and I drove him to school, took some pictures (we actually got one with Mrs. Roos his teacher which I didn’t expect), then gave hugs and kisses and headed out. He didn’t even yell or cry for us to come back or anything. I guess I didn’t expect any crying because he did do preschool last year to prep him. When I went to pick him up he seemed happy. He said he had a great day and that he liked his teacher. I pray they get along all year. He stayed on green the whole day on the behavior chart and I am so proud. I also pray he desires to stay on green the whole year too. I am praying that he makes some really close friends that are good influences on him. I think I may walk him into class tomorrow and then join the drop off/pick up gang from then on.

I had lots on my to do list that I came home to start immediately. I got all the tile floor mopped, all of the 0 to 6 month baby clothes washed and put away, digiscrapped a little, had lunch with Eric and even had dinner on the table on time.

Praying that tomorrow is just as good as today,

Stephany

We met the teacher last night

To say that things were chaotic last night at the Meet the Teacher night would be an understatement. It was crowded, there was little to no a/c and there was a LOT of information that needed to be told to the parents. Kids were getting restless five minutes into the information session in the cafeteria. When we were finally released to go to the room and meet the teacher everyone wanted to speak to the teacher at once and the room was very packed. Did I say that they had little to no a/c? I am a furnace as it is but when packed in like sardines I get downright cranky. I am not a fan of sweating unless I am working out and only then because it seems to happen too easily. We brought our school supplies with us last night so we wouldn’t have to bring them on the first day of school. Thankfully, Eric championed the effort to sort them and put them in their appropriate places for the class. I got to fill out paperwork with the promise of filling out more paperwork before we return on Monday. I stood in line for what seemed like forever with sweat beading up on my face just to ask one question.

Mrs. Roos seems very nice but with a strictness about her that I think Andrew will do well under. I am really praying that Andrew will learn how to make friends and be a good friend in return. There are lots of opportunities in his class and I don’t think any of his playgroup friends or preschool friends ended up in his class.

I am looking forward to next week but sadly enough I don’t really know if I will be one of those moms that cry sending her baby to school. I love him lots but I think we both need this break from each other to learn to appreciate each other more.

Last night I also stayed up late because I had many things on my mind. One of which being the organizing of baby clothes. We have been so blessed to receive many hand-me-downs and now I am trying to figure out how to organize them to where nothing will go to waste and not be used, including socks. I think next week I will start washing all the clothes and putting them in their final place until Zachary is here and gets to wear them. I have plans to 1. Organize, wash and put away the clothes; 2. Do some sewing on the curtains to add some length; 3. Repaint a shelf to more so match the theme of the room; 4. Try to get all the extra Wexford and Prescott glass sold and out of the house; 5. Work on scrapping some Thank-you cards for all the people who have blessed us with things for Zachary; and the list goes on… Little by little we will be ready for this little guy to make his presence known in early November.

I need to get ready for the day now so ttfn!

Stephany