Grant is 10 weeks, or 2 and 1/2 months

Grant is getting chunky! He feels like one thick baby with some mass. He is blowing bubbles, eats his hand and tries to sit up. He coos and smiles a lot too. We had some trouble getting him to take a bottle but the NUK brand seems to be working well, thank goodness. I don't want our babysitter to dread babysitting a fussy, hungry baby who refuses to take his bottle. Plus I'm more willing to have a babysitter now that I for sure pump enough milk each day interning. I have plenty to spare it seems. Yay!

This is an outfit Aunt Meg bought Grant from REI.

I particularly like the tassles!

Scrabble

So Perry and I played Scrabble on the day we were sick. We are feeling much better by the way. We both just have a minor cough that gets us in the middle of the night. Anyway, we took some pictures because of our obscure words. We used a cheat online to help us think of letters since our brains were hurting from being sick.

Streptococcus.. funny name but not so funny illness

So I went to the doctor yesterday and I have strep throat. I had a fever. I think it broke while I was sleeping... thank goodness. It was making me feel even worse and my back was aching a ton, but luckily or I hope that's gone for good. I am now on antibiotics so I can go back to my internship on Monday if I don't feel too bad. On the internet it said that antibiotics don't make symptoms go away quicker, it just makes you not contagious after 24 hours on the meds and if I hadn't taken the meds I would be contagious for up to 3 weeks. I can't have that and be absent from my internship, so I'm glad I got some. I will probably go on Monday and just let my supervisor know that I have strep and I won't be the same as normal. I may also ask her if she will teach the lesson that I'm supposed to teach. Maybe I can. It is only about 10 minutes long, I just won't have much energy and much of a voice to make sure everyone listens to me.

Sick and Praxis

So this weekend Perry and I have come down with something. Stuffy nose... really really sore throat, fatigue, weakness, sometimes nausea. Sound fun eh? It's really tough being weak and taking care of a baby, especially if that baby is only taking 1 hour naps throughout the day. If anyone has spoken to me since Grant was born I can't fall asleep easily during the day time no matter how tired I am. So today I have been resting, attempting sleep. I have maybe gotten 10 min in. I hope this isn't mono because it takes a weeks worth of caring for yourself to get better and I doubt I can get that kind of rest. And if I don't it could take six weeks to clear, which is exactly how many weeks I have left of my internship.

On top of all of this, poor Perry is taking the praxis test for french. If he passes, which he will, he will be certified to teach french from k-12 grade. He will take the spanish one in July.

Sunday Picnic!

So spring is amazing! I love the warmth and the warm thunder storms and being able to be in the sun! It is awesome. We had a short little picnic to enjoy the weather with Grant sporting his new church outfit. I wanted to show him off in his outfit. Also on Sunday we finally stayed the full 3 hour block! It has been crazy since I hadn't really gone to church until his baby blessing and then we went home to have a lunch with Perry's family, then there was general conference, then Sophie's blessing, and finally this Sunday. It was nice. I mean for one whole hour though I was in the nursing lounge feeding Grant. Luckily it was after sacrament meeting and I was able to take the sacrament. That really is the most important part to me. It was fun chatting with the other girls in there too. My mom told us that Grant had an adult cry. I didn't know what she meant until Sunday when all of the new baby's and some Grant's age cried the same raspy small cry. It was weird because Sophie cries the same and Perry and I always comment on how much we love her cry since it seemed different and unique to us. But low and behold basically every other baby sounds like that too. Weird. I was able to stand and entertain Grant through basically all of Relief Society so that was great too!

Daddy loves his baby!

Grants favorite position.

Dead mouse!

So the mouse died. Just thought I would mention it. I just hope there aren't anymore. So we are keeping the traps up. Here is his defeat. Its a relief since they are full of disease and I do have a baby. Oh and funny story, when I was pregnant I went a little psycho when I found out we had a mouse. I was so germaphobic about it that I couldn't wait for it to die, when before when we had a mouse and I wasn't pregnant I didn't want to kill the mouse because I felt bad for it so we had sticky pads. I got so crazy and just never felt such a desire for the mouse to die!

2 months

Did I already mention by baby is 2 months. He had his well baby check up today and he weighs 11 lbs 5 oz which is 11 oz more than when we was weighed last week. He is also 23 inches long which is 1 inch longer than last week. Crazy! He is growing so fast. So Grant is doing well with everything. We got some advice for his cradle cap, to scrub it for three nights in a row and then it should be more manageable by the end of that. Grant also sadly got his immunizations for the first time. I didn't get him any for his 2 day visit because I was so overwhelmed about the beginning of motherhood that I didn't want to deal with the even more fussiness and possible fever that immunizations sometimes bring. I'm was also not sure if I was even going to get him any at all, however, after researching it I came to the conclusion that the risk of getting autism from a vaccine is way lower than the risk of getting one of the diseases that a vaccine could protect against. So we did them. And I never felt bad about getting the vaccines when I prayed about it. So anyway my baby cried one big wail from the nurses double dosing. They came in and said "ready, go!" and they poked him on each thigh at the same time and possibly twice and they did it as quick as they could. Grant was able to wail his second cry out in my arms and calm down really fast. I was proud of him but I got teary eyed. I don't like seeing my baby in pain intentionally, let alone in pain at all. It must be done though. Oh well. He now has sore legs, has been a little more fussier than normal, but no fever. Thank goodness. He took a really good nap today too. So thats the news about my baby.

Here is Grant in the outfit Aunt Meg bought him at DI. Soo cute. Much cuter in person. Oh and by the way, the outfit is 3-6 months and it fits him perfectly! Crazy! He is getting so big so fast.

Grant has taken to sucking on his fists a lot more now and not just when he is hungry. When he is bored or entertaining himself. We have also noticed that he likes to stare at the TV. If we put him on his boppy for a second, he is always looking at the screen.

Isn't he cute!

So cute.

Mouse News

Here is the culprit once again.

So the mouse ate from the trap and didn't die. He didn't even snap the trap. Then as we tried to reload it with peanut butter we accidentally broke it somehow. So we set out some new traps from walmart with a slightly different method. We caught a photo of the mouse NOT dying once again and tormenting our lack of ability to catch or kill the mouse!

Perry's 24th Birthday!

So my hubby, Perry, turned 24 a couple days ago. We had a lot of fun as a family. We would have had a party with games with our friends and neighbors but nobody was in town since it was Spring Break. So we just enjoyed the day as a family. First I decorated the apartment and gave Perry his presents:

Then he noticed his surprise for the day! Spiderman came to visit. This is Perry's favorite birthday picture of the day. Obviously this isn't really spiderman, its a pinata!

I think it is slightly morbid that people buy pinatas of their favorite character and beat to a pulp! But he did.

Then we went on a nice walk to Porter Park to have a picnic in the lovely sunshine.

Grant enjoyed himself as well.

What a cutie!

Then we had some delicious ice cream cake from G's Dairy Delights. It had an oreo crust, then a layer of German Chocolate ice cream with almonds, coconut, and caramel, Then a layer of fudge, then Monster cookie ice cream with oreos and cookie dough. And then the topping of brownie bites. So basically dang good!

It was an all around good day. We relaxed and watched a lot of smallville on the internet. We are trying to catch up to where the season is right now. We watched 12 episodes and still had time to do pinatas, go on a walk and picnic, and have a really good bbq chicken and potato dinner. Happy Birthday Perry!

8 Weeks :)

Grant is officially 8 weeks old in approximately 12 minutes. He had a WIC appointment today and he weighs 10 lbs 10 oz and is 22 inches long. He is in the 25th percentile for both and 50th compared to himself. He is supposed to gain 4-7 oz every week. He has gained an average of 8 oz a week so he is doing just fine. He has seemed heavier and he has grown out of his newborn outfits. We need to go to DI today and buy a few 0-3 mo pajamas to hold him over for the next month. I'm so proud of our little guy smiling more and cooing a lot. He still likes to be held most of the time and sometimes he enjoy laying on the floor on his boppy. It is weird to us because he usually never likes to be alone or what not. Here are some pictures we took of him today.

Glasses!

They are juicy lol, if you can see the blur. I think it is funny.

So I got my eyes checked at the doctors a few weeks ago and my prescription was different and I had developed a stigmatism. The doctor gave me contacts that you can wear constantly for a month. I hated them for one because since I had a stigmatism the contact has laser things on it that I could see. Only a fraction of the lens was actually prescribed and the rest was nothing. Anyway that bothered me and when I closed my eyes they would burn. Anyway I had my eyes checked again after two weeks. At this appointment he said that my prescription hadn't changed and I didn't have a stigmatism great enough to need stigmatism lenses. He wasn't sure how my eyes were different this time but apparently my eyes haven't changed for 2 years at least! Awesome. So I'm excited about my new glasses. Since my prescription hasn't changed I can wear my glasses for a long time with out needing to come for an appointment. I won't have insurance most likely until Perry gets a steady job out of college. Oh and the laser lines were there because they were stigmatism lenses.

The interning days

So far I have gone to intern twice. The first day was a prep day and the second, yesterday, I met the kids. They are from 3-5 years of age with mostly 5 year olds. When I did my practicum the children were all 3 so this is much of a change. The kids are either more obedient or more honory. Not sure which. But it was fun. The kids are very rambunctious and have attitudes. I think I will enjoy my time with them. The most tiring part though is keeping a couple of the kids either at circle time or to stay there when they get there. Some of the kids were shy and afraid of me but by the end of the day the ones who acted like they most hated me, they warmed up to me and liked me the most out of all of them. One girl really wanted to sit on my lap during circle time. She isn't allowed so I told her she could sit in front of me. She did and then turned around and gave me a big hug and did everything I told her to do. I think this was brought on by the fact that I wouldn't let her color with markers because we were all coloring with crayons and I sat down and helped her color her picture with her. Another child is really funny and he hated me but really liked me by the end. They would call me to watch them do something or would grab me and play. I can't divulge much because some of it is confidential but it was overall a good experience and a lot of fun. I'm excited for when I won't seem too new and they will listen when I tell them to do something. I don't think it will take long.

Happy Late Easter

So Easter Sunday was a great day. We listened to conference on the television and enjoyed our time spent with each other and Perry's sisters and mom. Grant enjoyed making funny faces at the camera. Easter is also the only reason Grant isn't wearing his pajamas. There is a bunny on the left of his outfit. That makes it eastery right? Plus the pastelishness adds to it as well.

We decorated eggs.

Grant is a stud muffin!

So we bought a couple of church outfits for Grant he wore one of the outfits this last Sunday to Sophie's Baby blessing. He was a stud! Here are some pics we took of him after the event.

He is exhausted from the whole day. And stayed down for the nap too!

Momma loves her stud! But he's not quite sure what kisses are for.

Yep he's a model.

And a family photo. Perry got me that shirt for our anniversary.

Happy 2nd Anniversary!

So Saturday the 1oth and Sunday the 11th we celebrated 2 years of wonderful loving marriage. Our anniversary was on the 11th. We went to see Alice in Wonderland and ate dinner at Hard Hat Steakhouse and Grill. Delicious. I got some St. Louis Ribs, which are comparable to baby back ribs and I asked for a half rack. They accidentally gave me a full rack with out charging me! It was awesome. We originally went there because we love their scones and cinnamon butter, however, apparently they are under new management and instead they do corn bread, which was pretty good, but I kind of wanted the scones for a reason. Sunday we made a wonderful Italian dish. It was garlic parmesan pasta with chicken in marinara sauce with mozzarella cheese and zuchinni slices. Soo good! We ate this as a picnic in our family room with nice wine glasses of apple juice. Oh and some garlic bread sticks. And then of course the rest of the night is history. Let's just say Grant went down at 9PM. Anyway, enough about what we did. The last two years have been wonderful. Perry and I love each other more and understand one another better every day we are together. I love Perry so much and couldn't ask for a better husband. He is my match. I'm glad I found him. Oh and the picture is actually just of a walk we took a couple of weeks ago.

Grant's Baby Blessing Day

April 28th Grant was blessed and given a name: Grant Ryan Stotts, of course! So I have beaucoup de pictures of him in his handsome stud muffin of an outfit. It was special for Perry to have his dad, Brent (Brother-in-Law), Zuriel (our neighbor), and the Bishop all in the circle to do the blessing. Perry was nervous but after he did it he was so happy and loved it and can't wait to do it again. There were a couple of things he felt impressed to say in particular which is always a cool experience. The Bishop asked me to come and bear my testimony of motherhood after the blessing was given so its a good thing I did my hair and make up and tried to look good that day! It has been a couple years since I formally boar my testimony. I enjoyed it. I wasn't nervous, it was actually just a different type of nervousness. Anyway I also felt impressed to talk about the covenants made in the temple sealing ceremony as well as how Grant has been entrusted in my care from God and he is God's child and I am his steward. We have an immense responsibility to raise him righteously or to our best knowledge and ability. So here are some cute pictures! Soon I will post some we took when he was officially 7 weeks old, with his 3 week old cousin in her blessing dress.