St. Croix Bracelets

My friend Kenzie asked me about this picture and if the bracelets meant something. I love any excuse to blog, so i thought i'd share in case any one else was wondering.

Back in the day my family went to St. Croix for a swim team trip. While we were there we came across the St. Croix bracelets (like the ones in the picture). The bracelets are patented to the island and you can't get them anywhere else. Although there are some knock offs. If the "hook" part of the bracelet is pointed out towards your hand then it means that you're single and if it points in towards you it means you're taken.

All of the girls in our family got St. Croix bracelets on that trip. Since then all of the girls born into the family have been given St. Croix bracelets as their baby bracelets. It has become a Stringham Lady tradition.

Love

Nightmare on Golden State Street

Aaron and I attended the famous Jacobs Halloween party. This year you had to dress up as your worst nightmare.

Aaron's worst nightmare was becoming his high school self. Outfit includes letter jacket (yes he still has his) class ring, over-gelled hair, Abercrombie shirt, and an old hat.My worst nightmare was becoming a schlumpy mom. Outfit includes over-sized sweater tucked into some SERIOUS mom jeans (i'm pretty sure the zipper was 12 inches long, and the sides had elastic... it added a very nice touch), lack of make-up and hair styling, and tennis shoes.
Gracie's worst nightmare was a milk allergy. She just wore her halloween outfit and had a sign.
There were some fantastic outfits/nightmares at the party.
-Twilight being canceled
-Bald with a unibrow
-Ironing
-One guy had a sign with an explanation saying he was living his nightmare haha
-Jon and Kate
-A milkman with the knocked up Housewife
-The Dentist
-Spiders crawling all over you
and my all time favorite
-getting electrocuted (my friend Mel teased her hair beyond recognition and burned her shirt.. she won my vote for best costume.. i'll try to get a picture.)

There we a ton more outfits that i'm forgetting, but it was a fabulous night! Thanks Jacobs!

Eye Color

I always wonder what Gracie's eye color is going to be. I have brown eyes and Aaron has blue. Right off the bat i thought they were going to stay blue, and often times they look blue. But, i noticed today that there is a little tan/brown ring right around her pupil...
The guessing game continues..

Jeans

I just tried on my "pre-pregnancy" jeans

one word for you...

SNUG

I'll be waiting a little while to wear those bad boys out in public

Baby Haze Phase

The six week baby haze phase is finally over. I don't have an excuse to spend all day in my jammies and not shower, dang. I'm finally starting to realize that there is a life outside of my apartment and there are other things going on besides Gracie, how cute she is, and her schedule. Its weird returning to a sense of normalcy. I'm venturing out on my own without being stressed the whole time and i'm starting to do things that i used to do before September 2nd. Its nice feeling like my normal self and to not be in a delirious sleep deprived stupor all the time. I've even started a new hobby. My friend Lisa Kay taught me how to crochet (thanks also to the encouragement of my friend Diana). Its been really fun to do it although i'm not very far along. How is it that with a baby you feel like you can't find a lot of time to do things, yet at the end of the day you don't know what you've accomplished?
I've also jumped back on the reading bandwagon. Although i have a feeling i won't be able to read as quickly as i could before. My friend Jillian and her sister Ashley raved about these books on their blogs. Thanks for the recommendation ladies. My sister Ashby read them and we decided that the Stringham Girls Book Club would read them before Thanksgiving. I don't know anything about these books other than the fact that people can't seem to put them down. I'm really excited to get into them.I'm glad that i'm exiting the Baby Haze now so that i didn't miss one of my favorite seasons/holidays. I love Halloween and the festiveness of it all. I'm excited to start cooking soups and for the weather to get colder.
Gracie's Mema sent her this outfit so that she can get into the Halloween spirit as well.The best part about this 6 weeks is that Grace is smiling. I have also learned that it is next to impossible to get your baby to smile and take a picture at the same time. Here are some of my attemptsShe makes me so happyAnother Grace tidbit. Grace is a tummy sleeper. Yes, i know what doctors say about it regarding SIDS. But she sleeps better on her tummy, her arms don't flail about, and her mookie stays in. It was hard for me to go against the grain, but its worth it because she sleeps. We have hit a snag with this method however. Grace is oddly mobile. We laid her down to sleep and when she wouldn't stop fussing we went in to see what was the matter. Gracie had somehow shimmied her way from the white rolling pad (seen below) to the top left corner of her crib. Scary. When it happened again we decided to go back to laying her on her side so that she won't crawl around. Its a work in progress.Goodbye 6 week baby haze, hello normal mom/baby phase.

Rainy Day

When its raining and cold outside, and you're feeling a little jet lagged, put on your jammies and bunny slippers...And take it easy

Weekend Away

On Thursday i left for Virginia to have a jam packed weekend.

We celebrated Stacey and Ashby's birthdays.

Grace met her Great Grandparents Papa and Granny
She met her cousins Brooklyn and Emma (who came in town also from Arizona)
Grace with Granny
Meeting Taylor
And Carly
Our high school was having its 50th year celebration and invited all the past homecoming queens to participate in some of the festivities. Skyeler, me, and Stacey in the parade.
Stacey, Laura, and I after the parade
On Saturday my friend Berta threw me and Gracie a baby shower. It was fabulous. Thanks again Berta!
Bonding with Stacey
A smile!
Saturday afternoon all of the returning queens walked the track to help announce the new queen. Check out the ridiculous corsage things we had to wear.

More Grace, of course.
With our Dad
All five Grandkids together for the first time!My sister Ashby took a bunch of pictures for me. She is AMAZING with her camera.

It was a short but wonderful weekend. Grace and I are heading home today where we're going to take it easy for a while and make up for time spent away from Aaron.

Things I've Learned...

Things I've learned since September 2nd:1. It is possible to wash your sheets 4 times during the span of one week

2. When on a time crunch while shopping with your baby, do not leave the items you just purchased at the counter. You will find yourself extremely annoyed when you put your baby back in the car and realize your items are not in your cart.

3. You can have a new profound love for things you had never heard of before: mesh undies, tucks, dermoplast, spray bottle, etc.4. No matter how much time you spend burping your baby with the burp rag right by her mouth, she will wait until there is no burp rag in sight for the spit up to come flying out.

5. Don't sit on your bed and change your baby's diaper. Even with a waterproof pad you will feel a warm sensation on your leg and realize that the pee has rolled right off the pad and into your comforter where you're sitting.

6. Don't be surprised when 95% of the people that actually stop to look at your baby and say "Aw how cute" are adult men.

7. Don't be offended when some of these men look at your baby and after you say "SHE is 3 weeks old" they say "Oh, its a she?"

8. At 3:00 in the morning you can find that your comcast channels include numbers and names that you never heard of before. Feel free to come to our place to watch the International History Channel.9. Eating M&M's and homemade chocolate chip cookies won't help take the pregnancy weight off.
10. Although you might have vowed never to wear your maternity clothes ever again, they might just be the only clothes that still fit.

11. It is possible to fall asleep sitting up.

12. There might be times when you fall asleep while nursing your baby in the middle of the night and wake up having no idea how long you were asleep or how long your baby had nursed.

13. Don't ask your husband "Do I look fat?" 4 weeks after having your baby. Chances are you do look fat (because you just had a baby) and asking that question just isn't fair to him.

14. The baby's mookie (pacifier) might be the best thing that happened to you (because the baby loves it) and the worst thing that happened to you (she can't stand when it falls out).15. Sometimes your baby will do strange things.16. After changing your baby's dirty diaper she will immediately make another "deposit" in her fresh, clean, empty diaper

17. This might just be the best job you've ever had.

1 Month

This beautiful girl turned 1 month today

Right now 4:09pm a month ago, i was sitting in a hospital bed with and epidural and an oxygen mask. I was only dilated to a 7 and i was thinking "Shouldn't this baby be here by now?"
The wait was definitely worth it though. Look at that mushy face!

She is getting bigger these days and she is sporting a double chin and arm and leg rolls.... i love it! Her poor hair has serious issues though. Its thick and luscious in the back and practically bald on top (as evidenced by these pictures)
Love you Bugaboo, Happy one month!