Mini Mid-Week Getaway

Well, these are the first pictures I came across so here we go! A couple months ago Strat and I took a little trip up North with some friends, Grace,Charlotte, Andrea, and Colin! Grace's family has a cabin and we needed a break from the heat. We had a fabulous time! 

Sorry for the crappy Iphone pics.

Lounging on the porch.

We took a little picnic to Tonto Natural Bridge. Not a whole lot to do with 3 one year olds but we outside and not drenched in sweat, which was a welcome change.

Three of the cutest kids ever! They just love posing for our pictures every 2 minutes.

At one point I was sitting alone with all three kids while the girls were getting the cars. A lady came up to me and asked if they were triplets! Yes lady, I decided to come to a national park with hiking and a rushing river with one year old triplets. Sounds fun! 

On to the next event! 

 Boys playing in the dirt

We also did a little antiquing, as much as the babies would permit. 

We drove by my family's old cabin. So many great memories at the place!

One of our delicious breakfasts!

Overall, a super fun few days in the nice weather. Lots of hanging out on the porch, watching the babies play, doing our nails, watching chic flicks, and eating good food.  Love these girls so much!

 Oh and a little video for good measure. And yes, I'm thinking about a career in videography.

Well, hello blogging world.

I wonder how many times I've written a post like this. One where I say what a horrible blogger I am and how I am going to be better. Probably a few too many. My last post was in August of 2011. This is sad since this past year was such a great one, filled with the ever entertaining and adorable Stratton, a big move, and a few trips. I have been feeling some major guilt for not recording Stratton's first year very well. I've only wrote a few things in his baby book and the blogging stopped at his 4 month mark. This guilt has been nagging me for  quite a while but obviously I have not done much about it. I can't really remember too much already from when he was little. I know, I know- I'm a loser mom! Then I read this article...

http://www.daringyoungmom.com/2012/12/19/drops-of-awesome/

It has inspired me to stop feeling guilty and just do better. So a big goal for me this year is to record! I'll admit that I do love the concept of a blog and I love reading other's blogs but I have always felt like I am not interesting or funny or a good enough writer to have a blog. But I've decided that I don't care and that I'm just going to blog for me and my family. SO, in case you didn't already know, I'm not really funny, I don't write beautifully and yes, I may be boring, but my family is cute and gosh darn it, I'm going to remember things!

Facebook has become a huge time waster for me and what is there to show for it? Nothing. Although I'm not ready to completely go off it (I know my own strength and it's minimal), I am committed to only checking it once a day and only spending 10 min on it. And spending the rest of the time I would spend on it on blogging! So here's to a new year and blogging up a storm!

World's worst blogger

So yea, maybe I'm the world's worst blogger, but thanks to my ever, super, most fantastic, awesome aunt, I do have cute cute pictures. I have super cute ones that my amazingly talented and every beautiful sister Breea took as well, but they're not on the computer that this blog post is coming from, so for now....enjoy this will you?

Yep, you guessed it....4 months old.

Once a month blogging is the new trend I guess...better than nothing!

So the little guy is 4 months old! He is so much fun..I officially love this age! He's talking a ton, laughing, and starting to roll over. He's such a good baby, loves his bouncer, swing, bumbo, and new love, the exe-saucer! Still nursing but he gets a bottle once a day so I can teach piano. He's losing most of his hair, except for a nice mullet in the back. This month has also brought on some not so great changes- he's sleeping worse, getting up 3-4 times a night. Teething? Growth spurt? Whatever it is-ugh. He spoiled me I guess. We finally moved him to his own room WAY upstairs. He's fine- I'm struggling.

4 month stats:

Weight: 15lbs 9oz- 50th%

Length: 26 1/2- 90th%

Head: 16cm- 30th%

Brennon starts his LAST SEMESTER OF SCHOOL today!!! I'm a tad excited about this.

Pictures...

His concerned face...

Pictures from his blessing day...such a wonderful day with our family and friends

Getting ready.

I'm pretty sure he's loving this.

Lots of the beautiful women in his life..

:

He loves bath time!

And loves his excesaucer!

4 months old baby!

The Fish's

And the Gutts

Love my little family!!

3 months and awesome.

Stratton is becoming such a little ball of fun. He smiles non-stop (except when the camera comes out), is super close to letting a little laugh out, and beginning to try to roll over. He's starting to grab at things and mastering the difficult task of hand-eye coordination....hopefully he gets Brennons'. Me+any sport=failure.

He is officially sleeping through the night...on a 8:30pm-5:00ish am (then back to bed til 8:30) sleeping schedule. YAY! This has made my life, and Brennon's, consequently, 12,638,273 times better. He's such a stud.

We go in next month for the check up but I'm guessing he's getting close to 14-15lbs. He's a delicious little chunk. Anyways, here's some pictures.

3 months old!

We had my Gma Guttery's 80th birthday party in Holbrook, twas a great time.

Big Stratton meets little Stratton.

4th of July family pic.

Cuddling with Grandpa at the parade.

Everyday when we get home from running errands or what-not, I strip him down and let him air out. The summer sun totally wears this kid out.

2nd cousins....they are yummy

We just got back from beautiful Colorado! The Hatch family got a lodge near Durango and we spent the week hiking, white water rafting, sightseeing, playing lots of cards and eating lots of delicious food. It was practically perfect, except that Brennon wasn't there. Sad face.

Strat man was such a good traveller, only crying the last 20 minutes. If it was acceptable, I would have been crying too. Looong day.

Mostly, he was doing this:

Crazy girls.

He's not impressed.

2 months old!

Time really does fly! I can't believe how big this little man is getting. He is so much fun- starting to talk to us and smile a ton. Here are his 2 month stats...

Weight: 12 lbs 10 oz in the 75 percentile

Height: 25 inches in the 90th percentile (Brennon could not be more excited about this.)

Head: 15 inches in the 50th percentile- he didn't get Brennon's large noggin!

He got his shots last week which was like the saddest thing ever. He did so good, I probably cried more than he did. I am loving feeling good again and staying home with my little man. I'm teaching piano to 12 students which is perfect. Brennon just started his summer internship with Cox and is really liking it so far. He only has one more semester to go to get his Bachelors! Yay! We decided to live off the grants and loans next semester and have him finish up. He'll be taking 21 credits but not working. We're excited to be so close to being DONE! And thats really all that is going on with us, just enjoying Strat man and his adorable-ness. Now for some pictures.....

We got to go visit Evan, Cara, and the twins in Seattle when Stratton was just 5 weeks old. A little nerve-wrecking but he did such a good job on the flight. Probably the easiest flight we'll ever get with him for a long time. Brennon had to quit the airline job so we wanted to see them one last time til Thanksgiving. We had such a good time hanging with them and they even cooperated enough to give us a few good pictures.

Going shopping for Stratton's blessing outfit was so fun. He was our little doll and humored us outfit after outfit.

These were the top two contenders...

We ultimately had to go with this one. Could not resist the bow tie.

We blessed him on June 5th at my parent's house- more pictures to come of that!

He's a big smiler

So happy to be 2 months!

First time swimming! Loved it until he jerked and his face went in the water.

Just discovered his hand this week and how good it tastes.

The many faces of Stratton!

Yummy

Thanks Kristal, you are a GENIUS!

The little man is here!

I'm going to try to get back on the blogging train but I warn you, it will most likely be all about the little man from this point on. He's much cuter than us.

So, after a long and semi-miserable week long (after the due date) wait, Stratton finally decided to make his appearance! I was sooo ready- the nesting was getting a bit out of control. Here were his stats...

Stratton Randall Fish

Born on April 7th, 2011 at 5:38AM

8lbs 14oz

22inches

{Long} Birth Story...

I was scheduled to be induced on the 6th at 7:30AM. I wasn't even really nervous at this point, just so ready to be DONE being pregnant. We got to the hospital and they started me on the gels...very long process. They did 3 rounds of the gels which lasted until about 1PM. We did a lot of walking up and down stairs trying to get those contractions going. I wasn't making much progress- still only at a 3 but they were ready to start the Pitocin. They started that around 3PM. Then, by around 5, the contractions started coming on a lot faster and stronger. Good times. I sat on the exercise ball for basically 5 hours while I was enduring the contractions. We played some cards, watched a movie, and Brennon, my mom, and Brennon' mom attempted to distract me. Finally, I was just about at a 5 so I got the epidural. The epidural was scary, but oh so worth it. :) I was finally able to relax and tried (tried being the key word) to get some sleep. They had to have me on oxygen on and off and pumped me with fluids throughout the night. Around 1AM, the doctor broke my water and after that things started progressing much more quickly. I was to a 7 by 3AM and a 9 by 4AM. My mom and I woke up Brennon every time the nurse came in to check me- at least someone was able to sleep. :) By 4:30ish, I was at a 10 and ready to push. The doctor came in and I pushed for about 45 minutes.

Brennon wasn't really planning on watching any of it- I had barely convinced him to cut the cord. But the nurse asked him to hold one of my legs as I pushed so he was kind of thrown into it. Now though, he's so glad he was able to watch and experience everything and said it wasn't as scary as he thought it would be. I really wasn't expecting Stratton to be as big as he was- my guess was in the high 7lbs range. My mom's guess was the closest at 9lbs 2oz. I still can't believe a baby that big was inside me.

We delivered at Mercy Gilbert and could not have been more happy with the whole experience. I am convinced that nurses are part angel. They were amazing and made everything so great. The rooms were huge and so nice. Volunteers would come in and bring little cheesecakes and free cute knit beenies...ummm, awesome. So great that we decided to stay 2 nights instead of one. It was great to have that extra help with everything. We went home on the 9th in the morning.

We are just loving on our little man. His cheeks are so squishy and kissable and he has a nice mullet of black hair that feels like feathers. He has been sleeping great, one night in his first week even making it 6 hours straight through the night...although I woke up in a panic after I looked at the clock! He's on a pretty consistent 4 hour eating schedule and is doing great eating. My recovery went well and after 2 weeks, I'm feeling normal again, except this extra 20lbs hanging on me. It is quite an adjustment having our whole lives revolve around this amazing little person but we are enjoying it all.

After his 2 week appointment, he is now at 9lbs 6oz and in the 75% for weight and height. Practically perfect in every way! He is getting more alert and awake every day- its all going by so fast.

Here are some cute pictures...we take like 20 a day of him. Kristal is taking his newborn shots today so I'll post those soon!

The family can't get enough of him!

Cross eyed loon!

Hairy bum!

LOVE HIM!!!