Hallelujah!

Praise God almighty, Hallelujah; the separation anxiety is over!!!

For those of you who don't know, the past 3 month Garrett developed a horrendous case of separation anxiety. He would scream if I walked a foot away from him, let alone be able to use the rest room with out a temper tantrum. The crawling and clawing at my feet was cute for a few days. But when it lasted a week I knew something was just wrong. I talked to everyone I knew about what he was going through. No one seemed to know that it was in fact separation anxiety. My amazing husband, Eric, actually researched it and told me what was going on. Then I was able to find a solution for the problem. It is always easier to accept a situation if you know it has a diagnosis and it is temporary.

Well, last week Garrett realized that he can pull himself up onto his knees and he loves it. Now, he plays independently, yea! He crawls all around the house discovering new things each day, the stairs for example. He crawls to the stairs, pulls himself up to his knees and laughs because he is so proud of himself! He is the sweetest, cutest, most amazing child in the world! (Don't all mothers say this about their kids? Well, mine really is! j/k).

Trying again!

OK, since only 2 people actually read this blog, I got irritated and busy, so I stopped writing it. But I feel like I have a lot to say and our family has been going through so much, that I am going to give it one more try. Hopefully this people will be interested in what the Stromski's are up to and want to read about Garrett's developmental fun!

Marathon

So on Sunday 1/18/09, Eric ran the P.F. Chang's Marathon in 4hrs 19min. He is absolutely amazing, my husband! This was his first marathon, and he ran it by himself, all of his friends bailed out, sad. These runners have such determination and it was so emotional watching them cross the finish line. There were couple going across holding hands, which made me tear up! Could you imagine running 26.2 miles, crossing 3 cities?
My parents, Garrett and I went down to cheer him on and meet him at the finish line. It was really such a great day. We walked right past my old dorms, the ASU campus looked a bit different, they built new dorms and several new parking structures. The old sorority dorms has bars on the entry, weird. It was neat showing Eric and Garrett where I used to live and play :)
All and all it was a wonderful day that we will remember forever.

Mama, for real or babble?

So yesterday Garrett said "mama". Now he has been saying "nanana" for a couple months now and babbles non stop. But yesterday he was saying "nanana" and I said, "mama." Then he said "mama" right after. Later that day he said it a few more times. Then today he said "mama" again 3 times. So, is it the real thing, his "official" first word, or is this just babble?
*Let's take a poll: Let me know what you think. Can I count this as his first word and right it in the baby book???

Free Calendar from Shutterfly

If you don't already have a calendar, or want to send one to a family member of the kiddos, this is a great opportunity.
Grab a FREE* Photo Calendar from Shutterfly by entering code CALENDAR12 at checkout. The offer expires January 12, 2009.
* Must pay shipping.

eCoupons

So anyone who has talked to me for an extended period of time knows that I have become a coupon clipping, money saving fool! Well, I just found something that will save me time; eCoupons. You can load your grocery store cards with coupons, so when you swipe it at the register for the stores savings, you also get your coupons without having to hand them to the cashier one by one. It is great! I generally shop at Fry's and Safeway, but you can use them at pretty much any store across the country.
Here are a few links, check it out and have fun!
http://shortcuts.com/
https://lty.s.upromise.com/member/ecoupon/eCouponHome.do
http://www.pgeverydaysolutions.com/pgeds/en_US/jsp/EDS_Page.jsp?pageID=HP

Memories

Here are a few fun memories from 2008; these are a little out of order. We are a bit slow at getting out our pictures :)



Garrett is getting his very first haircut by his Grandma Zalot.
He sat so nice and just played with a toy.






Garrett after his haircut, so handsome.





My friend Candida with her beautiful new baby boy, Quincy.
I went to visit them in the hospital.






Garrett with Santa for the first time. It was his nap time so I'm not sure if he was just tired, or if he doesn't like Santa, either way that's pretty sad.







This is Garrett on his very first Christmas!
He was so happy to have some new toys.










We took Garrett to a friend's birthday party at the Railroad park. We got to take him a a little steam engine train ride and this carousel ride. He loved both, smiling and laughing the whole time.



We are at the Christmas Tree lot picking out our tree; Garrett's first tree.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year- 2009 from our family to yours! We hope you all have a wonderful year and really try to fulfill your dreams. May God bless you in ways you never could have imagined! :)