Merry Christmas!

May your day be merry and bright!

Merry almost Christmas

Miss Sloane is definitely in the nice category this year. Hopefully Santa has been watching! Darling photo edits courtesy of Sloane's very fun auntie Nicki.

Six month stats

Sloane had her 6 month checkup on Friday and Dr. J gave her a clean bill of health. She smiled and giggled her way through the visit until it was time for the 4 shots - ouch! A few tears, one sad mama, and 4 Looney Tunes bandaids later we were done. Looking forward to our 9 month check that requires no shots! Here are Sloane's stats:

Weight: 19 lbs. 2 oz (95%)
Height: 27.5 in (90-95%)
Noggin: 43.5 cm (75-90%)

Sloane is one big, happy baby. She cries so little that she was recently labeled "bad birth control" by friends, but still just enough so that we know she isn't a robot. I'm so thankful she isn't much of a crier, but then when she does cry it is so very sad. Her hair is starting to come in. Pigtails are a ways down the road as right now it looks like Jim Carrey's bowl cut in Dumb & Dumber. Her wonderful cheeks keep getting bigger. She is very active and wants to grab everything in sight. She's still pretty spastic so sometimes that means a sweet and gentle cradle of your cheek, other times it means a b slap across your face. She loves her little jumping station and does a hilarious booty wiggle whenever you are changing her clothes, changing her diaper, or she's excited. She LOVES Cooper. Whenever she sees the pup she giggles and reaches out to grab her. She's eaten lots of different fruits and veggies...now it's time for some of the more interesting mixes. Current favorite songs are How Much is that Doggy in the Window and Yankee Doodle. She loves to stand and dance. Sloane had (and is still getting over) her first real sickness. Fever, bad cough, congestion. It was no fun. And just as she is starting to get over it, John and I get it. Ah, family sharing. Her bedtime has started to creep up so she's now hitting the sack between 7:30 and 8:00 and sleeping until that time the next morning. There is still the occasional night where she'll need a diaper change or binky. We've been lucky with her sleep patterns but I just read in the materials that her doctor gave us that "many babies who have previously slept through the night begin to wake again." That scares me.
We are looking forward to Sloane's first Christmas and all the adventures that 2011 will bring!

6 months:


5 months:


3 months:


6 months:


5 months:


3 months:

Who's a happy pup?

6 months

It's hard to believe that 6 months ago we were snuggling you at Swedish...already madly in love...still totally clueless about just how much you'd rock our world. We love every inch of your chubby body, every smile, every giggle, every new discovery, every second with you. Looking forward to a clean bill of health and your 6 month stats on Friday.

Favorite Things Christmas Weekend

Jen flew into town from Montana for our annual girls' Christmas party. It was like she never left. We decided to pack as much as we could into Gentle B's visit. Friday night we hit up Daniel's for happy hour then headed to get mani's & pedi's. Saturday we shopped downtown, walked through the market, and had a delicious lunch at Snackbar.

Rain will not ruin our shopping




Andrea & Nicki had never been to the gum wall. Gross. Not sure why I'm standing awkwardly far away from Jen in this photo.


Jen found her brick at the market




One of my favorite parts of the holidays is the annual "Favorite Things" Christmas party with my girls. Thank you, Oprah, for your inspiration. Though we didn't get a new car or cruise, I'm pretty sure we had more fun the big O's audience. Everyone picks their favorite thing (or things) from the year and buys them for the other four in our group. Past gifts have been all over the map: eyeliner, underwear, magazine subscription, booze, a veggie peeler, salad dressing...you never know what you are going to get.

This is the fourth year of this party. Though technically we did switch it up and go white elephant in year two (I just recently donated my mechanical kitty cat to goodwill), we went back to favorite things in year 3. Oh my how this party has changed. In 2007 we did a progressive dinner with the guys. Each gal hosted the group for a course, a cocktail, and her gift at her home. Nicole started us off with a martini the size of a fishbowl and it was all down hill from there. It really wasn't pretty. I chose the comfort of Andrea's couch over actually making it to our last stop and I'm pretty sure her tree hasn't recovered from Nicki falling into it and knocking it over. Fast forward to 2010. Things have mellowed a bit. We ditched the boys for a ladies only night. Our plan to spread the gift opening throughout the night was quickly derailed and all the presents were open within about 10 minutes of our arrival. After a delicious dinner and some whipped cream vodka cocktails we got crazy... with over 3 hours of Scattegories. Funnest. Game. Ever. We quoted Christmas Vacation while it played in the background 2 1/2 times. We formed an alliance against Nicki when she pulled into the lead. We laughed until we cried. At one point Andrea suggested a shot. We all groaned and moved onto the next round of Scattegories. We took a cab home as planned at 1 am even though we were pretty sober. We woke up Sunday morning without a hangover. We decided getting older isn't so bad.

Andrea and Nicki cooking dinner. I'm still not sure why Andrea was cooking on a stool.




Nicki's favorite things: beautiful tea towels from Etsy. We each got a different set.


Nicole's favorite things: Lavendar warming wrap & kitchen towel


Andrea's favorite things: Kiehl's goodies & eggplant ornament


Jenny's favorite things: Candle, lip balm, lotion


My favorite things: slippers & Tony's creole seasoning


Scattegories is cool


It's not a party until Nicki falls asleep on the couch


Looking forward to 2011. Love you girls!

Daddy/daughter weekend

While I was playing with the girls this weekend John and Sloane had some QT. Friday night they hit up a friend's Christmas party. Saturday they ran errands and went to Jonah's 6th birthday party. That night they drove me to my party then stopped by the DalyKnight household to provide some entertainment while they waited for their baby to make his grand entrance. I love that daddy and daughter are gaga for each other.
But I'm wondering if Sloane was too busy making googly eyes at her dad to even notice that mama was MIA.

Happy Birthday Jonah!


Sloane got into the pirate theme


Aargh


She'd rather chew on her sword than fight


Sloane hung out with Grandma


And papa Leo


Lola looked out for her little cousin


Chillin with Dave


And mama Colleen

Ho ho ho

Sloane had her first official meet and greet with Santa on Friday and she loved the big guy. Part of me was glad she enjoyed jolly old St. Nick, the other part was a little disappointed we don't have a "crying hysterically on Santa's lap" photo to kickoff our collection. There's always next year. I don't think that makes me a bad parent.



I think she asked Santa for world peace. John swears he heard her say whirled peas. Da da dum.

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care

The happiest darn baby

Sloane is up to her old tricks

And they are still pretty funny.

That's my daughter, everything she knows I taught her

If there was a mutual admiration society, these two would be co-presidents.

Gettin' crafty

There was still one wall space in Sloane's nursery that was lacking some decoration. I looked high and low but couldn't come up with anything I loved. Then I remembered a booth at the West Seattle art fair that had these fun and funky frame/figurine pieces and set out to create my own.

I found these beauties at TJ Maxx and Fred Meyer.




And turned them into this. My own version of duck, duck, goose.








I finally got a hot glue gun to help with this project. I have no idea what took me so long...that thing is rad.

My girl's got mad hops

Apparently, we are pretty hilarious.

There is definitely no sound as amazing as your baby's laughter.

Go Huskies!

We doubled the celebration on Saturday by heading up to Whidbey to cheer the Huskies on to an Apple Cup Victory and toast Sara's 30th birthday. It was Sloane's first trip to the Martin's place on Whidbey. The first of many, I'm sure. She was a rock star in her Husky outfit, charming all the dawgs and cougs in attendance. She even went to bed early so her parents could play a little flippy cup.

Happy Birthday Fitz!

Peas

So we weren't a big fan of peas at first.


We REALLY didn't like them, in fact.


But, in the end, we decided they weren't so bad after all.


The carrots and sweet potatoes got a better reaction. Now on to the fruit!