Slumber Party!

Sloane hosted her first official slumber party this weekend when Miss Mayson came to stay with us.  Oh how these two love each other.  They played, made music, danced, giggled at each other, colored, crafted, giggled at each other, spent time at the park, made pizzas, giggled at each other, watched a movie, danced, and giggled a little more.  Total lovefest.

Her Magic

When I was growing up my family had the most amazing black lab, Magic.  Ask any member of my family and they will quickly claim, without hesitation, that Magic was the greatest four legged friend to ever walk the earth.  She was a member of our family and we loved her as such.  We spent hours chasing her round the yard, snuggling her, hanging out as a family down at the ballfield so she could fetch the decent hits, and Jared and I turned her leash into reins and rode her around the yard time and time again.  The thought of Magic takes me back to some of the most special times in my childhood.

There's a special connection that a kid has with their dog.  When you don't have the responsibility of taking her for walks, picking up the poop, sweeping the floor daily to try to contain their spring shed.
Sloane looks at Coop and sees her best buddy.  She has her Magic, and I love that. 

20 months

Sloane Nicole,

You are 20 months old today. My how time flies. Just 4 more months and you will be 2 years old and you'll be a big sister - crazy to think about. Here's what you've been up to...

You are one crazy ball of energy and we love to watch the wheels in your head turn as you take everything in.  Your favorite modes of transportation are running, marching, and walking backwards.  Rarely do you walk at a leisurely pace.  You walk with purpose and I love that so much about you.

You love to sing. You often sing to yourself in the morning when you are waking up. It is priceless. You rock out in the car. I'll turn up the tunes and you'll shake your booty in the car seat while singing into your pretend microphone. I try to concentrate on the road, but you are so entertaining to watch. You take such wonderful care of your baby dolls and you still love to read. You also cook up some delicious meals in your kitchen. You love to perform "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" and usually end by spending a good couple of minutes doing the "knees & toes" part over and over and over.  You are a total ham and goofball.





















You passed a major milestone and gave up your binkies this past month. By "gave up" I, of course, mean that they were cruelly taken from you. We were only using them in the crib at night but you'd started to try to demand one more often and we figured with the new baby coming soon it was now or never. There were a few minutes of confused crying for the first couple of nights but you haven't seemed to look back. Nice work!

You take a nap every afternoon for an hour and a half or two hours. You go to bed easily at 7:30 pm and sleep until about 7:30. Sometimes you sleep in until 8:30 on the weekends. Thank you. My favorite time of day is when you are snuggled in your pjs and we sit in the rocking chair and sing our goodnight song. You lay your head on my shoulder, wrap your arms around me, and hum along to parts of the song.  It melts my heart.

You love to play dress up, snuggle your babies, and walk around the house with your purse over your shoulder.

You also love to play with cars and bang on anything that makes noise.  You could spend hours throwing rocks.  You love to run up and down the tiny little hill in our back yard. 

About a month ago you figured out how to turn door knobs. Which wouldn't be a huge deal except that the deadbolt on our front door quit working and I was terrified that you'd try to escape and be running in the street. Plus that meant you had full access to the pantry and you love to go in there, pull out random food and demand snacks. A couple of child proof locks later and you were out of business. 1 point to your parents. We also had to put locks on the cabinets under the sink because you went through the garbage a couple of times. Gross. I hate those damned contraptions and it will be a while before I stop cursing every time I have to throw something away.

About 2 months ago on one random day you decided you were done with your high chair. You flat out refused to sit in a high chair at home or in a restaurant though you've never put up a fight to sitting in the one at daycare. You would sit in a booster seat at a restaurant so I bought one for home which you also refused. So you spent about a month where you would only sit in a grown up chair (often demanding only the desk chair) with the table hitting you at about the nose, reaching up to grab your dinner. It was an exhausting and frustrating time. Then one day out of the blue you decided the high chair (which really isn't a high chair anymore since all of the baby accessories have been removed) wasn't so bad after all and since then you've happily resumed your more reasonable perch at the table. Plus your dad taught you how to climb up and down from your high chair so you think that's pretty cool.

You have thinned out from all the running around and the baby chub we loved has mostly disappeared.  But you don't miss a meal and are definitely not shy about demanding snacks.














You are obsessed with balloons. Good news is that they've been all over the grocery store lately because of Valentine's day so you are quite entertained on our weekly shopping trip. The bad news is when you realize you don't get to go home with one.

You've cooled it with the hitting. Thank you very much! But you are not so slowly making your way into the "mine" and whining stages.  We hear "no, mine" about 50 times a day. Ugh.

You are talking up a storm and every day surprise me with at least one or two words I didn't know you knew. You'll string 2 or 3 words together sometimes and your dad and I are so pleased that we can understand you now most of the time.

We love every minute with you (even the tough ones) and are so proud of the curious and happy kid you are becoming. Thanks for making us feel like we are actually okay at this whole parenting thing. We love you.

Happy Valentine's Day

Tubby time

We're not just getting clean, we're working on our ABC's.

Piggies

There's just something about a cute little girl in pigtails.  We've been dying to try a set on Sloane but with her crazy hair - super curly, long on the sides and back, but short everywhere else, weren't too sure how they would work.  Add in that it's hard to get to get her to sit still long enough just to comb her hair and the fact that she pulls bows or anything out of her hair after about 2 minutes and it didn't seem like we had a recipe for success.  But as soon as she saw herself in the mirror she decided pigtails were actually pretty cute and left them in all day.

 

The look once we took the hairbands out was not pretty

The bean

It's amazing to me just how different this second pregnancy is compared to when I was incubating Ms. Sloane. The first pregnancy takes over your life and makes time slow down. Most of the time it was all I thought about. And when I did have to make room in my brain to concentrate on something else, it was always hovering close behind in the background. I read each update from babycenter twice, studied my What to Expect like there would be an exam, and consumed as much information as I possibly could. I was very particular, about everything. I thought long and hard about every single thing that went into her nursery, it had to be perfect. I was particular about everything I purchased. Most stuff had to be brand new with the exception of a few items that we borrowed from family members and a couple of items I bought from my listserv and promptly disinfected like they had the plague. God forbid we left the house without 5 different options of slings, bjorn, ergo, etc. I obsessed, obsessed, obsessed, then worried a little more.

Then there's this pregnancy. What pregnancy? Oh geez, yah, I forgot I was pregnant. It's getting harder and harder to forget as the belly gets bigger and bigger but I sometimes find myself caught off guard when she kicks. What did I eat that gave me such weird gas? Oh, wait, that's right, there's a baby in there moving around. It's not that I'm not over the moon for this munchkin. She still gets obsessed over plenty, it just comes in shorter bursts. She's got a toddler sister that is pretty darn cute and demanding. I'm a lot more relaxed this time around. Been there, done that. We had it really easy with Sloane from pregnancy, to the birth, to being an awesome baby. I wonder how it will be this time around. It helps to be having another girl, in the same season, so we know this kiddo will be properly clothed. We have more gear and gadgets than we possibly need. We have a few things to purchase - furniture for the nursery and some items that were borrowed before that now need to be procured - but mostly it's just waiting for her to get here. I've been perusing craigslist for the few items we need. And the nursery, what nursery? We'll get around to it eventually.  

Here's what's happening with the bean and me at this point:

• She is getting SUPER active. I really don't think she slept much yesterday as I felt like she was practicing her kung fu all day long and into the night. Every few days she goes through a mellow period but then after a day or two of semi-rest she's back at it.
• She, like her sister, craves Tillamok peanut butter and chocolate ice cream. She also likes popcorn and lots of fruit. There was a while when the site of a vegetable (particularly lettuce) made me cringe, but she's decided that the green stuff isn't so bad afterall.
• According to babycenter she is now (26 weeks) the length of an english hothouse cucumber.
• Most nights I'm wide awake and staring at the ceiling from 2-4 am.
• I've had a couple bouts of the most intense heartburn in the last week and now keep tums with me at all times.
• Every few days I become certifiably insane. A couple of weeks ago John and I were sitting on the couch and I was perusing pinterest (what's new) and came across something funny. My giggles turned into full on belly laughs then into "I'm laughing so hard I'm crying" which turned into genuine sobs (no longer of laughter) for no apparent reason. I sobbed for a few minutes all while whimpering to John, "I know I'm a crazy person right now. I'm sorry, but I just can't stop crying." Then I blew my nose and happily went about the rest of my evening. I'd like to say that was an isolated incident but I would be a liar. Poor John. He's handling it all pretty well but he might consider sending me to the nuthouse soon.
• It's all just flying by. At my appointment two weeks ago my doctor reminded me that he'd see me in four weeks and then we'd move to two week appointments. What? Already? We can't be there yet - I have too many projects to finish. Time to get started on that nursery, John.
• I think a lot about what she'll look like and how she'll act. How will she be similar to Sloane and how will she be different.
• We've got our name all picked out but are keeping it a secret this time. Mostly it's a good challenge for the two of us (we are the couple who give each other our Christmas and birthday presents a week early because we are just so excited) but also because I just don't care about the opinions that people think they need to give when you share a name.
• I am a huge hit at Sloane's daycare. Every day the older girls ask me how the baby is doing and that inevitably leads to lots of little hands all over my belly. It's so sweet. They are all very excited for "their" new baby.

We are busy trying to get all of our projects done - bedroom re-do (almost done), nursery, bathroom remodel, back patio pour - so we can leisurely enjoy our last few weeks as a family of three. We can't wait to meet our little girl!