Locks

We had a wonderful morning at the locks.  Watching the boats go through, checking out the few little fish swimming by, and running through the park.  Soaking up our Seattle adventures as a threesome before the babe arrives.

 

Happiness is...

...when your whirlwind of an almost 2-year-old who hates to pose for pictures suddenly puts her arm around you, snuggles up, and says "cheese".  It makes for one happy mama.

Bed Head

This girl takes bed head to a whole new level.  Even on the cloudy mornings we have a little ray of sunshine in our house.

Hey jealousy

Bailey pup came to stay with us for a night last weekend and Sloane loved her.  What's not to love about a sweet, darling, very furry pup.

Someone was a little jealous that her number one fan had eyes for someone else.

Go M's!

It was Poort night at the M's game and Sloane's first visit to Safeco.  I think it was a succcess - we made it more than half way through the game and brought home two Ichiro bobbleheads (now who to give those away to?)  We were lucky to have cousins, grandparents, aunties and uncles to keep our whirlwind entertained.

Hell on wheels

We still have over 14 years until she gets her license but I can already tell she's going to have a lead foot like her mama. 

This 20 minutes of entertainment behind the wheel has now officially added 2 minutes to our routine to get out of the house.  Girlfriend does not understand why she needs to be safely buckled in her carseat instead of behind the wheel and it takes a while to talk her down from the ledge.

Great maternal instincts

Sloane spent a good deal of time rearranging furniture in the playroom at grandma and papa's on Easter.  We couldn't figure out what the heck she was doing then peeked back in a few minutes later to find this.  I'm really excited to see her in big sister mode.

She loves to snuggle, kiss, feed, and sing to her babies.  But I must also keep in mind how much she likes bop them over the head with their bottle and fling them around above her head.

22 months

Sloane - you are 22 months old.  Just two months until you hit the big 2 and a few weeks until you become a big sister.  You continue to be the coolest, craziest, funniest kid around and we love (almost) every second with you.  Here's a little glimpse at what you are up to these days.

You are opinionated.  You are not afraid to say "no", or in most cases "no, mine."  You whine a fair amount.  But usually all we have to do is give you the look or say, "what's the magic word" and your whines melt into the sweetest "peas (please), mommy."  Of course you go right back to whining a few seconds later.  You run everywhere, but don't watch where you are going.  You run into doorjams, tables, the couch, the dog, etc.  But there's just too much to see for you to actually keep an eye on your destination.  Your knees are constantly scraped and bruised.  Oh how I wish I could strap a helmet on your head 24/7.

You are sassy.  I love to see the look on Mimi's face when you are giving me attitude.  One look says it all.  It turns out you come by that sass naturally and I more than deserve what I get from you for payback for what I gave to her.

You are equally sweet.  You are great with saying please and thank you.  My heart melts everytime you say, "I yuv (love) you, mommy."  Every morning when it's time to leave you stop at the front door, turn around, walk over to Cooper's bed to give her a pet and say, "Buh bye, Pooper.  I yuv you, Pooper."  Your face absolutely lights up whenever your dad walks in the room.  In the morning when you wake up you stand in your crib and shout, "Mommy, where are you?  Where are you, daddy?"  Your favorite new expressions are, "Cool!" and "Otay (okay), mommy."

You are talking up a storm and love to sing.  I'm amazed by your vocabulary and how crazy fast it is growing.  We sing "the wheels on the bus" and "old mcdonald" at least 20 times each a day.  I love our music class together. You are so good at participating and getting better about not taking other kid's instruments. You have gotten to be quite the little fish and love swimming with your dad.

You are a total book worm.  You pick a new favorite book about every 3 days and then that's all you want read to you.  You often walk around muttering, "Brown bear, brown bear.  What do you see?"

You love to sit on your potty, read the potty book, and make a "pppsssssssss" noise.  You've had a couple of surprise potties but we chalked those up to being flukes.  Last night, though, as you were getting ready for bed you told your dad you needed to go potty and you did.  A couple of jelly beans, high fives, big cheers and hugs later, you were so pleased with yourself.  But we are definitely not going to think about traveling down the potty training road until all is settled with your sister.

You love shoes and spend hours shuffling around the house in my shoes.  The puppy slippers you got for Easter make you the happiest girl in the world.  You are wearing 3T and its nice to finally be spending a decent amount of time in one size for a while.

You are adventurous but also quick to ask for a "hand, peas."  You love to jump and you want to make sure everyone sees it....."yook (look), I jump."  The couch has a nice bounce so that is your favorite jumping place.  You've hit your head on the thick frame hanging above the couch about 80 times, but who's counting.

You are NUTS for Elmo and you could spend all day blowing bubbles.

Sloane, we are so head over heels in love with you.  Watching you grow has been the most incredible ride and we are so excited to see you in the role of big sister.

Easter

Love that our girl is getting to the age where holidays are a little more exciting to her.  She doesn't get exactly what is going on, but she knows it's something special.  I mean its not everyday that she wakes up to a basket of books, crayons, coloring books, an elmo doll and an elmo phone.  Sloane was one happy camper.

We headed to Redmond for the Poort feast and enjoyed a delicious Easter brunch before heading out to hunt for some eggs.  Sloane was definitely more thrilled to find an egg with a puff ball inside (puff = quarter, dime or nickel depending on the color) than one with candy (score for me).  As we ate our candy and counted our bunny bucks we got to bask in the sun on the deck.  A glorious afternoon.

Pat & Deb were in Europe so there was no Morell Easter :(.  But we got to spend the afternoon working and playing in the yard at home.