Dinners, Cleaning, and the Weekend!!!

Goodness, it's been a busy week so far! :o) But, lots of fun, that's for sure! Since I really haven't been so good at keeping y'all informed of my days, I"ll go ahead and recap this week at least! :o)

Monday I did my normal stay-at-home mom duties and played with Daniel lots in between his naps before we headed over to my friend, Kacey's, to work on Valentine cards from her little boy and Daniel. :o) I wasn't able to get them all completed over there, but Daniel helped me with some fingerpainting and I need to sit down and finish them now! But, it was a lot of fun hanging out and talking! Scott joined us after his work and we all had some yummy pasta, chicken, and brocolli for dinner while trying to get our boys to be a bit happier. (They were just not in the best moods... probably doesn't help when one isn't... it makes the other one sad too.) After that we headed over to small group, which was awesome as usual! Daniel was acting so weird as he has been all week. He just sat on Scott's lap for awhile before getting down and playing, which he hardly ever does! But, then he played and entertained everyone while we read the first half of Phil. 4 and discussed it. It was a great discussion and we were also able to talk about what we want to do after we finish the book of Phil. Oh! We are had yummy banana cupcakes and amazing 7-layer type bars! :o) I have to say that everyone makes the bestest desserts for our small group! ;o) We had to leave a bit early because Daniel started to get super grumpy because he was so tired. Plus, I forgot his bottle so he wasn't able to get all filled up and happy! :o( Poor little guy!

Tuesday we hung out at home and I stayed in my PJs all day, which was awesome! ;o) Scott got home shortly after 4 because he was able to get off early after going in at 6 and working through lunch. We went over to his parents that evening for dinner, which was delicious! :o) Daniel was a little more grumpy than normal at the beginning but then started playing and got better! He loves playing with his uncles, that's for sure! ;o)

Wednesday I think I just stayed home... I can't really remember. We didn't do too much... just made steak and rice for dinner and enjoyed a relaxing day at home. :o) The three of us enjoyed spending the evening together as a family, which was also nice with our super busy evenings this week! :o) We watched American Idol after Daniel went down to bed, which was fun!

Thursday I went grocery shopping and cleaned up the house to get ready for Hannah and Phil to come over that evening! :o) I made White Chicken Chili for dinner which was AMAZING (I really don't know why I don't make it more often - it's easy and delicious!), they brought rolls and salad, and Scott made delicious homemade vanilla ice cream for dessert! ;o) We ate dinner and then talked and played "Family Business" which was fun. Then we rested and watched The Office with them before they headed home. After they left, Scott and I watched Blue Bloods and got to bed by 10!

Today I haven't done all that much, yet. I made a pasta salad this morning and cleaned up most of the kitchen while I made Daniel his lunch. Daniel has been eating SO much today and has been very grumpy and tired, so maybe that means another growth spurt! Goodness gracious! ;o) He is down for nap number 3 already, but is definitely NOT sleeping right now! All I hear is him 'talking' and hitting one of the toys on his crib! Silly boy! ;o) I am SO happy that he is finally napping better, though! Now that he plays in his crib it keeps him very entertained so he doesn't cry more than a minute or two when we put him down usually, unless he is very overtired. It's SO nice! Now, if he just did that in his pack-n-play at other people's houses... that would be nice! ;o) Tonight we have a family from church coming over for dinner which will be lots of fun! :o) It's been so nice having people over to our house... I love having the ability and place to have people over! It's so much fun!

Tomorrow I'm excited to spend time with Scott and Daniel doing whatever we end up doing (maybe going on a long walk would be fun if it's anywhere as nice as these past few days have been!). Tomorrow night my dad is coming over to hang out with Scott and Daniel while I go to my sister, Amanda's, for a Stampin' Up party that we are throwing for a bunch of our friends! We are making greeting cards, which I'm super excited to see and make! :o)

Well, that's what has been happening around here! The quick rundown. Now that Daniel is down for his nap I should probably do something! Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

So much love!

I love my little Daniel SO much! Yesterday was a very cuddly day with him, which doesn't happen all to often anymore. :o( He is usually so independent that he will just play, play, play, until he gets tired and then he usually doesn't even want me to hold him... nope, he just wants to be put down in his crib with his bear where he 'talks' and might play a little more, settling himself down to sleep. But, not yesterday! After playing for just a few minutes throughout the day, he would come up to where I was sitting or doing something and pull himself up and just give me that smile of his that makes me smile back and realize again how much I love this little boy, and so I would lift him up and he'd just sit on my lap for awhile, playing with his toys. I sat down with him while we played for awhile, and every once in awhile he'd crawl over to another toy, grab it, and then bring it back to me, crawling into my lap to sit. Aaahh, I love holding that little guy! I'd occasionally give him kisses all over his head and neck and he would just look around at me and laugh with his big smile again, probably because it tickled. :o) I don't care what people say - being a mom is the best thing in the whole wide world! It makes me so happy to think that in just seven to seven and a half months I'll have another little one to love on. It's so cool to think that our new baby is going to be the same in some ways as Daniel and then totally different in others! That's so exciting! :o) I am so blessed! Every day I just thank God for my boys and my little baby in my tummy! :o) Even though when I was a new mom I couldn't imagine ever having more love to spread between more kids because I was so filled with love for my little family then, God has definitely given me more because my love for Baby is growing more and more, just like it does for little Daniel!

Anyway, just wanted to share... I have a lot to do today, so I should probably go for now. :o)

9 month old Daniel

Dear Daniel,

Happy 9 months old and 1 day to the bestest little boy I've ever seen! :o) Mommy was just thinking the other day how much you have grown up this month, especially... I can't believe that you will be a whole year old in just 3 months! Goodness gracious, this year has flown by! It is cool thinking that as you turned 9 months yesterday, that marked the day of us having you with us the same amount of time that you were inside Mommy... That's really cool! It's also weird thinking like that because basically that means that you have been 'with' us and we have loved you for a year and a half now! Crazy! :o) We love you SOOOO much and are already looking forward to watching you grow and turn into an awesome little boy and man someday... but, don't think you have to rush that... taking your time is just fine by us! :o)

I have to say that this has been a month of big things for you, but the biggest news ever was what we found out just two weeks ago... that you are going to be a big brother in approximately 7 1/2 months! You were the very first person I told the news to, and although you don't exactly understand what it means right now, you seemed excited and I know you will LOVE being a big brother to a little brother or sister... You will be almost a year a half by then, which is definitely young, but we are excited for you two to be able to grow up together and hopefully you'll be the bestest of friends!

Other big firsts this month were crawling for the first time (yay!), pulling yourself up to your knees and feet, clapping, and playing peek-a-boo by yourself without us having to move something in front of your face! So many new things... it was a very exciting month for us seeing all your new accomplishments! :o) You are LOVING being able to crawl! Oh, my goodness! I hardly know what you did before... Now you will play for an hour and a half straight crawling from one toy to the next and dragging toys EVERYWHERE! Then, you will explore all over the house... going to the front room to play with some of Mommy's scrapbook stuff, heading into the kitchen to see if I left any food out, pulling yourself up to look out the back sliding door (you LOVE looking out over the backyard... I think you wish it was warm enough to play out there), going into your room to look at your books, and so much more! You love it! :o) Mommy is kept very busy making sure you are not getting into anything you shouldn't, but I don't mind because you are such a good little boy and once I say "No" you understand what I'm saying and usually always turn away and find something else to play with!

We love you SO much!

Love,
Mommy

Cravings...

Sooo, I really want a hamburger right about NOW! :o) Goodness! I am hungry and should probably eat lunch although I snacked at Moms' Group almost the entire morning... But, we really don't have much to eat so I need to decide what I should do. :o( I need to make some more food, that's for sure! Probably should be making dinner plans right now, actually. Oh, well. I have a lot to do, but I am oh so tired right now and allowing myself to rest while Daniel is napping! Maybe once I finish this I'll go and make myself a turkey sandwich which is all that we really have to eat in the fridge... Otherwise I know I'm going to go out and get a burger which is probably not the best idea as I know I need to eat somewhat healthier than that! Not giving in to my random cravings has been so hard! I didn't have many instances with Daniel's pregnancy when I really wanted one food over another, but already I have wanted tacos one night and burgers like two or three different times now! I did give in once with the burger craving and went and got one, but I know that that can not happen each time of boy, will I ever put on the pounds! ;o) I think I liked not having cravings much more... that's for sure! Lol.

I have been feeling pretty good lately overall. I have still been tired, but I don't seem as tired as I was a few weeks ago. I was super nauseous all weekend, though, which wasn't too much fun, but so far today I've felt better. Probably because I really did eat a lot this morning! :o( Oh, well. If baby needs it I gotta eat, right?! I haven't had tons of morning sickness, but have had just a little bit... I am praying that all of that goes away by the end of the 1st tri. though so I have a good 2nd tri., unlike the first pregnancy! Hopefully so!

Daniel has been doing great! :o) It has been so much fun watching him crawl everywhere and find new and exciting things! Today while we were at the group at church I had him in the sanctuary with all of us for awhile and he was so funny when I put him down to crawl. He crawled to the center aisle and looked all the way up to the front of the church and decided that he needed to go ALL the way over there! So, he crawled and crawled and crawled until he got to the front and then he crawled between and underneath the chairs. It was like a gigantic, fun maze for him! :o) Lol. A few days ago at our house he realized that the kitchen is an amazing place to explore, so he headed straight for there! I need to put some safety locks on some of our cabinets before he starts opening those, AND it's such a new idea realizing that I'll probably need to vacuum or sweep at least the hard floors at least every other day otherwise he is finding a whole bunch of little things that he wants to eat! :o( But, all of this to say that I have still enjoyed every minute of his exploring! He is so cute and the good thing is we have a pretty open floor-plan so I can see him everywhere from the living room except for when he goes all the way into the kitchen... that's when I went in and played with him on the floor. :o) So much fun!

Well, I should probably go eat... Not sure how much longer he will nap, and seeing as how he hasn't really taken a good nap in the afternoon for days now, I should probably take advantage of this nap! :o) Hope everyone is doing awesome!

Super Exciting News!

So basically i just can't hide the news anymore!!! I am PREGNANT!!!! :o) We just found out the news this past Monday! It is starting to seem more real now that I definitely feel pregnant, but the first few days I could hardly believe I was actually going through this all over again! Ever since the beginning of Dec. I have been really wanting to get pregnant again, so when I started feeling very tired and then more hungry than normal last week, I began thinking that I might just be as that is how things started with Daniel's pregnancy. I took the test Monday afternoon and was SO excited when I saw "pregnant" go across the little screen! When Scott got home Daniel and I went and got the pregnancy test and brought it in to show him and he was thrilled as well! It's so crazy thinking that I have a little baby inside of me again! I have missed this feeling so much since having Daniel... it really is the most amazing miracle ever!

I have been feeling pretty good overall. Had a little morning sickness today, but I think more than anything that was because I had to wake up with Daniel at 3 and then 6:45 without eating both times... I need to remember to eat some crackers or something when I wake up even if it's just for a little bit! Goodness, so many things to remember! Other than that, I have been somewhat nauseous, really tired, and eating up a storm! :o)

I went in to my midwife for my first appointment on Wednesday to see how things were going and see if they happened to know how far along I was. We aren't exactly sure, so I have an ultrasound scheduled for three weeks from now to check for sure. They are thinking that I am between 4 and 6 weeks along right now, though, so looks like it will be a September baby! :o) I LOVE the fall, so that is super cool, but I have to say that I'm not looking that forward to being pregnant through the hot summer days... :o( I got hot enough in April during the last few weeks being pregnant with Daniel and boy, that wasn't even hot yet! But, it's okay... I know it will all be worth it when I get to hold our little boy or girl for the first time! :o)

Everyone keeps asking if I want a boy or a girl and it's so hard to decide, so I guess I'll take whatever we get! :o) I absolutely love having a baby boy right now, and I know that since they will be so close in age it would be cool if it was another boy, but then, I want to have a girl so badly, also, so I am definitely good with either one! :o)

Anyway, I just wanted to share our happy, exciting news about our new little Slade addition coming in September! I will try to write again soon!

A Week of Firsts in the Life of Our Daniel!

Goodness this has been such a busy week for our little guy! I had to write all about it on here to keep y'all updated! :o) It started out on Monday with him finally learning to CLAP! Aaahh, he was such a cute little boy! I'm so glad because Scott was actually here for that! I have been trying to work more on the clapping for awhile, because I kept hearing other babies who had done it and I realized that maybe Daniel wasn't because I didn't actually clap much around him! SO, I began saying "Yay!!!" and clapping each time he did something good or exciting so he would get the idea! :o) Anyway, we were sitting on the floor playing with some of his new toys and I began taking some of his new baby einstein boxes with pictures and stacking them until they were a tall tower! We had done this before, so he knew his job was to knock them down! Each time he knocked them down I would yell "Yay!!!" and clap, and then stack them again so he would knock them over again! We did this over and over and after about five or ten minutes he watched me clap and started to bring his hands together to clap! The first few times he didn't quite hit his hands together but after a few tries he had it! ADORABLE is all I have to say! :o) I love that little guy! He is TOO cute! He started clapping again today, which was super cute. I told him not to touch the heater while he was playing (which he didn't after I told him no - he is getting much better at realizing what "no" means!) and so he sat back and smiled at me. I said "Yay!!!" because he did something good and obeyed and he started clapping! Lol. So cute!

Okay, since clapping was not his only big 'step' this week, I should probably go on to the next 'first'!

Wednesday morning was a long morning for me and Daniel as he has been figuring out that it is very fun to sit up and pull himself up to his knees while in the crib for a nap! Anyway, I was having quite the morning of going in, putting him back down on his back, leaving, and listening to him and having to do it all over again in a few minutes! At one point I peeked in and just watched him as over about two minutes he rolled back and forth and then got on all fours, sat up, pulled himself up on his knees to play with his music maker thing on his crib, and then watched as he pulled himself all the way up on his feet!!! This was the first time I'd ever seen him do this, and from the excited look on his face I'm thinking it was one of the first times he had done it! Even though he couldn't see me peeking in on him, he got the biggest smile on his face and just thought he had walked on the moon! :o) Lol!

I was super excited about that and couldn't believe that he had gotten two big firsts already in two days, when lo and behold he started crawling that same afternoon! He had done a few crawls (three or four at once) the day before at our Mom's group, but they were very slow and he would stop from time to time in between. So, I knew it would be really soon. He and I were in his room while I was putting away all of his 6-9 month clothes and getting out all the 12 month clothes and he was playing and playing with his toys and unfolding all the clothes I kept folding. Lol. He was getting around the way he usually was - scooting back some, rolling, moving forward, sitting, and then moving forward again. I cleared up the room and then went over to his new rocking horse which was across the room from where he was sitting. I pushed the horse's ear which made the whinnying noises and he looked at us and just headed straight for us! He never stopped, sat down, or dropped his tummy, but crawled the entire way across the room until he was right by his horse! Lol. It was adorable! :o) I felt bad because Scott walked in the door from work as soon as he got to the horse, and of course although we tried, he wouldn't crawl that far for Scott again all evening! Lol. BUT, yesterday evening we were babysitting for a friend of ours and he crawled all over their living room, pulling himself up on all their furniture and tried following their little girl as she walked back and forth from her room! My little boy is growing up so fast! :o( Goodness!

Well, that's the exciting news! Do I have videos of these exciting times?! Of course not!!! I thought of video-taping each time, but it was never right there beside me so I missed them all! :o( Oh, well. I will hopefully get a video soon!

Christmas, New Years, and SO many good times!

Gee whiz, I feel like I have a TON to catch up on! Our last few weeks have been a whirlwind of family, friends, presents, food, and all around good times, and I want to write about it all on here so that I can remember later on! :o) We are back home after a weekend in Delta with my family and I am enjoying one more day with my hubby before he goes back to work tomorrow back to his normal schedule! I have LOVED having him home with us so much these past few weeks! Definitely love how much time off Marathon gives their employees! :o) Anyway, Scott is putting in a movie for us to watch (Sorcerer's Apprentice) since Daniel just went down for a nap, so I will catch up with this while watching!

The rest of our Christmas day was lots of fun! Daniel slept for quite awhile at home before we headed back over to Scott's parents, but he was SO much happier after his nap! We began opening gifts once we got there and Daniel had so much fun as he opened one after another of his many gifts! He got some super cool things, like his rocking horse from Grandma and Grandpa, some Baby Einstein picture boxes that stack, two board books, lots of cute clothes, a crocheted bib, his first toolbox (it's for 4 year olds, so right now he is just enjoying a few of the bigger tools), a sheriff's badge and rubber-band gun to use while on his horse, a cute fire truck painted by his grandma, and more things! Scott got some tools and money and I got the Anne of Green Gable DVDs, lotions, perfume, 9x13 dish casserole holders/carriers, an address book, and we both got some soup bowls with handles! :o) Lots of cool things!

After opening gifts, we ate a delicious lunch, hung out, played games, and just enjoyed family time! For lunch we had ham, potato casserole, green bean casserole, potato rolls, apple salad, and yummy cheesecakes! It was all amazing! :o)

Scott had Monday, Thursday, and Friday off last week so we hung out and spent time as a family Monday and Daniel spent time playing with his new toys all week! Thursday Scott spent most of the day at his parents as he smoked two briskets for my family's Christmas / New Year celebration this past weekend! It took 12 hours, so he stayed there most of the time checking on the meat and making sure it was cooking perfectly! It had snowed and snowed most of the night Wednesday so we took Daniel out in the snow for a little while and then went over and spent some time with Scott's parents and Geoffrey. It was a lazy day reading, playing games, and having fun! The brisket was done by 7 pm so Scott got home around 9 with some DELICIOUS brisket!

Friday morning I had breakfast with a few of my friends at Einstein's Bagels, which was fun and yummy! :o) Then, Scott met me there and we drove down to Delta to start the weekend with my family. We hung out with my parents all afternoon, making potato casserole, chocolate sheet cake, cole slaw, and some other food for that night and the next day. Amanda and Vienna joined us just before dinner and we ate a yummy chili dinner before putting Daniel down for bed and hot-tubbing! Amanda and I talked for awhile after hot-tubbing and watched part of the New Year Eve show on TV, but we all ended up going to bed before 10! We are such old people these days! Lol. :o) Daniel slept ALL night, which we were SO thankful for, especially after all of us woke up around 4:30 am when Lelia and Wayne got in (Wayne worked until 2 am) and I had a hard time getting back to sleep.

Saturday was our 3rd Christmas and the first day of 2011!!! :o) It was a great start to a new year! I can't believe it's already 2011, though! 2010 was amazing but passed so fast! Anyway, since Wayne and Lelia needed sleep, we didn't end up opening stockings or presents until late morning after eating our breakfast casserole and cinnamon rolls. All of us adults watched Vienna and Daniel open their stockings first, which was fun! Daniel really enjoyed all of his new toys and stuff from Santa, especially his "The Incredibles" fork and spoon! We opened a few presents after that, which was the first of about three or four different stages of gift opening we had during the day. We had quite a few gifts, that's for sure, and now that we have two kids in the group, they had SO many gifts!

We stopped part of the way into opening gifts to eat our lunch of brisket, potato casserole, corn casserole, rolls, beans, cole slaw, and pound cake and ice cream for dessert. Then we opened more gifts! Daniel had a lot of fun yet again, although we had to help him open gifts really fast near the end since he was getting super tired! He got SO many cool toys, cute clothes, stuff for his room, and more! I got new boots, a watch, some amazing Christmas candle holders, ornaments, and a scrapbook supply bag!

Dad got three new games for Christmas, so that evening after Daniel went down for bed we all played one of his new games - Quelf (I think it's called). It was SO much fun! Definitely got us a little out of our comfort zone, but at least we were with family so it made it a lot of fun! :o)

Sunday we spent the entire day down there again! We played Battle of the Sexes and Mad Gab, which were the other two new games, talked, had fun, and watched Eclipse before leaving that night. Good times!

So, that was our Christmas and New Year events! Daniel had a wonderful time for his very first holidays, and now he is just resting up after all the busy events! He is super excited for 2011! :o)