Odds and Ends

My little boy is 11 months old! Isn't that crazy?! As his first year birthday gets closer and closer I'm realizing that my little boy is growing up way too fast, but we have thoroughly enjoyed this past year! I really don't know what we would do without our little buddy! Mom, Lelia, and I got all of the invitations made for Daniel's party, and they are super cute! I really need to go take pictures of one of them and of our new bedroom furniture and other stuff to put up on the blog... I'll try to do that soon! Anyway, we are now trying to figure out a game or something to keep the older kids busy during the party and are finalizing the list of snacks and decorations to have. I'm excited for the party - hopefully Daniel will be happy, although I'm sure he will because he loves being the center of attention. Lol. ;o)





Speaking of little guy... He has been standing everywhere lately! He is also 'cruising' finally (walking alongside something while holding on)... It makes me wonder when he'll take those first steps by himself, but I don't know! Could be a month or it could be four! Right now I'm just getting used to having to put things up even higher so he doesn't get into it! He is definitely a curious little guy. Scott and I cleaned the house on Saturday and ended up putting many of his toys in the closet since I was getting extremely tired of toys ALL over the house! That way we can also switch them out from time to time and he'll have "new" toys to play with! We have to keep his books out all the time, though, because that boy LOVES books! I'm very happy with that, but I have also memorized at least ten of his books because we read them at least three or four times every day! ;o) He loves sitting in our laps as we read to him or if we are busy he will just sit down and look at one book and then another until he goes over to his toys.

He has been eating up a storm, too! It's amazing how in just a few short months he can go from eating the amount of food of about one jar of baby food to now eating about three different 'courses' of a meal. For example, the other night he ate cut up cheese and turkey and some fruit before our small group and then at small group he ate half of a frozen burrito from Vitamin Cottage (those beans hit him HARD the next day, though - lol) and a jar of apples. AND an 8 oz. bottle of milk and half a bottle of water! That boy can EAT! He is also getting into his picky stage of eating, though... He doesn't really have too many foods that he will NEVER eat, but although he eats one thing at one meal or one day, he will act like he hates that food the next day! I don't understand it completely, but I've definitely had to learn lots of patience lately as I go back to the fridge and figure out something else he can eat. He would definitely eat fruit all day every day if we allowed him too, but he does pretty good with veggies as long as we mix them and puree them with something else - such as sweet potatoes. But, he eats almost any fruit... I bought lots of strawberries, pears, apples, and bananas the other day so he has a little bit for breakfast every day and just LOVES feeding himself the little pieces!

On Friday my friend, Kacey, and I are taking her little boy and Daniel to the swimming pool in town so they can hang out in the water for awhile. Daniel will have SO much fun! I'm excited to take him! :o) I'm really hoping he'll like the pools especially as we get closer to Hawaii time. I know when he was younger last year he HATED if the water was cool at all, so hopefully he'll realize it won't all be like bath water. :o)

Speaking of his standing up all over the place! He just now stood up next to me and is currently throwing most of the stuff on our side table onto the floor. Goodness gracious! Looks like Mommy is going to have to clean off a lot of the things we usually keep on the end tables! He has finally figured out how to get to it all! :o) And, he is 'talking' up a storm telling me all about each thing he throws on the floor. Lol. ;o)

So, as for baby #2, it has been doing good too! I have my next appointment next week with my midwife which I'm super excited about already! It has been exciting though seeing my belly get bigger and bigger, though. I finally look and feel more prego! :o)



I still haven't felt baby move, but I'm definitely paying more attention and hopefully it'll be soon! I'm getting so excited to start making a quilt and other things for baby when we find out if it's a boy or a girl... one more month! So far all of my friends who are prego and have found out what they are having are all having girls so I should start figuring out what I want to make or get each of them... that'll keep me busy, too, and allow me to have fun with the girly stuff! :o) After last year's baby boy wave amongst almost all of my friends, I'm ready to be able to look at getting girl stuff again! :o) I have been thinking a lot about how Daniel will be with a new little one in the house in just five and a half months... I really think he will LOVE having another one here especially to entertain, but I'm also hoping and praying that his independence will grow more than it is now because he is still very much a Mommy's boy, and I so hope he doesn't think I'm just abandoning him when the new baby needs me, too. :o( I'll definitely have to spend a lot of time with him, too, so he doesn't feel left out!

So, we got our new bedroom set and I LOVE it! As I said above, I'll take some pictures of it as soon as Daniel goes down for his nap and put some on here. Our room is definitely NOT clean, but just disregard that part and look at the beautiful furniture! :o) I feel all grown up having a dresser with a mirror, especially. Lol. :o)




We haven't built our garden, yet, but we figured out what we are going to do for it and hopefully this weekend we can get it all put together so I can possibly plant things next week! We also just bought the Square Foot Gardening book, which is where I'm getting most of my advice because I have done it that way before and love it! :o) So, I need to read through that in the next few days and figure out what I'm going to plant and when, and where I'll put each plant in the garden! So exciting! ;o)

Okay, I should probably go for now. I'll wait to send this until I get some pictures on here. :o)

Loving my weekend!

Goodness, this week has been amazing! I have definitely been able to tell how much the weather affects my overall mood, which I know isn't always the best, but this week it's been great! :o) I have had so much more energy, and have made it a point to go out on a walk every day the past three or four days since it has been AMAZING outside!!! I am determined to continue going out and enjoying this weather, too, because it has been a beautiful 65 ish degrees every day and such blue skies! :o) Daniel has LOVED the walks, also, and also enjoyed going to the park the other day with my mom to walk around and swing for his very first time in one of the 'toddler' swings! :o) He LOVED the swing!!! Even though he was holding on for dear life after he figured out where to hang on, he didn't want me to take him from it... he just wanted to swing and swing while watching all the other little kids enjoying their first day of spring break!

I've also been excited because yesterday I finally felt as though I had 'popped', which I know I've already mentioned me wanting this to happen quite a lot on here recently. Lol. :o) I actually almost took out my maternity pants, but I think I'm still good awhile longer with the ones I have, but I'm just excited to actually be looking more prego. Lol. One of my friends who is 2 weeks further along than I am just started feeling her baby move last night, so I got SO excited because that means it can't be too far along before I might feel those first flutters, too! :o) That is the most amazing thing ever, so I'm SOOO excited about it! I was thinking it was still awhile away, but then I realized I am almost 4 months along and after checking in my pregnancy journal from Daniel's pregnancy (which I kept up somewhat... at least to help me remember some of the things I experienced), I remembered that I was around 4 1/2 months along when I first felt Daniel and I think I had probably felt him before that but didn't know exactly what it was supposed to feel like. ANYWAY, I'm super excited and think I'll have to start doing the lie down for a little while after eating something sugary like fruit or fruit juice to see if I can feel anything! :o) Yay!

I've also been getting SUPER excited about finding out if this little one's a boy or a girl! I've been a little nervous because I still know it is possible that they won't be able to tell at the ultrasound next month because of however the baby is positioned (which I'm telling myself if that happens, we just won't find out because I don't really want to have another ultrasound JUST to find out)... or I still have heard of those stories even recently where the doctors said it was one sex or the other and it turned out to be the opposite. That would be CRAZY! Especially knowing that I want to have everything ready for the baby and I would feel so bad if we got boy things out and it was a girl or vice versa. Oh well... I guess we'll just hope that it's totally clear! ;o) Lol. So far most people have been saying they think this one's a boy again... something about that running in our families. (I came from all girls, Scott from all boys, his mom from all girls, my dad from all boys... ya know.) But, even if this one is a boy, and maybe the next one too, I've decided we will just have to have to have four kids so we can break that three kids of the same sex cycle. Lol. :o) Personally, I haven't totally decided on which I'd rather like to have! I know that having a boy would be SO nice for Daniel because they would be so close in age and that would be so nice growing up doing the same things together! But, it would also be nice to have a girl because I want a daughter SO much and I would love to get lots of girly things and I really want to decorate another room... :o) But, either way, I'll be happy with a healthy, happy baby no matter if it's a girl or a boy inside of me! :o)

So we bought a bedroom set a few weeks ago from Ashley Furniture, which is closing down. We just got the call yesterday that it is in, so we're going to go pick up some of the pieces today after church! I'm SOOO excited to get it in and everything all situated in our room! :o) I'll be sure to take pictures of it and attach it to this blog so everyone can see it! I hope it looks good with all the pictures and everything in our room. It's always one thing seeing it in the store and then seeing it in your actual room with your things! And I'm not exactly the type to buy the bedroom set and then go out and buy decorations to match. Lol. We are sticking with what pictures and things we have! :o)

Monday my mom is coming over to work on making a lot of birthday invitations for Daniel's first birthday! I'm really excited because I made up a practice one and it is such a cute card stamped with a safari stamp set that I have... We decided to do a safari party, and I'm getting super excited about it! :o) I'm praying that it will be a wonderful day out so that even though we are having it here, we can all hang outside for most of it and then just come in if we need to. I kept hoping that maybe he'll be walking by then but for some reason I'm not thinking he'll be that fast of a walker, but that's okay. :o) He should have lots of fun with all his little friends... :o) It's weird planning a first birthday party, though, because it's not like you can do games and stuff because being that age, he won't understand what's going on. So, I guess we'll just eat snacks and cake and watch him open presents. :o) Oh, and play, because all kids like that! :o)

So I really need to get caught up on Daniel's scrapbook... I was doing so well on it for awhile but now I am so far behind! :o( Lesson learned from doing his album was that although I took SO many pictures of him growing up, I need to be very careful with how many I actually print off to scrapbook! I have already finished an entire album and part of another and although I did do part of the pregnancy and the baby showers, too, I am only to almost his 3rd month! Goodness gracious! My goal is to have his pictures all caught up by the time baby #2 arrives, so that I can work on his or her album, too, and then just do a few pages per month for both of them, probably. I just need to motivate myself to scrapbook!

Sorry... I'm really all over the place today. Lol. I keep thinking of random things that I could write about, so I'll just mention a few more things and then I should probably go. We have to leave for church in thirty minutes, and Daniel is sleeping soundly at the moment.

I have decided that I REALLY want to do a garden this year... Even if it's not a really big one, I'd love to plant some various veggies because with Daniel eating so many and I've been trying to cook with veggies a lot more than before, it would be SO nice to have fresh ones! The problem is I haven't even helped with a garden in a LONG time and I'm sort of known for not keeping plants alive, so we'll see what happens. I need to start looking into some different books / websites / people's ideas / resources to figure out what I want to plant and when I need to start everything. I really want to do the raised beds, sort of like the square foot gardening type, because that's what my parents have done and it's so nice not having as many of the weeds and all like a normal garden and we don't have to get the soil we have now ready to plant in... instead we just buy soil to fill the raised beds. So that is the plan for now. Now I just need to get a move on and decide what I want to do! :o) Fun, fun!

Well, I should probably go now. Hope everyone is having a wonderful week, also!

New Pictures!

Here are some newer 10 month pictures of Daniel! Finally got them loaded onto the computer! :o) Enjoy!





And, here are a few pictures of my sister and dad playing with Daniel at my birthday party! He was having way too much fun! :o)

Quick update! :o)

I really needed to get on here and write Daniel's 10 month letter, so now that I've done that, I wanted to update a little on what's been going on in the Slade family! :o) We have been busy, busy the past few weeks, but it is finally slowing down some so that's been nice. Last week Scott was in Houston all week for a conference or training or something, which was good for him. Daniel and I went to Delta to spend the week with my parents and we had a great time! Since we don't get the chance to spend much time with them at all (usually just for birthdays celebrated with family and the occasional short time if they pop by for a little while while in town), it's a great chance for Daniel to hang out with them and for them to be able to see how much he can do now! :o) Even though the first few days are always hard for him to get adjusted to napping in the pack-n-play, by the last few days he was doing great and the good thing is he seems to always sleep well at night, so he never woke up once and slept at least 11 or 12 hours each night! We didn't do too much other than play with Daniel, watch him so he wouldn't get into things he shouldn't (he LOVED the new house to explore all over), eat and eat and eat (such good food, Mom - I think she was trying to get Daniel and I to gain weight... lol), and running various errands in Delta and Montrose. Daniel and I came back home Friday in time to rest that afternoon and wait to pick up Scott from the airport that evening! Daniel and I were both SUPER excited to see him, and we enjoyed the weekend just hanging out with our favorite guy! :o)

Sunday was my 25th birthday! I can't believe I'm so old already, but when I look at everything I've done in life I believe it a bit more... It's definitely been a full seven years since starting college! Scott made french toast for breakfast which was delicious, and took me to Chipotle for lunch after church. We rested and cleaned up a bit that afternoon and then my whole family except for Vienna :o( all came over for my birthday dinner! We had chicken kabobs, rice, rolls, salad, and fruit salad, which homemade vanilla ice cream and strawberry cake for dessert! It was all amazing! I got money and a Nook for my birthday!!! Scott got me the Nook and I've been loving it so far! :o) I need to figure out more of where I can get books, though! Also I guess you can download books from the library for like a loan, so I should check that out too... :o) I wasn't sure how well I would like it but it's been great! Especially since I don't have the time to usually go out and get books to read at bookstores or the library having Daniel, so this makes it SO much easier! :o)

This week has been busy with a check-up dr. appointment for Daniel (no more ear infections - YAY!), small group, Mom's group, shopping, and Scott's brother's birthday dinner! :o) Yesterday we just hung out at home all day, which was greatly needed by me and I think Daniel enjoyed it too. I was even able to make dinner, which was nice because I had the time to! We had mac n' cheese, lemon/orange marinated chicken, steamed brocolli, and fruit salad... delicious! :o) Anyway, today I have my next midwife appointment, so I'm excited to hear baby's heartbeat and see how things are going! It's been so weird lately because although I have felt good overall the entire pregnancy, other than my 'morning' sickness and my much stronger sense of smell, I hate going through this stage because I don't look or feel that prego, so I like the reassurance that everything is going well. I can't wait to 'pop' which I know I keep saying over and over, but it's true!!! :o) Plus, I got lots of money for my birthday from my family for summer maternity clothes and I'm SOOO excited to go shopping, but that must wait until I get a bit bigger. :o) Lol.

Okay, I should probably go get ready for the day, considering it's almost nine! ;o)

10 months and 1 week old

Dear Daniel,

You are 10 months old already!! You turned 10 months on the 22nd, while we were in Delta with Pappy and Maw-Maw and Daddy was in Houston. This has been such a big month for you! You have been working on your crawling and now have it down to an art, pretty much. :o) Every day you move from room to room in our house, playing, exploring, dragging toys, etc. You love going into the kitchen and playing in the one cabinet we have that Mommy allows you to play in, pulling out all the tupperware until it is ALL over the kitchen floor! You will chase your little red, yellow, green, and blue rolling balls all over the dining room, also, back and forth until they stop rolling and you can grab them in your little hands! You are just constantly on the go and we wonder every day when you will start walking to add to your abilities. :o) You absolutely LOVE it when we hold your hands and let you walk around and you can actually do that for a long time. But, you haven't stood without holding on to anything yet... that's still a little scary for you. Little by little we have noticed you 'cruising' around more when you stand holding onto furniture, especially if you are going after Mommy or Daddy. You just love moving!

You are still getting tall and skinny with each passing day. You look like such a big boy already - it's so crazy! You have the cutest smile in the world! Just this past week two new teeth popped through on the top, so you are up to six teeth already! :o) Another big moment this month was your first tasting of MEAT about two weeks ago! You tried part of Mommy and Daddy's burger, which you loved and within not too long of a time you had had chicken, smoked pork, roast beef, more burger, and sausage. Yumm, yumm, yumm! You are definitely taking after your daddy as a meat-lovin guy! :o) You eat almost everything now except for Mommy has been trying to keep you away from very much wheat, dairy, and sugar until your birthday! :o) It's so nice being able to have you eat what we eat, though... and you love it, too! Last night was the biggest meal I think you've ever eaten! You had gluten-free pasta for the first time ever and LOVED it... Mommy put lots of that and chicken pieces on your highchair tray and you fed yourself to your heart's content, with me adding food like five different times because you had eaten it all up! Then, for dessert you had strawberries, which you love, also. :o)

It's been getting warmer and warmer lately, so I'm hoping we can go to the park soon for your first time to swing! Maybe on Saturday if it's still as nice as it has been these past few days! :o) You will LOVE swinging!

We love you SO much, Daniel! You are amazing and we are so excited for you to be a big brother in just six short months! You will be such an amazing big brother! :o)

Love,
Mommy