Friday, December 31, 2010

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone! This year has brought some wonderful and great memories. I'm glad we have a blog to look back on so we can remember all the fun and exciting things. This year I have 4 New Years Resolutions.

1) Not get pregnant. I want to get used to 2 kids for at LEAST a year, maybe 2.
2) Get back into running. I'd love to be training for a half-marathon by the end of the year.
3) Start cooking new recipes. I'm kind of stuck in a rut. I'm sure my husband will appreciate the new meals.
4) Start sewing or knitting again. Sometimes I have an urge to be crafty :). I don't want to lose those talents.

This year is going to be full of exciting adventures. Moving 3,000 miles away from the most familiar place we know. Matt starting a new job in a different field. And of course, my staying home with the 2 kids. What fun times we have ahead of us!

I trust everyone has a great New Year's. I'll do my best to stay up, but this pregnant Mommy may not be able to stay up too late!

Thursday, December 30, 2010

4 Years

Yesterday, Matt and I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary. It's so neat to look back at those years and reflect on Christ's love for us. He has provided so much more than we could ever ask. In the past four years Christ has:
1) Helped us pay off all my student loans (23 months). During which time I didn't have a full-time job for the first 8 months, and Matt was still considered an intern at his company.
2) Given us most of our furniture for free.
3) Given us our first born child (safe delivery and healthy).
4) Helped us during the loss of Matt's Dad.
5) Provided multiple free lance jobs for my husband.
6) Given us several baby showers to provide for our child's needs.
7) Given us a wonderful church family we can minister with.
8) Strengthened our marriage in some of the hardest times of life.
9) Begun to move us out West in order to serve Him in a different ministry.

The above list is simple, and I know I'm forgetting so much more! But that's the neatest part of all about Christ's love for us. Matt and I have been so blessed these last 4 years. We can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for us in the very near future, and the many years to come!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Remembering Dad

This time of year will always bring special memories of Dad Slocum. This year Mom went to visit Dad's Rockford family and was able to bring back Dad's childhood train. Last night, we decided to test it out. We didn't have room to set the entire thing up. And we wanted to do more of a test run since it's over 40 years old! The train worked just fine. Our family enjoyed putting it together, watching it smoke, and laughing together while playing with it.

Slocum Family Christmas

This year we celebrated with the Slocum Family a couple of days after Christmas. Bethany couldn't be there so we skyped while opening gifts. Because we skyped, I didn't think to take that many pictures! I did get a fun one of Matt though. He loves Bill Cosby, and his mom bought him a fun book by him.

Walking Practice

Since I've been home for Christmas I've seen Jewell greatly improve as far as walking and balancing. She's still working on pulling up, but has drastically improved. She's finally starting to walk around with her walking toy all by herself. I'm so proud of her!

Christmas for a Family of Three

This year we weren't able to go home for Christmas. So Matt and I tried to make it as special as possible with our little Jewell. We bought her several fun toys this year including: Mega Blocks, a doll house, and her first baby doll. Her Great Grandma Kistner bought her some cute clothes and Weebles. And Grandma Kistner bought her Christmas pajamas and a crawling baby doll.

We thought for sure our little Jewell would tear open the gifts. But, Jewell was consistent with her laid back personality and was more interested in having us open the gifts while she pounded on her new treasure :). It was adorable. Once all the gifts were open, we thought for sure she'd want to play with them. As you can see, she thought going to the kitchen and taking out mixing bowls, spoons, and canned goods was much more interesting!

Later, after Jewell's morning nap, we decided we better help her enjoy her toys. Here are a few fun pictures.

And of course, we couldn't forget about Daisy! She got a new chew toy for Christmas!

White Christmas

Who knew Greenville, SC would actually have a White Christmas? Jewell wasn't quite sure about the snow this year :). Maybe it's because she hasn't seen the fluffy white stuff enough! We truly enjoyed the snow as a family though. Being away from our families was sad, but the snow sure did help make our Christmas as a family of 3 super special.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Surgery

This Christmas Break has not gone as expected. I thought for sure I'd get some good quality time with Jewell. So far it's been more about comforting her than playing with her and visiting some friends. That's okay. I'm glad to be there for my little one.

This morning, we took Jewell to get new tubes. They put more durable tubes in both ears. The left one was for sure clogged, and the right one was already working its way out of the ear canal. He had a bit of fixing to do in the right ear because skin was growing underneath the tube. He said that needs to be watched carefully to prevent that from happening again. Dr. McLear also removed her adenoid today. He said it was quite enlarged. I didn't realize an enlarged adenoid would continue to give her infections and prevent the inner ear from draining properly. I'm so grateful for a good doctor.

Overall the surgery went well. The recovery was much longer in the recovery room this time since she also had her adenoid removed instead of just getting tubes. She had an IV and was pretty out of it for about an hour. Poor baby. She is still resting in her crib. I have a feeling it's going to be a low key kind of day.

I snapped a picture from my cell before surgery!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Feeding Daisy

Jewell has become quite the little mover recently. Tonight she was playing in the kitchen and I left the room to get something. All of a sudden I hear the most adorable laughing. I ran to the kitchen and found that Jewell was picking up Daisy's dog food piece by piece and trying to feed her. Daisy didn't know what to do! It was hilarious. Jewell would pick up the dog food, try to give it Daisy, and then start cracking up. She even followed Daisy around with it! I then ran to get the camera so I could remember it in detail. My only regret, not having a tape in the video camera!





Monday, December 20, 2010

New Tubes

Little Jewell went to the ENT today to see if her left tube had unplugged. Unfortunately, we didn't get good news. She has to get a new tube on Wednesday. Apparently she has had so many infections the tube got clogged from draining. Lovely. He is also going to look at her adenoids to see if they are enlarged. He said if they don't look good he'll remove them. He seemed to be very disappointed that she's still getting infections.

Jewell is starting to FINALLY feel better. She's been on the antibiotic since Thursday, and started eating normal meals again on Sunday. Today was the first day she didn't have a fever or need any pain medication since Wednesday. Praise the Lord!

In other news, Jewell accomplished a great milestone today! She's never crawled the normal crawl. She's always done a modified version of a scoot crawl :). But today, she actually got on all fours and crawled to me. She was so proud of herself too! It looks like the Physical Therapy is working. And I feel like I have a little glimpse of hope that she might actually start walking independently soon.

Here is an adorable picture of her in her Christmas pajamas. We think she looks like an adorable little elf.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

15 Months

I was walking out of school the other day with a friend talking about Jewell turning 15 months this week. As soon as it came out of my mouth I froze. Literally. I froze because reality hit. In about 1 and half months, our second child will be born. I wasn't sure how to handle all the emotions that went through me. However, this post isn't about the future, it's supposed to be all about our baby girl Jewell :).

Jewell is growing like a weed. I had to take her to the doctor today for a sick visit, and I found out that her weight is 19 pounds 8 ounces. She's lost weight because of another ear infection! Her ear tube is clogged from doing its job (draining infection) so it looks like we will be getting a new tube before the end of the year. Poor Jewell.

Jewell is still working on pulling up and walking. However, she's made great progress these last few months! Her physical therapist and occupational therapist have been very impressed.

She still sleeps for 12 hours, and takes 2 good naps (when I'm not working). Overall, Jewell has been a pretty easy toddler to raise. We still have our days with eating, but I think ear infections are to blame.

I was going to try and take some new pictures, but she was sick all day. I will make it a goal to get some 15 month pics up sometime this week. For now, I'll just nurse her back to health.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Taking the Oregon Trail

Well, a few posts back I mentioned that I felt like our life was full of baby steps. At that time, we had spent the last month praying about a possible job for my husband. We had just come back from a trip visiting and I was anxious to make a decision. I'm a planner, and I needed to know what was going to happen. However, the Lord doesn't always want things to happen as quickly as we think they should.

I'm excited to announce that my husband has accepted a job with sharefaith.com in Southern Oregon. It's actually called Ashland, Oregon and it's the cutest little town. We will probably live in Medford, Oregon which is about half the size of Greenville, SC. We are very excited about the job. We have always wanted to move out west, but we wanted the Lord to bring the job to us. That's just what He did too.

We plan to move a few weeks after our son is born. I get to be a stay-at-home Mom, and I couldn't be happier.



Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Most Thankful

It's that time of year again. We all look at our lives and reflect on what we are most thankful for. For me, this is easy. The first will always be my salvation. The second will always be my husband. And the third will always be my children.

Tonight, it's Thanksgiving Eve and I'd like to reflect the most on my second. He is second because it's commanded for me to love my Heavenly Father more than my husband. The coolest part, is that loving my husband helps me love my God so much more. I've never understood it when I hear people complain about their irritating husbands or how hard it is to live with them. My husband is so easy to love. He makes it easy. To me, he will always be perfect. He's the greatest provider anyone could ever ask for. He loves our God. He loves our daughter. And he loves serving others. In my opinion, he's the greatest man/dad/husband in the world. I thank the Lord for giving him to me as my husband.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Baby Steps

It seem that life right now is full of baby steps. At least that's how it feels from day to day. I haven't had time to blog, or really even enjoy the sweet baby kicks from within. However, our family is making baby steps, and I can't wait to share all the joy that comes from them.

On a lighter note. Jewell has been making some baby steps as well. Most of you know that Jewell sees a Physical Therapist once a week at her daycare. Jewell is just a little laid back (okay...that's a major understatement) and has never really enjoyed lots of physical movement. A few weeks back she finally starting scooting, everywhere. Matt and I do our best to get her to move, but we've learned, it really is up to her. She's recently developed an interest in one of her walking toys. Only, she prefers that we move her legs. She would kind of move the right leg, but kept her left one completely still/stiff while "walking" with the toy. Well today, Jewell wanted to "walk" with her toy again. I must say, it's not my most favorite activity being 28 weeks pregnant (bending down and moving her legs gets quite tiring). But this afternoon I put her up against the walking toy and off she went. It was like all of a sudden she decided that moving was cool. I then decided to see if she'd do it without the walking toy and just held her hands while I stood. Low and behold, she continued to walk! She isn't ready to try it on her own, but I'm so thankful for the little steps she's now taking.

No pictures, I didn't have time to search for the camera.

We are so proud of you Jewell!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Halloween

My husband's work, Jackson Marketing Group, hosted their annual Halloween party for all the kids on Friday. They had lots of candy in all the offices, games, and a movie playing. Jewell wore her little Michigan cheerleader outfit. Jewell didn't nap well at daycare that day, so she just looked around the entire time. But it was fun for us :). You can tell just how tired she was in the picture.

Bananas

I must admit, with Jewell not having any teeth, I was a bit slow to introduce some normal foods to her. I'm also allergic to bananas so I never really wanted to get her to eat them. Jewell doesn't really like to eat anything with her fingers except for goldfish, so I figured I better introduce SOMETHING else each Saturday. A few weeks ago I cut up some banana. Well, the pictures tell it better :).

This looks cool Mom!

And then she touched one of the cut up pieces... As you can you see, she wasn't too thrilled.

I then handed her the real banana and she didn't mind it so much. She had to wonder why I tried to get her to touch the cut up stuff.

And then she began to chow down. :) Silly girl!

The Sippy

Jewell is now 13 months old. We have been trying to get her to take a sippy cup since she was 6 months old. The picture above will show you all the sippy cup trials :). We FINALLY have a winner (below).

It's been quite a little journey with this sippy cup endeavor, but we finally understand how it works. Jewell still gets 2 bottles, but will soon be dropping them. She drinks from the sippy, but not quite enough. Meaning, she's only drank maybe 8 ounces in a day, one time. It's a work in progress. I hope to drop the lunch bottle in the next 2 weeks, and then the bedtime bottle. I'm just so proud of her for finally drinking from a cup!



Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Teeth

It FINALLY happened! Today, I picked up Jewell from daycare and I thought I saw something funny in her mouth. I dismissed the thought knowing I was just wishing to see something. When we got home she was chewing on a wood toy. She never does that. I then fed her her dinner. While feeding her I definitely saw something funny in her mouth. I then pushed back her lower lip and there they were. 2 tiny little teeth! I had no idea she was teething. My toothless 13 month old is no longer toothless ;). I'm a proud little Mommy! What a great surprise!!!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Weekend Challenge

I had the wonderful privilege of taking the day off on Friday. At the last minute, I was able to switch some professional development points around to earn an exchange day off. Jewell and I had a blast going to the park together, playing, reading, and seeing Daddy at lunch. During her naps, I got all my weekend cleaning done before the weekend actually began. It felt so nice to be ahead for once.

On Saturday, Matt had the opportunity to work the ESPN 3 game in Charleston, SC. I decided that since my regular cleaning was done, it was time to attack the office. Yes, my dear husband is about to give up his office space and share it with his soon to be son (Little Bump). For the last 3 and a half years the office has basically been a dumping zone. All the bills, tools, computer stuff, camera equipment, and books have somehow managed their way into the little room. As you can probably guess, it truly looked like a dumping zone. So this weekend, I did a major overhaul. All of Little Bumps clothes have a place either hanging, or in rubber storage containers, Matt's cameras have their own little spot, tools are in toolboxes, bills are filed, crib is in place, and books are on shelves. Here are a few pictures of what it looks like now. It's not perfect, but it soon will be. I can't wait to put a few personal touches in it for Little Bump.




Saturday, October 16, 2010

13 Months

On Friday, Jewell turned 13 months. I can't believe she's over 1! This past month has definitely been full of its challenges. Jewell seems to enjoy doing everything the hard way. She doesn't like the cup, or any normal type of food, only dry finger foods or baby food. Yes, I have officially been welcomed to the toddler life. I did however get her to eat some spaghetti yesterday! Finally...


Jewell has become more and more active. She doesn't crawl, but she scoots everywhere! Today she discovered that she can slide herself across the kitchen floor very easily, so she entertained herself for quite a while while I cleaned the kitchen. She's also grabbing everything she gets close to, no matter what it is. All in all, we are having a lot of fun together. Here are a few pictures of her taking all the tissues out of the tissue box.




Jewell's hair is finally long enough for a hair bow. I put one in her hair for the first time yesterday. She looked adorable! I'm afraid, she figured it out a little quickly and took it out in just a few minutes time :).

Last Consignment Sale

On Thursday, I met my friend Cassie and we hit the last of the Greenville Consignment Sales. We had never been to Tot to Teen. I must say, I liked the super relaxed atmosphere and the quietness of the sale. We got in with a New Mom pass that evening, so we got to see the first of the goods :).

I was able to purchase 4 pairs of shoes, 13 books, and tons of clothes. Here's a picture of all my great finds. I must say, Little Bump has already been so blessed with his much needed clothing.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Shapes and Pie

Dear Matt,
Tonight Jewell was quite discontent. I looked for everything to make her happy! Once I brought her Granimals ball out she settled down. In fact, she played with it forever. I took a few pictures for you. She's really trying to put the shapes in by herself :). I had to help her, but she really concentrated for quite a while. She also gets upset if all the shapes are in the ball and she doesn't have any to play with.






After I put Jewell down for the night, I made you an apple pie. I hope you can enjoy a piece when you get home from work tonight. I took a before and after picture of the pie for you.


Love,
Your two girls (and Little Boy Bump)

Monday, September 27, 2010

Book Loving

Dear Matt,
You missed something cool tonight, so I thought I'd share :). Jewell was on the floor playing with her toys this afternoon, and then all of a sudden she scooted her way to her books. She started taking out books one by one, so I went to read them to her. Well babe, it may have taken her 12 and a half months to figure out the touch and feel books, but she certainly loves them now. I first read her a touch and feel book and she wouldn't stop touching the pages. Then, I read her a normal book and she kept getting upset because the pages were all the same. So, I finally just let her play with the books on her own. She picked another touch and feel book and turned the pages feeling them over and over again. It was absolutely adorable! She even had conversations with the books :). Here are a few pictures.








Love,
Your two girls (and Little Boy Bump)

P.s. For those of you that wonder about the computer next to her...just ignore it, that's the only thing you can do if you marry a computer science major! ;)