Sweet Potatoes!

It's over. My weekend is over! I have to return to yet another work week tomorrow. I feel like my 48 hours of freedom has just flown by, but not without great memories.

Jewell continues to improve from the stomach bug each day. She's down to only spitting up one bottle a day now. She's still waking once a night, but I think she will eventually adjust back to normal soon.

Since she's been sick I haven't really given her too many solid foods. Actually, I haven't even given her cereal. She was having such a fun day with us yesterday so we decided to try just plain baby food to see what happens. Jewell is not a big fan of mixing baby food with cereal at this point, unless it's bananas. I decided to try a new vegetable on its own, Sweet Potatoes. Boy did she love them! She kept opening her mouth for more! So I decided that we could increase her solid food to 2 feedings a day. Cereal mixed with fruit in the morning, and a half a tub of vegetables in the afternoon. I plan to start this tomorrow. Here are a few fun sweet potato pictures.





I also ran several errands on Saturday morning. I stopped by Trunk Treasures to pick up a few more clothing items for the Spring. I didn't have too much luck, but I did find the cutest Ralph Lauren dress for Jewell. I took a picture this afternoon, but it doesn't really do the dress justice. It has a pretty belt that wasn't tied when I took the picture. But I love the smile so I'm posting it! :). I hope to get a better picture soon. After all, every girl deserves a Ralph Lauren dress, or 5!



Overall it was a great weekend. I really needed to just enjoy my baby girl, and that's what I did.

Happy Baby

Now that Jewell seems to be on the mend. Well, sort of, she's only spitting up 2 bottles now. She was really tired tonight so I'm hoping she doesn't need a late night feeding. She's been waking me since she's been so sick. Anyways, we hit a milestone today. I really needed to unload the dishwasher and get some things done around the house this evening. So I put Jewell in the walker to see how she would do. Her feet don't quite touch the ground, but she enjoyed playing in it! She even played with the toys and lights :). It was so nice to have something entertain her while I got some much needed housework accomplished. But it was even more exciting to see her discover that if you push the buttons then music and lights will play.

Never Been Prouder

Matt has so many wonderful talents that impress me. This week he learned that he won 7 Telly Awards! This a great accomplishment for only being in his field professionally for 3 and a half years. Congratulations Matt! I am so proud to be your wife.



For those of you that wonder what a Telly Award is, here is the description from the Telly people: "The Telly Awards honor the very best local, regional, and cable television commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions, and work created for the Web."

Slocum Sicknesses

I hope to one day catch up on this blog. However, everything seems to keep me from doing that at this point. We've had a very interesting last couple of days.

It all started on Thursday afternoon. I went to pick Jewell up from her wonderful daycare when I found that they were still feeding her. So I finished feeding her since I missed her so much. I burped her, put in the car seat, and off we went to go home. When I got home I picked her up and we walked to the window. Which is when the projectile spit up happened. I figured, she probably ate too fast, so I waited and fed her again around 30 minutes later. Which is when the second projectile spit up happened. I was concerned by this point so I called the doctor. They told me she probably had the stomach bug and to only give her Pedialite that evening. I had planned to do that, but she then started choking and it scared me to death. She turned tomato red and was struggling with breathing so I turned her over and did a few hard burps. She was fine after that, she just leaned on me for 30 minutes until Matt came home. Matt said it looked like she was dry heaving when she did that so it made me less worried. She fell asleep on Matt and we put her to bed. (Of course, we put the monitor in her bed and went to check on her every time she made a noise) She slept for 13 hours and ate a 6 ounce bottle, so we thought she was fine. We took her to daycare, but got a call that she was having more projectile spit up during her first feeding there. Matt went to pick her up and took care of her the rest of the day.

That evening I ran some errands and brought home dinner. In the middle of dinner, I felt funny. I ended up getting sick just like Jewell and even went to the emergency room. They gave me medicine and 2 liters of fluids because I was so dehydrated. Apparently it's bad to only drink 3 glasses of water during the day, and then get sick that night. We got home around 2 and I slept until 8 which is when Jewell woke. At the same time Matt walked in my room, threw me the monitor and said "I got it." He apparently got just as sick as me.

So we spent the entire weekend sick. ALL 3 of us. It was a horrible weekend. Poor Jewell was still throwing up on Monday too. I called the doctor again and they told me to bring her in right away. The doctor told me only Pedialite for 12-24 hours. We can increase her formula by one ounce and finish the feeding with Pedialite. We are now up to 3 ounces of formula. He also put her on Zantac. He said that she's been over the stomach flu for a few days, but her tummy had a hard time adjusting to food now. The antacids should help her with this. She doesn't really like it, but she seems to be doing a little better (fingers crossed).

I'm so glad we are finished with the virus. It wasn't a fun weekend. But I guess it's the beginning to have a family sicknesses. I'm sure there will be many more down the road. For now, I'll enjoy the healthy side of life.

Rocky Mountain High

It seems like it has been forever since I've had time to blog. This past year has been quite a year for us. 2 and a half months after Matt's dad passed away, his Mom's dad passed as well. So last Wednesday we drove to Atlanta and took a plane to Denver, Colorado (home sweet home). Jewell did just splendid on the plane. Except for the blow out diaper 30,000 feet up in the air ;). Oh yes, Mommyhood is full of adventures!

The funeral went very well. Pastor Edward Nelson (a long time family friend) led the service. He did an excellent job honoring Grandpa. We were able to get a family picture of everyone from that side of the family as well as one of the 3 of us after the service.

We stayed with Kim and Bernie Smith (Aunt Kim and Uncle Bernie or you could call him Donald Duck now). They definitely spoiled us. Jewell seemed to grow attached to Uncle Bernie real quickly. Here they are playing together.

Oh, and Michael stayed with us one night. He decided to distract Jewell during her "nap."

On Friday, the day after the service, we headed out site seeing. Or that is, Colorado Springs. We went to the Garden of the Gods and enjoyed different views of Pikes Peak.

While out in Colorado Springs we visited Focus on the Family. We introduced Jewell to Adventures in Odyssey. She was a bit too young to have fun in all the adventure rooms, but we still took some good pictures. Matt also introduced her to the World Famous Chocolate Soda, also known as a Wodfamchocsod. I know, you really shouldn't give a baby chocolate, but this was a once in a lifetime opportunity!

We spent a ton of time with family friends, enjoyed site seeing, and basically just fell in love with Colorado all over again. I can definitely say, we are much closer to moving to Denver than we've ever been. The day after we came home I was extremely sad to be stuck in Greenville. Matt said I had PCD "post Colorado depression." I guess I'll just have to keep dreaming of Denver and try to enjoy the life we have at this time. But for now, I'll admire this panoramic picture that Matt took to go over our bed.

5 Months Old!?! No way!

Jewell is now 5 months old. I can't believe it. She's growing up so much. I believe she went through a growth spurt last week too! Here are a few accomplishments for her at this time.

1. Bath time: Without screaming! Huge step for us :) I recently bought a baby bath tub and that has seemed to really help! She just loves kicking in it.

2. Tummy time: Without screaming! She can now hold her head help quite well.

3. Bumbo time: Without screaming! Are you noticing a trend yet? Jewell now sits and plays in it!

4. Cereal: Last week she ate tons of cereal (I think because of the growth spurt). But now she is down to just 2 T at a time. She's not quite ready for more.

5. 4 hour schedule: Once I switched to formula this went splendidly!

6. Sleeping: She is now averaging 10-12 hours of sleep a night. She typically wakes once, makes noise for 5 seconds and falls back to sleep.

7. Laughing: Jewell can laugh really hard and really loud. We usually have fun laughing together for quite a bit each night. I love it.

8. Reading: Or, mommy reading to Jewell actually. But she looks at the pictures now. You can practically see the wheels turning.

9. Grabbing: This is probably my favorite accomplishment. Jewell now picks up toys! She has such a curious look on her face when she does this too! I love it.

10. Sitting up with support.

11. Baby Einstein: I know, not quite that great of an accomplishment. But she LOVES watching it. A nice distraction when I need to get ready for the day :).

12. Stroller rides: Without screaming! Haha. She had a bit of time when we first brought her home. She hated walks, silly girl!

13. Sitting quietly: We are still working on this, but she's beginning to play in the high chair all by herself while we eat dinner.

14. Talking: Yes, she takes after her mother. Yesterday I took her to Walmart and she talked really loud the entire time. Seriously, she doesn't stop ;) I'm so proud!

These are just a few accomplishments, and they mean a lot to me. I'm so proud of my baby girl! She's getting so big, and I don't think I'm ready for her to get bigger. But I do love every minute of it! Here are few recent pictures.

"Mom, I know you're tired, but I'm NOT!"

"Daddy, will you be my Valentine?"

"You want me to do what Mom?"

"Oh, that looks cool!"

"Please do not disturb me, I've discovered something and I'm thinking about it really hard."

"Oh wow Mom! I found a new color over there."

"Yes, I know I'm cute!"

The Hubs

I know I need to post some new pictures of Jewell. But today I just have to brag about my husband. After all, it is Valentine's Day!

I must say that I can't honestly write this post all about how he spoiled me "today." I can't because he spoils me everyday for 365 days out of the year. So here are a few things that mean so much to me!

1. His intelligence. Matt can't settle for just any answer. He must research what he hears in order to know that it's fact. Because of this, we have great intellectual conversations that mean something. We're never bored with the same old talk at dinner. I appreciate that he always wants to learn as well. He's brilliant!
2. His hard work. Last year the economy really hit his company hard. They cut his hours drastically. This didn't discourage him. He simply increased his freelance and made other provisions to provide for us. And he never complained about having to work extra outside of his normal job. Now the Lord has rewarded him with a wonderful promotion.
3. His knowledge on finances. When we first got married we had about 54,000 dollars to pay off. Most of which was my debt from school. We were able to pay it off in just 2 years. If it wasn't for all of his financial planning we couldn't have done it. At times it was a bit annoying, but deep down, I love seeing him graph out all our bills over the year. I mean really, who doesn't want to see a line graph of the water bill each month? ;)
4. His love for his family. Matt's Dad passed away this year. Although it was hard, he didn't let this discourage him from continuing on. Instead, he helped his mom with finances, the funeral, the house, and other big decisions. He didn't care what was happening. If his family needed him, he was there. He amazes me.
5. His love for his daughter. The day Jewell was born he wouldn't stop holding her. We wanted her to sleep in the nursery at the hospital. I asked him to take her there so we could sleep. He looked at me and said "but I'm not ready." He continued to hold her for another hour and a half and just looked at her the entire time.
6. His ability to encourage. I often get discouraged now that I'm a mom and continue to work. I cry to Matt a lot. He always knows exactly what to do or say to put our circumstances in the right perspective. When someone in our family or circle of friends is discouraged, they always know that they can call Matt.
7. His love for the Lord. After everything that our family has gone through this year it would be very easy to question God or even be upset with Him. But my husband always looks to the Lord with Praise. Even after losing his Dad in such a tragic way.
8. His love for me. Matt always listens to me. And believe me, I talk a lot. It doesn't matter what has happened in his day, he listens to me when I need him. He constantly spoils me with little surprises. It's the little things that count! If I even hint that I've had a bad day, I know I'll given a bag of my favorite candy that evening :o). I love the sweet notes he surprises me with by the coffee maker every once in a while. His little random surprises prove to me just how much he constantly thinks about me.

These are just a few wonderful things about my husband. I could list many more! Thank you Matt for being such an amazing husband. I don't know how I'd live without you.