almost half a year...

                                This past saturday my sonshine turned 5 months old.

It is seriously scary how fast he is growing up. I know the first year is going to be like a blink of an eye looking back on it. I try to soak up as much of this time as I can. I am lucky Dane and I have been able to make it work without me having to also maintain a job. Neither of us are too keen on daycare- too many sick kids and not enough attention for everyone. I thought I would want to go back to school in March, but it turns out I would be dying right now if I had gone back. I would have missed so much bonding time. I feel so connected and loved by Slade it's ridiculous, and it's probably due to the fact we are around eachother 24/7. Sometimes that gets really hard, I mean there is only SO much you can do with someone who doesn't talk (real words) or walk. With that said, it's totally worth it and I wouldn't change it.

Slade is definatley a water baby. Since summer began he's been to the pool 3 or 4 times and the beach too. He just loves it, and I'm not surprised because his daddy and I are total fishes. I can't wait until he is old enough to be pushed on a surf board, I will be one proud mama.

like father, like son

He has also started saying words without knowing it. We caught him saying "da da da da da" in the car on the way to Winston-Salem this weekend. I said to Dane; "Did you hear that?!" and then Slade said "da da da da" again and we were like "Oh my God!!!" It was super exciting, even though he didn't know what he was saying, we did!

He also has figured out how to really touch things. He really feels everything. He likes to grab hair a lot which is not so nice, but pretty much anything you give him, or anything around him he will pick up and play with (or just put in his mouth). Even it is something like car keys (ew). He is working on sitting up on his own without being propped by something which is going to be really exciting when he really does it!


                                                      In other news:
The saturday before last, we had my friend Trang babysit (she is an angel!) and I think we somehow swapped germs because that Sunday night Slade was up all night sick. The next day he was up again, and again the next night! On Wednesday, I had my friend Megan over for dinner and by the time we actually ate I was feeling terrible. I had a migraine and a terrible sore throat. I didn't fall asleep until 1am, because I literally couldn't swallow. The next day though I felt a lot better and decided not to see a doctor, big mistake. I decided we would go ahead and go our our weekend trip to Winston-Salem (my hometown). That Sunday morning I felt HORRIBLE and went to the doctor to find out I had strep for the first time in my life! I was shocked because my older sister, Kelsie, used to get strep all the time and I never caught the contagious illness. I thought I was immune. Wrong! I still don't feel good today, I'm coughing a lot and it's really miserable but my throat isn't sore anymore.

We had a great time in Winston, but it's always really sad to leave. Even though I love our home, and I love being in Wilmington, not having my family around to see every little second of Slade's life is heartbreaking. Sometimes life is just like that though and it makes our time together even more special!

great grandma peggy

uncle todd, slade, & papa thor



great grandpa lucky