sick mondays arn't fun days!

Like I stated before, we had a very busy weekend! Turns out, fall/winter is a very busy time for us. Especially since our families are spread all over the state of N.C. (and some in other states)

We had soooo much fun at Mike's farm. We went on a hayride to pick out a pumpkin from a real pumpkin patch, not just some yard with already picked pumpkins neatly in a row. This place was the real deal. I felt like Cinderella when Fairy Godmother turns the pumpkin into a carriage. It was a scene just like that! We walked around for a bit, found our [$16] pumpkin and hopped back onto the hayride. Slade loved it and it was a gorgeous day.



We also looked at all the animals, he liked the goats and the chickens and I of course loved the bunnies. They looked so snuggly! Makes me miss my bunny, Mopsie.

After all the fun I bought a Coke in a glass bottle [they taste so much better that way!] and shared it and a pumpkin roll [delish!] with Dane and Slade. It was so yummy! Then we packed up and made the hour long trip home.

When we got back we noticed Slade had a bit of a cough...
Then Sunday rolled around. We were supposed to go have lunch at our pastor's house with some other people but couldn't make it. Slade barely slept (and neither did we) and he just felt awful. You could see it in his eyes.

Which brings us to today:
My little muffin is sick. His doctor said it's "just a cold" which annoys me, because I feel like they say that every time and it seems like so much more. He had a little fever, 99.9 - and some congestion, luckily not in his chest. They told me I could give him some Benedryl [finally! some meds] I am so not that mom who's paranoid about giving her kid medicine. It's annoying actually when people are like that. I'm not going to let my child suffer. When Slade had his second cold, he was around 3 months old- and I gave him Children's Triaminic and Tylenol, without the okay from his doctor. I really don't care what they have to say either- because a mother always knows best! Unfortunately my neighbor still has our triaminic, so I bought him some benedryl and thankfully he isn't like me [it makes me hyper!] and has been sleeping for two hours. He needed it. I also got him Vicks baby rub which smells amazing- and a Vaporizer with the liquid meds that go in the water- it helps relieve coughing and congestion. Our humidifier broke yesterday and so I caved and bought a better one. Anything to make my little boo boo feel better!!

Hopefully he feels better soon, because this weekend we are packing up and heading to Winston- with a full schedule of fall, Halloween, and family festivities, I can't wait! We are finally getting a new camera from my Aunt Lisa- she is the sweetest. Dane accidentally broke ours awhile back. I can't wait to take pictures and show off Slade's adorable little costume to everyone! Hope you all have a fab last week of October!

really [too] quick.

I can't believe how fast time is going by. I feel like the last half of the year is always so short! In less than 11 weeks it's going to be Christmas! Not even two weeks later my baby will be...one. ONE, PEOPLE! ONE YEAR OLD! Holy...

Not cool.

My best friend's baby is also due right around Slade's birthday. She is measuring big [for lack of a better word, sorry noodle] and in November we find out if they are changing her due date or not. I'm pretty excited to hear the news! Seeing that precious teeny thing is going to make me nostalgic. I am not ready for Slade to walk, talk, drive, or do anymore growing up. It's all happened in the blink of an eye.

Which means I'm also getting old...fast. Not looking forward to that either!

We have so many fun activities planned in the coming weeks, and it seems like the more fun stuff you have to do the quicker life goes by.

This weekend I am super excited because we are going to Mike's pumpkin patch with Dane's cousin and her little girl who is 6. I can't wait to share the beautiful pictures she is going to take!

The following weekend, we are heading to good old Winston-Salem. We haven't been since June- and even though I have seen my immediate family multiple times since then, it's always fun to see everyone [and go home]. That weekend is also Halloween [well, kinda. It's on a Monday] but we will be celebrating on Saturday night. We are also doing a hayride with cousins, grandparents, parents, etc. Which is going to be a blast! And of course we're taking our little Slade bear [he he] out trick or treating, or rather...trunk or treating. I've never done it before but I've heard about it and I'm pretty darn excited to see my little guy all dressed up!

To top it all off...
I'm throwing Nadia a baby shower at mi casa the first weekend in November. I am so stoked. It's going to be so much fun! I already have everything purchased to decorate and I can't wait to play games- and hopefully make her cry with all the hard work I'm putting into the set up the perfect day for her.

Sometimes I wish I could hit pause for just one minute though.
Today Slade had his 9 month check up, and thankfully he is in the clear. We had sort of a scary appointment last time. His doctor was sort of concerned about how much his head had grown in 3 months, and said if the same thing happened again he was going to send us to have a CT scan and a whole slue of tests done. Um, did I say "sort of scary"? It was freaking terrifying. Thankfully though, as I thought- He's perfectly healthy and they just like freaking out parents for fun. Guess my little buddy just has lots of brains in there. I got the okay that he could have any food [with some exceptions, like honey and nuts] and today he tried peanut butter for the first time. He loved it!

We also were told he needed to be in a big boy car seat [still rear facing until one]. Thankfully we were given a very nice Britax by a family member so it was just sitting in our garage waiting to be used! I didn't think today would be his last day in his infant car seat when I put him in there this morning, so I got pretty sad when I took it out of my car. The nurse even said today, "he's turning into a toddler!" NO. He's going to be a little baby forever. Don't confuse him.

baby slade's genes

I saw someone do this on twitter, and I thought it was fun. I've never put our pictures side by side (and granted these pictures are both when we were a year old) but they are pretty much some of the only good baby pictures we have of me, and literally the only baby picture we have of Dane. So, who does he look more like? Post a comment below and let me know what you think!!

Today, I have a 9 month old.

[play video above :o)]
People weren't kidding when they said that they [kids] grow up quickly.

Someone asked me yesterday at the grocery store how old Slade was. I responded my usual "He'll be 9 months on the 11th." I didn't even realize that yesterday was the 10th. She probably thought I was weird.

So this morning when I woke up and turned on my phone and realized that today, Slade was 9 months old- I was shocked. Then a friend messaged me "He's almost a year old! It's nuts!" I know, I know. Stop. It's already depressing enough. In the same respect it's happy though, because I've survived [yes, survived.] 9 months of being a parent. There's been rough times when i've wanted to give up [like last night] and times when I just couldn't squeeze him hard enough. It's the hardest and most rewarding job on the planet, and guys- IT IS A JOB. There's no parent handbook, syllabus, manual, or instructions. There's advice coming from friends, family, doctors-- and sometimes even strangers. Sometimes you just don't know which way is up, and you wing it.

Right now we are really struggling with bedtime.
I never in a million years planned on nursing slade until he was in kindergarten [HA.HA.] but seriously, I planned on 3, maybe 6 months. Now we hit the 9 month mark and other moms are like patting me on the back, giving me high fives- and practically handing me a 6 foot trophy saying "You are AWESOME!" and I just roll my eyes...no really, there's no need to be proud of me. If I had it my way he'd be done. And we've tried...EVERYTHING.

Once he started getting teeth our awesome bedtime routine and the almost sleeping through the night was out the back door. He started sleeping with us, and now we're back to square one where he's 3 weeks old again and waking up every hour to eat. Fun times for me. He now has 7 teeth. Four on top, 3 on the bottom. They came in like literally days after his first two, and haven't stopped since.

We've debated ways on getting him in his crib, or even just in his room. Now that he crawls and pulls up it's pretty impossible to let him sleep in his big boy bed like he wants to because as I learned on Monday morning, even though you surround him with a wall, and millions of pillows he WILL fall off the end of the bed, even if there are two pillows there.

This past month has really been a trying time, especially because now he's on the move and I literally have ZERO down time. No showers, no cleaning, no laundry, no naps, no break.ever.ever.ever. but like Dane would say "That's what being a mom is." Thanks Dane. Very comforting.

With that said, i'm really blessed to have a healthy, HAPPY, baby. I mean, what 9 month old do you know that will go shopping for 6 hours with three women and not make one peep?

hello October!

As I've said before, Fall is my favorite season (mostly because of my birthday and the weather) so I was more than Happy to welcome October. Hello fall, Halloween, boots, pumpkins, cinnamon candles, blustery days, cold grass, warm homes, and jackets!


I rang in the new month by spending the night before at a house in Wrighstville Beach with my friend and her family (and of course Slade came along). The next morning I helped her get ready for her special day! It was a beautiful day- one of the coldest ones since winter, but the sun came out after a night of heavy rain and it was wonderful!

It's only Tuesday afternoon and I've already had a very interesting couple of days! Yesterday morning Slade tried to eat a penny. I was minding my own business (very hard to do with a mobile child) when I heard him cough. I went over to check and make sure everything was okay- choking is one of my worst fears...I always panic and don't know what to to do. The first time he spit up I had a heart attack and thought he was dying. Anyways, I've kind of gotten over that fear because since he's gotten 6 (yes count them....SIX!) teeth he's able to chew bigger chunks of food, which also sometimes he chokes on. They've got to learn though right?! So, I picked him up and did a finger sweep and out came a...PENNY!! Delicious! My favorite thing about him is what I call his "scrunchy smile" which is kind of devious and much too sweet. He does it when he knows he's done something "bad" and then I can't help but laugh. Probably why every time he bites me (or anyone else) and I say "OUCH, SLADE! THAT HURT!" and then he does his "scrunchy smile" I start to laugh and so does he and the bad behavior is never corrected..he thinks I'm kidding! Biting came with the teeth and he left a serious mark on my shoulder the other day, and it's no joke.

I thought that the penny incident was exciting, until we got home from the grocery store later that afternoon.

If you don't have kids- you don't understand the planning and execution that goes into unloading a car full of groceries- especially if you baby can go places on his/her own. It involves a lot of arm strength (so you can get most of it in two trips) and quickness. I was lucky enough to inherit my old playpen and I should really use it more often...because when I got done unpacking our groceries I walked into the living room to find this

and not only was there water and wet cat food everywhere- he was crunching on some too. Yummy!

Today has been a bit more relaxed and I'm glad! I wore him out playing in our yard - he got nice and muddy and even though Dane broke our camera, I managed to get some pretty cute pictures.

his scrunchy smile :)