Sloane is very excited to become a big sister this fall. She asks all the time if it is the fall yet because she know that is when the baby is coming. Sloane makes up fun stories about what she wants to do for the baby- taking the baby swimming, sit next to the baby in the car, and hold the baby. When I told her that G and Pa will be visiting after the baby is born, she said she wants to introduce the baby to them.

I am closing in on 34 weeks, due on September 26th. I am telling myself the baby won’t be born until October. I psyched myself out with Sloane, thinking she would be born around 39 weeks, but she waited until 41 weeks to be ready.

We haven’t found out if it is a boy or a girl. When we ask Sloane what she thinks, she says ‘it’s a baby’ which is great with us. She was at my last midwife appointment and we had an ultrasound to check that the baby was head down- and the baby is head down! Sloane loved seeing the images and hearing the heart beat. I didn’t get it on video, but she did a little dance to the heartbeat sound. She also insisted our midwife, Jodi, check the heart rate of the baby in Sloane’s belly as well. Mostly, we heard her lunch gurgling around.

 

 

Adam here-

The past 3 years we have gone to Lincoln City on the Oregon coast, and this year my parents rented us a place right on the water, thanks Nini and Papa 2! There were plenty of places for everyone to sleep and a nice deck to look out at the water.

I had been a little apprehensive as this was the first multi-hour trip we had taken with Sloane facing forward. The drive went pretty smooth as Sloane took a nap (and even had a little drool going), I guess I shouldn’t have been worried.

The three of us got a room with an amazing view, and Sloane enjoyed looking down at the beach from the windows, but mostly in the mornings she was eager to go and find her cousins. Then it was time to get down to the beach. Sloane is great at playing with her cousins! Despite the age gap, the cousins had a good time playing with her. All of Sloane’s cousins are wonderful to her… Molly and I are blessed with wonderful families.

Ellie agreed to pretend to be Sloane’s baby, Max was her puppy and Zander was her kitty. It was pretty fun to have the four of them laughing through the house and on the beach. Sloane got a kick out of digging and rolling in the sand, and didn’t eat as much sand as she did last year.

Sloane was a very happy presence at the beach and everyone got to have a turn with her in their lap or next to her digging. Nini got her down and into the water on the first morning, and Sloane loved it! I didn’t get a shot of it but when the wind would pick up Sloane would run to Molly and ask to go into her “hidey-hole”, and Molly would wrap Sloane up in her fleece, it was adorable.

Unfortunately, it was very, very windy. So windy, we couldn’t fly the kites for the kids, as the wind just grounded the kites after about 30 seconds. Sloane was a trooper, but there is only so much sand in the eye a little girl can take in a day… so we would spend some time in the hot tub to warm up and then play inside. Before dinner the kids got to watch some movies. It was fun to see the pile of cousins enthralled.

Sloane got in a little Auntie time, and it was great. Somehow all of Sloane’s Aunts are super patient, and that makes it easy for Sloane to hang out with each of them.

Have I told you Sloane is a little silly sometimes? This was a little cheese while getting dressed.

We even had some chances for a little Mom, Dad and Sloane time, here and there. Also despite it being a vacation Sloane did some hard work of continuing her potty training. She woke up from naps with dry diapers, wore undies most of the time and didn’t have any accidents!!!

 

 

It was a fun time and we can’t wait for another trip with family. Hopefully the next beach trip is less windy.

I had a few goals for this summer- sleep training to get Sloane to sleeping through the night, stop using the guggie (aka pacifier), and potty training. We are 1.5 to 1.75 down of the list of three.

On her half birthday, Sloane saw her friend, Maera use the bathroom and having no diaper on. I asked Sloane if she wanted her diaper off and to use the potty, and she said yes for the first time in about 8 weeks. That was last Saturday and in the past week we have used about 4 diapers other than naps and bedtime. She has gone to the store, the library, the farmer’s market, and school in her undies! This is the .5 to .75 of the count.

A few weeks ago I insisted we start some sleep training. Sloane was very accustomed to falling asleep having her back rubbed and would wake throughout the night crying and wanting her back rubbed. I was exhausted and I wasn’t even doing half the wake ups. We started by having less touching and sitting by the crib. We moved to sitting further from the crib. The idea was to get her falling asleep on her own at first and that would make it easier to get back to sleep by herself in the middle of the night And now we have had a full week of sleeping through the night! Things will get thrown in the air with our annual trip to the coast this 4th of July, but we have paved the way for success. I give us a full 1 for this one.

We also turned her car seat forward. I spent a good month talking this up- telling her we would turn her around after getting back from G and Pa’s house, she would see out the window better, and she would not get to have her guggie any more in the car. We did the switch about 3 weeks ago and she has asked a couple times for her guggies, but no crying or pitching a fit for it. I am going to give myself another .25 for that one-raising the total to 2 out of 3. Now we just need to work on nighttime and naps sans guggie.

We took our summer trip back east early this year. Sloane was quite excited about the airplane ride and we discovered a great motivator- M&Ms. She knew she had a special treat if she ate a good dinner on the plane. The rest of the trip she would get a coy look after meals and say ‘can I have a special treat?’

Saturday we relaxed in Wilton and all took some much needed naps. Sunday was G’s birthday and Jesse’s first 5K race. We headed out to Portsmouth to cheer her on and she did a great job! We had lunch with Diane after at a nice restaurant on the harbor. Though it was cold and we all had on sweaters, Sloane was her usual hot box self and spent the day in a tank top.

Memorial day was a family cookout- meaning 30+ people at my parents’ house. When the big rush arrived, Sloane announced she was tired and ready for a nap. This is maybe the 3rd time she has ever requested a nap, but it was a pretty good approach to feeling overwhelmed. When she woke up, she entertained us out on the porch. She loves an audience! She would race to one end of the porch and shout- ‘I’m all the way over here’ before racing back. She also showed off her elbow dance and old lady shuffle.

Sloane really loved going for rides in the wheelbarrow Pa made, which is the biggest load it has ever carried. We also got a few breaks in the bad weather and were able to play a corn hole championship. Sloane kept trading out bean bags but we managed to keep score. Adam and I came out champs, mostly because Adam got all four in the hole on one turn!

 

We were so grateful for visitors this April. G and Pa came for a visit in early April. They got to come to a tumbling class and spend Easter with us. When they arrived from the airport, Sloane was getting ready for bed and asked if G would sleep with her. From there on, they were great buddies. G taught her to wave her arms crazy when I drive over bumps in the road- hilarious! G also taught her left and right. Sloane still remembers this, calling her arms and legs righty and lefty and gets it correct most of the time. Pa got some good hugs and could even understand her toddler talk by the end! Easter was a fun day- first we went to dim sum for breakfast then to the Lembo’s for egg hunting. Sloane understood the egg hunt this year! It is fun to do the hunt in the Lembo’s yard and it is great to leave all the candy at their house as well.

G and Pa went to the coast for 4 nights during which the three of us all got sick. They came back for one night and luckily they did not catch it. Sloane was so tired she laid herself down on the porch while she was outside with Pa and I. We got ourselves all in order for Jesse and Lida to arrive 4 days later!

Aunt Jesse and Lida (who Sloane says is not just her cousin but her friend too) came for 4 nights during their April vacation. We had such a fun visit! They watched Sloane while I went to work one day. Sloane refused to let Jesse put her down for a nap and she only wanted Lida! Lida was such a big help with Sloane and there was endless giggles and laughter. Apparently they had fun baking bread and making a big mess. We got to go to the playground, library, and tumbling together. Sloane was so happy to find them in our living room every morning. She asked if they can come back to visit again soon.

Sloane has been taking a tumbling class at a community center in Portland for the past month. Adam is able to join as because it is very close to our office, so he gets to see the excitement. The class is perfect for toddlers- a little circle time with songs, free range time with the gymnastics equipment, and then a little circle time at the end. We start with a song ‘Who came to gym today?’ which Sloane loved to sing at home and would turn super shy at class and not sing it or respond with her name. The instructor or ‘coach’ as he wanted to be called, was patient and encouraging. Sloane has become more courageous and strong during the time, plus it has been a perfect way to get energy out for 45 minutes during this rainy season. We’ve signed up for the next session!

 

For Christmas this year, Nini and Papa 2 gave us a family membership to OMSI. Sloane is quite excited about it.

She went with Adam in January and they both had a blast, though maybe Adam more than Sloane!

Sloane and I were able to go last week. She loved playing in the water and managed to get wet down to her socks. After changing out of her wet clothes and having a snack, we went to the big kid play area. She found a 1st grader that she attached to playing with the air tunnels. The big girl moved on and Sloane kept asking ‘where my friend?” On the way out, we ran into her again! Sloane got to give her a big hug, along with the little girl’s friend. Then Sloane asked about her ‘friend’ from OMSI for the next 5 days. For the record, her name was Sophia.

Thank you, Nini and Papa 2!

This was Sloane’s third Christmas, but the first one she seemed to understand. She was into Christmas songs, the tree, and the lights. Oh and the presents were captivating! And she screamed “more presents!” multiple times on Christmas morning. She was as excited about delivering them as she was at opening her own.

We flew out to New Hampshire for Christmas. The entire Straw family (except Uncle Mike who was home in WY) graciously agreed to have the family Christmas party on Friday December 23rd so we could attend. And we had a blast! Sloane got to play with baby Wyatt, Lily, Jack, Lida, and Madeleine.  But how can you go wrong with good company, good food, and good conversations.

The Ouellette family tradition is chowder for Christmas eve dinner and going to candle light service at my parents’ church. A good reading of Twas the night before Christmas on Pa’s lap when we get home and get the little ones to bed! Sloane added a twist by being awake from 3:30 to 6:30 am which WILL NOT become a tradition. We got a little sleep before waking up for stockings and presents. Sloane was excited to get some dress up clothes, a tunnel, barrettes, and play food made by Jesse. She also got a couple fun hats and puppets from Lida. One of the biggest hits with Sloane was a fleece mermaid tail that she wants to sleep in every night! Luckily it is freezing here in Vancouver, so it is working out well.

Sloane loved to play with the pretend cash register with Lida. The two were quite inseparable. Lida spent most nights at my parents with us. The couple of mornings she wasn’t there, Sloane came down and said “Lida? Lida?” before saying hi to anyone else. She had many cuddles with G and pretended to make crazy soup concoctions with Pa. Aunt Jesse and Uncle Cam were very entertaining with silly games and guitar music.

We were able to squeeze in a couple visits with friends. Sloane really loved Paloma, Erin and Ian’s older daughter. Sloane is still talking about her and her sister Sabine who is ‘a cute little baby’ according to Sloane (and it is true!). When we had a visit with Willa, Abby and Keith, Sloane mandated that I give Willa hugs, “no THIS mama hug Willa!” (while pointing at me).

Sloane even got to see her only living great-grandparent, Grandma Pat. We had a lunch with her and Sloane declared the cranberry-orange water to be “Yummy, So doog!”

The day we left it started snowing in NH and it was beautiful. We took a shuttle to the airport so my parents would not have to drive back in the snow. When we got closer to Boston, the snow stopped and our flight home was smooth sailing.

 

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Again, Christmas post is coming but there are some photos we have share.

On Tuesday 1/10, the forecast was for 1-3 inches of snow starting around 7 pm and going until early afternoon the next day. I knew the news had underestimated when we had 8 inches by 10 pm! We ended up with about 12 inches total. This is very very unusual for this area. It was a beautiful winter wonderland! We’ve had two snow days and haven’t been to work. Sloane has enjoyed playing outside and has taken long naps both days. The snow will probably stick around for a few more days as the temperatures are very low.