I feel as if I have been living in some other universe with the way time is flying by! It is absolutely insane to think Nathan will be 9 months old next week, where did the time go? He is such an incredible, little person now and we are enjoying every second of summer. I have been a huge slacker on posting photos and journals here or anywhere to be exact. I was just finishing feeding Nathan and thought I need to check out my nursery girls and see what's happening and share some of what we have been doing!

Where to begin??? Well Nathan had his first fever (real sickness) last week and it was rough, but I was amazed at how good he was, still keeping that ever cheerful, easy going way even with a raging fever and sore throat. The poor thing had to have a throat culture! Luckily, it was not strep throat, just a virus and it cleared up with no antibiotics that made me very happy since I would rather not have him started on them so early in life. His Grammy did some reiki on him that truly seemed to help and he took the longest nap in his life after that, 3 hours! He is about to crawl any second and had the whole up at night on his hands and knees thing too (just like Noah, Amy!) Boy was that crazy, I wanted to tell him just to calm down and wait until morning to be practicing! He wants to touch everything and is wild to even hold now. He even had his first fit in the store yesterday when he didn’t get what he wanted...I let him hold a book I was buying for him and when he was chewing it, I took it away, he screamed and actually had tears!!! Needless, to say I did NOT give that book back. I did distract him with some puffs so he wasn’t causing a scene in public but I am not going to start giving in to him or we will have a spoiled baby on our hands!

The weather has been all over the place but when it has been hot, enough we are in the pool. Nathan is in love with swimming and would probably swim on his own if I let go with the way he kicks those arms and legs. The second he sees the pool he starts jumping around in your arms and saying "ooooh, ooooh, ooool." We aren't sure if he is saying cool or pool but we now he says WOW a lot! It is so stinkin' cute to hear him say "wooowooow" when he sees new things or is impressed by something. He really loves when his cousins, Jessica and Andrew are in the pool (or just around him in general.) He really gets that baby laugh going these days, and it is the best sound in the world! He does make you work for it but when he gets going its contagious. Smiles are abundant that's for sure, he smiles all day! These smiles are still toothless I might add. My Mom said all three of us were very late on teething so it usually is the same for your kids, poor Nate he looks like he is missing his dentures! All in due time...

My Mom and I planted some plants this week in containers since it is late to do them in the ground. I have to say it is the first time in my life since I was a kid that I appreciated getting my hands dirty to help something grow. I don't know if motherhood has changed me or my whole moving back to the country after being in the city for the past 7 years?? Or even my new outlook on life and nature from reading a New Earth and getting into burning sage and Native American traditions, getting older? My oh my, I am guessing it’s a little of everything. All I know is I like the person I have become over the past year and I am so excited to see what comes next but loving what is now! By the way, we planted basil, sage, two kinds of lavender, tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. This is also the first time I have truly appreciated the smells and tastes of these kinds of things. Took my by surprise when we stopped at this garden my nephew's class help plant at a local business (the kids can stop anytime and eat things) and I picked basil, rosemary and lavender and thought I was in heaven when I smelled my hands after holding them. I never thought a thing of something like that before but now as corny as it sounds it as if I really do stop and smell the roses and have a damn good time doing it too!

Things with Patrick and I are in a completely new place too. He has a job in a city 2 hours from here and we see him most weekends. We are on the road to being happily married again but are both very cautious since we want Nathan to either grow up knowing us together or apart, no back and forth. He has a great job and has some more classes to finish so we will just have to take each day at a time and see where it takes us. All I can say is the future is bright for us as a family and we are all very happy with our lives at this point and that is what really matters. We have learned so much through all this. It reminds me of when you need to clean your house, you can vacuum, dust and straighten but if you really want to make it right and make it last you have to scrub the floors and empty out the closets and clean under the couch...that's us we have deep cleaned our relationship in a major way! No cobwebs here, we have a fresh start and know what its like to almost lose it all so there won’t be any dirt laying around here again.

Nathan has been eating many new foods and still loves his veggies. I am still leery of too many true solids but he has had bits of wheat bread, peaches, green beans, broccoli, cheese, apple, watermelon, carrots, etc. I am still nursing him 4-6 times a day and night, ugh, yes, he is still getting up at night. I have not even attempted to stop it since it doesn’t hurt him in the least bit, just makes me tired! One of these days, I will try to wean him off the night feeding, which I do just to get him back to sleep. He has no desire to stop nursing, so I plan on sticking to it until he is a year old if he doesn’t quit first. He really stares at you when you eat now and is very curious to know just what you are eating so rudely in front of him! He is so darn cute. A friend of mine that I haven’t seen in years, Maria, got to come out to visit us and meet Nathan. We had a great time hanging out and catching up. We even got to make some strawberry daiquiris with strawberries my sister and I hand picked, so good!! Nathan loved Maria and of course, I love sharing him with the people I care about in my life.

So things are good, really good with all of us here. I can’t say it enough, I am so grateful to be back home with my family all around us making this experience all the better. Nathan and I get to spend everyday surrounded by love and support. I can’t imagine ever moving away again and just hope that Patrick can get a job back up here and we can plant our roots here as our own family and hopefully add more children (no worries, that is years from now!) For now, my biggest goal is getting outside today to swim!

(I am working on writing a blog for an online company, if things work out I will let you know, this could be the perfect way to continuing to stay home with Nate while making some good money, keep your fingers crossed!)

I decided to start using this site to help us begin planning for our family. We are planning on getting healthy and preparing financially for the next few months. We are hoping to start trying to conceive around the end of the year. We are very excited and have been talking about this for a very long time. We already have some names picked out too!

1st boy: Clark Gregory (Clark is a family name on Brian's side. It is his middle name and was his father's middle name as well. Clark was Brian's great-grandma's maiden name and since there were no boys in her family to carry the name on, it became a middle name for the Wilson boys to carry on. Gregory is my father's first given name, so I picked it to honor him.)

2nd boy: Thomas Marion (Thomas was my grandfather's last name on my mother's side. He was very dear to me and passed away a few years ago. He was a wonderful man and a mechanic most of his life. His favorite hobby was restoring old cars and going to car shows. He had a 1950-model Ford car that was candy blue and chrome all over. I miss my Papa Thomas very much and I want my son to carry on his name. Marion is my grandfather's middle name on my father's side. It was also his father's name. No one has picked up this family name in a few generations and I wanted to do so to honor my Papa Goins. My Papa Goins is a farmer and was an electrician for many years until he retired. He and my Grandma Goins are more like parents than grandparents to me. I love them so much and I thought this would be a nice way to honor them.)

In my husband's family there are rarely, if ever, little girls. We put a lot of thought into boys' names and trying to honor our beloved family. If, by some miracle, we have a little girl, we're thinking of some beautiful names. One of which is Anya. This is Brian's definite favorite. I like Lyn because it sounds like my middle name but is spelled a little differently. I also like Nicole. This discussion is forever up in the air and subject to change. It is fun thinking about it for sure. I think naming children is such a very important part of having children. A name can really influence a person's life.

Well, I have missed you ladies tremendously!!! It has been a crazy week or so here at the Slaughter house. Family came in town, then Sammy's Birthday, then his party, a family photo shoot, and then his one year check up! My MIL is still here, but she will be leaving tomorrow. It has been a BLAST though, that is for sure!

We had about 35 people here (including children) for Sammy's party on Saturday, and it was beautiful weather (So, Alicia, it looks like I won't have to hurt you!). I stressed and stressed over everything, but then everything turned out perfectly!!! It was a really good party. And, I just COULDN"T wait to watch Sammy dig into his cake...well, wouldn't you know...my child...the one who HATES eating ALSO hates cake??!?! He stuck his fingers in there, and just started crying! At least we didn't have a big mess to clean up! He has a milk allergy, so I had to make his cake too. It was a firetruck theme, and I was actually pretty proud of my cake. I will post a few pictures of the cake and the party so everyone can see. And, once I get the pictures from the shoot, I will post those too!

I have a lot of catching up to do. I hope babies are still sleeping through the night and families are doing well. I will be doing some reading and commenting today, so check your old posts!

Oh, and I thought you ladies would like to hear that at Sammy's one year appointment that Sammy has gained weight again! He is now up to 19 pounds, 1 ounce. He has gone up almost a whole pound in 3 weeks! So, I am really excited about that! You can even see it in his face a little bit. He is starting to round out a little bit. I just keep on praying for some chunky thighs!!

We are finally on our own with the baby. I took my dad to the airport this morning so Joe and I are alone with Lorelai now. It was really wonderful having my family here but it is also nice to be alone with my hubby and my sweetie pie. I feel like I can finally get my house back in order and begin to establish a routine for me and Lorelai. If only I had the energy to do those things. Maybe I'll get some sleep tonight, maybe...

I don't know if any of you watched it, but we took in the first half of Idol Gives Back last night, and man...for a reality show, it really lays life out on a map for you, doesn't it?

I was a mess after Annie Lennox's piece - I just couldn't imagine leaving my children behind or having my children shoulder such a burden. We called in a donation shortly thereafter...it just had to be done. We had decided the night before on a dollar amount, because we KNEW we'd be total saps while watching the show, but the agreed-upon limit went out the window after that segment.

It was getting late, so we hit pause and turned off the tv for the evening. It was my husband's turn to do the dreamfeed, but we both went up there to give our little miracle a big kiss (without waking him, of course!). It was at this point that my husband said "stupid perspective" while pumping his fist...good naturedly of course.

Sometimes we just relish a little too much the pettiness and shallowness of our lives. As you know, there's been some drama around the Seroter household - what with his family saying horrible things about him, and my friend having some issues with her husband - but watching this, and thinking about how lucky we are to have what we have, it put all of that stuff exactly where it belonged...out of sight and out of mind, at least for the evening. We kissed our son, our dog and each other good night, and both said a little mantra of thanks for being as blessed as we are.

For those of you that have been married longer than I have, when do we get to "quit" our in-laws??

Why is it that people assume that just because you're related by blood or by marriage, that you're all supposed to like each other and can say whatever you want (including made-up stuff) whenever you want? Where is that in the rule book???

I don't want to get into any nasty details here...this isn't the place to air my family laundry. But I will say this - it is remarkable that my husband and I were able to have an enjoyable weekend, given the fact that most of his family went out of their way to ruin it.

I have hinted at this before, but at the risk of offending anyone I have to say - I have the best husband EVER. Not only is he able to not let this kind of stupid drama get under his skin, he told anyone and everyone who will listen that no matter what, Noah and I come first for him, and if that ends up being at the expense of a relationship with a family member, then so be it.

I'm going to attach one of our wedding photos, so that when I come back to re-read this post as therapy, I'll see us and be reminded of how happy we are as a family.

Oh my goodness, oh my goodness. So much excitement, where to start! We had my husbands ENTIRE family over for Easter so it was crazy around here this weekend. He has such a large (and very wonderful) family it's hard to even say hi and bye to all of them without missing someone. Regan got to do his first easter egg hunt with his big sissy and of course loved every minute of it. He also had grandmas, grandpas, aunts, cousins and many others around passing him back and forth and shaking eggs at him, he was in heaven! He tried to stick a plastic egg in his mouth which entertained him for about 15 minutes (which is an all time record for him to stay quiet!!) :-)
We also have my husbands cousin who is relocating to Kansas City from Florida and he is living with us for about 4 weeks. He has a brand new little one as well - only 2 months old...barely... so in about 2 weeks (when his wife and the baby move up too) we will have quite the house full!! I think it will be fun for the babies though, maybe they won't be so bored anymore! So, if you were wondering why you didn't hear from me much this weekend this would be why - excitement, moving, easter, family, no sleep and the whole weekend felt about 10 minutes long! :-) I hope everyone else had a blessed Easter!

What a great day it was...Nathan's first Easter! It may have been hard to get him to bed after a very exciting day but it's worth it since Nathan had such a special time. I think the pictures speak for themselves...