State Fair

We made our annual trek to the State fair a few weeks ago. We met my dad up there, as part of our annual (mostly) family tradition and to celebrate his birthday.
It was Sloane's first time at the State Fair, and there was a lot that she is too young for. She loves to people watch though, and there are tons of interesting people for her to look at.
Finn was in quite the mood. We still do not know if it was from being overtired or waking up on the wrong side of the bed, but that boy was in a FUNK! No carnival ride, game, toy, or deep fried treat get snap him out of it. I hope he does better next year.
I was able to try the deep fried butter (yuck- tastes like dough), a deep fried peanut butter cup (yum), and a deep fried margarita (awful, makes me shudder to think about it.) As gross as most of it was, trying these foods is my very favorite part of the Fair. Who knows what they will come up with next year?

We drove back to Dallas the next weekend to visit my Grandma Pruitt, who is not doing well. Please keep her in your prayers that she doesn't have to suffer.

Future Longhorns

Back in September Rick and I took the kids to the UT campus, hoping to indoctrinate them to be future Longhorns. We took them to the Coop, where Sloane got a UT onesie. It took all that I had not to buy her a Texas cheer leading outfit. I may wait one more year. She is still working on those herkies, so I've got some time.
We walked around campus and ended up at the turtle pond, which was one of my favorite places when I was a student there. Finn had a great time watching and feeding the turtles. I think I have Finn brainwashed to want to go to UT when he is older. I tell him that he can live at home with me and Rick, if he decides to go there. Right now that is appealing, but I have a feeling he will change his mind.

7 Months Old

This is a little late... but better late than never! Sloane is getting to be such a big girl. She is always on the move these days, and gets into everything. She is quite the mover and shaker. We really have to be careful about baby-proofing the house now.
Sloane seems to be adjusting well to daycare. She's really attached to one of her teachers, which I thought would make me jealous but instead is comforting. Sloane had her first bullying incident the other day... turns out she was the bully. she tried to grab a pacifier out of another baby's mouth and sliced him with her nail and made him bleed. Her punishment was a manicure from the daycare director.
Sloane is still a little mama's girl, and when I'm around she doesn't want anyone else. It's very flattering!

Labor Day Weekend

We made the trip to Lindale for the Labor Day Weekend at my mom's house. B'Kay also drove down from Tulsa to spend the weekend with us. Sloane was a total trooper on the car ride there and slept the whole time.
We visited Tyler State Park on Saturday, where we feasted on food from the Dutch Oven Cook Off. It was pretty good. Then we played in the park and Finn and Rick rode around in a paddleboat. I loved Tyler State Park when I was a little girl, so I'm glad that I got the opportunity to take my kids there.
That afternoon,wewent to my mom and Doyle's new land in Athens. It was beautiful. We rented a pontoon boat to drive around on teh lake and go fishing. It was both Finn and Sloane's time on a boat, and Finn's first time to try fishing. He didn't catch anything, but it definitely peaked his interest. We may have to try fishing again soon.
On Sunday, we went to the pool and made the long drive to the city- Tyler. Ha! We were able to visit Lacey, which was nice since he had not met Sloane before.
On our way back we drove through Dallas to visit my Grandma, Cody, and Amy. Sloane was not so happy on the way back, so we rushed back.
It was great getting the kids together with everyone!

Crawling

Sloane has been crawling for a few weeks. Here is a video of her in action.

First day of school

Finn and Sloane had their first day of school on Monday...tear:( Finn was actually pretty excited to go. He has the same teacher as last year and a lot of the same kids in his class, so he felt comfortable about going back. His class is going to be Pre-K and he will be learning and having fun.
I was a wreck dropping Sloane off. I never had to put Finn in daycare as a baby, and I can truly say taking Sloane in on that day was the hardest thing that I have ever done. Sloane had a hard time the first day. Her teachers said that she cried a lot about not getting to be held as much as she wanted. I dressed her up as cute as I could so that they would want to hold her. I can already tell that she has become more independent this week. Rick thinks this is a good thing, but it makes me a little sad.
The rest of the week went a lot more smoothly. Sloane's teachers said that she was pretty happy and loves to play. There is one other baby in her class that is as old as she is, but Sloane is the only one who can sit and crawl. Her teachers call her the grand dame of the class. It's pretty funny to watch her trying to crawl up and play with all of the other teeny-tiny babies. I don't think she understands why they won't play back. Almost every time that I go and get her she is trying to scoot on top of a baby sitting in a bouncer or put one of their feet in her mouth.

6 months old

It makes me want to cry to admit my baby is half a year old. Time has totally flown by. I still think of Sloane as a newborn but when people see her they think she is about 8 or 9 months old. I'm going to have to start feeding that girl espressos to start stunting her growth.
Sloane is almost crawling. She can scoot around pretty well and get to an object that is a few feet away if she is feeling motivated. She will be full on crawling any day now.
Sloane is becoming a happier baby every day. She loves to smile and charm people with her sweet disposition. She does still have a little bit of a high maintenance side to her. If she is not getting what she wants, she will let you know really quickly that she is unhappy. She reminds me a little bit of the story "The Princess and the Pea." She is very particular about how she likes things and will let you know it. She has to have things "just so" and then she is a happy camper.
Finn LOVES his baby sister. He is the best big brother. He told me "Mama, I love you to the sky, but I love Sloanie to the moon." How sweet is that? Sloane loves to scoot up on to Finn's lap and rough him up a little bit.
Sloane is still not taking bottles, but she will take milk from a medicine dropper, or... wait for it... a shot glass. I read somewhere that some babies who won't take bottles will drink milk out of a tiny cup. The only tiny cup I had was a shot glass, so I tried it. Sloane threw it back like a freshman at a frat party. I have since bought a little medicine cup for her to use, but I'm a little worried about Sloane's future if she is already downing shots of milk at six months.