Babies grow so fast.  You hear people say that and when you don’t have kids of your own, and you think to yourself “sure, sure – they grow up so fast…yada yada yada”…

One of my biggest pet peeves before having a Sloan of my own was when moms would say [on Facebook, Instagram, or whatever] ‘I can’t believe my baby is ____ months old!’  I used to say to myself, and Zach has heard it a thousand times, how can they not believe it?!  I believe it, I have seen you post every single month and you are STILL shocked?  Rude, huh?  I know, totally rude.  Well I vowed I would never post on Facebook every month that I couldn’t believe how big Sloan had gotten.  I can believe it.  It’s so real that I get teary if I think about it too much.  Why?  Well, because this week Sloan decided she was just going to go for it.  Check off like 20 milestones in one single week.  She is sitting up on her own now – not with a straight back, but hey!  It’s sitting up unassisted.

Her and her dad have been practicing in the back yard.

She also rolled over from her back to her belly all by herself.  I’ve been coaching her how to do it and she just did it randomly Monday morning like it was no thang.  I screamed so loud [for joy] when she did it that she totally spazzed out.  Way to ruin a precious milestone, loud mouth mom! 

Zach worked tirelessly in our yard this week to spruce it up a bit.  New bark and some serious weed patrol was much needed.  Sloan enjoyed it from her bassinet on our many walks this week.

Tuesday Sloan and I visited my sister-in-law who recently had surgery.  We brought her lunch and hung out at her house.  Her youngest entertained Sloan with a little serenade on the ukulele.  The only song Charlie knows how to “play” is This Land is My Land and Sloan was hanging on her every note.

On our way home we stopped to get Mexican food for dinner.  Sloan is a Bumbo pro now and watches us eat dinner atop her green spongy throne – completely zoned in on every bite.

 The weather has been so nice – we spend almost every evening outside.  Babies love being outside.

Sloan still isn’t sleeping like her four month self.  I am waiting until our big 6 month appointment before trying anything new with her sleep schedule.  If I am being honest, I AM NOT READY to let her “cry it out” at night.  I figure if she is hungry, I need to feed her.  So we are doing that on the reg until my doc says I can sleep train her.  She still wakes up like this every single morning…[not in our bed, she sleeps in her own room] but as soon as I change her in the morning she is all smiles.

Wednesday after Sloan’s morning nap I was craving some outside time myself.  I still haven’t kicked this virus yet, so any reason to get a little Vitamin D is a good enough reason for me.  Sloan lounged in her makeshift shade and toy tent while I played us some music and sipped on a Diet Coke.  It was heavenly until our neighbors cat leapt over the fence to try and steal Sloan’s toys.  I am not a fan of cats in general, but a greedy toy grubbing cat is just the worst.

Later that afternoon Zach brought me a Jamba Juice home on his lunch break.  Sloan took an afternoon nap and I decided to put some work stuff on hold to take a hot bath.  A Jamba + a warm bath hit the spot and I felt totally recharged.  I am finally admitting that I am a bather.  Baths used to gross me out.  Then I got pregnant and I completely regret ever slamming a good, relaxing bath.

Thursday night my friends and I went out for ice cream at Leatherby’s in Taylorsville to celebrate my friend Brittney’s birthday.  Her GOLDEN birthday, actually.  28 years old on the 28th.  So we ate ourselves sick [Britt and I share an intolerance for lactose] with sundaes and french fries.  It was amazing.

Friday morning I felt really guilty about my french fry festival and decided to take Sloan on a long run on the Legacy Trail.  Sometimes I look at this girl and think, is this really my child?  How is she SO chill?  She barely made a peep on our run.

Some great progress has been made on the Alder Headquarters I am working on in Orem.  Bathrooms are nearly done…

Glass and steel railings were installed…

Lighting installation is underway…

And the parking lot got a serious face-lift…

Friday afternoon Zach left to go up to the cabin with his guy friends for a manly weekend.  The fight, shooting guns, eating steak.  Guy business.  Sloan and I were completely content to spend Friday night, just the two of us. We picked up a pizza to go from Arella, had a little spa sesh [she got her nails clipped and filed – I painted my toes], and she zonked out around 8:00 – which left me to my seventh season of SONS [Zach doesn’t watch it, so I have been saving it].

I also got news from my friend Megan that Sloan’s nursery was featured on Apartment Therapy!  A friend recommended I submit it, which I thought would be fun.  I have submitted rooms to this blog before, and never heard back.  I did it anyway, filled out the form, and then never heard back again.  Until Friday, like I said, when Megan texted me and told me she saw Sloan’s room on the site.  It was so fun to see the post.  I loved designing it, and it was kind of trippy to see it on there.

Saturday Sloan and I woke up early to attend two baptisms.  Afterwards we drove over to Taylorsville where my mom was participating in a giant yard sale at her church.  Sloan made the rounds with her grandma and then we drove over to my mom’s house…where [get this] there was another yard sale going on…

 Don’t ask me why there was a yard sale at my parents’ house AND the church.  I still find it pretty hilarious.

Sloan and I tried to help slang some gently used items for my aunt and cousins, but we mostly hung out inside my parent’s house – practicing our sitting up and eating all grandma and grandpa’s fruit snacks [my dad calls them FUN FRUITS and I love it].
  We did enjoy being out under the shade tent, however.

Saturday evening Sloan had a nice Amazon order show up.  Her new noise canceling headphones arrived, which I had her try on.  She is doing this face lately.  I call it her ‘special’ face…because, well…

  She slept great Saturday night.  She fell asleep for her late night feeding smiling.  Moments like this, as a new mom who constantly second-guesses herself, make me so happy.

Sunday we attended the baby blessing of my cousin’s baby – Parley Page.  She was blessed at their ward in Bountiful, ten minutes away from my house, and my mom joined us.

Zach’s arrival home was much anticipated.  We missed him.  Although a weekend with just the girls was great, seeing Sloan’s face when her dad came home was pretty great, too.

That night we had Sunday dinner at my parents’ house.  Hamburgers and hot dogs.  My grandpa joined us and loved on Sloan for a while.  She basically tried to rip his tattoos off his arm the entire time.  When she realized that wasn’t going to happen, she tried for every hair on his arm.   I’m glad to have the third member of our party back.  Life without our daily dose of Zach is just not as exciting.