July & August

The last two months have been filled with adventures. There were only two weekends in the months of July and August that we were home and didn't have company. Most of the weekends were spent travelling. We made trips to the cabin (near Yellowstone), Denver, Flathead, and the ranch. We are loving every minute with Sloan. She seems to talk non-stop now although we can't understand most of it. She does say mama and dada regularly and gama every once in awhile. Mostly she just makes happy noises. She continues to be a very happy girl and seems to always have a smile on her face. At her 9 month appointment she was 28 inches long and weighed 20 pounds and 6 ounces.

Sloan was baptized on July 11 and we were fortunate to have quite a bit of family come and take part in the festivities. She was very entertaining throughout the service. She squealed and shrieked on cue. She smiled and showered the congregation with spit from her raspberries. When the minister was walking her down the aisle for the congregation to see she played peek-a-boo with her gown. She would hold the gown up to cover her face and then pull it down quickly with a big smile on her face. She was a hit! Everyone loved her show.

We had a great trip to Colorado to visit family and friends. While we were there Sloan took her first dip in the pool. She loved it! While visiting Lisa's aunt, uncle and cousins she showed them one of her favorite tricks. Blowing bubbles. She started it in early June and has since perfected the technique. She gathers some extra saliva and proceeds to make it into bubbles. She spent about five minutes showing them the trick at the dinner table.

We made a trip to Flathead to see some friends, the ranch to visit family, and the cabin for the 4th of July. She was a great traveler and has started to enjoy watching Baby Einstein videos to burn some time in the car.

She continues to amaze us every day. I know all parents feel this way, but it seems like every day brings something new. She will pull herself up now and walk while holding the ledge. She likes to dance to music. Occasionally she forgets to hold on and stands unassisted for 10 seconds or so. Often times we hand her a book while we change her diaper and she now acts like she is reading it. She mumbles along and points at things. That must be what we sound like! She has always enjoyed crawling around with something in her hands. One of her favorite things is to put a large shoe on her hand and crawl around the house. She is now opening drawers and cupboards and emptying the contents onto the floor. She is so pleased with the messes she makes. She also loves to take lids off and put them back on.

May & June

Sloan has been very busy since our last post. She officially had a tooth break through at six months and two weeks. She then followed up three weeks later by pushing herself up to a sitting position all on her own. Just a few days later we had another tooth and a few more days later she officially crawled. The crawling process was very quick. She went from taking a couple "crawl steps" to full on crawling within two days. She skipped the army crawl and seemed to go straight to fast mode. We quickly assembled the gate above the stairs and plugged the outlets! We also found ourselves lowering the crib since she decided to pull herself to a standing position while waiting for us to get her. Teething has not been awful (easy for us to say!). With the first tooth, she seemed a little uncomfortable, drooled and wanted more attention than usual but the second tooth came without warning. It looks like the top two will come shortly. Hopefully they will arrive with ease.


She is very observant and constantly on the go. She now follows us from room to room. She likes to be where we are but she plays independently as well. All of this activity makes for a tired girl that sleeps through the night. Most nights she sleeps from about 8:30 to 7:00.

She continues to enjoy food and has tried most types of baby food. She especially enjoys puffs and will let you know with urgent pleading when she wants more. She has still been babbling quite a bit and seems to make new noises daily. Sometimes she even surprises herself with a high pitched scream. She is mastering the art of cause and effect. Drop toy from high chair.... toy falls to the ground... someone picks it up... repeat process. She also enjoys a game of peek-a-boo when one of us holds her and the other peeks up from behind the holder's shoulder. We go from side to side and before you know it she is anticipating the next move and is waiting for you when you get there.

We made a couple quick trips over the last few weeks. We headed back to the ranch for branding (it was cold and rained most of the time so Sloan and Lisa spent the day inside). We also headed to Silver Gate to open the cabin. After a few small obstacles we (Dirk) got everything taken care of. We took a drive into Yellowstone and saw three bears(at three locations). We credit Sloan for finding one of the bears. She had a strong aroma that forced us to pull over for a diaper change and when we did a black bear came out of no where.

We continue to love every moment with Sloan and feel so lucky to have her. She is a very happy baby!








I was trying to get some pictures of her first tooth. In the first picture you can catch a glimpse. The rest were just cute and showed some of her expressions.





Here she is reading her book. It was even right side up this time.





As you can see, her hair is still curly when it is wet. She loves her bath time!







These are a few crawling pictures. She was trying to get the strap on the camera so she just kept chasing me. You can see two teeth in some of the pictures.

March & April

Spring is in the air! The months of March and April brought many exciting spring moments for Sloan. There was nice weather for stroller rides, a trip to the ranch for Grandpa's 65th birthday (and to see her first baby calf right after birth), her first Easter, hats and sunglasses, and, of course, softball games. Sloan loves to be outside and to check out her surroundings whether it is on a walk in the stroller or taking in a softball game. She will smile, entertain and watch everything with great detail and then without warning she is out cold. If we are holding her she will bury her head between our arm and chest (it looks like she could be suffocating). Regardless of the noise or surroundings she takes a snooze and wakes up refreshed and ready to go. I am sure the other softball fans are beginning to wonder what we put in her milk. We took a trip to the ranch for grandpa Rick's birthday and to see family. She was a great traveler and slept most of the way there and back. When she was awake she entertained herself with any tag she could find. This is one of her favorite things right now. Anything is cool if it has a tag that can be flicked and sucked on.

She had her six month appointment last week and she is 18 pounds 4 ounces and 26 1/2 inches long. This was the 90th percentile for weight and 80th for height. She sits up on her own for extended periods but eventually tips over. She has not mastered crawling but can turn herself in a circle and scoot backwards very well. She has been rolling for quite awhile but now she uses it to get places or objects that she wants. Her hair continues to grow like crazy and needs to be pulled back out of her eyes. The front hangs down to the tip of her nose. She is quite vocal now and even babbles ma ma, da da and ba ba. She said ma ma in the doctors office for the first time. Although she didn't necessarily correlate it to anything, I think we will go with that being her first word (the doctor agreed). She has now had the chance to try out several foods and enjoys them all. She is usually a good eater although at times it ends up sprayed all over including on the person feeding. She is a good sleeper and usually wakes us with sweet sounds through the monitor. When we go to get her she is either looking for us through the crib or over the top with a smile.

Ready for the sun!

This was her first stroller ride without the carseat. She loved it!

Naked ride to Target! We were on our way to a softball game and she had a major blowout! I think she just wanted a new outfit!